There is absolutely nothing in the 4 gospels that suggested that anyone saw jesus as the creator of the earth, infact in Mathew 24:1 peter was trying to make jesus feel impress ABT the structure and beautiful of the temple, that is not something you do to some who u think created the fre*king earth, 😅😅😅 rily? He created the earth but U expected him to be impressed by a building 😂😆😂😆
@@diudalidion1744 It's much more than "could". Mark's author almost certainly used Paul's letters as material for constructing their story of Jesus. Not only do we find presages to things like the eucharist in Paul first, there are also many literary and linguistic overlaps between passages in Mark and Paul's writing style.
@@gavinyoung-philosophy He was claiming to have received revelation directly from Jesus, just like Muhammad claimed to have received revelation from God.
@rainyfeathers9148 Oh boy, have I gotten some flak when I say things like Paul was a heretic, or Paul never met Jesus, but had a nervous breakdown/break from reality, or suffered heat stroke. That he was a braggart, boastful. He claims (don't recall which epistle) that he was not an apostle, but the FIRST Apostle, chosen while still in his mother's womb. He got angry when "the church" at Jerusalem corrected his errant teaching, calling them "dogs and evildoers." Not someone I would want to emulate, although he tells us to be emulators of him, but then qualifies that by saying "as I am of Christ."
@@johntiggleman4686 It's what happens, they don't read the book. It's about keeping up appearances, what's actually going on in the bible is not important to them. Out here naming their kids after these trashy bible folk then want to act confused when the kid becomes wayward.
All christians are ideologically descended from Paul's theology. Mark's author used Paul's letters among other things to construct his story about Jesus. There is no christianity today without Paul. Christianity and Paulianity are the same thing. There is no "or".
christianity, if it ever existed, died out about 2000 years ago, to be superseded by fan fiction and the words of blatant plagiarists, liars and at least one nutter (Paul), none of who had ever met Jesus , some of whom didn't know the area, or Jewish ways at the time, and who didn't write anything until decades after his alleged life and death. There are only Paulians and Liarians, as I have been pointing out for some years. It's good to see so many others see this truth.
Two months ago, a Mindshift video popped up on my feed. I have been a Christian for decades with a very similar background to Brandon. I clicked on the video because the thumbnail was cool and immediately heard some questions I had struggled with my whole life being dismantled. I was riveted. I guess I reached a place where I was ready to hear it because in the past I would have shunned Brandon out of righteous indignation. Since then I have watched almost all of his videos, some multiple times. I can’t believe how much my thinking has changed over the past couple months. The other day I found myself making my neighbor pastor friend question some of the things he was telling me. I believe I am on a long journey out of Christianity as I’m realizing what a mental grip it puts on someone. I also just read “Wayward” by Alice Greczyn, which was a powerful punch in the gut. Highly recommended. Thanks Brandon. I apologize if I posted anything negative toward you in the past. I’ve checked out a lot of other channels and in my opinion you have the best one out there. Your hard work shows.
It’s crazy how long the journey can be, to just be ready to receive new information and actually consider it. In hind sight, it probably took me 5-6 years, and then, all of a sudden, I was so ready and willing to really learn, and completely let go. It’s being born again, again ;)
Good luck, but of course, remember that truth is the most important thing. Weigh the evidence, ask your questions, decide what makes the most sense to you, and don't worry where it takes you. Don't feel any more compelled to leave a faith as to stay in it, do what you conclude you should do based on what you determine as you go.
You sound somewhat similar to me. I was strong in Christianity and Brandon was the needle in the haystack that broke me towards deconversion, like a catalyst in the midst of the doubts I was starting to have. I fought it at first; even responding with Christian comments in some of his videos. At the time (Nov-Dec 2023), I’d watched just about all his videos and found myself agreeing with him far more than a Christian is supposed to. Next thing you know, I’m listening to other ex-christian (harmonic atheist, Matt dillahunty, holy koolaid, etc.) content and found myself agreeing and empathizing with them immensely. Deconverting was the worst thing that happened to me in my life. It was a very difficult the first 5 months for me, but I’m starting to recover and I’m honestly so grateful I went this path. It has always been my goal to be devoted to truth no matter where it lies, so despite the troubles leaving this cult has/will cause me, it is definitely worth it! Now I have the freedom to explore and be open minded in ways I never would have in this religion
@@JDrocks4ever agreed. Deconversion is really rough, because it’s like rewiring your brain. It’s a shock to the system, with some highs, but many lows too. Glad you made it to the other side. Crazy thing I found, as I’m sure many others did too, is how much more the bible makes sense, once you take the doctrine and belief out of it. It was truly eye opening to the amount of cognitive dissonance one builds up.
I really appreciate spending more time with problematic passages in the new testiment specifically. The old is so obviously problematic, and Christian love to ignore it as a result. But having instances of problems in the new is crucial, because Christians can't ignore these verses.
This whole contradiction started my deconversion. I used to ask Christians “what is your most objective definition of love” after we established the presuppositions that God is Love and that Gods existence is objective . When we failed to find a definition of love that wasn’t subjective or circular, it made me start to separate the two. Especially if a broad definition of God is the amalgamation of all that is good. It got pretty circular very fast. This may only make sense to me, but it was what I needed at the time to start questioning the information I was given.
There are examples in the Bible where God does the opposite of each one of the love statements in I Cor 13, like, “does not keep a record of wrongs” then records every thought and deed for judgement day.
Can't help but think Paul's somewhat disjointed ramblings about marriage show a guy with personal issues who has found fulfillment in his mission. And it's incredible to think how much authority this still has over many people's lives 2000 years later. Way beyond the best-before date.
You're not only providing so much clarity by dissecting these books but also setting a brave example for others to follow. The ethical and righteous path is using critical thinking and not turning a blind eye to the confusing and contradicting teachings. I remember every time I'd listen to the preaching and they were always saying "God is not in confusion, if this doesn't make sense to you or you question it, you're filled with Satan" I was born into a very fundamentalist believing family. Along with being homeschooled with more Christian propaganda and socialized with only those who were also indoctrinated, I never felt safe to even think. It’s surreal that I'm here. An agnostic atheist, still grappling with the harm caused by the ideology in ways my brain won't even let me explore. Hearing others push past some of the mind-barriers that were imposed on people like myself is life changing and is a tangible good. Thank you.
There is a huge difference between "not all shall sleep" and "all shall sleep" The first one implies that the kingdom would come while some living at that time are still alive.
@@japexican007 really? Did the sun go dark, the moon stopped giving its light, and the stars fall from the sky? Was there a trumpet and the son of man returning in clouds? Did the dead rise up? I must have missed it.
@@heavenbound7-7-7-7do you think you read the bible, with your specific worldview, your specific doctrine, your specific denomination, your specific interpretation, with less bias than someone who has no skin in the game? Surely, you jest!
I definitely like the methodical explanations of your observed contradictions and problematic passages. I don't usually have the time to screenshot the list and look them up later. As a person who more so listens while working, it's helpful to be able to hear these things explained.
I love it when you put your finger on one of my points of cognitive dissonance that i had when i was a believer (at 49:00). I struggled with the idea that I would be harming myself if my head/heart wasn't right when I took communion. I never understood why. I never looked into it, either. I just brushed my concerns aside and kept believing it. I'd beg god every communion Sunday to create in me a new heart so I wouldn't condemn myself with the grape juice and cracker. OMG...faith is delusional.
As I grew up Catholic this was so common to me... I never had thoughts about it except, as a kid and teen, if I had bad breathe and which person I didn't want to recieve it from and I totally don't want to look like the weirdo who doesn't use their hands..... Anyways. Fast forward to when I was 31 and in a Baptist church and I found out that they randomly do the last supper!? they hate the Catholics!.... I was annoyed at this church for many reasons but I rebeled against the spiel to be forgiven in everything before partaking. I would laugh inside because I never got a phone call the night before from anyone asking me for forgiveness and if we were on the up and up! I always walked out of the service and sat in a chair in the hallway during those days. They made me realize how BS everyone was.
@@MindShift-Brandonman you confirm so much. SO MUCH. My family made me feel crazy about all this. I feel alot like Paul most times but I am on my beggening stage of ex christian and don't think I'll be coming back ever to it after putting it all together. From every perspective possible. There's no point in rewarding so much messed up let alone worshipping sick sinical cycles. And for the cursing I actually think it's real. Because no female no pissed off ex could ever do what has been done to me.
I always found it interesting hearing a sermon on Corinthians growing up by nondenominational pastors who claimed to be biblical literalists but conveniently didn’t mention the passages about head coverings or modesty standards. Like I’m not saying women should wear dresses down to their feet but if you’re going to follow a book at least be intellectually honest.
Wouldn’t being intellectually honest mean accepting that you cannot follow the book perfectly since we’re all sinners who fall short of Gods perfect standard and the reason why Christ came down?
@@japexican007 No, being intellectually honest would mean accepting that you cannot follow the book perfectly because it's full of mutually exclusive contradictions, that the concept of "sinners" is incoherent nonsense, that the idea that one must "fall short of God's perfect [sic] standard" is a feature of the "standard" itself, that "God" is incoherent nonsense, that there's nothing perfect or even good about said "standard", that nothing about it necessitates "Christ" to do anything, that "Christ" never actually "came down", that "Christ" is incoherent nonsense and contradicts the supposed messianic prophecies of the so-called Old Testament, that those prophecies are garbage anyway, and that even if "Christ came down" it would do nothing to change any of that. Can you provide any testable evidence to the contrary?
@@japexican007 The intellectual dishonesty would be on God/Jesus. If they were one, then there was no need to condemn or forgive. Deciding before creation began to split yourself into multiple people, then having yourself tortured so you never changed your mind on condemning the entities you deliberately made flawed so they'd be tortured and die too with all your future knowledge is pretty convoluted rationalizing.
@@MindShift-Brandon also maybe do a video on the curses this false god endures on innocent men and children not only up to 4 generations but 7.... and I honestly think I'm living so far breathing proof and battling it out realtime. Because even this torturing lying corrupt god or mother of all whatever knows he or it is in the wrong. Ten fold. Lol with this yahno fella or whomever to proper blame.
On the one hand, Paul says faith is all you need. On the other, he’s freakishly obsessed with what other people do. I cannot imagine having to deal with him in person.
The religion was born out of the great disappointment of the millerite religion. Lots of bible math and failed end times dates. Jdubs are little more than a doomsday cult @@JasonHenderson
I can't tell you how many times I have brought up the issues in 1 Timothy to a Christian who just excuses them that it was a forgery.... like that doesn't just create a new and worse problem, lol.
If the Holy Spirit can inspire frauds, then I can write 3 Peter or 17 Corinthians: This Time it's Personal tomorrow. Sure, I'm not Peter or Paul, and sure, I'd be writing it almost 2000 years after both of them were dead, but I'm inspired by the Holy Spirit, so it's cool! Right?
Great job, Brandon. The time you took on contradictions and problematic passages was well needed. How Paul fluctuates and seems to speak against books before him. Wow.
Point 13 -- Temptation > If the claim that god will not let us be tempted beyond our ability to resist were ACTUALLY true, then nobody would sin. Sin could ONLY occur if we were tempted beyond what we could bear. That fact that sin apparently exists to the point that the bible labels everyone as sinners lays bare the lie of the claim.
I was born and raised Catholic and went to a Catholic school. In school, I was taught that if you did not make an Act of Contrition prior to receiving the Eucharist you were not in a full state of grace because you were receiving Jesus in a state of sin. I was 8 years old.
Paul's diss track on "worldly knowledge" ended up being the mindset of 90% of the people i grew up around. "We don't need no book learnin'." "You think you're smarter than me because you read a lot." It's fascinating to see, but also a really sad commentary on large swaths of the Southern US.
