The bible is a bunch of hooey...so is the new testament

[Free]

I get it, you're the only one smart enough to tell the average christian what they should believe. It must be just marvy being you. Bet your shit don't stink either.

Actually, I am not the only one. Countless people know what I know, and I learned from them. I do have an M.A. in Religious Studies, assist other historians with their research, and have been studying Gnosticism for decades, including translating numerous texts.

So yes, I am quite qualified to have an educated and well informed opinion on the subject, as well as produce a stinking pile of shit that would rival anybody.

You need to get the word out to all those christians then. It's your moral duty.

I would, but somehow I don't think even the Christians would be interested in my big stinking pile of shit.

[brewerb]

Actually, I am not the only one. Countless people know what I know, and I learned from them. I do have an M.A. in Religious Studies, assist other historians with their research, and have been studying Gnosticism for decades, including translating numerous texts.

So yes, I am quite qualified to have an educated and well informed opinion on the subject, as well as produce a stinking pile of shit that would rival anybody.

You need to get the word out to all those christians then. It's your moral duty.

I would, but somehow I don't think even the Christians would be interested in my big stinking pile of shit.

Well, you can claim to know everything christian but if you won't tell them or none will listen to you, what's the point?

[Minimalist]

Why listen to anyone with a degree in "religious studies?"

[Free]

You need to get the word out to all those christians then. It's your moral duty.

I would, but somehow I don't think even the Christians would be interested in my big stinking pile of shit.

Well, you can claim to know everything christian but if you won't tell them or none will listen to you, what's the point?

I do not claim to know everything. I only claim to know what I know and have been educated to understand. 

I educate Christians on a regular basis. Many come to me because they either don't understand something written in the NT, or they want to settle an argument they are having with someone else. It gives me a chance to educate them on the history of their faith, as opposed to propagating their faith such as a pastor does.

[Bucky Ball]

[Minimalist]

I do not claim to know everything.

THAT comes through.  Loud and clear.

[Free]

Why listen to anyone with a degree in "religious studies?"

Because it makes them an authority, that's why.

You have no idea why people study religions, do you? Are you even aware that many public service positions utilize a person educated in religious studies? How it helps in dealing with different people of different religious and ethnic backgrounds? There are literally innumerable positions where an education in religious studies is required, and none of them requires the person with an M.A. to be religious themselves.

You don't have a fucking clue. 

[Minimalist]

An "authority" on mythological bullshit.  I'm sure that irony is lost on you about as much as logic and reason.

Did you minor in Alchemy?

[Free]

An "authority" on mythological bullshit.  I'm sure that irony is lost on you about as much as logic and reason.

Did you minor in Alchemy?

An authority on religion. 

It helps to understand people, where their head is, whether or not their religious indoctrination will be a problem, or if their indoctrination is impeding their ability to perform up to required specifications, and how to help them with that.

It also helps to instruct them in ways you can't even begin to understand. 

It's a sociology asset, idiot.

"The different traditional focuses of sociology include social stratification, social class, social mobility, religion, secularization, law, sexuality, gender, and deviance. "

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociology#Religion

[Thumpalumpacus]

The Bible is a bunch of hooey?

This is quite the startling revelation.

So to speak, of course.

[Minimalist]

Religitards always try to make their bullshit sound important.

At the end of the day, it remains bullshit and the purveyors of it are merely bullshitters.

"What has theology ever said that is of the smallest use to anybody? When has theology ever said anything that is demonstrably true and is not obvious? I have listened to theologians, read them, debated against them. I have never heard any of them ever say anything of the smallest use, anything that was not either platitudinously obvious or downright false. If all the achievements of scientists were wiped out tomorrow, there would be no doctors but witch doctors, no transport faster than horses, no computers, no printed books, no agriculture beyond subsistence peasant farming. If all the achievements of theologians were wiped out tomorrow, would anyone notice the smallest difference? Even the bad achievements of scientists, the bombs, and sonar-guided whaling vessels work! The achievements of theologians don't do anything, don't affect anything, don't mean anything. What makes anyone think that 'theology' is a subject at all?"

