Cocktails with Beers

Palestine and Israel; A Complicated History We chat about the history between Palestine and Israel.  Israel and Palestine are in another war...or rather, continue the war that began over 70 years ago.  The history of between these two peoples is complicated.  You wouldn't think that looking at the black and white versions of reality plaste...

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The Gospel of Mary (Magdalene?), and a religion of secrets We chat about the Gospel of Mary, another book that didn't make it into the Bible.  The book is a wee bit weird.  It has language and symbols that are hard to understand.  And then pages are missing, so we are left to fill in a lot of blans.  But, it gives us a peak at the interesting, early cen...

We chat about the Infancy Gospel of James. This is where we get a lot of our details about Mary and Joseph, the parents of Jesus. But is it true? Or is there something else going on here?

Jesus, Joseph, and Mary! Facts, Fictions, and Bible Commentary We chat about the Infancy Gospel of James.  What do we know about Joseph and Mary?  We know they are the parets of Jesus?  But what about their lives before all that Jesus stuff started happening?  What was Mary like as a child?  How and when did she meet Joseph?  What was Joseph like?  What'...

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Why Jesus Killed?! A look at the Infancy Gospel of Thomas We chat about a gospel account that didn't make it into the Bible, The Infancy Gospel of Thomas.  This book tells us about Jesus' childhood.  What was it like to be a God-Man discovering one's own power?  What was it like to know more than all your teachers?  What happens if you accidentally bum...

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Peter tries to keep Jesus from dying. Why was this story told? We chat about the story of Peter trying to keep Jesus from going to Jerusalem.  Everyone knows what will happen to him if he goes there.  Even Jesus knows what will happen to him.  He will be arrested, tried, and executed.  Naturally, Peter tries to stop him from going.  Jesus calls him a stumb...

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Peter, Jesus, Golf, and Kindergarten We cover a lot in this episode.  First we chat about our fall plans to participate in a charity golf tournament-- last place wins a canister of tennis balls.  By the end of September, we will be richer by one canister of tennis balls.  We then, unplanned, process the trauma of sending our eldest ...

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Jesus saves us...from what, exactly? Peter and Jesus walk on water The gospel of Matthew has a lot to say about Jesus.  And each thing we learn about him is even better than the last.  You could say that Matthew is the Ron Popeil of the New Testament.  We learn that Jesus is teacher.  But wait, there's more.  Jesus is a king.  But wait, there's more.  Jesus ...

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Feeding the 5000. It isn't what you think it is. Jesus feeds over 5000 people at once.  We chat about what this story meant back then, that it was a way of saying "Jesus is our king, not you!" without really saying it.  Merry also talks about her book, .  We then apply her thesis theologically to the the Biblical story to see how we can apply t...

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Parables Couldn't be Clearer. The seven parables in Matthew 13 We chat about the parables that appear in Matthew 13.  There are seven of them put side by side.  Sunday communities rarely read them all together.  We tend to divide them over mulitiple Sundays.  And so we miss the big picture significance of them that Matthew is trying to paint.  We chat abou...

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More Parables, The Wheat and the W**d We chat about Jesus' parable we call The Wheat and the W**d.  A farmer plants good seed in a field.  Then that night, his enemy sows imposter seed in the same field.  The whole season, no one realizes that there are weeds among the wheat.  By the time they realize what happened, its too late, be...

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Parables of the soil and seeds We chat about Jesus' famous parable.  You can find it in Matthew 13.  It goes by many names, the parable of the soil, the parable of the seeds, and the parable of the sower.  We also chat about how Jesus used parables, and how this story is a commentary on Isaiah.  

Podcast is up. We chat about Paul's letter to the Romans. What on earth is he going on about?

We Chat about Paul's Letter to the Romans Paul wrote a letter to the Romans many years ago.  It was such a good letter that it made it into the Bible.  But what on earth is Paul going on about?  We give an overview of Paul's letter, his motivations for writing it, and what he sought to accomplish.  We also focus on ch. 7: 15-25 when he ...

This week's podcast!

How do we know we are supporting the right cause? Our world is full of tough choices.  Some of these are innocuous.  Some have consequences for ourselves and other people.  Here's an example.  A few weeks ago, a Christian denomination voted to ordain women into pastoral ministry.  Then, another denomination voted to affirm their stance to not ...

What the Church in China Teaches Us About the Ancient Jesus Movement We sit with our own co-host, scholar in Chinese-American diplomatic history, and author of The Diplomacy of Migration, Dr. Meredith Oyen, to chat about the different contemporary expressions of the Church in China.  We then, well Pr. Matt, consider how the Church in China can inform how we read the...

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What’s the Difference Between the NIV, NRSV, and Other Bible Translations? We asked a biblical scholar to answer some of the most common Bible translation questions.

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Who will save this world? The salt of the earth and a light unto the world We chat about one of Jesus' most famous saying.  "All y'all are the salt of the earth. And y'all are a light shining into the world."  But who is he talking about? Is it you? The answer has been right there under our noses for 2000 years. And we talk about it this week.

