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The Catholic Bible contains 73 books, the Protestant Bible has 66 books, the Orthodox Bible includes 79 books, and the Ethiopian Bible has the largest canon with 81 books.

Other Sections:

Old Testament

Torah

Genesis (Bereishit)

1: God floats above some water and takes primal chaos to “create” Light, Sky, Land & Sea & Plants, Stars & Moon & Sun, Birds & Fish, Livestock & Wild Animals & Mankind; and says it’s all for Mankind. (God doesn’t create anything here, he “let it be” or “let it come forth”)
1-11 Original Sin is the Curse of Greyface – the knowledge of Good and Evil (stolen like Prometheus’s fire) gives us the ability to redefine Good and Evil outside of God’s version (which is unknowable - and turns out to be seemingly contradictory if we assume the authors of the Bible are right about God’s opinions on their actions) …. humanity tries to build a tower in the sky to get closer to God, and God doesn’t like it so God divides all the nations of the earth…
2: God Rested on the 7th day. God creates a man from dust and water and breathes life into it. God plants a garden with all sorts of trees from which flows 4 rivers . God puts a man into the garden and tells him not to eat from The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and tells him if he does he will “certainly die.” God says it’s not good for man to be alone so God creates wild animals and birds, but they’re not suitable companions for the man so God takes the man’s side to make a woman; thus explaining why men and women get united in marriage. (2nd contradictory creation timeline/story as intro to Adam/Eve)
- Genesis 2:7: life begins at the first breath
- (snakes and humans used to be on friendly speaking terms until the downfall/curse)
- God said Tree was poison - Snake said it wasn’t - turns out it wasn’t poison, but cursed - disobedience to the only (unwritten) rule gets them kicked out
- Eve trusted the serpent more than Adam & God, Adam trusted a human more than God & this cuts them off from God.
- (God knew about nudity, but didn’t tell them it was good or evil - they decided on their own it was evil & invented clothes)
- Creation/Adam & Eve IS THE ONLY REAL GENESIS IN GENESIS, the rest is just origin stories (a fair amount NOT child-friendly)
3: A serpent comes and talks to the woman about The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, the serpent convinces her to eat fruit from this tree, she doesn’t die and shares it with the man who also doesn’t die. They think the fruit is good, but start experiencing negative emotions about their nudity and create rudimentary clothes.
8: “mountains of Ararat” (Genesis 8:4) (a mountain somewhere near modern Armenia… not any specific mountain until the 11th century (tourist destination)) . Adam = Human (made of soil/clay - filled with Gods breath)

differentiating between Good and Evil dooms us to mortality - somehow …. maybe we die when we eat it in that we pass an initiation and can’t go back…

Animals = Companions (not filled with Gods’ breath, but named by Adam)

Eve = Companion & Life-bringer (made of Adam, named by Adam, but also not filled with Gods breath - She is part of Adam and completes him - no solitary identity until then (what about Judith? Bah, ignore the 2 creation myths, pretend there’s just the one.))

Geneology: Adam to Noah - everyone is getting worse and worse, humanity becomes only-evil (except Noah?)

12-50 :::: God’s Great Reset

After Noah - new rules - God won’t destroy humanity or curse the land - instead of holding tighter, God loosens up - God’s love becomes more apparently unconditional, but the relationship between Man & God is further separated.

Tower of Babel - Noah’s descendants comes together to invent bricks (like God’s own stones) to make a big city w/ a tower monument to honor themselves, this challenges God’s authority - God decides this is too much power for humanity & curses them to make them more divided from one another.

The Family of Abraham (Father of Multitudes) (formerly Abram (High Father))… “humans keep choosing Evil, but God keeps trying to turn humanity’s evil back into Good (The Garden of Eden State)”… Actually, not just Abraham, his son Jacob specifically - who becomes Israel (the person) who will produce Israel (the nationality/people)

Abram married Sarah but didn’t lie when he told the Pharoh she was his sister, because she was his half-sister by his father.

Abraham keeps wandering around making altars used to worship God, avoiding the hubris of Babel… God likes this and offers Abraham all the stuff the Babel-builders were trying to gain for themselves…? Abraham & God walk around talkin’ about stuff & how to live – they bet on Sodom w/ Lot’s family, Lot isn’t as effective as a righteous leader as Abraham, can’t even get his own family to do the right thing, so blot –

Abraham will teach people God’s values… which is apparently not setting down permanent roots and building up riches for yourself - and living nomadically … oh, and also doing circumcision - so when Abraham was 96 he got himself, and his 318 servants entered the covenant of circumcision - which is carried on until this day… (later commands not to mark yourselves, but maybe privately doesn’t count?)

