Gabe Hughes: The Bible Project

Echo Zoe Radio

Gabe Hughes returns for his fourth episode of Echo Zoe Radio. He’s pastor of Junction City First Southern Baptist Church, author, and creator of WWUTT, or When We Understand the Text, a ministry in which he creates Youtube videos, writes books, and has a daily podcast. For this episode, Gabe and I discuss “The Bible Project,” which produces a lot of online videos. We’ll talk about who they are, what their videos are about, and how they compare to the Scripture.

Outline of the Discussion

• “The Bible Project” is a very popular video series available on Youtube with over 200 videos and 180 million views.
• At first glance, the videos appear to be very good. There are a lot of “introduction” and/or “overview” videos on various books of the Bible. Upon closer scrutiny, we find that there is some troubling teaching, as well as important doctrines that our just ignored. Sometimes
• Three things Gabe likes about the videos:
  1. They are committed to telling the Bible as one consistent story.
  2. All of the books fit together (Scripture interprets scripture.)
  3. They're committed to various themes such as Covenants, Hope, and Justice, and that all of these themes culminate with Christ.
• Three things Gabe dislikes about the videos:
  1. The Bible is actually rarely quoted.
  2. There are “pieces missing” from their presentation of doctrine. In some cases, the only way to find out what the presenters teach on specific issues (such as Faith,) one needs to find sermons that person has preached on the subject — outside of and separate from The Bible Project.
  3. The themes they present are poorly defined.
• When we're not given the solid Truths of Scripture, we begin to doubt the sufficiency of Scripture.
• The videos are very informative, but not very imperative.
• Their doctrine of Hell seems to be very troubling. It suggests Universalism (everyone is eventually saved.) This distorts the presentation of the Gospel.
• Their language is muted. Instead of using the word “sin,” they say that “we messed up.”
• We review the “Holiness” video.
• We're reluctant to question the motives of how the material is presented, but there are enough problems that it gives us great concern.
• Ultimately, we cannot recommend “The Bible Project.” Instead, we recommend the following ministries: Ligonier, Grace to You, Alpha and Omega, Apologia Radio, Justin Peters, and Wretched.
• Be careful that what you think you're teaching (using someone else's materials) is actually being taught. Sometimes we think we're teaching something, but we're actually filling in blanks in our minds that aren't actually in the material.

Scriptures Referenced

• Romans 3
• Hebrews 11:1
• James 1:6
• Matthew 25:41
• Romans 5:8
• Leviticus 11:44-45
• Matthew 5:48
• 1 Peter 1:16
• John 4:25-26
• 2 Corinthians 5:21
• Isaiah 53:55

Additional Resources

• What's Wrong with the Bible Project – Video by Gabe Hughes