The Bible Geek Podcast 20-022

You asked listeners to suggest a mythical or legendary character who could potentially be historicized by clever apologetics. Here is my humble suggestion: Ned Ludd. I'm interested in any thoughts you might have on the Branch Davidians, Koresh, or the sectarian politics within the Adventist movement which gave rise to the group. What do you make of the thesis that the Greek word AEON should be translated as "AGE" or "EON" everywhere it appears, and "AEONIAN" as "Pertaining to the age" which has no English equivalent. Not “eternal.” Can you speculate on the possibility of a text or scroll lying in a cave or tomb that could change or alter our understanding of Jesus and the early church? Please comment on the idea that Mark was written first was promoted by Bismarck as part of the anti-Catholic Kulturkampf. His goal was to diminish Matthew which is the Gospel which includes the Peter-the-Rock verse which is the biblical basis for papal authority. I was wondering if you could comment on Galatians 6:17. Was Paul a stigmatic? Or what? A simple solution to the riddle in Rev 2:9 and 3:9 is that it is referring to the Herodians who were not ethnic Judahites but Idumeans who also collaborated with their Roman masters. I've always found the episode with Pilate in John 18:37-38, where Pilate asks "What is truth?" to be very poetic and compelling. It reads as a glib dismissal of Jesus as the one who bears witness to "the truth," but I can't shake the feeling there's more to it than that. It strikes me as subtly evil, the kind of moral relativism that is so easy to slip into, certainly for a jaded politician, but also for any of us. I'd love for you talk about this passage, the sitz im leben, and any thoughts you have on its relevance to the rest of story. How come Stephen got lynched by the Sanhedrin, but the same group had to get Roman permission to execute Jesus? You’ve suggested the idea of a personal relationship with God has its origin in 17th-century German Pietism. Can you say some more about this? Do you think the idea of a personal relationship with God or Jesus is a modern idea? Is it a Western idea? Do non-Christian religions have this concept?