Podcasts about Religulous

Larry Charles is eccentricity manifested in human form. The creative genius' journey through television (Seinfeld, Mad About You, Curb Your Enthusiasm), film (Borat, Bruno, Religulous), and new media has been winding and star-studded. Larry has worked with greats from every industry, from the likes of Bob Dylan, to Nic Cage, Sacha Baron Cohen, and (quite famously) Larry David. Larry and Dan chat about his upbringing, his struggles with love and identity, and how he began to find peace in his forties. They also revisit his wildest journeys, from seeing the darkness of humanity making Borat and Bruno… to finding light while visiting comedians in Somalia. Larry's book, “Comedy Samurai: Forty Years of Blood, Guts, and Laughter” is available on June 17th. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Larry Charles is eccentricity manifested in human form. The creative genius' journey through television (Seinfeld, Mad About You, Curb Your Enthusiasm), film (Borat, Bruno, Religulous), and new media has been winding and star-studded. Larry has worked with greats from every industry, from the likes of Bob Dylan, to Nic Cage, Sacha Baron Cohen, and (quite famously) Larry David. Larry and Dan chat about his upbringing, his struggles with love and identity, and how he began to find peace in his forties. They also revisit his wildest journeys, from seeing the darkness of humanity making Borat and Bruno… to finding light while visiting comedians in Somalia. Larry's book, “Comedy Samurai: Forty Years of Blood, Guts, and Laughter” is available on June 17th. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Conviértete en miembro de este canal para disfrutar de ventajas:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrr-82T0bOWW3ZoHjSS9YTA/join¡No olvides seguirnos en Instagram y Tik Tok! -https://www.instagram.com/cineparatod...-https://www.tiktok.com/@cineparatodos...¡Síguenos en nuestros espacios para hablar de cine!:-CINE PARA TODOS: https://youtube.com/@Cineparatodos?si=elZlVc_voLupkUtH-ZOOMF7: http://bit.ly/ZoomF7_YT-KICK: https://kick.com/zoomf7-PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/zoomf7-SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/5YbySnX...-APPLE: http://ow.ly/V7dX30q7yAqRedes personales:•Gerry:-Twitter: https://x.com/el_lyndon?s=2-Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/el_lyndon?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==-Letterboxd: https://boxd.it/12ZBh-Lyndon YouTube: https://youtube.com/@Jerrylyndon?si=w...•Miguel: -Twitter: https://x.com/portalmike?s=21-Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maps_2208?i...-Letterboxd: https://boxd.it/198Zf•Axel: -Twitter: https://x.com/axldario21?s=21-Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/axlchalico2...-Letterboxd: https://boxd.it/3Q9cn•Tocayo:-Twitter: https://x.com/gerry_movie?s=21-Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gerry021?igsh=Z3JzMDE2djhoc2Y0&utm_source=qr-Letterboxd: https://boxd.it/GLUZ(00:00): Bienvenida(03:57): Gonzalez: Falsos Profetas(08:18): El Club(14:23): The Master(20:22): Canoa(27:27): Vía Láctea(34:11): Sinners(39:03): El Gran Milagro(43:40): Agnus Dei: Cordero de Dios(48:58): Religulous(54:45): Conclusiones(56:49): DespedidaLista oficial de películas mencionadas en ZoomF7: https://boxd.it/pxHDi#cineparatodos #ZoomF7 #podcast

I'm elated to introduce today's guest, Dr. Andrew Newberg.   Dr. Newberg is a leader in neurotheology, the study of how spirituality affects our brain. He's published 14 books and is recognized as one of the 30 most influential neuroscientists alive.    In this episode, we explore how meditation, prayer, and spiritual practices literally rewire your brain—increasing compassion, self-regulation, and transforming your perception of reality.   Get ready, this conversation will open your mind and expand your heart.   Turn the volume up—it's neurotheology time!   More love,   Tracy   Love the show?! Please leave a review. Thank you so much! Your feedback means the world to us.   Let's keep the conversation going!  YouTube: Tracy Litt  Facebook: The Litt Factor Instagram: @thelittfactor About Dr. Andrew Newburg:   Andrew B. Newberg, M.D. Bio & Headshot   The bio is below but feel free to shorten it however you see fit.    Andrew B. Newberg, M.D. is currently the Research Director at the Marcus Institute of Integrative Health at Thomas Jefferson University and Hospital in Philadelphia. He is a Professor in the Department of Integrative Medicine and Nutritional Sciences, with a secondary appointment in the Department of Radiology at Thomas Jefferson University. He is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Nuclear Medicine. Dr. Newberg has been particularly involved in the study of mystical and religious experiences, a field referred to as “neurotheology”. He has also studied the more general mind/body relationship in both the clinical and research aspects of his career including understanding the physiological correlates of acupuncture therapy, meditation, and other types of alternative therapies.  He has published over 250 peer reviewed articles and chapters on brain function, brain imaging, and the study of religious and mystical experiences.  He has published 14 books which have been translated into 17 different languages. He was listed as one of the 30 Most Influential Neuroscientists Alive Today by the Online Psychology Degree Guide.   He is the co-author of the new books entitled, “The Varieties of Spiritual Experience: 21st Century Research and Perspectives” (Oxford University Press), “Brain Weaver: Creating the Fabric for a Healthy Mind Through Integrative Medicine” (Kales), and “The Rabbi's Brain: Mystics, Moderns, and the Science of Jewish Thinking" (Turner).   He is the co-author of the best-selling books, “How God Changes Your Brain” (Ballantine) and, “Why God Won't Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief” (Ballantine).  He has also produced a 24 lecture video program entitled, “The Spiritual Brain,” for The Teaching Company. He has presented his work at scientific and religious meetings throughout the world and has appeared on Dr. Oz, StarTalk with Neil deGrasse Tyson, Good Morning America, Nightline, 20/20, CNN, ABC World News Tonight, as well as in the nationally distributed movies: “What the Bleep Do We Know?”; Bill Maher's “Religulous”; and “Awake: The Life of Yogananda.”  His work has been featured in a number of major media articles including in Newsweek, Time, National Geographic, Discover, New York Times, O Magazine, Los Angeles Times, London Observer, Forbes, Washington Post, Philadelphia Inquirer, and Readers Digest.     This podcast episode was produced by Juliana Barbati

Antes de cogernos las vacaciones, despedimos la temporada con un programa de lo más calentito. Cine de ficción, documental, polémicas, insultos... y hasta la celebérrima "Cuchara de Madera" Que no se diga que no merecíamos un descanso... Sed bienvenidos (si queréis). PODIO (por orden cronológico): 1. Religulous (2008) 2. An Honest Liar (2014) 3. Nefarious (2023) 4. Late Night with the Devil (2023) Intervienen: Pablo González, Pablo Escobedo, Álex De la Vela. ¡¡¡Estrenamos Instagram!!! https://www.instagram.com/tipos_oscuros/?hl=es

Opinion: I'm a Catholic bishop who has found an ally in Bill MaherCNN, By Bishop Robert Barron, on May 28, 2024https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/28/opinions/catholic-bishop-found-an-ally-in-bill-maher-barron/index.html In this segment, the hosts delve into an op-ed discussing the intriguing shift in comedian Bill Maher's comedic focus over the years. Initially known for his scathing critiques of religion, particularly highlighted in his film "Religulous" from the 90s and 2000s, Maher has pivoted towards opposing "wokeism" in recent times. The author of the op-ed, Bishop Robert Barron of Rochester, Minnesota, reflects on Maher's transformation and his own evolving perspective.Bishop Barron acknowledges that he was initially irked by Maher's simplistic portrayal of religion. However, he finds unexpected common ground with Maher in his recent criticism of woke culture. Maher's defense of free speech and civil discourse resonates with Barron, who contrasts it with what he perceives as the stifling effects of woke ideology. Maher's shift from targeting religion to critiquing wokeism represents a fascinating evolution in his comedic journey.The op-ed prompts reflection on the broader cultural landscape and the intersection of comedy, politics, and social issues. Maher's ability to adapt his comedic lens reflects the changing dynamics of public discourse and the shifting targets of satire. From lampooning religious institutions to challenging the excesses of woke culture, Maher's comedy continues to provoke thought and spark debate.The discussion underscores the complex relationship between comedy and ideology, highlighting how comedians navigate evolving cultural norms and political climates. Maher's comedic journey serves as a microcosm of broader societal shifts, raising questions about the role of satire in shaping public opinion and challenging prevailing ideologies. As Maher continues to provoke and entertain, his comedic evolution offers insight into the ever-changing landscape of humor and dissent.The Non-Prophets, Episode 23.23.3 featuring Scott Dickie, Kara Griffin, Cindy Plaza and Jason FriedmanBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-non-prophets--3254964/support.

The atheist political commentator and television host Bill Maher has long been a bitter critic of Christianity. In additional to regular swipes at Christians on his shows, Maher also devoted an entire documentary film, sardonically entitled Religulous, to lampoon what he takes to be Christianity's moral and theological absurdities. However, Maher has recently tempered his anti-Christian rhetoric and started focusing his biting wit on criticizing progressive woke ideology and condemning positions like neo-racism, the denial of biology, and the stifling of free speech in ways that the Catholic tradition would largely agree with. In light of this apparent shift, is it time for people of faith to reassess Bill Maher? Has one of Christianity's most vocal opponents now become an ally or, perhaps, even a friend?  A listener asks, “What is truth?” 00:00 | Intro 01:32 | Bishop Barron's recent diaconate ordinations 02:35 | Bill Maher's analysis of religion 04:47 | What rationalism misses in its critique of religion 06:35 | Historic interpretive strategies for reading the Bible 10:31 | Freedom of speech and cancel culture 12:14 | On racial emphases 14:11 | Equality vs. equity 17:05 | Oppressors and the oppressed 18:21 | The philosophical roots of classical liberalism 20:01 | The value of classical liberalism over political progressivism 22:14 | Critiquing classical liberalism 26:18 | Is classical liberalism necessarily doomed? 28:39 | Finding points of agreement 30:41 | Listener question 32:48 | Join the Word on Fire Institute   Links: Religulous: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0815241/quotes/ Bishop Barron's CNN article: https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/28/opinions/catholic-bishop-found-an-ally-in-bill-maher-barron/index.html Word on Fire Institute: https://institute.wordonfire.org/   NOTE: Do you like this podcast? Become a Word on Fire IGNITE member! Word on Fire is a non-profit ministry that depends on the support of our listeners . . . like you! So become a part of this mission and join IGNITE today to become a Word on Fire insider and receive some special donor gifts for your generosity.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit andrewsullivan.substack.comBill needs no introduction, but he's been the formidable host of HBO's Real Time for 21 years now, and before that he hosted Politically Incorrect, which ran from 1993 to 2002. He has a new book out, What This Comedian Said Will Shock You — a collection of his best editorials on Real Time. Also check out his podcast, “Club Random,” which he recently expanded into a pod network, Club Random Studios. Bill manages to do all of that and still perform standup on the road — schedule here.For two clips of our convo — on Bill not caving to political correctness after 9/11, and the two of us debating the credibility of the Gospels — pop over to our YouTube page. Other topics: Bill going to church every Sunday as a kid; his Irish-Catholic dad turning away from the Church after Pope Paul VI; how the left today is bonkers; how Biden is captured by wokeness; the toxicity of the Trump cult; getting his GOP rivals to bend the knee; Ann Coulter's balls in opposing him; the crisis of mass illegal migration; the dickishness of DeSantis on lab meat and rainbow bridges; his sensible approach to Covid; election deniers; the remarkable progress of legal weed and marriage equality; Bill's movie Religulous; his admiration for Jesus as a philosopher; Muhammad the invading warrior; slavery in the Bible; the conflicting accounts of the Resurrection; whether Paul was a closeted gay; Christianity starting as a bourgeois religion; the pagan origins of Christian holidays; Richard Dawkins; the rise of the nones; wokeness as a religion; Bronze Age Pervert; Lauren Boebert on church/state; American exceptionalism as Christian heresy; October 7th; the profound illiberalism of Hamas; their Nazi-like tactics; “Hamas wants to commit genocide but can't — Israel can, but won't”; Rafah as Dunkirk; Biden's Morehouse speech; Trump's insane antics as the ultimate teflon; his humor; wokeness as a gold mine for comedy; comics who cave to PC; Trump's energy on the trail; and Bill's grueling book tour offering insight into campaigning.Browse the Dishcast archive for an episode you might enjoy (the first 102 are free in their entirety — subscribe to get everything else). Coming up: Nellie Bowles on the woke revolution, Noah Smith on the economy, George Will on Trump and conservatism, Lionel Shriver on her new novel, Elizabeth Corey on Oakeshott, Bill Wasik and Monica Murphy on animal cruelty; and the great Van Jones! Send any guest recs, dissents, and other comments to dish@andrewsullivan.com.

