Jan. 23, 2025

Bible Study: Asking Hard Questions

Bible Study: Asking Hard Questions

A discussion about the importance of asking questions in bible study.

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A discussion about the importance of asking questions in bible study.

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Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is

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the Theology Central podcast making Theology Central. Well, I did

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it again, ladies and gentlemen. Why do I keep doing this?

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It just kind of happens. Right I get ready to

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go live, and right when I get ready to do

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that introduction, I notice, well, do I say good morning

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or do I say good afternoon? Because once again I

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think the other day when I did it was like

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eleven fifty nine am. Well, today it was eleven fifty

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seven am. So I guess I'm supposed to say good

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morning for just a few minutes. It's eleven fifty seven

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am Central time. It is Thursday, January the twenty third,

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twenty twenty five. And while I'm coming to you live

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from the Theology Central studio located right here in Abilene, Texas.

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I think I don't even really schedule it. But if

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you notice, a lot of my broadcasts kind of happen

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around that ten between ten thirty and eleven fifty nine

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a m. Central time. Now, sometimes I do one, sometimes

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I do broadcast later in the afternoon. But this sometimes

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kind of finds the time where I kind of make myself,

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you know, I make my way up to up the

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stairs to the microphone, and then I have something to

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talk about. So this is just kind of when it occurs. Ultimately,

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it doesn't matter when it happens, since most people listen

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not live, They listen to this later on, you know,

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on a podcast, app or wherever. So ultimately it doesn't

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matter when I broadcasts, but it does matter to me

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as far as a different times of the day or

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evening or night definitely has a different feel for and

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so I think some content works better at this time,

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some content works better at this time, or maybe I'm

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just overthinking it, which is probably the case. And speaking

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of overthinking, well, we're gonna be hopelly, I'm going to

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be causing you to do a little bit of overthinking

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here because maybe maybe should should we should we call

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it overthinking. Maybe it's just thinking. Maybe maybe just trying

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to get you do it and really engage your mind.

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And I hope, I hope you are ready. Okay, here

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we go. All right, Now, what I'm about to do

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as I'm going to put forth some questions, I'm going

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to put forth some ideas, and what I want you

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to do is to be very very very honest with

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yourself the things I'm about to say. If I phrase

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it as a question, or if I just phrase it

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as a statement, I need you to be honest with

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yourself and ask yourself, does this make me uncomfortable? Does

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this make me feel like I need to defend? Does

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it make you defensive? Does it make you want to

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argue with me? I want you to ask yourself if

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he was to ask and say these things at my

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church during the adult Sunday school class or adult Bible study,

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how would his comments? How would his questions be received?

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I really want you to answer this. How does it

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make you feel? And how do you think my comments

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that I'm about to say, how do you think they

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would be received in your church? I want you to

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and if you want to answer it, that would be great.

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But I really want to know because I'm gonna say

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some things here. I'm gonna put phrase it maybe in

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a question for maybe I will not, maybe just be

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as a declarative statement. But however I phrase it, I

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want you to really think about how does it make

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you feel? Because for some of you, you're not going

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to like what's about to happen here. You're gonna get

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very irritated with me. It's going to bother you longtime listeners.

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I'm like, Wow, that's typical. He says these kinds of

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things all the time. I've gotten used to it. People

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who may not be used to it, they're gonna get

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very upset, They're gonna get very defensive. And in my estimation,

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in my perspective, and I could be wrong here, I

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feel that in most churches, I would be like, people

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would not like what I'm doing. They would, they would,

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They would be very upset. It would probably create almost

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a conflict, would probably break out at your church if

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I showed up and said the things I'm about to say. So,

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are you ready? All right? This sets the foundation for

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everything we're going to be doing. Here we go. Yesterday

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there was a school shooting in Tennessee. I believe it

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was in the Nashville area. A young girl was shot

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and killed. The shooter shot himself, and I think one

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other student I think was wounded. I don't have all

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the facts in front of me, but there was a

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school shooting yesterday. And immediately after, once the reports came

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out and news articles started being posted on maybe Christian

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websites or even non Christian websites, you almost inevitably heard

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the praying for the wounded, praying for the victims, family praying, praying, praying, praying, praying, praying, pray.

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A lot of discussion about praying after another school shooting.

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And I get frustrated when I hear this, right, so

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I kind of raised some questions, and of course it

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did not make everyone happy, And of course that's not

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going to make everyone happy now. So I would state

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something like this and tell me if this bothers you,

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or if I would be basically booted out of your church,

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I'd be like, wait a minute, Wait a minute, we're

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going to pray. So a school shooting has occurred, and

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now we're going to pray. Is it not true that

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we are now about to pray to the very God

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who knew the school shooting was going to occur and

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did absolutely nothing to stop it, did not intervene in it.

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But now we're going to pray to that God to

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do what intervene now, to what bring healing to the wounded?

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I mean, we know he's not going to raise the

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person who was shot and killed to life. They're not

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There's not gonna be a resurrection here in this life.

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So so, but he's gonna heal So Hey, the person

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who's dead, he's not gonna raise them from life, but

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the person in the hospital will pray that he will

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heal them. Oh what what? What? What's going on here?

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So so again I would be the one raising my

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hand going, wait, so you want us to pray now

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after the shooting, and we're gonna pray to the very

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God who knew the shooting was going to occur and

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did nothing to stop it, but and did not intervene.

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But now we want him to intervene. Now we only

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want him to intervene and healing the wounded or bringing

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some kind of vague subjective comfort to the family whose

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daughter was killed. And exactly how does that work? So

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it's like, okay, I'm God, so just try to understand

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this from an illustration purpose. So the God who did

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nothing to save your daughter, the God who did nothing

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to intervene to stop it from happening, that's the God.

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Now I want to comfort you. The God who could

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have stopped it, the God who could have prevented it

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is the God. Now I'm gonna pray, we'll comfort you.

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So God's going to be like, well, I did nothing

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to stop it. I'm not going to resurrect your daughter.

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I did nothing to prevent it. But I'm here to

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put my arms around you. Wait, so you could have

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stopped it. You could have prevented it. You could raise

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my daughter from the dead. But you're not. But I'm

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supposed to have you. Now what hug me figuratively speaking,

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wrap your arms around me. My daughter is dead. Oh

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I know, I know, but but I'm here to comfort you. Comfort, comfort, comfort. Now. See,

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if I raise these kinds of questions, I can already

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hear some of you getting very angry and getting very upset.

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Some of you will be very bothered. Yesterday I raised

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some of these questions in a comment section under a

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news article. Oh let me tell you, some people weren't happy.

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In fact, I immediately got basically what I refer to

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as Sunday School apologetics, where someone's like, you just don't

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know anything about free will, and I'm like, really, that's

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that's your go to? Which version of free will are

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you referring to? Which one? Which one are you referring to?

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A libertarian free will? Arnas Stratolian, the Augustinian free will?

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Maybe the free will version of Thomas Aquinas or the Franciscans.

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I mean, I could go on Mulanism, I could go

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through all the different views of free will throughout Church history.

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Which one do you prefer and whichever one you throw

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out through And the argument was, you just don't understand

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free will because God never intervenes that would impact someone's

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free will. Well, if God never intervenes to impact someone's

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free will, then why do we pray? And God never

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intervened in people's free will in the Bible. I mean,

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just so many theological issues. I'm just what. I just like,

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oh what? But see, people get defensive because I'm raising

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some very difficult questions and some of you don't even

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like the questions. So, I mean, just think about the situation.

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So there's a shooting. Now, You've got to remember, right,

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so a shooting occurs. Now we can all agree on this. God,

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before the foundations of the world, knew that a school

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shooting would happen in Tennessee on January the twenty second,

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twenty twenty five and someone would die. He knew that

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before the foundations of the world, because he's all knowing.

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We also know that the God who knew it was

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going to happen. Is omnipresent, present everywhere at all times,

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so he was present. Not only that, he's omnipotent, so

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he could have stopped it. He could have prevented it.

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He could He could have done something in such an

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ordinary way yet where you would not even have known

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God was involved. The gun could have gotten jammed, the

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gun could have not fired, the gun could have malfunctioned,

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or someone could have found out that the student had

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a gun before anything happened and stopped it. There's a

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million things that could happen that you wouldn't even know

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God was involved. It doesn't require the parting of the

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Red Sea, doesn't require fire from Heaven. Could have been

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small little things that could have prevented it, but it didn't.

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So the student walks in kills this girl, and then

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Christians say, pray, pray to the God who did not

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stop it and allowed it to occur. And we're not

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even getting into decrees. We're not even getting into that

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whether God decreed it, we're not even getting into that

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philological issue. We know he allowed it, we know he

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did nothing to prevent it. So either now you have

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to believe God could have intervened, but chose not to intervene. Well,

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if he chose not to intervene, now you're gonna pray

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for him to do what now intervene? Well he chose

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not to intervene there, but now you're gonna choose to

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ask him to intervene after the fact. The whole thing

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becomes confounding and confusing. Now, asking these kinds of questions

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bothers some of you greatly. And again I could I

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could ask a million other questions in regards to God,

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God knowing God not no, Well, we could get into

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open theism. And does that even fix anything? Or does

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that become more problematic? Does God intervene? Does God not intervene?

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What does it mean? Comfort the victims? What does that mean?

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That's so subjective? And again the God who allowed your

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daughter to die is the God. Now you're gonna look

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too for comfort. That that's so confounding and confusing, right,

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That's like that is so so difficult to wrap my

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mind around at times. Now, like these questions, I know

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make people very upset. And the reason I'm asking these

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questions now is this fits perfectly with the broadcast we

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did a few days ago. May have been even I

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don't know, a week ago where we talked about Christianity

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and questions, and we went through a whole list of

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things about Christianity and questions, and I made the argument

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that Christianity needs to be the place where hard questions

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can be asked. But for the most part, the church

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does not like hard questions. We don't like that. We

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want certainty, We want it simple and easy. We want

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a disneyfied version of things. We don't want to to

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face reality. And I think I said something along these

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lines that the I think I said something along these

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lines almost dropped the iPad. I said something along these

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lines at the end of that broadcast was that asking

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hard questions about scripture and life is not a sign

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of weak faith, but of a strong desire to know

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God more deeply. The Bible invites us to wrestle with

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its truths, even when they are difficult or uncomfortable. Churches

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should foster environments where these questions can be asked honestly,

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creating a space for growth, healing, and a deeper understanding

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of God's purposes. I think something along those lines is

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how I ended that broadcaster. Are pretty close to the end.

