77 episodes
What do you mean God speaks? Paul Seungoh Chung
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- Religion & Spirituality
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5.0 • 16 Ratings
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A series that reconstrues and retells key ideas, insights, and stories in Christianity for the skeptics who want to understand religion, Christians with questions about their own beliefs, and everyone in between. I am Paul Seungoh Chung, the author of God at the Crossroads of Worldviews, a university lecturer, and a pastor. I invite you to explore with me the world shared by 2.4 billion people--one that inspired our ideals, imaginations, and intellect, for better or for worse. (Note: I recommend listening to the episodes in order--from the first to the latest.)
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S4 Prologue: They were born in the desert
Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!
To celebrate(?), here is the trailer for Season 4 of "What do you mean, God speaks?"
God awaits in the desert
The prologue, "They were born in the desert"
Music : "Exodus" by Tenacious Orchestra - Licensed from PremiumBeat.com
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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whatdoyoumeangodspeaks/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Paul_Seungoh
website: https://whatdoyoumeangodspeaks.buzzsprout.com/
* Please review or rate this series on Apple Podcast and other platforms!
* You can financially support this show by clicking the "Support the Show" line above. -
S4E1: Who were they before they were "Israel"?
The fourth Season opens to explore the question of the people of Israel described in Exodus. Who were they? What is the significance of their story, regarding their oppression and slavery? What remnants or echoes, if any, remain of their story in the records and memory of ancient history, and what are their significance?
And where are we headed from here?
2:21 Biblical stories as "Myth that has become History"
14:43 Opening of Exodus and the oppression of Israel
19:45 Egypt and the Hyksos, the Shasu, and Israel
27:46 Who were the Hebrews, 'Apiru, and why this matters
35:03 The Slave Bible and Exodus story as timeless truth
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Support the show
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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whatdoyoumeangodspeaks/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Paul_Seungoh
website: https://whatdoyoumeangodspeaks.buzzsprout.com/
* Please review or rate this series on Apple Podcast and other platforms!
* You can financially support this show by clicking the "Support the Show" line above. -
S4E2: Why Moses heard God from a burning bush
It is an iconic scene in the Bible: God calls Moses from the burning bush. But, why the burning bush? After all, God can speak through an immeasurable number of things.
It is because the bush that does not burn up, and the flame that blazes, yet will not burn itself out, means something to Moses--and to us--which connects us to how God, speaking all of reality, can speak to human individuals in a powerful and personal way. We'll explore what that is in this episode.
(edit: Jan 30, added ~1 minute of content from 26:26, and revised sentences that were too long the final 5 minutes )
2:21 Moses is “born” twice – his birth narrative
8:28 Moses as a failed “Zorro / Batman”
16:51 Moses’s life before the Burning Bush
24:43 What was the fire, and "The Angel of the LORD"
32:33 What did the burning bush mean?
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Support the show
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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whatdoyoumeangodspeaks/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Paul_Seungoh
website: https://whatdoyoumeangodspeaks.buzzsprout.com/
* Please review or rate this series on Apple Podcast and other platforms!
* You can financially support this show by clicking the "Support the Show" line above. -
S4E3: What does the name "YHWH" mean, and why it matters
Consider what it means for things to have names. Names point to things, and at least to some extent, tells us what they are. But, what could possibly be the name of God? After all, it would need to "point to" all of reality as a whole.
According to the Bible, the name of God spoken to Moses is "I am that I am," which in turn is presented as the meaning of the Hebrew name of God, "Yahweh." This passage has fascinated theologians and philosophers, because of the concept of "Being" and "existence" that it presents. However, this meaning presents something more immediate to our lives; it points to our experience of reality that unfolds around us, and invites us to a journey to find out what will unfold in our lives.
3:59 What it means for God to speak from the burning bush
9:47 How Moses can know whether God really spoke to him
16:51 Why "miracles" God shows Moses is only the first step
23:07 What does it even mean to name God?
32:16 It / He Just IS, and what that means
37:30 Name of God calls us to see what reality unfolds
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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whatdoyoumeangodspeaks/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Paul_Seungoh
website: https://whatdoyoumeangodspeaks.buzzsprout.com/
* Please review or rate this series on Apple Podcast and other platforms!
* You can financially support this show by clicking the "Support the Show" line above. -
S4E4: How Moses learns God is speaking with him step-by-step
God that spoke to Moses is "Yahweh," unfolding everything around him. But, the question was: will reality unfold what this voice spoke to him? What if things go wrong? What if Moses was deluded, or mistaken, or deceived?
How Moses, and people who hear God speak to them, find out whether what they hear is true--whether God really is speaking with them--is actually a step-by-step process. Rarely do we make some heroic leap of faith, at least at the start. We embark on that journey, one step at a time. And sometimes, the first step can be very, very small.
But, the question that reality confronts us with--question that God asks--is "What will it take for you to take that step? And will you when that path opens before you? Whether we do or not separates people like Moses and those who aren't.
3:03 God's name points to reality unfolding around us
11:38 Wavering between following or ignoring God’s voice
17:47 What it means for anger of God to burn against you
24:00 The question is, what it make you take the next step?
31:48 Taking the next step when stakes go up
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Support the show
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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whatdoyoumeangodspeaks/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Paul_Seungoh
website: https://whatdoyoumeangodspeaks.buzzsprout.com/
* Please review or rate this series on Apple Podcast and other platforms!
* You can financially support this show by clicking the "Support the Show" line above. -
S4E5: Why God hardened Pharaoh's heart and then punished him for it
One of the more perplexing and disturbing part of the Exodus account is when God hardens Pharaoh's heart so that he does not listen to Moses and let the people of Israel go. But then, God punishes him it by unfolding disasters--the plagues--upon Egypt. But, this seems profoundly unjust! What is the idea that the Bible is presenting about God? That nothing we do matters?
However, it turns out that the message is in fact the exact opposite. There is something far more that is going on in this account. How Pharaoh's heart is hardened describes how we relate to reality, or fail to, what leads to that failure, and then locks us in.
3:12 Channels of truth available to the Pharaoh
14:18 What it means for the heart to be "hard" to truth
23:50 What actively "hardening one's heart" does to you
32:00 When God actually hardened Pharaoh's heart
34:20 What is really happening when God hardens the heart
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Support the show
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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whatdoyoumeangodspeaks/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Paul_Seungoh
website: https://whatdoyoumeangodspeaks.buzzsprout.com/
* Please review or rate this series on Apple Podcast and other platforms!
* You can financially support this show by clicking the "Support the Show" line above.
Customer Reviews
Treasure trove
How more people don't know about your podcast and its beneficial approach to viewing God is beyond me. This is a treasure trove.
Excellent!
This is a great philosophy of religion course, lots of fun, and accessible: any complicated terms are made simple, and there is a very helpful exploration of what some “simple” terms really mean now and meant through history.
Timely Discussion for Today
Every Generation needs the deep truths of Christianity reexplained so as to make its truths known, relevant, and powerful. Sadly there is so much misunderstanding out there with dangerous false caricatures. Thanks Paul Chung, these talks really make me think about God and Christianity in a fresh way, devoid of meaningless and unnecessary Christian/theological jargon; but instead spoken in a manner that today's (post-)modern, scientific, rationality-desiring groups of people can clearly understand.