Angels in most traditions are heavenly messengers, and modern pop culture has greatly exaggerated almost every feature. While it makes sense to assume that there are female or feminine angels, each one named in Abrahamic scriptural tradition is a man.The word Angel comes from the Greek Aggelos (lit: messenger), and the Hebrew word Malak has the same meaning. In this episode we explore the groups of archangels listed in various sources, most notably Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Uriel, but also including Raguel, Sariel, Remiel, and the Metatron.But more than just a handful of favorite messengers, there are also different kinds of angels, from the baby-faced Cherubim (think of the Renaissance Cupid, though Ezekiel gave them interchangeable animal faces), to the brilliantly dazzling Seraphim (aka fire-folk), to the cosmic horrors known as the Ophanim (the famous "biblically accurate angels" that are simply haunting wheels of eyes and wings and twisted metal)--that last one is dubious in angelic status....Angels show up all over the Hebrew and Christian Bibles, and the entire Quran is said to have been delivered by the same angel that brought Mary and Joseph the news of her pregnancy. In more recent times, works like Paradise Lost and The Divine Comedy have contributed a lot to how we see angels in Western tradition.Angel is also a fair label for demi-god-like beings in other traditions, such as the Devas of Dharmic tradition, the Vördr of Norse tradition, the Yazata (lit: holy) of Mazdeism (aka Zoroastrianism), and the Daemons of Greco-Roman tradition. We consider each of these, and how some are better fits than others for this label.Interpreting Colossians 1:16 to contain a list of angels is ridiculous, and nobody should be that bad at reading.All this and more....   Support us on Patreon or you can get our merch at Spreadshop.Join the Community on Discord.Learn more great religion factoids on Facebook and Instagram. [00:00:11] Katie Dooley: There's a fine. You can go to jail if you... And a fine. There's both. [00:00:19] Preston Meyer: Oh, good. [00:00:19] Katie Dooley: Both a fine and jail. If your phone goes off. [00:00:23] Preston Meyer: That's a bad time. [00:00:24] Katie Dooley: Yeah. It is. You could always ask an angel for help if you go to jail. [00:00:34] Preston Meyer: Ah, there's a lot of stories of people meeting angels in jail. Makes you wonder about those angels, doesn't it? [00:00:39] Katie Dooley: Right. Well, we're gonna explain more on today's episode of.  [00:00:43] Both Speakers: The Holy Watermelon Podcast. [00:00:47] Katie Dooley: Yeah. So. I like that. This is. I feel like we haven't done an episode like this in a minute where we talk about a whole bunch of. We talk about a concept in a whole bunch of religions. [00:01:03] Preston Meyer: Yeah, it has been a minute. [00:01:03] Katie Dooley: I'm excited. So we're talking about angels. [00:01:09] Preston Meyer: Say it ainn't so. [00:01:12] Katie Dooley: Or if you were a really bad speller in junior high an angle. [00:01:16] Preston Meyer: I feel like. Yeah, I must have shared it on our discord this Christmas of somebody who shared a collection of angles that they brought to their family. [00:01:25] Katie Dooley: Yeah, there was a girl in junior high with me. I won't call her a friend because she wasn't. But this was when everyone was on MSN, so you had everyone's email. And her email was sweet angle and then some number. I was like, oh boy. [00:01:41] Preston Meyer: Mhm. Yeah. Spelling is important. [00:01:45] Katie Dooley: Yeah. We all have those cringey emails. [00:01:47] Preston Meyer: Well, it's like most people just cannot spell rogue. [00:01:52] Katie Dooley: Almost every time I see somebody try to say rogue they spell rouge. Now, being a Star Wars fan in a French immersion program growing up, I was not going to make that mistake. Instead, I made all kinds of other mistakes of spelling words the French way in an English context. [00:02:07] Katie Dooley: Well, that's good. Um, but speaking of words, tell us where the word angel comes from. [00:02:13] Preston Meyer: So the word angel as it is known in English. Yes, the the word angel, as you know, it comes from the Greek word Angelos, spelt with no Ns but two G's. Huh? You can complain about that, but English does stupid things too. The word means messenger, which is speculated to have been derived from the older word for mounted courier, which I think is just a cool extra layer of meaning to that. The Hebrew word that typically gets translated into angel in the Greek Bibles is malak, which also means messenger. So there's also the last of the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible prophets. In the Christian Bible format because remember they arrange the books differently is Malachi and he's got the perfect name it basically just means my messenger. Was that his name? We'll never know. [00:03:20] Katie Dooley: Interesting. And yeah, messenger, mounted courier. I'm getting a lot of mailman vibes. Even. Malak. Malak. Malak. Yeah. Mailman. [00:03:36] Preston Meyer: Most of the angels that we see in the Judeo-Christian tradition are men rather than women. So yeah, mailman's great. So the frustrating thing is that the ideas that come along with this word over centuries of thought and baggage collection there's there's a lot of variety and meaning. And most traditions have gotten to the point where the word doesn't mean messenger anymore. Uh, usually it it's just thought of as this is a demigod. The word means some sort of class of demigod, usually with multiple classes. We'll get into that later. And in a lot of religions, you'll see them treated basically as demigods that have dominion over various elements because they can't be gods, because usually you're looking at them in a monotheistic lens. [00:04:36] Katie Dooley: Yeah, I can, especially when when you said it, we'll get into the hierarchy of the angels. But like it's like, how does this even work in a monotheistic tradition to have all of these layers of divine beings? [00:04:50] Preston Meyer: Yeah, they're they're residents of heaven, so they're better than you and me, but they've got great powers, is the deal. [00:05:00] Katie Dooley: And I guess we don't worship angels. I guess saints would actually be a worse sort of like knock to the monotheistic than an angel. [00:05:09] Preston Meyer: Oh, but see, I think it's a mistake to separate them In the Catholic tradition specifically, or any of the the Orthodox, the saint traditions. Lutherans whatever. If you if you're into saints, Saint Michael is one of them. Michael the Archangel, he's a demigod, just like Mother Teresa. Yeah and maybe with better reasons. I.  [00:05:43] Katie Dooley: Mean, can't be worse. [00:05:45] Preston Meyer: One has tales of actual divine power, the other is known to be just awful. [00:05:52] Katie Dooley: Yeah. Cleaned and reuse needles. Yeah. [00:05:54] Preston Meyer: I want to believe that there is a way to clean needles safely. But I know that actual health care professionals say, don't do that. And there's good reason for that. [00:06:04] Katie Dooley: I mean, you're probably right. I'm sure there is. But to, like, guarantee its safety is probably near impossible. Just donated blood this week. Right? Like it's such a small little needle. How would you make sure it was maybe the syringe part, but the little needle anyway. Gross. Don't do it, don't. Clean needles for all. [00:06:25] Preston Meyer: Yeah. Adding angels to monotheism. It does look an awful lot like demigods in a system where there is just one greater God. And we've had this conversation about how Hinduism, you've got a lot of lesser gods under Brahma. [00:06:44] Katie Dooley: Yeah. And I mean even Shinto, all the kami, there's greater kami, there's lesser kami. [00:06:51] Preston Meyer: It's complicated. And it just makes the argument for strict monotheism the way most people define it, a lot harder to argue. [00:07:01] Katie Dooley: Yes. And all the Abrahamic religions have angels, and those are the monotheistic ones. And people are vehement about the fact that they're monotheistic. And it's like, but then they're saints and angels, whether you group them together or not. I mean, even in Christianity, there's the Trinity. [00:07:22] Preston Meyer: Yeah, I saw a meme on Reddit the other day, and it was it was definitely a Mormon kid posting a meme slamming the Trinity in a group that has historically not been friendly to Mormons. And they roasted him hard in the comments, but all of the arguments they offered were absolute nonsense. It's frustrating. Like, it's it's okay to believe in the Trinity if you're going to believe in anything, whatever. But if you're going to slam somebody for not getting it, make sure you get it.  [00:07:22] Katie Dooley: This is such an old movie, but in Bill Maher's Religulous. [00:08:07] Preston Meyer: Oh, that's a lot of fun. [00:08:08] Katie Dooley: It is. He asks one guy about the Trinity, and he, the guy explains it that it's like water. It can be ice, or it can be steam, or it can be water. And that's the Trinity. And I was like, well, that or Bill Maher was like, well, that sounds good on paper, but it really doesn't explain it. They're different, but they're the same. Anyway, we're digressing a bit, but let's jump into talking about angels in the Hebrew Bible. [00:08:32] Preston Meyer: Yeah. So there's. A lot of appearances of angels. It's kind of a recurring theme. [00:08:40] Katie Dooley: Yeah, and not just in the Hebrew Bible, but there are also angels in rabbinic literature and in the Apocrypha as well. [00:08:46] Preston Meyer: Oh for sure. Yeah, the angels are, I would say, a pretty prominent part of this faith. [00:08:51] Katie Dooley: Yeah. And from my research, it feels like there's more angels in the Hebrew Bible than in the Christian Bible. [00:08:59] Preston Meyer: There's definitely more angels named in the Hebrew tradition than there are in the New Testament. The New Testament names Gabriel outright and then just mentions, oh yeah, and other angels showed up for this event. [00:09:15] Katie Dooley: And I guess also like the whole last half of the Christian Bible is just letters.  [00:09:24] Preston Meyer: Yeah, not a whole lot of narrative storytelling. Whereas the Hebrew Bible has a lot of really great storytelling in it. [00:09:32] Katie Dooley: Right. Uh, in the Hebrew Bible, the angels visit many people, including Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, and Hagar, and they're typically used as messengers, like the name implies. But sometimes they appear as warriors and they're supposed to look like regular people without wings. [00:09:49] Preston Meyer: Yeah. It's just dudes. They're just here doing stuff. And not a whole lot of religions love that. They gotta have the wings. We talked about this before. We recorded the biblically accurate angels that are so popularly memed right now, specifically one type of type of angel. We'll talk about that later. These angels look like men. [00:10:12] Katie Dooley: Yes, but all the angels with wings don't just have a pair of wings. They have multiple pairs of wings. [00:10:18] Preston Meyer: Well, you got angels with one pair. You got angels with two pairs. You got angels with three pairs. Four pairs. And then you've got the absolute cosmic horrors. Lovecraftian nonsense with gears and wings and eyes without number. Yeah. There are options. [00:10:37] Katie Dooley: There is some frustrating ambiguity on angels in the Hebrew Bible, obscuring the relationship between Yahweh and the angels. [00:10:46] Preston Meyer: In our Patreon exclusive Bible study. We're not yet to the really interesting. Well, I guess we have covered a few scenes where this has happened for you. Um, there's going to be more. So the appearance of the Angel of the Lord in the Hebrew Bible does have a pattern to it that I think is really interesting, that it does make it hard to tell who we're talking about in the story because of everything that's going on when it happens. The narrator introduces the Angel of the Lord, and then this angel feels pretty godlike in the way he shows up. He does huge miracles, sometimes annihilating a whole army like in 2 Kings 19. It's pretty epic. Not a thing you'd expect somebody who isn't imbued with God-like power to accomplish. And then the witnesses worship him, which, whether he's the creator or not, you're going to receive a great deal of gratitude for saving a bunch of people from a devastating army. [00:11:54] Katie Dooley: Yeah, yeah, in that instance for sure. [00:11:56] Preston Meyer: And this is a pattern that goes on several times in the scriptures. And I think it's interesting. Though it's always treated as though he is the Lord himself, not a messenger and there's a couple of different explanations for what's going on there. But I think whaneighbourst's very likely happened is that this text tradition that we have simply originally said that the Lord showed up and did this thing he's called the Lord of armies. That's one of his titles, kind of a big deal. He was a God of war as far as the neighbours were concerned, and fairly so since they often lost to the Israelites. And then later editors, I think, decided that their God wouldn't do this thing himself. He's too far beyond us, so he would send an angel to do it. And so they added this Angel of the Lord. That's my hypothesis. Pretty hard to prove what an ancient editorial process would have been without variance in the text that back me. [00:13:08] Katie Dooley: Right? The Jewish scripture also introduces four angels that will become the Christian archangels that surround God's throne. So Michael shows up in the biblical book of Daniel as the victor in a battle between nations. The name means "Who is like God?" most prefer to read that as a question. Who is like God? [00:13:28] Preston Meyer: As a challenge. God is the greatest, which is a weird name. latter-dayThe Latter-Day Saint tradition says that this name was given to Adam because he was like God, not terribly popular in the broader Christian community. [00:13:47] Katie Dooley: Gabriel also shows up in Daniel more as a messenger than as a conqueror. The name indicates the power of God usually has a bearer. [00:14:00] Preston Meyer: Somebody who conveys.  [00:14:01] Katie Dooley: I do know what the word means, but I'm like that feels like a lot of Rs. The name indicates the power of God usually has a bearer of an empowering message. These are the only two mentioned by name in the Bible.  [00:14:14] Preston Meyer: Gabriel and Michael. But, you know, there's lots more angels. There was an angel that Jacob wrestled with who later came to be known as Israel. And maybe that was the Lord himself? Maybe it was just an angel. Maybe it was Michael. Maybe it was Gabriel. Maybe it was somebody else that we don't know their name because he's not outright named. Except for maybe that Angel of the Lordbusiness. [00:14:46] Katie Dooley: Right. Then there's Raphael, who's features prominently in the apocryphal Book of Tobit, a story with notable similarities to the Bhagavad Gita. The name Raphael highlights the healing power of God. I'm just thinking of the Lucifer TV series. I'm like, I know that character, Uriel. I think he was a bad guy in Lucifer. He rounds out the set of four showing up in the apocryphal additions to the writings of Ezra. His name means God is my light suitable to his role as guide and instructor. [00:15:19] Preston Meyer: But wait. There's more. [00:15:21] Katie Dooley: What? There's so many. [00:15:23] Preston Meyer: So for a long time, it was really nice that we had a set of four, and they matched the four cardinal points of the compass, the four corners of the world. They took care of the world and the dealings of men within it. And then we got our Enoch literature. And we throw away this need for four and say, well, wait, we can do better. There's seven. And one of the ideas that makes this look good is that it matches the lampstand that's in the temple that has seven branches. So that's kind of nice. And then we get Raguel, whose name means "God will pasture" like a shepherding kind of business. He's connected with justice. He's supposed to watch the damned to make sure they stay within their bounds, which is kind of weird. Like, I guess without him, demons would just absolutely ruin this planet. Like humans couldn't do well enough on our own. [00:16:24] Katie Dooley: It also gives me, like, big, like, Hades vibes. [00:16:26] Preston Meyer: Sure. Yeah. He guards the demons that are locked away in Tartarus. Tartarus being a Greek place where the Titans are held. Yeah. You notice how there's going to be problems here of ideas crossing national boundaries. Yeah. Um, then we have Sariel. His name means "God is my Ruler". Uh, basically serves the same purpose as Raguel without being connected to the idea of justice so explicitly. Sidekick, I guess? Then there's Remiel, which means "God has Thundered". We talked about Thunder as a great nickname a couple episodes ago. I think that was. This is an interesting situation. He's connected to hope, and he's supposed to be the one responsible for all true visions, and he is also a bit of a psychopomp. That he would be the guide that takes you to heaven if that is your destination. Yeah, kind of interesting. This name is too similar to Ramiel, who, according to the same book, liked the human ladies too much and became the father of many of the watchers, the great giants in the early part of human history, when the one legendary version of our religious history has angels mating with humans to make giants, and they just ruined everything. [00:17:54] Katie Dooley: So there's Remiel and Ramiel. That is very confusing. [00:17:54] Preston Meyer: Especially when we're talking about a language that was originally written with no real differentiation between vowels. The vowel marks we have today are pretty new. So it's just a tradition. And so the confusion that exists today is certainly an old confusion. And then of course, there's lots of other angels that are named in the apocryphal literature. And some of them get multiple names, including some of the ones we've talked about. They're also known by other names sometimes. And the great thing about having a list of your favourite angels is you can swap them out sometimes and just say, no, this dude wrote this list. I don't like that one. I'm gonna pop in my guy over here. Just cause. Did you ever watch Dogma? [00:18:49] Katie Dooley: No. [00:18:50] Preston Meyer: We need to fix that. [00:18:51] Katie Dooley: Okay. Movie night? [00:18:53] Preston Meyer: Absolutely. Okay. Dogma is an absolute treasure. Part of Kevin Smith's Jay and Silent Bob saga but this features Alanis Morissette as God and Alan Rickman as the Metatron, and oh, why can't I think of the names right now? Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are fallen angels. [00:19:18] Katie Dooley: Oh, wow. It's ridiculous, isn't it? [00:19:20] Preston Meyer: It is so much fun. But the Metatron is just this really weird figure in religious angeology. I guess it never made any sense to me ever. And my first exposure to it was Alan Rickman. [00:19:36] Katie Dooley: But it is in actual religion, the Metatron?  [00:19:36] Preston Meyer: Yeah. Everything you see in dogma is taken from real religious ideas  and then twisted for humor, which is great, except for I don't I haven't found yet any validation for the Golgotha poop demon but, the ideas behind it are validated in many religious ideas so there's that. But so this Metatron, according to Kabbalistic sources, is the name of Enoch after his transformation into an angel when he was promoted to the great office of Heavenly Scribe. So he would be the one who writes down the book of life for God. Which is completely different than the job that he has in dogma, where he speaks for God. Because if you were to hear the voice of God, your head would explode and you would die. A lot of religions actually really buy into this idea, even though it absolutely contradicts what we have in the biblical text. [00:20:44] Katie Dooley: Yeah, because God talks to a lot of people. [00:20:47] Preston Meyer: Yeah. Well, so the idea that a lot of people have bought into as well. Yeah, it says God talked to them, but he talked to them through the Metatron. It's a stretch that I don't love. The name I think is really interesting for the Metatron, and people are going to argue about it forever, probably because we still haven't come to a solid conclusion on it. Some say that it's the Hebrew word for some sort of keeper. Others say that it comes from the Greek construction of Meta Throne, so that we have the guy in the chair beside the chair. Remember, we've talked about the very obvious and well-documented polytheistic origins of the Israeli religion. Yahweh is the son of El. There was never only one throne. So the guy on the chair, beside the chair, beside the chair, beside the chair, who knows how many chairs there are? Whatever. [00:21:50] Katie Dooley: I mean a lot. There's a lot. [00:21:53] Preston Meyer: Right. Well, in the theology that is evident a little bit in the book of Job, there is a council of God. [00:22:03] Katie Dooley: I mean, because even they talk about Michael being the right hand of God, but Jesus is also the right hand of God. So they're going to wrestle over that. [00:22:09] Preston Meyer: Well, so that's something that the Jehovah's Witnesses think they've fixed. They say Jesus is Michael. [00:22:20] Katie Dooley: Perfect. Wrap it up. [00:22:21] Preston Meyer: Rather than admitting that the Bible is very clear that Jesus is Jehovah. Every time you try to come up with a really good, tight little bow to simplify things there's a really good chance you're screwing it up. [00:22:38] Katie Dooley: Yeah, because it's religion. [00:22:41] Preston Meyer: Yeah. Nothing's ever as simple as you want it to be. [00:22:44] Katie Dooley: So I just threw this wrench in our notes because I started explaining the angelology of the Hebrew Bible. And then I realized everyone has angelology and it just be easier to explain what that is right now. So angelology is the ranking system of angels. That's how many angels there are. [00:23:09] Preston Meyer: And it's never as simple as you want it to be. [00:23:11] Katie Dooley: No, it's like I saw a ranking and then I saw different rankings and then I saw different ranking. So I don't think we've included any rankings in here. [00:23:21] Preston Meyer: Just to keep it simple. Stick with the basics. [00:23:24] Katie Dooley: If you're curious on how angels are ranked, pick your favorite scholar and go for it. So in the Abrahamic religions, Islam has no standardized hierarchy, but scholars divide up the angels into different groups depending on the scholar. This can be anywhere from 8 to 14 different groups. So while they're all on par, there's different species of angels? Categories?  [00:23:47] Preston Meyer: I think species is a fair classification, I guess we'll talk about some angels that definitely feel like they would be different species from others. [00:23:58] Katie Dooley: Then there are different types of angels that appear in Judaism and then therefore Christianity. And they have been ranked a variety of different ways depending on which rabbi or kabbalist you're reading. [00:24:14] Preston Meyer: Yay! Complicated. [00:24:16] Katie Dooley: Very complicated. [00:24:18] Preston Meyer: Um, the Hebrew Bible differentiates between different kinds of heavenly beings as well. And they're all called angels, generally speaking. But sometimes you'll get other great titles like Seraphs or Seraphim. [00:24:32] Katie Dooley: I think the best way to compare this is that there's dogs and then there's dog breeds, there's angels, and there's types of angels. [00:24:41] Preston Meyer: Sure. Yeah. [00:24:43] Katie Dooley: They're all dogs. They're all angels. They're just... They got special features. [00:24:48] Preston Meyer: Sure. I don't know if it's a perfect analogy, but it definitely helps with explaining what's going on here, [00:24:53] Katie Dooley: That they're all angels, but there's cherubs and seraphs. [00:25:00] Preston Meyer: So my whole life I've, I've never heard people say cherubs. But that's definitely the way the word is spelled. Yeah. [00:25:13] Katie Dooley: In Hebrew? [00:25:15] Preston Meyer: Yeah and even when we spelled it c h, it was meant to be like the ch in Loch Loch Ness. We just we've gotten used to doing all the CHs as cha- so we went with cherubs. [00:25:31] Katie Dooley: I'm going to start calling them cherubs at Christmas. [00:25:33] Preston Meyer: Absolutely. Even though a cherub is a thing you eat, that's fine. [00:25:39] Katie Dooley: Sorry. Go through your types of angels. [00:25:41] Preston Meyer: So cherubs are best known for being painted in Rome as children. That's just the deal. But it was one of these who protected the tree of life with a flaming sword in Genesis. We see cherubs on the the Ark of the Covenant with their wings and all that. Ezekiel gives them more wings than everybody else but Ezekiel was getting, maybe a little too much of that temple oil that we now know for sure had hallucinogens in it. [00:26:15] Katie Dooley: Nice. How many wings? Was this the three and four pairs? [00:26:20] Preston Meyer: I think Ezekiel's cherubs only had two pairs of wings.  [00:26:24] Katie Dooley: That's still four full wings. [00:26:26] Preston Meyer: Right. He also gave them interchangeable faces of lions, oxes, men and eagles. It's a little bit weird. Um, the same faces that we have described in Ezekiel. They get used again in the Revelation of John. So the name cherub, hard to know for sure, it may have been derived from an Old Assyrian word caribou meaning mighty.  [00:26:52] Katie Dooley: Interesting. So where we get caribou...? [00:26:54] Preston Meyer: No. Entirely different. [00:26:56] Katie Dooley: Okay. Well, because those are pretty mighty creatures. Yeah. Majestic even. [00:27:01] Preston Meyer: Haul Santa's fat ass across the sky at Christmas. [00:27:05] Katie Dooley: Um, tell me more about seraphs. [00:27:07] Preston Meyer: Seraphs, the name means burning, and they're always illustrated verbally or in art, in visual arts, as being surrounded by light. So these guys get described by Isaiah as having six wings. Other than that, they're people-shaped, but lots of wings. And so those are the two reasonable ones, because cherubs are always described as children for a long time as a kid or not as a kid, as a teenager trying to figure out angels from the Latter-Day Saint perspective, where we really don't talk about angels very much at all relative to the things we're talking about today. It's mostly you've got either spirits who haven't got bodies yet or people who have got bodies, died. And thus are still unembodied, or those great spirits who have come back resurrected with their bodies in full glory. And so you got cherubs would be the young ones who haven't got bodies yet. Seraphs are the glorified ones who have got their bodies and all the glory of God, whatever. Ophans have never been part of this discussion. The ophanim, the name means wheels, and this is a class of angels described only by Ezekiel and depending on your version of the Bible, you might not even recognize that he's talking about angels. So there's some argument on whether or not these even belong here. But when people talk about biblically accurate angels, the ones that are absolutely terrifying and monstrous, it's the ophanim. Sometimes they're called thrones because these gear monsters support the throne where God sits. And that's their deal. They don't visit Earth. They're not messengers. [00:29:07] Katie Dooley: Good, good. [00:29:09] Preston Meyer: So the whole be not afraid meme of no, this is the most terrifying moment of my life. The ophans.  [00:29:16] Katie Dooley: Were not those messengers. That's good. They remind me of the Bhagavad Gita. The guy with infinite eyes and infinite mouths, like. I don't want to be visited by that. [00:29:28] Preston Meyer: No, I don't think anybody would. [00:29:30] Katie Dooley: I think... That's is that Krishna or Vishnu in their, like, real form? I think that's what it is. I forget now, but, um, someone will listen to our...  [00:29:39] Preston Meyer: The Messenger was Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita.  So these these guys are just wild. It's really hard to know what Ezekiel was experiencing, but I feel like he was definitely getting the best of the temple oils and the way that eyes are described here with all these wing imagery. My instinct is to say that he was also seeing and failing to interpret correctly because of it, wonderful intoxication, a peacock. [00:30:18] Katie Dooley: That's interesting. Yeah. That's a not a terrible theory. [00:30:21] Preston Meyer: Well, so the the tail feathers, they all got eyes. Yeah. And wings might be hard to see where one wing ends and the next thing might be a wing if you're high, especially the peacock just feels right. [00:30:38] Katie Dooley: Okay. All right.  [00:30:43] Preston Meyer: But yeah, so they are not visitors to Earth. They're not messengers. They're their own special thing built out of wheels and gears and eyeballs and feathers that support, apparently, according to Ezekiel's vision and some creative license and interpretation, the throne of God. And taking that into consideration and the description of the cherubs with the weird heads of all these various animals, it makes sense that there's some interesting sorts of ideas, like the they're chimeras of one sort or another, that we see all over the old world. And it makes sense that a lot of scholars would agree that some of these ideas are coming in they're very odd forms from neighboring nations. [00:31:35] Katie Dooley: Fair, you gotta make it popular to the public. [00:31:37] Preston Meyer: Right? Plus, people love stories about that. Weird monsters thing. So yeah, popular to the public helps. [00:31:46] Katie Dooley: Yeah. So in the Christian Bible, angels appear only as messengers and teachers, though there is a scene in the Revelation of John illustrating Heaven, where the four faces of Ezekiel described as cherubs, are represented. [00:32:02] Preston Meyer: We also get Gabriel. He's the one who showed up to Joseph and Mary, both of them separately, to let them know, "Hey, there's a baby in there. Don't freak out. It's Jesus." [00:32:16] Katie Dooley: Though I do love the memes about Joseph. [00:32:19] Preston Meyer: Yes, they are certainly entertaining. [00:32:22] Katie Dooley: Have you seen the one where Joseph is like, "I made you a cherry pie", and Mary's like, "we don't have cherries." And he was like, "God gave them to me. Do you see how stupid that sounds?" Uh, and then the stepdad, ones "I'm the dad that stepped up". [00:32:43] Preston Meyer: Oh, yeah, yeah. I feel weird about Joseph being left out of the story after the nativity. Like there's the sons of the carpenter or whatever, because Jesus had brothers. There's no arguing against that. But we never know about him dying. But also, he wasn't there when Jesus died. People just lost track of where his stepdad was. [00:33:09] Katie Dooley: Yeah. Angels who go undescribed appear at a few crucial points of the end of the Jesus story, presumably in regular human form. No wings. [00:33:20] Preston Meyer: Yeah. We got angels who were there when Jesus came out of the empty tomb. Well, when he made the tomb empty. We got angels standing around in Jerusalem when Jesus ascends up into the clouds. Reminding people. This what I'm doing, that they said he'll come back the same way he left. So if you find somebody claiming to be Jesus reborn, biblical contradiction. And then we have more angels in medieval writings. [00:33:55] Katie Dooley: Which is pretty cool. [00:33:56] Preston Meyer: Yeah. Have you ever read Paradise Lost? [00:34:00] Katie Dooley: I haven't, but I want to. [00:34:02] Preston Meyer: I also have not read Paradise Lost. I've only read about it. It's one of those great popular things that just hasn't hit my table yet. John Milton's Paradise Lost, written so, so long ago, 1667, was when it was published. Great couple of great poems. Angels are super important. We got the story of Satan / Lucifer. Because for so long, everybody just assumed Lucifer means Satan. [00:34:32] Katie Dooley: Yeah. So the two we're going to talk about, I, tell me if I'm wrong and maybe, maybe we don't know because we haven't read it, I think this is where the connection of Lucifer and the Bible is to the devil, because Lucifer in the Bible is not the devil, [00:34:45] Preston Meyer: Right? Lucifer in the Bible is not ever the devil. [00:34:48] Katie Dooley: So this must be where... [00:34:50] Preston Meyer: I feel like that's.  [00:34:51] Katie Dooley: And even in, uh, Dante as well.  [00:34:55] Preston Meyer: Yeah, I've talked with a couple of doctors of theology in my time at university, and there's not any solid consensus on whether Dante Alighieri, who wrote The Divine Comedy, was super influential on Christian theology, or if he was writing about things that he'd been learning at church. Um, there's not a strong consensus there, by the sounds of it, but very fascinating stuff. Not that Dante agrees with all of the thoughts on angels, but his thoughts are very well preserved. [00:35:34] Katie Dooley: Sorry, we are jumping ahead a little bit, but Paradise Lost is an epic poem. And yes, it talks about Satan, Lucifer. It also talks about Adam and Eve in a separate part. It outlines the hierarchy of angels. It talks about Lucifer, Satan's rebellion, the war in heaven, and what fallen angels are, which I read that there's parts of this all pulled from, like the Dead Sea Scrolls. So there is a... [00:36:00] Preston Meyer: Well, the Dead Sea Scrolls weren't available when Paradise Lost. It's been like 70 years. [00:36:08] Katie Dooley: But anyway it had biblical or Apocryphal references. [00:36:13] Preston Meyer: Yeah, yeah, there's definitely a lot of rabbinical literature that would have been some good source material for, [00:36:18] Katie Dooley: Because there is no fallen angels in the Bible. [00:36:22] Preston Meyer: There is a couple of passages that allude to huge swathes of angels being cast out of heaven before the foundation of the world. What that looks like is the matter of many hypotheses. [00:36:38] Katie Dooley: So we started talking about the Divine Comedy. [00:36:40] Preston Meyer: It's even older. [00:36:42] Katie Dooley: Yeah, and most people are familiar with Dante's Inferno, which is a part one of the three parts of... [00:36:47] Preston Meyer: Dante's Inferno, is great drama because it's the first part of a trilogy. And so if you're going to get tired and quit, at least you'll have read some of Inferno. But it's also the great part where Dante gets to slam on all the thinkers and popes that he didn't like and say, "Ha! You guys are in hell. I know, because I'm the dude who wrote the book". [00:37:12] Katie Dooley: So this is also written in a poem format, and he wrote it between 1308 and 1321, and it describes the afterlife. Obviously, the inferno is the hell part and Paradiso is the part that describes heaven. [00:37:29] Preston Meyer: And then there's the part in between. Purgatorial. For purgatory.  [00:37:29] Katie Dooley: So Paradiso describes the nine spheres of heaven. There's what? Seven circles of hell. Nine circles of hell anyway. Inferno describes the circles of hell. I don't remember how many. And Paradiso describes the nine spheres of heaven in the ninth sphere. I'm reading the notes wrong. The ninth sphere of heaven is where the angels reside. It's called Prima Mobile. There's one more sphere where God resides. So according to Dante, angels are beings that are most familiar to God, and they are made of an immaterial. [00:38:07] Preston Meyer: Now, what sort of substance is immaterial, Katie? But light is matter as well. Light is a particle and a wave. It's like when people say that God exists outside of time and space. [00:38:21] Katie Dooley: I'm, uh. I'm rereading His Dark Materials. They're probably made of dust. Have you read?  [00:38:21] Preston Meyer: No [00:38:29] Katie Dooley: Oh. They're great. They were very controversial when they came out of the 90s. [00:38:33] Preston Meyer: Sure. That's the, um, the Amber Spyglass. [00:38:37] Katie Dooley: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, so probably dust is what I'm going to call it. [00:38:40] Preston Meyer: Sure, but dust is matter too.  [00:38:43] Katie Dooley: No, in the book it's a divine matter, but they call it dust. Capital D dust. [00:38:47] Preston Meyer: Okay. When I think of immaterial substance, it sounds like they're just holograms. But I'm always reminded of, I think it was Neil deGrasse Tyson who said, you know, if you if your God exists outside of time and space, that's how you describe a thing that does not exist. [00:39:06] Katie Dooley: So like tug on the collar... [00:39:08] Preston Meyer: It's a really popular description for a lot of Christians and people of other traditions as well. And I don't see the need to describe God as outside of time and space, especially when it causes you the problem of now you've described something that doesn't exist. [00:39:26] Katie Dooley: Maybe out of time, but definitely not out of space. [00:39:30] Preston Meyer: Even outside of time doesn't make any sense to me. [00:39:34] Katie Dooley: I guess time would be irrelevant for God, I guess is my point. [00:39:37] Preston Meyer: Right and yeah, if you live long enough, time might not matter but you still exist in a state where there's an event and things before and after that. [00:39:46] Katie Dooley: Now we're getting into the multiverse and.... It's all great in theory, but very confusing in practice. So we touched briefly on angels in Islam because of their non-hierarchy but groupings. In Islam, they believe they are heavenly beings originating directly from God. Like little God offspring. [00:40:08] Preston Meyer: Yeah, but usually in the creation sense, like molded because in the Islamic tradition, the Quran is very clear that God does not have children. The Quran is also very clear he had three daughters. [00:40:24] Katie Dooley: What a holy book that contradicts itself? Say it ain't so. Colour me shocked. [00:40:30] Preston Meyer: It's tricky. But they would have been angels, not gods, even though they were definitely figures that were recognized as goddesses among the heathens. [00:40:43] Katie Dooley: It's fine. So the Quran is the number one Islamic source referring to angels, but there's also angels in the hadiths and elsewhere in Islamic literature. [00:40:53] Preston Meyer: I mean, the whole thing wouldn't have happened if not for an angel at least allegedly appearing to Muhammad. Um, good old [00:41:02] Jibril. The same figure that we called Gabriel earlier in this [00:41:06] episode. They're messengers, servants for God. And Jibril is the greatest messenger. I don't remember hearing anything about Michael and looking up things in Islam. [00:41:18] Katie Dooley: Um, they have sort of a 1 to 1 comparison I put in the notes. Um. But I don't know where they appear in the Quran. [00:41:27] Preston Meyer: So, like in Judaism, angels are super great for protecting against terrible things. Angels are attracted to sacred places. The whole guardian thing makes sense. And every now and then, you'll find them protecting people. With it an angel will not enter an unclean place. This is pretty typical of most religions. That an angel that is supposed to be so good and pure, not going to go to places that could be called haram or go near a dog even because that's dirty. [00:42:04] Katie Dooley: My dog was an angel, so.  [00:42:04] Preston Meyer: Many are. [00:42:10] Katie Dooley: I disagree with that. Maybe they're more powerful angels. And so other angels are scared to come by. [00:42:19] Preston Meyer: Uh, there are many classes of angels. Or maybe Paige was just a jinn. [00:42:24] Katie Dooley: Oh, wow. But it's probably more accurate anyway. Angels in Islam, are believed to be older than humans and the jinn that Preston mentioned. And they have no human desires. They don't tire, they don't get hungry. They're never angry. [00:42:38] Preston Meyer: So they're often described this way in Jewish literature and the trouble that I have with this idea is that they saw in most versions of early Judeo-Christian Abrahamic origins of the world. They saw the daughters of man and said, that's a really good place to play hide the sausage, and that's not an angel that doesn't have passions. Oh, well. [00:43:18] Katie Dooley: Um, Muslims do not believe in the concept of the fallen angel like in Christianity. Rather, they believe that angels are infallible. [00:43:25] Preston Meyer: Right? And the Iblis isn't a fallen angel, but a terrible jinn. I'm pretty sure, if I remember correctly. [00:43:34] Katie Dooley: So they, as Preston, sort of asked, Islam shares three out of the four archangels with Christianity. So we have Jibril, who's Gabriel; Mikhail, who's Michael; Israfil, who's Raphael. And then the fourth one is Azrail, or Azrael is the English name, but that's not Uriel. Those are their archangels. [00:43:57] Preston Meyer: And, um, Azrael would be a little bit more familiar with the Angel of death called sometimes Malak Hamad. There's another name that I can't remember, Samael, I think. I might be confusing with another angel. I have to look that up later. [00:44:16] Katie Dooley: I mean, that sounds correct to someone who watched the entire series of Lucifer, but that's my only frame of reference right now. That's terrible.  [00:44:27] Preston Meyer: Popular culture is a great tool for education as long as it's well-written. [00:44:32] Katie Dooley: So the Quran describes angels as well-formed human beings. Nice build. Sure. Uh, made of pure light. And they have multiple pairs of wings. So I read two, three, four pairs of wings. [00:44:47] Preston Meyer: Right. So we get very similar descriptions for the jinn. But the jinn are newer and a lot more selfish and a lot more likely to do sexy things so than the angels in this tradition. And then we can change gears a little bit to Zoroastrianism. And I think a lot of the ideas of angels that we get in Judaism probably find a much more comfortable home in Zoroastrianism. Um, the writings of Ezekiel. Are generally thought to have come post-exile. And so this influence would have been definitely a part of this deal. If that is how that worked out. So then in Persian Zoroastrian tradition, there are several forms of yazata. I like that word. Any word that has a bunch of syllables and the same vowel every time. I don't know why it gets me just right.  Like Canada. [00:45:52] Katie Dooley: How patriotic you are. Rococo. Rococo. [00:45:58] Preston Meyer: Rococo. That first I was a little soft, but I can appreciate it. [00:46:04] Katie Dooley: It's a great art movement. [00:46:05] Preston Meyer: So anyway, the Yazata are a class of beings defined nominally as worthy of worship. Gods, in the simplest sense. This is complicated by the fact that we still don't have a good definition of what is a God that everybody can agree on. If it is worshiped, it is a god. That's the deal. That's for today's discussion. I feel like that's pretty fair. So this same word, yazata is applied to all the really good things, including some plants and even prayer formats. So because of that, I feel like a really fair way to translate that into English instead of worthy of worship would be anything that is holy. [00:46:54] Katie Dooley: Holy, sacred, yeah. [00:46:55] Preston Meyer: Yeah, and like the Most Holy One, would be your Most High God, which in this case would be Ahura Mazda, the greatest of the Yazata. So in the earliest writings, Yazata is anything good, and in slightly later early writings the Yazatas are completely and absolutely divine, and so it quickly went from holy things as opposed to profane things, to holy things, as in the gods and God adjacent things in a religion that's mostly monotheistic but isn't quite either. Tricky business. We've talked about this in our Zoroastrian episode. The Persian, the Legend of Persian Zoro. Yeah. Tricky business. So the most popular yazatas received a formal ranking. Relatively late in the Zoroastrian time frame. In about the fourth or fifth century BCE, a calendar was instituted that used the names of the angelic Yazatas to name the months, the days, and even the portions of the days. There's five parts of the day, and each of them are named for various yazata angel figures and so based on that, we got what became of well known because everybody needs to know how you're measuring time, angelology. That was kind of nifty. And so for the Mazdaists, the seven Amesha Spenta, we've talked about them before, they're roughly equivalent to archangels. And so it feels like maybe the shift from 4 to 7 might have been influenced from this time of exile with the Babylonian. [00:48:56] Katie Dooley: Yeah. I mean, this is all happening in the same place at the same time in the world, so. [00:49:00] Preston Meyer: Yeah. And so Ahura Mazda is often described as the father of the Amesha Spenta, but it's generally not taken literally. Just like the Muslims say that Allah is the creator of these angels, not the father, father. [00:49:16] Katie Dooley: Though there was one Amesha Spenta that is described as his daughter. Do you remember that? [00:49:20] Preston Meyer: Well, they're all described as his children. [00:49:22] Preston Meyer: No, there was one specifically that was like, it's his daughter. [00:49:25] Preston Meyer: This one is definitely a daughter. Oh, and he's got other sons, too, right? But they're more godly and less angelic. But they are all yazata. Not that it's not confusing. [00:49:38] Katie Dooley: I haven't said this in a long time. A square is a rectangle, but a rectangle isn't a square. [00:49:44] Preston Meyer: The trouble with that is that for a long time, a square was also called a rectangle. [00:49:52] Katie Dooley: Oh, I thought you were gonna, like, correct me on the yazata. Like, not all yazata are gods, but all gods are yazata. [00:49:59] Preston Meyer: No, that's... Yeah, you got that right. But there's even more. Because why stop with just the Judeo-Christian and immediately Judeo-Christian adjacent? There is other great ideas. [00:50:13] Katie Dooley: There's so many. So the Dharmic religions, this is Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism all have Devas, which means heavenly, shining or divine being. The word is generally applied to the gods of the Hindu peoples, as well as to cosmic principles that might manifest during meditation. It is a worthy goal to ascend from this human level and to be reincarnated as a deva. Devas are said to be mortal, expected to die after thousands of years, and be reborn if they don't escape samsara. [00:50:47] Preston Meyer: Imagine being demoted from Deva back to human. [00:50:50] Katie Dooley: I mean, it happens. [00:50:51] Preston Meyer: I mean, the story is that it must. [00:50:58] Katie Dooley: Each has their own... Each of the devas has their own identity, different than an avatar, right? So there's different avatars of Vishnu and different avatars of Krishna, which is a temporary embodiment of a god.  [00:51:10] Preston Meyer: When they just come down for what for them is a weekend. And I think it's really interesting that for Zoroastrianism, the Devas are, well, not the Devas. Deva was an evil god. He's the bad guy. [00:51:30] Katie Dooley: Oh yeah. [00:51:32] Preston Meyer: So I'm curious if that label comes from conflict between the two nations. [00:51:40] Katie Dooley: I don't know. [00:51:41] Preston Meyer: And I haven't been able to find anything that says, oh yeah, sure, "this idea is good, Preston", but I still like it in my head. Next on our list, we have the border. In ancient Norse tradition, we have the Vördr as basically essentially guardian angels. Some of them will follow people around, some of them are trees that you might have in a yard that have been around for a while. And so they'll house minor guardian angels in their root. [00:52:13] Katie Dooley: That's cool. [00:52:14] Preston Meyer: It is kind of cool. The name Vördr basically evolved into what we have in English as warden means watcher, but the word wraith also comes from this root and wraiths, as far as I've been able to find meaning in it is like the scary. [00:52:35] Katie Dooley: Yeah, never positive. I always just think of the ringwraiths but... [00:52:38] Preston Meyer: Sure. Yeah. Bad times. Yeah, they're they're not good friends, but the Vördr are our guardian angels, basically. It's hard to tell how much the idea changed when Christians showed up into their neighborhood, but it probably did change a little bit. Or maybe they're partly responsible for the way we see guardian angels in our Anglo tradition. [00:53:06] Katie Dooley: Yeah. Well. And then it's interesting. There's also demons in ancient Greek mythology spelled d-a-e-m-o-n-s so pronounced the same but not to be confused with demons. [00:53:19] Preston Meyer: In so many words we just drop that A it's interesting that we allow it to persist in this word, but I think there's a good reason for it. [00:53:30] Katie Dooley: Well, and then topical in His Dark Materials, in one of the worlds, everyone has a daemon, which is an animal spirit attached to you. [00:53:40] Preston Meyer: That's spelled with an A.  [00:53:40] Katie Dooley: And it's spelt with an A. And when I was a kid in reading, I had no idea how to say it. [00:53:46] Preston Meyer: Did you say a damon the whole time? Yeah. That's fair.  [00:53:52] Katie Dooley: So demons with an A are positive. And just like the Vördr, they are minor deities that would act as guides, guardian angels or whatever. And it's the same thing. We kind of have this, cuple of traditions that are very influential on Judeo-Christian and Western, therefore Western culture of this idea of guardian angel. [00:54:14] Preston Meyer: Yeah. Looking up angels across all these religious traditions has been pretty cool. There's something like the idea of an angel in almost every religious tradition, though naturally, they're not all going to be called angels. But the idea that there's somebody watching out for you is pretty universal. In the more primal religious traditions, it makes a lot of sense that usually we're talking about ancestors. [00:54:44] Katie Dooley: Right? Their ancestor worship. And we haven't actually talked about... I guess Shintoism, has some ancestor worship, but we haven't talked about Daoism at all, right. Which is a big ancestor worship religion. Maybe that's one we should add to our list right away. I think you're right. But that's basically Mulan. Where she... [00:55:05] Preston Meyer: The good animated one. [00:55:06] Katie Dooley: Yeah, absolutely. Where's she? lights some incense and prays to her ancestors for guidance. [00:55:13] Preston Meyer: And then has to try to keep a straight face while traveling with Eddie Murphy. Oh, now I want to watch Mulan. Thanks. Yeah, so that is a big. topical guardian angels. [00:55:29] Preston Meyer: Right. [00:55:29] Katie Dooley: Mushu is a guardian angel. [00:55:30] Preston Meyer: Here we are in a year of the Dragon. [00:55:32] Katie Dooley: What? It's all coming together. [00:55:35] Preston Meyer: But it's not the year of the Fire Dragon. In the 60 year cycle, it's the year of the Wood dragon. [00:55:40] Katie Dooley: Wow, interesting I didn't know that. You, dear listener, congregant, could be our guardian angels. [00:55:48] Preston Meyer: We would love it so much if you would support this podcast financially. [00:55:55] Katie Dooley: I was going to say you can do that a few ways. So, um, spreadshirt is great. If you want to buy someone a gift, buy yourself some merch, one time fee. You have our Patreon with bonus episodes, extra content from our interviews, if you like a subscription model, there's more coming down the pipe there as well. We also would love your support your warden watcher wraith on our social media. What social media are we on, Preston? [00:56:22] Preston Meyer: We are on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and of course Discord, where we have some pretty great memes and discussions organized into great little channels. I love discord! You can also share this podcast with a friend and give us five stars on Apple Podcast. It's a great way to help us out. [00:56:39] Preston Meyer: Thank you so much for joining us. [00:56:41] Both Speakers: Peace be with you.

