Religion

A collection of 233 posts

creation

God Is Unfair - An Accident of History and Geography Syllogism

I am about 21,000 words into a new book I decided to write last week, which is fun. The working title is something like 25 Arguments against God and Other Metaphysical Assumptions or 25 Arguments against God, Satan, Heaven, Hell and Other Incoherent Ideas. Anywho, you are my testbed.

atonement

Problems with Mark's Crucifixion Death and Atonement

This question was given to me as a "Superchat" on my most recent YouTube appearance by SCHOLARvid, and was then refined and sent to me personally. it's worth looking at: My understanding is that in Mark 15:34 God abandons Jesus before he dies on the

Deep Dive

Mark and Homeric Emulation

Achilles tried to mutilate Hector's corpse behind his chariot, but the gods kept it from decay, birds, and dogs. Despite the danger and because of Hermes' help, Priam arid his servant Idaeus safely reached Achilles' bivouac, and there the Greek hero granted them the body. They

heaven

Analysing the Basis for Heaven and Hell

I'm putting together a post on mimesis and Dennis MacDonald, but in the meantime, check out my interview on YouTube with MythVision on the philosophical basis, or lack thereof, for heaven and hell. https://youtu.be/XOlhF0U3itw Stay in touch! Like A Tippling Philosopher on Facebook: A Tippling

Deep Dive

Mimesis, the Gospels, and Their Greek Sources

Sorry to just post another video, but this was really interesting. In fact, it turns out that I forgot - literally forgot - to put in my Joseph of Arimathea section in my Resurrection book the very robust theory that Joseph of Arimathea was modelled mimetically on Priam from Homer&

hell

Satan and Most Prayer Are Nonsensical

I've just had another interview with Gnostic Informant, initially continuing from the previous one in the context of heaven and hell, moving on to talking about Satan ("A great conversational piece, some great examples if you're up against a theist. I really enjoyed learning the

Culture

Marketing the Messiah

I started watching this on Amazon Prime, but it is no longer on there, so I was really happy to find it legitimately on YouTube. It's an excellent documentary that covers a lot of ground on Jesus and the nascent sect, with a lot of emphasis on Paul,

evangelicals

Progressive White Evangelicals?

Is there such a thing? Well, and interestingly, yes. And what is worth a debate is that their views are more coherent, arguably, with what Jesus actually (well, supposedly actually) stood for: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNBj96Cn_L4 Stay in touch! Like A Tippling Philosopher on Facebook: A

Deep Dive

Quotes of the Day on Noah's Flood

I am certainly flooding the blog with a deluge of similarly themed articles. Following a number of articles (linked below), under which there have been some excellent comments, I thought I would furnish you with a few of them that stuck out on my most recent piece. The context is

Dave Armstrong

God, Floods, Miracles and Evidence

I have been dipping my toes into the calm waters of the flood again - Noah's Flood. TL;DR - it didn't happen. It's an argument about physical evidence, and, of course, there is no physical evidence for it - whether global or regional.

Deep Dive

Debunking the Genesis Flood II: The Nonsense of a Local Flood Claim

This was something Catholic apologist Dave Armstrong has recently been arguing for but also something I have been arguing about elsewhere. The idea, advocated on pseudoscientific sites like this, is that the Genesis accounts are not talking about a global flood - because that's obviously naturalistically impossible! (and

Exodus

Jesus and Exodus Symbolic Parallels

This came to me by way of someone watching one of my recent interviews on YouTube and I think it is interesting enough to warrant some discussion: I have been studying the mythicist position for a while now, and although I'm not a scholar or historian, I have

News

Would Jesus Get Vaccinated?

How is that for the ultimate rhetorical question? To start with, nobody knows if the Jesus of the Bible even existed. There have been a lot of people named Jesus over the last two thousand years. I have even known a few, but they pronounce their name ”Hay-SOOS.” It may

The Nativity: A Critical Examination

Dr Nicholls on the Resurrection and Nativity

I was contacted recently by Dr DJ Nicholls, who had bought my books on the Resurrection and Nativity after reading my one on free will (one that I seriously need to rewrite and was on the cards for such this year before other projects jumped in!). He is a former

Culture

Liberty

Give me liberty or give me death. ---Patrick Henry The author of that famous declaration was a slave owner for most of his adult life. He was elected as the first governor of the state of Virginia in 1776. The liberty he sought for himself, and white slave owners like

Biblical Exegesis

Part 2 of Us Deconstructing the Resurrection

So here is the second part to the ongoing series with Derek Lambert of MythVision that is unpicking the Resurrection, following my recent book on the subject - The Resurrection: A Critical Examination [UK]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlTAU_E88i4 I hope you enjoy this - I'

Biblical Exegesis

The Author of the Gospel of John

I recently wrote a piece on whether or not the Gospel writers were eyewitnesses of Jesus and his ministry. The short answer is that they were not. Out of that came the ubiquitous question, in these contexts, of who the author was for the Gospel of John, and to whom

Biblical Exegesis

Who Is Jesus and What Is Christianity Without the History and the Torah? (II)

This is the third in a series that you really need to read before engaging with this, otherwise you won't have the first clue about which I am talking. See: * Without the History, What are the Torah and Christian Bible? * Who is Jesus and What Is Christianity Without

Biblical Exegesis

Who Is Jesus and What Is Christianity Without the History and the Torah?

This is the second in a triology of pieces, which started with "Without the History, What are the Torah and Christian Bible?" where I detailed the dismissal of the more problematic portions of the Bible in favour of a more abstract and modern approach. I've been

Exodus

Word Salad in the Name of Theology

As you will know, I have been running a series debunking the Exodus account and, in fact, this has now become a huge book project, co-authored with archaeologist Rebecca Bradley and with the foreword to be written by Assyriologist Dr Joshua Bowen. I am presently writing a chapter on the

Biblical Exegesis

Debunking the Exodus VI: The Moses Birth Myth Is Nuts and Draws from other Myths.

Unfortunately, over the extensive series concerning the availability of pitch as a waterproofing caulk in the Nile River area of Egypt during the New Kingdom era, we have failed to see the crap for the pitch. Let us get back on an even (thoroughly pitch-caulked) keel by looking at the

Biblical Exegesis

Debunking the Exodus IV: Hardening of Hearts

The Exodus is a story that is hugely important to Christians (and Jews), as can be seen by some comments by Christians on the previous articles in this series. I want to continue my claims that the Exodus never happened because of both historical issues and theological/philosophical ones by

Jesus

My Interview on the Resurrection with Harmonic Atheist

I've done a few interviews with Tim Mills/Harmonic Atheist and I love them. Here is a great chat about my latest book - The Resurrection: A Critical Examination of the Easter Story [UK] - and one that, though long, only skimmed the surface, looking really at my

fairness

On Ridiculous Christian Apologetics, and Whether Mercy Is Undeserved

I have been discussing God's unfairness in the uneven distribution of evidence a lot recently. First, grace was offered as something that God gives out unfairly - it is baked into the idea, apparently. And then Luke Breuer said the same of mercy, in reply to my question,

Biblical Exegesis

The Resurrection: A Critical Examination of the Easter Story

As some of you will know, I have recently released a book looking very sceptically at the history, theology, philosophy and biblical exegesis concerning the resurrection of Jesus. I really proud of this book (The Resurrection: A Critical Examination of the Easter Story [UK])and I collaborated with a number