Welcome to the second episode in our Genesis series.

Introduction (0:43 - 16:34) Matthew and Brett introduce to the listener the importance of a good ordinary world in a story. This ordinary world brings the consumer of the story into the world they are experiencing. It does this through three main connection points: presenting a good setting, laying the foundation for relatable characters, and planting the seed for the main conflict or journey of the story.

Part 1 (16:54 - 29:03) Finding Nemo is a great example of a story that exemplifies a good ordinary world. In this section, Matthew and Brett show just how great the first five minutes really are. “The ordinary world is your home base. As you go through the story, the discomfort comes from a yearning for home. You just want to go back.”


Part 2 (29:58 - 38:26) The ordinary world presented in Rocky is a hopeful foreshadowing of his future to come. “Your frame of reference is the single character of Rocky.” Rocky shows himself to be a relatable character because he presents traits that everyone wants to have: confidence, strength, and resilience.

Part 3 (38:55 - 50:50) Matthew and Brett discuss Genesis 2 and its importance in setting up the ordinary world of the Bible. One important insight is that when it comes to Genesis 2, “rest is the backbone of our setting.” Everything is based around and made complete with rest. Our indicator for living in the garden or not is based around our culture of hurry. Other themes discussed are work,

Part 4 (51:29 - 71:10) Finally Matt and Brett discuss the relatable characters in Genesis 2 along with the foreshadowing of the main conflict. Through this, they discuss topics of work, community, passion, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Thanks for listening! Please leave a rating and a review if you enjoyed!

Podcast produced by Matthew Lindh and Brett Johnson

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