Jan. 19, 2025

Christianity and Asking Questions

Christianity and Asking Questions

A discussion about asking questions within Christianity

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A discussion about asking questions within Christianity

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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.

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Good Evening everyone.

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It is Saturday, January eighteenth, twenty twenty five. It is

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currently nine forty three pm Central Time, and I am

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coming to you live from the Theology Central studio located

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right here in Abilene, Texas. Now, when you walk through

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the front doors of a church.

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I need you to be honest here.

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Do you feel you are walking into a place where

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they are happy for you to bring very difficult and

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hard questions. Do you feel the church is a welcoming

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place for difficult questions, hard questions? Now I could ask

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some other questions about the church, but for the of

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not only this message, we may do a number of

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messages kind of related to this subject. But when you

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walk into a church and you look around, do you

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feel like you can ask any kind of hard question?

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You could ask any kind of difficult question. If they

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preach a sermon and they mention God protects and God

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looks out for us, and God will well keep evil

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from us, and they say something along those lines, do

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you feel like you can ask the question? Maybe not

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in the middle of a sermon, because obviously there's a

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time and place. But do you think the people, the

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leadership would allow you to say, wait a minute, wait

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a minute. So God protects, but this many children in

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twenty twenty four were sexually abused inside churches or by

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church leaders or at a Christian school. God protects, but

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this many people were murdered. This many people were where

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this happened, or this happened. Oh, you say, God provides,

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but this many people starve to death in twenty twenty four,

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and it's projected that this many people will starve to

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death in twenty twenty five. Oh you say, God does this,

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and God does this, and God did this, but this

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many people died in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

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This many people died between Israel and Goza. You could

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just go on and do you think they welcome those

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questions or like, yes, bring those questions, bring that struggle,

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bring that doubt, bring that confusion. This is the place

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for it can be. You can be raw, you can

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be honest, you can be blunt, and even if it

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makes us uncomfortable, we welcome it, We accept it. Or

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is the church do you feel that when you walk

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into the church it's more like, Oh, praise God, everything

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is wonderful, everything is great.

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Oh, I just believe.

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And no matter and no matter what the sermon says,

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no matter if it offers you any promises, no matter

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how vague, no matter if it's just pure surupy sentimentalism,

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you just are just to say, oh, praise God.

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Oh that was so comforting.

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And in reality, do you feel like that's what the

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people really want? They like it simple, they don't like

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it complex, they don't like it difficult.

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They don't like to be confronted.

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With these things. And whenever you ask these questions, do

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you feel Christians get very defensive. Oh, you just have

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to believe. You can't question God, you can't doubt God.

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They almost get angry at you. What's your experience? What

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is your experience by asking tough questions? Now, I could

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probably give you two experiences. The first one was on

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the steps a first Baptist church Tuscola, Texas, sitting outside

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it had to be you know, a nice warm Texas,

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West Texas, evening me the pastor. I think there may

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have been some other teenagers there. We're all sitting on

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the steps right by the front doors of the church

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that walks directly well kind of into the four year

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then goes directly into the sanctuary. We were just sitting there,

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all talking, and I was asking all kinds of tough quote.

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I was asking all kinds of questions about pain, suffering, death, God, sovereignty,

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fore knowledge, predestination, this.

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I was asking just all kinds of questions.

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And I at that moment, I don't know exactly when

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it hit me, but it was somewhere in that conversation

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when I kind of said, I'm never going to get

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any good answers here. I'm never going to get any

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good answers. And that's what ultimately or was one, maybe

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not the ultimate reason, but one of the reasons that

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ultimately led me to or contributed to me going to

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a Lutheran church, because I felt like that everybody here

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just wants simplicity. Simplicity, nobody ever wants to struggle, nobody

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wants to ask any hard questions. It's just like, believe

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in Jesus, be a good person, don't drink, don't listen

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to rock and roll, don't dance, you know, don't have

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premartal sex. Just it was more about moralism and make

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sure you witness to people, be good and witness to people. Yeah,

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but I got about five hundred and fifty seven thousand

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questions about God and about well, you tell me that

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now that I'm saved, I have all of this power.

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But I keep sinning and like I've got all of

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these and I never could get any really good answers.

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And then the second time I really asked some questions

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is when we moved back to Texas and we were

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visiting churches and a pastor came over sitting in my

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living room, and I was asking one theological question after

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another theological question after another theological question, and the pastor

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was like, well, you know, I'm kind of waiting for

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you to get to some more practical questions. He like

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he didn't really care about the theological questions. And not

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only that, he straight up looked at me in the

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face and lied because he believed, he said, he believed

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in the immutability of God, that God changes not he

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believed in the uh that God was omniscient.

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And then we went to church. It was a that

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that we It was like a.

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January, an early January sermon. We were supposed to join

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the church on that Sunday, he gets up there to

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preach and he basically says that God doesn't know all things. Basically,

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he taught open theism after sitting in my living room

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answering all the questions the way he thought I wanted

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them to answer. He preached completely opposites of that. No wonder,

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he didn't want me asking theological questions. And while we

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got up and walked out and never came back to

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that church, because it was I was more upset that

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he lied to me. Look, if you believe in open

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theism and you question the immutability or the omniscience of God,

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and how about you just be honest. But of course

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you know they didn't want to have those deep theological discussions.

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So those are two situations. And when it comes to

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individual Christians, I know that I have made plenty of

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people frustrated and upset with me sitting in my church.

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Almost they get defensive when you start asking hard questions

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because it makes people uncomfortable. No, no, no, no, just give me

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a simple answer, Give me a simple answer. When I

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brought up issues about textual variance, we were taking the

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teenagers to a debate with bart Erman at Dallas zoological seminary,

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and I said, well, bart Erhman's going to win the

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debate because the way the Christians have framed this entire thesis,

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there's no way they're going to be able to prove

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that because we have to acknowledge there's all of these

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textual varias, whether we want to whether we want to

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say they're significant or not, we have to admit that, right,

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So you can't frame the thesis in a way that basically,

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we have a Bible that's one hundred percent perfect in

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every way. When someone can say, well, I've got this manuscript,

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this manuscript, this manuscript, this manuscript, and there's all of

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these variants, well well you said, well, yes, those variants,

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and yeah, did you get into this contradictory thing? And well,

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guess what. People didn't like that I said that. People

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got frustrated with me that I said that. But because

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we're not supposed to say things we're not supposed to,

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I feel like the church is not the place for philological, intellectual,

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philosophical exploration, question and study. Christianity is about walking into

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a building that gives you a belief system and you

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accept it, you believe it, you support it, and you

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promote it. You're not to challenge it or question it.

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You're just to go along with it. They're just there

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to reinforce. This is the way you think you're not there,

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to think you're just there to accept. You're there to

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They give you the coloring book, they with all the

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lines there, and they give you the crayon, and you're

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just a color within the line. If you go outside

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the lines, then you are a heretic. Now I'm not

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saying we throw out biblical orthodoxy and we do not

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have you know, the philological systems, and we don't have

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creeds and confessions of faith.

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I'm not saying that.

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I'm saying, though, that when we study, we have to

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be willing to ask questions. Christianity should be the most

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accepting place for questions. We should embrace them. In fact,

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I will say the one who asks the deepest questions,

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the hardest questions, those are the ones who are growing spiritually.

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Those who get offended at questions and get defensive and

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get bothered and don't like them and they just want

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it nice simple. They're not growing, they're stagnant. They're immature.

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They're in the infancy stage of their Christian life because

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they just need it simple, They need it to be

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spoon fed to them three points in a closing illustration,

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we don't want to have difficulty, we don't want to struggle. Well,

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then no, a faith that's never questioned is a faith

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that isn't worth having. It's if your faith doesn't can't

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handle difficult struggles and things that you may never even

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get answers for. If your faith can't handle that, then

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I'm sorry. Then I don't know what's your faith is

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a problem. I think that in many churches, within church

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culture just in general, there is an unspoken It may

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not be spoken, but I believe there is an unspoken

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reluctance to ask the really hard questions about scripture, especially

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when those questions challenge our understanding of God suffering, God's sovereignty,

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human responsibility. You just name the questions. I think that

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there's an unspoken reluctance and people will get defensive. People

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don't like when you ask the questions.

