Mythologizing the Bible

Growth demands disruption. The readings for this episode trace a powerful human journey: leaving inherited comfort, enduring hardship for a purpose larger than ourselves, and bringing our hard-won insight back into the world. The goal isn’t personal awakening. The goal is responsible action. So, the real measure of transformation is whether it becomes a blessing to others!

Have you ever noticed how the most transformative moments in life rarely happen when everything is safe and predictable? Growth almost always begins with disruption, such as leaving something familiar, enduring something difficult, or seeing something so illuminating that you can’t go back to who you were before. But the real question is this: what do you do after the moment passes?

Welcome to Mythologizing the Bible, where we’ll be taking a look at three readings from the Christian Bible through the lens of “sacred myth.”

As we reflect on the readings for the 2nd Sunday of Lent, we’ll explore the arc of human responsibility, from leaving the comfort of inherited beliefs, to enduring hardship for a larger purpose, to bringing our highest insights back down into the everyday struggles of the world.

In this episode, we’re asking a tough question: Are we using our growth to serve others or are we building comfortable tents to protect our own enlightenment while the world waits below?

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What if the ancient stories of the Garden, Paul’s “one act,” and the wilderness temptation weren’t about sin and salvation but about growing up as a species? Perhaps it’s time to take a closer look at the Secular “Trinity” of Reason, Responsibility, and Integrity, and discover what it looks like to live those principles in everyday life!

We spent the majority of this week’s main episode for the 1st Sunday of Lent (Cycle A) looking at three ancient stories (the Garden, Paul’s reflection on shared responsibility, and the wilderness temptation) and we pulled from them what I call a “Secular Trinity” of lessons.

Not supernatural or theological. Just very practical.

If we strip away the mythology and look at the human meaning underneath these stories, here’s what we’re left with:

* The Sovereignty of Reason.

* The Social Contract.

* And the Integrity of the Self.

In other words: Reason, Responsibility, and Integrity… the Secular Trinity.

In this podcast, I don’t want to debate those ideas. I want to ask something much more important:

What would it actually look like to live this way?

Because if these ideas don’t change how we show up on a Tuesday afternoon, at work, at home, in traffic, in a disagreement, then they’re nothing more than philosophy.

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The Garden, the “fall,” and the wilderness temptation aren’t about inherited guilt or supernatural testing. They’re about the birth of moral agency. These stories trace the evolution of human choice, from awakening, to responsibility, to disciplined character. The real question isn’t whether we fell… it’s whether we’re willing to choose wisely now!

Have you ever noticed how most ancient religious stories aren’t really about heaven or hell—but about what it means to grow up as a species? Beneath the talking serpents and wilderness temptations, there’s a deeper question: What do we do once we realize we can choose? Once we know the difference between instinct and integrity?

Welcome to Mythologizing the Bible, where we’ll be taking a look at three readings from the Christian Bible through the lens of “sacred myth.”

As we reflect on the readings for the 1st Sunday of Lent, we’ll explore the evolution of human agency—from the awakening of moral awareness in the Garden, to the realization that our choices ripple through the entire human family, to the hard discipline required to resist power when it compromises our values.

In this episode, we’re asking an honest question: If we’ve been given the capacity to know good and evil, what excuse do we have for choosing poorly? Because these stories aren’t really about a magical fall, inherited guilt, or supernatural testing—they’re about whether we’re gonna use our freedom wisely… or sell it cheaply.

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Why does absolute certainty feel so powerful and why does it so often lead people away from reality? Maybe it’s time to explore how “secret truth” narratives fuel conspiracy thinking, Christian nationalism, and MAGA extremism, and how curiosity, humility, and intellectual integrity offer a way out of the certainty trap without falling into our own bubbles!

Have you ever listened to someone deep into this QAnon conspiracy theory stuff… or Christian nationalism… or the MAGA core… have you ever listened to any of these people and just felt… stunned? Not just confused. Stunned. As in, “We are clearly living in different universes, and I don’t know how you got there.”

They speak with absolute confidence.They dismiss every valid source of information you mention.They default to insults—radical leftist, socialist, communist, traitor.And any attempt to disagree is treated not as disagreement, but as proof that you are corrupted.

And you’re left wondering:How do they think like this?Why are they so certain?And maybe most uncomfortably…How do I make sure I don’t end up doing the same thing… from the other side?

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What if morality isn’t about obeying the right authority, but about cultivating an honest inner life? Ancient texts often point beyond rules, power, and status toward personal responsibility, intellectual humility, and integrity that begins within and shows up clearly in how we live, speak, and choose.

Have you ever noticed how often morality gets reduced to rule-keeping? How being “good” is treated as obedience to the right authority rather than the courage to think, choose, and live honestly? We’re often told that virtue comes from following the rules, but rarely asked what’s shaping our intentions, our words, or the quiet decisions no one else sees.

Welcome to Mythologizing the Bible, where we’ll be taking a look at three readings from the Christian Bible through the lens of “sacred myth.”

As we reflect on the readings for the 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time, we’ll explore the tension between external authority and internal integrity, and what these ancient texts suggest about moral maturity, personal responsibility, and the power of an honest inner life.

In this episode, we’re asking a challenging question: What happens when we stop outsourcing our conscience to tradition, power, or religious certainty and start taking responsibility for the choices, thoughts, and words that actually shape our lives? Because if morality only works when it’s enforced, it’s probably not morality at all.

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What does it really mean to do the right thing, especially when no divine authority is watching, rewarding, or threatening punishment? To tackle this topic, we’re going to confront Plato’s Euthyphro Dilemma head-on and argue that real morality begins not with obedience to power, but with actions that measurably reduce harm and increase human flourishing!

