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This is an installment of my replies to a series of articles on Mark<\/a>\u00a0by Dr. David Madison<\/strong>: an atheist who was a Methodist minister for nine years: with a Ph.D. in Biblical Studies from Boston University. His summary article is called,<\/span> \u201cNot-Your-Pastor\u2019s Tour of Mark\u2019s Gospel: The falsification of Christianity made easy\u201d<\/a> (Debunking Christianity<\/em>, 7-17-19). His words will be in\u00a0<\/span>blue<\/span>\u00a0below.<\/span><\/p>\n Dr. Madison has utterly ignored<\/em> my twelve refutations<\/a> of his<\/span> \u201cdirty dozen\u201d podcasts against Jesus<\/a>, and I fully expect that stony silence to continue. If he wants to be repeatedly critiqued and make no response, that\u2019s his choice (which would challenge Bob Seidensticker<\/a> as the most intellectually cowardly atheist I know). I will continue on, whatever he decides to do (no skin off my back).<\/span><\/p>\n Dr. Madison believes we are not at all\u00a0sure<\/em>\u00a0whether Jesus in fact said\u00a0anything<\/em>\u00a0recorded in the Gospels. The atheist always has a convenient \u201cout\u201d (when refuted in argument about some biblical text) that Jesus never said it\u00a0anyway<\/em>\u00a0and that the text in question was simply made up and added later by unscrupulous and \u201ccultish\u201d Christian propagandists. <\/span><\/p>\n I always refuse to play this silly and ultimately intellectually dishonest game, because there is no way to \u201cwin\u201d with such a stacked, subjective deck. I start with the assumption (based on many historical evidences<\/a>) that the manuscripts we have are quite sufficient for us to know what is in<\/em> the Bible (believe<\/em> it or not<\/em>).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Dr. Madison himself \u2014 in<\/span> his anti-Jesus project<\/a>\u00a0noted above, granted my outlook, strictly in terms of\u00a0practical<\/em>\u00a0\u201cx vs. y\u201d debate purposes:<\/span>\u00a0\u201cFor the sake of argument, I\u2019m willing to say, okay, Jesus was real and, yes, we have gospels that tell the story.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0And in the combox:<\/span>\u00a0\u201cSo, we can go along with their insistence that he did exist. We\u2019ll play on their field, i.e., the gospels.\u201d Excellent! Otherwise, there would be no possible discussion at all.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n *****<\/p>\n Dr. Madison called this installment: \u201cMade-to-Order Stories for the Jesus Cult: But consistency was not a virtue\u201d<\/a> (9-28-18)<\/span><\/p>\n Every missionary who has ever lived has been inspired by the famous \u2018Great Commission,\u2019 spoken by the resurrected Jesus in Matthew 28:19-20: \u201cGo therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.\u201d Of course, we have a right to be skeptical that a dead man came back to life to give orders, but there are other reasons as well for suspecting that Jesus\u2014even while he was alive\u2014didn\u2019t say this. <\/span><\/p>\n Since this gospel was probably written a good fifty years after the death of Jesus, Matthew probably wrote to motivate his readers at the time\u2014and we know that he was an expert at making things up. . . . Moreover his portrayal of Jesus doesn\u2019t hang together very well. In chapter 10:5-6, Jesus sends the disciples out on a preaching mission, with this caveat: \u201cGo nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.\u201d In 15:24, when Jesus declines to help a Syrophoenician woman, he repeats this claim: \u201cI was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n He did not<\/em> \u201cdecline\u201d help to this woman\u2019s daughter, who was healed<\/em><\/strong> of demon possession (as even Dr. Madison notes in his critique, three paragraphs later):<\/span><\/p>\n Matthew 15:28 <\/strong>(RSV)\u00a0<\/strong>Then Jesus answered her, \u201cO woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.\u201d And her daughter was healed instantly.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n So it\u2019s absurd to claim that Jesus somehow didn\u2019t want to heal her daughter. He did, and that shows His will. He was simply making a rhetorical point to draw her out. If He truly didn\u2019t want<\/em> to heal her, then obviously He wouldn\u2019t<\/em> have, no matter what<\/em> she said. Or if this is what the \u2014 for Dr. Madison, deceitful, propagandistic \u2014 Gospel writer wished to convey, he\u00a0wouldn\u2019t have reported<\/em> that Jesus did this (It wouldn\u2019t have fit into the agenda, etc.).\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Besides, being \u201csent\u201d to the Israelites is a different proposition from \u201cwho Jesus decided to heal.\u201d So this is a ridiculous and self-contradictory argument from Dr. Madison: surprisingly lousy even by his low \u201cexegetical\u201d [choke \/ cough] pseudo-standards. Truly this is an example of what Paul noted: \u201cthey became futile in their thinking and their senseless minds were darkened\u201d (Rom 1:21).<\/span><\/p>\n Did he change his mind after the resurrection? Or had the compulsion to \u2018make disciples of all nations\u2019 come along by Matthew\u2019s time, certainly under the impact of Paul\u2019s zeal as well. This is a measure of the new cult\u2019s hubris and delusions of grandeur. This never seems to dissipate; it is displayed by today\u2019s fanatical sects, e.g. the Mormons<\/a> and Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses\u2014\u201cwe gotta convert the world\u201d\u2026or at least rescue the remnant. . . .\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In fact, the text in Matthew 15 is the author\u2019s reworking of a story found in Mark 7, which is the focus of this article, . . .