Cloudies with a Chance of Scripture

Given today's technology, pregnancy and childbirth are much more efficient than they once were. In today's podcast episode, we gaze into the world of the Ancient Near East and see that miscarriages and infant deaths were commonplace. We also see the cultural reasons as to why parents wanted children—and lots of them! Learning all of this helps us see the stories in the Bible a little more clearly.

God wasn't upset that human beings built a tall building. Modern archeology and Hebrew word studies reveal that there's a whole lot more going in the story of the Tower of Babel. Learn more in today's podcast episode.

Sometimes geography is known in numbers. There are 50 states. There are 7 continents. For the ancients, geography was seen in the number 70, which was the number of the nations that made up the world after the great flood of Noah's time. Why does this matter? Well, as we continue into the Bible we find very surprising theological messages being communicated over this number.

I've only heard one interpretation that makes sense of all the data when it comes to that strange episode of Noah passing out drunk and naked in his tent—and that interpretation is a bit odd.

In today's podcast episode, we see that as Noah gets off the Ark, the story of Eden repeats itself—but this time with a twist. It's not as glorious of a picture as the real Eden.

Noah's Ark is a famous story that many Christians have heard over and over again. But our modern minds want to know: Was it fact or legend? Working off of the book The Lost World of the Flood, I offer a conclusion that hybrids the two possibilities.

Genesis 5 briefly tells us about a man named Enoch who apparently didn’t die but was taken to be with God, while Genesis 6 briefly tells us about how the sons of God slept with the daughters of men and beget Nephilim/giants. In today’s podcast episode we take a deep look into these passages by expounding upon them with a later Jewish writing called, “The Book of Enoch,” in order to see what the Jews thought of this very strange story. While doing so, we see the New Testament surprisingly come alive with direct allusions to the “Book of Enoch,” that we never saw before.

Did Adam and Eve’s children have to procreate with one another to bring about humanity or does Genesis offer another picture? We cover this question in today’s podcast episode.

Many of us have grown up with an “inerrantist” view of the Bible that explains the Scriptures as perfect in every single way, down to the very last comma. But many who have taken the Bible seriously have come across many discrepancies that seem to say otherwise. What does this mean? Is it perfect? Or is it something else? In this podcast episode, I try to help us see the sacred Scriptures in the light of Godly inspiration and human hands.

It’s often been said that we can study the “Book of Nature” to learn about God. There’s a lot to this. But the Bible also gives us fair reason to be discerning while doing so.

Learn more about the Bible’s perception of Satan and spiritual warfare in

Redeeming Sex: Naked Conversations About Sexuality and Spirituality by Deb Hirsch.Theology in the Raw Podcast by Preston Sprinkle.Digital Leaders Forum by Center for Faith, Sexuality and Gender and Preston Sprinkle.

The Tree of Life that we find in Eden is an important symbol in the Bible and something that all Christians will partake in down the road. We dissect its meaning more in this episode of Cloudies with a Chance.

Today we focus on the fact that God rested after having made the world. And as we look closely into the culture of the Bible writers, we see the reasons as to why He rested and the importance of Sabbath and the presence of God.

God’s command to “Be Fruitful and Multiply” is often used by pastors to talk about the goodness of marital sex (which is all well and good), but this ignores the mission at play in the command. As it ends up, there’s a real reason for this command based on the fact that we are imagers of God, and so this command is still at play today in a way.

In this episode, Jamin sits down with fellow Free Methodist pastor and scientist/chemist/bio-physicist, Kevin Eccles, to talk about the Bible, evolution, science, and even some liturgy.

When it comes to taking care of the environment, many Christians seem to think that the world is eventually going to explode and be done away with. Therefore they wonder, "What's the point of taking care of it?" That question and more we address in this special episode of "Cloudies with a Chance of Scripture" with JXN Cloud's resident scientist, Erin Shott.

For more on this topic, see The Unseen Realm by Michael S. Heiser.

For a bit more on this topic check out Michael Pettem’s book, The Star of Bethlehem: Science, History, and Meaning.

You can learn a bit more on this topic in an excerpt from Jamin’s book, The Rush and the Rest.