Category Archives: Bible

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Julie Ferwerda Raises Hell and Puts the Doctrine Under Fire!

Julie Ferwerda, author of Raising Hell, joins Michael on The Spiritual Brewpub podcast for a fascinating conversation on what starts a person’s journey to question hell, what stages people go through to finally reject it, and how one’s life is changed for the better as a result. Julie shares what led her to see the emotional, logical, biblical, historical, and Jewish cultural evidence that debunks hell and how she was set free from fear-based faith and began to love people naturally. 

She also gives advice to people who are questioning hell or other beliefs, whether secretly or publicly. How does one get through stages of deconstruction? Hear from Julie on that question and more–and her plans for her next book on addressing “the problem of evil.” Grab your favorite brew and join us! 

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The Bible—A Record of Humanity’s Moral Development: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly



Coming out of evangelicalism years ago, I always struggled with how to reconcile parts of the Bible. When I started to study history, however, there were several mysteries I solved about the Bible that totally blew me away and helped me finally make sense of most of it. I’m going to share those with you on today’s podcast.

Buckle your seat belts and let’s take a ride together off the mythological Bible Belt Interstate and onto the road-less-traveled historic Bible Byway.


What You Will Learn:

  • Why the Bible can’t be inerrant and an altogether true record of history and God’s character
  • Why the Bible should not, however, be viewed as irrelevant for today
  • How the Bible is a collection of dissenting views on the character of God and human morality
  • The ways the Bible critiques itself, e.g. in the sacrificial system and violent retribution narratives
  • The stark contrast in the Bible’s narrative of violent sacrificial religion vs. social justice of the prophets and the non-violent love ethic of Jesus and Paul
  • How the Bible can be viewed as a record of humanity’s moral development
  • What narratives rise to the top that will help our local and global communities overcome conflict, violence, war, and harmful fundamentalist religion
Also, Michael shares plans and hopes of forthcoming interviews. Grab a brew and enjoy responsibly! Be sure to ask questions and make comments below, pro or con.
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Episode 3 – 12 Fake Claims or Scams of Western Christianity / Part 1

What if we turned the concept of “fake news” on politics to examining fake claims about religion? What would we discover? 

We’d find the DNA of ancient Christianity (i.e., Jesus’ teaching and peace movement) has suffered grave mutations that the Western Reformation never completely corrected, and in some cases, made worse. How can we know this? Through careful historical, biblical, and linguistic study. And how can the Jesus of history be authentic and much of this religion called Christianity be a scam? By an historical sleight of hand.

In this episode, we discuss 12 major fake claims or scams that have been fostered by Western Christianity and unsuspecting adherents about popular views of the Bible, church, salvation, the cross, women, God’s character, the afterlife, the end times, sexuality, and war. By uncovering these fake claims, we reveal the non-religious, inclusive, egalitarian, and restorative love ethic of the first-century Jesus and his followers.

Follow Podcast Here | All Episodes Here

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What Was Right with Billy Graham But Wrong with His Children Preaching at His Memorial

At Billy Graham’s memorial service on March 2, 2018, in which 2,000 people attended, his children Franklin and Anne used the opportunity to preach to the crowd. “My father followed Jesus all the way to heaven,” Franklin said. “How about you? If this were your funeral, would you be in heaven?” [CNN]

Daughter Anne Graham Lotz speculated on a prophetic meaning behind her father’s death, saying she believed it was a “…shot across the bow from heaven. …I believe God is saying: ‘Wake up, church. Wake up, world. Wake up, Anne. Jesus is coming. Jesus is coming.’” [Charisma]

There is “no better place” to convert to Christ than this funeral, Franklin added. “The world with all of its political correctness would lead you to believe that many roads lead to God, but that’s just not true. Jesus is the only way.”

For me, the passing of Billy Graham on February 21 brought back many memories from my 25-year journey inside evangelicalism, including this kind of preaching. As a teenager, seven years before I formally “joined” the movement (in evangelical terms, when I “accepted Christ”), I saw Billy speak at a huge Jesus Festival in Dallas, Texas. Despite his typical-fundamentalism-of-the-day sermon, I found Billy to be very likeable. He had a magnetic personality and an authoritative, yet kind voice. The words he spoke that night in Dallas echoed in my life for years to come. In time, some of his other teachings also impacted me, particularly as his mindset became less fundamentalist.

Yet as the years rolled on and my own evangelical faith evolved (I ultimately left it behind), I came to realize something about this famous evangelist:

Billy Graham was an honorable man trapped in a dishonorable religion.

