People in bible never existed according to head of Theology at a university in UK!

[DLJ]

You know those super-nervous moments sometimes when on one of those roller coaster rides?

Well, as a long time Christian, I am having that exact feeling from this news!

I've been thinking about this new information for a week now!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xVBldyy_Oo

That feeling is called 'cognitive dissonance'.  It's 'cognitive' because it's happening at your rational-processing level (thoughts) and 'dissonance' because there's alarm bells going off.  The alarm bell part is biological - whether on a roller-coaster or sensing movement (predator or prey) in the darkness or if you feel someone is lying to you etc.

I get it when I hear a philosophical position that challenges my own theories or when someone says, "I'm going to tell you something but don't tell anyone else." Alarm bells are ringing.

It's natural, it's uncomfortable and it's an extremely useful evolved feature.

...
Francesca is confusing me.
She says she loves the bible, and yet she talks about the people being made up, including some of the authors!

I love it too.  And other mythologies ... Norse, Roman, Greek, Thai ... and of course the best of all... The Silmarillion.

The feeling of awe that was described in the video (when standing in Jerusalem) would be the same for a Malaysian, life-long Spiderman fan who finally gets to visit New York.

But what makes the Tanakh and the Quran special, in my view, are the laws.  These were very early versions of best practice frameworks and standards.

I make my living teaching the modern version of those.  So, what's not to love?