Category Archives: Bible

Founding Father Thomas Paine and the Bible

Posted on 8 April 2016 by Mark R. Kelly

I haven’t subscribed to Free Inquiry magazine for years, but I picked up the latest issue last week and was fascinated by a piece about Thomas Paine, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, whom the modern religious … Continue reading →

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Reading Around the Bible, 4: Luke

Posted on 1 April 2016 by Mark R. Kelly

Just starting the fourth gospel, John, so let me write up impressions of Luke first, beginning with some broad observations and questions: The whole idea of fulfilling prophecies, which the gospels variously emphasize, becomes considerably less impressive once you notice … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: Historical Jesus; God’s Plan; Sagan on religion v science

Posted on 31 March 2016 by Mark R. Kelly

Relevant to some of my current reading, and the recent Easter holiday: Salon from last year, Valerie Tarico, 5 good reasons to think Jesus never existed. Most antiquities scholars think that the New Testament gospels are “mythologized history.”  In other … Continue reading →

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Reading Around the Bible, 3: Mark

Posted on 23 March 2016 by Mark R. Kelly

Some of these comments apply, of course, to Matthew as well. All maladies are due to spirits or demons. It’s been noted by critics that the Bible contains no knowledge that was not known to its writers; that is, though … Continue reading →

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Reading Around the Bible, 2: Matthew

Posted on 21 March 2016 by Mark R. Kelly

Having finished the Old Testament a couple weeks ago, and passing over the Apocrypha for now, I decided to proceed with the New Testament by not only reading *around* it via commentaries by others, but to in parallel read the … Continue reading →

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Reading Around the Bible, 1

Posted on 9 March 2016 by Mark R. Kelly

I have never read any version of the Bible (or any other holy book), but over the years I’ve accumulated a couple versions of it, and several books about it. My parents were nominally Presbyterian, my mother sang in the … Continue reading →

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