Paul on the road to Damascus

One of the best known biblical stories is Paul's conversion from Judaism to Christianity while he was travelling on the road to Damascus.  He  was on his way there with letters from the high priest written to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way (Christians) he could bind them and bring them, both men and women, to Jerusalem.  As he approached the city a light from heaven flashed about him.  He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?"  Paul asked, "Who are you, Lord?"  The voice replied, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting; but rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do."  The men who were with him heard the voice, but saw no one.  Paul was blind for three days.  The men led him to Damascus.

This is the version of the story presented by the author of The Acts of the Apostles in chapter 9.  In chapter 22 Paul himself, relates his own version of this event.  He has been arrested by the Romans and Paul asked them if he might address the crowd of his accusers.  They gave him permission to speak to them and he told them what he had been doing that day and how he was converted.  But the story is slightly different.  In the chapter 9 version it doesn't say whether the men saw the light or not, but it definitely says they heard the voice. In chapter 22 Paul said he fell to the ground.  In his own words, "Now those who were with me saw the light but did [NOT] hear the voice of the one who was speaking to me."

Paul revisited his story one more time in chapter 26 before King Agrippa and Paul's accusers.  Again the story changes a bit.  This time both Paul and all his companions fall to the ground when they see the light.  Paul said, "I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language."  He doesn't say whether his companions heard the voice or not.  Paul makes no mention of being blinded by the light, a significant part of the story.

So, in the chapter 9 and 22 versions, Paul falls to the ground.  In the 26th chapter one, both he and his companions fall.  In chapter 9 the companions hear the voice. In 22 they don't, and in 26 we don't really know.  Paul simply says he heard the voice.

Paul and his companions are all human beings, they all see the light according to chapter 22, but only Paul is blinded by it.  Why is this?

What is really interesting is that parts of Acts are written in the first person implying that the author was there at the time the events he's describing were taking place.  For example, the first few words of chapter 28 say, "After we had escaped, we learned that the island was called Malta." implying that Acts' author was on board the ship that was trying to take Paul to Rome.  However, the conversion story being told in chapter 9 is being related in the third person implying Acts' author was not present at that time.  Also told in the third person are the two versions of his conversion that Paul relates to his accusers, implying again that the author wasn't there at those times either when Paul was telling his story.

Therefore, the author's information for these versions of the stories is no better than secondhand and possibly third or forthhand or worse.  BUT, he wrote all three versions of these stories himself so how on earth can they not be in perfect sync?  Who heard the voice, Paul or everyone present?  Who fell to the ground, only Paul or all present?  Was Paul blinded by the light or not?  How many words did Jesus speak to Paul, 30 (chapter 9), 35 (chapter 22) or 118 (chapter 26)?  Most scholars believe that both the gospel of Luke and Acts were written by the same author.  Surely this must raise some doubts about the reliability and integrity of his work.

Interesting note:

The Greek word "akouo" appears 374 times in the New Testament.  In all but one of these instances it is translated as "heard".  The only time it is not translated as "heard" is in The Book of Acts, chapter 22, verse 9 in which it is translated as "understood", and then only in some versions like The New International Version and the Living Bible.  The King James Version, The revised Standard Version and most others translated it here as "heard" like they do everywhere else in the New Testament. Why do this?  I expect it is to remove a contradiction from their texts.  Now their chapter 9 says Paul's companions heard the voice and their chapter 22 implies they heard the voice but didn't understand what it was saying.  Bingo! No contradiction.  This is dishonest.  The bible has many contradictions in it.  The Skeptics Annotated Bible website contains a list of 535 of them. They're there.  Let's just live with it.  It isn't justifiable to get rid of one of them by misleadingly translating a word.