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Is Climate Change a Modern Crisis… or a Biblical Pattern? · Relish: a Christian podcast

• 0:00
  Do you think there is humor in the Bible? Oh, yeah. So where? Oh, yeah.
• 0:04
  I'm not sure you'll know what to say quite on this one, but...
• 0:08
  Uh-oh. What does the Bible say about climate change?
• 0:11
  We've had several games this year. I think some of us are viewing the refs as
• 0:15
  our enemy, rather than the other team.
• 0:18
  And if this gets out to refs, you know, confess your sins. Spateful and just...
• 0:27
  Relish. Pleasing or zestful flavor. A quantity just sufficient to flavor,
• 0:32
  to be pleased or gratified by, enjoy.
• 0:35
  We are hoping that what we bring to your table today might add some spice to your life.
• 0:42
  Welcome back to another episode of Relish. I am Roa Miller. This is Don Patterson. Don, how are you doing?
• 0:48
  I think I'm recovering. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Last question last time just
• 0:52
  sort of has me foootled, you know.
• 0:55
  And what was the question again? It was, what is a question about God?
• 0:59
  You still don't have the answer to.
• 1:02
  Yeah. Uh, and partially I have the answer, but it still frustrates me. Okay.
• 1:10
  Why it seems like when things are going so well, all of a sudden there has to
• 1:16
  be this, uh, that comes through, you know, everything moves right along and we're all happy.
• 1:22
  And then all of a sudden somebody dies, uh, experiencing a lot of victories.
• 1:28
  And then all of a sudden that heartfelt defeat.
• 1:34
  Family's going well and then all of a sudden this issue comes up and it just
• 1:39
  sort of breaks everything apart churches are going well and lots of things are
• 1:45
  happening and going well and then all of a sudden,
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  one question comes forth and it just changes everything,
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  and have you noticed how many times those things happen and you know,
• 2:01
  I want to ask God why.
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  And on the flip side, I think I know. It's not so much God doing,
• 2:10
  but God allows Satan to bring those things in on those moments that mess things up.
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  And I think about Job, you know, everything was going great for Job and he was good in God's eyes.
• 2:26
  And in fact, God's sort of proud of him. God was sort of proud of him.
• 2:30
  And, uh, and says, so Satan, you know, have you considered my servant?
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  And, and I'm, that's sort of my answer to, in my mind. So I still want to ask God, how's come?
• 2:42
  How's come, you know?
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  And, uh, how's coming leaves us to those times because it does seem like when
• 2:50
  things get going well, all of a sudden there's something comes in and changes
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  things quickly. And, uh.
• 3:00
  That's always been a problem. Yeah. Right. Frustration, if you will.
• 3:05
  Yeah. I think about Job, what I always think about is how we should be like Job,
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  not in the obvious sense that he was faithful through it all,
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  but the fact that the Lord was willing to put him to the test because he knew
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  his faith was so strong and he knew he wouldn't ever turn on him.
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  The problem is, I think God thinks my faith is stronger than I do.
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  Yeah and so i get
• 3:31
  to that spot and i say lord really do you think i'm ready for this i mean really
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  lord uh i i'm not sure i think i'm ready for this yeah and then then you know
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  in one way or another we have to prove our prove our our metal prove our strengths
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  uh prove the strength of our faith.
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  Otherwise, how would we grow?
• 3:57
  Yeah. I mean, James says, consider it pure joy when you endure trials of many
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  kinds because you know the testing of your faith develops perseverance.
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  Perseverance must finish its work to leave you mature, complete, not lacking anything.
• 4:12
  Well, like all of us are ready for that, right?
• 4:18
  Yeah put me to the test lord i'm ready lord no no that's not the case even so we will get tested,
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  right uh the the question then is in the midst of the test how do we look at it,
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  is this a defeat or is it victory and and uh i i choose to look at the test,
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  as an opportunity,
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  to declare victory.
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  I mean, otherwise, it's just defeat all over. And so, yeah.
• 5:02
  It's a question. I still want to ask God that question, because in the midst
• 5:07
  of that, somehow or another, he's allowing Satan that parameter to work in.
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  Or I've allowed it. There is that question as well. Maybe I've allowed it.
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  Are you ready for your question? I am now, yeah.
• 5:24
  And how could your unique life help you share faith with someone?
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  Unique life. See, how could your unique life help you share your faith with someone?
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  Can you believe, Rowan, that God shaped you like he did for a reason?
• 5:45
  Partially. Oh, come on. I mean, I do, but like, yeah.
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  Unique life. Yeah. I think at a private school where most everybody is a believer already,
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  then I'm not doing a ton of trying to make others believe or teach them about the Word necessarily.
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  We have conversations about it, of course, but I'm not helping mentor them into
• 6:20
  the process of becoming a believer so much.
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  But I think just God made me somewhat athletic and somewhat athletic in certain areas.
