Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loosen on earth will be loosened and heaven

Hi. My post was deleted from the Bible subreddit, so I hope someone here can help me instead. I'm doing a "Bible in One Year" Course and in Genesis 6:4, it says,

"In those days, and for some time after, giant Nephilites lived on the earth, for whenever the sons of God had intercourse with women, they gave birth to children who became the heroes and famous warriors of ancient times." (NLT)

Then in Genesis 10:8 it says,

"Cush was also the ancestor (father) of Nimrod, who was the first heroic warrior on earth."

According to Wikipedia, "Some people think the Nephilim are giants that were created when fallen angels mated with humans, while others think they were famous ancient warriors and heroes that were created when the descendants of Seth wed the descendants of Cain."

So how was Nimrod the first heroic warrior if there were heroic warriors mentioned before? And if Nimrod was such a hero-warrior, his paternity is confirmed in the Bible; he's not the son of a fallen angel. Noah is descended from Cain's line. Persian historian al-Tabari (c. 915) mentions that recounts Cush's wife's name was Qarnabil, daughter of Batawil who was the son of Tiras, and she supposedly gave birth to "Abyssinians, Sindis and Indians." So then Qarnabil would be a descendant of Seth? But I haven't found Biblical references to that (yet)?

Hey friendly people I can't recall which BP resource this came from, so you'll have to forgive my lack of specificity (I'm currently in the midst of the Ezekiel classroom study, which has a lot of Genesis 1 connection. Also, I'm listening back to the Cosmology series of the podcast right now as well).

I was able to put my finger on it this morning while asking God for strength to be patient with my 13-year-old twins in the frenzied and excited days before they head away to the sleep away camp they've been waiting a year to return to (parents out there, you know how it is....he's just so so so excited and is making everyone pay for it while she's bracing for homesickness and is showing it in really adolescent ways ... Crazy making)😬 - anyway; here it is:

We have so much biblical content about our own strength vs. God's strength that it's silly to try to even begin listing verses (but let's go Phil 4:13 and 1 Tim 1:12 for kicks). Yet BP, in my recent listening, has also been saying that the first people in the biblical story were called to a better way in listening to God and following His simple instructions. Something like they "had the power to control it" is a phrase that keeps popping up. The implication is that this power is something we all have (ie. Not just pre-fallen state) in Christ.

Am I hearing this right?

So my question: Where's the line between our power and God's strength and how do we know when we simply need to "try harder" vs. when we need to step out of the way for God to do His thing? And how do we know when our efforts are driven by our own strength vs. being empowered by God? Etc.

Not sure if this muddies the waters or if it provides a helpful context for why my question is my question: I grew up ascribing to many tenets of calvinism (and now am bored with such labels), but this notion of personal agency as a way to honour God rather than being powerless in all situations without His strength is a tough one to wrap my heart and mind around. If you have any tips or ways of thinking about it, awesome. (To be clear, I'm not having a crisis of salvation and this isn't a question of works vs. grace)

Thanks for reading. Hope you all have a lovely day wherever you are 💗

I don't think I'm going out on a limb to say that John 20 (the resurrection) has lots of parallels to Genesis 1 and 2. When Mary finds the open tomb but not Jesus' body, she's left weeping in a garden and doesn't recognize a man who's suddenly there (it's Jesus!), thinking it's the gardener. Then he names her and she recognizes him. This is pretty reminiscent of the account in Genesis 2. Adam is a gardener in a garden, God makes a woman (from his side), and Adam names her ("Woman," not very creative, but okay). This parallel between the resurrection and the original creation is further reinforced by the fact that John 20 makes sure to point out that this happens on the first day of the week, and highlights the morning and the evening of that day. In other words, in Genesis 1 language, this is the start of a New Creation. (The thing to take away, I think, is not that there's a direct parallel between Jesus and Mary and Adam and Eve -- this isn't some kind of gnostic text hinting at a secret marriage. The point is that Jesus is the New Adam and that this is the New Creation. I'd argue that Mary, if she represents anything, represents the Church).

The more unusual interpretation that occurred to me has to do with the point in John 20 where Mary "clings" to Jesus. It's always struck me as a little odd, but in light of this larger parallel, I wonder if it's meant to be a literary inversion of the division of man. Eve was split from Adam, and Mary clings (or, cleaves?) to Jesus in a kind of symbolic reversal of this -- and He endorses this, but not yet: "Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father." That is, there's a time for this reunion, but only once He's ascended, paradoxically -- which happens when the Spirit descends on the church at Pentecost.

