Survival Researcher or Christian Apologist? Could You Tell the Difference? (Part 1 of 3)
Man is a credulous animal, and must believe something; in the absence of good grounds for belief, he will be satisfied with bad ones.     — Bertrand Russell, "An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish" (1943) In my critique of the Bigelow Institute for Consciousness Studies (BICS) essay competition on the "best" evidence for life after death and my response to the summer and winter commentaries on it, I made reference to striking similarities between the arguments made by Christian fundamentalists and survival researchers (i.e., those who purport to investigate survival of bodily death scientifically). In this three-part guest post, I'd like to highlight or elaborate on fifteen or so examples of how those at the forefront of "scientific" research into an afterlife—or in BICS' framing, the survival of human consciousness after death—have consistently used fallacious arguments that mirror parallel arguments prominent among fundamentalist Christians. Here I'll only note instances ... Read Article
It’s Holy Saturday, So What Happened To Jesus Between Good Friday And Easter?
The Harrowing of Hell, Petites Heures, 14th-century illuminated manuscript commissioned by John, Duke of Berry. So what did Jesus do between Good Friday and Easter? One old tradition is the Harrowing of Hell where Jesus descended to Hell and liberated the captives there. Christ's descent into the world of the dead is referred to in the Apostles' Creed and the Athanasian Creed (Quicumque vult), which state that he "descended into the underworld" (descendit ad inferos), although neither mention that he liberated the dead. The Harrowing of Hell interpretation is popular, but it is mostly inferential guesswork that has little scriptural basis. Here's some wisdom from Wikipedia: Although the Harrowing of Hell is taught by the Lutheran, Catholic, Reformed, and Orthodox traditions, a number of Christians reject the doctrine of the "harrowing of hell", claiming that "there is scant scriptural evidence for [it], and that Jesus's own words contradict it". John Piper, for example, says "there is no textual ... Read Article
Happy Easter: My Favorite Easter Joke
The Incredulity of Saint Thomas by Caravaggio, c. 1602 Regarding Good Friday, I've talked before of the well known point in academic New Testament studies that Jesus' passion is basically a creative re-write of Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22, so it's questionable that there is any historical material in there. Our earliest detail of the crucifixion is from Paul that Christ died according to the scriptures, which could mean anything from Christ died in agreement with what is said in the scriptures, to we learn how Christ figuratively died by reading the scriptures. And, there's lots of room in between these 2 poles of the spectrum. But, what about the crucifixion? Was Jesus crucified? Again, this may be a creative re-write of Psalm 22:16b LXX, and more directly Galatians 3:13 which is appropriating Deuteronomy 21:23. Intertextuality aside, Paul may have introduced the crucifixion element into the Jesus tradition because it seems to be absent from the inherited material (in the 7 authentic letters of Pa ... Read Article
Unhooking The Bra Of Mystery
"Free the Springfield 2 Marge, free the Springfield 2!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gxnk1BBN9Mk In the previous 3 posts in this series I talked about brainwashing and indoctrination in (1) Religion: (a) Religion as Undue Influence (kiosk article) (b) Religion And Brainwashing (2) Sexuality: (2/2) Brainwashing and Indoctrination in Culture and Sexuality But if we are ethically compelled, as Foucault said, to battle fascisms both in society and in ourselves, what does such a process look like? For instance, we know female breasts are experienced as sexual by many males, even though this is not an objective feature of them since gay men don't experience them as sexual. Moreover, "In African tribal societies breasts are not considered sexual organs and women carry on topless without a care in the world. (Koraly Dimitriadis, Why can’t women take their tops off in public?) One of the most important continental philosophers of the 20th century, Gilles Deleuze (along with ... Read Article
Jesus and Satire (2/2)
For more on Jesus and satire (lampooning, exaggerating for effect, etc), please see my three Modern Library articles: The Justified Lie By Jesus In The Gospel Of John A Critique Of The Penal Substitution Interpretation Of The Cross Of Christ Jesus Mythicism And Penal Substitution ps: Also check out my other Christian Origins posts on this blog. The Dramatis Personae in ancient comedy. “The Knights”is a comedy by the ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes. It won first prize at the Lenaia festival when it was produced in 424 BCE. The play is a satire on political and social life in 5th Century BCE Athens, and in particular a diatribe against the pro-war populist politician, Cleon. In the play, a sausage-seller, Agoracritus, vies with Paphlagonian (representing Cleon) for the confidence and approval of Demos (an elderly man who symbolizes the Athenian citizenry) and Agoracritus emerges triumphant from a series of contests and miraculously restores Demos to his former youth and glory. (htt ... Read Article
Jesus and Satire: A New Darth Harley Video!