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I think that that's true.

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Now, what I'm going to do is we're gonna talk about,

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well in this episode, what we're gonna do, and this

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may turn into a mini series, what we're gonna do

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is We're gonna talk in this episode about well, the

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necessity of asking hard questions, what kind of hard questions

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should we ask? And then once we kind of get

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that framework there, then what I ultimately they want to

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lead to is that if you want to be a

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good and forget good, if you want to be a

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great Bible student, the greatness of your Bible study abilities

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is absolutely connected to the greatness of your ability to

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ask questions of the text, of doctrine, of theology. So

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first you got to be well, I want to just

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talk about this asking the difficult questions, asking the hard questions.

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Because church culture.

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It's almost unspoken. You don't ask questions like that.

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You ask certain questions like that, people around you in

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church are gonna get nervous. You're sitting in a Sunday

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school class and you start asking some hard questions, it'll

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be like whoa no, no, no, and the pastor may

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kind of shut it down and say, well, we can

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talk about that later, because you start making people very

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uncomfortable because everything is supposed to be just Jesus is

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the answer. Jesus, Jesus, Everything's perfect, everything's wonderful. Praise God.

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Everything's great.

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Everything makes sense. The Bible is perfect, there's no difficulties,

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there's no issues. Everything makes perfect sense. Where I'm the

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person sitting in the room going a minute, wait a minute,

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none of this makes any sense. Everything falls apart in

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Genesis one to one in the beginning God created. Have

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you looked at the mess that we have found ourselves in?

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He created knowing this is where we're gonna end up,

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with all the pain, suffering, death, violence. He knew it

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before he created it, and then he created the very

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being that he knew would bring temptation, which would bring sin,

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which would bring making every person born guilty. No one

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asked to be born, but they're all born guilty before God,

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even though they didn't do anything to bring that about.

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I mean, there's lots of questions. Why would you create

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Satan knowing what he's going to do, and even if

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you're going to create him the minute he's.

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In, why don't you just destroy him?

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And why would you let out of an eve pro

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create knowing that they're gonna put do sinners who are

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born condemned. I mean, I could just ask a million questions,

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but the church doesn't ask, like any of those questions

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got we've got to break that.

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We need to create.

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The older generation gone, they're done. I'm just there's no

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hope the older generation.

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Whatever.

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Maybe a new generation of Christians can arise who's willing

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to embrace the difficulty, embrace the questions. I think what

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ultimately happens to the people who embrace the questions, I

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think they end up deconstructing and kind of get pushed

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out of Christianity.

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They kind of get pushed out.

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Oh they're liberal, they're heretic, there's no room for them,

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They're not allowed into the care.

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It's like we got to get them out.

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And then everyone's supposed to just be like, Oh, everything's wonderful,

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everything's gat Brace God, Brace God, everything's wonderful, everything's great.

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What does that first mean to you? I mean, and

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I'm not trying to be too mocking, but it really

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becomes very shallow. But I believe asking these questions is vital.

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This is what I believe is vital for a deep,

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honest engagement with the Bible and faith. If you want

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to have an honest engagement with scripture, if you want

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to have an honest, real faith, not a manufactured faith

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where you are putting on a road pretending that everything

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is wonderful. A faith that can scream out God, where

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are you?

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Why? God?

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A faith that can scream out a spiritual lament and

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it be okay? No no one around you can handle it.

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But that's okay. Who cares if anyone else? Your faith

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is about you and God? Who cares if the rest

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of the reindeers are met that you won't play the

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reindeer games, Go be rude oflph and just go do

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your own thing. Who cares what they think? They can

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sit around and judge you, look down at you and go,

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I don't know what's wrong with their Christianity? Oh and

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they can act all super pious and spiritual, and they

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can sit around and have their three little points and

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have their pulux and hold hands and seeing Kumbai yah

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and do whatever they want. Who cares? It becomes just

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a meaningless exercise in futility, because I think there needs

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to be a place where people can be real and

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it can be maybe uncomfortable. I think when you ask

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these hard questions that reflect a genuine wrestling with.

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The complexities of life.

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Hey, I don't know if you realize this life is complex,

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Life is painful, Life is confusing. Have you not noticed that?

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Have you not noticed the horrible, tragic things that happen

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in life? Things that make no sense? Pain, suffering, starvation, death, disease, murder, crime, poverty.

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Meant to health issues, I mean for crying out loved,

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I mean someone has mental health issues. I mean, if

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there was ever a time for God to step in,

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I mean, how could a person can't really there? I mean,

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what can they do if their mind is not working?

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I mean your mind, if your mind is wrong, if

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your mind is offul little bit, if there's anything wrong

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with your brain, it's all I mean, everything falls apart.

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And I believe when we actually wrestle with these questions,

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I believe they will lead to a richer understanding, maybe

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of God. I think it leads to a richer understanding

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of theology, maybe a deeper understanding of scripture.

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So we're going to get to these questions.

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But let's talk about maybe why why at least start,

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Let's start with this why hard questions are avoided within

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the church culture.

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That the church culture.

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Now, what I have found now I can't speak for everyone,

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but in my military career, medical security forces, wherever I

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found myself in Germany right during desert storm, wherever I

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find my so I can name all the different scenarios

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I found myself. Where wherever I found myself there were all.

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I tended to constantly find myself, always working overnight, constantly right,

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security forces, medical, didn't matter where I was at, I

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would find myself working over now And what I found

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it was always fascinating. Is eleven o'clock midnight, one in

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the morning, two in the morning. A lot of times

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people would then start having deep, kind of more spiritual questions,

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and many of them at that time would know that, oh,

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you're going to school, you're studying theology, and they would

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just start asking questions. And many of their questions were deep,

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they were sincere, They struggled, and and I love In fact,

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I would say that in many of those cases, those

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questions were far better than any questions I ever heard

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in church. Right, questions I heard in church were always whatever, okay.

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Typically if people are asking questions in church, it's because

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they just simply want to argue. What I found is

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that when when typically lost people were asking some of

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these hard questions, is they're trying to struggle with the

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reality of life and the concept of God and pain

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and their stories and things that they'd gone through in

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their life or things that they knew, or just whatever

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the case may be. And I always found that those

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questions were they were coming from a place that were

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very real, right, It felt very organic, and they weren't

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afraid of the hard questions because.

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I didn't care.

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They didn't care who they offended. But in church, either

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one you feel like, oh, they're asking this, Oh they're

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setting me up. They're going to ask this question because

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they wanted to try to get me in a theological treay.

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Sometimes you feel like when Christians ask questions, are acting

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like the fair He's trying to trap Jesus. And you

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almost have to be three steps ahead. You're like, oh,

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I know where this is going. If I answer it

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this way, you're gonna be well, why what about Okay?

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I've had too many EMO back and forth with Christians.

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You almost you almost with Christians, you almost are you

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question their motives and asking questions. I'm not saying all Christians,

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but I'm saying too many times. But within the church culture,

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there seems to be this idea of avoiding.

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The hard questions. So why, well, let's look at some

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possible reasons.

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How about fear of doubt many Christians, you can tell

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me if you agree, fear that asking hard questions might

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reveal or lead to doubt. See, many Christians they don't

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want to They don't want to reveal to anyone doubt.

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They don't they don't want to lead anyone about. They

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don't want to lead on.

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They don't want anyone to know.

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Hey, maybe I doubt a whole bunch of this, Maybe

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I question how about I think a lot of this

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just makes literally no sense of Shhh, we don't.

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We don't. We don't use the D word. We don't

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have doubts.

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Okay, we have victory. We're more than conquerors. We gotta

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we gotta, we gotta act like you know, we're we're superheroes,

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not not human beings that are going man. Sometimes this

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Christian stuff makes literally no sense.

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Sh We're not.

