Prior to this blog, I created a website devoted to exposing the flawed teachings and research of Zecharia Sitchin. Next to Erik von Daniken, Sitchin is easily the most well-known articulator of the ancient astronaut theory--the idea that the gods of ancient texts and...
Genesis
The Image of God and Imaging God
The Image of God and Imaging God What does it actually mean for human beings to be created in the image of God? In this lecture, Dr. Michael Heiser examines the biblical language of Genesis 1:26–27 and challenges several common explanations of the image of God....
Naked Bible Conference Speaker and Topic Profile #1
I'll be blogging a few thoughts on each speaker and topic for our upcoming (August 18) Naked Bible Conference. You can read the full abstract of each speaker and topic at the website. My thoughts here are just to give you all a heads up as to why I invited the speaker...
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...
Naked Bible Podcast Episode: Translating Genesis 1-11
In this episode Dr. Heiser talks to the men behind a new translation project, John Hobbins and Samuel Bray. The first volume of their effort is entitled Genesis 1-11: A New Old Translation for Readers, Scholars, and Translators. Our discussion focuses on the...
New Motion Graphic Video: God vs. the Sea Monsters
Note: This had been posted earlier, but was taken down after a few minutes due to an error. There's also been a scene added to this rendering. Did you know the Bible says that God destroyed Leviathan when he created the heavens and earth? Genesis 1 isn't the only...
Naked Bible 79: Leviticus 17-18
These two chapters launch that portion of Leviticus (17-26) that scholars refer to as the Holiness Code. The Holiness Code is oriented by the idea that the people of Israel bear the responsibility for holiness, a concept expressed in Lev 19:2 (“You shall be holy, for...
Calculating and Fixing the Date of Easter
I'm once again feeling wearied by all the nonsense (pagan and fundamentalist Christian in equal doses) about how the date of Easter was the result of some sort of deliberate paganizing conspiracy. Personally, I don't like the modern trappings of Easter. A lot of the...
Aronofsky’s Noah Movie: What It Teaches Us About Christian Ignorance from the Pulpit to the Pew
I'm going to see Noah this week. In preparation, I've been reading reviews. If you do the same what you'll likely find is a mixture of cautious endorsement ("Hey, it's got crappy Bible content, but it starts a spiritual conversation") and condemnation. Most of the...
Math and Genesis 5’s Genealogies
In view of the recent post on the antediluvian genealogies, I thought some readers might be interested in mathematical attempts to decipher them. Here is a summary of the numbers in the genealogies in Genesis 5, excerpted from the Word Biblical Commentary (vol 1) by...
Denis Lamoureux on Biblical Genealogies
Over at the Patheos blog, Pete Enns has been posting about this short video series by Denis Lamoureux. You'll recall that Dr. Lamoureux was one of the contributors to the 4 Views on the historical Adam book. His position was "no historical Adam." He's an evolutionary...
Ancient Astronaut Nonsense as an Interpretive Filter for the Bible
Jason Colavito has once again directed the attention of his readers to how people in Christian churches have begun to tout the ancient astronaut paradigm as a tool for understanding the Bible. His post draws on the thoughts of a Lutheran pastor over at the well-known...
Interpreting Genesis 1: Who’s the Literalist Now?
I appreciated this post from James McGrath, whose short essay was stimulated by Robin Parry's post, to whom James directs his readers. The issue is how "literal creationists" are actually only selective literalists (or, as I would call them, "inconsistent...
Is ‘adam “Adam”?
I've been thinking (still) about the historical Adam issue. It surprises me that I haven't seen anyone (yet -- perhaps one of you knows an exception) address the grammatical-syntactical issue as it relates to "Adam" in Genesis 1-5. I speak specifically of the fact...
Genesis 1:2 and the Verb HAYAH
Here is a [download] link to a short (13:00 or so) video I made searching for the structure of Genesis 1:2 and its verb, hayah ("to be") The video was prompted by a comment to an earlier post I made about the "gap theory." That theory of interpreting Genesis 1:1-3 in...