Redeeming God

Liberating you from bad ideas about God

Learn the MOST ESSENTIAL truths for following Jesus.

Get FREE articles and audio teachings in my discipleship emails!


  • Join Us!
  • Scripture
  • Theology
  • My Books
  • About
  • Discipleship
  • Courses
    • What is Hell?
    • Skeleton Church
    • The Gospel According to Scripture
    • The Gospel Dictionary
    • The Re-Justification of God
    • What is Prayer?
    • Adventures in Fishing for Men
    • What are the Spiritual Gifts?
    • How to Study the Bible
    • Courses FAQ
  • Forum
    • Introduce Yourself
    • Old Testament
    • New Testament
    • Theology Questions
    • Life & Ministry

[#11] Genesis 1:14-19 (Part 1) – Three Purposes for the Sun, Moon, and Stars

By Jeremy Myers
Leave a Comment

[#11] Genesis 1:14-19 (Part 1) – Three Purposes for the Sun, Moon, and Stars
https://media.blubrry.com/one_verse/traffic.libsyn.com/redeeminggod/11_Genesis_1_14-19-p1.mp3

One Verse PodcastGenesis 1:14-19 contains a description of the fourth day of creation. It is also the longest description of a creation day so far, taking up six verses in Genesis 1. The only other day that receives more attention is the sixth day, in which God creates mankind.

I tried to divide up these six verses of Genesis 1:14-19 into manageable sections so that I could record various podcasts on them, but I completely failed. The end result is that I am going to take three episodes to look at these six verses, and each episode will have a slightly different focus or emphasis.

In today’s One Verse Podcast, you will see why we cannot read Genesis 1:14-19 as a scientific explanation of how the sun, moon, and stars came to be, and you will also learn from the text what three purposes these celestial lights serve in God’s creation.

The Text of Genesis 1:14-19

Genesis 1:14-19. Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light to the earth”; and it was so.

Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.

So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

Genesis 1:14-19 sun moon stars

In this discussion of Genesis 1:14-19 we look at:

  • The fourth day of creation and how it fits within the structure of Genesis 1
  • Why the sun, moon, and stars might not have been created on the fourth day
  • Why Genesis 1:14-19 cannot be read scientifically
  • The three purposes or tasks God assigned to the sun, moon, and stars

Resources:

  • Theology.fm – Helping you and your Theology Look Like Jesus
  • Keil & Delitzsch, Genesis – Amazon or CBD
  • Hamilton, Genesis 1–17 – Amazon or CBD
  • Miller and Soden, In the Beginning – Amazon or CBD
  • Morris, The Genesis Record – Amazon or CBD
  • Rashi, Bereishis – Amazon
  • Sailhamer, EBC: Genesis – Amazon or CBD
  • Sailhamer, Genesis Unbound – Amazon
  • Walton, Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds – Amazon or CBD
  • Walton, Lost World of Genesis One, Amazon or CBD
  • Wenham, Genesis – Amazon or CBD
  • 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: Bible Study Podcast, creation, evolution, Genesis 1:14-19, podcast, signs

Advertisement

Why Nobody Believes the Bible (Not Even You)

By Jeremy Myers
61 Comments

Why Nobody Believes the Bible (Not Even You)

I write some controversial stuff on this blog from time to time. It often seems that whenever I do, I get a comment on the blog or over on Facebook that I am wrong because I have chosen to reject what the Bible clearly teaches in favor of my own personal human opinion. It is not always stated with these words, but that is the general idea.

I was listening to a podcast the other day where the guest on the podcast said this very thing. He wasn’t talking about me, of course, but he said that the big problem in the church today is that people read the Bible, they don’t like what they read, and so they reject what the Bible clearly teaches because they prefer their own theology over the theology of the Bible.

study the BibleI was glad that the podcast host pushed back a little bit by asking if the pastor saw any difference between “what the Bible says” and “our understanding of what the Bible says.” The pastor said he did see a difference, but then went on to show by the rest of his comments that he didn’t. He basically said that how he understood the Bible was what the Bible clearly teaches because he lets the Bible and the Bible alone inform his theology, and anybody who disagreed with him was just following their own human understanding of the text imposing their own theology on the text of the Bible.

