Oct. 8, 2024

Mental Assent vs Saving Faith Pt 1

Mental Assent vs Saving Faith Pt 1

Can we miss heaven by 14 Inches?

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Can we miss heaven by 14 Inches?

WEBVTT

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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. One of the

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greatest tragedies would be to die and find out that

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you missed heaven by fourteen inches. One of the greatest

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tragedies would be to die and find out that you

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missed heaven by fourteen inches. And now you are going

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to spend an eternity burning in the lake of fire.

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That would be a great tragedy. Right, you don't want

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to miss heaven by fourteen inches? Now what does that

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even mean? How do you miss heaven by fourteen inches?

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We're going to be discussing all of that, but before

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we do, let's do this. Welcome everyone. It is Tuesday,

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October the eighth, twenty twenty four. It is currently ten

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forty one am Central time, and I am coming to

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you live from the Theology Central studio located right here

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in Abilene, Texas. You have probably heard sermon after sermon

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after sermon that will say something along those lines. Don't

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miss heaven by fourteen inches. And why they say that

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is they say that's the distance or the average distance

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between your mind and your heart. So the idea is this,

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you literally can believe in God with your mind. You

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can believe in God. You can and a sense acknowledge

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that Jesus is the eternal son of God, that he

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died for your sins. Your mind can believe, acknowledge, accept

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in a sense in your mind, believe and trust. But

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you can still go to hell because you're not believing

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with your heart. The idea is that just mental assent

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is not good enough. You can still go to hell.

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You can't just believe it with your mind. You got

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to believe with your heart. So then you have to

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spend a good portion of your Christian life going Wait

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a minute, do I believe with my mind or do

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I believe with my heart? Am I just giving mental assent?

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Or do I really really believe? And what does it

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feel like to believe with my heart versus just believing

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with my mind? How do I draw this distinction? But

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you'll hear sermon after sermon after sermon. Don't go to

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hell because you miss Heaven by fourteen inches. So you've

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got to not only believe. Now you have to determine

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where is the source of that belief. Is it from

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your mind or is it from your heart? Because if

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it's in the wrong location, you go to hell. So

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believing is not enough. You got to believe in the

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right part. And how do you know the difference between

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the mind and the heart? Is there a difference between

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the mind and the heart? Well, all of this, and

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the reason I'm mentioning all of this is because of

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an email I received. I believe it was yesterday, And

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here is the email. I don't know if you remember,

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given how busy you likely are, but I sent a

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topic request in the past right now, Sometimes I do

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miss emails. I try not to now. Sometimes people will

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send me a topic request, and depending on what I'm

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doing at the time, I may say, Okay, save that.

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I will circle back to it. But then, well, then

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one episode turns into another episode, turns into another episode,

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and we get further and further and further away from

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the suggested topic. Well, so, in this particular case, I'm

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glad they emailed me back because I think I've completely

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forgotten this. In some ways, I feel like we've addressed

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this at least to some level. But here was the

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entire email. Are you ready? So here we go. I

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don't know if you remember, given how busy you likely are,

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but I sent a topic request in the past. I

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have just one more to send you, if I may.

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I hear many pre and teachers say either that faith

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is not mental assent or faith is not mere mental assent.

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It's basically an axiom in conservative theological circles. But I've

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been skeptical lately about how biblical this characterization of faith is.

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Would you be interested in doing a program defining what

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mental assent actually is and diving into scripture to see

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whether mental assent is a biblical characterization of faith or not,

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because whatever theologians may say, it is what God himself

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says that matters. Now, I will say this before we

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even even approach this subject. I'm going to say a

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couple of things. Well, let me start with this. I

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do completely agree it doesn't matter what theologians say, it

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only matters what God himself says. Well, let's just be

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very very we have to be very honest here. I

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know this makes Christians very uncomfortable when we say it

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only matters what God says. The reality is, nobody ever

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agrees on what God actually says. Okay, we've got two

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thousand years of church history to prove that right. Everyone

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believes that their system of theology is what God says.

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The Calvinist believes this is what God says. The non

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calvinist this is what believes God God says, well, the

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charismatic this is what God says. Everyone believes that what

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they think is what God says. And so many times

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when it comes to Christianity and believe it's more about

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what you think God says than it is what God says.

