So, if you’re new here, welcome to Secular Frontier! I’ve been exploring Christian Origins in the gospels in relation to sacrifice. In Mark, we have a dual presentation of Jesus as the Yom Kippur pure goat and scapegoat. In a superficial common way, this means penal substitution theology, but in a deeper way it means … General Summary Of The Gospels Christian Origins Argument Thus Far

So, briefly, the previous post took up the question of what are we to make of Jesus’s temple tantrum being the reason for his arrest in Mark, while in John the arrest is because of Jesus’s raising of Lazarus? Cleary, if Jesus was threatening the temple, this would be a reason for the Romans to … (2/2) What Is A Gospel?  Investigations Into The Gospel Of John – LINE OF ARGUMENT

ABSTRACT: I tried to showcase recent work by Robert Price (2017), Dennis MacDonald (2022), and Adele Reinhartz (2017) on the Gospel of John.  The question for the post is why the temple tantrum is the catalyst for Jesus’s arrest in the synoptics, while in John it is the raising of Lazarus.  I argue that the … What Is A Gospel?  Investigations Into The Gospel Of John

One common argument among atheists is that since evolution is a fact, there was no Adam to be responsible for original sin, and so Christ as a savior paying the sin debt is unnecessary.  This is based on the commonplace conservative penal substitution interpretation of the cross (as opposed to the moral influence theory), and … Evolution: No Adam?  No problem

I agree most secularists poke fun at the resurrection miracle claim of apologists, but have no good alternative, as even Dr. Bart Ehrman admits, which really isn’t playing fair. See Ehrman’s debate with William Lane Craig (see time 1:14:00 – 1:19:00): Ehrman’s argument is that any argument, however improbable, is still more likely than the … The Noble Lie Theory Of Christian Origins

So, last time I talked about getting beyond the personal sin/sinner’s prayer ideology of the conservative evangelical interpretation of Christianity to the corporate sin issue of things like systemic racism that needs to be made conspicuous and overcome with the liberal/progressive Christian interpretation. Terry Simon has a helpful quote on this: The story of Native … Corporate Sin (2/2)

“The world is ending… Honestly … So, uh, you better get right with God!” As an Atheist/Agnostic, I don’t believe in God or an afterlife or any of that, but I do think there are better and worse interpretations of original Christianity. I am of the interpretive school of liberal Christianity, rather than conservative Christianity. … Corporate Sin

So, Adam and Eve sinned, and we are guilty of that sin, so God sent Jesus to die for our sins and save us. Right? Well, that’s a conservative Christian reading. Against this, many liberal Christians see Adam and Eve as a metaphor. Dr. James McGrath comments: Question: In Paul’s mind Christ is the “second … Conservative vs Liberal Christians: Wait, There’s Another Way To Read This?!

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I posted this back in 2011 on Dr. R Joseph Hoffmann’s blog, but it still bears repeating today: The central drama of the Christian Religion, the crucifixion narrative in Mark, is historical fiction. We can know that Jesus was crucified through other means, but the narrative elements never happened. I want people to understand that … Mark’s Narrative Of The Crucifixion As Historical Fiction