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Gospel Disagreement & a Brief Gospel History
The timeline of composition and authorship of the gospels raise important-to-consider issues that should not be ignored. If one desires to understand their beliefs beyond a “It must be true as I learned it, because it must be true as I learned it” fallacy, then seeking to answer these questions seems reasonable. Let’s start by…
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Apologists: Dogma’s Retainment Specialists
You’ve probably heard the term apologist before. I don’t remember when I first heard it, but I thought it meant something along the lines of “A person who uses more in-depth scriptural interpretation to show how something in the bible is true, to convince non-believers of the veracity of the faith.” While that definition is…
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Modern Critical Scholarship: How Do We Know What We Know?
Few people enjoy having their views or opinions challenged. Throughout all of human history this has remained constant. One example that came to mind when thinking about this post was the acceptance of a heliocentric solar system model. The church had been adamant that the earth was the center of the solar system. The famous…
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The Third Option
A few months ago I wrote a piece titled The Failed Prophecy and the False Choice. I ended it with the conclusion that we live in a world where we have more than just two choices when it comes to the bible. What I didn’t do was elaborate on that. To quickly sum up the…
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The Other Ten Commandments
If you believe the standard Ten Commandments are the real Ten Commandments, you have negotiated with the bible. You have not taken it at its word. Sounds crazy right? I’ll get to why, but let’s set the stage. Growing up I remember this lady (she’ll remain anonymous) handing out copies of the Ten Commandments and…
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Would They Recognize Jesus?
It has become increasingly clear in the last month that the broad American Evangelical Church is facing a dilemma between something and their neighbor. There’s something out there that seems to be a partition between the words they read and “believe”, and the actions they champion and promote. “The only clear line I draw these…
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Jericho? Jerino…Probably Not.
Archaeology is often like being handed a 1,000 piece puzzle and then attempting to ascertain what the picture was on that puzzle when you only have 11 pieces left of the original. It’s not easy, and any good Archaeologist will acknowledge that uncertainty. Sometimes things in Archaeology are easier though, like finding out if a…
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Biblical Slavery, Modern Interpretation, and an LGBT/Misogyny Parallel?
Slavery. A topic that is usually swept under the rug if you will. How many sermons or Sabbath Schools have you spent actually learning what the bible has to say on it? The Bible is unsurprisingly univocal about condoning slavery (I mean, think about the times and places it was written). That’s not just my…
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The Absurdity of Certainty
On October 9th, 1903, the New York Times published an article that mocked the recent human attempts to fly. The writer boldly and with certainty, proclaimed that human flight would not be achievable for another 1 million to 10 million years. Just 9 weeks later on Dec 17th 1903 , the Wright brothers flew. This…
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A Theory of God’s Omniscience
The first Men in Black remains one of my all time favorite movies. It’s probably in the top 20. As any successful cash generator before and after, it of course spawned sequels. The third movie, cleverly called “Men in Black 3” introduces a few characters. One is an Archanan named Griffin whose special ability is…
Space For Doubt 