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[#35] Genesis 2:25 – Naked and Unafraid

By Jeremy Myers
3 Comments

[#35] Genesis 2:25 – Naked and Unafraid
http://media.blubrry.com/one_verse/feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/261038627-redeeminggod-35-genesis-225-naked-and-unafraid.mp3

Today’s One Verse Podcast is rated PG-13. Well, maybe PG. But either way, when you hear what I am talking about in this episode, you might be encouraged to gather your children around anyway and have them listen to this episode as well.

If you have been struggling about how to have “that talk” with your son or daughter, this episode might just provide the encouragement to stop being ashamed and afraid, but instead to revel and rejoice in one of God’s greatest gifts to humankind.

Let’s stop hiding in the shadows and living in fear, and instead go boldly forth, naked and unafraid.

Genesis 2:25Well, maybe not literally. But you’ll see what I mean.

The Text of Genesis 2:25

And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

In this discussion of Genesis 2:25 we look at:

  • Six ways I could have explained Genesis 2:25
  • What is really going on in Genesis 2:25
  • How the Gilgamesh Epic shows us that sex is in view.
  • Why we Christians should not be afraid or ashamed of sex.

Resources:

  • Theology.fm – Helping you and your Theology Look Like Jesus
  • Gilgamesh Epic
  • Sex, Food, and Animals
  • 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.

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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.

God is Redeeming God, Redeeming Scripture Bible & Theology Topics: fear, Genesis 2:25, One Verse Podcast, relationships, sex, shame

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[#31] Genesis 2:18 – It is Not Good to Be Alone

By Jeremy Myers
11 Comments

[#31] Genesis 2:18 – It is Not Good to Be Alone
http://media.blubrry.com/one_verse/feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/256374056-redeeminggod-31-genesis-218-it-is-not-good-to-be-alone.mp3

So far in Genesis 2, we have seen that God has set up his temple. The temple was finished in Genesis 2:17, which means that beginning with Genesis 2:18, the biblical story really begins.

In Genesis 2:18, we see something foundational for how God wants us to live life, and something shocking about God’s role in that life.

The Text of Genesis 2:18

Genesis 2:18. And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.”

In this discussion of Genesis 2:18 we look at:

  • The first thing in God’s creation that is not good
  • The first foundational truth about the human experience
  • What God did about Adam being alone
  • Seven truths from Genesis 2:18 about loneliness

Genesis 2:18 - not good to be alone

Resources:

  • Buy my Book on the Atonement
  • Genesis 2:4-6 – The Second Creation Account
  • My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?
  • Was Moses Divorced?
  • fm Interview with Kathy Escobar
  • 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.

Membership-become-a-member

Thanks for visiting this page ... but this page is for Discipleship Group members.

If you are already part of a Faith, Hope, or Love Discipleship Group,
Login here.

If you are part of the free "Grace" Discipleship group, you will need to
Upgrade your Membership to one of the paid groups.

If you are not part of any group, you may learn about the various groups and their benefits here:
Join Us Today.

Membership-become-a-member


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.

God is Redeeming God, Redeeming Scripture Bible & Theology Topics: alone, creation, Genesis 2:18, life, loneliness, love, One Verse Podcast, relationships

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Salvation is Like a Seven-Foot Invisible Rabbit

By Jeremy Myers
18 Comments

Salvation is Like a Seven-Foot Invisible Rabbit

This is a guest post by Peter Rouzaud. Peter recently started reading this blog, and then later discovered that he and I live in the same town! So we met for coffee and he shared with me some of his articles he has written. Below is one of these articles.Peter has also written a book called Finding Perfect Peace which can be found on Amazon.

Have you ever seen the movie “Harvey“?

It’s a great old movie, staring Jimmy Stewart. Stewart plays Elwood P. Dowd, an eccentric whose good friend is a seven-foot rabbit that talks. The only problem is that Dowd is the only one that can see or hear his friend Harvey. Understandably, this creates lots of problems for Dowd.

Harvey DowdNow just imagine if this were possible: Imagine that you had a friend that no one could see, no one else could hear, yet whom you could see and hear perfectly. How would this make you feel? Among other feelings, I think it would make you feel special. But you would certainly have trouble communicating to others who and what your friend was.

This, I think, is a great example of ‘faith in Christ.’ No matter what I say about Him. No matter how passionate I am in my explanations, it is impossible for me to adequately describe who Jesus is to me. I may say to you, “Jesus told me something today’. Or, “Jesus is helping me in this way today.” Or, “Jesus did something very great in my life today.”

If you grew up in the church, you might understand what I mean. On the other hand, you might look at me as if I said that Harvey the seven-foot rabbit did and said all these things.

relationship with GodEach of us have experiences with Jesus that make sense to us, but which are difficult, if not impossible, to explain to other people. But this does not mean our experience with Jesus is a figment of our imagination.