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The Historical Roots and Impact of Universalsim

 


I spoke at the 10th Anniversary Conference of the Christian Universalist Association, in Dallas, Texas on October 22, 2017. Learn more about the roots and impact of Universalism and the historical fallacy of the Doctrine of Hell. I welcome any comments or questions. Thanks goes to Rich Koster, Mary Keller, and Charles Slagle for welcoming me into the CUA and opening a door for me to speak at this year’s conference.

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The Sick Faith and Fake News of Those Who Warn People to Stay Outside The Shack

Blasphemous. Dangerous. Heresy. Unbiblical. These are the words religious purists use to describe the book The Shack and the recently released movie by the same name. Despite seeing a few good things in it, they are overwhelmingly critical.

But what horrors are in it that could possibly merit these warnings? Is it a bit too hokey? (It is. In his vision, the protagonist has meals and conversations with the holy Trinity and walks on water with Jesus). But no, nothing like that according to these hair-splitting legalists. To them, the big sins of The Shack, are that it makes God out to be too loving, overly forgiving, remarkably understanding, naively inclusive, irresponsibly lax on biblical/church authority, and nowhere near sectarian, religious, angry, and punishing enough to reflect the God of the Bible!

“If the God found in The Shack is the one people choose to follow, I fear they face grave eternal danger,” states evangelical critic Roger Patterson. “In the film, Papa [God] expresses only love and has no room for wrath, justice, or holiness… The God of The Shack is not interested in justice in an ultimate sense,” he adds in Staying Outside The Shack. Randy Alcorn also voiced concerns about the scriptural basis of The Shack in his similar review, Reflections on The Shack. Seattle pastor Mark Driscoll used to warn his congregation not to read it. Albert Mohler thinks the book’s popularity is due to a lack of “evangelical discernment.”

Hmm… let’s deconstruct this.

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The Ancient World & Spirituality – Podcasts

RisingMediaPodcast

Recently, I was interviewed by Ron Way, a long-time talk show host, author, architect, corporate CEO, and amateur biblical scholar. It was arranged through my publisher Wipf & Stock for the AuthorTalk website. You can also listen to it here:

Rising Light Media Podcasts

I was pleasantly surprised that Ron has interviewed people like Bart Ehrman, N.T. Wright, and Diana Butler Bass, and my interview displays on the same page as these incredible authors. As his website states, “Over the years, Ron Way has interviewed hundreds of religious leaders. These interviews are fascinating and informative. They delve into the ancient world of Jesus, Paul, Buddha, the Tao, the Dead Sea Scrolls, Islam, and more.”

Listen to my interview to learn about the connection between craft beer and an historically-grounded Jesus, thoughts on why first-century women followers of Christ were misrepresented in the Bible, why the New Testament needs to be read with knowledge of how it was compiled, mine and Ron’s ideas about the Jesus Seminar, and much more.

But don’t stop there. Ron has a whole slew of interviews that will perk your interest and bring you enlightenment, including conversations with the names listed above. Enjoy!

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Ark Encounter Park Opens – Just Another Religious Mega Scheme?

Ark Encounter Opens

The Ark Encounter project, a replica of Noah’s Ark built by “young earth” Creationist Ken Ham with the exact specifications from the Bible, opened yesterday in Kentucky with no shame about its evangelistic goals.

A producer for New York Public Radio called me up to ask my interest in commenting on it. She had found my book, Craft Brewed Jesus, on an internet search, and thought my opinion was a good fit. In the end I got quoted on their web page (see The Takeaway Show, Life-Size Noah’s Ark Opens to the Public), but here is what I had prepared to say if interviewed on air:

First, this is definitely a fascinating idea, to replicate Noah’s ark with the very dimensions spelled out in the book of Genesis. It has a lot of historical and educational potential. There’s an enormous appeal to see this thing up close and explore its implications just out of curiosity.

The trouble is, the Ark Encounter project does not have a pure historical and educational agenda.

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11 Historical Facts Evangelicals Don’t Want You to Know (or Don’t Know Themselves)

evangelical church

First, two caveats. One, evangelicals are not a monolithic block. It’s possible (but rare) that some will want you to know some of these things. Second, most devoted evangelicals and their leaders sincerely believe that the historical, biblical, and linguistic facts listed below are… well, false. Not “truth.” Not “biblical.” False teaching.

I know. When I was an evangelical, I felt the same way. The few that I did believe or suspect might be true (or conversely, those traditional evangelical views I thought might be false), I kept secret, for fear of being “unevangelical.” But the truth is, aside from a few shady types who know them to be true but want to hide them from their flock, most people are clueless at best, and sadly, brainwashed at worst about these facts.

A fair, objective examination of the Greek of the New Testament and the history of Christianity, especially the first few decades and centuries of the faith, reveal these historical facts:

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What’s Wrong With the Modern Church?

