This is part 10 of the Read the Bible For Yourself.

We've taken our time working through the Old Testament, section by section. Before we tackle the New Testament and look at the Gospels, we need to talk about the time between the Old and New Testaments. In the gap of roughly four hundred years, massive political and cultural changes occurred. Nowhere in the Old Testament do we see anything about the Romans, Pharisees, Sadducees, or the Sanhedrin. In today's episode I'll catch you up on what happened after the OT and before the NT so you can better understand the world in which Jesus functioned.

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3humYIVYho&list=PLN9jFDsS3QV2TrdUEDtAipF3jy4qYspM_&index=10

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Recent History

Geographical and Political Setting

Jewish Groups

This is part 9 of the Read the Bible For Yourself.

The 17 books of the prophets comprise 27% of the Old Testament. Although some parts can be difficult to comprehend, they reveal the heart of God with raw pathos and brutal honesty. To read the prophets, then, is to draw near to God. No other section of scripture so beautifully and tragically reveals God's feelings. In this episode you'll learn about the major time periods, how to read the prophets within their context, and some of the major themes. As always, this brief survey should help you read and understand the bible for yourself.

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nOkfIUxJJw&list=PLN9jFDsS3QV2TrdUEDtAipF3jy4qYspM_&index=9

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Canonical Arrangement

Chronological Arrangement

Setting

The Prophet

Acting out prophecies

This is part 8 of the Read the Bible For Yourself.

The Book of Psalms is an eclectic collection of poetry that you can use to connect to God. In today's episode you'll learn about the different kinds of psalms, who wrote them, and how Hebrew poetry works. The goal, as always, is to equip you to read and understand on your own. Whether you've been reading the Psalms for years or are brand new to them, this episode should empower you to get more out of them than ever before. Also, I conclude by recommending a method of reading, called Lectio Divina, which you can use to meditate on the Psalms.

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2lJMxFR7n4

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Basic Facts

Chesed

As the dust continues to settle from last week's debate between Dale Tuggy and James White, reviewers are coalescing on a rather exciting conclusion. Tuggy handedly won the debate! Rumor has it that James White has even requested a rematch! We'll have to wait and see if anything happens on that front, but requesting a rematch is not something the winner typically does.

In today's episode, I bring on Dr. Dustin Smith of the biblical unitarian podcast to respond to James White's arguments, not only in his opening statement, but also in his rebuttal, cross-examination time, and conclusion. Yes, he introduced new arguments in every single phase of the debate. One wonders why he didn't respond to any of Tuggy's arguments. Let's see what Dustin Smith has to say.

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

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We're taking a break this week from our class on Reading the Bible for Yourself. By the way, did you know that there's a separate podcast just for classes without any interruptions like this? You can find it if you search your podcast app for Restitutio Classes. Anyhow, I had an opportunity to speak with Dr. Dale Tuggy about his recent debate with Dr. James White and wanted to share that conversation with you now rather than waiting until the end of this class.

On March 9, 2024 in Houston Texas at the First Lutheran Church, Dale Tuggy debated James White on the question, "Is Jesus Yahweh?" White affirmed and Tuggy denied. Just to give you a little background on these two scholars, James White is a professor of Apologetics at Grace Bible Theological Seminary and has a bachelors from Grand Canyon University, a masters from Fuller Theological Seminary, and a doctorate of ministry from Columbia Evangelical Seminary. He has participated in over 180 public moderated debates and has written the book The Forgotten Trinity in which he presented his case that the Trinity is biblical. Dale Tuggy is an Analytic Theologian who has a bachelors from BIOLA, a masters from Claremont School of Theology, and a Ph.D. from Brown University. He's the chair of the Unitarian Christian Alliance and the author of What Is the Trinity?, which explains the major Trinity theories and the problems each faces. In what follows, I ask Tuggy how he thought the debate went.

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

The debate lasted over two hours and is accessible on YouTube. The format of the debate was as follows:

Here's the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ky2SaHscSIo

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This is part 7 of the Read the Bible For Yourself.

The Bible contains a treasure trove of wisdom literature that can help you navigate the ups and downs of life. Today you'll learn how to read and understand the books of Proverbs, Song of Songs, Job, and Ecclesiastes. Proverbs and Song of Songs teach us how to handle ourselves when the world is working the way it should while Job and Ecclesiastes address how to think and live when chaos strikes. Taken together these four books offer a full-orbed perspective on practical wisdom that you can incorporate into your life.

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MZCAxSSNzU

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Proverbs

The Fool

The Wise

This is part 6 of the Read the Bible For Yourself.

Tragically, many Christians skip over reading the Torah. They focus on the Gospels or Epistles of the New Testament. However, the first five books of the Bible contain many rich insights into God's heart and how he asked Israel to live. In fact, it's impossible to understand the rest of the Bible, or even Jesus, without first becoming familiar with the Law. This episode will provide you an overview of the Torah's instruction about holiness, sacrifice, justice, and sacred time.

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

https://youtu.be/a9wxI1TWBlE

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Reading the Law takes work

The books of the Law (Torah)

Four categories of Law

Sinai and the giving of the Law

Tabernacle

This is part 5 of the Read the Bible For Yourself.

Now we begin the second main part of this class on reading the Bible for yourself. We'll be breaking the Bible into major sections so I can explain how each works. To start we'll consider the first 17 books of the Bible--the books of Old Testament historical narrative. You'll learn what to look for while reading, the major events covered, the various cultural backgrounds of those periods, God's personal name, and why reading OT history is extremely valuable.

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtvJv-NfvBU

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Old Testament history includes the following books:

Chronology of major OT events:

Cultural backgrounds:

Their History vs. Our History:

The Name of God:

I've been putting out podcast episodes on Restitutio since 2015. I've interviewed many authors in that time. However, I've never been interviewed as an author. That changed a couple of days ago when Sam Tideman of Transfigured had me on his show to talk about my new book, Kingdom Journey.We discussed the biblical idea of God's kingdom coming to earth for well over an hour. It was an awesome chance to share about the central theme of scripture and the clear emphasis of Jesus's ministry. Although it breaks my heart that so much of Christianity still clings to heaven as their home and destiny, I'm optimistic that the word will get out about the biblical vision of a renewed world with everything wrong with it made right.

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

https://youtu.be/lsykGsETgNw?si=HAxsK7x4W02aqJNp

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This is part 4 of the Read the Bible For Yourself.

Exegesis and application take work. Today you’ll learn how to grasp the content of scripture by asking the question, “What did this text mean to the original audience?” Looking for a book’s author, audience, occasion, and purpose will help you answer that question. Next, we’ll consider application and answering the question, “What does this text mean to me today?” We’ll follow Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart’s application strategy as well as their four warnings about extended application, particulars that are not comparable, cultural relativity, and task theology.

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

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“If there was one bit of wisdom, one rule of thumb, one single skill I could impart, one useful tip I could leave that would serve you well the rest of your life, what would it be? What is the single most important practical skill I’ve ever learned as a Christian? Here it is: Never read a Bible verse. That’s right, never read a Bible verse. Instead, always read a paragraph at least.”[1]

What to Look For

Two Tasks

Understand Then Apply

Have an O