March 26, 2025

Reasons for Storms

Reasons for Storms

A look at reasons we have storms in our lives

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A look at reasons we have storms in our lives

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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. Good afternoon everyone.

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It is Wednesday, March twenty six, twenty twenty five. It

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is currently twelve six pm Central Time, and I'm coming

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to you live from the Theology Central studio located right

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here in Abilene, Texas. Well, I guess for this episode,

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I can only say, well, if you can't beat them,

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join them, right. I mean, that's kind of an old cliche.

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If I can't beat them, I just as well go

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ahead and join them, because what else can I do?

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And so for this episode, I'm going to join all

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of those pastors and all of those churches and all

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of those devotional books and commentaries and everyone else who

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uses this storm storm of life, right, this kind of

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storm of life concept that Christians constantly talk about anytime

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they open their Bible and they see a storm. They

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talk about the storms in your life, the storms in

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my life, the storms and the life of this church,

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and how God is with us in the storm and

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he walks upon the water and he calms the storm,

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and that kind of illustration, that kind of allegory. It

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is used over and over and over again. Now already

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in this series, I have completely rejected that entire concept.

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We trace the history of it where it kind of started.

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It's clear that that's imposed on the text of scripture.

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It's not coming from scripture, because none of those storms

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in the Bible are talking about the storms in your

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life or the storms of my life in some metaphorical way.

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You know. They're talking about actual storms, and those narratives

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have very specific purposes. For some reason, we overlook the

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purpose of those stories and we turn it into some

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story about the storms in your life or my life. However,

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even though I've already rejected it, even though I've spoken

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against it, I'm going to go along with it simply

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to try to get us to a very important philosophical

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discussion that will probably be extremely uncomfortable for many, and

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many will probably reject some of my thoughts and some

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of my words. But either way, that is where we're going.

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So let's try to explain how we ended up here. Remember,

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just briefly, I'll go through it briefly. Three four o'clock

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in the morning, listening to Christian radio, They're like, hey,

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you can go to this website and get a free

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seven week study guide, and I'm like, whow that sounds good.

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So I go and look for the study guide and

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it's entitled how to Weather the Storms and Your Life.

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And I'm like, oh boy, here we go, and so

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we down I told everyone to download the study guide.

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I downloaded the study guide. And this kind of brought

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us to this Acts twenty seven discussion that we have

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been having right Acts twenty seven. And not only did

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we start working on ACS twenty seven, reviewed some sermons

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on X twenty seven. And if you don't know the

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story of ACX twenty seven, it was a story of

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a storm that the apostle Paul finds himself in. And

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of course every sermon, everything you can read with in Christianity,

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Acts twenty seven becomes a story about the storms and

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your life, and supposedly it's teaching us how to weather it.

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So we took that all apart. I've been frustrated with it.

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But everywhere I turn around there's more Acts twenty seven

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discussion right here, sort of the Lord in the midst

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of the storm, and guess what they have right here

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as the key verse. I'll read it. But not long

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after there arose against it. A tempetuous win called urokadon

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Acts twenty seven thirteen your rock ladan, if I can

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say it correctly, Acts twenty seven fourteen. And so immediately

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I'm like, oh boy, here's another article on well the

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storm and Acts twenty seven. But guess what they what

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they do? I'm not going to read everything here because

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we will cover this. But if I read everything here,

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they kind of give the introduction they go back to

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then they tell me to jump to page fourteen and

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the sort of the Lord newspaper. So I go to fourteen.

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They kind of retell the story and Acts twenty seven

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about Paul being in this storm, and then look what

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they do. Finally it comes right here. Are you ready?

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Here's the paragraph. I do not know how many of

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you have been in any storms at sea, but I have.

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It was a bad one. We were in a large

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troop carrier when those waves became so violent they were

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breaking over the bow of the ship. The storm was

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so bad that two thirds of the crew, even the

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men regularly assigned to the ship, were seasick. What should

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one do? And thus then it starts using Ax twenty

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seven to tell us what you and I should do.

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Guess what in the storms of our life. We have

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to get rid of excess baggage. We have to get

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alone with God. We have to realize He is with us.

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Then we are to go to jump to page nineteen.

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Go to page nineteen. Then we are to believe his promises,

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and we're to thank him for all things, and we

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are to make sure of a safe landing. All right, life.

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See now, this is then getting close to the end.

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Life See is stormy and rough today, however there is grace.

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Tomorrow there could be judgment. So guess what. It's an

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article about taking ACTS twenty seven about a literal storm

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and making it, turning it into a prescriptive list of

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things you and I are to do or not do

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in the storms and our life, which has nothing to

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do with X twenty seven. That's lately I'm imposed on

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the text. Every Christian should reject that kind of preaching.

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Every Christian should reject those kinds of sermons. But not

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only do people not reject them, they love them because

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I guess they like making the Bible all about themselves.

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So that's just one example. Throwing it on the ground

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drives me crazy. But then we stumbled upon the other one.

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The other example from the Gospel Coalition. Remember their article

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Biblical Theology helps explains Paul's sea journey and Acts twenty seven.

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Now this one comes across far more academic, far more philological,

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but it still takes the same approach. It turns Acts

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twenty seven into some kind of allegory, some kind of metaphor.

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So they go through this and they're like, hey, here's

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some of the things we need to remember Paul the conqueror.

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So the story somehow becomes symbolic or the sea becomes symbolic.

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I'll just read directly from the article. The first thing

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to understand is that the sea is symbolic and the

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Biblical narrative it was known to be a place for

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It was known to be a place for Greeks or

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other nations. Jews were more land bound, and the sea

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represented that which was other. All right, So then Paul

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becomes the conqueror I guess of the other. It becomes

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symbolic of I guess Paul conquering through his missionary journeys

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just becomes ridiculous. Not only that, Paul now becomes the

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new Jonah. All right. So then somehow this gets connected

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to Jonah, then Paul the Prophet. It basically uses the

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same kind of metaphorical, allegorical, symbolic approach to Acts twenty

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seven instead of just seeing it as a historical narrative

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that's descriptive in which some philological lessons about God can

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be understood. But no, no, no, no, nobody wants to

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handle it that way. So there's the sort of the Lord,

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there's the Gospel Coalition. We've reviewed multiple sermons like what

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do I do? Like I'm almost to the point of

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just wanting to just do I keep covering these things.

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What do I do? So at some point we'll get

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to a more a positive teaching on Acts twenty seven.

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We will do a full observational outline on the chapter

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and then kind of an exegetical study and try to

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handle it in a correct way to give more more

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than just to criticize what everyone else is doing. To

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give a positive But I keep getting distracted by all

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of these other things. So I guess what I'm going

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to do in this episode. We're going to play along.

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You know what, Acts twenty seven the Bible, it talks

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about the storms of our lives, even though it doesn't.

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But okay, let's play along now, So let's go to

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the study guide that started all of this, how to

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Weather the Storms of Life. I'm looking at day one,

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Day one in this seven week study guid So far,

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all all we've done is worked on the introduction. Just note,

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if we go through all seven weeks of this, we're

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gonna be doing this series until until I'm dead. But

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that's okay. So here we go. Now we're gonna play along,

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ladies and gentlemen, We're gonna play along here. I'm not

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going to be criticizing the use of this illustration and

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this symbolic idea and this whole metaphor about the storms

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of life. I'm not going to criticize it. I'm just

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going to play along with it. So are you ready?

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Here we go, Day one. Reasons for storms. First, ponder

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it is what the study guide tells me to do

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when we are in the middle of life, of one

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of life's storms, just immediately, it just it just assumes

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the metaphor. It just like everyone's just accept this. When

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we are in the middle of one of life storms,

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we often ask God, why is it happening? Scripture tells

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us four reasons we can find ourselves in a storm. Okay,

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so we're gonna be given four reasons why you and

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I find ourself in the midst of storms, not real storms,

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metaphorical storms, all right, allegorical storms, storms that are symbolic

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of trials and difficulties in our lives. Four reasons Are

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you ready for? These four reasons? Number one, we live

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in a fallen world. Unfortunately, even if we are believers,

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we will face life's challenges until we get to Heaven.

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Good things and bad things happen to us all Matthew

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five forty five. He makes his son rise on the

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evil and on the good, and he sends rain on

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the just and on the unjust. So we live in

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a fallen world. Will we may talk about these in

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a little bit more depth. I just want you to

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at least hear them. I mean, if you have the

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study guid I told everyone to download it, then you

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can be looking at this for yourself. But I want

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you to really contemplate these four reasons why you have

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difficulties in your life. Number one, we live in a

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fallen world. We just it's just a natural consequence of

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living in a fall fallen world. So there's going to

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be pain, suffering, death, tragedy, disaster. Okay, all right, I

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mean I still got lots of philosophical questions, but okay.

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Number two, we create storms through our own foolishness and disobedience.

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Jonah found himself in one of these storms when he

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tried to flee from the presence of the Lord. He

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ended up being swallowed by a fish because of his disobedience.

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So the first reason you can be in the middle

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of a storm in your life is just because, well,

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you live in a fallen world, so things happen. Number two, Well,

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it could be because you're your own foolishness and your

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own disobedience. So the storms could be your fault. It

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could be natural consequences of living in a fallen world,

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or it could be your fault. Number three. God uses

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storms to help us mature. Sometimes God allows us to

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go through storms for our own development, to make us

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more like Him and Matthew fourteen, Jesus commanded his disciples

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to get into a ship and sell to the other

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side of the sea, right into a storm. He did

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this to teach them a lesson about trusting the Lord. Sometime,

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sometimes God sends us through storms to disciple and teach.

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So sometimes it's just natural consequences. Sometimes it's the result

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of your own disobedience and foolishness. And sometimes God is

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doing this to mature you. The reason you're suffering, the

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reason there's paining, the reason there's difficulty. Well God, see,

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isn't it a wonderful thing? Because God is doing it

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to mature you? And please know what they did. They

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used Matthew fourteen to support that point. But let me

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make it very clear. Matthew fourteen has nothing to do

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about the storms in your life or the storms of

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my life. Matthew fourteen is about a literal storm. That

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the whole purpose of that story. I don't think I

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had anything to do with about how about the storms

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in your life? For my life? I think it had

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more to do about something about Christ. But I digress,

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and we will get into these in further detail. And

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then number four we get dragged into storms by other people.

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Paul experienced this kind of storm in Acts twenty seven.

