Shows
Bible Bard - EnglishMercy Triumphs over JudgmentIn Bible Bard episode BB-118 Mercy Triumphs over Judgment we look at a single verse from the book of James that places these two concepts together in the writer's admonition.Go to www.BibleBard.org and click PDF to get a transcript. Support the Bible Bard podcast on Patreon (BibleBardUSA), on GOFUNDME, or click the Donations tab on the Bible Bard website to make a contribution.
2025-12-1013 minBible Bard - EnglishGod Is FaithfulIn this podcast we look at God’s attribute of faithfulness. We examine a few simple biblical statements about God and His attribute of faithfulness. According to the Bible, what does it mean to be faithful? As the statement from a sample text from Deuteronomy suggests, those who are faithful keep their word, they fulfil their agreements. In the biblical text, God’s faithfulness is part of the idea that God cannot do wrong. His faithfulness is part of his divinity that allows people to depend upon what he promises his actions are in his relationships to humankind, both to t...
2025-07-0106 minBible Bard - EnglishBible Teaching About JesusIn previous podcasts we’ve talked about the Bible teaching about God and the Holy Spirit. Now the Bible Bard turns our attention to Jesus. The first teaching about Jesus in this literature is that in his humanity, Jesus is subordinate to the Father. This means that while living on earth, Jesus lived under the authority and willing control of God. This is important because the texts describe Jesus as fully human. The human Jesus has no more spiritual power than other humans even though Jesus is related to the Father God in a unity that is above that of...
2025-07-0108 minBible Bard - EnglishLiving a Good Life according to the BibleIn our episode today, we ask what the Bible teaches about how to live our lives? We look at a few things Jesus said about living the good life.The literature of the Bible can be divided by style or topic into six groups: Law (beginning of world to Moses), History (of Jews), Poetry, Prophets, Gospel, and Church. Therefore, when you read the Bible, you need to know where you are in these categories, who is speaking, who is the audience, and the topic or subject of any passage. If you know a little bit of grammar...
2025-07-0106 minBible Bard - EnglishThe Holy SpiritToday’s podcast we look at the use of the term Holy Spirit in the Bible. Other monotheists, like those in Judaism and Islam, think of the term Holy Spirit as a synonym for God. Their God is indivisibly one. The monotheism of most Christians is more complicated. Their God is three distinct persons who are indivisibly one being! This is a very bizarre idea and couldn’t possibly be true unless it was a revealed concept. Because of this complication in the definition of God in his essence, we must be careful to stick to what the text says...
2025-07-0104 minBible Bard - EnglishLoving God in the BibleIn today's podcast we look at how humanity should express their love to God. What does the Bible say we should do? As Lesson BB-02 taught, God is not human. He is a spirit. You cannot give a spirit a hug. The verses listed here make it clear, you love God by obeying him and keeping his commands; and his commands have two benefits: they are for our good and they are not burdensome. We have a choice to believe or not believe the story or description of this God and his requirements for humanity. The Bible Bard only...
2025-07-0106 minBible Bard - EnglishThe Current State of HumanityIn our last podcast we looked at humanity’s first disaster. It’s a remarkable story with a plot far more sophisticated than often credited. From this first disaster, what appears to be a minor disobedience of humanity to a single command of God, events of enormous significance flow. In this literature, the Bible simply tells the story and leaves it to the reader to realize what these events mean - the effect these events have on today's humanity.
2025-07-0108 minBible Bard - EnglishThe Bible's First Human DisasterIn a previous podcast (BB-16) we began the discussion of humanity, its origins, current state, and its future according to the Bible. In our last podcast (BB-17) we looked at Spirituality in the Bible. In today’s lesson we try and understand more deeply the origins of humanity’s current condition. We do this using the techniques of literary criticism and considering what the Bible says in its story about the woman and the serpant.
2025-07-0106 minBible Bard - EnglishSpirituality in the BibleIn our last podcast (BB-16) we began the discussion about humanity in the Bible. We examined what the Bible says about human origins. In today’s reading we hear what the Bible says about spirituality. We examine how the Bible describes the spiritual, beginning with the most spiritual Being - God. People often have trouble with the idea of spirit. They think that spirit means intellect, emotions, fears, passions, and creativity, all ideas originally expressed by Plato. But human spirituality in the Bible is based upon God, who is a spirit being. What the Bible says about God provides ou...
2025-07-0108 minBible Bard - EnglishHumanity in the BibleThe Bible is clear about who God is and what are his attributes, his emotions, and personality. In the first lessons we looked at what the Bible says about God. But the identity and attributes of humanity, which begin in the creation story, are a bit more complicated. This podcast turns to a new topic looking at what the Bible teaches about humanity. The goal of these podcasts is to present the actual text of the Bible so that listeners might know what the Bible itself teaches. The Bible Bard is not interested in the debate between creationists and...
2025-07-0113 minBible Bard - EnglishWhat the Bible Teaches about GodToday's podcast is a review of the first 14 episodes during which the Bible Bard has done an inductive search of what the Bible says about who is God. We’ve quoted statements from the Bible that describe God, and we've accumulated them so that we can draw some conclusions. . These conclusions come from the texts themselves and are in sharp contrast to the way God has been described, mostly by people who have never read the Bible itself. No one can argue that the text does not literally say what I've quoted it as saying - because the texts ar...
2025-07-0106 minBible Bard - EnglishGod is LoveThe Bible compares God in his essence and actions to humanity. We see that God is all powerful, all knowing, and exists everywhere at the same time; but we also see that he is emotional. God has feelings. He responds to events as a whole person. The biblical text we look at in this episode reveals something very unique about the God of the Bible - that love is the center of his moral and emotional nature. Love is the core of his being. Don’t assume that the reverse of this statement is true: love is not God. No...