Spiritual Experiences and the Christian

Before I go on, let me say that I am not advocating or promoting purely unsubstantiated, subjective experiences. Every religion has it’s esoteric experiences. Voodoo has its emotional trances. Mormonism has its ‘burning in the bosom.’ Pentecostalism has its tongues and prophetic utterances. All these use such experiences to claim legitimacy and to validate the “faithful.” But this is not what I am talking about.

Neither am I saying that ‘all personal experiences are somehow OK and right for the individual and we should not judge others experiences; because they are just as legitimate as our own.’

No, what I am saying is that God can give you an experience that is unique to you, and He can give me an experience that is unique to me. And just as I have to trust my experience, you have to trust your own! And just as neither one of us can fully understand or share the experience of the other, so also, neither one of us can directly challenge or invalidate the experience of the other.

A Validation of Your Experience with God

Here are some thoughts which validate your unique experience with God:

  • It’s is impossible for God to lie (Num 23:19)
  • God said that if you seek Him with your ‘whole’ heart you would find Him (Prov. 2:1-10)
  • Jesus said that God wants us to worship Him is Spirit and in truth (John 4:24)
  • The apostle John said that the Spirit of God would lead us into all truth (1 John 2:27 )
  • Jesus said that , ‘all that came to Him, he would not cast us out (John 6:37)
  • Jesus said that he would actually live inside us by his Spirit (John 14:16-17)

Essentially, all religion is subjective; none of it can be scientifically proven to be genuine.

relationship with GodThis is not to say that all religion is valid; only that God is the one that judges its validity. But aside from its subjective nature, pure religion must have its source from God. And if the source is from God, I don’t have any control over your experience. I may have an opinion about it, but ultimately, your experience is between you and God.

Experience is a part of Relationship

God wants a relationship with his children (us humans). But just as with any relationship, there are conditions for how that relationship begins and continues.

But a problem arises among Christians when I begin to think that the conditions and experiences of my relationship with God are normative for all other children of God. We get into trouble if I think that my relationship with God is what every other relationship with God should look like.

But this expectation does not match any other relationship in life. While there are similarities in all marriages, no marriage relationship began or continued to develop like any other marriage relationship. Every marriage is unique. In the same way, While there may be some similarities in all parent-child relationships, no parent-child relationship progressed or grew like any other parent-child relationship.

So if my marriage looks nothing like your marriage, do I have any right to say that you are not, in fact, married? No!

But this is what we sometimes to as Christians.

I look at how I became a child of God and if your story of how you became a child of God does not match up with mine, I might be tempted to think that you are not, in fact, a child of God at all! Or if I have certain experiences in my relationship with Jesus, but you don’t share those experiences at all, I might be tempted to think you don’t have a relationship with Jesus. In both cases, you might think the same thing about me. And if we get to arguing about this, it’s going to cause divisions and problems.

Thankfully, God has it all figured out

One thing we can be sure of, and this is what we must hold to, is that God knows every man intimately, and He promised to reveal Himself to any man who wants to know Him.

So it matters little what I think of your experience with God. Nor does it matter what you think of my experience. What matters is what God sees deep down in our heart.

following JesusThe tricky part, however, is what we see from Elwood P. Dowd. Though his belief in Harvey made him different, I am certain that it is not God’s intent just to make us different from the world. His intent is more complicated than that.

I have found that my relationship with God does make me different, but there is the huge distinction. Harvey made Dowd different according to Dowd’s own propensities, but Jesus makes each of us different according to God’s propensities and His character. This is never easy, and there is a strong part of me that continually fights this change. But change I do, not just outwardly, but deep inside.

And, by the way, this is how I know that my relationship with my “invisible friend” is genuine: my propensities change into something I never wanted or imagined.

To try to convince anyone of this subjective experience is futile, and a waste of time. The fact is, God does a better job, we only need to ask Him to reveal Himself to us, and if our heart is honest, He will.

Are you uncomfortable with comparing your relationship with Jesus to Dowd’s relationship with an invisible, talking rabbit? Explain why in the comment section below.

Or maybe it gives you comfort to know that your relationship with Jesus has been tailor-made to fit you and your personality, and to bring you into a deeper relationship with God, so that what you experience with God will not ever be duplicated or matched by any other person you encounter? Maybe this gives you the freedom to stop trying to “measure up” to the experiences of others.

God is Redeeming Life Bible & Theology Topics: Discipleship, experiencing God, following Jesus, guest post, relationships

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Do you have Paper theology or People theology?

By Jeremy Myers
11 Comments

Do you have Paper theology or People theology?

Do you have a paper theology or a people theology?

