Bible 805 Podcast

The Six Benefits of reading (or listening to) the Bible in Chronological order, and probably why you haven’t done it

January 1, 2019 by Yvon Prehn

Editor’s Update: A few weeks into this project and I realized I needed to clarify that you don’t have to start this project at the first of the year—you can begin or jump in anytime, so I decided to add this note—following is how the post originally started:

Along with losing weight, getting more done, simplifying your life and other commendable goals, is reading through the Bible one of your resolutions for the year?

If so, I’d like to share a way for you to do it that will change your life more significantly than any diet will!

Hi, I’m Yvon Prehn and Welcome to Bible 805!

Today we’re going t to talk about…..

The Six Benefits of reading (or listening to) the Bible in Chronological order, and probably why you haven’t done it

There are many ways to read through the Bible each year—but there is one that is by far the BEST way to do it (and I’ll be going into the reasons why it’s best shortly) and that is to read through the Bible in Chronological order. That means to read the books (or parts in some cases) in the order they happened, not the order you find them in the Bible.

Don’t worry about figuring that order out—I’ve got a schedule you can download to do it and I’ll be doing podcasts in the coming year to guide you through it. (starting Jan. 6 for 2019)

But for now, since reading through the Bible in Chronological order is a somewhat daunting task, it’s worth asking why do it? To answer, ask yourself, why read anything, watch any movie, learn any new information in a certain order?Continue Reading

Truth and History Series: How we got our Bible and why we can trust it

December 30, 2018 by Yvon Prehn

Truth & History, Lesson 1 what is truth — This series of podcasts is an important foundation for continuing podcasts about the Bible as it shows how we can trust it based on historical truth.

I did this series as a start to the podcast and as a foundation for the Bible 805. In it, we look at how we determine truth in a world where the term no longer has a firm foundation. But truth is essential for us to know how to live today and for our eternal future.

I believe the Christian Bible is a source of truth, but I didn’t want you to believe that just because it’s my opinion. Based on the results of many years of spiritual study and searching, I’m sharing what I learned. I’m not a professional theologian or historian (though I’ve had graduate training and studied widely in both areas), but a fellow traveler and pilgrim, a writer and teacher for Jesus who wants to share what I think are some exciting realities about why we can trust the Bible.

I also wanted to give you this background before we start the year’s study of reading through the Bible in Chronological order. It isn’t essential that you listen to these before we start, but I do recommend it (if not before, at some time) because I think when you see how the Bible is based on objective truth, verified by secular history, you’ll be motivated to read the whole book.Continue Reading

Truth and History, Lesson Six: The New Testament and Historical Anchors, plus the Gnostic Gospels

December 30, 2018 by Yvon Prehn

The New Testament is a reliable historical record of Jesus and the early Christian church.

For purposes of our time and study, we will focus primarily on what these documents tell us about Jesus—we don’t have time to do more and honestly, if what they tell us about Jesus can’t be trusted, the rest really doesn’t matter.

To do that we will first establish the historical reliability of New Testament documents, then we ’ll look at New Testament non-canonical writings, particularly the Gnostic “gospels.” These documents are much more dangerous than OT Apocrypha which was not inspired scripture, but still talked about the same God—these documents present a distorted image of the Jesus of history, far from the real Jesus who is the only Savior.

Below is more material than in the other podcasts–I have a complete PowerPoint lesson and below it the PDFs of the Gnostic Gospels. My long-term goal is to create more complete teaching materials—join me in praying it will be possible.Continue Reading

Truth and History, Lesson Five: The Apocrypha: Overview and Historical Anchors (or in this case, lack thereof)

December 30, 2018 by Yvon Prehn

If the Bible is supposed to be historically accurate, What about the books some Bibles have inbetween the Old Testament and New Testament?

Are they historically reliable? Why aren’t they in all Bibles?

Today we’ll answer those questions in: Truth and History, Lesson Five: The Apocrypha: Overview and Historical Anchors (or in this case, lack thereof)

In our last lesson we looked at how the Old Testament is tied to real history and real geography.

This week we’ll look at the Apocrypha to see if it meets the same tests. We’ll look at what it is and how it came about.

As you’ll see it’s part of a bigger story that includes a history of the Septuagint—more than a scholarly term, this was the Bible of Jesus and Paul—a Greek translation of the Old Testament that was translated about the same time as the Apocrypha. But we can’t confuse the two because the Septuagint is a translation of the Old Testament from Hebrew to Greek and the books of the Apocrypha are not considered divinely inspired because the reasons we cover in the podcast.

Following are some slides that may help explain some of harder to understand terms in the podcast.

Truth and History, Lesson Four: Old Testament: Overview and Historical Anchors

December 30, 2018 by Yvon Prehn

After listening to our last podcast on the historical uniqueness of the Christian Bible….you may be thinking….. BIG CLAIMS there, but can you prove your theory?
Does secular history REALLY anchor the stories in the Bible in real history?

Not only does secular history anchor the stories in real history, but we have many exciting examples to share as I answer those questions today with Lesson #4: Old Testament: Overview and Historical Anchors

Following are some of the images I talked about in the podcast: