Premarital Sex in The Song of Songs: A Platinum Post by Dan Kohanski
The Bible has numerous passages that would be shocking to many readers if they read them without pious assumptions. Of none is that more true than the Song of Songs (sometimes called the Song of Solomon). And so I welcome this guest post by Platinum members Dan Kohanski, who takes on this erotic work and tries to say it as it is! Remember: you too can publish a post for other Platinum members. Why not give it a shot? Just send something along to me, and I'm happy to look it over for you. ****************************** (This essay was inspired by Bart’s recent post, “What is (Sexually) Unnatural,” and based on research I did for my recent book, A God of Our Invention: How Religion Shaped the Western World (Apocryphile Press, 2023), specifically the chapter on sex: “God Between the Sheets.”) The Hebrew Scripture is the work of many hands: scribes, story-tellers, mythmakers and lawmakers, prophets and poets. Its parts were composed over several hundred years, and edited for [...]
Gold Q&A for August!
Dear Goldies, It's time for another Gold Q&A. You ask the questions, I answer them. My plan is to record the event this coming weekend; if I'm able to do it at a decent time (other things are hanging fire), I'll announce it a bit in advance so people can come and listen in if they want. For me to do that, I NEED QUESTIONS! Got any? Anything related to the blog is AOK. Remember that long and involved questions are far less likely to be chosen than relatively succinct to-the-point ones (if something in the question needs explaining, I'll explain it). DO NOT ask a question in a comment to this post (well, don't ask if you want me to answer it; if you don't want an answer, ask away!). INSTEAD, submit your question to [email protected] DEADLINE for your question submission: this Friday, August 18, midnight your time. I'm looking forward to it, as always!
How Accurate Are Orally-Transmitted Reports? A Platinum Post From Imran M. Usmani
In this guest post, Imran Usmani challenges my views about distortions in oral traditions, basing his contrary perspective on the work of an ninth-century Muslim scholar tracing the reports in circlation about the prophet Muhammad. Take a look! What do you think? Do you find it convincing? Why or why not? Let us know! ****************************** In his book Jesus Before the Gospels, Bart Ehrman argues that the earliest Christians possessed distorted memories of Jesus. Ehrman draws on modern psychological studies, which have shown that human memories are sometimes wholly unreliable. However, Ehrman accepts that the gist of a memory is often reliable even if the details are incorrect. Using this principle, Ehrman proceeds to critically appraise the Gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. In my opinion, a weakness in Ehrman’s thesis is that it does not consider the work of the Hadith collector Muhammad bin Ismail Bukhari, who died in 870 CE. Bukhari spent his life studying and verifying orally transmitted reports about the Prophet Muhammad. His methods and results are very [...]
A Proposition That Ramesses-the-Sixth (Ramesses VI) Was the Pharaoh of the Exodus by Omar Robb
Another Platinum Post from Omar Robb--as always, intriguing! ****************************** Omar Abur-Robb omr-mhmd.yolasite.com I did discuss this subject in some comments here in the blog, but I prefer to put it in a formal post. We are going here to argue that the non-metaphysical data related to the exodus can be fit with the history of Egypt between Ramesses-the-Third (III, died 1155BC) and Ramesses-the-Sixth (VI, died 1136BC). Also, we will argue that Israel/Yisrael is unlikely to be the name mentioned in the Stele of Merneptah. 1# We will discuss this subject from a scientific historical perspective in which we will exclude all metaphysical data. So, if we looked at the Quran and the Old Testament (OT) and just extracted the non-metaphysical data (i.e. the viable data that doesn’t contradict with science and normality) then the summary of this data can be: The Israelite were a foreign tribe in Egypt, and they were oppressed there, but managed (gradually or swiftly) to immigrate to Arabia under the leadership of a man whose name was Moses. Now ... Quran [...]