2025-07-0109 minBible Bard - EnglishGod is HolyIn today's podcast episode we come to something difficult. What does it mean that God is holy? Previous podcasts looked at Bible texts that were virtually self-defining: that is, the words in the context of the sentence were easy to understand. The meaning of the text was unambiguous and clear. But when we come to the idea of the holiness of God we run into a little difficulty; that is because the Hebrew word qodesh and the equivalent Greek word hagios were transliterated into the English word holy. That English word is based upon words from the Old English...
2025-07-0111 minBible Bard - EnglishGod is not HumanIn today's episode we're looking at the thought that God is not human. This is such an important idea. To understand the Bible teaching, we listen to what the Bible says about this concept. We find in three sample statements, two negative and one positive, what God isn’t and what he is. If God is not human, what is he? The answer the Bible gives, he is a spirit. At this moment, that’s all we know. But by taking other clear statements like these that provide further definition and amplification, we'll build up an understanding of who the...
2025-07-0106 minBible Bard - EnglishNo Other GodIn today's episode we are looking at the thought that the Bible considers its God the only God. Per our methodology, we listen to what the Bible says about ideas in sample texts. These texts are very clear. There is no ambiguity. The biblical thought is the same in the original languages and in any translation - it says the same thing. But some Bible declarations are hard, dogmatic things to say, and this is one of them. The Bible Bard presents what the Bible teaches. The assertion today is that this God has no rival, no equal. We’ve...
2025-07-0110 minBible Bard - EnglishGod Knows Everything, OmniscienceIn this episode, the Bible teaches that God is omniscient, he knows everything. As we always do, the Bible Bard looks inductively at sample Bible texts that declare who God is and what God is like. And remember, we are looking for what the Bible says. It doesn't matter if you or I agree with a statement. What we need to have clear is what the text actually says. Our sample texts clearly state that God knows everything about the universe and everything about human beings. Our procedure is to inductively take the sample texts, accumulate the evidence of...
2025-07-0109 minBible Bard - EnglishWhere God Lives, OmnipresenceIn our last podcast we heard that God knows everything. In this week’s reading we hear about where God lives, and his attribute called omnipresence. The Bible texts we examine are clear; its God is present everywhere at the same time all the time. Omnipresence means God is here in this room with me, he is present wherever you are, and he is present in the solar system of the farthest star, all at the same time! This is a very strange being and this attribute of omnipresence is totally alien from human experience. In the Bible, God de...
2025-07-0106 minBible Bard - EnglishGod's Unlimited Power - OmnipotenceIn our last podcast, we heard that God lives everywhere at the same time. In this week’s reading we hear that God has unlimited power, He is omnipotent. Up to this point, the Bible Bard has enumerated three great, unique, abilities or qualities of God, as stated in the Bible: He knows everything, He is present everywhere, and in today's lesson He has unlimited power. The Bible Bard presents what the Bible says about these ideas. God has many other attributes and abilities, but these three are very special for they set the Bible's God apart from all ot...
2025-07-0106 minBible Bard - EnglishGod's Positive and Negative Emotions, Part 1In this episode, first of a two-part podcast, we are discussing God’s positive and negative emotions. In past podcasts we have looked at attributes of God that describe God as a very strange, abstract character. If all we knew about the Bible's God were these six things, he would be too difficult for us to relate to. Throughout its contents, the Bible describes how God’s feelings, his positive and negative emotions move him to action. Critics of the Bible (who have rarely read it) repeat some text or story that they think describes God as angry, harsh, mean...
2025-07-0110 minBible Bard - EnglishGod's Positive and Negative Emotions, Part 2This is the second of a two-part podcast about God’s emotions. Previously, we looked at six (6) core qualities that separate God from humanity making him too difficult to relate to. For example, the idea that of God's omnipresence, that He is everywhere at the same time, is difficult for us as human beings to understand or relate to. But God’s core attributes are not all the Bible teaches about God. In today's podcast, we look at a few of God’s positive feelings: kindness, compassion, and love. All human beings experience these emotions. The Bible teaches that God al...
2025-07-0106 minBible Bard - EnglishGod's Justice and Righteousness.In the previous couple of podcasts, we’ve looked at God’s ‘negative’ and ‘positive’ emotions. In this lesson we are quoting several passages in the Bible that speak of God's justice and his righteousness. As a human being, how I feel about an event that happens to me, or I witness, depends on the morality I’ve been taught or not taught. In this episode we look at some sample texts that describe God's sense of justice and his moral feelings of righteousness.Sometimes, to clarify a concept, the Bible provides a metaphor using something we are familiar w...
2025-07-0108 minBible Bard - EnglishGod is a SpiritThe word spirit has more than one application in English. Sometimes we mean by spirit a quality of courage or enthusiasm. However, when the word is applied to a being, a spirit is an incorporeal, invisible, and intelligent personality; but it doesn't have a body, and in its natural state, it has no form. A spirit being is, more like God, than like a human being. The Bible provides many descriptions of spirit beings transforming from an invisible presence to a visible manifestation even in the case of God Himself. These visible manifestations of spirit beings, including God, are...
2025-07-0108 minBible Bard - EnglishWhat is Unholiness?Holiness is difficult concept. The Bible Bard has presented what the Bible says about it. Today’s podcast discusses something even more difficult than the idea of God's holiness and that is what is the opposite of holiness. The opposite of holiness is the difficult concept called “sin”. It’s not that sin is hard to understand, it’s just that we don’t like what it means. Sin is the opposite of holiness in that it is positive unholiness. The brief (but consistent) simple Bible answer is that sin is the opposite of what God is and what God does.
2025-07-0110 minBible Bard - EnglishDeath, Burial, and Resurrection of JesusIn our last couple of podcasts, we looked at the humanity of Jesus, then we examined the deity of Jesus, now we come to the Bible’s message about Jesus. That message is called the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There is more than one Gospel in the New Testament. In this episode we look at the special gospel around Jesus, also called the Gospel of Grace.