It occurred to me a while back that the figure of Paul (aka Saul) must have been something like the Ray Kroc character played by Michael Keaton in the 2016 Netflix documentary "The Founder," which tells the story of how an ambitious but struggling huckster from another state, encountered Mac and Dick McDonald and had an "epiphany," so to speak, that their efficient methods of producing food cheaply and quickly had widespread franchise potential. As such, he "soon maneuvers himself into a position to be able to pull the company from the brothers and create a multi-billion dollar empire." Think of the hapless McDonald brothers as analogs for Peter and James, the "fast food" as the Eucharist, and the burger empire as Christendom. Maybe stretching things a little...
It made me laugh when point 7 begins at the halfway point of the video. With how much was covered in the first 25 minutes, we're still just getting started haha. Good work Brandon
maybe thats why he added the verse in this book about how those preaching should make a living doing so, was low on funds from his tent making business...
@@heavenbound7-7-7-7 It's a joke based off the fact that some Christians base their beliefs on the word of Paul more the the word of Jesus. But again, it was just a joke.
@@pinky9440 it depends since some people make jokes to mock, the same way a theist can use sarcasm and humor to mock atheists based on false claims, the same way the other side can happen
Chapter 5 verse 11: But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people. Damn this one doesn't seem to line up with what i was taught about Jesus
Sadly, I stopped talking to a good friend for a long time because of this verse after I learned she was sleeping with her boyfriend. SMH. The word of god divides.
Make sure you thank your loving God for his creation of cancer, pain, suffering, natural disasters, strokes, and death as it's obvious jesus was not enough to appease God . Why is it you must die BEFORE God loves you? Makes zero sense. God is either non existent or clearly evil. jesus wasn't enough to stop God from hating his creation and jesus didn't do anything to stop "sin" as,"sin" is everywhere. Even if there was a jesus he failed same as the flood God created as "sin" survived. I believe evil survived because God enjoys his own evil entertainment for himself. God is so evil he needlessly punishes innocent animals and children every day. Sorry people i won't worship evil. Not happening.
In my deconstruction from believing the bible inspired Paul's writings were some of the first red flags for me.....he comes across very much like follow me, look at me , it's all about me.....and when I started sharing my issues amongst my fellow believers the absolute hatred from some of them as if I'd trashed their god let me know I was reading paul right. Often in Christianity he's almost more thought of than jesus
Notice how in this epistle he doesn't even disagree with anything Apollos taught the Corinthians; if Apollos had offered some wrong doctrine, Paul would correct the church, as he does in other letters. No, he's mad that people are listening to Apollos on this stuff and NOT HIM. That's what he cares about.
I am learning a lot from each book. Thank you. Keep being fair and all-in, for all of the NT. I kept hearing you stating thoughts and questions I've had since a teen. With all the adults and "Christians" around me towing the line. Me thinking, "Well, they must know something I don't know." Because this stuff is bananas. Appreciate all your effort and dedication to the truth. I need your channel. Your thinking. And I will always...keep thinking.
Jews refer to the new testament as Paulianity. They have always said Paul's teachings are opposite of what's taught in the OT. Christians will say it's because we're not under the law, but grace. I have a friend who years ago left Christianity because he said that Paul's teachings were false, I was so shocked when he wrote this long dissertation on Facebook saying he and his wife had left and become Noahide Jews. And here I am 6-7 years later out of all of it. It's amazing to see how goofy it all sounds when you're willing to not dismiss it because of God's sovereignty and because his ways are higher. Once you can unhook yourself from that mindset and freely think, it is pretty obvious. I also noticed how many of Paul's teachings were contradictory, I think it was a turning point for me although so many things were being revealed as I really looked at it and started to question what I believed and how much of that was indoctrination and how much was me excusing it, whenever it didn't make sense. Great video as always! Thank you!
@@heavenbound7-7-7-7 or people will wake up to 2000 years of brainwashing. Why would there be demons? What is the purpose of decieving your children? Sounds man made and designed to control people with fear. Does it really make sense to you? I'm being sincere in that question. Does all the blood and water magic, the threats of hell or annihilation and the grotesque and twisted stories in the OT make sense? It didn't to me, I always had issues but dismissed them because I just figured God's ways were higher than mine, God's thoughts are not my thoughts. But misogyny, the genocide, the despicable treatment of people, slavery, and the fact that none of this was addressed as being wrong by any of the prophets or any of the NT writers, mainly Paul. The most disgusting thing I've heard is William Lane Craig excusing the genocide on the Canaanites as "A Devine Command from God." He just says that it's hard for us to understand, ah yeah that's an understatement. It's beyond hard to understand it's wrong and speaks to God's moral compass and character. I've already had this conversation with my son, who says this was simply war, and that the Canaanites were evil so evidently they deserved it. Ask yourself why God created this mess and then instead of fixing it, punishes his "children" because of his decrees, his failed plan and his inability to take accountability. What a mess he created. Best to you, I'm sincere about that because I was where you were not too long ago.
Paul was a Jew of Jews; his credentials were lofty and his zeal for the Jews' religion unrivaled (see Philippians 3:4-6; Acts 22:1-21, 26:1-29). Yet, he would preach the risen Christ the Messiah, that he must needs have suffered, from the Hebrew scriptures to Jews in their synagogues (see Acts 17:1-3, for example). He commended the Jews in Berea, saying: These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. Therefore many of them believed; also of honourable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few. (Acts 17:11-12). Jesus' works in his first coming to atone for mankind's sin were foretold in the Old Testament, and he and others recognized it. The New Testament scriptures, like the Old, were given to Jews (see Romans 3:2)--the apostles or their close associates, that men might be made wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus (see 2 Timothy 3:15).
@@heavenbound7-7-7-7 Since Paul was a deceiver, according to the Bible, placing his authority over Jesus's word, and Timothy was (spoiler) a forgery, the deceit came from the believers.
@@heavenbound7-7-7-7 "For there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to buffet me, to keep me from getting too conceited. Three times I begged the Lord about this, that it might leave me, but he said unto me, 'My grace is sufficient for thee, for power is made perfect in weakness.'" Paul got stuck with a 'demon' --- the 'demon' of homosexual orientation when you compare Romans 1, Romans 7, and 1st Corinthians 7 with this. And Jesus refused to remove it! When an 'apostle' decided his own sexual orientation was a demon and Jesus refused to remove it, chances are that if this was actually a demon then Paul would probably have been teaching the doctrines of demons! 😂🤣😈
That entire rant around 30:00 More people need to think like this. I see so many early 20's single moms because they thought they "found true love" and immediately hooked up with the first person to even glance at them. Don't even realize they're still children having children. smh
The 500 witnesses has always bothered me, and I used to counter the claim with a demand to name one. Just one. But then I realised that it wouldn't matter if Paul had named all 500 of them. We still wouldn't be able to verify the claim. Even if we had records that all of those people indeed existed, they had all long since passed when Paul wrote his auto-hagiography, so what they saw or didn't see would be no clearer. It's still a crock of talking donkey poop.
Yes, I agree. If any court case was based on the same evidentiary standard as these supposed witnesses or texts in which this claim is contained, it wouldn’t make the grade as the entirety of it is hearsay. That’s even before you get to the multitude of problems associated with witness testimony. Moreover, this would even be far more relevant to a lot less extraordinary claims.
Actually, I believe that Paul's 500 witnesses is an allusion to Clement's use of the Phoenix as a "witness" to resurrection in his letter to the Corinthians in which he states: "...There is a certain bird which is called a phoenix. This is the only one of its kind, and lives five hundred years." (First Clement 25) Why Clement would employ the supposedly mythical Phoenix to support the idea of a real world resurrection seems rather suspicious on its own, but one should also wonder about the amazing "coincidence" that it includes the "Corinthians", the number "five hundred" and the idea of "resurrection" in such a way that it suggests a disguised connection to Paul's five hundred witnesses.
My interpretations of New Testament allegory indicates that in the Gospels, "Peter" (three times "denier", "Satan" behind Christ, holder of the "keys") is a metaphor for the writings of Josephus related to the "Jewish" Revolt which were reinterpreted to create the Gospels. So Paul's claim that"...he (the resurrected Christ) appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred..." is intended as a rough timeline placing Josephus first, the Gospels second, and Clement last. Obviously, this suggests that this passage attributed to Paul is an interpolation made sometime after Clement wrote his letter to the Corinthians. (As was mentioned in the video, Corinth was also "resurrected" and therefore serves as a suitable location for a discussion of resurrection.) This does not mean that Paul did not predate all of them, but Paul had only "witnessed" a "spiritual" Christ, and this interpolation was intended to trace only the development of the "historical" Christ and fix Paul's apparent ignorance in this regard.
Michelle and Jim Bob trusted the bible and followed its advice to marry Josh young. Now Anna has to suffer the consequences with 7 kids. Great job, God. Advice like that can only come from someone infinitely more wise than us.
This is the kind of length and depth i LOVE. I think you also nailed the tone in this vieeo Brandon where its asking hard questions that demand ab answer but its not in a voice where you might be written off like a Dawkins
On the topic of homosexuality, scholars like Jeff Siker makes the argument that 1 Corinthians 6 :9-10 would be mean something like: “male prostitutes and the men who hire their services.” as Paul does not envision committed same-sex relationships between adults, since paying a prostitute for sex is not the same as living in a mutually committed relationship that includes far more than sex. A similar argument can be made regarding Romans 1: 26. This kind of clarification is important to me since it makes the justifications for homophobia in some Christians circles to be invalid, especially as someone who isn't heterosexual.
I don't have it in front of me but I remember reading that earlier translations used the word "effeminate" which was translated from a Greek (?) word that meant something more along the lines of "ostentatious". Also, I checked this one out myself: in the Hebrew Bible, the passage in Leviticus seems better translated to "with a boy" than "with a man". My reasoning is that the missing vowels that they assume to get the word "man (noun)" actually just means "male (adjective)", whereas if we try other vowels, the only applicable noun we can derive happens to mean "boy". Either way, homophobia is a choice & is not commanded. Not that any of it holds authority over anyone who uses reason.
Except by the time the First Century CE both Philo and Josephus were applying those two verses in Leviticus and the Sodom passage as well against same-sex -relations- ploughing and strong same-sex desires. This was the Jewish line of thought Paul found himself in. For guidance on what the Pharisees and later Rabbis thought about it, a whole discussion can be found in the Talmud, b. Sanhedrin 52b (or is it 92b?).
@@EdwardM-t8p Yes those are more examples of people who were wrong for the reasons I pointed out. That Paul probably agreed with them doesn't change whether the thing he actually said was something different from what was printed later.
If people would only take the time to realize that the Bible is entirely allegorical, they would discover the male homosexuality is a metaphor for real world knowledge. (Please don't mistake me for a Christian just because I view the Bible as allegory. You would not believe how much most atheists love to avoid this topic.) This is because allegory is created when a female "cover" is "married" to male "reality" in order to create allegoric children, but when you have two males are bound together there is no deception and this is the epitome of true "evil". In the Gospels, Mary is a metaphor for Philo of Alexandrea, while Joseph was a metaphor for Josephus. The idea for a personified "Word" came from Philo, and since Christ had no real world existence, he was considered the result of a "virgin birth". However, the Gospel writers reinterpreted Josephus's accounts of the "Jewish" Revolt and inserted a personified Word in order to provide a foundation for a historical Christ, so metaphorically Josephus was the "father" of the Gospels, but not of Christ. (The true nature of Christ is suggested in the term "christening" when it is understood that assigning "metaphors" is also a way to "name" things. This connection is further reinforced in Song of Solomon 1:3 which states "...your name is ointment poured forth..." )
This is a great video! I'm glad we are getting a sense of time and place with the City of Corinth. As for Paul's arguments, they remind me of the character of Elder Arnold Cunningham from the musical "The Book of Mormon." Cunningham spliced the Book of Mormon with Star Wars, Star Trek, and The Lord of the Rings to win over new converts. Paul was more incisive than Cunningham, but it's clear when he comes up with things on the fly such as the resurrection of the faithful and the five hundred witnesses. "There were fifty... no... a hundred... no! FIVE HUNDRED! There were FIVE HUNDRED witnesses to Christ's miracles!" "But Paul, why don't we have any of those eyewitness accounts?" "Have you been... uh, yanking the crank, my brother?" "Huh?" "Ha! I knew it! To perdition's flames with you!"
