Have you ever taught anyone some bad theology? I have. Sometimes I go back to look through the sermons I preached when I was a pastor fifteen years ago, and I cringe at some of the things I said back then. Sometimes I wonder if fifteen years from now I will cringe at some of the stuff I teach today…

But I never purposefully taught anything wrong. I think most Bible teachers try their hardest to accurately present the truth of Scripture to others.

But in Jonah 1:10-12, we see that in response to some questions from the sailors, Jonah teaches them some very bad theology about God. Furthermore, I am convinced that Jonah knew for a fact that what he was teaching them was wrong.

So that raises the question … “Why would Jonah teach such terrible theology?” This is what we will see in Jonah 1:10-12. We will see what Jonah taught that was so wrong, and we also begin to develop a theory about why Jonah taught such terrible theology, even though he knew it was wrong.

We will also see that we might be teaching the same sort of terrible theology today. Listen to the episode to find out!

The Text of Jonah 1:10-12

Then the men were exceedingly afraid, and said to him, “Why have you done this?” For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.

Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you that the sea may be calm for us?”—for the sea was growing more tempestuous.

And he said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will become calm for you. For I know that this great tempest is because of me.”

In this discussion of Jonah 1:10-12 we look at:

• The additional questions from the sailors
• The additional answers from Jonah
• Why Jonah’s answer in 1:12 is terrible theology
• Why we Christians often give the exact same answer to the world today

Resources:

• Redeeming God Discipleship Area
• Subscribe and Leave a Review on iTunes

Downloadable Podcast Resources

Those who are part of my online discipleship group may download the MP3 audio file for this podcast and view the podcast transcript below.

You must join a discipleship group or login to download the MP3 and view the transcript.

Do you like learning about the Bible online?

Do you like learning about Scripture and theology through my podcast? If so, then you will also love my online courses. They all have MP3 audio downloads, PDF transcripts, quizzes, and a comment section for questions and interaction with other students.

If you want to deepen your relationship with God and better understand Scripture, take one (or all) of these courses. They are great for personal study or for a small group Bible study.

You can see the list of available courses here, and if you join the Discipleship group, you can take all the courses at no additional cost. Go here to learn more and join now.