31: Tom Rundel: The Bible Says... Why I don't say that anymore

Update: 2023-10-17

Description

Have you ever had someone use the phrase, “Well, the Bible says…” to correct you? But then they dismiss other things the Bible says with a “yeah, but…” Who we offer our “yeah but” comments to and who we hard line with “the Bible says” reveals more about the one using the phrase than it does the Bible.

Today I talk about why I no longer use the phrase, “The Bible says…” and how it is often a signal of a theology that is static, exclusive, elitist, or abusive. This summarizes some of the things I learned from the last 4 interviews I did. To get there we meander through the historical narrative flow of the old and new testaments. So if you have ever struggled to make sense of what the Bible is saying, and why, it might help to understand the story.

Time Stamps for the Episode:

Time Stamps for the episode:

00:40 Introductions

01:54 I Don’t say, “The Bible Says” anymore

05:38 The Tabernacle Narrative

09:31 Kings and Temples Narrative

12:19 Babylon, Persia, and Greece! Oh My!

16:29 Rome, Herod, and Second Temple

19:41 It’s the end of the world as we know it

22:27 Theology: Our static Temple

27:54 Theology: our elitist and and exclusive Temple

33:02 Theology: our abusive Temple

34:56 LGBTQ+ texts vs Greed, Power, Corruption texts

37:42 Abusive Church Growth Tactics

43:30 The Bible says, says more about you than the Bible

46:52 Tables instead of Temples

52:44 Conclusions