Such a great series, Brandon. It’s so nice to see someone’s biblical education ( formal and informal) be put to an actual good use. I agree with many that if people really read the Bible there would be far fewer Christians.
I never really understood why the OT and NT have been connected, the god is just so different from one to the other. The same with Christianity - Jesus crucifixion may have been the basis for the religion but, it really should have been named after Paul who established all the foundational rules of the mythology.
Marcion basically thought exactly this. He threw out the whole Old Testament, said Yahweh was an inferior and evil creator of the material world only, and that Jesus was the son of the true God and Paul was his most important apostle. He even created his own collection of works. There is speculation the New Testament might have been assembled and codified specifically to correct Marcionite heresies: "No no, THESE are the correct scriptures."
@@Uryvichk I have just started learning about Marcion, someone I had never heard of in 50 years of church attendance and Bible studies. Marcion makes sense to me, if any of it were reality based anyway.
because if you read the NT clearly jesus likes the OT and its GOD so saying otherwise is clearly wrong and incorrect, and some guy trying to make an entire religion (as a catholic) out of this specific thing which seems to be clearly incorrect would be heretical in their standard
@@toonyandfriends1915 I have read both the OT and NT multiple times, unlike the majority of Christians who just carry the book to and from church and only read the scriptures quoted by their pastors on Sunday. I know this because my dad and brother are both pastors and I attended church for 50 years. I knew these people, very few were actual students of the Bible. Religion is basically a social club with a life insurance policy. Jesus might have liked the OT but, Paul (who actually created Christianity) sure didn’t like the OT. He abandoned the law, changed all the traditions, welcomed outsiders…why we don’t call the religion Paulianity I don’t know.
@@26beegee I mean, okay. Jesus broke the law multiple times with clever turn of words, I don't know how jesus could just eat illegal food, work on Sundays, forgive some woman's sin and get away with it. A theologian might just disagree with you, it has nothing to do with just reading the Bible because that doesn't mean you are aware on how biblical tradition work. Marcions position just doesn't make sense. And waving it off away as saying " sure maybe jesus but what about Paul" would also be cherry picking if you didn't notice. Theologians would simply disagree Paul fundamentally contradicts Jesus. Even if Paul had a different world view, which isn't a huge problem because they admit that each books are written by different authors and so such differences would exist. Also Christians traditionally nterpret the OT the same way Paul does and so Paul just doesn't ignore the OT, he just think its purpose it's different than what was given to the Jews
Since most of Paul's writings were written before any of the gospels or Acts, I wonder how much of those are possibly a response or disagreement with Paul. Curious how so much of what he says contradicts Jesus. Paulanity.
Its odd that nothing of note was written about Jesus until after Paul. Paul wrote SO much it seems impossible that he didn't exist. He was so annoying. And so certain of what he was declaring when he'd only had a vision of Jesus and never read the Gospels. But doesn't the text refer to the Gospels?
@@Badficwriter Don't confuse "good news" with "Gospel." They're the same word (evangelos or whatever), but Paul means it in the generic sense, the Gospels probably also meant it in the generic sense, and only later do writers refer to it in the specific sense of "the Gospels."
@@Uryvichk Good point. An old apologist did make one point I agree with; different translations and people repeating the same story they heard elsewhere won't use the same words. Understandable unless if you think the Bible is perfect transmission. Reading the translation without the background of the culture and time period leaves nuances unheard.
I remember asking my sister and mother about taking communion that i thought it was weird to eat Jesus body and drink his blood especially after watching Indiana Jones and the Temp of doom. My mom jyst looked at me and shook her head while my sister just says huumm. They dont like to think about it. They just do it
@imjustsayingthough2261 Ask them why they believe they are drinking the blood of Christ, if God said in the OT not to drink blood? I understand communion bread/wafer/wine were symbolic, not literal.
It's almost as if "god" has raised Brandon up to speak truth to us all. (heheh) Seriously, you never disappoint, Brandon. When I was a Christian, one of the HIGHEST praises a person could give (to a person, not God, of course haha) was that that person, "...really knows his Bible." At 45:20 for the next 50 seconds or so, you demonstrate that you "really know your Bible," Brandon-SO well.
Very powerful video and analysis! Three contradictions that jump out at me: 1. Paul believes other gods are real after he says they are not and there is one God,but concedes it’s really just one god for them: “Hence, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “no idol in the world really exists” and that “there is no God but one.” Indeed, even though there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth-as in fact there are many gods and many Lords- yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.” 1 Corinthians 8:4-6 NRSVUE 2. Paul says the “resurrected” Jesus taught him the Lord’s supper. Whereas the gospels historicize it. Even Luke combines Mark’s account with Paul’s account. 3. The Resurrection chapter: Paul says our bodies need to be raised spiritually as Jesus has been. The gospels write Jesus was raised bodily and infer he will be the only one to be raised. Paul resurrection appearances are never recreated in the gospel stories, except Peter. Mary Magdelane does not appear in Paul’s rendering.
I can't wait til we get to TWO Corinthians. That's the best book, the most beautiful book. I won't tell you a verse, because they're all my favorite. I wouldn't want to get into it, because to me it's personal, it's very personal. 😉🙃
What do you think about including someone for collaboration in this series? You’re doing great! I just thought it might be cool to add a bible scholar’s perspective about the overview or problematic verses. I don’t think it would change a theists perspective, but it could add info!
@Brandon thank you for going over the problematic passages, instead of just putting them up on the screen. I mostly listen while doing other things, like painting miniatures, and even if I did watch, I know I wouldn't go searching for verses or even read along.
The of the most funny thing was Paul said we are saved by faith so none can boast but then I thoughts to myself some have more faith and other less so if both got into heaven could not one say to the other I had more faith than you, isn't that boasting lol don't you get more reward in heaven based on how strong your faith was and is? also why are all Christian most obsessed with Sex more than any other sin lol I love this book it makes so much sense! :)
Yes, yes. Paul loved to boast. It’s the same for money. “Don’t give me money. I will pay my own way. But…. Jesus did say I am supposed to get your money.”
Another enlightening episode. Please keep taking your time for the contradictions and problematic passages, as I'm not well read on the bible (it's a tough book to read), The extra context you provide is very helpful.
I would love you to do a video on 1 Cor. 13 vs. Hebrews 11. How does one reconcile 1 Cor. 13:13 (...and the greatest of these is love.) with Hebrews 11:6 (...without faith it is impossible to please God.)? I remember as a child sitting through more than one sermon (protestant obviously, given this point) that said something like "Mother Theresa could have all the love in the world, but if she doesn't have faith in her personal relationship with Jesus, she's not going to heaven." In that light, it seems like 1 Cor. 13:13 should read "...and the greatest of these is FAITH." Love ain't gonna get you to heaven!
"How are they reconciling this?" (staying single vs being married) - you just blew my mind, I never realized this before. Probably no one else does either.
@EdFranklin-mj5qu did you watch the video? He referenced a verse in proverbs or something about how good it is to marry. I guess Solomon forgot to mention that it's even better NOT to be married. But it's so good to be! Just stop there lol.
@EdFranklin-mj5qu I don't know how amazingly good something is when the exact opposite is actually better. It's kind of weird. Can you think of any other thing where you can rave a bout how good something is and then forget to mention that the complete opposite is actually even better? Seems like you could just skip the lesser one and rave about the better one.
@EdFranklin-mj5qu How is marrying and not marrying anything but opposite? It's good to win the lottery! Buuuttttt... it's even better to NOT win the lottery! It's good to have people in your life that love you! Buuuuuuutttt... you know what's even better? NOT having people in your life that love you. etc etc. Can you be both married and not married at the same time? It's mutually exclusive. Christianity is all about arguing nonsense into the ground. Kind of why I left. Nothing but nonsense. Tons of it.
One sunday when I was a child, During Sunday school round up (My mum was a sunday school superintendent) my mum was asked if its compulsory to get baptized? She said no, but the resident pastor took the microphone and said yes it's compulsory for salvation. My mum felt embarrassed but I knew they were both right.
Wow, there are SO many problematic passages in this epistle O_O And each of them deserves its own video. Great episode! I also had a couple of interesting thoughts while I was watching it. One week ago, I wrote a comment under the previous SBS episode where I mentioned that Paul apparently was so confident in himself that he was not afraid of speaking on behalf of God. And what do we have in the 1st Corinthians? First, let's remember who was the only one who handed a person over to Satan in the OT? It was God who handed poor Job over to Satan. But in the NT it's Paul who commands to do the same. In the OT, God gives a command concerning circumcision. And what does Paul do? He writes "guys, circumcision doesn't matter anymore!" In the OT, God creates Adam and Eve and gives them a command to be a couple and have children. They are blessed by God himself to do it. And what about Paul? "Nah, marriage is bad, stay single just like me". If you think thoroughly about it, this is very scary. Paul doesn't only speak on behalf of God, sometimes he speaks as if he were God himself, creating a new religion with new commands and rules. And he even thinks that he has authority to hand someone over to Satan! This is crazy.
31:51 - is Jesus really saying, categorically, never to judge? It honestly sounds to me like he is simply advocating for consistency and against hypocrisy in your judgments.
Thanks for the secular Bible study Brandon! 😊 OMG Paul's teachings are literally an omnishambles. But he really does have this hang-up about sex in general and homosexuality in particular. And he fires poisoned arrows at us gay men in two places already saying that what we are and do is unforgivable and yet he turns right around and says it is forgivable because "some of you guys once were such". Porphyry (or is it Celsus?) would say of this as he said of his teachings on meat sacrificed unto idols: "Oh, a _new_ kind of archery, where the archer fires the arrow back onto himself!" Just ridiculous. I'm looking forward to your sbs on 2 Corinthians where in chapter 12 he talks about Paul's thorn in the flesh. There's a train of thought in NT scholarship that this thorn was his sexual orientation and that he himself was homosexual, which has implications for his relationship with Onesimus and friendship with Philemon. And Paul seemingly suggesting that gay men marry women is just bad advice. Again, thank you! I love the series, Brando. 😊❤🥰
@user-uo7fw5bo1o Either that (thorn in the flesh/homosexuality), or it was his having to deal with corrective letters/emissaries sent to the churches pointing out Paul's errant teaching (no need of The Law).
That passage from 1 Cor. 5:3-5 (at time 40:55) is wild. It seems to contradict other Christian teachings about salvation. If Satan destroys a sinner's body, his spirit is saved?
Great video as always brandon, if you don't mind me asking when we eventually finish secular bible study will we cover some of the non canonical books of the bible like the book of enoch?