I am elated to introduce our guest for today's show, Dr. Andrew Newberg.    Why is Dr. Newberg here having an epic mind-blowing conversation on the How of Within? Because he is a leader in Neurotheology.    Neurotheology is the study of how religion and spirituality affect that beautiful brain. He has published 14 books and is known as one of the 30 most influential neuroscientists alive.    We explore the scientific truths behind spiritual experiences and how these experiences can transform our perception of reality.    Get ready for the conversation that is going to blow open your mind and your heart.    Turn the volume up. It's neurotheology time.  More Love, Tracy Claim your spot for The Supernova Experiment - a Live, Virtual Event January 25 - January 28  thesupernovaexperiment.com Love the show?! Please leave a review. Thank you so much! Your feedback means the world to us.   Let's keep the conversation going!  YouTube: Tracy Litt  Facebook: The Litt Factor Instagram: @thelittfactor About Dr. Andrew Newburg:   Andrew B. Newberg, M.D. Bio & Headshot   The bio is below but feel free to shorten it however you see fit.    Andrew B. Newberg, M.D. is currently the Research Director at the Marcus Institute of Integrative Health at Thomas Jefferson University and Hospital in Philadelphia. He is a Professor in the Department of Integrative Medicine and Nutritional Sciences, with a secondary appointment in the Department of Radiology at Thomas Jefferson University. He is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Nuclear Medicine. Dr. Newberg has been particularly involved in the study of mystical and religious experiences, a field referred to as “neurotheology”. He has also studied the more general mind/body relationship in both the clinical and research aspects of his career including understanding the physiological correlates of acupuncture therapy, meditation, and other types of alternative therapies.  He has published over 250 peer reviewed articles and chapters on brain function, brain imaging, and the study of religious and mystical experiences.  He has published 14 books which have been translated into 17 different languages. He was listed as one of the 30 Most Influential Neuroscientists Alive Today by the Online Psychology Degree Guide.   He is the co-author of the new books entitled, “The Varieties of Spiritual Experience: 21st Century Research and Perspectives” (Oxford University Press), “Brain Weaver: Creating the Fabric for a Healthy Mind Through Integrative Medicine” (Kales), and “The Rabbi's Brain: Mystics, Moderns, and the Science of Jewish Thinking" (Turner).   He is the co-author of the best-selling books, “How God Changes Your Brain” (Ballantine) and, “Why God Won't Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief” (Ballantine).  He has also produced a 24 lecture video program entitled, “The Spiritual Brain,” for The Teaching Company. He has presented his work at scientific and religious meetings throughout the world and has appeared on Dr. Oz, StarTalk with Neil deGrasse Tyson, Good Morning America, Nightline, 20/20, CNN, ABC World News Tonight, as well as in the nationally distributed movies: “What the Bleep Do We Know?”; Bill Maher's “Religulous”; and “Awake: The Life of Yogananda.”  His work has been featured in a number of major media articles including in Newsweek, Time, National Geographic, Discover, New York Times, O Magazine, Los Angeles Times, London Observer, Forbes, Washington Post, Philadelphia Inquirer, and Readers Digest.