I used to have a paper theology.

In many ways, I suppose I still do.

study theology

A paper theology is when we have the “right” answers to tough theological questions and issues, but we don’t really know any people that are affected by our “right” answer.

In other words, paper theology is when we approach Scripture and theology from an “ivory tower” perspective. We study for the sake of studying and finding answers, but none of our answers have any real connection to life.

Paper theology is a theology that comes from studying books.

There is nothing exactly wrong with a paper theology. It is just that since paper theology never takes people into consideration, paper theology is often wrong when applied to real life. Paper theology may be right on paper, but wrong in life.

That’s because life requires people theology.

I am working on my people theology

If paper theology comes from studying books, people theology comes from being with people.

It requires coming down out of the ivory tower, leaving the quiet study, closing the dusty books, and entering into the real lives of real people who have real problems. When you do this, you quickly discover that the neat and tidy answers from your paper theology rarely applies or helps anyone in real life.

More often than not, when you get involved in the lives of people, you will find that your paper theology begins to get a bit muddled. Lines start getting erased. Clear-cut answers start to get smudged a bit.

Being with people changes your paper theology.

If you try to hold on to your paper theology when hanging around with people, it will not be long before people stop hanging around you.

The theology that looks good on paper rarely looks good when applied to people.

Jesus had People Theology

One of the biggest battles Jesus faced during His earthly minister was with the religious people of His day. While those who were labeled as “sinners” by the religious people loved to hang out with Jesus, those who were religious often found themselves at odds with Jesus.

Why?

Because the people theology of Jesus clashed with the paper theology of the religious.

Almost every single encounter Jesus had with the religious people was because they had theologically “correct” answers to pressing cultural and religious issues, but which Jesus soundly rejected in favor of loving and helping people.

The religious people had laws (easily defended from Scripture) about not working on the Sabbath. Jesus let his disciples break these laws because they were hungry (Luke 6:1-5).

The religious people had laws (easily defended from Scripture) about who could and could not be helped on the Sabbath. It was even a nice three-point answer! But Jesus ignored their neat and tidy theological answer so He could help a person get his hand back (Luke 6:6-11).

The religious people had laws (easily defended from Scripture) about stoning those caught in adultery. But when they brought an adulterous woman to Jesus, He forgave her and let her go.

We could give example after example after example.

But here’s the point: Jesus knew that the point of theology was to help us love people better.

If our theology causes us to bind heavy burdens on people’s backs, while creating rules, restrictions, and regulations for how to live life with God and others, and we stifle people’s joy, censor their love, and chide them for their grace, it is no wonder that people reject us and our theology, and maybe the God we claim to follow as well.

people theology

But let us follow the example of Jesus in developing our theology surrounded by people.

If our theology is really “true” it will lead us to look like Jesus and love like Jesus. True theology will be a theology built not on a love for paper, but on a love for people.

What does this mean for our theology?

It means that while we can develop and build our theology by reading and studying, nothing should be really set in stone until we put this theology into practice in the lives of people around us.

Do you believe God is angry about sin? Take a look at what this sort of idea does psychologically, emotionally, and spiritually to those in your life who know they are sinners. Does it lead them toward God, or away from Him? Does it lead toward honesty and openness about our failures, or does it cause us to hide and lie about our mistakes?

Do you believe that LGBTQ people are sex-crazed perverts being used by the devil to lead our country to hell? Well, first, good luck trying to prove this from Scripture, but second, how about you go out and become friends with someone who is gay? Of course, you better not tell them your theology, or you will never become friends. But if you truly become friends, you might discover that your “theology” about LGBTQ people changes. Here are some accounts of people who had this very thing happen to them:

  • A pastor who changed his thinking about homosexuality
  • 3 Mistakes about the Homosexual conversations and how we can correct these

Do you believe that Muslims are all violent extremists who want to chop your head off? Again, good luck trying to prove this from Scripture, but before you go spouting off about this idea to others, maybe you should go out and become good friends with some Muslims. Not to convert them or “win them to Christ,” but just to be friends with them. I think that if you do, your paper theology about Muslims might change.

We could on and on about various other theological and practical issues, but the end of the matter is this: If you get to know people as part of developing your theology, these people will change your theology more than your theology will change people. And that’s a good thing.

God is Redeeming Life, Redeeming Theology Bible & Theology Topics: life, love others, people, relationships, theology

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My wife couldn’t stop laughing as she read this…

By Jeremy Myers
8 Comments

My wife couldn’t stop laughing as she read this…

When I showed this image to my wife, she laughed.

She laughed a little too much… It was hard for her to stop laughing…

Hmmm…

marriage operating system

Consider sharing it with others below:

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: Discipleship, humor, husbands, laugh, marriage, relationships

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