Isaac almost gets sacrificed - God asked him to kill his son (before sending angels to stop it) - does this echo Jesus’ claim that you have to hate your parents to be Christian?

Abe’s son Isaac builds 3 wells, and is driven away from the first two for claiming them to himself - when he builds a 3rd well just to let people drink he gets God’s blessings for continuing a nomadic lifestyle….. God gives blessings to complete a particular mission, and not for personal glory… God’s brute-forcing humans into groking a “how to win friends and influence people” for the bronze age…

Isaac’s son Jacob (One who is Crooked aka “Deceitful” aka Liar) gets 25 chapters of Genesis because he becomes Israel (The one who is Straight with God) - his transformation from shithead to holy-man - because he literally had a physical wrestling match with God (in human form) and he would’ve won if God didn’t push on his hip and hurt him.

Jacob/Israel’s 12 sons become the 12 Tribe of Israel

Paganism: gods interact for better or worse to teach life lessons Abrahamism: God guides his favorite family (with genealogies) into learning life lessons - humanity is not elevated to the actions of God because God is ineffable

OT God doesn’t like people collectivist civilization, prefers nomadic/rural/patriarchal tribes – PTSD from slavery in Egypt/Babylon? Even though Genesis seems to syncretize both cultures…

Genesis as “Here’s how people, places, and things came to exist” leading into “Here’s how our Faith came to exist”

Revolutionary Literature/Propaganda to create a new State, founded in Patriarchy.

Exodus

Exodus 21-22 earliest legistlative text in the bible, it demands child sacrifice but it is later adjudicated.
20:8-11 “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work” (anti-work)

The Egyptians oppress Hebrews by making them build bricks and silos and work the fields, instead of allowing them to be nomadic shepherds/cowboys… then the pharoh tried to decimate the population by killing boys during childbirth, but the midwives didn’t obey his orders so it didn’t happen… but older infants were to be tossed into the river…

Moses gets floated, grows up Egyptian, kills one of his fellow citizens & goes on the lam to Reuel “Friend of God” (Priest of Midian (a town?) With the title of “Jethro” possibly meaning “His Excellency”) and married his daughter; talks to a burning bush, and comes up with a plot to free Israel & become it’s leader through the performance of Miracles (while taking as much gold, silver, and clothing as they can get their hands on)

God admits he makes people deaf and mute and blind (or not) and will speak to Moses who will “be like God” to Aaron, and Aaron with speak to Moses for God, like a game of telephone… Israel will be God’s firstborn (reversal of the rejection of birthright in Genesis)…

Pharoh gives them impossible tasks (or more arduous work) by depriving them of necessary supplies, then calls them lazy - so they can’t leave “for 3 days” to Worship God in the Wilderness …

God came to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob - calling himself El Shaddai - but calls himself Lord (which “sounds like” I Am) - also calls himself I AM THAT I AM…

NIV notes say sometimes YAHWEH is “misspelled” as Jehovah (as if language/spelling was strictly proscribed by dictionaries & holds no scribal errors and anglicization wasn’t a problem)

Israelites refuse to listen to Moses, so Moses goes to the Pharoh and winds up getting them even deeper into trouble than last time (cop behavior)

NIV notes say Jehovah/Yahweh was a name known before Moses was born, even though NIV Notes also follow the tradition that Moses wrote the entire Pentateuch & there’s other anachronisms that imply later knowledge/writings…

Chapter 7 God’s reversed course on the Tree stuff completely & makes Moses “Like a God” not only to Aaron (Moses’s Prophet) but also to Pharoh (God/King of Egypt) … why is God doing thing that got Adam & Eve cursed? Mysterious Ways.

God will make Pharoh’s heart harder 9 times, then Pharoh hardens his own heart 9 times… the Israelites won’t leave their oppression until it gets REAL BAD, with, like, plagues and stuff afflicting their neighbors…

If Pharoh tempts Moses into doing Miracles, God is down with that… unlike when Satan tempts Jesus… but Aaron does the snake trick that God taught Moses, but the Egyptian magicians also know it (but they fake it, unlike God, wink wink) and Moses snake was bigger and hungrier anyhow and beat them all up and ate them.

Then Moses has Aaron turn all the water into Egypt into blood (red algae bloom?) But the Egyptian Magicians know that trick too! “by their secret arts” that somehow Moses the Ex-Egyptian doesn’t need to use because he has God… Egyptians made wells along the Nile to get fresh (non-blood) water.

A week after the blood turns to water (red algae?), all the frogs in Egypt wander into people’s homes and everywhere else as the next plague… but the Egyptian Magicians know THIS trick, too!!!