I smiled a bit, because I used to be the exact same way. This probably could have been one of the 5 Theology Mistakes I made as a pastor.

In the last decade or so, I have come to see things quite differently. I now understand that it is impossible to “just believe the Bible.”

I Just Believe the Bible?

When someone says to me, “I just believe the Bible,” I sometimes ask them, “Which Bible?”

I sometimes get a blank stare in response to this question, for in the minds of the most people, there is only one Bible. “You know, THE Bible,” they say to me.

Most people, however, understand me as asking which Bible translation they are using, and so they will launch off into an explanation of why they read the KJV (because it has the greatest tradition), or the NASB (because it is the most accurate), or the ESV (because some big name scholars endorse it), or the NIV (because it’s the most understandable), or whatever.

I then point out that a Bible translation is not really “THE Bible,” but is simply the shortest Bible commentary that exists. A Bible translation is nothing more than a good representation of what a certain person (or committee of persons) understands the Bible to be saying. A Bible translation is not the Bible; a Bible translation is a commentary on the Bible.

bible Translations

This is seen by comparing various translations of the Bible. Pick almost any chapter from the Bible and compare it between five or six translations and you will see how translation decisions give different meanings of the text due to the words that were used.

Since I am doing a study on Genesis 1 in my podcast, I have noticed this over and over as I compare translations of various verses in Genesis 1. Some translations lean heavily toward young-earth creationism while others lean more toward an openness about when and how quickly the universe came into existence.

Another example is the NIV and the ESV translations of the Bible, which were put together by a committee of scholars who are mostly Calvinists. As a result, these translations lean heavily toward Calvinistic interpretations and understandings of the text. These translations are short Calvinistic commentaries on the Bible.

I Read and Study the Greek and Hebrew Bible?

Occasionally I will talk to someone who knows that Bible translations are biased, and so after discussing English translations for a bit, they say, “Well, that’s why I always go back and check the Greek text.”

My response is this, “Wonderful! … Which Greek text?”

Then we have the exact same conversation we had about the English translations, but this time about Greek texts. There are thousands upon thousands of ancient Greek texts, and when compared with one another, they contain thousands of variant readings. Scholars have tried to sort through these texts to come up with what is likely to be the original Greek text, but (no surprise here), there is no universal consensus.

Greek BibleIn fact, there is not even a consensus on how to decide which variant readings are the best. There are two main approaches to the Greek texts, which can be found in the NA/UBS Text and the Majority Text. While the vast majority of scholars today prefer the approach found in the NA/UBS Text, a large number of scholars prefer the approach of the Majority Text. I won’t get into the differences here, because it would bore you to tears. In case you are curious, however, I prefer the Majority Text myself.

The point is that even when people read and study the Greek Bible, we cannot say that there is such a thing as THE Greek Bible. Just as there are different English Bibles, so also, there are different Greek Bibles.

I Perform Greek and Hebrew Word Studies?

Let us assume, of course, just for a moment, that everybody could agree 100% on what the original text meant. Or let us assume just for a moment that we somehow, miraculously, discovered the original manuscripts of the New Testament (called the autographs) as written by Matthew, Luke, Paul, Peter, etc.

We still could not say that we “just believe the Bible,” because even though we would now know for sure what words were used, there would never be consensus on what those words mean. Sure, we have Greek dictionaries, but — surprise, surprise — the various Greek dictionaries do not all agree on what the particular words mean in their various contexts. Sure, there is a lot of agreement, but on key Biblical words like justification, faith, heaven, eternal life, hell, Son of Man, Christ, and numerous other such terms, there is no universal consensus on how these words are to be understood in the Greek text.

