Special Feature: Problematic Passages 2025 cover art

Special Feature: Problematic Passages 2025

Special Feature: Problematic Passages 2025

Listen for free

View show details

About this listen

What do you do when the Bible offends you? What do we do with seemingly problematic scriptures?

From stories of slavery and violence to verses about gender and judgment, many people wrestle with the Bible’s hardest passages. In this unabashedly honest and thought-provoking discussion, Lisa Fields sits down with Dr. Jo Vitale and Dr. Esau McCaulley to unpack the context behind the controversy — and explore how understanding history, culture, language, and God’s heart can turn confusion into clarity.

They confront:

  • Divine Justice: Reconciling God's goodness with commands for war and annihilation (e.g., 1 Samuel 15:3, Deuteronomy 20:16).
  • Slavery: Why the apostles instructed slaves to obey masters instead of condemning slavery outright.
  • Sexual Ethics: The New Testament's warnings regarding same-sex relations and exclusion from salvation.
  • Gender: Questions about women in leadership (1 Timothy 2) and ritual purity after childbirth (Leviticus 12:5).
  • Eternal Punishment: How Christians should understand hell.
  • Lot and Rahab: Wrestling with the problematic actions of figures called "righteous" or "faithful".

Recorded live at the Museum of the Bible, this conversation will challenge your assumptions and deepen your faith.

Subscribe for more conversations that help you know what you believe and why you believe it.

Support the mission and vision of Jude 3 Project here: https://www.jude3project.org/donate

Grab our curriculum here: https://www.jude3project.org

Take an online course that will help you know what you believe and why here: https://learn.jude3project.org/library/

No reviews yet
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.