Latest Posts
Posted: Tuesday 16 January 2024 ( 3 months ago )
Back to Jeremiah - God kills Hananiah, the good news prophet
If you've listened to the Bible in Fewer Words podcast lately, you've probably noticed that Carole and I have gone back to our first few episodes of Genesis and re-did them by splitting them into two. It took us a while to figure out how much materia ...
Posted: Friday 08 December 2023 ( 4 months ago )
That's what Hanukkah is all about, Charlie Brown
This year, Hanukkah began on the evening of Thursday, December 7th and will end Friday, December 15th.
Everyone knows what Christmas is all about (ever since Linus explained it to Charlie Brown), but how many can say the same for Hanukkah?
Wel ...
Posted: Friday 01 December 2023 ( 5 months ago )
The best book in the Bible
What is the best book in the Bible? (*)
Well, that depends on how you define "best".
One way to try to determine it, though, would be to identify all the passages in the Bible that contain ideas that you consider good, and then compare the numb ...
Posted: Monday 10 July 2023 ( 9 months ago )
Who had the most powerful spit: Jesus or Muhammad?
This is an important question.
Luckily, the gospels and Ash-Shifa can answer it for us. (Ash-Shifa is a 12th century biography of Muhammad that is considered authoritative throughout the Muslim world.)
Let's take Jesus's spit first.
...
Posted: Sunday 18 June 2023 ( 10 months ago )
Hamor: The best father in the Bible
In a previous post, I listed 15 of the fathers in the Bible who provide lessons for fathers today. I wasn't entirely serious, of course, as each of the fathers on the list behaved about as badly as any father could possibly behave. None of them could ...
Posted: Saturday 17 June 2023 ( 10 months ago )
Father's Day lessons from the fathers in the Bible
Noah, the just preacher of righteousness
For some reason, God really liked Noah. He hated everyone else, though. Hated them so much, in fact, that he drowned every last one of them, except for Noah (and his family), that is.
What was it that ...
Posted: Friday 02 June 2023 ( 11 months ago )
Some commandments nobody should obey
Here is a letter that I wrote to the Moscow-Pullman Daily News that was published today.
In response to columnist Nick Gier’s suggestion that the Bible should be redacted, letter writer Larry Kirkland (Daily News, May 31) said “most of the Bib ...
Posted: Saturday 27 May 2023 ( 11 months ago )
There was a recent comment about one of the contradictions that I am going to post here, for reasons I will explain below. The contradiction was this:
Did Lot's daughters think God had killed every man except Lot?
No, they knew that God spar ...
Posted: Monday 15 May 2023 ( 11 months ago )
The Spirit of the Lord came upon him
According to the Bible, what happens when the Spirit of the Lord comes upon someone?
Well, the short answer is this: a Spirit-possessed person usually kills things.
The phrase ("the Spirit of the Lord came upon him" or "came mightily upon him" ...
Posted: Sunday 30 April 2023 ( 12 months ago )
About the new SAB website
Unless you're just visiting the SAB website for the first time, you've probably noticed that it has changed recently. The content is the the same, at least for the most part, although I add and revise its content each day. But it's no longer just a b ...
Posted: Monday 24 April 2023 ( 12 months ago )
Some questions about the Midianite massacre
Our last podcast episode told the story of the Midianite massacre of Numbers 31. It's one of the most appalling stories in the entire Bible. And it's also one of the most puzzling.
Here are some of my questions about it.
The Midianites were ...
Posted: Tuesday 18 April 2023 ( 1 year ago )
Islam: It's mostly about going to the bathroom
(This is a post I made eleven years ago on Dwindling in unbelief. But I thought I'd repost it here on the new blog -- in case some of you hadn't seen it before. Let me know in the comments if I've missed any important details.)
You ...
Posted: Monday 17 April 2023 ( 1 year ago )
Why Christian marriage is wrong
Christians claim that the Bible condemns gay marriage. It doesn't. [*]
The Bible says nothing at all about gay marriage. But it has plenty to say about Christian marriage.
The Bible says that Christians should not marry.
Art thou loose ...
Posted: Saturday 15 April 2023 ( 1 year ago )
So it was Jesus who sent the fiery serpents in Numbers 21!