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In some ways, if we're really honest with ourselves, the

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authority is not the Scripture, it's our own belief system.

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We believe it. Therefore we say God said it, because

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we obviously wouldn't. I mean, everyone believes that what they

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believe is what God says, but obviously not what everyone

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believes can't be what God says because what everyone believes

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contradicts one another. So does anyone really know what God says?

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I know I'm not supposed to ask that question, but

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I think after, you know, studying theology as long as

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I've had that, I think that's one of the very

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frustrating realities I have had to face. I can say

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this is what God says, and someone else will be like, no,

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this is what God says. And this person will say, no,

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this is what God says, and everyone thinks that they

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know what God says. Obviously it's not as easy as that.

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And people will say, well, if they would just read

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the Bible, and they would be saying, well, if you

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would just read the Bible. Now we're going to do

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our best to try to figure out what God says,

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because I think that's important. But I think we have

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to just acknowledge there's a little bit. There's a lot

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of us, not just a little bit. There's a lot

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of us involved in the entire process. There just is.

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So whenever I started thinking about this email, okay, mental assent,

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mental assent, I immediately started having my my own feelings

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and my own thoughts because obviously I have my own beliefs.

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But I'm like, you know what I need to set aside,

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because this is what I try to teach all of

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you to do. Whenever you're dealing with the Bible, whenever

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you're dealing with theological issues, you've got to set aside

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everything you've been taught in the past. You've got to

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set aside anything you believe and try to just go

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back to the text. Now this one, it's not so

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easy just to go back to the text and say, well,

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what the scriptures say about mental assent. And here's the

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reason why it's going to be very difficult. The Bible

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never uses the phrase mental assent. The Bible never says, hey,

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if you believe, make sure it's not just mental assent.

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So we're already starting with something that at least the

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phrase is not in the Bible. I'm not saying the

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concept isn't there. I'm just saying, so we're already starting

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with a little bit of a disadvantage. It's always easier

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when you can go directly to passages that use the

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phrase and then see how the phrase is being defined

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by its use in scripture. That's much easier to work on.

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In some cases, are the same thing with the Trinity, Right, okay,

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so the term is not there. But wait a minute.

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So we have the Father, we have the Son, we

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have the Holy Spirit. Are they given? Are they described

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as having the attributes of deity? Well? Yes, okay, Well

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then that would be three gods, but the Bible says

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there's only one God. Okay, so then you can start

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trying to break it down, right, But with the idea

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of mental assent. Hmmm, where do we even begin? How

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do we even try to approach this? So that's what

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we're going to be working on now. So I just

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want you to just make sure you understand that we

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have so we want to get to what the Bible

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says and not what theologians say. But you can throw

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out all the theologians, but every individual becomes, in a sense,

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their own theologian, their own pope, their own magisterial authority,

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because they're going to interpret the scripture and when they

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interpret it, they're going to believe that what they their

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interpretation is not only right, that it's dogmatic and it's

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binding on everyone else. So there's a lot of us

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in it. So let's just be honest with that, all right,

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Let's just go ahead and acknowledge that. Second. So that's

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the first main thing I want to get across. The second,

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as we go through this, I'm going to follow a

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certain line of reasoning. And as I'm working through this

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to the original emailer, he can email me back whenever

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he would like, and he can ask follow up questions,

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and I will try to add that to this. This

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is not going to be able to be resolved, and

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I think one episode, this may go on multiple episodes.

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And this really really, really really connects with some of

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the things we've already been discussing. Right. We talked about

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taking a knife and metaphorically opening up a Christian and go,

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wait a minute, so is that the heart? Is that

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the mind is the heart and mind the same thing? Wait?

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Do we have a new heart but not a new mind?

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Or do we have a new mind and not a

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new heart? And we started talking about how do we

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in a sense divide and separate all the supposed parts

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that make us up? And we immediately realize nobody in

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Christianity even really agrees on this, and it's very convoluted.

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So we're going to get into a little bit of

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this as well. I'm going to try to keep it simple,

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but we're going to have to go through this slowly,

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so you know, to the original email or they may

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start listening go, well, I wouldn't. I wasn't asking for

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a you know, fifteen parts series. I just wanted an answer.