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The church needs to be the place where you can

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ask these questions. But if I if I was in

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church and I said some of these things, oh, it'd

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be a you just don't understand free will, You just

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don't understand God's sovereignty. And people would get very defensive

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and just throw out every little bumper, stick or cliche

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that they've learned in church. They wouldn't go that is difficult.

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So a school shooting occurred. God knew it was going

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to happen. God did nothing to stop it. So now

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we're gonna ask God to intervene after the act. But

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we but he's not. We know he's not going to

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intervene in resurrecting the dead girl. He's not going to

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resurrect the dead girl, so that that's not going to happen.

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So hmm, okay, So we'll ask him to heal the

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person who was wounded, and it will ask him to

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comfort the parents of the dead girl. But wait, we're

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gonna ask the God who allowed it to happen and

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did nothing to stop it, who's not going to resurrect

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their daughter to comfort them. That seems a little that

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seems a little confusing. Yeah, you would hope that church

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would be willing to acknowledge that and accept that. But no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

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no no, nobody wants to go there because that makes

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everyone uncomfortable. But I believe we have to be willing

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to answer these not necessarily. And let me take that back.

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I was gonna say, to answer these questions. We can't

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necessarily answer these questions there. There is It is no

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good answer there. You can try to come up with

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every you can play every word game you want to

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play to try to make it make sense to you.

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You can play every little game. I mean you can.

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I've heard all the justifications and answers, and somehow it

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makes Christians feel better. But anyone just looking through and

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going come on, now, none of that makes any real sense.

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It kind of falls apart. But we have to be

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willing to accept that, because I think a faith that

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never questions, a faith that is not willing to face

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head on these difficulties, is it even really is it

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a legitimate faith of any kind? Like I said, I mean,

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if you create kind of a fake reality about God

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and how everything works, and so that it all makes

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perfect sense and it fits together perfectly. I mean is

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that real faith, Because real faith is you have faith,

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but yet you faith that faith exists in the face

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of reality, and you don't try to shape it or

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change it to make it all seem so wonderful and

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perfect and pretty, because it's not wonderful, perfect and pretty.

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It's ugly. It's hard. It's it's filled with death, pain, suffering, confusion, darkness,

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and sometimes you're left with very few answers. To me,

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a faith that can't embrace that the reality of life

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is a faith that's just built on a facade. It's

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it's built on an illusion. And I don't think that

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that's a real, genuine faith. See when I raise these

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kinds of questions, immediately I will be accused of you

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don't have faith, you don't trust God. And it's like, no,

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it's the opposite. Okay, I'm willing to believe in God

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even when this doesn't make any sense to me. Asking

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hard questions is not a sign of denying the faith.

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It's not even a sign of a weak faith. I

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think asking the hard questions is a sign of a strong,

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mature faith, immature faith. Just they got to shut that

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down and give me a simple answer. Oh, let me

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go find an apologetics book. Oh here's a good answer. Okay,

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I'm satisfied, are you? You just want certainty at the

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expense of truth? Now, I spent seventeen minutes going through

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all of that, because the whole goal when I did

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the last broadcast is to move us towards we have

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to be people within Christianity in general and the church

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who embrace difficult questions. But that questioning mentality that we

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have about well, a shooting and like, okay, wait a minute,

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how do we how do we what's the right way

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to address this? What's the right way we're going to

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talk about prayer? There raises some serious questions. We have

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to be willing to do that. And then that questioning mentality,

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that questioning perspective, then must be brought over to the

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Bible itself, because Bible study is the art of asking good,

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difficult questions. To be a good Bible student, you have

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to be good at asking the text hard questions. Bible

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study is the art of asking good questions. A good

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Bible student is the one who can ask good questions.

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So what we're going to do now, Now, I'll probably

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have to take this and we'll go back because obviously

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this introduction is going to take off a lot of

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people and they're gonna miss everything that comes after. And

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I understand that that was the danger of doing this,

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but it fits perfectly because we just had a broadcast

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a couple you know, like a week ago, on the

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subject of asking hard questions, and then yesterday presented me

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a perfect example of well, here we go. Here's some

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hard questions that any reasonable person should ask. It shouldn't

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be left to the atheist or to the agnostic. Every

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Christian should be like, wait, how do we wait? We're

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gonna pray to the very God who wait, this is confusing,

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but that questioning now, if we're gonna I want us

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to now try to formulate. This is what my goal

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ultimately is. This is what I'm moving to. And this

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may be repeated and future broadcast, who knows. But I

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really want twenty twenty five to be a year where

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we really embrace this idea of learning how to ask

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the text difficult and write questions. And we need to

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formulate the kind of questions that we need to ask.

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So I want to try to outline and summarize some

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of the hard questions. A great Bible student will ask

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about each verse and every text in the Bible. These

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are the kinds of questions that every good Bible student

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should ask. A great Bible student, we'll ask hard and

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difficult questions that will push past surface meanings, and we'll

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engage with the deeper implications, the tensions and the realities

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of scripture. I'm going to state that again, a great

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Bible student will ask hard and difficult questions that push

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past surface meanings, and we'll engage with the deeper implications,

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the tensions and the realities of scripture. So let's kind

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of break these down into maybe categories of questions, and

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we will kind of we'll just keep working through this

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maybe I don't know how long, and just kind of

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we'll continue to mold this and shape this, kind of

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like we're doing with AI versus Lordship Salvation. We kind

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of keep adding some things that we'll clean that up

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and maybe try to find a way to put it

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all together. And the same thing we're going to do

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this with this in regards to questions about the text,

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now questions in general. Maybe maybe we should just say

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the kind of questions Christians should ask all the time.

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Maybe we should have two kinds of lists. Here's the

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questions Christians should just be asking about life and every issue.

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And here are the kinds of questions directly related to

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the Bible. Maybe we need two lists, but the key

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is you don't necessarily need a list. You just need

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to be a person who can ask questions. And I

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think yesterday asking the question about the shooting and everyone's

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call for prayer, I think it's I think it's called

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for now. Whenever I do that again, christians get mad

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at me. Hey, let's pray about this. Okay, Wait, I

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gotta make sure I understand this. You're gonna pray to

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the God who did not stop it. I'm confused to

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exactly who we're praying to, because it's almost like we're

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praying to a God who wasn't involved in the situation,

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and now we're asking God to get involved in the situation.

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But he knew the situation before the foundations of the

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world and did nothing to stop the situation. Now you

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want him to be to intervene in the situation, but

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he didn't intervene prayer, so I don't understand. It gets

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all confused. And we've talked about this before, but for now,

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we'll set aside those difficult questions. We'll come to the Bible.

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So the first kind of questions, the first category is

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contextual questions. Now, when I say that, listen, listen to

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me closely. Everyone makes this claim, Oh, context matters, contexts,

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context matters. Look if we've seen anything and all of

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the sermons that we have reviewed on Isaiah chapter forty

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through Isaiah chapter fifty five, is everyone gives lip service

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to the context. Oh the context does this? Now we

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don't care anymore. Let's make it about us. Everyone asks

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the context questions only simply to look like they care

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about the context. If you ask the context question, then

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that context has to be to become a key factor

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in how you handle the text. It's of no value

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to ask a context question, establish that Isaiah forty through

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fifty five are words of comfort to those and Babylonian

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captivity who's about to come out, and then somehow acknowledge that.

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Then just ignore it and make it all about us. Well,

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there's no point in asking the context. I would almost

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prefer the person doesn't even bother asking the context question

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if they're just going to turn around and ignore. Once

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you ask the context question, that context now has to

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become the driving force in how you handle the text.

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So some contextual questions, all right, we could we could.

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I think the idea when we ask context questions is

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does this text make sense in its context? When you

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see the scripture? Does this scripture make sense? Not in

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my context, not to me, but does it make sense

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in its context? And so so we're gonna ask contextual questions.

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And here's the way. We're gonna break these contextual questions

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down into three historical context, literary context, and immediate context.

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So the first thing you need to do when you

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come to any text of the Bible is you need

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to think of contextual questions. And really they're gonna be

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they're gonna go through three directions, the historical context, the

401
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literary context, and the immediate context. So let's look at

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historical context. You would ask questions like what was happening

403
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in the historical cultural and social settings of this verse?

404
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So what was happening in the historical, cultural and social

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settings of this verse, whatever passage you come to. That's

406
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what you need. Okay, slow down, before I do anything else,

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before I make it about me, before I talk about us,

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before I talk about the church before I talk about Christianity.

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Wait a minute, Wait a minute, what was happening in

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the historical, cultural, and social setting of this verse? If

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you cannot identify and explain what was going on historically, culturally,

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and socially and the setting of that verse, then you

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should not even be interpreting the verse and you should

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just stop talking. I almost want to make that a

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rule when people want to argue with me, who whoa

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whoa whoa whoa whoah? What's the historical setting? What's going

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on and the historical cultural and social setting? Oh, you

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don't have a clue, then why do you think you

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know what the verse means? Does the text reflect practices, customs,

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or beliefs that are foreign to my modern understanding? This

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is all the historical context. So what was happening in

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the historical culture and social setting? And does the text

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is it reflecting a practice, a custom, a belief that

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may be completely foreign to me? Because I got to

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step in there and try to figure it out. Wait,

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what was going on here? What are they saying here?

427
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Because what we'll do is we'll go and say, oh,

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this Isaiah was saying this to us, And you're like, no,

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I don't think Isaiah is saying that to you in

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any way, shape or form. Isaiah is saying that in

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the context of Babylon and their religious, cultural, and social setting.

