Real Bible Rob for Teens - Inclusive and Affirming Christianity Minister Rob Christ Podcast

Send us Fan Mail 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...

Send us Fan Mail 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 i...

Send us Fan Mail 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 ep...

Send us Fan Mail 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...

Send us Fan Mail 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 ne...

Send us Fan Mail Jesus had a lot more in common with the civil rights leaders like John Lewis and Martin Luther King Jr. than your typical pastor. This makes people uncomfortable, because they think there is no politics in the Bible. But they usually say this because they don't like what it says about it. Freeing poor people is what the gospel is all about. We really see this in the symbols o...

Send us Fan Mail God commands us to Love God with all our hearts, minds, souls and strength, and to Love our Neighbor as ourselves. Jesus said that every other law and rule in the Bible hangs on these two things. If you love God and you love your neighbor then you will follow everything else naturally. So what does love your neighbor mean? Who is your neighbor? Someone asked Jesus this very questi...

Send us Fan Mail The Bible was written in ancient languages long before we got it in English. English like we know it wasn't even around until about 500 years ago, but the Bible is over 2000 years old. The Old Testament was written in Hebrew and the New Testament in Greek. A lot of people work hard to understand what the Bible really said, because it is hard to translate from one language to...

Send us Fan Mail The New Testament talks about Paul and his travels more than anyone else. In this episode, I talk about who Paul was and why he traveled so much. There are so many stories about Paul in the book of Acts, it is like a big adventure story. Shipwrecks, jail, big crowds, and huge success, Paul saw it all. One of most interesting stories is when Paul goes to Athens. It tells so much ab...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, I tell about one of the most important people in the whole New Testament. There are only two verses about her, but her story is much deeper. She was the person who carried the letter to the Romans. This was Paul's most important letter and Phoebe as a single woman had to carry 500 miles and then read and explain it to people in Rome. How do we know all of thi...

Send us Fan Mail Can you trust your heart? Can you trust your mind? It's really important to know what this means. Sometimes you will hear Christians trying to convince you that your heart and your mind can't be trusted. They will use these two verses in a bad way without understanding what they mean to trick you into thinking badly about yourself. I will show you that the real meaning i...

Send us Fan Mail In this serious episode, I tell you about the most heartbreaking messages I receive from young people when ask me if they have committed the unforgivable sin. They worry they are doomed to hell because of blasphemy. I always wonder if it was a pastor or a Sunday school teacher who filled them with this fear. In this episode, I tell you why you don’t need to fear it. Blasphemy is a...

Send us Fan Mail Thomas was one of the most impressive apostles for a number of reasons. Sometimes people feel bad about him because he told Jesus that needed to put his hands on Jesus’s wounds to believe Jesus had risen. But Thomas shows up 3 times in the Gospel of John. He also inspired the Gospel of Thomas which many people thought should have been in the Bible. The “doubting” was really more a...

Send us Fan Mail Daniel is such a fun book. It has the men with funny names thrown into the fiery furnace. They are saved without even the slightest burn and with angels appearing in the fire with them. It has Daniel thrown into the Lion's Den by the King in a fit of rage. Then the lion's mouth is shut. These miraculous stories are amazing. A follower of mine said, "why don't y...

Send us Fan Mail Moses lost his temper and broke the first set of tablets. So God told him to do it all over again. The first set of tablets was made and written by God. The second set was made and written by Moses at God's direction. Why do it again? It is such an interesting story about anger and pleading and forgiveness. God and Moses worked together. In this episode, I tell you the amazin...

Send us Fan Mail There is only one story about Jesus as a boy in the whole Bible. It is very interesting. It tells us a lot about how we know what parts of the Bible are real and what parts are just stories. In this episode, I tell you all the background of Jesus as a 12 year old boy in the temple. He is speaking to the old rabbis and they are super impressed with how smart he is. When you have a...

Send us Fan Mail Ruth is an amazing character in the Bible. She is an strong woman. She is loyal and she is full of love for her mother in law, Naomi. Many people are amazed that we have this story about a woman, because we think Bible times were only about men and that women had no power. That is partly true. I explain how Ruth got into the risky position of being a foreign widow in ancient Israe...

Send us Fan Mail Revelation is the craziest book of the Bible. Many people fear it. Some people hate it. It’s much better to understand it and enjoy the crazy ride. In this episode, I show a way to enjoy it without the fear of the hate. It’s all about how to use the book. Most people use it like a secret decoder ring of the future. But most of Christian history people didn’t think this. This is bo...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we explore one of the weirdest and most fun books in the Old Testament. Most kids are told about how Jonah was swallowed by a big fish for three days and then vomited back on the beach. That is a fun image, but it is not what the book is really about. Instead it is about bullies and how God loves everyone, even them. Jonah is just a drama queen. He hates the bulli...

Send us Fan Mail Sometime in your life, you give up on just believing what your parents told you. You discover God or not for yourself. Usually in your teens, you start taking it seriously. Some teens really want to get involved in faith and other don't. I started this podcast to help you discover the Bible for yourself. I am fascinated with the Bible. Some stories are terrible. Some stories...