Tales from Sacred Texts

PLEASE MIGRATE TO @REDEMPTION ARC: https://bit.ly/rarc

Hungry for opportunity, our main character nervously plants himself in the very region he's been warned is a haven for unspeakable evil. Years later, he's so desensitized that he can barely see the cruelty all around him. Two mysterious visitors show up on his doorstep, desperate to make him aware of the danger before it's too late. In our discussion of the story, we talk about why tolerating oppression is a major threat to our spiritual life.

CONTENT WARNING:

Violence: 3/5

Consensual Sexual Contact: N/A

Sexual Assault: 5/5

Discrimination: 3/5

LINK AS PROMISED: http://tinyurl.com/k35c7x7x

THEME MUSIC CREDITS:

Intro Theme Music is "Carnival" by Roa.

"Roa - Carnival" is is under a Creative Commons (CC BY 3.0) license. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b... https://youtube.com/c/RoaMusic.

Closing Theme Music is "Joy of Travel" by Zakhar Valaha.

OTHER MUSIC CREDITS:

"Vadim Krakhmal - Runic Hills" is under a Creative Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0) license.

Music: Elektronomia - Collide Stream: https://spoti.fi/3nZ4A3y

Evoke Music

Tales From Sacred Texts will be rebooted as a new podcast, Redemption Arc, in lieu of a Season 4. It's a bittersweet announcement for me and I explain my reasoning in this short audio bite. Please find the trailer for Redemption Arc here:

SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/4HJB7Sm9JKWkLlo5f2Tjah?si=80165d9dd6814797

APPLE PODCASTS: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/redemption-arc/id1719030416

AUDIO CREDITS:

Intro music by Caleb Howard.

Closing music is by Evoke Music.

An ancient world ruler's dream sends the kingdom into upheaval as the king erratically decides that he's going to torture his soothsayers to death for no good reason at all. Daniel shows up at the last moment and lets the king know that his dream was actually prophetic—but the king HATES the interpretation. Of course, his reaction is to build a 90-foot tall middle finger to God. This supplemental sets the stage for our next episode, in which our heroes are thrust into the middle of this king's war against Yahweh. 

CONTENT WARNINGS:

Violence: 2/5

Sexuality: 0/5

Discriminatory Themes: 0/5

How much feet is too much when it comes to romance? Apparently, there's no limit to the number of feet needed to tell a love story. Ruth is an inspiring story of love and loyalty framed by an author that really can't seem to get his eyes out of the gutter or really anywhere past the shins. We see an unlikely romance blossom as two people that do their best to be the change in an uncompassionate society. But can the pair make it when they're confronted by the bizarre marriage laws?  

CONTENT WARNINGS: 

Violence: 1/5 

Sexuality: 3/5 

Discriminatory Themes: 1/5 

MUSIC CREDITS: 

"Vlad Gluschenko - Where No Man Has Set Foot" is is under a Creative Commons (CC BY 3.0) license. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b...Terms of Use: https://vladgluschenkomusi.wixsite.co...Music promoted by BreakingCopyright: https://youtu.be/wl9XAeeOUbA 

Forest by Vlad Gluschenko https://soundcloud.com/vgl9 Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported  — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/forest-vlad-gluschenko Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/OMjF_LLOiC0 

Music: Surf - Vlad Gluschenko https://soundcloud.com/vgl9/surf-free-download?si=0814611bb2d740d79685d63eefa10a5d&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing 

Music: Stomping Grounds - Silent Partner https://youtu.be/5zbKu_YbigY 

Track: 24 Happy Hours a Day — Igor Khainskyi [Audio Library Release] Music provided by Audio Library Plus Watch: https://youtu.be/mLyP3rqZe3UFree Download / Stream: https://alplus.io/24-happy-hours-day

A small-time prophet is ordered by God to warn a city full of brutal tyrants that their city is about to burn. Not wanting to be tortured to death, he tries to get as far away from the tyrannical city and ends up struggling with a whale and screaming about how a plant betrayed him. 

