This is the second of a two-part podcast about God’s emotions. Previously, we looked at six (6) core qualities that separate God from humanity making him too difficult to relate to. For example, the idea that of God's omnipresence, that He is everywhere at the same time, is difficult for us as human beings to understand or relate to. But God’s core attributes are not all the Bible teaches about God. In today's podcast, we look at a few of God’s positive feelings: kindness, compassion, and love. All human beings experience these emotions. The Bible teaches that God also feels those emotions. What’s more, however imperfectly we feel them, God’s feeling of them is complete, intense, and perfect.

In today's episode we examine the texts provided in the literature of the Bible that describe the empathy of God.

In this episode, first of a two-part podcast, we are discussing God’s positive and negative emotions. In past podcasts we have looked at attributes of God that describe God as a very strange, abstract character. If all we knew about the Bible's God were these six things, he would be too difficult for us to relate to. Throughout its contents, the Bible describes how God’s feelings, his positive and negative emotions move him to action. Critics of the Bible (who have rarely read it) repeat some text or story that they think describes God as angry, harsh, mean, or even cruel, and in doing so seek to discredit God or the Bible's description of him.

In this episode the Bible Bard looks at God's negative emotions: jealousy, anger, and rage. Negative emotions are feelings we can relate to. When we hear how God feels about betrayal, about agreement breaking, about back-stabbing, we recognize that we feel the same thing when that happens to us. What is different about God’s jealousy is, after his anger passes, God can forgive with compassion and “everlasting kindness”. For example, if our spouse betrays us, we’re getting a divorce. But God does something that human beings do not usually do; he re-establishes his broken relationships.

In our last podcast, we heard that God lives everywhere at the same time. In this week’s reading we hear that God has unlimited power, He is omnipotent. Up to this point, the Bible Bard has enumerated three great, unique, abilities or qualities of God, as stated in the Bible: He knows everything, He is present everywhere, and in today's lesson He has unlimited power. The Bible Bard presents what the Bible says about these ideas. God has many other attributes and abilities, but these three are very special for they set the Bible's God apart from all others. This exercise of power attributed to God is highly controversial. The Bible Bard doesn’t care. We focus on what the Bible says about these sub jects. I am not even arguing that these events actually happened or are true. Instead, I am simply sharing that this is what the Bible says, which is the reason why the Bible is the best-selling book in publishing history.

In our last podcast we heard that God knows everything. In this week’s reading we hear about where God lives, and his attribute called omnipresence. The Bible texts we examine are clear; its God is present everywhere at the same time all the time. Omnipresence means God is here in this room with me, he is present wherever you are, and he is present in the solar system of the farthest star, all at the same time! This is a very strange being and this attribute of omnipresence is totally alien from human experience. In the Bible, God defines his own uniqueness. God asserts his own existence, independent of all other beings and things in the universe. God is present everywhere at once, but he is also transcendent, which means he exists outside of and independent from the universe. In today's episode we look at what the Bible teaches about God's alien ability to be everywhere in our universe at the same time.

In this episode, the Bible teaches that God is omniscient, he knows everything. As we always do, the Bible Bard looks inductively at sample Bible texts that declare who God is and what God is like. And remember, we are looking for what the Bible says. It doesn't matter if you or I agree with a statement. What we need to have clear is what the text actually says. Our sample texts clearly state that God knows everything about the universe and everything about human beings. Our procedure is to inductively take the sample texts, accumulate the evidence of what they say, and then summarize their teaching in an inductive conclusion. Using the ideas of literary criticism as methodology to approach the biblical text, we understand what the Bible teaches about a topic.

In today's episode we are looking at the thought that the Bible considers its God the only God. Per our methodology, we listen to what the Bible says about ideas in sample texts. These texts are very clear. There is no ambiguity. The biblical thought is the same in the original languages and in any translation - it says the same thing. But some Bible declarations are hard, dogmatic things to say, and this is one of them. The Bible Bard presents what the Bible teaches. The assertion today is that this God has no rival, no equal. We’ve already learned God is not man and God is a Spirit. Something is ruled out. Something is ruled in.

It will take time to develop a full description of God, but that is what the podcast does. We begin with the biblical text alone. We do not start with ideology, denominational theology, or presuppositions from human reasoning. The Bible Bard is searching inductively for what the what the Bible declares about who God is, what He is like, and how He behaves. The inductive process takes time, but process takes time but provides real certainty about the answers it finally he answers it finally obtains.

In today's episode we're looking at the thought that God is not human. This is such an important idea. To understand the Bible teaching, we listen to what the Bible says about this concept. We find in three sample statements, two negative and one positive, what God isn’t and what he is. If God is not human, what is he? The answer the Bible gives, he is a spirit. At this moment, that’s all we know. But by taking other clear statements like these that provide further definition and amplification, we'll build up an understanding of who the Bible's God is and what he, she, or it is like.

This is an inductive rather than a deductive approach. Understand that religions often use a deductive approach. They begin with accepted premises and try to reason to new conclusions. Our approach is the opposite. Using an inductive approach, we gather and build up discrete pieces of information about a Bible topic using Bible verses themselves as data until we’ve collected enough content to hazard some conclusion about what the Bible is teaching. We set aside our own ideas, and for the moment just try to hear the Bible's thoughts.

Watch the full Bible Bard promo video here: BB-01 What is the Bible Bard?

The Bible Bard is a weekly podcast that presents what the literature of the Bible clearly states about God and human beings. The Bible Bard presents what the Bible itself directly and clearly states about a subject. The Bible Bard podcast isn’t here to push the ideas of any religious sect on you. The Bible Bard is a public service presenting Bible literature to an audience that has, through no individual fault of their own, never heard what this book – the bestselling book ever in the history of publishing – actually says. That is the content you get whenever you listen to the Bible Bard. You can see everything at www.BibleBard.org including an episode archive, podcast translations to different languages, and a store where you can download anything you want for a donation of any size. This is the way the Bible Bard works. Brief recitations, closely focused, no distractions, no rabbit trails. Send the Bible Bard any questions or remarks you care to offer to [email protected]. Glad to hear from you.

The Bible is a compilation of 66 individual books written by over 40 authors over a period of about 1,600 years beginning about 1,500 BC – about 100 AD. In the 39 books that form the content for the Old Testament different persons, people groups, nations, and empires, different religions and philosophies all march past the reader. The content for the Old Testament was composed during the rise and fall of the historic empires of the past, Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, among others. This podcast answers the question, How the text of the Bible was actually composed? In this episode we look at several places where we have particular Bible answer to this question.

There are several ways to approach the topic of prayer in the Bible. In this episode let's see how Jesus prayed. The prayers of Jesus were rational communications to God. In this episode we discuss his posture in prayer, the places he prayed, the topics he prayed about.