TheBibleUndressed.blog by Dr. Doug. Comments and questions welcomed.

The Bible Undressed

A doctor dissects the Holy Book...

..and finds psychopathology, drugs, weird sex but also some good stuff.

All Bible Undressed posts

(If new to the blog I suggest starting with post #1)

41: Easter Quiz!

April 1, 2025

How well do you know the details of the Easter story? Take the quiz and find out!
40: Do We Have the Lord’s Supper All Wrong?

March 23, 2025

Has Christianity gotten the Lord’s Super wrong for the past two millennia?
39: Baptism and the Macbeth Effect

March 16, 2025

Does baptism have a real effect on you, or just a psychological one? And is there a down side to baptism and its effect on how one thinks?
38: Fishing and Theology

March 11, 2025

Does God have the right to do with us as He pleases, even bringing our world to an end? Are we nothing more than a hooked fish on the end of His line?
37: Heaven and the Hedonic Treadmill

March 2, 2025

Will the afterlife be all that it is cracked up to be? Will I be any happier in the long run? Will I even be the same person in the hereafter?
36: Did Jesus Have a Near-Death Experience?

February 23, 2025

Did Jesus have a near-death experience that influenced his mission and ministry? Is there even such a thing as a “near-death experience?”
35: Jesus the Healer, Part 5: What if Jesus was a heel, not a healer?

February 16, 2025

Could Jesus’ healing miracles be the result of deliberate deception? Either well-intentioned or nefarious? The final post about the healing miracles of Jesus.
34: Jesus the Healer, Part 4: First, Do No Harm

February 10, 2025

and is there now potential harm from the miracle healing stories of Jesus? What could possibly be wrong with a nice story about healing someone?, Was there
33: Jesus the Healer, Part 3: Repossessed?

February 2, 2025

Did Jesus realize that some of the people he healed later relapsed? Were there limitations to his ability to heal?
32: Jesus the Healer, Part 2: The Analysis of Paralysis

January 26, 2025

Could Jesus really heal those who were paralyzed or crippled? Are there medical or other natural explanations for these apparent miracles?
31: Jesus the Healer, Part 1: Those Darn Demons

January 19, 2025

Are there some medical explanations for the healing miracles of Jesus? Part 1 deals with what the people of His day thought of as demon possession and Jesus’ exorcism powers.
30: Where Did They Come Up With That?

January 5, 2025

Did the New Testament authors use other books and stories as sources for their own writings? It wasn’t all just the Holy Spirit?
29 The Star of Bethlehem and Other Silly Pursuits

December 29, 2024

Was there a Star of Bethlehem? A Holy Grail? An Ark of the Covenant? Or are they just the stuff of legend?
28: The War on Christmas

December 22, 2024

Is there a War on Christmas? But who is really waging the war?
27: Christmas: The Prequel

December 15, 2024

Besides the Christmas stories in Matthew and Luke there is another, sort of a prequel, which did not make it into the Bible. Check it out!
26: Christmas Conundrum, Part 2

December 8, 2024

There are more issues with the traditional Christmas story. Does it matter to you? Should it?
25: Christmas Conundrum, Part 1

December 1, 2024

Does the Biblical story (or stories) of Jesus’ birth match the traditional Christmas pageant version?
24: Job vs. God: This Time It’s Personal!

November 24, 2024

Does the book of Job actually contain two different takes on his suffering, one prose and one poetry, with neither of them painting God in a good light?
23: The Problem with Prophets, Part 3

November 17, 2024

Did the prophets sometimes utter false prophecies? Is it safe to assume that everything in the Bible was written by a prophet inspired by God to speak the truth?
22: The Problem with Prophets, part 2

November 11, 2024

What did the prophets say about each other? Were their prophecies always correct? Were there also false apostles? Was Paul one of them?!
21: The Problem with Prophets, Part 1

November 3, 2024

Can you always trust the prophets of the Bible? Do they sometimes lie? Can God Himself actually induce them to lie? Or can they simply be wrong sometimes? A 3-part series.
20: Esther: Kill or Be Killed?

October 27, 2024

Is the story of Esther a pleasant tale of a beautiful and brave woman, or does it contain a darker message?
19: The Problem: Not Enough Killing!

October 20, 2024

Does God sometimes approve of genocide? Would you kill in the name of your god?
18: Loopy Laws

October 13, 2024

Are the laws in the Old Testament divinely inspired, or do they simply reflect the primitive superstitious culture that produced them?
17: Moses the Hypocrite

October 6, 2024

Was Moses the great Lawgiver very good at keeping his own laws? Did he treat others harshly while giving himself a pass?
16: Was Moses Really High on Mt. Sinai?

September 29, 2024

Ancient religions often used mind-altering substances in their religious rites. Is there evidence for drug usage in the ancient Jewish and early Christian religions?
15: Is The Bible Sexist?

September 9, 2024

Does the Bible put women in a bad light? What does it say about HALF of the human race?
14: Cut Off My What?!

September 1, 2024

What’s up with circumcision? What is the true origin and meaning of this ancient religious (and potentially harmful) rite?
13: The Truth about Ruth

August 26, 2024

Is this really the innocent story you learned in Sunday School? Did Ruth use sex to get ahead in life?
12: The Next Ten Commandments?

August 18, 2024

What comes next after the famous Ten Commandments? What are God’s priorities?
11: Is It A Sin To Be Transgender?

August 11, 2024

Does the Bible even address being transgender?
10: Did Israel Have Its Own ‘Sacred Band of Thebes’?

August 4, 2024

Are there any gay heroes in the Bible?
9: Onan the Barbarian

July 29, 2024

How an obscure Bible character affected the church’s stance on birth control and masturbation.
8: Earthy Sex: Traditional family values? Not!

July 22, 2024

Perverts in the Bible?!
7: Does God Have Chromosomes?

July 16, 2024

How does divine sex work?
6: Heavenly Sex and Amorous Angels

July 16, 2024

Can angels have children with humans?! Will there be sex in heaven?
5: Did Abraham Actually Kill Isaac?

July 4, 2024

Did Abraham complete the sacrifice? Or is it the thought that counts?
4: Was Abraham ‘Just Plain Nuts?’

July 4, 2024

Psychoanalyzing a patriarch.
3: Blame It On The Woman!

July 1, 2024

Troubling implications from the Garden of Eden
2: Does God Have a Split Personality? (part 2)

June 28, 2024

Two flood stories featuring two gods?
1: Does God Have A Split Personality? (part 1)

June 10, 2024

One creator god, or maybe one god with a split personality?, or two