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Exposed to expose doubt, And then many Christians are afraid

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it will lead to doubt. You never say or do

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anything that could lead to doubt. Now, many times I've

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said things and sermons and then I've been rebuked or

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correct Oh you can you could lead people to doubt,

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you could lead people to question. I'm like, yeah, yeah, exactly,

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that's what I'm supposed to do. No, no, no, no, no,

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no no.

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You never lead anyone to doubt. Now.

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I think sometimes you have to be led to doubt

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because it's going through the valley of doubt that you

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come out actually growing. I don't think there's much growth

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if there's never any doubt. And what some people do,

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so many Christians fear that you never want to reveal doubt.

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You never want to lead people in doubt.

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And I think many Christians kind of connect that if

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you doubt, it's because of a.

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Lack of faith.

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If you just had faith, you would not have any

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doubt now, and that's their answer if you ask tough questions, well,

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you just have to believe. We walk by faith and

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not by sight. No, never worry about what the context

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is there. They just throw that out there. And because

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they don't want to deal with doubt.

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So guess what.

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You can pretend not to have doubt, and you can

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pretend to have faith. Sometimes you're just pretending because the

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doubt's really there, even if you're not letting anyone on

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and guess me. Let me get very clear, doubting is

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not the enemy of faith. I think a strong faith,

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the maturing faith, and doubt work together. See Scripture itself.

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I believe encourages honest wrestling with questions and with doubt.

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You see this in the lives of job. You see

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this throughout the Psalms he beekak, you see it there.

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There's many places in the Bible with great men, you

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may even call them great men of faith expressed strong

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doubt and confusion. So I think this fear of doubt,

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this doubt is seen as the enemy. So therefore we

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just have to pretend that we don't have it.

399
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I think.

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I think that's the reason the church culture doesn't allow

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for hard questions. I think another reason is many in

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the church they want simple answers. They have a desire

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for simple answers. I believe church culture gravitates towards simple,

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comforting answers rather than engaging with the tension and mystery

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found in scripture. They don't. They don't there's no mystery,

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there's no tension in scripture. No, the scriptures are filled

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with mystery and tension and confusion and things that are

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that make no sense. But see, you're not supposed to

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say that. The church doesn't want to hear that. No, no, no,

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everything is simple. Everything makes perfect sense, and so there's

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no problem. The people who don't understand is because they

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just don't know how to read their Bible. They just

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go to a good church. They believe it. Okay, well whatever.

414
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You oversimplify things because you just you want simple answers

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because it makes you feel better and you get nervous

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and you get to and you can see it when

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you're in church and you start asking some difficult questions.

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If you've ever just try it, ask to preach a

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sermon or teach a Sunday school lesson to adults. Don't

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start No, no, no, no, no, no, no no, it's this,

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it's this, it's this. Hey, you're just like, oh, for

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crying out loud, can.

423
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You calm down for five seconds?

424
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Can we have the struggle with it? No?

425
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No, no, no, it's just as simple. It's just Jesus

426
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and that's the answer.

427
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And you're like, or maybe maybe, maybe, just maybe I

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know you're gonna have a hard time with this. Maybe

429
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there's not any of the answer. I think the church

430
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gravitates towards the simple. When it comes to complex questions

431
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about suffering, sin and God's sovereignty. I think many in

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the church it feels unsettling. It feels overwhelming. They're overwhelmed

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by it. It feels like because they feel like that

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you're taking their faith and you're just crumpling it up.

435
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They feel like their faith is just gonna collapse because

436
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they don't know what to do with that. They don't

437
00:25:00.720 --> 00:25:04.160
like these hard questions. Christianity is just supposed to be simple.

438
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So I think the church culture fears. They have these

439
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fears of doubt, and they see doubt as the enemy,

440
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and they want simple answers. Listen, they want how can

441
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I say this? They would rather have something that is sure.

442
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They want they want to be sure of something. They

443
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want this. They are more. They are they are more

444
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How can I say this? They desire more simplicity surety

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than they are truth. They don't care about truth because

446
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truth and reality is never simple and it doesn't always

447
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give you that sense of surety. They just want it simple.

448
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They want it sure. They don't care about truth. They

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don't care if it contradicts reality. They don't care. They

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got their idea and if you come along, well, wait

451
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aboute what about no no, no, no no no no no.

452
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I want it simple, I want it sure, don't don't

453
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overwhelm me with this. So I think there's a fear

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of doubt and seeing doubt as the enemy. And I

455
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think there's this desire for simplicity, this desire for sure

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to be sure of something. The idea necessarily the pursuit

457
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of truth, because the pursuit of truth is messy and

458
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ugly and it's not easy. I think another reason the

459
00:26:22.000 --> 00:26:30.559
churches avoid hard questions is maybe cultural expectations. In some

460
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church settings, questions could be seen as irreverent, confrontational, and

461
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this leads people to suppress their doubts or concerns.

462
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You can't be asking those kinds of questions. What do

463
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you do that's irreverend?

464
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Or no, you can't do that. You're just supposed to

465
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go with the dogma that's been handed to you. Basically,

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the church is the magisterium. They hand you the dogma

467
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and you're just supposed to go along with it.

468
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Now.

469
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But when Christians don't go along with it, it's usually

470
00:27:03.680 --> 00:27:06.920
because along some doctrinal lines they don't. They're they're more

471
00:27:06.960 --> 00:27:10.200
willing to accept those kinds of questions, doctrinal questions, but

472
00:27:10.319 --> 00:27:13.680
not the hard more philosophical questions. That's where they then

473
00:27:13.720 --> 00:27:19.599
get really upset and they don't like those. So I

474
00:27:19.640 --> 00:27:23.359
think those are three possible reasons why the church does

475
00:27:23.400 --> 00:27:28.480
not like hard questions or they avoid them. But we

476
00:27:28.559 --> 00:27:37.880
have some examples of hard questions, right, I think I

477
00:27:37.880 --> 00:27:40.000
think we can look at some examples of hard questions.

478
00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:41.759
A good Bible student should ask, let's do it that,

479
00:27:42.000 --> 00:27:44.440
Let's do it that way. Those are some reasons why

480
00:27:44.519 --> 00:27:46.799
the church doesn't like them. But I think we need

481
00:27:46.839 --> 00:27:49.519
to look at some examples of some hard questions. A

482
00:27:49.559 --> 00:27:53.680
good Bible student should ask. I'm gonna say this, I'm

483
00:27:53.720 --> 00:27:56.240
gonna I'm gonna rephrase this, right, Kyle went back and

484
00:27:56.279 --> 00:28:01.000
forth on how to necessarily do this. I think you're

485
00:28:01.079 --> 00:28:05.079
I'm gonna give you some examples of the good questions

486
00:28:05.440 --> 00:28:08.559
a good Bible student will ask, and they will not

487
00:28:08.839 --> 00:28:14.200
care who is or isn't offended. They will ask these

488
00:28:14.279 --> 00:28:17.000
questions and they don't care if it gets them in

489
00:28:17.079 --> 00:28:20.759
a sense becoming the outcast and a church. Because if

490
00:28:20.799 --> 00:28:23.079
you if you desire to be a good Bible student,

491
00:28:23.480 --> 00:28:25.559
the last thing you need to worry about is Christians.

492
00:28:25.680 --> 00:28:26.480
Christians are the.

493
00:28:26.599 --> 00:28:30.720
Enemy to good Bible study in most cases. They don't

494
00:28:30.799 --> 00:28:31.119
want it.

495
00:28:31.759 --> 00:28:34.599
They don't want good Bible study. They like they just

496
00:28:34.599 --> 00:28:37.240
want a sense of spirituality. They want a little bit

497
00:28:37.240 --> 00:28:40.640
of sentimentalism. They want to they want some assurance, they

498
00:28:40.640 --> 00:28:44.240
want encouragement, they want they just want a taste of spirituality.

499
00:28:44.279 --> 00:28:46.799
They don't want to dive into the depths of these

500
00:28:46.839 --> 00:28:53.359
things because it's difficult. Here's some examples of some maybe

501
00:28:53.680 --> 00:28:56.400
hard questions that I think a Bible student will ask.