Time to Vote for Your Favorite Platinum Post
Dear Platinum members, That time again — an opportunity for you to vote on one of our Platinum guest posts, to see which one will be posted on the blog at large. Take a look — they’re all terrific. To vote, just send a quick note to Diane at [email protected] Your deadline: this Saturday, June 18, midnight your time. And remember — you’re always welcome to submit a post yourself. Anything connected to the blog that strikes your fancy that you’d like others to read about? Any ideas/thoughts you’d like to have disseminated and discussed? Here’s your chance. Just zap Diane a note at [email protected]. May 22, 2023 Was Jesus Literate or Illiterate? Omar Robb May 26, 2023 Did Jesus Believe The End Would Come Within His Lifetime? Rizwan Ahmed May 29, 2023 Was Jesus a Simplistic Person or an Extraordinary One? Omar Robb June 2, 2023 The 3rd Rail - A Critique of Jesus. Steve Clark
Jesus the Half-Nabataean Prince, a Platinum Post by Serene
Serene has been an active member of the Platinum Corp, and here has written her first Guest Post; it's informative and, I bet, controversial! Let Serene and the rest of us know what you think (and why)! ****************************** Hi fellow Platies! Today, I present the case for Jesus as the son of a handmaiden and an Abrahamic divine king. https://www.britannica.com/topic/sacred-kingship/The-divine-or-semidivine-king This would be under the right codified in the Babylonian Talmud that gives foreign officials access to engaged Jewish virgins: https://www.sefaria.org/Ketubot.3b.1?lang=bi&with=all "Rabba said: The baraita is referring to a period where the government said that a virgin who is married on Wednesday will submit to intercourse with the prefect [hegmon] first." And also in accordance with an Arab tradition attested to in the 7th C, and likely existing earlier, of royalty freeing a handmaid after first birth to marry. The Why To reboot Jewish lineage. Lineage Nabataean-Edomite King Herod the Great had eliminated all of his lineage-Jewish children heirs by 4 BCE. Civil unrest ensued because as the saying goes, “representation matters”. [...]
A Proposition That the First Greek Converts to Jesus Were a Few Ascetic Pythagorean Philosophers. A Platinum Post From Omar Robb
Another deep dive into an interesting question with a new suggestion, with Platinum member Omar Robb! ****************************** In this article we will propose a solution to the following puzzle: How did Jesus teaching pass and flourish from its local limited domain (the Jewish community in Palestine) to a foreign domain (the Greek-Roman world) in less than 20 years? But we need first to discuss the Pythagorean Movement: Pythagoreanism originated in Greece from about the 6th century BC. However, I am going to argue here that Pythagoreanism didn’t really have much influence on the communities. They did have a huge influence on knowledge and wisdom through history, and the current human knowledge and wisdom can be related back to the first Pythagorean Philosophers (including Socrates and Plato), but my argument here is about the influence of these philosophers on the daily life of the masses at ancient times, and my assumption here is that they had little influence over the life of the ordinary people at that time. Now ... I don’t have a solid proof [...]
An Important Difference in John–a Platinum Post by Ryan Fleming
How different is John from the Synoptics? You may you think you know the answer, but this thoughtful post by platinum blog member Ryan Fleming should surely make you think. And it all leads to a rather startling question at the end. So what do you think? ****************************** The partial narrative in the Gospel of John has a few important differences compared to the three Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke). The Synoptic Gospels are not identical, but in general they have reasonable agreement regarding the chronology of events in Jesus’ ministries. If one carefully tracks the chronology in the first three gospels, and then attempts to compare them with the Gospel of John, one quickly notices the differences. However, there are several other important differences worth noting. With each difference, a list of possible explanations follow: As discussed above, a different chronology – a timeline of too many events to list here. A long period of time from the writing of the other three (several decades?) with the word-of-mouth sequence of stories naturally [...]