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But if I just give you some kind of a

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simple answer, well you shouldn't be emailing me, right, because

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that's that's not the way I do things. Right. This

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podcast has never been about simple answers. So we're going

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to work through this and kind of a meticulous, slow,

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maybe tedious at times, but we're going to see what

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we can accomplish. So are you ready? Here's the ultimate question.

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Can you miss heaven by fourteen inches? Now? That's the

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app distance, the average between the brain and the heart. Okay,

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it's not true of every single person, but it's a

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basic average. Okay. So so this therefore, it's been used

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as just an illustration, kind of a metaphor a little saying,

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and preachers love to say it. Hey, we're beginning tonight

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at First Baptist Church somewhere, Oklahoma, and this is our

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revival service, our fall revival, and the one thing we

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want to ensure is that no one goes to Hell

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because they missed heaven by fourteen inches. I know many

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of you claim to be Christians. I know you've been

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raised within Christianity, but you could only you could possibly

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be going to Hell because you've simply given mental assent,

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You've simply believed in your mind, but you've not believed

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in your heart, and you're going to split Hell wide open.

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So tonight you need to come down, come to this

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altar and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, not with

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just your mind and with your heart, and then you

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will be saved. Do you have a lot of people going, wait?

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Could I be going to Hell? I don't want to

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go to Hell because of a distance of fourteen inches?

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And can you just imagine how I mean when you

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really think about that, here's God, you know, sitting in

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heaven going, Man, I don't want anyone to go to Hell.

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I mean, this is the way it's typically, you know, describe.

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I don't want anyone to go to Hell. And I

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know we could get into some great philosophical questions right there,

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but okay, I don't want anyone to go to Hell.

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And there's there's Tom. He's there in the third pew,

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and man, I feel so bad because Tom believes in

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his mind he acknowledges that I'm that, you know, the

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substitutionary work of Jesus Christ upon the Cross. He acknowledges

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and believes in his mind, the virgin birth, the substitutionary

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death of Jesus Christ, the resurrection, the ascension into heaven,

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and Christ coming to judge the living and the dead.

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But I'm sorry, he's going to go to hell because

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the belief is all in his mind. It never it

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never traveled to his heart. So here's all these people.

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You're like, Hey, here are people who never believed. Here's

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people who only believed with their mind, and all of

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those people go to hell. I mean that's just like okay,

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so you know what that should cause Everyone sitting in

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the pew would be like, wait a minute, do I

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really believe with my heart? Okay? What does it mean?

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And inevitably you know where it's going to go. If

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you believe with your mind, you know where this is

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going to turn into, well, then there won't be any transformation.

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If you believe in your heart, there'll be transformation. So

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this really comes down to not even an issue of

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mental assent. This really turns into an issue of how

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much have you supposedly been changed? Where now we're judging

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salvation not on the basis of the finished work of Christ,

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but on the basis of our supposed transformation. This becomes

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majorly problematic from a thiological standpoint. But are you ready

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to work through this? All? Right? Here's where I think

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we need to start. The basic premise of you can

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miss heaven by fourteen inches it is a very dogmatic

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assertion that there is a difference between the mind and

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the heart. This entire argument demands that you see a distinction,

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that the mind is here, the heart is here, and

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the two are completely separate, so that you can believe

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in your mind and not in your heart, that the

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two are completely different. It draws a massive distinction between

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the two. Well, let's just start with a major issue here,

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at least in the Hebrew mind and in relation to

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the entirety of the Old Testament. This drawing a distinction

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between the mind and the heart would be foreign to

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the Hebrew mindset and to the Old Testament scriptures. They

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would have no clue what you are talking about, because

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the Hebrew mind and the Old Testament scriptures do not

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draw a distinction. For the most I don't think in

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any serious way between the mind and the heart. They

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are used almost as being synonymous. The idea of separating

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the mind and heart would be not just some sources

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would say somewhat foreign, I think, would be completely foreign

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to the Hebrew mindset, particularly in the context of the

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Old Testament. In ancient Hebrew, the terms often translated as

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heart and mind were seen as closely connected, if not synonymous.