I was planning to and will at some point but i think first im gonna switch over to non scripture for a bit. Im gonna walk through each of the early greek works for a while in a new series called Greek Think
I realized another fun rebuke of the overall design of the religion's dependence on a holy book while watching this video: the christian god uses language as a weapon against the organization/power of man; god destroys the tower of babel by introducing new languages to the workers of the tower knowing that it would provoke the failure of the entire project. Yet in the next step, god decides that distributing his Word and Plan and divine information using a BOOK, dependent on the same exact language that he used to destroy a people's ability to oppose him, is the best course of action. Setting aside humanity's role in imperfect translations and personal agendas that influence the message of the same text through time, god itself CHOSE essentially the weapon he created to divide a people to ... unite them in one message? How does that make any sense? With his Knowledge, wouldn't it have also be obvious that, if nothing else, using language to muddy and confuse the divine message would be an incredibly easy and perhaps primary attack on the message by his opponents (i.e. the devil)?
@@noracola5285 Par for the course. Jesus said God blinded a man from birth so Jesus could show God's glory. Think how amazed we'll be when millenia of suffering is fixed by God juice! The time lapse is to build suspense.
I remember asking multiple pastors and leaders in different churches "what is love?" And "how does one love god." I would usually get the same answer, 1 Cor 13, it was a bit frustrating as it still didnt make sense to me. It was such an abstract concept that made no sense, yet i was expected act or feel a certain way to an abstract concept, when this abstract concept is being told to me is not a feeling but an act. A fun fact about the head covering thing, in India that verse about head coverings for women (in christian spaces) is taken litterally and the women do wear scarves on there head when praying or going to church.
Another awesome SBS! It’s insane to think the impact that Paul had on so much Christian theology! I do have a question in 1stCor 15:24-28. I used to use these when I was a Christian as a proof text against the Trinity doctrine. Just wondering what people think of that part and what is says about the relationship of the Father and the Son. Thanks!
The context is not the immanent Trinity but the economy, the redemptive mission of the incarnate Son. “Economic” has to do with the history of salvation, and discusses the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the sending and mission of salvation. In this case, “immanent” means “the action remaining within an agent.” The immanent Trinity would be a discussion of of the eternal, essential, and ontological aspects of the Trinity.
@@heavenbound7-7-7-7 I agree to an extent. However; after the Son gives the kingdom back to the Father. It makes sure to mention how the Father is not subject to the Son and that when this is all over Jesus is subject to God so that God may be all in all. Are you saying that him being Subject to the Father doesn’t disqualify him as being equal. As well as him saying to Mary he has not yet gone back to his Father and his God-John 20:17. If Jesus would’ve been a real person then I believe he would’ve been the first creation of God through which all other creation came.
Hi Brandon, I British born and bred and I'm not a Christian because my parents weren't, there were no Christians in my close family, and nor did we have Christian family-friends or neighbours. Nor was my primary and secondary schools religious, exept for Religious Education lessons in the latter, and even that was broader than a Christian-centric approach. So I never needed to watch videos like yours to break free from the religion's spell. I listen because of the way the host presents their arguments and you're one of the best, Brandon. There are lots of good ones out there, but you and Dan McLellan - who I stumbled upon at around the same time as I stumbled upon you - are the best. Keep up the good work!👍
Hi Brandon, I'm British born and bred and I'm not a Christian because my parents weren't, there were no Christians in my close family, and nor did we have Christian family-friends or neighbours. Nor was my primary and secondary schools religious, exept for Religious Education lessons in the latter, and even that was broader than a Christian-centric approach. Indeed, when I moved to high school in 1976, I didn't even know what denomination I was born into (Church of England) when asked and the classroom assistant had to ask me the name of my primary school to figure it out. So I never needed to watch videos like yours to break free from the religion's spell. I listen because of the way the hosts present their arguments and you're one of the best, Brandon. There are lots of good ones out there, but you and Dan McLellan - who I stumbled upon at around the same time as I stumbled upon you - are the best. Keep up the good work!👍
Brandon, I'm having doubts about the evidence of the resurrection and the overall bible, how are you so sure of what you believe in? I would like a video on why you don't believe in the evidence for the claims of the bible, mostly NT I like your channel it has helped me. I often find myself with emotional discomfort, specially when looking at apologetics about the authorship and credibility of gospels or arguments from believers in this comment section. I would appreciate some help in these aspects of not believing anymore.
th-cam.com/video/alEcn-ted8k/w-d-xo.htmlsi=QLYAASN8Bz6ra3rI Hi friend. This should be the video Brandon’s deconversion story. He might explain why he doesn’t believe in there. I know what made me stop believing recently. It was mostly realizing that the Gospels aren’t 1st hand testimony. Learning about the general dating of each book caused me to be suspicious. Even how the general canonization of the Bible is super interesting. I’d recommend listening to bible scholars though, Brandon is fantastic, but having a scholar explain those complex topics is better. You’re not alone. I hope you feel seen, heard and loved because everyone deserves that.
There’s lots of reasons, and he kinda covers a lot of it in all his videos. For me, I think it was realizing that Adam & Eve weren’t real, and the Flood of Noah, couldn’t have happened, because there would be solid evidence that it did, and not only is there no evidence, there’s an overwhelming amount of evidence against it, so much so they’re considered allegory or metaphor by Christian’s who understand science today. Not only that, but even if they were real, they’d just prove how weak & evil such a god would be. Like why do you need to destroy the innocent animals alive at the time, to deal with a human problem, when your god, and can basically do anything. The more you dig into the Bible, without the Christian blinders on, the more you see the contradictions, and the wrongness of it all.
I have many theories for this issues between Jesus and Paul teachings: - The gospels (generally attributed to Matthew, Mark, John and Like) was written by anonymous persons from a different sect from Paul. - Paul was unaware about some aspects in Jesus life (since the gospel was written years later than Paul's epistles and Paul never seen Jesus face to face). - Paul was the true Founder of the Jesus cult. (And the guys who meet Jesus during his life joined him. Years later, the gospels was written) - Paul intentionally was deviating Jesus teachings in a attempt to make Christianity more suitable and attractive to the Gentiles (since nobody know who wrote the Hebrews epistle and Paul himself calls itself "Apostle of The Gentiles")
@@JasonHenderson wait, Peter and James never met Jesus during his timelife? Wow, this changes a bit my theories. But i still prefer the theory of intentional deviation, because looks suitable
@@rcktneo I didn't say this. I believe in Paul's uncontested letters, he never mentions what Peter and James said about physical Jesus during his lifetime. Paul never mentions that Peter or James told him they knew historical Jesus. I believe. All he says was he met them once, and they told him nothing of value.
Firstly, thank you for all of your videos. My wife and I have learned so much. We are both former Catholics. #9 of the Problematic Passages we realized that the Catholic church believes in both, the eucharist being done in memory of Jesus as well as the literal flesh and blood.
Personally I prefer the more drawn out version of the contradictions because it arms me better when speaking to religious family members. Love your channel Brandon, keep up the good work!
Woot woot! I studied 1 Corinthians 11 a lot and thought it was pretty clear that women are supposed to cover their heads when praying (or prophesying whatever that means).
So what were the divisions about? That would be very revealing! I guess, like most leaders, Paul doesn't care about their actual questions and concerns?!?!
Happy SBS. 1 Corinthians has so much! Hope you all enjoy.
There is absolutely nothing in the 4 gospels that suggested that anyone saw jesus as the creator of the earth, infact in Mathew 24:1 peter was trying to make jesus feel impress ABT the structure and beautiful of the temple, that is not something you do to some who u think created the fre*king earth, 😅😅😅 rily? He created the earth but U expected him to be impressed by a building 😂😆😂😆
I hope U got my message, it keep disappearing
@@seyioyetade I like this point!
What's SBS
Secular bible study
The deviations of Paul’s teachings from Jesus was the beginning of my deconstruction. It’s so important to cover
Of course, Paul’s letters were written first, so maybe the gospels were the ones that deviated.
@@danielbond9755 😮 OMG this comment blew my mind... Yeah, the Gospels could be the ones deviated... Thanks
It’s really crazy! Realizing that Paul is literally just a dude that has been canonized and thus seeming to be near-divine in his authority!
@@diudalidion1744 It's much more than "could". Mark's author almost certainly used Paul's letters as material for constructing their story of Jesus. Not only do we find presages to things like the eucharist in Paul first, there are also many literary and linguistic overlaps between passages in Mark and Paul's writing style.
@@gavinyoung-philosophy He was claiming to have received revelation directly from Jesus, just like Muhammad claimed to have received revelation from God.
'Are you christian or Paulian?' needs to take its place as a legitimate question...
@rainyfeathers9148 Oh boy, have I gotten some flak when I say things like Paul was a heretic, or Paul never met Jesus, but had a nervous breakdown/break from reality, or suffered heat stroke. That he was a braggart, boastful. He claims (don't recall which epistle) that he was not an apostle, but the FIRST Apostle, chosen while still in his mother's womb. He got angry when "the church" at Jerusalem corrected his errant teaching, calling them "dogs and evildoers." Not someone I would want to emulate, although he tells us to be emulators of him, but then qualifies that by saying "as I am of Christ."
@@johntiggleman4686 It's what happens, they don't read the book. It's about keeping up appearances, what's actually going on in the bible is not important to them. Out here naming their kids after these trashy bible folk then want to act confused when the kid becomes wayward.
All christians are ideologically descended from Paul's theology.
Mark's author used Paul's letters among other things to construct his story about Jesus. There is no christianity today without Paul.
Christianity and Paulianity are the same thing. There is no "or".
Love is jealous. Jealous for the other party and your own good. That is why love is jealous. Anything else and it is neglect.
christianity, if it ever existed, died out about 2000 years ago, to be superseded by fan fiction and the words of blatant plagiarists, liars and at least one nutter (Paul), none of who had ever met Jesus , some of whom didn't know the area, or Jewish ways at the time, and who didn't write anything until decades after his alleged life and death.
There are only Paulians and Liarians, as I have been pointing out for some years.
It's good to see so many others see this truth.
Two months ago, a Mindshift video popped up on my feed. I have been a Christian for decades with a very similar background to Brandon. I clicked on the video because the thumbnail was cool and immediately heard some questions I had struggled with my whole life being dismantled. I was riveted. I guess I reached a place where I was ready to hear it because in the past I would have shunned Brandon out of righteous indignation.
Since then I have watched almost all of his videos, some multiple times. I can’t believe how much my thinking has changed over the past couple months. The other day I found myself making my neighbor pastor friend question some of the things he was telling me. I believe I am on a long journey out of Christianity as I’m realizing what a mental grip it puts on someone.
I also just read “Wayward” by Alice Greczyn, which was a powerful punch in the gut. Highly recommended.
Thanks Brandon. I apologize if I posted anything negative toward you in the past. I’ve checked out a lot of other channels and in my opinion you have the best one out there. Your hard work shows.
Wow man, what a journey. I am happy for you to be on it but i also know what a tough road it is. Reach out if you get stuck
It’s crazy how long the journey can be, to just be ready to receive new information and actually consider it. In hind sight, it probably took me 5-6 years, and then, all of a sudden, I was so ready and willing to really learn, and completely let go.
It’s being born again, again ;)
Good luck, but of course, remember that truth is the most important thing. Weigh the evidence, ask your questions, decide what makes the most sense to you, and don't worry where it takes you. Don't feel any more compelled to leave a faith as to stay in it, do what you conclude you should do based on what you determine as you go.
You sound somewhat similar to me. I was strong in Christianity and Brandon was the needle in the haystack that broke me towards deconversion, like a catalyst in the midst of the doubts I was starting to have. I fought it at first; even responding with Christian comments in some of his videos.