-- Richard Dawkins

[mordant]

Religitards always try to make their bullshit sound important.

At the end of the day, it remains bullshit and the purveyors of it are merely bullshitters.

"What has theology ever said that is of the smallest use to anybody? When has theology ever said anything that is demonstrably true and is not obvious? I have listened to theologians, read them, debated against them. I have never heard any of them ever say anything of the smallest use, anything that was not either platitudinously obvious or downright false. If all the achievements of scientists were wiped out tomorrow, there would be no doctors but witch doctors, no transport faster than horses, no computers, no printed books, no agriculture beyond subsistence peasant farming. If all the achievements of theologians were wiped out tomorrow, would anyone notice the smallest difference? Even the bad achievements of scientists, the bombs, and sonar-guided whaling vessels work! The achievements of theologians don't do anything, don't affect anything, don't mean anything. What makes anyone think that 'theology' is a subject at all?"

-- Richard Dawkins

I've always said that theology is a faux discipline. It only requires knowledge and skill to the extent that it's self-referential. It says zero about the real world / experienced reality. It is entirely concocted assertions with no basis.

[Free]

Religitards always try to make their bullshit sound important.

At the end of the day, it remains bullshit and the purveyors of it are merely bullshitters.

"What has theology ever said that is of the smallest use to anybody? When has theology ever said anything that is demonstrably true and is not obvious? I have listened to theologians, read them, debated against them. I have never heard any of them ever say anything of the smallest use, anything that was not either platitudinously obvious or downright false. If all the achievements of scientists were wiped out tomorrow, there would be no doctors but witch doctors, no transport faster than horses, no computers, no printed books, no agriculture beyond subsistence peasant farming. If all the achievements of theologians were wiped out tomorrow, would anyone notice the smallest difference? Even the bad achievements of scientists, the bombs, and sonar-guided whaling vessels work! The achievements of theologians don't do anything, don't affect anything, don't mean anything. What makes anyone think that 'theology' is a subject at all?"

-- Richard Dawkins

Here's what you don't understand.

Dawkins is 100% correct. 

But don't confuse a traditional theologian with a contemporary B.A., M.A. or PhD of Religious Studies. They are two completely different disciplines. 

"In some contemporary contexts, a distinction is made between theology, which is seen as involving some level of commitment to the claims of the religious tradition being studied, and religious studies, which by contrast is normally seen as requiring that the question of the truth or falsehood of the religious traditions studied be kept outside its field. 

Religious studies involves the study of historical or contemporary practices or of those traditions' ideas using intellectual tools and frameworks that are not themselves specifically tied to any religious tradition and that are normally understood to be neutral or secular. In contexts where 'religious studies' in this sense is the focus, the primary forms of study are likely to include:


1. Anthropology of religion
2. Comparative religion
3. History of religions
4. Philosophy of religion
5. Psychology of religion
6. Sociology of religion"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theology#R...us_studies

I really have no idea what your problem is, especially when you have your god, Richard Carrier, churning out books and articles about Jesus as if he was on some kind of a mission from god.

[grympy]

Just sayin.   

I've been discussing the bible with a friend who is somewhat religious but not too over the edge. She's not really a church goer, she just sort of believes stuff....maybe.  She was very interested  to learn about the origins of Yahweh as a war god, one of the pantheon of gods.  I described El as the god of all gods from which Isra-el gets the last two letters of it's name.  This was news to her.   It was interesting how the dominos fall. When one learns of the origins of the biblical war god the entire house of cards fall.   If the old testament is a bunch of hooey then so is the new testament.

I meant to add this link....https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/.pre...-1.5992072

 Interesting, but hardly a new theory.

