The Bible Geek Show

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The Bible Geek Podcast 18-033 Nov 18, 2018

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Might Mark 6:24ff mean that Herodias used John's severed head as a magical oracle device? Could Moses and Joshua have been variant (Canaanite and Egyptian) versions of an older mythic deity, subsequently harmonized? To what scriptural evidence do Pre- and Postmillennialists appeal? Ricky Gervais says he is an "agnostic-atheist." What does that mean? Theme music provided by: Peter Benjamin - composer for media www.peterbenjaminmusic.org peterbenjaminmusic@gmail.com

The Bible Geek Podcast 18-032 Nov 02, 2018

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Would you care to comment on the pre-Jesus environment, especially the book of Daniel and Enoch? Was Jesus on the cross actually petitioning Elijah to come and rescue him? Or appealing for the sun (Elijah’s fiery chariot) to rise? Might the “young men” who seized him have been angels or archons trying to prevent the ascension of Jesus? The young man who fled away naed, leaving behind his garment: was this the Christ spirit escaping the flesh-body and leaving it behind? Or might the young man have been the resurrected Lazarus? Did the Ark of the Covenant even exist? What saith the Bible about animals? Can you recall any case of God overtly lying? The “existence” of God. Recap of Mythicism. Was Hitchens correct that, had Jesus been sheer invention, early Christians would have created a simpler Nativity story? Theme music provided by: Peter Benjamin - composer for media www.peterbenjaminmusic.org peterbenjaminmusic@gmail.com

The Bible Geek Podcast 18-031 Sep 13, 2018

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On whether mainstream acceptance of Mythicism would end Christianity. How is Arminianism any less deterministic than Calvinism? If God knows how all future events would come to pass, then how can human beings act contrary to God's foreknowledge? My wife is an evangelical believer and raises our kids in her faith. I don’t object, but after much internal debate, I’ve chosen to expose my kids to facts regarding other faiths in the world. My only real beef with the evangelical faith is the reliance on the threat of eternal damnation. How would you approach this? What passages in the Bible would you use to promote alternative eschatologies? Is Jerusalem the 3rd-holiest site for Islam? And is Muhammad’s ascent to heaven apocryphal or Koranic? Does the Koran promise 72 virgins or 72 raisins? If none of the four Gospels had survived but only Tatian's Gospel Harmony, would academics have been able to discover there were at least four Gospels and the Q document behind it? What methods can be used to find out if the Quran was originally several different sources? Why were four Gospels included in the New Testament? Was each aimed at refuting a particular heresy? In the Bible, what is "usury," charging excessive Interest or the charging of any interest? What is a "familiar spirits"? Please comment on the nearly pornographic Ezekiel 23:20? Theme music provided by: Peter Benjamin - composer for media www.peterbenjaminmusic.org peterbenjaminmusic@gmail.com

The Bible Geek Podcast 18-030 Sep 11, 2018

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Some Afghani Muslims believe Ali was a prophet after Muhammad. How can they reconcile this with Muhammad being “the Seal of the Prophets”? Why wasn’t the Acts of John included in the canon? Would you have included it? Is there a consensus among modern Christian theologians regarding the need for salvation for extraterrestrial aliens? Is Heaven hotter than Hell? Was Adam an androgynous being much like Manu in the Rig Veda? Is it possible that Caiaphas blackmailed Pilate into crucifying Jesus, knowing that Pilate used funds from the Temple for building an aqueduct? Barbara Thiering argues that Jesus was the "Man of a Lie" mentioned in the Dead Sea Scrolls. However, Robert Eisenman contends that it was St.Paul who is given this title. Which seems more likely? The story in Matthew about a Roman centurion who asks Jesus to heal his "young servant" uses the word pais, "boy" and that this has sexual connotations. Is this an effort to make Jesus appear to be friendly to Romans and vice versa? The Mandeans are gnostics. They hold John the Baptist in high regard and Jesus in low regard. Might this indicate that John was actually gnostic, or with gnostic influence? Was there a conflict between Jesus' followers and followers of John? Might the Gospels have been scripts for screen plays? What do we know about the use of Greek words that are translated as the proper noun "Satan" in the New Testament? Theme music provided by: Peter Benjamin - composer for media www.peterbenjaminmusic.org peterbenjaminmusic@gmail.com

