Reginald Finley's Show with Bart Ehrman
Clearing the Air
Apparently there has been some confusion over the years with regard to a program in which I featured Bart Ehrman to explain to my listeners and some of his fans, his evidences for a literal and physically present Jesus Christ in history. The confusion is/was so great, that some have decided to name the program "Reggie Finley vs Bart Ehrman, Reginald Finley vs Bart Ehrman or The Infidel Guy vs Bart Ehrman". None of these names were the original name of the program and has been manipulated by his die hard fans or those that just don't like me, or whatever their motivations are. This is dishonest as it wasn't a program in which I was purposefully debating Dr. Ehrman, with my obvious vast years of historical research[sic] on a literal Jesus. Some people on Youtube even edited the original file and passed it around to their buddies or they made short quick pieces to ridicule. The original file was over an hour long!
It should have been clear before the show that Dr. Ehrman was appearing to educate myself and the listeners about his research concerning a very real and historical Jesus. However, somehow, once the show began, Dr. Ehrman started with very short answers to questions and wasn't opening up. It was almost as if he thought he were in a debate and had to protect himself. I attempted to laugh and ask silly questions to get him to unwind but he never did. It was supposed to be fun, enlightening, and educational. I attempted to ask open-ended questions to get him to grab hold of the reigns and make the show his but he never did. Instead, he just shut down. :-(
This was a huge surprise to my producer, myself, and others in the studio that night. Something was just way off. Later, after the program was posted, suddenly it became a show in which, "An atheist/agnostic historian spanks a cocky atheist on his own show". Nothing further from the truth. I never claimed to be versed in early Christianity. Again, it wasn't a debate. Toward the end of the show, I was exhausted. I just couldn't figure out what the heck happened! Much later, a colleague of his informed me that Dr. Ehrman apologized and admitted that he wasn't familiar with the show format. He thought I brought him on to sabotage him so he was exceedingly defensive. That's a shame because I brought on tons of people on the program and they quickly realized that I was giving them the floor to tell their story. Sadly, Dr. Ehrman never caught on.
I challenge those that still have access to the entire program, to listen again to the flow. You can clearly hear me trying to get him out of his shell. I was trying to ask leading and challenging questions to get him to open up about what he knew and how he knew it. He never did. Just super short and useless responses. Listen again. He never argued fully his points. What was mostly said was, "Most scholars agree with me". And that was pretty much it. The show was so poorly done and with no real information disseminated that I erased it. It was just useless to anyone wanting to learn information, facts, and evidence about a flesh and blood Jesus Christ actually existing. I was hoping to have him come back so that we could have a real program. I blame myself for Dr. Ehrman not fully understanding his role on the show. I take responsibility in not realizing that sooner.
Unfortunately, I know that people will believe what they wish to believe and that can't be changed. But I figure it fair and proper tell my story as I know it was and not how others think it was.