Benson Shays

I've always had mixed feelings about Bart Ehrman's work. He's a brilliant scholar and communicator, but he also seems dedicated to dismantling Christianity (or at least its historical basis) in the process of writing for the general public. That's just annoying. But understanding he's not in the apologetics business anymore, I find his books rather useful on balance. They're good for swatting down the arguments of skeptics who claim the Bible is completely unreliable and Christianity based entirely ...

Tags: bart ehrman, christ-myth, jesus

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Many Evangelical Christians today don't want to critically studying their faith, and are sometimes openly hostile to the idea. Jesus has changed their lives; whatever the experts may say about Jesus or the origins of Christianity is irrelevant. They have the Bible and need nothing else.

Such a mindset is harmful to the people who harbor it and to the entirety of Christianity. I mean, what sign do we send to potential converts when we stick our fingers in our ears and shake our heads ...

A number of Christian apologists have blasted skeptics for sharing common ground with the wackiest of religious believers on a number issues. For example, many atheists maintain that the Bible teaches a literal six-day creation, or that Revelation is to be taken as a literal text. Whether believers or skeptics, the people who hold such views often understand the Bible in an absolutist sense, rarely considering its historical context or the author's purpose in writing.

I just finished

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Tags: atheism, gail riplinger, james white, king james bible

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it really warms my heart. In fact, few things entertain me more than watching scholars heap scorn on perhaps the stupidest idea in all of biblical studies -- the Chirst-myth. They don't have to spend any time on such tomfoolery, but they do. I appreciate that. But what makes this medium of entertainment all the better is when the experts attack mythicists for the same reasons I do.

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Tags: christ-myth

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According to Baylor University's newspaper, Phillip Jenkins, historian and serial destroyer of stupid arguments, has some constructive criticism for Christians when it comes to addressing difficult biblical passages, OT atrocities specifically:

Jenkins...said these passages should be read as a warning for the Jewish people to remain faithful to God, rather than a license to commit aggression.
“Where people are reading the Bible wrongly, in my view, is they are reading the Bible

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Tags: old testament, phillip jenkins

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