Not even a decade ago, television personality Bill Maher had cemented his brand of snarky atheism and political leftism. His crass, snide, and often irrationally irreligious humor infuriated many and led to an earlier show being canceled, not to mention plenty of gigs. For a couple of years now, however, many of his former critics have noted something new: how often he's willing to say out loud what many on the left are not.   In a monologue on last Friday's episode of his HBO series, Real Time with Bill Maher, which I cannot officially recommend given the language and perverse humor, Maher offered a thorough defense of Israel and Western civilization:  "For all the progressives and academics who refer to Israel as an outpost of Western civilization, like it's a bad thing, please note: Western civilization is what gave the world pretty much every [expletive] liberal precept that liberals are supposed to adore. Individual liberty, scientific inquiry, rule of law, religious freedom, women's rights, human rights, democracy, trial by jury, freedom of speech. Please, somebody, stop us before we enlighten again."  He went on to note that Israel is the only place in the Middle East where these societal goods can be found and even said that the world would be a lot better off “if it had more Israels.” The plight of marginalized peoples everywhere is better off, Maher noted, because of the supposedly toxic West that anti-Israeli protestors deride.  Maher then offered a mini-history on the evolution of human rights, detailing a host of thinkers through the ages that articulated, argued for, and built the freedoms we now enjoy. It was, after all, only from the ideals brewed in Western culture that people like Martin Luther King, Jr. were able to launch crusades against racial oppression and American segregation. It was from the writing of thinkers such as Jean Jacque Rousseau and Voltaire that the U.N.'s well-devised, even if poorly applied, Declaration of Human Rights was birthed. In a point dripping with his typical snarkiness, Maher pointed out that no one studies the great prophet of liberty, John Locke, anymore, “because he's so old and so white and so dead.” He ended by noting how few of those he was critiquing would even take seriously what he said because they are too committed to a way of seeing everything through the lens of predetermined oppressors and the oppressed.  I, like many, disagree with Maher on multiple things, but I also find it fascinating the number of cynics and skeptics today who seem to be rethinking everything now that they've been confronted with the ideas that have replaced religion in the West. At a conference last week, former politician and human rights advocate Ayaan Hirsi Ali described herself as a “Judeo-Christian” and atheist Richard Dawkins as a “Christian,” not because either believe in a God per se or the resurrection, but because the values they want in the world rely on a specific kind of world, one created with moral norms inherent to it.  Which, in fact, brings up just what Bill Maher left out in his otherwise thoughtful and compelling monologue. As you might expect from the guy behind the faith-despising faux-documentary Religulous, he's not quite ready to admit the role of religion in cultivating liberty and human rights. Because Voltaire and Rousseau were anti-religious, they are safe to mention. Locke and King are often praised almost in spite of their deep faith, which Maher never mentioned.  In fact, Maher started his history of Western civilization too late, describing men who inherited a tradition as if they had started it. Put differently, to begin the story of Western civilization with Henry David Thoreau or John Locke is kind of like beginning the storied history of the Boston Celtics with Paul Pierce. Yeah, he was good, but Bill Russell!  In his book, A Brief History of Thought, Luc Ferry, also an atheist, identified and clearly articulated the true source of the West's most important and consequential ideas:    "Christianity was to introduce the notion that humanity was fundamentally identical, that men were equal in dignity—an unprecedented idea at the time, and one to which our world owes its entire democratic inheritance."  In other words, without the principles that emerge from Holy Scriptures, which simmered for centuries in Jewish and Christian thought, the world would never have benefited from the insights of a Jefferson or a Locke. The biblical view of the world, especially its description of the inherent value and moral nature of the human person, is the only basis for freedom in all of human history. The ideas Maher rightly celebrates are not only good ones, they are true. Without their religious roots, they cannot be sustained, certainly not from atheism. Maher is right to look to an earlier foundation for our civilization. He just needs to look back even further.  This Breakpoint was co-authored by Dr. Timothy Padgett. For more resources to live like a Christian in this cultural moment, go to breakpoint.org. 