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So in ancient Hebrew thought, the terms that are often

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translated heart and mind were seen as closely connected, if

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not synonymous. In many contexts, the heart and the Hebrew worldview,

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was considered the center of a person's enter life. What

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would this, you know, involve? This would encompass the thought,

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the will, the emotion, and intellect. Well, if the heart

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encompasses the thoughts, the will, the emotion, and the intellect,

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then how do you come along and say, well, you

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can miss heaven by fourteen inches because the heart and

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mind would be used synonymous. So how would you even

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make this work? And not only that, you're drawing a

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measurement between the physical brain and the heart. Well, then well,

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now you're measuring between the distance of the physical heart. Well,

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the physical heart has nothing to do with this. It's

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just the muscle that pumps blood through the body. Everything

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takes place in the brain. So now if we get

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into a very medical discussion, this whole thing begins to

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fall apart. Everything would take place in the brain, right, okay,

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And then someone say, well the brain just receives. Okay,

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you can lose your mind if you get into all

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of this, but in the Hebrew mind, in the Hebrew mindset,

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and the Hebrew perspective. Let me make it again, the

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heart would encompass all of this that the thoughts, the will,

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the emotion, and the intellect. When the Old Testament speaks

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of the heart, it is often referring to what a

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modern reader might call both mind and emotions. For instance,

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Proverbs twenty three seven, as a man thinketh in his heart,

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so is he As a man thinks in his heart,

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so does the heart think. Well, if the heart thinks,

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that would be the mind. So how do you get

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mental assent versus heart belief that doesn't even know? It

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would be the same correct. In a similar way, when

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people are called to love God with all of their

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heart Deuteronomy six ' five, it doesn't mean love merely

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in an emotional sense, but rather with the whole of

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their being, including intellect, will, and affection. So it says

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love God with all of your heart. Now, especially in

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Deuteronomy sixty five, that would encompass everything, not just your

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emotional side. It would also involve your thoughts. The later

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The later theological distinction between believing with the mind, intellect

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and the heart emotion or will would not align neatly

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with the unified perspective of the Old Testament. The Hebrew

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understanding would view faith as an integrated act involving the

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whole person. Therefore, the notion that faith must involve both

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the mind and heart as if their separate entities might

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indeed be completely foreign to the Old Testament and the

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Hebrew mindset. Starting with the Old Testament and the Hebrew mindset,

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we've already got a problem. This just doesn't work right,

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it just does not. I guess you could try to

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find scriptures and say, well, no, no, this is drawing

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a distinction. Well this one isn't drawing a distinction. Well,

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if it's going back and forth, then I think hermoneutically logically,

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you would have to be like, you know what, I

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think these are being used synonymously. I think that maybe

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that in some verses they may try to draw a distinction,

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but overall they're used interchangeably. Heart can refer to the mind,

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the mind can refer to the heart. It's all. It's

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a unified perspective that the Old Testament's not there trying

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to separate them. That comes later. So that would mean

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if that's the case, you take your Bible, and you're

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leaving out the entire Old Testament for this argument. Now,

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this is going to raise a major issue if we

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get to the New Testament, new Testament radically changes its approach.

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Why would the New Testament radically change its approach? Right,

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I think so? Now, according to some the New Testament.

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So let's start with this mental assent, the idea that

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you can miss heaven by fourteen inches because you can

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believe with your mind but not with your heart. Therefore

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you go to Hell, separating the mind and the heart

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as completely distinct entities, and where both faith can occur

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in one and not the other, and if it doesn't

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occur in the heart, you go to Hell. All right.

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This concept, though, let's just make it clear, is foreign

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and does not seem to fit with the Hebrew mindset

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or the Old Testament scriptures that seems to see the

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heart and mind as unified as a unified whole, a

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holistic approach. Now, what about the New Testament. Many would

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argue that the New Testament to at least degree would

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recognize a distinction between the mind and the heart, at

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least to some degree. Now I know immediately here, but

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wait a minute. Why would the New Testament be different

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than the Old Testament. I know this is gonna get complicated,

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but just stay with me. But hang on, let's just

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not stop right there. We gotta we gotta hear, we

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gotta listen to a little bit more and hear how

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others describe this. However, this supposed distinction is nuanced. Uh. Oh.

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Christians don't do well with nuance, do we. We like

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everything black and white. We don't like any gray. We

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like clear answers. And when it comes to theology and

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it comes to the Bible, I know we like certainty,

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but sometimes I think we sacrifice truth for certainty. We

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like it black and white, and sometimes it's not so simple.

