Dec 17 2019 50 mins 210
Re: the Bible’s stance on alcohol, what about Jesus' own drinking as in Matt. 11:18 -19? Are you familiar with Norman Golb and his book, Who Wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls, and if so, what do you think? Does Mark’s negative depiction of Jesus’ disciples and relatives reflect enmity between Jewish and Gentile/Pauline factions? Why does the author of “The Second Treatise of the Great Seth” speak so mockingly of the heroes of the OT? . Brandon suggests we need not worry that passages or whole epistles by Paul were censored since some pretty disturbing material still appears in the Pauline Corpus. Think so? If I understand you correctly, we agree that Simon Magus is at the root of this belief system advanced by the “works of Paul” (stuff about the law and a judging, punishing God are out). So Simon’s philosophy and writings would be considered source material. Is there any uncontaminated remnant of this belief system? What do you think of the idea that there was no historical "Nazareth" until someone pointed at a place and told the patron saint of credulity, the Empress Helena (Mother of Constantine), "Yeah, this is Nazareth."? You once said you rejected the notion in Atwill’s Caesar’s Messiah that the Romans had a part in creating the gospels and that they were engaged in a sort of esoteric satire which resulted in Christians unwittingly worshiping Titus instead of Jesus. I was wondering why you think this is such an incredible theory, isn't this precisely what happened in your case? Sure sounds like the jokes on you!