After all, we must remember that just as Bible translators let their own theology guide how they translate the Greek text, so also, the people who write Bible Dictionaries let their own theology guide how they define various Greek words. So if you use a Greek Bible Dictionary written by a Calvinist and compare it to a Greek Bible Dictionary written by a Catholic, you will get some very different definitions of what is meant by the word “justification.”

I study the Historical and Cultural Context?

One important tool that many good scholars use to help them understand how the words were used and understood by the original author and to the original audience is historical-cultural background studies. I use these a lot myself, and find them to be one of the most enjoyable and fruitful areas of biblical research.

However, as with everything else, there is a lot of wiggle room when it comes to how much historical and cultural background studies help us understand the text.

Bible study tools

Take my current studies on Genesis 1 as an example. I have read about 30-40 books on this chapter so far. About 10-15 of them have said that the original author knew nothing about the Babylonian, Canaanite, and Egyptian creation myths, and so it is unwise to draw parallels between Genesis 1 and what is recorded in those other religious creation accounts.

The rest of the scholars say that it is almost absolutely certain that the original author and audience knew of these accounts and was writing some sort of theological polemic against them.

Most ironically of all, the first group of scholars (who deny any connection) often say that “the issue has been decisively settled in our day and no reputable scholar believes in any such connection any longer.” I scratch my head at this, because I have just read a couple dozen modern, reputable Bible scholars who do, in fact, believe in the connection between Genesis 1 and the Babylonian, Canaanite, and Egyptian creation myths.

So there is no consensus.

Or take the current debate about justification. In case you were not aware, there is a big debate among New Testament scholars today about what Paul meant by justification. In some of these books and articles on this debate, it is not uncommon to see a scholar say, “Well, in Paul’s day, the Jews believed … ” and then go on to state what Jews believed. I have undoubtedly said something similar in many of my own writings and teachings.

And yet saying “In Paul’s day, the Jews believed …” is like saying, “In our day, Christians believe … ” Put anything you want after that ellipses, there is no universal consensus about it. Do all Christians believe the same thing about what happens after death? Nope. About how to receive eternal life? Nope. About the deity of Jesus? Nope. About the nature of the church? Nope.

So again, even if we were doing a “Historical-cultural background” study on our very own day and our very own culture, it is impossible to give a blanket statement and say, “Well, in the 21st century, Christians believe that …” Whatever you put there, some Christians will believe it, and some won’t.

So historical-cultural background studies are helpful, but even they will not give you absolute certainty about the meaning of any text.

The straightforward reading the Bible is a myth.

I could go on and one with numerous other issues that affect “the plain and simple understanding of the Bible” to show you that there is no such thing. We could talk about how our own culture and history and personal experience colors our reading and understanding of Scripture. We could talk about worldviews and thought patterns and logical reasoning. We could talk about the nature of truth.

study the BibleAnd on and on and on …

The point is this: The straightforward reading the Bible is a myth.

Don’t believe anyone who says, “I just believe the Bible.” They don’t.

Sure, they might believe they “just believe the Bible,” but this mindset is the greatest contributing factor to their failure to see all the areas where they are wrong about what the Bible says. The person who says they just believe the Bible may be the most dangerous person to listen to regarding what the Bible teaches because they are blind to everything that has influenced their understanding of the Bible.

It is absolutely NOT true when someone claims, “The Bible says it; I believe it; that settles it.”

Again, you sometimes hear people say, “If the plain sense of the Bible makes sense, seek no other sense.” But again, there is no such thing as the “plain sense” of the Bible, for what may seem to me to be the “plain sense” completely contradicts what someone else thinks is the “plain sense.”

I still remember when I was in Seminary and I was attending a class on the book of Romans, and after class as all of us students were filing out the door, one of the students said to me, “The professor is wrong. I’ve read Romans before, and that is not what it says.”

Ha!

But that’s the way many of us approach Scripture and how other people understand it (when it disagrees with our understanding). When presented with an explanation of the text that challenges our own explanation, our immediate defensive position is to say, “Well, that’s wrong because they are importing their own human interpretation into the text rather than letting the text speak for itself the way I do.”