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The Greek language and Hellenistic culture, which influenced much of

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the New Testament, often made sharp distinctions or sharper distinction

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that they think would be more accurate between various aspects

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of the human nature, such as mind, heart, soul, and body.

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This influence brought more specific terms and concepts into the

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New Testament that weren't present in the same way in

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the Old Testament. Now this is where it's gonna get.

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It's gonna get very complicated. So now we get the

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New Testament, who seems to be more maybe influenced by

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a Hellenistic culture, which will draw this distinction, but the

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Old Testament would not. So now do we go with

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the Hellenistic cultural idea? Do we stay with the Hebrew idea?

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Do we have a conflict here? How do we recon

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How do we reconcile this? But even in the New Testament,

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I think this is important. The so called distinction between

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mind and heart is not as sharply divided as modern

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readers might think. In many cases, the heart is still

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used to refer to the seat of intellect, will, and emotions,

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much like in the Hebrew Bible. For example, in Hebrews

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four twelve, the heart is described as the place where

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the thoughts and intentions reside, suggesting that it involves both

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intellect and emotional aspects. Let's look at Hebrews four twelve.

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Let's look at Hebrews four twelve. Hebrews four twelve. We

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may have to look at this in a number of translations.

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We may have to Hebrews chapter four, verse twelve. We'll

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see here, for the Word of God is quick and powerful,

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sharper than any two edged sword. Piercing even to the

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dividing a cunder of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow,

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and a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart,

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the thoughts and intents of the heart. This is putting

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the heart. This would put the thoughts and emotions would

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reside inside the heart. That the intellect and emotional aspects

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reside inside the heart. Let me read that part again,

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that it is a discerner of thought and intent of

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the heart. So the heart is the center of the

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intellect and of the emotions and of the motivations. Well, then,

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ladies and gentlemen, that's that's not drawing a clear distinction

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between the mind and the heart, because now the mind

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is the center of the thoughts. When it comes to faith,

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the New Testament often uses a holistic language similar to

400
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the Old Testament, encourage you being a complete, integrated response

401
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to God. For instance, in Romans ten to nine, Paul

402
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Rice said, have you confess with your mouth and believe

403
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in your heart, you will be saved. But if the

404
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heart is the center of your thoughts and your emotions, well,

405
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then how do you draw the distinction between just believing

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in your mind? Our mental assent. Right. The emphasis on

407
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the heart here likely reflects a deeper Hebrew understanding of

408
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the heart as a center of the entire person, including thought, will,

409
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not just emotional belief. So we clearly have some of

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this in the New Testament. Where the heart is it's

411
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just like in the Hebrew thought. It's the center of everything.

412
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So how do you say you miss heaven by fourteen

413
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inches if it's the center of everything. It just seems

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like we're forcing something upon the text. Now, I will

415
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argue the reason this is forced upon the text is

416
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because Christians are obsessed. They are literally obsessed with having

417
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the ability of determining who's going to heaven, who's going

418
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to Hell? And how do we determine that? Well? Wait, wait,

419
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that Christian continues to sin but they say they believe

420
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in God, Well their belief is not real. Why Well,

421
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because they only believe with their mind and I don't

422
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believe on their heart. Because they believe in their heart,

423
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it would be different. We always want some kind of

424
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way of explaining why Christians continue to sin. But I've

425
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got news for you. Whether you believe in your mind

426
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or whether you believe in your heart, here's what's going

427
00:26:25.519 --> 00:26:28.599
to be true. Are you ready? You're in a perpetual

428
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state of sin. Because the Bible says, be holy as

429
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God is holy. You never will be holy as God

430
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is holy. So, no matter if your belief is in

431
00:26:35.640 --> 00:26:37.599
your mind or in your heart, and if you draw

432
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this distinction, you're still in a perpetual state of sin.

433
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The Bible says, be he perfect as your heavenly Father

434
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is perfect. You've never been perfect as God is perfect.

435
00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:47.240
You never will, sir, You're in a perpetual state of sin.

