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eschatology
Paul, Israel, and the “Israel of God”
Anyone who has read my series on why the *obsession* with eschatology is a waste of time will recall that one of the big issues is what "Israel" means in the epistles -- and especially Paul's works. This issue is central to any view of eschatology. One perspective...
Seventy Weeks of Daniel (aka, The Pit of Despair)
Remember the albino from The Princess Bride? The guy who was in charge of the pit of despair? That's who I feel like when asked to talk about the seventy weeks of Daniel. It is a quagmire of ambiguity and obtuseness. And yet so many people hang so much on one...
Naked Bible Podcast 029: Prophecy and Apocalyptic Genre
In this episode, we're going to talk about two genres: prophecy and apocalyptic. The reason for doubling up will become apparent as we proceed, but basically we need to talk about these two genres because most modern Bible students don't realize there are clear...
An Eschatological Spasm: McFall's Chronology of the Prophetic Weeks of Daniel
Well, it took the women in ministry issue to drive me back to eschatology :-). Just kidding. I was reading through the blog comments tonight and was prompted to see if I could find an alternate source for Leslie McFall's fascinating article on the chronology of the...
Understanding the Christian Fundamentalist View of UFOs and Aliens, Part 10
Well, it's about time I got back to this. When I last left you, I had noted that I was writing about end times over on my Naked Bible blog and that you needed to check out that discussion to understand my hesitation on agreeing with the typical Christian...
Why An Obsession with Eschatology is a Waste of Time, Part 12
Before leaving Daniel 9 I wanted to comment on Peter Gentry's very recent article, as well as two others. All three take Daniel 9:24-27 as messianic (i.e., that the anointed one who is cut off is indeed Jesus the Messiah), though they do not take all elements of the...
Why An Obsession with Eschatology is a Waste of Time, Part 7
The question to address in this post is much simpler than others: Is there any biblical proof that the 70th week of Daniel = the tribulation period? This equation is critical to the pre-trib, premill vide of the rapture. That is, without this equation, that view is...
Understanding the Christian Fundamentalist View of UFOs and Aliens, Part 7
I just posted another installment on eschatology (end times) over on my Naked Bible blog. Again, the goal in that series is to get people to understand that the typical "there's going to be a Great Tribulation, a rapture, and a millennial kingdom in Israel" view of...
Understanding the Christian Fundamentalist View of UFOs and Aliens, Part 5
In the last post, we moved into the fourth element to a Christian fundamentalist view of UFOs and aliens (i.e., that UFOs that are not man-made or other natural phenomena are demonic and alleged alien life forms are demonic). The four elements are: 1. Abductee...
Atheism as UFO Religion, Part 2
I've found a second atheist's commentary on "belief" in UFOs. Atheist: The belief in God(s) is purely and simply based in faith, no matter what religion you come from. Faith is defined simply as belief in something without evidence or proof. MSH: This is actually an...
2012 Mythology for Dummies
A nice explanation of where all the 2012 silliness comes from. Editor's note: as outdated at this post is, it's a good exercise in seeing how people will see patterns and get married to a view of eschatology and end times and prophecy.
What is “the” Christian View of Aliens? Part 1
The recent publicity spike for the upcoming Christian Symposium on Aliens, to be held this July in Roswell, NM, has prompted me to blog about its content. This symposium focuses on the view that what people think are aliens (mostly from contactee and abductee...
Naked Bible Podcast Episode 168: Melchizedek, Part 2: Second Temple Jewish Literature
In the previous two episodes on Melchizedek (1a, 1b) we covered the Old Testament data on this enigmatic figure. Jewish writers and readers in the Second Temple Period (ca. 500 BC – 70 AD) naturally had ideas on who Melchizedek was and how to understand him as a...
Matthew 24 and the Days of Noah Once Again
I recently added this to my FAQ, but I thought I'd post it here as well. Do you think Matthew 24:37-38 is a prophecy about the return of nephilim or has anything to do with Genesis 6:1-4? The short answer to both is no. (I also don't think it has anything to do with...