There is only one story about Jesus as a boy in the whole Bible. It is very interesting. It tells us a lot about how we know what parts of the Bible are real and what parts are just stories. In this episode, I tell you all the background of Jesus as a 12 year old boy in the temple. He is speaking to the old rabbis and they are super impressed with how smart he is. When you have a story like this, you must always ask whether it make sense in the culture and why the author of the book wrote about it. I explain how the authors of the bible were inspired and how you can know what their purpose was.

Ruth is an amazing character in the Bible. She is an strong woman. She is loyal and she is full of love for her mother in law, Naomi. Many people are amazed that we have this story about a woman, because we think Bible times were only about men and that women had no power. That is partly true. I explain how Ruth got into the risky position of being a foreign widow in ancient Israel. Naomi didn't want to ruin Ruth's chances to find a new husband in her home country. But Ruth insisted to stay with her, but in the most famous verse Ruth insists that she will stay with Naomi. And then she will try to become Boaz's wife. I also explain that while this story is beautiful by itself, it had a very important message. The people of Israel discriminated against the people of Moab, the country where Ruth was from. She was very bold to stay in Israel where she would not be accepted. It was through the kindness of Boaz that she got to stay. And then she would become the great grandmother of King David, the most important king of Israel, and then many generations later the ancestor of Jesus. It is a good lesson for loving the foreigner and to trust in God.


Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to abandon you, to turn back from following after you. Wherever you go, I will go; and wherever you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. 17 Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord do this to me and more so if even death separates me from you.” 18 When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped speaking to her about it.

Revelation is the craziest book of the Bible. Many people fear it. Some people hate it. It’s much better to understand it and enjoy the crazy ride. In this episode, I show a way to enjoy it without the fear of the hate. It’s all about how to use the book. Most people use it like a secret decoder ring of the future. But most of Christian history people didn’t think this. This is both a fun and a serious episode. Revelation is a fun rollercoaster ride that teaches what God thinks about empire and power at the same time. It can be uplifting and it is used for a lot of harm. I hope you will see it for what it is instead of what people use it for.

In this episode, we explore one of the weirdest and most fun books in the Old Testament. Most kids are told about how Jonah was swallowed by a big fish for three days and then vomited back on the beach. That is a fun image, but it is not what the book is really about. Instead it is about bullies and how God loves everyone, even them. Jonah is just a drama queen. He hates the bullies in Ninevah so much that he willing to go to the ends of the earth to not follow God's command. Instead, Jonah becomes a bully himself. The story is so absurd, but the fact of God's love is so much deeper than our own prejudices and hatred is the real story.

Sometime in your life, you give up on just believing what your parents told you. You discover God or not for yourself. Usually in your teens, you start taking it seriously. Some teens really want to get involved in faith and other don't. I started this podcast to help you discover the Bible for yourself. I am fascinated with the Bible. Some stories are terrible. Some stories are comforting. Most stories are just weird. In this episode, I introduce myself "Real Bible Rob" and why I think a fresh new way to look at faith can help you to be fascinated with the stories like I am. The most important thing to know is that a lot of people teach the Bible in a fearful way. This almost always comes from people who don't know what the Bible really says. They think the Bible is magical and frightening, especially if you disagree with it or you don't believe everything it says. Instead, smart people know that's not the way it works. I hope I can help you see this in a fresh new way. To show you how this works, I tell you about the story about Jesus healing the Blind Man. Even if you've heard it before, it's much more fun that most people realize. I also recommend the best Study Bible for teens to own.