But Moses prayed (asked) God to fix the frogs and they all died in piles all over the place and “miraculously” gnats and flies came as the next plague (totally unrelated to all the smelly dead frogs) but the Egyptian Magicians couldn’t copy THIS trick (of smacking the ground near dead frogs and making flies come out?)…. Flies we’re everywhere, except Goshen, which was the Hebrew District…

Pharoh tries to compromise & let them worship in Egypt - but Moses rejects him (because Moses’ mission is to gain the trust of Israel and lead them into the desert to run away with riches from Egypt)… Pharoh would let them go a little ways (less than 3 days) but Moses really wants those 3 days (echoing Union fight for the Weekend?)

Repeated turn-around time on a plague removal is overnight (like crop circles)

Now Moses/God kill all Egyptian animals overnight and leave the Israelis animals, but Pharoh still won’t give them a weekend for God!!!!!

By by they come to leave Egypt, guided by a pillar of smoke in the day, and a pillar of light ever night… but Pharoh’s heart hardens (by the grace of God) and chases them, leading to a massacre in the red sea~ish area of wetlands or maybe a lake… who knows, it’s the Nile Delta or a lake or something fresh water…

People start complaining there’s no food, so God puts Manna (apparently meaning “What is it?”) on the ground in the morning everywhere the Hebrews go… it’s so special that there’s a bunch of rules about it, and if you try to keep it, it rots overnight, but not on the 6th night (so they could collect double and not work on the Sabbath which hasn’t been explained yet) but they collect some to put in the ark of the covenant with the Testimony (10 commandments) because the ark will keep it fresh for future generations forever somehow (the first sacred relics)…

Then they get to The Holy Mountain and Moses goes up and chillaxes with God for 40 days and 40 nights, God gives Moses 10 rules for everyone - then special instructions on how to build God’s home on earth and a whole bunch of gold tableware and a fancy box that is God’s throne but doubles as storage for the aforementioned testimony and manna and now some special yeastless Passover bread… and God picks one branch of the family to be priests, and another branch to be priests gaurds/army… turns out while Moses was up there the people forgot all about him, even his brother…

Aaron makes a golden bull, allegedly on accident because when you throw random gold in a random fire it comes out as a bull (one of the deities of Egypt, a bull, no less… but honestly whomst among us wouldn’t worship a bull… Google Apis Bull)

Anyhow, this made God so mad he wanted to kill everyone again and start over with Moses Family, but Moses talked him down – and to compromise Moses sent the Priest’s Army to indiscriminately kill around 3000 people to teach them a lesson about Idols … like God was just about to tell them to NOT do that, in the Tablets God wrote with his own hand, that Moses broke because he was mad about the cow, like come on Israel be cool, God was just starting to outlaw that…

Now, Moses talked face to face with God, just like you and I can talk… but like the next section God says anyone who sees his face will die because he looks so awesome…

Leviticus

Numbers

Deuteronomy

13:1-11: If any prophet comes and performs miracles but leads you away from God you must not follow them because God has sent them to test you and lead you away from God (i.e. false prophets are statans) so they must be put to death; even if it’s your own family, if they try to lead you away from God you need to kill them.
13:12-17: If it happens to an entire city, investigate, and if they’re following one of these false prophets, kill everyone in that city, put everything in the town square, and burn it all.
28:63: Just as it pleased the LORD to make you prosper and increase in number, so it will please him to ruin and destroy you. You will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess.
17:14-20 (When the people eventually come asking for a king, give it to them and have the King read the laws every day) … this is certainly written at a later date and inserted into the text here around the time that King Josiah “Discovered & Retold the Book of the Law” in 2 Kings 22-23

Former Prophets

Joshua

1:6 Joshua continues and supports Moses government & laws and becomes leader of Israel
2:1 Joshua’s spy team uses an Innkeeper/Prostitute (pretty big difference, but translates either way I guess…) to gain access to Jerhico to spy on them a little, then uses the ark to divide another river to bring troops to Jericho… but then there’s magical work to be done - the Israelites haven’t been circumcised in the desert, so anyone born in the last 40 years needs snipped…. It’s a lot of people, so now and forever this place is named Gigal (Hill of Foreskins.)
2:18 now that they’re ritually pure, a military officer from heaven comes down and tells Joshua what to do - the ol’ trumpet trick… but nobody can take anything sacred/shiny from Jerico because they belong to The Lord’s treasury ### Judges