2025-06-3009 minBible Bard - EnglishHow Jesus PrayedThere are several ways to approach the topic of prayer in the Bible. In this episode let's see how Jesus prayed. The prayers of Jesus were rational communications to God. In this episode we discuss his posture in prayer, the places he prayed, the topics he prayed about.
2025-06-3007 minBible Bard - EnglishWhat the Bible Wants from PeopleIn this episode we discuss some sample verses that describe the Bible’s goal for humanity. Ancient texts often describe a view of humanity and divinity. The Bible describes humanity as it sees it. It also describes goals of God for humanity and then provides the means to achieve that goal. A lot of nonsense is described under the topic of spirituality. What is spiritual is usually confusing. But the Bible is clear about what God wants from people, and it's often not what you think.
2025-06-3005 minBible Bard - EnglishWhat does "Peace" mean in the Bible?When Jesus Christ speaks of peace, what does he mean? In this episode we perform an analysis of just two (2) verses spoken by Jesus to see what he says about peace. The text is John 14:24-25. There’s a lot in these two verses to discuss. We can experience the peace God gives, have peace in our relationships with others, and have peace with ourselves - something people with a conscience have a hard time finding.
2025-06-3008 minBible Bard - EnglishAbout Heaven and Hell according to the BibleThe recent ideas of physics, like string theory, bosonic, superstring, and M-theory promote the idea that there are more dimensions in the universe than the four (4) we are used to. In this episode we discuss from the Hebrew Scriptures God the fact that angels appear and disappear from our four (4) dimensions. In the New Testament we have descriptions of a New Heaven and New Earth. Both parts of the Bible provide details that are not metaphors drawn from the imaginations of some wandering shepherds of the ancient past or citizens of the early Roman empire. This episode discusses what...
2025-06-3008 minBible Bard - EnglishHealings Jesus DidFor people who disbelieve the supernatural, the healings the New Testament described that Jesus performed are just mistaken conclusions of witnesses to events or at worst, simply lies in a conspiracy to elevate Jesus politically and religiously. This episode provides some of the actual text of the many healings Jesus performed. In these verses we see that categories of illness healed included everything from general healing, the healing of a communicable disease, terminal disease, healing performed without a personal, conscious knowledge of the sick person, and finally the healing of genetic diseases that are only understood as categories of...
2025-06-3007 minBible Bard - EnglishRequirements to be a MonotheistThere are many religions in the world, but only three basic monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Each of these has various internal denominations and sects. The major difference between these internal divisions is based upon how they read and understand their own sacred scriptures. In this episode, we look into these three (3) religions, to understand how to become a member of their creed. The similarities and differences can be shocking.
2025-06-3016 minBible Bard - EnglishBible Metaphors - Figurative Language in the BibleIn this episode we examine the use of poetic language, simile, and metaphor in the Bible. Remember, a major premise of the Bible Bard is that the Bible is literature and as such can be analyzed using the tools of literary criticism. Sometimes, in reading the Bible, this can be a bit tricky; that happens, because the Bible is also a religious text and people have many ideas about how a religious text should be approached. A difficulty is that some interpret metaphors literally, while others can misunderstand the sense of a figurative expression. In this episode we discuss...
2025-06-3018 minBible Bard - EnglishBible Symbolism - Figurative Language in the BibleIn this episode we discuss the use of symbolism in the Bible. Remember, a major premise of ours is that the Bible is literature and as such can be analyzed using the tools of literary criticism. Sometimes, in reading the Bible, this can be a bit tricky; that happens, because the Bible is also a religious text and people have many ideas about how a religious text should be approached. Biblical symbolism is a fertile field in which to grow the poppies of bad thinking, false premises, and poisonous conclusions that twist the plain meaning of the text into...
2025-06-3009 minBible Bard - EnglishJesus is God in the BibleIn our last podcast (BB-23) we looked at the humanity of Jesus. In today’s discussion we investigate his deity. It is true that the Bible claims both deity and humanity for Jesus at the same time. The sample texts presented today, which we read inductively, present factual statements that proclaim the deity of Christ Jesus. It’s difficult to imagine how any sincere person could assert that Jesus is never called “God” anywhere in the Bible. Those who asset such have believed their ideology instead of the Bible.
2025-06-3007 minBible Bard - EnglishHow the Bible was Written, Part 1The Bible is a compilation of 66 individual books written by over 40 authors over a period of about 1,600 years beginning about 1,500 BC – about 100 AD. In the 39 books that form the content for the Old Testament different persons, people groups, nations, and empires, different religions and philosophies all march past the reader. The content for the Old Testament was composed during the rise and fall of the historic empires of the past, Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, among others. This podcast answers the question, How the text of the Bible was actually composed? In this episode we look at several places where we ha...
2025-06-3008 minBible Bard - EnglishRequirements to be a MonotheistThere are many religions in the world but only three basic monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Each of them has rules for becoming a believer within their creeds, rites, and rituals. In this episode the Bible Bard discusses how to understand the various denominations of monotheism by reference to each sect's relationship to its own scriptures. What it takes to become a Jew, a Christian, or a Muslim is discussed. The differences between the religions are shocking.
2025-06-3016 minBible Bard - EnglishControversial Statements of JesusJesus is reported in the Gospels to have made some important statements about God and human beings. This episode presents 12 of the most controversial things Jesus said. When religious people find out what Jesus says, many are offended. Little of what Jesus actually said is easy to hear, for that reason some even question whether Jesus actually said these things. It seems easier for some to prefer their idea of who Jesus is to who the Bible says he was - including the outrageous things the Bible's Jesus often says.This episode details these claims Jesus makes...
2025-06-2708 minBible Bard - EnglishSex in the Bible in the FamilyAs stated in Lesson 42 Sex and marriage, God has not placed rules around sexual activity within marriage. He has placed rules about sex within the family and extended family. God says, "No one is to approach any close relative to have sexual relations… " Human beings like sex and seem to want to have it with anyone they see. Because family members are generally more available to a person than anyone else, sex within the family happens. This episode details these restrictions.
