Zechariah: Profound Prophecy Or Perplexing Poetry | Secular Bible Study (Episode 38)

[@melbied6215]

“The road to atheism is littered with Bibles read cover to cover.” Andrew Seidel

[@DannyS177]

The thing about unclear prophecies is that you can make them mean anything.

[@MindShift-Brandon]

yup! Vague for a reason.

[@DrugsForRobots]

Isn't it said in Daniel that, "keep the scroll, knowledge will increase, but the book is sealed to Man's understanding. Those who can read will say they cannot read it."

[@theresemalmberg955]

@@DrugsForRobots Then what is the point of the scroll if it is to be sealed and not understood?

[@DrugsForRobots]

@@theresemalmberg955The prophecy goes on to say that it will be understood in the end time. There's a correlation here to the visions in Revelation where John sees "the lamb that was slain" opening the scroll / book of God.

[@theresemalmberg955]

@@DrugsForRobots Well since nobody seems to understand it now and can't agree on what it says--that is if they even know what it says--then it seems to me we are not yet in the end time.

[@BluStarGalaxy]

It must have been crazy to have lived around Zachariah. Everyone in the village saying, "The old man is having crazy dreams about the future again! We need to write these important things down!" As this SBS has shown, it should be a prerequisite to read the whole Bible before an individual becomes a Christian. I have met so many Christians that say they dont need to read the whole Bible because they know it is true. I am like, "How do you know the Bible is true if you haven't read the entire thing?!"

[@ReasonQuest]

It's so amazing how I used to read stuff like this in the bible and scratch my head and then say to myself, "This stuff is so confusing... why even bother? I'll just trust my church leaders, and the ones who've REALLY studied all of this stuff." Now you're reminding me how confusing it all was/is, and how that default reaction (just trust the ones who "know") is so cultish!

[@exaucemayunga22]

Or that God speaks in mysterious ways, my fallen nature cannot understand God's mind😊

[@NoahofWill]

​Give yourself some credit. If you can understand that someone trying to sell you a house is giving you documents that don't match the house you were taken to see, then you can understand that stories about bronze age beliefs, legends and cultural identities of civilizations that no longer exist don't entirely match reality. ​@@exaucemayunga22

[@maggienewton8518]

I recently took a 13 hr drive with my younger sister. Our older sister was getting to us with her claims of receiving prophesies/messages from the universe at large, god, and dead relatives, largely delivered through signs. So having all this time on the road, we played "let's interpret secret messages everywhere." They're everywhere if you are determined to be that special person selected to receive them: road signs, animals, weather, a song on the radio. We were even able to develop a common theme relating to a situation we were currently dealing with. Crazy.

[@MindShift-Brandon]

great example! it is beyond easy!

[@Badficwriter]

I've known people into pagan magic and its the same thing. If you start to believe vague things, everything becomes a message that could mean anything, whatever your brain leans toward at the time.

[@Johnmhatheist]

So, God, who didn't want to live in a temple back in 1 Samuel now is upset with his own people for not rebuilding his temple fast enough, and now they're being treated as slaves by an omnipotent God who can create a temple in less than a second.

[@GameTimeWhy]

It's strange how Christians tend to just brush off the most inconvenient old testament and sometimes say that only the new testament matters.

[@Johnmhatheist]

@@GameTimeWhy When I was growing up in the church of Christ, we emphasized that we are NEW TESTAMENT CHRISTIANS, as if that makes anything better.

[@MindShift-Brandon]

spot on!

[@harveywabbit9541]

The Temple of God is your body and not the fake one that Christians want to construct as a building. The temple that Solomon built has never been anything more than your own body. Same with the second temple and all the rest. Think of the seven years as the seven liberal arts/sciences.

[@MrDalisclock]

​@GameTimeWhy a lot of people want to play down the OT because there's a lot of really uncomfortable stuff in there to reconcile. But the "Jesus prophecies" and leviticus 20:18 are still good, just don't pay too much attention to the other stuff.

[@rokkitserjun]

I'm a prophet! I forsee a future, maybe a thousand years from now, when the majority of humanity has evolved critical thinking skills great enough that religion is now only discussed in ancient history classes as they study the crazy ideas their ancient ancestors once believed as true.

[@MindShift-Brandon]

wouldnt it be something.

[@DrugsForRobots]

You don't see that that is what the Bible story is about? The moral and ethical evolution of Man as they learn what is true and how to behave correctly in accordance with principles conducive to life?

[@timbertome2443]

@@DrugsForRobots "The Bible story?" There are lots of stories, told by many different people, about wildly different things, many of which don't agree with one another. It's not univocal.

[@Vadjong]

40 years ago, I predicted the Vatican as a theme park in 50 years. (I may have overestimated the better angels of our nature a bit.)

[@rokkitserjun]

@@Vadjong - Don't give Ken Hamm any ideas!

[@dougt7580]

It amuses me that there are 'major' and 'minor' prophets. "Yes, God gave them special insights into the future but it was only 'sort of' important."

[@MindShift-Brandon]

lol the titles are funny for sure, but they are called such due to their length and nothing else.

[@dougt7580]

​@@MindShift-BrandonLol yeah I know. It's part of an old series of jokes from my Catholic school days.

[@michaelhenry1763]

Oh, major and minor just refer to the length of the books. Major for long and minor for short.