We finish David's story arc (pun intended) with his attempt to establish himself as King and bring the Ark of the Covenant to his new capital city. David faces intrigue from within, challenges from without, and way too many people murdering his enemies in cold blood. We'll watch David navigate the challenges of leadership as he finally sees the suffering of his youth pay off, and we'll find what happens just what happens when you a little too excited about that dance party with your subjects.

I briefly describe what my listeners can expect from Tales from Sacred Texts going forward and encourage everyone to check out this new season of my podcast.

The king of Israel brutally slaughters the priests of Yahweh, and we take a look back through time to figure out what led to such a horrifying event. We meet an ordinary boy who saves his countrymen and wins their hearts. He slowly transforms from a one-hit wonder to a brave and competent leader who the tyrant king sees as his greatest threat, with lots of heartwrenching or thrilling moments in between. But will he survive when the king determines that he needs to die?

When all seems lost for the Hebrews, overrun by fearsome and brutal enemies, a young upstart destroys a national monument in support of one of the regional gods and claims Yahweh has given him a command to overthrow the brutal oppressors. With 300 handpicked men, he does just that. Unfortunately, he faces obstacles when his own countrymen stand in his way.

Xanthippe discovers a new religion full of men that she fancies. The issue, of course, is that she's married. She tries to join the religion, but is hindered by her husband and demons of all sorts. When things finally get put back to (somewhat) right, and her husband joins the religion to hopefully get his wife back, a new danger emerges as a psychopath kidnaps Xanthippe's sister, Polyxena, and absconds with her on a ship crewed by demons. After managing to escape, Polyxena attempts to find a better method of protecting herself. She hears that if she is baptized, she gets an invulnerable shield, but she can't find anyone to baptize her. So she wanders around, making awful deals and meeting strange characters, until a fortuitous encounter brings everyone back together in the end. 

The two pilgrims, still trapped in Giant Despair's dungeon, make their desperate bid for freedom. They exploit his greatest weakness to get back on the path to the Celestial City, where they meet cryptic shepherds and demons dragging poor souls to hell kicking and screaming. After they cross the final obstacle and arrive at their journey's end, we discuss the story of Pilgrim's Progress as a whole--and what it means to us in our day. 

The Pilgrim encounters his latest challenge in the form of a court unlike any you will ever see where the judge and jury are overtly evil. Judge Hate-Good pronounces his sentence, a new character shows up and beats himself up for wanting to make a good financial investment, and the pilgrims stumble from one predicament into a far worse one as they encounter a sadistic character who leaves them nearly hopeless.

The Pilgrim ups the stakes of his Progress by fighting one demon, and then an entire valley of them. After making it through the gauntlet of demonic beings desperate to destroy him, the Pilgrim meets one last danger in an old man screeching threats through his remaining teeth. Catching up to his friend, he recounts his story, but learns to his dismay that his friend had a much easier time of it--but his friend is the one disappointed when he is warned that his good luck is up.

Watch anti-Semites get their comeuppance as the corrupt but somewhat incompetent Haman, who loves being worshipped and has it in for the Jews, makes a easily hateable villain as he meets his doom at the hands of the people who he tried to destroy. 

Two men believe that the church is corrupt and start preaching Jesus Christ. Unsurprisingly, the traditionalists don't like it, and order the two men tortured to death. The brave men refuse to give up their beliefs, choosing instead to suffer death. Little do the corrupt officials know that they have lit the fire that started the Protestant Reformation.

A oddly-dressed traveling prophet convinces Jehu to overthrow Ahab's dynasty, which he does with a combination of crazy driving, intimidation, trickery, and throwing a woman out a window. Jehu then suspiciously invites all of his enemies to a big event, but will he be able to pull off the Biblical version of the Red Wedding?

For all the stories from the Bible I've told and all the times I've mentioned that Christianity will lead to more happiness here on earth, I've never really explained what following Jesus means, in practical terms. I attempt to do so here today, and we'll find out just how simple it is to be a follower of Jesus and that there's no X-factor needed to secure your spot in Heaven.

