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Dr. David Madison<\/strong>\u00a0is an atheist who was a Methodist minister for nine years: with a Ph.D. in Biblical Studies from Boston University.\u00a0 I have replied<\/a>\u00a0to his videos or articles 42 times<\/strong> as of this writing.\u00a0Thus far, I haven\u2019t heard\u00a0one peep<\/em>\u00a0back from him\u00a0 (from 8-1-19 to 12-29-20). This certainly doesn\u2019t suggest to me that he is very\u00a0confident<\/em>\u00a0in his opinions. All I\u2019ve seen is\u00a0expressions of contempt from Dr. Madison<\/a>\u00a0and from his buddy, the atheist author, polemicist, and extraordinarily volatile\u00a0John Loftus<\/a>, who runs the ultra-insulting\u00a0Debunking Christianity<\/em><\/a>\u00a0blog. Dr. Madison made his cramped, insulated mentality clear in a\u00a0comment from 9-6-19<\/a>:<\/p>\n John\u00a0\u201cyou are an\u00a0idiot<\/em>!\u201d<\/a>\u00a0Loftus even went to the length of\u00a0changing his blog\u2019s rules of engagement<\/a>, so that he and Dr. Madison could avoid replying to yours truly, or even see\u00a0notices<\/em>\u00a0of my replies (er, sorry,\u00a0rants<\/em>, rather). Dr. Madison\u2019s words will be in blue<\/span>.<\/p>\n Presently, I am replying to his article, \u201cBible Blunders & Bad Theology, Part 7\u2033<\/a> (12-18-20).<\/p>\n *****<\/p>\n Proverbs 26:11<\/strong> (RSV)\u00a0Like a dog that returns to his\u00a0<\/b>vomit\u00a0is a fool that repeats his folly.<\/p>\n 2 Peter 2:22<\/strong> . . .\u00a0the sow is washed only to wallow in the mire.<\/p>\n Proverbs 1:22<\/strong>\u00a0How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple?\u00a0How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing\u00a0and\u00a0<\/b>fools hate knowledge?<\/p>\n Proverbs 9:7-8<\/strong> He who corrects a\u00a0<\/b>scoffer\u00a0gets himself abuse, and he who reproves a wicked man incurs injury. [8] Do not reprove a\u00a0scoffer, or he will hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you.<\/p>\n *****<\/p>\n The gospel of Mark is a good place to start. Do Christians really want the Jesus depicted here? In an article I posted here in January 2018,<\/span> \u201cGetting the Gospels Off on the Wrong Foot<\/a>,\u201d I said this: \u201cIf you accept the Jesus of Mark\u2019s gospel, you are well on the way to full-throttle crazy religion. No slick excuses offered by priests and pastors\u2014none of their pious posturing about \u2018our Lord and Savior\u2019\u2014can change that fact.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In the fifth chapter, for example, Jesus encounters a mentally ill man, and by a magic spell he transfers the guy\u2019s demons into pigs. Most of us today wouldn\u2019t agree that mental illness is caused by demons, or that a holy man could send them into pigs. That\u2019s a sample of the superstition we find in Mark. Yes, we can chalk this up the naivet\u00e9 of ancient thinking, and it\u2019s too bad the Word of God didn\u2019t rise above that.<\/span><\/p>\n But we find something even more troubling in Mark 4, an alarming text that should alert Christians that something is amiss. After Jesus has told the Parable of the Sower,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhen he was alone, those who were around him along with the twelve asked him about the parables.\u00a0And he said to them, \u2018To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything comes in parables;\u00a0in order that \u2018they may indeed look, but not perceive, and may indeed listen, but not understand; so that they may not turn again and be forgiven<\/em><\/strong>.\u2019\u201d (Mark 4:10-12)<\/span><\/p>\n Devout scholars have been wringing their hands about this text for a long time. How can it be that Jesus tells parables to\u00a0prevent<\/em>\u00a0people from repenting and being forgiven? On what level does that make sense?<\/span><\/p>\n I thoroughly refuted this pseudo-\u201cobjection\u201d (so-called \u201cblunder\u201d and \u201cbad theology\u201d) over a year and four months ago:<\/p>\n Madison vs. Jesus #7: God Prohibits Some Folks\u2019 Repentance?<\/a>\u00a0[8-6-19]<\/p>\n But since Dr. Madison deliberately ignores any critique of his contentions that I provide, he simply returned to his vomit and wallowed in the mire yet again.<\/p>\n Sometimes the cult-centric texts sound nice, for example, Mark 12:30, a command from Jesus: \u201c\u2026you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.\u201d How can a\u00a0loving<\/em>\u00a0God require this level of devotion and subservience? Divine narcissism is fueled by the certainty that worshippers love at this all, all, all, all level.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n But what\u2019s the point? Indeed most Christians\u2014at least those who don\u2019t choose monastic seclusion\u2014have families, jobs, hobbies and pastimes that require major commitments of their hearts, souls, minds, and strength; they are not as fanatically obsessed with God as Jesus commands in Mark 12:30. Very few take this text seriously.<\/span><\/p>\n I thoroughly refuted this pseudo-\u201cobjection\u201d (so-called \u201cblunder\u201d and \u201cbad theology\u201d) over a year and four months ago:<\/p>\n Madison vs. Jesus #6: Narcissistic, Love-Starved God?<\/a>\u00a0[8-6-19]<\/p>\n But since Dr. Madison deliberately ignores any critique of his contentions that I provide, he simply returned to his vomit and wallowed in the mire yet again.