2025-06-2708 minBible Bard - EnglishSex in the Bible, in MarriageIn this lesson we're beginning a look at what the Bible teaches about sex. Sex is a powerful force in human life, so the Bible has a lot to say about it. The sexual part of marriage, the sexual activity within marriage, is not given any rules in the Biblical text except to say that if each partner consents to an activity, the marriage bed is “undefiled”. However, faithfulness in marriage is required of each partner. This episode details what the Bible teaches about sex in marriage.
2025-06-2707 minBible Bard - EnglishAchieving Peace with God, Ourselves, and Others.This episode discusses three (3) things we need to know if we are to obtain peace with God and ourselves. 1. Commit your just revenge and vengeance to God. 2. Forgive those who harmed you. 3. Receive forgiveness from God for our sins against him. None of this seems possible to most human beings and for many, #2 forgiving others seems the most difficult. This episode details what the Bible actually says about finding peace with God, ourselves, and others.
2025-06-2708 minBible Bard - EnglishSummary Thoughts after 40 Bible Bard EpisodesThe point of this podcast is to present Bible content to a generation of listeners that, through no fault of their own, have had little or no contact with the best-selling book in all of publishing history. The Bible is a controversial book because it says things that shock and surprise human beings that take the time to listen or read it. It’s an alien book about a supernatural Being that reveals ideas and thoughts that ancient people could not have made up on their own. This episode summarizes some of those amazing thoughts.
2025-06-2706 minBible Bard - EnglishThe New Testament ChurchA description of the New Testament church is a very difficult thing to provide. The Bible Bard podcast is based upon the idea of reciting only texts that provide a simple and clear description of a topic using words and sentences not difficult to understand. The church as described in the New Testament does not easily conform to those basic podcast requirements.This episode looks at a division in the history of the New Testament church that is often ignored or mis-represented by denominational church organizations. The Book of Acts provides an account of the early church...
2025-06-2708 minBible Bard - EnglishThe Human Family of JesusJesus was a human being and therefore he had a human family. Christian teachers have had difficulty with this fact and denominational churches have often including this New Testament fact into their doctrine. Everyone is willing to agree that the virgin Mary was the human mother of Jesus. The Bible states that after Joseph married the pregnant Mary, they did not have sex until after Jesus was born (Matthew 1:25). Other texts describe other natural born siblings of Jesus that Mary and Joseph had after Jesus’ birth (Matthew 13:55-56 and Mark 6:3). These textual facts conflict with denominational ideology.In...
2025-06-2707 minBible Bard - EnglishKnowing God's LoveGod is invisible. He seems distant, because while we can talk to him (prayer), he doesn’t seem to respond immediately to us.This episode discusses verses believer's faith that communication with God is real and not just wishful thinking. The following sample texts explain why rational people can think, feel, and believe that their communications with God are part of a conversation.
2025-06-2706 minBible Bard - EnglishLife After Death Part 2n the last lesson (BB-34) we looked at life after death for believers in Jesus Christ. In this lesson we look at life after death for non-believers. The Bible speaks of the possibility of two (2) births and two (2) deaths for every human being. This is a wonderful Bible idea. This episode provides the clear literary text that describes how this concept works.
2025-06-2706 minBible Bard - EnglishLife After Death, Part 1This episode describes what the Bible say about life after death? We know from the teachings of other religions that some (like Hindus, Buddhists) want release from the cycle of death and rebirth, and release (moksha) from personality. The Bible expresses the view that God likes individuals and that people retain their individual personalities throughout eternity. This episode shows the texts where the Bible describes this concept.
2025-06-2706 minBible Bard - EnglishUnderstanding the Great CommissionIn this podcast we look at the Great Commission and try to understand who it is given to and what it means. Here is the actual text:"Then Jesus came to them (the disciples) and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” Matthew 28:19 (NIV)The Great Commission is purported in tradition to be the comm...
2025-06-1209 minBible Bard - EnglishSex in the Bible, Part 4 of 4, RapeIn this lesson we are looking at what the Bible teaches about sex, specifically rape. Sex is such a powerful force in human life, so the Bible has a lot to say about it. Because the Bible Bard uses a literary approach to understanding the Bible, this topic compares two different rapes recorded in the Bible and finds some amazing things the Bible says about the girls raped, their attackers, and how important and revered Bible personalities responded to these crimes. You may also want to see the other topics about sex:Bible Bard 42 Sex in the Bible...
2025-06-1212 minBible Bard - EnglishHow the Bible was Written, Part 2The Bible is a compilation of 66 individual books written by over 40 authors over a period of about 1,600 years beginning about 1,500 BC – and ending about 100 AD. This podcast Part 2 answers the question, How was the text of the Bible actually composed? This episode looks at several places (among many posside places) where the text answers this question.Scoffers who do not believe in the supernatural, say that the many Bible prophecies made at one date, which were later specifically fulfilled at a future date, are lies. If effect, they think that bible redactors who lived after a prophesied ev...
2025-06-1209 minBible Bard - EnglishBible Metaphors, Part 2The Bible Bard podcast has discussed before why figurative language is needed in the text of the Bible. In this Part 2 of this discussion, we reflect a little bit more on the use of poetic language, simile, and metaphor, and analogies in the Bible. Here's a couple of the important metaphors of the Bible:Jewish nation is the wife of Jehovah, therefore Israel is married to God.The Christian church is the bride of Christ therefore, Jesus is the bridegroom.Jesus Christ is the lamb, the light, the vine, the bread.A literary analysis of the...