Vespasian Miracles. A Platinum Post by Ryan Fleming
I'm pleased to post this discussion of the miracles attributed to the emperor Vespasian, by Platinum blog member Ryan Fleming. These miracles are not widely known outside the realm of antiquity nerds, and rarely are they much analyzed even there. But they are significant and interesting, and here Ryan provides an intriguing assessment of them. Enjoy! **************************** Roman historians Tacitus (56 CE to 120 CE) in The Histories, Book IV, Section 81, and Suetonius (69 CE to 122 CE) in The Lives of the Twelve Caesars wrote of miracles Vespasian performed in the temple of Serapis in Alexandria Egypt. In one case he healed a blind man by anointing his eyes with his spit, and in another he healed a paralyzed man (withered hand or leg) by touching the hand or leg. It is tempting practice to compare these miracles with nearly identical acts attributed to Jesus in the Canonical Gospels and debate which came first, the Jesus stories or Vespasian stories: Curing blindness with spit: Mark 8:23-25, John 9:6-7 Curing blindness: Matthew 9:29-30, [...]
June 2023 Gold Q&A (video)
Hello, Gold & Platinum friends! Here's a video of me recording the June Gold Q&A in ancient Rome--or, maybe...?
Was Abraham “Just Plain Nuts?” A Platinum Post by Douglas Wadeson MD
Here is an unusually challenging post that deals directly with one of the major religious/ethical problems of the entire Bible. The focus is Abraham, a central figure for the three major monotheistic religions of the world that are together followed by over half the humans on the planet. But is Abraham actually a commendable figure in the Scriptures. Or, not to put too fine a point on it -- is he nuts? Read the post and let Doug know your views of the matter! ****************************** One of my favorite Far Side cartoons by Gary Larson shows a man lying on the couch as the psychiatrist writes on his notepad, “Just plain nuts!” I suspect we have all encountered people that prompted such a thought to cross our minds. I realize it is difficult to make a psychiatric diagnosis on someone without a direct interview and observation, but I have a serious concern about one of the pivotal figures in the religious world. To make the situation more difficult there is no way to know how [...]
Was Jesus an Ascetic Street Preacher or a Man With a Plan? A Platinum Post From Omar Robb
In this post Platinum guest poster Omar Robb takes on one of the key questions anyone must grapple with in studying the New Testament: how are we to understand the activities and mission of Jesus? Feel free to comment with your own views! ****************************** I am going here to generate a story (a made-up story) that you should read as a fictional imaginary one. Just go with this story to the end. After that, we will start a serious discussion. ##### The start this imaginary built-up story: Jesus, John the Baptist, and Zechariah (John’s father) were relatives, and they originated from a noble family in the capital until they lost favor in the eyes of the authority many decades before the time of Jesus, and they were forced into exile in Galilee. Zechariah formed a secret political party with the objective of liberating Palestine from the Roman rule and their puppets in the capital. When Zechariah passed away, his son followed the plan. They (Zechariah and John) managed over the years to form a culture [...]
The Slippery Slope of Extreme DIAKRISIS (Discernment). A Platinum Post by Barry Haney
Here is a creative and imaginative Platinum guest post that explores key religious differences among various traditions in the early period of the church, through a plausible (fictional) conversation. So, in 200 CE, a pagan, a Jew, and a Christian come into a wine bar.... These are some intriguing reflections. What do you think? ****************************** I have a blog called, The Slippery Concept of Extreme Diakrisis. You might ask, what does diakrisis mean? Diakrisis is a Greek noun that occurs three times in the New Testament (Romans 14.1, 1 Corinthians 12:10, and Hebrews 5:14) and means distinction, explanation, discerning, or differentiation between good and bad. During my research of early Christianity, I imagined being a fly on the wall during an unlikely meeting between Bartholomew, a pagan, Serapion, a Christian, and Abraham, a Jew during the 2nd and third centuries CE, as they use the tool of diakrisis or discernment in their search for religious truth. My research led to me writing the following story, I will share with you. The Incredible Meeting! [...]