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Paul did not choose to be a prisoner on the ship.

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In fact, he was experienced. He was an experienced sailor,

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made many journeys at sea, and even endured a shipwreck

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when the ship he was on headed into the storm.

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He knew everyone aboard was in trouble. He tried to

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warm people, but they would not listen. All of us

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face storms that are not of our own making. Sometimes

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children have problems because of their parents, and vice versa.

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Sometimes we face challenges because of poor decisions that others make.

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That was the case for Paul So according to this article.

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According to this study guide, there can be four reasons

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you have storms in your life, all right. Number one,

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you live in a fallen world. It's just the natural consequence. However,

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sometimes you could be in the midst of the storm

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because of your own foolishness and your own disobedience. Number three,

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sometimes God sends you into the storm so that he

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can mature you. And number four, you're in the storm

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because someone else dragged you into it. Right, Four reasons

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for storms in your life. Now. You may love those

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four points. You may be writing those down right now.

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You may want to put them on your refrigerator, and

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you may think they're wonderful. But are they wonderful? Well? First,

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even if you think they're wonderful, do they actually come

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from the Bible? Are they being imposed on the Bible,

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and then we're acting like it's being pulled from the Bible.

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I mean, that's an issue. Then the article goes on

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to quote Acts twenty seven nine through eleven. Now, when

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much time has been spent and sailing was now dangerous

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because the fast was already over, Paul advised them, saying, men,

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I perceive that this voyage will end with disaster and

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much loss, not only of the cargo and ship, but

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also our lives. Nevertheless, this centurion was more persuaded by

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the held helmsman, if I can speak correctly, and the

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owner of the ship, than by the thing spoken by Paul. See,

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this situation was completely out of Paul's control. The owner

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of the ship, likely a businessman, was more probably was

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probably motivated more by profit. Paul, a man of God,

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knew that it was for everyone's good that the ship

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waited to sail. Paul found self in a storm that

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was the result of the poor decisions of others. Rather,

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we face the storms of life, whether we face the

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normal storms of life, storms from our sins, or storms

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from our development for our development, or storms that we

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have been dragged into, we will all face storms in

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our lives. The question is for you? How will you

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navigate the storms? So it just doubles down on that right,

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So then it says, put it in writing, what kind

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of storms have you faced in your own life? What

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kind of storms have you faced in your own life? See,

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all of a sudden, this all becomes about you, even

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though it's quoting from Max twenty seven, which has nothing

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to do with you, And how becomes about you? What

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kind of storms have you faced in your life? Are

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you going through a storm right now? Do you see

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a storm on the horizon. Is the storm you're currently

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facing something you helped create or something out of your control?

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How do a storm that is out of your control

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feel different from a storm you helped create? And then

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that's the end of that particular day. So four reasons,

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all right, class? What are the four reasons given in

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the study guide? Four reasons for why we may face

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storms in our life? Number one, it's the natural consequences

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of living in a fallen world. Number two could be

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because my own foolishness and my own disobedience. Number three

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God may have sent me into storm to mature me,

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to develop me. Or number four, I was dragged into

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this storm by someone else. Now what do you think?

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Do you like that? Do you love that? What do

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you think? So well, I started working on this, and well,

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let's analyze this. Let's offer some analysis and critique. I

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also asked artificial intelligence to give me it's thoughts on

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these four points. And well, are you ready to see

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what artificial intelligence had to say? And I'll share some

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of my thoughts. That'll all be mixed together. Let's just see. Now,

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I want you to write those four things down and

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let me make it very clear. Like as I'm saying

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those I'm like, man, this guy, I could preach this.

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I could turn this into a sermon, and people sitting

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in church with love it. Right, It's very practical, it's relatable.

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Everyone goes through difficulties in their life, right, everyone does.

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So you give them four possible reasons, so then everyone

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can sit there going, well, I'm going through this difficult

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Well I got dragged into this one. This is not

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even my fault, or oh this is my fault, or

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or maybe this is just the natural consequences I've living

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in a fallen world, or maybe God put me in

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this storm so I could I could be matured. I mean,

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people will love having an explanation for why they're going

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through difficulties in their life. They will love that. So

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from a preaching stamp point that study guide, I guarantee

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you pastors who see it will turn that into a

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sermon and probably two point three seconds. But none of

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those points were derived from the text. They don't come

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from Acts twenty seven, don't come from Matthew fourteen, They

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don't come from anywhere. You may think those are good

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life lessons, but you can find those same life lessons.

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That's probably in any good self help book. Are they

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what the text says? So? AI says this the teaching

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outline four Reasons for Storms, trials or Trials and Life,

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citing Acts twenty seven, Jonah, and Matthew fourteen to support

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its claims. While some of the points contain maybe valid

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Biblical principles, there are thiological, logical, and harmoneutical errors that

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distort the meaning of the passages. Now, please not even

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though some of the principles may sound good, Even if

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you could argue some of the principles are taught so

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somewhere else in scripture, the issue is there is problems

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in the text that they cite. Because the text they

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cite are not saying what they're claiming that's being said.

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This is a classic example of where you're reading something

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into the text, but because it sounds good, it sounds spiritual,

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it sounds devotional, it sounds relevant, everyone in the puel

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will eat it up. But yet they'll criticize someone else

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who reads something into scripture. Look, you're either against everything

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read into scripture or you've got to support it all.

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You can't just pick and choose. So AI starts with

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the phiological errors. This is what AI says over emphasis

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on categorizing storms as a universal system. The teaching implies

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that all storms fit neatly into one of four categories

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general suffering in a fallen world, storms caused by personal sin,

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storm sent by God for growth, or storms caused by

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others decisions. Now, this is what AI says, that there's

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a problem while these are biblical. While these are biblical realities,

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Scripture does not systematize suffering this way. Not all suffering

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fits neatly into these categories. The Bible presents a complex

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views of trials. Job suffering doesn't fit any of those perfectly. Now,

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some people say God does this to help Job grow

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well again, so he killed his entire all of his

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kids just so that job could grow. I mean that

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that's kind of twisted. Hey, hey, I'm going to kill

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your children so that you can grow spiritually. That doesn't

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seem to be what the text even implies. This all

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happens so God could prove a point to Satan. So

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it does. Maybe it doesn't fit perfectly. The danger is

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that people may forcefit their struggles into these categories rather

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than seeking wisdom and discernment about their circumstances. And that

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is what can happen. Hey, here's the four reasons. You

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can be in the middle of a storm in your life.

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So you've got to try to take your circumstance and

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fit it in there, and you've got to just assume

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that you're fitting it in the right category. So that's

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kind of a thilological Eric number two. It misrepresents God's

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role in suffering. The teaching suggests that every storm has

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a clear divine purpose, particularly in the maturing category, which

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is point number three. The problem. Not every trial is

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meant to teach us a lesson. Ooh, I want you

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to write that down. Not every trial is meant to

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teach us a lesson. Do you agree with that or

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disagree with that? Is every trial designed to teach you

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a lesson? I think this is a common teaching in

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most churches. Everything you're going through, every trial, every pain,

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all the suffering, it's meant to teach you a lesson.

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And I think most Christians think that that's true, and

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so they'll try to find They'll try to say, oh,

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I learned this so so so it was great. I

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learned something because my mother died when I was young. Well, man,

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I'm so glad I learned something. I mean, she's dead,

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but I'm glad. I'll my father dies of cancer. I'm

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so glad he died. I got to does every does

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every lesson? Does every trial teach a lesson? Is it

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meant to teach a lesson? Now, learning lessons from it

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doesn't mean that's what the trial was meant to do.

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It just means that you can. We can learn lessons

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from pretty much anything, right if you want, if you

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try hard enough. We could get into a discussion here. Now,

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while God uses suffering for growth, some suffering simply as

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a result of living in a fallen world, Now that

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seems to go now to be fair, that seems to

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go back to. Maybe it's just the consequence of living

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in a fallen world. So if it's a consequence of

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living in a fallen world, then you can't say that

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every trial's meant to teach a lesson because some suffering

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has no real purpose. It's just you live in a

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fallen world, so you get to suffer. So then maybe

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number one. Maybe number one does at least eliminate the

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idea that every trial is meant to teach a lesson.

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So if you're not careful, though, you can lead people

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to seek hidden lessons and suffering that may not exist.

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Sometimes I think a lot of people are looking for

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some lesson. They gotta state some lesson. But look, if

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trials can happen simply as a result of living in

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the fallen world, that means there is no lesson in

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it other than I guess you live in a fallen world.

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So then maybe there is a lesson. I don't know,

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But is it again, is it meant to teach a

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lesson or can just lessons be taken from it? That's

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a difference. Right, Hey, I'm going through this because God

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wants to teach me a lesson. Well, in some cases

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that wouldn't be the case, because it's just the result

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of living in a fallen world. How about logical errors

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a misapplication of Acts twenty seven. The teaching claims that

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Acts twenty seven shows Paul being dragged into a storm

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because of others' poor decisions. Well, here's the problem. While

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it is true that Paul was caught in the storm

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due to the centurion's choice, the main point of Acts

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twenty seven is not about storms others create for us.

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Acts twenty seven is about God's sovereign plan to bring

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Paul to Rome. Right. In fact, let me look here,

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which is just once again, this is what happens when

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you start turning things into metaphors, and you start doing

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this and you're preaching and teaching, you end up creating

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many cases full blown contradiction. So I'm going to go

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to Acts Chapter twenty three, Acts twenty three eleven, and

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the night following the Lord stood by him and said,

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be of good cheer, Paul, For as thou hast testified

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of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also

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at Rome. So Act twenty seven is not about it

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is about God's sovereign plan to bring Paul to Rome,

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Acts twenty three eleven. It's not a general lesson on

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life's difficulties. It's not that he got pulled into this,

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because remember their whole point and their study and the

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study guide was sometimes you get pulled into storms. Has

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nothing to do with you. Now your fault. Paul is

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put into the storm because of God's sovereign decision to

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bring him to Rome. This is how he's going to

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getting there. The storm wasn't about Paul's personal suffering. It

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was a part of God's plan to advance the gospel.

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So there's a logical fallacy in all of this false equivalence.

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Equitting Paul's shipwreck to general life struggles misses the entire

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point of the passage. So when say that sounded good,

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Sometimes you get pulled into storms and it's not your fault.

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You get pulled in by other people. Well, look Paul,

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Paul in Acts twenty seven, he got pulled into this.