2025-06-1210 minBible Bard - EnglishWhat Jesus cannot doAsk a Christian, what can Jesus do? and the answer lis usually, "anything". In this podcast we look at what the book of Mark says about Jesus in his healing ministry. There is something Mark says that Jesus cannot do. Jesus could control disease, evil spirits, and even the weather, but what he couldn't control tells us a lot about him and God's purpose in the way he has structured his relationship with human beings and in the way the world works. The Bible verses quoted by the Bible Bard assert revolutionary things. These are thoughts and...
2025-06-1206 minBible Bard - EnglishUnderstanding the Book of JobThe Book of Job is controversial in both the date assigned to its original publication and the story that make up its contents. As said before, the Bible Bard is not here to dispute or defend the Biblical text. We have textual evidence that this is the first book of the Bible, written before the five books of Moses, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Setting aside the book’s date of composition, the meaning of the story in the book of Job is also disputed. As listeners to this podcast know, the Bible Bard uses the me...
2025-06-1212 minBible Bard - EnglishThe Mission of the Bible BardThe Bible Bard reflects on what the podcast has done todate and why. Here’s the problem with information about anything: There is too little information so that we are missing content that we need or there is too much information so that the essential content we want is difficult to find. The Bible Bard has tried to strike the correct balance between these two problems. The Bible Bard has not included teachings about these subjects because the Bible teaching on many subjects is debatable. Instead, the methodology employed has been literary analysis of very simple and...
2025-06-1209 minBible Bard - EnglishHow to Talk to God - the idea of prayerWhat does the Bible teach about talking to God? About prayer? All people, even those who do not believe in God, would like to talk to him if they could. For example, in the Indiana Jones movie Raiders of the Lost Ark we have the character Dr. Marcus Brody stating, "The Ark is a beacon. It’s a radio for talking to God." In this podcast you will see that YOU are the ARK for talking to God!This podcast episode describes three essential things the Bible teaches about prayer - these are so simple and direct...
2025-06-1210 minBible Bard - EnglishAre You a Deist?A lot of people believe that while there is a Creator, He does not intervene in the universe. He set it up, it is running like a clock full of natural controls, but He is off elsewhere doing God things. The Bible has a lot to say about this idea, especially in the first book in the Bible titled after its main character, Job. This literature is over 4,200 years old and directly addresses the idea of a God who is not there as opposed to a personal God. In the story, the narrator tells us that God and Satan...
2025-06-1211 minBible Bard - EnglishRight in God's EyesOur culture struggles with authority, not because people despise it, but because they reject illegitimate authority—authority that abuses its power. Many perceive God as such an authority, believing God has the power to prevent suffering, but chooses not to, which seems unreasonable to those unfamiliar with what the Bible teaches about God.This episode discusses what God wants for humanity and what He doesn’t want according to the Bible. It also discusses the contrast between what humanity wants and what God wants. Most people have not heard what the Bible actually teaches about this subject - th...
2025-06-1205 minBible Bard - EnglishWhy Christians are PersecutedThe Bible warns believers in Jesus Christ to expect persecution. The word “Christian” means actually “Christ follower”. In the countries today in North Korea, Afganistan, Somalia, Nigeria, Miramar, China, Mali, Sudan, and the Central African Republic, they all heavily repress and persecute, even murdering and imprisoning people they identify as Christians. Christians are persecuted elsewhere, not as obviously. Why should Christians be subject to violence and persecution? What are Christians doing, how are they acting that so enrages other members of their societies?In this episode the Bible Bard discusses this ongoing problem for both Christians and hostile...
2025-06-1206 minBible Bard - EnglishWhy the Jews Are PersecutedThe Jews have been persecuted for a long time by a lot of different people, ethnic groups, and nations. A lot of it could be attributed to just being in the wrong place at the wrong time, except for this Bible information: InDeuteronomy 7:6 God is speaking, "For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession."Ouch! If you are not Jewish that can hurt. But I'm joking...
2025-06-1010 minBible Bard - EnglishAbout the DevilWhere does the Bible say the devil came from and how did his opposition to God come to be? This episode discusses the history of the devil according to the literature of the Bible.
2025-06-0913 minBible Bard - EnglishSigns of the MessiahPeople who are not religious find it difficult to understand, but most of the great religions of the world are looking for a messiah, a great person (usually a man) who comes, saves the world from destruction, institutes their religion worldwide, and brings peace and (their kind of) morality to human beings. There are various ways individuals qualify as a messiah. Most have to do with performing some miraculous, supernatural act that validates their claim. The Bible provides verses that serve to qualify who can be the Jewish and Christian messiah. This episode discusses the qualifications for messiahship.
2025-06-0910 minBible Bard - EnglishBiblical Metaphors, Part Three, About GodThis podcast is part 3 of the discussion of metaphors in the literature of the Bible began in podcast BB-27 and BB-48. We look at how the Bible uses metaphor to help us understand our relationship to God. The biblical story is not a secret text meant to hide its meaning from you. Rather, the Bible is a literary (as well as sacred) text, meant to communicate to you something the author (the Holy Spirit) wants you to know. The episodes on metaphor, poetic, and symbolic language discuss the rules of interpretation used by the Bible Bard and others.
2025-06-0908 minBible Bard - EnglishNotorious Women in the BibleToday's podcast looks at what the Bible says about women. As those of you know who have listened to more than one Bible Bard podcast, our view is that the Bible is both literature and a holy book. It is a holy book when it reveals things about God we could not otherwise know, and it is literature when it tells stories and makes pronouncements about humanity. In our times there has been a rise of feminism has looked at social conditions that impact women. This episode discusses what the Bible teaches about women. It discusses the five women...
2025-06-0917 minBible Bard - EnglishGod's MoralityThe God of the Bible is described as a moral Beling. Of course, detractors like to suggest that the God of the Bible is a hypocrite, arbitary, self-serving, and inconsistent in his claimed moral and ethical nature. What the Bible Bard does in this podcast is examine the main moral claims about God given in the Bible, so listeners who do not read the Bible, can have a good idea of what the Bible actually teaches. (See podcasts BB-02, 04, 05, 06 for a detailed discussion of the textual source of God's divine attributes.) God's moral attributes are his intrinisic knowledge or...