[@survive323]

HOLY ALGORITHM BATMAN! You actually nailed it to the cross. Good work as usual.

[@MindShift-Brandon]

Thank ya much!

[@harveywabbit9541]

The name Zachariah is interesting. The Zachar is the male red thing (counter part of Nekebah) and the iah is Jupiter.

[@guzmablack8220]

WE’RE BACK WITH SBS!

[@clemstevenson]

It is astonishingly easy to see through such biblical claims, as there is no independent supporting evidence. As I have said, I was never pressured into accepting unsubstantiated claims when I was a kid. I am unimpressed, when people tell me that Jesus Christ died for my sins. It's not surprising that I got married in a registry office.

[@harveywabbit9541]

The "dying for your sins" is the second crucifixion of Jesus (as the winter sun) and is nothing more than the end of winter and beginning of spring. The Anointed summer sun, "dies" as the Lord passes over the autumn equinox and this is the crucifixion in Egypt (southern hemisphere/winter). The five wounds of the sun are found in Rev 9.5.

[@jenna2431]

What I've learned from the SBS so far: There were evidently some pretty good drugs back in the day in the southwest Asian desert.

[@MindShift-Brandon]

lol, mushrooms for the win.

[@harveywabbit9541]

The Pomogranate is associated with the Opium Goddess.

[@rcktneoofusa]

​@@MindShift-Brandonor mandrakes (since they was the first drug to be used in the world)

[@cooltune]

It's "the 'God Fearing' Christian that reads the bible" VS "the 'Bible Fearing' Christian that loves God. It's like they secretly know reading the book will ruin it for them. Which ultimately means they fell in love with 'the idea of God' and will do whatever to suspend any potential disbelief.

[@uncleanunicorn4571]

18:36 There is actually a church hymn about this verse, My group always glossed over the implications of the women being raped. But imagine someone celebrating this in song....😢

[@MindShift-Brandon]

its wild how many hymns are from truly awful verses.

[@harveywabbit9541]

@@MindShift-Brandon I was blind/lost (winter) but now I see/am found (spring). The sun is called out of Egypt (winter) and has now arrived (spring equinox). Blindness begins at the autumn equinox and ends with the sun's pass over of the spring equinox. This is where the gods proclaim "Let there be Light." But, the Priestcraft keeps the suckers in darkness.

[@pilyglot3037]

my family's church sings the psalm about breaking little ones against rocks D:

[@No.1.U.N0]

​@@pilyglot3037😮

[@No.1.U.N0]

😪 this is so wrong.

[@EmmaHopman]

I like that you are compiling the actual contents of the Bible to contradict itself. Every other atheist-tuber does not have such in depth Bible study as you.

[@harveywabbit9541]

The typical atheist-tuber in the business of making money and is not interested in learning what the bible actually means.

[@EmmaHopman]

@@harveywabbit9541 I wouldn't say there's that much money in it, particularly for the majority. Most of them have a relatively small following which won't actually generate that much money.

[@harveywabbit9541]

@@EmmaHopman I agree.

[@SalvyMic]

I always look forward to Secular Bible Study, I have yet to find anyone explain the Bible so well as you. I remember getting a Bible for Christmas one year growing up and I made an attempt to start reading it from cover to cover. I remember commenting to someone how hard it was to read the Bible because of how it was structured and was told I wasn't supposed to read it that way. Now I understand why church leaders have never encouraged people to actually read the Bible in full, because they know full well how problematic it truly is. They've been cherrypicking this whole time.

[@MindShift-Brandon]

Thats very generous and also a very kind comment. Thank you!

[@Dostoyevsky866]

You really know your stuff, mate!

[@MindShift-Brandon]

Thank ya much!

[@GameTimeWhy]

Oh another thing thats strange is that the surrounding nations were not convinved of this abrahamic god either. Muslims are technically abrahamic in the same way mormons are but are often brushed off as being their own thing. There was also lots of trade and travel happening in the Roman Empire and Hinduism and Buddhism and all those other ones still exist. My point on this is, as far as ive ever seen, people from these other religions never converted over to "the one true religion" despite living in a time when they could have had all of the evidence to confirm or even just *see* literal god walking among the people.

[@BeccaYoley]

That makes a lot of sense!

[@GameTimeWhy]

@@BeccaYoley I think we sometimes forget that the old testament didn't happen in a vacuum. Trade was huge back then even if travel took a long time. Other religions outside the "evil Canaanites" existed and none of them wrote about Judaism or Christianity miracles or god existing, as far as i know.

[@maggienewton8518]

good point about if your wife wrote you a book, Brandon. You would think out of sheer respect alone people who claim to live for Yahweh and love him above all would read what they believe to be his Word out of sheer respect and a desire to know him as well as possible.

[@MindShift-Brandon]

Right! its just nuts to me.

[@BeccaYoley]

I totally agree, and enjoyed this. I love breaking down the ultimately unimpressive messianic prophecies, as my Dad really marketed them as the clincher evidence we can cling to in order to know the Bible was inspired by God. With this, we can then take everything else about the religion by faith. When I was a believer, I felt that faith can only be justified if there's at least one strong piece of evidence or solid logic that we can hold on to to demonstrate the truth of Christianity. The bricks of my faith collapsed when I realized there is no there there. There's nothing impressive about the messianic prophecies. Thank you!

