Jesus

A collection of 165 posts

Biblical Exegesis

Debunking the Nativity: The Gospel Sources

I am going to run a series this Christmas time to skeptically evaluate the nativity of Jesus, running alongside my previous book on the subject (The Nativity: A Critical Examination), which I think you should all buy. All of you. This initial piece will concern the sources. And the first

Biblical Exegesis

Summing up the Nativity as Concisely as Possible.

I'm going to work on this, but here it is, so far. Joseph ended up taking his 9 month pregnant partner (impregnated without anyone’s permission) on an 80 mile journey on donkey-back on unmettaled roads to a census that, as a woman, his wife did not need

Biblical Exegesis

Casting Doubt on the Nativity of Jesus

As I have said before, Holidays are coming, holidays are coming... It's that  time of year, you know, the interminable run-up to Christmas when big corporations vie for your hard-earned cash in an attempt to exploit the seasonal goodwill brought on by the imaginary birth of a godmanspirit.

atonement

November Ingersoll. Come Check Out the Great Man!

My friend Julian Haydon has created a website dedicated to the great agnostic, Robert G. Ingersoll. The site is set out like a newspaper and is a labour of love. Please check it out – the link is below. To give respect to both men, I will be posting some Ingersoll

Donald Trump

Trump and Jesus. How Can You Align the Two? You Can't.

I have been arguing on facebook with an evangelical Catholic who has become so right-wing it is amazing. It stems from the most unbelievable cognitive dissonance I have ever experienced. He is gay, and sees that as a sin. As such, he has embraced every aspect of right-wingness in order

atonement

The Holy Trinity Is Incoherent #2 – Penal Substitution Theory

The other day, I wrote a piece on the general incoherence of the Holy Trinity from a logical and philosophical point of view, taking into account existence properties and the like. Some years back, on this topic when posting my original pieces, I even got to slugging it out with

Biblical Exegesis

The Holy Trinity Is Incoherent #1

The Holy Trinity has had a problematic history, partly evidenced by point of fact that theologians still don't agree on how it works, and partly  seen from its ex post facto evolution, shoehorned into the scant evidence of the biblical texts. From Ignatius of Antioch onwards we see

Economics

Jesus and Trickle Down Economics

I am involved in a conversation on facebook at the moment about free market economics. The conversation includes some theists (such as Nick Peters) who espouse trickle down economics. I have written about free market economics and trickle down economics at great lengths before, but it is interesting to do

hell

Jesus' Heaven: Scaring You out of Hell

Jesus is supposed to be the great moral teacher: God incarnate, preaching moral perfection, or preaching morality perfectly. However, more often than not, this teaching involves scaring people with notions of what will happen to them if they don't choose wisely. Or, his teaching basically involves threatening you.

Biblical Exegesis

Robert Price on Hell: Why So Late in Telling Us?

This is a point that I have made many times before, and it was good to read it in Robert Price's excellent little pocket battleship of a book, Blaming Jesus for Jehovah. Here he is on p. 69-70: What difference does any of this make? There are two

agnosticism

The Superlative Robert Green Ingersoll

Robert Green Ingersoll was a truly great thinker. You can find a great deal of awesome content from him on the superlative theingersolltimes.com website. Please check it out, and send its curator your appreciation for putting it together. He is a tireless worker! Something for your Monday: By the

Biblical Exegesis

Harmonising Jesus With Yahweh. Fail.

Harmonising the Old Testament with the New Testament is a tough job. And don't go trying to use Paul to do that job. Circumcision and genocide are slightly different.

Easter

Easter Round-Up: Everything You Need To Skeptically Know About The Resurrection

Being that time of year, let me remind you of some things that I have written on the Resurrection (and death and burial) of Jesus: On the Skepticism of the Resurrection On the Skepticism of the Resurrection (part 2) On the Skepticism of the Resurrection (part 3) On the Skepticism

crucifixion

Jesus' Crucifixion and Burial Practices

Some time back, I had a massive debate on my facebook page with someone from the Unbelievable forum, which I have since left (tiring of the time-wasting silliness of some of the posters) about the Roman/Jewish burial practices after crucifixion with regard  to Jesus' death. Here is my

Biblical Exegesis

Joseph of Arimathea As a Rich Prophecy Fulfilment

I have spoken about Joseph of Arimathea before, in the videos linked below. Just reading a chapter by Robert M. Price in The End of Christianity, I came across this very simple aspect which shows, to me at any rate, that Matthew's sole job seemed to be to

Easter

Why was Jesus' tomb not venerated?

To follow on from my Matthew's guards post, here is another problematic scenario for the Easter story. Thinking about the tomb, in the context of the last post, it is incredibly suspect that the place of the greatest spiritual and religious significance in the whole world seems not

atonement

A Succinct Synopsis of the Nonsense of Easter

Easter is the time for the christian church. Christmas is all lovely and present-y, but Easter is what it's all really about. It is the climax of Jesus' existence. But this is really what is going on: JesusManGod sacrificed himself to himself to sit on his own

Biblical Exegesis

Matthew and the guards at the tomb

In this post, I am going to look at the resurrection account given by Matthew, in particular his addition found in no other Gospel account, that there were guards stationed at the tomb. According to Matthew, the chief priests were worried that the disciples might steal Jesus’ body to fake

Bart Ehrman

On the Skepticism of the Resurrection (part 4) - naturalistic explanations

As mentioned in my previous posts, it is that time of year that the historicity of the Easter accounts gets analysed by us skeptics. And found wanting. Very wanting. [caption id="attachment_6627" align="alignright" width="216"] Tintoretto [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons[/caption]

Biblical Exegesis

On the Skepticism of the Resurrection (part 3)

As mentioned in my two previous posts, it is that time of year again where the Resurrection of Jesus requires a thorough going over. Here is continues. There are three aspects to the debunking of the Resurrection: 1) The Gospels are not reliable sources of information; they are poor quality

Biblical Exegesis

On the Skepticism of the Resurrection (part 2)

As mentioned in my previous post, someone in Malawi is about to have a debate on national TV with a Christian about the Resurrection accounts and I have been asked to help provide some ideas for the debate, so here goes. There are three aspects to the debunking of the

Biblical Exegesis

On the Skepticism of the Resurrection

Christmas is over, time to get on to Easter. Someone in Malawi is about to have a debate on national TV with a Christian about the Resurrection accounts and I have been asked to help provide some ideas for the debate, so here goes.

Bert Bigelow

Book Review: Blaming Jesus for Jehovah

Book Review Blaming Jesus for Jehovah By Robert M. Price In Chapter I, the author says, “I love the Bible.” But at the end of Chapter VI, after compiling a long litany of atrocities, inconsistencies and contradictions, he says that the Bible is so inconsistent that it cannot even be

Jesus

Fist of Jesus - Zombie Apocalypse!

It's a few years old, now, but if you haven't seen Fist of Jesus, well, you haven't lived. Here, for your visual pleasure... You will never see Jesus in the same light again: [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuKV2Z3eYTY[/youtube]

atonement

Quote of the Day by D Rieder on Atonement

A great comment in reply to my post on Atonement and Jesus by D Rieder: Good post. It makes no sense and it is morally bankrupt doctrine from so many angles. First, I don't care how they theorize how it works...it's human sacrifice. In fact