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Episode 513: Guns Again & Learning to Read the Bible with Jo Saxton and BibleProject


Responses to the mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas, have continued, and there’s renewed hope for policy changes. This week, Jo Saxton joins Phil and Skye as a guest co-host to discuss a series of articles from African-American and global Christian leaders about the need to rethink both America’s gun policies and the American church’s gun culture.


Then, BibleProject co-founders, Jon Collins and Tim Mackie, talk with Skye about how their work has shifted from just teaching what’s in the Bible to teaching people how to read the Bible. Their new app and podcast series is designed to help us see the Bible as brilliant literature, and not just a depository of quick answers to life’s problems. Also this week, should we be concerned that more people are having wedding ceremonies to marry themselves?


Holy Post merchandise - https://www.holypost.com/shop


Getting Schooled by Kaitlyn Schiess: Political Theology 101 - https://www.patreon.com/posts/67787080/

BibleProject Patreon Bonus - https://www.patreon.com/posts/67787175/


News Segment

0:00 - Intro

4:10 - Sologamy??

13:49 - Guns in the home

20:39 - Guns and cars

26:00 - Global perspective on America’s gun culture

36:12 - Gun violence and the theology of evil

44:52 - Guns and church

54:44 - Holy Post Announcements


Interview with Jon Collins and Tim Mackie

BibleProject: bibleproject.com

57:09 - Jon Collins and Tim Mackie interview intro

1:00:26 - BibleProject shift toward how to read the Bible

1:06:39 - Bible literacy in America

1:19:38 - Literary beauty in the Bible

Articles mentioned in news segment:

“Sologamy: India woman’s plan to ‘marry herself’ sparks debate” - https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-61671032

“Injuries and deaths due to firearms in the home”https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9715182/

“What would it mean to treat guns the way we treat cars?” (Vox) - https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/23151852/gun-violence-cars-crashes-firearms-deaths-youth

“This Love of Guns: It’s Way Beyond Our Understanding” by Matthew Soerens (Christianity Today) - https://www.christianitytoday.com/better-samaritan/2022/june/this-love-of-guns-its-way-beyond-our-understanding.html

“What Supporters of Gun Rights Mean When They Talk About ‘Evil’” by Esau McCalley (NYT Opinion) - https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/10/opinion/mass-shooting-evil.html

“White Churches, It’s Time to Go Pro-Life on Guns” by Charlie Dates (Christianity Today) - https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2022/june-web-only/uvalde-school-shooting-chicago-go-pro-life-gun-violence.html





23 Comments


Adam Stephens
Adam Stephens
Oct 11, 2023

The Bible has nothing against guns, and this is one of the reasons why the US is arming itself so quickly. If you want to learn more about famous weapons in the United States, I recommend you read post https://www.agmglobalvision.com/the_famous_us_weapon. In it you will find a lot of interesting information about weapons and their role in the history of the United States.

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kdm137
Jun 22, 2022

Phil I love your podcast. You've challenged me in areas that I didn't realize I wasn't honoring God. However on the issue of gun control I think you're way off base. All the while talking about how to reduce gun violence by eliminating the guns themselves you danced around a real issue that needs to be addressed. You mentioned it several times in this particular podcast. Gun violence is on the rise. Maybe instead of banning guns we need to look at why gun violence is on the rise. For how many years did we have guns in our society with little or no violence? It wasn't that long ago when guns were brought to school not to murder people,…

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Jessica Kendal
Jessica Kendal
Jun 22, 2022

I love this podcast and am so grateful for the mix of subjects! Trying not to replicate other comments, but just want to contribute that as a 42-year-old single woman (never married), I've had quite a few discussions with single (women) friends recently about the emotional exhaustion of realizing there are no real celebrations for singles. You hit a certain point--ESPECIALLY in church communities--where you are constantly swimming in others' engagements, marriages, baby showers, anniversaries, etc., and for you there are...birthdays, which can feel more and more uncomfortable and sad as all the milestones pass you by! All of this is ironically compounded by the assumption that as Christians, we shouldn't want to draw any attention to ourselves, so we…

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claire
Jun 20, 2022

I am an avid Holy Post listener from Northern Ireland and I want to comment on a couple of current issues coming up on the show. Firstly, on the need for a gun to defend your family. I grew up here during The Troubles. My Dad lived in one of the most dangerous areas during the worst of the conflict. I went to school in the same area. I never heard anyone say they needed a gun to protect their family. Especially as Christians. We saw guns as the problem and not the solution. I would encourage American believers to look outside their own culture to other places and to be willing to listen and learn. For example, we have…

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Brian Howell
Brian Howell
Jun 18, 2022

The discussion of "sologamy" was interesting and you got right up to the point I (as an anthropologist) would bring out most in this. Humans use rituals to mark transitions, and weddings celebrate married folks as taking on a new place in society as a "family." We don't have any sort of recognized ritual to mark a transition to adulthood and to be recognized in society as an adult for single people. It's no surprise that the vast majority of the sologamists are women, as our marriage ritual is primarily about the transition of a woman (from her father's house to her husband's house, with a name change, and change of title (Miss to Mrs)). These things are all antiquated…

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