436
00:26:47.559 --> 00:26:49.880
The Bible says to love God with all your heart, mind, body,

437
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and soul. You've never done that, so you're in a

438
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perpetual state of sin. I can go on and on

439
00:26:57.480 --> 00:26:59.119
and on and on and on and on, do all

440
00:26:59.160 --> 00:27:03.119
things without murmuring and complaining. I can just rejoice ever more,

441
00:27:03.160 --> 00:27:05.920
pray without ceasing. I can't. I can just throw scripture

442
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after scripture after scripture. You're in disobedience too, in some way,

443
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shape or form. So I don't care where you believe.

444
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You're in a perpetual state of sin. But we want

445
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to create some system and say, well, whoa, whoa, You're

446
00:27:16.480 --> 00:27:19.319
you're gonna miss heaven by fourteen inches and you're gonna

447
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burn forever because you you just got to get that

448
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belief from the head to the heart. Because if you

449
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get it to the heart, the idea almost inevitably is

450
00:27:27.079 --> 00:27:29.400
dunt du da da. Now you're gonna be all different.

451
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Well wait a minute, am I gonna be all different?

452
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Because I'm going to be in a perpetual state of

453
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sin no matter where I believe? So do we really

454
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need even try to make this distinction? That said, the

455
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influence of the Greek thought can be seen more explicitly

456
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in passages where Paul uses words like mind and understanding

457
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to describe intellect intellectual aspects of faith. Greek philosophy often

458
00:27:55.160 --> 00:27:58.160
emphasize the importance of the mind in understanding truth, and

459
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this influenced early christ theology, leading to a clearer distinction

460
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between the mental assent to truth and a deeper, whole

461
00:28:05.319 --> 00:28:09.000
person commitment of faith, sometimes described as involving the heart.

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00:28:10.759 --> 00:28:13.079
So they're like, what there, you do have some scriptures

463
00:28:13.079 --> 00:28:16.640
that seem to really emphasize the intellectual aspect, and that

464
00:28:16.799 --> 00:28:21.640
Greek philosophy greatly impacted this. Okay, well wait a minute now,

465
00:28:22.279 --> 00:28:24.119
all right, so we got the entire Old Testament that

466
00:28:24.119 --> 00:28:27.079
wouldn't understand this distinction. How much do we let Greek

467
00:28:27.079 --> 00:28:37.839
philosophy influence this? The apparent shift from the Old Testament

468
00:28:37.880 --> 00:28:41.920
to the New Testament and recognizing a distinction between mind

469
00:28:42.000 --> 00:28:47.079
and heart can be largely attributed to cultural and philosophical influence.

470
00:28:47.640 --> 00:28:51.759
Greek culture, especially its philosophical traditions, deeply influenced the early

471
00:28:51.839 --> 00:28:55.279
Christian world and Greek thought. The mind was often seen

472
00:28:55.319 --> 00:28:58.079
as distinct from emotions and the will. This had an

473
00:28:58.160 --> 00:29:01.200
impact on early Christian writers who wrote in Greek and

474
00:29:01.240 --> 00:29:04.400
were influenced by Hellenistic ways of thinking, even if their

475
00:29:04.400 --> 00:29:08.279
core theology remain rooted in Jewish traditions. So now guess

476
00:29:08.279 --> 00:29:11.519
what you have. You have a faith that originates from

477
00:29:11.599 --> 00:29:16.880
Jewish tradition and Jewish roots right and Hebrew thought. It

478
00:29:17.000 --> 00:29:21.279
enters into a Greek culture, and the Greek culture begins

479
00:29:21.279 --> 00:29:24.119
to influence, and now you have kind of a maybe

480
00:29:24.160 --> 00:29:27.440
almost a mixture or kind of a contradiction of how

481
00:29:27.480 --> 00:29:32.079
do these work together? So you have a cultural and

482
00:29:32.119 --> 00:29:37.160
philosophical influence that begins to influence early Christian thinking. So

483
00:29:37.359 --> 00:29:40.400
now this is what happens. No matter how much you

484
00:29:40.440 --> 00:29:45.279
want to believe this or not, your culture and all

485
00:29:45.359 --> 00:29:48.519
and things around you influence the way you think. The

486
00:29:48.559 --> 00:29:51.599
way you're thinking is influenced impacts the way you read

487
00:29:51.640 --> 00:29:55.680
the scriptures. So if your mind begins to think a

488
00:29:55.680 --> 00:29:59.000
certain way about the distinction between mind and heart, well

489
00:29:59.039 --> 00:30:00.720
then you're going to read it in to the Bible.

