Bible Feed

The Letters of John

Dan and Laurence step into the New Testament for an introduction to the three letters of John.  After exploring the stark contrasts and Torah references in the first letter they then see how the second and third letters apply the theory from the first letter to two opposite situations. And finally, little children, keep yourselves from idols...uh?

Introduction to Deuteronomy - the new generation

Laurence and Paul finish our series on the 5 books of Moses, the Torah by looking at Deuteronomy.  It turns out that this section doesn't conclude with the people of Israel reaching their destination, then the main character dies (sorry for the spoiler...)! Instead they find that this book acts as a stage-setter, defining how leaders of this ancient people will be described for the next 600 years.  Remarkably, they also find Deuteronomy making a surprise appearance at the end of that history, just before Israel were exiled to Babylon. 

Demons and the devil and satan

In this 3rd episode in the series, Paul and Dan go off on a tangent to think about demons.  They start by looking at where they appear in the Old Testament and find them linked to the idols worshipped by the peoples around the ancient Israelites and presented as having no real existence or power.  When they come to the Gospels they explore why they suddenly appear so often there and why they are linked with certain types of illness.  They conclude with the overriding point that God is the only source of power and so Christians have no need to fear them and can safely ignore them while embracing the love of God expressed through his Son.

Getting to know the devil and satan - part 2

Paul and Dan continue their exploration of how these 'characters' appear in the Bible.  In part 1 they reached a preliminary conclusion that they are used as terms to personify our inherent tendency to want to go our own way rather than God's way.  In this episode they look at many more of the biblical passages that refer to the devil and satan and try to categorise them to get a comprehensive view of what they mean.

Why did Jesus have to die?

This episode was recorded just before Easter 2023 and Dan welcomes a guest, John Launchbury, to discuss the vital question: why did Jesus have to die?  They explore the meaning of the word atonement and consider the pros and cons of some, so-called atonement theories that theologians have proposed over history.  As they explore the key scriptural passages involved they find that the impact of the death of Jesus can be just as profound today as it was in the 1st century - and it's all about changing us rather than changing God!