Stick Figure Iconography: Jaques

(Good Tickle Brain) – Mya Gosling:

All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women can be depicted using standardized character costumes and props. Here’s Jaques from As You Like It! …

goodticklebrain iconography-jaques

Here We Go Again with “He Is Risen!”

(Debunking Christianity) – David Madison:

The supreme killer text in the New Testament—the one that wipes out the story that Jesus rose from the dead—is a gift to us from the author of Matthew’s gospel. This is worth noting as Easter is upon us, but I wonder how many believers notice this text; or, for that matter, how many have done even a little due diligence on the gospel accounts of Easter morning.

My colleague at the Debunking Christianity Blog, Robert Conner, has offered a solid analysis in this book, Apparitions of Jesus: The Resurrection as Ghost Story—and his sharp wit as well:

“I’ve long suspected that what the majority of people know about Christianity derives from its major holidays. They get their religion from Christmas cards and Easter imagery—thinking the Easter Bunny was one of the twelve apostles and candy eggs were on the menu at the Last Supper.” (Conner, Debunking Christianity Blog, 16 November 2018)

But yet another holiday, Halloween, comes to mind, when we read the supreme killer text, which Matthew inserts just as Jesus took his last breath:

“At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. After his resurrection they came out of the tombs and entered the holy city and appeared to many.” (Matthew 27:51-53)

This is the point at which Christians should say, “Okay, that’s it, we’re outta here.” Matthew has dropped the biggest clue imaginable that the New Testament trades in superstition. In any other context this story would be laughed off as a macabre detail in a horror novel. But Matthew was pushing the idea that the resurrection of Jesus had magical properties; so he alone came up with the fantastic account of a swarm of dead bodies coming alive as a consequence: “See, it works!” I suppose we have to give him credit for being creative. …

debunking he-is-risen