YHWH was pinched by a tribe of illiterate bronze age goat herders. He was part of the Canaanite pantheon, and had a wife called Asherah. Further,  Judaism remained polytheistic until at least the  third century bce .  (see links below) 

Dismissing any religious beliefs as 'hooey" is I think a bit simplistic . I believe that  without exception ,  religions reflect the culture which believes them. The people who became the Jews, borrowed from Sumerian mythology  for the basis of their religion.  Over the centuries, a  small local god became YHWH, the ONLY god, and lord of the universe.Even today Orthodox Jews use euphemisms  such as Adonai' (lord)  or simply  HE  when referring to Jews. His name is to sacred to be spoken or written 

Judaism was one of the few ancient religions with a book .The Torah, with MosaicLaw, helped keep the Jews together as a  people into modern times.

It is my observation that we humans may have a hard wired urge to the divine , and that is why religion is universal. It is we atheists who are in the minority, not believers.

I think religion meets a lot of human needs for believers;  EG a need for the illusion of order, meaning and control. Eg that isn't thunder ,it's Thor's hammer. There  is a drought . No worries we'll sacrifice a pigeon, or a goat, or an ox, or a child to influence the god to send us rain.   The more dire the need the greater the sacrifice.   The entire Egyptian culture was built around the status of Pharaoh as a living god and the after life. The focus of people's  lives was preparing for the afterlife as best they could .. The wealthy and Pharaoh spent what we might see as obscene wealth in preparing . 

Religion also gives a sense of belonging, of community.  Even up to medieval times, belonging to one religious  group or another could be a  matter of life and death . EG Protestant vs Catholic. Being a Jew could be very dangerous in Europe from about the fifth century ce 

A favourite saying, from Epicurus I think, but I'm not sure. Something like "To the ordinary people  the gods  are real. To the wise man foolish.To the ruler useful"

((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((())))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

"Did God Have a Wife?: Archaeology and Folk Religion in Ancient Israel, (Eerdmans, ISBN 0-8028-2852-3, 2005),[1] is a book by Syro-Palestinian archaeologist William G. Dever, Professor Emeritus of Near Eastern Archeology and Anthropology at the University of Arizona. Did God Have a Wife? was intended as a popular work making available to the general public the evidence long known to archaeologists regarding ancient Israelite religion: namely that the Israelite god of antiquity (before 600 BCE), Yahweh, had a consort, that her name was Asherah, and that she was part of the Canaanite pantheon. "

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Did_God_Have_a_Wife%3F


The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts, a book published in 2001, discusses the archaeology of Israel and its relationship to the origins and content of the Hebrew Bible. The authors are Israel Finkelstein, Professor of Archaeology at Tel Aviv University, and Neil Asher Silberman, an archaeologist, historian and contributing editor to Archaeology Magazine. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bible_Unearthed

[Minimalist]

Religious studies involves the study of historical or contemporary practices or of those traditions' ideas using intellectual tools and frameworks that are not themselves specifically tied to any religious tradition and that are normally understood to be neutral or secular. In contexts where 'religious studies' in this sense is the focus, the primary forms of study are likely to include:

<Yawn>

If a proctologist is comparing two stool samples he/she may or may not find an interesting factoid or two but at the end of the day he/she is still studying shit.  You have that in common with a procologist.

And you mention Carrier far more than I do.  Why is that?  I suspect that it is because you are jealous of him.  Far more people have heard of him while you slip burgers in obscurity.

Fuck you.

[Inkubus]

Religitards always try to make their bullshit sound important.

At the end of the day, it remains bullshit and the purveyors of it are merely bullshitters.

