Episodes
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DEMONS! We're at an interesting crossroads in history. As science is able to explain more and more about how the universe works, and more specifically how we humans work, we find ourselves using supernatural explanations less and less. When, for example, we understand the erratic behavior of a friend as being part of their mental health journey, we're far less likely to turn to hurtful and dangerous religious tropes for our understanding.
But that doesn't stop some people from continuing to turn to the idea of demons to explain the bad things in their lives. So where did this idea come from? What are demons, and what does the Bible have to say about them?
Hold on to your apotropaic amulets, 'cause we're goin' demon hunting!
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Psalm 22 [according to the Deer of Dawn (don't worry- you'll get that joke later)] is not a happy ditty. It is the song of a hopeless singer, crying out to a God who doesn't seem to be there. Which seems like kind of a weird thing to include in a book of scripture about that God, but there you go. But this psalm is particularly famous, as it was quoted by a pretty famous guy, at a pretty famous moment.
This week on Data Over Dogma, we're looking at the words Jesus chose to say just before he died. Why, of all the scriptures that he had access to, did he quote this bleak, hopeless lament? Or was the psalm written as a prophesy? A foretelling of Jesus' untimely end?
Then, speaking of the death of Jesus, we're going to talk about a peaceful area in Israel next to an ancient burial site. They call it the Garden Tomb, and many believe it to be the actual place where Jesus was laid after his death. Was it?
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It's the boogeyman that haunts churches across the land: religious deconstruction. This is the process of genuinely questioning your religious faith, pulling apart what you've been taught (probably your whole life), sifting through it all, and deciding for yourself what actually works for you, without regard for what anyone else has to say about the matter. It can be a deeply disorienting--even terrifying--process, but more and more people are choosing this road.
Well, we've got social media darling Rev Karla with us to talk about her own deconstruction journey, and give us some insights into this isolating, but also liberating process. She literally wrote the book on the topic! Karla Kamstra went from attending a small Southern Baptist church in Kentucky to being an online guide for people looking to throw off their religion, and figure out what's true for them.
Find Rev Karla's book, Deconstructing: Leaving Church, Finding Faith anywhere you get your books, including here:
https://shop.revkarla.com/collections/healing-and-support-collection/products/deconstructing-leaving-church-finding-faith
You can find her social media posts here:
https://www.tiktok.com/@revkarla?lang=en
https://www.instagram.com/revkarla/
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Hey! Don't forget to pre-order Dan McClellan's upcoming book The Bible Says So
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As origin stories go, the Bible's explanation for why humanity has multiple languages is... let's call it creative. Alas, it doesn't hold up particularly well in a modern, scientifically informed era. That said, there's more to the story of the so-called "tower of Babel" than immediately meets the eye. We'll discuss what other ancient questions this chapter of Genesis is attempting to answer, and how it all fit into the context of its time.
Then the linguistic adventure continues, as we delve into a mystical realm that very few people have access to: the magic of the ancient languages! Because if you listen to certain people, you'll learn that there's a whole world of extra messaging packed into the original wordings of the original languages of the Bible. Is this the key to decoding the universe? Will this way of reading the text save humanity? Have we finally unlocked the code to proving the truth claims of the Bible? Well, no. But it's a fun discussion anyway.
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The modern concept of God (at least in the Christian context) is of an all-knowing, all-powerful, being. One who is everywhere all at once. He sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake... all that stuff. But does that view of the almighty comport with what is represented in the Bible, or are those ideas more recent innovations? Where did these ideas come from?
Then, we're talking Bible quotations. Or more accurately mis-quotations. Plenty of people misquote the Bible, it happens all the time. It can be especially vexing when that someone is looking at a bad translation. But what happens when the Bible misquotes the Bible? We'll be looking at Acts 15, and a moment when the author might have found a bad translation of their own.
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Go to any comment section where someone has made a controversial claim about the Bible and you'll see it: someone gatekeeping the idea of who qualifies as a "true Christian". Real Christians believe in the trinity, or else decidedly DON'T believe in the trinity. Real Christians believe we're saved through works. Or through faith alone. Or neither. Or both...
On this week's episode, Dr. David Congdon joins us to discuss his book Who is a True Christian. If you think that question is settled or remotely easy to answer... well you haven't paid attention to this show. Dr. Congdon walks us through the history, politics, and power struggles behind these questions, and gives us big insights into ways we can address this difficult quandary going forward.
