The Novel Fiction of Luke/Acts

The Novel Fiction of Luke/Acts | Dennis R. MacDonald PhD

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#Luke/Acts #mythvision #MythVisionPodcast #mvp #dereklambert

[DocZom]

My favorite part of Acts is at the beginning, when Peter/God strikes dead the married couple who sold some land and did not give ALL the money to the church. That helps to understand how unscrupulous preachers suck their congregations dry.

[akasmokey]

I was unfortunately raised pentecostal which means that I was taught from my early childhood that the book of Acts was literal. As if signs and wonders were happening all around those who believed. I honestly never saw or experienced the kinds of signs and wonders depicted in this fictional book, or any other book for that matter, in the biblical texts. However, somehow human nature will always attract certain, I believe desperate and low self esteemed individuals to this group of believers. They want it to be true so bad that many of them place themselves and their loved ones in harm’s way to prove Acts is true. So sad really.

[lissam]

Here's a miracle for you my mom has a pacemaker, and if it wasn't for her pacemaker, she would be dead right now she had a heart attack, and the pacemaker helped her heart stay beating.
I thank the doctors and nurses who responded quickly and the inventor of the pacemaker. ❤ no deity involved just real life humans.

[writerblocks]

So many great videos, when do you get to sleep??

[davidwimp]

For a while I have thought that Luke was a full of himself novelist and Acts reads like an action adventure story written for children.

[betadecay]

Always love hearing from Dennis MacDonald but seriously, how is this still even a question? The whole thing is fiction not just Acts

[capitalistdingo]

3:11 “Results may vary. Side effects of prayer and book worship include bad knees, difficulty reasoning and blurred outlook.”

[mnamhie]

What an amazing intro! Good job, Derek. Sounds so simple and logical to me. But the deluded refuse to see it.

[Solomn]

I mean the book of Acts is definitely more entertaining than the Gospels



I may not believe this fiction, But Peter's Shadow healing people sounds Badass

[sheldonspider]

Love the passion for truth. Keepi it up. Dont ever stop.

[TreBrickley]

There is some interesting stuff in here.

One plain error on MacDonald’s part seems to be his connection of Odysseus’ shipwreck narrative in “The Odyssey” with Paul’s shipwreck narrative in Acts 27. MacDonald suggested that Luke is doing the same thing as the Odyssey by having a supernatural being visit the main character and instruct them *to abandon ship* in order to be saved. However, in Acts 27:30-32, Luke is explicit that those in boat are *not* to abandon ship.

Also, I think there is too much anti-supernaturalist bias in Derek and MacDonald’s comments here. I don’t think it is right to conclude a work of literature is likely fiction merely because it includes miracle claims.

[RocketKirchner]

when one reads great literature one should only ask '' What is writer really trying to say here ''? to ask weather true or false is a fundamentalist mindset and creates uninspired dualism .

[Vina_Ravyn]

Chapter 5 Ananias and Sappirah is a refutation of Jesus when he supposedly said forgive 70x7 a day. There was no 70x7 for Ananias and Sappirah indeed.

[robusc]

Neither side is able to convince the other that they are right/wrong.
..
After that last breath/decomposition 1 of 2 things will happen :-
1. No wake up, that's it, no-one will ever know they were right/wrong about an afterlife.
2. You wake up somewhere KNOWING the Bible was right.

[danielschaeffer]

The kicker is — if Acts IS based on facts, those facts make Paul look like a traitor, as Robert Eisenman makes abundantly clear.

[OttoNomicus]

Jesus casting out demons and curing the ill is obviously based on the myths of the Egyptian god Khonsu, son of the high God; i.e., Amun, and his consort, Mut. Together, the three formed the Theban Triad; i.e., the holy trinity "The god Khonsu went to the place where Bent-ent-resht was, and, having performed a magical ceremony over her, the demon departed from her and she was cured straightway. Then the demon addressed the Egyptian god, saying, "Grateful and welcome is thy coming unto us, O great god, thou vanquisher of the hosts of darkness!"

[theotherfoot]

Derek, the split screen method of choice makes it look like any other virtual get-together, IMO.

I know it's a bit more work, but perhaps consider changing the camera angle on both cameras to include both of you in the shot with focus on the speaker, then set some auto timers or motion-detection to switch views in the editing software perhaps? I don't think you have a live producer to do it so I know it's difficult and annoying, but it just feels like any other virtual meeting instead of a live sitdown. Less intimate/engaging.

[danielhopkins]

In the year 217 B.C., Buddhist missionaries who traveled east were imprisoned and it was said that a
Bodhisattva (angel) appeared in the form of a spirit to free them by opening the prison doors (Thomas
Thornton, a history of China from the earliest records until the treaty with Great Britain). Here the Christian
parallel is found in the New Testament book of Acts 5:18-19. “They arrested the apostles (early
missionaries) and put them in a common prison. But at night, an angel of the Lord opened the prison
doors and brought them out.”

[craigertlmaier]

Did Rabban Gamaliel say chapter 5 33-39 as Acts says he did to the best of the experts opinions?

[failyourwaytothetop]

There is correlation. The problem is correlation is not indicative of causation. This may be one factor in why academics have not gone full onboard with his thesis. They probably would need more evidence for a stronger case. The missing link consists of more evidence proving Luke directly used this GR literature in the composition of his books.