[@jaflenbond7854]

ATHEISM and RELIGIONS BRING and CAUSE the HUMILIATIONS, SUFFERINGS, and DEATHS of MANKIND The Creator's existence and the lives, dignities, and existence of human beings are obviously of no worth, value, and importance to Atheists, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, SDAs, Catholics, Baptists, Methodists, Born Again Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and fanatics of all kinds of Religions who are shameless, remorseless, and unbothered even if their Satanic arrogance, hatred, wickedness, cruelties, hypocrisies, lies, deceits, and false teachings about "hellfire", "afterlife", "Armageddon", "rapture", "Trinity", "immortality of the souls", and "reincarnation" hurt, offend, insult, and degrade the lives and dignities of all human beings including that of their of own families and neighbors and cause their humiliations, degradations, sufferings, griefs, sickness, and DEATHS. The LIVES, DIGNITIES, and EXISTENCE of HUMAN BEINGS are of great WORTH, VALUE, and IMPORTANCE to the CREATOR The Creator who is being dishonored and insulted by Atheists, Evolutionists, and Fanatics of Religions as worthless, useless, and undeserving to be honored and respected as the True and Sovereign God KNOWS that he authorized and sent Jesus Christ from heaven to earth thousands of years ago to preach and teach the "Kingdom of God" and "Resurrection of the Dead" to imperfect, suffering, and dying human beings. The "KINGDOM of GOD" is the Creator's Rulership through Jesus Christ that will stop and put an end to all the Satanic hatred, arrogance, cruelties, hypocrisies, wickedness, lies, deceits, and falsehoods of Satan's Atheism, Evolutionism, and Religious Fanaticism and ensures planet Earth is safe, secure, and peaceful for all lowly, ordinary, kind, and respectful persons who will definitely be honored and rewarded by the Creator with ETERNAL LIFE and existence on earth without sufferings, pains, griefs, sickness, and death. The "RESURRECTION of the DEAD" is the Creator's guarantee that all lowly, ordinary, kind, and respectful persons on earth who died recently and thousands of years ago like Abel, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Job, Ruth, Naomi, King David, Daniel, Jesus Christ's Followers and disciples, and many others will all be RESURRECTED back to life in the right and proper time so they can happily, abundantly, and peacefully live and exist on earth forever as subjects and citizens of the "KINGDOM of GOD" and fully enjoy the eternal love, kindness, goodness, generosities, compassions, favors, and blessings of the Creator and his Christ for eternity under the loving and kind rulership, guidance, and protection of Jesus Christ as the Creator's Chosen King and Ruler of the heavens and the earth.

[@sdlorah6450]

There is only one person about which all of these could be said: Born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14); in the town of Bethlehem Ephratah (Micah 5:2); of the lineage of David (2 Samuel 7:12) and Judah (Genesis 49:8-10); had a forerunner to prepare his way (Isaiah 40:3); a prophet like unto Moses (Deuteronomy 18:18); against whom Gentile rulers and Jews conspired (Psalm 2:1-2); who was mocked at his death and his clothing divided (Psalm 22:7-8, 18); who was betrayed for 30 pieces of silver (Zechariah 11:12-13); who bore the sins of mankind (Isaiah 53:6); who rose from the dead the third day (Psalm 16:10). God foretold that his name would be praised among Gentiles in Malachi 1:11. How would this be?--All of the Gentiles worshipped idols (see Psalm 96:5). It would be through the preaching of the gospel of Christ that Gentiles would come to know and praise the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of the Hebrews, the Creator and only God.

[@DrakeTimbershaft]

When Zechariah mentions the horsemen accompanied by horses of different colors 😄, all I could think was: This is where St. John of Patmos nicked the idea for his "visions" of the four horsemen in The Book of Revelation. As for Haggai and Zechariah's conflicting prophecies, I thought of Carl Sagan pointing out the inefficacy of horoscopes. Pick up a copy of today's New York Post and a copy of today's New York Daily News (can you tell I'm a New Yorker?) and the horoscopes of Pisces, Gemini, Libra, etc. are divergent or completely contradictory. These prophets' forecasts are about as reliable as the breeze, but when you are of a nation that has been tempest-tossed as Israel from one empire to another and one land to another, you'll believe just about anything.

[@harveywabbit9541]

The rider of the white horse is Jupiter/Fire in the sign of the Ram. The rider of the black horse is Juno/Air, in the sign of the Scales. Aries thru Libra is the arc/ark of the covenant and Lord of the Hosts. Hosts in biblespeak are constellations. The word Lord will always mean the big ball of fire in the skies.

[@harveywabbit9541]

The word Israel, in the bible, has no connection to any historical place down here. See Isaiah 9.14-15..

[@NB-th8iu]

@@harveywabbit9541 I’m intrigued by your astrological interpretation of the bible! And of course your funny sense of humor. 🌟

[@harveywabbit9541]

@@NB-th8iu We may be certain that Scorpio is the rightful successor of God (Aries thru Libra), and the legitimate ruler and leader-up of Satan's hosts - the winter constellations (Scorpio thru Pisces) This terrible five is found Revelation 9. Scorpio is mistreated throughout the bible. He is call Satan, Father of Lies. He is Beelzebub (lord of the flies/locusts). See Isaiah 9.14-5, where this lying scorpion is the tail of Israel. The head of Israel is the Noble/Royal lion aka Leo. The Palm Frond is Virgo, and the Reed, a water plant, is Libra. Scorpio has a right to be a bit angry. The writers took his claws to form the constellation of the Scales.