At the time (Nov-Dec 2023), I’d watched just about all his videos and found myself agreeing with him far more than a Christian is supposed to. Next thing you know, I’m listening to other ex-christian (harmonic atheist, Matt dillahunty, holy koolaid, etc.) content and found myself agreeing and empathizing with them immensely. Deconverting was the worst thing that happened to me in my life. It was a very difficult the first 5 months for me, but I’m starting to recover and I’m honestly so grateful I went this path. It has always been my goal to be devoted to truth no matter where it lies, so despite the troubles leaving this cult has/will cause me, it is definitely worth it! Now I have the freedom to explore and be open minded in ways I never would have in this religion
@@JDrocks4ever agreed. Deconversion is really rough, because it’s like rewiring your brain. It’s a shock to the system, with some highs, but many lows too. Glad you made it to the other side.
Crazy thing I found, as I’m sure many others did too, is how much more the bible makes sense, once you take the doctrine and belief out of it. It was truly eye opening to the amount of cognitive dissonance one builds up.
I really appreciate spending more time with problematic passages in the new testiment specifically. The old is so obviously problematic, and Christian love to ignore it as a result. But having instances of problems in the new is crucial, because Christians can't ignore these verses.
God is love - Love is not jealous - God is a jealous god.. Somethings not adding up.. lol
This is incredible. It was in the Bible the whole time.
Well said.
This whole contradiction started my deconversion. I used to ask Christians “what is your most objective definition of love” after we established the presuppositions that God is Love and that Gods existence is objective . When we failed to find a definition of love that wasn’t subjective or circular, it made me start to separate the two. Especially if a broad definition of God is the amalgamation of all that is good. It got pretty circular very fast.
This may only make sense to me, but it was what I needed at the time to start questioning the information I was given.
Alternate WLC:
1. Love is not jealous
2. God I’d jealous
3. Therefore, God is not love.
🪄
There are examples in the Bible where God does the opposite of each one of the love statements in I Cor 13, like, “does not keep a record of wrongs” then records every thought and deed for judgement day.
Can't help but think Paul's somewhat disjointed ramblings about marriage show a guy with personal issues who has found fulfillment in his mission. And it's incredible to think how much authority this still has over many people's lives 2000 years later. Way beyond the best-before date.
"Way beyond the best before date "
This one needed a total recall, considering it was rotten on arrival.
@@FoursWithin lol 😂😂
The impact 1 Corinthians 7 had on my life is so sad. I don’t have to be a sexually repressed monk that’s dedicated to singleness anymore😂
You're not only providing so much clarity by dissecting these books but also setting a brave example for others to follow.
The ethical and righteous path is using critical thinking and not turning a blind eye to the confusing and contradicting teachings.
I remember every time I'd listen to the preaching and they were always saying "God is not in confusion, if this doesn't make sense to you or you question it, you're filled with Satan"
I was born into a very fundamentalist believing family. Along with being homeschooled with more Christian propaganda and socialized with only those who were also indoctrinated, I never felt safe to even think.
It’s surreal that I'm here. An agnostic atheist, still grappling with the harm caused by the ideology in ways my brain won't even let me explore. Hearing others push past some of the mind-barriers that were imposed on people like myself is life changing and is a tangible good.
Thank you.
Wow I'm sorry for your childhood. Good on you for getting out ❤
I wish you to find peace and love and heal.😔🙏❤️
There is a huge difference between "not all shall sleep" and "all shall sleep" The first one implies that the kingdom would come while some living at that time are still alive.
I can see how Christians would want to retcon that one
thank God the kingdom did come, which is how the explosion of christianity came about
@@japexican007 really? Did the sun go dark, the moon stopped giving its light, and the stars fall from the sky? Was there a trumpet and the son of man returning in clouds? Did the dead rise up? I must have missed it.
Love is jealous. Jealous for the other party and your own good. That is why love is jealous. Anything else and it is neglect.
@@cocococop6082 People don't belong to you. Propertarian insanity.
I'll say this for Paul - he came up with some of the best lyrics for Handel's "Messiah"!
I’m Christian and I find these absolutely fascinating. I love how you keep it respectful and straight facts without bias. Love ur content man
"straight facts without bias"
🤣🤣🤣
Derision from someone with the name@@heavenbound7-7-7-7 is just cute.
Good on you for being able to hear harsh criticism of important beliefs.
Appreciate that!
@@heavenbound7-7-7-7do you think you read the bible, with your specific worldview, your specific doctrine, your specific denomination, your specific interpretation, with less bias than someone who has no skin in the game?
Surely, you jest!
I definitely like the methodical explanations of your observed contradictions and problematic passages. I don't usually have the time to screenshot the list and look them up later. As a person who more so listens while working, it's helpful to be able to hear these things explained.
For the algorithm. Thank you.
Boost
I got married at 19 so I wouldn't burn with desire. 😑 Oh brother! A 19 year old should be burning with desire! 😂😂 🤦🏼♀️💃🏼🔥😅
What your husband wasn't doing it for you?
Love is jealous. Jealous for the other party and your own good. That is why love is jealous. Anything else and it is neglect.
I got married at 21 for the same reason.
I love it when you put your finger on one of my points of cognitive dissonance that i had when i was a believer (at 49:00). I struggled with the idea that I would be harming myself if my head/heart wasn't right when I took communion. I never understood why. I never looked into it, either. I just brushed my concerns aside and kept believing it. I'd beg god every communion Sunday to create in me a new heart so I wouldn't condemn myself with the grape juice and cracker. OMG...faith is delusional.
As I grew up Catholic this was so common to me... I never had thoughts about it except, as a kid and teen, if I had bad breathe and which person I didn't want to recieve it from and I totally don't want to look like the weirdo who doesn't use their hands..... Anyways. Fast forward to when I was 31 and in a Baptist church and I found out that they randomly do the last supper!? they hate the Catholics!.... I was annoyed at this church for many reasons but I rebeled against the spiel to be forgiven in everything before partaking. I would laugh inside because I never got a phone call the night before from anyone asking me for forgiveness and if we were on the up and up! I always walked out of the service and sat in a chair in the hallway during those days. They made me realize how BS everyone was.
An almost hour long sbs??? 😊
Just made my whole day,
Thank you Brandon for your amazing work!!!
Glad to help! thanks for watching
He said they will all be under an hour. I think a lot of these NT books are going to push it
@@MindShift-Brandonman you confirm so much. SO MUCH. My family made me feel crazy about all this. I feel alot like Paul most times but I am on my beggening stage of ex christian and don't think I'll be coming back ever to it after putting it all together. From every perspective possible. There's no point in rewarding so much messed up let alone worshipping sick sinical cycles. And for the cursing I actually think it's real. Because no female no pissed off ex could ever do what has been done to me.
I always found it interesting hearing a sermon on Corinthians growing up by nondenominational pastors who claimed to be biblical literalists but conveniently didn’t mention the passages about head coverings or modesty standards. Like I’m not saying women should wear dresses down to their feet but if you’re going to follow a book at least be intellectually honest.
Exactly!
Wouldn’t being intellectually honest mean accepting that you cannot follow the book perfectly since we’re all sinners who fall short of Gods perfect standard and the reason why Christ came down?
@@japexican007 No, being intellectually honest would mean accepting that you cannot follow the book perfectly because it's full of mutually exclusive contradictions, that the concept of "sinners" is incoherent nonsense, that the idea that one must "fall short of God's perfect [sic] standard" is a feature of the "standard" itself, that "God" is incoherent nonsense, that there's nothing perfect or even good about said "standard", that nothing about it necessitates "Christ" to do anything, that "Christ" never actually "came down", that "Christ" is incoherent nonsense and contradicts the supposed messianic prophecies of the so-called Old Testament, that those prophecies are garbage anyway, and that even if "Christ came down" it would do nothing to change any of that.
Can you provide any testable evidence to the contrary?
@@japexican007 The intellectual dishonesty would be on God/Jesus. If they were one, then there was no need to condemn or forgive. Deciding before creation began to split yourself into multiple people, then having yourself tortured so you never changed your mind on condemning the entities you deliberately made flawed so they'd be tortured and die too with all your future knowledge is pretty convoluted rationalizing.
Love is jealous. Jealous for the other party and your own good. That is why love is jealous. Anything else and it is neglect.
Always love me a new Mindshift. I constantly recommend this series to people who want a secular perspective on the Bible.
Appreciate that!
@@MindShift-Brandon also maybe do a video on the curses this false god endures on innocent men and children not only up to 4 generations but 7.... and I honestly think I'm living so far breathing proof and battling it out realtime. Because even this torturing lying corrupt god or mother of all whatever knows he or it is in the wrong. Ten fold. Lol with this yahno fella or whomever to proper blame.
Also. Paul has always given me the creeps. The extra time with problems and contradictions is well spent. Good job.
Thanks!
On the one hand, Paul says faith is all you need. On the other, he’s freakishly obsessed with what other people do. I cannot imagine having to deal with him in person.
@Rhewin "All you need is love." John Lennon.
Salvation vs sanctification sigh there is a difference
@@japexican007 that’s how you understand it.
Dealing with him in person must have felt like dealing with a general when you are the soldier.
@@raybankin8342Are generals any better at self-consistency than Paul? I have never been in the military, so I don't know.
Paul had everyone sell there possessions because he believed Jesus would return soon. Never happened!
Jehovah's witnesses did this in 1974.
The religion was born out of the great disappointment of the millerite religion. Lots of bible math and failed end times dates. Jdubs are little more than a doomsday cult @@JasonHenderson
Wonder where all that money went 🤔 😂😂🤬💀
@@Primordialtruth666 last going away party.
"Why are there forgeries in the Bible?" 😂😂😂 I suppose the Holy Spirit wanted to mess with people.
I can't tell you how many times I have brought up the issues in 1 Timothy to a Christian who just excuses them that it was a forgery.... like that doesn't just create a new and worse problem, lol.
@@MindShift-Brandon Hilarious!
If the Holy Spirit can inspire frauds, then I can write 3 Peter or 17 Corinthians: This Time it's Personal tomorrow. Sure, I'm not Peter or Paul, and sure, I'd be writing it almost 2000 years after both of them were dead, but I'm inspired by the Holy Spirit, so it's cool! Right?
It means the 'church fathers' got the absolute basics wrong or the holy spirit lied
Love is jealous. Jealous for the other party and your own good. That is why love is jealous. Anything else and it is neglect.
Great job, Brandon. The time you took on contradictions and problematic passages was well needed. How Paul fluctuates and seems to speak against books before him. Wow.
Point 13 -- Temptation > If the claim that god will not let us be tempted beyond our ability to resist were ACTUALLY true, then nobody would sin. Sin could ONLY occur if we were tempted beyond what we could bear. That fact that sin apparently exists to the point that the bible labels everyone as sinners lays bare the lie of the claim.
I was born and raised Catholic and went to a Catholic school. In school, I was taught that if you did not make an Act of Contrition prior to receiving the Eucharist you were not in a full state of grace because you were receiving Jesus in a state of sin. I was 8 years old.
Its insanity!
Why is god bound to a magic ritual?
@vaiyt corruption and forgery of demi urge. To me both reptilian and "h0Ly" arkdian are both demi urged....
Paul's diss track on "worldly knowledge" ended up being the mindset of 90% of the people i grew up around. "We don't need no book learnin'." "You think you're smarter than me because you read a lot."
It's fascinating to see, but also a really sad commentary on large swaths of the Southern US.
Happy SBS day, its kinda cool to see the interest to explore this material in the way you do
Always appreciate you being here and your pov. Thanks
What's SBS mean?
