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A person's life can be turned
inside out by religious conversion.

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A powerful experience that can
change someone's beliefs entirely.

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The Bible describes the dramatic
conversion of a man called Paul,

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as he crossed the desert
on the road to Damascus.

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He belonged to a Jewish
sect called the Pharisees,

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who wanted to stamp out Christianity
just as it was getting started.

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But Paul went from being a vicious
persecutor of the first Christians,

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to being one of their greatest leaders,

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and the writer of many books
in the New Testament.

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What caused this extraordinary
change of heart?

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According to Acts, on his way to
Damascus, he had a conversion experience.

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He saw a blinding light that
literally blinded him physically.

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He heard the voice of Jesus,

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saying,'Saul', using his Jewish name,

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'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?'

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and he was given his commission
to evangelise the Gentiles.

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It was a changing moment in Paul's
life and we often refer to it now as

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the blinding light
experience of conversion.

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But I would like to find
out what really happened.

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In the Bible, deserts lend
themselves to life-changing moments.

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Both Jesus and Moses had
spent time in the wilderness.

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To help me make sense
of Paul's conversion,

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I met psychologist,
Shmuel Erlich.

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I'm searching for Paul the character,

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I can't ignore that central
conversion experience.

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How do I make that change?

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I would suggest that you look very
carefully and deeply into his past.

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You look into what happened
before, into his persecution,

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into his aggression,
into his need to kill Christians,

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which I think speaks of some
kind of an inner turmoil.

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What you see,

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especially in people who are
struggling with their identity,

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and if the struggle is very deep,

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you see that they can sometimes turn around,

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almost, if you will, 180 degrees,

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and from one who you would
consider to be one identity,

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suddenly become the opposite of it.

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I think this is what
happened with St. Paul.

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He persecuted Christians before,

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and then suddenly he
shifted completely,

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and became their spokesman,
their guardian in a way,

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and their promoter and
their leader, really.

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Whatever really happened
on the road to Damascus,

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it's clear from that moment on,
Paul's beliefs changed forever.

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He was now convinced he had
met Jesus face to face,

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that God had brought
him back from the dead,

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and that therefore he must be the Messiah,

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and that the end of days
was coming very, very soon.