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TechnoratiPost tagged with Bible
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What was in Jesus’ hand? Lessons on why you can’t take the Bible literally word for word
October 04th, 201112:55 AM ETAccording to a 2007 Gallup survey "About one-third of the American adult population believes the Bible is the actual word of God and is to be taken literally word for word." Now let's think about this. Would you please open your Bibles to Revelation 1:14-16: *ahem* "His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like... -
Are catalysmic natural disasters appropriate for the children's choir?
August 31st, 201103:58 PM ETThe Bible is not for kids. At least much of it isn't. The eroticism of Song of Songs is not fitting content for bed time devotions. Nor are the scenes of murder, rape and dismemberment in Judges or the shocking descriptions of starvation and cannibalism that one finds in Lamentations. Fortunately there are a range of children's Bibles on the marke... -
The Edsel of Christianity?
August 17th, 201107:25 PM ETI have now completed Part II of The End of Christianity, a section which aimed through the essays of Hector Avalos, Jaco Gericke and Valerie Tarico, to establish on biblical grounds why Christianity needs to end. At this point I'd like to take a look back at the section by identifying a set of assumptions that appear to lie behind the three essays ... -
Looking up to God or down a deep well: A Review of Thom Stark’s “Human Faces” (Part 1)
July 27th, 201102:08 PM ETThom Stark. The Human Faces of God: What Scripture reveals when it gets God wrong (and Why Inerrany Tries To Hide It). Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2011, 248 pp. ISBN: 13:978-1-60899-323-9. With all the recent hullabaloo regarding the Stark-Copan-Flannagan debate concerning whether Thom Stark is too stark I thought it an opportune time to begin ... -
Should we really interpret the Bible literally when possible?
July 26th, 201110:53 AM ETIn my previous article I focused on a common hermeneutical principle among fundamentalists. I called it the "literal when possible principle" (henceforth LPP) and I noted an example from it in the writings of John Walvoord, one of the preeminent fundamentalist scholars of the twentieth century. I then presented four arguments against it. Unfortunat... -
How fundamentalists undermine the authority of scripture
July 25th, 201110:53 AM ETChristian fundamentalists like to trumpet the authority of scripture over all things. Unfortunately the way that fundamentalists read scripture tends to undermine that authority. The key problem is that fundamentalists widely subscribe to a hermeneutical (that is interpretive) principle that the text should be interpreted literally when possible. T... -
How to hate your enemies: Lessons from the Psalms (Part 2)
October 13th, 201012:32 AM ETWe all tend to look at life through rose-colored glasses, at least rose colored where our own assumptions are concerned. As I noted last time round, this is certainly evident in the way that Christians tend to read the psalms, meditating on the praises, thanksgiving and wisdom while screening out all the imprecations. And I provided a couple exampl... -
The Indistinguishable Bible
September 05th, 201010:27 AM ETTwo issues need to be dealt with before I, finally, hopefully, I wish, I hope, can get back to reviewing The Christian Delusion: the epistemic status of testimony (of which there is no end of confusion) and the "divine detection" objection to the Bible. I'll deal with the latter here (although I've already addressed it, I'll happily do it again. On... -
Anarchists and atheists and Bibles, Oh My!
September 02nd, 201007:04 PM ETIt is a danged shame that I can’t give all the fine comments that find their way into my blog the attention they deserve. But I do what I can, and last week I made a note to get back to the comments of AnAtheist.Net. I’ve included them below and numbered them for ease of reference (just like a medieval monk numbering biblical passages you might... -
The Tentative Apologist's Christmas-in-August Variety Show
August 25th, 201011:21 AM ETAndy Williams has just finished singing “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” “And now,” The Tentative Apologist grins, “the most wonderful time of the show.” As he reclines in front of the fireplace wearing a bright red sweater with reindeer TA pulls out the ever present full-to-overflowing mailbag: First up TA pulls out a mi...
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An exploration of faith, knowledge, reason and doubt (with the occasional trite pop culture reference thrown in for good measure).
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