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So the historical com text, we have to ask these

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questions about what was happening in the historical culture on

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social setting, and does the text reflect practices, customs, or

435
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beliefs that are foreign to my modern understanding. That's historical context.

436
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Those are kind of questions we ask about historical context,

437
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and you can you can come up with other questions

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as well about historical context. But you're just asking that, Wait,

439
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when did this happen? What was going on? How is

440
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this happened? Who? What where? When? How kind of type

441
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of thing? All right, next literary context? How does this

442
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verse fit into the broader passage, chapter or book. When

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you see the verse, you have to go wait, wait, wait,

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how does it fit in to the broader passage, to

445
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the chapter or to the book. How does this fit in?

446
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What's going on? Well, if you go to Isaiah forty

447
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anything you see after Isaiah chapter forty verse one, you

448
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know that. If you go back to Isaiah chapter thirty nine,

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the last like five verses of thirty nine. It sets

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up the Babylonian captivity. So chapter forty, verse one begins

451
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comfort ye, comfort ye, Well, who is going to be

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who is the call to comfort the people in Babylonian captivity?

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If forty through fifty five is all about the comforting

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of those people, then everything is a word at first.

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You're going to see them more as words of comfort,

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and you're going to see them as words of comfort

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for those of Babylonian captivity, not about you or me?

458
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Is this verse part of a larger argument, narrative, or

459
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poetic structure? So when you see it, wait, is this

460
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making an argument? Is this a part of a narrative?

461
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Is this a part of a poetic structure? If it's

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a poetic structure, you've got to identify the poetic structure

463
00:28:39.720 --> 00:28:41.440
and go okay. If it's a part of an argument,

464
00:28:41.480 --> 00:28:43.319
where does the argument begin and where does it end?

465
00:28:43.400 --> 00:28:45.079
And if it's a part of a narrative, where does

466
00:28:45.119 --> 00:28:47.599
the narrative begin? Where does the narrative end? Because you

467
00:28:47.640 --> 00:28:49.720
can't just reach into the middle of an argument and

468
00:28:49.759 --> 00:28:51.559
to the middle of a narrative or into the middle

469
00:28:51.559 --> 00:28:54.279
of a poetic structure and just say boom, I've got

470
00:28:54.319 --> 00:28:58.000
a sermon, But most people sitting in the pegue don't

471
00:28:58.000 --> 00:29:00.920
care if that's happening, as long as the sermon is good,

472
00:29:01.480 --> 00:29:07.759
and this sermon doesn't make me uncomfortable, I guess so

473
00:29:07.799 --> 00:29:15.400
the historical context, literary context, immediate context. Does the surrounding

474
00:29:15.480 --> 00:29:18.680
text provide clarity? Or does this verse seem out of place?

475
00:29:19.079 --> 00:29:20.359
When you look at the verse, you may like, what

476
00:29:20.440 --> 00:29:22.720
is going on here? Well? Wait, wait, wait, wait wait?

477
00:29:22.759 --> 00:29:25.400
Does it fit in? And if it seems out of place?

478
00:29:25.440 --> 00:29:28.000
Why is it out of place? What's going on here?

479
00:29:28.079 --> 00:29:30.680
Where did this come from? This seems to me? I

480
00:29:30.720 --> 00:29:32.960
say that all the time. This doesn't seem to make

481
00:29:33.000 --> 00:29:36.079
any sense. Why is this verse here? Now? Sometimes we

482
00:29:36.119 --> 00:29:37.880
take a step back and go, okay, I think we

483
00:29:37.920 --> 00:29:44.880
can figure this out. How does the verse or I'm sorry,

484
00:29:45.119 --> 00:29:48.599
how do the verses? That's probably the correct way to

485
00:29:48.640 --> 00:29:52.559
say that. How do the verses before and after affect

486
00:29:52.599 --> 00:29:57.640
the meaning of the text? All right, you've got the verse? Right? No? Wait, wait, wait?

487
00:29:57.960 --> 00:30:01.559
What comes before? And what comes after? So you could

488
00:30:01.599 --> 00:30:03.240
look at a verse and go you could do it

489
00:30:03.240 --> 00:30:07.680
this way. I think the verse means this. Stop all right, now,

490
00:30:07.759 --> 00:30:09.799
let me look at what comes before? Let's look at

491
00:30:09.839 --> 00:30:12.839
what comes after. Does that change the meaning that I

492
00:30:12.880 --> 00:30:18.839
have arrived at now? If it changes the meaning, sorry,

493
00:30:18.920 --> 00:30:21.359
your sermon may have to be scrapped. But tom many

494
00:30:21.400 --> 00:30:24.519
sermons are based off one off one verse. We've seen

495
00:30:24.559 --> 00:30:27.839
that in Isaiah forty we ended up win Isaiah forty

496
00:30:28.279 --> 00:30:34.000
What was it? Isaiah forty most bizarre thing we've ever

497
00:30:34.440 --> 00:30:36.960
one of the most bizarre things we've ever encountered. Isaiah

498
00:30:37.039 --> 00:30:39.680
chapter forty, verse eleven. He shall feed his flock like

499
00:30:39.720 --> 00:30:42.279
a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with his arm

500
00:30:42.400 --> 00:30:45.039
and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead

501
00:30:45.079 --> 00:30:47.440
those that are with young. We heard a sermon on

502
00:30:47.519 --> 00:30:52.279
Isaiah forty eleven, and that somehow became about infant baptism.

503
00:30:52.599 --> 00:30:55.720
Are you out of your ever living mind? What in

504
00:30:55.759 --> 00:30:58.599
the name of bubblegum is going on? That is cuckoo

505
00:30:58.640 --> 00:31:01.680
for cocoa puffs, every other thing I could possibly say?

506
00:31:01.680 --> 00:31:04.680
What is that has not a thing to do with

507
00:31:04.759 --> 00:31:07.839
If a baptism has nothing to do with Baptism has

508
00:31:07.880 --> 00:31:10.680
something to do with God because of a covenant that

509
00:31:10.759 --> 00:31:14.400
he made with Israel, that He's going to feed his

510
00:31:14.559 --> 00:31:18.160
flock Israel in this particular case, Judah is in Babylonian

511
00:31:18.200 --> 00:31:21.640
captivity like a shepherd. He's going to gather his lambs

512
00:31:21.680 --> 00:31:24.000
with his arm and carry them in his bosom, and

513
00:31:24.039 --> 00:31:26.039
he shill gently those that are with young, and that

514
00:31:26.160 --> 00:31:30.039
is about leading them out of Babylonian captivity back into Judah.

515
00:31:30.079 --> 00:31:32.000
And how is he going to do it. He's going

516
00:31:32.039 --> 00:31:33.759
to do it through cyrus. He's going to do it

517
00:31:33.759 --> 00:31:41.880
through ordinary means. We've had all of these conversations. So

518
00:31:41.920 --> 00:31:47.240
there's historical comment, there's a contextual questions, historical, literary and

519
00:31:48.440 --> 00:31:54.279
immediate context. How about philological questions? How about philological questions?

520
00:31:55.559 --> 00:31:59.480
What does this text say about God and reality? So

521
00:31:59.559 --> 00:32:01.920
when it comes to theological question, okay, wait, what is

522
00:32:01.920 --> 00:32:05.799
this text saying about God? What is it saying about reality?

523
00:32:08.440 --> 00:32:13.359
And you could break these down primarily the probably primarily

524
00:32:13.839 --> 00:32:17.440
under two major headings, philological questions. We're gonna deal with

525
00:32:17.480 --> 00:32:22.000
God's character and human experience. So we would do something

526
00:32:22.079 --> 00:32:29.680
like this, how does this text portray God's love, justice, mercy, sovereignty,

527
00:32:29.880 --> 00:32:34.319
or holiness. Does the text teach us or demonstrate something

528
00:32:34.319 --> 00:32:38.359
about God's attributes God's character? Does it say anything? But

529
00:32:38.400 --> 00:32:40.640
you've got to be willing to ask tough questions. Whoa wha,

530
00:32:40.640 --> 00:32:44.319
wha wha, whoa whoa man, what is God doing here?

531
00:32:45.200 --> 00:32:51.599
I mean God set job up? That's hard to process, right?

532
00:32:51.720 --> 00:32:55.839
Why wait? God intervened here. He left these people out

533
00:32:55.880 --> 00:32:59.119
to just nothing like he raised Lazarus from the dead.

534
00:32:59.200 --> 00:33:03.559
John the Baptist, So sorry, so sad. I mean we

535
00:33:03.599 --> 00:33:05.640
can go. I mean there's all. And it's okay to

536
00:33:05.720 --> 00:33:10.279
ask those kinds of questions. See in Bible study, your

537
00:33:10.599 --> 00:33:13.119
only you're only supposed to ask questions a certain way,

538
00:33:13.279 --> 00:33:16.039
a certain no you, it's a when you get to

539
00:33:16.079 --> 00:33:18.960
ask questions. You can ask any question, no matter what

540
00:33:19.039 --> 00:33:21.960
it is. And if it makes Christians uncomfortable, it's the

541
00:33:22.079 --> 00:33:25.480
Christian's fault. Forget them. You don't need them if they

542
00:33:25.480 --> 00:33:31.359
can't handle it. Just like if I was to ask

543
00:33:31.400 --> 00:33:34.440
those questions as I started this entire discussion about about

544
00:33:34.519 --> 00:33:37.039
prayer and God, what does that all mean about God

545
00:33:37.160 --> 00:33:39.920
and prayer? Oh no, no, no, no, no, little Christians

546
00:33:39.960 --> 00:33:42.720
are going to get their feelings hurt. Well, I don't

547
00:33:42.839 --> 00:33:49.359
need them. Then You've got to be able to ask

548
00:33:49.480 --> 00:33:53.119
difficult questions when it comes to God's character and attributes.

