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Was the World Ever Perfect? – Chaos Dragon E11

BibleProject

BibleProject Podcast

Christianity, Old Testament, Torah, Theology, New Testament, God, Demons, Tim Mackie, Bible Study, Angels, Bible, Jesus, Spiritual Beings, Jon Collins, Religion & Spirituality, Spirit, Satan

4.818.5K Ratings

🗓️ 9 October 2023

⏱️ 62 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The theme of the chaos dragon raises some challenging questions. For instance, if God created a perfect world and humans messed it up, why did the dragon and the chaos waters exist at the beginning of the universe? Why would God allow the potential for chaos at all? In this episode, Tim and Jon discuss God’s goodness and the existence of evil, through the lens of the chaos dragon theme.

Transcript

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0:00.0

We've been tracing a theme in the Bible that we've been calling the Chaos Dragon.

0:09.3

The Chaos Dragon is not a rival to God, but it is a rival to the inhabitants of creation

0:16.0

because it's the opposite of creation which is order.

0:18.8

We've looked through the entire Hebrew Bible, how the dragon appears on day one of creation,

0:23.8

how violent human kings are compared to the Chaos Dragon, how spiritual evil can become

0:29.4

entwined with the powers of chaos and death.

0:32.1

And all of this actually can kind of get confusing, and I want to make sure I really understand

0:37.0

what the biblical authors are trying to say when they employ the image of the Chaos Dragon.

0:43.0

Evil is the opposite of creation.

0:45.0

If creation is the bringing about of garden order, then to do evil is really just to undo

0:50.7

creation, to undo good.

0:52.9

In today's episode we'll talk about why the biblical authors employ this ancient symbol

0:57.5

of the Chaos Dragon in the first place.

0:59.7

And what does it mean that humans can become Chaos Dragons ourselves?

1:03.3

And we'll consider a big concern of mine, which is why is there the potential of Chaos

1:07.7

swimming in the dark abyss?

1:09.7

And I thought God made a perfectly good world and then we screwed it up.

1:14.0

God has not set up creation to exist instantly in its ideal form.

1:20.0

He has set up reality so that it journeys from Chaos into the perfect.

1:26.6

And that journey constantly forces God's rulers to make conscious decisions about whether

1:31.9

we will align ourselves with the will and wisdom and goodness of God, or peel off to do

1:37.0

our own version of good, which is usually how we end up undoing good.

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