Category: Bible readings

The rapture: before and after

But then I learned about the much more serious human tragedy that ensued

Two videos…

This week saw yet another in a very long line 0f failed raptures. There have been prophets and other assorted scoundrels promising apocalyptic rhapsodies since before that ancient Pharaoh had his minions put the first sandstone blocks together like ancient lego-based experiments in geometry.

At first I thought this was just another amusing interlude. Another crank claiming to know the end was nigh. That was my attitude when I posted this video…

But then I learned about the much more serious human tragedy that ensued. So I made this…

Genocide for Jesus

So many Christians are supporting the current genocide in Gaza.

Here’s what I don’t understand… So many Christians are supporting the current genocide in Gaza. They claim it’s what their Jesus wants to happen. But that makes no sense to me.

I don’t see how anyone who’s read Matthew 25 can possibly think this is what their Jesus would want!

The bestest Bible – Genesis:3

Following their dirty weekend in Marbella, Adam and Eve return to the garden

Following their dirty weekend in Marbella, Adam and Eve return to the garden only to find that God got bored waiting for their return and made a couple of imposters instead.

And then there was all that stuff about the apples… Nasty business, that was!

Sending ourselves to Hell

Christians often claim that God doesn’t send anyone to Hell… we send ourselves!

Whenever we mention the injustice of infinite punishment for finite crimes, especially when the supposed ‘crime’ is simply not being convinced, it’s common for Christians to claim that God doesn’t send anyone to Hell… we send ourselves! This demonstrates one of two possibilities…

1. The Christian in question hasn’t read their Bible (an odd state of affairs given that they think it’s the inspired word of God).

2. The Christian in question is a liar!

Of course – it’s not uncommon for both these possibilities to apply equally.

Punishing raped women

In what context could stoning a raped woman to death ever be justified?

In the Bible, Jesus tells us that God’s law shall never pass away until Heaven and earth are no more (Luke 16:17/Matthew 5:18). The Old Testament book of Deuteronomy literally translates as ‘the law repeated’. This law, the law of the old testament as written in the Hebrew bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) is the only law that Jesus, a Jew would, could have been talking about. And so it is to Deuteronomy that we turn when asking how to deal with rape victims.

Isaiah 7:14, the one about the virgin giving birth to a bloke called Immanuel that you hear about at every kids nativity play has absolutely nothing to do with Jesus. That’s a mistranslation, a mistake made by whoever wrote the gospel of Matthew.

He was a Greek speaker who couldn’t read the original Hebrew and so relied on a more ambiguous word from the Greek translation of the Old Testament. Unfortunately he made the wrong choice and wrote ‘Almah’, meaning ‘virgin’ instead of ‘young woman’. Not only that – the entire story is about events that happened in Isaiah’s time, over 700 years before the nativity story is supposed to have taken place..

Anyone who reads more of Isaiah chapter 7 than just verse 14 will quickly see that. It’s not hard to understand. There’s not really much room for ‘interpretation’ with this one. So if your pastor is telling you it’s a prophecy about the Messiah – ask him3 why he’s lying – or, more charitably, why he doesn’t know this himself. Has he never read the Bible?

BIBLE CONTRADICTIONS: Let’s talk nativity

He has a lot of very superficial and scientifically illiterate things to say about gay and trans citizens as well as the proper (baby-making) role of women. But the most ridiculous and most obviously false claim he makes is that there are no contradictions in the Bible. He even says that anyone who finds a biblical contradiction will be the first person in the history of humanity to do it.

I’m acquainted with a street preacher called Dale. I’m hoping to debate him on line fairly soon. He’s agreed in principle but seems a little reluctant to come up with a date.

Dale makes some pretty outrageous claims. He states evolution is a lie, regularly using what I’m pretty sure he thinks is a clever, even witty line:

“Don’t let evolution make a monkey out of you”

He has a lot of very superficial and scientifically illiterate things to say about gay and trans citizens as well as the proper (baby-making) role of women. But the most ridiculous and most obviously false claim he makes is that there are no contradictions in the Bible. He even says that anyone who finds a biblical contradiction will be the first person in the history of humanity to do it!

We’ll, Dale. Here we go… I found some. Presumably, since you love the truth so much you’ll stop saying there aren’t any from now on.

Discussing God and atheism with a Calvinist presup

Ryan Matus is a presuppositional, Calvinist Christian. He’s no fool and he certainly knows scripture. This online conversation was one of the most interesting and enjoyable I can remember and I’m certainly looking forward to talking more with Ryan.