The Wednesday Conversation

The book of Genesis tells us how everything came into being. But other creation narratives existed in the Ancient Near East. Does that mean each culture's creation story is just a relativistic myth? In this episode, we compare the Genesis account with the Epic of Gilgamesh, revealing the surprising uniqueness of the biblical story.

Thanks for listening over the past 10 years! On this episode, we welcome back Mike and Bethany to reflect on some of our favorite moments, remember our favorite guests, and express our gratitude for the ways God has graced us through the Wednesday Conversation. (Thanks also to half a dozen different listeners who provided commemorative snacks to mark this milestone!)

In the freshest episode of the podcast ever recorded, Bob, Dusty, and Chris turn on the mics at 5:30am to offer their real-time responses to the 2024 election.

“When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness…The days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years” (Genesis 5:3–4). When we come across these massive human lifespans in the book of Genesis, how are we to make sense of them? In this episode, we discuss the literary function of numbers, the symbolic significance of numbers in the Ancient Near East, and the importance of attentive reading as we grow in our love for the Scriptures.

“The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them” (Genesis 6:4). Texts like Genesis 6 raise profound questions and don’t always offer easy explanations. In this episode, we discuss the perplexing topic of the Nephilim. Exploring some of the intertextual connections in Scripture, we survey the historical interpretations and try to shed some light on this strange episode in the Genesis narrative.

"Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made" (Genesis 3:1). Why does this talking serpent suddenly appear in the Genesis narrative? Drawing inspiration from Michael Heiser’s book The Unseen Realm, we dig into how ancient readers understood the concept of spiritual beings, how those beings are described in later passages of Scripture, and how these insights help us become more imaginative readers of the biblical story.

"I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh... Everything that is on the earth shall die," God says in Genesis 6:17. So was Noah's flood a global deluge that covered the entire earth? Or was it a regional event? By even asking this question, are we playing fast and loose with the text? In this episode we take up some of the questions surrounding the flood narrative in Genesis 6-9.

The veracity and historicity of Genesis is taken for granted by the New Testament authors and by Jesus himself. Yet many modern Christians feel the tension of holding a high view of Genesis while also weighing the claims of modern science. In this episode, we respond to a listener's question about how to properly read Genesis, taking into account the claims of geology, archaeology, and genetic science. Can we still believe in a historical Adam and Eve? Or are they merely legendary characters in a mythical story?

After creating the heavens and the earth, God rests. The principle of Sabbath becomes a major theme throughout the rest of Scripture. Aaron Mattox joins us to discuss how this theme of Sabbath-rest is emphasized and developed within the biblical storyline, and what it means for us today.

Dusty’s back, everyone! Also Chris returned from his trip to Nepal. In this episode, Chris shares some highlights from his trip, including some updates on the growth and health of the church in Kathmandu.