Jonah Wrap Up: Bible Study by Atheists

[00:00:00] Welcome to Sacrilegious Discourse.

[00:00:01] For this is what the Sovereign Lord says!

[00:00:03] Why do you need prophets to tell people who you are and what you want?

[00:00:07] If you can justify everything that the God of the Bible has done, then you can justify any of your behavior.

[00:00:14] A lot of this mentality is trickling into what is now mainstream right-wing Christianity.

[00:00:20] I am capable of empathy greater than this God of the Bible.

[00:00:26] This is a Bible that they tell kids.

[00:00:29] This is the good Lord. This is the good book.

[00:00:32] He is fantasizing about murder. Mass murder.

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[00:02:53] Ben!

[00:02:56] Wife!

[00:02:57] Do you have any idea what we're doing today?

[00:03:01] Wait, we have a podcast?

[00:03:03] We do.

[00:03:03] We do a thing where we talk to people.

[00:03:06] Mm-hmm.

[00:03:06] And we were talking about something.

[00:03:08] I don't...

[00:03:08] What were we talking about?

[00:03:09] Jonah!

[00:03:10] Yeah, yeah.

[00:03:11] It's been a while.

[00:03:12] Sorry.

[00:03:12] Jonah!

[00:03:13] I had to remember because we've been sick for days.

[00:03:16] Yes.

[00:03:16] Like, yeah, I got sick, then you got sick, and...

[00:03:19] And we had different sicknesses.

[00:03:20] We had different sicknesses.

[00:03:21] It was so weird.

[00:03:22] It was not good.

[00:03:23] Yeah.

[00:03:23] It was just not a good scene.

[00:03:25] Not a good scene.

[00:03:26] It was not a good scene.

[00:03:27] Yeah.

[00:03:28] So, anyway, we're back now, though.

[00:03:29] We're back!

[00:03:30] And we're ready to finish up Jonah, finally.

[00:03:33] Yeah.

[00:03:34] We got...

[00:03:35] What do we got going on today?

[00:03:35] So, today we are covering the Q&A for chapters one through four, which happens to be the

[00:03:42] entire book of Jonah.

[00:03:43] So, it's also a wrap-up of Jonah.

[00:03:47] Got it.

[00:03:47] So, we're covering it all today.

[00:03:49] Well, almost all because there's one more episode of Jonah left, which will be contradictions

[00:03:54] and you're always wrong and a pop quiz.

[00:03:58] Right, right.

[00:03:59] I meant we're covering the entire book today.

[00:04:02] Yes.

[00:04:02] With the Q&A and the wrap-up.

[00:04:03] Yes.

[00:04:03] Okay.

[00:04:04] Yes.

[00:04:04] You ready to get into this?

[00:04:05] Sure as fuck am.

[00:04:06] Let's do it.

[00:04:07] Okie dokie.

[00:04:13] Alright, are you ready for this wrap-up?

[00:04:15] I am ready for this wrap-up.

[00:04:17] Okay, well, I normally read off of my phone, but this is several pages worth.

[00:04:21] It is, yeah.

[00:04:22] So, I printed it in case my phone dies.

[00:04:24] Well, that was the other delay, right?

[00:04:25] Yeah.

[00:04:26] Like, I kept asking you for like three days, like, are you done with this episode yet?

[00:04:29] And you kept saying, what's the problem?

[00:04:31] And I was like, it's a Q&A and a wrap-up.

[00:04:33] Yeah, but there had to be more.

[00:04:35] So, there's so much.

[00:04:35] You've done bigger sections.

[00:04:37] But I told you that there was so much about this guy.

[00:04:39] Yeah, no, that's what I was getting to.

[00:04:41] Like, there's a lot about Jonah.

[00:04:43] Yeah.

[00:04:43] There's a lot to talk about.

[00:04:44] I mean, so much Jonah.

[00:04:46] Here's the thing.

[00:04:47] It's not, in my opinion, that there's a lot to talk about.

[00:04:51] Like, there's a whole discussion about the fucking plant.

[00:04:54] Right.

[00:04:54] It's not that there's a lot to talk about.

[00:04:56] It's that people decided to talk a lot about it.

[00:05:00] People like Jonah.

[00:05:00] And they had to suss through it.

[00:05:01] Jonah's a popular dude.

[00:05:03] Ugh, and how.

[00:05:04] Yeah.

[00:05:04] All right, so let's get into this.

[00:05:06] Ready?

[00:05:06] I'm ready.

[00:05:07] Okay, so, chapter one.

[00:05:09] No, actually, let's just talk about Jonah for a minute himself.

[00:05:12] Okay.

[00:05:13] Before we get into the chapters.

[00:05:14] Sure.

[00:05:14] Okay.

[00:05:15] So, this is about Jonah's disobedience and its results.

[00:05:20] Yeah.

[00:05:20] Okay, Jonah flees from the Lord.

[00:05:22] Sure.

[00:05:22] Right?

[00:05:22] But like I said, let's talk about Jonah for a minute.

[00:05:24] Okay.

[00:05:25] So, Jonah came from a town later known as Galilee.

[00:05:28] And that's as defined in 2 Kings chapter 14, verse 25.

[00:05:33] Okay.

[00:05:34] When they were like, hey, that guy Jonah was a prophet.

[00:05:37] I don't even remember, but they did mention him in 2 Kings.

[00:05:41] Okay?

[00:05:41] Well, I thought that when you read this in the intro to Jonah, I thought you said that

[00:05:47] it's believed that it might be the same Jonah.

[00:05:50] Well, we are pretty sure it is because they mentioned his father in both places.

[00:05:56] Okay.

[00:05:56] That's fair.

[00:05:57] That's fair.

[00:05:58] They're like probably the same dude.

[00:05:59] Okay.

[00:06:00] All right.

[00:06:00] Okay.

[00:06:01] So, there's a few other things.

[00:06:02] So, anyway, he came from a town that was later known as Galilee, as mentioned in 2 Kings,

[00:06:07] which places Jonah as one of the few prophets to come from the northern kingdom of Israel.

[00:06:13] That is significant and odd.

[00:06:16] It is.

[00:06:16] Yeah.

[00:06:16] And that's worth mentioning.

[00:06:18] Right.

[00:06:18] The kingdom of Israel had split in half, as we know, after King Solomon's reign and wicked

[00:06:24] kings ruled the northern kingdom until Assyria, which is what this is about.

[00:06:28] Yeah.

[00:06:29] Took the northern kingdom into captivity in 722 BCE.

[00:06:34] Sure.

[00:06:35] Okay.

[00:06:35] And I'm just trying to put this all into context since he was mentioned early on, but we're

[00:06:39] talking about him later.

[00:06:41] And, you know, just because the chapter comes later doesn't mean that's where he sits in the

[00:06:45] chronology, blah, blah, blah.

[00:06:47] Right.

[00:06:47] You know, it's all confusing.

[00:06:48] Yeah.

[00:06:49] So, Jonah was from Gath Heifer in the tribe of Zebulon in lower Galilee.

[00:06:55] And that is per Joshua chapter 19 verses 10 through 13.

[00:06:59] Okay.

[00:06:59] And I was like, why do we know that he was in the tribe of Zebulon?

[00:07:04] So, I had to go track that down because that was never mentioned in either place.

[00:07:08] Right.

[00:07:08] So, I'm like, what do you mean?

[00:07:10] Yeah.

[00:07:10] But Canaan was divided by lot.

[00:07:13] And again, that was in Joshua chapter 19.

[00:07:16] And the territories were allotted to the tribes.

[00:07:19] So, verses 10, 11, 12, and 13 of Joshua chapter 19.

[00:07:25] Okay.

[00:07:25] I'm going to read those real quick.

[00:07:26] The third lot came up for Zebulon according to its clans.

[00:07:30] The boundary of their inheritance went as far as Sarid.

[00:07:33] Going west, it ran to Marla, not Mar-a-Lago.

[00:07:40] And then, it came out at Ramon and turned toward Nia.

[00:08:04] Got it.

[00:08:05] So, we just know because of how it was broken up in that chapter that this is where he lived.

[00:08:09] So, he was part of his tribe probably.

[00:08:11] And yada, yada, yada.

[00:08:11] But I forget sometimes how it all comes together.

[00:08:15] Sure.

[00:08:15] And I can't be the only one.

[00:08:17] So, that's why I wanted to go back and be like, wait, how do we know that?

[00:08:20] You would have to live the Bible to know all these fucking, you know, ins and outs of everything.

[00:08:24] Right.

[00:08:24] I mean, I'm sure that there are very well-versed people, much better than us, that know the Bible very well and still struggle with all the connections.

[00:08:33] Yeah.

[00:08:33] Because it's so intricate.

[00:08:35] There's too much information.

[00:08:37] Yeah.

[00:08:37] Honestly.

[00:08:37] I mean, I could imagine filling an entire, like, you know, room with just like graphs and charts.

[00:08:44] Yeah.

[00:08:44] And, you know, Venn diagrams and whatever.

[00:08:47] And, you know.

[00:08:48] Look.

[00:08:48] I know more about Anne Rice's Mayfair witches and vampires.

[00:08:53] Yeah.

[00:08:54] Like the vampire Lestat.

[00:08:56] Right, right.

[00:08:56] You know, all them guys.

[00:08:57] Yeah.

[00:08:57] Than I do about the Bible.

[00:08:59] Yeah.

[00:08:59] Because, and that's a lot of information.

[00:09:02] I don't know if you're aware of the Mayfair witches and the vampire chronicles, but there's a ton of those guys.

[00:09:08] Like, there's a whole history.

[00:09:09] Yeah, I have no idea what you're talking about, really.

[00:09:11] Okay.

[00:09:11] Well, I mean, anybody who knows Anne Rice knows what I'm talking about.

[00:09:16] Yeah.

[00:09:16] Her characters have.

[00:09:17] She did an interview with a vampire, right?

[00:09:18] Yeah.

[00:09:19] Yeah.

[00:09:19] Yeah.

[00:09:19] That's like the extent of my knowledge.

[00:09:21] Yeah.

[00:09:21] Well, there's, there's like history of each character and like how each one comes to the next one.

[00:09:27] Got it.

[00:09:28] And it's just a lot.

[00:09:30] And so if you understand that and how intricate that is, then you get why I'm like, what the fuck with all this Bible-y stuff.

[00:09:38] Right, right.

[00:09:39] Okay.

[00:09:39] So, Joshua prophecy during the reigns of Jeroboam II and Joash, kings of Israel, which places him roughly in the 782 to 753 BCE timeline.

[00:09:52] Okay.

[00:09:53] Okay.

[00:09:53] Right.

[00:09:53] If we analyze historical events, we can see he dies shortly before the Assyrians take over the northern kingdom of Israel, especially with Tiglath-Pilesar establishing Assyrian dominance in about 745 to 727 BCE.

[00:10:10] Yeah.

[00:10:10] Shortly after Jonah's death.

[00:10:12] Did you look up, just out of curiosity, did the Assyrians take over his hometown or the, did they take over Nineveh?

[00:10:20] I don't know.

[00:10:22] Because that would matter, wouldn't it, right?

[00:10:23] Like he was, he just saved them.

[00:10:25] They all just repented.

[00:10:26] Oh, I did.

[00:10:27] And God saved them.

[00:10:27] I did.

[00:10:28] They, they did turn away.

[00:10:32] They did?

[00:10:33] They did.

[00:10:33] They repented briefly and then they turned away.

[00:10:35] Okay.

[00:10:36] Later on.

[00:10:36] Yes.

[00:10:37] And I believe we've already actually read some of that.

[00:10:40] Okay.

[00:10:41] All right.

[00:10:41] So yeah, I did, I did come across that.

[00:10:45] Um, he thus was one of the first writing prophets after Joel and next to Hosea and Amos.

[00:10:53] Okay.

[00:10:53] He would have been a contemporary of Amos though.

[00:10:57] Um, unlike Amos though, and many other prophets who spoke to the Israelite people, God had a different audience in mind, which is very interesting.

[00:11:06] Okay.

[00:11:07] Um, it, what am I saying?

[00:11:10] Oh, it was the very same kingdom who would ransack the Northern kingdom of Israel, Jonah's home decades later, the Assyrians.

[00:11:19] Got it.

[00:11:19] So that's what I was getting to.

[00:11:21] Okay.

[00:11:22] Yeah.

[00:11:22] Yeah.

[00:11:22] Yeah.

[00:11:23] Um, this story is for them and about them, even though later on they turn away from God.

[00:11:32] Yeah.

[00:11:33] But it's also weird because they're not God's people, but God, um, like reached out to them via Jonah and was like, you can be my people too.

[00:11:44] If you want repent.

[00:11:45] And then for a minute they did.

[00:11:47] Got it.

[00:11:48] Okay.

[00:11:48] So that's what makes this book so fucking weird.

[00:11:51] Huh?

[00:11:52] Assyria was the mightiest empire of the East at the time of Jonah, the capital of Assyria was the old Nineveh, which had already been rebuilt.

[00:12:01] I'm sorry, been built by Nimrod together with Rehoboath, uh, Resim and Kala.

[00:12:08] So wait, I, let me, let me get this straight.

[00:12:10] He was preaching in Assyrian territory.

[00:12:12] Yes.

[00:12:13] And that's why he did not want to go.

[00:12:15] He was like, fuck that weird.

[00:12:18] Yeah.