Samuel 1 & 2

1:1-20: Samuel’s Mom was praying so hard for a baby the priest, Eli, thought she was drunk - her “face was downcast” until she “went her way and ate something” (probably a Snickers)… so Samuel’s named that because she “asked the Lord for him” (NIV says “Samuel sounds like the Hebrew for heard of God“
1:21-28: Samuel doesn’t get dedicated at the Temple until after he’s weaned (NIV says, customarily, 3+ years)
2:1-11 Hannah’s poetic prayer - this chapter resembles the Beatitudes - God gets called a Rock for the first(?) time in God judges people; Warriors weapons are broken & the weak are stengthened - the well-fed will seek jobs for food & the destitute will be fed - he seats the poor with princes & humbles the exalted - “He will gaurd the feet of his saints, but the wicked will be silenced in darkness” … but then she leaves Samuel with Eli the priest
2:12-24: Eli’s the Priest’s sons are “wicked” (NIV note says “to know the Lord is not just intellectual or theoretical recognition, but to enter into fellowship with him and acknowledge his claim on one’s life” - so Gnosis?) … Hannah visits her son @ Eli’s where he ministers and brings him new robes because he’s a growing boy … Eli hears about his son’s wickedned
2:25 “If a man sins against another man, God may mediate for him; but if a man sins against the Lord who will interced for him?” - Who is God’s public defender? NIV notes say God is.
2:27-36: an unnamed Holy Man comes to tell Eli that his lineage is cursed to die because his sons despise God
3:1-21 The Lord calls Samuel because “word of the Lord was rare, there were not many visions” - but one night The Lord calls Samuel, but he thought it was old Eli, Eli assures him he didn’t say anything and God tells Samuel what this other Holy Man said… then Samuel grows up and learns everything God (and I assume the Priests) tell him.
4: Philistines capture the Ark of the Covenant after killing “thirty thousand” Israelites - Eli’s sons die & when Eli hears the Ark is gone he falls over and breaks his neck (he apparently led Israel for 40 years) - Eli’s daugher-in-law dies giving birth to a kid she names “Ichabod” (meaning “no glory”) because “The Glory” is gone from Israel without the Ark, her Husband, and her Father-in-Law.
5: The Ark is in Dagon’s temple with the Philistines, but after one night Dagon falls over and his head and hands fall off (I’m not sure how the author knows), but when they fell off the head landed on the doorstep and that’s why Dagon’s followers jump over the doorstep “to this very day”… anyhow, now the Philestines know they’re cursed, so they send the Ark to some other Philestines & those folks got tumors, so they sent it to another town and the people there didn’t want to be cursed to they called a meeting of all the Philestine city leaders and decide how to send the Ark back.
- (NIV note: in Canaanite myth, Dagon is the son or brother of El, and father of Baal – which are both names used for God, but the NIV notes don’t say that.)
6: Philestines decide to send back the Ark with a “guilt offering” - models of their tumors and models of the rats from their curses - made in solid gold… so they load up the Ark on a cart with some fresh oxen who’ve never pulled a cart before and sent it on it’s way - watching for the omen of good news - that they’re headed into Hebrew territory and God caused their curses - or if they go another way it was just random chance. The leaders of Palestine followed the cows to Beth Shemesh, the border of the Israelite territory… 70 Israeli’s apparently touched or looked into the Ark while it was there, so God killed them. So they call out to the men of Kiriath Jearim to take it.
8:10-18: “And Samuel told all the words of the Lord unto the people that asked of him a king. And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots. And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots. And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants. And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants.And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the Lord will not hear you in that day. (God will not honor you, because you have chosen a king over him; God warns that kings will take a portion of everything you own for himself, and it will hurt those who asked for a king)

2 Samuel

2 Samuel 12:11 – god will bring calamity on you, then make you watch somebody else bone your wife ### 1 Kings ### 2 Kings

3 Major Prophets

Isaiah

40:17 “All the nations are as nothing before Him. He regards them as less than nothing, meaningless.” ### Jeremiah
22:1-5 God told Jerimiah to tell the King: “deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place. For if ye do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people. But if ye will not hear these words, I swear by myself, saith the Lord, that this house shall become a desolation.” (e.g. don’t do that stuff or God will destroy your nation.)

Ezekiel

12 Minor Prophets

Hosea

Joel

Amos

Obadiah

Jonah

Micah

Nahum

Habakkuk

Zephaniah

Haggai

Zechariah

Malachi

Writings (Wisdom Literature)

Job

Ecclesiastes

Proverbs

11:28 Trust in wealth leads to collapse; liberationists trust collective flourishing—Evangelicals bank on individual “prosperity.”
22:7 The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender. - servant is a slave(?) (debt is bondage)
22:16 Oppressing the poor brings poverty on oppressors; yet Evangelicals lobby for policies that benefit the wealthy few.
29:12 If a ruler hearken to lies, all his servants are wicked.