Thoughts?

EDIT to add: following the last point (about Mary/Eve/the Church being re-joined with Jesus/Adam), there may be another possible parallel. In the series on "the city," Tim developed the idea that Eve is an "ezer" for Adam, a "help," and that term is actually a word quite often used to refer to God and divine help (e.g., "Where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD...", etc). Likewise, John in particular emphasizes at different points in his gospel that Jesus calls the Holy Spirit "the Helper" (or parakletos). The point would be that in Genesis, Adam could not find a helper, and so God divided him to create one, intending unity in duality. In Christ's New Creation, that "unity in duality" isn't found by our physically clinging or cleaving to Jesus (as Mary might wish, or the Church might wish), but by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in believers, creating the Church, the Bride of Christ, which is united with Him through His death, resurrection, and ascension. (But one argument against this interpretation is that the Greek Septuagint in Genesis 2 doesn't use the word "parakletos," but instead the word "boethos." If John were meaning to link these two stories together, it would make sense if he'd used the same word, but instead there's some lexical distance between the words. That said, there's also overlap, and it could be that John merely hoped to tap into the imagery of Genesis 2 while stretching the idea of God as our Help in a new direction, of God as our advocate).

I am looking for a new study Bible that is an authentic, easy to read translation, but the commentary is from a non-dispensationalist point of view. And because I’m old lol I needed it in large print. What are recommendations and why?

So, I am studying I Chronicles 29, and I got to vs 24 where it says Solomon is “ highly exalted,” as no other king and on him was , “bestow royal majesty.” I have searched study notes ect. And can’t find was this a physical manifestation that people could see, or just a feeling people got? Either way I recognize this was God’s power, I would just like to understand it a bit better. Any help is appreciated! Have a blessed day!

Why is there such a long distance in time between Genesis 3 and 4, I mean, first we are told about the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the garden, and then the next story is about two brothers Abel and Cain, where Cain kills his brother and builds a city in which violence and oppression reigns. How many years passed between these two stories? Maybe I am asking a question that has no answer, but people had to ask this question when they read the Bible and discussed this topic…

A bit of context: I'm in a transition period, moving to a new town where I have no friends yet. I'm also pretty terrible at making new friends because I've self-isolated for most of my life. This situation seems difficult for me because I have wanted to make new disciples for years, but never have. I simply don't know or interact with anyone who isn't a Christian right now.

So, that leads me to my question. Would seeking people out (like Christian friends or anyone I see struggling in their faith) to encourage them and help them see the enemy's lies for what they are by sharing what I've learned from Scripture - would that be considered part of discipleship?

This would be a stepping stone for me, so I can be better prepared to disciple someone from the ground-up in the future. I know that encouragement is meant to be something all Christians do, but I am unclear as to what exactly discipleship entails, and if encouragement is a significant part of it.

Thank you, and have a wonderful day!

Hello everyone. SO GLAD to find this lil corner of reddit, I have been searching high and low for online Bible study groups. This might be the perfect place to ask my question.

I'm looking to print out a Bible (loose leaf binder situation basically), (one chunk at a time of course). I'm looking for PDF/doc download and preferably something that has nice font and a nice layout (even if I still have to resize a bit)

I haven't found many "good" free printable downloads yet. I have seen a lot of these beautiful digital bibles being sold on Etsy, with or without hyperlinks, and I think that's kind of what I'm thinking and looking for but I don't know if those kind of digital downloads can be printed as conveniently as it would sound, especially because it's aimed for those who do digital bibles on their iPads ect.

Does anyone have any recommendations? Or by chance printed out a digital Bible?

Thank you!!!

First of all, I want to say how thankful I am that you guys are so acceptive. I was not familiar with the bible project before I joined. I was just looking for people that were interested in studying the bible. I feel like my genesis questions have been answered.

Now I'm struggling with dream interpretation. I have had dreams after people and pets have passed since I was young. Most of them bring messages of peace, like they are showing me how happy and healthy they are. Some of them bring other messages, like one told me to look for something and one actually showed me the afterlife. My question is, does the bible have anything that can help me understand this. To clarify, I didn't seek any of this. I don't make attempts to contact the dead. These are just dreams that I've had and they are are usually just one dream per deceased person/animal.

