Faith Lab

There's a story in Genesis where Noah gets drunk and something terrible happens with his son Ham, and the Bible never tells you what it was. That gap is not a mistake. Tim Mackie says it's a design choice, and learning to read it changes the whole book.

In part two of our conversation, Bible Project co-founder Tim Mackie walks through how the biblical authors crafted narratives with intentional gaps, layered patterns, and riddles that unfold across entire books. We get into why "inerrancy" might be the wrong word, what Jesus actually did when asked about marriage and divorce, and why Tim says the Bible is an epic narrative pointing to a person rather than a rule book.

New here? You can start with part 1.

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Read the full write-up: faithlabshow.com/tim-mackie-the-bible-isnt-what-you-think

Most of us were taught to believe the Bible, but almost nobody was taught how it actually works. Why does Genesis repeat the same words over and over? Why do later stories echo earlier ones in ways that feel too precise to be accidental?

Tim Mackie, co-founder of The Bible Project, walks through how the biblical authors used design patterns, repeated keywords, and narrative "hyperlinking" to build meaning across the entire Hebrew Bible. From the word "good" threading through Genesis to the way sin crouches at Cain's door like the serpent in the garden, Tim shows why treating the Bible like a rule book or a textbook misses what these ancient literary artists were actually doing.

This is part 1 of our conversation with Tim. When you finish, listen to part 2.

Faith Lab is free and listener-supported. Help keep it going for five dollars a month: faithlabshow.com/support

Read the full write-up: faithlabshow.com/tim-mackie-how-to-read-the-bible

What if the strongest arguments against Christianity actually lean on ideas Christianity introduced in the first place? Rebecca McLaughlin has spent her life listening to the smartest objections to the faith, and she's convinced the hardest ones look very different up close.

Rebecca McLaughlin, author of Confronting Christianity, joins Faith Lab to ask whether Christian faith can stand up to serious scrutiny. The conversation covers the historical reliability of the Gospels and their eyewitness roots, women in the early Christian movement, moral critiques of the church that quietly borrow Christian values, and the problem of suffering through the story of Lazarus. Rebecca also explains why Christianity has always made public, testable claims that invite investigation rather than shut it down, and why deconstruction so often follows questions that were postponed instead of engaged.

Faith Lab is free and listener-supported. Help keep it going for five dollars a month: faithlabshow.com/support

Read the full write-up: faithlabshow.com/rebecca-mclaughlin-confronting-christianity

This is a preview, listen to the full bonus episode here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/148177291

Faith usually doesn’t disappear all at once. It tends to erode slowly when questions feel unsafe or when certainty is treated as a requirement.

In this bonus episode, Nate reflects on the first two episodes of Faith Lab:

Deconstruction Led Me Back to Christianity.

Faith Isn't Supposed to be Blind with Shane Rosenthal

Nate responds to an idea from Shane Rosenthal that reshaped how he thinks about faith as trust rather than certainty. He shares how that shift helped him make sense of deconstruction, answers a couple listener questions about the direction of the show, and reads a listener story that captures what it feels like to find faith again through honesty and time.

This episode is a quiet reflection on rebuilding trust without pretending and following questions without fear.

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For most people, faith means believing without evidence. But the word the New Testament writers actually used, pistis, was the ordinary Greek word for trust, and trust is something you have reasons for. Blind faith came later.

Shane Rosenthal, host of The Humble Skeptic podcast, joins the show to trace how faith got detached from evidence: what pistis meant to Aristotle and to the first Christians, how the Christian West forgot its arguments once everyone around was Christian, why Hebrews 11:1 is about a title deed rather than a blind leap, and how Jesus answered John the Baptist's doubt with eyewitness testimony instead of shame. It goes a long way toward explaining why so many people deconstruct today. You can find Shane's work at humbleskeptic.com, and check out his recent video on whether archaeologists have discovered biblical Bethsaida.

Faith Lab is free and listener-supported. Help keep it going for five dollars a month: faithlabshow.com/support

Read the full write-up: faithlabshow.com/blind-faith-shane-rosenthal

Nate spent eight years hosting Almost Heretical, a deconstruction podcast with millions of downloads. Then following his doubts all the way through led him somewhere he never expected: back to Christianity.

In this first episode of Faith Lab, Nate tells the whole story: burning out while planting churches in San Francisco with Francis Chan, losing his belief in the resurrection, and then noticing that the skeptical explanations required a blind faith of their own. He shares what changed when he finally engaged the historical scholarship for himself, from the eyewitness texture of the earliest sources to the creed Paul quotes in 1 Corinthians 15, and why Faith Lab exists to test whether Christianity holds up under honest scrutiny.

Faith Lab is free and listener-supported. Help keep it going for five dollars a month: faithlabshow.com/support

Read the full write-up: faithlabshow.com/deconstruction-led-me-back-to-christianity

Could one ancient cloth change how we see the resurrection? Dr. Jeremiah Johnston joins us to unpack the Shroud of Turin, its baffling science, strange history, and the image that no one can explain.

Does this relic prove Jesus physically rose from the dead, or is it just a misunderstood artifact? We explore what happens when modern science collides with first-century faith.

Thoughts, questions, stories? Please email  [email protected]

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To listen to the full episode, become a premium member here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/bonus-did-jesus-133702952

Shelby and Nate tackle your biggest questions about hell, Paul, and the authority of Scripture. Did Jesus really teach eternal torment? What do we do with parts of the Bible that no longer reflect our values? And are we all just picking and choosing?

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Shelby and Nate explore the intriguing question of why Jesus did not write anything down during his lifetime. They discuss the implications of this question on our understanding of faith and scripture, emphasizing the oral tradition of the time and the significance of Jesus' teachings in a present-tense context. The conversation also touches on the historical perspective of Jesus as a local rabbi and the lack of immediate written records from his followers, suggesting that the movement was seen as urgent and relevant to their time rather than a long-term religious institution.

Thoughts, questions, stories? Please email  [email protected]

Become a member and get:

1. Bonus episodes and aftershows

2. All full-length, ad-free episodes

3. Access to Heretical Together (our private community of 350+ listeners)

Become a member: almostheretical.com/premium

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What if the stories at the end of Genesis weren’t just family drama—but political storytelling?

In this episode, Nate and Shelby revisit six key moments from Genesis 27 to 50—including Jacob stealing Esau’s blessing, Dinah and Shechem, Judah and Tamar, and Joseph’s rise in Egypt—to explore how these stories may have been written to explain Israel’s political identity, tribal dynamics, and national origin.

We talk about:

Why Jacob and Esau’s rivalry reflects Israel vs. Edom

What Jacob’s wrestling match really says about the name "Israel"

How the story of Dinah might not be about justice at all

The subversive role of Tamar and why she’s called righteous

Why Joseph marrying an Egyptian priest’s daughter created tension later

And how Genesis closes by blessing tribes that already existed

These aren’t just ancient stories—they’re layered political texts that reveal how Israel saw itself and its neighbors. Join us as we read Genesis a little more historically, and a little more honestly.

Thoughts, questions, stories? Please email  [email protected]

Become a member and get:

1. Bonus episodes and aftershows

2. All full-length, ad-free episodes

3. Access to Heretical Together (our private community of 350+ listeners)

Become a member: almostheretical.com/premium

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