Poetic Works

Psalms

146:3 Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.

Lamentations

Histories

1 Chronicles

2 Chronicles

Ezra

Nehemiah

Misc

Ruth

Esther

Daniel

Song of Solomon

Apocrypha

Tobit

Judith

1 Maccabees

2 Maccabees

3 Maccabees

4 Maccabees

Wisdom of Solomon

Sirach

Additions to Daniel

Baruch/Letter of Jeremiah

New Testament

Gospels

Synoptic: Matthew, Mark, Luke
Disagreeing: John (the most gnostic/esoteric of the gospels)
Following from Richard Carrier (Paul wrote First) and looking at a note I wrote between Matt 4 & 5… If Matt improves on Mark, the first 4 four books of Matt are a “summary of the first half of Luke” and the Marcionite text came first (which contains proto-Luke or Heterodox Luke and the letters of Paul) then Marcionite text surely is the basis of these later texts… But that’s just ONE bottleneck, and humanity doesn’t all move together 🤷
What he have now starts somewhere within some Hellenizing process of recording everything in Greek, and ends in some Latinizing process that records everything in Latin, and now we’re somewhere in the Englishizing Process that records everything in English and “fighting” other languages to collect the most information to win the war on knowledge (the idea that only your culture can unite all cultures)
Pharisees act as faceless goons, never called out individually but as a homogenous whole

Matthew

5:1-12 Beatitudes: blessed are poor in spirit, mourners (protesters?), meek, hunger & thirst for righteousness (protesters?), merciful (bleeding heart libs?), pure of heart, peacemaker (not cops/guns), persecuted because of righteousness (protesters?), you’re blessed even when people put you down (God will fix it in the end?)
5:3: “Poor in spirit” join an alternative community; Christians often conflate “spiritual poverty” with passive obedience to clergy.
5:13 salt of the earth, 14 light of the world (under a bowl or on a pedistal?)
5:17-20 not abolish the law but fulfill it, OT is going nowhere, you gotta understand the whole thing and do it better than the pious oppressors, who aren’t going to heaven.
5:21 don’t just not murder, don’t even be mad or boom, fire of gehenna, seriously 5:23-24 don’t do anything until you fix your quarrel
5:25-26 settle matters before getting to a judge (don’t get the gov’t involved, coz you might go to prison and you’ll pay it back either way)
5:27-30 Don’t commit adultery? don’t even look at a woman funny, or lose that eye, sucka! pop; cut off your own hand, bro.
5:21-32 you heard you need a divorce certificate? don’t kick your woman out or you’re just chasing her into another man’s arms! (unless she’s already in another man’s arms, then she’s his property, because this is still barbarism)
5:33-27 don’t break oaths? don’t even take oaths, just say Yes/No and do it or not.
5:38-42 eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth? turn the other cheek, give them the shirt off your back, carry their load 2 miles instead of 1, give to those who ask & don’t turn away those who want to borrow
5:43-48 love your neighbor and hate your enemy? no, love your enemy & pray for them; don’t just take care of your inner circle, take care of everyone “Be therefore perfect as The Skydaddy is perfect”
6:1-4 practice/give privately/humbly or no reward (everyone shut up)
6:5-8 pray privately & keep it simple (everyone shut up)
6:9-13 Lord’s Prayer
6:14-15 Forgive Others or God won’t forgive you
6:16-18 practice fasting in secret (everyone shut up)
6:19-20 Stuff takes over your heart, so only “store yourselves treasures in heaven”
6:19-21: Treasure in heaven means investing in community/land trusts, not church endowments bolstering hierarchical institutions. (the Church is The People)
6:22-23 Eye health is important (metaphor about being observant/light?)
6:24 No one can serve 2 masters, only love one & hate the other; can’t serve God & Money – Christians routinely endorse politics based on wealth interests.
6:25-27 don’t worry about earthly possessions & basic necessities … (why not? is this the hook?)
6:33 “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Like an underground mutual aid network of xtians?)
6:34 “do not worry about tomorrow, tomorrow will worry about itself, each day has enough trouble on its own” (live in the now?)
7:1 Don’t Judge,
7:3 Log & the Speck,
7:6 Pearls & Swine
7:7-11 ask & it’s given, seek & you’ll find, knock & it’s open; if you loved someone would you do evil to them?
7:12 The Golden Rule sums up “The Law & the Prophets”
7:13-14 Small is the way & narrow is the path (humility? elitism?)
7:15-20 Beware false prophets, you’ll know them by their fruits (results? gaudy adornments?)
7:21-23 Not everyone who says “Lord Lord” & does miracles is doing God’s will, Jesus doesn’t know them.
7:24-27 do what I say for solid grounding, House on Rock vs Sand metaphor
7:28 “the crowds were amazed”, 29 “taught as one with authority and not as their teachers of the law”
19:21-24: The call to perfection is economic disarmament; yet Christians preach moral purity while preserving private capital.
22:36-40 Law & Prophets depends on these 2 commands: Love God (The Shema), 2nd like it: Love your Neighbor (Golden Rule)
23:8-14 Jesus: “Call nobody teacher, no-one is your master, even Christ… woe unto pharisees and scribes (legalists and nerds) for closing off The Kingdom of Heaven” (No man is your master, All are brothers/equals - the wicked profit from the poor))
26:11: “The poor you will always have” – a divine scandal against static church charity that never upends poverty.