502
00:28:56.480 --> 00:29:00.920
For example, God's protection and deliverance. If we read a

503
00:29:00.960 --> 00:29:04.599
passage about God promising protection, maybe say Psalm ninety one,

504
00:29:05.240 --> 00:29:07.559
then maybe you would ask, well, why do terrible things

505
00:29:07.559 --> 00:29:09.440
happen even to faithful believers?

506
00:29:10.079 --> 00:29:13.240
Wait, if God protects, then why did.

507
00:29:13.039 --> 00:29:15.240
This happen or this happen, or this happen, or this

508
00:29:15.279 --> 00:29:17.519
happen or this happen. Because then you would have to say, well,

509
00:29:17.559 --> 00:29:20.640
God protects until God doesn't protect, meaning therefore there's no

510
00:29:20.680 --> 00:29:22.799
guarantee that God will protect. So you don't really have

511
00:29:22.839 --> 00:29:26.400
a promise of protection, right do you. Well, God will

512
00:29:26.440 --> 00:29:28.400
protect until he doesn't protect, but I don't know when

513
00:29:28.400 --> 00:29:30.559
he's going to stop protecting, So I can't be assured

514
00:29:30.599 --> 00:29:32.519
that he's going to protect me five minutes from now,

515
00:29:32.640 --> 00:29:34.160
since he only protects until.

516
00:29:33.880 --> 00:29:34.680
He doesn't protect.

517
00:29:34.759 --> 00:29:36.759
So then can I even say that God really has

518
00:29:36.759 --> 00:29:38.920
a promise of protection? Now, I have a promise of

519
00:29:39.000 --> 00:29:43.480
protection spiritually speaking, because in Christ, I am protected from

520
00:29:44.400 --> 00:29:48.160
condemnation and judgment. Because Christ has paid for my sins

521
00:29:48.240 --> 00:29:50.920
and I and He has accredited his imputed righteousness to me.

522
00:29:51.119 --> 00:29:53.519
I am protected from the penalty of sin, from the

523
00:29:53.519 --> 00:29:57.359
punishment of sin. Okay, now we're getting somewhere. I am

524
00:29:57.400 --> 00:30:01.720
protected from eternal death and hell. Okay, yeah, but when

525
00:30:01.720 --> 00:30:04.839
it comes to life, can I really have any assurance

526
00:30:04.880 --> 00:30:06.880
that God is going to protect me? You say, well,

527
00:30:06.880 --> 00:30:08.839
God will protect until it's not his will, but I

528
00:30:08.880 --> 00:30:10.839
don't know five minutes from now if it's not as well.

529
00:30:11.000 --> 00:30:14.200
So he may protect me right now, but then after

530
00:30:14.240 --> 00:30:16.200
this message is over, I may decide to get it

531
00:30:16.200 --> 00:30:18.839
into the car and go somewhere to get it, pick

532
00:30:18.920 --> 00:30:21.519
up a drink or a snack from the convenience store,

533
00:30:21.680 --> 00:30:23.759
and I could be in the store, someone could come

534
00:30:23.799 --> 00:30:24.319
in and rob.

535
00:30:24.200 --> 00:30:25.880
It, and I could get shot four times.

536
00:30:26.039 --> 00:30:29.519
There's no guarantee. In fact, by Monday or Tuesday, I

537
00:30:29.519 --> 00:30:32.480
could be diagnosed with with terminal cancer and gonna be

538
00:30:32.519 --> 00:30:36.680
dead in six months. There's no guarantee of anything. So

539
00:30:36.920 --> 00:30:43.319
but but you're not supposed to talk like that. How

540
00:30:43.319 --> 00:30:47.160
do we reconcile God's protection with the reality of abuse

541
00:30:47.279 --> 00:30:52.200
and suffering and evil even within the church? God protects. Yeah,

542
00:30:52.200 --> 00:30:56.519
but that child's been molested eighty times in the church

543
00:30:56.880 --> 00:31:00.519
by a church leader. And we're just not talking Catholic churches.

544
00:31:07.119 --> 00:31:13.079
Oh see, See this makes people very uncomfortable. So I

545
00:31:13.079 --> 00:31:16.279
think we can ask hard questions about God's protection and

546
00:31:16.319 --> 00:31:18.640
deliverance in any good Bible student, when they come across

547
00:31:18.640 --> 00:31:22.119
a passage that seems to make some promise, I think

548
00:31:22.119 --> 00:31:24.880
they're gonna be like, my don't wait, wait a minute here,

549
00:31:24.960 --> 00:31:29.519
I'm confused. And we asked that question earlier today we

550
00:31:29.599 --> 00:31:32.519
listened to a sermon on Isaiah chapter forty, verse eleven,

551
00:31:32.519 --> 00:31:35.880
where these words were read, he shall feed his flock

552
00:31:36.000 --> 00:31:38.440
like a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with his

553
00:31:38.599 --> 00:31:41.519
arm and carry them in his bosom. And she'll gently

554
00:31:41.640 --> 00:31:44.480
lead those who are with the young. And then he

555
00:31:44.519 --> 00:31:46.960
talked about how this is young people and this is

556
00:31:47.079 --> 00:31:49.640
mothers with babies, and this is all of us. And

557
00:31:49.680 --> 00:31:51.599
God grabs all of us and he brings them close,

558
00:31:51.759 --> 00:31:53.680
and he holds us close to his bosom, and he

559
00:31:53.759 --> 00:31:56.960
protects and he guides and he feeds, and he does

560
00:31:57.000 --> 00:31:59.559
this for everyone. Oha, wait a minute, Wait a minutea aeut,

561
00:31:59.559 --> 00:32:00.880
I got about a million questions.

562
00:32:01.160 --> 00:32:01.319
Now.

563
00:32:01.400 --> 00:32:05.359
First of all, the first problem with that is the

564
00:32:05.400 --> 00:32:08.200
passage literally says this is what you say into the

565
00:32:08.200 --> 00:32:10.799
cities of Judah. So I'm not part of the cities

566
00:32:10.839 --> 00:32:13.680
of Judah and Babylonian captivity. So it's literally nothing to

567
00:32:13.720 --> 00:32:15.400
do with me. So I don't know why the pastor

568
00:32:15.440 --> 00:32:17.400
was doing that. But secondly, if you're gonna make that

569
00:32:17.480 --> 00:32:22.759
claim God, so God protects me from what I If

570
00:32:22.759 --> 00:32:25.680
he's holding me against his bosom, then what can get

571
00:32:25.680 --> 00:32:28.400
to me? Can temptation get to me? Can pain get

572
00:32:28.440 --> 00:32:33.880
to me? Can suffering? Can disease? But then we were

573
00:32:33.880 --> 00:32:35.640
told in the same sermon, God is the one who

574
00:32:35.640 --> 00:32:39.279
brings the pain and the suffering into your life. It

575
00:32:39.319 --> 00:32:41.920
was all confusing, But see, you're not supposed to ask

576
00:32:41.960 --> 00:32:47.839
those hard questions. I think anytime you see a passage

577
00:32:47.839 --> 00:32:50.640
about God's protection and deliverance of any kind. You've got

578
00:32:50.640 --> 00:32:53.039
to ask these questions. And again with Isaiah forty eleven,

579
00:32:53.079 --> 00:32:58.000
it's not hard. You asked the question and you immediately go, well, well, first,

580
00:32:58.240 --> 00:33:00.400
I don't need to worry about Isaiah forty eleven because

581
00:33:00.400 --> 00:33:03.559
it's not about me. Okay, it's about the people in Judah.

582
00:33:03.599 --> 00:33:05.200
Well, what happened to the people in Judah?

