Rabbit Holes & Meditations - Christian Bible Study

I'm not going to go as far as to say this podcast will help you understand the entire arc of the bible, but I will say that it will give you some amazing insight and clarity that will make you want to listen to this podcast and read the supporting material over again to make sure you are grasping the weight of the concepts. I loved producing the podcast because it gave me such a deep sense of confidence in the foundati...

Baptism, the Command, and the Heart

“It’s just an outward expression of faith.” Many Christians describe baptism that way, and they usually mean it’s optional. Others go the opposite direction and treat the water as if it saves on its own.

Scripture rejects both views.

In this episode we look at what the text actually says about baptism. We start with the meaning of the word, then the command Jesus gave, and...

I apologize in advance if sometimes this podcast seems to veer off a present trajectory but every time I do I deep dive, something sticks that makes me want to go deeper. My friends accuse me of being a walking hyperlink... guilty as charged : )

This came up in our last podcast, so I decided to return here and sit on this passage. 

Most of us read straight past it. In the upper room, between Peter’s protest and Jesus&rsq...

When I was a boy, raised Catholic, I would go into the confessional and come out a new kid. My mother loved confession day. We were so good, at least until the ability to resist had worn off.

The instinct behind that experience is biblical. "Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little" (Luke 7:47). Forgiveness received produces love, and love wants to obey. Paul...

Today is the final episode of our A.I. mini-series. It began with a hard question: could AI bring about the end of humanity? We didn’t choose that question as click-bait. The warning comes from the people building these systems. Some have asked whether they mean it, or whether fear simply makes good marketing. After all, nothing gets attention like the end of the world.

But the alarm isn’t coming only from the builders....

“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost…?” (Luke 14:28)

There’s a story about Joseph, Jacob’s son. God showed Pharaoh in a dream that famine was coming to the whole world, and Joseph told Pharaoh what to do: “Let Pharaoh appoint commissioners over the land… They should collect all the food of these good years… to be held in r...

Every magician knows the oldest trick in the trade: get the audience to watch one hand while the other does the real work.

For months the AI conversation has circled one question: is AI going to end humanity? My first answer was, of course not, any more than my SUV is going to back itself out of the garage and run somebody over. Then it hit me. AI could be driving that SUV sooner than we think. We’re approaching an interestin...

If you read Revelation, the End Times are about a global dominant power. Right now, we are living in a world of competing towers. I'm not sure that race is winnable for reasons we get into in the discussion.

Perhaps what sticks out the most from this deep dive is this. If rivals cannot win by building the better model, they will compete for what cannot be copied: the chips, the factories that make them, the power plants, and the pa...

What if the real threat of AI isn’t that it ends the human race, but that it changes it?

Jesus said the end would come “as the days of Noe were.” So what actually happened in the days of Noah? In Part 2 we open Genesis 6 verse by verse, with the Septuagint alongside, to ask who “the sons of God” were, who the giants were, and why it matters now. Today parents can rank embryos by predicted traits, AI is...

Today we are taking a short break from The Parables. For the next 5 podcasts, we are going to address the elephant in the room. And actually, the elephant is responding back! Let me explain.

I think in the last month especially, but longer if you’re paying attention, there is growing concern that AI could end humanity.

You’ve heard the fatalistic predictions. Artificial intelligence will outthink us, outwork us, and one...

Walk into any Christian bookstore and you’ll find nearly as many readings of Revelation as there are readers. Most of them make the same mistake: they pick one way of reading the book (preterist, historicist, futurist, or idealist) and force every chapter to fit it.

This episode takes a different approach. Instead of choosing a bucket first, we let the text tell us what kind of reading each passage n...

It was never really about the prodigal.

Read the first line again: A certain man had two sons. The story starts with the father. It ends with the father. And every turn in between is something the father does.

He gave his living to a son who couldn’t wait for it. He let him go. He watched the road. And when that son was still a great way off, he ran.

But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion,...

Today is part 2 of a 3-part series for the Parable of The Prodigal son as most have come to know the title. We often look past the older brother in the prodigal story. Some even identify with his sentiment. If you’ve ever felt the elder brother had a point, this episode is for you.

He stayed. He worked. He kept every rule. And when his brother came home from wasting everything, his father killed the fatted calf.

So the elder ...

Today is the first of a three part series on a Parable you may think you know well. The Prodigal Son is almost aways covered in a 30 minute bible study. That in no way let’s this text breath. Sit back, we’re going deep. You know this story. You probably think it ends at the party.

It doesn’t. But before we get to the party, we have to go where the son went.

Jesus wasn’t talking to runaways. He was talking ...

You have never felt lost. That might be the problem.

Everyone loves the lost sheep. Nobody sees himself in the lost coin. A coin doesn’t wander. It doesn’t feel the dark. It lies on a clean floor in a familiar house, perfectly content — and perfectly lost.

Jesus didn’t tell this story to the runaways. He told it to the respectable men at the edge of the crowd, murmuring because He welcomed sinners to His tab...

Anyone who has lost a child in a crowded store knows the feeling. For about ninety seconds, nothing else exists. You don't care about the cart, and you don't care who's watching. Nobody could talk you into calming down and being grateful for everything you didn't lose. You search until you find, and when you find, you don't scold. You grab that kid and hold on.

Jesus told a story like that, and most of our...

A lot is happening in the news and just to be sure it wasn’t just something I’m seeing because it’s something I’m interested in (which is how news is curated to the individual these days), I went to Google trends for some perspective. We looked at both Israel and Iran and then a lot of other stuff. Then when we felt we were on solid ground, we checked the headlines. Not the ones on the local news feeds. We c...

I was going to apologize for the length of this podcast but I think I'll refrain. I've already listened to it twice and I think it is one I will come back to many times.

Yes! I listen over and over to my own podcasts. You see, I started this journey to learn, not to teach. I hope you're riding this journey right along beside me. I'm not your pastor, I'm your brother. 

Our church has adopted the practice of teaching new Christi...

You know this one. The invited make excuses, the poor get the seats, and everybody nods about how the outsiders got in. Read it again, and read what happened five minutes before it was told.

Jesus is at a Pharisee’s table on the Sabbath. The lawyers are watching Him to catch Him. A sick man is set in front of Him and He heals him — with His hands, in full view — and sends him out the door. Then He tells the guests...