Don’t fall into that trap.

Disagree with the other person if you want to, but recognize that they are trying to understand and explain the text just as much as you are, and that just as you want them to listen to how you arrived at your conclusions regarding the text (and don’t say, “I just read the Bible,” because you didn’t), so also, that other person likely engaged in deep study of the biblical text to arrive at their understanding and it would benefit you to hear how they came to their understanding.

In this way, both of you can learn from each other and challenge each other to understand the text at a deeper level.

Ultimately, finally, no matter what “conclusions” you come to about the meaning of a text, never let them be your “conclusions.” Hold all your conclusions tentatively. Hold them humbly. Recognize that you always have more to learn, that you have never “arrived,” and that God may just want to reveal an incorrect belief to you by bringing this other person into your life with whom you (currently) disagree.

God is Redeeming Scripture Bible & Theology Topics: Bible Study, Bible translations, exegesis, Greek, Hebrew, Majority Text, NIV, Theology of the Bible

Advertisement

[#10] Genesis 1:11-13 – Why Blood Won’t Help Your Crops Grow

By Jeremy Myers
2 Comments

[#10] Genesis 1:11-13 – Why Blood Won’t Help Your Crops Grow
https://media.blubrry.com/one_verse/traffic.libsyn.com/redeeminggod/10_Genesis_1_11-13.mp3

One Verse PodcastWhen crops fail, famine strikes, or drought occurs, what are your thoughts about God’s involvement in such things?

If you lived back in biblical times, you might think that the gods were angry at you, and that to appease their wrath, you needed to offer a blood sacrifice.

People don’t do this today, but many of us still think that when bad things happen, it is because God has neglected us, or worse yet, is out to punish us for something. So we pray, and tithe, and cry out to God for forgiveness and mercy. Strangely, this response is not that much different from the ancient pagan religious practice of offering blood sacrifices.

In both cases, we think God is mad at us and needs some sort of sacrifice or offering to love us and forgive us and accept us once again.

In this One Verse Podcast study, we look at Genesis 1:11-13 and see that God doesn’t want blood and He doesn’t want tears. All He wants is for us to know how much He loves us.

Stick around to see how Moses teaches this by writing about plants, trees, seeds, and fruit.

The Text of Genesis 1:11-13

Baal cycle and Genesis 1 11-13Genesis 1:11-13. Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. So the evening and the morning were the third day.

In this discussion of Genesis 1:11-13 we look at:

  • Why Moses wrote so repetitively about plants and trees reproducing after their kind.
  • What the ancient Canaanites believed about how plants and trees grew.
  • How God’s creation of plants and trees shows us that He is only looking out for our good.

Resources:

  • Theology.fm – Helping you and your theology look like Jesus
  • Baal Cycle on Wikipedia
  • Another version of the creation of the world by Marduk
  • Collins, Genesis 1-4 – Amazon or  CBD
  • Fretheim, NIB: Genesis – Amazon or CBD
  • Hasel Article on Genesis 1
  • Johnston Article on Genesis 1
  • Kidner, Genesis, Amazon or CBD
  • Ross, Creation & Blessing – Amazon or CBD
  • Walton, Lost World of Genesis One, Amazon or CBD
  • 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: Baal, Bible Study Podcast, creation, Genesis 1:11-13, podcast

Advertisement

The Question is not, “Is the Bible True?” but rather, “How is the Bible True?”

By Jeremy Myers
26 Comments

The Question is not, “Is the Bible True?” but rather, “How is the Bible True?”

Thinking about the nature of truth helps us understand how the Bible is (and is not) true.

And don’t get nervous … I believe all the Bible is true … but you need to read on to discover what I mean by this.

Beginning with Truth

There are different types of truth.

There is logical truth, scientific truth, historical truth, relational truth, poetic truth, and yes, even universal truth. There is a lot of overlap between some of these types of truth, but there are also some areas that might be true in one category, but not true in another.