583
00:33:05.200 --> 00:33:09.640
Oh? Wait, God brought up Cyrus. Cyrus literally delivered them

584
00:33:09.839 --> 00:33:13.920
and they were brought back safely from Babylon back to Judah,

585
00:33:14.079 --> 00:33:19.240
back to Jerusalem and rebuilt the temple. Hmm, well, okay,

586
00:33:19.640 --> 00:33:22.640
seems like that there was a historical fulfillment, not a

587
00:33:22.720 --> 00:33:23.680
thing to do with me.

588
00:33:25.599 --> 00:33:26.160
How about this?

589
00:33:26.480 --> 00:33:30.079
I think it's I think here's another example of hard questions.

590
00:33:30.319 --> 00:33:33.559
A good Bible student will ask, not should will ask

591
00:33:34.599 --> 00:33:39.799
questions about God supposedly empowering us to overcome sin. If

592
00:33:39.839 --> 00:33:43.839
God empowers believers to resist sin, will win? Do Christians

593
00:33:43.880 --> 00:33:49.720
continue to sin and even in very grievous ways? You

594
00:33:49.759 --> 00:33:52.880
hear this all the time. God empowers us. God has

595
00:33:52.920 --> 00:33:55.960
set us straight from said if anyone knows Christ, he's

596
00:33:56.000 --> 00:33:58.160
a new creature. You've been completely changed.

597
00:33:58.279 --> 00:33:59.240
You're not the same.

598
00:33:59.640 --> 00:34:03.119
But bye way you're still gonna say, well, I mean you, well,

599
00:34:03.400 --> 00:34:04.200
do I have power?

600
00:34:04.240 --> 00:34:05.200
Do I not have power?

601
00:34:05.279 --> 00:34:08.280
Well, I mean you got power, But you can't be perfect? Well, well,

602
00:34:08.320 --> 00:34:10.440
how perfect can I be? Because the Bible says to

603
00:34:10.440 --> 00:34:12.079
be holy as He is holy, I'm never holy as

604
00:34:12.079 --> 00:34:12.440
he is holy.

605
00:34:12.480 --> 00:34:13.840
I means I'm in a perpetual state of sin.

606
00:34:13.960 --> 00:34:15.960
So if He's empowered me, but I'm in a perpetual

607
00:34:15.960 --> 00:34:18.079
state of sin, you're telling me his power can't even

608
00:34:18.119 --> 00:34:20.239
get me out of a perpetual state of sin. That

609
00:34:20.280 --> 00:34:30.559
seems problematic. In fact, see when you hear a sermon

610
00:34:31.639 --> 00:34:35.199
that quotes this verse, there hath no temptation taking you,

611
00:34:35.480 --> 00:34:38.440
but such as common demand. But God is faithful, who

612
00:34:38.440 --> 00:34:40.599
will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye

613
00:34:40.679 --> 00:34:43.960
are able, but will with the temptation make a way

614
00:34:44.000 --> 00:34:47.840
to escape that you may be able to bear it. Now,

615
00:34:47.840 --> 00:34:51.599
that seems to imply that anytime I'm tempted, I don't

616
00:34:51.599 --> 00:34:52.079
have to sin.

617
00:34:52.320 --> 00:34:53.000
God gives me a.

618
00:34:53.000 --> 00:34:55.760
Way of escape, So meaning that it's at least possible,

619
00:34:56.000 --> 00:34:58.199
it's at least plausible that.

620
00:34:59.519 --> 00:35:03.239
I can be without sin. I think that's a good question.

621
00:35:03.320 --> 00:35:09.679
Asker. That's a problem if God empowers believers to resist sin.

622
00:35:10.159 --> 00:35:12.440
Then why do Christians continue to sin sometimes in a

623
00:35:12.480 --> 00:35:17.000
grievous way? Why do some Christians fall into repeated patterns

624
00:35:17.039 --> 00:35:19.800
of sin and even cause harm to others?

625
00:35:24.440 --> 00:35:26.679
Do I have the power? Does God?

626
00:35:27.800 --> 00:35:33.039
Well? Man, I got all kinds of questions, so we could.

627
00:35:33.280 --> 00:35:35.400
I think a good Bible student's gonna ask questions about

628
00:35:35.400 --> 00:35:38.760
God's supposed protection and deliverance. It's gonna ask. They're gonna

629
00:35:38.760 --> 00:35:41.920
ask good questions about God at supposedly empowering us to

630
00:35:41.960 --> 00:35:44.119
overcome sin. And it's really not that hard to ask

631
00:35:44.159 --> 00:35:47.320
these questions. It's just this when you enter when you

632
00:35:48.000 --> 00:35:50.559
when you enter into the church, say the church wants

633
00:35:50.559 --> 00:35:52.400
you to forget the reality behind you.

634
00:35:52.760 --> 00:35:54.119
They only want you to remember the.

635
00:35:54.039 --> 00:35:56.639
Reality when we talk about all those bad people outside.

636
00:35:57.000 --> 00:35:58.840
But they don't want you to talk about how it

637
00:35:58.880 --> 00:36:00.960
really is, because if if you really know how it

638
00:36:01.000 --> 00:36:01.360
really is.

639
00:36:01.440 --> 00:36:03.440
Sometimes when you listen to sermons.

640
00:36:03.039 --> 00:36:05.360
They paint this idea of a reality that you are

641
00:36:05.400 --> 00:36:07.599
going to get back into your car and drive back

642
00:36:07.639 --> 00:36:11.800
into that does not anywhere fit to what the nonsense

643
00:36:11.840 --> 00:36:13.800
you just heard in a sermon, Because when you get

644
00:36:13.840 --> 00:36:15.199
back into that car, you know what you're going to

645
00:36:15.239 --> 00:36:18.000
find out you're still a sinner. You sin, your kids sin,

646
00:36:18.079 --> 00:36:20.840
your spouse sins, your neighbor sins, everybody sins. You know

647
00:36:20.920 --> 00:36:23.480
what happens, Pain, suffering, and death comes into your life,

648
00:36:23.519 --> 00:36:25.440
and you know what, Wait a minute, where's the protection,

649
00:36:25.559 --> 00:36:28.760
where's the provision, where's the power for me to stop sinning?

650
00:36:28.840 --> 00:36:30.000
You're gonna be like, wait a minute.

651
00:36:30.039 --> 00:36:32.280
There is a disconnect between the sermons I hear and

652
00:36:32.320 --> 00:36:34.559
the reality I live. You know why there's a disconnect

653
00:36:34.719 --> 00:36:38.239
because sermons make up stuff and give you promises that

654
00:36:38.280 --> 00:36:40.599
are never supposed to be promised. But nobody is supposed

655
00:36:40.639 --> 00:36:42.440
to ask the hard questions because you're supposed to just

656
00:36:42.480 --> 00:36:52.719
go along with it and say, ay man, we could

657
00:36:52.719 --> 00:36:55.639
ask questions about God's sovereignty. Of God is sovereign, why

658
00:36:55.639 --> 00:36:58.800
doesn't he intervene to stop atrocities, especially those committed by

659
00:36:58.800 --> 00:37:04.320
people claiming to represent him? I mean, you know, we

660
00:37:04.400 --> 00:37:06.880
talked about the show of that new Netflix show American

661
00:37:06.960 --> 00:37:10.880
Primevil right, definitely not a Christian show, very violent, very explicit,

662
00:37:11.239 --> 00:37:16.719
but it talks about the Mountain Meadows massacre where religious people,

663
00:37:16.760 --> 00:37:19.559
Now this is the case Mormons. No, I'm not saying

664
00:37:19.559 --> 00:37:21.960
they're Christians, But I mean.

665
00:37:21.800 --> 00:37:23.639
God let people be slaughtered.

666
00:37:24.480 --> 00:37:27.320
God didn't intervene when the Puritans were killing people in Salem.

667
00:37:28.360 --> 00:37:30.880
God didn't intervene with people were being slaughtered in the

668
00:37:30.920 --> 00:37:34.199
Mountain Metals massacre. God didn't intervene with people were being slaughtered.