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  And so I think I've been able to connect with people through sports and outside
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  of school as well. Good. Yeah.
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  So every guy you rush and you knock down on the field, you still help up? Most of the time, yeah.
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  Sometimes I'm too out of, I'm just gassed. I'm just trying to survive out there.
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  But yeah, if I think about it, if it crosses my mind, then I do.
• 7:06
  Yeah, it's how you play the game. Right. Yeah.
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  That's what I enjoy about watching you guys play. is that the way you play a
• 7:15
  game, it's very, very, very competitive, but not so competitive that the other team is your enemy.
• 7:21
  Right. And that's good. Yeah.
• 7:24
  That's the way it should be done. Yeah. Yeah. I think several,
• 7:29
  we've had several games this year, I think some of us are viewing the refs as
• 7:33
  our enemy, rather than the other team.
• 7:37
  And if this gets out to refs, you know, confess your sins, It's faithful and just.
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  Sorry. Preach Don, go tell him. Go tell him.
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  Oh my. You never know where these end up. This video's end up.
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  So we need to cover that base as we go. Maybe, yeah.
• 8:01
  Um...
• 8:03
  Let's see. Do you think there is humor in the Bible? Oh, yeah. So where? Oh, yeah.
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  I think even Jesus was humorous. Okay. Talk about getting that camel through
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  the eye of the needle. I mean, really.
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  Get real. Like, that's going to happen?
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  And as I read through, well, even in that passage at the beginning,
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  because that individual calls Jesus righteous.
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  Righteous and jesus says well who's righteous
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  other than god himself it's almost as if wait a minute who do you think you
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  are who do you think i am yeah kind of thing and i i think you could almost
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  read that as if jesus was uh saying you know get real uh um who do you think i am and uh uh,
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  the fact that he, uh, goes with the, uh,
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  Oh, Zacchaeus.
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  I mean, isn't that funny? Little guy goes up tree and he says,
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  Oh, I'm having dinner with you.
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  And we wrote a funny little song about it too.
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  Yeah, that's, that's, that, uh, I'm not sure Jesus wrote the song,
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  but it's a funny little song about Zacchaeus. I mean, why?
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  Why the little guy in the tree does Jesus point out and say,
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  hey, yeah, I'm going to your house today?
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  There's several.
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  Okay. I was thinking.
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  Don't you, this is Matthew 7. Why don't you look at the speck in the brother's
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  eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own? Isn't that sort of an interesting illustration?
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  So the speck in an eye compared to a plank, how can you say to your brother,
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  let me take that speck out of your, let me take that speck out of your eye while
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  there's a plank in your own eye?
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  You hypocrite, take the plank out of your own eye and you'll see clearly to
• 10:00
  remove the speck from the brother's eye.
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  Then you go into that next one. You see that next one? Yep. Don't give dogs
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  what's sacred. Don't throw your pearls before pigs.
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  If you do, they'll trample them under the feet and turn and tear you into pieces.
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  Well, that's not exactly a beautiful thing, but it's sort of funny. Right. Yeah.
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  In fact, several of these are sort of funny.
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  You know? Yeah. He's giving illustrations, solid illustrations.
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  I think Jesus had a good sense of humor, probably better than any of us.
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  And he used it to his advantage.
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  I can't imagine him sitting in the, or speaking in the temple gates inside the
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  temple and talking to the Pharisees in chapter 23 of Matthew.
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  And woe to you Pharisees and teachers of the law. He might have been dead serious.
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  That's true, but can't tell.
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  He might have been humorous. Maybe that's how he got out alive that day.
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  Yeah, there were several occasions like that where he just somehow slipped out. Yeah. Yeah.
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  And if he met it sort of humorously, then it could have gotten by that day,
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  where otherwise he could have been hung on cross that very afternoon.
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  Because he's very pointed, almost to the point of, I mean, a comedian can get
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  by with things like that.
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  I just read an article not very long ago about how the king of France.
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  They were trying to tell him that he had lost his armada, the whole armada in
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  a skirmish and everybody was afraid to tell him that they lost their armada.
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  But the court gesture put it in the midst of a story and got the message to
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  the king that the whole armada had been destroyed.
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  And so sometimes the gesture can say things that the ambassador could not in
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  straight with a straight face say.
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  But the gesture could get the point across without getting.
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  Something. Yeah. Losing his head that day, you know, that kind of thing.
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  And so, I think Jesus often would have used humor.
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  Yeah. There's some other spots. I'm trying to think of other humor places. Yeah. And….
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  Whether humorous or not though he used allusions and illustrations yeah really
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  well to help us understand for sure for sure and of course when it's written
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  like it is written in the text,
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  the fact that the disciples were very clear to get his exact words down we see
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  that as we look at the harmony of the gospels that the writers were very serious
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  about jesus words they took it very,
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  they wanted to get the, as close as they could, the exact words. Yeah.