The Bible Geek Podcast 18-029 Sep 03, 2018

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Morton Smith mentions the notion that Jesus had magical tattoos from his time in Egypt that empowered him to cast miraculous spells. Where does this idea come from? What is the point of Matthew’s device of pushing the nativity sequence forward by means of dreams? Do any modern Christians emphasize the significance of dreams? In Malachi, there is a stern warning about God smearing dung on the faces of the high priests of Israel. What's this all about? When roughly did Jews and Christians begin to see the Genesis One creation story as suggesting humans are created in the Image of God and that this should be seen as the origin of human dignity and all human rights? Given your dislike for inclusive language in Bible translations, why did you translate "an individual" instead of "a man" in Galatians 6:1? Many OT passages involve cups of judgment, especially ones containing wormwood. Num 5: 18, 24, 27; Eze 23:31-34, Hab 2:15, Jer 8:14; 49:12; 51:6 +; Psa 60:2, 75:8; 116:13; Zec 12:2; Obd 1:6, and others. Might the Gethsemane scene be based on such texts? Anew reading of the death of Absalom in 2 Samuel.

The Bible Geek Podcast 18-028 Aug 23, 2018

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Whether the original Hebrew of Genesis implies the loincloths of Adam and Eve were animal hides—or the physical bodies newly clothing their spiritual bodies. Might Genesis 6:4 have originated as propaganda for the policies of Ezra and Nehemiah? Might the Greek phrase 'οἱ γίγαντες οἱ ἀπ᾽ αἰῶνος' mean the Genesis 6:1-4 Nephilim were avatars of the Gnostic Aeons? Is the supposed influence of Hinduism & Buddhism on Gnosticism and Christianity rendered unlikely by the absence of any Sanskrit texts in Egypt or Palestine? My question relates to the overall idea the New Testament gospels are Midrash. Why would a group of individuals sit down one day, grab a random name out of a hat, then start writing Midrash in Greek? Why would Paul (in Galatians) refer only to James as the Lord's brother while not so describing Cephas? It seems obvious to me that "brother" here can have only its literal, primary meaning. I'm interested in your take on how the Prosperity Gospel has developed over the decades and its relation to those American Christians who have accumulated economic and political power. Does Romans 13 mean, as many hold, that God rubber stamps the actions of any and all government? Or that he has charged them with righteous administration, implying he will replace them if they fail? Is the Catholic refusal to inform the police of crimes learned of in the confession booth based on the Bible? What do you think of Jordan Pederson’s approach to the Bible? Theme music provided by: Peter Benjamin - composer for media www.peterbenjaminmusic.org peterbenjaminmusic@gmail.com

The Bible Geek Podcast 18-027 Aug 19, 2018

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In Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity, Walter Bauer says: "the catastrophe in Palestine forever erased the demand that gentile Christians of the diaspora should be circumcised and should to some extent observe the ceremonial law. ... [F]ellowship between Jewish and gentile Christians in the outside world became really possible." Was it really so consequential and immediate an event as to erase that line? Is it racist for Walter Bauer to write that Rome was "by nature and custom least inclined or able to yield to seemingly fantastic oriental ways of thinking and oriental emotions that becloud clear thought"? In the Pauline epistles, many statements are tied together by words such as "If", "For", and "Thus". It looks as if he's trying to construct logical arguments, but the statements are often non sequiturs. Why do his writings have the trappings of rationality, but not the substance? Do you think Jordan Peterson is on to something when he says that the Judeo-Christian tradition is exceptional among religions in preserving the wisdom Nature (or God) has written into us through evolution? Is the Swoon Theory compatible with Christ Mythicism? Does the Infancy Gospel of James portray Jesus as theophany of Yahweh descended direct from heaven?