Mark

Mark 8:36: Gaining the world costs your soul – Christians join worldly politics, forfeiting solidarity with the oppressed.
Mark 10:17-31: Release all wealth to follow Jesus – a call to dismantle economic hierarchies, yet many Christians encourage wealth accumulation.

Luke

1:52-53 God lifts the humble and fills the hungry; yet Evangelicals reserve “God’s favor” for the already privileged.
6:20-26 The beatitudes invert power structures; yet Evangelicals peddle “blessings” while ignoring structural poverty.
6:35 Love and lend without expecting return—calls for mutual credit unions, not payday loans marketed at church members.
9:23-24 Daily cross-bearing means direct action against injustice, not passive volunteering on church-approved days.
9:58 No resting place in empire – refuse to invest in state or corporate “security.”
12:15 Life does not consist in possessions – yet Evangelicals idolize home ownership and retirement plans as spiritual milestones.
19:8-9 True repentance is systemic reparations, not 10% tithing – Zacchaeus gave restitution, while many Evangelicals just give lip service.
22:25-26 Jesus Says: “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. 26 But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves.”

John (Johannine)

2:16: Jesus’ cleansing of the temple is a call to overthrow market religion – yet the church has become a consumer-driven mega-brand
12:25: which states, “Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”
8:1-11: later insertion of story of “women caught in adultury” where Jesus draws in the sand and says “let those without sin cast the first stone”
8:12: Jesus: “I am the light of the world, whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but have light of life”
8:13: Pharisees say appearing as your own witness makes your testimony invalid
8:14: Jesus says I’m honest, 15: Jesus doesn’t judge anyone, 16: But if he does he’s fair because of unity with God
8:17-18: Jesus says his testimony counts as 2 witnesses because “the Father” agrees with him
8:19: Pharisees ask where this Father is, and Jesus says if they knew who he was they’d know his Father, 20: but they didn’t arrest him yet (foreshadowing crucifixion)
8:21: Jesus says “where I go you shall not come” (harrowing of hell?), 23: “you’re from below, I’m from above; you’re from the world, I’m not; you will die in your sins if you don’t believe that I am he”
8:26 Jesus says “I got a lot of judgements against you, he has sent me to deliver a message”, 27 “he” meaning “He” meaning “The Father” (because Jesus’s words aren’t clear enough for the narrator)
8:28 Jesus says “when you have lifted up the son of man you will know I am he & only speak The Father’s words” (foreshadowing crucifixion more)
8:29: “The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him”
8:30: “even as he spoke, many believed in him” (the people/crowds were amazed 2.0)
8:31: Jesus talks to Jews who believed him: “if you hold my teachings you’re really my disciple; then you will know truth and the truth will set you free”
8:32: They tell him they’re freemen, Jesus tells them sinners are slaves to sin & he’s just a messenger;
8:39 “if you were Abraham’s children you’d do what he did, but you don’t, you only copy your own dad”
8:42-47 Jesus says “if you disagree with me, you’re the children of the devil” (christians emulate this by demonizing everyone who doesn’t obey them, but particularly to demonize Judaism)
8:48 the Judeans suggest Jesus is a Demon-Possessed Samaritan (racial slur?), (Jesus denies being possessed, doesn’t deny being a Samaritan)
8:50 Jesus isn’t trying to glorify himself (so, why do Xtians deify him?) but He says “if you obey me you’ll never die”
8:51 Judeans say “now we know you’re possessed” because everyone dies, even Abraham and all the Prophets; so Jesus calls them all liars
8:58 “before Abraham was born, I am!” (statements of a madman; or, “Before talking about Ancient History; I’m right in front of you telling you RN”) - but they went to stone Jesus so Jesus ran & hid (even though he’s totally identical to God Almighty?)
16:33 Peace comes from resisting empire’s violence, not retreat – Christians seek political power to secure comfort, not to dismantle injustice. (they will follow a sinful priest over a preist that was outraged by the crime)

