The Pokey Finger of God

Following are the assertions I currently use regarding the origin of Christianity. These will likely each be expanded upon over time.
1. Evidence: There is no physical evidence for the existence of a single, rapidly developed mystery cult whose theology or structure singularly informed the post 4th-century Christian church. There is no art, architecture, ritual gear, [...]

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At first, I could never understand the True Believers.
My first encounters with them was in Christian churches. My own, initially pedantic, attempts at Bible study repeatedly failed to illuminate the motivations or goals of True Believers. I could never understand just what was so exciting in the faith as I had ever seen it practiced.
Atheists [...]

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Since discovery of PRF Brown’s site[1], I have burned a good many hours both reading and thinking. It’s clear that the “Eusebian Fiction Postulate”[2] has forced me to re-examine what I thought I understood about early church history. I have been relatively pleased, so far, to find that it seems to make more sense, given [...]

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In reviewing some historical material, specifically the Prophets of the Old Testament, something new occurred to me. On one level, the Prophets of Ancient Israel and Judah were the real standard bearers for the Yah cult. Some of the kings seemed to like it, perhaps because they imagined that they could somehow politically reunite the [...]

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Dobson and Minnery accused Obama of having minority, if not crackpot, opinions about the Bible. They indicated several times that they felt he was not qualified to interpret the Bible. They wailed and gnashed their teeth at the wonton destruction laid bare by Barack’s unauthorized lay-opining. Oh, will the nation ever repair from this grievous wound? Then they changed the subject and repeated the process.

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Atheism frustrates me.
There are many gods I don’t personally believe in. Among others, there are: Perfect Universal Good, Old Man in the Sky, Angry and Jealous Guy, and the Omniscient Moralizing Dude. It just so happens that these are the ones that the Christians sell by the bushel. I have a hard time understanding why [...]

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When I was very young and I was learning about government for the first time, my initial judgment was that our government was carefully contrived to make it as difficult as possible for one person or group to hold power for very long, while simultaneously preventing anything from ever getting done. I recall also making [...]

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These ideas eventually led me to the understanding that religion is an internal process utilized to deal with events and activities outside of one’s own control. Said another way, religion is a set of entirely subjective ideas and experiences with little to no objective reality with which to relate it. Whether you get it from your grandmother, or a book, the McChurch in your neighborhood or the Buddhist temple, only the pieces that you internalize actually become a part of your religion.

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I’ve been having an interesting exchange of letters with a cousin I lost touch with twenty years ago. She was Catholic last time I saw her, seems she’s discovered paganism over the last five years. I ended up writing a summary history of Christianity, and realized when I was done that it was the most [...]

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