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    Matt Whitman, On the Gist of Josephus |501|

    The Council of Nicaea was super important historically, but not in the way people think. It did not anathematize beliefs like reincarnation; they did not decide to keep the Gnostic Gospels and other "heretical" works out of the Bible, etc. and etc. By the time of the C of N...
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    Matt Whitman: I didn't even make it to Josephus

    It matters if you're a "Bible-based Christian," which they all claim to be. As to those verses being written by men, you will certainly find no argument with me. But again, that's specifically what fundies and evangelicals deny.
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    Matt Whitman: I didn't even make it to Josephus

    My problem is not with people who adhere to Christianity or any other "revealed" religion thinking slavery is wrong, that women are people, etc. On the contrary, I want to affirm opinions like that, arrived at for any and every reason. What I object to is people like Matt acting as if they...
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    Matt Whitman: I didn't even make it to Josephus

    Matt Whitman. Charming, obviously intelligent and thoughtful, probably cleans up well, but still full of s##t. Full disclosure: I’m not all the way through the episode. But how does he dare to claim to be a Christian who bases his faith on the Magic Book and yet claim the high ground in...
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    Higherside Chats, 4/28/2021

    Many outward signs of social pathology (violent crime, teen pregnancies, etc.) have been trending down since the 1990s, and many of those which have continued to exist have other causes (opiates, etc.), so I am not sure what you are referring to. I would also be curious, if we were to grant the...
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    Higherside Chats, 4/28/2021

    Another thing Alex, I love you to death, but please please please stop with the Gloria Steinem thing. My take: it's very interesting in a Fun Facts sort of way, but little more. Women's rights is a good thing. The CIA, being the CIA, sought to get out in front of what it saw as a social trend...
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    Higherside Chats, 4/28/2021

    I find the whole "material vs. spiritual" thing frustrating and meaningless. In my view everything that exists is by definition composed of something that can broadly be called matter. To say otherwise is to talk nonsense, to literally say that something can exist without existing. The real...
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    Whitley Strieber, Jesus Stuff |498|

    I'm sure alert listeners will have noticed the parallels between Josephus' back story/self-mythologizing and both the Jesus of the Synoptic Gospels and Paul. I am referring of course to Jesus pwning and out-Jewing the Jewish scholars in the Temple after going missing from his family (Luke...
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    William Ramsey, Lawyering Christianity |497|

    I have to say that I tried to read WR's book about the West Memphis Three, and I wasn't impressed. I've got to remain agnostic about that as well. One thing: people who posit the WM3's guilt always bring up the fact that the guilty verdict was not vacated, if that is the correct term. But there...
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    William Ramsey, Lawyering Christianity |497|

    I would have been a little more socratic about it myself, but Alex's frontal assault did the job. Not that I don't feel for Ramsey; I've been there myself. Alex was actually a little too easy on him in some ways. For example, what is "Bible-based Christianity?" On one hand, what Protestant...
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    Jasun Horsley, How Culture Shapers Spin Aleister Crowley |457|

    A couple of observations: Peter Levenda is one of the few in conspiracy culture who remains steadfastly anti-fascist. It is curious that his character is being assassinated when the rest of that subculture is going all in for far right ideologies. Also, Alex mentions "Sabbatean Frankists." Can...
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