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  Being, honoring his words that much, they lost probably any inflection, humorous or sad.
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  We do get Jesus wept, so we know that he was sad at that point.
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  We just don't know exactly what was causing his sadness.
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  Yeah. In John chapter 11.
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  Yeah. Yeah. Good question. Good. Whoever had that question, that's a good question.
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  I'm sorry. I almost was stumped on that one.
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  Very close. I'm not sure you'll know what to say quite on this one,
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  but what does the Bible say about climate change?
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  Genesis 6.
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  I think the fact that we have Genesis 6,
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  we have also Genesis 11, you could say that it is in, especially in the book of Genesis.
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  I'm not sure we have it a lot of other places, except in the book of Revelation.
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  So we know about the flood, and that's a major shift.
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  It's a major shift in climate because at no point before chapter 6 is the event
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  called rain mentioned before that.
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  Okay. When we get to chapter six, notice it's not just rain that happens,
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  but it's actually that the waters come from below the earth up.
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  And it is not just from.
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  It's not just from we we often think of flood and we think of the flood being
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  rain because that's what happens in our time but uh,
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  when we go to you.
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  In the hundredth year, all the springs of the deep, notice in verse 11 of chapter 7,
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  it's the springs of the great deep burst forth, the floodgates of heaven,
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  that would be rain, were opened, and rain fell on the earth 40 days and 40 nights.
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  But it also, in addition to rain, it's water from the earth coming up.
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  And that's major climate shift.
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  Yeah. And that would be one of the things that, a shift in climate,
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  and then it also becomes a shift in how we approach the climate in chapter 9.
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  And then when you go into chapter 11, I believe it is, I'm looking here.
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  No here it is in chapter 10 excuse me uh there's a shift also in verse 25 of
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  chapter 10 two of the sons born of eber one was named peleg because in his time the earth was divided,
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  his brother was named jochem.
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  And then Peleg is mentioned in the next chapter.
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  So you have a Earth, a seismic shift, and this is believed to be where the continental shift happened.
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  So that, you know, one of the problems that's in the text is that if the flood
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  happened and all the animals were on one vessel, how did we get animals all over the world?
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  Well, that happened before the continents shifted apart.
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  And that can actually you can actually trace the species
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  from place to place that way and so all the species were in chapter six and
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  seven and then eight and then nine they start away from the ark and then in
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  chapter 10 after they've assimilated out the continent then the continents shift
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  and break apart and move.
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  Interesting. And, and, uh, Peleg, then it actually means fire.
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  So you can see it as a seismic event that would have, uh, shaped, uh, the world.
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  So when you talk about climate change, I'd say these three chapters probably,
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  uh, beget the biggest note that we have in the Bible of climate change.
• 18:03
  Yeah. Yeah.
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  And the fact that the deserts grew over time as well, it wasn't,
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  uh, there were places in the Bible that are now desert.
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  Nobody's at. Yeah. Yeah. Nobody'd want to be at.
• 18:24
  Nobody's living out there. Fertile Crescent, you know, where a lot of things
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  are, I mean, it's not fertile anymore. It's not that way. Yeah.
• 18:33
  Yeah. So that's a good question. Will there be climate change again?
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  Just look at the book of Revelation.
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  I mean, there's a lot of climate change in Revelation. It's the whole earth
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  changes in almost with each bowl,
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  almost with each, yeah, horseman, each bowl.
• 19:00
  Trying to think what the other is and the seals the earth changes in every one of those,
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  interesting so there's a lot of climate change a lot of uh changes to the earth
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  when you get into the book of revelation so look what we have to look forward
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  to you know well hopefully i'm believing that we're all gone by then and we're
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  raptured and don't have to worry about that,
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  hopefully that's just one of the preachers approach yeah
• 19:29
  all righty i think that about wraps
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  it up thank you don thank you roan thank you guys for joining us and big questions
• 19:38
  share it with somebody that would find it interesting so lord willing yeah i
• 19:43
  hope so friend that talks about climate change all the time so yeah showing
• 19:47
  those places yeah they're right there right there the Bible.
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  See, I've got it highlighted.
• 19:53
  Oh yeah. No, she got your old Bible today. I have my old Bible today.
• 19:57
  I decided I can't do without the notes.
• 20:01
  Might be more useful in this setting. Yeah. In this setting,
• 20:04
  I need that, my teaching Bible. Yeah. Right.
• 20:07
  Alrighty. Thank you guys for joining us and we'll see you next time. Lord willing.
• 20:11
  Thank you for joining us for this podcast. Feel free to become part of this
• 20:15
  ministry by sharing it with others.
• 20:16
  Our goal is to help each other grow deeper in our understanding of who God is
• 20:20
  and is calling to us in our daily lives.
• 20:22
  Thank you again for joining us and may God bless your day.