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A place for conversations about the Bible and faith in the modern world. Where ordinary people can come together to help each other understand the Bible better.
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Audio Messages from Middletown Bible Church in Middletown, CT, USA. Middletown Bible Church is dedicated to the faithful teaching of God's Word, the Bible, and pointing to the sufficiency of the crucified and risen Saviour to provide salvation and stability in the midst of a sin-sick and troubled world. May you be moved and motivated to consider the Living God and your relationship to Him. John 3:16; 17:3 Information about the church can be found at http://www.middletownbiblechurch.org/
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This episode on the book of Judges, with Dan and Paul, kicks off by placing Judges in its historical timeline immediately following the book of Joshua. Then they examine the structure of Judges, highlighting its three main sections and the cyclical pattern of Israel’s faithfulness and failure. After exploring the darkest chapters towards the end of…
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Josh and Dan explore the Book of Joshua in this episode, as a sequel to our series on the 5 books of the Torah. They trace its placement in the biblical narrative as a transition from the Torah and describe its themes of conquest and faith. Highlighting key figures like Rahab and the Gibeonites, they discuss the moral and historical complexities an…
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In today's episode, Laurence and Paul try to make the book of Proverbs, in the Old Testament, easier to read. They explore the theme of wisdom contained within this unique and sometimes challenging book. By breaking down its seven distinct sections, from fatherly advice to the young, through to reflections at the end of life, they aim to make Prove…
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Paul and Dan talk with Dale Tuggy and Mark Cain to find out about all the work they do with the Unitarian Christian Alliance (UCA) including their upcoming first conference outside the US to be held in Windsor, London 25 July 2024. They also discuss how increasing numbers of people are coming to understand the Biblical God, rather than one of the m…
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Dan is joined for this episode by Rachel Hocking from Brisbane, Australia. Rachel has been instrumental in the creation of the latest Worship Book, a further collection of "Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs" crafted by members of the Christadelphian community. Together, they discuss the origins, development, and significance of the Worship Book pr…
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In this episode, instead of a high level overview, we delve deep into one specific passage, the "in the form of God" verse in Philippians 2, to explore the possible nuanced interpretations. Josh Dean and Dan Weatherall consider this complex and much debated passage. Focusing on what it means for Jesus to be "in the form of God", they navigate throu…
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In this episode Dan and Paul embark on an exploration of John's Gospel, unraveling its sense of majesty and mystery right from the opening verses. They discuss the unique structure and content of John's Gospel, comparing it to the Synoptic Gospels—Matthew, Mark, and Luke—highlighting its distinct opening, key themes, and the explicit purpose stated…
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Dan and Jon discuss the relevance and impact of Christianity in the modern world. They delve into how aspects of Christianity have influenced society, not only in superficial ways like our calendar, but in deeper things such as values, moral codes, and societal norms. The hosts reference various sources, including notable historians and authors lik…
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In our first episode of 2024 Paul and Dan talk about "intertextuality" - basically, how the meaning of a text is influenced by references to other texts. The Bible (not surprisingly) is full of links between its 66 books. But how far can we take this? Can we go too far and see patterns where there are none (like seeing the face of Jesus in a slice …
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Relaunching the podcast, Dan and Laurence celebrate by pondering a lesser known Christmas story. They encounter Simeon, Anna and a community of people in the temple at Jerusalem "waiting for the consolation of Israel". As the baby is held high by Simeon, they realise that the birth of Jesus is not only deeply rooted in a backstory, but is the clima…
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Paul and Dan continue their exploration of the Divine Council worldview by looking at claims made about verses in Deuteronomy 32, the introduction to the book of Job and Psalm 82. In summary, they conclude that while it is useful to understand the cultural background to the text of the Bible, it is also important to avoid being distracted by relati…
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Having explored how the Bible uses the terms 'devil', 'satan' and 'demons', Paul and Dan now turn to the whole subject of whether the Bible talks about fallen angels. Is the phrase 'sons of God' used to refer to angels? If so, does that include spiritual beings with independent power to oppose God and his people? Using the framework of Michael Heis…
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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?…
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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…
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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 s…
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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 t…
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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 pas…
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Josh and Paul continue our series of book introductions, taking on the next of the five books of the Torah - Numbers, which is actually not just about counting things, it's about a journey through the wilderness. As they work through the sections of the narrative, they find a pattern that has already been repeated several times in previous books an…