[@rcktneoofusa]

Serious? Each different newspaper has an different horoscope interpretation? This explains why many people still believes in horoscope

[@JamesRichardWiley]

Finally made it to 40,000. Congratulations!

[@MindShift-Brandon]

Thanks so much for all the support!

[@PurpleHeart99]

Another great video. Thank you for your honesty and critical thinking. One of my favorite channels! ❤

[@MindShift-Brandon]

Appreciate that so much.

[@franciswalsh8416]

Great show about how tenuous Prophecy in the Bible really is. And yes, the compilers of the Bible worked incredibly hard to make it a continuous story from start to finish, but they fell way short of doing that. Thanks again!!

[@harveywabbit9541]

None of the biblical prophets existed.

[@NB-th8iu]

Thank you for your nuggets of reality! 🎉🤗

[@MindShift-Brandon]

Love to share, thanks for watching.

[@NB-th8iu]

You are incredibly eloquent and easy to listen to! One of The best orators!

[@harveywabbit9541]

Some accept the nuggets as reality. Some know about the golden nuggets that preachers pull from their diapers.

[@NB-th8iu]

@@harveywabbit9541 …and nuggets pulled from bulls butts! 🤣👍

[@karahughes7074]

Brandon I find your exegeses of these books of the Old Testament so enlightening, and I so wish I'd had access to them when I was reading for my degree. Not sure I could have referenced them, but they would have given me such an insight into how both the apostles and later Christian apologists almost 'forced; the Old Testament prophecies to fit Jesus.

[@duanethompson8770]

Great video. I have enjoyed your series about all the books (so far) of the Bible. I agree with so much of what you’ve said. Looking forward to learning about more books of the Bible.

[@MindShift-Brandon]

Thanks, Duane!

[@rcktneoofusa]

Apostles: look Jesus, a donkey! Jesus: IT'S "FULFILL" TIMEH!!! Zachariah (in the Sheol): who is that guy that is thinking that my prophecy was directed to him?

[@harveywabbit9541]

The biblical donkeys are two stars in the Cancer constellation. Issachar's standard is the donkey in this constellation. Issachar translates to Bacchus.

[@imjustsayingthough2261]

When I use to go to church my pastor would say that Jesus was there from the beginning. Therefore to me that just shows that he agreed with everything God did. But people don't like to see that.

[@harveywabbit9541]

Jesus is only one of the many personifications of the sun. Take a look at the Pieta by Michelangelo. This statue depicts Venus and Adonis.

[@Nkosi766]

In the house again

[@01Aigul]

This is something which is confusing to me. The Bible is supposed to be the perfect word of a perfect god. Given that, it's weird that it requires so much interpretations and explanation by apologists and prophets. How is it possible for a theologian to improve our understanding by interpreting the Bible? Doesn't that indicate that the Bible was NOT actually perfect? And I'm being generous here, when you look at how people like William Lane Craig bend over backwards and adopt absurdly implausible interpretations of the text in trying to excuse God's atrocities, it's very hard to see why God would have communicated so unclearly with us.

[@simplybaker.]

Hey Brandon, a channel I'm not sure you follow, but you definitely would enjoy is one called harmonic atheist. He has interviews with people about their journey out of Christianity, and I really think you would enjoy it. A lot of the people are very well read, and well reasoned people, coming from all different types of backgrounds of Christianity and all deconverting. Some of them might even have good ideas for video topics.

[@MindShift-Brandon]

Appreciate the heads up but beat you to it. Ive actually been on Harmonic Atheist

[@simplybaker.]

@@MindShift-Brandon even better! I haven't seen that one yet 😂 Have you talked with Tim about his project with the Book of Enoch by any chance?

[@26beegee]

Your analogies really bring your points to life. Well done! Today is my first child’s 53rd birthday. She was 18 when you were born so it is official - I could be your grandmother!! (She is/was a ginger and so is her son!)

[@a.b.2405]

Oh wow! Happy birthday to her!

[@ChinonsoNnadozie-t6d]

Thank you mind shift 😊

[@MindShift-Brandon]

My pleasure! thanks for watching

[@mrob51780]

Just found your channel and loving your content. I was wondering if you have a video on the biblical stories that are just altered versions of ancient stories that predates the Bible, and if you don't have one, I wonder what your interest would be in doing one. Adam and Eve, Moses, Noah, Jonah, Sampson, the Tower of Babel, these are all just altered from ancient stories of other cultures. Particularly, the one that I was first introduced to was the creation story from the Sumerian tablets about how the Annunaki created humans. This really helped to complete my de-conversion from Christianity as the Bible obviously has blatantly plagiarized parts of this story. Anyway, would love to hear your thoughts.

[@harveywabbit9541]

The first four labors of Hercules became the Israel of Isaiah 9.14-15.