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This week Craig Mousin and Cecil Cicirello of the Lawful Assembly podcast join us to talk about one of the major hot-button issues in current world politics: immigration. Craig is not only a lawyer who specializes in immigration law, he's also an ordained minister, so we asked him on to bring his unique perspective to bear on the issue. We discuss the current state of things in the U.S., and ask what a Biblical approach might be.
You can find Lawful Assembly wherever you get your podcasts, or at https://www.lawfulpod.com/. Go give them a listen!
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Regular listeners will know that Dr. Dan is not of fan of definitions. Dictionaries aren't rulebooks, he'll say, they're attempts to describe how words are being used. So when the Data Over Dogma show is all about what two words mean, you know it ain't going to be simple.
The first word we're looking at is "religion". We'll cover the origin of the word, and really try to get a handle on what that conceptual category is trying to get at. Will we succeed? That's for you to decide.
The next word, as the episode title suggests, is "atheist". It's a word with a somewhat surprising history, and one that is VERY charged in a modern context. We'll discuss how this word is used by people who describe themselves as atheists, and how non-atheists deploy it.
It's gonna get messy!
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Modern parishioners are often asked to pay one tenth of their money to their church. This practice, they are told, is biblical in nature. But is it really? Well, this episode we're talking tithing, and like so many ideas in the Bible it's way more complicated than you might think!
Then, we're keeping the theme monetary and telling the story of Ananias and Sapphira. This New Testament couple decided that they didn't want to give ALL their money to the commune. Unfortunately, apostle Peter had set up some pretty stiff penalties for incomplete payment. Let's just say that the mafia would be proud. Yikes.
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Oooh! We're going to poke the gauzy fabric-covered bear with this one!
Well first we're going to have a delightful chat about plagues. No, not Covid 19 or the black death, we're talking frogs! If you thought the Spanish Flu was bad, wait until you hear about the great Egyptian livestock massacre. But did the great plagues visited upon Egypt by Moses and his very powerful tetragrammatonically-named accomplice really happen? Is it even logically possible that they could have happened?
Then we're going to make some very certain people very sad. Hold on to your long pieces of stained fabric, because we're going to "cover" (get it?) the shroud of Turin. Have you heard that a new scientific paper has come out that proves that this was actually the sheet that was draped over Jesus as he lay in the tomb? A lot of people have heard that. Well great news! We've read that paper, and we're going to discuss it!
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Do you know anything at all about physics? It's fine if you don't, but hold on to your linen shirt if you do, because the sheer volume of gobbledygook that's coming is... impressive. We're going to talk about the fascinating claims of one Heidi Yellen.
Yellen's famous papers revolve around Leviticus 19, and the prohibition against wearing two kinds of fabric together. She claims that she has discovered a very important reason why the Bible would warn us against this fiber mix-and-match, and it is a doozy!
Then, we're switching over to Genesis 37, to discuss the owner of another famous piece of fabric. It's Joseph, owner of the coat of many colors (or coat of sleeves? don't ask). But we're not talking about the coat. We're more interested in the story of ol' Joe being sold into slavery... because it doesn't make sense. Who sold him? Who bought him? Who sold him again? Nothing lines up! Unless...
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Abracadabra! Today, we're diving into the strange world of spell-casting, charms, and defense against the dark arts. No, this isn't about a school for young witches and wizards, it's the magic practiced in the Bible! And oooh, does that make some people uncomfortable!
First, we're going to look at the famous priestly divining implements, the Urim and Thummim. What were they? How did they work? Did they glow? Were they more or less accurate than a Magic 8 Ball? Then we're traveling to the caves of Ketef Hinnom, to look at the oldest known witnesses to the Hebrew Bible, and their potentially magical properties.
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The biblical story of Ruth can be a confusing one for modern readers. Is Ruth a hero? Is she a schemer? She goes from gleaning in her dead husband's kinsman's field to marrying the guy in a matter of days. What are we to glean from that? And what, exactly, happened on the threshing room floor? If only we had a Bible expert on the show to help us understand it all. Oh wait--we do! That's lucky.
Then, we turn to history. One of the trickiest things about reading the Bible can be how to tell what's actually historical, and what is... allegory. Some of the Bible's characters have no historical attestation other than the Bible, but not our friend Sennacherib! This neo-Assyrian king was 100% a real guy, and we're going to learn all about him!
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It is a source of joy for some, schadenfreude for others, and for many it is the source of deep, soul-crushing anxiety. It's the Rapture! That theoretical moment when all of God's good kiddos on Earth get to fly up to heaven, while all the naughty boys and girls get stuck here on Earth. It's a theology believed by millions around the world, but there might be a problem: is it possible that the rapture isn't actually in the Bible?