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He didn't want to be a prison. Well wait a minute,

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wait a minute. Acts twenty three says hey, I'm going

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to bring you to Rome. This is how Paul is

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getting there. This is a part of the divine plan.

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This is the part of the sovereign plan. Now, what

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we could do is say that God's sovereign plan sometimes

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takes us through a path and a journey that may

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not make any sense from a human perspective, because from

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a human perspective you get like, hey, God, you could

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just get Paul to Rome and the easiest way possible.

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But no, he doesn't getting there in the easiest way possible.

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He has n't become a prisoner, go through a massive

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storm and a shipwreck. Why. Well, the text doesn't necessarily

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say why other than this show that God is in control.

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So some of the logical errors we have a misapplication

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of ACX twenty seven. We have an incorrect use of

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Matthew fourteen Jesus calming the storm. The teaching states and

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again quoting sometimes God allows us to go through storms

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for our own development, to make us more like him.

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00:28:22.359 --> 00:28:25.359
And Matthew fourteen, Jesus commanded his disciples to get into

464
00:28:25.400 --> 00:28:27.759
a ship and sell to the other side of the sea,

465
00:28:27.960 --> 00:28:30.599
right into a storm. He did this to teach them

466
00:28:30.640 --> 00:28:33.839
a lesson about trusting the Lord. Well, here's the problem.

467
00:28:34.119 --> 00:28:37.039
Nowhere in Matthew fourteen does it explicitly state that Jesus

468
00:28:37.079 --> 00:28:39.440
sent them into a storm for their growth. The storm

469
00:28:39.519 --> 00:28:42.000
was a real physical event, and while the disciples did

470
00:28:42.079 --> 00:28:44.279
grow in faith, this does not mean every storm in

471
00:28:44.319 --> 00:28:48.400
life is orchestrated for development. This statement assumes divine intent

472
00:28:48.480 --> 00:28:54.200
without textual support, the logical fallacy assuming intent without textual evidence.

473
00:28:55.880 --> 00:28:58.680
So there's those are the logical errors in here. There's

474
00:28:58.720 --> 00:29:03.799
contradictions in here. It's misapplications of the text. But it

475
00:29:04.000 --> 00:29:06.799
all sounds so good if you would have written that,

476
00:29:06.799 --> 00:29:08.720
if I would have just started with giving you those

477
00:29:08.759 --> 00:29:10.839
four points. In fact, I almost wanted to do it.

478
00:29:10.880 --> 00:29:13.480
I almost wanted to turn on the microphone just say

479
00:29:13.680 --> 00:29:16.680
sometimes in life we go I don't use the word storms.

480
00:29:16.799 --> 00:29:20.960
Sometimes in life we go through great difficulties. Sometimes there's pain,

481
00:29:21.240 --> 00:29:25.079
there's tragedy, there's death, there's suffering, And this can happen

482
00:29:25.160 --> 00:29:28.799
Number one. Sometimes it's just the natural consequences of living

483
00:29:28.880 --> 00:29:33.559
in a fallen world. Sometimes this can happen because God

484
00:29:33.599 --> 00:29:37.400
wants to grow us or to teach us. Sometimes this

485
00:29:37.480 --> 00:29:40.240
happens because of our own foolishness and our own sin.

486
00:29:40.519 --> 00:29:43.400
And sometimes this happens because other people pull us in

487
00:29:43.400 --> 00:29:46.079
to a situation where there's pain, suffering and death and

488
00:29:46.240 --> 00:29:48.400
just leave it at that and kind of say this

489
00:29:48.440 --> 00:29:50.799
is the morning devotional, and it'd be interesting how many

490
00:29:50.799 --> 00:29:53.079
people would have been like, oh, that's awesome. Now, in

491
00:29:53.119 --> 00:29:55.519
some ways, if I would have done it that way

492
00:29:55.559 --> 00:29:58.680
without quoting Acts twenty seven or in Matthew fourteen, you

493
00:29:58.759 --> 00:30:02.680
may even argue those could be somewhat helpful points, because

494
00:30:02.720 --> 00:30:05.680
now I'm not misapplying the text or reading them into

495
00:30:05.720 --> 00:30:09.119
the text. See, once you start using scripture to try

496
00:30:09.119 --> 00:30:12.759
to prove these points that the scriptures don't actually teach,

497
00:30:13.440 --> 00:30:16.599
then it becomes a hermeneutical problem. And see what most

498
00:30:16.599 --> 00:30:18.480
of you will say, Well, it doesn't really matter how

499
00:30:18.599 --> 00:30:21.119
the pastor arrived at these points. The points are good.

500
00:30:21.319 --> 00:30:23.799
Well not the points aren't good when you're using texts that,

501
00:30:23.880 --> 00:30:30.839
in many cases you're contradicting the very text itself. AI

502
00:30:30.960 --> 00:30:34.519
goes on to point out some hermoneutical errors, allegorizing Acts

503
00:30:34.559 --> 00:30:38.599
twenty seven without justification. The hermoneutical error reading Acts twenty

504
00:30:38.640 --> 00:30:40.960
seven is an allegory about life trials rather than a

505
00:30:41.079 --> 00:30:45.920
historical event event demonstrating God's sovereignty. There is no indication

506
00:30:45.960 --> 00:30:48.279
that Luke intended Acts twenty seven to be a symbolic

507
00:30:48.359 --> 00:30:52.559
lesson on navigating personal struggles. This is a historical narrative.

508
00:30:53.440 --> 00:30:56.480
It is not wisdom literature. It is not a parable

509
00:30:57.240 --> 00:31:00.559
Why does this matter when when you allegorize historical events,

510
00:31:00.680 --> 00:31:04.920
you can you can lead people to wrong application, making

511
00:31:04.960 --> 00:31:09.680
Paul's unique journey prescriptive when it's actually descriptive. See even

512
00:31:09.759 --> 00:31:13.759
Ai knows this. The real message of Acts twenty seven

513
00:31:13.839 --> 00:31:18.000
is God's control over history, not general principles about life storms.

514
00:31:18.279 --> 00:31:22.640
Even Ai understands. Pastors, stop doing this. That's not the

515
00:31:22.640 --> 00:31:26.920
way you handle Acts twenty seven. It's prescript it's descriptive.

516
00:31:26.920 --> 00:31:30.039
It's not prescriptive. It's not about life's problems. It's not

517
00:31:30.079 --> 00:31:42.119
about life's difficulties. Stop allegorizing the text forcing a meaning

518
00:31:42.160 --> 00:31:45.720
onto Jonah's storm. The teaching uses Jonah as an example

519
00:31:45.759 --> 00:31:48.880
of storms caused by disobedience, which is correct, but it

520
00:31:48.920 --> 00:31:53.160
simplifies the account. Jonah's storm was not just about disobedience

521
00:31:53.279 --> 00:31:56.640
leading to consequences. It was about God's mercy towards Nineveh

522
00:31:56.759 --> 00:32:00.000
and his sovereignty over repentance. The broader message of Jonah

523
00:32:00.119 --> 00:32:02.839
is God's grace, not just a lesson of disobedience leading

524
00:32:02.880 --> 00:32:05.720
to storms. This is an example of reducing a biblical

525
00:32:05.759 --> 00:32:10.319
event to a moral lesson than seeing its full philological significance,

526
00:32:10.759 --> 00:32:13.880
and everyone turns it into kind of a moral lesson. Hey,

527
00:32:14.119 --> 00:32:16.079
you do what God says, or you're gonna end up

528
00:32:16.119 --> 00:32:18.839
in a storm. This is not only that it's a

529
00:32:18.960 --> 00:32:25.079
historical event, it's unique. So it's still forcing meaning into

530
00:32:25.119 --> 00:32:31.599
the text. And then thematic problems self focused application instead

531
00:32:31.599 --> 00:32:34.680
of God focused interpretation. I want you to hear that again.

532
00:32:34.880 --> 00:32:38.720
One of the problems with this entire reasons for the storms,

533
00:32:38.920 --> 00:32:43.880
it's self focused application instead of God focused interpretation. The

534
00:32:43.920 --> 00:32:48.440
final section asks this in the study guide, what kind

535
00:32:48.440 --> 00:32:50.920
of storms have you faced in your own life? Are

536
00:32:50.960 --> 00:32:54.240
you going through a storm right now? While reflection can

537
00:32:54.279 --> 00:32:56.880
be helpful, this makes the passage about the reader rather

538
00:32:56.920 --> 00:33:01.160
than about God's work and history. It zioms every trial

539
00:33:01.160 --> 00:33:03.759
has a direct lesson for personal growth, which is not

540
00:33:03.839 --> 00:33:07.440
always the case. Acts twenty seven is not about us,

541
00:33:07.599 --> 00:33:13.359
it's about God fulfilling his promise to Paul. It's making

542
00:33:13.400 --> 00:33:17.240
the biblical passage self centered rather than God centered. Then

543
00:33:17.359 --> 00:33:20.440
Ai makes an entire chart of all the problems here.

544
00:33:20.559 --> 00:33:23.000
But AI points out, so let's just go through these again.

545
00:33:23.200 --> 00:33:28.039
Ai points out philological errors. It overemphasizes on categorizing storms

546
00:33:28.039 --> 00:33:31.839
as a universal system, and it misrepresents God's role and suffering.

547
00:33:32.000 --> 00:33:34.799
Those were the philological errors. The logical errors was a

548
00:33:34.799 --> 00:33:37.920
misapplication of Acts twenty seven and an incorrect use of

549
00:33:37.960 --> 00:33:42.400
Matthew fourteen. Hermaeneutical errors was allegorizing Acts twenty seven and

550
00:33:42.519 --> 00:33:47.039
forcing meaning onto Jonahs storms. The thematic problems was self

551
00:33:47.079 --> 00:33:50.920
focused application a set of God focused interpretation. AI tore

552
00:33:50.960 --> 00:33:54.519
it apart literally in about five to ten seconds. I

553
00:33:54.640 --> 00:33:57.839
just gave Ai the study guide and said, hey, give

554
00:33:57.839 --> 00:34:02.599
me a critique of lesson, and I mean the tort

555
00:34:02.640 --> 00:34:08.440
completely apart. Now why can AI do that? Because Ai

556
00:34:08.559 --> 00:34:12.559
is not interested in creating sermons. But see, study guides

557
00:34:12.719 --> 00:34:16.800
are always interested in creating these little devotional lessons, so

558
00:34:17.000 --> 00:34:19.039
we don't worry about the actual meaning of the text.

