What Your Preacher Didn't Tell You presents some basic facts about Bible history in a straightforward manner so that uninitiated readers can discern certain fundamental truths – that the Bible contains myths, historical distortions, and conflicting messages. Although fundamentalists believe that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God, most mainstream Christians realize that this isn't true. Nonetheless, they cling to their beliefs with flimsy rationalizations like "The Bible may be loaded with scientific and historical errors, but the basic message that Jesus died for our sins is still true." This is a notion that is carefully cultivated by mainstream Christian pastors. What my book demonstrates is that the basic precepts of Christianity were invented long after Jesus died and, quite frankly, had nothing at all to do with what he personally believed.

Preachers sometimes challenge atheists to debates about the existence of God. Such debates are rigged games but, occasionally, somebody foolishly takes the bait. The topic itself is a dodge: It's impossible to prove that gods don't exist - just as it's impossible to prove that there are no leprechauns, ghosts, fairies, werewolves, vampires, and one-eyed one-horned flying purple people eaters. Even if somebody could prove that gods exist (which, of course, nobody can), it would prove nothing about Christian dogma’s legitimacy. The obvious question to debate - the one that preachers avoid like the plague - is this: Did Jesus believe that he was the Son of God? The answer is a resounding "No!" and the evidence is hiding in plain sight in the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke).

The inventor of modern Christian dogma was a contemporary of Jesus - a half-Jewish Roman citizen named Saul of Tarsus. You probably know him as "Saint Paul," but he was hardly a saint. By his own admission, he was hired by the Sadducee high priest to persecute uppity Jews like Jesus. He never met Jesus or heard him speak but, after the crucifixion, Paul claimed that he had a blinding vision in which Jesus revealed his true identity. We cannot know now whether Paul was the victim of a psychotic episode or simply a huckster (like many modern televangelists), but we do know this: What he wrote about Jesus directly contradicts what Jesus himself taught.

What Your Preacher Didn't Tell You reveals many of the ways in which Christian leaders obfuscate the Bible's meanings. Armed with a few basic clues that my book provides, you can readily read the Bible for yourself and discern what it really means.