Bill Maher and Richard Dawkins randomly riff on how eating ruins everything fun, how most mammals are nocturnal, the New Zealand bird that's forgotten how to fly, the trouble with prolonging life, the one bad thing about Bill, the science behind certain diseases, Bill's sitcom role as the office creep, and why Richard's part in Religulous was left on the cutting room floor.  

Bill Maher and Richard Dawkins randomly riff on how eating ruins everything fun, how most mammals are nocturnal, the New Zealand bird that's forgotten how to fly, the trouble with prolonging life, the one bad thing about Bill, the science behind certain diseases, Bill's sitcom role as the office creep, and why Richard's part in Religulous was left on the cutting room floor.  

Tenzan Eaghll and Rebekka King's Representing Religion in Film (Bloomsbury, 2021) is the first full-length exploration of the relationship between religion, film, and ideology. It shows how religion is imagined, constructed, and interpreted in film and film criticism. The films analyzed include The Last Jedi, Terminator, Cloud Atlas, Darjeeling Limited, Hellboy, The Revenant, Religulous, Earth, and The Secret of my Success. Each chapter offers: - an explanation of the particular representation of religion that appears in film - a discussion of how this representation has been interpreted in film criticism and religious studies scholarship - an in-depth study of a Hollywood or popular film to highlight the rhetorical, social, and political functions this representation accomplishes on the silver screen - a discussion about how similar analysis might be pursued for other films of a similar genre, topic, or theme. Written in an accessible style, and focusing on Hollywood and popular cinema, this book will be of interest to both movie lovers and experts alike. Listeners might be interested in Tenzan Eaghll's podcast "Fascism in Cinema."  Raj Balkaran is a scholar, online educator, and life coach. For information see rajbalkaran.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Tenzan Eaghll and Rebekka King's Representing Religion in Film (Bloomsbury, 2021) is the first full-length exploration of the relationship between religion, film, and ideology. It shows how religion is imagined, constructed, and interpreted in film and film criticism. The films analyzed include The Last Jedi, Terminator, Cloud Atlas, Darjeeling Limited, Hellboy, The Revenant, Religulous, Earth, and The Secret of my Success. Each chapter offers: - an explanation of the particular representation of religion that appears in film - a discussion of how this representation has been interpreted in film criticism and religious studies scholarship - an in-depth study of a Hollywood or popular film to highlight the rhetorical, social, and political functions this representation accomplishes on the silver screen - a discussion about how similar analysis might be pursued for other films of a similar genre, topic, or theme. Written in an accessible style, and focusing on Hollywood and popular cinema, this book will be of interest to both movie lovers and experts alike. Listeners might be interested in Tenzan Eaghll's podcast "Fascism in Cinema."  Raj Balkaran is a scholar, online educator, and life coach. For information see rajbalkaran.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/sociology

Tenzan Eaghll and Rebekka King's Representing Religion in Film (Bloomsbury, 2021) is the first full-length exploration of the relationship between religion, film, and ideology. It shows how religion is imagined, constructed, and interpreted in film and film criticism. The films analyzed include The Last Jedi, Terminator, Cloud Atlas, Darjeeling Limited, Hellboy, The Revenant, Religulous, Earth, and The Secret of my Success. Each chapter offers: - an explanation of the particular representation of religion that appears in film - a discussion of how this representation has been interpreted in film criticism and religious studies scholarship - an in-depth study of a Hollywood or popular film to highlight the rhetorical, social, and political functions this representation accomplishes on the silver screen - a discussion about how similar analysis might be pursued for other films of a similar genre, topic, or theme. Written in an accessible style, and focusing on Hollywood and popular cinema, this book will be of interest to both movie lovers and experts alike. Listeners might be interested in Tenzan Eaghll's podcast "Fascism in Cinema."  Raj Balkaran is a scholar, online educator, and life coach. For information see rajbalkaran.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies

Tenzan Eaghll and Rebekka King's Representing Religion in Film (Bloomsbury, 2021) is the first full-length exploration of the relationship between religion, film, and ideology. It shows how religion is imagined, constructed, and interpreted in film and film criticism. The films analyzed include The Last Jedi, Terminator, Cloud Atlas, Darjeeling Limited, Hellboy, The Revenant, Religulous, Earth, and The Secret of my Success. Each chapter offers: - an explanation of the particular representation of religion that appears in film - a discussion of how this representation has been interpreted in film criticism and religious studies scholarship - an in-depth study of a Hollywood or popular film to highlight the rhetorical, social, and political functions this representation accomplishes on the silver screen - a discussion about how similar analysis might be pursued for other films of a similar genre, topic, or theme. Written in an accessible style, and focusing on Hollywood and popular cinema, this book will be of interest to both movie lovers and experts alike. Listeners might be interested in Tenzan Eaghll's podcast "Fascism in Cinema."  Raj Balkaran is a scholar, online educator, and life coach. For information see rajbalkaran.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/indian-religions

Tenzan Eaghll and Rebekka King's Representing Religion in Film (Bloomsbury, 2021) is the first full-length exploration of the relationship between religion, film, and ideology. It shows how religion is imagined, constructed, and interpreted in film and film criticism. The films analyzed include The Last Jedi, Terminator, Cloud Atlas, Darjeeling Limited, Hellboy, The Revenant, Religulous, Earth, and The Secret of my Success. Each chapter offers: - an explanation of the particular representation of religion that appears in film - a discussion of how this representation has been interpreted in film criticism and religious studies scholarship - an in-depth study of a Hollywood or popular film to highlight the rhetorical, social, and political functions this representation accomplishes on the silver screen - a discussion about how similar analysis might be pursued for other films of a similar genre, topic, or theme. Written in an accessible style, and focusing on Hollywood and popular cinema, this book will be of interest to both movie lovers and experts alike. Listeners might be interested in Tenzan Eaghll's podcast "Fascism in Cinema."  Raj Balkaran is a scholar, online educator, and life coach. For information see rajbalkaran.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/religion

Tenzan Eaghll and Rebekka King's Representing Religion in Film (Bloomsbury, 2021) is the first full-length exploration of the relationship between religion, film, and ideology. It shows how religion is imagined, constructed, and interpreted in film and film criticism. The films analyzed include The Last Jedi, Terminator, Cloud Atlas, Darjeeling Limited, Hellboy, The Revenant, Religulous, Earth, and The Secret of my Success. Each chapter offers: - an explanation of the particular representation of religion that appears in film - a discussion of how this representation has been interpreted in film criticism and religious studies scholarship - an in-depth study of a Hollywood or popular film to highlight the rhetorical, social, and political functions this representation accomplishes on the silver screen - a discussion about how similar analysis might be pursued for other films of a similar genre, topic, or theme. Written in an accessible style, and focusing on Hollywood and popular cinema, this book will be of interest to both movie lovers and experts alike. Listeners might be interested in Tenzan Eaghll's podcast "Fascism in Cinema."  Raj Balkaran is a scholar, online educator, and life coach. For information see rajbalkaran.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/communications

Tenzan Eaghll and Rebekka King's Representing Religion in Film (Bloomsbury, 2021) is the first full-length exploration of the relationship between religion, film, and ideology. It shows how religion is imagined, constructed, and interpreted in film and film criticism. The films analyzed include The Last Jedi, Terminator, Cloud Atlas, Darjeeling Limited, Hellboy, The Revenant, Religulous, Earth, and The Secret of my Success. Each chapter offers: - an explanation of the particular representation of religion that appears in film - a discussion of how this representation has been interpreted in film criticism and religious studies scholarship - an in-depth study of a Hollywood or popular film to highlight the rhetorical, social, and political functions this representation accomplishes on the silver screen - a discussion about how similar analysis might be pursued for other films of a similar genre, topic, or theme. Written in an accessible style, and focusing on Hollywood and popular cinema, this book will be of interest to both movie lovers and experts alike. Listeners might be interested in Tenzan Eaghll's podcast "Fascism in Cinema."  Raj Balkaran is a scholar, online educator, and life coach. For information see rajbalkaran.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/popular-culture

Bill Maher and Jack Osbourne randomly riff about Jack's true love of being married, where Jack met Bill before he got sober, the Congresswoman in a thruple, the best dating app strategy, Bill's appreciation of Sharon Osbourne on Real Time, how many times Jack has seen Ozzy Osbourne in concert, how Jack used Religulous to save someone from religion, Jack's theory on ghosts and their existence, how Jack rescued orphans in the Ukraine, and why Bill can't sleep in Europe. 

