Data Over Dogma

"Hey- it sure is raining a lot, do you have a boat?" "No, but I *Noah* guy." That's right, on this week's episode of Data Over Dogma, we're going diluvian all up in here. It's the story of Noah and the great... vinyard? Here's the twist: It seems that the account of Noah we get in our version of Genesis may not be exactly what we were told it was! Then, call Richard Wagner, because we're talking a...

Sometimes on this show, big ten-dollar words show up like apotropaic or etiology or deuterocanonical, where, unless you're pretty well-versed in this stuff, you may not know what we're talking about (ok fine- you may not know what Dan M is talking about). This week we're tackling two ten-dollar concepts in one show, so buckle in and bust out twenty bucks! First, we're diving into Gnosticism. We've...

Better get a lawyer, because Data Over Dogma is getting all kinds of legalistic! There are many who claim that all modern law has a direct lineage back to biblical law. This week, we're going to show several reasons why that probably isn't the case, not the least of which being that biblical law... it's really bad. We'll start by talking about the covenant code. This is the set of laws laid out in...

Genesis has no shortage of confusing, misleading, and bizarre stories, but this week we're tackling two separate stories that share a particularly ugly history. First, we tell a story in third person. Or rather, a story about the third person. It's Adam and Eve's firstborn, Cain, who killed his brother and was cursed by God. But God also gave him a mark of protection- something on his person that...

When you hear the phrase "Christian Nationalism," what do you think of? A harmful set of ideologies that threaten democracy? A buzzword phrase used by bad people to demonize good Christians? April Ajoy has had a journey of conscience from being a full-throated Christian Nationalist to someone fighting against the damage she now sees in that set of dogmas. The real trick of it was that at the time,...

Did NASA confirm the date of the birth of Christ? Are most translations of the Bible wrong about the order of the creation? Will Dan M ever be able to say the word smorgasbord? This week on the Data Over Dogma show, we're honoring the Bible by shredding some bad apologetics! As we say every week on the show, one of our goals is to combat misinformation. Sometimes that means that we combat bad atte...

Does the Bible really say that parents should beat their children? Yes. Yes it does. AH! But couldn't that verse in Proverbs mean something else? Something a little less abuse-y? Something about a shepherd guiding their sheep? On this week's episode, we'll look at what the author of Proverbs REALLY meant when they said that a parent who spares the rod hates their child. Then, what is Satan's job?...

When you think cults, chances are you're imagining a documentary series you streamed recently where a shockingly non-dynamic person has somehow managed to convince a group of reasonably intelligent followers that they are the smartest person in the world, and now controls their lives in terrifying ways. So when we talk about "cult centralization," you could be forgiven for not immediately understa...

Haul out the holly, 'cause it's Christmas time! And what could be more appropriate for Christmas than to recount the nativity story? Or is it stories? That's right, this week we're looking at the Bible's two competing narratives of the birth of Jesus and asking "hey- what gives?" Because when you read the account in Matthew and the account in Luke, you can't help but notice that they have almost n...

Ooooh! It's de-bunking time! But with a twist: this time we're debunking the debunkers! That’s right, we’re coming after an idea that certain nonbelievers love to throw at Christians to put them in their place. Well, you can stay safely out of place, Christians, because it's the nonbelievers' turn to eat some humble pie. This week's show, we're looking at the theory that Jesus was just one figure...

The battle has begun! For a long time, scholars have said that Jesus nullified all the former Jewish laws about which foods were okay to eat and which were impure, and therefore not fit for consumption. The main passage that they used to justify this idea comes from Mark 7. Well this week our guest is going to blow your mind. Hint: your stomach might be more powerful than you knew! Logan Williams...

DEMONS! We're at an interesting crossroads in history. As science is able to explain more and more about how the universe works, and more specifically how we humans work, we find ourselves using supernatural explanations less and less. When, for example, we understand the erratic behavior of a friend as being part of their mental health journey, we're far less likely to turn to hurtful and dangero...