<\/p>\n And it gets worse. Mark 12:30 is a preamble to train wreck verses in Matthew 10; when Christians read these, why don\u2019t they cancel their memberships?<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cDo not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>and one\u2019s foes will be members of one\u2019s own household.\u201d (verses 34-36)<\/span><\/p>\n And then Jesus the cult fanatic\u2014Matthew\u2019s version\u2014puts the frosting on the cake: \u201cWhoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me.\u201d\u00a0 (verses 37-38)<\/span><\/p>\n Luke, however, wasn\u2019t satisfied with even this. He added\u00a0hate<\/em>\u00a0to the formula: \u201cWhoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.\u201d (14:26)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Not only hatred of family, but hatred of life itself.<\/span><\/p>\n I thoroughly refuted this pseudo-\u201cobjection\u201d (so-called \u201cblunder\u201d and \u201cbad theology\u201d) over a year and four months ago:<\/p>\n Dr. David Madison vs. Jesus #1: Hating One\u2019s Family?<\/a>\u00a0[8-1-19]<\/p>\n But since Dr. Madison deliberately ignores any critique of his contentions that I provide, he simply returned to his vomit and wallowed in the mire yet again.<\/p>\n For quite a while now I have used the term\u00a0Ancient Jesus Mystery Cult<\/em>\u00a0to describe Christianity.\u00a0Indeed the early followers of Jesus were in competition with other cults in the first century, others that celebrated resurrected gods and knew secret formulas for achieving eternal life. Sacred meals were sometimes part of the package, and the Jesus cult was not to be outdone, especially in the theology imagined by the author of John\u2019s gospel.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n So we come to the final train wreck verses to examine here\u2014perhaps a highpoint of bad theology. The sacred meal proposed by John included Jesus\u2019 body parts. After all, according to John, Jesus had been present at creation; he was \u201cone with the father,\u201d so how could his body\u00a0not<\/em>\u00a0have magical properties? John invented this Jesus script:<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cVery truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day;\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.\u00a0Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.\u00a0Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0(John 6:53-57)<\/span><\/p>\n This is an extreme\u2014and disgusting\u2014example of magical thinking; making it a \u201csacrament\u201d adds to the disgrace. When Christians are asked to pretend\u2014to simulate\u2014drinking blood, that\u2019s the time to head for the exit!<\/span><\/p>\n I thoroughly refuted this pseudo-\u201cobjection\u201d (so-called \u201cblunder\u201d and \u201cbad theology\u201d) over a year and four months ago:<\/p>\n Madison vs. Jesus #8: Holy Eucharist as \u201cGrotesque Magic\u201d?<\/a>\u00a0[8-7-19]<\/p>\n But since Dr. Madison deliberately ignores any critique of his contentions that I provide, he simply returned to his vomit and wallowed in the mire yet again.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n Photo credit:\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Mark Peters<\/a>\u00a0(9-26-10).\u00a0Yorkshire pigs\u00a0wallow in mud at the Poplar Spring Animal Sanctuary in Poolesville, Maryland<\/span> [Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/\u00a0Creative Commons<\/a>\u00a0Attribution 2.0 Generic<\/a>\u00a0license]<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dr. David Madison\u00a0is an atheist who was a Methodist minister for nine years: with a Ph.D. in Biblical Studies from Boston University.\u00a0 I have replied\u00a0to his videos or articles 42 times as of this writing.\u00a0Thus far, I haven\u2019t heard\u00a0one peep\u00a0back from him\u00a0 (from 8-1-19 to 12-29-20). This certainly doesn\u2019t suggest to me that he is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2331,"featured_media":53710,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[124],"tags":[2519,1738,1043,745,258,2639,9137,335,525,6519,1367,9119,648,12757],"class_list":["post-53706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-atheism-agnosticism","tag-alleged-biblical-contradictions","tag-anti-christian-bigotry","tag-anti-theism","tag-anti-theists","tag-atheism","tag-atheist-exegesis","tag-atheist-hermeneutics","tag-atheists","tag-bible-contradictions","tag-contradictions-in-the-bible","tag-critiques-of-christianity","tag-david-madison","tag-debunking-christianity","tag-madison-malarkey"],"yoast_head":"\n\n
\n[T]he burden of the apologist has become heavy indeed, and some don\u2019t handle the anguish well. They vent and rage at critics, like toddlers throwing tantrums when a threadbare security blanket gets tossed out. We can smell their panic. Engaging with the ranters serves no purpose\u2014any more than it does to engage with Flat-Earthers, Chemtrail conspiracy theorists, and those who argue that the moon landings were faked. . . . I prefer to engage with NON-obsessive-compulsive-hysterical Christians, those who have spotted rubbish in the Bible, and might already have one foot out the door.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n