Bill Maher and Jack Osbourne randomly riff about Jack's true love of being married, where Jack met Bill before he got sober, the Congresswoman in a thruple, the best dating app strategy, Bill's appreciation of Sharon Osbourne on Real Time, how many times Jack has seen Ozzy Osbourne in concert, how Jack used Religulous to save someone from religion, Jack's theory on ghosts and their existence, how Jack rescued orphans in the Ukraine, and why Bill can't sleep in Europe. 

Films such as Zeitgeist and Religulous make incredible claims that Jesus is just another version of Mithra, Egyptian god Horus and others from pagan mythology.  This is exactly what our atheist friend Ron, challenged the M&A Team with at the Raleigh Market during our public podcasting event w/ David and Lydia Warpoole.  Ron is passionate about social justice and is rightfully disgusted with the state of the world.  He says if there is a God, why isn't He stepping in to do something about all this evil? (Paraphrasing)... We had a fun, important conversation with Ron and others during our Question & Answer session after our interview with David and Lydia.  We did our best to unpack Ron's tough questions and retorted with some interesting challenges of our own.   We know you'll enjoy our exciting conclusion to our public podcasting event at The Raleigh Market! Drop us a line and let us know how we're doing… Apply to be our Guest on M&A The Miracles & Atheists Livestream The MACC Call-in Show (every other Tuesday at 8PM EST) M&A on Rumble Connect with M&A on Facebook Follow M&A on Instagram Watch M&A on YouTube Follow M&A on Twitter Rate & Review M&A on iTunes Listen on your favorite podcast platform Email the show: nick@miraclesandatheists.com

Bill and William Shatner comically riff on the last acceptable prejudice, the spectrum of human sexuality, bad crowds in comedy, the making of Religulous, and the origin of the universe. 

Bill and William Shatner comically riff on the last acceptable prejudice, the spectrum of human sexuality, bad crowds in comedy, the making of Religulous, and the origin of the universe.

No Weaklings in The Gene Pool! In this episode, we conclude our discussion of Darwin's Origin of Species. What is so appealing to Darwin about Genesis 1? Why would one choose death by the law to the Gospel? How does Jesus up-end one's reading of Genesis and the law? — SHOW NOTES: Life without a Preacher: Darwin's Origin of Species https://wordandworld.luthersem.edu/content/pdfs/37-2_Life_without_God/37-2_Paulson.pdf  Jordan Peterson's Realization About the Bible https://youtu.be/Vt9K6kmpx44  Religulous https://www.justwatch.com/us/search?q=Religulous  The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker https://www.amazon.com/Denial-Death-Ernest-Becker/dp/0684832402 or https://humanposthuman.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/ernest_becker_the_denial_of_deathbookfi-org.pdf  The Alpinist https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/the-alpinist  Crucifying Religion https://shop.1517.org/products/crucifying-religion  SUPPORT 1517 Podcast Network https://www.1517.org/podcasts/ Support the work of 1517 http://1517.org/give Warrior Priest Gym & Podcast https://thewarriorpriestpodcast.wordpress.com Gillespie's Sermons and Catechesis: https://anchor.fm/stjohnrandomlake Gillespie Coffee https://gillespie.coffee Gillespie Media https://gillespie.media The Banned Pastors https://t.me/bannedpastors CONTACT and FOLLOW BannedBooks@1517.org Facebook Twitter SUBSCRIBE YouTube Rumble Odysee Apple Podcasts Spotify Stitcher Overcast Google Play TuneIn Radio iHeartRadio

The Unpreached Selector. In this episode, we continue to discuss Charles Darwin and life without a preacher. What is the purpose of procreation for natural selection? How does one survive without a preacher? How much law is too much law when the true God is hidden and unpreached? — SHOW NOTES: Life without a Preacher: Darwin's Origin of Species https://wordandworld.luthersem.edu/content/pdfs/37-2_Life_without_God/37-2_Paulson.pdf  Jordan Peterson's Realization About the Bible https://youtu.be/Vt9K6kmpx44  Religulous https://www.justwatch.com/us/search?q=Religulous  The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker https://www.amazon.com/Denial-Death-Ernest-Becker/dp/0684832402 or https://humanposthuman.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/ernest_becker_the_denial_of_deathbookfi-org.pdf  The Alpinist https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/the-alpinist  Crucifying Religion https://shop.1517.org/products/crucifying-religion  SUPPORT 1517 Podcast Network https://www.1517.org/podcasts/ Support the work of 1517 http://1517.org/give Warrior Priest Gym & Podcast https://thewarriorpriestpodcast.wordpress.com Gillespie's Sermons and Catechesis: https://anchor.fm/stjohnrandomlake Gillespie Coffee https://gillespie.coffee Gillespie Media https://gillespie.media The Banned Pastors https://t.me/bannedpastors CONTACT and FOLLOW BannedBooks@1517.org Facebook Twitter SUBSCRIBE YouTube Rumble Odysee Apple Podcasts Spotify Stitcher Overcast Google Play TuneIn Radio iHeartRadio

It's a BIG topic, a touchy subject but someone's got to do it! During this episode, we get into how religion has played a role in our lives, shaped us to be who we are today, some concerns or reservations our experiences have taught us on the matter, and of course some fact checking mixed in with JUICY commentary! This highly requested kickback is definitely a full course meal, so grab a plate, some silverware and maybe an open-mind and we'll see you on the other side.Let's talk about it!Mentionable Content (aka Suggested Resources):Kykeon Plant (Greek's LSD drink?)https://www.psychedelicadventure.net/2019/11/ancient-greece-revisited-did-greeks.html"Religulous" documentary https://watchdocumentaries.com/religulous/

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://allenwatcheseverything.wordpress.com/2011/10/28/religulous-2008-3-55/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/al625/message

Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Talking Snakes: A Cautionary Taleby Scott Alexander, published by Scott Alexander on the LessWrong. I particularly remember one scene from Bill Maher's "Religulous". I can't find the exact quote, but I will try to sum up his argument as best I remember. Christians believe that sin is caused by a talking snake. They may have billions of believers, thousands of years of tradition behind them, and a vast literature of apologetics justifying their faith - but when all is said and done, they're adults who believe in a talking snake. I have read of the absurdity heuristic. I know that it is not carte blanche to go around rejecting beliefs that seem silly. But I was still sympathetic to the talking snake argument. After all...a talking snake? I changed my mind in a Cairo cafe, talking to a young Muslim woman. I let it slip during the conversation that I was an atheist, and she seemed genuinely curious why. You've all probably been in such a situation, and you probably know how hard it is to choose just one reason, but I'd been reading about Biblical contradictions at the time and I mentioned the myriad errors and atrocities and contradictions in all the Holy Books. Her response? "Oh, thank goodness it's that. I was afraid you were one of those crazies who believed that monkeys transformed into humans." I admitted that um, well, maybe I sorta kinda might in fact believe that. It is hard for me to describe exactly the look of shock on her face, but I have no doubt that her horror was genuine. I may have been the first flesh-and-blood evolutionist she ever met. "But..." she looked at me as if I was an idiot. "Monkeys don't change into humans. What on Earth makes you think monkeys can change into humans?" I admitted that the whole process was rather complicated. I suggested that it wasn't exactly a Optimus Prime-style transformation so much as a gradual change over eons and eons. I recommended a few books on evolution that might explain it better than I could. She said that she respected me as a person but that quite frankly I could save my breath because there was no way any book could possibly convince her that monkeys have human babies or whatever sort of balderdash I was preaching. She accused me and other evolution believers of being too willing to accept absurdities, motivated by our atheism and our fear of the self-esteem hit we'd take by accepting Allah was greater than ourselves. It is not clear to me that this woman did anything differently than Bill Maher. Both heard statements that sounded so crazy as to not even merit further argument. Both recognized that there was a large group of people who found these statements plausible and had written extensive literature justifying them. Both decided that the statements were so absurd as to not merit examining that literature more closely. Both came up with reasons why they could discount the large number of believers because those believers must be biased. I post this as a cautionary tale as we discuss the logic or illogic of theism. I propose taking from it the following lessons: - The absurdity heuristic doesn't work very well. - Even on things that sound really, really absurd. - If a large number of intelligent people believe something, it deserves your attention. After you've studied it on its own terms, then you have a right to reject it. You could still be wrong, though. - Even if you can think of a good reason why people might be biased towards the silly idea, thus explaining it away, your good reason may still be false. - If someone cannot explain why something is not stupid to you over twenty minutes at a cafe, that doesn't mean it's stupid. It just means it's complicated, or they're not very good at explaining things. - There is no royal road. (special note to those prone to fundamental attribution errors: I do n...

Dave and Caleb come up with new names for the absolute worst movie ever made, in all of history, including the ones we all made as children

Andrew Lapidus joins us live from Austria for the first ever international episode of Ramble by the River. Andrew is one of the most interesting and likable people I have ever met and he poses the quality of being 100% himself at all times. He couldn't fake it if he tried (unless you mean on a stage because I am positive he would kill it as an actor). He is not afraid to walk a different path than most people and it is inspiring to hear about his journey. We get to hear how a goofy kid from Vancouver, Washington came to be an educator in the City made famous by Sigmund Freud. Andrew shares some of his fears about the changes that he has seen in the USA since he left and we talk about some simple solutions to all of the online political rage. This conversation takes the scenic route across major topics: drugs, literature, music, and psychology, and along the way we ramble through stories about coaching, voice training, creativity, and books. We fondly look back on our shared time at Western Washington University as we recount the emotional toll we paid as athletes, and we speculate on the possible skin conditions of one of our better looking professors which led to a discussion on the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi. He was born to podcast! Andrew is a perfect guest and I knew he would be. It was written in the stars. He is so open and curious that we could venture into topics that make a lot of people uncomfortable while always maintaining a level of playfulness with ideas and never taking anything too seriously. I mean, we covered nationalist ideology, linguistics, and Freudian egotism in the same hour, and then we flipped over to discussing the adult-man breast-feeding scene at the end of one classical American novel and Andrew ate a booger (I'm pretty sure). So, I feel like we achieved a nice tonal balance. This was a lot of fun to record and Andrew was a great sport during a few technical difficulties on my end. He is truly one of my favorite humans and I like knowing that people like him even exist. The fact that we get to be friends and he will come on my podcast and laugh at my jokes is more than I could ask for. I hope you enjoy this podcast! Love y'all, Jeff Please Subscribe and Share! Links: Business inquiries/guest booking: Ramblebytheriver@gmail.com Website: https://my.captivate.fm/Ramblebytheriver.captivate.fm (Ramblebytheriver.captivate.fm) Facebook: Jeff Nesbitt (Ramble by the River)https://www.facebook.com/jeff.nesbitt.9619 (https://www.facebook.com/jeff.nesbitt.9619) Instagram: https://instagram.com/ramblebytheriver?r=nametag (@ramblebytheriver) Twitter: @RambleRiverPod Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCNiZ9OBYRxF3fJ4XcsDxLeg (https://youtube.com/channel/UCNiZ9OBYRxF3fJ4XcsDxLeg) Music Credit(s): Still Fly, Revel Day. Smartface, Old Grump. Topics/Keywords: JK Rowling; Harry Potter; trans-rights; track and field; Cuckoo's Calling; Stephen King; The Institute; Carrie; It; The Shining; edible cannabis; dissociative drugs; psychedelic mushrooms; PTSD; trauma; traumatic memories; neuroplasticity; MDMA; psilocybin; cancel culture; Critical Race Theory; Pink Floyd; The Wall; Paul McCartney; Wings; Austrian folk music; vocal timbre; Wikipedia; University of Vienna; Opera; voice training; phonetics; language; abstraction; Steven Pinker; The Language Instinct; Better Angels of Our Nature; Enlightenment Now; Wikipedia; kratom; universal language; creativity; chess; problem-solving; religion; spirituality; atheism; Richard Dawkins; Bill Maher; Religulous; forgiveness; Jordan Peterson; 12 Simple Rules; Macklemore; Carinthia “Texas of Austria”; southern hospitality; choral music; rowing/crew; Windermere Cup; University of Washington; Western Washington University Men's Crew; sports psychology; ergometer; Lake Sammish; Lake Whatcom; overtraining; caffeine; The Grapes of Wrath; John Steinbeck; wabi-sabi; imperfection; The Great Gatsby; breast-feeding; dystopian novels; 1984; George Orwell; The...

