The term usually translated "the wicked" in English translations of Hebrew scripture is better translated "wrongdoers." This episode explains why and it also explains the implications of this difference - particularly as it relates to Psalm 1. While addressing translation issues to some degree, this episode has a greater focus on the practical less…

This explains why a very common Hebrew conjugation is best translated using a feature of certain non-standard varieties of English. Also, we learn how this impacts the meaning of Psalm 1. More specifically, the Hebrew Qatal form is best translated using the "preverbal done" found in English dialects such as African American English and Southern Ame…

If you read Bible translations, you should listen to this. Most translations aren't as good as they could be. You'll learn about some of the key problems and how they can be resolved. The issues include translating male-biased language, maintaining (or failing to maintain) distinctions between words, translation consistency, and dealing with the nu…

This introduces a new translation of "Psalm 1" (part of Not A Bible Translation). You'll learn why a new translation is needed and what is different about Not A Bible Translation. In the process, we cover some of the issues with modern English Bible Translations and also how Not A Bible Translations deals with the fact that the English language is …

This is an introduction to, and overview of, our recent series Before Spirit Was Spiritualistic: Philosophical Materialism from Genesis to Jesus. Blog Article - http://www.bdsda.com/2023/04/03/before-spirit-was-spiritualistic-upcoming-series-april-may-2023/ Before Spirit Was Spiritualistic: Philosophical Materialism from Genesis to Jesus Playlist -…

Ancient religions had requirements for admission into sacred spaces - usually sacrifices and purification rites. The requirements had nothing to do with true beliefs or moral behavior. This was true of pagan religions and of many in ancient Israel as well. There was, however, a philosophical school in ancient Israel that was particularly concerned …

According to the Hebrew prophets and the early Jesus-movement, God is an individual, material being - not a bodiless mind diffused through (and beyond) space and time. Blog Article: http://www.bdsda.com/2022/10/07/god-a-purely-material-person/ personality of god Archives - (bdsda.com) You can watch the recordings of the (now finished) Zoom Series a…

Jesus and his early followers understood him to be a purely physical being, having no non-physical aspect. Blog Article: Jesus: A Purely Material Person - (bdsda.com) Home - (bdsda.com) You can watch the recordings of the (now finished) Zoom Series at this link: Zoom Series from Oct. 11-17 (2022) - The Personality of God: An SDA Pillar Doctrine - (…

Jesus' doctrine of bodily resurrection as the only hope of future life is inconsistent with the idea that humans have non-physical souls. Blog Article: http://www.bdsda.com/2022/10/05/resurrection-the-only-hope-of-future-life/ The Scripture Doctrine of Materialism by Thomas Cooper - (bdsda.com)Trent Wilde

Ancient Israelites didn't believe what most people today believe about death. Humans, to them, were organized dirt that return to dirt at death, having nothing non-physical in their nature - nothing that might exist independent of the body. Blog Article: To Dirt You Will Return (Israelite Anthropology) - (bdsda.com) You can watch the recordings of …

Are thoughts produced by an immaterial soul or spirit? Ancient Israelites didn't think so; they believed our thoughts are the behavior of certain bodily organs; namely, the kidneys, liver, and heart. Blog Article: Cognitive Kidneys (Israelite Anthropology) - (bdsda.com) All verses are from Not A Bible Translation - my own translation.…

The truly radical philosophy in ancient Israel wasn't monotheism; it was materialism - a wholesale despiritualization of the world. Blog Article: Israel's Despiritualizing Philosophy - (bdsda.com) References for Egyptian Texts: Coffin Text Spell 78, CT II 19a-b (translation by James P. Allen in Context of Scripture, Volume 1, p. 11) Coffin Text Spe…

Ancient Israelites had a materialistic understanding of human nature. While most religious people today think humans are made of physical and non-physical aspects, ancient Israelites understood humans to be, quite literally, organized, breathing dirt, just like all the other animals. Blog Article: Dirt You Are (Israelite Anthropology) - (bdsda.com)…