\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This dumbfounded insinuation that Jesus somehow didn\u2019t want to help or heal anyone but his own Hebrews \/ Jews, doesn\u2019t hold water, either. As usual, Dr. Madison misses the forest for the trees, because he can\u2019t trouble himself to see what Jesus actually said and did in this regard, elsewhere. There are many counter-examples that refute his silly theory:<\/span><\/p>\n 1) Jesus\u2019 interaction with the Samaritan woman at the well (Jn 4:5-29) illustrates His view. Here He not only ministered to her with great compassion, but noted at the end that salvation was to extend to the non-Jewish Gentiles as well: \u201csalvation is from the Jews.\u00a0But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him\u201d (4:22b-23).<\/span><\/p>\n 2) Matthew seems to not be aware of his own supposed \u201cJews only Jesus\u201d since he applies an Old Testament passage about outreach to Gentiles directly to Jesus as the Servant and Messiah:<\/span><\/p>\n Matthew 12:15-21<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them all,\u00a0[16] and ordered them not to make him known.\u00a0[17] This was to fulfil what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah:\u00a0[18] \u201cBehold, my servant whom I have chosen,\u00a0my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased.\u00a0I will put my Spirit upon him,\u00a0and he shall proclaim justice to the Gentiles.\u00a0[19] He will not wrangle or cry aloud,\u00a0nor will any one hear his voice in the streets;\u00a0[20] he will not break a bruised reed\u00a0or quench a smoldering wick,\u00a0till he brings justice to victory;\u00a0[21] and in his name will the Gentiles hope.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n 3) Likewise, Luke records Simeon saying about Jesus:<\/span><\/p>\n Luke 2:30-32<\/strong>\u00a0for mine eyes have seen thy salvation\u00a0[31] which thou hast prepared in the presence of all peoples,\u00a0[32] a light for revelation to the Gentiles,\u00a0and for glory to thy people Israel.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n 4) Jesus told the Jewish \u201cchief priests and scribes\u201d (Mt 21:15) and \u201cPharisees\u201d (21:45) that righteous Gentiles will enter the kingdom before self-righteous Jews (like them):<\/span><\/p>\n Matthew 21:31b-32<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cTruly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.\u00a0[32] For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the harlots believed him; and even when you saw it, you did not afterward repent and believe him.<\/span><\/p>\n Matthew 21:42-43, 45\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Jesus said to them, \u201cHave you never read in the scriptures: `The very stone which the builders rejected\u00a0has become the head of the corner;\u00a0this was the Lord\u2019s doing,\u00a0and it is marvelous in our eyes\u2019?\u00a0[43] Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation producing the fruits of it.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0[45] When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n 5) Jesus healed the pagan Roman centurion\u2019s servant, commended his faith, and noted that many Gentiles would be saved, and many Jews lost:<\/span><\/p>\n Matthew 8:5-13<\/strong>\u00a0As he entered Caper\u2019na-um, a centurion came forward to him, beseeching him\u00a0[6] and saying, \u201cLord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, in terrible distress.\u201d\u00a0[7] And he said to him, \u201cI will come and heal him.\u201d\u00a0[8] But the centurion answered him, \u201cLord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only say the word, and my servant will be healed.\u00a0[9] For I am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, `Go,\u2019 and he goes, and to another, `Come,\u2019 and he comes, and to my slave, `Do this,\u2019 and he does it.\u201d\u00a0[10] When Jesus heard him, he marveled, and said to those who followed him, \u201cTruly, I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.\u00a0[11] I tell you, many will come from east and west and sit at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven,\u00a0[12] while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.\u201d\u00a0[13] And to the centurion Jesus said, \u201cGo; be it done for you as you have believed.\u201d And the servant was healed at that very moment.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n 6) Jesus\u2019 famous parable of the Good Samaritan (Lk 10:29-37) had as its central message the notion that a non-Jew who helped someone is more of a \u201cneighbor\u201d than a fellow Jew who did nothing.<\/span><\/p>\n 7) Here is Jesus healing another foreigner: a Samaritan man and commending his faith:<\/span><\/p>\n Luke 17:12-19\u00a0<\/strong>And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance\u00a0[13] and lifted up their voices and said, \u201cJesus, Master, have mercy on us.\u201d\u00a0[14] When he saw them he said to them, \u201cGo and show yourselves to the priests.\u201d And as they went they were cleansed.\u00a0[15] Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice;\u00a0[16] and he fell on his face at Jesus\u2019 feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan.\u00a0[17] Then said Jesus, \u201cWere not ten cleansed? Where are the nine?\u00a0[18] Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?\u201d\u00a0[19] And he said to him, \u201cRise and go your way; your faith has made you well.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n 8) Jesus specifically went to the land of the Gadarenes or Gerasenes, east of the Sea of Galilee, to minister to them (very odd behavior if Dr. Madison\u2019s contentions are correct). This was where Jesus sent the demons into the pigs (one of Dr. Madison\u2019s favorite Bible stories): Mk 5:1-20; Lk 8:26-39; Mt 8:28-34. Wikipedia, in its<\/span> article on the region<\/a>, states:<\/span><\/p>\n