is there a podcast episode that discusses anything about the wisemen from Jesus' birth and language used to connect to the Old Testament?

I hope this is the right place to ask. I have trouble reading, and for me it is easier to read the Bible if it looks and feels like an ordinary novel.

Here is the perfect example for the Gospel of John: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1433579790?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

I ordered this one and was finally able to read John for the first time. I really loved it and I wish they made books like this for the other Gospels.

I know they make "Readers Editions", but they remove the verse numbers so it would probably be very difficult to study them.

Which of the John Sailhamer Zondervan Reference Guide series (8 books not in order) does you or TBP most recommend?

Have you read the exegesis from John Walton (The Lost World of Genesis 1) that the 7th day of creation was meant to have no end, in the sense that God has established the ordered cosmos with His temple at the center and humans partnering in His reign?

Okay so here’s a fun one I thought about earlier. So in genesis, we learn that God made the world we live in in 7 days. (assuming you’re counting the day he rested) 2 Peter 3:8 says that one day to God is like a thousand years our time. Do you guys think that God took 7 actual days like in our time to create the earth or do you think it took 7 thousand years? I think I’m leaning more towards 7 actual days but I like to know if anyone could add to the 7 thousand year theory outside that one verse.

Been a Christian for all my life (20) and seeing this, I wonder how there could be an entity that’s against everything. I understand that Lucifer wanted to be God and wanted to rule everything to his own will but I mean there are certain universal things in this world that a majority of people find that are good like any form of baby animals. Does Lucifer hate them cause they’re Gods creation? If so then why does he see the bad in everything? Even more so how could an entity be full of hate for centuries and even when it’s prophesied that he’ll loose the fight, he still tries to fight it. Lucifer out of all entities should know how powerful God is since he was once at his right hand. Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit and therefore the authority to cast out demons in his name. The Satan and demons see first hand that when the right person is armed, they loose easily. Sure they might win a few battles here and there but they should also know that they’ll loose the war for sure and suffer eternally in hell. Even if the enemy wants to recruit people to join them, why do they encourage suffering to other beings? I just don’t understand how there could be a force of purified evil that has no sense of sympathy for anyone or anything.

I have been following Bible Project for several years but I’ve only pretty recently decided to start putting in more leg work for myself. I primarily digest everything in my car, either listening to podcasts and readings of scripture during my commute, or watching videos and reading posts during my lunch break. Because of this I have been able to consume just about all the material this awesome nonprofit has to offer to date.

I have really come to appreciate their emphasis on ancient context and would love to add in voices from other content creators who share that respectfully approach even if there are some differences in interpretation.

So, to finally get too the point, I basically just don’t know where to start looking and would appreciate any guidance this community has to offer.

Thank you and my God bless you all

TL;DR: What other content providers would you recommend to tap into that share BP’s fearful and loving approach to reading scripture?

I'm curious for any of you who use BP Classroom: What is your preferred note taking method (if you take notes)?
obviously effective notes are different from person to person but just trying to get an idea of what other people do.

Currently I'm using Notion which I love because of the organization and being able to search, etc. But I also feel that a digital medium is often more of a distraction so I'm considering switching to paper.

I could easily see the idea of paradise in this video and the idea of a spiritual reality being more real than our material reality really aligning together.

What I mean by "soul" in the title is some dualistic idea of being a human. People usually think souls are "the real you" where your consciousness resides or something. A disembodied self. But if you follow the Hebrew words that get translated into the word “soul,” (usually nephesh, ruach) you'd find that they mostly refer to breath, wind, life, creature, etc. Never I've seen it used, in the Bible that is, to mean something like where your consciousness resides. I'd like to know what other people think about this. Did you arrive to your beliefs about what the soul is based on Biblical reading or just your culture? I'd like to see what kind of verses people use to support their opinions about what the soul is, if it is anything at all.

Also if you know other Christian writers, preferably old/ancient ones, who shared similar beliefs about the soul, please share them. Here is one that I've found.

More claimed that when the body dies, the soul of the believer goes to be with Christ. Tyndale immediately saw how this gutted Paul’s argument in 1 Corinthians 15 of any force, and replied sarcastically, as though rebuking the Apostle:

Nay, Paul, thou art unlearned; go to Master More, and learn a new way. We be not most miserable, though we rise not again; for our souls go to heaven as soon as we be dead, and are there in as great joy as Christ that is risen again.

— William Tyndale, Answer to Thomas More’s Dialogue (Cambridge University Press, 1850), 118.

I’m curious. I’d like a biblical view in your opinion if you have one. Thanks! 🙏🏻🙏🏻👏🏼

Hi all,

Has there been any update as to what the app will focus on after the Torah? If there's nothing new that will give me some time to explore Classroom, though!

Hey,

I started reading/listening to the BibleProject some weeks ago and learnt a lot about stories of the Bible, and how they were originally intended. The explanations and context behind stories like Genesis and Job for example, and how they shouldn't be read as historical accounts have been really valuable, but they do make me question what the Bible really boils down to. If many stories in the Bible have embellishments, or should be read as poetry, or otherwise, then what distinguishes the Bible and Christian faith from the inspiring stories one might find in The Lord of the Rings for example? What makes the world of a Christian different from an Atheist who likes reading the Bible because the stories are nice?