2025-06-0909 minBible Bard - EnglishThe Power of UnbeliefIn today’s podcast we are interested in what the Bible teaches about the power of unbelief, mistrust, uncertainty or doubt, and skepticism. Unbelief as something active and not merely the absence of faith. This episode discusses the power of unbelief that lies in its movement from the mere lack of faith to the defiant, aggressive denial or physical opposition to the content of faith.
2025-06-0909 minBible Bard - EnglishApproaches to Sacred TextsWe can analyze the three great monothestic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam by their approach to their scriptures. Many people do not understand that each religion is divided by how their various denominations or sects approach to their sacred texts. This episode names and compares these divisions in denominational approaches to their own scriptures - sometimes to the point of actually nulifying what their scriptures actually teach! In the transcript of this episode you can review a table that lists approaches to Scripture and determine where what denomination you should join.
2025-06-0913 minBible Bard - EnglishGod's NamesVarious names for God are given in the literature of the Bible. The text provides both stories about people and transmits revelations about God in which his names are declared. This podcast provides the biblical texts that explain who God is in brief, unambigious sentences or paragraphs that are based upon his names. Download the transcript to see 20 names of God, where they are found in the text, and what they mean.
2025-06-0918 minBible Bard - EnglishIntroduction to the 10 Commandments Bible Bard SeriesIn the literature of the Bible the ancient Hebrews enter into a covenant (legal) relationship with God. The core of this agreement is called the Decalogue. It is these 10 commandments as described in Exodus 20:1-7 and Deut 5:1-22 that form the basis of the national relationship between the nation and God. This podcast episode provides a list of the episodes that cover the 4 commands about your relationship with God: 1. Apostasy Ex 20:3, Deut 5:7; Violation Exodus 32. (BB-58)2. Idolatry Ex20:4, Deut 5:8; Violation Exodus 32. (BB-58)3. Blasphemy Ex20:7, Deut 5:11; Violation Leviticus 24:10-16. (BB-59) 4. Sabbath Ex20:8, Deut 15:12; Viol...
2025-06-0903 minBible Bard - EnglishThe 10 Words Understood - LyingIn the literature of the Bible the ancient Hebrews enter into a covenant (legal) relationship with God that is called the 10 commandments. This episode discusses what the Bible teaches about commandment 9 called False Witness or saying something that is not true to or about someone in the community. How the ancient Hebrew nation specifically violated their agreement with God regarding this command is detailed from the literature. What happened to them as a result of this violation is also discussed.
2025-06-0907 minBible Bard - EnglishThe 10 Words Understood - StealingIn the literature of the Bible the ancient Hebrews enter into a covenant (legal) relationship with God. The core of this agreement is called the 10 commandments. Commandment 8 is about Theft or Stealing. For this series we examine each requirement and provide the story from the literature that details how the ancient Hebrews violated one after another of these 10 laws in sequence across the books of this ancient literature! While in general the theft of something that is not one’s own is punished by restitution, theft of something that was devoted to God is punishable by death. The principle of...
2025-06-0910 minBible Bard - EnglishThe 10 Words Understood - AdulteryIn the literature of the Bible the ancient Hebrews enter into a covenant (legal) relationship with God. The core of this agreement is called the 10 commandments. Today's episode discusses commandment 7, Adultery. Adultery is defined in the law as having sexual activity with someone other than your spouse. In the Bible this command is violated by King David with the wife of another man, Bathsheba. What happens to historically to the nation as the result of this violation of the command is profoundly disturbing. Human culture, social practices, personal choices are subject in the Bible to comparison with what God...
2025-06-0910 minBible Bard - EnglishThe 10 Words Understood - MurderIn the literature of the Bible the ancient Hebrews enter into a covenant (legal) relationship with God. The core of this agreement is called the 10 commandments. In this episode we look at commandment 6 about Murder. The text of the Bible distinguishes between murder, which is the intentional, unlawful killing of a human, which often entails a malicious intent to harm with premediation; and manslaughter, which is the unintentional killing of a person usually because of an accident and especially without hatred or premediated intent. Critics are shocked that graphic stories are included in a “holy bible”. This feigned outrage is s...
2025-06-0914 minBible Bard - EnglishThe 10 Words Understood ‒ Obedience and ParentsIn the literature of the Bible the ancient Hebrews enter into a covenant (legal) relationship with God. The core of this agreement is called the 10 commandments. This episode deals with the 5th command that we no longer think of as serious - disobeying one's parents! This command is unusual command because it deals with grown children who disobey their parents. When this command was given, unlike others before it, violations are not specifically listed. The Bible does not provide a specific instance where disobedience occurs and the punishment prescribed is carried out. Why? Of course, what if the parents...
2025-06-0907 minBible Bard - EnglishThe 10 Words Understood - SabbathIn the literature of the Bible the ancient Hebrews enter into a covenant (legal) relationship with God. The core of this agreement is called the 10 commandments. This episode deals with the 4th commandment, keeping the Sabbath. This commandment is contraversial because it is a requirement of God that has national significance to the ancient Hebrews, but also is part of a moral set, which begins an argument about its significance in the modern world and whether God intended people who are not citizens of this covenant nation to also keep this rule. Christianity is divided about this issue, so...
2025-06-0912 minBible Bard - EnglishThe 10 Words Understood - BlasphemyIn the literature of the Bible the ancient Hebrews enter into a covenant (legal) relationship with God. The core of this agreement is called the 10 commandments. This episode discusses command 3, Blasphemy. This act is defined as defaming the name of God by speaking of or using his name in an empty to vile manner. Violating this command is very common occurrance in "Christian" countries. If the penalty listed were applied today, Western society would cease to exist for lack of citizens! To moderns this offense can seem trivival. Someone in the heat of an argument or in shock at...