@@EmmaHopman the title of the series, secular bible study
@@EmmaHopman Secular Bible Study. Didn't get it initially either, so you're not alone. 😉
It occurred to me a while back that the figure of Paul (aka Saul) must have been something like the Ray Kroc character played by Michael Keaton in the 2016 Netflix documentary "The Founder," which tells the story of how an ambitious but struggling huckster from another state, encountered Mac and Dick McDonald and had an "epiphany," so to speak, that their efficient methods of producing food cheaply and quickly had widespread franchise potential. As such, he "soon maneuvers himself into a position to be able to pull the company from the brothers and create a multi-billion dollar empire." Think of the hapless McDonald brothers as analogs for Peter and James, the "fast food" as the Eucharist, and the burger empire as Christendom. Maybe stretching things a little...
It made me laugh when point 7 begins at the halfway point of the video. With how much was covered in the first 25 minutes, we're still just getting started haha. Good work Brandon
Lol thanks!
Paul, ever the marketer for the messiah. Dude had to be making bank back in those days to afford so many expeditions.
maybe thats why he added the verse in this book about how those preaching should make a living doing so, was low on funds from his tent making business...
@MindShift-Brandon hahaha thats exactly what I thought when you said that! "God said give me money bro, just trust me."
And at the end of his journey to Rome, rent a private house for 2 years, undoubtedly in a nice neighborhood.
@@EdwardM-t8p what a retirement haha
He said he was sending the money back to the church in Jerusalem. Do we have any receipts for this?
I love the long episodes
Very glad to hear it!
Paul is "the second coming of Jesus" that every Christian is looking for.
What is this claim based on?
The book of private interpretations?
@@heavenbound7-7-7-7 It's a joke based off the fact that some Christians base their beliefs on the word of Paul more the the word of Jesus. But again, it was just a joke.
@DannyS177 Sarcasm and humor are not appreciated by everyone. I, however love both.
@@pinky9440 it depends since some people make jokes to mock, the same way a theist can use sarcasm and humor to mock atheists based on false claims, the same way the other side can happen
Chapter 5 verse 11: But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people.
Damn this one doesn't seem to line up with what i was taught about Jesus
Dang i meant to cover this one! Good addition. Yes its insane.
Oh man, slanderers don't even KNOW!
Sadly, I stopped talking to a good friend for a long time because of this verse after I learned she was sleeping with her boyfriend. SMH. The word of god divides.
Exactly!!🙄😮💨
Make sure you thank your loving God for his creation of cancer, pain, suffering, natural disasters, strokes, and death as it's obvious jesus was not enough to appease God . Why is it you must die BEFORE God loves you? Makes zero sense. God is either non existent or clearly evil. jesus wasn't enough to stop God from hating his creation and jesus didn't do anything to stop "sin" as,"sin" is everywhere. Even if there was a jesus he failed same as the flood God created as "sin" survived. I believe evil survived because God enjoys his own evil entertainment for himself. God is so evil he needlessly punishes innocent animals and children every day. Sorry people i won't worship evil. Not happening.
THANK YOU!!!!!
And there will be CRICKETS from believers on this - or hateful, sociopathic screeds about “The Fall” or “free will”
I never understood why children and animals always get in the crossfire in these stories, anyways I agree with you.
In my deconstruction from believing the bible inspired Paul's writings were some of the first red flags for me.....he comes across very much like follow me, look at me , it's all about me.....and when I started sharing my issues amongst my fellow believers the absolute hatred from some of them as if I'd trashed their god let me know I was reading paul right. Often in Christianity he's almost more thought of than jesus
Notice how in this epistle he doesn't even disagree with anything Apollos taught the Corinthians; if Apollos had offered some wrong doctrine, Paul would correct the church, as he does in other letters. No, he's mad that people are listening to Apollos on this stuff and NOT HIM. That's what he cares about.
I am learning a lot from each book. Thank you. Keep being fair and all-in, for all of the NT.
I kept hearing you stating thoughts and questions I've had since a teen. With all the adults and "Christians" around me towing the line. Me thinking, "Well, they must know something I don't know." Because this stuff is bananas.
Appreciate all your effort and dedication to the truth. I need your channel. Your thinking. And I will always...keep thinking.
Love that so much, Deb!
Jews refer to the new testament as Paulianity. They have always said Paul's teachings are opposite of what's taught in the OT.
Christians will say it's because we're not under the law, but grace.
I have a friend who years ago left Christianity because he said that Paul's teachings were false, I was so shocked when he wrote this long dissertation on Facebook saying he and his wife had left and become Noahide Jews.
And here I am 6-7 years later out of all of it. It's amazing to see how goofy it all sounds when you're willing to not dismiss it because of God's sovereignty and because his ways are higher. Once you can unhook yourself from that mindset and freely think, it is pretty obvious.
I also noticed how many of Paul's teachings were contradictory, I think it was a turning point for me although so many things were being revealed as I really looked at it and started to question what I believed and how much of that was indoctrination and how much was me excusing it, whenever it didn't make sense.
Great video as always! Thank you!
"The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons." 1 Timothy 4:1
@@heavenbound7-7-7-7 or people will wake up to 2000 years of brainwashing. Why would there be demons? What is the purpose of decieving your children? Sounds man made and designed to control people with fear.
Does it really make sense to you? I'm being sincere in that question. Does all the blood and water magic, the threats of hell or annihilation and the grotesque and twisted stories in the OT make sense?
It didn't to me, I always had issues but dismissed them because I just figured God's ways were higher than mine, God's thoughts are not my thoughts.
But misogyny, the genocide, the despicable treatment of people, slavery, and the fact that none of this was addressed as being wrong by any of the prophets or any of the NT writers, mainly Paul.
The most disgusting thing I've heard is William Lane Craig excusing the genocide on the Canaanites as "A Devine Command from God." He just says that it's hard for us to understand, ah yeah that's an understatement. It's beyond hard to understand it's wrong and speaks to God's moral compass and character.
I've already had this conversation with my son, who says this was simply war, and that the Canaanites were evil so evidently they deserved it.
Ask yourself why God created this mess and then instead of fixing it, punishes his "children" because of his decrees, his failed plan and his inability to take accountability.
What a mess he created.
Best to you, I'm sincere about that because I was where you were not too long ago.
Paul was a Jew of Jews; his credentials were lofty and his zeal for the Jews' religion unrivaled (see Philippians 3:4-6; Acts 22:1-21, 26:1-29). Yet, he would preach the risen Christ the Messiah, that he must needs have suffered, from the Hebrew scriptures to Jews in their synagogues (see Acts 17:1-3, for example). He commended the Jews in Berea, saying: These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. Therefore many of them believed; also of honourable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few. (Acts 17:11-12).
Jesus' works in his first coming to atone for mankind's sin were foretold in the Old Testament, and he and others recognized it. The New Testament scriptures, like the Old, were given to Jews (see Romans 3:2)--the apostles or their close associates, that men might be made wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus (see 2 Timothy 3:15).
@@heavenbound7-7-7-7 Since Paul was a deceiver, according to the Bible, placing his authority over Jesus's word, and Timothy was (spoiler) a forgery, the deceit came from the believers.
@@heavenbound7-7-7-7 "For there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to buffet me, to keep me from getting too conceited. Three times I begged the Lord about this, that it might leave me, but he said unto me, 'My grace is sufficient for thee, for power is made perfect in weakness.'"
Paul got stuck with a 'demon' --- the 'demon' of homosexual orientation when you compare Romans 1, Romans 7, and 1st Corinthians 7 with this. And Jesus refused to remove it!
When an 'apostle' decided his own sexual orientation was a demon and Jesus refused to remove it, chances are that if this was actually a demon then Paul would probably have been teaching the doctrines of demons! 😂🤣😈
That entire rant around 30:00
More people need to think like this. I see so many early 20's single moms because they thought they "found true love" and immediately hooked up with the first person to even glance at them. Don't even realize they're still children having children. smh
The "setting the stage" segment at the start is a keeper!
Glad to hear it!
The 500 witnesses has always bothered me, and I used to counter the claim with a demand to name one. Just one. But then I realised that it wouldn't matter if Paul had named all 500 of them. We still wouldn't be able to verify the claim. Even if we had records that all of those people indeed existed, they had all long since passed when Paul wrote his auto-hagiography, so what they saw or didn't see would be no clearer. It's still a crock of talking donkey poop.
Yes, I agree. If any court case was based on the same evidentiary standard as these supposed witnesses or texts in which this claim is contained, it wouldn’t make the grade as the entirety of it is hearsay. That’s even before you get to the multitude of problems associated with witness testimony. Moreover, this would even be far more relevant to a lot less extraordinary claims.
Actually, I believe that Paul's 500 witnesses is an allusion to Clement's use of the Phoenix as a "witness" to resurrection in his letter to the Corinthians in which he states:
"...There is a certain bird which is called a phoenix. This is the only one of its kind, and lives five hundred years." (First Clement 25)
Why Clement would employ the supposedly mythical Phoenix to support the idea of a real world resurrection seems rather suspicious on its own, but one should also wonder about the amazing "coincidence" that it includes the "Corinthians", the number "five hundred" and the idea of "resurrection" in such a way that it suggests a disguised connection to Paul's five hundred witnesses.
My interpretations of New Testament allegory indicates that in the Gospels, "Peter" (three times "denier", "Satan" behind Christ, holder of the "keys") is a metaphor for the writings of Josephus related to the "Jewish" Revolt which were reinterpreted to create the Gospels. So Paul's claim that"...he (the resurrected Christ) appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred..." is intended as a rough timeline placing Josephus first, the Gospels second, and Clement last. Obviously, this suggests that this passage attributed to Paul is an interpolation made sometime after Clement wrote his letter to the Corinthians. (As was mentioned in the video, Corinth was also "resurrected" and therefore serves as a suitable location for a discussion of resurrection.) This does not mean that Paul did not predate all of them, but Paul had only "witnessed" a "spiritual" Christ, and this interpolation was intended to trace only the development of the "historical" Christ and fix Paul's apparent ignorance in this regard.
Michelle and Jim Bob trusted the bible and followed its advice to marry Josh young. Now Anna has to suffer the consequences with 7 kids. Great job, God. Advice like that can only come from someone infinitely more wise than us.
Wheres Josh at
@@tidakada7357 Prison. He also cheated on Anna so I guess it didn't work getting him married to stop fornication.
Oh, brother! Ain't that the truth!
@@tidakada7357still in prison and will be for years.
@@tidakada7357Prison
This is the kind of length and depth i LOVE. I think you also nailed the tone in this vieeo Brandon where its asking hard questions that demand ab answer but its not in a voice where you might be written off like a Dawkins
Really glad to hear it. Thanks!
Your biblical series are magnificent. Thank you.
On the topic of homosexuality, scholars like Jeff Siker makes the argument that 1 Corinthians 6 :9-10 would be mean something like: “male prostitutes and the men who hire their services.” as Paul does not envision committed same-sex relationships between adults, since paying a prostitute for sex is not the same as living in a mutually committed relationship that includes far more than sex. A similar argument can be made regarding Romans 1: 26.
This kind of clarification is important to me since it makes the justifications for homophobia in some Christians circles to be invalid, especially as someone who isn't heterosexual.
I don't have it in front of me but I remember reading that earlier translations used the word "effeminate" which was translated from a Greek (?) word that meant something more along the lines of "ostentatious". Also, I checked this one out myself: in the Hebrew Bible, the passage in Leviticus seems better translated to "with a boy" than "with a man". My reasoning is that the missing vowels that they assume to get the word "man (noun)" actually just means "male (adjective)", whereas if we try other vowels, the only applicable noun we can derive happens to mean "boy". Either way, homophobia is a choice & is not commanded. Not that any of it holds authority over anyone who uses reason.