We’ve spent a lot of time in this episode talking about being salt, about being light, about showing up in the world in ways that actually help people instead of just sounding impressive or righteous. And that all sounds good, until we bump into a question that a lot of people quietly avoid because it’s uncomfortable.

How do we actually know what’s good?

Not what we were told is good.Not what our tribe says is good.Not what a preacher, politician, or some holy book claims is good.

How do we know?

Because here’s the thing: people do horrific things while claiming (and believing) that they’re doing good. They always have. And right now, we are watching cruelty, dehumanization, and authoritarian behavior wrapped in religious language—especially Christian language—and sold as “moral clarity.”

So if we’re serious about being salt of the earth, if we’re serious about tangible goodness instead of performative righteousness, then we have to be willing to ask a deeper question: Is morality something we obey… or something we understand?

That question is ancient. And it’s devastating to authoritarian religion.

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In a world full of loud opinions and polished arguments, these readings ask a simpler, harder question: does any of this actually help people? This episode strips away religious performance and focuses on tangible action, like feeding the hungry, telling the truth, and showing up as “salt and light” in ways that genuinely strengthen our communities.

Have you ever noticed how often religion praises the appearance of goodness—belief, language, ritual—while quietly sidestepping whether anyone is actually being fed, protected, or treated with dignity? Sometimes it sounds spiritual or lofty, but underneath it all is a much simpler question: do our values show up in real life, or just in our words?

Welcome to Mythologizing the Bible, where we’ll be taking a look at three readings from the Christian Bible through the lens of “sacred myth.”

As we reflect on the readings for the 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time, we’ll explore the tension between performative morality and real, tangible care… the difference between saying the right things and doing the hard, human work that actually makes communities healthier.

In this episode, we’re asking a tough but necessary question: What if the real measure of “faith, character, or integrity” isn’t what we claim to believe but whether our lives actually make the world more livable for other people? Because right now, there’s no shortage of loud arguments or polished rhetoric, just a shortage of action that feeds the hungry, breaks unjust systems, and pushes back against apathy.

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Authoritarianism doesn’t arrive wearing a villain’s mask, it arrives wrapped in certainty, obedience, and moral shortcuts. Since far too many Christians have twisted the message from the one they claim as Savior, perhaps we can reclaim the Beatitudes as a secular resistance manifesto. Perhaps we can name and demonstrate the ethical courage required when truth is punished, cruelty is normalized, and democracy is tested. This isn’t theology though. It’s a survival ethic for a terrifying time!

If you’re paying attention to the world at all right now, you can feel it: the ground shifting under our feet. Democratic norms eroding. Truth treated as optional. Cruelty rebranded as strength. Loyalty demanded over conscience. And more and more people (good people) are quietly asking themselves, What am I supposed to do with all of this?

Religious language is being weaponized again. The Bible is being cherry-picked to justify domination, exclusion, and state violence. And at the same time, a lot of people, especially people who don’t buy the supernatural claims anymore, are left wondering whether there’s still anything worth salvaging from these ancient texts.

So what I want to offer here is not theology. It’s not belief. And it’s definitely not obedience.

It’s an ethical framework.A resistance manifesto, if you will.It’s a way of naming the kind of people we need to be if democracy, dignity, and human flourishing are going to survive this moment.

This resistance manifesto was inspired by our Gospel reading tonight… because it’s a new version of the Beatitudes for the current moment. You can call it the Secular Beatitudes.

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When power starts to rot, it doesn’t look like chaos, it looks like confidence, arrogance, and cruelty wrapped in moral language. This week’s readings strip away those illusions, revealing a hard truth: real strength has never lived in palaces or pulpits. It lives in integrity, solidarity, and the courage of people the system would rather erase.

Have you ever noticed how often the people with the most power insist that strength looks like domination, cruelty, or silence and then claim sacred backing for it? In moments of fear and instability, religious language is often dragged out to sanctify arrogance, excuse harm, and demand compliance, even when the stories themselves say something very different.

Welcome to Mythologizing the Bible, where we’ll be taking a look at three readings from the Christian Bible through the lens of “sacred myth.”

As we reflect on the readings for the 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time, we’ll explore how these ancient texts quietly but radically invert our ideas of power, revealing why integrity, humility, and solidarity have always been more dangerous to unjust systems than brute force ever could be.

In this episode, we’re asking a tough question: What happens when the people who claim to defend faith and morality align themselves with cruelty, exclusion, and state violence and ignore the very voices their scriptures lift up as “blessed”? Because right now, that contradiction isn’t theoretical. It’s playing out in real time, with real bodies, real fear, and real consequences.

CODA Project is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Christianity has many dangerous habits, but one of Christianity’s most dangerous habits is this: teaching people to wait for divine rescue while real harm continues to unfold. To help us break that habit, let’s unpack how ancient stories about light and darkness were transformed into a theology of passivity, and why that belief pairs so easily with authoritarian power. In a fragile political moment, waiting is no longer neutral. It’s a choice!

We’re living in a moment when democracy feels fragile, authoritarianism is no longer hypothetical, and fear is being deliberately cultivated as a political tool. And in moments like this, a lot of people—especially Christians—have been taught that the faithful response is to wait. To trust that God is in control. To believe that things will somehow work themselves out without demanding too much of us.

Now, that belief might feel comforting to lotsa people, but it’s also incredibly dangerous. Because while people are waiting for divine rescue, real harm is continuing to happen in the real world—and it’s being justified, excused, and normalized. In this episode, I want to talk about how ancient stories about light and darkness were transformed into a theology of waiting, why that theology pairs so well with authoritarian power, and why—if we’re serious about resisting what’s happening right now—we need to stop waiting and start taking responsibility for one another.

CODA Project is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.