669
00:37:34.559 --> 00:37:37.719
And we can go through all kinds of horrible atrocities

670
00:37:37.760 --> 00:37:50.519
done in the name of God throughout Church history. How

671
00:37:50.559 --> 00:37:54.320
does God's sovereignty interact with human free will in cases

672
00:37:54.360 --> 00:37:57.039
of abuse or sin? Now, do we believe in free will?

673
00:37:57.039 --> 00:37:59.559
Do we not believe in free will? We get into questions.

674
00:38:01.559 --> 00:38:03.880
Another thing that a good Bible student will ask is

675
00:38:03.920 --> 00:38:07.239
maybe some questions about the church's role in suffering. Why

676
00:38:07.280 --> 00:38:09.800
has the church throughout Church history failed to protect the

677
00:38:09.880 --> 00:38:13.360
vulnerable and hold abusers accountable instead of covering it up?

678
00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:19.840
How should the Church respond to its own failures. We're

679
00:38:19.880 --> 00:38:21.760
good at pointing out everyone out the world, the world,

680
00:38:21.840 --> 00:38:23.920
the world, the world, the world, the world, the world,

681
00:38:23.960 --> 00:38:26.239
the world, the world, the world, the world, the world,

682
00:38:26.239 --> 00:38:28.039
the world. Look at them, look at them, look at them,

683
00:38:28.039 --> 00:38:31.079
look at them them. Damn damn, they're the ungodly. They

684
00:38:31.079 --> 00:38:33.679
don't have the power that we have. They haven't been

685
00:38:33.719 --> 00:38:37.559
for set free from sin. We are the conquerors, even

686
00:38:37.599 --> 00:38:39.599
though we send sin and sins, and but we can't

687
00:38:39.639 --> 00:38:41.719
acknowledge it because no, no, no, no, no no no, let's

688
00:38:41.760 --> 00:38:48.679
not have any hard questions. So those are some different

689
00:38:48.840 --> 00:38:51.920
types of questions any great Bible student will ask when

690
00:38:51.960 --> 00:38:54.920
they're studying their Bible, about God's protection and deliverance, about

691
00:38:54.920 --> 00:38:59.519
god empowering to overcome sin, why Christians fell or number,

692
00:39:00.079 --> 00:39:03.760
God's sovereignty and human responsibility, and the Church's role and suffering.

693
00:39:04.000 --> 00:39:08.239
Are the churches rolling sin? We could change those up

694
00:39:08.239 --> 00:39:16.199
in a number of different ways. Now, why asking these

695
00:39:16.239 --> 00:39:19.840
hard questions? Why is it important? The church doesn't really

696
00:39:19.960 --> 00:39:22.320
like it? Those are some examples of some questions we

697
00:39:22.320 --> 00:39:26.280
should ask. Why asking hard questions are important? I think

698
00:39:26.280 --> 00:39:29.199
I think number one Scripture I think encourages it. The

699
00:39:29.199 --> 00:39:31.920
Bible is full of examples of people asking hard questions.

700
00:39:32.159 --> 00:39:35.559
Job ask a question something like this, why do the

701
00:39:35.599 --> 00:39:39.039
wicked live on growing old and increasing in power? That's

702
00:39:39.079 --> 00:39:41.199
in Job twenty one to seven. That's kind of maybe

703
00:39:41.199 --> 00:39:43.880
a paraphrase, depending on your translation. Why do the wicked

704
00:39:44.000 --> 00:39:46.519
live on growing old and increasing in power? Job asked

705
00:39:46.559 --> 00:39:52.159
a lot of questions Habakuk, why do you tolerate wrongdoing?

706
00:39:52.920 --> 00:39:55.679
That's him asking what God, why do you tolerate wrongdoing?

707
00:39:55.719 --> 00:39:56.199
What do you do?

708
00:39:56.440 --> 00:39:59.960
That's Habaccic chapter one, verse three, and Psalm thirteen one

709
00:40:00.119 --> 00:40:02.920
David asked, how long? Lord will you forget me forever?

710
00:40:05.679 --> 00:40:05.840
Now?

711
00:40:05.840 --> 00:40:10.480
These questions are not condemned. They're not condemned. These questions

712
00:40:10.480 --> 00:40:12.880
are a part of a right relationship with God. A

713
00:40:13.039 --> 00:40:16.440
right relationship with God is where you can ask the

714
00:40:16.519 --> 00:40:21.000
difficult questions. And who cares? If Christians get upset? Who cares?

715
00:40:21.159 --> 00:40:21.679
Who cares?

716
00:40:21.679 --> 00:40:24.000
If the church gets their little feelings hurt and they

717
00:40:24.000 --> 00:40:27.480
get all defenses, who cares? You don't need them if

718
00:40:27.519 --> 00:40:29.239
that's the way they're going to be. But you can

719
00:40:29.239 --> 00:40:31.840
come to God and you can ask these tough questions.

720
00:40:31.920 --> 00:40:34.119
You can ask these questions when you're reading the Bible.

721
00:40:34.320 --> 00:40:35.920
You should. It's not that you can.

722
00:40:36.280 --> 00:40:38.920
You must ask them if you're really going to have

723
00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:42.880
a fate that's real versus a faith that's just something

724
00:40:42.920 --> 00:40:43.840
you pretend to have.

725
00:40:51.920 --> 00:40:53.519
Scripture encourages these kinds.

726
00:40:53.400 --> 00:40:56.880
Of questions, and I think we should ask them. I

727
00:40:56.880 --> 00:40:59.400
think another reason why we should ask questions. I think

728
00:40:59.400 --> 00:41:04.239
it actually deepens faith. See When you wrestle with hard questions,

729
00:41:04.360 --> 00:41:07.079
it forces you to move beyond surface level faith and

730
00:41:07.119 --> 00:41:10.480
it makes you grapple with the deeper truths of God character, sovereignty,

731
00:41:10.480 --> 00:41:16.280
of grace. It makes you deal with deeper issues. Simplicity

732
00:41:16.599 --> 00:41:20.079
keeps you away from truth. Simplicity is the enemy of truth.

733
00:41:20.360 --> 00:41:23.960
The lack of questioning, the lack of struggle is the

734
00:41:24.079 --> 00:41:27.280
enemy of a deep mature of faith. It keeps you,

735
00:41:28.159 --> 00:41:30.800
it keeps you in the spiritual nursery. You've got to

736
00:41:30.840 --> 00:41:33.079
break out of the spiritual nursery and you've got to

737
00:41:33.119 --> 00:41:40.280
ask some questions. It deepens faith. I think a third

738
00:41:40.280 --> 00:41:42.000
reason we should ask these hard questions and why it's

739
00:41:42.039 --> 00:41:47.800
important is that I think it exposes misunderstandings. Hard questions challenge.

740
00:41:48.400 --> 00:41:54.400
It challenges the oversimplification or faulty interpretations of scripture. When

741
00:41:54.440 --> 00:41:59.519
you ask the hard questions, it destroys that over simplification

742
00:41:59.639 --> 00:42:03.280
and that understanding of scripture. It makes you force to

743
00:42:03.320 --> 00:42:04.599
a wait a minute, Wait a minute, wait a man,

744
00:42:04.639 --> 00:42:07.000
wait a minut, wait a minute. If this scripture, like

745
00:42:07.039 --> 00:42:10.280
for example f one Corinthians ten thirteen, wait with every temptation,

746
00:42:10.320 --> 00:42:11.880
God's going to provide a way of escape.

747
00:42:11.920 --> 00:42:13.920
Oh, wait a minute. That would mean that then Christians

748
00:42:13.920 --> 00:42:14.639
should never sin.

749
00:42:14.960 --> 00:42:17.679
At least, that would seem that for every temptation there

750
00:42:17.719 --> 00:42:19.280
is no reason for sin because there is a way

751
00:42:19.320 --> 00:42:22.360
of escape, meaning you can escape every temptation, meaning therefore

752
00:42:22.400 --> 00:42:23.360
you can be sinless.

753
00:42:23.960 --> 00:42:26.000
Well, wait, that doesn't make any sense. Huh.

754
00:42:26.079 --> 00:42:27.719
I wonder if there's a different way to approach it.

