A foundational principle of Christianity is the claim that a new covenant was instituted by Jesus’ death and resurrection, replacing the covenant made between YHWH and Israel at Mount Sinai. No longer are we required to observe YHWH’s instructions, for we are saved by simple faith in Jesus and nothing else. What if it could be easily shown from the New Testament that the new...

It seems that many adherents of the New Testament fail to notice that it contains competing, incompatible ideologies that have been woven together into a confusing patchwork quilt. This is perhaps best illustrated by comparing Paul’s view of righteousness with that of James: For we consider that a person is declared righteous by faith apart from the works of the law. Romans 3:28 You see...

It is a Christian concept that Jesus freed his followers from the law. By law we mean the law of Moses, called the Torah. When you see the word law in english translations of the Hebrew scriptures, the Hebrew word that has been translated such is the word Torah, which literally means instruction. Etymologically it comes from an archery term meaning “to hit the mark”. The Torah, as a...

25 years before my deeper study of the scriptures prompted me to leave the church, I had already developed strong convictions against Christian holidays. There is virtually no-one, not even among conservative Christian scholars and apologists, who denies the pagan origins of Christian holidays. The question is: what, if anything, is wrong with co-opting pagan practices? Christianity sees this...