[00:12:18] God was sending him into enemy territory.

[00:12:21] Okay.

[00:12:22] And they just laid over and said, yeah, God's five minutes.

[00:12:26] They, they all 100% one, two, three, go.

[00:12:31] We're like, yeah, that tracks.

[00:12:32] Let's all put on set cloth.

[00:12:33] Okay.

[00:12:34] Yeah.

[00:12:34] That's, that's the whole point of this book that we missed because we didn't understand what was happening.

[00:12:40] Yeah.

[00:12:41] No, I, I, yeah.

[00:12:42] Right.

[00:12:42] That's really interesting.

[00:12:44] Yeah.

[00:12:45] And that, that's part of why I was like taking a while because I was like, wait, what?

[00:12:49] Yeah.

[00:12:50] He was going into enemy territory.

[00:12:52] Okay.

[00:12:52] And he was like, fuck that.

[00:12:54] No thanks.

[00:12:55] Right.

[00:12:56] He commanded Jonah to go and warn the sinful people of Nineveh, the capital of the Syrian empire.

[00:13:03] Mm-hmm.

[00:13:03] And one of the most ancient cities of the world per Genesis chapter 10, verses eight through 12.

[00:13:10] I'm going to read that real quick.

[00:13:11] Descendants of the sons of Noah.

[00:13:13] Cush was the father of Nimrod who became a mighty warrior on the earth.

[00:13:17] He was a mighty hunter before the Lord.

[00:13:20] That is why it is said like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord.

[00:13:23] Mm-hmm.

[00:13:24] The first centers of his kingdom were Babylon, Yurik, Akkad, and Kalna in Shinar.

[00:13:29] From that land, he went to Assyria where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth, Ir, and Kalna and Rezin, which is between Nineveh and Kalna, which is the great city.

[00:13:47] Okay.

[00:14:17] Sure.

[00:14:19] I mean, it's like a cent over there, but like, no.

[00:14:20] The whole, knowing that everything else, we're like, oh, no, no, that didn't happen.

[00:14:25] Right.

[00:14:25] No, this was all just fabricated bullshit.

[00:14:28] Yeah, definitely.

[00:14:29] I mean, it doesn't make any sense in context.

[00:14:33] Right.

[00:14:33] Yeah.

[00:14:34] Like, once you understand, like, first it's confusing because what the fuck is happening?

[00:14:38] Then you put it in context and you're still like, oh, I understand what's happening, but what the fuck?

[00:14:44] Nuh-uh.

[00:14:45] Right.

[00:14:45] I mean, it just gets taken too far, right?

[00:14:48] Right.

[00:14:48] Like, the fish.

[00:14:49] Yeah.

[00:14:50] The coming back out of the fish.

[00:14:51] They're going to the enemy and preaching and then winning that preaching battle.

[00:14:56] Yeah.

[00:14:56] Like, nothing about this is correct or believable.

[00:15:02] Believable, correct.

[00:15:02] Even a little bit.

[00:15:04] Yeah, it's all wrong.

[00:15:05] Yeah.

[00:15:06] The only prophetic message that Jonah announced was the one about the coming judgment over Nineveh.

[00:15:12] Jonah is, therefore, the only prophet in the Old Testament revealing the grace of God towards the heathen.

[00:15:19] Right.

[00:15:20] It strikes me also that there's more grace of God towards the enemy in the entire Old Testament thus far than to any of his own people.

[00:15:29] Yeah, definitely.

[00:15:30] Like, this is crazy, right?

[00:15:31] Like, of all the people, according to this story, God has shown more grace and forgiveness to this group because they chose to wear sackcloth and repent, right?

[00:15:42] Yeah.

[00:15:42] Than he did to any of his fucking people.

[00:15:44] Exactly.

[00:15:45] Yeah.

[00:15:46] And in fact, he sent those same people that had repented to him to conquer his people.

[00:15:51] Yeah.

[00:15:51] Yeah.

[00:15:52] Which, maybe this is a justification.

[00:15:54] Like, maybe they use this as a justification as to why the Assyrians were allowed to conquer part of his land.

[00:15:59] Probably, since it was like tacked on at the end, right?

[00:16:02] No, it feels a little bit like that.

[00:16:04] Like, hey, why were the Assyrians allowed to conquer?

[00:16:07] Yeah.

[00:16:08] Oh, because they had repented for five minutes.

[00:16:11] Okay.

[00:16:12] Oh, that makes sense.

[00:16:13] And there was this big fish.

[00:16:14] Yeah.

[00:16:15] Just read about it.

[00:16:16] It's in there.

[00:16:17] So Jonah was to warn the Assyrians of God's coming judgment.

[00:16:21] Jonah not only refused, but fled in the opposite direction.

[00:16:25] Right.

[00:16:26] Why did he flee?

[00:16:27] For one thing, Jonah had every reason to expect that at the very best, best case scenario, he would be mocked and treated as a fool.

[00:16:36] But worse, he might be attacked and killed if he did what the Lord told him to do.

[00:16:41] Well, yeah, you're going into enemy territory.

[00:16:43] So, keep in mind that the Assyrians did exercise rather violent practices.

[00:16:49] Sure.

[00:16:49] Such as flaying their victims alive and leaving them in the sun to die in the heat.

[00:16:55] Jesus.

[00:16:55] And putting hooks in the noses of their prisoners.

[00:16:58] Yeah, I wouldn't want to go there either.

[00:16:59] Yeah.

[00:17:00] So, I have a lot more sympathy for Jonah going hell to the nose.

[00:17:04] No.

[00:17:05] And we know that at this specific time in history, because we just talked about it in the intro here, that the Assyrians were getting ready to conquer the northern tribes of Israel at that point in time.

[00:17:15] Yep.

[00:17:16] Yep.

[00:17:16] So, this guy, like part of that, the story makes a little bit more sense where he's sitting out there pissed off.

[00:17:21] Right?

[00:17:22] Yes.

[00:17:22] Because he's like, God damn it.

[00:17:23] These people just listened and capitulated to God.

[00:17:26] And now they're going to come conquer my people.

[00:17:28] Yeah.

[00:17:28] Like this is, what the fuck man?

[00:17:29] This is bullshit.

[00:17:30] Yeah.

[00:17:31] Like I would almost call that a, he's angry at God section.

[00:17:34] It was.

[00:17:35] Right?

[00:17:35] Yeah.

[00:17:35] Which is completely different than how I took it because I didn't quite understand.

[00:17:40] Yeah.

[00:17:40] Same.

[00:17:41] Exactly what was going on.

[00:17:42] Which is the context of everything, knowing the ins and outs.

[00:17:46] Yeah.

[00:17:46] Yeah.

[00:17:47] So, he may have considered that God was geographically tied to Judea is another reason.

[00:17:53] So, he thought that if he got out of the land of Judea, the Lord would most probably appoint some other prophet to carry the message.

[00:18:00] So, he's like, if I just leave, he'll assign it to somebody else because I'm out of his realm of control.

[00:18:06] Yeah.

[00:18:06] That makes sense, actually.

[00:18:07] Yeah.

[00:18:08] Like, I mean, there's, gods were very regional.

[00:18:11] Yes.

[00:18:11] Especially earlier on.

[00:18:12] So, I mean, that's solid logic in my mind.

[00:18:14] Right.

[00:18:14] Yeah.

[00:18:15] Okay.

[00:18:15] Another thing is Jonah didn't want the Assyrians in Nineveh to escape God's judgment.

[00:18:21] Imagine, okay, and I really appreciated this analogy.

[00:18:26] Yeah.

[00:18:26] Okay.

[00:18:26] Imagine a Jewish man in New York during World War II hearing God say, I'm going to bring terrible judgment on Germany.

[00:18:34] I want you to go to Berlin and tell Nazi Germany to repent.

[00:18:38] Right.

[00:18:39] Instead of doing it, the man heads for San Francisco and then gets on a boat for Hong Kong heading as far the opposite direction as possible.

[00:18:45] Yeah.

[00:18:46] As you would.

[00:18:48] Yeah.

[00:18:48] Exactly.

[00:18:49] He's like, hell to the no, I'm not going over there.

[00:18:51] Yeah.

[00:18:51] Yeah.

[00:18:51] I really appreciated, like, I wouldn't call it like a modern day because it's not today today.

[00:18:56] But it's related.

[00:18:57] Yeah.

[00:18:57] Right.

[00:18:58] I don't understand why a Jewish person in New York would not want to go to Nazi Germany during World War II.

[00:19:06] Right.

[00:19:07] Or right on the eve of.

[00:19:08] Honestly, if, you know, we speak about God in canon a lot, right?

[00:19:12] Mm-hmm.

[00:19:13] If God in canon were real, this is an asshole fucking move.

[00:19:18] Yeah.

[00:19:18] You're asking this guy to go grant them forgiveness and then God is going to grant them the ability to conquer his own people.

[00:19:28] Yeah.

[00:19:30] That's fucked up.

[00:19:31] But have faith in me, though.

[00:19:33] But why?

[00:19:33] But why?

[00:19:34] Like, that's why he's.

[00:19:35] Yeah.

[00:19:35] I empathize with why he's so fucking depressed at the end.

[00:19:39] Yeah.

[00:19:40] Yeah.

[00:19:40] Like, fuck you.

[00:19:41] Like, fuck you, God.

[00:19:42] He's honestly like, what the hell did I just do?

[00:19:45] What did you just have me do?

[00:19:46] Right.

[00:19:46] I don't understand.

[00:19:47] That's a fucked up situation.

[00:19:50] Right?

[00:19:51] And the ending does not leave you feeling better, you know?

[00:19:54] Right.

[00:19:55] And all I ever knew about the story was he got swallowed by a fucking fish.

[00:19:58] Exactly.

[00:19:59] Right?

[00:19:59] Like, that's the whole extent of it.

[00:20:01] Right.

[00:20:01] And, you know, probably prayed to God and God, you know, got him out of the fucking fish.

[00:20:04] Right.

[00:20:05] That's all I knew about this.

[00:20:06] Same.

[00:20:07] Same.

[00:20:07] So, like, this is actually pretty crazy.

[00:20:10] I wish I had known more as we were reading through because, like, I really didn't understand this.

[00:20:15] Right.

[00:20:15] Same.

[00:20:15] Same.

[00:20:16] So, I'm really appreciating this because I did not know.

[00:20:19] Right.

[00:20:20] Like, Q&A answered, you know?

[00:20:22] Right.

[00:20:22] Yeah.

[00:20:23] Like, questions answered.

[00:20:24] Yeah.

[00:20:24] Yeah.

[00:20:25] So, Jonah boarded a ship and headed for the distant Mediterranean port of Tarshish, a city thought to be toward the end of the earth, somewhere in the region of Spain.

[00:20:34] He was like, I'm out.

[00:20:36] Bye.

[00:20:36] Bye.

[00:20:37] But God determined to bring Jonah back.

[00:20:39] His first action was to send a fierce storm that threatened to sink the ship.

[00:20:43] Yeah.

[00:20:43] The seamen, who were not Hebrews, prayed to their gods to save them and tried to persuade Jonah to pray to his.

[00:20:52] Sure.

[00:20:52] As they did.

[00:20:54] As people with gods do, I guess.

[00:20:55] Yeah.

[00:20:55] On seeing that their prayers brought no results, the seamen concluded that the storm must have been a supernatural punishment upon someone on the ship.

[00:21:04] When they drew lots to identify the guilty person, the lot indicated Jonah.

[00:21:09] So, they can't agree on gods, but they can agree that lots solved the problem.

[00:21:13] I mean, it's like right before your eyes, this happened.

[00:21:17] Right.

[00:21:18] There's no argument.

[00:21:18] They drew lots to figure out who caused it.

[00:21:21] Yeah.

[00:21:22] It's fucking random.

[00:21:23] That's random.

[00:21:24] Right.

[00:21:24] But it's something that they can all see with their own eyes and agree on.

[00:21:28] Sometimes just the logic of humanity just worries me.

[00:21:31] Oh, no.

[00:21:32] Same.

[00:21:32] Same.

[00:21:33] I'm not saying that, like, I understand them.

[00:21:35] I'm saying I understand how they reached their really, really imbecilic kindergarten conclusion.

[00:21:41] Right.

[00:21:41] But, like, my first thought, right, is you've got a bunch of different people with different gods all on one ship, right?

[00:21:46] Yeah.

[00:21:46] And you're drawing lots to figure out who's the guilty party here.

[00:21:51] And if you believe in all these gods individually, right, you believe that your god has more power than other gods, right?

[00:21:58] So, how do you trust the outcome of any fucking lot drawing when there's all these gods that could influence the fucking drawing?

[00:22:04] Because all the strongest god, either all the gods got together and that's what happened, or the strongest god, which would therefore make him the truest god, made that happen.

[00:22:17] Okay.

[00:22:17] The answer is trustworthy because it's either the agreement of the gods or the truest and not strongest god.

[00:22:22] They could agree that everybody had different gods, but they all also agreed that the gods or god that was whatever in charge or doing something would ultimately influence the lot drawing.

[00:22:33] Yes.

[00:22:34] Okay.

[00:22:35] All right.

[00:22:36] And they didn't say, each of them, that mine is the only god that exists.

[00:22:42] They all agreed that other gods exist.

[00:22:46] I have a question, though.

[00:22:47] Yeah?

