May 14th The Bible Geek Podcast
Tuesday, May 14th 2013, 1h34m
Are the 1 Corinthians 13 references to mountain-moving faith and giving away possessions derived from the gospels or vice versa or some other alternative? Re the "scathing Amazon review of The Pre-Nicene NT" discussed in the April 27 "Bible Geek" podcast. Could you give examples of what's wrong with the NRSV? Arenâ??t Daniel's 70 weeks and Isaiah 53 actual messianic texts? A series of Markan texts depict Jesus' crowds getting bigger, but is there another, symbolic reason for Jesus to be getting closer and closer to being in a boat and then being in a boat a lot until the middle of the gospel? Could you give us a quick summary of the history of apologetics? Question about Hosea's and Isaiah's childrens' names. Was this entire story understood as symbolism or was the practice of naming children like this common? I have heard you and others say that Esther may just be another version of the mythological character Ishtar. Is there a similar story about Ishtar as the one we read in Esther? You have talked about Colossians 1:24 where Paul says that he is filling up what was lacking in the afflictions of Christ. It reminded me of the puzzling story in Mark 10:35-45 where Jesus says that James and John will drink the same cup that he would. Did some early Christians believed that there was something salvific about suffering and martyrdom in general? Why was the Gospel of Thomas not included in or redacted into the New Testament? Were the gnostic teachings truly "secret;" is it thought they never preached on street corners or the like? Were Peter and Thomas common Aramaic names before the supposed time of Jesus? Or did their popularity only come in the wake of Christianity? Did Gnostics believe in Hell? Which of your books (or books in general) would you recommend to most fully begin to understand the Aramaic phrase "Son of Man"? I came across a book "Saul of Tarsus, or, Paul and Swedenborg by a Layman" which follows the Tubingen critics in identifying Paul and Simon Magus. Evangelicals claim unbelievers are sent to hell because of the "holiness of God." Does this make sense? How can proponents of the traditional view of Hell (being eternal torment) explain its absence in the Old Testament? What is going on in Revelation 20:14? Why would Hell be thrown into the lake of fire? Are death and hell literal people? I have been thinking about Rev. 13.8: Some say the "reckoning" of the number refers to numerology, not gematria. It may refer generically to an ultimate Sinner, not a specific Roman emperor. Or the reference may be to the Gnostic Sophia, or to Paul. According to the Bible, does Yahweh live in outer space? Does Jesus in the gospels preach 'Christ crucified' as Paul does? What was the "church of God" that Paul is supposed to have persecuted? What does the Geek think about Judith Jarvis Thomson's classic essay "A Defense of Abortion"? Are Christian apologists (like W.L. Craig) the best Christianity has to offer as intellectual defenders of the faith? What is your opinion of Ray 'banana-man' Comfort? Are Isaiah, Joshua, Josiah, and Jesus all the same name originally?  Under the Torah it was lawful to have both multiple wives and concubines. In light of this culture where polygamy was fairly common, what would it mean to violate the 6th commandment and "commit adultery"? Has anyone made a significant study of all the references in the New Testament to the Old Testament, distinguishing them into three groups: 1) those derivable from the Septuagint, but in some way not agreeing with the Hebrew version of the Bible; 2) those derivable from the Hebrew Bible, but in some way not agreeing with the Septuagint; and 3) those, where it could have come from either -- or an answer was indeterminable in some other way? Might the Adam and Eve story have actually been a coming of age fable? Isn't the most serious problem with the census in Luke is how it was conducted? Why would a census force people to move to the home of their remote ancestors?