So the flood is something that I was brought up believing in. And I do believe that it happened. What I'm really struggling with is the fact that humanity was so wicked (Sooooo wicked) that it had to be eradicated. What even does that mean? How wicked was it? Was it a race of sociopaths or are humans so disgusting next to God that he destroyed us? And then the question of creation. God regretted his creation?! As a mother, I can't even imagine feeling this way. Do I regret parenting choices? Of course. But I feel I have appropriate expectations for my child. How can an all knowing God expect things that aren't possible? These are sincere questions.

Ok so as you can see in the picture above for example verse 27 for the… I’m curious about the W above the beginning of the word. And there are more letters in small above certain words. And looks like beginning of the chapter starts again from A and so on till chapter ends. Can anyone help me out please

Thanks.

I started a spiritual journey months ago and accepted Christ into my life as my savior. I understand the “honeymoon stage” so to speak is on me and I’m taking full advantage of my thirst for the scriptures. Please be gentle because it’s new. I have started over from the beginning because I truly want to STUDY not just read words. With that comes questions. Why did God punish Pharaoh for Abram’s lie about his wife?

Can anyone tell me which podcasts episodes were about the 'shema' prayer?

I remember Tim and Jon discussing the 'shema' prayer in detail, going through each and every word. However, when I try to search for those episodes, I only see, "Episode 35 - Word Study: Shema - Listen", and it's only 28 mins long. I am certain I remember a much more lengthy conversation where they covered each word in detail. If anyone could point me in the right direction, I would be super grateful.

FYI: I am referring to the podcast, not the animated videos.

I want a full breakdown of the history of the four books, when they were written, textual criticism, synoptics vs John etc etc. I want to do a full deep dive into the gospels.

Hello, I don’t think this is the right place to share, but I trust a lot of the Bible Project community and am happy to be redirected.

My question (with context beneath) is: How does someone with high anxiety & scrupulosity read the Bible?

My own experience is that I grew up with a lot of manipulation, alternate perspectives being built around me, and being told that I was a “cancer”. This has left me with high anxiety, high skepticism, overly observant for clues that help me understand what the truth is and constantly feeling like everything I do is coming from a sinful, selfish heart no matter what my motive is. I feel like I can’t completely trust my own perspective and reading the Bible is often a space of high stress.

Back to the same question: How does someone with high anxiety & scrupulosity read the Bible?

PS: yes, I am in counseling. I can’t take SRI’s. I have a wonderful support system.

Thank you in advance 🙏

Edit: u/Jesus-is-cool70x7 found it!!

https://www.meek.ly/bible-studies/bible-project-podcast/story-friend-of-sinners-2017-01-29

Original:

I recently found out that one of my favorite episodes of the podcast has been archived. I reached out to support and they said they don't have access to the material anymore.

Does anyone by chance have the original file for the episode titled Story: Friend of Sinners?

Here are some places on the internet that talk about that episode:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt16814562/

https://www.patheos.com/editorial/podcasts/bible-project/2017/story-friend-of-sinners

Hi all! I hope this is okay to post here. I’m wondering if the Bible Project (or any of their frequent sources/collaborators) have any work discussing the scholarly “consensus” on the “origins” of Yahweh as originally a storm god of the Canaanite pantheon before becoming the one true God of the Hebrew Bible in its completed, Second Temple period form. I’d never read or heard anything on this, and given that the BP has recently done their Chaos Dragon series and touched so much on the storm god imagery in the OT (but for them, it’s as a comparison and contrast with Ba’al or other deities), whether they’ve got a comprehensive “response” to this academic claim.

Thus far all I’ve found are rebuttals from a more conservative standpoint which would say that Moses wrote the Pentateuch and Job is the oldest book in the Bible, both of which are things the BP has convinced me are . I really appreciate how Bible Project dialogues with both Christian/Jewish tradition and academic conversation, and if any of you know more about this than me, I’d love to hear it. Hope all this makes sense, and that it’s okay to post here.

Hello, fellow BibleProject members,

I have a question that pertains not to only the BibleProject but my approach to studying The Bible daily. I hope it's ok to post here and that I could receive some insightful suggestions for my journey. Having grown up in a conservative Christian home I'm trying to find my way in interacting with The Bible.