[00:22:48] If that's the case, why does religion frown so much on gambling?

[00:22:53] That I couldn't tell you.

[00:22:54] I'm saying, if gods or god or a god or the god influence lot drawing, right, then it would stand to reason that whoever wins at gambling is righteous.

[00:23:07] Yeah.

[00:23:08] Right?

[00:23:09] I mean, you know what I mean?

[00:23:09] Why?

[00:23:10] I was just drawing lots on the fucking roulette wheel.

[00:23:12] Yeah, exactly.

[00:23:14] Played the cards.

[00:23:15] Played the bones.

[00:23:16] It just occurred to me as I was sitting there.

[00:23:17] I mean, here's another thing.

[00:23:19] I think I've heard it said, and I could be talking out of my ass, that because at that point, you're not drawing lots to see who is the guilty person that is causing death.

[00:23:31] You're testing a god for a chance game.

[00:23:34] A game of chance.

[00:23:35] Okay.

[00:23:35] And that's—

[00:23:36] You're using God wrong.

[00:23:37] Yeah.

[00:23:38] Right.

[00:23:38] You're basically taking his name in vain.

[00:23:40] Okay.

[00:23:41] You know?

[00:23:41] And that makes sense.

[00:23:42] You're testing him, and you're challenging him to give you things that you haven't earned.

[00:23:48] Okay.

[00:23:50] But my question to that would be, but then why is, like, say, football, for example, okay?

[00:23:57] Because, man, Christians love to pray for their team.

[00:24:00] Right, yeah.

[00:24:01] You know, pray for—and, you know, every time somebody makes a fucking touchdown, that guy does the hit his chest, kiss his fingers, and point up.

[00:24:09] The difference is that's a skill game, right?

[00:24:11] Like, the team with the better skill wins, right?

[00:24:15] Hypothetically.

[00:24:16] So what they're praying for is that their team shows the better skill.

[00:24:20] Like, give my teammates the strength to prevail in this test of skill.

[00:24:27] I honestly think that you are granting the hillbillies that pray for their team to win way too much credit because they are not praying—

[00:24:36] Oh, no, I know.

[00:24:37] —for more skill in a healthy, good, solid game.

[00:24:40] They're praying that the Draft Kings fucking no-bet comes to it.

[00:24:43] They are gambling.

[00:24:44] Yeah.

[00:24:44] They are gambling and hoping that they get the money.

[00:24:47] Right, yeah.

[00:24:48] Stupid.

[00:24:49] Yeah.

[00:24:49] All right, so 2 Kings chapter 25 says that Jonah was a recognized prophet, which we already talked about, right?

[00:24:56] When he was asked, what is your occupation?

[00:24:58] And Jonah answered, I am a prophet.

[00:25:00] Then the sailors must have been even more terrified.

[00:25:03] Now let's read 2 Kings chapter 25 verses 23, 24, and 25.

[00:25:10] Okay?

[00:25:11] Okay.

[00:25:11] In the 15th year of Amaziah, son of Joash, king of Judah, Jeroboam, son of Joash, king of Israel, became king in Samaria, and he reigned 41 years.

[00:25:22] He did evil in the eyes of the Lord and did not turn away from any of the sins of Jeroboam, son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit.

[00:25:30] He was the one who restored the boundaries of Israel from Lebo Hamath to the Dead Sea in accordance with the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, spoken through his servant, Jonah, son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath-Hefer.

[00:25:45] Okay?

[00:25:46] So they were like, oh, you're a prophet?

[00:25:50] Fuck me.

[00:25:51] Yeah.

[00:25:51] Like, okay, so you're for realsies.

[00:25:54] Okay, so we got to figure out how to get this shit to stop.

[00:25:58] Yeah.

[00:25:58] Yeah, yeah.

[00:25:58] Because we're going to die because you're a prophet.

[00:26:00] Keep in mind that he initially offered to throw himself over.

[00:26:03] He did.

[00:26:03] And they were like, well, we can't just be murdery.

[00:26:06] Right.

[00:26:06] Especially not to a prophet of that Lord.

[00:26:10] So I'm going to give them some credit because they tried, you know?

[00:26:12] Yeah.

[00:26:13] They're like, yeah, dude.

[00:26:14] But not as altruistically as it would have seemed at first.

[00:26:18] Okay.

[00:26:18] They weren't like, oh, no, we can't murder you, good, kind sir.

[00:26:21] They were like, oh, shit, no, but we can't murder a prophet.

[00:26:25] Right.

[00:26:25] They had to find out what God really, that God apparently really wanted.

[00:26:29] Right.

[00:26:30] So they're trying to bring him back.

[00:26:32] Yeah.

[00:26:32] And then they're like, this isn't working.

[00:26:34] So, yeah, you're going overboard, bud.

[00:26:36] Well, he allowed them, though.

[00:26:38] Yeah.

[00:26:38] No, I'm not.

[00:26:39] They weren't on board with it, so to speak.

[00:26:42] They weren't, like, excited to throw him overboard.

[00:26:44] Right.

[00:26:45] And that's why they repented afterwards and were like, please don't kill us for throwing your prophet overboard.

[00:26:50] Sure.

[00:26:50] We believe in you.

[00:26:52] Right.

[00:26:53] God got a lot of people to believe in him in this book.

[00:26:55] He did.

[00:26:55] He did.

[00:26:56] It's kind of crazy.

[00:26:57] Because then the storm immediately stopped.

[00:26:58] Right.

[00:26:59] And they all became believers.

[00:27:02] Yeah.

[00:27:02] And sacrificed to him.

[00:27:03] I think maybe that's part of what probably people latch onto in this book is that it's such a, like, there's so much.

[00:27:09] This prophet, Jonah, right?

[00:27:11] Without.

[00:27:20] Like, Inspector Gadget does not solve a single crime.

[00:27:23] He just walks around causing mayhem.

[00:27:26] Right.

[00:27:26] And in his wake, after he leaves the room, shit happens.

[00:27:32] Right.

[00:27:32] You know what I mean?

[00:27:33] Yeah.

[00:27:33] Like, Penny and the dog, they are the ones.

[00:27:36] He's accidentally genius.

[00:27:37] Yeah.

[00:27:38] Right.

[00:27:38] Exactly.

[00:27:39] But not.

[00:27:39] Right.

[00:27:40] Yeah.

[00:27:40] It's all shit that happens in his wake, but not because of any of his intentional actions.

[00:27:47] And that's the difference.

[00:27:49] So Jonah tells him about who he is and what he has done.

[00:27:52] He confesses his sin, acknowledging that this was God's judgment upon him.

[00:27:56] Jonah suggesting that the only way the semen was.

[00:28:00] You're going to do the whole way.

[00:28:02] Nope.

[00:28:02] Okay.

[00:28:02] Totally.

[00:28:03] I'm a child.

[00:28:03] I've been called such and I live up to that.

[00:28:06] Right.

[00:28:07] Yeah.

[00:28:07] Can't let the people down.

[00:28:09] No.

[00:28:09] Yeah.

[00:28:09] No.

[00:28:10] And plus it's fucking funny.

[00:28:11] And who wants to be a grown up and not laugh?

[00:28:14] I want to be a child and laugh.

[00:28:16] And semen is funny.

[00:28:18] Right.

[00:28:18] Okay.

[00:28:19] Okay.

[00:28:19] So Jonah suggesting that the only way the semen would save their lives would be to throw

[00:28:26] him overboard, asked to be thrown into the sea.

[00:28:29] Right.

[00:28:29] Although they were pagans, the semen pitied Jonah and respected Jonah's God, which was

[00:28:37] in sharp contrast to Jonah's lack of pity for the pagan Ninevites and lack of respect

[00:28:43] for God.

[00:28:44] Interesting.

[00:28:45] Right?

[00:28:46] Huh.

[00:28:46] Yeah.

[00:28:47] Yeah.

[00:28:47] So in this case, they were scared of and trusting of his God better than he was and better than

[00:28:57] the pity that he had for the Ninevites.

[00:28:59] I'm giving this story more credit as we go through this description.

[00:29:02] Yeah.

[00:29:03] Than I initially did.

[00:29:04] It's interesting, right?

[00:29:05] Because it is actually, as far as the-

[00:29:08] Symbolism.

[00:29:09] Yeah.

[00:29:09] And like, it's a good literary tale.

[00:29:12] Right.

[00:29:12] It's not bad.

[00:29:13] Yeah.

[00:29:13] It's not bad.

[00:29:14] Yeah.

[00:29:14] It's a pretty good story.

[00:29:15] Yeah.

[00:29:15] Once you know the ins and outs.

[00:29:17] Sure.

[00:29:17] And you obviously have to take this in and understand that this is not a true accounting

[00:29:23] of events.

[00:29:24] Oh, absolutely.

[00:29:25] Like, there's no fucking way.

[00:29:27] No, but for readability and literary standing, it's solid.

[00:29:32] Right.

[00:29:32] It's a solid story.

[00:29:33] Yeah.

[00:29:33] I give it an A, you know?

[00:29:34] Right.

[00:29:35] Yeah.

[00:29:35] Especially for the Times.

[00:29:37] Yeah.

[00:29:37] And most of them, I would not even give an F.

[00:29:40] Like, whatever.

[00:29:41] What sub-F.

[00:29:42] Like, negative F.

[00:29:43] Right.

[00:29:44] Only when they were convinced that nothing else would save them did they reluctantly agree

[00:29:48] to throw Jonah overboard.

[00:29:51] Jonah apparently lost consciousness and was drowning when God saved his life by sending

[00:29:56] a great fish to swallow him.

[00:29:58] Oh, so the swallowing of Jonah was to save him.

[00:30:01] So, okay.

[00:30:02] Yeah.

[00:30:02] All right.

[00:30:02] Yeah.

[00:30:03] Now, the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish

[00:30:09] three days and three nights.

[00:30:10] Okay.

[00:30:11] And that's verse 17.

[00:30:13] Sure.

[00:30:13] Of chapter 1 we're still in.

[00:30:15] Okay.

[00:30:16] Yeah.

[00:30:16] Now, one commentary offered the following insight.

[00:30:20] This could not have been a whale, for the throat of that animal can scarcely admit

[00:30:24] a man's leg, but it might have been a shark which abounds in the Mediterranean and whose mouth

[00:30:30] and stomach are exceedingly capacious.

[00:30:33] In several cases, they have been known to swallow a man when thrown overboard.

[00:30:38] Prom, prom, prom.

[00:30:39] I mean, there's a legend where Jonah threatens Leviathan from the fish.

[00:30:46] Yeah.

[00:30:46] So, we're talking about Leviathan.

[00:30:48] Yeah.

[00:30:49] It doesn't...

[00:30:50] Arguing about...

[00:30:50] Does it really fucking matter what kind of fish this is?

[00:30:53] Like, you've lost the thread when you start worrying about what kind of creature...

[00:30:58] It's funny to me that people that, like, you know, we're sitting here and we're like,

[00:31:02] this obviously is just a metaphor for the thing that's going on.

[00:31:05] Yeah.

[00:31:06] And...

[00:31:07] But people try to attribute real things to this.

[00:31:10] They want it to be real so bad.

[00:31:11] They're like, can't you just acknowledge that this is just a fairy tale?

[00:31:15] And you know what?

[00:31:15] It's a good end.

[00:31:16] Sure.

[00:31:17] It's one of the better stories in this book.

[00:31:18] And it might even have a point with regard to your religion and how it interacts with

[00:31:22] things.

[00:31:22] But you should obviously admit that this is a fucking fairy tale.

[00:31:26] So obviously.

[00:31:27] Yeah.

[00:31:27] So the verse and commentary raise interesting points about the anatomical differences between

[00:31:33] whales and sharks, as well as the plausibility of a human being swallowed and surviving.

[00:31:40] What it must be to be a biblical scientist.

[00:31:44] Right?

[00:31:44] Yeah.

[00:31:45] So, okay.

[00:31:46] Let's talk about these animals real quick, though.

[00:31:48] Okay?

[00:31:48] We're going to play along.

[00:31:50] I guess.

[00:31:50] So baleen whales, which are the blue whale, the humpback whale, among others, they're teethless.

[00:31:57] Sure.

[00:31:57] Yeah.

[00:31:58] They feed on small prey like krill and plankton by filtering water through their baleen plates.

[00:32:06] Their throats are remarkably small relative to their size.

[00:32:10] For instance, a blue whale's throat opening is only about the size of a grapefruit.

[00:32:16] Grapefruit.

[00:32:17] Yeah.

[00:32:17] That's tiny.

[00:32:18] It is.

[00:32:18] Right?

[00:32:19] Making it physically impossible for them to swallow a human.

[00:32:22] Because all they really want to put down their throat is krill.

[00:32:24] Yeah.

[00:32:25] Yeah.

[00:32:26] Conversely, the sperm whale, which has teeth, so it's not a baleen.

[00:32:30] Right.

[00:32:30] It's got teeth.

[00:32:31] It also has a larger throat, capable of swallowing larger prey like giant squid.

[00:32:37] A sperm whale's throat could theoretically accommodate a human, though this would be highly

[00:32:43] unusual since their feeding habits do not involve consuming large intact animals like humans.

[00:32:49] They do not typically consume non-squid prey.

[00:32:52] But God typically doesn't direct a fish to go eat a human.

[00:32:56] Exactly.

[00:32:56] So I'm just saying.