Acts

Epistles

Romans (Pauline)

Marcionite Introduction: The Romans are in the parts of Italy. These were prevented by false apostles and under the name of our Lord Jesus Christ were led to the law and the prophets. These the apostle calls back to the true faith of the gospel, writing to them from Corinth.
Romans 8:16

1 Corinthians (Pauline)

Marcionite Introduction: The Corinthians are Achaeans. And these likewise heard the word of truth from the apostle and were in many ways subverted by false apostles, some were led by the verbal eloquence of philosophy [better: to phil. verbosam eloquence], others by the sect [better: to sectam] of the Jewish law. These the apostle calls back to the true wisdom of the gospel, writing to them from Ephesus by Timothy.
5:12-13 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked person from among you.” (instructions unclear, elected them pastor)

2 Corinthians (Pauline)

2 Corinthians 8:14: Mutual aid, not charity, is God’s will—yet many Evangelicals hoard wealth or give as tax-deductible “good works” instead of redistributing wealth horizontally Reddit.
2 Corinthians 12:9: True power is revealed in communal weakness, not in self-sufficient leadership—whereas Evangelical pastors often build empires on their own charisma

Galatians (Pauline)

Marcionite Introduction: The Galatians are Greeks. These first received the word of truth from the apostle, but after his departure they were tempted by false apostles to turn to the law and circumcision. These the apostle calls back to the faith of the truth, writing to them from Ephesus.
2:21 (NIV) “I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”
Galatians 3:26-29

Ephesians (Presumed Psudopauline)

Marcionite Introduction: Laudic. (=Eph.).—[The Laudicans are Asians. They were prevented by false apostles… to these the apostle himself did not go… he corrects them by letter… .]
6:12 “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

Philippians (Pauline)

Marcionite Introduction: The Philippians are Macedonians. These, having received the word of truth, continued in the faith and did not receive false apostles. He commends them, writing to them from Rome from prison by Epaphroditus. ### Colossians (Presumed Psudopauline)
Marcionite Introduction: The Colossians, and these, like the Laodiceans, are Asians, and they themselves were prevented by false apostles. The apostle himself did not go to them, but he corrects them by letter; for they heard the word from Archippus, who also received the ministry among them. Therefore the apostle, already bound, writes to them from Ephesus. ### 1 Thessalonians (Pauline)
Marcionite Introduction: The Thessalonians are Macedonians. These, having received the word of truth, continued in the faith even in the persecution of their fellow citizens; moreover, they did not receive the things that were said by false apostles. The apostle commends them, writing to them from Athens. ### 2 Thessalonians (Presumed Pseudopauline) ### 1 Timothy (Pseudopauline)
1 Timothy 6:6-20: Flee from love of money to pursue righteousness – cease all participation in exploitative economies, a step many Christians resist.

2 Timothy (Pseudopauline)

Titus (Pseudopauline)

Philemon (Pauline)

Marcionite Introduction: He writes a friendly letter to Philemon on behalf of his servant Onesimus; and he writes to him from Rome from prison.
Philemon 1:12-16: Paul says: I know your slave left you because you abused him, but I’m returning him in the hopes that you can see him how God sees him. ### Hebrews (Presumed Pauline) ### James
Addressed to Jewish Diaspora: “the 12 tribes scattered among the nations”
1:2-4: Trials forge solidarity and collective resilience, not individual self-help – don’t internalize suffering as personal failure
1:5-7: Try manifesting, believe you have it and The God will give it to you (God gives everything to those who ask and don’t doubt they will receive)
1:9-12: the Humble should take pride in their High Standing, and the High Standing should take pride in their humiliation “In the same way, the rich will fade away even while they go about their business.” (first will be last, last will be first)
1:13-18: God doesn’t tempt people, people tempt people. And that’s what makes Sin, when people act on it. (All Good is from God, everything else is from somewhere else - semantic merger of God/Good)
1:19-21: “20: Human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires” “21: get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.”
1:22-25: “22: Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” … “25: whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.”
1:26-27: “26: Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. 27: Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
2:1-4: “believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism” - especially not to rich people in fancy clothes, treat the poor the same or “4: have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?”
2:5-7: God chose the poor to be rich in faith & inherit the kingdom he promised, but rich people are the problem; “6 But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who are blaspheming the noble name of him to whom you belong?”
2:8-11: showing favoritism isn’t loving your neighbor, you either follow al the commands or none of them. Don’t deflect to the commands you didn’t break.
2:12-13 “12 Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, 13 because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.”
2:14-18 “16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”
2:19: Even demons believe in Monotheism! (belief alone is worthless)
2:20-24: “20 You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?” Remember the Binding of Isaac (Gen 22)? (actions are righteous or not, ideas alone are worthless)
2:25: “Rahab the Prostitute” (innkeeper, but NIV hates women, from Joshua 2:1) was righteous for lying to the cops to help spies destroy Jericho (which was ruins long before Genesis was written)
2:26: “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.” (spirit = breath)
3:1-2: Not many should become Teachers, because they’ll be held to a higher standard (and y’all have no standards)
3:3-12: Small things can make Big changes (e.g. your tongue can corrupt you) “11: Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?”
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James%203&version=NIV
4:1-3: you’re fighting because you have needs that aren’t being met because you aren’t properly communicating
4:3-4: Friendship with worldly systems equals enmity toward the oppressed – don’t ally with state power against refugees and the poor
4:3-6: But He gives us more grace. This is why it says: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” (quoting Proverbs 3:34)
4:7-10: submit to god, reject the devil; cleanse your hands and purify your heart; Greive, mourn, weep, turn laughter to mourning and joy to gloom, “Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will Exalt you” (which lord? the Landlord? or The One Above All?)
4:11-12: don’t slander each other, if you speak against or judge your brother you speak against the law; if you judge the law you’re not a practitioner but a judge, there’s only One Judge & Lawgiver “But who are you to judge your neighbor?”
4:13-14: if you plan to do future business, traveling to make a profit, you’re misled, you’re nothing but temporary, you should be saying ‘if the lord is willing we will survive long enough’, “you boast in your proud intentions. All such boasting is evil. Anyone who knows the right thing, but doesn’t do it, is guilty of sin.”

