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Loading...Have you signed up yet? See the annoucement below. I hope you can come!
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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.
Dr. Ehrman, I have two questions:
1. Could Jeremiah 1:5 be used as a defense for abortion? “Before I FORMED you in the WOMB I knew you, and before you were BORN I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” (NRSVCE) I am, of course, referring to God FORMING&CREATING while still in the WOMB.
2. Jude 5:5 “Now I remind you, though you are fully informed, that the Lord, who once for all saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.” (NRSVCE) Well, who brought the Jews out of Egypt? It was Yahweh; however, it seems in the above verse that this New Testament author is CLEARLY making reference to an Old Testament passage that is making REFERENCE that Jesus was understood to be God. Do you agree?
1. No I don’t think so. It’s simply saying that human life comes into existence because of an act of God. Here God is talking to someone who went through the entire gestation process and became a human. It doesn’t say that the embryo was a human before it was born (let alone before it was viable) The verse *could* be used to show that souls of humans pre-exist their birth though! 2. “The Lord” is referring to the God of Israel, not to Jesus. As you know “Lord” can refer to either God the Father or God the Son in the NT texts.
In your answer to the first question in the July Gold Members Q&A, you explained the concept of kenosis. Thank you. After thinking about it for a minute, however, I don’t understand how kenosis can be a helpful concept to a Christian who believes in the truth/accuracy of the Bible. If Jesus is wrong about the timing of God’s kingdom coming to earth because he “emptied himself” in accordance with kenosis, how can a believer rely on anything Jesus said while in human form? Doesn’t the concept of kenosis “prove too much?”
I’d say it’s always been difficult to figure out how Christ can be both completely God and completely human, and that this is a rather striking case in point. But if he *did* intentionally deprive himself of his divine properties, then he would *not* have been omniscient in the flesh.