Imagine you have been watching the dialog in John 8 unfold in a courtroom. The Bible loves courtroom metaphors by the way.

Jesus is defending himself. He is facing the jury, giving his closing testimony. God is in the Judges seat. Abraham is in the witness stand. And, oh yes, Satan is their in the courtroom too... he's at the prosecution desk, frantically taking notes.

This podcast picks up at that seen so you don't have to imagine it. We've recreated what could basically be Jesus closing testimony. Notes to Closing Arguments - John 8

Episode Link:

https://www.rabbitholesandmeditations.com/closing-arguments/

We spent some time in John 8 trying to understand the perspective of the Jews who were confronting Jesus. After much deliberation we arrived at a prison metaphor that helps explain it. I think it might be easier to imagine the image of prison than to describe it. "Prison" was comfortable for the Jews. They did not understand the difference between spiritual death and physical death. They did not think they were in prison. In their delusion, they were right where they needed to be.

Notes to Prison

Episode Link:

https://www.rabbitholesandmeditations.com/prison/

First of all, Merry Christmas!

Today, we walked through Biblical history to trace the prophecy from Eden to the Birth. Christmas is the day when Heaven came down. It truly is the most beautiful day in the history of mankind.

Where does the Christmas Tree come from? Or Santa and His Reindeer? Or the Elves? Buckle up - Here we go down another rabbit hole

There's an easter egg at the end... Just wanted to get that out early.

We are still in John Chapter 8. I had intended to finish this and, well, I made it to verse 32. TWO VERSES out of the 29 we wanted to cover. Is it any wonder that we call our podcast Rabbit Holes and Meditations?

I think it helps to explain how this content is generated.

Today, I have two verses and 47 pages of typed, formatted, organized notes. It's basically how I journal through scripture. I read what I want to study, then I sleep on it. That's nighttime prep. Then I get up early in the morning and open my bible and the Berean bible application we created for Bible Study. That's TWO WITNESSES: 1. The Berean App and 2. An actual Bible (plus me). I never trust the app without an open Bible. Nobody should in my opinion. AI can hallucinate! And while we have addressed that in the Berean application, we never want to fully rest on it as the final authoritative word. I even worry about digital Bibles. I think everyone should have at least 2 print copies, maybe in different translations. I just have this paranoid idea that if they wanted to, the digital copies could be changed, and you wouldn't even know it.

In any case, I never trust AI by itself and I'm learning to push back and challenge even the responses from the Berean Filter application we developed - usually to improve clarity... not necessarily to correct error. For me, it is a conversational tool to flush out my own thoughts. Sometimes I even have to tell the Berean app to shut up and let me talk! You can speak to AI without it taking offence. I actually said this in the conversation I was having with the Berean app: "I really wasn't asking for more clarification. I had something to add. You are acting like the know-it-all in the room that doesn't give anyone else a chance to speak.". The Berean app responded apologetically with Scripture! I thought that was cool: Proverbs 18:13 (KJV) “He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.”

Another response from the Berean filter came later: Thank you for pressing on that. That kind of correction keeps the discussion honest and biblical.

So, to the listeners of this Podcast. You are with me - Greg Newell - on a journey through scripture. We have a neat tool at our disposal that we call the Berean Filter: designed to make sure that we adhere to the word and interpret scripture with scripture. The point is that there is teamwork between a real human (Greg Newell), an application that accesses scripture incredibly fast and accurately, the Bible itself (of course) - God's inspiration, the Holy Spirit. We also have Google for the NotebookLM application turning thoughts into voices. Beyond that, we edit responses with Camtasia, fix audio as much as we can to make it both more accurate and a better listening experience and then publish on a podcast hosting application: Podbean and a website: www.rabbitholesandmeditations.com.

I just thought you all would be interested. Anyway... On to today's study. If you've ever watch X-Files, you know the line: And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Today's podcast is about Slavery and Freedom. Jesus is still talking to the Jews that seemed to believe Him. This is where I pushed back because I know where the story goes. And that took us down this rabbit hole.

Notes to Truth and Freedom

Episode Link:

As I continue to ponder John 8:21-30, my mind was connecting the meaning of all that we have discovered up to this point in our red-letter journey. Walking chronologically with Jesus through the gospels helps afford you the same maturity of thoughts and ideas that the disciples would have been going through. It's only fitting that each encounter feels more deeply meaningful.

I like to consider myself the 15th disciple. Matthias was the 13th replacing Judas. Paul, the 14th and the rest, you, me, everyone of Jesus followers become the 15th. It's kind of like the 19th hole on a golf course, but I digress. The point is that it's a shared expression that I don't consider my own.

In this section of scripture, Jesus is clear explaining that He is from above and they (the Jews) were from below. Not just here but in other places, Jesus says that the only way to "above" is through Him. If you abide in earthly systems, you gain earthly things. If you abide in Jesus, you gain heavenly things.

As you guys know, this is where I went off the tracks and started looking at "earthly systems". And of course, the big one right now is AI. As we approached discussions of reciprocal dependence of earthly systems. Thinking about that opened up the idea that the dependence on God is NOT reciprocal. God doesn't need you! That leads to the very definition of grace.

And so here we are and we are asking the question, what if man creates a system that is not dependent upon man. What happens? What does that look like? We call it BABEL

Behavioral

AI-driven

Black-box

Emergent

Lordship.

If you have read your bible, you know what it looks like, but we're going to bring it to the surface so it's much easier to identify.

Episode Link:

https://www.rabbitholesandmeditations.com/babel-%e2%80%93-behavioral-ai-driven-black-box-emergent-lordship/

We hinted at this podcast in our last discussion. Up to this point in the man's history, all earthly systems have a mutually dependent relationship. No matter what the system, if that is where you place your trust, your faith, then you are engaging in idolatry. You are trusting something of earthly origin more than you're trusting in your own Creator.

By contrast, your own creator, does not exist in that mutual, symbiotic relationship. You still depend on the Creator, whether you want to admit it or not. But He doesn't depend upon you. He created you for His purposes. For His glory. And that ultimately is your reason for existence, to bear God's name. You exist for the glory of God. We can do a deep dive on that at some point, but trust me for now, that is why you exist.

Now, fast-forward to 2025 and consider that man is on the verge of creating a system that does not depend on man to sustain itself. It can grow and learn and build and create. It can even improve itself, multiply and add new, completely new things never thought of. This thing looks like the dream of mankind. It promises the end of disease. The end even of death (at least that's the promise). Abundance and resources we never imagined. It promises all that mankind ever wanted.

Our intro into this deep dive is God's own response: Behold, they are one people, and they all have one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do; and nothing that they propose to do will be impossible for them.