2025-06-0908 minBible Bard - EnglishThe 10 Words Understood - Apostasy & IdolatryIn the literature of the Bible the ancient Hebrews enter into a covenant (legal) relationship with God. The core of this agreement is called the 10 commandments. This episode deals with the first two of the set, Apostasy & Idolatry, which are closely linked in the text. When God delivered the 10 laws to the Hebrews, no punishments were associated with any violation of these rules! Most punishments came later when the community that had signed up to observe these laws saw violations and needed to know what to do about it. In this episode we begin to look into the moral...
2025-06-0912 minBible Bard - EnglishThe 10 Words Understood - CovetingIn the literature of the Bible the ancient Hebrews enter into a covenant (legal) relationship with God. The core of this agreement is called the 10 commandments. In this episode the 10th command against Coveting or Envy. This last command is about your personal feelings, which Jesus described as the origin of evil actions (see Mark 7: 20-21). The literature of the Bible also provides a list of feelings that are expressions of the correct inner attitude people should posses, especially believers. This literature suggests that our internal thoughts, feelings, and motives are things visible to God, which is why we...
2025-06-0912 minBible Bard - EnglishThings God RegretsWhat is not often said in churches is that God has regrets about what has happened to humanity over its history. How can it be that the God who has all power, the God who has all knowledge feels regret? Some systematic theologians believe that God cannot be opposed because his power and his knowledge are absolute. Yet the Bible provides direct textual evidence that in our time this assertion is not true. This episode looks at things that happened in history that God regrets.
2025-06-0310 minBible Bard - EnglishCelebrate a Bible Bard podcast milestone!Today the Bible Bard celebrates the posting of our 100th English podcast episode. This is 4,343 minutes of podcast content examines from a literary point-of-view what the Bible says about who is God and who are human beings. The podcast is published in eight (8) languages including English, Bengali, Chichewa, Hindi, Spanish, Swahili, and Urdu, with three (3) more languages in development: Creole, Nepali, and Telugu. Everything is hosted on our website www.BibleBard.org. You can support the podcast on Patreon or GoFundMe.
2025-06-0306 minBible Bard - EnglishSocial Justice in the BibleSocial justice has been a human desire ever since the first city state developed during the Bronze Age, about 5,500 years ago. In the U.S.A. social justice warriors sought to end slavery (1,700- 1,800 ad, get women the right to vote (1920), end child labor (1938), end segregation and racial discrimination (1950s-1960s), and then broadened in our times to include seeking rights and protections for Native Americans, Mexican Americans, homosexuals, sexual harassment, and sexual assault, police brutality, and wealth inequality and environmental justice.The Bible promoted social justice in the law of Moses (circa 1400 BCE), which was written...
2025-06-0312 minBible Bard - EnglishAbout the Term "BornAgain"There is a term in the New Testament that Jesus created called born again. Alive today, 2.38 billion people claim to be Christians. This number is about 31% of the global population. Within that group of Christians, and within the evangelical and historically black Protestant traditions in the U.S.A., only 28% to 35% of US adults (about 50 million adults) consider themselves "born-again." Statistics are missing for counting born again Christians in the rest of the world. But exactly what did Jesus say when he created this term and how does it affect you?
2025-06-0310 minBible Bard - EnglishMind of the Flesh vs. the Mind of the SpiritThe Bible speaks of two contrary terms: "the mind governed by the flesh" and "the mind governed by the Spirit". The text we analyze appears to suggest that the believing human being has access to either mind because they can “set” their mind (agree with) either what “the flesh desires” or what “the Spirit desires”. This episode discusses what the text is teaching us about that willful choice.
2025-06-0311 minBible Bard - EnglishWorry and FearThere are three conditions that plague humanity: they are fear, worry, and anxiety. Surveys indicate that in the world about 70% of humanity spends a lot of emotional and mental energy on these three internalizing, affective states. What the Bible Bard is interested in is how the Bible addresses this human problem.
2025-06-0308 minBible Bard - EnglishWhat You LackLuke 18:18-27 tells a story of a conversation Jesus has with a man who is called the rich young ruler. This man asks Jesus a question, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” The answer Jesus gives to the basic question at the heart of all religions is shocking and totally different from the answers provided by other religions.
2025-06-0308 minBible Bard - EnglishLife's GoalsThe text of 2 Corinthians 5 provides an unusual instruction on how to live our lives. This is a very strange thing to talk to people about. The subject is what are you living for? What are you living to accomplish? In trying to answer that question, we look at how a few great pagan thinkers have answered it including Aristotle, Siddhartha Gautama, Epicurus, Epictetus, Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, and Jean-Paul Sartre. For most of us the goal of living is to get through the week! Most of the rest of us live like slaves, we are forced by circumstances to do...
2025-06-0309 minBible Bard - EnglishThe Bible's View of JesusIn John 5:16-47 we are given a long passage that discusses who Jesus is. These 31 verses declare a lot about Jesus that is ignored by another lot of people. This person Jesus, this historic figure Jesus, is not a shadowy figure of legend. He is not a mythic person, the concoction of novelists. What the Bible actually states about Jesus is shocking.
2025-06-0308 minBible Bard - EnglishClasses of BelieversWhen we read the Bible as literature we often notice such wonderful things. In John Chapter 12 we find something revealed that we didn’t expect — there are three different classes of believers in Jesus. This episode discusses what they are.
2025-06-0309 minBible Bard - EnglishJudas the BetrayerThe story of Judas Iscariot in the New Testament is the unique story of a man who is one of twelve disciples chosen by Jesus. This man is a witness to all that Jesus does during his brief three (3) year ministry just like the other 11 disciples. Yet, he does not claim absolute fealty to Jesus as do the eleven. Instead, he betrays Jesus to his enemies for a little money and then, when his plan or purpose goes awry, commits suicide. Judas is traitor, but John in the passage describing that betrayal immediately follows that story with the story...