549
00:33:55.559 --> 00:33:58.559
So we're gonna ask theological questions about God's character. How

550
00:33:58.599 --> 00:34:02.799
does this How is this the two text demonstrate God's love, justice, mercy,

551
00:34:02.839 --> 00:34:06.240
socretary of holiness? Does this text challenge or expand your

552
00:34:06.240 --> 00:34:09.960
current understanding of who God is? Look, it may greatly

553
00:34:10.119 --> 00:34:12.599
challenge your understanding of God, because you may say, and

554
00:34:12.679 --> 00:34:18.679
it's okay to do this, This makes no sense, this

555
00:34:18.719 --> 00:34:23.800
is disturbing. This bothers me. I don't understand. I know

556
00:34:23.840 --> 00:34:27.880
you're not supposed to do that in church. I tell you,

557
00:34:27.920 --> 00:34:30.599
sometimes church is the place where Bible study comes to

558
00:34:30.679 --> 00:34:36.000
die because you can't ask some of these questions, or

559
00:34:36.000 --> 00:34:38.239
people will get offended and get mad, or they just

560
00:34:38.280 --> 00:34:40.679
get defensive and they start going into you know, Sunday

561
00:34:40.679 --> 00:34:43.800
School Apologetic Hour, and they start throwing out every known

562
00:34:43.840 --> 00:34:47.320
cliche that they've learned, and most of them don't really

563
00:34:47.320 --> 00:34:53.800
even answer the question you're trying to struggle with. Sometimes

564
00:34:53.800 --> 00:34:56.159
you read the text you like that challenges my understanding

565
00:34:56.199 --> 00:35:01.599
of God completely. I don't understand what he was doing here.

566
00:35:02.239 --> 00:35:06.039
I mean, if he could intervene to stop the sin

567
00:35:06.159 --> 00:35:09.440
that could have possibly happened with Sarah Sarah when Abraham

568
00:35:09.559 --> 00:35:13.639
liked basically like, hey, she's my sister taker. He intervened

569
00:35:13.639 --> 00:35:16.079
in those situations to stop anything from happening to her,

570
00:35:16.280 --> 00:35:20.159
stopping any sin from occurring. He literally intervened and stopped it.

571
00:35:20.559 --> 00:35:23.400
But in other situations he's like, well, you know, I'm

572
00:35:23.400 --> 00:35:25.760
not going to intervene here. Go ahead, go ahead and

573
00:35:25.800 --> 00:35:28.800
sleep with Hagar. Whether you know she gives consent or not,

574
00:35:28.800 --> 00:35:32.519
not my problem. Hey, David, Well I'm not going to

575
00:35:32.599 --> 00:35:36.320
intervene now. God intervenes in other situations with David. But hey,

576
00:35:36.400 --> 00:35:38.760
when you get ready to commit that sin of adultery

577
00:35:38.800 --> 00:35:42.440
and murder, I'm just gonna go completely silent. Other situations,

578
00:35:42.480 --> 00:35:46.119
I'm gonna step immediately in and actually intervene in a

579
00:35:46.280 --> 00:35:49.199
very real, tangible way. But in these other situations, I'm

580
00:35:49.199 --> 00:35:52.480
just gonna go completely silent and disappear, and you're on

581
00:35:52.519 --> 00:35:57.719
your own, even if that means someone's husband gets killed.

582
00:35:57.760 --> 00:36:02.639
I mean, you know, well that happens, or I'm gonna

583
00:36:02.639 --> 00:36:06.000
intervene here. But I'm not going to intervene when you

584
00:36:06.119 --> 00:36:08.800
lie and tell everyone you're on a mission from the

585
00:36:08.840 --> 00:36:11.159
king when you're not, and then well Saul comes in

586
00:36:11.199 --> 00:36:13.920
and slaughters everyone, all the priests and everyone in the city. Well,

587
00:36:13.960 --> 00:36:15.880
I'm not going to intervene to stop that in any way,

588
00:36:15.880 --> 00:36:19.239
shape or form. But over here, I'm gonna intervene. If

589
00:36:19.280 --> 00:36:22.480
that doesn't challenge you and make things like ah, that

590
00:36:22.559 --> 00:36:24.960
makes no sense now I know. See, if you're in

591
00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:28.039
Sunday School, well you just have to understand God is sovereign.

592
00:36:28.119 --> 00:36:30.360
He can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants. Now

593
00:36:30.440 --> 00:36:33.760
just get over it. See that's just a way to

594
00:36:33.800 --> 00:36:36.440
shut you down from thinking and asking questions. But you

595
00:36:36.480 --> 00:36:39.480
should be asking those questions because sometimes it's a little

596
00:36:39.519 --> 00:36:43.159
confounding and confusing, especially in the Old Testament, where you

597
00:36:43.159 --> 00:36:47.360
have God intervening and very direct in many cases miraculous ways,

598
00:36:48.800 --> 00:36:54.639
parting the Red Sea, plagues, speaking, Shakina glory, all these

599
00:36:54.639 --> 00:36:58.760
things just like massive intervene man coming from heaven, and

600
00:36:58.800 --> 00:37:04.159
in other situations where's God. I have no idea He's

601
00:37:04.199 --> 00:37:07.119
not showing up here. Now. People will say, well, it's

602
00:37:07.119 --> 00:37:09.280
all a part of whose plan, and you can throw

603
00:37:09.360 --> 00:37:13.199
at every little Sunday School cliche, but it doesn't answer

604
00:37:13.239 --> 00:37:17.519
the questions and asking those questions. The people asking those

605
00:37:17.599 --> 00:37:21.199
questions don't look down upon them as if their faith

606
00:37:21.280 --> 00:37:24.679
is wrong. They're the ones asking the questions. That typically

607
00:37:24.719 --> 00:37:27.199
is a sign of a stronger faith. It's the ones

608
00:37:27.199 --> 00:37:38.239
who can't handle the questions. Does the text challenge or

609
00:37:38.320 --> 00:37:41.559
expand your current understanding of who God is? I think

610
00:37:41.599 --> 00:37:45.199
constantly you are. So when we ask theological questions, we

611
00:37:45.239 --> 00:37:48.000
ask questions about God's character, we also ask questions about

612
00:37:48.079 --> 00:37:53.360
human experience. How does this verse explain or address human suffering, sin,

613
00:37:53.559 --> 00:37:56.039
or purpose? When you look at a verse, does this

614
00:37:56.400 --> 00:38:01.079
explain or address suffering or the reality of sin? I mean,

615
00:38:01.880 --> 00:38:05.159
when you come to the Bible and you read a verse,

616
00:38:05.840 --> 00:38:10.880
you don't have to forget the reality that's happening right

617
00:38:10.920 --> 00:38:14.480
outside your front door. You may be sitting in your study,

618
00:38:14.519 --> 00:38:16.440
you may have a nice little setup in your house.

619
00:38:16.480 --> 00:38:17.880
You may be on the couch with a cup of

620
00:38:17.880 --> 00:38:21.119
coffee with your Bible. Doesn't mean you forget everything going

621
00:38:21.159 --> 00:38:23.440
on in the world around you. You don't forget everything

622
00:38:23.480 --> 00:38:25.760
going on in real life. So many times when we

623
00:38:25.800 --> 00:38:27.960
come to the Bible, we almost like enter into a

624
00:38:28.000 --> 00:38:32.199
fantasy world, like you know, we're reading you know, a

625
00:38:32.280 --> 00:38:35.760
novel or something. No, we're reading a book about God's

626
00:38:35.840 --> 00:38:39.840
interaction and God's work. But when we come to the text,

627
00:38:39.840 --> 00:38:43.320
we can be like, well, wait a minute, what does

628
00:38:43.360 --> 00:38:45.840
this text say about the reality of suffering? I don't

629
00:38:45.840 --> 00:38:48.840
know if you realize suffering is occurring right now as

630
00:38:48.880 --> 00:38:52.159
you sit here and listen to this podcast. There's people dying.

631
00:38:52.239 --> 00:38:55.559
There's children with horrible terminal diseases, never going to even

632
00:38:55.559 --> 00:38:58.719
make it to sixteen. There's children being molested, there's women

633
00:38:58.800 --> 00:39:03.159
being sexually assaulted. There's murder, there's theft, there's all this

634
00:39:03.239 --> 00:39:06.079
is happening. You can't deny that, now you will. You're

635
00:39:06.079 --> 00:39:08.599
sitting here, having your nice little cup of coffee, reading

636
00:39:08.760 --> 00:39:11.360
the Psalms. You may feel like everything is wonderful, but

637
00:39:11.400 --> 00:39:14.440
it's ugly on the outside. So how does it fit?

638
00:39:15.440 --> 00:39:18.639
You may try to read a text and go, yeah,

639
00:39:18.519 --> 00:39:21.440
when we become saved, we're all basically perfect. You've got

640
00:39:21.480 --> 00:39:23.719
to acknowledge your own sin and the sin of all

641
00:39:23.760 --> 00:39:30.800
around you, and then purpose. You ask questions, how does

642
00:39:30.800 --> 00:39:33.840
this verse talk about suffering, sin our purpose? If the

643
00:39:33.920 --> 00:39:38.760
text speaks of God's promises, or speak of God's protection,

644
00:39:39.599 --> 00:39:45.639
or speak of God's judgment, why does real life experiences often,

645
00:39:45.840 --> 00:39:48.599
if not frequently, if not the majority of the time,

646
00:39:49.239 --> 00:39:54.239
seem to contradict this? So you got to bring your

647
00:39:54.320 --> 00:39:57.679
human experience to it. Hey, someone reads the passage, God's

648
00:39:57.719 --> 00:40:01.119
going to protect you. Here's your rock, here's your refuge,

649
00:40:01.159 --> 00:40:04.639
here's your shield, here's your deliverer. And then you're like,

650
00:40:04.679 --> 00:40:06.480
well wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait about

651
00:40:06.519 --> 00:40:09.360
wait what about this and this and this and this

652
00:40:09.440 --> 00:40:14.559
and this and I got questions? Now, maybe the answer

653
00:40:14.639 --> 00:40:17.400
to those questions is people are taking verses that are

654
00:40:17.440 --> 00:40:21.199
not necessarily making a universal promise, especially not making a

655
00:40:21.280 --> 00:40:23.599
universal promise to us. And it may have been more

656
00:40:23.599 --> 00:40:26.400
about promises made to a specific people who are under

657
00:40:26.400 --> 00:40:30.440
a specific covenant, namely Israel. And so God did do

658
00:40:30.519 --> 00:40:33.199
those things for Israel, but there's no guarantees going to

659
00:40:33.239 --> 00:40:35.239
do any of that for me. So maybe it's preachers

660
00:40:35.320 --> 00:40:37.760
ripping verses out of context and aplo. But by asking

661
00:40:37.800 --> 00:40:41.280
these questions you can you'll be led to question how

662
00:40:41.400 --> 00:40:47.639
these are applied. So you have to you have to

663
00:40:47.679 --> 00:40:50.400
ask the contextual questions, and you've got to be willing

664
00:40:50.440 --> 00:40:56.400
to ask the philological questions. Now, the problem is church

665
00:40:56.440 --> 00:40:59.760
will be like, sh, we don't want your questions here.