A young son gets a bit overconfident in his ability to manage money and forces his dad to give him coin on the threat of death. We examine the love of a father as despite the son's horrific actions, the father still waits in the road for him to come home. But how will the rest of the family respond to the son's return?

A re-recording of one of my favorite episodes. We join Jesus and Peter on a rollicking journey from the Mount of Olives to Heaven to the depths of Hell and we find out the punishment that high priests get (hint: it's not what you think), about Jesus's basement torture chamber, and how ridiculous the punishments of hell are compared to the crimes. We leave with Peter significantly horrified with the unbiblical concept of eternally burning hell, and hopefully will leave the audience feeling the same way as Peter did. 

With Moses gone into the mountains to see Yahweh, the Hebrews freak out that he isn't coming back and feel like insulting Yahweh by making a new god is the best option in this situation. They make some questionable choices in presentation, and when Moses returns furious, they trip over themselves making dumb excuses and end up in the middle of a bloodbath. They add to their problems when they attempt to force Yahweh to send them low-quality meat for dinner instead of tasty manna.

We mention Jephthah's use of the word Shibboleth to identify fleeing members of a rival tribe. This supplemental explores in detail the use of similar words and catchphrases as passwords throughout time, particular with regards to the LGBTQ movement and Christianity. We'll learn a good phrase to incorporate into your everyday life, and which word to learn in every single language you can think of so you don't get slaughtered at a river crossing one day.

In this unusual episode, I will be taking a strong position on debunking Eternal Conscious Torment, the theory that sinners will be tormented forever and ever. It is unbiblical and [should be] horrifying to anyone who considers the possibility. Is God a sadist who loves to watch his creatures "turning and burning and roasting" for billions of years because they told a couple lies, or is he loving?--those two concepts can't coexist. Eternity is an unfathomable amount of time; can any reasonable God think eternal punishment for a mere 80 years of sin is somehow just and fair? The time it would take a bird to wear away a mountain with the tip of her beak is just a fraction of the time God is said to torment his children. Personally, I think that's one hell of a bird.

Give a self-absorbed man who only cares about booze and prostitutes superpowers during intense tribal warfare and see what happens! That's basically what happens in the book of Judges and SPOILERS: it goes very bad. We'll find out how the somehow even worse villains team up to stop this loose cannon from rampaging around the country and destroying everything in sight, and how he ends up redeeming himself in the end.

This is a reboot of the Tobit story because I sold the story so short the first time. Tobias quests for a wife and some cash aided by magical fish entrails, an angel companion who gives him advice on his love life, and his dog that doesn't come into the story at all and is only mentioned for the cute factor. But will he return in time to save his father, who has given up on life? Or will God grant the prayers of both his father and a totally unrelated girl plagued by demons, and let them both die?

Job's life becomes a nightmare overnight as mysterious tragedies happen one right after the other. Job bewails his misery, but is not aware that his problems are much bigger than himself. He has been caught up in the war raging between God and Satan, and Satan has made it his special mission to harass Job, because Job is just so good!

A man who spent three years of his life hanging out with God Himself decides to sell out. What brought him to this point? And if someone that close to Jesus wasn't safe from falling to temptation, what could happen to us?

There is unrest in the camp of Israel as there is a dispute about whether entering the Promised Land is safe. When a mob forms, God is forced to intervene, but a lot of people aren't happy with his actions and it creates a lot of unrest, leaving a power vacuum to be filled by Korah, the subject of the next episode.

Josephus saves his own life at the cost of his people and gets his name in a math textbook as a result. This episode examines the story and legacy of one of the most prolific and accurate ancient historians whom I have cited in previous episodes.

A feel-good story about a Jewish woman defeating evil and creepy invaders using a rather common trope about women. It's an attempt at a strong female lead, and we discuss whether or not the story achieved its goals.

A Hebrew outcast has a nefarious plan for an obese tyrant, and a young prince goes up single-handed against one of the biggest military machines of his day.