Advocatus Atheist

"Here's the thing I think which often gets overlooked in the religious debate, the Christ story is as   powerful a story as Christians want us to believe. After years of reflecting on the issue I feel that, indeed, it is that powerful. I think many people simply overlook just how potent a myth it really is and how good of a narrative it is. Even if it is flawed. There is an element to it which touches something deeper in all of us, whether we believe or not. Honestly, I have more appreciation for the Jesus Christ myth now that I don't have the overwhelming Christian desire to force it to mean just one thing. Now it can mean many things... and touch upon many new levels of revelation... and be that much more meaningful. I think many Christians feel that once you reject Christianity it holds no more meaning for you, but that's just not the case. The story never loses it's meaning once you stop believing in it literally. All it means is that it's not the fin...

Xian: Jesus died for your sins. Me: That's what the *story in the Gospel says. The story written by those who never met Jesus or, for that matter, knew anyone who actually knew him. A story, mind you, written by people who lived hundreds of miles away in a different country, with a totally different culture, who were NOT likely to be Jewish, and who spoke a totally different language (of an educated aristocrat no less--meanwhile Jesus was a peasant from Galilee). A story which, by the way, gets important historical details about the region and area Jesus lived wrong. A story which borrows from the OT liberally. A story which fabricates historical events which never actually happened (e.g., the erroneous consensus in Luke, incorrect account of the massacre of innocents which didn't happen, conversations which never happened--when Joseph and the angel were alone--when Mary and the angel were alone--when Jesus was alone with Satan--when Jesus was alone in the Garden of Geths...

As my regular readers may know, I enjoy writing, a lot. My writing isn't merely restricted to blogging either. I write books too. Now I write books that you can actually hold in your hands and read. Which is exciting for me. For those who love sci-fi, horror, and just fiction in general you may be interested to know that I recently wrote my first Zombie book,  BITTEN: A Resurrection Thriller , which is available in eBook for your e-reader of choice (e.g., Kindle, Nook, other) through SMASHWORDS . The paperback edition will be made available at the end of the month. But if you have an eBook reader, such as a Kindle, a Fire, or a Nook, you can pick up the book now. In the near future, I will be blogging on religion less and working on my novels more. There are several reasons for this. Mostly due to the fact that while raising a two-year old and working full time, blogging interferes with my literary endeavors. This is a problem for mainly two reasons. 1) I don't get paid to...

Christians believe that the Gospel Jesus was a real historical figure. There are various reasons for this belief, but the main ones include: this is what they are told by all of the authorities in their life, from their parents to their pastors of their church. It's hard not to believe something when everyone is telling you it's true. Second of all, Christian tradition for the last two thousand years has conflated the Gospel Jesus with the historical figure from Nazareth, without so much as attempting to check whether both versions are similar. Finally, it seems the majority of Christians have a desire to believe in Jesus because it comforts them. Christianity, as the Christian apologist Josh McDowell has often said,  "Christianity is not Religion. Religion is humans trying to work their way to God through good works. Chrisitanity is God coming to men and women through Jesus Christ."  Interestingly enough, we know that the Gospel Jesus is most likely to be a work ...

This is a series of quick rebuttals for some very common, overly mundane, religious arguments which totally annoy me. Anyone who has given any amount of thought these arguments will likely realize my answers can be rationally defended to the point of just validation, but for the sake of argument, I will merely supply the snarky quip rather than the elongated explication. 1. All life is sacred, therefore abortion is evil because it's the same as murder. A: No it's not, and you're a moron if you think it is. Also, if you believe all life is sacred, protest abortion, but support capital punishment, then you are a hypocrite of the worst kind--and every other opinion you might have, or ever have had, with regard to ethical questions simply doesn't amount to much and does not count. Advice: Think it through again. 2. Blasphemy is a crime. A: No it's not. And you are a completely deluded if you think it is--because in order to claim on God's behalf that Go...

A case of Mimetics. "I'm the King," said Jesus. "No, I am," replied Elvis.  I was reading an interesting article on the Neo-Documentary Hypothesis (NDH) over on the blog Textuality . Joel Baden, an Assistant Professor at Yale Divinity School,  is taking the Mimetic theory approach of the Hebrew scriptures and is focusing on features of narrative rather than historiography to create a model of how the Pentateuch might have come to be. This approach to source criticism isn't new however. We have seen it before in the work of Randel Helms, a professor at Arizona State University in Tempe, and Dennis R Macdonald, who is John Wesley Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins at Claremont School of Theology and co-director of the Institute for Antiquity and Christianity at the Claremont Graduate University, with regard to the New Testament. I think many classicist historians have a hard time accepting that story-telling methodologies are just...

*UPDATED* Dear fellow Americans, I was deeply saddened by the news coming out of North Carolina regarding Amendment 1. To all those who voted in favor of Amendment 1 banning same-sex marriages, SHAME ON YOU! What does it matter if two people are in love? What does it matter if two people want to get married? Who are you to say they can or can't? Frankly, it's NONE OF YOUR GODDAMN BUSINESS. The ONLY excuse you have is a BAD one.   You think that God's word, i.e. the Holy Bible, defines marriage as a love between one man and one woman. This is your ONLY basis for taking the position you have. Biblical historian Daniel Tabor, a citizen of NC no less, posted this on his Facebook, and I think it is well worth repeating: Really sad about the ignorance of North Carolina voters tonight. The so-called "Marriage Amendment" was pitched as supporting "one man and one woman" that could hardly be anything other than popular. All over our state ...

Jesus said things. Jesus supposedly said a lot of things. One thing Jesus supposedly said was to, and I'm paraphrasing, "Eat me!" In Matthew 26:26-28 (NIV) we learn that while the disciples were eating, Jesus took bread, broke it, and gave it to his followers, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” 27 Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Christ's words at the Last Supper is what has sponsored the Roman Catholic belief in the Eucharist and Holy Communion.  Dr. Jeff Mirus, founder of CatholicCulture.org informs us that "Christ is present body, blood, soul and divinity in the Eucharist. That’s a unique form of Presence (which is why Catholics call it “Real Presence”), unlike all the other forms which are spiritual only..." (Dr. Jeff Mirus,  CatholicCulture.org ) What Dr....