Genesis Marks the Spot

Godzilla in Paradise??  Continuing the series of the spiritual realm and sources of the spirtual "bad guys," Paradise Lost features prominantly in our thinking, even if we aren't aware.  Here we ask three questions:  Who is Satan: serpent, seraph, or dragon?  How did he get to be the head honcho of the bad guys?  And what does Paradise Lost have to do with it?  We get into the book of Jubilees, th...

Have you seen the movie Nefarious, or read the book A Nefarious Plot?  Sharing a review of both along with a discussion of demons and where they came from, including a discussion on the book of 1 Enoch and the myth of the apkallu--this is a wide-ranging episode that gets into the "three falls" of Genesis and how that is a better way of understanding the structure of the powers of darkness.  (But a...

Genesis 4 is our first action-packed genealogy in the Bible!  And seriously!  It's action packed!  Cindy Beaver and I read through the second half of Genesis chapter 4 and talk about what we see.  She reads from the Lexham English Septuagint (LES) and I read from the English Standard Version (ESV).  Amongst other things in this episode, we jump from Genesis all the way into the book of Kings becau...

Science and the Bible: how do they intersect?  Can we read the Bible and come away with a solid view of creation?  Should we fight it out as believers?  Reading the "literal" or "plain" six-day creation in the text seems a given for many of us.  We have been told by people we may trust that this is the *only* legitimate view of creation.  Those evil evolutionists are trying to destroy the authorit...

Special guest Cindy Beaver joins me for a public reading of Scripture where we begin reading Genesis 4 from two translations:  The English Standard Version (ESV) and the Lexham English Septuagint (LES).  We talk about the ancient Near East, sacrifices and offerings as shared meals (yep, that likely means that they weren't vegetarians!), Mesopotamian demons residing in doorways, allegories, and com...

Did God create chaos?  What is it?  What purpose does it serve in the biblical narrative?  In this episode, we reexaminie the traditional idea that "the fall" is best seen as an introduction of sin which caused all of creation to fall alongside humanity.  We talk about another view where "the fall" is, instead, a path that moves along chaos and away from God.  From glory into the dark wilderness o...

I'm joined by Michael Norton for a reading of Genesis 3 and talk about the serpent figure in the garden, the nachash.  We read from two translations: the New English Translation (NET) and the New King James Version.  Michael is a seminary student, a certificate holder from the AWKNG School of Theology, and hosts his own podcast, My Mysterious Bible.  He is also author of the Divine Council Worldvi...

Geoff Johnson joins me again for reading and discussing Genesis 2 from two translations: the New King James Version and the Lexham English Bible. Public readings of Scripture ought to be common practice, and reading from multiple translations provides an excellent way to delve into the original language of the text when you don’t have the years of schooling to read it yourself.  Here we compare th...

Theodicy: if there is a good God, then why is there evil and suffering?  I explore this question beginning from the ancient Near Eastern perspective and continue to what it means for us and creation. **New channel**  https://www.podpage.com/genesis-marks-the-spot/ Naked Bible Podcast 162, The Evil Eye:  https://nakedbiblepodcast.com/podcast/naked-bible-162-the-evil-eye/ Faith Unaltered, Theodicy: ...

Special guest Geoff Johnson joins me for reading and discussing Genesis 1 from two translations: the New King James Version and the Lexham English Bible. Public readings of Scripture ought to be common practice, and reading from multiple translations provides an excellent way to delve into the original language of the text when you don’t have the years of schooling to read it yourself. Geoff Johns...

I went to see Jordan Peterson live, and so here are some thoughts on that and his life and work, including a response to that nosy question: what is Jordan Peterson’s relationship with God? I get into archetypes and rule number 8 from 12 Rules for Life, which is: Always tell the truth, or at least don’t lie. Jordan Peterson’s website: https://www.jordanbpeterson.com/ Naked Bible Podcast 201, God a...

Welcome to the podcast’s second Q&A! Some fun and interesting topics…but warning: possibly NSFW or listening with kids around (not explicit, but I do talk about reproduction; yes, even dinos reproduced!). Timestamps: (0:58) - Where do we find dinosaurs in the Bible? (26:43) - How would Adam and Eve have procreated before the fall? (47:59) - What about original sin? (Mis)interpreting Genesis: H...