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Paul and Dan embark on a multi-part exploration of the terms devil and satan and how they are used through the Bible. They aim to lay some foundations here by thinking about how our worldview might affect how we read the Bible and the importance of taking notice of how Jesus interpreted his Bible. They do (eventually) start to explore some verses t…
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Jordan and Dan continue working through the 'books' within the Psalms. This time they look at books three, four and five and find that they can be seen to follow a spiritual journey. They find that some Psalms express doubts and uncertainties and deeply question what God is doing. But by remembering what God has done in the past the Psalmist is led…
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For the next of our Bible book introductions, Jordan Walton and Dan Weatherall tackle the Psalms. As there are 150 of them we thought they deserved two episodes! So here is part 1, with part 2 to follow in a couple of weeks. Dan and Jordan consider whether the Psalter is just a random collection of prayers and songs or whether there is some structu…
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For the next of our Bible book introductions, Paul and Laurence take a look at the smallest of Paul's letters, his letter to Philemon. After clearing up the centuries old debate about how to pronounce his name, they proceed to explore why a personal letter about fixing a very personal relationship should be included in the scriptures. They find tha…
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The Bible Feed core team of Paul, Dan, Josh and Laurence get together to reflect on some serious, and some less serious, themes from 2022 and look forward to our plans for 2023. We thank all our listeners for their support in 2022 and wish you all the best for 2023, may it see the full realisation of the kingdom of God in the earth.…
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In keeping with the season, Paul and Dan consider the concept of "the Son of God". They consider examples of that phrase throughout the Bible, but concentrate on what it means for Jesus to be the only son of the Father. How can Jesus uniquely be called the Son of God? Does calling him the Son of God make him Deity in any sense? What is Jesus claimi…
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We continue our introductions to the books of the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, with Paul and Laurence covering the book of Leviticus. This is maybe not the most appealing read, after all, what does how long you remain unclean if you touch a dead body, have to do with a Christian today? But as Paul and Laurence scratch the surface they …
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Dan introduces a new guest to the podcast, James Andrews, to consider the whole question of how we read the Old Testament in the light of Jesus. Do we even need to pay it any attention now that Jesus has come? They consider what it means for Jesus to fulfil the Old Testament and find that, when Jesus reads and applies the different parts of the Heb…
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Josh and Paul tackle the far-reaching concept of inspiration. What does it mean for something to be the inspired word of God? Is it possible to explain how that happens, and if we can't, what certainty can we have about divine authority behind the text of the Bible? As they consider these questions it becomes clear how important it is to treat the …
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Paul and Laurence pick up from where the previous episode left off with a look at the book of Exodus. They find it's a book that starts with a great story about how the Israelites escaped from Egypt. There's high action, drama, goodies and baddies... and then intricate detail about how to construct a large tent. Why is that included? How does that …
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We're hoping this new series turbocharges your Bible reading! We're doing little introductions to different books of the Bible to give you a head start on how they are structured and what the main themes are to look out for. And where better to start than Genesis?! Dan and Laurence discuss the first book in the Bible and think about where it all be…
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We've invited Becky Lewis back for this discussion. In past centuries, going to church was a deeply embedded part of how western society worked. But today, with so much emphasis on personal faith and opportunity to do community activities outside church, is there any point in being part of a religious group and meeting with people? Becky talks abou…
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We're back! After a break for a couple of months we're back with a new season of podcasts on the Bible and faith in the modern world. To kick off a new series on Biblical themes, Dan and Paul look at 8 different ideas about the Kingdom of God. They find that both Jesus' statements about it and the expectations of his audience were deeply rooted in …
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Dan welcomes a new guest and author, Martha Sales, to talk about her zany novel, "The Enormous Tiny Experiment". In the story, aimed at 8 to 12 year olds, a somewhat idealistic professor creates a perfect mini world free from suffering - or so he thought. What could possibly go wrong when 21 tiny people are placed together in a wonderful environmen…
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Laurence and Stephen conclude this 3 part series looking into aspects of early church history. This time they explore how people became members of a church and the significance of sharing the bread and cup of wine to remember Jesus. As in previous episodes, there are some similarities with churches today, but also some differences that are worth re…
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Paul and Dan investigate the many and varied Biblical images for the judgement. They discuss whether we should think that any of those word-pictures and metaphors describe what will actually happen - or are they designed to teach us something else? If you've ever experienced that moment of fear at the thought of trying to explain what you've done, …
