Humor of Paul’s Ranting in Romans. We are too serious.

Is the Bible real? Who Jesus really was and how we believe what is true

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2602688/fan_mail/new] Lots of people fight over the reality of the Bible and God. Maybe you have thought, "Why should I believe in something that I can't even believe is real?" Many people say that God must be real. They say that the disciples would have never put their life on the line for a lie. But we all know that isn't true, because many people have died for lies in history. So why should we believe? In this challenging episode, I say we are usually asking the wrong questions and using the wrong methods of proof when it comes to faith. I tell you a story about learning what truth is and how we need to think about history differently. If you understand this, it helps you understand how to be a better person both for yourself and for the people around you.  Notes from the adult Real Bible Rob episode: The Jesus Seminar and its work to elucidate a historical Jesus ran out of steam. Robert Funk, Marcus Borg, John Dominic Crossan and others did done a lot of great work to put the gospels in historical context. They famously voted on the historical plausibility of the Jesus narrative using colored beads. But by the time the Jesus Seminar disbanded in 2006 after twenty years, they really have seemed to only show how tenuous the historical Jesus really is. I argue in this insightful podcast episode that the main problem of the Jesus Seminar is that they were answering the wrong question. They fall into the same trap of historical criticism that fundamentalists do. They rely on fact rather than narrative. This is a major fallacy of biblical apologetics. I describe how Walter Brueggemann's book "The Prophetic Imagination" was a watershed describing the shift to Narrative Criticism and other biblical interpretation methods that are much more widely adopted in today's scholarship. I was talking with someone who I really care about. He was frustrated that the liberal church he grew up in was obsessed with Historical Jesus, and the Jesus Seminar with Marcus Borg & John Dominic Crossan. He thought it cheapened the divinity of Christ, he was stunned when I agreed. The Historical Jesus sought to answer the wrong question however. It had its purpose, but whether Jesus, his life and the bible is historically correct is a fools game that comes from the enlightenment. It's the same game as fundamentalists play. It adds to scripture rather than illuminates it. That's why I love Walter Brueggemann’s work so much. It's the narrative that's important not historical fact. Even history is narrative depends on the author & the perspective of the reader. A very important lesson I learned in seminary. Prophetic Imagination is not a luxury, but the heart of biblical interpretation. God speaks to us in stories not bulletin points on PowerPoint.

What is Sin? Can you control what you do? Lessons from Paul and Science

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2602688/fan_mail/new] Sin is a hard topic because it makes us feel ashamed. It makes us worried about being saved. But most of all it is confusing. In this fascinating episode, I talk about the science of sin. Do we have instincts like animals? Do animals sin? Must something be intentional to be sin? These are confusing questions, because we have been taught to fear sin. Paul tells us a lot about Sin in Romans 6 in a very interesting way. If you look closely, you can see that Paul invites us to not worry about sin, but to just be in Jesus. If Sin is a character in a play and Death comes from Sin, then Jesus is makes it so we don't have to be afraid, because when we are in Jesus we have already died and been raised in him in new Life! Paul makes these like characters so we can look at them without fear and that we can just live full lives without having to keep score about sin.  Romans 6 begins the heart of Paul's letter. Paul speaks in an imaginary dialogue in his arguments to the Romans. He asks a rhetorical question like "Should we continue in Sin in order that grace may abound?" and then says "By no means!" again and again. Sin is portrayed like a character and Christ is the alternative that defeats Sin. We don't have to be slaves to Sin anymore! In this episode, I talk about Sin expansively. What make destructive behavior in animals not sinful? Why is it sinful when humans do these things? Most people will say it is because animals have no choice and they operate out of instinct, but humans are far more instinctual than we realize. So there much be another explanation. Matthew Croasmun's book provides a fascinating discussion about the emergence of Sin in the Christian consciousness. I also reference my discussion with Mattie Mae Motl in Season 2, Episode 15 and her recent Substack article on Romans 6 & 7. Resource:  The Emergence of Sin: The Cosmic Tyrant in Romans by Matthew Croasmun, 2019

Humor of Paul’s Ranting in Romans. We are too serious.