Using artificial intelligence to write term papers and sermons? Who are these people? We chat about the pros and cons of this emerging technology, and the ethics of it all too. Meredith Oyen

Using Artificial Intelligence to Write Term Papers and Sermons A new website has emerged claiming that it can write a term paper, or even a sermon, using aritificial intelligence.  We chat about the ethics of this.  Knee jerk reaction says it is clearly and distinctly wrong. But, what if a student used it as a resource?  What if the student cited the work? O...

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Meredith Oyen and I are back with a new episode after a three months break to welcome a new member to our family. We come back swinging. Enjoy!

Who is Jesus? God's Son or God's chosen one. We look at a variant in John's gospel. We're back after three months off to welcome a new addition to our family.  And we come back swinging.  This week we give you an update on the past three months, we chat about what pastors is and what they should do, and we chat about a textual variant in John's gospel account that questions how ...

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We chat about parables. The Deceptive Estate Manager We chat about one of Jesus’ parables. In it Jesus tells the story of an estate manager who was fired by the owner. He was accused of wasting the owner’s money. Facing unemployment and bankruptcy, he cuts deals with the folk that owe his boss money. His boss finds out about his trickery. So what ...

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Cocktails with Beers: The Pulpit and Plagiarism We chat about pastors plagiarizing in the pulpit.  Another mega-church pastor has been caught doing something fishy.  He allegedly uses other people's ideas and words, doesn't cite them, and then says he doesn't have to.  So, we chat about what plagiarism looks like behind the pulpit....

Podcast is up! We chat about student loan forgiveness and the Bible.

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We chat about what you can and cannot do on a Sunday In the stories about Jesus, there's a lot of talk about when it is ok to heal someone. May you heal someone on the Sabbath? Why was this such a big deal? Why was Jesus so insistent on it? And what does any of this have to do with today? Along the way, we chat about visits to the dentist, names of ge...

Podcast is up! Merry and I chat about a recent twitter debate over the role of children in church. Do they even belong there? We also chat about a recent vacation Bible school we participated in. We then share memories of our childhood VBS experiences, and we recognize the advanced level crafts Merry did in the days of yore.

Should Children Be in Church? We also chat about Vacation Bible School Merry and I chat about a recent twitter debate over the role of children in church.  Do they even belong there?  We also chat about a recent vacation Bible school we participated in.  We then share memories of our childhood VBS experiences, and we recognize the advanced level crafts Merry did in ...

Podcast is up! We chat about Diana Butler Bass, Mary Magdalene, and new research from someone at Duke that puts Mary in Bethany when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. Enjoy. Meredith Oyen Diana Butler Bass Duke Divinity School

We Chat about Mary Magdalene and Diana Butler Bass Diana Butler Bass recently gave a sermon about Mary Magdalene.  She raises the research of a student at Duke who recently discovered that the story from the Bible of Jesus raising Lazarus had been edited in an early transmission.  Did Lazarus have two sisters?  Or was the second woman watching Je...

Merry and I chat about Mary Magdalene. Diana Butler Bass gave a sermon recently lifting up the research of a student at Duke who discovered some editing done by scribes to the account of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. Was there ever a woman named Martha? Perhaps it was really Mary Magdalene. And was Mary from Magdala, or was this her nickname? Just like Peter's nickname was Rocky, was Mary's nickname "The Tower"? Join us as we ponder these things. Diana Bass Meredith Oyen

We Chat about Mary Magdalene and Diana Butler Bass Diana Butler Bass recently gave a sermon about Mary Magdalene.  She raises the research of a student at Duke who recently discovered that the story from the Bible of Jesus raising Lazarus had been edited in an early transmission.  Did Lazarus have two sisters?  Or was the second woman watching Je...

Here's a link to the Diana Butler Bass sermon that Meredith Oyen and I chat about in this week's podcast, Cocktails with Beers

Mary the Tower What would Christianity be like if Mary Magdalene hadn't been hidden from view?

In honor of VBS where I serve as pastor, here's an encore presentation of part 2 of our Jospeh series from last winter.
Meredith Oyen

Cocktails with Beers: Joseph #2. An Egyptian guide to interpreting dreams. Matt and Merry chat about Joseph's rise to power in Egypt. We also discover the Egyptian book of dreams, an old text kept by one of Pharaoh's priests in the temple of the sun. And we use it to interpret some of our own dreams. You'd be surprised how hard it is to do that, butalso how coherent an int...

Encore presentation! Joseph #1, from our winter series, Joseph. And this was back then when we were called Life on the Water. The story starts around the 16 minute mark.

Cocktails with Beers: Joseph#1. Sold into Slavery. Matt and Merry begin a four part series on the story of Joseph.  Not the Christmas Joseph, but the guy who wore the Technicolor dream coat.  In part one, we chat about how Joseph's inflated ego and sense of entitlement got him into trouble with his brothers.  Along the way, we chat ab...

Podcast is up! Meredith Oyen talks China, and the possibility of a strategic and friendly competition with the U.S. We also chat about how un-American it is to put slaw directly on your pulled pork sandwich. The latter I think is the more important debate.

We Chat about Friendly Competition with China. Is That Possible? We chat about the possibility of a strategic and friendly competition between the U.S. and China. We also talk about a new BBQ joint that opened down the street, and the merits of putting slaw on a pulled pork sandwich.