[00:32:57] If we're talking about typical things here, right?

[00:32:59] And this creature was prepared by God, specifically those words.

[00:33:03] Let's just not use the word typical.

[00:33:06] Right.

[00:33:06] When discussing the truthisms of Jonah.

[00:33:10] Yeah.

[00:33:10] Exactly.

[00:33:10] Because that is just counterintuitive to the whole concept of what we're even discussing.

[00:33:15] I know.

[00:33:16] It just takes you right out, doesn't it?

[00:33:17] Yeah.

[00:33:17] Right.

[00:33:18] Right.

[00:33:18] Sharks, particularly large species like the great white or tiger shark, have much larger

[00:33:25] throats than baleen whales, the teethless guys that only have grape throat size.

[00:33:29] Sure.

[00:33:30] Yeah.

[00:33:30] Some shark species have been known to swallow prey whole, including seals, large fish, and

[00:33:37] on rare occasion, parts of human bodies.

[00:33:41] Sharks also have stomachs capable of expanding significantly to accommodate large meals.

[00:33:47] As you would need if you swallowed a fucking seal hole.

[00:33:49] Yeah.

[00:33:50] Jesus Christ.

[00:33:50] Like a snake.

[00:33:51] Right.

[00:33:52] Yeah.

[00:33:52] You know?

[00:33:53] Like, we watch our little snake.

[00:33:54] We have a tiny corn snake, and it swallows little tiny mice.

[00:33:59] Right.

[00:33:59] And you can see the stomach expand.

[00:34:02] It's so nasty.

[00:34:03] Yeah.

[00:34:04] Yeah.

[00:34:04] It's gross.

[00:34:05] Sharks are more likely to consume large prey whole, especially in the case of an attack.

[00:34:10] Instances of sharks swallowing large animals or parts of humans have been documented.

[00:34:16] The likelihood of surviving such an encounter depends on multiple factors.

[00:34:21] Okay?

[00:34:21] Does it really?

[00:34:22] Yeah.

[00:34:22] Multiple factors.

[00:34:23] Okay.

[00:34:23] Multiple factors.

[00:34:24] Yeah.

[00:34:25] One.

[00:34:25] Maybe he needed Pepto-Bismol that day.

[00:34:27] Yeah.

[00:34:27] I don't know why.

[00:34:29] Yeah.

[00:34:30] One.

[00:34:31] Both sharks and whales have muscular esophagi and stomachs that would likely crush or suffocate

[00:34:37] a human.

[00:34:38] Sure.

[00:34:38] Two.

[00:34:39] But if swallowed, the human would be exposed to highly acidic gastric juices.

[00:34:46] Right.

[00:34:46] Leading to rapid tissue degradation.

[00:34:49] Three.

[00:34:50] A lack of oxygen would result in death within minutes if the victim were swallowed whole.

[00:34:55] Yeah.

[00:34:56] So there's that.

[00:34:57] Basically, you cannot survive that.

[00:34:59] Right.

[00:34:59] It's not possible.

[00:35:01] I hear you.

[00:35:02] Okay.

[00:35:02] There are unverified stories of people surviving after being swallowed by large marine animals,

[00:35:08] but these all lack scientific backing.

[00:35:11] Yeah.

[00:35:11] Okay?

[00:35:12] Uh-huh.

[00:35:12] While the possibility of being swallowed by a sperm whale or large shark exists, surviving

[00:35:18] such an event is extraordinarily unlikely.

[00:35:21] And there you have it.

[00:35:22] God made it possible.

[00:35:24] It's an extraordinary event.

[00:35:26] God.

[00:35:26] Right.

[00:35:27] Right.

[00:35:27] Right.

[00:35:27] Right.

[00:35:28] Right.

[00:35:28] Okay.

[00:35:29] It's extraordinarily unlikely due to anatomical and physiological constraints.

[00:35:34] Let's just call it nearly impossible.

[00:35:37] Right.

[00:35:37] Instead of extraordinarily unlikely, because extraordinarily unlikely, in my opinion, offers

[00:35:41] too much leeway.

[00:35:43] Like, I want to go with, like, basically impossible, but okay, one in a billion.

[00:35:48] But even one in a billion is like, boom, God did one in a billion.

[00:35:52] But the one in a billion still would need to be verified.

[00:35:55] Like, I still need more than just, like, it's written in the Bible, especially given what

[00:36:00] we've read from the fucking Bible.

[00:36:02] Yeah.

[00:36:03] Yeah.

[00:36:03] Like, not a good source.

[00:36:04] Not a good source.

[00:36:05] No.

[00:36:06] The biblical story of Jonah is therefore understood by many as a miraculous account, not necessarily

[00:36:12] one bound by natural law.

[00:36:14] Fairytale.

[00:36:15] Right.

[00:36:15] Just like I was saying.

[00:36:16] Right.

[00:36:17] Or a miracle.

[00:36:19] A miraculous account is what it says.

[00:36:20] It's a fucking fairytale.

[00:36:21] It was either a miracle or a fairytale.

[00:36:23] Yeah.

[00:36:23] Got it.

[00:36:23] The fish episode and other elements might have been literary devices.

[00:36:29] Might have been, huh?

[00:36:32] I do say.

[00:36:33] Used to communicate a larger spiritual message.

[00:36:37] Huh.

[00:36:37] Hmm.

[00:36:38] Yeah.

[00:36:38] It seems that that, I mean, you know, after understanding the context and who they were

[00:36:43] doing things to and what was happening.

[00:36:45] Yeah.

[00:36:46] Like, after I understand all the bits about the story.

[00:36:48] Yeah.

[00:36:49] The story becomes very perfectly obvious to me what it is.

[00:36:52] Yeah.

[00:36:52] And I'm going to grant you, I didn't understand it in the moment.

[00:36:55] That was because I didn't understand all the mechanisms of what was happening.

[00:36:59] Right.

[00:36:59] The geography, the times, the which nation was what.

[00:37:03] Yeah.

[00:37:04] Yeah.

[00:37:04] Those are the things I didn't understand.

[00:37:05] But once I did know those.

[00:37:07] Yeah.

[00:37:07] The story is an obvious story.

[00:37:10] Right.

[00:37:11] It's a story.

[00:37:11] And a good one.

[00:37:12] Yeah.

[00:37:12] It's a good one.

[00:37:13] Let's not take away from that.

[00:37:14] Right.

[00:37:14] Right.

[00:37:14] It doesn't need to be real for it to be a solid, good story.

[00:37:19] No, but like, that's the thing, right?

[00:37:21] Like, all these Christians out there, they have to say the Bible is the word of God and

[00:37:26] the word of God is infallible and it cannot be incorrect.

[00:37:29] Right.

[00:37:30] And so there's all these people that have to attribute realness to every aspect of the

[00:37:37] Bible when it doesn't really need that.

[00:37:39] It doesn't.

[00:37:40] And in fact, probably would do better.

[00:37:42] I was going to say you're doing God a disservice by insisting that this is real.

[00:37:46] Like, I can imagine God is going, oh, no, guys, you're missing.

[00:37:51] What?

[00:37:52] Oh.

[00:37:53] Oh.

[00:37:54] Well, no.

[00:37:55] And that's just it, right?

[00:37:56] Like, if we could agree that if Christians could agree that there are some things in here

[00:38:03] that are just stories, they're just ways to make points or bring home.

[00:38:10] To convey an idea.

[00:38:10] Yeah.

[00:38:11] Right.

[00:38:11] If they could just agree on that and then also agree that humans did write these, you

[00:38:17] know, like, and maybe some of this could be fallible.

[00:38:20] Right.

[00:38:20] Yeah.

[00:38:21] If they could admit that much and but then still believe and say, look, it's a work in

[00:38:27] progress.

[00:38:27] They maybe interpreted it wrong.

[00:38:29] Like, you know, make different excuses.

[00:38:31] Right.

[00:38:32] The excuses they make, though, are so they're so beyond ridiculous.

[00:38:36] It doesn't even invite a solid conversation.

[00:38:37] It makes it harder to accept what they're giving you.

[00:38:41] Yeah.

[00:38:42] And I just it turns.

[00:38:44] I think that aspect of apologists turns people away more than anything else.

[00:38:49] Right.

[00:38:50] Right.

[00:38:50] Like, you know, that's just absurd.

[00:38:52] Just stop.

[00:38:52] Just stop.

[00:38:53] Right.

[00:38:54] Like, I could believe that a bunch of believers wrote this stuff.

[00:38:58] I could also believe that a bunch of people with political axes to grind.

[00:39:04] Sure.

[00:39:04] Wrote this stuff and, you know, utilized the the believers.

[00:39:09] Right.

[00:39:10] Yeah.

[00:39:10] You know, I can believe all that.

[00:39:12] That that happened.

[00:39:13] That clearly happened.

[00:39:14] We've talked about this before.

[00:39:16] Like, but they can't they won't even believe somebody telling them a story today that they

[00:39:22] witnessed.

[00:39:23] But they'll believe this book written by multiple hundreds of people.

[00:39:28] Right.

[00:39:28] From thousands of years ago.

[00:39:30] Right.

[00:39:30] Over somebody that walked down the street to tell them something.

[00:39:33] That's how they get it.

[00:39:34] They give this book more credit than that person that just walked up to them.

[00:39:37] I have I have two examples of this kind of stupid thinking.

[00:39:42] OK, the first one is Trump not wanting to test for covid during his first reign.

[00:39:51] Yeah.

[00:39:52] Because that would somehow make more cases.

[00:39:57] Not that there would be more cases recorded, but that by counting them, well, of course,

[00:40:03] you're going to find them.

[00:40:04] Yeah.

[00:40:05] Like and that will make there be more.

[00:40:06] Right.

[00:40:07] So that kind of thinking is example one of.

[00:40:13] OK, my mom said that she believes that Bill Cosby is innocent because it came out during

[00:40:24] that same time when everybody was accusing somebody of sexual harassment or rape or whatever.

[00:40:33] Yeah.

[00:40:33] And I'm like, you totally and completely misunderstood the Me Too movement.

[00:40:39] The Me Too movement was not a bunch of people all got raped all at once.

[00:40:43] Right.

[00:40:44] It was a bunch of women finally being brave enough all at once to tell the stories of all

[00:40:50] the rapes that had occurred throughout the last 50 years.

[00:40:54] There was a literal fucking court case.

[00:40:56] Yeah.

[00:40:56] Like they had to prove he was proven guilty.

[00:40:59] Yeah.

[00:41:00] So, OK, whatever.

[00:41:01] But no, it wasn't that a bunch of of women were brave enough to tell their stories.

[00:41:06] It was that a bunch of women came out of nowhere and just were like, well, I was raped yesterday.

[00:41:13] Oh, my God.

[00:41:14] Me too.

[00:41:15] Everybody.

[00:41:15] We all got raped yesterday.

[00:41:17] And it's like.

[00:41:18] Right.

[00:41:18] You completely don't understand what you're talking about.

[00:41:22] And you're you're not understanding what the data has shown.

[00:41:26] Sure.

[00:41:27] And that's what this is about.

[00:41:30] Right.

[00:41:30] That's what a belief in the Bible is about.

[00:41:32] It's about not understanding the Me Too movement.

[00:41:36] It's about not understanding the the belief that that counting the cases of COVID is going

[00:41:47] to turn up more COVID.

[00:41:48] You know what I mean?

[00:41:50] Kind of.

[00:41:50] I'm not.

[00:41:51] I don't know that I followed your whole thought process there.

[00:41:54] Well, you started with saying that people don't understand what what is happening.

[00:42:02] And yeah, so they.

[00:42:04] OK, so you're just.

[00:42:05] OK, I'm giving examples of people not understanding what's happening.

[00:42:09] Yeah.

[00:42:09] OK.

[00:42:09] Yeah.

[00:42:10] I got it.

[00:42:10] And misunderstanding the facts right before their eyes.

[00:42:13] Sure.

[00:42:13] Because that's something else you said.

[00:42:15] The facts right before your eyes.

[00:42:16] You see something happen and you don't believe that.

[00:42:19] But you do believe this.

[00:42:20] Right.

[00:42:21] And that's that's what I have.

[00:42:22] I struggle so much with the way people attribute so much truth to this book.

[00:42:27] Right.

[00:42:28] Right.

[00:42:28] Because there's no there's no real basis for it other than somebody else told them about

[00:42:33] it that somebody else told them about it that, you know, somebody else told them about it.

[00:42:37] So on and so forth for generations and generations and generations.

[00:42:41] Right.

[00:42:42] That's it.

[00:42:42] That's all.

[00:42:43] That's all this is.

[00:42:44] Right.

[00:42:45] It's just it's word of mouth for word of mouth.

[00:42:49] But it's also an inability to correctly understand data.

[00:42:53] Yeah.

[00:42:54] Sure.

[00:42:54] And between the two, you just got such sad, sad people like.

[00:42:59] Right.

[00:43:00] And let's just be honest, like a church is literally an indoctrination building, you know.

[00:43:04] Yeah.

[00:43:05] Yeah.

[00:43:05] Yeah.

[00:43:06] Exactly.

[00:43:06] I mean, that's what vacation Bible school is.

[00:43:08] Sure.

[00:43:08] Yeah.

[00:43:08] For kids.

[00:43:09] Send your kids for a week or three during the summer to go get indoctrinated.

[00:43:15] Indoctrinated.