666
00:41:01.639 --> 00:41:06.960
Just shut up in color, stay within the lines. Sh sh.

667
00:41:14.039 --> 00:41:16.800
Someone needs to take the crayon and just color all

668
00:41:16.840 --> 00:41:19.559
over the page. And say I'm not following your stinking

669
00:41:19.679 --> 00:41:30.840
lines because we have to ask these questions. So number one,

670
00:41:31.400 --> 00:41:34.199
we ask contextual questions. Number two we ask theological questions.

671
00:41:34.280 --> 00:41:39.719
Number three, we need to ask hard questions about application. Yes,

672
00:41:39.840 --> 00:41:42.840
we do. We need to ask hard questions about application.

673
00:41:43.559 --> 00:41:46.280
For example, this would go something like this, can this

674
00:41:46.440 --> 00:41:51.320
text be reconciled with real life experiences? You've got to

675
00:41:51.360 --> 00:41:54.920
be willing to ask that question. Can we reconcile this

676
00:41:56.119 --> 00:42:00.199
with real life? Can we? That's why it drives me

677
00:42:00.239 --> 00:42:02.440
crazy when I hear pastors say if anyone who is

678
00:42:02.480 --> 00:42:04.199
in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are

679
00:42:04.239 --> 00:42:07.960
past away, all things have become new. And they speak

680
00:42:08.000 --> 00:42:09.679
of that in a practical way. Now, if you speak

681
00:42:09.679 --> 00:42:12.039
of that of a positional way, well then you don't

682
00:42:12.079 --> 00:42:15.320
have a problem, right, because positionally I am a new creature.

683
00:42:15.320 --> 00:42:17.239
Old things are passed away, all things have become new

684
00:42:17.320 --> 00:42:19.519
because I'm declared to be perfect and righteous because of

685
00:42:19.519 --> 00:42:22.719
the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ. I'm not practically righteous,

686
00:42:22.800 --> 00:42:25.880
I'm not practically a new creature, but positionally I am. Okay,

687
00:42:25.880 --> 00:42:29.199
it makes sense, but pastors will say, hey, this is

688
00:42:29.239 --> 00:42:32.639
true practically, but then at the same time, you like,

689
00:42:32.719 --> 00:42:34.840
if any reasonable person would be like, wait a minute,

690
00:42:34.840 --> 00:42:38.599
Wait a minute, how do how do I reconcile that

691
00:42:38.639 --> 00:42:43.480
with real life sin? Here, sin there, sinning, me, sinning you,

692
00:42:43.599 --> 00:42:47.199
sin all around us? Doesn't look like a church made

693
00:42:47.239 --> 00:42:50.400
up of new creatures, looks like a church made up

694
00:42:50.440 --> 00:42:53.239
of sinners. We oh, that's exactly what we And sometimes

695
00:42:53.320 --> 00:42:56.320
pastors will contradict themselves. On one hand, everyone's supposedly a

696
00:42:56.360 --> 00:42:58.280
new creature. At the same time, they'll say, the church

697
00:42:58.360 --> 00:43:00.159
is a play, is made up of sinners and it's

698
00:43:00.199 --> 00:43:01.920
not perfect. Well, if we're all new creatures and the

699
00:43:01.920 --> 00:43:03.920
oldest gun and everything is new, the church should be

700
00:43:03.920 --> 00:43:06.039
made up of nothing but perfect people. So can you

701
00:43:06.119 --> 00:43:13.920
make up your mind? So let's break these hard questions

702
00:43:13.920 --> 00:43:18.159
about application down into basically we'll break these down into

703
00:43:18.159 --> 00:43:23.480
basically two categories, suffering and evil and Christian living. Or

704
00:43:23.519 --> 00:43:26.480
maybe we'll break it down suffering and evil, God's promises

705
00:43:26.519 --> 00:43:28.559
and Christian living. Let's do it that way. Let's start

706
00:43:28.559 --> 00:43:31.480
with suffering and evil. If the text speaks of God's

707
00:43:31.559 --> 00:43:34.760
protection or justice, how do you reconcile it with the

708
00:43:34.800 --> 00:43:39.599
prevalence of evil, suffering, and injustice in the world. If

709
00:43:39.599 --> 00:43:42.440
you read a passage about God's protection and justice and

710
00:43:42.480 --> 00:43:46.639
all of this, and you're sitting there and you're reading it,

711
00:43:47.639 --> 00:43:50.039
how do you reconcile that with Wait, all around me,

712
00:43:50.400 --> 00:43:53.719
there's evil all around me, there's suffering all around me,

713
00:43:53.760 --> 00:44:01.760
there's injustice. How do you reconcile that? Does the verse

714
00:44:01.840 --> 00:44:05.400
address the problem of evil or does it leave it unanswered?

715
00:44:08.840 --> 00:44:11.480
So that's suffering and evil. We've got to be willing

716
00:44:11.559 --> 00:44:14.639
when we read the text and people there's a passage

717
00:44:14.679 --> 00:44:17.079
and they want to apply it. We can't just apply

718
00:44:17.199 --> 00:44:21.280
it without acknowledging. Wait a minute, if we apply that,

719
00:44:21.760 --> 00:44:23.760
it seems to go against everything we know about the

720
00:44:23.800 --> 00:44:27.960
reality of suffering and evil and injustice in the world.

721
00:44:28.039 --> 00:44:31.000
So how do we reconcile this? If the application just

722
00:44:31.119 --> 00:44:34.039
is going to complete contradiction to reality, you got to

723
00:44:34.079 --> 00:44:37.239
at least stop and go maybe we're just misunderstanding this.

724
00:44:38.280 --> 00:44:42.920
That's why I greatly challenge the oh the way people interpret.

725
00:44:43.239 --> 00:44:45.320
You know, if anyone's in crisis, a new creature, things

726
00:44:45.360 --> 00:44:47.480
passed way, all things have become new. Because almost every

727
00:44:47.480 --> 00:44:50.920
interpretation you hear in most sermons, it completely denies reality.

728
00:44:52.440 --> 00:44:54.239
And in many cases, in the very same sermon, they

729
00:44:54.239 --> 00:44:57.000
will acknowledge that reality and never even catch the fact

730
00:44:57.039 --> 00:45:04.559
that they've contradicted themselves. So when we talk about hard

731
00:45:04.639 --> 00:45:08.199
questions about application, we need to talk about suffering an evil. Second,

732
00:45:08.239 --> 00:45:11.679
we need to talk about God's promises. If the text

733
00:45:11.679 --> 00:45:20.559
contains a promise, is it conditional, is it unconditional? Or

734
00:45:20.599 --> 00:45:25.079
maybe it's not applicable to you. It was applicable to them,

735
00:45:25.119 --> 00:45:30.760
probably meaning Israel, or to a specific person. So when

736
00:45:30.760 --> 00:45:32.639
you can see a promise in the Bible, doesn't mean

737
00:45:32.679 --> 00:45:36.519
all the promises are our promises. That's ridiculous. Some of

738
00:45:36.559 --> 00:45:38.639
the promises in the Bible have nothing to do with you,

739
00:45:39.000 --> 00:45:41.440
nothing to do with me, nothing to do with America,

740
00:45:41.719 --> 00:45:45.039
nothing to do with the church. Some of the promises

741
00:45:45.079 --> 00:45:47.760
are conditional, some of the promises unconditional, and some of

742
00:45:47.760 --> 00:45:53.320
the promises are clearly just not applicable to us. Why

743
00:45:53.360 --> 00:45:56.599
do some promises and scriptures seem unfulfilled and the life

744
00:45:56.639 --> 00:45:59.559
of believers? I think we could So we need to

745
00:45:59.559 --> 00:46:01.280
ask questions. Is about suffering and evil? We need to

746
00:46:01.280 --> 00:46:04.360
ask questions about God's promises. If the text contains a promise,

747
00:46:04.400 --> 00:46:07.239
is it conditional, unconditional? Is it not applicable, And why

748
00:46:07.239 --> 00:46:09.800
do some promises and scriptures seem unfulfilled in the life

749
00:46:09.800 --> 00:46:12.039
of believers. If you're gonna say, well, God is making

750
00:46:12.039 --> 00:46:14.360
this promise for every believer, then why does some believers

751
00:46:14.360 --> 00:46:17.159
not experience this? Some people's answer as well, because they're

752
00:46:17.199 --> 00:46:20.000
not really saved, which, then, of course you could go

753
00:46:20.079 --> 00:46:22.000
with that direction, and we see how that always typically

754
00:46:22.079 --> 00:46:26.719
falls apart. Now you're judging people's salvation not on the

755
00:46:26.760 --> 00:46:28.880
basis of an imputed faith, You're judging it on the

756
00:46:28.880 --> 00:46:31.840
basis of you end up right back to the lordship discussion.

757
00:46:31.880 --> 00:46:35.639
I won't go through all of that again. Another category.

