Exploring Bart Erhman’s Course

Written By Fayth™

Dearest J,

I began to take an interesting course by Bart Erhman exploring if the disciples actually WROTE Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

It’s curious, bc it takes a look at how we might know this, and here’s some direct copy from the site:

“WHAT YOU'LL LEARN IN THIS FREE WEBINAR:

  • The New Testament Gospels are anonymous. Why did early Christians say they were written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John?

  • What’s the best evidence that they were written by the apostles?

  • Do the Gospels themselves provide any hints that they were written by apostles?

  • Were the apostles of Jesus educated well enough to write books?

  • How could Aramaic-speaking authors manage to write such high-level Greek? Were the Gospels originally written in Aramaic?

  • Did the apostles use secretaries to edit and translate their work?

  • What are the best arguments against these books being written by these apostles?

  • Did the early church fathers claim the apostles wrote these books in order to make them more authoritative? 

  • And if the Gospels were not written by early apostles, where did their actual authors get their information?”

Here’s a link to the course: https://www.bartehrman.com/did-matthew-mark-luke-john-write-the-gospels/

I originally found out about this course through a YouTube video exploring Gnosticism, as “A Course in Miracles” has been seen as a neo-gnostic text, however, now I realize it’s really NEO because gnosticism is definitely NOT the same as gnosticism, and in fact it’s very different. For example, the biggest difference is that gnosticism believes Yahweh created the Earth, whereas ACIM sites humans as creating the Earth with their own mind (thereby experiencing separation between each other as separate humans).

Here’s the video I’m referencing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVgu5rBXGIg

Now, so far I’m realizing, that the authors of the Gospels are unlikely the “actual” original authors all together.

Again, spinning my faith practice a bit out of control here.

So if the Bible itself isn’t an accurate portrayal, where does that wedge my personal theology? Again, I’m not sure because I go back to the ACIM question again at, “is it helpful”? And if it is, great, but if it’s not, then explore that.

I think at this point I’m still sitting quite comfotably in the Christian Universalist camp, abeit toeing the line of agnosticism. But then again, that is perfectly OK!

This obviously made me pretty upset again over my relationship to my sister (who is a fundamentalist evangelical), my sponsor (who is Christian but more open-minded), my partner (who is kind of a new-age/atheist/gnostic, and my relationship to all things and all people — essentially not sure which simulation I’m living in.

So, rather than go through a millionth mid-life crisis, I updated my homepage from this (image on left) to this (image on right):

Discovering direction after agnosticism

So now, J … I’m not opposed to keeping this direction about agnosticism, or Christianity, or ACIM, or questioning or … whatever.

Bart Erhman says the only people to be afraid of are those who are “religiously fundamental or socially dangerous”.

But, I’m still not sure how I can be most helpful.

Whether’s that either DIGGING INTO faith further (like within an ACIM or Bible structure, or “humanist” structure for example, or continuing on with my agnosticism angle … or WHAT).

  • Agnosticism = what you know … “don’t know” about KNOWLEDGE

  • Atheism = what you believe … “no theism” about BELIEF

I can go these different avenues:

ACIM:

  • Text

  • Lessons

  • Teachers

  • Terms

  • ACIM vs Bible

Bible:

  • Journaling

  • Exploring the ins and outs of history and text

  • Talk about “modern” spiritual warfare

12 Steps

  • Explore the steps in context of bridging different faiths

  • Exploring the steps in context of ACA and EA etc

OR

Doing something DIFFERENT all-together, for example:

  • Blogger

    • Exploring a more “natural” technology, or exploring tech addiction or how to reduce tech through natural iOT

  • Artist

  • Designer

  • Spiritual Director

    • An agnostic / atheist spiritual director that is trauma-informed and explores the 12-steps without religion

Getting real about my future

You know, if I’m really not sure what I believe, and if my beliefs keep changing, is it wise of me to keep this going? This is basically what I’m getting at here. And I really can’t say one way or the other how I feel, which isn’t really a good thing. Also, even putting all this publicly is annoying to me because I keep feeling wishy-washy, zig-zagging, and wondering WHY I go in circles. It’s very simple: spiritual abuse and constant gaslighting, and being used to that over and over and over again, and the manipulation tactics of surety and how sure is sure, anyways.

So now, I can’t help but wonder.

Do I need to give up this practice, this questioning of faith, and what even IS this website after all. I mean, if I’m simply too confused to figure out a path, what is the use of this blog, and am I just “masturbating” my brain with questions — is this enjoyable? Right now, it’s NOT enjoyable. Not being sure and having my foot in no system doesn’t feel good, but it feels HONEST at the same time.

Fayth™ https://www.fayth.org/
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