Faith without religion.
Unveiling the New Testament: A Father-Daughter Discussion
New Testament, Tanakh, Apostolic Instructions
In the first episode of “Dell and Dad Talk Doctrine,” Delaney and her father, Shawn McCraney, dive into the origins and significance of the New Testament. Delaney, who has been in church her whole life but is reading the Bible for the first time, asks her father, a self-proclaimed cult leader, to explain the New Testament. Shawn clarifies that Christianity is rooted in Judaism, with the Old Testament, or Tanakh, being the Jewish scriptures. The New Testament, a collection of writings from Jesus’ apostles, was named by Tertullian around 200-400 A.D. to distinguish it from the Old Testament.
Shawn explains that the New Testament writings were composed before 70 A.D., although some scholars like Bart Ehrman suggest they were written later. These writings, including letters from Paul, Peter, John, and others, were eventually authenticated and compiled into the 27 books we know today. Shawn emphasizes that the true New Testament is God’s law written on individuals’ hearts and minds, as prophesied in the Old Testament, rather than a strict manual of rules.
The purpose of the New Testament writings, according to Shawn, was to guide early believers in preparation for Jesus’ return. He notes that none of the writings were intended for future generations, though Christians have since found value in them. Delaney questions whether this selective application of scripture contributes to denominational divides, but Shawn attributes these differences to varying interpretations of the content.
The episode concludes with a mention of their involvement in cult.love, a platform offering educational tools to supplement traditional church experiences and promote growth in love.
Podcast Transcript:
hello
welcome to Dell and Dad talk Doctrine
yeah uh I’m Del I’ve been in church my
whole life never read the Bible and I’m
asking my cult leader dad some questions
as I read it for the first time
good to be here I’m dad
uh today is first episode number one
we’re talking about the New Testament as
a whole then we’ll break into more uh
you’ll see our format as we go it’s
short and concise so I’m going to ask
you some questions well let’s hear them
what is the New Testament first of all
first question what is the New Testament
yep so all of Christianity is based on
Judaism everything we come from Jews we
come from Judaism and they had writings
that were ancient and before Jesus was
even born those writings were collected
and called scripture they called CR they
would call that the Tanakh that’s the
Old Testament Christians came along and
because we branched off of Judaism uh we
called that the Old Testament but they
call it the Tanakh okay right okay so uh
they have the Tanakh we said well that’s
not what we follow we follow what Jesus
teachings that are predicated on the
Tanakh so uh that’s an Old Testament
that’s based in their laws and their
ceremonies and all that so uh we have a
collection of writings from Jesus
Apostles and a guy named tertullian
I don’t know around uh 280 I think maybe
later 400 somewhere in there said uh
we’re gonna call this collection of
writings the New Testament okay because
the Jews had the old we have the new all
right in that time sorry but before
tertolian was did he also
name the Old Testament the Old Testament
then or was it always called to knock up
until he goes this is New Testament it
was called the Tanakh by the Jews I’m
not sure who it could have been
tertullian who said let’s call it the
Old Testament because it’s the former
Covenant okay old things are going to
pass away is what Paul says so we just
refer to that as old but the Jews don’t
call up the Old Testament okay okay and
what was it before truthfully just
letters that floated in The Ether where
were they where were these documents of
that construct what we call the New
Testament oh great question so um it’s
debated as to when people started
writing uh the scholars whether they’re
critics higher critics uh or supporters
they say it was uh somehow uh you know
right around the time after Jesus died
all the way out to 100 years after he
died that we don’t know when they were
actually written but the best Scholars
um they say most of the things that were
written in in what we call the New
Testament were written
before 70 A.D okay a guy named Bart
Ehrman he’s a scholar that is critical
of of our use of it he says no they were
written later okay so I think and and
like Wallace he’s a very famous scholar
he says yeah we think they were all
written before 70 A.D which was the
destruction of Jerusalem okay so if they
were all composed then those letters by
Paul and Peter and John and James and
Titus uh and they were the only ones who
wrote there was only I think I think I
can’t remember six or eight uh that
wrote and they had Apostolic Authority
or they and and they wrote their history
or what Inspirations they had the
problem was while they were writing uh
their accounts other people were writing