758
00:46:35.679 --> 00:46:38.039
I guess we could break hard questions about application into

759
00:46:38.079 --> 00:46:43.280
his Christian living. If the text commands holiness or obedience,

760
00:46:43.880 --> 00:46:47.719
why do we even more, even mature Christians fail repeatedly.

761
00:46:48.760 --> 00:46:51.280
If you see a text that says, be holy as

762
00:46:51.320 --> 00:46:54.039
He is holy, well, why do how come no one

763
00:46:54.079 --> 00:46:59.039
ever accomplishes that, be perfect as you're heavily well, nobody

764
00:46:59.119 --> 00:47:02.599
ever accomplished that. Love God with all your heart. Nobody

765
00:47:02.639 --> 00:47:04.960
ever does that, love your neighbor, Nobody ever does that,

766
00:47:06.360 --> 00:47:08.800
do all things without complaining a murmur? Okay, nobody ever

767
00:47:08.840 --> 00:47:10.679
does that? Why is it that over and over and

768
00:47:10.719 --> 00:47:13.480
over all these scriptures that seem to call for holiness

769
00:47:13.480 --> 00:47:22.000
and sinlessness is never fulfilled and it never occurs. Now

770
00:47:22.039 --> 00:47:25.119
that may then change. We may have to go. Maybe

771
00:47:25.159 --> 00:47:28.519
we need to understand these passages as for example, these

772
00:47:28.559 --> 00:47:31.679
are law lawses what we should do, and they're revealed

773
00:47:31.679 --> 00:47:33.519
it what we can't do, and they reveal what we

774
00:47:33.559 --> 00:47:35.840
don't do. So will we be driven to Christ? Maybe

775
00:47:35.840 --> 00:47:39.559
we see these passages as law pointing us to Christ

776
00:47:39.760 --> 00:47:42.440
and that in Christ we fulfill all of these laws

777
00:47:42.519 --> 00:47:45.000
because He did for us. Now see now you need

778
00:47:45.000 --> 00:47:47.639
a law gospel distinction to be able to handle that,

779
00:47:47.880 --> 00:47:51.000
but many people won't. Just admit, wait a minute, this

780
00:47:51.079 --> 00:47:52.760
seems to make no sense. God tells us to do

781
00:47:52.800 --> 00:47:54.679
this and this and this, and nobody does it. Nobody

782
00:47:54.719 --> 00:47:57.800
can do it, So how do I understand this? Nobody

783
00:47:57.800 --> 00:48:04.280
wants to ever even approach that. Does this verse imply

784
00:48:04.400 --> 00:48:08.280
a standard of perfection that seems unattainable. Those are some

785
00:48:08.400 --> 00:48:11.239
questions we should ask. So we need to ask hard

786
00:48:11.320 --> 00:48:13.480
questions about application. Well, let's go all the way back.

787
00:48:14.599 --> 00:48:17.480
We need to ask contextual questions. This is broken down

788
00:48:17.480 --> 00:48:21.840
into three basic categories. Historical context questions, literary context questions,

789
00:48:22.320 --> 00:48:26.159
and immediate context questions. We need to ask theological questions.

790
00:48:26.280 --> 00:48:32.199
Theological questions are broken down into the following categories. Questions

791
00:48:32.239 --> 00:48:35.639
about God's character, questions about human experience. Then we need

792
00:48:35.679 --> 00:48:38.760
to ask hard questions about application. These are broken down

793
00:48:38.800 --> 00:48:42.599
into three basic categories, questions about suffering and evil, questions

794
00:48:42.599 --> 00:48:46.280
about God's promises, questions about Christian living. Then we need

795
00:48:46.320 --> 00:48:55.400
to ask hermoneutical questions. Hermoneutical questions we would ask is

796
00:48:55.400 --> 00:48:59.480
how do I interpret basically this text faithfully? So we

797
00:48:59.519 --> 00:49:04.880
would ask questions about genre and symbolism. Is this text

798
00:49:04.920 --> 00:49:11.079
meant to be taken literally figuratively? Are both? Are there

799
00:49:11.119 --> 00:49:16.079
cultural idioms or symbols that I might misunderstand? So we

800
00:49:16.199 --> 00:49:19.920
got to ask questions about genre and symbolism. Is this symbolism?

801
00:49:20.079 --> 00:49:23.679
What genre is this? Is this poetry? Is this narrative?

802
00:49:23.840 --> 00:49:26.400
What is this? You've got to ask those kinds of

803
00:49:26.480 --> 00:49:30.639
questions of the text. If you don't, your interpretation is well,

804
00:49:30.760 --> 00:49:34.519
it's going to be flawed. So you've got to ask

805
00:49:34.559 --> 00:49:38.119
harmoneutical questions about genre and symbolism. You've got to ask

806
00:49:38.199 --> 00:49:44.800
questions about tension between text. Does this verse seem to

807
00:49:44.920 --> 00:49:47.440
be in conflict with other parts of scripture. I know

808
00:49:47.480 --> 00:49:51.880
we're not supposed to say that, right. The pastors will

809
00:49:51.880 --> 00:49:57.800
say the scriptures never contradict, they only compliment. There's no

810
00:49:58.159 --> 00:50:02.159
conflict in scripture. That's what those atheist and agnostics say,

811
00:50:02.280 --> 00:50:05.079
and Bible deniers. Well, I think any good Christian can

812
00:50:05.119 --> 00:50:08.159
be like, well, wait a minute here, hmm. There seems

813
00:50:08.199 --> 00:50:10.760
to be some tension here. This verse seems to say this,

814
00:50:11.079 --> 00:50:13.320
But this verse seems to say this. You've got to

815
00:50:13.400 --> 00:50:16.880
embrace that tension, see that there's a possible conflict and

816
00:50:16.960 --> 00:50:22.320
try to figure out why don't just take a little

817
00:50:22.320 --> 00:50:25.960
Sunday school cliche and not ever deal with it. Sometimes

818
00:50:26.000 --> 00:50:28.679
you gotta go way, man, I'm over here, but over

819
00:50:28.719 --> 00:50:33.280
here says huh. James seems to imply that we're not

820
00:50:33.480 --> 00:50:37.280
justified by faith alone. In fact, he almost emphatically states it.

821
00:50:37.440 --> 00:50:41.880
Paul says, we are justified by faith alone. Huh. Now

822
00:50:42.000 --> 00:50:45.079
pastors will be like, it's no big deal, it's really simple.

823
00:50:45.280 --> 00:50:48.079
It's simply this, And people sitting in the pew will

824
00:50:48.079 --> 00:50:51.039
be like, yay, that answered my question, And I did

825
00:50:51.079 --> 00:50:54.320
it really answer your question? Are you just satisfied that

826
00:50:54.320 --> 00:50:56.119
you got a simple answer and got out by noon,

827
00:50:56.159 --> 00:51:06.039
so you could get to the buffet before the methodist.

828
00:51:07.639 --> 00:51:11.320
We need to ask hermoneutical questions about translation and original languages.

829
00:51:11.800 --> 00:51:14.280
Are there nuances and the original language that are not

830
00:51:14.320 --> 00:51:18.480
clear in your translation? Are there any textual variance that

831
00:51:18.480 --> 00:51:22.079
could possibly affect the meaning of this verse? Those are

832
00:51:22.159 --> 00:51:26.800
kind of questions we have to ask. These are hermeneutical

833
00:51:26.920 --> 00:51:31.320
questions about genre and symbolism, about tension between texts, and

834
00:51:31.360 --> 00:51:43.199
about language. Now, well, let's see if we can get

835
00:51:43.239 --> 00:51:46.920
a couple more right. Next, we need to ask questions

836
00:51:46.960 --> 00:51:52.760
about ethical Well, we need to ask ethical and philosophical questions.

837
00:51:53.920 --> 00:51:56.320
This kind of goes with what we were talking about before.

838
00:51:56.719 --> 00:52:01.119
Does the text align with moral reality? These are ethical

839
00:52:01.119 --> 00:52:04.199
and philosophical questions that everyone should ask we're reading the Bible.

840
00:52:04.599 --> 00:52:10.320
We'll break these down basically, and in regards to ethics,

841
00:52:10.320 --> 00:52:13.039
we could ask questions like this, does the text provide

842
00:52:13.599 --> 00:52:17.239
a moral command or principle? If so, how is it

843
00:52:17.280 --> 00:52:21.800
applied in a in complex or modern context? This seems

844
00:52:21.800 --> 00:52:24.800
to be offering a moral command. How does that work here?

845
00:52:25.559 --> 00:52:28.119
How does that? How does that work today? How do

846
00:52:28.199 --> 00:52:31.159
how do we understand that today? How do what? How

847
00:52:31.159 --> 00:52:37.400
do we process this? We may ask questions in regards

848
00:52:37.480 --> 00:52:40.679
to ethics about are there examples in scripture where this

849
00:52:40.719 --> 00:52:44.639
command is broken? If so, why so? So? We look,

850
00:52:44.960 --> 00:52:48.679
is the text providing a moral command or principle? How

851
00:52:48.760 --> 00:52:52.480
is that applied today? And is there an example where

852
00:52:52.519 --> 00:52:55.960
the command is broken? And why is it being broken? Now?

853
00:52:55.960 --> 00:52:57.840
I think we ultimately say, almost all the commands in

854
00:52:57.840 --> 00:53:00.159
scripture being broken? Why are all they all broken? Well?

855
00:53:00.199 --> 00:53:02.280
I think that seems to demonstrate that man is incapable

856
00:53:02.280 --> 00:53:05.079
of keeping God's law. Okay, now you see when by

857
00:53:05.119 --> 00:53:07.519
asking those questions, you're going to be driven in a

858
00:53:07.559 --> 00:53:12.760
certain direction. Theologically, you need to ask philosophical questions. Those

859
00:53:12.760 --> 00:53:15.440
are more ethical questions. You need to ask philosophical questions.

