We turned Noah’s Ark into a children’s story. A smiling boat, pairs of animals, and a rainbow in the sky. But the story Genesis actually tells is much darker, much older, and far more interesting.

In this episode of Rated R Bible Study, Landon looks beyond the Sunday School version of Noah’s Ark to explore its surprising connection to ancient flood stories, what the writers of Genesis changed when they made the story their own, and the meaning hidden in one of its most familiar symbols: the rainbow.

What if the flood story isn’t ultimately about God’s wrath, but about a God who chooses to set down the weapon, bind Godself to a promise, and say, “Never again”?

You know the Christmas story. Mary and Joseph arrive in Bethlehem, an innkeeper turns them away, Jesus is born in a stable, and three kings show up alongside the shepherds to worship him.

Except that’s not actually the story the Bible tells.

In the first episode of Rated R Bible Study, Landon takes apart the familiar nativity scene to uncover what Matthew and Luke actually say about the birth of Jesus, where some of our most beloved Christmas traditions came from, and why the real story might be even more interesting than the one we learned in Sunday School.