559
00:34:19.039 --> 00:34:21.920
We gotta have lessons, we gotta have moralism. People gotta

560
00:34:21.960 --> 00:34:26.199
write sermons. So oh, this morning, open your Bibles to

561
00:34:26.360 --> 00:34:29.840
Acts twenty seven. We're gonna talk about a great storm.

562
00:34:30.039 --> 00:34:32.480
And I know many of you are going through difficulties

563
00:34:32.480 --> 00:34:34.960
this morning. You're going through difficulties in this life. And

564
00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:38.280
if you're not trust me. The storm clouds are building,

565
00:34:38.360 --> 00:34:41.159
they're gonna start rumbling, and there's gonna be lightning, and

566
00:34:41.199 --> 00:34:43.599
there's gonna be thunder, and there's gonna be wind, and

567
00:34:43.639 --> 00:34:46.000
it's going to crash into your life and you're gonna

568
00:34:46.000 --> 00:34:48.199
be tossed this way in that way. But I'm here

569
00:34:48.199 --> 00:34:51.320
this morning to give you some very important idea of

570
00:34:51.400 --> 00:34:54.639
why that storm may be happening. It could be happening

571
00:34:54.760 --> 00:34:57.639
because we live in a fallen world and sometimes it

572
00:34:57.840 --> 00:35:00.320
just occurs. Sometimes it could be happening because of your

573
00:35:00.320 --> 00:35:03.639
own foolishness, your own disobedience. It could be happening because

574
00:35:03.639 --> 00:35:06.639
God is trying to teach you something. It could be Yeah,

575
00:35:06.639 --> 00:35:08.800
I mean, we can go through all of the ideas.

576
00:35:17.519 --> 00:35:23.559
That's not the way this is supposed to work. Oh,

577
00:35:23.679 --> 00:35:25.440
I'll go ahead and mentioned the last one. It could

578
00:35:25.519 --> 00:35:29.199
be happening because someone pulled you into the storm. Now,

579
00:35:29.480 --> 00:35:32.639
preaching it that way, you could be dramatic, you could

580
00:35:32.639 --> 00:35:36.679
add some cross references. You could really build it up

581
00:35:36.760 --> 00:35:39.079
and guess what, people will leave the church thinking it's

582
00:35:39.079 --> 00:35:43.280
so amazing. The only problem is it's not doesn't come

583
00:35:43.320 --> 00:35:46.840
from Max twenty seven, doesn't come from Matthew fourteen doesn't

584
00:35:46.880 --> 00:35:49.480
come from the Book of Jonah. All of these concepts

585
00:35:49.519 --> 00:35:53.239
are being read into the text that should bother you.

586
00:35:59.239 --> 00:36:03.639
So AI as this this teaching, Mitch, and it breaks

587
00:36:03.639 --> 00:36:05.519
this down even further. I'm going to skip a half

588
00:36:05.559 --> 00:36:08.800
of everything that AI says here, but AI gives me

589
00:36:08.880 --> 00:36:12.880
a final thought. This teaching mixes biblical truth with modern

590
00:36:12.960 --> 00:36:16.519
self help interpretations. That was my word, but AI uses

591
00:36:16.559 --> 00:36:21.199
the exact same word, resulting in distorted application. Acts twenty

592
00:36:21.239 --> 00:36:24.280
seven is not about handling live storms. It's about God's

593
00:36:24.320 --> 00:36:27.639
plan for Paul to reach Rome. Any application should be

594
00:36:27.679 --> 00:36:35.880
secondary to the text actual meaning. All right. So at

595
00:36:35.920 --> 00:36:40.559
that point I was like, okay, good, we took that apart. Great,

596
00:36:41.119 --> 00:36:44.000
I can give everyone my criticism of it. But then

597
00:36:44.039 --> 00:36:48.119
I was like, this raises some more. This raises some

598
00:36:48.159 --> 00:36:53.119
serious philosophical questions. So that's what we're going to address.

599
00:36:53.159 --> 00:36:56.440
And this is going to make me very unpopular, but

600
00:36:56.519 --> 00:36:58.760
come on, now, look the one thing we have to

601
00:36:58.800 --> 00:37:01.039
be honest with, and at least the study guide was

602
00:37:01.039 --> 00:37:05.960
honest with this as well. Look, our lives are no

603
00:37:05.960 --> 00:37:08.880
No matter how great your life is, some people's life

604
00:37:08.920 --> 00:37:12.679
they only have maybe a few major storms that enter

605
00:37:12.719 --> 00:37:16.320
their lives again, using that metaphor. For others, their life

606
00:37:16.440 --> 00:37:19.480
just seems to be one never ending storm after another

607
00:37:19.639 --> 00:37:27.559
after another, death, suffering, abuse, just just loneliness, isolation, abandonment,

608
00:37:27.639 --> 00:37:31.199
whatever the It's just like, does it ever end? So

609
00:37:31.320 --> 00:37:35.559
what we already know that there's no not not everyone's

610
00:37:35.639 --> 00:37:37.960
going to face the same thing, but everyone's at least

611
00:37:37.960 --> 00:37:44.760
going to have some storms. Now, how do we understand

612
00:37:44.800 --> 00:37:52.519
that philosophically? How do we understand that philologically? So I asked,

613
00:37:52.599 --> 00:37:54.960
I kind of challenged AI here, and this is what

614
00:37:55.000 --> 00:38:01.320
I wrote. Some would argue that all try sorry hitting

615
00:38:01.320 --> 00:38:04.559
the microphone. Some would argue that all trials have a

616
00:38:04.639 --> 00:38:12.039
divine purpose. That idea has always been somewhat problematic to me. Now, see,

617
00:38:12.079 --> 00:38:14.000
the one thing I love about AI is I can

618
00:38:14.039 --> 00:38:16.440
talk about my struggles. I can talk about I can

619
00:38:16.480 --> 00:38:18.880
be real. If I talk to other Christians, they almost

620
00:38:18.960 --> 00:38:22.119
immediately get defensive and and they just want to argue.

621
00:38:22.159 --> 00:38:24.280
It's like, just never mind, it's no point in talking

622
00:38:24.280 --> 00:38:26.800
to them. But I can talk to artificial intelligence because

623
00:38:27.000 --> 00:38:31.719
it doesn't have a team, it doesn't it doesn't get defensive.

624
00:38:35.119 --> 00:38:38.599
So I said, you're apps or I'm sorry. AI is

625
00:38:38.599 --> 00:38:40.239
getting ready to respond to me. So let me go

626
00:38:40.280 --> 00:38:41.920
back to what I said, Because I wrote like a

627
00:38:41.960 --> 00:38:45.360
paragraph here. Some would argue that all trials trials have

628
00:38:45.400 --> 00:38:49.199
a divine purpose. That idea has always been somewhat problematic.

629
00:38:49.599 --> 00:38:54.039
A child molested for years, a woman raped, a child

630
00:38:54.159 --> 00:38:59.599
being abused through most of their childhood, people tortured in war, children,

631
00:38:59.800 --> 00:39:06.599
so suffering childhood, you know, terminal illnesses. I could provide

632
00:39:06.679 --> 00:39:13.320
so many more examples. AI says, you're absolutely right to

633
00:39:13.480 --> 00:39:17.159
challenge the idea that all trials have a divine purpose

634
00:39:17.440 --> 00:39:21.360
in a way that suggests intentional, divine or an orchestration

635
00:39:21.840 --> 00:39:26.360
of every instance of suffering. While God is sovereign overall things,

636
00:39:26.840 --> 00:39:29.559
that does not mean that he directly intends, wills, or

637
00:39:29.599 --> 00:39:33.159
purposes every act of evil or suffering as a specific

638
00:39:33.239 --> 00:39:38.440
lesson or a plan for growth. This perspective raises serious theological, moral,

639
00:39:38.639 --> 00:39:43.719
and pastoral concerns when applied to extreme suffering such as abuse, rape,

640
00:39:44.000 --> 00:39:49.119
war crime, or childhood diseases. So Aii is like, Okay,

641
00:39:49.199 --> 00:39:50.719
you have a right to challenge this. You have a

642
00:39:50.800 --> 00:39:52.679
right to question this, and of course I have a

643
00:39:52.760 --> 00:39:54.880
right to question it. Of course I have a right

644
00:39:54.960 --> 00:39:58.960
to challenge it. So I'm challenging this idea that, hey,

645
00:39:59.000 --> 00:40:01.320
it has a divine purpose. Now, this is where it's

646
00:40:01.320 --> 00:40:05.199
gonna get complicated. It's gonna get a little convoluted philologically, right,

647
00:40:05.239 --> 00:40:09.280
because remember we've got within theology, we've got this idea,

648
00:40:09.599 --> 00:40:18.760
does God ordain direct and his providence everything that occurs?

649
00:40:20.519 --> 00:40:24.519
Does God in his providence? Does he decree everything that

650
00:40:24.559 --> 00:40:27.679
comes to pass? Whatever it may be? Does he decree

651
00:40:27.760 --> 00:40:30.800
every single thing? Now typically more of the reform world.

652
00:40:30.840 --> 00:40:33.440
You're going to give a hearty amen to this. In fact,

653
00:40:33.519 --> 00:40:38.719
let me pull up, Let me pull up here. I'm

654
00:40:38.719 --> 00:40:49.559
gonna pull up the London Baptist Confession sixteen eighty nine.

655
00:40:50.519 --> 00:40:54.400
All right, if I go to God's decree. This is

656
00:40:54.440 --> 00:40:57.920
paragraph one of the sixteen eighty nine Baptist Confession of Faith,

657
00:40:58.239 --> 00:41:02.360
Chapter three, paragraph one Chapters of God's Decree. You can

658
00:41:02.400 --> 00:41:04.559
find it online. Just do a quick Google search. You

659
00:41:04.599 --> 00:41:09.760
can find it. God hath decreed in himself from all eternity,

660
00:41:10.000 --> 00:41:13.039
by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will,

661
00:41:13.360 --> 00:41:19.519
freely and unchangeably, all things whatsoever comes to pass, every

662
00:41:19.519 --> 00:41:22.599
single thing that comes to pass. God has decreed in

663
00:41:22.679 --> 00:41:27.760
himself from all eternity everything that comes to pass, every

664
00:41:27.760 --> 00:41:32.960
single thing, God has decreed it. Now some people say,

665
00:41:33.000 --> 00:41:36.880
well that means he decreed sin. Well, typically this is

666
00:41:36.960 --> 00:41:41.559
where the London Baptist tries to get around this. Yet

667
00:41:42.000 --> 00:41:44.639
so as thereby is God neither the author of sin,

668
00:41:45.719 --> 00:41:49.280
nor hath fellowship with any therein, Nor is violence offered

669
00:41:49.320 --> 00:41:51.119
to the will of the creature. Nor yet is the

670
00:41:51.159 --> 00:41:55.119
liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established.