[00:43:16] Indoctrinated.

[00:43:17] Indoctrinated.

[00:43:17] They get bubble gum, too.

[00:43:18] Yeah.

[00:43:19] They get.

[00:43:19] I mean, yeah.

[00:43:20] That always helps with indoctrination.

[00:43:21] Yeah.

[00:43:22] Yeah.

[00:43:22] Yeah.

[00:43:23] Indoctrination.

[00:43:24] All right.

[00:43:25] So unverified stories of people surviving.

[00:43:28] OK.

[00:43:29] Oh, we're going to go through these.

[00:43:30] No.

[00:43:31] Oh, no.

[00:43:31] Biblical story of Jonah is therefore understand as a miraculous account.

[00:43:35] Blah, blah, blah.

[00:43:36] The fish episode and other elements might have been literary devices used to communicate a larger spiritual message.

[00:43:44] Could be.

[00:43:45] Might be.

[00:43:46] Yeah.

[00:43:47] Jonah's story aligns with other ancient narratives that use fantastical elements to teach moral lessons.

[00:43:53] You don't say.

[00:43:54] For example, the tale of being swallowed by a sea creature parallels myths from other cultures such as Hercules and Hesionae or the Mesopotamian story of bom, bom, bom, bom, Gilgamesh.

[00:44:07] Go figure.

[00:44:08] Right?

[00:44:09] Yeah.

[00:44:09] Yeah.

[00:44:09] Yeah.

[00:44:10] Yeah.

[00:44:10] A symbolic interpretation aligns well with the broader biblical themes of repentance, divine mercy, and human fallibility, making the story's truth more about its message than its literal details.

[00:44:23] So don't worry about the facts and stuff.

[00:44:25] Right.

[00:44:25] Right.

[00:44:26] And I will point out that if you missed it, we did do a recent episode on Gilgamesh.

[00:44:29] We did.

[00:44:30] So you can go back.

[00:44:30] I believe that was a part one and that we were going to come back for a part two.

[00:44:34] Was it really?

[00:44:35] I think so.

[00:44:36] I don't recall, honestly.

[00:44:37] I'll go listen to the end.

[00:44:39] But I think you had questions and you were like, no, we need more.

[00:44:43] I know we ended the last special episode where we did the cults with more questions.

[00:44:49] Yes.

[00:44:49] You know.

[00:44:50] But that's going to be a part four.

[00:44:51] Right.

[00:44:51] Yeah.

[00:44:52] I wanted to talk about bokenism from Kurt Vonnegut.

[00:44:54] And you also wanted to talk about.

[00:44:56] Flying Spaghetti Monster.

[00:44:58] Yeah.

[00:44:58] Of course.

[00:44:58] Yeah.

[00:44:59] But you can only catch those if you're on Patreon or Discord.

[00:45:02] Right.

[00:45:02] So go do those things.

[00:45:03] But the Gilgamesh one was available for all.

[00:45:06] Yes.

[00:45:06] It was a bonus one.

[00:45:07] Yes.

[00:45:07] And I believe, like I said, that there's a part two that you wanted.

[00:45:11] Yeah.

[00:45:12] Okay.

[00:45:12] I'll have to.

[00:45:13] We'll see.

[00:45:13] I don't recall.

[00:45:14] I'll have to refresh my memory.

[00:45:16] That was like four weeks ago.

[00:45:17] I mean, it wasn't, but okay.

[00:45:19] Feels like it.

[00:45:21] All right.

[00:45:21] So that was all chapter one.

[00:45:23] Okay.

[00:45:23] Okay.

[00:45:23] Let's get into chapter two.

[00:45:24] Yeah.

[00:45:25] Okay.

[00:45:25] Jonah's prayer of thanksgiving for deliverance in the belly of the whale.

[00:45:29] Okay.

[00:45:29] Okay.

[00:45:30] Jonah's three days and nights inside the fish.

[00:45:33] Yeah.

[00:45:34] When Jonah praises God for his deliverance.

[00:45:37] Yes.

[00:45:37] Okay.

[00:45:38] Jonah regained consciousness inside the great fish.

[00:45:41] This completely unbelievable experience caused him to believe that it was God's way of saving his life.

[00:45:47] Thank you for saving my life.

[00:45:49] From inside the fish, he then thanked God for saving him from drowning.

[00:45:53] He seems to have remembered phrases from various psalms and prayers used in temple worship.

[00:45:59] And he brought these together to form his own prayer of thanksgiving.

[00:46:02] He couldn't remember like any single one, but just lines from several that he was like.

[00:46:07] So whoever put the story together later was like, this looks good.

[00:46:11] I like that.

[00:46:11] You're going to use that.

[00:46:12] Oh, over here.

[00:46:13] That's a good bit.

[00:46:14] And they're like, wait, I don't remember how this part goes, but I just remember that one line from that one song.

[00:46:19] Right.

[00:46:19] Yeah.

[00:46:19] Well, they had to make it original, right?

[00:46:22] Yeah.

[00:46:22] That's how I do.

[00:46:22] Yeah.

[00:46:23] Yeah.

[00:46:23] So then Jonah describes his trouble and cries out to God and then hears God's faithful answer.

[00:46:30] Okay.

[00:46:30] Okay.

[00:46:31] So in the opening words of the psalm, Jonah recalled his prayer of desperation as he found himself overcome by the rough seas.

[00:46:39] He was sinking into what he feared was the world of the dead.

[00:46:43] So he was scared.

[00:46:44] He was sinking.

[00:46:45] Yeah.

[00:46:45] I'm a sinking.

[00:46:46] Right.

[00:46:47] As he sank deeper and deeper, the pressure of water increased and he could feel himself losing consciousness, which is why this is all a fucking fever dream.

[00:46:55] Yeah.

[00:46:55] Right.

[00:46:55] He felt that his end had come and that he would be cut off from God forever.

[00:47:00] I think he was probably like, oh, thank goodness.

[00:47:03] Right.

[00:47:03] Maybe he had a drowning scare.

[00:47:05] Yeah.

[00:47:05] Maybe he almost drowned.

[00:47:07] Could be.

[00:47:08] And then this whole thing just kind of, you know.

[00:47:10] Yeah.

[00:47:10] I don't know.

[00:47:11] Could be.

[00:47:12] Yeah.

[00:47:12] So the next thing he knew, he was alive inside the great fish.

[00:47:15] Yeah.

[00:47:16] Bakey-bakey.

[00:47:17] As happens, I guess.

[00:47:18] Eggs no bakey.

[00:47:19] God had answered his prayer and saved him.

[00:47:22] So then Jonah declared his commitment to God.

[00:47:24] Jonah had no idea how he would return to the world of his fellow human beings, but he knew that if God had done this much for him, the same God wouldn't finish his work and save him fully.

[00:47:35] Exactly.

[00:47:35] How would Jonah know he's in a fish?

[00:47:38] Maybe it's squishy.

[00:47:40] Squishy on the inside?

[00:47:41] I mean.

[00:47:42] It's got to smell fishy.

[00:47:43] You think?

[00:47:44] Well, maybe he felt himself being swallowed and then he was like passing out.

[00:47:48] And then he was like, oh, I'm in a fish.

[00:47:51] Help.

[00:47:51] A fish swallowed me.

[00:47:52] And then he's like passing out.

[00:47:53] And then he gets saved and he's like wakey-wakey.

[00:47:56] And he's like, oh, I'm alive, but I'm still on a fucking fish.

[00:48:00] Right.

[00:48:00] Right.

[00:48:01] Yeah.

[00:48:02] So in confidence, he thanks.

[00:48:04] He offered thanks for his salvation, even though it was still not complete.

[00:48:08] Right.

[00:48:08] Okay.

[00:48:08] Yeah.

[00:48:09] He's like, thank you.

[00:48:11] Now I have to go to Nineveh.

[00:48:12] Right.

[00:48:13] Yeah.

[00:48:13] Well, I got to get out of the fish first.

[00:48:15] Right.

[00:48:15] Yeah.

[00:48:15] Maybe I'll die.

[00:48:16] Maybe.

[00:48:17] Right.

[00:48:17] Yeah.

[00:48:17] But no, God speaks to the fish and Jonah is expelled, which is a pleasant word for thrown

[00:48:24] up and vomited.

[00:48:25] Sure.

[00:48:26] And barfed.

[00:48:26] Yeah.

[00:48:27] Yeah.

[00:48:27] So God rewarded Jonah's faith and gratitude by delivering him from the fish.

[00:48:33] Yeah.

[00:48:33] It is commonly thought that Jonah was vomited out on the shores of Nineveh.

[00:48:37] But we are not told that this was the case, especially because Nineveh is about 375 miles

[00:48:43] from the Mediterranean Sea.

[00:48:45] Yeah.

[00:48:45] That wouldn't make a lot of sense.

[00:48:46] Right.

[00:48:47] Yeah.

[00:48:47] Yeah.

[00:48:47] So he had some walking to do or the fish spit him all the way across all that dry land.

[00:48:54] I like that.

[00:48:55] I like that imagery.

[00:48:56] As long as he's going to spit him far, he might as well like.

[00:48:59] He just spittoons the thing.

[00:49:02] Like a potato gun.

[00:49:03] Right.

[00:49:03] Right.

[00:49:05] Okay.

[00:49:05] So then we get into chapter three.

[00:49:08] All right.

[00:49:08] When Jonah preaches and we talk about the repentance of Nineveh after Jonah preaches there.

[00:49:14] Right.

[00:49:15] Okay.

[00:49:15] Yeah.

[00:49:16] So Jonah is sent again to Nineveh, a city of three days journey, which if I recall correctly,

[00:49:24] no, it was a city that was further across, but he only got three days in.

[00:49:30] No, no, no, no.

[00:49:31] It was three days across.

[00:49:32] He only got one day in.

[00:49:33] Okay.

[00:49:33] That's right.

[00:49:34] That's right.

[00:49:34] And then everybody started repenting and giving, you know.

[00:49:37] And so he didn't have to walk the rest of the day.

[00:49:38] Right.

[00:49:38] Yeah.

[00:49:38] He was like, cool, I'm out by you.

[00:49:39] But it didn't really say he didn't, but it didn't say that he did either.

[00:49:42] Right.

[00:49:43] Right.

[00:49:43] So God repeated his command to Jonah to go and preach in Nineveh.

[00:49:48] Yeah.

[00:49:48] And this time Jonah obeyed God.

[00:49:50] God's message was that within 40 days, Nineveh would, because of its wickedness, be overthrown.

[00:49:56] And Jonah's like, and I give a fuck because why?

[00:50:00] Right.

[00:50:00] Right.

[00:50:01] Good.

[00:50:02] They should be overthrown.

[00:50:03] Okay.

[00:50:04] Now listen, both the Septuagint and the Arabic read three days, not 40 days.

[00:50:11] Okay.

[00:50:11] Isn't that interesting?

[00:50:12] Yeah, it is.

[00:50:13] Jonah began, this is what verse four says, Jonah began by going a day's journey into the

[00:50:18] city, proclaiming 40 more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.

[00:50:22] Okay.

[00:50:22] But the Septuagint and the Arabic say three days, not 40 days.

[00:50:26] Well, that would, that would lend more, um, because if there was something pending two

[00:50:32] more days out, that would lead a lot more, like it would lend a lot more legitimacy for

[00:50:37] them, like giving in and giving up to God.

[00:50:40] Right.

[00:50:41] But also it lends a lot less legitimacy to the act of doing that.

[00:50:45] So I don't know which one makes more sense.

[00:50:48] Well, all the earlier versions all say 40 days.

[00:50:52] So the earlier versions say 40 days.

[00:50:55] Okay.

[00:50:55] Yeah.

[00:50:55] The Septuagint and the Arabic versions.

[00:50:57] You said three days for those.

[00:50:58] Say three days, but the earlier versions, the Hebrew and stuff.

[00:51:02] Okay.

[00:51:03] Okay.

[00:51:03] All right.

[00:51:03] Yeah.

[00:51:04] They all say 40.

[00:51:05] So it sounds like the older or the newer versions, they got the, they got confused with

[00:51:09] the three days across the city versus the 40 days.

[00:51:12] I don't know because some of the symbols, um, between the Hebrew and the Aramaic, um, Arabic,

[00:51:20] sorry, not Aramaic, Arabic.

[00:51:21] Um, they're very similar.

[00:51:24] So it might've just been a misinterpretation of the number.

[00:51:29] Sure.

[00:51:29] But it could easily have been a mix up.

[00:51:31] Like you said, three is three over here, three there, three there, whatever.

[00:51:34] Yeah.

[00:51:35] Yeah.

[00:51:35] So the inhabitants in consequence of the prophets preaching, repent and dust and ashes,

[00:51:42] um, verses five and six read when the Ninevites believed or the Ninevites believed God, a fast

[00:51:49] was proclaimed and all of them from the greatest to the least put on sackcloth.

[00:51:53] Yeah.

[00:51:53] When Jonah's warning reached the King of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes,

[00:51:57] covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust.

[00:52:00] They were on that shit.

[00:52:02] Yeah.

[00:52:02] And they even dress their animals and everything.

[00:52:04] Right.

[00:52:04] Yeah.

[00:52:04] Must've been quite a scene.

[00:52:06] Right?

[00:52:06] Yeah.

[00:52:06] I could just imagine.

[00:52:08] Sackcloth is a thick, coarse cloth normally made from goat's hair.