860
00:53:16.039 --> 00:53:19.360
How does this text address ultimate questions of purpose, existence,

861
00:53:19.440 --> 00:53:24.559
and mortality or morality? I should say, how does how

862
00:53:24.559 --> 00:53:28.679
does this text deal with ultimate questions like your purpose

863
00:53:28.840 --> 00:53:33.280
or your existence or or morality? And I think sometimes

864
00:53:33.320 --> 00:53:38.000
they do. Does the verse provide an explanation for the

865
00:53:38.000 --> 00:53:40.280
problem of evil or human suffering? Well, I don't think

866
00:53:40.280 --> 00:53:42.880
you're going to find any answers. Ultimately, I think if

867
00:53:42.880 --> 00:53:44.679
you want to you want to see the problem of

868
00:53:44.679 --> 00:53:53.079
evil and human suffering in the beginning God. There you go. Now,

869
00:53:53.119 --> 00:53:56.360
I know theologically people don't like that, but that's how

870
00:53:56.400 --> 00:53:59.599
the Bible begins. In the beginning God, and everything after

871
00:53:59.679 --> 00:54:05.960
that is human suffering and evil. Okay. So if God

872
00:54:06.039 --> 00:54:10.880
is in the beginning and he's the cause of all things,

873
00:54:11.039 --> 00:54:14.400
he creates all that, He is the only eternal, he's

874
00:54:14.440 --> 00:54:18.079
the eternal beginning. Everything flows from him. Well, then when

875
00:54:18.079 --> 00:54:21.719
you take the problem of suffering and evil, you're gonna

876
00:54:21.800 --> 00:54:24.760
end up right back at in the beginning God. There's

877
00:54:24.840 --> 00:54:26.440
no way to get around that. You can try to

878
00:54:26.440 --> 00:54:28.480
come up with secondary causes, and you can come up

879
00:54:28.480 --> 00:54:31.920
with all the philological answers, but guess what there is God.

880
00:54:32.119 --> 00:54:34.719
He is the first cause of everything, and though it

881
00:54:34.840 --> 00:54:37.639
flows from after in the beginning God. That's why I

882
00:54:37.639 --> 00:54:39.920
always say when I read Genesis one one, I almost

883
00:54:39.920 --> 00:54:42.679
start yelling in the beginning God, I'm like, stop, stop it,

884
00:54:43.039 --> 00:54:46.679
don't do the next thing, because in the beginning God created,

885
00:54:46.880 --> 00:54:54.239
and then what comes from that creation is sin, evil, pain, suffering, death, torment.

886
00:55:03.039 --> 00:55:07.280
We've got to be willing to ask those questions. There's

887
00:55:07.320 --> 00:55:19.440
some ethical and philosophical questions. Let's skip down. I've got

888
00:55:19.480 --> 00:55:24.119
so many different things to choose from here. Let's ask

889
00:55:24.239 --> 00:55:28.679
questions about challenges and doubts. I think these are something

890
00:55:28.679 --> 00:55:33.280
people need to be encouraged to do. What hard realities

891
00:55:33.400 --> 00:55:39.400
does this text force me to face when you read

892
00:55:39.440 --> 00:55:43.280
the Bible. I want you to ask questions about challenges

893
00:55:43.280 --> 00:55:45.840
and doubts, and it should be framed this way. What

894
00:55:46.039 --> 00:55:53.320
hard reality does that text force me to face When

895
00:55:53.400 --> 00:55:55.800
you read the Bible, sometimes it's making you face hard

896
00:55:55.840 --> 00:55:58.360
realities and you're not going to like it. For example,

897
00:55:58.559 --> 00:56:03.159
the hard reality of in the beginning God, Well, that's

898
00:56:03.199 --> 00:56:08.760
a hard reality because I know what flows what comes after. Wait,

899
00:56:08.800 --> 00:56:13.639
God created Satan. Wait, God did not destroy Satan when

900
00:56:13.639 --> 00:56:17.960
Satan fell. Wait, God allowed Satan entry into the garden. Wait.

901
00:56:18.360 --> 00:56:21.559
God allowed Adam and Eve to procreate and bring forth

902
00:56:21.639 --> 00:56:25.320
children even after they said, knowing those children would be

903
00:56:25.360 --> 00:56:27.800
born with a sin nature. So now everyone is born

904
00:56:27.880 --> 00:56:31.840
with a sin nature. Therefore, meaning people were gonna die

905
00:56:31.840 --> 00:56:34.559
and go to hell. Okay, Wait, I got questions and

906
00:56:34.599 --> 00:56:37.559
it all started within the beginning God. If I read

907
00:56:37.599 --> 00:56:42.119
a question about God's omnipotence, He's all powerful. Does that

908
00:56:42.199 --> 00:56:46.159
not make me face some hard realities that makes me

909
00:56:46.199 --> 00:56:48.039
face the reality. I mean I want to face. Wait,

910
00:56:48.079 --> 00:56:52.840
God is all powerful, Yet a teenage girl was shot

911
00:56:52.840 --> 00:56:57.119
and killed yesterday and she was not resurrected. And that's

912
00:56:57.199 --> 00:57:07.320
just one news story. Challenges and doubts hard reality. When

913
00:57:07.360 --> 00:57:09.280
you read the Bible, you are face to You are

914
00:57:09.599 --> 00:57:12.199
challenged and forced to face realities that you may not

915
00:57:12.280 --> 00:57:15.199
want to face. And when we come to challenges and doubts,

916
00:57:15.239 --> 00:57:17.599
we could we could, uh, we could break down these

917
00:57:17.679 --> 00:57:21.519
questions into really two categories. Unanswered questions. Does the text

918
00:57:21.599 --> 00:57:27.159
leave questions unanswered about God's actions, justice, or purpose? So

919
00:57:27.280 --> 00:57:30.239
many times you're like, I don't understand this. It just

920
00:57:30.280 --> 00:57:33.360
does not. The text does not provide an answer. Pastors

921
00:57:33.400 --> 00:57:36.519
love to come along and smooth it over, make it

922
00:57:36.559 --> 00:57:40.599
feel like, oh, don't worry about it, everything's okay. Look

923
00:57:40.599 --> 00:57:43.400
over here, butterfly, look over there, look over don't worry,

924
00:57:43.480 --> 00:57:46.119
don't worry about this. But sometimes the text leaves you

925
00:57:46.159 --> 00:57:52.280
with questions completely unanswered, leaves you with doubt, leaves you

926
00:57:52.360 --> 00:57:56.239
with confusion about God's actions, his justice, and his purpose.

927
00:58:01.639 --> 00:58:05.119
And we come on, so there's an eternal hell. How

928
00:58:05.119 --> 00:58:07.880
do I end up in eternal hell? Well, I'm a sinner? Well,

929
00:58:07.880 --> 00:58:11.039
how did I become a sinner? I was born that way?

930
00:58:14.760 --> 00:58:17.559
So I go to Hell based on the way I

931
00:58:17.639 --> 00:58:25.519
was born. I didn't choose to be a sinner. You

932
00:58:25.559 --> 00:58:28.199
could argue in some ways, you don't choose to sin

933
00:58:28.360 --> 00:58:31.400
to a certain degree because you're going to sind because

934
00:58:31.440 --> 00:58:34.519
that's in your nature. It's naturally what you're going to do.

935
00:58:34.760 --> 00:58:38.039
Those are questions, and you're not going to get easy

936
00:58:38.079 --> 00:58:40.760
answers about it, because it all goes back to in

937
00:58:40.840 --> 00:58:49.639
the beginning, God, how do I deal with silence or

938
00:58:49.679 --> 00:58:52.599
mystery in this passage? That's a question you need to

939
00:58:52.599 --> 00:58:54.880
ask about challenges in Dallas. What do you do when

940
00:58:54.920 --> 00:58:56.519
you don't get an answer? What do you do when

941
00:58:56.519 --> 00:59:04.960
they're like, I don't understand. Well, I can tell you

942
00:59:05.000 --> 00:59:06.519
one thing you don't do. You just don't come up

943
00:59:06.559 --> 00:59:10.719
with a little Sunday School bumper sticker to appease yourself

944
00:59:10.880 --> 00:59:14.000
and to make yourself feel better. You don't simply choose

945
00:59:14.079 --> 00:59:21.000
certainty over the uncertainty. You have to embrace the uncertainty.

946
00:59:21.679 --> 00:59:26.320
How about those are questions about UH? Challenges, unanswered questions

947
00:59:26.320 --> 00:59:29.239
and doubts. Those are challenges, And now how about UH?

948
00:59:29.360 --> 00:59:32.800
Are those or unanswered questions? Okay, I should say, uh,

949
00:59:32.800 --> 00:59:34.599
so we have to we have to ask questions about

950
00:59:34.639 --> 00:59:37.440
challenges and doubts, and that deals with unanswered questions. How

951
00:59:37.440 --> 00:59:40.440
about doubts? Well, if you struggle to believe or accept

952
00:59:40.440 --> 00:59:43.400
this verse, what does that reveal about your heart or faith?

953
00:59:44.000 --> 00:59:46.480
If you if you find yourself struggling to accept something,

954
00:59:46.480 --> 00:59:52.199
a verse says what does that say about you? Now?

955
00:59:52.320 --> 00:59:54.599
I don't think the answer is always negative. I don't

956
00:59:54.639 --> 00:59:57.039
think that says, oh, you're in rebellion to God or

957
00:59:57.079 --> 00:59:59.039
you just have little faith. I think it may say

958
01:00:00.239 --> 01:00:02.800
because there's something in the verse that's troubling and there's

959
01:00:02.800 --> 01:00:05.119
something in me that's bothered by it. I think you

960
01:00:05.159 --> 01:00:12.320
can just acknowledge that. And I like this one. I

961
01:00:12.320 --> 01:00:15.119
think when we're asking questions about challenges and deults, I

962
01:00:15.119 --> 01:00:18.000
think we could say ask this, how can I wrestle

963
01:00:18.239 --> 01:00:23.320
in an honest way with the text without necessarily rejecting it.

964
01:00:24.039 --> 01:00:26.599
Now a lot of people get very confused by that.

965
01:00:27.280 --> 01:00:29.440
I ask all of these hard questions. People get mad

966
01:00:29.639 --> 01:00:33.400
and think you're just rejecting God. I'm not rejecting anything.