Most physicists today believe that reality on the most fundamental level is timeless and that our experience of time and of change is ultimately an illusion. If this is true, the future already exists as a fixed reality and we have no possibility of changing to become any more moral than the laws of nature have destined us to be. But, as we'll see …

This podcast contains the first part of Are You Minding What Matters? Lesson Three: Our Moral Possibility. Blog Article: The Possibility of Moral Change - (bdsda.com) Are You Minding What Matters? - (bdsda.com)Trent Wilde

After reviewing clear evidence that the reason early SDAs rejected trinitarianism was not that they rejected the personhood of the Holy Spirit, we consider their actual reasons for rejecting trinitarianism. Blog Article: http://www.bdsda.com/2022/05/28/why-early-sdas-rejected-trinitarianism/ The Holy Spirit A Person by R. A. Underwood - (bdsda.com)…

This is SDA Holy Spirit Debate Now vs Then part 3! The main point this time is that throughout Christian history, there are been non-trinitarian theologies that affirm the personhood of the Holy Spirit. This makes it clear that the question of whether or not the Holy Spirit is a person is distinct from the question of whether trinitarianism is true…

Is trinitarianism just "belief in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit"? Short answer: No. Trinitarianism is a collection of specific claims regarding the nature of, and relationship between, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Early SDAs understood these truly distinctive features of trinitarianism and it is to these distinctives that they objected. Blo…

This episode introduces five projects published by Branch Davidians during the Feast of Unleavened Bread 2022. Blog Article: 2022 Unleavened Bread Projects - (bdsda.com) The Two Flood Stories in Genesis Video: https://youtu.be/rAlsqIKPbbc Podcast: Sabbath School with Branch Davidians: The Two Flood Stories In Genesis (libsyn.com) Why Vaccine Mandat…

Unlike in the modern SDA debate about the personhood of the Holy Spirit, early SDAs regarded the question of whether the Holy Spirit is a person to be distinct from the question of whether trinitarianism is true. All early SDAs were anti-trinitarian, but their primary objections to the trinity had nothing to do with the Holy Spirit. Instead, they o…

The early SDAs had a definite idea of what it means to be a "person." Understanding their view of personhood/personality is illuminating for what Ellen White meant when she called the Holy Spirit a person. Blog Article: What Did Ellen White Teach About the Personality of the Holy Spirit? - (bdsda.com) More on the Holy Spirit: holy spirit Archives -…

Ellen White described the early SDA beliefs regarding the "personality of God" as one of their pillar doctrines. Even though we commonly use the word "personality" to refer to character traits, the early SDAs used it to refer to what we might call "personhood." Their focus was on these two questions: 1) Is God a person? 2) What does it mean to be a…

Here are some great articles produced by Branch Davidians during the Feast of Tabernacles 2021. First, there are the following three Q&As: Q: Why study logic? Isn't that just the wisdom of man? - answered by Melissa DiLernia Q: Since Jesus' resurrection is a supernatural event, isn't it outside of the realm of historical investigation? - answered b…

Victor Houteff (founder of the Davidian movement) took a progressive stance on health reform. In other words, rather than looking for medical/health advice from Ellen White or the doctors of her day, he recognized that knowledge of health advances and we need to advance with it. He pointed out that Ellen White recommended reading the best authors o…

Most Christians have a spiritualistic worldview - they believe in proposed "spiritual" (aka non-physical) realities. The distinctive doctrines of the Millerites moved them on a trajectory towards materialism (the belief that all that exists is made of matter). After the Great Disappointment, the Millerite movement fractured and different groups for…

The past is gone... So how can we know anything about it? And what do tree rings have to do with this? Blog Article: http://www.bdsda.com/2021/09/20/how-can-we-know-things-about-the-past/Trent Wilde