671
00:41:55.559 --> 00:41:57.480
So say God is not the So they want to say,

672
00:41:57.480 --> 00:41:59.639
God is not the author of sin, but yet he

673
00:42:00.119 --> 00:42:02.159
create everything that comes to past, But he's not the

674
00:42:02.199 --> 00:42:06.559
author of sin, because he'll say, hey utilizes a secondary cause.

675
00:42:06.960 --> 00:42:11.880
So you could say, well, obviously God ultimately decreed that

676
00:42:11.960 --> 00:42:14.440
sin would enter into the world, but he's not the

677
00:42:14.480 --> 00:42:19.079
author of it. He simply creates Satan, who not sinful,

678
00:42:19.400 --> 00:42:22.719
but knowing Satan is going to rebel, Satan rebels, then

679
00:42:22.760 --> 00:42:25.000
he can. Then Satan is the one that then tempts,

680
00:42:25.159 --> 00:42:28.119
and so Adam and Eve and Satan, they're ultimately the

681
00:42:28.159 --> 00:42:30.039
one who brings sin into the world. God is not

682
00:42:30.079 --> 00:42:32.199
the author of bringing sin into the world. I know.

683
00:42:32.559 --> 00:42:35.480
But it's such a it's such a little game. We play,

684
00:42:35.519 --> 00:42:38.360
Because who created Satan? God? Did God know Satan's going

685
00:42:38.400 --> 00:42:41.639
to rebel? Yes? When Satan rebelled? Could he have destroyed Satan? Yes?

686
00:42:41.760 --> 00:42:43.960
But does he destroy Satan? No? He lets him come

687
00:42:43.960 --> 00:42:46.119
to earth where he created Adam and Eve. Did he

688
00:42:46.159 --> 00:42:48.440
know Adam and Eve was going to sin? Yes? Did

689
00:42:48.440 --> 00:42:50.559
he do anything to stop it? No? Did he do

690
00:42:50.599 --> 00:42:53.079
anything to prevent it? No? Once Adam and Eve sin,

691
00:42:53.159 --> 00:42:55.480
could he have destroyed them and stop it? Yes? Do

692
00:42:56.079 --> 00:42:58.840
do that? No? He lets them have children. All children

693
00:42:58.840 --> 00:43:01.519
then are born with a sinful now nature therefore, and

694
00:43:01.639 --> 00:43:04.360
it's been that way ever since, so sin is in

695
00:43:04.519 --> 00:43:07.000
every single person born. He said, well, God's not the

696
00:43:07.000 --> 00:43:14.199
one who did it. He set the whole thing up,

697
00:43:14.239 --> 00:43:16.119
knowing exactly how it was going to work, and did

698
00:43:16.159 --> 00:43:18.920
nothing to prevent it or intervene or to stop it.

699
00:43:19.519 --> 00:43:21.480
So and that's it. You have to say, well, God

700
00:43:21.519 --> 00:43:23.599
at least decreed that sin would be a part of

701
00:43:23.679 --> 00:43:26.079
all of things. He just not the author of it.

702
00:43:26.079 --> 00:43:28.599
It's like we're trying to make this distinction, but from

703
00:43:28.639 --> 00:43:34.199
a practical standpoint, and everything leads back to God. But

704
00:43:34.320 --> 00:43:36.880
if you believe God decrees everything that comes to past,

705
00:43:36.920 --> 00:43:40.360
then guess what I have to accept God decreed that

706
00:43:40.400 --> 00:43:42.440
I would be born in the family I was born

707
00:43:42.480 --> 00:43:45.880
in and everything I suffered, And I don't want to

708
00:43:45.880 --> 00:43:50.679
sit here and tell you the horrible stories. God decreed

709
00:43:50.719 --> 00:43:55.159
it to that person who's now twenty twenty five, and

710
00:43:55.199 --> 00:43:58.239
you were molested for fifteen years, maybe even by someone

711
00:43:58.239 --> 00:44:01.079
in a church, God to create it. If you're a

712
00:44:01.159 --> 00:44:04.239
woman who was raped, God decreate. See. Now this gets

713
00:44:04.280 --> 00:44:07.800
really uncomfortable if you're now, if you're a parent sitting

714
00:44:07.840 --> 00:44:10.039
in a hospital and your child has been there for

715
00:44:10.079 --> 00:44:12.920
six months because they've been suffering and suffering and suffering

716
00:44:12.920 --> 00:44:15.960
with a terminal disease. You know, and everyone else knows,

717
00:44:15.960 --> 00:44:18.679
the child is not going to live to see fifteen. Well,

718
00:44:18.760 --> 00:44:27.719
God decreed it. That becomes a major theological thing, difficult

719
00:44:27.760 --> 00:44:30.239
to reprimand hernd We can try to make it sound good,

720
00:44:30.760 --> 00:44:35.960
but it becomes really problematic. So AI said, hey, it's

721
00:44:36.280 --> 00:44:40.719
perfectly right to challenge this. It's perfectly right to challenge us.

722
00:44:40.800 --> 00:44:44.599
So here's what AI tries to do. All right, First,

723
00:44:44.719 --> 00:44:47.639
AI is going to challenge the concept of every trial

724
00:44:47.679 --> 00:44:50.960
has a specific divine purpose. Now, so let's try to

725
00:44:51.039 --> 00:44:56.119
draw a distinction here. God decreing everything comes to pass? Well,

726
00:44:56.159 --> 00:44:58.960
does he? If he dec first, some people will even

727
00:44:59.000 --> 00:45:02.159
reject that. People will reject that. But even if you

728
00:45:02.199 --> 00:45:06.119
reject it, you're going to find yourself with multiple problems

729
00:45:06.360 --> 00:45:09.119
because if God didn't decree everything to happen, well, are

730
00:45:09.119 --> 00:45:10.920
you telling me he didn't know it was going to happen?

731
00:45:11.079 --> 00:45:12.480
Are you telling me he didn't have the power to

732
00:45:12.480 --> 00:45:14.480
stop what was going to happen? And then this just

733
00:45:14.519 --> 00:45:16.400
becomes a maze. And if God he said, well, God

734
00:45:16.440 --> 00:45:19.639
doesn't intervene because he doesn't want to violate anyone's free will, well,

735
00:45:19.639 --> 00:45:21.880
then what's the point of praying? Since God can't intervene

736
00:45:21.960 --> 00:45:25.239
because he can only do that, it just all becomes

737
00:45:25.280 --> 00:45:29.039
It will all start falling apart. But even if we

738
00:45:29.119 --> 00:45:33.480
accept that God decreed everything, did he decree everything to happen?

739
00:45:33.519 --> 00:45:42.199
And then have a divine purpose in it? Ai says,

740
00:45:42.400 --> 00:45:45.679
there's a biblical problem. There's biblical problems with every trial

741
00:45:45.719 --> 00:45:50.079
has a specific divine purpose. Many Christians oversimplify suffering by

742
00:45:50.119 --> 00:45:54.840
forcing a purpose into every trial, often ignoring deeper biblical complexities.

743
00:45:55.360 --> 00:46:01.239
Right number one, Ai says scripture seems to acknowledge senseless evil.

744
00:46:02.159 --> 00:46:05.199
The Bible presents many forms of suffering that are clearly

745
00:46:05.280 --> 00:46:09.239
evil without suggesting a divine lesson behind them. The Rape

746
00:46:09.239 --> 00:46:12.679
of Tamar and Second Samuel thirteen Tamar was violated by

747
00:46:12.719 --> 00:46:16.559
our half brother Am nine, and the Bible never suggests

748
00:46:16.559 --> 00:46:20.119
that God orchestrated this to teach her something. The response,

749
00:46:20.199 --> 00:46:22.679
Tamar lived at the rest of her life in desolation

750
00:46:23.079 --> 00:46:27.119
Second Samuel thirteen twenty, showing that some suffering simply destroys

751
00:46:27.119 --> 00:46:32.159
and brings no redemptive lesson. Now we may have to

752
00:46:32.199 --> 00:46:37.000
really work on that story. The rape of Tamar. AI's like, hey,

753
00:46:37.000 --> 00:46:42.800
there's no redemptive lesson in this thing? Now? Is that true?

754
00:46:43.599 --> 00:46:46.920
Do we accept that? If that is true, that challenges

755
00:46:46.960 --> 00:46:52.960
a lot of what Christians and pastors say. Another example

756
00:46:53.280 --> 00:46:56.400
the massacre of the children by Herod in Matthew two

757
00:46:56.639 --> 00:47:00.719
sixteen through eighteen. Matthew connects the atrocity to Rachel weeping

758
00:47:00.760 --> 00:47:03.440
for her children in Jeremiah thirty one. A picture of

759
00:47:03.480 --> 00:47:07.800
grief without an immediate divine explanation. There is no indication

760
00:47:07.880 --> 00:47:10.679
that each murdered child was part of a divine lesson.

761
00:47:10.920 --> 00:47:14.480
It was evil, and that's all we are told. So

762
00:47:15.599 --> 00:47:18.840
Ai offers two examples the rape of Tagamar. There's no

763
00:47:19.360 --> 00:47:23.800
redemptive lesson, there's no divine lesson even hinted at. And

764
00:47:23.840 --> 00:47:26.480
the slaughter of the children in Matthew too, there's nothing

765
00:47:26.480 --> 00:47:29.159
there saying, oh, here was a divine lesson. It's like, no,

766
00:47:29.400 --> 00:47:32.320
this was evil. These were evil acts. We could also

767
00:47:32.360 --> 00:47:35.159
go to the Book of Judges and what happens. Well,

768
00:47:35.880 --> 00:47:38.280
what do we need into the graphic details of what

769
00:47:38.320 --> 00:47:43.519
happens at the end of the Book of Judges. So

770
00:47:44.559 --> 00:47:48.400
maybe we compile a list of examples there and then

771
00:47:48.440 --> 00:47:52.760
work through those. Maybe at some point we will. Ai

772
00:47:52.880 --> 00:47:55.079
goes on to say God does not delight in evil

773
00:47:55.360 --> 00:47:58.719
Ezekiel eighteen twenty three. Do I have any pleasure at

774
00:47:58.760 --> 00:48:01.960
all that the wicked should die, says the Lord God,

775
00:48:02.199 --> 00:48:04.320
and not that he should turn from his ways and

776
00:48:04.400 --> 00:48:07.599
live Jeremiah one point thirteen. Let no man say, when

777
00:48:07.599 --> 00:48:09.320
he is tempted, I am tempted of God. For God

778
00:48:09.360 --> 00:48:12.519
cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man.

