UPDATE (2020-06-03): I was originally convinced by Ehrman’s case that the Bible teaches annihilation, rather than eternal torment, however after a sustained conversation on the r/AcademicBiblical subreddit, I’ve been convinced that Ehrman’s case is fatally flawed. The Bible certainly refers to the wicked as experiencing fire and torment forever after the Final Judgement, although, moving … More Eternal torment isn’t in the Bible
Mathhew 5:17 does not prove that Jesus said Christians should continue following the whole law. It’s obvious Christians aren’t supposed to follow the whole law according to the life of Jesus. For example, the Old Testament says we should make animal and crop sacrifices to cover for sins, but with the New Testament, Jesus Himself … More Matthew 5 Doesn’t Prove We Should Continue Following the Old Testament
A couple of months ago, I wrote an article called The Christian Origins of Modern Universities and Hospitals. There, I track in good detail the emergence of the medieval university throughout the medieval period and how it developed out of the cathedral schools of its times. I was also careful to show that this was not … More Richard Carrier Flounders on the Origins of the University
One thing I’ve recently learned about (and I thought would be important to note) is that the Qur’an hasn’t always had the versing we see in the edition we currently use. The current edition of the Qur’an was only published in 1924 in Egypt (and minor changes were made to it later in 1924 and … More Different Qur’ans, Different Verses
Recently, I finished reading Jon D. Levenson’s Resurrection and the Restoration of Israel: The Ultimate Victory of the God of Life (Yale University Press 2006). It’s a fantastic book and Levenson is one of the scholars who really gives you faith that significant progress continues to be made in the various fields of biblical studies. … More Resurrection and Afterlife in the Old Testament
A short note on a point one may occasionally encounter. Some assert that YHWH, the God of the Bible, had a wife, a consort, named Asherah. The idea is that Asherah was a well known deity in many of the polytheistic cultures in the ancient near eastern period, especially throughout the Bronze Age. Furthermore, there … More Does God have a wife?
This is a point of information which I’ve understood for a while, however, I’ve recently been accessing more context and materials to be able to outline it a bit further. The idea of separating Church and state, historically, was a Christian innovation and something we owe to Christian thinkers. This is important as different sections … More The Separation of Church and State as Christian Innovation
I’ve become a bit inactive on this blog recently (and I’m not sure when this will be reversed), but recently I’ve been having more conversations on these topics and I continue hitting the same, repeated point of discussion that’s almost so boring as to not be worth having. The idea that, yes, many aspects of … More How Jesus obviously isn’t borrowed from prior pagan deities and mythologies
While I’m no American, I enjoy listening to many of the debates and discussions that go on south of my border. Recently, Ben Shapiro and Sean Illing from Vox had a written debate on Shapiro’s new book The Right Side of History: How Reason and Moral Purpose Made the West Great. I haven’t read the … More What’s wrong with America? Sean Illing at Vox butchers Christian history
Some people have claimed that the God of the Old Testament is different, more wicked from, or is changed from the God of the New Testament (whose more peaceful or something). Now, the authors of the New Testament claimed they were talking about the God of the Old Testament and extensively quoted or alluded to … More God Didn’t Change Between the Old and New Testament
Scientific Christians Thoughts 