Month: February 2023

Josephus On The Death Of John The Baptist: Interpolation Or Late Date For Mark?

Josephus, Antiquities, 18.116-119Written c. 94 CE. Some have disputed the authenticity of this passage, but it is extant as early as 248CE, as it is referred to in Origen’s Contra Celsus 1.47. The relevant text reads (my highlighting) Source: LCL 433:81-85 It’s unclear whether to make a case of an interpolation by a Christian scribe Josephus On The Death Of John The Baptist: Interpolation Or Late Date For Mark?

He Doesn’t FREAKING Get Us – Part 3: A Bait-and-Switch Jesus

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/bait-switch.asp The billion-dollar “He Gets Us” (hereafter: HGU) ad campaign for Jesus and Christianity is a classic “bait and switch” scam. It advertises an appealing Jesus who is a loving, tolerant, liberal feminist who rejects racism, but in reality, the ads are promoting conservative white evangelical Christianity and the racism, sexism, bigotry, and intolerance for He Doesn’t FREAKING Get Us – Part 3: A Bait-and-Switch Jesus

Paul And The Super-Apostles

I talked a bit last time about how the theologizing of Jesus’s death as crucifixion puts into question the historicity of the crucifixion (Jesus could have died another way).  And, in fact we seem to have early Christian groups who did not see the crucifixion or resurrection to be germane to their faith.  The Didache, Paul And The Super-Apostles

(2/2) The Peculiar Case Of The Martyrdom Of Polycarp and interpreting the Death of Jesus: Erasing The Cross From History

Last time I touched on the problematic historical problems caused by Mark theologizing his portrayal of the cross with Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22 (and Wisdom of Solomon with Matthew), and Paul theologizing the cross with Deuteronomy 21:23 (“Hung on a tree”) in Galatians 3:10, 13. When Paul says at its very core the cross (2/2) The Peculiar Case Of The Martyrdom Of Polycarp and interpreting the Death of Jesus: Erasing The Cross From History

The Peculiar Case Of The Martyrdom Of Polycarp and interpreting the Death of Jesus

Martyrs are one of our noblest types of heroes. Scott Myers points out, typically, we associate the term with someone who suffers persecution or even death for their religious or political beliefs. There are plenty of movie examples of this iteration including Braveheart, Ghandi and Silkwood. Myers comments: In previous posts I’ve talked a bit The Peculiar Case Of The Martyrdom Of Polycarp and interpreting the Death of Jesus

The Unforgivable/Eternal Sin

The Unforgiveable Sin Have you ever wondered, if Jesus’s death paid the sin debt in full, why there is an unforgiveable sin: blaspheming the Holy Spirit?  Our earliest gospel Mark comments: This blaspheming the holy spirit is a type of breaking the 3rd commandment, knowingly perverting the will of God like those Jewish elite who The Unforgivable/Eternal Sin

Evolution? No Adam, No Problem (Part 2/2)

My previous post in this series was here: https://secularfrontier.infidels.org/2023/02/evolution-no-adam-no-problem/ One of the fundamental problems in getting conservative Christians to accept evolution is that they think if there was no historical Adam, Jesus was unnecessary. The whole plan of salvation falls apart. But, this misunderstands what Paul is doing with the figure of Adam, whereas Paul Evolution? No Adam, No Problem (Part 2/2)