Aside from doing the blog here, I do Secular Web Kids where the fictional Darth Harley is the mascot. I thought I'd talk about that process a little, so upcoming will be a new Darth Harley video about Jesus and satire. I talk about this topic in my critique of penal substitution essay AND my mythicism and penal substitution essay - I'll introduce some new material about Jesus and satire in the video, specifically around Socrates and Aristophanes' "Clouds." So you can get a feel for this, here is the early stage script of the conversation between teacher Ed and Darth Haley, Havanese Hell Hound and Bark Lord Of The Sith: E: So boys and girls, today in "READING BETWEEN THE LINES" we were talking about some of the silly things in the story of Jesus that lets us know the writer is making fun or doing a “parody” of Jesus’s world. Can anyone give some examples? Harley? DH: Sure. Some of the more silly ones are: All the Jewish customs the trial broke, like the nonsense of the high Jewish council ... Read Article
(2/2) Brainwashing and Indoctrination in Culture and Sexuality
I recently did a kiosk article on brainwashing and religion. This talked about something called undo influence or brainwashing with religion that we are born into and/or come to. To more fully explore this, consider the following ancient Greek statues: Images source: https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-ancient-greek-sculptures-small-penises What we learn when we survey ancient Greek art is we see that the Greeks idealized the male form as having a small penis, a sign of youth, intelligence, and self control. By contrast, a large penis was seen as representing uncivilized lack of self-control and barbarism. By contrast, for our culture, a large penis has become the standard to have, and even heterosexual males tend to prefer porn with porn star men that have large penises. Women seem more flexible on the issue, and so even in masturbating a woman might prefer a small pocket rocket to a large dildo. And in fact, there is a niche market for small penis porn. When it comes ... Read Article
Deconstruction and Religious Studies Blogging
What I tried to do with the previous Christian Origins posts was what Nietzsche called spurs or traces, the idea that "a little something" is found whereby if you pull on it enough it can unravel the sweater of the popular interpretation.  For instance, it is generally agreed Mark's crucifixion account is creatively retelling Isaiah and Psalms, so the account of Jesus's passion built out of those scriptures in Mark may be completely fictional.  However, it is still held (with the exception of some Muslim scholars) that it is still historical bedrock that Jesus was crucified, either on earth (via historicists) or in the celestial realm (via mythicists).  What problematizes this fork in the road is that Paul says he understands Christ crucified "according to the scriptures," not simply Isaiah and Psalms as with Mark, but in Galatians as hung on a tree and seen as a curse via Deuteronomy.  This Galatians reference to Deuteronomy should send up a whole army of red flags as to the historical truth of the cru ... Read Article
[EDITED WITH NEW MATERIAL ADDED] My 2 Favorite New Testament Bible Reading Tips
The ESV translation provides the following helpful chart about Jesus predicting his death in Mark. The Three Major Passion Predictions in Mark Three times in Mark 8–10 Jesus predicts his death, the disciples fail to understand or to respond appropriately, and he then teaches them about discipleship. Announcement of Jesus’ DeathFailure on the Part of the DisciplesJesus Teaches on DiscipleshipJesus will suffer, be rejected, killed, and will rise after three days (8:31)Peter rebukes Jesus (8:32–33)Jesus commands them to deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow him (8:33–9:1)Jesus will be delivered, killed, and will rise after three days (9:30–31)The disciples do not understand the saying and are afraid to ask him about it (9:32)Jesus teaches that the first must be last and that those who receive children in his name receive him (9:33–50)Jesus will be delivered, condemned, mocked, flogged, killed, and will rise after three days (10:33–34)James and John ask that they may s ... Read Article
Religion And Brainwashing
I'm on a break from blogging right now, but I just wanted to share my new short kiosk article on Religion and Brainwashing is out today. See https://infidels.org/kiosk/article/religion-as-undue-influence/ We are also featuring Price's new book: https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=1634312384/interinfid-20/ From reading the prevue Price seems to be fleshing out Fitzgerald's thesis of many Christianities birthed one rather than one Jesus birthed many. See here at 50:35 for a few minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WI72JNz0IC8 Relating this to where I left off blogging, I think Tabor's wrong where he posits a fundamental divide between Paul and James. I certainly agree with his main thesis/idea that we are finding stuff that disagrees with a penal substitution reading of the cross in the bloodless Didache and the epistle of James. But, where there is major continuity is if we read Tabor's insights into the Didache and Epistle of James into the cross, which leaves us with a Moral Inf ... Read Article
For Paul, What Was Required To Be An Apostle?