Except by the time the First Century CE both Philo and Josephus were applying those two verses in Leviticus and the Sodom passage as well against same-sex -relations- ploughing and strong same-sex desires. This was the Jewish line of thought Paul found himself in. For guidance on what the Pharisees and later Rabbis thought about it, a whole discussion can be found in the Talmud, b. Sanhedrin 52b (or is it 92b?).
@@EdwardM-t8p Except nothing. They thought wrong. It's called commentary, which is what I was doing as well.
@@EdwardM-t8p Yes those are more examples of people who were wrong for the reasons I pointed out. That Paul probably agreed with them doesn't change whether the thing he actually said was something different from what was printed later.
If people would only take the time to realize that the Bible is entirely allegorical, they would discover the male homosexuality is a metaphor for real world knowledge. (Please don't mistake me for a Christian just because I view the Bible as allegory. You would not believe how much most atheists love to avoid this topic.) This is because allegory is created when a female "cover" is "married" to male "reality" in order to create allegoric children, but when you have two males are bound together there is no deception and this is the epitome of true "evil".
In the Gospels, Mary is a metaphor for Philo of Alexandrea, while Joseph was a metaphor for Josephus. The idea for a personified "Word" came from Philo, and since Christ had no real world existence, he was considered the result of a "virgin birth". However, the Gospel writers reinterpreted Josephus's accounts of the "Jewish" Revolt and inserted a personified Word in order to provide a foundation for a historical Christ, so metaphorically Josephus was the "father" of the Gospels, but not of Christ. (The true nature of Christ is suggested in the term "christening" when it is understood that assigning "metaphors" is also a way to "name" things. This connection is further reinforced in Song of Solomon 1:3 which states "...your name is ointment poured forth..." )
No greater hate than Christian love.
This is a great video! I'm glad we are getting a sense of time and place with the City of Corinth. As for Paul's arguments, they remind me of the character of Elder Arnold Cunningham from the musical "The Book of Mormon." Cunningham spliced the Book of Mormon with Star Wars, Star Trek, and The Lord of the Rings to win over new converts. Paul was more incisive than Cunningham, but it's clear when he comes up with things on the fly such as the resurrection of the faithful and the five hundred witnesses.
"There were fifty... no... a hundred... no! FIVE HUNDRED! There were FIVE HUNDRED witnesses to Christ's miracles!"
"But Paul, why don't we have any of those eyewitness accounts?"
"Have you been... uh, yanking the crank, my brother?"
"Huh?"
"Ha! I knew it! To perdition's flames with you!"
Such a great series, Brandon. It’s so nice to see someone’s biblical education ( formal and informal) be put to an actual good use. I agree with many that if people really read the Bible there would be far fewer Christians.
I never really understood why the OT and NT have been connected, the god is just so different from one to the other. The same with Christianity - Jesus crucifixion may have been the basis for the religion but, it really should have been named after Paul who established all the foundational rules of the mythology.
Marcion basically thought exactly this. He threw out the whole Old Testament, said Yahweh was an inferior and evil creator of the material world only, and that Jesus was the son of the true God and Paul was his most important apostle. He even created his own collection of works. There is speculation the New Testament might have been assembled and codified specifically to correct Marcionite heresies: "No no, THESE are the correct scriptures."
@@Uryvichk I have just started learning about Marcion, someone I had never heard of in 50 years of church attendance and Bible studies. Marcion makes sense to me, if any of it were reality based anyway.
because if you read the NT clearly jesus likes the OT and its GOD so saying otherwise is clearly wrong and incorrect, and some guy trying to make an entire religion (as a catholic) out of this specific thing which seems to be clearly incorrect would be heretical in their standard
@@toonyandfriends1915 I have read both the OT and NT multiple times, unlike the majority of Christians who just carry the book to and from church and only read the scriptures quoted by their pastors on Sunday. I know this because my dad and brother are both pastors and I attended church for 50 years. I knew these people, very few were actual students of the Bible. Religion is basically a social club with a life insurance policy. Jesus might have liked the OT but, Paul (who actually created Christianity) sure didn’t like the OT. He abandoned the law, changed all the traditions, welcomed outsiders…why we don’t call the religion Paulianity I don’t know.
@@26beegee I mean, okay. Jesus broke the law multiple times with clever turn of words, I don't know how jesus could just eat illegal food, work on Sundays, forgive some woman's sin and get away with it.
A theologian might just disagree with you, it has nothing to do with just reading the Bible because that doesn't mean you are aware on how biblical tradition work.
Marcions position just doesn't make sense. And waving it off away as saying " sure maybe jesus but what about Paul" would also be cherry picking if you didn't notice. Theologians would simply disagree Paul fundamentally contradicts Jesus. Even if Paul had a different world view, which isn't a huge problem because they admit that each books are written by different authors and so such differences would exist.
Also Christians traditionally nterpret the OT the same way Paul does and so Paul just doesn't ignore the OT, he just think its purpose it's different than what was given to the Jews
Since most of Paul's writings were written before any of the gospels or Acts, I wonder how much of those are possibly a response or disagreement with Paul. Curious how so much of what he says contradicts Jesus. Paulanity.
Its odd that nothing of note was written about Jesus until after Paul. Paul wrote SO much it seems impossible that he didn't exist. He was so annoying. And so certain of what he was declaring when he'd only had a vision of Jesus and never read the Gospels. But doesn't the text refer to the Gospels?
@@Badficwriter Don't confuse "good news" with "Gospel." They're the same word (evangelos or whatever), but Paul means it in the generic sense, the Gospels probably also meant it in the generic sense, and only later do writers refer to it in the specific sense of "the Gospels."
@@Uryvichk Good point. An old apologist did make one point I agree with; different translations and people repeating the same story they heard elsewhere won't use the same words. Understandable unless if you think the Bible is perfect transmission. Reading the translation without the background of the culture and time period leaves nuances unheard.
I remember asking my sister and mother about taking communion that i thought it was weird to eat Jesus body and drink his blood especially after watching Indiana Jones and the Temp of doom. My mom jyst looked at me and shook her head while my sister just says huumm. They dont like to think about it. They just do it
its so very strange once you get some distance from it.
@imjustsayingthough2261 Ask them why they believe they are drinking the blood of Christ, if God said in the OT not to drink blood? I understand communion bread/wafer/wine were symbolic, not literal.
It's almost as if "god" has raised Brandon up to speak truth to us all. (heheh) Seriously, you never disappoint, Brandon. When I was a Christian, one of the HIGHEST praises a person could give (to a person, not God, of course haha) was that that person, "...really knows his Bible." At 45:20 for the next 50 seconds or so, you demonstrate that you "really know your Bible," Brandon-SO well.
I need to read the Bible back to back and watch your series again thank you so much for doing this
Very powerful video and analysis!
Three contradictions that jump out at me:
1. Paul believes other gods are real after he says they are not and there is one God,but concedes it’s really just one god for them:
“Hence, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “no idol in the world really exists” and that “there is no God but one.” Indeed, even though there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth-as in fact there are many gods and many Lords- yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.”
1 Corinthians 8:4-6 NRSVUE
2. Paul says the “resurrected” Jesus taught him the Lord’s supper. Whereas the gospels historicize it. Even Luke combines Mark’s account with Paul’s account.
3. The Resurrection chapter: Paul says our bodies need to be raised spiritually as Jesus has been. The gospels write Jesus was raised bodily and infer he will be the only one to be raised. Paul resurrection appearances are never recreated in the gospel stories, except Peter. Mary Magdelane does not appear in Paul’s rendering.
I love this channel! This is amazing! Please continue the good work, spread the Good News of Free Thinking!
Thanks so much for that!
I can't wait til we get to TWO Corinthians. That's the best book, the most beautiful book. I won't tell you a verse, because they're all my favorite. I wouldn't want to get into it, because to me it's personal, it's very personal. 😉🙃
Great show any chance we could get your secular Bible study as mandatory listen for seminaries? They could learn a lot.
Ha! Thanks, man!
"as mandatory listen for seminaries"
As an example how not to exegete the bible?
What do you think about including someone for collaboration in this series?
You’re doing great! I just thought it might be cool to add a bible scholar’s perspective about the overview or problematic verses.
I don’t think it would change a theists perspective, but it could add info!
i am sure i will revisit certain verses with scholars in the future, just gonna keep this series simple for now, but good suggestion.
@@MindShift-Brandon Agree, it would be like a constant debate.
@@MindShift-Brandon Since these are summaries, yeah, keep them short!
I just want to thank you for all of your videos.
It is my pleasure! Thanks for that
@Brandon thank you for going over the problematic passages, instead of just putting them up on the screen.
I mostly listen while doing other things, like painting miniatures, and even if I did watch, I know I wouldn't go searching for verses or even read along.
Definitely appreciated you reading through the conflicts - listened to this episode during a road trip 👏
sometimes I wonder if this religion shouldn’t be called Paulianitry
The of the most funny thing was Paul said we are saved by faith so none can boast but then I thoughts to myself some have more faith and other less so if both got into heaven could not one say to the other I had more faith than you, isn't that boasting lol don't you get more reward in heaven based on how strong your faith was and is?
also why are all Christian most obsessed with Sex more than any other sin lol
I love this book it makes so much sense! :)
Yes, yes. Paul loved to boast.
It’s the same for money. “Don’t give me money. I will pay my own way. But…. Jesus did say I am supposed to get your money.”
This was very informative! So many things in the bible i was not aware of or it was explained away through some kind of mental gymnastics.
Thank you for covering these.
My pleasure!
Another enlightening episode. Please keep taking your time for the contradictions and problematic passages, as I'm not well read on the bible (it's a tough book to read), The extra context you provide is very helpful.
I would love you to do a video on 1 Cor. 13 vs. Hebrews 11. How does one reconcile 1 Cor. 13:13 (...and the greatest of these is love.) with Hebrews 11:6 (...without faith it is impossible to please God.)? I remember as a child sitting through more than one sermon (protestant obviously, given this point) that said something like "Mother Theresa could have all the love in the world, but if she doesn't have faith in her personal relationship with Jesus, she's not going to heaven." In that light, it seems like 1 Cor. 13:13 should read "...and the greatest of these is FAITH." Love ain't gonna get you to heaven!
Excellent coverage, thank you. Going to need to rewatch this several times to catch it all. Power packed.
Love to hear it. Thanks!
"How are they reconciling this?" (staying single vs being married) - you just blew my mind, I never realized this before. Probably no one else does either.
@EdFranklin-mj5qu did you watch the video? He referenced a verse in proverbs or something about how good it is to marry. I guess Solomon forgot to mention that it's even better NOT to be married. But it's so good to be! Just stop there lol.
@EdFranklin-mj5qu I don't know how amazingly good something is when the exact opposite is actually better. It's kind of weird. Can you think of any other thing where you can rave a bout how good something is and then forget to mention that the complete opposite is actually even better? Seems like you could just skip the lesser one and rave about the better one.
@EdFranklin-mj5qu The same level of opposite as being saved if you call out Lord Lord and also not being saved for calling out Lord Lord.
@EdFranklin-mj5qu How is marrying and not marrying anything but opposite? It's good to win the lottery! Buuuttttt... it's even better to NOT win the lottery! It's good to have people in your life that love you! Buuuuuuutttt... you know what's even better? NOT having people in your life that love you. etc etc. Can you be both married and not married at the same time? It's mutually exclusive. Christianity is all about arguing nonsense into the ground. Kind of why I left. Nothing but nonsense. Tons of it.
@EdFranklin-mj5qu I think this conversation has a very familiar Christian-nonsenseness to it.
Excellent video!
Thanks!
Another great video! Thanks for these longer videos.
Thanks, Brandon! Love your content and style. 🎉
Great video, Brandon. Thank you for inspiring me for starting my own channel!