If there is only one way to translate "literally," that would imply there can only be one "literal" translation. So if we acknowledge that there are multiple "literal" translations, we must admit that translations can differ in their wording and still be "literal." The issue with Genesis 1:1 is that, even when comparing literal translations, there …

The issues include: Clear Communication Translation Philosophy Details of Translating Genesis 1:1 Blog Article: My Response to Edward D. Andrews on Translating Genesis 1:1 - (bdsda.com)Trent Wilde

A hymn in Paul's letter to the Philippians is one piece of evidence among many that the early followers of Jesus were materialistic theists - they believed that God, like everything else, is made of matter. The hymn plainly states that God has a form and that other heavenly beings have body parts like knees and tongues. Materialism: Our Forgotten F…

A call to honesty regarding our motivations and reasoning. Blog Article: When You Said, "The COVID Vaccines Aren't FDA-Approved!" ... - (bdsda.com)Trent Wilde

Jeremiah 3:6 starts with the phrase "And Yahweh said to me in the days of Josiah the king..." This indicates that this verse marks a division in the text. What might we learn from this regarding the composition of the book called "Jeremiah"? English Translation of Greek Version of Jeremiah - A New English Translation of the Septuagint. 34. Ieremias…

Does God know the entire future exhaustively and infallibly? Is God beyond time? What does Scripture say? Blog Article: Yahweh's Disappointed Expectation in Jeremiah 3 - (bdsda.com)Trent Wilde

If morality isn't based on God, society, or human nature, what is it based on? This episode argues that it is based on material reality. Blog Article: Material Reality as the Basis for Morality - (bdsda.com)Trent Wilde

This is a continuation of the previous episode and represents the next section of my article Are You Minding What Matters? This covers three types of theories regarding the basis of morality and explains why none of them succeed in actually explaining the foundation of morality. Here are the three: 1) God-Based Morality 2) Society-Based Morality 3)…

Is reality strictly material or do immaterial things exist? What is "immateriality" anyway? Blog Article: Materialism or Immaterialism? - (bdsda.com)Trent Wilde

How should we translate the first clause of Genesis 1:1? Blog Article: Genesis 1:1 - In What Beginning?! - (bdsda.com)Trent Wilde

Links to Evidence: 1. Vaccine Safety: Examine the Evidence - HealthyChildren.org 2. Vaccination - Our World in Data 3. Living Evidence - COVID-19 vaccines | Agency for Clinical Innovation (nsw.gov.au) 4. How We Know That the COVID-19 Vaccines Work | Office for Science and Society - McGill University _______ Blog Article: Vaccines (Including COVID V…

Principles to help you know how to decide on what remedy to take for your sickness Experience Not Reliable: https://egwwritings.org/?ref=en_3T.67¶=119.305 Recommended Health Resources: Resources - (bdsda.com) Blog Article: Should You Use That Remedy For That Ailment? - (bdsda.com)Trent Wilde

Josephus says Ezekiel wrote two books... what's the deal with that? And what does it teach us about the history of bible canons? Blog Article: 1st and 2nd Ezekiel? - (bdsda.com)Trent Wilde

To make sure we get the most out of self-examination, we should use mirrors - God's message and Jesus' example. This episode gives practical advice on how to make use of these mirrors. Blog Article: Mirrors of Self-Examination - (bdsda.com)Trent Wilde

We choose what our character will be. We can choose to be someone who follows our feelings or we can choose to be someone who follows principle regardless of feelings. If we choose the latter, doing the right thing is never fake. Blog Article: Is it "Fake" to Do the Right Thing When it Doesn't "Feel Natural"? - (bdsda.com)…

Cochrane resources can be good if used critically; however, it isn't the greatest resource for understanding science-based medicine. Blog Article: Why I Removed Cochrane Resources From Our Resources Page - (bdsda.com)Trent Wilde

Why this podcast and what to expect! Blog Article: Welcome to the Blog! - (bdsda.com)Trent Wilde