[00:52:12] Wearing it displays the rejection of earthly comforts and pleasures.

[00:52:16] Right.

[00:52:16] Because I imagine that stuff was scratchy as shit.

[00:52:18] Right?

[00:52:18] Yeah.

[00:52:18] It reminds me of like army blankets.

[00:52:20] Right.

[00:52:21] Oh, they're green and coarse.

[00:52:23] They're so, oh, they're so itchy.

[00:52:25] Yeah.

[00:52:25] Like if you have any kind of texture issues, like me and my sister could not, we could not

[00:52:32] sleep under those.

[00:52:33] Right.

[00:52:33] Like if you are traveling with the military, when you first reach your destination, you're

[00:52:41] living in temporary quarters and they give your family these blankets and they're fucking

[00:52:48] horrible.

[00:52:49] And you know, you don't have a choice because-

[00:52:51] There's nothing else.

[00:52:52] Right.

[00:52:52] And you're like, thank you for the free things.

[00:52:54] Yeah.

[00:52:55] You know, I wouldn't have blankets otherwise because of the military.

[00:52:58] Right.

[00:52:59] But could we?

[00:53:00] Okay.

[00:53:00] No.

[00:53:01] Itchy.

[00:53:01] Got it.

[00:53:02] Yeah.

[00:53:02] Cheap as fucking itchy.

[00:53:04] Right.

[00:53:04] And gratitude that you have it.

[00:53:06] Yeah.

[00:53:06] But still.

[00:53:07] Right.

[00:53:08] So God, seeing that they were deeply humbled on account of their sins and that they turned

[00:53:13] away from all their iniquities, repents of the evil with which he had threatened them.

[00:53:18] Okay.

[00:53:18] Yeah.

[00:53:19] So the people repented.

[00:53:20] And the Ninevites, leaders and common people alike, heeded Jonah's warning and turned

[00:53:25] in repentance to God.

[00:53:26] The king even issued a decree commanding a moral reformation in the city.

[00:53:31] As a result, to the Ninevites' repentance, God withdrew his threat of destruction.

[00:53:36] Okay.

[00:53:37] Yeah.

[00:53:38] So God deals with a prophet's heart is what comes up next.

[00:53:44] Yeah.

[00:53:44] Okay.

[00:53:45] And this is chapter four now.

[00:53:47] Okay.

[00:53:47] Yep.

[00:53:48] And he is pissed.

[00:53:49] He's like, the fuck, bro?

[00:53:51] This isn't fair.

[00:53:52] Right.

[00:53:52] Which we've already kind of covered, but now we're going to actually talk about it in context

[00:53:56] of where we're at.

[00:53:57] Sure.

[00:53:58] Okay.

[00:53:58] So verse one says, but to Jonah, this seemed very wrong and he became angry.

[00:54:03] Okay.

[00:54:04] Okay.

[00:54:04] And then Jonah is going to explain his anger and we're going to understand it a little

[00:54:07] better.

[00:54:07] Yeah.

[00:54:07] We're going to definitely understand more.

[00:54:08] Yeah.

[00:54:09] For sure.

[00:54:09] So Jonah was angry because, and this was a question.

[00:54:12] So we've reached a Q and A.

[00:54:14] Right.

[00:54:14] You know what I mean?

[00:54:15] Like thus far, we've just been doing a Jonah wrap up.

[00:54:18] Right.

[00:54:19] And recovery.

[00:54:19] Sure.

[00:54:20] This is a specific answer to our specific question.

[00:54:23] What?

[00:54:23] Why was he?

[00:54:24] I don't get it.

[00:54:25] What?

[00:54:25] Yeah.

[00:54:26] Yeah.

[00:54:26] Okay.

[00:54:26] We've already answered part of it.

[00:54:28] We have.

[00:54:28] We have.

[00:54:29] Really.

[00:54:29] But specifically now we're talking about it because that's where we're at.

[00:54:33] Right.

[00:54:34] Jonah was angry because God granted repentance to the Ninevites and the Assyrians were enemies

[00:54:39] of Judah and Israel.

[00:54:41] Jonah wanted God to bring judgment upon these people he hated.

[00:54:46] Jonah knew that God was full of grace and mercy.

[00:54:48] And that was why he was afraid to tell the people of Nineveh.

[00:54:52] This was at least part of the reason why Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh.

[00:54:55] He was afraid that they would repent.

[00:54:57] I just, I, that aspect of it, I have to call some bullshit on.

[00:55:01] I agree.

[00:55:01] Like where is it that we have read where God has grace and mercy?

[00:55:05] He like, he like tortures people and says, if you decide to repent afterwards, I'll accept

[00:55:10] you back.

[00:55:11] Maybe.

[00:55:11] Maybe.

[00:55:12] If I'm in the mind of it, it might be a hundred, a couple of years, 10 generations.

[00:55:15] I don't know.

[00:55:16] Right.

[00:55:16] But I might, or I might accept you back immediately, but curse your kids, curse your kids.

[00:55:21] Yeah.

[00:55:21] You know, right.

[00:55:22] To, to the like 10th generation or whatever.

[00:55:25] I just, I don't, I don't see this love and compassion, especially not immediate type actions.

[00:55:30] But this time he did.

[00:55:31] Yeah.

[00:55:31] This time he did.

[00:55:32] Yeah.

[00:55:32] Yeah.

[00:55:33] So, um, Jonah was afraid that they would repent when all along he wanted God to judge

[00:55:39] the Assyrian capital because, you know, they flayed people and put, uh, uh, thorns through

[00:55:45] their noses and left them out in the sun.

[00:55:48] And they're looking to conquer his people.

[00:55:49] Yeah.

[00:55:49] Yeah.

[00:55:49] Yeah.

[00:55:49] So he's like, no, fuck those guys.

[00:55:51] I don't want them to repent.

[00:55:53] And I don't want you to remove punishment from them.

[00:55:57] Yeah.

[00:55:57] Which I agree with.

[00:55:58] Yeah.

[00:55:58] So verse five says Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place East of the city.

[00:56:04] There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to

[00:56:08] the city.

[00:56:09] Sure.

[00:56:09] So he's like, well, I did what I was supposed to do, but surely.

[00:56:14] Maybe their hearts weren't in it, you know?

[00:56:16] Or maybe.

[00:56:17] Surely God is going to take into account the fact that, yeah, they all immediately donned

[00:56:22] sackcloth and maybe their hearts were in it.

[00:56:24] I don't know, but they've still like been such horrible asshats.

[00:56:29] Right.

[00:56:29] God's not going to forgive these douches.

[00:56:31] Come on.

[00:56:32] Come on.

[00:56:33] Right.

[00:56:33] Right.

[00:56:34] Right.

[00:56:34] But no, he seemed to hope that the repentance of Nineveh was not enough to hold back God's

[00:56:38] judgment.

[00:56:39] And he hoped that he would see the city destroyed after all.

[00:56:42] So he went out of the city for safety.

[00:56:45] Okay.

[00:56:45] Got it.

[00:56:46] Well, that lends to the idea of the three days because like that would be a long wait

[00:56:50] to wait 40 days.

[00:56:51] Right.

[00:56:52] You know?

[00:56:52] Yeah.

[00:56:52] A day in, a day out.

[00:56:54] And then what?

[00:56:54] He sat there for 38 days.

[00:56:57] Like, are you kidding me?

[00:56:58] Yeah.

[00:56:59] One might say that Jonah was hot headed, which is, I thought was funny because he was sitting

[00:57:04] there in the hot sun and, you know, God made the hot breeze come and get on him.

[00:57:11] Right.

[00:57:11] He was hot headed.

[00:57:12] Got it.

[00:57:13] He was mad, but he was also hot.

[00:57:16] Yes.

[00:57:16] Okay.

[00:57:17] Anyway, verses 10 and 11 say, but the Lord said, you have been concerned about this plant

[00:57:23] though you did not tend it or make it grow.

[00:57:26] It sprang up overnight and died overnight.

[00:57:28] Because remember he sat there and then God put this sweet little plant to grow up overnight

[00:57:33] and cool him or whatever.

[00:57:35] Sure.

[00:57:35] Even though he's sitting in the fucking shade.

[00:57:37] Yeah.

[00:57:37] He had already built a shelter.

[00:57:38] Yeah.

[00:57:39] Verse 11.

[00:57:40] And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh in which there are more than

[00:57:45] 120,000 people who cannot tell their right hand from their left and also many animals?

[00:57:51] Shouldn't I care about them?

[00:57:52] Yeah.

[00:57:53] Yeah.

[00:57:53] Yeah.

[00:57:54] Sure.

[00:57:54] You care about this one little fucking plant.

[00:57:56] Don't you think I should have at least that for the people and the animals?

[00:58:00] And I'm like, that's a fair argument, but couldn't you apply it evenly?

[00:58:04] And why is the first time that you apply it fairly to the goddamn Assyrians?

[00:58:08] Yeah.

[00:58:09] Yeah.

[00:58:09] I mean, come on.

[00:58:11] Yeah.

[00:58:11] I mean, some of the horrific shit God has done.

[00:58:13] I don't even want to list it off because it's so bad.

[00:58:15] It's like when all of a sudden the Republicans start to like follow rules and like quench their

[00:58:21] pearls and you're like, oh.

[00:58:24] Oh, we're doing this now.

[00:58:25] Oh, you you're accusing everybody of being anti-Semitic.

[00:58:30] That is so fucking rich coming from you.

[00:58:32] Asshole.

[00:58:33] Right.

[00:58:33] Right.

[00:58:33] OK.

[00:58:34] OK.

[00:58:35] It's like so disgusting and disheartening and just like, really?

[00:58:40] I can't with you.

[00:58:41] Right.

[00:58:41] Jewish tradition says that after God said the words of Jonah for 11 that I just read about

[00:58:47] the right hand and the left and shouldn't I care about them?

[00:58:49] Yeah.

[00:58:50] Jonah then fell on his face and said, govern your world according to the measure of mercy

[00:58:56] as it is said to the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness.

[00:59:01] OK.

[00:59:03] So he's agreeing with God essentially.

[00:59:04] Yeah.

[00:59:05] OK.

[00:59:05] Yeah.

[00:59:06] Yeah.

[00:59:06] In Jonah chapter four, verse 10, the plant that grew up overnight is often translated as

[00:59:12] a gourd, a vine or a castor plant, depending on the Bible version.

[00:59:17] OK.

[00:59:17] The Hebrew term used is Kikayan or Kikayan, which has led to various interpretations.

[00:59:25] FYI.

[00:59:25] Got it.

[00:59:26] I don't know that that's really that important.

[00:59:28] It's not.

[00:59:28] But this was a source of much conversation.

[00:59:32] Again, debating the realism of a fairy tale is a little bit absurd to me, but OK.

[00:59:37] Right.

[00:59:37] So as to it being a gourd, some believes it refers to a fast growing vine such as a bottle

[00:59:44] gourd or similar species.

[00:59:45] A castor plant is another.

[00:59:47] Others suggest it might be the castor bean plant, ricinus communis, known for its broad

[00:59:53] leaves and rapid growth.

[00:59:56] Yeah.

[00:59:56] OK.

[00:59:57] There's also speculation that it could have been a type of fig or ivy.

[01:00:02] Yeah.

[01:00:02] OK.

[01:00:03] It grew up overnight and then the worm got on it and ate it up real quick and then it

[01:00:07] died.

[01:00:07] I feel like apologists are like the the fandom of like Harry Potter or something or some

[01:00:13] some major fantasy thing where they're like discuss all the ins and outs of all the things

[01:00:19] and like this could have been that or that could have been all the wrong points.

[01:00:21] Like the Reddit thread of this would be like like I would love the apologist Reddit thread

[01:00:25] where they're just discussing all these things that have to be true and have to be correct.

[01:00:29] And let's describe how.

[01:00:30] Right.

[01:00:30] Because it's like this whole it's this whole shit show of things that have to be this

[01:00:37] way or have to be that way.

[01:00:38] And they got to describe it exactly.

[01:00:39] So to make sure that it all makes sense and it's so important and they can't see straight

[01:00:43] until it's solved.

[01:00:44] And I'm like, holy fucking hell, just get your head out of your ass.

[01:00:48] Right.

[01:00:48] Like you just look at this from a little bit higher perspective.

[01:00:51] There's enough magic and coincidence in the world that actually happens without you having

[01:00:55] to create shit.

[01:00:56] Right.

[01:00:56] Yeah.

[01:00:57] Like the fact that when I was in the army, I was stationed in Hawaii and also stationed

[01:01:04] there at the same time was a cousin that I didn't know I had because my dad had a long

[01:01:09] lost brother.

[01:01:10] Yeah.

[01:01:11] And they reconnected.

[01:01:13] The brother had been adopted out.

[01:01:16] And so when they got in touch, my dad's brother revealed that he had kids, one of whom was

[01:01:23] stationed where I was.

[01:01:25] That's magical.

[01:01:26] That's a miracle.

[01:01:27] That's a coincidence.

[01:01:28] But is it?

[01:01:29] It's a major base, right?

[01:01:31] Like so if you're in the in the in the army or whatever.

[01:01:34] There's five military bases or not bases, five military installations on where I was at.

[01:01:42] Yeah.

[01:01:43] So I mean, come on.

[01:01:44] That's what I'm saying.

[01:01:44] So it was a major military base.