June Gold Q&A
Dear Goldies & Plats, Our monthly Gold Q&A is coming upon us. DEADLINE for your question(s): Friday, June 23, midnight your time. Interested in anything I can deal with? Now's your chance: Ask away! I'm more likely to answer questions that are relatively short and to the point than those that go on for a long paragraph. So be concise. I'll answer as the spirit leads. To enter your question on to the list: send it to Diane at [email protected] My plan is to record the session sometime over the few days after that. I may send out a note indicating when that'll be a day or so ahead of time in case any of you want to listen in live. So, let me hear what you're curious about and I'll do my best to respond! BDE
Vote for Your Favorite Platinum Post
Hey Platinum Members, Time to vote on your favorite platinum guest post from relatively recent times. Here are four to choose from, all of them interesting and important! Pick one and name your preference, not as a comment here but by letting Diane know at [email protected] She'll tally the votes and then we'll annouce the winner, and I'll post the post. So... what are yiur druthers? April 10, 2023 The Quest for the Legendary Jesus. Robert Droney April 14, 2023 Baptism and the Macbeth Effect Douglas Wadeson April 28, 2023 Is 2 Thessalonians a Forgery? From 132 CE? Omar Robb May 3, 2023 Did The Twelve Become Only Three? Doug Wadeson
“You Have Heard His Blasphemy!” But Did They? A Platinum post by Daniel Kohanski
I'm pleased to present this well-researched Platinum post by Dan Kohanski, on one of the most intriguing (at least for me) questions about the Passion narrative. It's a highly controversial passage and Dan makes a highly controversial suggestion! He makes a good case! What do you think? Remember: you too can make a Platinum guest post for other Platinum members. It doesn't have to be highly learned and sophisticated -- just something you're thinking about connected with the stuff we do on the blog. If you have something, send it along to Diane at [email protected]. ****************************** “You Have Heard His Blasphemy!” Said the High Priest—But Did They? The trial of Jesus as described in the gospel of Mark, and particularly the part where the high priest charges Jesus with blasphemy, is one of the most hotly debated stories in the New Testament. Here is the heart of the passage: Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?” Jesus said, “I am; and ‘you will see the [...]
The 3rd Rail – A Critique of Jesus. Platinum Post by Steve Clark
A Platinum post for Platinum members from Platinum member Steve Clark: ****************************** It was a cold winter morning, the exciting music of the 1970’s was in my head. I was learning to play guitar and learning to be cool. Mostly failing at both but kept trying. What else was a young man to do in the 70’s? I was walking around Georgia State University in downtown Atlanta (my friends called it the concrete campus) and had a spring in my step as I stepped into Philosophy 101 class. In the days to come we were assigned materials to read and one of them was Why I am not a Christian by Bertrand Russell. Like many in the South grew up in a conservative Southern Baptist environment. And like many had never heard anyone criticize Jesus. Ever. Why would they and what would there be to criticize? The short portion of the lecture Russell pens (and pins) directly on Jesus is extremely mild. He appears borderline apologetic about it. For me though, fitting with the [...]
May Gold Q&A Video
Folks, our May Gold Q&A ended up in two parts. Make sure you scroll down to see Part 2:
Was Jesus a Simplistic Person or an Extraordinary One? A Platinum Post by Omar Abur-Robb
****************************** Was Jesus a simplistic person or an extraordinary one? Omar Abur-Robb omr-mhmd.yolasite.com Suppose you were in a hill overseeing a large lake, and suddenly you noticed a wave propagating quickly outward. You will instinctively realize that this wave has originated from its center, and you can probably pinpoint this center with ease by looking at the wave. However, your eyes will open wildly in astonishment and your scientific mind will turn upside down when you see the wave reaching the shore then jumping to the next lake and start propagating there. This is going to be a very weird phenomenon. But this exact phenomenon needs to be included in our explanatory models for the expansion of Christianity: The point of propagation for Christianity was the point of establishment at 30AD, and in less than 20 years, the teaching of Jesus managed to propagate outside its local domain to many foreign domains. This is an extraordinary phenomenon. Notice that the Greek Christians were very serious in their faith to the point that many [...]