Using the story of White Fang to illustrate some points of biblical theology. What does the Hebrew term “elohim” mean? How does that map onto the English word “god,” and how do we understand what a god is? If other “gods” are real, then what about the Most High God? What does it mean to have faith and what does it mean to worship? Also: are Christians actually monotheists? Responding to William La...

Continuing the image of God series with Joshua Sherman, we delve into Scripture to see that this concept is deeply embedded everywhere, and in places that you might not expect! Being God’s Image by Carmen Imes: https://www.amazon.com/Being-Gods-Image-Creation-Matters-ebook/dp/B0BLD43TVC/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1684376442&sr=8-1 The Image of God in the Garden of Eden by Cath...

Digging into the concept of generational cursing—is it a biblical concept? What do we do about generational curses? Also, responding to the book, Free at Last: Breaking Generational Curses by Larry Huch and Benny Hinn. Why the Gospel? by Matthew Bates https://www.amazon.com/Why-Gospel-Living-Jesus-Purpose/dp/0802881688/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2MSFRAV4EBHH9&keywords=why+the+gospel&qid=1684450560&am...

Was light created? A study in biblical theology on the theme of light and what it means. Bonus material: https://genesis-marks-the-spot.castos.com/ Genesis Marks the Spot on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/genesismarksthespot Music credit: "Marble Machine" by Wintergatan Link to Wintergatan’s website: https://wintergatan.net/ Link to the original Marble Machine video by Wintergatan: https://www...

Continuing the discussion about the embodied image of God, Joshua Sherman and I talk about the ancient Near East context of the image and also ethical and philosophical implications of it.  Is the image ontological or is it functional?  It is a noun or is a verb--or can we see it as both? Carmen Joy Imes, Being God’s Image: https://www.amazon.com/Being-Gods-Image-Creation-Matters-ebook/dp/B0BLD43T...

Discussing the concept of curses in the ancient world, exploring some of the ways we see them in the Bible, looking at their impact through the NT, and seeding a few questions along the way for further exploration. Bonus material: https://genesis-marks-the-spot.castos.com/ Genesis Marks the Spot on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/genesismarksthespot Faith Unaltered: https://www.youtube.com/@Fai...

What is the “documentary hypothesis”? Also known as the four-source hypothesis, or JEDP, is there any good basis for this theory of higher criticism? These are questions we look at, ending up focusing on some of the “priestly” texts of the Bible. Bonus material: https://genesis-marks-the-spot.castos.com/ Genesis Marks the Spot on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/genesismarksthespot Music credit:...

How did I go from strong LDS belief to believing in Christianity as formulated in biblical theology? This is my story and a little bit of exposition as to what I think it all means. Do you know what faith is? What is “believing loyalty,” anyway? Bonus material: https://genesis-marks-the-spot.castos.com/ Genesis Marks the Spot on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/genesismarksthespot Music credit:...

Continuing with the series on the image of God, in this episode I talk to Joshua Sherman about the important aspect of the image being embodied in both Christ as well as in us as individual humans and the church as the body of Christ. Book recommendations: Bearing God’s Name by Carmen Imes https://www.amazon.com/Bearing-Gods-Name-Sinai-Matters/dp/0830852697/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&...

The theme of the cosmic temple is a popular one in the halls of biblical theology—how solid of an idea is it, though? Here we are going to talk about temples, including touching on the purposes of the temple in LDS theology to compare that with the temple in the Bible, and I’m going to discuss Daniel Block’s pushback on this idea that Eden can be seen as a temple. Bible Project videos: https://www...

Exploring two views of creation: the analogical view (the days of creation are analogically similar to the workweek of the Israelite, but the days are not necessarily 24-hour days) and the literary view (Genesis 1 is literarily designed to give us theological truth). Both of these views ask the question, “What is Genesis 1 supposed to teach us?” The episode concludes with the question of how to da...

Discussion with Jon Dillon (of the Two Trees Podcast) centered on the theme of trees, fruitfulness, and multiplication. What does it mean to be fruitful? Why trees? Is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil a “bad” tree? Bonus material: https://genesis-marks-the-spot.castos.com/ Genesis Marks the Spot on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/genesismarksthespot Music credit: "Marble Machine" by W...

Our first Q&A! Timestamps: (1:11) - What do we do when we grew up Christian, or have been in a particular Christian tradition or church for a while, and…we start thinking in terms of biblical theology, of studying the Bible in its ancient context? (18:00) - In college years ago, I heard about the idea that the Israelite’s religion evolved from polytheism to monotheism. It looks to me like you’...