[@sdlorah6450]

The creation account, the Fall, the Flood, etc., were all historical events. The knowledge of these was passed down from those closest to the events to their descendants. Though this knowledge became corrupted over time, remnants of them were retained in ancient people groups. The Bible does not 'copy and embellish' 'made-up stories' about the past from these ancient people, it provides the correct and full account (as God would have us to know) of them.

[@harveywabbit9541]

@@sdlorah6450 Genesis one is an annual event.

[@KenSketcher]

You have been., saved, Brandon. You saved yourself from this violent racist horrible nonsense that is the bible.

[@jon.skeptischism]

Thanks so much Brandon.

[@MindShift-Brandon]

My pleasure!

[@DavidRichardson153]

These books read like Snickers commericals: Zechariah: "Their eyes will rot, and their tongues will rot!" Rando: "Zechy, eat a Snickers." Zechariah: "Why?" Rando: "You get doomsday-ranty when you're hungry."

[@istvansipos9940]

Snickers should totally make this. Spend some money on it, the SCANDAL does the rest. The commercial would be all over the media almost for free.

[@DavidRichardson153]

@@istvansipos9940 The only question left is: which celebrity would play the prophet?

[@istvansipos9940]

@@DavidRichardson153 the Ancient Alien dude looks crazy enough in the memes. IDK how he aged since then

[@TonyLambregts]

SBS for the win

[@MindShift-Brandon]

Thanks, Tony!

[@akulagepard9510]

my favorite series of this channel

[@thembnkosi5291]

yoh B...you cooking with this one!😊

[@MindShift-Brandon]

Ha. Thank you!

[@BookishTexan]

It seems to me the greatest proof that Jesus doesn’t fulfill the messianic prophecies of the Jewish prophets is that Jewish people don’t accept Jesus as the messiah.

[@MindShift-Brandon]

right?! excellent point.

[@harveywabbit9541]

Messiah = Mes (son of) iah (Jupiter). The Messiah is the spring sun.

[@DrugsForRobots]

Isn't a chunk of the prophecies about how Judah does not listen, they don't learn, they are a stubborn people, and God says he will break them over and over until they learn?

[@GameTimeWhy]

​@@DrugsForRobotsimagine creating a chosen people so rebellious that they never ever learn any lesson no matter how terrible it is from an Omni being. Those poor chosen people.

[@DrugsForRobots]

@@GameTimeWhy It's not that they never learn, just that it takes time. The learning process is trial and error over time.

[@thing1thing2themediamaniac43]

It's funny how in The Old Testament The Jews had to do things accoring to GOD'S timetable but GOD didn't have to reciprocate

[@Queenread82]

I’ve been unwinding some trauma and had some vivid dreams. I can see how without secular insight into the psyche and how dreams work some old guy (dreaming dreams) would think he had some profound prophesy. I hate the idea of someone a century or millennia from now reading a dream journal and saying “look, prophesy!” I ain’t writing’ down none of that stuff. 😮

[@jons4678]

Interesting book, guess I have never read it! Your insights always so enlightening. Your microphone was picking up when you put books down or tap the table, see from 22:30 for that. Thank you for your great work.

[@almishti]

If people put half as much energy into being compassionate towards each other and working to deal with humanity's many problems as they put into deciphering and "interpreting" and arguing about these malarkey so-called prophecies, then we wouldn't even need religion anymore b/c we'd be living in a vastly better world. It's so sad.

[@kettei7743]

Nice overview I think, I'm looking forward to see how you tackle this topic of prophecy going foraward, since scholars like Craig Bloomberg and RT France have argued that prophecies in the NT include the category of Typological fullfilments, meaning that the new testament writters use their present events as representing a pattern with things from their recorded past and now so much with 1 to 1 fullfillments. Definetly interested to see you explore this. Either way, happy sbs day

[@frostyglass3738]

It's like a guy taking his shirt off in the middle of times square 100 years ago, having another guy making a prophecy about some guy being born 100 years ago saying there will be a guy who will take his shirt off in the years to come surrounded by lights and fire. And demon structures...

[@AmityvilleFan]

I love this book. It has very strong imagery.

[@theresemalmberg955]

About the Messiah riding on a donkey prophecy, it seems very strange that the Romans did not immediately arrest Jesus when he entered Jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday. I mean, people rode donkeys into Jerusalem all the time, it was no big deal. But it is very clear from the context this particular donkey ride was a political statement, and the Romans had to be aware of it as such. It does not make sense that they would ignore it and only take action after Jesus had been delivered to them by the religious authorities after being betrayed by one of his own. The Romans were very quick to put down any kind of threat to their authority. The New Testament makes it sound like the Romans (and their puppet king Herod) were not aware of what the Jewish scriptures said about the coming of the Messiah. While incompetence and ignorance have always been among us, I do not think the Romans governing Judea were that unaware of what was going on among the populace and where these ideas were coming from. Let's just say that Jesus was not the first or only crucified "messiah." The idea that they didn't want to arrest Jesus in public during the day because they were afraid of riots is laughable. They certainly didn't show any hesitation in 70 CE or 135 CE. Which makes Zechariah's prophecies very interesting. There is absolutely nothing in the Old Testament to indicate that the Jewish nation would suffer such a defeat that it would go into forced exile for 2,000 years; the Temple and indeed all of Jerusalem would be razed and renamed Aelia Capitolina while the Temple site itself became a garbage dump; the country would be renamed Palestine and it was pretty much devoid of Jewish occupation (save for a handful of residents who managed to stay under the radar) until the Zionist movement of the late 19th and 20th centuries which culminated in the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 partially as a response to the Holocaust. It is this prolonged absence of the Jews from the area we now know as Israel/Palestine that laid the roots for later conflict. Arabs, Europeans, Turks all moved into this land and called it home and there was no one to contradict them until the Jews started returning. I must note that while the region was called Palestine, there was never any historic independent Palestinian nation. The Palestinians were either part of the different Arab conquests coming out of Arabia, the Crusaders, the Ottoman Turks, the post-WWI mandates or neighboring states like Jordan. Had Israel not come into being it is questionable, considering the historical evidence, whether a separate Palestinian identity/state would have emerged. It is possible that it could have; it is also possible that it wouldn't have. This is not to say one side is right and the other wrong but it does add a level of complexity to the issue.