755
00:42:27.719 --> 00:42:29.519
I think there's a lot of different ways to approach it.

756
00:42:30.599 --> 00:42:31.559
We've talked about that in.

757
00:42:31.519 --> 00:42:34.400
A number of passages where we blew up the normal

758
00:42:34.639 --> 00:42:37.199
way of interpreting the text because the normal way of

759
00:42:37.280 --> 00:42:40.719
interpreting the text just doesn't coincide with the reality that

760
00:42:40.760 --> 00:42:48.360
we all live. Or Isaiah forty eleven, Oh, this is

761
00:42:48.400 --> 00:42:50.360
what God does for us. No, it's what God did

762
00:42:50.360 --> 00:42:53.559
for the people in Judah. I mean read the text.

763
00:42:56.760 --> 00:42:59.239
So when you ask hard questions it I think it

764
00:42:59.320 --> 00:43:03.960
destroys the oversimplification of scripture. It destroys the faulty interpretations.

765
00:43:04.079 --> 00:43:07.760
I think it leads to a greater clarity and greater

766
00:43:07.960 --> 00:43:15.320
philological precision. I think if we would really ask questions,

767
00:43:15.400 --> 00:43:17.280
I think it would actually strengthen the church.

768
00:43:18.960 --> 00:43:20.719
I think if we address difficult.

769
00:43:20.440 --> 00:43:24.440
Questions, it and equips the church to confront sin, comfort

770
00:43:24.480 --> 00:43:29.360
the suffering, and engage a skeptical world with honesty and integrity.

771
00:43:30.679 --> 00:43:33.599
You're not dealing with the world in an.

772
00:43:33.480 --> 00:43:37.239
Honest way if all you give them is pat cliches,

773
00:43:37.639 --> 00:43:42.519
bumper sticker answers that are meaningless in the face of reality.

774
00:43:44.039 --> 00:43:46.280
So why should we ask hard questions? Because I believe

775
00:43:46.280 --> 00:43:50.159
Scripture encourages it. Number two, because I believe it will

776
00:43:50.280 --> 00:43:54.199
deepen In fact, I believe it deepens our faith. Number Three,

777
00:43:54.199 --> 00:44:02.280
it exposes misunderstandings, and I think ultimately it strengthens the church. Now,

778
00:44:02.280 --> 00:44:05.679
how do we handle hard questions biblically? How do we

779
00:44:05.760 --> 00:44:14.239
handle hard questions biblically? I think we have to acknowledge mystery.

780
00:44:14.320 --> 00:44:14.639
We have.

781
00:44:14.920 --> 00:44:16.599
You're gonna have to acknowledge it. You're gonna have to

782
00:44:16.679 --> 00:44:19.760
embrace mystery. You're gonna have to embrace not having answers.

783
00:44:20.440 --> 00:44:23.280
See some questions, such as the coexistence of evil and

784
00:44:23.320 --> 00:44:27.760
a good God, it involves mystery. Scripture doesn't always give

785
00:44:27.800 --> 00:44:30.079
a complete answer, but calls us to trust in God's

786
00:44:30.119 --> 00:44:34.039
wisdom and sovereignty. But there's a good God who's loving

787
00:44:34.199 --> 00:44:37.639
and caring and compassionate, and doesn't anyone know doesn't want

788
00:44:37.679 --> 00:44:41.440
anyone to suffer, Then why create a spiritual being by

789
00:44:41.559 --> 00:44:44.000
the name of Satan who's going to fall, and instead

790
00:44:44.000 --> 00:44:47.400
of destroying him, you'll let him teap tempt your creation,

791
00:44:47.800 --> 00:44:49.760
knowing that once they are tempted, they're going to fall

792
00:44:49.760 --> 00:44:52.079
into sin, and then and then allow them to pro create,

793
00:44:52.239 --> 00:44:54.480
bringing more and more people into life, so that sin

794
00:44:54.599 --> 00:44:57.679
spreads to every human being born a sinner, and then

795
00:44:57.880 --> 00:44:59.960
there's gonna be suffering pain and death. Oh and an

796
00:45:00.119 --> 00:45:01.800
these people are condemned to go and burn it for

797
00:45:01.840 --> 00:45:04.440
hell eternity. No, and you know all of this before

798
00:45:04.440 --> 00:45:07.119
you even create, before you create the very first thing.

799
00:45:07.199 --> 00:45:11.360
You know all of this is going to occur. Come on,

800
00:45:11.639 --> 00:45:14.519
if you can't understand the difficult now you can come

801
00:45:14.599 --> 00:45:16.679
up with every kind of little I've heard all the

802
00:45:16.719 --> 00:45:19.880
little church answers, and it's just pathetic that they even

803
00:45:19.960 --> 00:45:23.639
think that it even comes close to handling the complexity

804
00:45:23.840 --> 00:45:26.880
and difficulty of that. It's a mystery. It is confusing,

805
00:45:27.000 --> 00:45:29.239
and it will't mate. You'll never be able to get

806
00:45:29.239 --> 00:45:31.480
a good answer. And if you think you can, any

807
00:45:31.480 --> 00:45:33.440
pastor who says they've got a good answer for you,

808
00:45:33.639 --> 00:45:36.159
I'm sorry. You're you're falling for it, you're being you're

809
00:45:36.280 --> 00:45:39.400
being you're being sold a bill of goods because it's

810
00:45:39.480 --> 00:45:41.960
just it's not the case. So I think you've got

811
00:45:41.960 --> 00:45:45.719
to acknowledge mystery. I think second, I think you have

812
00:45:45.760 --> 00:45:50.039
to engage the whole whole of scripture, the whole council

813
00:45:50.039 --> 00:45:51.440
of Scripture. Let's say it the way you go to

814
00:45:51.639 --> 00:45:53.039
You've got to engage.

815
00:45:52.599 --> 00:45:53.559
All of scripture.

816
00:45:55.079 --> 00:45:59.599
Hard questions require examining the broader biblical narrative. Everything you

817
00:45:59.639 --> 00:46:02.360
got to it. You've got to go from the beginning

818
00:46:02.400 --> 00:46:04.519
all the way to the end. Now, I'm not saying

819
00:46:04.519 --> 00:46:07.960
even then you're gonna find good answers. I think you

820
00:46:08.000 --> 00:46:12.519
may find that you have even more questions. I think

821
00:46:12.559 --> 00:46:16.440
what we have to do is be honest. That to

822
00:46:16.480 --> 00:46:19.239
me is the big one. How do you handle hard questions?

823
00:46:19.880 --> 00:46:20.760
You gotta be honest.

824
00:46:22.159 --> 00:46:24.400
You just gotta be you gotta be like, wait a minute,

825
00:46:25.559 --> 00:46:29.119
come on, people still sin or in a perpetual state

826
00:46:29.159 --> 00:46:33.639
of sin, people suffer, people die, Come on, you can

827
00:46:33.760 --> 00:46:37.679
just gotta be brutally honest with reality if you if

828
00:46:37.719 --> 00:46:41.400
you want to, just sometimes Christianity is like a Hallmark movie,

829
00:46:41.400 --> 00:46:42.519
It's like a Disney movie.

830
00:46:42.639 --> 00:46:45.440
Come a wake up, walk into the real world.

831
00:46:45.599 --> 00:46:47.800
Be honest with who you are, Be honest with your

832
00:46:47.800 --> 00:46:50.440
own failure, your own sin, be honest with those things

833
00:46:50.440 --> 00:46:52.159
you really do think even though nobody knows.

834
00:46:58.480 --> 00:46:59.360
I think that's the key.

835
00:47:00.880 --> 00:47:07.199
You got to just be honest. So why does the

836
00:47:07.280 --> 00:47:09.760
church avoid hard questions? I think because the fear of doubt,

837
00:47:09.760 --> 00:47:11.840
and they see doubt is an enemy, they see doubt

838
00:47:11.920 --> 00:47:15.280
is inconsistent with faith. I think they do have a

839
00:47:15.320 --> 00:47:17.960
desire for simple answers, and I think there's kind of

840
00:47:17.960 --> 00:47:22.519
a cultural expectation not to get into this kind of stuff.