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2602688/fan_mail/new] People take the Bible way too seriously. By reading it out loud and you can see the humor . Paul was a master at using exaggeration to shake up his audience. He often uses "vice lists" where he throws the kitchen sink. Romans 1:18-32 is the famous rant against pagan worship. While its audience is not clear, it purpose is. It sets up the rest of the letter. In this fun episode, I do a dramatic reading of two passages to highlight how it must have sounded to the listeners in Rome when Phoebe read it to them. I also give a few other examples of diatribe being used in the New Testament. I also make an endorsement for Eugene Peterson's The Message, which does such a good job of making Bible reading fun.  Romans 1:28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them over to an unfit mind and to do things that should not be done. 29 They were filled with every kind of injustice, evil, covetousness, malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, craftiness, they are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters,[g] insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, rebellious toward parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 They know God’s decree, that those who practice such things deserve to die, yet they not only do them but even applaud others who practice them. Romans 3:9 What then? Are we any better off?[c] No, not at all, for we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin, 10 as it is written: “There is no one who is righteous, not even one; 11     there is no one who has understanding;         there is no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;     there is no one who shows kindness;         there is not even one.” 13 “Their throats are opened graves;     they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of vipers is under their lips.” 14     “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.” 15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16     ruin and misery are in their paths, 17 and the way of peace they have not known.” 18     “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” This hodgepodge comes from a scattering of cherry picked verses. This is where I will take you down a rabbit hole for a moment. I promise, it is worth it. First is total depravity.  Paul cites a grab bag of verses in Old Testament, from Ecclesiastes 7:20, Psalms 5, 14, 53, and 140 and sprinkles in a little Proverbs 1 and Isaiah 59 for seasoning. That’s an awful lot for just 9 verses. Revelation 21:6 Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life. 7 Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God, and they will be my children. 8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless,[f] the polluted, the murderers, the sexually immoral,[g] the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” Revelation 22:13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” 14 Blessed are those who wash their robes,[c] so that they will have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by the gates. 15 Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral[d] and murderers and idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

Where is Home? Ezra and the Returning Exiles

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2602688/fan_mail/new] The conquering of Jerusalem by the Babylonians was the worst thing that ever happened to the ancient Israelite people. Some of the people were dragged off to Babylon and many of them were left behind. For 50 long years, they were separated. Then suddenly King Cyrus allowed the people who were taken away to go home, back to Jerusalem. Would the people be able to get along with the people who stayed behind. In this episode, I tell you about the troubles of the chief priest Ezra, what it was like to have people against him. It is the like the story of a teacher of mine, who moved to Korea. They felt in between. They weren't sure they felt American or whether they felt Korean. Many people who come from other countries feel like this. Perhaps you have felt confused about where you fit. The books of Ezra and Nehemiah are all about finding a new sense of home.

Tower of Babel and the Many Languages of Pentecost

Send us Fan Mail [https://www.buzzsprout.com/2602688/fan_mail/new] The Bible is all about language. Many stories are about misunderstandings and whether people can understand each other. The Tower of Babel story in Genesis 11 is at once a very old story and a story we can understand. Who hasn't been confused when someone is speaking a different language than us? I tell the story of a Korean man that I know who said that the story is not a negative story like we think it is. Instead it is a story about diversity and how we are all human beings with a common origin without being exactly the same. The Tower of Babel is closely connected with the story of Pentecost in Acts 2.  Again the meaning is not so simple. The coming of the Holy Spirit meant that people could speak in each other's languages and understand each other. We don't know if that means that they miraculously spoke in each other's languages or that this was a symbol for having a common purpose and understanding in the Holy Spirit. Either way it is a vision of peace and unity that is possible when we understand each other.