Larry Charles is one of the great comedic writers, producers and directors of our time. His credits include his pivotal role during the first seasons of Seinfeld, along with Curb Your Enthusiasm, Mad About You, The Arsenio Hall Show, among many others. He directed the original "Borat," one of the great works of satire of all time. He directed "Religulous," a bold, genius broadside against organized religion. His 2019 Netflix series, "Larry Charles' Dangerous World of Comedy," is an epic journey across the world where comedians live actual dangerous lives. He joins Mike to discuss the state of non-fiction and political satire, the meaning of cancel culture and political correctness, entertainment and propaganda, and how advertisers, censors and an insurance company must sign off on everything we see on TV. They also share some personal stories, including how they created a sitcom pilot together that was greenlit by a major network, but then never made it to air due to advertisers' objections. Follow Larry on Instagram & Twitter: https://www.instagram.com/larrycharles/ https://twitter.com/larrycharlesism Larry Charles' Dangerous World of Comedy https://www.netflix.com/title/80188051 The scene from Seinfeld that Larry mentioned: Jerry and Naked Guy Chat on the Train https://youtu.be/oZ4xoEpYOp0 Music in the episode: "Like A Rolling Stone" - Bob Dylan https://open.spotify.com/track/1Vj1gTe7KzFaSw9n5pK4We?si=59dc31cbda8740c7 --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/rumble-with-michael-moore/message

Rational-minded people, rise up! Comedian and political commentator Bill Maher’s RELIGULOUS is a documentary about how religion is “detrimental to the progress of humanity”. In a series of on-location interviews, Maher sets up false pretenses in order to interact with a variety of religious people who assume good faith, only to get “gotcha’d” by Maher’s noxiously smug tone. It’s troubling that while Maher sets up interviews with certified hypocrites - prosperity gospel preachers, ex-gays, and holocaust deniers - he’s so self-centered that he never allows time for any of his easy critiques to land effectively, making his guests’ sometimes reprehensible views seem tame in comparison. It’s the lower-class and sometimes marginalized civilians Maher encounters in his journey that actually get the most of his aggression, and the final act of the movie is genuine anti-Muslim propaganda, stopping just short of advocating genocide. RELIGILOUS proves that the religion of liberal atheism can be just as judgmental and dogmatic as any doomsday cult. View our full episode list and subscribe to any of our public feeds: http://boysbiblestudy.com Unlock bonus episodes and invitations to monthly livestreams: http://patreon.com/boysbiblestudy Subscribe to our Twitch for monthly streams: http://twitch.tv/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Instagram: http://instagram.com/boysbiblestudy Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/boysbiblestudy

Intro: you don't need (god, religion, faith, government, etc.) to be "good"; moral grey area, Ron Reagan FFRF.ORG TV ad; generalizing Appetizers: listening to music loud, boredom & alone with your thoughts, cherry picking religions & philosophies, future videos like "Late Night ASMR", super volcanoes & another ice age event, human evolution and dinosaurs, playing sports, hunter gatherers and leisure time Main Course: Irreligions, Religions, Parody Religions (evolutionary origin, agnostic atheism, atheism, agnosticism, antireligion, free thought, naturalism, secular humanism, secularism, world religions, nontheistic religion, pantheism, native american religion, inuit religion, transtheism, post-theism, taoism, confucianism, buddhism, yoga, sikhism, christianity, islam, sufism, judaism, cargo cult, rastafari, wicca, entheogenic religions, new age, UFO religion, church of the fFlying spaghetti monster, church of subGenius, dinkoism, discordianism, jediim, kibology, kopimism, landover baptist church, last thursdayism, 'pataphysics, silinism, sisters of perpetual united church of bacon, religious war, religious art, etc., etc.) Dessert: Religious Satire (Brian Merriman, Bill Maher, George Carlin, Bill Hicks, Doug Stanhope, Lenny Bruce, Douglas Adams,  Richard Pryor, Monty Python, The Kids in the Hall, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Monty Python's Life of Brian, Orgazmo, Dogma, Religulous, The Canterbury Tales, Letters from Earth, The Screwtape Letters, Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Cahrist's Childhood Pal, South Park, Family Guy, Boogyism, Flying Spaghetti Monster, Invisible Pink Unicorn, Church of the SubGenius, etc., etc.)

Happy birthday Bob! With Jack and Yair joined by our boy Emmett Cruddas @roof_access, of the band Phil Graves and the Film Graze podcast, we review Bob Dylan's 2003 foray into motion pictures, the Larry Charles (Borat, Bill Maher's Religulous)-directed Masked and Anonymous. This episode was actually recorded precisely a year ago today, on Bob's 79th birthday, but after some delays in the production we decided to hold off til now. Let's hope we're doing another one of these in another 80 years!

A brief review of a favorite documentary as I'm arriving to work

A NOTE: The sound file on this was pretty rough and there was only so much I could do, but I thought it was a good conversation and wanted to share it. Future episodes should sound better! Joel and I discuss the 2008 film Religulous and how frustrating Bill Maher is. Follow us on Twitter @sparkle_heretic @joel_krahn

Catch up on all of our previous episodes! You can now watch us on YouTube!! Go over to our channel “That’s Deep Podcast” and don’t forget to like, share, subscribe and leave a comment! If you’d like to be a guest on the show send us an email. Leave a review and rating. Thank you for listening! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thatsdeeppod/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thatsdeeppod/support

This week, your Girls talk about the unconstitutional curfew set forth in their state. They also intend on talking about a LOT of other stuff, but then get pretty deep into BLM, cops, and religion! Whoops...

In our second week of Did We Doc Up?, I can assure you that yes, we doc'd up. Because we'e covering Bill Maher's Religulous.... We get a chance to talk about our shame in being Bill Maher fans at one point in our lives, the way 2000-era comedians "hurt" conservatives on the back of marginalized people, the show Real Time, and how much this move and Bill Maher fucking sucks. So join us, as Peter and Aaron exorcise a lot of demons in an episode that's more for us than you (but hopefully you find it mildly interesting).

For our DID WE DOC UP? month we decided to re-release JESUS CAMP from our Summer Camp series a few years ago. Don't worry, you'll still get 4 episodes (2 of which are long ones!) this month, alongside RELIGULOUS, BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE/FAHRENHEIT 9/11, and INCONVENIENT TRUTH. We promise it's more fun than it sounds. You can find us on Patreon!

NSFW! It’s the great Larry Charles, director of such films as Borat, Bruno, and Religulous. Larry was also a writer/director on Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiam, and he’s the host of the Netflix series Larry Charles Dangerous World of Comedy – add it to your watchlist now! We’ll talk with Larry about his fracas with Breitbart, as well as comedy overseas in places like Somalia and Saudi Arabia, and a whole lot more. If you like what you hear today, please help support this show by subscribing to our bonus content at patreon.com/bobcescashow.

Listen in as Brenten Powers, Daniel Beaudoin, Dave Michaels and callers discuss Jesus vs mythical ideas popularized by movies like Zeitgeist and Religulous. There's also a call from an animal lover wandering why Jesus doesn't put animals on a pedestal instead of humans.

Sam Harris gets together with Bill Maher and Larry Charles to celebrate the 10th anniversary of their film “Religulous.” They discuss religion, politics, comedy, and other dangerous topics. Bill Maher has set the boundaries of where funny, political talk can go on American television. First on “Politically Incorrect” (Comedy Central, ABC, 1993-2002), and for the last fifteen years on HBO’s “Real Time,” Maher’s combination of unflinching honesty and big laughs have garnered him 40 Emmy nominations. Maher won his first Emmy in 2014 as executive producer for the HBO series, “VICE.” In October of 2008, this same combination was on display in Maher’s uproarious and unprecedented swipe at organized religion, “Religulous,” directed by Larry Charles. The documentary has gone on to become the 8th Highest Grossing Documentary ever. Larry Charles is an American writer, director, and producer. Charles was a staff writer for the American sitcom “Seinfeld“ for its first five seasons, contributing some of the show’s darkest and most absurd storylines. He has also directed the mockumentary comedy films “Borat” and “Brüno,” the documentary film “Religulous,” and comedy film The Dictator.

The real myth about Jesus is that Jesus is a myth. Examining the claims of popular misinformation that has been spreading like a plague across the internet.

The Infants review two movies about belief: Bill Mahr's “Religulous” and Vikram Gandhi's “Kumare.”

The full quorum (Bob, Glenn, Jesse, Matt, Randy, & Tom) gets together to review, discuss, and compare two movies that both try to tackle the topic of organized religion: Religulous and Kumare. They are both available via Netflix streaming, but you don't need to see either movie to follow the discussion.