pseudopigraphal accounts which were
false accounts and so the collection of
books was not agreed upon until about
390 A.D so we have all those writings
that we today you know 2000 years later
like we have our new testament but the
church and Believers in that day what
what they had was the Old Testament that
they read and then as those letters that
the apostles wrote and became available
they would read them and they would get
the Thumbs Up by the Believers and
leaders and then they would say okay we
trust this one but it was a long time
before the the collection of those
letters was gathered it was
authenticated as trustworthy there’s 27
of them and that we and then tertullian
or somebody said and we’re going to call
these the New Testament okay so
tertullian wasn’t the one that sort of
identified them it had been a long time
coming that they were yeah
they kind of went through just imagine
it’s a funnel and you throw all the
stuff in the top of the funnel and they
simmer down and people say this doesn’t
sound right this doesn’t fit and you
come down with 27 books at the end
around 400 A.D okay but there’s a really
important Point here and this is what
makes us occult me a cult leader
God calls his new testament okay
he refers to it in the Tanakh he refers
to it in the Old Testament yeah and he
says this is what my new testament will
be it’s when I will write my laws and on
the hearts and minds of individuals
and when tertullian called that
collection of books the New Testament it
caused people to start to treat it like
law just like the Jews treated the Old
Testament you get it yeah yeah have I
confused at all no okay Hearts it just
speaks of it as the heart and mind of
individuals that’s it and yeah and and
that and that uh in that quote by God in
Jeremiah says and no man will say no the
Lord know the Lord for all will know me
meaning God will deal directly with
people in their hearts and Minds so we
don’t use what we call apparently the
New Testament books as a uh a manual of
musts
all other churches do we say these are
just insights into what has happened the
real New Testament is when a Muslim or a
Jew or an atheist or a Buddhist or a
Catholic or a Mormon is touched in the
heart because that’s when God writes his
laws on them we study what the New
Testament says but it’s to learn about
him and get insights but it’s not really
the New Testament
so what was the purpose of what we have
as the New Testament even being written
why what is the purpose of writing down
these things in that time the apostles
why did they do that if it doesn’t
wasn’t necessary as a new testament it’s
great question those things that they
wrote were primarily you could debate
the gospels because they tell the Jesus
story but everything that Paul wrote
Peter wrote John wrote Titus wrote they
were writing to the Believers in that
day to give them an Apostolic
instructions on how to prepare
themselves as Believers before Jesus
came back and took his bride so they
were you know they were over an area
they had Authority they had power by the
Holy Spirit and they were writing these
letters inspired by God as to what how
to direct this church this bride in that
day and so that was the main purpose of
them and in fact not one of them not one
letter or not gospel or history or
Revelation in what we call the New
Testament ever says and I’m writing this
to Believers in 2023 or in 1920 or
before it is always to the Believers in
that day but what Christians did is we
went through and we found the valuable
ones that seemed to really hold one and
we gathered them there must be some
though that refer to just like people at
large and not just you the Corinthians
or you you know there’s there’s a few
where it’s uh not specifically for I
can’t remember which ones there’s like
three where like Paul will say this is
to the uh church at Ephesus and
Believers elsewhere so but okay but
there’s only like two or three of those
so only two or three yeah if we were
literalists we would take those and only
read those right because the rest of
them say this is to the church at
Corinth and is that what divides
denominations now is how they see which
ones are applied to us and which ones
aren’t not at all
what what divides denominations uh well
it’s a big subject that’s another
subject but what divides them is really
interpretation of all the content
because most Christians believe that
everything written in what they call the
New Testament is to all Christians
forevermore
and they they skip that fact that it was
written to people then because they had
certain expectations upon them that
Believers today don’t
great questions well
there’s a lot more but this is I
mentioned this but this but we’re a part
of something called cult.love and it’s a
supplement for what we identify as big
church or the church industrial complex
or church at large we provide learning
tools and an educational platform where
you can supplement your faith experience
and grow in love
um
cult leader great and this is the
co-leader’s daughter
on to the next