[@harveywabbit9541]

That donkey is a star in the Cancer constellation.

[@DeepDreamLullaby]

I'd love to see you talk about this eclipse happening on April 8. I've seen many Christians 😂try to say its another sign that the end is near

[@wolfos420]

Nice.

[@MindShift-Brandon]

thanks!

[@GameTimeWhy]

Metaphorical king is somehow more important than a literal king, when trying to fit the prophecies at least.

[@studiosandi]

You make excellent examples and parallels to the real world.

[@MindShift-Brandon]

Thank you!

[@ghostface9894]

Can't wait till you get to Romans! I know it's a lot to go through, however I do want to see how you'll break it down.

[@gerb3664]

Are prophesies similar to horoscopes?

[@crazierthan-u7571]

You are so right about Yahweh being like an abusive husband. He's a textbook case! Even his "love and mercy" phase mirrors the mortal abuser's' "hearts and flowers" phase.

[@exoplanet11]

This is another excellent program on how a book of the Bible makes no theological sense and is open to infinite interpretation. What I would like to see more of is how perhaps many of these books DO make sense from a purely political standpoint. For example, the curses against anyone who attacks Judah/Israel make a lot of sense to me. After returning from Babylon and setting up a new temple, the returnee's position must have been quite tenuous. They were still under Persian control, still surrounded by potentially threatening neighbors: Greeks, Egyptians, etc. (Not to mention possible dissent the returnees and those who stayed behind, continuing to practice and evolve the religion in their own way. ) I doubt they were allowed to raise an army of their own for defense. So, in a superstitious age, they used these curses and spells to protect themselves, so that any would-be attackers thought twice about attacking them.

[@harveywabbit9541]

Babylon, like Egypt (bible) is nothing more than the winter season. It is not a physical location but a state of mind.

[@michaelhenry1763]

Thank you for the insights in this video! I read a biblical scholarship theory that Haggai and Zechariah 1-8 was one corpus originally and 9-14 were added on either towards the end of the Persian period or during the Hellenistic period. As for as the gospel writers making allusions or citing proof texts, I have began to wonder if the they just read the Book of the Twelve ( all on one scroll) and created their Jesus stories from these minor prophets: the fig tree story, the donkey story and even the Jesus rebuking Peter ( get behind me Satan).

[@tulpas93]

For some reason, I can't "like" this video despite the fact that I do; hence, this comment. Thanks for your work, Brandon! 🎉

[@Johnmhatheist]

You can conveniently put Jesus anywhere in the Bible.

[@MindShift-Brandon]

indeed you can.

[@aprilbryant8641]

no wonder x-ians are so myopic in their thinking. ..i'm getting a better bible understanding than i ever did in church. ty again and again .

[@MindShift-Brandon]

Always happy to help!

[@rodbarrett1581]

Around the 10 min mark when your explaining the visions I had to laugh. It's clear these people were utilizing magic mushrooms. The description of angels with several huge eyes spinning around, and Ezekiel. He did a heroic dose no doubt. If you want a big laugh, read these parts in a stoner voice. It's freaking hilarious. I'm just picturing Spicoli from fast times at Ridgemont high narrating this.

[@MindShift-Brandon]

lol! there are some fun theories of biblical writers and mushrooms.

[@harveywabbit9541]

@@MindShift-Brandon Like in Ravens bread.

[@Venaloid]

Honestly, the obvious mismatch between the life of Jesus and these Old Testament prophecies about the messiah are a big reason why I think mythicism is a poor explanation for how Christianity began. As you said, no one would read these prophecies and take away a picture of Jesus as described in the Gospels.

[@cardcounter21]

7:21 _"Even though they won every victory ever needed to accomplish their goals despite how many people they had or what was happening to them, God could just snap his fingers, hold Moses's arms up and everything would be fine for battle"_ Not sure if this relates to your point but God's armies didn't win _every_ battle as Judges 1:19 has the Israelites being defeated by the Canaanites (due to iron chariots) despite God being with them!

[@MindShift-Brandon]

for sure, my point was, when god wanted them to win. Many times he had them lose as punishment. But there was no reality too big for this starter god of the old testament, and then bam, after exile, these people had to play on normal mode.

[@cardcounter21]

@@MindShift-Brandon The iron chariots story is problematic because it's God himself who demands the Canaanites be removed from the land. Christians claim that the 'afraid' Israelites failed as punishment for their lack of faith in God but why would he do that when he really wanted those damn Canaanites gone! Not to mention that the story clearly claims God was _with_ Judah, not that he was punishing them! Its a strange story to include in scripture as it only casts doubt on God's all powerful status!