CraftBrewedJesus_CoverNew book taps the answer:

What if the modern American church has its Christian history wrong? According to ex-evangelical Michael Camp, most American believers fail Christian History 101. Drawing on his own historical research and missionary experience, he discovers most popular Christian views of the Bible, church, sin, salvation, judgment, the kingdom of God, the “end times,” and the afterlife—pretty much all religious sacred cows—don’t align with the beliefs of the original Jesus Movement. Some of them not even close.

Camp’s Craft Brewed Jesus paves a fascinating journey of a group of disillusioned evangelicals and Catholics. When they decide to meet regularly over craft beers to study the historic foundations of their faith, their findings both rock their world and resolve ancient mysteries.

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What New Spiritual Path Will You Take in 2016?

DOWNLOAD AN EXCERPT OF “CRAFT BREWED JESUS”

Download excerpt of book Craft Brewed Jesus

Will you stay the course or take a new road? Will you finally address those pesky questions you have for which you’ve only gotten pat answers? Is this the year to research those unexamined doctrines and doubts? If you have been skeptical about any of the following, the forthcoming book “Craft Brewed Jesus” (Spring 2016) may help: 

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3 Big Ideas of New Book “Craft Brewed Jesus”

3 Big Ideas of "Craft Brewed Jesus"

How History We Never Knew Taps a Spirituality We Really Need

My next book is in the hands of the publisher! Wipf and Stock Publishing in Eugene, Oregon is publishing it in April or May 2016. Besides the craft beer theme (just as small, independent craft breweries using historical recipes have rethought corporate-brewed beer, pub or cafe theologians outside the church are rethinking “corporate” religion), here are the book’s three big ideas:

1) The Modern American Church Has Failed Christian History 101 – With some notable exceptions, American Christianity does not understand the rich, fascinating, and complex-but-illuminating history of the early Jesus saga and how it later morphed into a warped man-made religion.

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The Real Reason Kim Davis and Evangelicals are Against Gay Marriage

Kim Davis and Gay Marriage

We learned this week that while in the U.S. the Pope had a secret meeting with Kentucky clerk Kim Davis. Apparently, he offered her support for standing up for what she believed. (Later reports say it was not a private meeting and the Pope does not back her position). But we also know this Pope has reached out to gays and lesbians more than any other pope. When asked once about a gay person’s condition, he responded, “If he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?”

So, why are evangelicals so quick to judge gays and lesbians? We get the answer in the recent ABC interview of Kim Davis. READ MORE >>

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The Scourge of Black and White Thinking

black_white

I often talk about the dangers of black-and-white thinking I encountered in my evangelical past. American conservative religion puts things in nice, neat boxes, with defined boundaries. The Bible is inerrant, they claim. If it wasn’t, it couldn’t be trusted at all (a strange concept considering no one claims that about any historical document). People are “sinners” steeped in original sin and totally depraved unless they are regenerated by conversion to Christ. One is either saved or under God’s wrath; on the way to heaven or destined for hell. Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee thinks the case of county clerk Kim Davis (refusing to give out marriage licenses to gay couples in Kentucky) is proof that there’s a movement toward the criminalization of Christianity, based on the belief that anyone who allows or tolerates gay marriage just can’t be Christian. There’s a line drawn in the sand and heaven forbid if you cross it and try to create a gray area, between these stark spiritual “realities.”

That’s why I was surprised to hear Seth Andrews (The Thinking Atheist) READ MORE >>

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Correcting the Flat Reading of the Bible

Michael Hardin is brilliant in taking us back to the Jewish historical and cultural way of thinking at the time of Christ to correct the traditional Evangelical way of reading the Bible, as if everything is equally authoritative and true, what he calls a flat reading of the Bible. Open your eyes and heart to a new way of finding the fingerprints of God through the lens of Jesus, not by swallowing everything you read hook, line, and sinker, but by viewing the sacred texts in their historical/cultural context with Jesus as the window. A refreshing perspective! Thoughts? (23:14)

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3 Ways Atheists are Good for Christianity

3 Ways Atheists and Agnostics are Good for Christianity

To most people, the title of this blog seems contradictory. Aren’t atheists rebelling against God and leading people astray? Well, for the most part, no. One of our discoveries in our group’s research is that most atheists (or their cousins, agnostics) are good for people of faith because their honesty keeps us honest. They can help us learn to think for ourselves.  READ MORE >>

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4 Ways History Solves the Puzzle of Faith

History Solves the Puzzle of Faith

Have you ever puzzled over things you hear/observe at church or read in the Bible? Like how can an all loving God allow anyone to suffer in hell forever? Or, if people go to hell, why is the door to repentance and forgiveness closed? Or, why do religious people and systems often seem so unloving?

Fifteen years ago, I started to investigate the answers to these and other perplexing questions. READ MORE >>