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Paul chats to Mark Vincent, the author of a small book with big ambitions, entitled Life's Biggest Questions. They talk about how the book came about and step through some thoughts on those major questions - Where did we come from? Why are we here? Where are we headed? The book is a highly accessible read (at only 140 pages), so enjoy the conversat…
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Laurence and Stephen continue this mini-series on themes from early church history. This time they look at Jesus' prediction that Christians might be persecuted for believing in him and how that unfolded over the first few centuries of the church. Stephen explains what led to two periods of persection - under Emperor Nero and the Great Persecution …
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Dan and Phil finish their conversation about the work of textual critics and what that can tell us about the New Testament that we read today. They dive into some examples of accidental copying mistakes as well as more deliberate changes that a scribe might make when copying texts. This is just a brief overview of a vast field of study and so Phil …
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In this two-part episode Dan talks to Phil Evans about what the discipline of Textual Criticism can tell us about the New Testament that we read today. Is it reliable? How strong is the evidence behind it? Can we ever know how close it is to the original? In this first part, Dan and Phil compare the manuscript evidence for the New Testament with th…
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Laurence introduces Stephen Blake for a new 3 part series on aspects of church history. For this episode they look at the Christian practice of baptism from the early church, through the Middle Ages and beyond. How and why does it change over time, and does it matter? Listen in and tell us what you think!…
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Ever wondered what it was like to be part of one of the earliest Christian communities in the 1st century? Follow along with Laurence and Paul's thought experiment as they attempt to place a 21st century consciousness into the body of a 1st century Christian! They explore the where, when, what and how of a Christian gathering around 65AD and think …
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Dan and Paul discuss the biggest of big questions! While some song lyrics spring to mind in the discussion, they find something more authoritative in the Bible, specifically in the little book of Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament. At first reading the author of this book seems to be concluding that life is meaningless, but by exploring the key Hebr…
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For our first episode in 2022, Paul and Dan close out our series on Revelation. They discuss the final sequence of seven bowls and tie them in to the previous groups of seven seals and trumpets. They then tackle the question of how God will intervene in human history - will it really be as warlike as the language sounds in Revelation? Finally they …
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Laurence and Dan focus in on just one phrase: Jesus' statement that "I and the Father are one" in John 10v30. They explore the context and the debate that Jesus was having with the people of his day. From this it becomes clear that the phrase shouldn't be a theological battleground but is part of an intensely profound and practical theme for the li…
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This episode continues our exploration of the book of Revelation. Paul and Dan consider the middle section - chapters 12-14 - the section with the weird and wonderful beasts! By focusing on the characteristics of 3 symbolic creatures; the dragon, the beast of the sea and the beast of the earth, they uncover a subversive message for Christians in th…
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Laurence welcomes a new guest, Jeremy Pearce, for this episode to talk about practical ways of getting to know Jesus. Using the apostle Paul's experience as a template they discuss how to see Jesus as a real person even though we only have written accounts in the Gospels to work with. But, just as we change when we know and love someone really well…
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Paul and Dan get back to looking at the book of Revelation. This is the fourth in the series now and they dive into the 7 seals and the 7 trumpets to unpick the pattern and try to imagine what messages the early Christians would have taken from it. They find that the way the sequences of images are communicated continue to confound the expectations…
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We're always encouraging people to read their Bibles and we often suggest starting with the Gospels. Josh and Paul discuss what you're likely to come across if you're a new reader of the Bible, coming to the Gospels for the first time. What's the historical basis behind it all? How do you deal with all the miracles? They consider ways to think abou…
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Paul and Dan spend some time in this episode talking about hell. No doubt all sorts of terrifying images come to mind with that word! By building it up gradually from the Biblical words Sheol, Hades and Gehenna they arrive at what seems to be a coherent picture. But it's also a hopeful picture which makes sense in the light of a moral God who has s…
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This episode is something of a concept study - what or where is heaven? From the musings of a small boy on a football pitch, through Genesis to Revelation with a couple of stops in between, Laurence and Paul explore what "heaven" meant to the Biblical writers. The ideas that emerge seem much less about a physical location and much more about the pr…
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There's no denying that most of us are affected by stress and anxiety at some point. In this episode Dan chats with Professor Anna Whittaker who studies the interaction between psychological factors, stress, and physical health in her research. They talk about the times Jesus touched on anxiety in his teaching and how he invites everyone to come to…
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