841
00:47:23.239 --> 00:47:25.719
There's some examples of hard questions you should be asking.

842
00:47:25.840 --> 00:47:28.639
Is questions about God's protection and deliverance, questions about God's

843
00:47:28.679 --> 00:47:32.639
empowering us supposedly to overcome sin, questions about God's sovereignty

844
00:47:32.679 --> 00:47:35.920
and human responsibility, and questions about the Church's role in suffering.

845
00:47:37.079 --> 00:47:38.519
Why should you ask hard questions?

846
00:47:38.519 --> 00:47:42.920
Because scripture encourages it, It deepens faith, it exposes misunderstanding,

847
00:47:42.920 --> 00:47:45.039
and I think ultimately it strengthens the church. How do

848
00:47:45.079 --> 00:47:48.599
you handle it. You've got to embrace mystery. You've got

849
00:47:48.599 --> 00:47:53.000
to embrace questions with no answers, and I think you

850
00:47:53.079 --> 00:47:56.119
have to engage all of scripture, all of it in

851
00:47:56.159 --> 00:47:58.840
its context. And I think number three, you get just

852
00:47:58.880 --> 00:48:00.920
got to be brutally honest. You've got to be brutally

853
00:48:00.960 --> 00:48:05.400
honest with reality, brutally honest with truth.

854
00:48:08.320 --> 00:48:16.440
Now we'll stop there and then we'll move on.

855
00:48:16.599 --> 00:48:18.599
To I think what we're going to try to do

856
00:48:18.760 --> 00:48:24.679
is formulate the kind of questions, hard questions, biblical questions

857
00:48:25.239 --> 00:48:29.159
that a Christian should ask when they read and study

858
00:48:29.159 --> 00:48:29.599
the Bible.

859
00:48:29.920 --> 00:48:31.400
You need to be trained, I think.

860
00:48:31.440 --> 00:48:36.960
I think Bible study. If you want to know how

861
00:48:37.000 --> 00:48:38.360
to study the Bible, I think you have to be

862
00:48:38.400 --> 00:48:39.840
first taught how to ask questions.

863
00:48:41.119 --> 00:48:41.679
I know, I know.

864
00:48:41.760 --> 00:48:44.039
I typically would say you've got to be taught a method.

865
00:48:44.159 --> 00:48:45.840
I think before you can be taught a method, you've

866
00:48:45.840 --> 00:48:49.400
got to be taught. I think you have to evaluate.

867
00:48:49.440 --> 00:48:53.159
Are you a person who asks questions? Are you a

868
00:48:53.159 --> 00:48:53.960
person who does it?

869
00:48:54.320 --> 00:48:54.480
Now?

870
00:48:54.519 --> 00:48:56.320
In many aspects of my life, I don't care to

871
00:48:56.320 --> 00:48:58.239
ask any questions. I just don't care. I don't need

872
00:48:58.280 --> 00:49:00.360
to know, don't want whatever. I'm just I'm moving on.

873
00:49:01.079 --> 00:49:03.719
But when it comes to theology and the Bible.

874
00:49:03.519 --> 00:49:10.599
Oh man, I have so many questions. Whenever I read

875
00:49:10.639 --> 00:49:12.559
any verse in the Bible. I'm like, okay, I got

876
00:49:12.559 --> 00:49:14.920
like fifty I got about one hundred questions here, and

877
00:49:14.960 --> 00:49:16.519
I know I'm never going to get an inner. This

878
00:49:16.599 --> 00:49:18.000
makes no sense, This makes no sense.

879
00:49:18.039 --> 00:49:19.400
Well what about this? And what? Wait?

880
00:49:19.480 --> 00:49:22.320
Wait? What just happened? Wait? Are you kidding me?

881
00:49:22.599 --> 00:49:25.079
What is going on here? Wait? What is happening?

882
00:49:25.159 --> 00:49:25.360
Wait?

883
00:49:25.480 --> 00:49:27.800
No, this makes literally no sense.

884
00:49:27.920 --> 00:49:30.920
Wait are you telling me this? I mean, I just

885
00:49:31.159 --> 00:49:34.039
I've got question after question after question after question after

886
00:49:34.119 --> 00:49:39.159
question after question. Now, some people will say those questions

887
00:49:39.159 --> 00:49:45.079
are bad. Now I understand. Now, now listen, there are

888
00:49:45.199 --> 00:49:48.719
Now this is very important. You can, if you're not careful,

889
00:49:49.800 --> 00:49:53.960
be a person that asks questions and simply an attempt

890
00:49:54.000 --> 00:49:54.960
to avoid truth.

891
00:49:57.000 --> 00:49:58.559
That's not the way you should use questions.

892
00:49:58.559 --> 00:50:00.400
Some people just ask questions because I don't ever want

893
00:50:00.400 --> 00:50:02.599
to deal with truth, so they just kind of hide

894
00:50:02.639 --> 00:50:05.519
from the truth by asking questions. All right, Now, that

895
00:50:05.679 --> 00:50:07.800
this comes down to motives, But I think that then

896
00:50:07.840 --> 00:50:10.960
there's those honest asking questions that you should ask because

897
00:50:11.000 --> 00:50:14.079
the text screams that any smart person who would be

898
00:50:14.159 --> 00:50:17.400
asking those questions and that is a desire to find

899
00:50:17.440 --> 00:50:20.920
the truth. So just make sure you I can't speak

900
00:50:20.960 --> 00:50:24.280
for any person, but sometimes asking questions as an attempt

901
00:50:24.360 --> 00:50:29.599
to hide from the truth. Right, But you if you're

902
00:50:29.639 --> 00:50:31.119
gonna be a good Bible study, you've got to do this.

903
00:50:31.199 --> 00:50:33.159
So we're gonna talk about the hard questions we should

904
00:50:33.199 --> 00:50:35.320
ask in the biblical questions. And I'm gonna really try

905
00:50:35.360 --> 00:50:39.239
to formulate a good list of the kind of questions

906
00:50:39.480 --> 00:50:42.519
we may we may kind of wart work through this

907
00:50:42.639 --> 00:50:45.239
and may be a little disjointed and thrown all again,

908
00:50:45.239 --> 00:50:47.280
and then we'll try to organize it, and then we're

909
00:50:47.280 --> 00:50:50.159
gonna make maybe twenty twenty five, we're gonna we're gonna

910
00:50:50.159 --> 00:50:54.199
maybe we just create a series of questions that everyone

911
00:50:54.199 --> 00:50:57.039
should ask, and then every sermon that we listen to,

912
00:50:57.079 --> 00:51:00.119
every text that we approach in twenty twenty five, we

913
00:51:00.119 --> 00:51:02.000
are going to ask the text these questions.

914
00:51:02.400 --> 00:51:03.880
I don't know if I can do that.

915
00:51:04.119 --> 00:51:06.159
I don't know if I can formulate the perfect ones

916
00:51:06.519 --> 00:51:08.760
or the type of ones, but I think we should.

917
00:51:08.559 --> 00:51:10.719
Do that is what I think we should do.

918
00:51:10.840 --> 00:51:17.199
But we're gonna stop right there, and yeah, I hope

919
00:51:17.239 --> 00:51:19.880
that's beneficial. But the church should be a place that

920
00:51:19.960 --> 00:51:22.559
accepts these questions. And if you're a person who's asked

921
00:51:22.599 --> 00:51:24.920
these questions and you've been kind of cast out.

922
00:51:25.679 --> 00:51:30.679
Oh, join the club. Church doesn't like it.

923
00:51:31.280 --> 00:51:42.000
But who cares? Who cares? All Right, I'll stop right there.

924
00:51:42.480 --> 00:51:45.159
Thanks for listening. Everyone, have a good night. We'll be

925
00:51:45.199 --> 00:51:47.920
talking about more about this soon. Everyone, have a great night.

926
00:51:51.840 --> 00:51:52.400
God bless