Real Bible Rob
I am a Presbyterian USA minister who interprets the Bible in all of its messy and varied voices. I teach and preach spiritual growth to people who want an open and affirming Christianity. My social media tagline is "People say lots of things about the Bible that aren't really there."
My full-length sermons and live stream are available on YouTube: @robchrist8999 and @edmondspresbyterian132
Contact me at: epc-pcusa.org, pastorepc@frontier.com
Episodes
56 episodes
The Harm of Replacement Theology, Hebrews 8:6-13
Christians love Replacement. Replacing Judaism with the New Covenant. Replacing the Jewish people as the Chosen people of God. Replacing Islam in the Holy Land during the Crusades. In America, replacing indigenous people with white Christian pe...
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Season 1
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Episode 56
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44:01
Striving to be saved? Matthew 7:13-14, Luke 13:24
People use the narrow gate metaphor that Jesus used in the Sermon on the Mount to feed their persecution complex and to exclude others. I frequently come across egregious misrepresentations of these passages. Often spoken with cult-like intenti...
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Season 1
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Episode 55
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27:21
Physical Digital Church, Interview with Skeptic Pastor Jeremy Steele
I am delighted to welcome Jeremy Steele to the podcast today. I love his content on TikTok so much. He reached out to creators with podcasts. I jumped at the chance to interview him, and he graciously agreed!Church attendance statistics...
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Season 1
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Episode 54
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52:02
War on Empathy, 2 Corinthians 1:3-7, Psalm 103:13
How can you justify cruelty as a Christian? It has a very long tradition, from the Crusades to Slavery and Jim Crow to Mass Deportations today. These were all and are still perpetuated and justified by Bible believing Christians. This justifica...
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Season 1
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Episode 53
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37:15
Always Reforming is Now! The Church must reform again
The Church is in desperate need of Reform. Which direction should we go? Rediscovering doctrines of the past? Reforming our doctrines for a new era? There is a lot of disagreement about what is needed. I argue that we must do both.
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Season 1
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Episode 52
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35:51
Does God Change?, Exodus 32:14, Jeremiah 18:8-10
Whenever you ask whether God changes or that God learns, It is usually met with a resounding "No!" But then you must ask, what is the point of prayer? When you look at scripture, it says explicitly many times that God changes. "But God knows ev...
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Season 1
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Episode 51
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30:00
Reject Abusive Father Theology: Romans 8 is Freedom Not Slavery
For many Romans 8 is the essential chapter for understanding God’s purpose in the Gospel message. While I don’t think that was necessarily Paul’s purpose to be all-encompassing, it can be a great guide for us. N.T. Wright has said, that if he h...
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Season 1
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Episode 50
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39:08
When in Romans: Freedom or Shackles?
The book of Romans carries so much theological weight that it’s hard to see Paul’s reasoning and technique through it. Fortunately, there’s been a wealth of new scholarship and research on it that it’s freeing the text from its Lutheran and Cal...
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Season 1
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Episode 49
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49:55
Is Esther the most Romantic Book of the Bible?
Today I have a special guest Maria Hearing. Maria is a dear friend, classmate, teacher, Hebrew reading partner, and leader. Maria has done deep research on the book of Esther, and she has written scholarly papers on the narrative and genres of ...
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Season 1
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Episode 48
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50:42
Phony Originalism in Christianity: History or Myth
Do you have an image of a traditional past that was better? Kids respected their parents. People had manners. They respected the law. Neighbors watched out for each other. Not like these wicked times, so the reasoning goes. It seems harkening t...
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Season 1
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Episode 47
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38:23
Slavery is still with us, Leviticus 25:42-46 & Colossians 3:22-4:1
Slavery drives Christian thought far more than you realize. It has never left us. Imagine for a moment being on a plantation as a child. Slavery requires the crushing of empathy. Much of what we’ve seen in the last 400 years in the west was the...
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Season 1
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Episode 46
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38:51
Penal Substitution is not the Gospel, Romans 3:9-26
Asking "What is the gospel?" is surprisingly controversial in some quarters. Most people believe the gospel is the radical love of God in the person, death, and resurrection of Jesus. But that’s not enough for many others. They insist that Pena...
