The bible is SO PRO-WOMAN! As you'll be able to tell from the story of Deborah, the only female Judge. Her story is well balanced in comparison to the story of Gideon, the other Judge for this episode.

Gideon is the closest we get to a scientist in the bible, what with his not trusting a single sign from God and requiring further evidence. Moist, soggy evidence.

Unfortunately Gideon wasn't much of a dad to his 71 kids, so one of them kills almost all of the other 70 and tries to take over Israel.

THUS SAYETH THE LORD!

Website - https://www.biblestoriesforatheists.com
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@bibleatheists

Sit down, Judge Judy! We're talking about Judge SHAMGAR!!! That's an EPIC name for a judge, isn't it? It's going to be an amazing story, right!?

The point of the Book of Judges is to fill in the gaps between Joshua and the Israelites "demanding" their first king. A cycle, similar to Exodus, where the chosen people continually let God down, get spanked by God, come back to God, and God forgives until they let God down again. Over and over and over.

We dig into the first 3 stories of Judges. And I know this might be a surprise, but some of these stories seem a little unlikely. 

Love to Danny! Reach out to us at https://bsfa.cc/contact.

Website - https://www.biblestoriesforatheists.com
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@bibleatheists

We wrap up the Book of Joshua and boy does it make time stand still. Apparently God makes the sun stand still for a whole day and somehow that didn't cause everything and everyone to go flying off into space. Why would a god capable of doing that tell people to kill each other? Probably to teach us a lesson about faithfulness. 

Excuse the meow's in the background. We did our best but Frodo just couldn't help sharing his thoughts and opinions. He's a Hare Krishna and a real see-you-next-Tuesday about it. 

Oh yeah. I almost forgot. I had a vision from God. He says, "Fuck you, Ron DeSantis."

Website - https://www.biblestoriesforatheists.com
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@bibleatheists

You remember that part of the bible when Jesus performed the miracle of getting a rabbit to lay chocolate, cream filled eggs? No? Well then you're just not reading the bible right.

We dig into what the hell happened for Christians to turn Jesus' resurrection into a fertility festival geared toward grooming children into their "lifestyle". 

Eostre, Ishtar, Ostara, Esther, and Easter. Just getting this all in for SEO purposes.

We talk about all of them. How they connect and how they don't. Really this just gives us a chance to talk about gods with way more badass stories than anything we see in the bible. 

So have a happy generic and unimportant Sunday where we celebrate the most important thing to all of us: a brand new episode of BSFA!

Website - https://www.biblestoriesforatheists.com
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@bibleatheists

We all remember the songs about Joshua and the Battle of Jericho and the cartoons and the children's books. All those glorious money-making forms of "art" that taught children valuable lessons about walking in circles around a city and not shouting until God says it's ok, while ignoring that the story was about divinely mandated genocide. 

Let's play a drinking game. Every time God says kill kids, you drink. (Don't really do this. I'm not legally responsible for your alcohol poisoning.)

Joshua proves himself to be a brilliant, strong leader, undeterred by minor setbacks like when 0.01% of his fighting force is killed at AI. 

You're in for a heap of a good time with this episode. Such a big heap. A great heap! A giant heap of bible is coming at ya.

Website - https://www.biblestoriesforatheists.com
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@bibleatheists

I'll be honest. This episode is about crossing a river. We cover 5 chapters of the bible, and at the beginning of it some people are on one side of a river, and at the end those people are on the other side of the river. 

If you're into rivers, this episode is for you. If you loved River Phoenix in the 1992 cinema masterpiece "Sneakers" then this episode is for you. If you loved the 1992 cinema masterpiece "A River Runs Through It" this episode is NOT for you. That movie was about going down a river in a boat. This episode is about crossing a river. Very different. But if you loved 1992 because of all the river movies that came out that year then this episode is for you.

Also we're talking about Joshua. Not the world famous atheist podcast host. No. This is the original Joshua. The one who crosses the river. Podcast Josh has probably crossed rivers at times, but no one put that in the bible. No one stacked stones for podcast Josh. No one cut off the ends of their penises when podcast Josh asked them to. But also no one stole his shoes. 

So I hope that has successfully informed you on the content of this episode. 

It is now 12:11am the night before this episode comes out. I spent about 6 hours editing today and the episode was already pretty much done when I had started. I don't know what happened. No, I do know what happened. Linz went out of town for the weekend and no one was here to tell me, "You need to see sunlight or you'll grow mushrooms on your skin, podcast Josh!" 

Website - https://www.biblestoriesforatheists.com
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@bibleatheists

While reading Genesis in our first several episodes, I noticed odd things. The same stories repeated, stories with inconsistent details, and conflicting commandments. Things I’m sure I noticed growing up as a Christian, but I wrote off as a lack of biblical knowledge on my part.

I started doing research into what modern science and scholars can tell us about the actual history of the bible and the people it talks about. What I found cracked my view of the world apart like the first time evolution was explained to me by someone who wasn’t a creationist.

I found a people who were pushed around by the world powers of the time. A people who had a brief period where those powers stayed at bay long enough to create an identity for themselves. An identity that, while evolving with time, has endured and changed the trajectory of history. An identity that was hijacked and used as a cudgel by another religion.

For sources and additional information, go to https://www.biblestoriesforatheists.com/resources/bible-history

Website - https://www.biblestoriesforatheists.com
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@bibleatheists

We finally cover the story of the little wooden prophet who wanted to be a real boy so bad he ended up in the belly of a whale. Ok, so he wasn't wooden, didn't want to be a real boy, and it was a fish and not a whale. But still! 

Hear the iconic tale of Jonah being swallowed for a fi... oh it's over? Just like that, it's just done? Well how are we going to sell children's books based on this? Children and their parents aren't going to read the original story so we can make up stuff to fill space? Awesome. Christian capitalism in action!

It's a super short story so there's not much else to say about it. Also, I would totally jerk off a dolphin for humanity to have clean energy. Just going on the record now.

Website - https://www.biblestoriesforatheists.com
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@bibleatheists

We dive deep into Josh. Or at least Josh's past. How he went from devout Christian to a raging atheist. 

Was it because of all the Carmen, dc talk, and POD he listened to growing up? Was it because he learned about creationism from Canned Hamm? Was it because he went to a Christian university that didn't allow dancing? Nope. Ultimately it's God's fault.

Big thank you to a couple listeners for sharing their stories about waking up and dropping belief in the Jehovah's Witnesses! 

Website - https://www.biblestoriesforatheists.com
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@bibleatheists

We take on the 2nd and last book named for a woman. Will she be a feminist icon? No. I'll just let you know that now. But she will make a few decisions for herself. So yay for progress.

Have you ever wondered, "What's up with the Jewish holiday of Purim?" I know you have. I heard you whispering about it into your pillow at night. "Where did Purim come from?" you asked into what you thought was the empty darkness of your bedroom. Quieter than silence, your quivering voice asks, "Why are they called Haman's ears?" I heard you. I always hear you.

And you're in luck! Because this is it.

Hope you enjoy the show! See you soon... 

...sooner than you might even know... 

...sleep tight...

Website - https://www.biblestoriesforatheists.com
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@bibleatheists