[01:01:47] Yeah.

[01:01:47] Right.

[01:01:48] And there's not like.

[01:01:50] No, the one I was on wasn't major.

[01:01:52] But there were five there, which makes it a military hub.

[01:01:57] I'm sorry.

[01:01:58] I didn't use the right words.

[01:01:59] But you understand there's a large military presence that's there.

[01:02:04] Yeah.

[01:02:05] As well as there are many other places like that, but not as many as there are cities in

[01:02:10] the United States or not as many as there are states probably.

[01:02:14] I mean, like, you know, the the the larger sized bases are not as common.

[01:02:20] So the fact that somebody that you knew sort of kind of went there, it it doesn't like.

[01:02:27] Yes, it's a small world.

[01:02:29] Right.

[01:02:29] We've all had those moments.

[01:02:30] No, that's what I mean.

[01:02:31] There's enough stuff that actually happens in the world without you having to create shit.

[01:02:35] Right.

[01:02:36] Yeah.

[01:02:36] That's what I was getting at.

[01:02:37] But people would attribute meaning to that.

[01:02:40] People would say, well, that's God.

[01:02:41] We're like you.

[01:02:42] You reconnect with your family because God wanted it to happen.

[01:02:45] Right.

[01:02:45] And he puts you guys there together for a reason.

[01:02:48] It's always a reason.

[01:02:49] Like, no.

[01:02:50] And I'm like, no, it's sometimes you just take shit just happens.

[01:02:55] It does.

[01:02:55] You know where else there's a large military presence?

[01:02:58] San Antonio.

[01:02:59] There's like five military installations there.

[01:03:01] So, you know, where people most often retire from the military to San Antonio.

[01:03:07] Right.

[01:03:08] So guess how many people we ran into when we lived in San Antonio?

[01:03:11] A lot.

[01:03:12] A lot.

[01:03:13] Right.

[01:03:13] It wasn't a coincidence.

[01:03:14] It's where.

[01:03:15] How it goes.

[01:03:16] Guess where the military people go.

[01:03:18] Back to the military places.

[01:03:20] Yeah.

[01:03:20] Yeah.

[01:03:20] Isn't that amazing?

[01:03:21] Weird how that works.

[01:03:22] Right?

[01:03:22] Yeah.

[01:03:23] Yeah.

[01:03:23] Yeah.

[01:03:24] So strange.

[01:03:25] Big strange.

[01:03:26] Very weird.

[01:03:27] Right.

[01:03:28] There's a lot.

[01:03:28] I mean, we have the right pad around here.

[01:03:30] I was going to say, right pad Air Force Base.

[01:03:33] And there's how many retired Air Force people that live out here?

[01:03:35] And that, what I would say is a big military installation.

[01:03:41] Yeah.

[01:03:41] You know?

[01:03:41] For Air Force.

[01:03:42] For Air Force.

[01:03:43] Yeah.

[01:03:43] So, yeah, there's a bunch here as well.

[01:03:47] Right.

[01:03:47] It's just not, I'm not trying to like talk military a lot here.

[01:03:51] Right.

[01:03:52] What I'm trying to say is, yeah, coincidences happen enough in the world without you having

[01:03:58] to make up shit like giant fucking whales that swallow a person and let them live in their

[01:04:03] belly for three days or a fucking plant.

[01:04:06] Yeah.

[01:04:07] You know?

[01:04:07] It doesn't have to be magic.

[01:04:09] It's just a fucking story.

[01:04:11] You don't have to make up magic.

[01:04:12] Right.

[01:04:13] The world is magical enough.

[01:04:14] You don't have to explain the magic that is just a story to begin with.

[01:04:16] Right.

[01:04:17] That's what I mean.

[01:04:18] Right, right, right, right, right.

[01:04:19] Yeah.

[01:04:19] This isn't even like real.

[01:04:21] And they're trying to make it real.

[01:04:23] Yeah.

[01:04:23] And that's where I have the issue with it.

[01:04:25] I'm like, you just need to stop.

[01:04:27] Don't make it real.

[01:04:28] Just admit it's not real.

[01:04:30] Exactly.

[01:04:31] This needs to not be real.

[01:04:32] It needs to not be real.

[01:04:33] Because it doesn't make sense if it's real.

[01:04:35] Yeah.

[01:04:36] And it kind of kills part of the, dare I say, the magic of the story.

[01:04:40] Yeah.

[01:04:41] Yeah.

[01:04:41] Absolutely.

[01:04:42] Yeah.

[01:04:42] So the exact identification of the plant is uncertain, but the focus of the story isn't

[01:04:47] on the plant itself.

[01:04:49] Right.

[01:04:50] But rather on God's teaching moment to Jonah using the plant's miraculous appearance

[01:04:54] and sudden withering to illustrate the lesson about compassion.

[01:04:59] Okay.

[01:04:59] Which in any other literary class would be like, yeah, it was a lesson about compassion.

[01:05:05] Right.

[01:05:05] Yeah.

[01:05:06] I get it.

[01:05:07] So this book is often compared, or the character of Jonah and what he goes through is often compared

[01:05:15] to Balaam.

[01:05:16] Okay.

[01:05:17] And I'm going to tell a couple of comparisons there and that'll be it.

[01:05:21] I see from your face that you're not sure who that guy is.

[01:05:25] No, I know exactly who he is.

[01:05:26] He's the one with the talking ass.

[01:05:28] He sure is.

[01:05:28] And that's one of my favorite stories thus far.

[01:05:31] So you're curious.

[01:05:32] So I'm like, how does this work?

[01:05:34] Okay.

[01:05:34] So we're going to talk about that.

[01:05:36] They share several thematic and narrative similarities in their biblical stories, even

[01:05:41] though they appear in different contexts and for different reasons.

[01:05:44] I do want to step in real quick and say, if you've never heard our Balaam episodes, you

[01:05:49] should go back.

[01:05:49] You should go back and listen because we ranted a lot.

[01:05:54] We did.

[01:05:54] And that was way back in Numbers chapters 22 through 24.

[01:05:59] I think I even yelled a little bit.

[01:06:01] I think you did too.

[01:06:02] I mean, it was, it was, man, talking ass, you know, it doesn't get any better than that

[01:06:05] shit.

[01:06:06] Yeah.

[01:06:06] Well, here are some key parallels and the talking ass does come up.

[01:06:09] I mean, a spitting fish, I guess that.

[01:06:11] Yeah.

[01:06:11] Using an animal.

[01:06:12] Yeah.

[01:06:13] Okay.

[01:06:13] So number one is they both had a reluctance to obey God.

[01:06:18] Okay.

[01:06:18] Balaam initially resists going with the messengers of Balak.

[01:06:23] Yeah.

[01:06:23] Seeking God's approval multiple times.

[01:06:26] He later struggles with obeying, between obeying God versus fulfilling Balak's request

[01:06:31] to curse Israel.

[01:06:32] Oh, and he went to the, I, sorry, I'm remembering.

[01:06:35] He went to the enemy.

[01:06:37] He went to the enemy to talk to the enemy.

[01:06:39] Yeah.

[01:06:40] Interesting.

[01:06:40] Okay.

[01:06:41] Okay.

[01:06:41] I'm sorry.

[01:06:41] I'm like remembering it.

[01:06:43] It's an interesting comparison, right?

[01:06:45] Yeah.

[01:06:46] I would have never put that together, but I like this.

[01:06:47] I like this.

[01:06:48] This is the kind of literary shit that I love taking two characters that you would think

[01:06:53] have nothing to do with each other.

[01:06:55] Right.

[01:06:55] And then being like, but let me show you how they're alive.

[01:06:58] Right.

[01:06:58] Yeah.

[01:06:59] Yeah.

[01:06:59] And Jonah outright flees from God's command to preach to Nineveh, attempting to escape

[01:07:04] his prophetic duty.

[01:07:05] Sure.

[01:07:05] So yes, they both very much shared a reluctance to obey God.

[01:07:09] Yeah.

[01:07:09] Okay.

[01:07:10] Number two, interactions with non-Israelites.

[01:07:13] So Balaam is summoned by Balak, a Moabite king to curse Israel.

[01:07:19] His story primarily unfolds among non-Israelites.

[01:07:23] Yeah.

[01:07:23] Jonah's mission is to preach to the Assyrians in Nineveh, a non-Israelite and traditionally

[01:07:29] hostile group.

[01:07:31] Right.

[01:07:31] So they share interactions with non-Israelites.

[01:07:34] Yeah.

[01:07:34] Okay.

[01:07:35] Use of animals as instruments of God.

[01:07:37] This one is obvious.

[01:07:39] God uses Balaam's donkey to communicate and stop him on the road.

[01:07:44] Yeah.

[01:07:44] The donkey sees the angel of the Lord before Balaam does.

[01:07:48] Yeah.

[01:07:49] Emphasizing.

[01:07:50] And then Balaam commenced on beating his ass.

[01:07:53] Yeah.

[01:07:53] Beat that ass.

[01:07:55] Emphasizing Balaam's spiritual blindness.

[01:07:58] Yes.

[01:07:58] Okay.

[01:07:58] Okay.

[01:07:59] Jonah, God uses a great fish to swallow Jonah, sparing his life and redirecting him to obedience.

[01:08:06] So they did both use an animal.

[01:08:09] Right.

[01:08:10] Number four, unwilling prophets who ultimately do fulfill God's plan.

[01:08:15] So Balaam, despite his questionable motives, ends up blessing Israel instead of cursing them

[01:08:23] as God commands.

[01:08:24] Right.

[01:08:24] And Jonah reluctantly preaches to Nineveh and the city repents, fulfilling God's purpose.

[01:08:31] Yeah.

[01:08:31] So they do share that.

[01:08:32] If I recall correctly, there was another story about Balaam where maybe the Israelites killed

[01:08:37] him or something like that.

[01:08:38] I honestly don't recall.

[01:08:39] So I'm not even going to.

[01:08:40] Something weird happened with, like, I remember there was like this follow up about Balaam at

[01:08:44] some point and we were like, what?

[01:08:45] He was the guy that, you know.

[01:08:47] I want to do a follow up on him.

[01:08:49] Like this made me curious to revisit that guy.

[01:08:51] Yeah.

[01:08:51] Yeah.

[01:08:51] Right.

[01:08:52] So I don't know.

[01:08:53] There may be a Balaam follow up.

[01:08:54] That's still one of my favorite stories from the Bible so far.

[01:08:57] Yeah.

[01:08:58] Just because of the absurdity of it.

[01:09:00] The talking ass.

[01:09:00] Yeah.

[01:09:01] Right.

[01:09:01] Get the fuck out of here.

[01:09:02] Number five, God's sovereignty.

[01:09:05] In both stories, God demonstrates absolute control over events and individuals.

[01:09:11] In Balaam's case, God controls his speech and prevents him from cursing Israel.

[01:09:16] In Jonah's case, God controls nature, the storm, the fish, the plant, and the worm to guide

[01:09:22] Jonah and accomplish his will.

[01:09:24] I think that one's a bit of a stretch.

[01:09:25] That's a bit of a stretch.

[01:09:26] But okay.

[01:09:27] Like in a long list, I don't think you needed that one personally.

[01:09:31] Right.

[01:09:31] Okay.

[01:09:32] Number six, moral ambiguity of the prophets.

[01:09:35] That one I agree with.

[01:09:37] Balaam is portrayed as a complex figure, sometimes obedient to God, but ultimately seen as greedy

[01:09:44] and complicit in leading Israel into sin.

[01:09:48] Right.

[01:09:48] And that was Numbers chapter 31.

[01:09:52] And if I recall correctly, he didn't really even live in Israel.

[01:09:56] He was outside of Israel, if I recall.

[01:09:58] I don't remember.

[01:09:59] I could be wrong about that, but I thought he didn't even live in Israel.

[01:10:02] Like he was some prophet somewhere else.

[01:10:04] We're like, wait, wait, wait.

[01:10:05] Because this was during like Moses's time.

[01:10:09] Yeah.

[01:10:09] And we're like, wait, another prophet?

[01:10:11] Who's another prophet?

[01:10:12] What?

[01:10:12] Yeah.

[01:10:13] And it was just random, like out of the blue.

[01:10:15] Like there's another prophet over here.

[01:10:16] And we're like, oh, prophet over there?

[01:10:21] Right.

[01:10:21] Okay.

[01:10:22] Whatever you say, man.

[01:10:23] Well, much like Jonah, Balaam is going to be mentioned again in the New Testament.

[01:10:33] They will be referenced.

[01:10:34] Okay.

[01:10:35] Okay.

[01:10:36] Balaam is going to be referenced in 2 Peter.

[01:10:39] Okay.

[01:10:40] What happened to his first Peter?

[01:10:44] Much like the semen.

[01:10:46] Right.

[01:10:47] Right?

[01:10:47] Yeah.

[01:10:50] Jonah is depicted as a flawed prophet, angry at God's mercy and struggling with self-righteousness.

[01:10:55] Yeah.

[01:10:55] So, yeah, they are both morally ambiguous.

[01:10:59] And they both will be referenced in the New Testament.

[01:11:02] Got it.

[01:11:02] Which I don't really care.

[01:11:04] I'm so, like, already bored and uninterested in the New Testament because to me it's all just going to be a rewashing of the Old Testament and more magic.