One of the craziest stories in the Bible is found in Numbers 21. It all happens in just two verses:
The people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, ne ...
Posted: Friday 14 April 2023 ( 1 year ago )
What were the fiery serpents in Numbers 21?
In our most recent podcast, we told the story about the fiery serpents that God sent to bite the people for complaining about the lack of food and water. It all happens in just five verses in Numbers 21 (verses 5-9)
Here's the story from the Bibl ...
Posted: Thursday 13 April 2023 ( 1 year ago )
About that red cow in Numbers 19
The passage in Numbers 19:1-10 is rather uninteresting in itself. So much so, in fact, that I almost left it out of the Bible in Fewer Words podcast. It is, after all, just another animal sacrifice - the type of thing that is found throughout the Pen ...
Posted: Saturday 08 April 2023 ( 1 year ago )
Happy Jesus-in-hell day!
Descent into Hell by Michael Burghers
Now that Jesus is dead (they killed him in the Philippines on Good Friday), we can celebrate what happened after he died.
Happy Jesus-in-Hell Day!
Most Christians (well, Protestants, anyway) don' ...
Posted: Tuesday 04 April 2023 ( 1 year ago )
About the new website
Since you are here reading this, you have probably noticed that the SAB website has changed a bit recently.
It has the same content as the old site, plus some new additions. The main difference - and the thing we've been working on for a year or s ...
Posted: Saturday 01 April 2023 ( 1 year ago )
Father Mike Schmitz explains the law of jealousies to us
The most popular podcast in the United States is (or was according to the National Review in Jan 2021) "The Bible in a Year" by Father Mike Schmitz. In it, Father Mike reads the Bible to you, and explains it all for you.
Father Mike gets through ...
Posted: Tuesday 28 March 2023 ( 1 year ago )
The Bible in Fewer Words Podcast
As many of you may know, my wife, Carole, and I have started a new podcast.
Well, it's not new anymore. In fact, we have released 54 episodes since we began a few months ago. We began with Genesis in December, and just posted the last episode of L ...
Posted: Tuesday 16 August 2022 ( 2 years ago )
What's new at the SAB
Anyone who has visited the blog in the last few years will have noticed that I haven't posted much here lately.
Sorry about that.
But I have a good excuse: I've been too busy at the site.
Over the last few years I have completely revised the ...
Posted: Thursday 20 January 2022 ( 2 years ago )
Why Douglas Wilson believes the Bible is the word of God
And how do you know that it's the word of God? Is it because "a lot of people around me currently think" it is? Or is it because its contents are so good that only a God could have written it?I mean, who else could write a verse like Leviticus 20:14 ...
Posted: Thursday 20 January 2022 ( 2 years ago )
Christ Church (Moscow, ID) and Leviticus 20:13
Douglas Wilson (@douglaswils) is the pastor of a Christ Church (@Christ_Kirk) in Moscow, Idaho. Since I live in that town, his views are important to me. He also has a wide following among Evangelical Christians in the United States and throughout t ...
Posted: Thursday 20 January 2022 ( 2 years ago )
A conversation with Douglas Wilson about Slavery and the Bible
@douglaswils You are also on record saying this (out loud): "The reason why many Christians will be tempted to dismiss the arguments presented in this booklet is that we will say (out loud) that a godly man could have been a slave owner." p.11, Sout ...
Posted: Saturday 28 November 2020 ( 3 years ago )
Out of Context: Matthew 10:35 and The Trial of the Chicago 7
Last night I watched The Trial of the Chicago 7 on Netflix, which is based on the trial of seven anti-war protesters who were arrested during the
1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago. I very much enjoyed the movie, but I was especially struck by i ...
Posted: Saturday 22 August 2020 ( 4 years ago )
An update on the SAB website revision
Since I haven't posted much on the blog lately, I thought I'd let you know that I'm still alive and working on the website. I've been plowing through the Old Testament at the SAB, finishing Lamentations this morning. I'm really enjoying it so far -- ...
Posted: Tuesday 24 March 2020 ( 4 years ago )
The Bible, the Census, and Covid-19
I've been searching the scriptures to see what they say about the coronavirus pandemic.
I started by looking for passages that refer to plagues, pestilence, disease, and sickness. It wasn't long before I found the answer.
It wasn't from the Bible ...
