Summary: Popular author Nick Bunick claims past-life regression provided remembrances of Jesus, but biblical scholars have doubts. Join Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris for an interview with bestselling author of, Time For Truth, Nick Bunick. During the interview Mr. Bunick discusses how a chance visit to a psychic revealed his past, ”Alex, I had no idea what he was talking about. Two thousand years ago I walked with the Master? I didn’t even have a religion. I’d never read the Gospels. I did have a relationship with God; it was a spiritual relationship. But what happened to me then over the next six or seven years, I had affirmation after affirmation from other sources that indeed, my spirit and soul had manifested itself 2,000 years ago in the person we know as the Apostle Paul.” But, as Skeptiko host Alex Tsakiris explains during the interview, biblical scholars take exception with some of Mr. Bunick’s claims, “I’ve tried to get a sense for biblical scholarship in general and it surprised how much we do know about the Bible. It is the most studied document in history. Millions of man-hours have been spent scouring the earth, finding every copy we can get our hands on. Scholars have gone through and scrutinized every word and every letter. I don’t think these scholars would agree with your account. Secular scholars like Bart Ehrman and Robert Price, as well as Christian Biblical scholars don’t find any support for your claim that the Bible used to support reincarnation.” According to Bunick transcripts of past-life regression sessions, “gave information about the life of Paul never before known before, as well as the life of Jesus never before known. And also, it conflicted in many places with what is written in the New Testament.” Nick Bunick Play it: Download MP3 (49:00 min.) Read it: Welcome to Skeptiko, where we explore controversial science with leading researchers, thinkers, and their critics. I’m your host, Alex Tsakiris, and I have to tell you that in preparing for this episode, in particular the introduction to this episode, I was really challenged. I was trying to figure out how to wrap my arms around what I wanted to say. And then I was going through the forum and I came across a video that one of our listeners had posted. The video was from philosopher/writer, Alan Watts, who in the 1950′s was one of the first people in the West to really popularize Zen Buddhism. Now since then his message has become very popular with Atheists and secular folks for a variety of reasons I can’t totally understand. But nevertheless, I want to play you about a minute of audio here and then talk about this for a minute. Here’s Alan Watts: “I am not a Zen Buddhist. I am not advocating Zen Buddhism. I’m not trying to convert anyone to it. I have nothing to sell. I am an entertainer. [audience laughter] That is to say in the same sense that when you go to a concert and you listen to someone play Mozart, he has nothing to sell except the sound of the music. He doesn’t want to convert you to anything; he doesn’t want you to join an organization in favor of Mozart’s music as opposed to, say, Beethoven’s. And I approach you in the same spirit as a musician with his piano or violinist with his violin. I just want you to enjoy a point of view which I enjoy.” So what struck me about this, of course, is the “I’m an entertainer.” Here’s a guy who became somewhat of a cultural lightning rod. He has these ideas that at the time were very controversial, this Zen Buddhist kind of “we are nothing, there is nothing,” at least the Western interpretation of that kind of thing going on. He’s in the middle of all this controversy, in the middle of all this debate and people want him to go back and forth. He steps back and says, “I’m an entertainer. I’m just playing [...]
