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December 2019

December 04, 2019

Manger Deconstructed

Manger scene messiness—learn to know from which Gospel the different elements come. As we have...

December 03, 2019

Magisterial Documents and Jesus’ Birth

Magisterial documents help deepen our appreciation and understanding of the birth accounts in “Matthew” and...

December 02, 2019

Historical or True?—Jesus Birth Stories

Historical or truthful?—there are reasons for thinking that the biblical stories of Jesus’ birth are...

November 2019

November 30, 2019

Knowing Jesus

Knowing the historical Jesus may be harder than it seems, but there are some things...

November 26, 2019

Fake Jesuses Americans Love

Fake Jesuses may be popular among U.S. Christians, but we distort and misrepresent the real...

November 23, 2019

Omniscience: Does God Destroy Freedom by Seeing our Futures?

Omniscience—God knows everything, but our free future actions lack existence. Omniscience is the knowledge attributed...

November 18, 2019

Answers in Bible Various and Contradictory

Answers to ancient Mediterranean problems come varied and contradictory in the library called "Bible." Answers....

November 16, 2019

Revelation: Reading vs Reality

Revelation is a confusing book made even more so by Western cultural baggage and expectations....

November 14, 2019

Heaven is NOT in the Bible??

Heaven belongs in our catechisms, prayers, and creeds—but not in English Scripture translations. Heaven help...

November 08, 2019

Forgeries Inspired: “Second Thessalonians”

Forgeries like Second Thessalonians are inspired even though Paul didn’t write them. Forgeries being read...

November 07, 2019

Apocalyptic Nonsense and Mistaken Eschatology

Apocalyptic and Eschatology are incorrect and misleading anachronisms that should never be applied to Mark...

November 05, 2019

Hell is NOT in the Bible

Hell—whether the popular Christian idea or official Church doctrine—took almost two thousand years to develop....

November 01, 2019

Blessed or Most Honorable? Beatitudes on All Saints

"Blessed are..." go the Beatitudes of Jesus, but maybe wrongly in our English translations! Blessed...

October 2019

October 30, 2019

Satan, Devil, and Serpent Were Once Different Persons??

Satan, and our understanding of him, shows that doctrine develops and theology evolves. Satan just...

October 28, 2019

Witches Burning—The Most Shameful Episode of Church History

Witches accused and condemned to burn are probably the worst most shameful crime ever committed...

October 24, 2019

Earth or Earth Oven? Culture Makes a Difference!

Earth ought to be translated as "Earth Oven" in today’s Gospel. Earth. What does it...

October 23, 2019

Halloween Fundamentalism and Pagan Idols

Halloween, Harry Potter, and Amazon Statues are Pagan and evil says Catholic fundamentalists, conveying a...

October 20, 2019

Persistence Badly Describes the Widow

Persistence has nothing to do with the parable inappropriately titled, “The Persistent Widow,” a story...

October 18, 2019

“Abba” Never Will Mean “Daddy!”

Daddy was not what Jesus meant, no matter how much Western people want. DADDY! That...

October 16, 2019

Jesus a Superhero? Kevin Smith on Martin Scorsese

Superhero Jesus is a common way for American Christians to see Jesus; but is it...

October 14, 2019

Unhealthy Idolatries of Jesus & Mary

Unhealthy Christology!—Our imagined Jesus and Mary are a far cry from the historical truth of...

October 12, 2019

“Thanks!” Means “We’re Dunzo!”—Misunderstanding the Samaritan Leper

Thanks??!!—Because Western Bible readers use the expression “thank you” differently than does traditional Middle Eastern...

October 10, 2019

Prayer & Patronage: the Our Father in “Luke”

Prayer for Galilean peasants like Jesus and his followers involved a lived experience of Mediterranean...

October 09, 2019

Reading Martha & Mary Respectfully

"Image"by frecklebaum is licensed under CC BY 2.0 Reading about Jesus, Mary, and Martha in...

October 07, 2019

Insults, Questions & Good Samaritans

Suspicious of dishonest questions, Jesus proves himself to be a master of the insult by...

October 05, 2019

Anachronism Blocks Understanding Scripture

Anachronism is a widespread plague preventing millions of Western Christians from understanding the Bible or...

October 03, 2019

Is there Something Cruel about “Almighty”?

Sadly, the gospel of cruel, coercive force continues to be far more successful and widespread...

September 2019

September 27, 2019

The Shrewd Steward Confusion II: Good News for Peasants

Although elusive and inscrutable to great ones and elites right down to the present, the...

September 23, 2019

The Shrewd Steward Confusion I: Even “Luke” Didn’t Get It

Confusion abounds throughout history for the notoriously difficult Parable of the Dishonest Manager, inscrutable even...

September 18, 2019

Fellowship with Sinners Justified in Luke 15

Fellowship with sinners is justified by the Lukan Jesus. Yesterday we began exploring Jesus' explanation...