[@luizr.5599]

Ancient people were crazy

[@harveywabbit9541]

Nothing new under the sun.

[@dantallman5345]

What is grey, has a bushy tail, lives in trees and gathers nuts? Jesus. Just heard that on the Rabyd Atheist; I think it’s an old, exasperated, in-house Christian joke about strained prophecies.

[@harveywabbit9541]

Jesus is the sun and he has many names.

[@harveywabbit9541]

The donkey and her foal, are two stars in the Cancer constellation. Jesus (the sun) will ride these donkeys into the city of Jerusalem. This "city" is the summer solstice in the Cancer constellation (think Tropic of Cancer and sun most high). The opposite solstice in Capricorn is where we find the Jerusalem of the Handmaid (Ha gar/the gar). (think Tropic of Capricorn) This is deepest part of the "pit." The Jerusalem of the free begins at the spring equinox and ends at the autumn equinox (six days Gen 1). The Jerusalem of the handmaid begins at the autumn equinox and ends at the spring equinox (six nights Gen 1).

[@serpentinious7745]

Not a king Not a conqueror Didn't bring peace Didn't rule from sea to sea But he rode a donkey once It's prophecy!

[@Truth-Be-Told-USA]

The donkey may have spoken to him 😂

[@Noise-Conductor]

@@Truth-Be-Told-USA What a smart ass 😉

[@francescaan110]

@@Noise-Conductor💀

[@hamobu]

Bible: "For believers shall read these passages, grasping at straws to find the proof of prophecy." Christians: "That's exactly what we are doing. The prophecy came true!"

[@davidrexford586]

Right.. there are a lot of Supernatural occurrences throughout the word of God and many just outright reject anything of a Supernatural origin.

[@brentkrohn3786]

Great one! I really like to hear this topic. I too took it for granted the prophecies must be true or so many people wouldn't believe it. But unfortunately so many people have not read it themselves or Cherry picked to fit the narrative. Such cognitive dissonance.

[@QueenBoadicea]

17:00 Jesus as a fountain?! There are already jokes about how he's coming and suffer the little children to come onto him. They don't need to add this fuel to the fire.😄

[@geraldmeehan8942]

Brandon, Jesus was bit of stunt man. He rode in on 2 donkeys in Matthew

[@MrDalisclock]

2x donkeys means 2x messiah/s

[@harveywabbit9541]

The writer used two donkeys to make sure you recognized the Cancer constellation.

[@RiannaNicole]

The everything always all at once aspect we we lead into the New Testament is definitely interesting. It makes sense why I, especially as a tween and teen was so confused and could also come across to many as “good” and the like, because I could “get something out of the text”, but it’s no more certain than how most of us felt in our 2nd decade of life, let alone how many of us go into our 20s and 30s or even later, just as “lost” or confused, with this text. It’s sad and disappointing that there is so much said but not enough meant with this book/series of books, in terms of helping us through life. Like I’ve shared prior, it’s decent if you read it like the Iliad or the Odessy, but not as a religious text.

[@jtwarren3464]

@MindShift-Brandon do you have a video on the oral tradition and also about how liberal christians believe in the resurrection even they considered genesis 1-11 as metaphor instead of literal

[@josephcollins6033]

Gee, the Bible sounds really old, almost as if it had been written by ancient humans who didn't know anything...

[@Israphel776]

"There's a lot more that you're excusing or ignoring" Welcome to religion in general. Are you new here?

[@peterhughes8699]

Thanks for another excellent SBS episode Brandon. I wouldn't call Zechariah either profound prophecy or perplexing poetry. I call it the insane rants of a crazy and evil old man. Very similar to all the other Old Testament books :)

[@floristfindspeace]

i just needed somewhere to comment something i’ve been thinking about here and there. i could be projecting, so take this with a grain of salt. tbh, i’m starting to wonder if religion (specifically christianity or any belief that revolves around suffering for “sins”) is a result of what we would consider today to be undiagnosed OCD, or something similar. just everything about it checks the boxes, the biggest one being the morality issue. the black and white thinking, the need to pray for forgiveness/repent for even THINKING sinfully, the absolutely dire consequences of you do not follow these rules, the list goes on. sounds like a bunch of people throughout history have been trying to grasp the concept of existence, landed on relatively the same page about what is and isn’t true, then just ran with the rest. given that we continuously evolve as a species, our ability to understand ourselves and our environment is limited to this lack of evolution (as this also evolves our ability to analyze ourselves and the world around us) and/or the technology required to further study whatever it may be. makes sense when you think about a bunch of people from the middle east thousands of years ago trying to grasp the concept of famine, death, poverty, disease, mental illness, and more, and just giving it a much higher, much more defined meaning than what’s necessary. i’m an agnostic theist, so i won’t say there’s nothing behind all of this or after this because i don’t know, but i’d like to believe there is, but if there is, i will say that i hope it’s not the christian god. it speaks volumes to me that every christian that you meet will have their own specific idea of what faith is and how to uphold it, but anyone that’s deconstructed their belief (which no one would ever do willingly, so this also says a lot to me) all say the same thing, or close to it.