Paul says one of the necessary conditions of being an actual apostle is having seen the risen Christ.  He asks “Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?“  This is not a sufficient condition, since he says the 500 saw the risen Christ without being apostles, but such an experiences was necessary for apostleship: [H]e appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. But what about the demonic “false apostles and false brothers” Paul hates?  What was it about the false apostles that made them false?  It’s not just that they were Christian Judaizers. The 12 were Judaizers, and Paul respected them, though he disagreed.  So, what made the false apostles Paul hated “false?” There seems to be a connection in Paul betw ... Read Article
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 But to some of the Jews the destruction of Herod’s army seemed to be divine vengeance, and certainly a just vengeance, for his treatment of John, surnamed the Baptist. For Herod had put him to death, though he was a good man and had exhorted the Jews to lead righteous lives, to practise justice towards their fellows and piety towards God, and so doing to join in baptism. In his view this was a necessary preliminary if baptism was to be acceptable to God. They must not employ it to gain pardon for whatever sins they committed, but as a consecration of the body implying that the soul was already thoroughly cleansed by right behaviour. When others too joined the crowds about him, because they were aroused to the highest degree by his sermons, He ... Read Article
Jesus Died According To The Scriptures (Conclusion)
So, in this series of post I talked about the meaning of the death of Jesus. The previous posts were: The Peculiar Case Of The Martyrdom Of Polycarp and interpreting the Death of Jesus (2/2) The Peculiar Case Of The Martyrdom Of Polycarp and interpreting the Death of Jesus: Erasing The Cross From History Paul And The Super-Apostles Jesus According To The Scriptures Wrap Up What I tried to stress in this series of posts was that there were not 2 main factions in early Christianity as is commonly thought, just Paul and the Jerusalem church, but 3. Paul respected but disagreed with Peter and James, but Paul hated the ones who he called the ultra orthodox faction claiming the true message of Jesus: the super-apostles/false brothers and sisters. This latter group seems to be followers of Jesus who did not ascribe to the crucifixion/resurrection theology, and instead focused on Jesus’ message before he died. It is sometimes forgotten that Peter and James with the Corinthian creed invented an ... Read Article
Jesus According To The Scriptures Wrap Up
So, in my last three posts I've been talking about the question of whether Jesus died by crucifixion, or for some other reason: The Peculiar Case Of The Martyrdom Of Polycarp and interpreting the Death of Jesus (2/2) The Peculiar Case Of The Martyrdom Of Polycarp and interpreting the Death of Jesus: Erasing The Cross From History Paul And The Super-Apostles That Jesus was killed by crucifixion is considered historical bedrock (whether by Pilate if you are a historicist, or by sky demons if you are a mythicist). I've tried to point out some problems with this reading. Just to wrap up, our oldest statement of Jesus's death as a salvific event is: 3 For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures 4 and that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:3-4) As is obvious, this is not a bare historical claim, but a theological one. And we kn ... Read Article
He Doesn’t FREAKING Get Us – Part 3: A Bait-and-Switch Jesus
Bait and switch occurs when a prospective buyer is enticed by an advertised deal that seems attractive. However, the advertised deal does not exist or is inferior in terms of quality or specifications, where the buyer is then presented with an upsell. The practice is considered unethical, and in many jurisdictions is illegal. 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 which conservative white evangelicals are known. THE "BAIT" JESUS: A LOVING, TOLERANT, LIBERAL FEMINIST WHO OPPOSES RACISM First, the HGU ads describe a loving, tolerant, liberal, feminist Jesus who rejected racism: "Jesus was a refugee" and this experience g ... Read Article
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