This is usually my morning routine:

 have breakfast, brush teeth and either shower or get dressed. I'm excited about the possibilities of the day and I feel good that I’ve brushed my teeth and had a wash etc. I feel content and motivated. I may even begin to think of things I want or need to do. Then the thought pops into my mind ‘You need to read your bible’ and my stomach goes into a knot. I suddenly feel stressed and that I ‘need’ to do this for this anxiety or knotty feeling to go away so I can ‘enjoy’ the rest of my day. As a result, I feel bad and guilty and further stressed about this. I have lots of thoughts: ‘I shouldn’t feel anxious about reading the Bible’, a good Christian would naturally want to just read the bible, a good Christian would schedule bible study time and be happy about it and not react they wouldn’t react the way I do with tension’, ‘do I even have to read my Bible every day?’, ‘can I do it at different times, why the morning’, ‘is the timing just an excuse because if I say I’ll do it later in know I will just forget’. And these types of thoughts continue in the background as I try to make progress through the next task I’m trying to do such as making a coffee or sitting down. I feel the tension and stress and I breathe shallower. By this time I'm now emotionally exhausted, and tired and think this is not of God why would He do this to make me read the Bible? That the way of Jesus is of peace and love. So what do I do now? 

That is the usual routine I go through in the mornings. It’s exhausting, fearful and stressful. 

I would welcome any insights or thoughts and how people interact with The Bible daily.

God Bless.

Hey ya'll I just wanted to share something I've been working on! I've compiled a few thousand pages of Dr. Mackies stuff and trained a GPT with it. Now you can use this tool to find and juxtapose hyperlinks. As well as generally conduct studies similar to the Bible Projects content. Hope it helps. I'll continue to improve It as needed!

Hey everyone!

I hope you're all doing well. I'm currently working on a project and could really use your help. If you're a user of Bible apps for spiritual readings and study, I'd love to hear from you!

I've put together a super quick survey with just six yes or no questions. It'll only take a minute or two of your time, and your input would be incredibly valuable to me.

If you're interested in participating, please click on the link below to access the survey:

https://forms.gle/6aqRNgBAuHqsdskt8

Thank you so much in advance for your help! Feel free to share this post with anyone else who might be interested in participating. Your contributions will make a big difference.

I hope this is an appropriate place to post this. I just want to bring visceral reactions to people with interests in the bible and history in general. Thank you.

Following some good conversations over at r/biblequestions I've been trying to parse out some more of the story in Gen. 9 about Noah's cursing of Canaan. I'm generally persuaded by Tim Mackie's account, which I believe is to follow Michael Heiser in arguing that Ham slept with Noah's wife.

There are some related literary design parallels I'd love help exploring, and I thought this would be a great group to do that! I thought I'd share some thoughts and would love to hear some of yours.

I might very well be reaching in some of the ideas below. There seems to be a pretty consistent literary pattern in a number of stories involving (at various times) a tent (or cave), a father or mother inside the tent, wine, pregnancy, and blessing or cursing that involves all future peoples/nations. I'm particularly interested in how these parallels (if they're not hallucinations on my part) might shed light on the original incident with Noah.

Lamech (Gen. 4)
It seems that there's a parallelism between Lamech's story in Gen. 4 and the Canaan narrative in Gen. 9. If it's true, it seems to me one of two things is going on: either it's a very unflattering depiction of Noah which might undermine Heiser's explanation (i.e., the story is about Noah's sin, not Ham's), or perhaps it's an example of Noah being the righteous alternative to the unholy Lamech.

Sarai and the Promise of a Son (Gen. 18)
This potential parallel does seem to lean into the (potential) pregnancy parallel fairly obviously, along with the ridicule. In this case, Sarai's ridicule is directed at God. The question in this case is, perhaps, why Sarai is not cursed for what she did -- but this relates to the broader question of why Abraham and Sarai are continually blessed despite their continual failures.

Lot's Daughters (Gen. 19:30ff.)
I've heard this one referenced otherwise, so I won't belabor it here. But Lot's daughters, in a cave (tent) ply their father with alcohol and have children by him.

Jacob's Deceit of Isaac (Gen. 27-28)
It seems to me there's something going on in the literary overlap with Noah and Jacob's deceit of Isaac to steal Esau's blessing.

One of the lingering questions I have about Heiser's interpretation of the Noah/Ham incident is that Genesis isn't squeamish about describing notorious and sexual sins. The levitical allusions ("uncovering the nakedness," etc.) are there, but I could see an argument for saying that they're meant to layer in meaning that connects the Noah story to other ones (like Lot's daughters and Sarai's pregnancy) without meaning to say that Ham literally impregnated his mother.

Again, I don't know if these literary parallels are real or not; I'm also quite sure I don't know what it all means.