Various Types of Truth Claims

what is truth

For example, the statement “2+2=4” is mathematically true, while the statement “I love my wife” is relationally true. But I cannot use mathematics to defend the truth that I love my wife, so the statement “I love my wife” is not mathematically true.

Then there are statements which are true for some and not true for others. The statement, “Halloween is a day on which children get candy,” is true for children who go Trick-or-Treating on Halloween, but is not true for those who don’t.

Many historical truth claims are true when they are made, but are not true later. For example, “King George is the King of England” was true when he was king, but is no longer true today.

Then there are experiential truths and truths from a certain perspective. Consider these two statements: “The sun rises in the east. The sun rises in the west.” Which statement is true? Everybody would agree that first statement is true. Yet from a scientific perspective, the sun does not rise in the east. This is an illusion based on our experience of seeing the sun rise up out of the Eastern horizon. Scientifically, however, the sun is stationary and the earth rotates around the sun.

Of course, even that is not a scientifically true statement, since in reality, the sun is not even close to stationary. The sun it is moving through the Milky Way galaxy at a speed of 450,000 mph. And when you consider that the Milky Way galaxy is moving toward the Andromeda galaxy at a speed of about 150,000 mph, and the earth is moving around the sun at a speed of about 70,000 mph, what this means is that when you were a child and your mother told you to “Sit still” you were still moving at a rate of about 670,000 mph.

So as you sit there reading this text, are you sitting still or are you moving?

You might say, “Well, I’m sitting still relative to my chair, but not sitting still relative to the universe.” Fine. Except that even relative to your chair, you are not sitting still. For the word “still” means “absent of all movement.” Yet your blood is moving, your eyes are blinking, your cells are reproducing, and your molecules are vibrating around like crazy. You are not remotely “still.” So you see? The truth claim that you are sitting still relative to your chair requires even further clarification to be truly true.

This dilemma about truth becomes even more convoluted when we begin to discuss history, poetry, and literature.

The statement, “I ate porridge for breakfast this morning,” is a true statement (Relative, of course, to how I am using the words “porridge” and “morning.”) But if I say, “The porridge was good,” we now have a truth dilemma. What do I mean by “good”? I could mean that it tasted good, or that it was morally good, or that it was not rotten, or maybe that it manufactured and sold by a company named “Good.”

And what about the statement, “I will eat porridge next Monday morning?” It is my plan to eat porridge next Monday, but does this plan make the statement true today? In other words, can a statement about the future be true?

Then there is the language of poetry. Take this statement: “The color of love is red?” Is that true? Yes, it is true. But not from a scientific, or logical, or mathematical, or historical perspective. Love has no color. And in fact, what exactly is “red”? For that matter, what is “love”? (Baby, don’t hurt me, don’t hurt me, no more!)

Or take fiction and literature as an example. Here is a True or False question for you to answer: Aesop’s Fables are true.

Well, of course they’re false! In fact, the word “fable” means “myth” or fictional story, which by definition, means they are not true.

And yet Aesop’s Fables contains some of the greatest truths in literature. Truths about greed, teamwork, hard work, and self-discipline. So in this sense, Aesop’s Fables are amazingly true.

Enough with all this though. I hope you see that the truthfulness of a statement depends almost entirely on the type of truth statement it is, the context in which it is said, and numerous other factors.

So what about the truthfulness of the Bible?

The discussion above is why it is so difficult for some people to answer the question, “Is the Bible true?” Is that question referring to scientific truth, historical truth, relational truth, mathematical truth, poetic truth, or some other type of truth?

Initially, the answer to all these questions seems to be “Yes.” Many would state that “No matter what type of proposition or claim the Bible is making, it is true.”

is the Bible true

Okay, let’s consider a few examples.

Earlier in this post, we talked about mathematical and scientific truth claims in the Bible.

In my One Verse Podcast, we have been looking at some of the claims in Genesis 1 (which some people believe are scientific truth claims … but I don’t). In Genesis 1:6, we read that God placed a firmament in the sky to separate the waters above from the waters below.

