CADRE Comments

It's amazing how stories get recycled from time to time. Eight years ago, I reviewed a claim made in a book by two biblical scholars, John Kaltner and Stephen L. McKenzie of Rhodes College in Memphis, TN, named  The Uncensored Bible: The Bawdy and Naughty Bits of the Good Book . In my blogpost, I reviewed the claim that Eve was created out of the penis of Adam and not the rib as commonly thought. In my analysis, I concluded, The Hebrew word  tsela  is the word translated in Genesis 2 as "rib". The word  tsela  is never used after Genesis 2 to describe any part of the human body at all. It is used, instead, in many places (with the majority being found in Exodus) to describe the "sides" of things. It is also translated in other places as corners, boards and chambers. A complete list of the uses of  tsela  can be found in the link to the word. What is notably absent is any usage in the Bible of the word as "an 'appendage' jutting out from a cen...

  Kyle Roberts, Professor of Theology at  United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities, writes about "Dr. Steven Davis, Christian apologetics professor who, after becoming an atheist, recently resigned his position at Manhattan Christian College. He had been at MCC for 15 years and prior to that was a pastor for 14 years." [1] There is an interview of  Davis in which he enumerates five guiding principles that helped him decide  for abandoning the faith. I will comment on these reasons and upon the observation Roberts makes about them.  First, Roberts expresses admiration for Davis in that he had the guts to own up to his true feelings about his life's career and commitment of faith that has grown cold. Roberts expresses the notion that this is more honest than living a lie. Of course it is and I have to kind of admire that too, although he threw away security, his income and someth9ing he worked away his youth to achieve in the...

Long time readers may have noticed that I occasionally mention Charlie Brown in these pages. I do so because I love Peanuts. Charlie Brown remains in my opinion the hallmark of what makes a great comic strip.  In fact, I have decorated my office with several choice items of Christmas memorabilia. What makes Peanuts so special? I think that a lot could be said about why Peanuts is so appealing to so many people. For one thing it really does capture the innocence of youth – or, at least, the innocence that society formerly associated with youth; back in the days before children decided that being cool trumped learning to be an adult. The last I can recall, Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus and the gang never showed any real concern about being gunned down at school, buying drugs or engaging in any number of other activities that seem to be bogging down our youth. Charlie Brown was concerned about winning the baseball game (which he finally did), kicking the football (which I cannot rec...

So, back around 2000, some smugglers were caught smuggling antiquities around Turkey, and a quite interesting text was picked up while raiding them (or so the story goes), written in gold(ish?) ink in Syriac on leather. Now it's mid-December 2015, and more importantly Christmas time, and more importantly than that it's time to generate some hits on websites y'all! So let's see just how much anti-Christian conspiracy we can wring out of this curiosity! Or maybe get some web-hits out of pouring cold water on the feverish fires of anti-Christian conspiracy. Y'know, whichever. Option 2 sounds more fun, so let's go with that. • SO IS THIS A 1500 YEAR OLD BIBLE?! No, because it isn't a "Bible". It's one text. Which would still be pretty interesting, but don't be fooled by hysterical claims of it being a "Bible" (except in the sense of it being a book, loosely speaking). There are actual collections of scriptural texts that are 1500...

Today, Charisma News published a very interesting article by Joseph Mattera entitled " 10 Ways Muslims ViewChristians ." Mr. Mattera asserts at the outset of the article that the list was compiled based upon his "numerous personal conversations with Muslims, personal study and intensive training I received from a missions organization in preparation for one month of outreach in a Muslim nation in 1979." According to Mr. Mattera, the following ten things are true of how Muslims view Christians: 1.            Muslims see Christians as wimps. 2.            Muslims see Christians as espousing idolatry. 3.            Muslims see Christians as morally decadent. 4.            Muslims see the church as compromising true religion. 5.         ...

So I was catching up with the half-season finale of Season Two of The Flash this week (the modern hit on the CW network, not the 90s version), which was also the Christmas episode, and what to my wondering ears should appear but a character (Caitlin) tries to explain Christmas to someone (Jay) she thinks has never heard of it. "Oh! -- uh, well, it's this holiday we have where we cut down trees and sing songs to celebrate the birth of a baby two thousand years ago, but then the Romans killed him, so we give each other gifts..." Admittedly, a third character in the scene (Cisco) is making a face during this and as she runs out of any idea for Christmas he snarks, " That's your explanation?" But he leaves soon afterward, and Jay reveals he was joking, he knows what Christmas is, and let's just move on to the important thing which is Caitlin and Jay making googly eyes at one another. This is just the kind of reply we could expect from writers who, wh...

Peter's house in Capernaum In this third part I will examine positive evidence that Peter and Paul existed. I do want to point out, however, that we don't need to prove their existence. History has accepted them for 2000 years. The mythers want to change that they must prove their assertions and doubts. They have the burden of proof because they seek to make the change. Yet there is some evidence that they existed, aside from the fact of Pauline letters in the NT. But the letters themselves are a good place to start.The ignorance of Jesus mythers has gotten to the point where they just dogmatically regard the Bible as practically non existent. But that's par for the course with all of "new atheism" (Dawkamentalism). The Dawkies don't understand the concept of treating text as artifacts. Someone wrote of them, the texts illustrate what the people who compiled them or copied and passed them on believed. Scholars accept that a core of Pauline corpus is ...

Kenneth Humphreys Is probably the major Paul Myther.I can't find out much about him, but he wrote a Jesus Myth book, The Christos Mythos . See a review by major historian James omerea. His anti-Paul arguments are laid out on a blog: A Fabricated Apostle: Two Different Pauls . Humphreys has many argumens but I will deal with six, and to summarize them: (1)Argument from silence on Paul's great acts (2) Disparities between Epistles and Acts (3)Conflicts between Paul's Roman citizenship and Jewishness (4) Paul's conversion story is implausible. (5)Supposedly parallel passages with Josephus. (6)No evidence of Paul in Ephesus His First Argument is an Argument from Silence (OF COURSE). There's no record of Paul being assigned to enforce Jewish sanctions against heretics. Moreover, Paul was always meeting Kings and civic dignitaries yet there is no record of it in secular history. "The trail-blazing Christian missionary and apostle,...