May 13th The Bible Geek Podcast
Monday, May 13th 2013, 1h18m
I think it would do the non-theist community a lot of good if more churches had thoughtful, respectful nonbelievers attending regularly, to help tear down stereotypes on both sides. Good idea? How would you respond to the argument that the Pauline epistles have different writing styles and vocabulary not because they are pseudonymous but because they are addressed to different audiences and circumstances? What about the argument that the writing styles are different because they were ghost-written? You think all of the Pauline epistles are pseudonymous. But how can you establish this without a genuine letter for comparison? What do you think of the theories of Ralph Ellis who claims the character Jesus is based on a king of Edessa? What does the Geek believe to be the strongest argument for the necessity of God's existence? Acharya S speaks of a virgin mother character by the name of Mara/Mary/etc., who pre-dates Christianity by hundreds, if not thousands, of years. How might this 'primal' belief have become fused with early Christianity? Can you tell us about Eusebius, his history of the Church and why many scholars believe it to be wrong? My basic understanding leads me to believe that baptism with water relieves or washes one of sin and anointing with oil empowers one with spiritual prowess. Is this the current correct understanding, and if so has this always been the case? If the Testimonium Flavianum that mentions Jesus is truly reliable, why are there no mentions of it until the 4th century? Re the doctrine of salvation by faith: which components of belief in Christianity are supposed to be necessary for salvation? Are the sometimes wide differences between the RSV and the Douay-Rheims version of Sirach due to the translation of different underlying manuscripts? Is there anything in the Bible that's truly unique or original that doesn't have a precedent in religions or cultures from an earlier period? How did 19th century Protestant Americans interpret the "Mother of Harlots" in Revelation 17? What is Judaism all about these days? More politics than religion? And is it important to Jews to argue against Christianity? You said that the belief that there were degrees of reward in Heaven for good deeds done by those saved through faith was not a biblical view. Would you mind explaining? In regard to the trinity, what is the Holy Ghost?

May 11th The Bible Geek Podcast
Saturday, May 11th 2013, 1h11m
Is Matthew 5:27-28 Jewish-Christian ethics or anti-Jewish polemic?  Might the word "ephapax" ("at once" or "once and for all") in 1 Corinthians 15:6 imply, not that Jesus appeared before a "crowd," but rather that he appeared to 500 during a restricted period, now over? What's with Paul being called a "ringleader of the Nazarenes?" Are we to believe that an outside inquisitor is referring to this emergent group by the town of birth of their founder? What's with Paul's itinerary in Romans 15 - planning a trip to "Spain?" If we created our own sentient beings, would we want them to bow and scrape before us? Then why would God? In an Islamic hadith, the Gharkad tree is especially associated with Jews. Why? 1 and 2 Chronicles as a possible parallel to and possible basis for the writing and method employed by the authors of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke on Mark. Mark is a carefully constructed composition, one which employs many detectable strategic literary techniques. Why then the poor Greek? Mark 9:23 in the Alexandrian texts have "If you can," while the Textus Receptus has "If thou canst believe." Which is original? Is 2 Corinthians 12:1-10 describing Paulâ??s conversion experience? And does the verb tense imply that Paul is still plagued by his "thorn" at the time of writing? Why did the Judas betrayal scene develop as it did, and not more convincingly? Is there any reason to think Malchus was a real person? Does the name Malchus have any significance that would make it clear why John would insert such a detail if it didn't have some historical basis?

May 7th The Bible Geek Podcast
Tuesday, May 7th 2013, 53m
An advance reading of the paper "Myth, Method and the Will to Believe" that Dr. Price is presenting at the Warren Apologetics Conference on Thursday, 5/9/2013.

April 30th The Bible Geek Podcast
Tuesday, April 30th 2013, 60m
Jesus, Judas, the Beloved Disciple, and Pilate in John 18. Doesnâ??t 1 Clement's reference to 1 Corinthians count against your 2nd century dating of the Epistles? Was Jesus a prophet, as Muslims say? Why do you pronounce "Elijah" with a soft "j"? If the purpose of "the shekel of the sanctuary" imposed by Moses was to provide for "the service of the sanctuary"(Exodus 30.11-16), how come no one ever uses this as the base for support of churches and instead pull out 10% tithing as the model shown in the Bible? At the conclusion of the Noah's Ark story God gives Noah the rainbow as a sign of a covenant never again to destroy the people of Earth. Is this supposed to be the origin story for rainbows? Or is it that the rainbow merely acquires this additional significance in becoming a reminder of the covenant? What do we really know about the "Pauline" letters? Is there a "Myth of Mary the Mother of Jesus" study available?