As I pointed out in the podcast, the word “firmament” means a hard dome. So is it true that there is a hard dome up in the sky which holds back a heavenly ocean from falling upon us?

Well, no, this isn’t true.

Ah, so then the Bible has errors?

I do not believe so (as I explain the Podcast). While Genesis 1:6 may not be scientifically true, there are other ways that a statement can be true. The key is figuring out how Genesis 1:6 is true.

Take the truth claim of the Bible that “God is love.” Is that true? Well, of course it’s true. But it is not mathematically or scientifically true. It is relationally true. It is a statement about God’s character and nature.

Or what about the numerous statement in the Psalms about how God looks and acts? I just randomly opened to the Psalms and found the statement in Psalm 68:4 that God rides on the clouds. Is this true? If you look up at the clouds and see them moving across the sky, is God up there riding across the sky on the clouds like a person rides a horse? Or maybe God is into cloud surfing the way people surf waves?

No, of course not. Psalm 68:4 is poetically true, describing the glory and majesty and power of God.

Or how about the parables of Jesus? Are they true?

Well, of course they are true!

But was there really a landowner who went away and when he sent back servants to receive the income from the land, the tenants of the land killed all the servants? And so the landowner finally sent his son, thinking the tenants would listen to him, but instead, the tenants killed the son as well? Did that really happen? Maybe … but its highly unlikely, and the reason Jesus told this parable, was not to teach a historical truth, but to teach a theological and relational truth about his own mission and ministry.

the truthOr take prophecy. Are prophetical statements about future events true? Well, they do reveal divine intent, and since God can bring about what He intends, we could say that prophetical statement are more true than the statements about any human intent, but again, are statement about future historical events actually true before they occur?

We could go on and on, but here’s the point:

The question is not “Is the Bible true?” but rather, “How is the Bible true?”

Asking that second question is key in properly studying and understanding the Bible.

This sort of approach to Scripture allows us to take a more nuanced view of the doctrine of inerrancy.

I Believe in Inerrancy

Biblical Inerrancy is loosely defined as the idea that the Bible is without error. That everything on which it speaks, it speaks truly.

I agree with this.

I believe the Bible is true. I believe every word of it is true.

And in fact, I am going to go further than most inerrantists I know. I believe the Bible is more true than most of them believe.

Most inerrantists qualify their belief in the truth of the Bible by saying that the Bible is without error in the original manuscripts. That is, most inerrantists only believe the original manuscripts of the Bible are inerrant. They freely admit that the manuscripts which we have now are full of errors.

But I do not qualify my belief in the truth of Scripture this way at all. Because of how I understand truth, I believe the Bible is true more than inerrantists do.

While I do believe that the original manuscripts were completely true, I also believe that the copies of these original manuscripts are completely true, and I believe that all translations and Bible versions are completely true, including not only the KJV, but also the NIV, the NASB, the Message, the Living Bible, and even translations into Swahili or Klingon. Yes, did you know there is a Klingon version of the Bible? There is. And I believe it is true.

I know these sorts of statement will make people mad, but here’s the thing: I believe that these debates about who truly believes the Bible and who doesn’t are just the smoke and mirrors of religion.

Debates About Inerrancy are Debates for Control

Debates about inerrancy are nothing more than ways for one particular group of religious leaders to manipulate and control their followers into submission and to keep them from listening to the ideas or teachings of another group of religious leaders — who, incidentally, use the same arguments to control and manipulate their followers to keep them from listening to the first group!

It is a powerful argument in the minds of many to be able to say, “I am right and those people over there are wrong because they don’t believe the Bible, and so you better listen to me.” But every time I hear this sort of language coming out of a teacher or a ministry, I run away faster than I would run from a roaring lion.

But if my understanding of what the Bible says is different than your understanding of what the Bible says, you cannot say that I don’t believe the Bible is true, for I do. I simply believe that the Bible is true in a different way than you believe it is true, and I believe that the truth claims it makes are different than the truth claims you believe it makes.

