Loading...We will be holding a blog fundraiser, donations voluntary, on Wednesday August 17, 8:00 – 9:15 PM Eastern Time. It will be an Ask Bart Anything. Any question on any topic is welcome. If I am unable to answer, I won’t. I can only think of a few things I’d be unwilling to answer, and I’m not going to tell you what they are.
We are raising money for the people suffering in Ukraine, and will split the proceeds between two of our charities: Doctors without Borders and CARE. We are asking for voluntary donations of $30. We would LOVE it if you could give more for this worthy cause. Anyone who comes up with $30,000, I’ll buy you a Happy Meal. But if you can’t afford $30, or can’t afford anything, we completely understand. Give what you can, if you can, and come anyway! All are welcome.
I will personally match the amount of donations we bring in up to $5000.
Moreover, if there are any individual donations over $1000, I will be happy to meet with the highest bidder for a 30-minute Zoom one-on-one, either immediately after the ABA or at any other convenient time.
To get the link for the ABA: send an email to Diane Pittman at [email protected] In the email indicate the amount you are willing to donate. Diane will then send you the link. (It may take a day or two.)
To make the donation: Simply go to the blog site as you normally do, and at the bottom of the landing page choose whichever of the two options for making a donation you prefer (Paypal or Stripe); click on it and go for it. However much you donate, you will receive a star in your crown.
Even if god exists, yet is of such a nature that he feels no benevolence or affection towards men [and their sufferings], good‑bye to him.
I do not say ‘God be gracious to me.’ Why should I say?
– Cicero
See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! … The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. … And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love.
1 John 3: 1, 4: 16
Reference: Wikipedia entry for 1 John
Today, following the work of J. Louis Martyn and Raymond Brown, scholars believe that 1 John was written by a member of the Johannine Community, not by John the Apostle.
Dr. Ehrman
I do not want to tie God’s love to a sacrifice of a son.
QUESTION: I just searched your posts and did not see a post with 1 John in the title. In what book/s of yours do you give the most information about the Johannine Community and the authorship and composition of 1 John?
Steve Campbell, author of Historical Accuracy
My textbook: The NT: A Historical and Literary Introduction; and my lenghty discussion of 1 John 4:3 in The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture.
1 John 4: 2-3
By this you will know the Spirit of God:
Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh
is from God
and every spirit that does not confess Jesus
is not from God.
This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming
and which is already in the world at this time.
Steefen
QUESTION #1:
Is it wrong that “Messiah” and “Son of Man” is Jewish Apocalypticism
but “Christ” is Hellenistic Pauline Christianity and Christian Apocalypticism?
As a follower of Jesus, I am only going with one prophecy of Apocalypticsm, Jesus’s prophecy of Apocalypticsm. Of course, that failed because God let the wicked tenants kill the Jesus, first-person Son of Man and gave the Promise Land to the Romans; therefore, Matthew 16: 27 did not happen.
(If you want to surprise me and say it did, let us know.)
QUESTION #2:
Suffering is part of your case for atheism.
Was there anything in Christopher Hitchens’ God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything
(6,030 ratings averaging 4.5 stars on amazon) that contributed to your case for atheism?
Is there a better book for atheism?
Your book God’s Problem has your full case for atheism?
As a follower of Jesus, I am only going with one prophecy of Apocalypticsm, Jesus’s prophecy of Apocalypticsm. Of course, that failed because God let the wicked tenants kill the Jesus, first-person Son of Man and gave the Promise Land to the Romans; therefore, Matthew 16: 27 did not happen.
Correction: Matt 16: 27 should be Matthew 16: 28
1. those terms were used in a wide range of contexts, though, of course, what they meant would be context specivid.
2. Nope. I was an atheist before his book came out. My book explains why I myself left the faith, but I’m not trying to compel anyone to follow suit. There are, as you know, many many books that advocate atheism. You might start with a classic, Bertrand Russell’s.
I’d love to participate, but it would be in the middle of the night for me in Sweden 🙁 I was there last weekend though. That was great!
Has any mentioned to you about a YouTube video by Lydia Mcgrew about how wrong you are about Paul’s epistles and acts? She basically says that if acts is written later, how do we explain the detailed agreements between acts and Paul’s letters?
Haven’t seen it. But, well, among historical scholars this is not a big issue. In fact, the opposite is the problem. There are so many *disagreements* that it looks like the author didn’t even know Paul or his letters.
Looking forward to it – and really pleased you are continuing to raise funds for Ukraine via two very worthy charities.