Were going to get into our topic this morning as we talk about, God, Are You There? Were talking about the existence of God, a little two-part, three-part miniseries in our series as a whole. Last year I went to go see a documentary by a comedian/talk show host, Bill Maher. I dont know if youve ever watched his program on television, but the documentary was called, Religulous. Did anybody see it? I felt I needed to see it because there might be some questions that would be raised. I knew he was going to come down hard on faith, so in case anybody saw it and it caused some doubts or concerns, I wanted to see it so I could address those. He really was looking for answers. He did the best he could sometimes. His lack of theological training really showed up; it was really apparent in some of the things he didnt know or the way he would ask questions. Sometimes he asked the wrong people the answers to the questions or came to the wrong conclusions that contradicted what Christianity really teaches; so it was a little frustrating at times to watch it. One of the things that he was saying was: Why is faith even important? Why even have faith? Why doesnt God just stomp out the devil? Why doesnt He just show Himself, manifest Himself and be done with it? Really, how relevant is faith? How important is faith? Really, he was belittling faith or people of faith, and we want to talk about that today. We want to talk about faith; what are obstacles to faith; why its important; what is not and what it is in our time together today. We talked a little bit about it. For these first few Scriptures, were going to kind of go through them rather quickly. In others, well linger. Remember we talked about faith. We talked about Jeremiah 29:13. Remember He said to Jeremiah that if you seek Me with all your heart, you will find Me. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, when you seek Me. As we read through these, I want you to just reflect on what are some of the commonalities that we see in these Scriptures. We talked also about the Book of Acts 17:27. The Apostle Paul talks about God creating man and putting him in a certain place at a certain time. It said He did this that man might reach out and seek Him, grow for Him and find Him. He says, Though He is not far from every one of us. God wants us to seek, but He will show Himself to us. Then one I think we didnt look at last week, but I think its very important is Hebrews 11:6. It says, …without faith, it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. So what do we see are the commonalities? We see number one that faith is active. Faith is a verb; its something we do. Some of you passively sit back and say, Well, when the circumstances are right, everything is provided for me and all the doors are open, Ill step forward. Thats not faith. Thats now how it works, friends. God has chosen to use the virtue of faith to teach us of Himself, to help us to learn to trust like a child. This life is training for the next, and faith is a very important component of that training-building Christ-likeness in our lives and what He is trying to do in our hearts and lives. Yet, some people resist faith. They have obstacles for their faith. Some would say, Well, if God would just come down and show Himself to me, do a miracle or something, then Ill believe. Well, you know, Jesus did. Christianity teaches that God became a man, and He did incredible works-incredible miracles: raising people from the dead; feeding of thousands with a few fish; calming storms; and healing the blind. All of these miracles, and yet there were still so many that refused to believe. Why is that? The Book of John 12 gives us some clues. In John 12, Jesus is speaking about those to whom Christ gave convincing proofs, but they refused to follow. John writes in Verse 39 of Chapter 12 (page 1066 of pew Bibles) that even after Jesus had done all of these miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not believe Him. He did so many things in their presence, so sometimes I even wonder if God did manifest Himself in that way, would that skeptic still hold on to their skepticism? Verse 39 says, For this reason they could not believe… For this reason. Because they would not believe? They could not believe. The evidence was there. There are some people that no matter how many arguments we present, weve talked about Creation. Well continue to talk about Creation in this series of order and design as a proof of the Creator. Well talk about Biblical prophecy. Well talk about the trustworthiness of the Biblical account of the Resurrection and the deity of Christ. Well address all these concerns, but no matter how many convinces and arguments you give, there are still people who will refuse to believe and do that for many reasons. The number one reason might be, It will change and impact my lifestyle in a way that I dont want. I like the way I live, and if theres a God who is going to hold me accountable-if Im going to be judged some day, then that means Im going to have to stop doing what Im doing; so Ill refuse to believe because its going to mess up my way of life if I have to have a Lord that I answer to. I want to be my own boss. I want to be in charge of my own life. If there are others who coming to Christ would be something that would cause them the possibility of being rejected by family or peers… Maybe you grew up in a Christian home, and so your decision to follow Christ was regarded as something to be celebrated. Others of us were not so fortunate. Maybe you grew up in a home where for you to commit your life to Christ, youd be seen as a crazy person. You know there are some families or even some cultures in the world where you commit your life to Christianity. In Islam they will hold a funeral for you because youre considered dead to that family. Maybe its a family where atheism or agnosticism is celebrated. For you to become a person of faith, it might cause you a chance that your family members will reject you or your peers. When I was 17 years old, I put my faith and trust in Christ, and many of my friends said, I dont want to be Williams friend anymore. I want nothing to do with that guy. Hes one of those ‘Christians now. I dont want anything to do with that guy. What does it say in Verse 42? It says, Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in Him. But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved praise from men more than praise from God. Another reason might be pride. Anyone here ever defended yourself when you know youre wrong? Youve been in an argument, and theyre making points that are really good. You know youre wrong and youre still defending yourself? We dont like to admit were wrong, do we? If somebody said, Well, the Bible is not the Word of God or Christ is not Lord. He was just a man or the Resurrection did not take place. God does not exist. To then turn and say, Well, I was wrong, is a difficult thing to do. Sometimes pride gets in the way. There is a speaker, author, pastor by the name of Lee Stroble. He was once at Willow Creek, and is now I believe with Rick Warren at Saddleback Church in California. He was an atheist-die hard atheist at the Chicago Tribune. His job was to be a reporter and expose-get to the truth at the bottom of scandals and expose fraud; so he had a very skeptical mind. His wife became a Christian. That caused a little tension in the home. He decided that he was going to approach Christianity with the same tenacity as he went after a story for the Tribune. He was going to disprove the claims of Christ and dispute Christianity. He began to objectively-and in an unbiased-well, it was not unbiased because he was biased against Christianity. He began to investigate the claims of Christ, the truth of the Bible, the existence of God-all those things, and began to record evidence. One time, he was investigating a story for the Tribune about this man who was a criminal who supposedly had become a Christian. He interviewed police officers in Chicago who said, Hes scum. Hes garbage. Hes ‘this. Hes ‘that. Hes just a piece of trash. Then he started a new life in another area of the country, and he interviewed the pastor, people of the church, people that knew him; and they said he was the most wonderful guy they ever met. So he said, Well, this guy cant be the same guy. Somethings going on. He is pulling a con move here. He said, Im going to get to the bottom of it. Im going to expose this guy. His wife said, The reason you want to come after him-is it because it couldnt happen or because you dont want it to happen? Because you dont think Christianity is true? He got all defensive, but she was right. Later on, by the way, he did meet the man; and they eventually became friends. This guy is still working with inner city kids in his local church 20 years later. Hes the real deal. But this is a documentary Lee Strobel made that Id like to see sometime. Maybe we can show it at our church, but here are the conclusions he came to while having to examine the evidence of Christianity. Lets watch that clip right now as Lee Stroble talks about his journey to faith. (Heres a link to view it: http://www.wingclips.com/cart.php?target=product&product_id=16464&substring=Lee+Strobel) Do you think when Lee Stroble made that decision that he still had some questions and doubts in his heart? Did he have all the questions answered? All doubts resolved? All mysteries solved when he took that step of faith? No. The fourth reason that people will refuse to cross the line of faith is they have a misperception that faith is the absence of all doubt. I cant believe in the Lord because I have these questions. Sometimes Ill have dialogue with somebody, and theyll start throwing things at me that really in the scheme of things are not important at all. Theyre little rabbit trails were chasing and kind of bringing it back. Well, wait a second now, I can answer that question or that concern, but lets really talk about the core issue here. Who was Jesus? Was He raised from the dead? What did He accomplish when He was here? Is He God or is He just a philosopher and teacher, a prophet? Lets deal with the really core. So Im thinking well, I have to answer all these questions first. Friends, doubt is not the absence of faith. In fact, doubt is an important part of coming to faith. The things that I hold to be true, the convictions that I have are because I once struggled with certain doubts in those areas and became convinced in my spirit that this was truth. I dont have all questions answered. I have a friend who is right now dying of cancer, and he has two little girls. Hes a little bit younger than I. The last three, four times Ive set up a meeting to go and see him-a friend of mine and I were going to go see him-hes had to cancel because Hospice was there, he was feeling sick or had to go to the doctor. It just seems like its not working out. I get frustrated by that. This is a good guy, and he has children to raise. How can this be happening? I have questions and concerns, but they do not negate my faith. It is possible that faith and doubt can coexist. In fact, turn in your Bibles to Marks Gospel, Chapter 9. In Mark 9, we find the story of a father bringing his son to Jesus. The son has a demonic presence in his life. It is causing him to get thrown into convulsions. It tries to destroy him by throwing him in fire and water. He brings him to Jesus, and Jesus asks him how long this has been going on. He said, Since he was a child, this has happened. Its been tormenting him since childhood. So heres this father, and he loves his boy. He loves his boy more than his own life-as any father would. He says, Can you help my son? If You can, will You have pity and have mercy on him? If You can… Jesus says, If I can? If I can? Do you know who youre talking to here? It would be like going to Michael Jordan in his prime and saying, Now if you can dunk a basketball… What do you mean if I can dunk. Matt Kenseth won the Daytona, right? Hey, if you can drive a car, could you run this… What do you mean if I could drive a car? Go to Martha Stewart, Now if you could cook, could you make this recipe? What do you mean if I could cook? Im Martha Stewart. Dont you know who I am? Youre coming to Jesus, and you are saying, If you can. Jesus says, If I can? All things are possible to him who believes. Listen to the fathers response. Its very real, and its very authentic in Verse 24 (of Chapter 9, page 1000 of pew Bibles), Immediately, the boys father exclaimed, ‘I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief! He said, I believe. With all my heart, I believe. Help me overcome my doubts. Jesus rebuked him and said, Shame on you for having doubts! If youre going to have any kind of doubts at all, we cannot do business. Im sorry! I cant help you today! No, Jesus understood. Im going to talk to you and give you a little illustration this morning about what faith is and faith is not. Im going to reach in my pocket, and Im going to pull out a piece of candy. I have a guy in our church who gives me candy every weekend. It kind of gives me energy boosts, right, or keeps the throat from getting too dry. Im not going to give you one of my favorites because I like those, but Ill give this away to somebody who wants it at the conclusion. These are hard candies wrapped in cellophane. Its good; its never been used. I didnt put it back in or anything like that. You have to open it for the first time, but there is a piece of candy in my… You cant see it, but Im telling you its in there. Im not lying to you. Im not trying to trick you. I really do have a piece of candy in my hand. Ill open my hand in just a little while and show you whats inside my hand; but how many of you today believe that I have a piece of candy in my hand? Let me see your hands. Okay. How many of you think I might be pulling the rug over your eyes? Okay, all right. Some of the hands surprise me; some dont. All right, now, thats faith because you didnt see for sure whats in my hand, but youre trusting me. You say, You know me. I trust you. Youre going to tell me the truth. If you say theres candy there, theres candy there. Thats faith and trust. You have some evidences because you have a history with me, but faith is like that. Were taking God at His word. Were trusting in something that we dont see with our eyes but we believe to be true because of who said it. Now for those of you who raised your hands, and you said, I believe. I have faith that you have candy in your hands, I am going to destroy your faith right now. This is what Im going to do. Im going to destroy your faith by opening my hand. See that candy? Its great. You say, Well, you didnt destroy my faith. You confirmed my faith. Yes, but I also destroyed your faith. You no longer have faith the candys in my hand. You now know the candys in my hand. You know it because you can see it. Anybody want it? Anybody like grape? Nobody? Who was first? (Pastor threw it and the congregation is laughing.) Can you…? I dont always throw that bad. At 8 oclock, I nailed Kayla Powers in the back row. Im feeling a little attacked here. I was just trying to be gentle. You dont have faith that the sun is going to rise tomorrow. You know it will. You dont have faith that spring will come. You know spring will come, and you know that empirically. You know that from your experience-that seasons come and go. This morning you exhibited faith when you got in your car. You started your car; you put it in drive. You exhibited faith that that car would take you to the 11 oclock service at Faith Community Church. When you stepped on the brakes, you exhibited faith that the brakes would stop your car-that 3,000 pound, or however much our cars weigh, machine was going to stop at that intersection. Where if hadnt stopped, your life was in jeopardy because you would have gone headlong into that intersection with oncoming traffic. So you showed faith. Once you got here-arrived here-put your car in park, turned off the keys and got out of your car, did you still have faith that the car was going to bring you to the 11 oclock service, or did you have knowledge? You had knowledge. Faith is not necessary where there is knowledge. What people like that are saying, Well, if God would just come down and show me… What youre in essence saying is if God would just come down and destroy my faith… If God would just come down and wipe out my faith, then Id believe. Well, thats not really faith, is it? That's knowledge. Did Peter have a faith-after Christ appeared to him-that Christ rose from the dead? No, he had a knowledge that Jesus rose from the dead. Did John have a faith that Christ rose from the dead after seeing him and walking and talking with Him for a period of 40 days about the Kingdom? No, John had knowledge. That's why those men said, Beat me! Imprison me! Even kill me, but I will not stop talking about what Ive seen and heard. They had heard the risen Christs voice. They had touched Him. They had seen Him with their eyes. They had spoken with Him. They had been with him. They knew it was true, so therefore, they said, Take the body if you want to. I know its true, and God has commanded me to preach and teach, so I will not be silent. Thats an apologetic that well look at down the road. Now theres another Disciple who was not a man of faith, and his name was Thomas. I know its not Easter yet, and this might be illegal; but were going to look at John 20 anyway. In John 20:24, Thomas is present. It says now Thomas-one of the Twelve-was not with Disciples when Jesus came; so the other Disciples told him, We have seen the Lord! Peter, James, John-theyre excited. These are men of integrity. These are his friends, his peers. He has spent time with them for three years. He knows them, and they are saying to him, all of them, Its true. Jesus rose from the dead. Theyre not saying it as a joke. You dont joke around about your friends death. They are saying it with sincerity. Whats more, Jesus prophesied and said He would rise from the dead. There were times it was a little veiled, but He had said it on more than one occasion. Thomas refuses to acknowledge any of that and said these words (page 1075 of pew Bible), ‘But unless I see the nail marks in His hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe. I will not believe. I refuse. A week later, His Disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you! The first thing He did was calm them down. What would you do if you were in a room with a closed door and the door was locked, and all the sudden somebodys in the room that wasnt there before? Ahhh! Calm down. Be at peace. Its okay. Its Me. What does He do? He said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here; see My hands. Reach out your hand and put it into My side. Stop doubting and believe. Isnt it interesting that Jesus still bares the marks of the cross in His glorified, resurrected body? Thats another sermon for another time. Theres a reason for that. Then Thomas says, ‘My Lord and my God! My Lord and my God and worships Jesus. Then Jesus says, Stop worshipping Me. Im just a man like you! Im just a really good Prophet, moral teacher and religious leader, but Im not divine; so dont say that! No, Jesus receives the title of Lord and God, both of which are divine titles. He receives the worship of Thomas, and He uses it to teach him. He says, ‘Because you have seen Me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. That's you and me. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe. Thomas did not have faith any more that Christ was raised from the dead. He now had knowledge. What Thomas in essence was saying was I refuse to have faith! The only thing that will work for me is knowledge. But faith for the one who has faith is real. Because we have learned through our experience, God has shown Himself real to us. Jesus made that promise. In John 7, the same book, verse 17 (page 1058), Jesus is speaking about people who had questioned His words-whether or not they were divine. We all know theyre good, but are they divine? He says in Verse 17, ‘If anyone chooses to do Gods will, he will find out whether My teaching comes from God or whether I speak on My own. Jesus says, You wonder whether or not My words are true? Live them. Do them. Follow them. Taste and see the Lord is good. Youll see that theyre real. Faith is a verb. Do you want God to show Himself to you? Seek Him. Do you want to find out if His Word is true? Obey it! Do it! Live it! How many of you like to receive presents? You like gifts, birthdays and Christmases? You like presents? As fun as it is to receive presents, Jesus said, It is more blessed to give than receive. The word blessed means happy. He says, You will be a happier person being a giver than you are being a receiver. Is that true? Try it! Start giving away stuff. Start giving to people. That teaching will either be confirmed or denied in your experience. Jesus says, Just do what Ive said, and youll see whether or not My words are from God. Test Me here. When we begin our faith journey, we are a little bit faith and a little bit knowledge; but as our faith grows, our knowledge grows. Because as we experience God, as we experience His presence, as we experience answered prayer-maybe not always in the way we want it-but it comes to confirm what God has said in His Word and what He has said to be true. Then our knowledge begins to increase as well until our faith becomes something that is just precious to us. In the Book of Peter, 1 Peter 1 (page 1200), Peter writes to those who are not as privileged as he to see Jesus personally or hear His words personally. He says in Verse 8, Though you have not yet seen him; you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. He talks about the realness of faith-if thats a word. He talks about the benefits of faith. He talks about the fact that we are receiving the goal of our faith-not having just received because salvation is and it is to come. It is now and it is not yet. Certain aspects of our salvation weve received; others are yet to come. I want to talk as we close to two groups of people. I want to first of all talk to those who are here who are seekers or skeptics. Youre coming to this service, and youre going to come to this series. You have questions and you have some doubts. The truth of the matter is you have enough evidence to make a decision. Dont wait until you have every question answered, every mystery solved. That day will never come. As long as we live, there will always be an element of faith that we have to live by; and that's how God has made it. The just shall live by faith. But you have enough-this morning-to make that decision to be a Christ-follower. God has revealed enough of His Truth to you. I want to encourage you to take that step of faith today in just a few moments. Secondly, I want to talk to those who are already believers, already followers of Christ. Maybe there are some things in your life where youre waiting on God-a step He wants you to take, a step of obedience for your ministry, in a relationship, a vocation or whatever it is; and youre saying, Oh you know when circumstances are just perfect-when God opens the door… When God provides this or that, then Ill believe. No, that's knowledge; thats not faith. Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you shall find; knock and the door shall be opened to you. Its active. You go forth. Some of you are waiting for the door to open, so you can say, Well then Ill go through. Well good for you. Moses, when he was going to cross the Red Sea, when he starts to cross the Red Sea, the waters are still full. Its as he crosses that they open. As he takes the step of faith, they open. Remember the people who had leprosy? The lepers, Jesus says, they come and say, Lord, have mercy on us. Jesus says, Go, and show yourselves to the priests. The Bible says, As they were going, they were cleansed. That means when they started their journey to the priests, they were still lepers; but as they took that step of faith, God met them there and brought the answer they were looking for. Some of you are being too tentative, too laid back-youre waiting for too much. God wants you to take a step of faith right now. Though you dont know how the door is going to be opened, take that step of faith. That's how He made the world. That's how He wants us to live. He wants us to learn to trust. He wants us to trust His Word, even though we dont hear Him or see Him, Hes given us clues. Hes given us proof of evidence, but ultimately God wants us to have faith. As you extend that faith and use that faith, He will confirm Himself to you. He will open those doors of opportunity. Would you bow your heads with me as we pray? First of all if youre here this morning and youve not made a decision to follow Christ but youd like to today, I want to lead you in prayer. Just pray this prayer with me. Say: Heavenly Father, I come to You today in Jesus name. Lord, I use what little faith I have to receive You into my heart and life. Lord, I recognize that Im a sinner-that Ive missed the mark, that Ive fallen short. I ask for Your forgiveness. I ask for Your cleansing. I pray for a new start today. I pray that Your Holy Spirit would come and live in my heart, that Youd make me a new person who might follow You all the days of my life and one day live in Your Heaven in Your presence. By faith, I receive Jesus Christ as my Savior and as my Lord. Father, if they prayed that prayer, You have answered that prayer, and God, you will meet them right there. Even in the midst of some of their doubts, Lord, we dont have all the answers. We dont have all doubts settled, but we know enough that we can follow the evidence where its leading to make that decision to receive You as our Lord and Savior. Lord, I thank You for each and every person who has made that decision today. Father, I pray secondly for those who are believers. What they have sought for is not faith; its knowledge. Theyve waited for everything to align, every provision to be met, every circumstance to be right and have said, Then Ill be obedient. That's not what Youve called us to. Youve called us to a life of faith. Abraham was sent to go to the land that You would show him. As he was going, You showed him where You wanted him to be. All he knew at the time was to follow. He didnt have all the answers. He still had doubts, and yet he acted on what he knew. We would act on what we know and trust You to provide the answers that we seek. Know, Lord, that if we will follow Your Word and obey Your Word, You will show Yourself to be true, show Yourself to be real. I pray for those who are still holding on-for whatever reason or obstacle theyre facing right now-they still have not crossed that line of faith, I pray that they would keep coming. I pray that they keep listening, and one day they too would receive You as their Lord and Savior. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.

In the post show for Episode 32 we talk about the right and wrong ways to put out the first HE book, more about Bill Maher's “Religulous” and Eli's Chicago Adventure.