Tag: gospels
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The real Pilate was a ruthless tyrant, not a kindly ditherer
If you’ve seen Michael Palin’s portrayal of Pontius Pilate in Monty Python’s ‘Life of Brian’, you’ll recall the weak and wavering man with a stutter in awe of his friend Bigus Dickus. Does this in any way resemble reality? No. Not at all. The Pilate of history was a vicious and paranoid tyrant who had…
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The Christian gospels repeatedly disagree – with each other!
In my book, 201 Things About Christianity You Probably Don’t Know (But Ought To), I give dozens of examples where the four official Christian gospels disagree with each other. ‘Luke’ even disagrees with himself (since he also wrote Acts of the Apostles). Those who say G_d wrote or inspired the Bible are shooting themselves in…
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Yeshua was wrong!
The writers of the first three (Synoptic) gospels made it perfectly clear – Yeshua/Jesus’ mission was to proclaim the imminent coming of the Kingdom of G_d. Many Christians have never read the gospels in detail. I have, and one fact jumps out at you from almost every page. Once its significance understood, it casts a…
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If we want a rounded picture, we must be look at all available sources
Church theologians say that everything we need to know about Yeshua (‘Jesus’) can be found in the New Testament, and that what is written there is all true. But surely if we want a rounded picture, we must be look at all available sources. That’s not easy; Yeshua barely features in any non-Christian sources from…
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Why doesn’t the Church own up?
Earlier generations were unwilling to challenge the Bible from a scientific or historical point of view, but now we are willing, and, moreover, we can. Biblical scholarship has reached a new high in recent decades. New and better evidence has become available for historians, theologians, archaeologists and linguists to scrutinize for factual accuracy and new…
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Six Steps in the Formation of a Religion
Step One: the charismatic being Most religions can be traced back to a teacher, usually with great charisma, who either appears or claims to have answers to the deeper questions. Often they claim that G-d spoke directly to them and expect their followers to believe it. Step Two: he attracts followers The charismatic one comes…
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Pentecost: heaven in the sky or cloud cuckoo land?
We will soon be enjoying the Whit Bank Holiday – but how many people understand the nature of these celebrations? Whit celebrates an even reported in Acts of the Apostles that is, frankly, so far fetched as to be unbelievable. Acts was written by the same man who wrote the Third Gospel, Luke. Its main…
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The End of Celibacy?
In February 2013 a most remarkable thing happened – the Head of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland, Cardinal O’Brien, called for an end to the requirement that Catholic priests be celibate, and urged the next Pope to allow them to marry. The insistence on celibacy, he said, left many priests struggling to cope with…
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The gospels differ significantly over Yeshua’s trial
The gospels differ significantly over the details of Yeshua’s trial and committal: In the First Gospel (‘Mark’), they took him to Caiaphas, the high priest’s, house where the Jewish governing council (Sanhedrin), had assembled. The Jewish leaders gave false and conflicting testimony; Yeshua remained silent. Then Caiaphas asked him if he was the Messiah. Previously…