779
00:48:12.840 --> 00:48:15.280
If God cannot be tempted with evil, it follows that

780
00:48:15.320 --> 00:48:17.880
he does not directly plan acts of pure evil as

781
00:48:17.920 --> 00:48:20.639
a part of his divine will. Now the only problem

782
00:48:20.719 --> 00:48:23.760
is this becomes a very complicated, right if God's not

783
00:48:23.920 --> 00:48:28.119
planning it, if God did not decree it, because there's

784
00:48:28.159 --> 00:48:31.159
nothing there's the world is filled with acts of pure evil,

785
00:48:31.400 --> 00:48:34.440
horrible things. Well, if God did not decree it, if

786
00:48:34.480 --> 00:48:37.039
God did not plan it, he at the very least

787
00:48:37.159 --> 00:48:39.440
knew about it, and at the very least doesn't do

788
00:48:39.480 --> 00:48:44.280
anything to stop it. Well, then it still goes back

789
00:48:44.360 --> 00:48:46.320
to God, and he created the world knowing it was

790
00:48:46.360 --> 00:48:49.039
all going to happen. So you still don't really get

791
00:48:49.079 --> 00:48:52.760
God off the hook. Even if you say he didn't

792
00:48:52.800 --> 00:49:03.960
decree it. He it still becomes maddening. Now AI is

793
00:49:04.000 --> 00:49:05.880
going to pick up the idea of free will, and

794
00:49:05.920 --> 00:49:07.679
here I'm going to have all kinds of problems. Now

795
00:49:07.679 --> 00:49:10.679
I didn't do any challenging here because I just wanted

796
00:49:10.719 --> 00:49:13.639
to see how AI would handle this. AI goes on

797
00:49:13.679 --> 00:49:16.360
to say, some suffering as a result of human free will,

798
00:49:17.199 --> 00:49:23.280
not divine orchestration. Moral evil, rape, murder, abuse, war crimes

799
00:49:23.360 --> 00:49:27.360
is the result of sinful human choices, not God's divine plan.

800
00:49:27.519 --> 00:49:31.559
But again, you see that's very that sounds good, and

801
00:49:31.599 --> 00:49:33.559
many people will sit in the pew and say amen.

802
00:49:33.920 --> 00:49:38.880
See moral evil, rape, murder, abuse, war crimes the result

803
00:49:38.920 --> 00:49:42.880
of sinful human choices, not a part of God's divine plan.

804
00:49:43.039 --> 00:49:46.039
But wait a minute, Before he created the world, he

805
00:49:46.119 --> 00:49:51.800
knew that murder, abuse, war crimes, rape would occur. Not

806
00:49:51.920 --> 00:49:57.199
only generally, he knew specifically every single case. Now, don't

807
00:49:57.199 --> 00:50:01.039
tell me God can't intervene because he intervened when Abraham

808
00:50:01.559 --> 00:50:05.760
or Abram said, Hey, Sarah, that's that's my sister, and

809
00:50:05.800 --> 00:50:09.239
they took her. He intervened in two times to keep

810
00:50:09.280 --> 00:50:13.039
anything from happening to her. So there is God clearly intervening,

811
00:50:13.280 --> 00:50:20.199
so he can intervene. He stopped what the man wanted

812
00:50:20.199 --> 00:50:24.599
to do. He intervened, so that then he violated the

813
00:50:24.639 --> 00:50:28.679
free will of the man who wanted to have Sarah.

814
00:50:29.559 --> 00:50:39.599
So he intervened. So if he can intervene, once intervened twice, intervened, three, four, five, six, seven.

815
00:50:39.800 --> 00:50:43.199
However many times are you saying he intervened in the

816
00:50:43.239 --> 00:50:46.320
past but he no longer intervenes today. But he knew

817
00:50:46.360 --> 00:50:48.719
what was going to happen and yet created everything. He

818
00:50:49.320 --> 00:50:52.719
obviously can't if he can intervene. Even if he even

819
00:50:52.719 --> 00:50:54.280
if you say he intervened in the past, well he

820
00:50:54.280 --> 00:50:57.039
could have intervened in the past to stop everything from happening.

821
00:50:57.519 --> 00:51:00.960
He could have He could have removed anyone being born

822
00:51:01.000 --> 00:51:11.760
with a sinful nature. God permits sin because he allows

823
00:51:11.840 --> 00:51:14.880
human free will, but permitting is not the same as planning.

824
00:51:16.440 --> 00:51:19.840
Joseph's brother sold him into slavery. While God ultimately used

825
00:51:19.880 --> 00:51:22.840
it for good, that does not mean God cause their sin.

826
00:51:23.360 --> 00:51:26.760
They were still guilty. Joseph says, you meant evil against me,

827
00:51:26.840 --> 00:51:29.519
but God meant it for good, meaning God overruled human evil,

828
00:51:29.719 --> 00:51:31.400
not that he authored it, but if he can overrule

829
00:51:31.519 --> 00:51:34.960
human evil, then he can overrule. And again, free will

830
00:51:35.000 --> 00:51:38.519
doesn't explain anything because who gave people free will? God

831
00:51:38.840 --> 00:51:41.159
knowing exactly what was going to happen. So no matter

832
00:51:41.199 --> 00:51:43.639
what you do, you end up right back at the

833
00:51:43.679 --> 00:51:46.400
foot of God going, or the feet of God going.

834
00:51:46.639 --> 00:51:51.119
What's the issue here? So none of this really solves

835
00:51:51.159 --> 00:52:01.719
any problems. So there was a saying biblical problems with

836
00:52:01.760 --> 00:52:05.679
every trial has a specific divine purpose. Number one scripture

837
00:52:05.719 --> 00:52:09.280
acknowledge is senseless evil. Number two, God does not delight

838
00:52:09.320 --> 00:52:11.880
in evil, and number three some suffering as a result

839
00:52:11.880 --> 00:52:14.239
of human free will. But AI does not do a

840
00:52:14.280 --> 00:52:16.519
really good job explaining free will. I could get into

841
00:52:16.559 --> 00:52:18.760
an argument with Ai about this, but at this point

842
00:52:18.920 --> 00:52:20.400
I did not want to do that. I just wanted

843
00:52:20.440 --> 00:52:23.159
to see how AI would handle this. The number two

844
00:52:23.559 --> 00:52:26.800
philological and pastoral dangers of saying every trial has a

845
00:52:26.840 --> 00:52:31.760
specific divine purpose. This idea becomes especially dangerous when applied

846
00:52:31.800 --> 00:52:37.159
and sensitive and sensitivity to victims of severe suffering. It

847
00:52:37.159 --> 00:52:40.480
can lead to victim blaming. If all suffering has a purpose,

848
00:52:40.679 --> 00:52:43.760
then people will assume victims should accept or learn from

849
00:52:43.800 --> 00:52:47.440
their pain. Saying God allowed this to teach you something

850
00:52:48.159 --> 00:52:50.800
to a rape victim or a child who was abused

851
00:52:50.880 --> 00:52:55.039
is horrifically cruel. Yeah, hey, God allowed this to teach

852
00:52:55.079 --> 00:52:57.360
you something. Yeah, thank you. I'm glad I was tied

853
00:52:57.440 --> 00:52:59.679
up and burn with a curling iron and be with

854
00:52:59.719 --> 00:53:03.159
a ball bat. Thank you. I'm so glad God couldn't

855
00:53:03.159 --> 00:53:08.679
teach me some other way. I mean, come on, like,

856
00:53:08.920 --> 00:53:12.679
that's cruel. But Christians will say things just like that. Hey,

857
00:53:12.679 --> 00:53:15.280
I know your mom just died and you're you're still young,

858
00:53:15.360 --> 00:53:18.320
but hey, God, God has a plan in this. God

859
00:53:18.360 --> 00:53:22.039
has a purpose in this. Oh, thank you so very much.

860
00:53:22.079 --> 00:53:24.840
Thank you. She's dead. Now you go home to your mom.

861
00:53:24.960 --> 00:53:26.800
You go home to your husband, You go home to

862
00:53:26.880 --> 00:53:29.039
your wife. Hey, I know you're in this situation and

863
00:53:29.079 --> 00:53:31.079
you're alone and you don't have this and you don't

864
00:53:31.119 --> 00:53:33.400
have Hey, but God wants to teach you something. You

865
00:53:33.920 --> 00:53:46.559
get out of my face. Some churches have used this

866
00:53:46.719 --> 00:53:49.960
mindset to silence abuse victims, making them feel that their

867
00:53:50.000 --> 00:53:54.039
suffering was ordained for their good and that's really messed up.

868
00:53:55.519 --> 00:53:57.920
So it can lead to victim blaming or at least

869
00:53:58.000 --> 00:54:01.719
putting like you just kind of basically say, hey, you know,

870
00:54:02.440 --> 00:54:05.239
you just need to accept what's happened, what has happened

871
00:54:05.280 --> 00:54:11.079
to you or is happening to you. It undermines true justice.

872
00:54:11.119 --> 00:54:13.519
If every trial is God's plan, then do we tell

873
00:54:13.639 --> 00:54:16.800
victims of genocide that they're suffering was willed by God?

874
00:54:17.719 --> 00:54:20.840
Why punish criminals if all evil is just part of

875
00:54:20.880 --> 00:54:25.639
God's plan. The Bible teaches justice, not just passive acceptance

876
00:54:25.679 --> 00:54:30.440
of suffering. It could lead to a cruel view of God.

