was saul such a bad guy?

i heard a message this last sunday at a friends church and got a bit of a review/rundown of the saul -> paul story. i decided i was hearing a very christian-centric, post-we-know-how-this-story-turns-out perspective -- and imagined that the story from saul's perspective was quite different. since i couldn't raise my hand there (something about decorum) -- i'll see if i can capture the gist of it here:

saul is a jewish scholar, a farisee of farisee's (the weren’t that hip) -- which makes him a bit of an over-achiever don't ya think? -- basically, if you want to be good and you think you are -- saul is gooder(er) and more of it. he may have a bit of a penchant for a works-based kind of holiness -- on this, i think we agree.

when saul comes across a new religious sect based on blasphemies -- he starts confronting, harassing, imprisoning, torturing and even killing off these followers of this 'false christ'. i don't think saul was just persecuting for something to do, like ‘cause he was bored -- i think he was trying to STOP this new heretical offshoot that was tricking folk into a new slipperier kind of polytheism.

what strikes me the most here – i don't believe saul is suddenly inconsistent with himself. or with his OT learnin'. his DNA is someone who follows the letter of the law and more. so here’s my question: was saul a bad man, like eviiil, i mean in his heart? or was he pursuing holiness as revealed by God up to that point? and pursuing holiness with the same kind of over achieving zeal we celebrate just a few verses later?