2025-06-0315 minBible Bard - EnglishThree Essentials for ChristiansThe letters of the Apostle Paul to early Christian believers are wonderful because they show us what Christianity was like when it just began. These texts become for us a history of what was said about Jesus and what was believed by those who listened to the early message from those who had been with Jesus himself. Our methodology of literary analysis takes a particular text and gains clarity because of the context in which that text is placed in the story.
2025-06-0309 minBible Bard - EnglishThe Surprising Power of JesusWhen we talk about the surprising knowledge of Jesus we also must mention the surprising power of Jesus. There are things the Bible mentions that Jesus should not have known and there are things that Jesus should not have been able to do. For the Bible Bard, the question (without theological, doctrinal precepts) is what does the New Testament teach?
2025-06-0310 minBible Bard - EnglishThe Surprising Knowledge of JesusJesus is the center of the New Testament. He is the subject of the New Testament story. We expect certain things of the narrative, yet, in the midst of the story, Jesus says the unexpected. This episode lists six events in the text that we find shocking.
2025-06-0316 minBible Bard - EnglishBible ZombiesZombies are supposed to be the dead who are still walking around searching for brains to eat. There are people in the Bible who died and the were raised from the dead and so could continue the life they had been living that was interrupted by death. This episode discusses the texts that tell these stories.
2025-06-0313 minBible Bard - EnglishChristian Missionization of the American IndiansIn the early 16th century (1,500s) to the 19th century (1800s) various church groups attempted to missionize the native American Indians of Canada, the United States, and Central and South America. The driving force behind these early attempts was not what we call now Christian evangelism. The motivating force for many of these religious efforts was a historic error in Christian understanding of a Biblical story. This episode discusses what the European Christians thought they were doing when they sent missionaries to the American Indians. Because they had the wrong reasons, things often went terribly wrong.
2025-06-0314 minBible Bard - EnglishThe First Conflict over Belief in the ChurchThe first Christians had a major disagreement of what to believe and how to live in this new religion. These people were not always a happy lot. They argued a lot. This episode discusses the first important disagreement that divided the early church into two warring camps.
2025-06-0321 minBible Bard - EnglishProof That The Bible's God is an AlienThe Bible's God is not like anything that you've ever seen in a movie, read in a book, or encountered in any other literature. After you hear the verses from the Bible quoted in this podcast and the descriptions of God you might be frightened. This Alien God is not in another galaxy far far away. This episode looks at Biblical texts that literally describe the strange, alien being of the God of the Bible.
2025-06-0316 minBible Bard - EnglishThe Long Game in the BibleThe phrase "the long game" is used in American culture to describe strategies or plans that require patience and time to come to unfold and have their success understood. There are many people in our world who have little good happen to them. They are born with genetic defects that allow them to live but they are terribly disabled. Others are born to irresponsible parents, in terrible circumstances, they cannot help but experience the worst outcomes. People lack water, food, clothing, shelter, safety, with their lives knowing only privation without any prosperity. Bible believers are not exempt...
2025-06-0314 minBible Bard - EnglishBiblical Aliens Have Two NaturesThe Bible Bard details texts in the Bible that clearly state the God is an alien, Jesus is an alien, and believers in Jesus are partially transformed into aliens. What is so strange is that at the moment a person actual believes in Jesus, their previous old human nature is not expunged; instead, a new god-oriented nature is added. This is a very strange idea from the Bible that leads to some serious difficulties for life for believers and also complicates how non-believers think about Christians.
2025-06-0316 minBible Bard - EnglishBible Aliens are Already HereIn today’s podcast we look at what the Bible teaches about its alien ideas that originate with the ultimate alien, God. I am providing what the Bible literally teaches about who God is, who Jesus is, and who believers in the Bible are according to the text I recite. Jesus declares himself to be an alien. But the Bible also declares that those who follow the biblical Jesus are also transformed into aliens to prepare them to be with the alien God. Believers become (post faith) extraterrestrials and are no longer part of traditional, conventional humanity and usual hu...
2025-06-0320 minBible Bard - EnglishJesus was an AlienTexts about Jesus are difficult, not because the words are hard to understand, but because what they say is shocking and either totally made up and a lie, or totally true. If false, we can ignore this message. If true, a response is required, because a lack of response has consequences. The Bible Bard is interested in what the Bible actually says, not in what critics say it says. These New Testament writings make people uncomfortable, because if Jesus is who he says he is, an alien sent here by God to give humanity an extraterrestrial message, then human...
2025-06-0311 minBible Bard - EnglishThe Bible and SlaveryCritics of the Bible contend that certain biblical passages seem to condone, regulate, or fail to explicitly condemn the practice of slavery. The idea critics promote is that if the God of the Bible is so good, why didn’t he 5,000 years ago condemn the human practice of slavery; or at least, once Jesus arrives, why didn’t he condemn it 2,500 years ago? The Bible Bard is interested in what the Bible actually says about issues. In this episode I list several Bible verses that detail the biblical content and the individual author’s attitudes toward slavery.
2025-06-0320 minBible Bard - EnglishLooking Back and Pushing ForwardThe Bible Bard podcast has reached another milestone. We have published 75 podcasts in English and Chichewa, and will be increasing the content of Spanish, Urdu, and Swahili from 52 to 75 podcasts. Checking our statistics, the podcast receives more than 1,000 listens a month! There are two major needs: 1. We need translators so we can put the English content into more languages. We need the prayer and financial support of likeminded people to pay the costs of the podcast and the translators.We are attempting to raise support for the Bible Bard podcast using the Patreon account. Click the lin...
2025-06-0308 minBible Bard - EnglishGod has no FavoritesThis episode of the Bible Bard podcast is Lesson Ninety-nine (99) God Has No Favorites. The Apostle Peter says something quite astonding: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.” This episode discusses what this means to Christianity historically.
2025-06-0312 min