1 Peter (Petrine)

2 Peter (Petrine)

1 John (Johannine)

2 John (Johannine)

3 John (Johannine)

Jude

Revelation (Johannine)

3:14-22 “16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.”
5:5-6: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.
5:11-12: tens and thousands of angels and other mythical beasts say: “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.”
5:13-14: then everything on earth (and in the sea, everywhere) said: “Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.” and the beasts said “amen” and then all the elders clapped forever and ever.

Other Deuterocanonical Texts

Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS)

Dating from the 3rd century BCE to the 1st century CE, discovered in Qumran circa 1946/47 (Then part of Mandatory Palestine, captured and annexed from Jordan by Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War)

972 Manuscripts + “15,000” fragments: - About 40% are copies of texts from Hebrew scriptures. - Approximately 30% are texts from the Second Temple period that ultimately were not canonized in the Hebrew Bible, such as the Book of Enoch, the Book of Jubilees, the Book of Tobit, the Wisdom of Sirach, Psalms 152–155, etc. - The remainder (roughly 30%) are sectarian manuscripts of previously unknown documents that shed light on the rules and beliefs of a particular sect or groups within greater Judaism, such as the Community Rule, the War Scroll, the Pesher on Habakkuk, and The Rule of the Blessing. - None of it is about Jesus or NT people

Nag Hammadi Library

Ketef Hinnom scrolls

7th/6th century BCE, oldest items containing Biblical text, Apotropaic (protective) silver amulet scrolls (similar to Phonecian and Punic iron-age amulets) containing a variation of the Priestly Blessing, found in Numbers 6:24–26

- Defining Magic: A Reader edited by Bernd-Christian Otto & Michael Strausberg

unsorted verses/commentary

Ecclesiastes 7:14 Both prosperity and poverty are divine tools to humble us, yet Evangelicals tend to preach a “prosperity gospel” that treats blessings as guaranteed rewards Wikipedia. Ephesians 5:5-7 Greed is idolatry demanding resistance, yet many Evangelicals partner with corporate and political powers that worship Mammon The Gospel Coalition. Hebrews 13:5 Contentment springs from God’s promise, not consumerism—yet Evangelicals are among the keenest targets of marketing and credit-card debt Christianity Today. Isaiah 56:11 Ungodly leaders “seek gain” at others’ expense—ironically, many Evangelical leaders amass power and wealth through political lobbying The Gospel Coalition. Jeremiah 23:30-31 False prophecy serves vested interests; refuse clerical hierarchies that dictate “approved” doctrine Micah 6:15 Fruitless labor under oppression—the real “judgment” on empire’s exploitation; yet Evangelicals still celebrate entrepreneurialism at any cost. 2 Peter 2:3 False teachers exploit the flock for gain; yet many Evangelical networks act as profit-driven media empires. Philippians 1:29 Suffering for justice is a gift; yet Evangelicals treat suffering as a personal pitfall to be medicated away. Romans 5:3-5 Suffering produces community character and hope, not self-help platitudes—Evangelical self-improvement books miss this communal dimension.