One sunday when I was a child, During Sunday school round up (My mum was a sunday school superintendent) my mum was asked if its compulsory to get baptized? She said no, but the resident pastor took the microphone and said yes it's compulsory for salvation. My mum felt embarrassed but I knew they were both right.
Is it the Assemblies of God?
@@ewuraamaetruwaasam7084 wow, spot on!
Wow, there are SO many problematic passages in this epistle O_O And each of them deserves its own video. Great episode!
I also had a couple of interesting thoughts while I was watching it. One week ago, I wrote a comment under the previous SBS episode where I mentioned that Paul apparently was so confident in himself that he was not afraid of speaking on behalf of God. And what do we have in the 1st Corinthians?
First, let's remember who was the only one who handed a person over to Satan in the OT? It was God who handed poor Job over to Satan. But in the NT it's Paul who commands to do the same.
In the OT, God gives a command concerning circumcision. And what does Paul do? He writes "guys, circumcision doesn't matter anymore!"
In the OT, God creates Adam and Eve and gives them a command to be a couple and have children. They are blessed by God himself to do it. And what about Paul? "Nah, marriage is bad, stay single just like me".
If you think thoroughly about it, this is very scary. Paul doesn't only speak on behalf of God, sometimes he speaks as if he were God himself, creating a new religion with new commands and rules. And he even thinks that he has authority to hand someone over to Satan! This is crazy.
31:51 - is Jesus really saying, categorically, never to judge? It honestly sounds to me like he is simply advocating for consistency and against hypocrisy in your judgments.
Thanks for the secular Bible study Brandon! 😊 OMG Paul's teachings are literally an omnishambles. But he really does have this hang-up about sex in general and homosexuality in particular. And he fires poisoned arrows at us gay men in two places already saying that what we are and do is unforgivable and yet he turns right around and says it is forgivable because "some of you guys once were such". Porphyry (or is it Celsus?) would say of this as he said of his teachings on meat sacrificed unto idols: "Oh, a _new_ kind of archery, where the archer fires the arrow back onto himself!" Just ridiculous.
I'm looking forward to your sbs on 2 Corinthians where in chapter 12 he talks about Paul's thorn in the flesh. There's a train of thought in NT scholarship that this thorn was his sexual orientation and that he himself was homosexual, which has implications for his relationship with Onesimus and friendship with Philemon.
And Paul seemingly suggesting that gay men marry women is just bad advice.
Again, thank you! I love the series, Brando. 😊❤🥰
Thanks so much. Love all the insights
@@MindShift-BrandonYou're welcome! 😊
@user-uo7fw5bo1o Either that (thorn in the flesh/homosexuality), or it was his having to deal with corrective letters/emissaries sent to the churches pointing out Paul's errant teaching (no need of The Law).
Thank you, Brandon, always invigorating 👍
That passage from 1 Cor. 5:3-5 (at time 40:55) is wild. It seems to contradict other Christian teachings about salvation. If Satan destroys a sinner's body, his spirit is saved?
Great video as always brandon, if you don't mind me asking when we eventually finish secular bible study will we cover some of the non canonical books of the bible like the book of enoch?
I was planning to and will at some point but i think first im gonna switch over to non scripture for a bit. Im gonna walk through each of the early greek works for a while in a new series called Greek Think
Fantastic video as always Brandon
Thank you Brandon, I'm so amazed at how much you remember things❤
Thank you, sir. This was terrific.
Just wanted to say i am loving this series.
Thanks for saying so!
I realized another fun rebuke of the overall design of the religion's dependence on a holy book while watching this video: the christian god uses language as a weapon against the organization/power of man; god destroys the tower of babel by introducing new languages to the workers of the tower knowing that it would provoke the failure of the entire project. Yet in the next step, god decides that distributing his Word and Plan and divine information using a BOOK, dependent on the same exact language that he used to destroy a people's ability to oppose him, is the best course of action. Setting aside humanity's role in imperfect translations and personal agendas that influence the message of the same text through time, god itself CHOSE essentially the weapon he created to divide a people to ... unite them in one message? How does that make any sense? With his Knowledge, wouldn't it have also be obvious that, if nothing else, using language to muddy and confuse the divine message would be an incredibly easy and perhaps primary attack on the message by his opponents (i.e. the devil)?
God judged with water (the flood) and he saves with water (baptism).
@@heavenbound7-7-7-7 This god sounds like a pretty mixed up character.
@@noracola5285 Par for the course. Jesus said God blinded a man from birth so Jesus could show God's glory. Think how amazed we'll be when millenia of suffering is fixed by God juice! The time lapse is to build suspense.
I remember asking multiple pastors and leaders in different churches "what is love?" And "how does one love god." I would usually get the same answer, 1 Cor 13, it was a bit frustrating as it still didnt make sense to me. It was such an abstract concept that made no sense, yet i was expected act or feel a certain way to an abstract concept, when this abstract concept is being told to me is not a feeling but an act.
A fun fact about the head covering thing, in India that verse about head coverings for women (in christian spaces) is taken litterally and the women do wear scarves on there head when praying or going to church.
"In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome" 1 John 5:3
@@heavenbound7-7-7-7 OBEY
In my church, women wore hats, scarves, bandannas, etc etc to cover their heads.
Another awesome SBS! It’s insane to think the impact that Paul had on so much Christian theology! I do have a question in 1stCor 15:24-28. I used to use these when I was a Christian as a proof text against the Trinity doctrine. Just wondering what people think of that part and what is says about the relationship of the Father and the Son. Thanks!
The context is not the immanent Trinity but the economy, the redemptive mission of the incarnate Son.
“Economic” has to do with the history of salvation, and discusses the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the sending and mission of salvation. In this case, “immanent” means “the action remaining within an agent.” The immanent Trinity would be a discussion of of the eternal, essential, and ontological aspects of the Trinity.
@@heavenbound7-7-7-7 I agree to an extent. However; after the Son gives the kingdom back to the Father. It makes sure to mention how the Father is not subject to the Son and that when this is all over Jesus is subject to God so that God may be all in all. Are you saying that him being Subject to the Father doesn’t disqualify him as being equal. As well as him saying to Mary he has not yet gone back to his Father and his God-John 20:17. If Jesus would’ve been a real person then I believe he would’ve been the first creation of God through which all other creation came.
Hi Brandon, I British born and bred and I'm not a Christian because my parents weren't, there were no Christians in my close family, and nor did we have Christian family-friends or neighbours. Nor was my primary and secondary schools religious, exept for Religious Education lessons in the latter, and even that was broader than a Christian-centric approach.
So I never needed to watch videos like yours to break free from the religion's spell. I listen because of the way the host presents their arguments and you're one of the best, Brandon. There are lots of good ones out there, but you and Dan McLellan - who I stumbled upon at around the same time as I stumbled upon you - are the best.
Keep up the good work!👍
Thanks so much!
Hi Brandon, I'm British born and bred and I'm not a Christian because my parents weren't, there were no Christians in my close family, and nor did we have Christian family-friends or neighbours. Nor was my primary and secondary schools religious, exept for Religious Education lessons in the latter, and even that was broader than a Christian-centric approach. Indeed, when I moved to high school in 1976, I didn't even know what denomination I was born into (Church of England) when asked and the classroom assistant had to ask me the name of my primary school to figure it out.
So I never needed to watch videos like yours to break free from the religion's spell. I listen because of the way the hosts present their arguments and you're one of the best, Brandon. There are lots of good ones out there, but you and Dan McLellan - who I stumbled upon at around the same time as I stumbled upon you - are the best.
Keep up the good work!👍
Brilliant. Thank you, Brandon
My pleasure!
christianity is the worst thing ever for OCD
Roberr Sapolsky has suggested that religious rituals may have developed because of OCD. th-cam.com/video/7gKJLadgzfY/w-d-xo.htmlsi=BReMoGhYa6z_bI_4
Does this man have a faith? He knows the scriptures very well! Im in delight watching him teach!
These are excellent, thank you
Brandon, I'm having doubts about the evidence of the resurrection and the overall bible, how are you so sure of what you believe in? I would like a video on why you don't believe in the evidence for the claims of the bible, mostly NT
I like your channel it has helped me. I often find myself with emotional discomfort, specially when looking at apologetics about the authorship and credibility of gospels or arguments from believers in this comment section. I would appreciate some help in these aspects of not believing anymore.
th-cam.com/video/alEcn-ted8k/w-d-xo.htmlsi=QLYAASN8Bz6ra3rI
Hi friend. This should be the video Brandon’s deconversion story. He might explain why he doesn’t believe in there.
I know what made me stop believing recently. It was mostly realizing that the Gospels aren’t 1st hand testimony. Learning about the general dating of each book caused me to be suspicious. Even how the general canonization of the Bible is super interesting. I’d recommend listening to bible scholars though, Brandon is fantastic, but having a scholar explain those complex topics is better.
You’re not alone. I hope you feel seen, heard and loved because everyone deserves that.
There’s lots of reasons, and he kinda covers a lot of it in all his videos. For me, I think it was realizing that Adam & Eve weren’t real, and the Flood of Noah, couldn’t have happened, because there would be solid evidence that it did, and not only is there no evidence, there’s an overwhelming amount of evidence against it, so much so they’re considered allegory or metaphor by Christian’s who understand science today. Not only that, but even if they were real, they’d just prove how weak & evil such a god would be. Like why do you need to destroy the innocent animals alive at the time, to deal with a human problem, when your god, and can basically do anything. The more you dig into the Bible, without the Christian blinders on, the more you see the contradictions, and the wrongness of it all.
What evidence for the claims in the Bible? All the Bible has are claims. There's no Book of Evidence that goes with it.
I have many theories for this issues between Jesus and Paul teachings:
- The gospels (generally attributed to Matthew, Mark, John and Like) was written by anonymous persons from a different sect from Paul.
- Paul was unaware about some aspects in Jesus life (since the gospel was written years later than Paul's epistles and Paul never seen Jesus face to face).
- Paul was the true Founder of the Jesus cult. (And the guys who meet Jesus during his life joined him. Years later, the gospels was written)
- Paul intentionally was deviating Jesus teachings in a attempt to make Christianity more suitable and attractive to the Gentiles (since nobody know who wrote the Hebrews epistle and Paul himself calls itself "Apostle of The Gentiles")
Yep
Were there actually any people who met Jesus during his lifetime? Does Paul ever actually say that?
@@Uryvichk nope. He talks about meeting Peter and James. Never that they knew historical Jesus.
@@JasonHenderson wait, Peter and James never met Jesus during his timelife?
Wow, this changes a bit my theories.
But i still prefer the theory of intentional deviation, because looks suitable
@@rcktneo I didn't say this. I believe in Paul's uncontested letters, he never mentions what Peter and James said about physical Jesus during his lifetime. Paul never mentions that Peter or James told him they knew historical Jesus. I believe.
All he says was he met them once, and they told him nothing of value.
Firstly, thank you for all of your videos. My wife and I have learned so much. We are both former Catholics. #9 of the Problematic Passages we realized that the Catholic church believes in both, the eucharist being done in memory of Jesus as well as the literal flesh and blood.
So very happy to! Thanks!
Another excellent bible study!
Many thanks, Carla
Personally I prefer the more drawn out version of the contradictions because it arms me better when speaking to religious family members. Love your channel Brandon, keep up the good work!
Great presentation...... 👍 🍻
Thanks so much!
Woot woot! I studied 1 Corinthians 11 a lot and thought it was pretty clear that women are supposed to cover their heads when praying (or prophesying whatever that means).
So what were the divisions about? That would be very revealing! I guess, like most leaders, Paul doesn't care about their actual questions and concerns?!?!