967
01:00:33.679 --> 01:00:37.159
I'm honestly dealing with the things that we see read

968
01:00:37.360 --> 01:00:40.000
and the realities that we face. That doesn't mean I'm

969
01:00:40.039 --> 01:00:43.239
rejecting anything. It means I'm wrestling with it, and you

970
01:00:43.280 --> 01:00:46.960
should be willing to wrestle with it. Wrestling with it, doubting,

971
01:00:47.039 --> 01:01:08.159
struggling is not rejecting. See. By asking hard questions, and

972
01:01:08.199 --> 01:01:09.679
I'm not even going to get into all the other

973
01:01:09.760 --> 01:01:12.760
questions I wanted to get into, but that's okay. See.

974
01:01:12.760 --> 01:01:17.199
By asking hard questions, Bible students develop a richer, more

975
01:01:17.360 --> 01:01:21.280
authentic understanding of scripture, and it equips them to engage

976
01:01:21.280 --> 01:01:25.280
with life's complexities while still at the same time struggling

977
01:01:25.400 --> 01:01:40.320
to trust in God's wisdom and his sovereignty. When you

978
01:01:40.400 --> 01:01:43.480
open the Bible and you come to anti Verse, you

979
01:01:43.639 --> 01:01:48.280
have questions to ask. If you are willing to ask

980
01:01:48.360 --> 01:01:51.480
those questions, it will make you a better Bible student.

981
01:01:51.760 --> 01:01:54.440
The better you are in asking those questions, the better

982
01:01:54.480 --> 01:01:58.199
Bible student you will become. The quality of your questions

983
01:01:58.760 --> 01:02:03.440
are absolutely well, let me say this, the quality of

984
01:02:03.480 --> 01:02:06.800
your interpretation is based on the quality of your questions.

985
01:02:07.280 --> 01:02:09.840
But see what most people think is you ask questions

986
01:02:09.840 --> 01:02:14.079
in a very like, non offensive way. But you can

987
01:02:14.159 --> 01:02:17.119
ask very difficult questions that some people say, I think

988
01:02:17.119 --> 01:02:19.519
you're calling into question. I think you're doubting. It's not

989
01:02:20.199 --> 01:02:23.960
questioning or doubting. Well, it's questioning, but it's not doubting necessarily. Well,

990
01:02:23.960 --> 01:02:26.159
it may even be doubted. Let me say this, it's

991
01:02:26.199 --> 01:02:29.360
okay to question in doubt. But it doesn't mean you're rejecting.

992
01:02:29.519 --> 01:02:32.079
It doesn't mean you're being a skeptic. It doesn't mean

993
01:02:32.079 --> 01:02:35.800
you're being a Bible denier. It means you're saying, man,

994
01:02:36.000 --> 01:02:39.079
I've got to figure this out. Well a Psalm forty six,

995
01:02:39.559 --> 01:02:41.280
God is our refuge. I just happened to have the

996
01:02:41.280 --> 01:02:44.239
Bible open. God is our refuge and strength, a very

997
01:02:44.239 --> 01:02:48.440
present help and trouble. Okay, now wait, no, wait, how

998
01:02:48.480 --> 01:02:55.360
do I what do I do with that? Is? That?

999
01:02:55.800 --> 01:02:58.519
Is God a refuge and strength and very present help

1000
01:02:58.519 --> 01:03:01.360
in every time of trouble. I've got now I got

1001
01:03:01.400 --> 01:03:06.000
to try to first, what's the historical setting here? Is

1002
01:03:06.039 --> 01:03:09.559
this possibly directly related to Israel? Which that language would

1003
01:03:09.559 --> 01:03:11.480
make sense to Israel if you look at the Covenant

1004
01:03:11.480 --> 01:03:13.679
promises he made to them. But how does that relate

1005
01:03:13.760 --> 01:03:23.360
to me? I mean, I saw I'm forty six to one.

1006
01:03:23.440 --> 01:03:27.199
Immediately I got questions and it's okay to have those questions.

1007
01:03:31.559 --> 01:03:35.119
If God is my strength, how does he strengthen me? Right?

1008
01:03:35.320 --> 01:03:37.159
Because if he gives me strength, shouldn't he just be

1009
01:03:37.199 --> 01:03:39.480
able to give me strength so that I never sin again? Well,

1010
01:03:39.519 --> 01:03:41.320
he doesn't give me strength to not sin again, so

1011
01:03:41.400 --> 01:03:43.320
there's a limit to his strength. Or maybe he doesn't

1012
01:03:43.360 --> 01:03:45.519
give any strength to help me stop from sinning, so

1013
01:03:45.559 --> 01:03:47.719
that well does he or doesn't he? And if he's

1014
01:03:47.760 --> 01:03:52.920
my refuge, well then then then I don't do What's

1015
01:03:52.960 --> 01:03:55.599
God going to protect me from? Is a spiritual protection,

1016
01:03:55.719 --> 01:03:58.800
is a physical protection. He's an ever present help in trouble.

1017
01:03:59.159 --> 01:04:01.480
He's an ever present help in trouble unless I don't know.

1018
01:04:01.679 --> 01:04:03.920
You're a child going to church being molested by a

1019
01:04:04.000 --> 01:04:08.760
church leader, where was his help there? Or a wife

1020
01:04:08.800 --> 01:04:14.679
being beaten by her Christian husband. I mean, come on, say,

1021
01:04:14.760 --> 01:04:16.559
I've got see now. We got to take this and

1022
01:04:16.599 --> 01:04:19.320
ask questions about what it's saying and then not denying

1023
01:04:19.360 --> 01:04:22.239
the reality in which we live. That's what I'm talking about,

1024
01:04:22.320 --> 01:04:27.400
And it's okay to do that Other than the typical

1025
01:04:28.000 --> 01:04:34.079
oh amen, it's true. Okay, you can say amen, and

1026
01:04:34.119 --> 01:04:37.840
it's true. It still leaves you with Wow, does this work?

1027
01:04:37.920 --> 01:04:40.440
What does this mean in a practical way other than

1028
01:04:40.519 --> 01:04:45.199
just being a nice little slogan, a nice little cliche,

1029
01:04:45.639 --> 01:04:48.000
something you put on a T shirt, something you put

1030
01:04:48.000 --> 01:04:50.960
and you just throw those words out and the face

1031
01:04:51.000 --> 01:04:57.360
of a reality that seems to say, I got questions here. Now,

1032
01:04:57.360 --> 01:05:09.119
those questions make everyone uncomfortable. The quality of Bible studies

1033
01:05:09.239 --> 01:05:12.840
depended on the quality of questions the student will ask

1034
01:05:13.360 --> 01:05:18.239
those questions. Sometimes they are just very basic contextual questions,

1035
01:05:18.800 --> 01:05:24.599
linguistic questions, theological questions. But in the midst of those

1036
01:05:24.719 --> 01:05:28.679
kinds of questions are these deeper questions that are like,

1037
01:05:29.639 --> 01:05:31.239
I don't really know what to do with this text,

1038
01:05:31.280 --> 01:05:32.920
and wait a minute, this seems to make no sense,

1039
01:05:32.960 --> 01:05:35.599
and how does this apply in this situation? This seems

1040
01:05:35.639 --> 01:05:38.000
to contradict this, and this seems to be difficult. Here

1041
01:05:38.280 --> 01:05:40.920
it's okay now. You may not be okay in your

1042
01:05:40.960 --> 01:05:44.760
small group, may not be okay in your church, because

1043
01:05:44.800 --> 01:05:47.239
in most cases you're going to be looked upon as

1044
01:05:47.719 --> 01:05:51.159
something's wrong with you. You make everyone uncomfortable and they and

1045
01:05:51.199 --> 01:05:53.639
they may not say it, but there's all there's gonna

1046
01:05:53.679 --> 01:05:56.320
be kind of are there's gonna be this you're gonna

1047
01:05:56.320 --> 01:05:58.719
start getting the vibe that everybody wants you to leave

1048
01:06:05.480 --> 01:06:10.119
because you're going to disrupt that little nice We just

1049
01:06:10.159 --> 01:06:11.920
come to church and we don't really want to deal

1050
01:06:11.960 --> 01:06:16.960
with these difficult situation. Now I'm saying in a small

1051
01:06:16.960 --> 01:06:19.800
group or Sunday school, there's a time obviously to ask questions,

1052
01:06:19.800 --> 01:06:21.880
and there's a time not all right. I mean there

1053
01:06:21.880 --> 01:06:24.840
are some people who love to ask very difficult questions,

1054
01:06:24.960 --> 01:06:27.199
but they just want to disrupt everything to ask the

1055
01:06:27.199 --> 01:06:31.079
difficult questions. There's a time and place obviously. My point

1056
01:06:31.280 --> 01:06:34.639
is these kinds of questions are not typically welcomed anywhere

1057
01:06:34.719 --> 01:06:42.199
at any time. All right, those are some of the

1058
01:06:42.239 --> 01:06:45.679
hard questions that we need to be asking the text.

1059
01:06:47.360 --> 01:06:50.000
We've got sixty six minutes. So now the hard question

1060
01:06:50.159 --> 01:06:53.239
is why are you still talking? And the answer is

1061
01:06:53.840 --> 01:06:58.639
because I talked too long, so I'll stop. There's a

1062
01:06:58.679 --> 01:07:03.079
lot there I feel like needs Claire vfication. But it's

1063
01:07:03.119 --> 01:07:04.920
going to be up to you to see how you're

1064
01:07:04.920 --> 01:07:09.400
going to become embrace question questioning and bring that to

1065
01:07:09.480 --> 01:07:15.920
your Bible study. And well, I think it will be

1066
01:07:16.159 --> 01:07:18.599
very important. Oh, I think it will be transformative if

1067
01:07:18.599 --> 01:07:21.400
you really do that. Thanks for listening. Everyone, have a

1068
01:07:21.400 --> 01:07:27.400
great Thursday. Now afternoon, God bless