Why did Saul think followers of Jesus were not worth living?
Saul viewed followers of Jesus as a threat to his religion, so he judged them not worth living. He obtained letters to Damascus synagogues to arrest any of this way, men or women, who embraced Jesus as Messiah, intending to bring them bound to Jerusalem without mercy.
Les explains that Saul was vicious and had no mercy. He was not going to bother with the Syrian population; all he wanted were those Jews who had embraced faith in the Messiah. Saul went to the high priest and desired letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any of this way who were following Christ as His Messiah, whether men or women, he might bring them bound under Jerusalem. Because they had embraced Jesus of Nazareth as their Messiah, Saul’s attitude was that they were not worth living—they were nothing but a threat to his religion. Later, Les notes, the poor man never got over that, and as he suffered the ramifications of his apostleship, he must have remembered that what goes around, comes around. In Galatians he confessed that beyond measure he persecuted and wasted it.
And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,
More Questions
Why did Saul think Christians deserved to die?
Saul's attitude toward anyone who embraced Jesus of Nazareth as Messiah was that they were not worth living, because he saw them as nothing but a threat to his religion.
What was Saul doing to Christians in Israel before his conversion?
Before his conversion, Saul was trying to stamp out everyone in Israel who had proclaimed and believed Jesus was the Messiah.