The claim, “You don’t believe the Bible is true” is nothing more than a smokescreen put up by manipulative religion to discredit or ignore a challenging teaching or idea about the Bible which disagrees or contradicts what that religion teaches. This accusation is played as a trump card, but it turns out to be nothing more than a joker.

But if we can stop arguing about inerrancy, we can return instead to what has true value, which is actually discussing the biblical text itself. We can talk about how a passage is true, even if we know it is not scientifically or historically true.

Does this way of thinking help you know that you can trust Scripture as true? I hope so. Let me know your thoughts and questions in the comments below.

God is Redeeming Scripture, Redeeming Theology Bible & Theology Topics: Bible Study, bibliology, inerrancy, truth

Advertisement

[#09] Genesis 1:11-12 – Was there Death before the Fall?

By Jeremy Myers
11 Comments

[#09] Genesis 1:11-12 – Was there Death before the Fall?
https://media.blubrry.com/one_verse/traffic.libsyn.com/redeeminggod/09_Genesis_1_11-12.mp3

One Verse PodcastThis episode of the One Verse Podcast might be the strangest one yet. We’re going to talking about oceans of bunnies and mountains of spiders, and what both have to do with Genesis 1:11-12.

If you want to hear something you’ve probably never heard before, listen to the Podcast below!

The Text of Genesis 1:11-12

Genesis 1:11-12. Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

day3creationplantstrees

In this discussion of Genesis 1:11-12 we look at:

  • Why there are two actions of God on Day 3 of Creation.
  • How Day 3 serves as a literary “hinge” between Days 1-3 and Days 4-6.
  • Whether there are 1, 2, or 3 types of plants mentioned in Genesis 1:11-12.
  • What it means for plants to bear seed “after their kind.”
  • Why death is necessary for creation to properly function.
  • What the plant cycle before the Fall teaches us about spiritual cycles in our own lives.

Resources:

  • Logos Bible Software
  • New Theological Categories
  • Lennox, Seven Days – Amazon or CBD
  • Miller and Soden, In the Beginning – Amazon or CBD
  • Sailhamer, EBC: Genesis – Amazon or CBD
  • Walton, Lost World of Genesis One, Amazon or CBD
  • Walton, Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds – Amazon or CBD
  • Wenham, Genesis – Amazon or CBD
  • 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: Bible Study Podcast, creation, death, Genesis 1:11-12, podcast

Advertisement

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 47
  • 48
  • 49
  • 50
  • 51
  • …
  • 59
  • Next Page »
Join the discipleship group
Learn about the gospel and how to share it

Take my new course:

The Gospel According to Scripture
Best Books Every Christian Should Read
Study Scripture with me
Subscribe to my Podcast on iTunes
Subscribe to my Podcast on Amazon

Do you like my blog?
Try one of my books:

Click the image below to see what books are available.

Books by Jeremy Myers

Theological Study Archives

  • Theology – General
  • Theology Introduction
  • Theology of the Bible
  • Theology of God
  • Theology of Man
  • Theology of Sin
  • Theology of Jesus
  • Theology of Salvation
  • Theology of the Holy Spirit
  • Theology of the Church
  • Theology of Angels
  • Theology of the End Times
  • Theology Q&A

Bible Study Archives

  • Bible Studies on Genesis
  • Bible Studies on Esther
  • Bible Studies on Psalms
  • Bible Studies on Jonah
  • Bible Studies on Matthew
  • Bible Studies on Luke
  • Bible Studies on Romans
  • Bible Studies on Ephesians
  • Miscellaneous Bible Studies

Advertise or Donate

  • Advertise on RedeemingGod.com
  • Donate to Jeremy Myers

Search (and you Shall Find)

Get Books by Jeremy Myers

Books by Jeremy Myers

Schedule Jeremy for an interview

Click here to Contact Me!

© 2025 Redeeming God · All Rights Reserved · Powered by Knownhost and the Genesis Framework