"What has theology ever said that is of the smallest use to anybody? When has theology ever said anything that is demonstrably true and is not obvious? I have listened to theologians, read them, debated against them. I have never heard any of them ever say anything of the smallest use, anything that was not either platitudinously obvious or downright false. If all the achievements of scientists were wiped out tomorrow, there would be no doctors but witch doctors, no transport faster than horses, no computers, no printed books, no agriculture beyond subsistence peasant farming. If all the achievements of theologians were wiped out tomorrow, would anyone notice the smallest difference? Even the bad achievements of scientists, the bombs, and sonar-guided whaling vessels work! The achievements of theologians don't do anything, don't affect anything, don't mean anything. What makes anyone think that 'theology' is a subject at all?"

-- Richard Dawkins

The study of theology, as it stands in Christian churches, is the study of nothing; it is founded on nothing; it rests on no principles; it proceeds by no authorities; it has no data; it can demonstrate nothing; and it admits of no conclusion.

Thomas Paine.


Theology is the study and promotion of theology.

[Free]

The study of theology, as it stands in Christian churches, .

Thomas Paine.


Theology is the study and promotion of theology.

[Free]

Religious studies involves the study of historical or contemporary practices or of those traditions' ideas using intellectual tools and frameworks that are not themselves specifically tied to any religious tradition and that are normally understood to be neutral or secular. In contexts where 'religious studies' in this sense is the focus, the primary forms of study are likely to include:

<Yawn>

If a proctologist is comparing two stool samples he/she may or may not find an interesting factoid or two but at the end of the day he/she is still studying shit.  You have that in common with a procologist.

And you mention Carrier far more than I do.  Why is that?  I suspect that it is because you are jealous of him.  Far more people have heard of him while you slip burgers in obscurity.

Fuck you.

No ... not fuck me.

You simply have no idea what Religious Studies are all about, and how they relate to sociology. You don't even understand the distinction between contemporary religious studies and traditional theology. Even the government employs graduates of Religious Studies because they need them to help in the research of demographics and military operations. They don't hire them to preach the bible, ya stupid fuck.

[Inkubus]

The study of theology, as it stands in Christian churches, .

Thomas Paine.


Theology is the study and promotion of theology.

Name a theologian that has no deep affiliations with Christianity.

[Minimalist]

Here's a whole shitload of them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Mu...heologians

Of course, they can't be "real" theologians if they don't have the Free Seal of Approval.

[Free]

Thomas Paine.


Theology is the study and promotion of theology.

Name a theologian that has no deep affiliations with Christianity.

Did you know ...the theology of Secular Humanism is atheism?

I will give you half a dozen to start you off, including someone you should be quite familiar with:

Robert M. Price, Thomas J. J. Altizer, Hector Avalos, Turan Dursun, William Hamilton, Slavoj Žižek

[Inkubus]

Here's a whole shitload of them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Mu...heologians

Of course, they can't be "real" theologians if they don't have the Free Seal of Approval.

As it stands in Christian churches!

Did you miss that bit?

[Inkubus]

Name a theologian that has no deep affiliations with Christianity.

Did you know ...the theology of Secular Humanism is atheism?

I will give you half a dozen to start you off, including someone you should be quite familiar with:

Robert M. Price, Thomas J. J. Altizer, Hector Avalos, Turan Dursun, William Hamilton, Slavoj Žižek

Half a dozen out of how many thousands?

[Inkubus]

Slavoj Žižek.

He works in subjects including continental philosophy, political theory, cultural studies, psychoanalysis, film criticism, Marxism, Hegelianism and theology.

And theology?
That would make Isaac Newton an alchemist.

[Free]

Name a theologian that has no deep affiliations with Christianity.

Did you know ...the theology of Secular Humanism is atheism?

I will give you half a dozen to start you off, including someone you should be quite familiar with:

Robert M. Price, Thomas J. J. Altizer, Hector Avalos, Turan Dursun, William Hamilton, Slavoj Žižek

Half a dozen out of how many thousands?

A bit of "moving the goal posts" there but ...

That's just the self proclaimed atheists. Let's not forget the secular theologians.

There is also the Clergy Project for theologians who are now former believers.