Rethinking the Bible with Jack Pelham

DESCRIPTION: Jack discusses eight possible ways Jesus could fix the mess that is ailing America. It raises the question of just what we’re expecting when we pray for God’s help.

Scriptures Used in this Episode

* Korah-style judgment. 

Numbers 16: 28 Then Moses said, “This is how you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these things and that it was not my idea: 29 If these men die a natural death and suffer the fate of all mankind, then the Lord has not sent me. 30 But if the Lord brings about something totally new, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them, with everything that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the realm of the dead, then you will know that these men have treated the Lord with contempt.” 31 As soon as he finished saying all this, the ground under them split apart 32 and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their househ...

DESCRIPTION: Harry Potter spent the first eleven years of his life in the care of the unloving Dursley family, who had little concern for Harry, and very low expectations for the outcome of Harry’s life. In this episode, Jack draws several parallels between the follower of the whole-and-true Jesus and the general church culture of the United States, which has such a low vision of the high calling of living in God’s image.

There are no notes for this episode.

DESCRIPTION: A great deal of confusion exists in the churches today because of the careless attention that is given to the various roles that people played in the First Century ekklesia (“church” to most). Without careful attention, it’s easy to assume upon ourselves roles and promises that were given to someone other than us. This episode takes a detailed look at the role of the apostles, and shows how it was a crucial and special role, and how we ourselves are not apostles.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

This episode entails a reading (and expounding upon) of a September 2, 2013 article that Jack posted at his newly-restored website, bibleinvestigation.com. The article has been copied and pasted below for your convenience.

You are not an apostle.

You know this already, of course.  So why am I writing an article to prove it?

Well, interestingly, an awful lot of believers who already know they are not apostles routinely assume upon themselves various promises and duties that Jesus gave to his apostles, and not to anyone else.  So I thought it would be good to set the record straight on a few matters about which there seems to be widespread confusion.

First, some basic facts about the apostles:

1. The word “Apostle” means “one who is sent out”.  From apo–out or away, stellein–to send.  Read more

DESCRIPTION: Jack discusses various things, including a great and relevant interview The Bible Project did with Dr. John Walton, regarding interpretations of Genesis 1. Jack mentions the Jack, Anne, and George Problem (Hector Levesque) from Cognitive Science, and how it has such a crucial lesson for us with Bible study. (The lesson is to consider all the possibilities before giving a final answer.)

This episode recommends that you go listen to an interview that Tim Mackie and Jon Collins of The Bible Project did with Dr. John Walton, author of several books, including The Lost World series. The interview can be found at the link below:

Ancient Cosmology • Episode 6 Genesis 1-2: Origins or Identity?

DESCRIPTION: Jack continues discussing several ideas about what makes for good Bible study attitudes and techniques. It ends with a discussion of how having a high IQ (Intelligence Quotient) is not necessary for good Bible study, where having a high RQ (Rationality Quotient) is.

Jack’s Points (continued from Episode 36)

23. The (Protestant) Bible has over 31,000 verses across 66 books, some of which are themselves comprised of more than one document.  It has nearly ¾ of a million words.  You can read it again and again in your life, but you will never finished studying it if you’re the sort to want to understand everything in it as completely the author understood it—or further, as completely as God himself understood it.

24. If you are like most people, coming to an accurate and non-biased understanding of what a passage means will require that you keep shooing away the question “What does this mean to me?” so that you can maintain a sufficient focus on “What did the author mean?”  Mature people can get good at this, but only through constant self-discipline.

25.

DESCRIPTION: Jack discusses several ideas about what makes for good Bible study attitudes and techniques. It ends with a discussion of how having a high IQ (Intelligence Quotient) is not necessary for good Bible study, where having a high RQ (Rationality Quotient) is.

Jack’s Points

* Good Bible study should be done with a mental attitude of honesty, rationality, and responsibility.  If you don’t want to know what the Bible really means, then what’s the point in studying it?  To mislead yourself—and others?* It’s an exercise in decoupling from your own training, understandings, traditions, assumptions, wishes, attitudes, and moods, so as to seek to understand what the authors meant to convey and even why they meant to convey it.* Understand that they are going to mention things that their original audiences probably understood, but that YOU won’t understand.  (E.g., Paul’s mention of “the third heaven” in 2 Corinthians 12:2)  If you don’t track these things down, you are deciding to settle for a limited understanding of what you’re reading.* The Bible doesn’t explain everything it mentions.

DESCRIPTION: Throughout the history of humankind, there have been several distinct phases in how God has run things on the Earth. And every human is born into just one of these periods, and our lives rarely span across more than one or two of them at the most. But what if we don’t like what time it is? What if we would rather it be some other time? How docile are we in regard to all this? How open-minded?

Citations in this Episode

Some of his old joys had to go. Reagan could no longer ride his favorite horse. Nancy asked Reagan’s Secret Service man, John Barletta, to deliver the news. “I said, ‘I don’t think we should ride anymore’,” Barletta recalled. “By this time, there’s tears coming down his cheeks. And all he said, in his time of need, was, ‘It’s OK, John.’ I know he was trying to make me feel better.”https://www.newsweek.

DESCRIPTION: In this lengthy episode, Jack discusses the gradient of faith that exists between mere mental assent to the statement that “Jesus is Lord”, and the opposite extreme at which someone is fully persuaded that the Image of God is good, and wholeheartedly invests him- or herself to living in that Image. He tells several stories about his own experience in the churches and his journey in trying to understand the Bible in a way that makes good sense—and that maps accurately onto what can be observed in the real world.

Resources for this Episode

Definition of faith (noun) at blueletterbible.org

Definition of faith/believe (verb) at blueletterbible.org

DESCRIPTION: Jack begins the exploration of baptism, starting with John’s baptism. There seem to be four types of baptism discussed in the New Testament: John’s baptism, baptism into Jesus’ name, baptism of the Holy Spirit, and the metaphorical use of “baptism” by Jesus to describe the ordeal he was to undergo.

Scriptures Used in this Episode?

1 Timothy 4:16  Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.

Matthew 3:1  In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea,

Matthew 3:6  and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

Mark 1:4  John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

Mark 1:5  And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

Luke 3:3  And he went into all the region around the Jordan,

DESCRIPTION: This is Part B of a 2-part episode. Jack continues the discussion of the “salvation” language in the New Testament, and in this part, gets into the “children of God” and “sons of God” passages, too.

SCRIPTURES READ IN THIS EPISODE

Here are the “children of God” and “sons of God” passages in the NT (ESV)...