Ten Things Christians Wish Jesus Hadn't Taught: And Other Reasons to Question His Words

By: David Madison

Narrated by: Seth Andrews

Length: 3 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

For centuries the gospels have been cherished devotional literature, and under the guidance of preachers and priests, they’ve been understood as reliable depictions of Jesus. But even the most devout Christians stumble across sayings of Jesus that don’t sound quite right. In fact - if we’re honest - some of them are alarming. I discovered a few of these verses when I was a kid, but Jesus was our lord and savior, so I didn’t let it bother me too much.

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How can this not be food for thought? What are the implications of this major downside of the gospels? It takes a certain level of bravery - frankly, curiosity and courage are required - to examine everything that Jesus taught. This audiobook is designed to help with that adventure. (David Madison)

©2021 David Madison (P)2021 David Madison

Very good! Very easy to listen to and understand!

This book is scholarly without being dense and dry. The author draws on many excellent sources and makes those sources understandable.

Jesus the jerk

The author gently explores the myriad of problems and inconsistencies in the 4 texts that are the foundation of Christianity. He goes to great effort to encourage believers to reread their “sacred” screeds. John’s inventions as an example are compared to the oldest text Mark. Clearly this author infused a harsher and more vindictive Jesus with long stories with no historic background. He points out that anti semitism was given full voice by John.
There are references to the many authors who have questioned historicity of Jesus.
In the end he considers why the all knowing god would not have left us with a clear non contradictory story. Why forgiveness could not have been granted without a human sacrifice. And why this healer being all knowing wouldn’t have relieved suffering by explaining germ theory at some point?
This is a quick read with good references aimed I think at believers. It is always a pleasure to spend a couple hours with a scholar who is willing to highlight the hubris in the actual texts that two billion people cling to. If as a believer you are willing to take his challenge at the end I suspect you will at least be able to release the belief that every word is from God.

Pretty interesting, narrated well

I liked the narration and the numerous examples that supported the arguments. Could have been longer.

How dare you!

This book is heresy, blasphemy, the very work of the devil himself… And I loved every word of it. Great work!

wow things I did not know

easy to listen to and hard to swallow for a believer. be open minded and be able to except the results.

Wonderful exploration of my own problems

I live in a very red state where I am constantly assailed by exhortations to follow Jesus and be saved. The problem I saw first was that few of the sects of Christianity understand the idea of "being saved" as the same thing. I actually read Bible as a teen, and then and there, realized, "This stuff can't be true."
I've done some investigation since then and realized my first impression had been correct. This book puts succinctly both the contradictions I had noticed and explained many more.
If you're an atheist, this book will support and expand your beliefs, If you're a Christian, please read this book to better understand your faith. If it's strong it should hold up under scrutinization and if it doesn't, maybe you should rethink things.

INFORMATIVE

I am listening to the book a second time in order to retain and discuss knowledgeably with my naive Christian friends. Tom Broome

Great for the atheist book collection

I really enjoyed David’s work..and well Seth guided me to the dark side of the force with his book deconverted…David’s book thoroughly works through the Bible at a “in the trenches level” of those endless never ending Christian excuses and mis interpretations of the GOOD book…but I believe that holds true for ALL religions….in the sense all religious people make excuses for their own religion and GOOD books. Like the man said “religion poison’s everything “ ….this book is an excellent crash course in very effective verbal and knowledge judo.

Respectful and true

He presented his findings and beliefs without the appearance of bias. He let the evidence speak for itself.

Thought provoking.

Good information and thought provoking. Most excellent choice for a narrator and on audiobook that’s huge. I could listen to Seth Andrews read a phone book.