Does the Bible say THAT?!?

Having quite the challenging year, host Dave Lester shares about his cancer diagnosis and his journey (so far) this year. He also shares some reflections about faith and a Bible passage in Acts 17 that he has thought about.

Opening Music: Struttin With Some Barbeque by Louis Armstrong

On this special episode of the podcast, host Dave Lester discusses 3 author's thoughts and views of the Bible.

Sources used for this episode:

*The Bible by Karen Armstrong

*The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God: Why New Atheism Grew Old and Secular Thinkers are Considering Christianity Again by Justin Brierley

*Womanist Midrash: A Reintroduction to the Women of the Torah and the Throne by Wilda C. Gafney

Opening Music: Struttin With Some Barbeque by Louis Armstrong

On this special episode, Dave Lester is joined by his son, Reuben! There is talk of favorite Bible stories, what kinds of Bibles Reuben reads and his favorite verse. It was so much fun!

Sources used for this episode:

*The NIrV Adventure Bible for Early Readers by Lawrence O Richards

*The Action Bible: God's Redemptive Story by Sergio Cariello and David C. Cook

*The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God: Why New Atheism Grew Old and Secular Thinkers are Considering Christianity Again by Justin Brierley

Opening Music: Struttin With Some Barbeque by Louis Armstrong

Host Dave Lester is joined by his friend and former pastor, Brent Rood, to discuss the Lot kidnapping situation and Abram springing into action for the rescue. Abram leads 318 men on a daring night time raid against kings and their armies around the Dead Sea.

Brent also discusses his background in fundamentalism and his views of the Bible.

Sources used for this episode:

*The NIV Application Commentary: Genesis by Dr. John Walton

*Word Biblical Commentary: Genesis 1-15 by Gordon J. Wenham

*The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament by John H. Walton, Victor H Matthews & Mark W. Chavalas

*The New International Commentary: The Book of Genesis: Chapters 1-17 by Victor P. Hamilton

*The JPS Torah Commentary by Dr. Nahum Sarna

*Commentary on the Torah by Richard Elliott Friedman

Opening Music: Struttin With Some Barbeque by Louis Armstrong

Dave Lester is again joined by Mike Mason and they explore the strange text of Genesis 14 which involves two different alliances of kings going to war with one another around the Dead Sea. And then there are tar pits! And Lot is kidnapped!

Sources used for this episode:

*The NIV Application Commentary: Genesis by Dr. John Walton

*Word Biblical Commentary: Genesis 1-15 by Gordon J. Wenham

*The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament by John H. Walton, Victor H Matthews & Mark W. Chavalas

*The New International Commentary: The Book of Genesis: Chapters 1-17 by Victor P. Hamilton

*The JPS Torah Commentary by Dr. Nahum Sarna

*"Battle of Siddim" Wikipedia article. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Siddim

Opening Music: Struttin With Some Barbeque by Louis Armstrong

This episode is a sermon that Dave Lester preached at Central Kitsap Presbyterian Church on April 27th, 2025. The message was on Exodus 15:1-6 which is an ancient song that Israelites sang after being delivered from slavery in Egypt and crossing the Red Sea.

Website for the church: https://ckpres.org/

Sources used for this message:

*The NIV Application Commentary: Exodus by Peter Enns

*Word Biblical Commentary: Exodus by John I. Durham

*The JPS Torah Commentary: Exodus by Nahum M. Sarna

Opening Music: Struttin With Some Barbeque by Louis Armstrong

In this special episode, Dave Lester talks about Dr. Bart Ehrman's book "How Jesus Became God" which he is currently reading (at the time of recording). He gives a brief bio of Dr. Ehrman and engages his ideas about Jesus' deity and resurrection.

Sources used for this episode:

*How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee by Bart D. Ehrman

Opening Music: Struttin With Some Barbeque by Louis Armstrong

On this special episode, Dave Lester shares a reflection that he gave on Good Friday at his church (Central Kitsap Presbyterian Church). It was a reflection that was part of a larger presentation remembering Jesus Christ's death on the cruel cross. The reflection was based on Matthew 26:47-52 where Judas Iscariot leads a group of Roman soldiers to arrest Jesus and one of Jesus' companions cuts off a soldier's ear.

Visit Central Kitsap Presbyterian Church's website: https://ckpres.org/

Abram and Lot officially separate with Lot moving eastward toward Sodom and Gomorrah and Abram staying within the promised land. Mike Mason joins me to discuss the conflict between Abram and Lot and some geography in this ancient Biblical land.

Special thanks to AD Riddle for insight he provided to Mike Mason for this episode.

Sources used for this episode:

*The NIV Application Commentary: Genesis by Dr. John Walton

*Word Biblical Commentary: Genesis 1-15 by Gordon J. Wenham

*The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament by John H. Walton, Victor H Matthews & Mark W. Chavalas

*The New International Commentary: The Book of Genesis: Chapters 1-17 by Victor P. Hamilton

*Come Out My People: God's Call Out of Empire in the Bible and Beyond by Wes Howard-Brook

Opening Music: Struttin With Some Barbeque by Louis Armstrong

Dave preached a sermon at Central Kitsap Presbyterian Church on January 26, 2025 out of Exodus 2:15-25.

Info on Central Kitsap Presbyterian Church: https://ckpres.org/

Sources used for the sermon:

*Word Biblical Commentary: Exodus by John I. Durham

*The JPS Torah Commentary: Exodus by Nahum Sarna

*The NIV Application Commentary: Exodus by Peter Enns

Opening Music: Struttin With Some Barbeque by Louis Armstrong