Where Did the Trinity Come from?

Aug 8, 2023

Slavery in the Bible

Jul 18, 2023 | Many Jews and Christians today are uncomfortable with the views of slavery in the Bible; the practice is simply assumed, it is normally condoned, and it is never condemned. Even so, some Christian apologists argue that the Bible actively disapproves of slavery and was instrumental in opposing it in the modern era. But is that right? In this episode I interview one of the premiere experts on the question, Dr. Josh Bowen, who has written two books on the matter; in our discussion he explains what the Bible really says about slavery and how we can put its statements, assumptions, and laws in its own context instead of thinking that it fits comfortably in ours. Dr. Bowen's latest book, Did the Old Testament Endorse Slavery?, is available on Amazon.

1946 The Movie: Official Trailer

Dec 6, 2022 | 1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted Culture is a feature documentary that follows the story of tireless researchers who trace the origins of the anti-gay movement among Christians to a grave mistranslation of the Bible in 1946. It chronicles the discovery of never-before-seen archives at Yale University which unveil astonishing new revelations, and casts significant doubt on any biblical basis for LGBTQIA+ prejudice. Featuring commentary from prominent scholars as well as opposing pastors, including the personal stories of the film’s creators, 1946 is at once challenging, enlightening, and inspiring.

While other documentaries have been successful in their attempt to treat the symptom of homophobia in the church, 1946 is working to diagnose and treat the disease - Biblical Literalism.


A RELATED ARTICLE FROM ADVOCATE:

How a Bible Error Changed History and Turned Gays Into Pariahs: In a new book and documentary, two researchers claim the original bible never condemned homosexuality. »

The Bible: A Queer Positive Book | Rev. Dr. Cheri DiNovo | TEDxToronto

Dec 6, 2017 • Within the pages of the Bible shines clear evidence and proof of a queer positive culture. The Bible must never again be used as an excuse for hate and division of the LGBTQ community. Rev. Dr. Cheri DiNovo has been the Member of Parliament for Parkdale - High Park for the last 11 years. She holds the record for most Private Member’s Bills passed by an MPP and the most pro-LGBTQ legislation than anyone in Canadian history. DiNovo is an ordained United Church Minister who performed the first legalized same-sex marriage. DiNovo won the Lambda Literary Award in Washington D.C. for spirituality and religion for her book, Queering Evangelism and has received numerous high profile awards for her 40+ years of activism. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.

Homosexuality & The Bible 1: God Said It, I Believe It, That Settles It - John Corvino

John Corvino discusses some Bible verses from both the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures, explores analogies to slavery and divorce, and points out the inconsistencies of those who cherry-pick the apparently anti-gay parts of the Bible while glossing over other problematic passages. (Passages read from New Revised Standard Version.)

Dr. John Corvino, also known as the "Gay Moralist," is a writer, speaker, and philosophy professor at Wayne State University in Detroit. He is the author of What's Wrong with Homosexuality? and the co-author (with Maggie Gallagher) of Debating Same-Sex Marriage, both from Oxford University Press.

Biblical Idiot

Trump says Biden hates the bible. Trump is a #biblicalidiot

Mysteries Of The Bible | Banned From The Bible

The Unknown Secrets of the Bible - Documentary

Al Fadi, Ex-Muslim Says the Bible Is Reliable

The Bible's Buried Secrets

Saudi Arabia Shreds Bibles

The Lost Gospels
The Lost Gospels, presented by Anglican priest Pete Owen Jones, is a fascinating exploration into the huge number of ancient Christian texts that didn't make it into the New Testament. Shocking and challenging, these were works in that presented a Jesus who didn't die, who took revenge on his enemies and who kissed Mary Magdalene on the mouth. This Jesus is unrecognisable from that found in the traditional books of the New Testament.

Pete travels through Egypt and the former Roman Empire looking at the emerging evidence of a Christian world that's very different from the one we know. He discovers that in addition to the gospels of Mark, Matthew, Luke and John, there were over 70 gospels, acts, letters and apocalypses circulating in the early Church.

Through these lost Gospels, Owen Jones reconstructs the intense intellectual and political struggles for orthodoxy that were fought in the early centuries of Christianity, a battle involving different Christian sects, each convinced that their gospels were true and sacred.

The worldwide success of Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code has sparked new interest about the origins of the Christian faith. Pete Owen Jones sets out the context in which heretical texts like the Gospel of Mary emerged. He also strikes a cautionary note: if these lost Gospels had been allowed to flourish, Christianity may well have faced an uncertain future, or perhaps not survived at all.

The documentary, although a great feat of scholarship falls short of exploring some other important manuscripts such as the Gospel of Judas and the Gospel of Barnabas. It also fails to eplore the evidences in the gospels of the other possibility of Christ's nature: that he was entirely human.