877
00:54:30.679 --> 00:54:33.679
If God plans every instance of child abuse, rape, or

878
00:54:33.719 --> 00:54:38.599
torture for some greater good, then he becomes indistinguishable from

879
00:54:38.639 --> 00:54:43.599
the author of evil. This contradicts his character. God is holy,

880
00:54:43.880 --> 00:54:47.440
just and grieves over sin, Jesus wept over death and suffering,

881
00:54:47.719 --> 00:54:50.679
not because he lacked sovereignty, but because he truly grieved

882
00:54:50.719 --> 00:54:53.559
over the effects of sin. Now I still struggle with

883
00:54:53.639 --> 00:54:58.960
even this because that sounds so good. God doesn't like it.

884
00:54:59.079 --> 00:55:03.159
He hates the the suffering. He's the one who created

885
00:55:03.159 --> 00:55:14.840
the entire situation. It's so ridiculous. Hey, God suffers with you,

886
00:55:15.280 --> 00:55:18.880
he cries with you. He doesn't like what you're going through.

887
00:55:20.039 --> 00:55:22.760
Uh wait, he created the world knowing exactly what was

888
00:55:22.760 --> 00:55:25.320
going to happen, and did nothing along the line to

889
00:55:25.440 --> 00:55:27.840
stop it or to prevent it. And here I am,

890
00:55:27.880 --> 00:55:29.840
and he did nothing to stop the suffering that I'm

891
00:55:29.880 --> 00:55:48.639
going through, past, present or future. AI does say some

892
00:55:48.679 --> 00:55:53.719
suffering remains a mystery. I don't know if that really helps,

893
00:55:53.760 --> 00:55:57.920
but some suffering remain I think all suffering remains a

894
00:55:57.960 --> 00:56:05.760
mystery to some level. Right, So none of that really

895
00:56:05.800 --> 00:56:13.480
helps me at all. AI wanted to argue against the idea, Well,

896
00:56:13.840 --> 00:56:17.360
there's not a divine purpose in all suffering. The study

897
00:56:17.360 --> 00:56:20.679
guy just wanted me to know. You know, hey, there's

898
00:56:20.880 --> 00:56:23.719
there's some suffering. Is just the result of living in

899
00:56:23.760 --> 00:56:26.199
a fallen world. Why do I live in a fallen

900
00:56:26.280 --> 00:56:28.679
world because the fall took place. Well, who knew the

901
00:56:28.719 --> 00:56:31.079
fall was going to take place? God who knew how

902
00:56:31.079 --> 00:56:33.599
the fall was going to play take place. God who

903
00:56:33.639 --> 00:56:36.119
created the very one who would bring the temptation into

904
00:56:36.119 --> 00:56:38.199
the garden. God who was the one who let that

905
00:56:38.239 --> 00:56:41.440
one not only fall but go into the garden. Who

906
00:56:41.559 --> 00:56:43.320
knew that the guard that were going to disobey in

907
00:56:43.320 --> 00:56:46.039
the garden. God who knew that when they disobeyed, that

908
00:56:46.079 --> 00:56:48.400
their sin would be passed on to everyone else. God.

909
00:56:48.519 --> 00:56:50.199
I mean, like, I mean, there's no way to get

910
00:56:50.280 --> 00:56:55.239
everything goes back to God. He's the first cause of everything.

911
00:56:57.000 --> 00:56:59.599
Even if you want to bring into the philosophical content

912
00:57:00.000 --> 00:57:04.119
concept of secondary causes. But those secondary causes were created

913
00:57:04.199 --> 00:57:06.559
by God knowing exactly what they were going to do.

914
00:57:06.800 --> 00:57:08.559
And even if you say he didn't know what they

915
00:57:08.559 --> 00:57:10.239
were going to do, even if you want to go

916
00:57:10.280 --> 00:57:14.599
with some crazy concept of open theism, guess what, once

917
00:57:14.679 --> 00:57:19.039
it happened, he could have still intervened. So you can't

918
00:57:19.039 --> 00:57:27.440
get God off the hook. So is there divine purpose

919
00:57:27.840 --> 00:57:30.159
in what we go through? Well, I guess in one way,

920
00:57:30.199 --> 00:57:33.280
you can say, well, God knew everything was going to happen. Hey,

921
00:57:33.280 --> 00:57:35.880
he's sovereign over everything. You got to say that there's

922
00:57:35.920 --> 00:57:41.280
some purpose in it. I'm not saying that's gonna you

923
00:57:41.320 --> 00:57:45.639
go give that to someone who's suffering. But then you

924
00:57:45.719 --> 00:57:48.360
know the implications of this, right, And this is the

925
00:57:48.400 --> 00:57:51.320
weird part. See, some people will be very strong on

926
00:57:51.360 --> 00:57:55.199
God's sovereignty when it comes. Hey, God ordains everything comes

927
00:57:55.239 --> 00:57:58.559
to past. I don't understand it. I know it's horrible,

928
00:57:58.679 --> 00:58:01.920
but your pain and your suffering. God ordained it. He

929
00:58:02.039 --> 00:58:04.360
decreed it. It's a part of his providence. I don't

930
00:58:04.400 --> 00:58:08.119
get it. I don't understand that. All sounds so good, right, Yeah,

931
00:58:08.199 --> 00:58:10.639
that you're trying to be sympathetic, but you're just having

932
00:58:10.679 --> 00:58:12.960
to acknowledge that God is sovereign. But if God is

933
00:58:13.000 --> 00:58:16.000
sovereign overall pain and suffering, are you gonna then somehow

934
00:58:16.079 --> 00:58:19.039
get God off the hook? Then, if he's sovereign over everything,

935
00:58:19.400 --> 00:58:21.519
is he not sovereign over the sin that we commit?

936
00:58:26.039 --> 00:58:28.679
Does he not decree that that takes place? Because he's

937
00:58:28.679 --> 00:58:31.840
not doing anything to intervene? And again we've got biblical

938
00:58:31.880 --> 00:58:38.159
examples of like sometimes God would step into sometimes he doesn't.

939
00:58:45.920 --> 00:58:51.039
I mean, sometimes where's God nowhere to be found? And

940
00:58:51.159 --> 00:58:54.760
those particular narratives, and in other places he intervenes in

941
00:58:54.800 --> 00:59:01.880
a very dramatic way. Well, the philological implications here. If

942
00:59:01.920 --> 00:59:04.639
God decrees everything that comes the past, and he has

943
00:59:04.679 --> 00:59:06.840
a purpose in everything that comes to pass, well, then

944
00:59:06.880 --> 00:59:10.519
what happens when someone sends now what many people say,

945
00:59:10.599 --> 00:59:12.760
we'll see God doesn't decree that. Okay, Well God doesn't

946
00:59:12.760 --> 00:59:14.800
decree it. He still knew it was going to happen

947
00:59:14.840 --> 00:59:16.960
and didn't intervene to stop it. Well, then God doesn't

948
00:59:17.000 --> 00:59:19.760
intervene and stop things, especially like our sand, because he

949
00:59:19.840 --> 00:59:22.039
cares about free will. Or if he cares so much

950
00:59:22.039 --> 00:59:24.519
about free will that it will not intervene or stop something,

951
00:59:24.679 --> 00:59:30.320
then what's the point of praying because God can't intervene? Well,

952
00:59:30.320 --> 00:59:32.920
God can intervene here. Now it becomes just just very

953
00:59:33.000 --> 00:59:35.840
subjective game that Christians play, and a lot of times

954
00:59:35.880 --> 00:59:39.039
when you hear Christians talk, it is just a meaningless

955
00:59:39.079 --> 00:59:42.679
amount of words with no true substance because nobody can

956
00:59:42.719 --> 00:59:50.400
really deal with these issues. Here's what I know, What

957
00:59:50.440 --> 00:59:53.199
are the reasons for the storms in life? Well, I

958
00:59:53.280 --> 00:59:55.679
know this, I may never I don't know, I forever

959
00:59:55.719 --> 00:59:57.639
going to truly know the reason I don't know if

960
00:59:57.639 --> 00:59:59.920
we ever will, maybe an eternity, we will, I don't know.

961
01:00:01.000 --> 01:00:03.679
That's the assumption is that we will. But whether we

962
01:00:03.719 --> 01:00:06.599
will or won't won't, that really doesn't matter right now.

963
01:00:07.440 --> 01:00:14.960
Here's what I know. Right now, life is filled with pain, suffering, death, disease,

964
01:00:15.679 --> 01:00:20.199
and horrible things that happen to people. That's just the reality.

965
01:00:20.320 --> 01:00:22.440
You may not be going through it now, but it's coming.

966
01:00:22.880 --> 01:00:26.360
People around you are going to die. You're gonna things

967
01:00:26.400 --> 01:00:28.960
are gonna happen to you. There's gonna be good times,

968
01:00:28.960 --> 01:00:32.039
there's gonna be bad times. There's gonna be betrayal, there's

969
01:00:32.039 --> 01:00:36.119
gonna be hurt, there's gonna be loneliness, there's gonna be isolation. Sadly,

970
01:00:36.239 --> 01:00:38.639
for some of you, it's gonna be far worse than

971
01:00:38.679 --> 01:00:41.039
it is for others. Others you're gonna look at their

972
01:00:41.079 --> 01:00:45.320
lives and everything seems great, and you're gonna be left alone.

973
01:00:46.159 --> 01:00:49.639
Nobody's gonna be there for you, Nobody cares, nobody gives

974
01:00:49.679 --> 01:00:52.639
a flip, Nobody get and they may say they do,

975
01:00:52.760 --> 01:00:55.800
but ultimately a lot of it, you have to walk alone.

