A quick nod to those with access to CNN to check out the doco After Jesus: The First Christians, screening in the lead-up to Xmas. It features the incredible Bart Ehrman (the guy pictured), Amy-Jill Levine and Marvin Meyer. You'll need to check out listings for your region and time zone.
Hey, in exchange for two hours in front of the TV with a bowl of salted peanuts and a Steinlager or two, you'll get to know 97.4% more than Garner Ted Armstrong ever picked up over a lifetime of winging it.
If you can't get CNN, or you just want a taste of the program in advance, you can read questions posed to Levine and Meyer online.
9 comments:
CNN is your authority for knowing God and the bible huh? Well, I know how far I can take any opinions you may have.
anonymous: It is a pretty safe bet that the the people that put this documentary together did more homework on the subject than herbie ever did. They also put their name on it, something you are not willing to do.
Ehrman. Of course. Amy-Jill Levine. Inevitably.
But where are Crossan and Spong? If you're going to round up the usual suspects for the annual media template about how the New Testament isn't true, how can you leave out Crossan and Spong?
Jared,
Maybe that chain smoking, long haired weirdo in the leather jacket and shades with the holy blood holy grail conspiracy will make a cameo...
Y'know Jared, I just knew you were going to say that ;-)
But then, I somehow doubt you've read much by these folk. Crossan and Spong are quite different in their approach from Ehrman (who has no time for the Cynic Philosopher theory at all), or Levine...
But not to worry. Maybe you can find a channel doing reruns of the BBC's quality religious programming - Father Ted, perhaps? :-)
It hardly matters that Ehrman, Levine, Crossan, and Spong all have their own variations on the same theme. The only thing that matters is that they can be counted on to deliver the desired Expert Soundbites at Christmas and Easter questioning and explaining away the testimony of the New Testament.
In the Q&A the professor Griest is from Chapman University, that is a former Jesuit School, hence the once and forever Virgin Mary concept.
Blogger formerly known as anonymous
I know this is LATE getting back to you Charlie but...
It wasn't H.W.A.that said those things, they were straight from the bible, as far as that documentary goes, 99.9999% of it is false, and, it of their own interpretation. I challenge you to prove otherwise, from the bible, that the Sabbath is not to be kept, that the Holy Days of the bible are not to be kept, and that christmas and Easter ARE to be kept.
The one thing I agree with you on is that my name should have been on my comment, because lets face it, even the pagans stamped their names (Easter- Pagan goddess of fertility) on things too, right?
Steve Kowalski,
Good old Herbie said a great many things not found in the bible, with that said, Herbie did bring many things straight out of the bible as well, a good many times out of context. I'm not going to waste my time rehashing the sabbath and holy days here, I've done it many times and have no desire to continue doing so. I was once a dedicated armstrongist and I know that no amount of reason and scripture will bring you to see things as they really are and that you will just cling all the much more to the here a little, there a little method of interpreting the bible.
As far as Christmas and Easter are concerned, the birth of Jesus WAS celebrated in the Bible, as was Joy present at Christ's resurrection. Big difference between Armstrongism and Christianity: Armstrongists need to be 'commanded' to do things and still think they are 'commanded' whereas Christians remember, worship, and set aside days to glorify and celebrate, because we choose to.
I wish you luck on your journey, you'll need it. Checking in on these types of websites will help.
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