The Bible Geek Podcast 18-026 Aug 10, 2018

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What about the apologetics argument that the resurrection of Jesus could not have been fabricated because of the fact that gospel writers claim that women were witnesses to the event. As women were not thought to be competent witnesses, why would the gospel author state that women saw the resurrected Jesus unless it were the truth? Is it true that the Roman empire generally had a policy of religious tolerance, provided that the religion in question makes a reasonable claim at being an ancient tradition? In Acts 17:16-34, Paul is dragged in front of the Areopagus, because some people thought he was a "babbler", while others said he was "a setter forth of strange gods." But the Areopagus lost the power to prosecute religious matters in 462 BC. Is this an anachronism? Wendy Doniger mentioned in one of her books the possibility that Jesus was raised by wild animals. What are your thoughts? Do you think it's possible that the rich young ruler was the "beloved disciple" in John's Gospel? What do you think of the family tomb of Jesus Christ? Does the Bible contain examples of utilitarian entreaty to sacred powers for no other reason but one’s own ends? I remember hearing of a theory of a hidden messiah where the messiah would come (and leave) without anyone knowing until being revealed some time later. Was this belief current before the Jesus era?

The Bible Geek Podcast 18-025 Jul 18, 2018

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When in Mark 5:43 Jesus tells Jairus and his wife not to tell anyone about “this,” something impossible given that they would have to pretend henceforth that she was dead in an empty grave, Mark mean s that Jesus means not to disclose the method of healing/resurrecting the girl, not to the fact that she was alive. Maybe he wanted everyone to think he was simply an effective doctor, not a miracle worker? This set of questions was inspired by a YouTube video, "If Atheists Talked About The Hulk Like Jordan Peterson Talks About The Bible." Does the Bible ever rename characters for discernible literary of theological reasons? Preacher often say the body and the flesh are not the same thing, but is there an actual Greek basis for this distinction? Is the Hulk a decent representation of the Paulinist or Marcionist "Fleshly Man"? What reason is there to posit the existence of a Signs Source underlying John? I regularly hear that many modern critical scholars are both Christians and hold certain mainstream positions regarding the suspect history of books such as the Pastorals, at least one of the Epistles of Peter, etc. Do you know whether, as Christians, they tend to accept the books as pious forgeries and still somehow inspired as scripture? If you were a somewhat conservative Christian what one book of the Bible would you consider the most problematic to your belief, the most embarrassing, the most open to attack from the outside? And why? When you write a scholarly book or paper, do you typically just write out the entirety of your argument, and add in the relevant references later? Or do you stop and start, inserting references as you go? Or some mixture of the two? Theme music provided by: Peter Benjamin - composer for media www.peterbenjaminmusic.org peterbenjaminmusic@gmail.com

The Bible Geek Podcast 18-024 Jul 10, 2018

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It has been claimed that the genealogy in Matthew 1 contains 14+ features of sevens, said to collectively defy probability.Â From a textual standpoint, how plausible is this?Â Could the Samaritan woman in John 4 be a reference to the last Seleucid monarch, Cleopatra Selene, who just so happens to have been the ruler of Galilee during 70s BCE when the Toledot dates Jesus? What are the covenants? How were they broken? What did they add or take away from the human race?Â My father told me as a child that faith and prayer power is limited because God cannot lie, and his words create laws, laws that even God himself cannot break. Is there any passage of the Bible where God breaks his law? Did God create animals in Eden so man might offer them in sacrifice? Â The Synoptics depict John the Baptist predicting the imminent apocalyptic judgment to be rendered by the Coming One (Jesus). It didnâ??t happen. How do inerrantists deal with this? Or do they even notice? Theme music provided by: Peter Benjamin - composer for media www.peterbenjaminmusic.org peterbenjaminmusic@gmail.com

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