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Season 1
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Episode 45
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45:28
The King You Didn't Know, Jeremiah 1:1-19 & 2 Chronicles 35:20-25
"If you know Jeremiah, you know the Old Testament" is something I like to say. Because it is the most political book of the Bible. It is the backdrop of King Josiah's huge political blunder in fighting against Pharaoh Neco in 2 Chronicles 35 th...
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Season 1
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Episode 44
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23:56
Apologetics Can't Prove God Exists, 1 Peter 3:14-16
I said "Apologetics is Circular Reasoning" in a video last year. It garnered a lot of hate, cheers, and hundreds of thousands of views on Instagram. The response was fascinating because what should have been a philosophical argument turned into...
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Season 1
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Episode 43
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44:41
Jezebel Spirit and diminishing women, 2 Kings 9:30-37, Esther 1:10-20
There is no more painful label for women than being called a Jezebel. It contains all the condemning, cursing, and slut shaming you can imagine. "Jezebel Spirit" is a frequently used racial slur in some churches. Jezebel was a foreign woman, li...
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Season 1
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Episode 42
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34:16
Was Jesus Capitalist or Communist? Acts 2:44-45, Leviticus 25
The answer is neither. Economics is all over the Bible, but modern labels have so much historical and cultural meaning that it is dishonest to label anyone in scripture as capitalist or socialist or communist. Instead, we must talk about commer...
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Season 1
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Episode 41
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52:17
Eating the Big Fish of Resistance, John 21:1-17
Many people, especially in America, are waking up to the fact that our freedom is on the line. While this has been the norm for most people in most of history, it is a surprising development for many privileged white people. Our views often mas...
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Season 1
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Episode 40
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31:19
Martha, Mary & Audacious Women, Luke 10:38-42 & John 12:1-8
If you are a woman, you have likely heard the story of Martha and Mary. Martha is hurried and busy in the kitchen at the big party she threw for Jesus. But Mary sits down at Jesus's feet, anointing him with ointment. Martha complains to Jesus, ...
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Season 1
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Episode 39
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23:42
Going to the wall with Hosannas
Have you been puzzled by the dissonance of Palm Sunday? How can people seem so happy at the start of the worst week of Jesus's life? Why do we think Hosanna is offering praise? What made the people throw their cloaks down and wave branches? The...
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Season 1
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Episode 38
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29:28
"Woke" Amos might change your life
Correction! Jezreel Valley goes from Haifa to the Jordan River. Kidron Valley is next to Jerusalem. I am sorry for the error!No word is more polarizing than "woke" but the people who get really angry about usually can't define it....
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Season 1
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Episode 37
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46:44
Pastors and Fascism, Romans 13:1-7 & Jeremiah
Pastors always walk a fine line when it comes to politics and current events. Healthy congregations have people with a variety of political persuasions. Being a true pastor means you should never abuse the privilege of power to push partisan po...
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Season 1
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Episode 36
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34:46
Newton, Darwin, and God - Ephesians 1:11 & Jeremiah 10:23
What does Newton and Darwin have to do with God? A whole lot. Newton represents the height and triumph of determinism, the idea that all things have a cause and effect. If you know all the inputs and processes of a system, you can determine eve...
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Season 1
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Episode 35
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33:04
Biblical Marriage from Ephesians 5:21-33 & Matthew 19:3-12
What is Biblical Marriage? That is a hard question to answer because there are many biblical marriages. There is Israelite marriage in the time of the Patriarchs, there is Judean marriage in the Second Temple period, there is New Testament Jewi...
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Season 1
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Episode 34
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43:43
Recovering Fundamentalist with Author Gabe Gordon
I welcome special guest Gabe Gordon who is the author of his recent book "The Fundamentals of a Recovering Fundamentalist." We went to seminary together and he was my TA for a historical theology class. Now he is a grad student at Marquette Uni...
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Season 1
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Episode 33
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40:30
What Born Again Really Means, John 3:3-7, John 3:16
"Born Again Christian" is a label you wear proudly or are very leery about it. This dichotomy is intentional and says a lot about how you see scripture and salvation. Most people think of evangelical Christians being Born Again. So why do some ...
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Season 1
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Episode 32
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28:51