Posted: Thursday 28 March 2019 ( 5 years ago )
A numbers problem in the book of Numbers
The book of Numbers is well-named. There are a lot of number in Numbers.
Take chapter three for instance. In the long last section of that chapter, God tells Moses to count the Levites [1] saying,
And the LORD spake unto Moses in the wildern ...
Posted: Thursday 28 March 2019 ( 5 years ago )
A numbers problem in the book of Numbers
The book of Numbers is well-named. There are a lot of number in Numbers.
Take chapter three for instance. In the long last section of that chapter, God tells Moses to count the Levites [1] saying,
And the LORD spake unto Moses in the wilderness ...
Posted: Wednesday 13 March 2019 ( 5 years ago )
Balaam's Story
Balaam is best known for his talking donkey, and rightly so.
But there's more to his story than that.
He first shows up in Numbers 22, when Balak, the king of Moab, asks
him for help.
Balak had heard about the many genocides that ...
Posted: Thursday 04 October 2018 ( 6 years ago )
A slow revision of the SAB
It's a bit hard for me to believe now, but I created the Skeptic's Annotated Bible website back in 1999, nearly 20 years ago!
I've kept the same basic html structure at the site for all these years. It seemed to work okay for the most part, but it ...
Posted: Monday 31 July 2017 ( 7 years ago )
The Bible's Guide to Health Care
First of all, if you get sick, it's your own damned fault. (God made you sick for ignoring his voice, doing wrong in his sight,
and/or ignoring his commandments.)
If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that
...
Posted: Sunday 30 July 2017 ( 7 years ago )
A Biblical Solution to the Health Care Crisis: Faith-based medicine (for Republicans)
(Re-post for the current health care debate)
A few years ago Garrison Keillor suggested a way to solve our health care crisis, and it's even more relevant today: impose faith-based medicine on all Republicans. That would reduce, by at least a third ...
Posted: Sunday 30 July 2017 ( 7 years ago )
What the Bible says about Masturbation
As you may have noticed, the SAB website has been having troubles lately. There were some links in the old html code (I created it back in 1999) that were causing the site to load slowly, and sometimes not load at all. So I spent the last couple wee ...
Posted: Saturday 29 July 2017 ( 7 years ago )
Richard Dawkins: The God of the Old Testament
(29 July 17: I originally posted this nearly nine years ago, soon after Richard Dawkins's wonderful speech. More recently, the Freedom From Religion Foundation created a new website based upon this speech and Dan Barker's book - God: the Most unplea ...
Posted: Thursday 16 June 2016 ( 8 years ago )
Which religion is more anti-gay, Christianity or Islam?
Yesterday's post was a bit misleading.
Yes, it's true that the Bible is more anti-gay that the Quran, since the Bible commands believers to kill homosexuals while the Quran does not. And yet a majority of U.S. Christians believe homosexuality is m ...
Posted: Wednesday 15 June 2016 ( 8 years ago )
Which is more anti-gay, the Bible or the Quran?
The Bible and the Quran agree on many things. So you might expect them to agree about homosexuality as well. And they do. Both condemn it. But which is more anti-gay?
There are only eight passages in the Quran that deal with homosexuality, and they ...
Posted: Wednesday 08 June 2016 ( 8 years ago )
The National Catholic Reporter: Providing convoluted explanations for inexcusable bible passages
In a recent blog post at the National Catholic Reporter, Thomas L. McDonald claims that the Skeptic's Annotated Bible and other internet scoffers "pile ignorant derision" on "the difficult parts of the Bible." He then provides the correct explanat ...
Posted: Sunday 05 June 2016 ( 8 years ago )
It's Ramadan again! Time to sleep all day and party all night.
(At least it is here in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, where I observed the thin crescent of the new moon on 5 June 2016 at 7:35 pm.)
For those of you who don't know, it's Ramadan -- the month in which Muslims believe the Quran was revealed to Muhammad (pb ...
Posted: Monday 14 December 2015 ( 8 years ago )
The Great Controversy: Ben Carson, Ellen G. White, and Seventh-day Adventism
Ben Carson has famously said that a Muslim who wishes to become president of the United States must
"reject the tenets of Islam."
But what about members of his own church -- The Seventh-day Adventist church? Must they reject its doctrines ...
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