Acts: Christian FanFiction? | Secular Bible Study (Episode 44)

Today's episode is on the biblical book of Acts!
I cover the following:
-Book Overview
-Authorship And Date
-Historical Background/Accuracy
-Literary Analysis
-Main Themes
-Reception And Influence
-Context Issues
-Contradictions, Errors, & Misconceptions
-Problematic Verses

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Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:53 Book Overview
11:39 Authorship And Date
14:31 Historical Accuracy & Context
18:03 Literary Analysis
19:41 Main Themes
22:29 Reception & Influence
24:18 Contradictions
32:52 Problematic Passages
40:40 Final Thoughts
41:38 Patron Thanks

#atheist #mindshift #atheism #exchristian #secularbiblestudy #biblestudyacts ##atheistbiblestudy #bibleacts #biblebookacts

[Lightman]

As a Christian I was so frustrated that I was not performing the miracles in the book of acts. Of course the church made me think it was my lack of faith/consecration to the word and I blamed myself.

[elilane]

I love the comparison to fan fiction, that’s honestly so much of what religion is as a whole, just people making up wild stories to one up other people telling stories. “My invisible guy is wayyy better and stronger than your invisible guy”

[survive]

When I was a christian I thought the reason a lot of churches have graveyards next to the chapel is because If god struck someone dead for lying and stealing fròm him, it wouldn't be far to bury them. Just like the story in Acts.

[Scartoons-th]

Worthwhile remembering that the writers of the gospels, Acts, Paul, etc were unlikely to worry about contradictions: they were not writing in order to contribute to The Bible - they had no concept of a Bible as a thing. Each writer has a separate agenda and could play fast and loose with a lot of the material. As long as the audience to the work would buy into the story, they were free to invent to a large degree. This explains why the different books in the Bible don't agree: their authors never intended them to agree.

[Dr_Cigarettes]

People talk about how Peter denied Jesus but then became a great evangelist as if that's proof that Jesus rose from the dead.

My theory is that a guy who felt super guilty about denying his association with a friend ended up having hallucinations in his grief.

To me, that seems way more plausible than someone coming back from the dead.

[BernardBerserker]

It is so funny that in acts all christians are united and even when there is a disagreement it gets quickly resolved. And then you read the epistles and there are problems everywhere, false teachers, false apostles, false prophets, a disagreement between Peter and Paul which gets no solution. Acts really is fanfiction.

[SydBodeker]

As an ex Pentecostal, im only exaggerating a little bit when i say i heard Acts preached on every other week for 20+ years of my life

[DannyS]

I think the fact that there have always been different denominations in Christianity is a really important fact to point out. So, I am glad you did. Because, people really do think that it started out unified, but the closest to that was when the Catholic church was at its peak and was killing the "heretics".

[suicune]

If you've ever read Frankenstein, you know it's read like journal entries from a real person. Christians would argue the monster was real because that's how the book was written. lol

[clemstevenson]

Of course they’ll employ the no true Scotsman fallacy against Brandon. Christians have to explain away the fact that Brandon found no reason to believe in their god, rather that question the authenticity of their belief in god. A YouTuber tried to tell me today that I was wrong to claim that there was no supporting evidence. Yet, all that he could do was to point to the large number of god claims there have been over numerous centuries. Claims prove nothing, no matter how many digits there are in the number.

[trythelight]

I’ll be the first to admit I’ve written FanFiction. And…well…it wasn’t great. It was very inspired, kinda cringe, but - at the time of writing - it was very fulfilling and helped me through some dark times! Looking back, it’s a beautiful story.

But I’m glad it’s not canon to the original game.

[t.mitchellb]

As briefly as I can, my story goes like this. I was raised in a southern Baptist church. I was "saved" at eight years old supposedly. Anyway, I was neck deep in the church. At 14 I became a church musician and continued to be up until my deconversion. I was involved in ministry in various ways the majority of my life. I was in a professional Christian band who was signed to Word Records, recorded an album and toured with acts like Sonic Flood, Casting Crowns, etc. I felt like I had experienced the presence of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Eventually I was ordained as a deacon. I read my Bible from cover to cover several times. I always felt weird when I read some of the grotesque things in the Old Testament, but honestly, I just dismissed them. I truly was a believer... Until I dove deeper into the "Word of God". At first, I became a Calvinist and that sent every Baptist in my life into orbit. Then, I started looking at how churches were operated. I saw how hypocritical the traditional Baptist churches are. And then I saw how the modern non-denominational churches spent their money. The church I went to had a million-dollar budget, just for stage production. How many widows and orphans and homeless and starving could be helped with that? We were charged with helping those in need, not putting on a concert every Sunday. Anyway, I started using common sense when I studied the Bible and I realized none of this is true. I really got into it and I still love learning about the Bible. Just from a different perspective. People have said I was never truly a believer. That I allowed people to lead me astray. When in reality the Bible is what lead me astray. I have been accused of demon oppression/possession. And of course, people love to tell me I really do believe but I am denying it. Basically, I have lost all my friends and family. My parents are deceased, so I didn't have to deal with that thankfully. Although I do miss them. But I am happier than I have ever been personally. I love your channel, as it is very encouraging and informative. And I apologize for the long comment, but I wanted to share my experiences. This channel is very important and I love your content. Keep up the good work!

[dmnemaine]

The way that Luke and Acts begins is very similar to the way that Mark Twain begins "Huckleberry Finn" by having Huck tell us that everything he's going to tell us about the events in the novel is true. This is simply a literary device, not necessarily a statement of the relating of verifiable facts.

[n.c.]

Forgive me Father for I have sinned.... Each time I watch MindShift I race off to the next video and forget to hit Like. I am doing my penance and coming back to shame myself publicly and to do Brandon right 😂😂😂

[sparrowthesissy]

"It's in your canon, it's your problem!" should be the new motto of the channel.
Great work as usual. I knew the Paul in Acts contradicted his epistles, but I didn't realize how bad it really was. I feel like I'm going to have to spend a week sorting through all that now... so, thank you? I can't wait for Romans! Every verse there could be a video, so good luck.

[hurdygurdyguy]

Matthias replaces Judas and is never heard from or about again...I guess he was just a warm body, a numerical place holder....🤣

[DrakeTimbershaft]

Two very amusing things happens during the Secular Bible Study video. At two points your video was interrupted by ads from two different proselytizers, “inviting” you to download an app for Bible readings. Both ads had tinkly, inspirational piano and some hipster with Adam Driver-esque tousled hair inviting you to read from “A Christian perspective.” Catholic? Baptist? Orthodox? Church of the SubGenius? Unclear. They clearly want you to think this is an intervention by the “holy spirit, ” but it’s more of an intervention by the almighty algorithm that latches on to words like “Bible” and “study.” Look out for these Fuller Brush salesmen, Brandon! They’re trying to ride your coattails! 🤪😂😄

[ceres]

7:05 My siblings and I got kicked out of Sunday school over this. We asked a lot of questions and suggested that the vision may have been caused by heat stroke since he was out in the hot sun and hadn't eaten. After that our mom was told that not only could we not come back, but that when our little sister was of age she couldn't go to Sunday school either. They told our mom we 'were too advanced' and should sit with the adults from now on.

[jeffbenelli]

Great job Brandon axlis a fun one. I would love to have a modern day psychologist analyze Paul. I bet they find he was mentally disturbed.

[davidhoffman]

When you said the ascension happened at night I didn't believe you. I figured there's no way I could have missed that all these years. I looked it up and by golly you were right.