However, the question that really needs to be asked is: isn't God himself supposed to decide what comprises of His book?

Pagan Mom Challenges Bible Giveaway
Panel on whether she has a case

God Is Not the Creator, Claims Academic
THE TELEGRAPH: The notion of God as the Creator is wrong, claims a top academic, who believes the Bible has been wrongly translated for thousands of years.

The Earth was already there when God created humans and animals, says academic. Photo: The Telegraph
Professor Ellen van Wolde, a respected Old Testament scholar and author, claims the first sentence of Genesis "in the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth" is not a true translation of the Hebrew.

She claims she has carried out fresh textual analysis that suggests the writers of the great book never intended to suggest that God created the world -- and in fact the Earth was already there when he created humans and animals.

Prof Van Wolde, 54, who will present a thesis on the subject at Radboud University in The Netherlands where she studies, said she had re-analysed the original Hebrew text and placed it in the context of the Bible as a whole, and in the context of other creation stories from ancient Mesopotamia.

She said she eventually concluded the Hebrew verb "bara", which is used in the first sentence of the book of Genesis, does not mean "to create" but to "spatially separate".

The first sentence should now read "in the beginning God separated the Heaven and the Earth[.]"

According to Judeo-Christian tradition, God created the Earth out of nothing. >>> Richard Alleyne, Science Correspondent | Thursday, October 08, 2009

The Bible, But Not as You Know It
Image courtesy of the BBC
BBC: Most people think of the Bible as a densely printed book with no pictures, but a version of the scripture that resembles a glossy coffee table magazine aims to change that. It's part of a wave of radical presentations of the Bible, including a manga version and a Lego gospel. But how do Christians feel about these attempts to spread the word?

It's the kind of magazine you might find in a doctor's waiting room next to Cosmopolitan or Reader's Digest. On the front is a pale face heavy with mascara. A flick through throws up striking images: urban flooding, a Nigerian abattoir, a girl eating noodles, a pooch in a limo.

It's only when and if you get round to reading the text that the incongruity strikes you: "Go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven." What kind of problem page is this?

Bible Illuminated is the latest attempt to bring the Bible into the modern world. In the format of a 300-page glossy magazine, it contains the whole text of the New Testament in a popular translation, with no chapter or verse numbers.

The images are by turns beautiful, violent, oblique and provocative - much like the book itself. >>> By Stephen Tomkins | November 27, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback & Hardback) – Free delivery >>>

Bess Twiston Davies: Is the Bible Sexist?
TIMESONLINE: New research claims Bible's negative stance on women is a myth

Delilah is dangerous, Jezebel, wicked, and as for Eve... Whether they are temptresses, harlots or simply Old Testament chattels, women (it is often argued) get a raw deal in Scripture, with the odd saintly exception (the virgin Mary).

But new research into Biblical women shows that the majority receive positive or matter-of-fact write-ups. Words such as "blessed", "righteous" "outstanding" and - of course - "beautiful" crop up in descriptions of 60 of the Bible's 175 female characters, according to research from The Bible Society.

"Some people have the impression that the Bible is very negative about women," says David Ashford, the Society's Media and Development Officer.

Ashford's research, based on analysing the words used to describe Biblical females, found that "there are four times as many saints as there are sinners," and that "individual women are often described in the Bible in glowing terms."

"Wisdom is described as a female attribute in many texts. And some scholars believe that the Song of Deborah, which was probably composed by a woman, is one of the oldest pieces of literature within the Bible (Judges 5)." Jesus, he adds, had a liberated attitude to women, unusual for his era: "John 4.27, for example, shows that Jesus broke social conventions that discouraged conversations with women. Similarly, the gospel of Luke has long been referred to as the 'gospel of women' for its strong positive portrayal of women in the life of Jesus."

Hang on, what about the Jezebels, and Biblical harlots? Where do they fit the narrative? "Only 13 women are described negatively with terms such as 'nagging, intimidating lustful or provocative'" asserts Ashford, whose list of Bible heroines includes Sarah, Ruth and Mary, while Jezebel, Delilah fall into the villain camp.

As for the rest, those women who fall somewhere in between "the sinner" and "the saint" are described in "neutral" matter-of-fact terms - mother of, sister of, neighbour of etc. Those who do not receive both positive and negative descriptions, for example Miriam in the Old Testament who in Exodus is described as "Prophetess" but by the book of Numbers is marked down as a sinner for questioning, along with Aaron, the authority of Moses. Is the Bible Sexist? >>> Bess Twiston Davies | October 6, 2008

Top Ten Biblical Women >>> | October 6, 2008

The Biblical Male and Housework >>> | October 6, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Dust Jacket Hardcover, direct from the publishers (UK) >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback, direct from the publishers (UK) >>>