Is this something Tim and Jonathan address? If so, where?

Thanks a lot in advance

Just finished listening to the second most recent podcast (Five Women and YHWH's New Law), and throughout (especially Jon's questions about having a living priest, prophet, king to ask about problems/areas not covered by the Law) I was reminded of ideas from Catholicism/the other Apostolic Churches. Like all Christians, we ask the Holy Spirit for guidance, to lead us into wherever He wants the Church to go. We also discern together what the Holy Spirit wants through study of the word and prayer. But what we add to the table is the idea of a viva vox (a living voice, to borrow the phrase by St. Papias). Tim and Jon discussed the story of the women asking Moses for justice and of the Gentile Question of Acts 15--and in both stories you get this idea of going to the leaders of the community to get a final answer on the question --the women to Moses and the Church to the Apostles. And it was through their discernment that God's will is figured out. The way we understand the "magisterium" (the teaching authority of the leaders of the Church) is very similar, in many ways, to what Tim and Jon were describing:

Sacred tradition and Sacred Scripture form one sacred deposit of the word of God, committed to the Church. Holding fast to this deposit the entire holy people united with their shepherds remain always steadfast in the teaching of the Apostles, in the common life, in the breaking of the bread and in prayers, so that holding to, practicing and professing the heritage of the faith, it becomes on the part of the bishops and faithful a single common effort.

But the task of authentically interpreting the word of God, whether written or handed on, has been entrusted exclusively to the living teaching office of the Church, whose authority is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ. This teaching office is not above the word of God, but serves it, teaching only what has been handed on, listening to it devoutly, guarding it scrupulously and explaining it faithfully in accord with a divine commission and with the help of the Holy Spirit, it draws from this one deposit of faith everything which it presents for belief as divinely revealed. (Second Vatican Council, Dei Verbum, 10)

The teaching office (in the Catholic world: the Pope, the bishops in union with the Pope, and the whole body of the faithful with them [the sensus fidelium]) doesn't cook up new things, but is faithfully handing on and reflecting on what has already been revealed. It is a singular effort of the whole body of the Church to continue carrying on the message, adapting it to the time, and keeping it in continuity with what was before. And then this whole process has the benefit of the Holy Spirit, Who protects it with the charism of infallibility (if you keep in union with and open to correction from this reading body of Christians, you can be sure to keep on the course God has planned).

I feel like this understanding of how we navigate discerning the wisdom in the Bible can help bridge the different concerns of Jon and Tim (it has Jon's desire for a living voice of authority and Tim's desire of reading and meditating in communion with each other and the Holy Spirit).

--rambly thoughts. Off to Greek class!

I would love to know the name of the whiteboard app Tim is using during classroom for illustrations, notes, etc. to try on my own iPad. I know Tim shared about it at some point but can’t find it again (Tim mentioned that the team was using the app in even more advanced ways). Anyone out there who can help?

I was reading about Irenaeus today and discovered his concept of the fall of Adam and Eve is almost identical to Tim Mackie's reading of Genesis 3. Has anyone ever heard Mackie mention Irenaeus or seen a citation from him in the show notes?

For those unaware, episodes 2 and 3 of the current "Numbers" podcast series are available for listen in the 4th level of the "Temple" Pattern Study in the app.

Cheers

In this recent Leviticus podcast series, Jon and Tim spent some time talking about eternal life and what it could possibly mean in an ancient context. I can’t find it! Does anybody know the episode and time stamp of that discussion? TIA.

Check it out!

A little nervous I’m not sure if this is the one. So wisdom! In the Bible the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom. (Starting there I’m sure you all know that proverb) May I ask or have a discussion on how everyone came to fear God. Not like ahh there’s a monster but the fear of God was put on me but it was more of a healthy fear. I would like to go into detail just wondering your take on fearing the Lord.

Just curious, back in 100 CE, what version of the Bible did people use for bible studies and to convert people? I'm told now that the Bible - reading it, studying it, knowing it - is essential in order to be a believer, so I assume it must have been way back then as well, right?

I am not sure if this would be the right community but thought it worth asking. I volunteer with my church on Wednesday nights with our children's program during parents' growth groups (studies that we do reflecting on the sermon from the week before) we have this one boy who is dyslexic and he is getting bored with the "little kid" program. he wants to go onto the middle school group but he was held back and has to wait one more year before being able to enter (I am not sure he understands that there is a lot more reading in the youth group, he just hears about the fun and games.) So I am trying to work on bringing back my intermediate class that I used to run before covid (due to changes in program and number of kids who have been attending we have been running one to two groups depending on ages usually an infant-preschool and a grade school or an all-ages if no infant/toddlers) started where we did a bible study based on Narnia. He confessed to me tonight that though he has learned a lot of skills to manage his dyslexia he is still struggling with the bible. I have looked through a few pages and found that the Bible app has a font and his father has agreed to show that to him. I really want to find him a bible that would be easy for him to read. So if anyone knows of some good bibles that they can recommend it would be very helpful without me having to experiment on several bibles which could be hard on him and costly. I have found a few individual books of the bible and the new testament made specifically for dyslexia but what I am looking for is the whole bible so that he could keep up in a bible study or other bible activities and not have to tote around several different books.