Welcome!

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Welcome to The Wise Fool blog. Are you looking for a challenge to your faith, a second opinion on Scripture, or a skeptical perspective on the Bible? You are in the right place.

I have not read the Bible. I have studied it. ;-)

Focusing on the first five books of the Old Testament (the Torah, or Law) and the first four of the New Testament (the Gospels), I have worked diligently to pass on what I have learned about its stories, its prophesies, its God, and Jesus, to you. So, please, allow me to show you around the blog:

Are you looking for selected highlight studies on the Torah? Oy vey! I have you covered right here. Or perhaps you would like to baptize yourself with the Gospel study highlights instead? Seek, and you shall find.	Over on the right sidebar, you will find some interesting links, including my chapter-by-chapter summary of the Bible, studies about what each of the first five books of the Bible reveal about God's character, and, under the search box, a link to the Site Map for a complete listing of posts.
Did the Old Testament really foreshadow the advent of Christianity? Start exploring the truth with Scapegoat, about the Day of Atonement, and continue with the Foreshadowing tag.	Christianity often claims to be beyond the (Jewish) Law, so to speak. Yet this detailed study on what God said about His Law contradicts that view, and several other tenets of Jesus' faith.
Learn more about God's nature by exploring the tags on God's Heart, Justice, Omnipotence, Omniscience, Plan, and Promises. See how God changes His promises in God's Altered Promise.	Women in the Bible, while sometimes honored, are often denigrated. See for yourself in Virginity, Rape, and Bitter Justice, and then follow through with the Women tag.
Prophesies bolsters Jesus' claim on being the Messiah, but, following the Prophesy tag, you can see how they were all taken out of context. Even Isaiah 53, the best "match", is systematically countered in a detailed study of its context.	Free Will is often used to get God off the hook for condemning people, but the doctrine of the Elect counters that. Start exploring this theme through By Invitation Only, and continue studying through the The Elect tag.
Studying Judgement Day, you will find its anticipation within a life span from Jesus' time. Check out the Be Ready study, and continue with the Judgement Day and End is Near tags.	Hell was not just a metaphor for eternal separation from God. Read about the origin of Hell in Cut Off Your Reason, and see how the concept evolved by following the Hell tag.
The Synoptic Problem; the issues in reconciling the disparate accounts of Matthew, Mark and Luke... Want to study the Synoptic Problem? A great start is with By Prayer and Fasting. Then continue on to the Mark the Source, Matthew the Aggregator, and Luke the Editor tags.	Through incongruity in the anecdotes, recorded "unknowable" information, and the differences between the Gospels, we can see that some of the Gospel content is flat-out fiction. See for yourself in the Inequity of Time study, and go further with the Evidence of Fiction tag.