976
01:00:56.039 --> 01:00:58.119
Why you have to go through it and others don't,

977
01:00:58.159 --> 01:01:03.239
I don't know. That's just the way life works. He said, well,

978
01:01:03.280 --> 01:01:06.480
where can I find comfort? I guess you can find

979
01:01:06.480 --> 01:01:08.639
comfort in saying God has a purpose in it. I

980
01:01:08.639 --> 01:01:16.039
guess be careful in saying that to someone else. Hey,

981
01:01:16.079 --> 01:01:18.320
I know you were molested for fifteen years, but God

982
01:01:18.320 --> 01:01:26.639
has a purpose in it. All I know is suffering

983
01:01:26.719 --> 01:01:28.760
is real, and suffering as a part of life, and

984
01:01:28.800 --> 01:01:31.440
it's not fairly distributed. And who gets it and who

985
01:01:31.519 --> 01:01:42.480
does it? That's a reality. God's existence is not diminished,

986
01:01:42.800 --> 01:01:46.159
proven or disproven by the amount of suffering or lack

987
01:01:46.199 --> 01:01:53.400
of suffering that we encounter in this world. That suffering

988
01:01:53.480 --> 01:01:56.480
calls us to want to question God. But God is

989
01:01:56.719 --> 01:01:59.719
irregardless of what happens. Now, why can there be a

990
01:01:59.760 --> 01:02:03.000
God and these things happen? Is the question that's been

991
01:02:03.039 --> 01:02:06.320
asked for two thousand years. The Christians tried there. They

992
01:02:06.360 --> 01:02:08.599
always try to come up. Someone will try to sound

993
01:02:08.800 --> 01:02:13.679
very academic and very philological and offering their answers, and

994
01:02:13.679 --> 01:02:17.920
that may you soothe the conscience of some people, make

995
01:02:17.960 --> 01:02:21.400
them feel better. But the reality is, in most cases

996
01:02:21.440 --> 01:02:25.480
it's not even a decent answer, because at the very

997
01:02:25.639 --> 01:02:28.800
least you have a God who knew what was going

998
01:02:28.840 --> 01:02:32.199
to happen, and not just all the way back at

999
01:02:32.239 --> 01:02:34.440
the beginning knew what was going to happen, but all

1000
01:02:34.519 --> 01:02:38.679
through everything happening. No, he knew, and he knows what's

1001
01:02:38.679 --> 01:02:43.239
getting ready to happen, and he chose not to intervene

1002
01:02:43.360 --> 01:02:45.960
to stop it from happening, and he's not intervening now

1003
01:02:46.000 --> 01:02:48.320
to stop it from happening. That's, at the very least,

1004
01:02:48.599 --> 01:02:51.320
you have a God who at least knows, who chooses

1005
01:02:51.400 --> 01:02:55.480
not to intervene. That's at the very least. At the

1006
01:02:55.599 --> 01:03:00.280
very most, you have a God who ordains it, decreed it,

1007
01:03:00.280 --> 01:03:07.760
it's a part of his providence. And that's even more problematic.

1008
01:03:07.760 --> 01:03:10.679
And we've discussed these very things when we talk about prayer.

1009
01:03:16.880 --> 01:03:25.559
Why are there storms? I mean, if you really just

1010
01:03:25.880 --> 01:03:32.639
remove all of the talk you have to, you're gonna

1011
01:03:32.679 --> 01:03:34.920
end up right back looking into the face of God

1012
01:03:35.559 --> 01:03:37.960
metaphorically speaking, right, You're going to be looking right at

1013
01:03:38.000 --> 01:03:52.039
God because he's the one who created everything. And even

1014
01:03:52.039 --> 01:03:54.159
if you say the storms are somehow for our good,

1015
01:03:54.239 --> 01:03:56.239
even if you try, you've gotta be very careful even

1016
01:03:56.320 --> 01:04:00.519
with saying that, right, because all the storm in the world,

1017
01:04:00.559 --> 01:04:02.039
I don't care how much you I don't care how

1018
01:04:02.119 --> 01:04:06.440
much you're beaten. I don't care how much you're abused, molested.

1019
01:04:06.679 --> 01:04:10.199
I don't care how many horrible diseases you suffer for,

1020
01:04:10.320 --> 01:04:13.239
and painful surgeries and painful rehab you have to go through.

1021
01:04:13.440 --> 01:04:15.480
I don't care how many horrible things happen to you.

1022
01:04:15.559 --> 01:04:17.760
I don't care if everyone abandons you. I don't care

1023
01:04:17.760 --> 01:04:20.159
if you end up alone. None of that changes your

1024
01:04:20.199 --> 01:04:26.960
sinful nature, and your problems arise from your sinful nature.

1025
01:04:27.280 --> 01:04:30.480
None of that changes your sinful nature. Your sinful nature

1026
01:04:30.519 --> 01:04:33.119
is the thing that really if you're really going to change,

1027
01:04:33.159 --> 01:04:35.119
if there's really going to be any growth, you need

1028
01:04:35.159 --> 01:04:44.840
to get rid of your sinful nature. There you have

1029
01:04:44.920 --> 01:04:49.679
it once again. AX twenty seven is used Matthew fourteen

1030
01:04:49.760 --> 01:04:51.719
is used in a way that has nothing to do

1031
01:04:51.840 --> 01:04:55.719
with that. Did you do you like those four things

1032
01:04:55.760 --> 01:04:58.119
given in the study guide? Why do things happen? Why

1033
01:04:58.119 --> 01:05:01.880
do storms happen? Because general suffering, General suffering happens in

1034
01:05:01.920 --> 01:05:05.199
a fallen world. It's just the natural consequences. Storms are

1035
01:05:05.199 --> 01:05:08.159
caused by your own failure and your own disobedience. Storm

1036
01:05:08.199 --> 01:05:11.360
is somehow sent by God to help you grow. Even

1037
01:05:11.400 --> 01:05:14.000
though Matthew fourteen has nothing to do with that, and well,

1038
01:05:14.079 --> 01:05:16.679
storms sometimes are there because you were drug into them

1039
01:05:16.719 --> 01:05:18.719
by other people. And then he tried to use AC

1040
01:05:18.880 --> 01:05:22.159
twenty seven to prove that. Next twenty seven actually argues

1041
01:05:22.280 --> 01:05:25.159
against that. Paul was not there because someone drug him

1042
01:05:25.159 --> 01:05:26.960
in there. He was there because God put him there

1043
01:05:30.079 --> 01:05:33.559
to get him to Rome. Why did he use that way?

1044
01:05:35.320 --> 01:05:38.480
Does the text really sell? It just proves God is sovereign,

1045
01:05:38.800 --> 01:05:42.800
which I mean it gives you could derive some lesson

1046
01:05:42.880 --> 01:05:45.639
from that. All right, I'll stop right there. Thanks for listening.

1047
01:05:47.960 --> 01:05:49.320
I told you it wasn't going to be fun. I

1048
01:05:49.360 --> 01:05:50.599
told you it was going to be I don't know

1049
01:05:50.639 --> 01:05:52.320
if I said those words. I told you it was

1050
01:05:52.360 --> 01:05:55.119
going to be difficult, and not everyone was going to

1051
01:05:55.199 --> 01:05:56.760
like what I have to say, and that Christians would

1052
01:05:56.760 --> 01:05:59.800
get defensive. There are Christians right now, very defensive. Probably

1053
01:05:59.800 --> 01:06:02.239
are already trying to type something up to try to

1054
01:06:02.280 --> 01:06:04.360
prove me wrong. You're gonna go look in your you know,

1055
01:06:04.519 --> 01:06:07.159
apologetics one oh one handbook and try to give me

1056
01:06:07.199 --> 01:06:09.960
the same tired points the Christians have been trying to

1057
01:06:09.960 --> 01:06:12.920
say for two thousand years to make themselves feel better.

1058
01:06:13.000 --> 01:06:15.000
If you need to make yourself feel better. Make yourself

1059
01:06:15.039 --> 01:06:17.800
feel better. It doesn't change the reality of what I've

1060
01:06:17.840 --> 01:06:20.480
just spoken of. You either deal with reality or just

1061
01:06:20.519 --> 01:06:24.639
make yourself feel better just to defend, to defend your team,

1062
01:06:24.719 --> 01:06:28.239
if I can speak correctly. But I don't care about

1063
01:06:28.280 --> 01:06:30.400
defending anyone's team, and I don't care about who gets

1064
01:06:30.440 --> 01:06:32.760
offended or doesn't get offended. We have to look into

1065
01:06:32.800 --> 01:06:35.159
the reality of what is in front of us, what

1066
01:06:35.360 --> 01:06:38.679
happens in life, and not paint it up in some

1067
01:06:39.239 --> 01:06:42.960
nice little religious religious words to make us all feel

1068
01:06:43.039 --> 01:06:47.639
better sitting in the pew, because in practicality it rarely works.

1069
01:06:51.280 --> 01:06:55.800
All right, thanks for listening. I think I don't know

1070
01:06:55.800 --> 01:06:58.519
what else I can say about any of it, because

1071
01:06:58.519 --> 01:07:01.320
it's all painful, it's all difficult. It's all difficult, and

1072
01:07:01.360 --> 01:07:07.239
trust me, I've wrestled with this my entire Christian life.

1073
01:07:08.639 --> 01:07:10.079
If I just go through all the horrible things that

1074
01:07:10.159 --> 01:07:12.679
happened to me and my own life, give me a break.

1075
01:07:13.400 --> 01:07:15.679
So all right, we'll stop there. There's much more I

1076
01:07:15.679 --> 01:07:19.039
would like to say, but I've probably already caused enough problems.

1077
01:07:19.039 --> 01:07:23.519
All right, everyone, have a great day, Put those four

1078
01:07:23.559 --> 01:07:26.880
reasons on your refrigerator, and have a family discussion about it.

1079
01:07:27.559 --> 01:07:30.920
There'll probably be some in the family going, that's really good, Amen,

1080
01:07:31.039 --> 01:07:33.480
thank you for putting that there, and they'll probably be

1081
01:07:33.519 --> 01:07:36.039
that one person like me, it raises the hand, going uh,

1082
01:07:36.239 --> 01:07:39.639
got a problem here, and you'll be like, sh be quiet.

1083
01:07:40.000 --> 01:07:42.159
We don't allow that kind of person in our home.

1084
01:07:42.760 --> 01:07:47.679
You go listen to the Theology Central podcast. We like nice, simple,

1085
01:07:47.800 --> 01:07:50.719
easy answers. That makes us all feel good as we

1086
01:07:50.760 --> 01:07:53.400
live in our nice little family with her, nice little

1087
01:07:53.400 --> 01:07:56.159
house with her, and everything's perfect and wonderful, and it's

1088
01:07:56.199 --> 01:07:59.920
great until the house burns down, your spouse is murdered,

1089
01:08:00.199 --> 01:08:02.280
and then you lose all your money and you have

1090
01:08:02.360 --> 01:08:04.280
no place to live. Then all of a sudden, you're like,

1091
01:08:04.280 --> 01:08:05.800
I don't know if those four little points on the

1092
01:08:05.840 --> 01:08:09.000
refrigerator works anymore because I don't even have a refrigerator anymore.

1093
01:08:11.000 --> 01:08:16.600
All right there, thanks for listening. Have a great day.