490
00:30:01.960 --> 00:30:05.400
If you come from a more Hebrew perspective, you're going

491
00:30:05.440 --> 00:30:07.799
to see it as a holistic thing. Mind and heart

492
00:30:07.880 --> 00:30:12.160
is really synonymous. See, your thinking impacts the way you

493
00:30:12.200 --> 00:30:15.359
read scripture. Nobody wants to admit this. Everybody thinks they

494
00:30:15.400 --> 00:30:18.839
just open their Bible and they just can find the

495
00:30:18.880 --> 00:30:20.839
text and say, this is what the text says. We

496
00:30:20.960 --> 00:30:23.960
all come to the text with all of this baggage

497
00:30:24.160 --> 00:30:30.920
and we read it into the text. So we have

498
00:30:30.960 --> 00:30:34.880
a culture and philosophical influence that begins to impact Christian thinking.

499
00:30:36.240 --> 00:30:39.599
You have philological development as Christians spread into the Greco

500
00:30:39.799 --> 00:30:43.319
Roman world and naturally engaged with the intellectual categories and

501
00:30:43.440 --> 00:30:46.279
languages of the time. This sometimes led to the introduction

502
00:30:46.359 --> 00:30:50.119
of new distinctions and explaining concepts like faith, particularly when

503
00:30:50.160 --> 00:30:53.839
responding to challenges from Greek philosophy or other religions. For example,

504
00:30:53.920 --> 00:30:57.559
early Christian thinkers like Augustine developed ideas about faith that

505
00:30:57.640 --> 00:31:01.119
included intellectual assent, believing with the mind, and trust or

506
00:31:01.160 --> 00:31:04.640
commitment involving the heart and will, drawing from both Greek

507
00:31:04.720 --> 00:31:07.920
and Biblical categories. So maybe where a lot of this

508
00:31:08.079 --> 00:31:11.839
comes from is not so much the Bible comes from Augustine,

509
00:31:14.000 --> 00:31:18.160
who was bringing Greek philosophy and Greek mindset to the

510
00:31:18.200 --> 00:31:26.680
Hebrew scriptures into the Bible. Now, I'm not saying Augustine

511
00:31:26.759 --> 00:31:28.599
was right. I'm not saying Augustine was wrong. I'm just

512
00:31:28.599 --> 00:31:31.759
trying to show you that a lot of our beliefs

513
00:31:31.799 --> 00:31:34.440
are much more influenced by things other than we always

514
00:31:34.480 --> 00:31:36.920
want to believe it just I believe that's because the

515
00:31:36.920 --> 00:31:39.519
Bible says that you believe it, because over two thousand

516
00:31:39.599 --> 00:31:42.799
years of Church history, this concept is so entered into

517
00:31:43.000 --> 00:31:45.720
the Church that you now think it's coming from the Bible,

518
00:31:45.799 --> 00:31:48.440
when really it's coming from Augustine, or it's coming from

519
00:31:48.759 --> 00:31:53.119
you know, Athanasius or whichever church father. Now it doesn't

520
00:31:53.160 --> 00:31:55.440
mean the church fathers were wrong. It just means you

521
00:31:55.480 --> 00:31:58.640
need to understand. In many cases, you're what you think

522
00:31:58.720 --> 00:32:01.559
is coming from the Bible taking it from something else.

523
00:32:01.880 --> 00:32:05.039
It may actually be in line with the Bible, but

524
00:32:05.119 --> 00:32:07.200
you at least need to try to track down maybe

525
00:32:07.200 --> 00:32:13.200
where the origins of the thought started. So we have

526
00:32:13.559 --> 00:32:17.920
some possible cultural and philosophical influence, we have philological development

527
00:32:18.000 --> 00:32:21.079
over time, Augustine becomes major important in all of this,

528
00:32:21.400 --> 00:32:23.759
and then we have kind of a contextual emphasis. The

529
00:32:23.799 --> 00:32:27.400
early Christian mission was more explicitly philological and addressing the

530
00:32:27.440 --> 00:32:32.319
personal belief and transformation of individuals, requiring a deeper explanation