[01:11:16] I heard recently, like, basically the book of Matthew, like the account of Matthew for Jesus is basically just like a checklist of fulfilling all the prophecies.

[01:11:25] I believe you.

[01:11:26] Like, literally, like, goes down the list.

[01:11:27] Like, yep, you did that and he did this and that happened and, you know, whatever.

[01:11:31] You know what?

[01:11:31] I believe that.

[01:11:32] Totally.

[01:11:33] Like.

[01:11:33] I could be wrong about that.

[01:11:34] I think it was Matthew.

[01:11:35] I'm almost certain it was Matthew.

[01:11:36] Well, it's either Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John.

[01:11:39] Right, right, right.

[01:11:39] Yeah.

[01:11:40] So, one of them guys.

[01:11:40] I'm pretty sure it was Matthew.

[01:11:41] But, like, it was just, but literally that there's one of those four books, right?

[01:11:45] Yeah.

[01:11:46] That is literally just them saying, and this is how this prophecy was fulfilled and that's how this prophecy was fulfilled and so on and so forth.

[01:11:53] And it's like, oh, okay.

[01:11:54] That's fucking annoying.

[01:11:55] I see what you're doing, guys.

[01:11:56] You know, it's not cool.

[01:11:57] Like, the lack of imagination that was put into writing the Old Testament and then they're going to go and do that with the New Testament.

[01:12:07] Right.

[01:12:07] And reference the Old Testament.

[01:12:09] To make it fit.

[01:12:11] Yeah.

[01:12:11] I mean, that's what they're doing.

[01:12:12] And I'm like, but you guys didn't even barely try.

[01:12:15] And that is so just annoying.

[01:12:18] Yeah.

[01:12:18] As a writer reading over somebody else's writing that's supposed to be hailed as great, that is so annoying.

[01:12:28] All right.

[01:12:29] The seventh thing that these two guys shared in common were themes of God's mercy and universal power.

[01:12:36] So, Balaam's blessings underscore God's steadfast love for Israel and his protection of his people.

[01:12:43] Okay.

[01:12:43] Wait, what?

[01:12:45] Balaam's blessings.

[01:12:46] Okay, okay, okay.

[01:12:46] All right, all right.

[01:12:47] Jonah's story highlights God's mercy toward Nineveh, extending his compassion beyond Israel to other nations.

[01:12:53] Except for that he sends them to go conquer his people.

[01:12:56] Later on.

[01:12:56] That's later on.

[01:12:57] We don't talk about that.

[01:12:58] That's a different story.

[01:12:58] Not that much further on.

[01:12:59] It was pretty close to that time frame.

[01:13:01] Shh.

[01:13:01] That's not in this book.

[01:13:02] That's in a different book of the Bible.

[01:13:04] Okay.

[01:13:05] These similarities underline shared biblical themes such as the universality of God's authority.

[01:13:12] Respect his authority.

[01:13:14] Exactly.

[01:13:14] Yeah.

[01:13:15] The tension between human will and divine purpose and the use of unlikely or reluctant individuals or animals to achieve God's plan.

[01:13:24] Okay.

[01:13:25] I have one last thing to mention and then we can be done.

[01:13:28] Okay.

[01:13:28] Okay.

[01:13:29] So chapter nine of Herman Melville's Moby Dick.

[01:13:33] Yeah.

[01:13:34] Is a sermon and hymn about Jonah, which I did not realize.

[01:13:39] I did not either.

[01:13:40] I've read either a large excerpt or I thought I read the whole book, but maybe I only read a large excerpt because I do not remember this chapter.

[01:13:49] But it's been several years.

[01:13:51] Sure.

[01:13:51] Okay.

[01:13:52] So on Jonah's defiance of God's will, a quote is, woe to him who seeks to pour oil upon the waters when God has brewed them into a gale.

[01:14:03] Hmm.

[01:14:04] Hmm.

[01:14:04] Which I just love that.

[01:14:05] Yeah.

[01:14:05] Okay.

[01:14:06] On the lesson of repentance and humility, a quote is, and if we obey God, we must disobey ourselves.

[01:14:13] And it is in this disobeying ourselves, wherein the hardness of obeying God consists.

[01:14:21] Hmm.

[01:14:21] I mean, I kind of like that line.

[01:14:23] I like it because it's true.

[01:14:25] You do have to swallow your own fucking morals and values if you want to be obedient to God.

[01:14:29] Well, not only that, but you, to be a better person in general, right?

[01:14:34] Like, God is just a vessel to tell people what is correct and right and the way that they should live their lives and the way that people perceive that they should live their lives.

[01:14:44] Right?

[01:14:44] Okay.

[01:14:45] So the fact that they're saying, read that quote one more time.

[01:14:48] Sorry.

[01:14:49] I want to go back to it because I did make something pop in my head.

[01:14:52] Sure.

[01:14:53] Okay.

[01:14:53] If we obey God, we must disobey ourselves.

[01:14:56] And it is in this disobeying ourselves, wherein the hardness of obeying God consists.

[01:15:04] Right.

[01:15:04] So let's just take giving up a habit, right?

[01:15:06] Sure.

[01:15:07] You're disobeying your instincts to give up this habit, to do something better for yourself that you know is better.

[01:15:13] Okay.

[01:15:13] That's a positive way of looking at that.

[01:15:15] No, I'm saying that it's the same generalized concept.

[01:15:19] It's just that people attribute it to the wrong entity.

[01:15:22] It should be yourself that you're attributing these changes to when people, you know, quote unquote, give it to God.

[01:15:29] But it has nothing to do with it, God.

[01:15:32] It has to do with you bettering yourself for reasons that are better for yourself.

[01:15:36] See, you're talking about displaying willpower and personal strength.

[01:15:40] Yeah, exactly.

[01:15:41] Which isn't always what giving up a habit is about.

[01:15:46] No.

[01:15:46] But I hear what you're saying, though.

[01:15:48] It could be construed that way, right?

[01:15:49] Sure.

[01:15:49] And there is a lot about religion that kind of you could take it to mean sort of bettering yourself, but you're doing it through this entity instead.

[01:16:00] Sure.

[01:16:00] Right?

[01:16:00] Sure.

[01:16:01] And that's part of what I don't like about the whole God concept is that people give this ability to change up to this God, whereas really it's so much more fulfilling from my perspective if you are able to do it for yourself.

[01:16:16] Yeah.

[01:16:16] With your own willpower, with your own instincts, with your own ability to just fix that problem.

[01:16:24] I hear you.

[01:16:25] And this is a topic for a different discussion.

[01:16:29] Right.

[01:16:29] Because I have a hard time with that self-help concept that if you don't have willpower and personal strength, then you're weak.

[01:16:42] Right.

[01:16:42] And that's what a lot of self-help leans into, which is very demotivating.

[01:16:50] Sure.

[01:16:50] So I hear what you're saying.

[01:16:53] Let me just ask you.

[01:16:53] Like, you know, you recently gave up soda, right?

[01:16:57] Right.

[01:16:57] But if you had given that, that, that if you had given up soda because of God, wouldn't, wouldn't it be less meaningful to you?

[01:17:06] Okay.

[01:17:06] Yes.

[01:17:07] But I also just in full honesty, don't want to take a lot of credit or whatever.

[01:17:15] Like I did not exhibit a lot of personal strength and willpower in giving up pop.

[01:17:21] No.

[01:17:21] Although I was extremely addicted.

[01:17:23] I was drinking several sodas a day.

[01:17:26] Right.

[01:17:26] I got sick with a very sore throat for a week and hardly could take in anything.

[01:17:33] Right.

[01:17:33] So giving up soda, I had, when I got better, I had already not drank hardly anything for a week and had already gone through all of the withdrawal symptoms and everything.

[01:17:45] But okay.

[01:17:46] Even though.

[01:17:46] I just merely didn't start drinking soda.

[01:17:48] But somebody might have had that happen to them and said, God, help me quit that.

[01:17:53] Right.

[01:17:53] Sure.

[01:17:53] But no, you quit it through an act, through a thing that happened to you.

[01:17:57] Right.

[01:17:58] And then you've also maintained it past there.

[01:18:00] I will take the credit for maintaining it.

[01:18:02] I won't take the credit for quitting it.

[01:18:04] I just don't feel like that's fair.

[01:18:05] Even with that being the case, don't you think that if it was given to God, even in the first place, don't you feel like that would lessen the ability for you to maintain this habit change in your life?

[01:18:16] Honestly, I don't know.

[01:18:17] I mean, probably, probably.

[01:18:19] I see what you're saying and I agree in theory.

[01:18:22] Right.

[01:18:22] But somebody who is a believer might say, yeah, but God, God got me sick as a purpose to, you know, use through that illness, me being able to get rid of a habit I couldn't otherwise get rid of.

[01:18:36] Yeah.

[01:18:36] And do I feel any better about it than they do?

[01:18:41] Because I'm not giving myself credit for quitting.

[01:18:44] They're not giving themselves credit for quitting.

[01:18:46] That's fair.

[01:18:46] I'm blaming the illness.

[01:18:47] They're blaming God.

[01:18:48] It probably, it works better if you had worked hard to do it yourself and use willpower and all that.

[01:18:53] Right.

[01:18:53] And I can't, I cannot take credit for it.

[01:18:55] I guess it's a bad analogy.

[01:18:56] It's a bad example.

[01:18:57] Yeah.

[01:18:57] But I was trying to, I was trying to make a point based off what was being said and you completely shot it in the.

[01:19:03] I didn't mean to.

[01:19:04] I'm just trying to be honest.

[01:19:05] Like I can't take credit for something.

[01:19:07] Really, really shot it in the chest.

[01:19:08] Like you just put a full stop on it, you know.

[01:19:09] I did.

[01:19:10] It was a, you killed that one.

[01:19:11] I did.

[01:19:18] I was trying to drag it out of you, but you just wouldn't.

[01:19:20] I wouldn't do it.

[01:19:21] I wouldn't.

[01:19:22] But I, I don't blame God either.

[01:19:25] Like I'm not giving God credit.

[01:19:27] Certainly.

[01:19:27] I just, I got sick and it happened and I just took advantage of it and was like, well, I guess I'm done with soda now.

[01:19:32] Yeah.

[01:19:33] It's been a fucking week.

[01:19:34] So why pick it back up?

[01:19:35] Exactly.

[01:19:35] All right.

[01:19:36] Here's the last quote.

[01:19:37] Okay.

[01:19:37] And then we're done.

[01:19:38] All right.

[01:19:39] Delight is to him who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth ever stands forth his own inexorption.

[01:19:49] And I got to tell you that quote is way too literary for me.

[01:19:54] Like I cannot bat my brain around it.

[01:19:57] Right.

[01:19:57] Okay.

[01:19:57] Can you?

[01:19:59] Delight is to him who against the proud gods and commodores of this earth ever stands forth.

[01:20:06] I got nothing.

[01:20:09] Who against the proud gods and commodores.

[01:20:11] I think that's basically what, what I was saying is that delight is to the person who against the proud gods and the commodores of this earth.

[01:20:23] So the important people.

[01:20:24] Stands for himself.

[01:20:25] Stands for himself.

[01:20:26] Okay.

[01:20:27] Right?

[01:20:27] Yeah.

[01:20:27] Okay.

[01:20:28] Okay.

[01:20:28] I like that.

[01:20:28] I think that that's, that's what I was kind of getting at.

[01:20:30] Well, okay.

[01:20:31] I can actually get down with that one then.

[01:20:34] Right.

[01:20:34] Like, yeah, I don't need gods and commodores.

[01:20:38] Right.

[01:20:39] You know, I can stand forth with my own inexorable self.

[01:20:42] Yeah.

[01:20:43] No, I think that's, that's quite a statement actually.

[01:20:45] I do have delight unto myself.

[01:20:47] Right.

[01:20:47] Yeah.

[01:20:48] Okay.

[01:20:48] Do you have delight unto yourself?

[01:20:50] So much.

[01:20:51] Do you delight yourself all the time?

[01:20:52] Every day.

[01:20:53] Mmm.

[01:20:55] That's a lot of semen.

[01:21:00] And on that note.

[01:21:00] Full circle.

[01:21:01] All right, guys.

[01:21:02] That was the Jonah wrap up.

[01:21:06] It sure was.

[01:21:07] And Q&A.

[01:21:08] And Q&A.

[01:21:08] Yeah.

[01:21:08] Mostly wrap up.

[01:21:09] We're just going to call it a wrap up, I think.

[01:21:11] Yeah.

[01:21:11] So that's a wrap.

[01:21:12] I had an entire like 15 minute story I could have gone into about this guy who, it was claimed,

[01:21:19] got swallowed by a whale.

[01:21:20] Yeah, no.

[01:21:21] But no.

[01:21:21] I don't care that much.

[01:21:22] I didn't want to.

[01:21:26] Someday.

[01:21:27] Probably not.

[01:21:27] If we ever touch on Jonah again.

[01:21:29] Fuck that guy.

[01:21:29] Whatever.

[01:21:30] We're done.

[01:21:30] Yep.

[01:21:31] Bye, guys.

[01:21:31] Bye.

[01:21:35] Bye.

[01:21:37] Bye.

[01:21:40] Bye.

[01:21:46] Bye.

[01:21:54] Bye.

[01:22:04] Bye.

[01:22:18] Much.

[01:22:27] Bye.

[01:22:29] Bye.

[01:22:29] Bye.

[01:22:29] Bye.

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