On this week's show we're discussing the origins of the rapture idea. Who came up with it, what is it's scriptural basis (if there is any), why it took hold, and why not everyone embraces it. Were you "caught up" in Rapture theology?
Then, we're continuing our future-prophesying theme with the baffling 10th chapter of Daniel. Ol' Danny boy had a vision involving a bunch of princes, and whoo boy! If you don't have McClellan levels of education about it, you would be forgiven for not understanding a blessed word of it. Thankfully, we have a McClellen here, so maybe we have a fighting chance!
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Look around you. Do you see it? It's everything. All the stuff. The earth, the sun, the stars, that sofa that you love but your partner kind of hates, the oceans, the trees, the new Taylor Swift album that they pressed into a vinyl album for some reason, even though everybody just streams... It's all here. But why? Was it always here? The stuff? Or was it created?
This week, we're discussing creatio ex nihilo. It's the idea that God created everything from nothing, and if you're saying to yourself "well yes, of course that's what happened, everybody knows that," you might want to hang on to your shorts. People didn't always believe that, and you might be surprised to learn when the switch happened!
Then, we switch to the apocrypha and dive into a delightful little add-on to the book of Daniel. It's Bel and the Dragon, and it is fun! You won't want to miss it.
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When you look at the New Testament and you see "The Gospel According to Matthew" or "The Gospel According to John", you could be forgiven for assuming that what you're getting is a book written by the apostle Matthew or John. But many scholars are convinced that this is not the case. Why don't they believe that these disciples of Jesus actually wrote the books that bear their name?
This week, we're joined by bible scholar and gospel authorship expert Michael Kok. Dr. Kok will walk us through many of the reasons scholars question the traditional attributions, and give some insights into the very clever detective work that got them to those conclusions.
Will this episode end like an episode of Scooby Doo, with us finally uncloaking the real authors? You'll have to listen to the end to find out!
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It's Biblical misogyny day here at the Data Over Dogma show [well, it's one of them- this is the Bible we're talking about after all], and we've got some real doozies for you. First, we're looking at the strange, sad tale of Tamar. Things start fine(ish) for her--she finds herself married into a prominent family--but then all heaven breaks loose. Which is to say that God kills her husband. This launches her on one of the most insane paths in the whole Bible. BUT, that insane path gives us a chance to talk about a weird concept called "levirate marriage".
Next, we're going to law school. We're taking as our text Deuteronomy 22, and it is ROUGH! These are laws governing extra-marital affairs, and let's just say you might find them a little harsh. Or a lot harsh. Or extremely harsh.
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Dr. Aaron Higashi is one of our favorites, and we're not alone! The folks over at The Bible for Normal People are fans, as well, and have enlisted Aaron to write a "for normal people" book about First and Second Samuel. These two books include some of the Bible's most famous and most infamous characters and moments.
If you've ever read about the exploits of biblical David, and wondered if he is, in fact, a good guy... well, Dr. Higashi is right there with you. We'll ask him about his take on David and many other biblical figures and stories, and the conclusions may surprise you. Or not. This is Data Over Dogma, after all.
Look for Aaron on the various social media places under the handle @abhbible.
Preorder 1 & 2 Samuel for Normal People: A Guide to Prophets, Kings, and Some Pretty Terrible Men here: https://www.amazon.com/Samuel-Normal-People-Prophets-Terrible-ebook/dp/B0D7KBPRVN
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Christian nationalism marches onward in the United States, and our hot take is: that's bad. Louisiana has now passed a law mandating putting a poster of The Ten Commandments™ in every classroom in the state. Lawmakers claim that they're providing historical context for the laws of the land. Historians say that's bunk.
So what's really going on here? Are the Exodus 20 top-ten really the foundation that undergirds all law and order in modern society? Does it matter what version/translation is used? Is ten even the right number, according to the Bible?
This week, we're diving into the the decalogue. Louisiana politicians are pretending that they apply to everybody, but we're going to question if they even apply to Christians! We'll see how things shake out... Thou shalt not want to miss it!
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People talk all the time about souls. "He's my soulmate." "It was so scary, my soul left my body." "I'm going to destroy that piano if you don't stop playing Heart and Soul." But what are we actually talking about? Is there really a non-corporeal entity, an animating force inside each of us? Or are we just crude matter? And what does the Bible have to say about it?
This week on Data Over Dogma, we're getting soulful. We'll discuss the development of the concept of the soul, and some very surprising ways that concept shows up in the Bible. Do NOT trust a woman with a pillowcase until you've heard this episode!
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