Posts

The Shroud of Turin

The Shroud of Turin is a length of linen cloth that bears a faint image of the front and back of a naked man. Supposedly this is the shroud that was used to wrap Jesus in. From Wiki: The documented history of the shroud dates back to 1354, when it began to be exhibited in the new collegiate church of Lirey, a village in north-central France.Whether the memo was actually sent to the Pope or not, it seems that at least its salient information, that the Shroud was being displayed as genuine when it wasn’t, was known by the beginning of 1390, when Pope Clement issued his very restrictive bull. Ulysse Chevalier dated it at the end of 1389, although Jack Markwardt suggests early August, on the grounds that although it mentions an appeal to the King to get the relic suppressed, it does not mention that the Bailly of Troyes, acting on behalf of the King, had failed to get hold of it on 15 August.  The shroud was denounced as a forgery by the bishop of Troyes, Pierre d’Arcis, in 1389. ... The m...
Post a Comment
Read more

Divide and Conquer, again

 This is a follow up to my last post , regarding the article: Loke, Andrew. ‘ The resurrection of the Son of God: a reduction of the naturalistic alternatives .’ Journal of Theological Studies, 60 (2009): 570-584. Last time I looked at how he tries to divide up the possible explanations for the resurrection. Now it is the empty tomb we focus on. My view is the empty tomb was made up later - after Paul was writing, given 1 Cor 15. Mark made up the women witnessing tomb, and had them tell no one specifically because they really did tell no one - they told no one because there was no empty tomb. I am going to skip some of his alternatives; I do not find them likely either. (7) Either (7.1), (7.2), or (7.3) is true:  (7.1) There was no crucifixion of Jesus in mid-first- century Palestine, in which case either 7.1.1. or 7.1.2. is true. ...  (7.2) Jesus was crucified in mid-first-century Palestine and he was not buried (Unburied Hypothesis; a possible scenario for this hypothesis i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Divide and conquer

A common strategy among apologists is to divide "all possible" explanations for the resurrection into a set number of groups, and then disprove all the ones they do not like to - surprise, surprise - leave the resurrection as the only possible explanation. Greg Bord does it in a series of pod casts (the fourth is here , with links to earlier ones). Boyd says either it was a lie or a legend or it must be as the gospels say. Exactly what the Legend Hypothesis is he keeps vague. Oh, and he assumes the disciples considered Jesus to be divine from the resurrection, and his argument is based partly on how it would take a resurrection to persuade Jews of that time to believe such a thing. Apparently it does not occur to him that they believed Jesus was the Jewish messiah, a man appointed by God, and adopted as God's son. However in this post I want to focus on an academic publication - if only because it is easier to quote. The article is: Loke, Andrew. ‘ The resurrection of the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Adoptionism

The earliest Christians believe Jesus was a man appointed by God as the messiah, and hence adopted as God's son. This is a collection of Bible quotes that support that. The Other Davidic Kings All the kings from david's line were adopted as God's son: 2 Samuel 7:14 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, 15 but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. 16 And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’”​ Psalm 2:7 I will tell of the decree:​ The Lord said to me, “You are my Son;​ today I have begotten you.​ ​ Psalm 89:20 I have found David my servant;​ with my sacred oil I have anointed him.​ ...​ 26 He will call out to me, ‘You are my Father,​ my God, the Rock my Savior.’​ 27 And I will appoint him to be my firstborn,​ the most exa...
Post a Comment
Read more

About Judas Iscariot

Revelation says: Rev 21:13 There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. 14 The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. Does that mean one gate has the name "Judas Iscariot" over it? Also, Jesus made this prophecy: Mat 19:28 Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Did Jesus get is wrong? Or is Judas sitting on a throne right now, judging the Jews? Some contend that Matthias will have replaced Judas, but was Matthias one of the Twelve Jesus was speaking to in Mat 19:28? I do not think so. I have also seen Paul cited as the twelfth apostle, but it would be many years later before he converted, and some of those years he spent as an enemy of Christianity, so surely Jesus was not talking about hi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Responding to Science, Evidence, and the Resurrection

 This is a response to an article, Science, Evidence, and the Resurrection, by S. Joshua Swamidass. https://peacefulscience.org/prints/excerpts/science-evidence-resurrection/ He is a scientist, but nevertheless starts by making a poke at science. Science is full of trust-like faith. We believe grand, counterintuitive things because we trust the accounts of trustworthy sources. Okay, sure, science does rely on trust. So does sitting on a chair; you are trusting that chair to take your wait. So does driving; you are trusting your fellow drives to stick to their side of the road. What it comes down to is whether that trust is warranted . I think it is in these examples. Swamidass wants us to think we can trust that the resurrection happened with a similar degree of confidence, and I really do not think that is the case. What is the evidence from which grew my trust? A brief and incomplete outline is included here. This evidence is not an answer, but it raises the question. All we need...
Post a Comment
Read more

Chimp DNA is 99% like human DNA

This is a claim that is used a lot, but is not actually true. There is a paper in Nature that came out just a few weeks ago and goes into a comparison of the genome of the Great Apes in detail. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-08816-3 It uses some abbreviations that might not be obvious (and I hope I got right): HSA - Humans (Homo sapien) PTR - Chimpanzee (Pan troglodyte) PPA - Bonobo (Pan paniscus) GGO - Gorilla (Gorilla gorilla) PPY - Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) PAB - Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii) Turns out the differences are significant - rather more than 1% - but it very much fits the evolutionary model. "Our analyses dated the human–chimpanzee split between 5.5 and 6.3 million years ago (Ma; minimum to maximum estimate of divergence), the African ape split at 10.6–10.9 Ma and the orangutan split at 18.2–19.6 Ma ... Consequently, we estimated that the human–chimpanzee–bonobo ancestral population size (average Ne = 198,000) is larger than that of the human...
Post a Comment
Read more