Better Bible Reading Podcast

Is the Old Testament expendable? With "New Testament Only" Bibles, troubling statements from notable pastors, and arguments from the culture, the Old Testament repeatedly finds itself in the crosshairs. In response to this, the Old Testament gets pushed to the side. Is this a sign of innovation and progress, or does it represent a troubling trend that would destroy Christianity? Today we'll discuss what happens when the Old Testament is expendable, and why you should care about the 2/3's of your Bible that normally gets ignored. 

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From Theoretical-Practical Theology Volume 1, pages 98-104

When people talk about living for God, it's not always clear what that means. Maybe it has to do with showing love to others. Maybe it means fulfilling some kind of vow. Or maybe it means something entirely different. If someone asked you, how would you explain living for God? Peter Van Mastricht does a great job of using his own definition of theology as a way to explain what it means to live for God, and that's our topic of discussion for today!

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If you're ready to dive deep with me, consider joining my all-new membership site Better Readers Academy.

How often do you compare other Bible translations with your favorite one? Today I want to give two personal examples of how failing to do this can be a HUGE mistake, and why comparing multiple Bible translations can greatly improve our ability to understand any passage in the Bible. 

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If you're ready to dive deep with me, consider joining my all-new membership site Better Readers Academy.

From Theoretical-Practical Theology Volume 1, pages 86-98

Is theology simply a matter of knowledge? How do you know if your theology is correct? How does practice relate to theology? Today, Peter van Mastricht gives us an interesting litmus test for theology. He says that the only true theology is practical theology. To show this, he gives us four points of application for Christian theology. This episode is full of helpful considerations for our personal lives- so I hope you find it to be an important aid to your Christian life!

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If you're ready to dive deep with me, consider joining my all-new membership site Better Readers Academy.

The summertime is tough for disciplined Bible readers. With vacations and breaks from our normal routine, our Bibles and reading consistency can quickly go down the drain. So what should we do? How can we make the most of this natural break during the summer months? My advice is to pick one book of the Bible to focus on. Focus on quality over quantity. When the Fall comes around, you'll be glad that you took a tough situation and turned it into something memorable for your Bible reading! Here's why I'm choosing the gospel of John and why you should too!

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If you're ready to dive deep with me, consider joining my all-new membership site Better Readers Academy.

There are dozens of Bible translations available today, but which one should you use? I say, why limit ourselves to just one? Today we'll talk about why Bible translations differ from others and how to decide which ones are the best options for you. I'll also share my personal top three translations I recommend! 

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If you're ready to dive deep with me, consider joining my all-new membership site Better Readers Academy.

From Theoretical-Practical Theology Volume 1, pages 80-86

Natural theology needs some ground rules. We can either embrace it too much and start having a low opinion of the Bible's value. Or we can reject natural theology of any value, but this makes us deny what the Bible says about God revealing Himself in nature, such as Psalm 19 and Romans 1. What are some careful ground rules for us to follow? Peter van Mastricht shares 4 questions for us to answer, which serve as a litmus test for our view of natural theology. 

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If you're ready to dive deep with me, consider joining my all-new membership site Better Readers Academy.

There's a ton of Christian literature available today, but how much of it is actually helpful? We can't possible read all the good material, and there's probably more bad than good on the market, which makes things even more complicated. But what does the Bible actually say about reading Christian books? While there's no way to deal with every example of doctrinal disagreement or scandals that discredit authors, there are some helpful ways to decide who to read and who to avoid. And to do that, we'll  look at a very important passage from the book of Hebrews. 

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If you're ready to dive deep with me, consider joining my all-new membership site Better Readers Academy.

From Theoretical-Practical Theology Volume 1, pages 73-80

Is theology a biblical term? What can we learn about God outside the Bible? How does Scripture relate to reason? These are all questions we answer today by looking at Peter van Mastricht's explanation of how theology is revealed in nature and Scripture.

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If you're ready to dive deep with me, consider joining my all-new membership site Better Readers Academy.