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What do you mean God speaks?
A series that reconstrues and retells key ideas, insights, and stories in Christianity for the skeptics who want to understand religion, Christians with questions about their own beliefs, and everyone in between. I am Paul Seungoh Chung, the author of "GOD"? What's That? and God at the Crossroads of Worldviews. I invite you to explore with me the world shared by 2.4 billion people--one that inspired our ideals, imaginations, and intellect, for better or for worse. (Note: I recommend listening to the episodes in order--from the first to the latest.)
Episodes
86 episodes
S4 Prologue: They were born in the desert
Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year! To celebrate(?), here is the trailer for Season 4 of "What do you mean, God speaks?"God awaits in the desertThe prologue, "They were born in the desert"...
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S4E1: Who were they before they were "Israel"?
The fourth Season opens to explore the question of the people of Israel described in Exodus. Who were they? What is the significance of their story, regarding their oppression and slavery? What remnants or echoes, if any, remain of their story ...
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S4E2: Why Moses heard God from a burning bush
It is an iconic scene in the Bible: God calls Moses from the burning bush. But, why the burning bush? After all, God can speak through an immeasurable number of things. It is because the bush that does not burn up, and the flam...
S4E3: What does the name "YHWH" mean, and why it matters
Consider what it means for things to have names. Names point to things, and at least to some extent, tells us what they are. But, what could possibly be the name of God? After all, it would need to "point to" all of <...
S4E4: How Moses learns God is speaking with him step-by-step
God that spoke to Moses is "Yahweh," unfolding everything around him. But, the question was: will reality unfold what this voice spoke to him? What if things go wrong? What if Moses was deluded, or mistaken, or deceived?How Mos...
S4E5: Why God hardened Pharaoh's heart and then punished him for it
One of the more perplexing and disturbing part of the Exodus account is when God hardens Pharaoh's heart so that he does not listen to Moses and let the people of Israel go. But then, God punishes him it by unfolding disasters--the plague...
S4E6: Divine Intervention or Natural Events? What the Plagues Meant
Were the plagues that struck Egypt in Exodus Divine intervention or natural events? This is a question that is raised by those who present natural explanation for these plagues. But, things that follow laws of nature are God speaking, just as t...
S4E7: Why God strikes every firstborn of Egypt - Plague and the Lamb 1
We’re back again for another episode! This is a kind of milestone for the series, as we cover a key narrative in Exodus—that of the final tenth plague, which connects to the Gospel account of Jesus Christ. And the question we must first wrestle...
S4E8: Why would a Lamb's blood save you? Plague and the Lamb II
What do we need to make a better world? In a world filled with the news of wars, injustices, human-made catastrophes, what do we need? In a world where our future seem so uncertain and bleak at times, even with all of the marvels we accomplishe...
S4E9: The Sea that God parts in Exodus is no mere "water"
We’ve now returned to start the second half of Season Four. We closed the first half at a key point, exploring the meaning of the blood of the Lamb in the final plague of Exodus, and we'll now begin with the parting of the Sea. Both, it turns o...
S4Extra2: Bathroom thoughts on science, belief, Galileo, prophecy, etc.
I'll be working on the book until end of April, and so in the meanwhile, more extra episodes! This episode, I discuss material that did not quite make it into a main episode. One is from Season Three on science and belief-correction...
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S4Extra1: "God is no more believable than UFOs?" - Publication Offer
We’re back! Sort of.First, this bonus episode is to announce an update and news. The first season of this series is being re-adapted(?) / rewritten as a book and will be published next year. If everything goes as scheduled. ...
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S4E10: Why we end up in the desert when God calls
After the Israelites escape the Egyptian army that pursued them, they find themselves in the desert. In one sense, this was expected since geographically and physically, Egypt was surrounded by the desert. Yet, the narratives in Exodus, just as...
S4Extra3: Book is finished! About its place in this series, and its preface
The manuscript of the book is complete and is now in the hands of the editors. It will still be around the end of this year at the earliest for it to be published, but my work--the writing part--is more or less finished! Thank you for your cont...
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S4E11: Why there is organized religion, according to Exodus
“Organized religion” seems to have a bad rep nowadays. It’s associated with authoritarian hierarchies, dogmatic beliefs and rigid rules. Many of us instead want to identify ourselves as simply “spiritual”; we want to be people connected with so...
S3 Trailer: "Those who wrestle with God" - A Monologue
Trailer for the upcoming Season 3 of "What do you mean God speaks?" Those who wrestle with God. The trailer : "Monologue of the children of Abraham" ...
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S3E1: (re) What do you mean, "There's no God"?
What does it mean to say, “There’s no God?” What it means for us today, to say, “there’s no God,” is quite different from what it meant for people living just several centuries ago, to say, “there’s no God.” That's becau...
S3 Prologue: What is faith?
A short prologue to the 3rd Season of What do you mean God speaks? - "Those who wrestle with God. 1st main episode of Season 3 is scheduled to go live next week. Music : "True Genesis" by Ten...
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S3E2: Is Abraham a "historical" figure? No... and Yes.
Abraham, Sarah, and their family--are they "historical" figures?The simple answer? No... and Yes. (Ok, so it's not a simple answer)Another answer is the actual title of this episode: "Historical in/significance of Abraham'...
S3E3: Why Genesis won't say -how- Abram heard God
The Genesis account of Abraham, Sarah, and their children, invites its readers to follow in their path, and continue their journey toward God. There's one, big problem: it doesn't tell us how to start. Their journey begins with G...
S3E4: How Abram learned Who was speaking to him
To hear God speak to you, is to be presented with truth; they are the same thing. And God speaking to you often begins with uncertainty, because we don't know whether what is being presented to us really is true.Abram ...
S3Extra1: Where this series is headed, and what it's been doing
The first extra episode for Season 3; the next main episode (S3E5) will go live early July. (update: there were more delays, so I couldn't complete the new episode by the end of June as I had originally planned. I apologize for the delay!)<...
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S3E5: Let's start thinking about the personality of God
For ages, people have ascribed personality to their deities. What was their reasoning? And what would be the personality of God that speaks forth all things? How should we start thinking about this? And what about Abram, Sarai, and thei...
S3E6: Why would you think that God is good?
Is God good? And if God is good, why are moral laws and commands in the Bible, sometimes not so good? And of course, why do bad things happen, if God is good?But, before we can ask those questions, we should've asked this more bas...
S3E7: Why do moral views change in the Bible?
Moral teachings in the Bible, especially in the Hebrew portion (the Christian Old Testament) pose a problem. There are rules and regulations that do not seem very important to us, while there are practices, such as slavery, God either seems to ...