[@TheRatzor]

You and myth vision and AronRa need to have a conversation some time

[@tulpas93]

All these visions sound a lot like they were hitting the ergot, or mushrooms, or maybe just bad meat!

[@scofah]

"they" want you to say " I don't understand" or " I'll never understand" because then they're winning. So I always say, " I understand It's about power. And I'm not giving them our power." Vote blue!!! Because blue election winners protect our secular government.

[@benclark4823]

Vote blue no matter who even if they are criminals like Joe Biden 🤡🗳️

[@Dostoyevsky866]

God was punishing people as they were not working fast enough. Ironic, given that he's omniscient n this was part of his Divine Plan. It's almost as if he planned n wanted it to be this way! 🙄

[@Betttty]

Honestly after watching your channel I can't see the Bible as anything else but a story..... and I was deep within this Christian thing..... I was so afraid of thought crimes , dating Christianity made me very fearful......... hey will we get to the new testament during Easter time 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉😂

[@MindShift-Brandon]

It will be shorty after. And thank you!

[@kettei7743]

Finally

[@MindShift-Brandon]

Lol

[@stevenhogenson4880]

Since Jesus was a scholar of the Jewish Torah and other writings (the NT story of him staying behind to discuss and debate with the Jewish leaders when he was 12 and Mary and Joseph couldn't find him in their caravan on the way home; and when they tracked him down in the synagogue he was dazzling his elders with his understanding and knowledge) I am guessing his entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday riding a donkey was VERY much planned for effect using his knowledge of those writings.

[@FoursWithin]

Utter - Vagueness Sinful women Donkey visions Minor prophets Major narcissist God Massive holy blunders Stupendous propaganda

[@harveywabbit9541]

The two donkeys are found in the Cancer constellation. You will find the young lion and the old lion in a neighboring constellation.

[@michaelhenry1763]

21:51 it is highly confusing. It seems to me the author or authors are “ time slipping”. They go into the future and then they repeat what happened in the past. Sometimes it is clear and at other times it is not.

[@MindShift-Brandon]

Agreed!

[@CatDaddyGuitar]

🍿🎉

[@PenguninFrostylen-od6tw]

Hello sir, how can you explain witches? I’m atheist and I still don’t know if what they do is real. Thank you!

[@michaelhenry1763]

22:35 testify thinks so. Undesigned coincidences, anyone 😊?

[@jamiegallier2106]

❤❤❤

[@MindShift-Brandon]

Always love seeing your three hearts!

[@jamiegallier2106]

@@MindShift-Brandon Aww- you are much appreciated!

[@davidsellon4580]

Awesome alliteration or exhaustive exegesis? LoL

[@MindShift-Brandon]

lol!! love it

[@mistersmith8962]

flesh eyes rotting ...love

[@MindShift-Brandon]

what a good father

[@Marcelo-Caruccio]

Please always say Yaw-Weh when it is written so in the Bible, like you said " recognize YahWeh as the true God"

[@while_coyote]

Finally somebody found Zechariah! Is Jesus in the book? Literally, yes! Joshua is the same name as Jesus. But it's not the same Jesus. It's a different man named Jesus, an actual historical guy, with a suspicious amount of similarity to the later Jesus. So similar one might wonder if Zechariah is the SOURCE of Jesus myths five hundred years later...

[@henryschmit3340]

Profound prophesy. Until the Mount of Olives is split in two from east to west, then anyone claiming to be the Messiah, is a false Christ (Matthew 24:5; 24). You will know Jesus is back when the Mount of Olives is split in two from east to west. 'Then the Lord will go forth And fight against those nations, As He fights in the day of battle. And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, Which faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two, From east to west, Making a very large valley; Half of the mountain shall move toward the north And half of it toward the south.... ...And in that day it shall be That living waters shall flow from Jerusalem, Half of them toward the eastern sea And half of them toward the western sea; In both summer and winter it shall occur. And the Lord shall be King over all the earth. In that day it shall be- “The Lord is one,” And His name one. (Zechariah 14:3-9)

[@istvansipos9940]

- your g0d is like the legend of rock water. - whaaaat? - ice, christian. Ice. Even if it exists (and it does), NOBODY will believe your rants about it, if you support the whole story with ONLY a book. Although everybody knows about water. At least half of the "legend" is already a fact for everybody. And you still could not convince anybody about the other 50% with just a book. Now you can cite the g0d b00k. I'm all ears. My belief, for obvious reasons, starts from 0.000% and the topic is magic.

[@James-wv3hx]

Google says that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on two donkeys 😅

[@harveywabbit9541]

The writer is referring to the summer solstice in the Cancer constellation. The head of the crab contains two stars named Asellus Borealis and Asellus Australis, whose names mean Northern and Southern Ass. These stars were believed to be the two asses that Dionysus and Silenus rode on during the battle against the Titans.

[@a.b.2405]

Ooops not you seeing that Jesus may not have been the messiah! 🤭

[@harveywabbit9541]

The biblical Messiah/Mesiah...is the spring sun. See for yourself.

[@carlasmith9093]

Happy International Atheists Day!❤

[@MindShift-Brandon]

I had bo idea this existed lol. I would have made a video!

[@carlasmith9093]

@@MindShift-Brandon I look forward to the one you make next year!