Psalm 22 [according to the Deer of Dawn (don't worry- you'll get that joke later)] is not a happy ditty. It is the song of a hopeless singer, crying out to a God who doesn't seem to be there. Which seems like kind of a weird thing to include in a book of scripture about that God, but there you go. But this psalm is particularly famous, as it was quoted by a pretty famous guy, at a pretty famous mo...

It's the boogeyman that haunts churches across the land: religious deconstruction. This is the process of genuinely questioning your religious faith, pulling apart what you've been taught (probably your whole life), sifting through it all, and deciding for yourself what actually works for you, without regard for what anyone else has to say about the matter. It can be a deeply disorienting--even te...

As origin stories go, the Bible's explanation for why humanity has multiple languages is... let's call it creative. Alas, it doesn't hold up particularly well in a modern, scientifically informed era. That said, there's more to the story of the so-called "tower of Babel" than immediately meets the eye. We'll discuss what other ancient questions this chapter of Genesis is attempting to answer, and...

The modern concept of God (at least in the Christian context) is of an all-knowing, all-powerful, being. One who is everywhere all at once. He sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake... all that stuff. But does that view of the almighty comport with what is represented in the Bible, or are those ideas more recent innovations? Where did these ideas come from? Then, we're talking B...

Go to any comment section where someone has made a controversial claim about the Bible and you'll see it: someone gatekeeping the idea of who qualifies as a "true Christian". Real Christians believe in the trinity, or else decidedly DON'T believe in the trinity. Real Christians believe we're saved through works. Or through faith alone. Or neither. Or both... On this week's episode, Dr. David Congd...

This week Craig Mousin and Cecil Cicirello of the Lawful Assembly podcast join us to talk about one of the major hot-button issues in current world politics: immigration. Craig is not only a lawyer who specializes in immigration law, he's also an ordained minister, so we asked him on to bring his unique perspective to bear on the issue. We discuss the current state of things in the U.S., and ask w...

Regular listeners will know that Dr. Dan is not of fan of definitions. Dictionaries aren't rulebooks, he'll say, they're attempts to describe how words are being used. So when the Data Over Dogma show is all about what two words mean, you know it ain't going to be simple. The first word we're looking at is "religion". We'll cover the origin of the word, and really try to get a handle on what that...

Modern parishioners are often asked to pay one tenth of their money to their church. This practice, they are told, is biblical in nature. But is it really? Well, this episode we're talking tithing, and like so many ideas in the Bible it's way more complicated than you might think! Then, we're keeping the theme monetary and telling the story of Ananias and Sapphira. This New Testament couple decide...

Oooh! We're going to poke the gauzy fabric-covered bear with this one! Well first we're going to have a delightful chat about plagues. No, not Covid 19 or the black death, we're talking frogs! If you thought the Spanish Flu was bad, wait until you hear about the great Egyptian livestock massacre. But did the great plagues visited upon Egypt by Moses and his very powerful tetragrammatonically-named...

Do you know anything at all about physics? It's fine if you don't, but hold on to your linen shirt if you do, because the sheer volume of gobbledygook that's coming is... impressive. We're going to talk about the fascinating claims of one Heidi Yellen. Yellen's famous papers revolve around Leviticus 19, and the prohibition against wearing two kinds of fabric together. She claims that she has disco...

Abracadabra! Today, we're diving into the strange world of spell-casting, charms, and defense against the dark arts. No, this isn't about a school for young witches and wizards, it's the magic practiced in the Bible! And oooh, does that make some people uncomfortable! First, we're going to look at the famous priestly divining implements, the Urim and Thummim. What were they? How did they work? Did...

The biblical story of Ruth can be a confusing one for modern readers. Is Ruth a hero? Is she a schemer? She goes from gleaning in her dead husband's kinsman's field to marrying the guy in a matter of days. What are we to glean from that? And what, exactly, happened on the threshing room floor? If only we had a Bible expert on the show to help us understand it all. Oh wait--we do! That's lucky. The...

It is a source of joy for some, schadenfreude for others, and for many it is the source of deep, soul-crushing anxiety. It's the Rapture! That theoretical moment when all of God's good kiddos on Earth get to fly up to heaven, while all the naughty boys and girls get stuck here on Earth. It's a theology believed by millions around the world, but there might be a problem: is it possible that the rap...