In this episode we discuss some sample verses that describe the Bible’s goal for humanity. Ancient texts often describe a view of humanity and divinity. The Bible describes humanity as it sees it. It also describes goals of God for humanity and then provides the means to achieve that goal. A lot of nonsense is described under the topic of spirituality. What is spiritual is usually confusing. But the Bible is clear about what God wants from people, and it's often not what you think.

When Jesus Christ speaks of peace, what does he mean? In this episode we perform an analysis of just two (2) verses spoken by Jesus to see what he says about peace. The text is John 14:24-25. There’s a lot in these two verses to discuss. We can experience the peace God gives, have peace in our relationships with others, and have peace with ourselves - something people with a conscience have a hard time finding.

The recent ideas of physics, like string theory, bosonic, superstring, and M-theory promote the idea that there are more dimensions in the universe than the four (4) we are used to. In this episode we discuss from the Hebrew Scriptures God the fact that angels appear and disappear from our four (4) dimensions. In the New Testament we have descriptions of a New Heaven and New Earth. Both parts of the Bible provide details that are not metaphors drawn from the imaginations of some wandering shepherds of the ancient past or citizens of the early Roman empire. This episode discusses what the Bible says about the dimensions of Heaven and Hell.

For people who disbelieve the supernatural, the healings the New Testament described that Jesus performed are just mistaken conclusions of witnesses to events or at worst, simply lies in a conspiracy to elevate Jesus politically and religiously. This episode provides some of the actual text of the many healings Jesus performed. In these verses we see that categories of illness healed included everything from general healing, the healing of a communicable disease, terminal disease, healing performed without a personal, conscious knowledge of the sick person, and finally the healing of genetic diseases that are only understood as categories of illness in modern times.

But these healings were performed for reasons beyond the compassion of Jesus on the sick. This episode discusses the reasons Jesus healed the sick.

There are many religions in the world, but only three basic monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Each of these has various internal denominations and sects. The major difference between these internal divisions is based upon how they read and understand their own sacred scriptures. In this episode, we look into these three (3) religions, to understand how to become a member of their creed. The similarities and differences can be shocking.

In this episode we examine the use of poetic language, simile, and metaphor in the Bible. Remember, a major premise of the Bible Bard is that the Bible is literature and as such can be analyzed using the tools of literary criticism. Sometimes, in reading the Bible, this can be a bit tricky; that happens, because the Bible is also a religious text and people have many ideas about how a religious text should be approached. A difficulty is that some interpret metaphors literally, while others can misunderstand the sense of a figurative expression. In this episode we discuss and illustrate a simple literary method to clarify metaphoric language.

In this episode we discuss the use of symbolism in the Bible. Remember, a major premise of ours is that the Bible is literature and as such can be analyzed using the tools of literary criticism. Sometimes, in reading the Bible, this can be a bit tricky; that happens, because the Bible is also a religious text and people have many ideas about how a religious text should be approached. Biblical symbolism is a fertile field in which to grow the poppies of bad thinking, false premises, and poisonous conclusions that twist the plain meaning of the text into its opposite. In this episode the Bible Bard provides examples of symbolic texts from the Bible and how Bible text itself explains the symbols meanings found within its text.

In our last couple of podcasts, we looked at the humanity of Jesus, then we examined the deity of Jesus, now we come to the Bible’s message about Jesus. That message is called the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There is more than one Gospel in the New Testament. In this episode we look at the special gospel around Jesus, also called the Gospel of Grace.

In our last podcast (BB-23) we looked at the humanity of Jesus. In today’s discussion we investigate his deity. It is true that the Bible claims both deity and humanity for Jesus at the same time. The sample texts presented today, which we read inductively, present factual statements that proclaim the deity of Christ Jesus. It’s difficult to imagine how any sincere person could assert that Jesus is never called “God” anywhere in the Bible. Those who asset such have believed their ideology instead of the Bible.

As stated in Lesson 42 Sex and marriage, God has not placed rules around sexual activity within marriage. He has placed rules about sex within the family and extended family. God says, "No one is to approach any close relative to have sexual relations… " Human beings like sex and seem to want to have it with anyone they see. Because family members are generally more available to a person than anyone else, sex within the family happens. This episode details these restrictions.