Reading Time: 8 minutes Today, let’s check out this fascinating rival for 1st-century affections — and check out what we can of his writings.
Early Christianity
Posted inReligion
The Myth of Original Christianity in ‘The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience’
Reading Time: 9 minutes Ronald J. Sider really truly believes in a myth that has destroyed evangelicals’ chances of success: the myth of Original Christianity. As long as that vision clouds his mind, he won’t be able to perceive the real problem — much less suggest a workable solution for it.
Posted inReligion
Sean McDowell’s Second Big Question Backfires Too
Reading Time: 7 minutes In that first post, we checked out how he contorted illogic and junk history to arrive at the conclusion that his god was totally for realsies. Here, he moves forward into his next question. So today, let’s see how Sean McDowell misinterprets this fictional event to claim validity for his entire religion.
Posted inReligion
Check Out Jesus’ Tomb in Japan This Easter!
Reading Time: 9 minutes For this Easter holiday, we check out one those sorts of beliefs. Today, let me show you a wackadoodle claim about the end of Jesus’ life — and why it’s not really wackadoodle at all in the grand scheme of things.
Posted inReligion
Lost Coercion: The Center of Christianity’s Current Decline
Reading Time: 10 minutes That cultural change was and is a loss of Christians’ onetime powers of coercion. Today, I’ll show you why it spells the absolute end of their domination everywhere it spreads.
Posted inReligion
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Sex Demons (And Weren’t Afraid to Ask)
Reading Time: 8 minutes One of the weirdest offshoots of the Satanic Panic has got to be sex demons. Here’s the skinny on what they are, who buys into the idea and why, how to make their acquaintance, and what to do once you’ve got one. Strap in!
Posted inReligion
Original Christianity: A Vision of the Past That Clouds the Future
Reading Time: 10 minutes Way back when, when Yr. Loyal&Etc. was just a wee teenybopper Christian lass, I believed heart and soul in a concept that even today ensorcels Christians. That concept is Original Christianity. Let me walk you through the idea today, and show you how it completely fails even a cursory examination.
Posted inReligion
Lord Snow Presides Over A Sign of the Christian Times (LSP #52)
Reading Time: 9 minutes Christianity continues to decline with a loud, wet FLUMP. As it does, Christians leap on trends to try to stop it. One potent sign of the Christian times: hucksters shilling revitalization efforts aimed at desperate pastors. Today, Lord Snow Presides over a growing strain of snake oil in this faltering faith.
Posted inReligion
The Handbook: The Original Greek and Hebrew (Is Still Nonsense).
Reading Time: 10 minutes Back in my Pentecostal days, there was a phrase I heard non-stop: “the original Greek and Hebrew,” used to describe my denomination’s doctrines and creed. The idea was that our denomination, unlike those of all those other inferior Christians doing everything wrong, had gotten our ideas from “the original Greek and Hebrew” and therefore were closer to what our god wanted out of his followers than all those other Christians were. I notice that Christians still love that phrase, so I want to talk about it today.
Posted inReligion
When evangelicals became the opposite of social justice
Reading Time: 10 minutes When someone is convinced that the end of the world is coming, that person isn’t exactly going to care what his or her credit rating looks like, so to speak. I personally knew people who didn’t want to take care of their own bodies because they were so sure that they’d just be Raptured before they got old. I’ve met other ex-Christians who told me that their parents didn’t want to teach them to drive or take sex education because they were so sure that they and the end of the world would happen well before the kids became old enough to hit their teens. I’ve seen “Rapture ready” type websites that actually advised readers to take out as much credit card debt as they possibly could in advance of apocalyptic predictions. And we’ve heard countless Republicans in the Jesus Party claim that the reason they fight against legislation meant to reverse climate change is that Jesus is coming back anyway, so why bother with it all when he’s just going to destroy the planet in the last battle?