531
00:32:32.359 --> 00:32:37.200
of faith as involving both intellectual acceptance the mind and

532
00:32:37.319 --> 00:32:41.519
relational trust and commitment to God heart. This practical need

533
00:32:41.559 --> 00:32:43.839
to explain faith in a way that resonated with Greek

534
00:32:43.880 --> 00:32:47.480
speaking audiences could lead to an expanded understanding of what

535
00:32:47.519 --> 00:32:51.039
it meant to believe. So once Christianity began to speak

536
00:32:51.319 --> 00:32:55.799
move into a Greek speaking audience, in many cases they

537
00:32:55.799 --> 00:32:58.519
had to explain things in a way that the Greek

538
00:32:58.559 --> 00:33:02.880
mind could somehow comprehend, and so that became more obvious,

539
00:33:03.119 --> 00:33:06.039
more common to draw a distinction between the mind and

540
00:33:06.079 --> 00:33:08.799
the heart. Even though the Old Testament and even some

541
00:33:08.880 --> 00:33:12.119
of the New Testament would not even understand or recognize

542
00:33:12.160 --> 00:33:24.000
said distinction. The New Testament does recognize more of a

543
00:33:24.079 --> 00:33:28.240
distinction between mind and heart, influenced by Greek thought, but

544
00:33:28.319 --> 00:33:31.920
it still retains much of the holistic, integrated view of

545
00:33:31.960 --> 00:33:35.319
the Old Testament. The change is more a reflection of

546
00:33:35.400 --> 00:33:41.880
Christianity's interaction with different culture and philosophical systems than a

547
00:33:41.960 --> 00:33:45.960
dramatic philological departure. So in some cases the language may

548
00:33:46.000 --> 00:33:50.880
have changed, but the philological concept of a holistic heart

549
00:33:50.960 --> 00:33:58.920
and mind are somehow connected seems to be. That still

550
00:33:58.960 --> 00:34:01.440
seems to be in place, at least to some level.

551
00:34:02.680 --> 00:34:08.559
Now this could raise questions, well, wait a minute, if

552
00:34:08.559 --> 00:34:11.400
the Bible is inspired by God, why would there be

553
00:34:11.599 --> 00:34:14.519
a change. We could get into a whole We can

554
00:34:14.559 --> 00:34:18.639
talk about progressive revelation. We could talk about accommodation of language.

555
00:34:18.960 --> 00:34:22.159
We could talk about the unity of purpose despite different emphasis.

556
00:34:22.480 --> 00:34:25.320
We could talk about the role of inspiration and human authorship.

557
00:34:25.639 --> 00:34:28.679
We could talk about a consistent God in different context.

558
00:34:28.960 --> 00:34:31.280
We could go into a lot of that. But I

559
00:34:31.320 --> 00:34:33.960
don't I don't want to. I don't want to dive

560
00:34:34.000 --> 00:34:37.559
into Now you know forty five minute discussion about well

561
00:34:37.639 --> 00:34:40.280
inspiration works this way? So this is why you could

562
00:34:40.320 --> 00:34:43.440
get this different emphasis. Okay, we have they're speaking to

563
00:34:43.480 --> 00:34:46.280
a different culture, so they have to use different language. Okay,

564
00:34:46.599 --> 00:34:48.760
we could get into all of that. I don't think

565
00:34:48.800 --> 00:34:51.360
that that's really the focus here. I've got I've got

566
00:34:51.400 --> 00:34:54.360
like six points here on this, but I don't really

567
00:34:55.119 --> 00:34:57.159
I don't want to really go down that path because

568
00:34:57.199 --> 00:34:59.559
I think it will it will distract us from what

569
00:34:59.599 --> 00:35:02.079
we want to accomplish. What we're trying to figure out.

570
00:35:02.280 --> 00:35:05.719
Is there such a thing as a distinction between mental

571
00:35:05.760 --> 00:35:09.639
assent versus heart belief? And if the heart is the

572
00:35:09.679 --> 00:35:12.159
center of the mind, the heart is the center of

573
00:35:12.159 --> 00:35:14.840
the intellect and of thought, is it not then synonymous

574
00:35:14.840 --> 00:35:16.960
with the mind? So then how are you drawing the

575
00:35:17.000 --> 00:35:23.800
distinction here? Right? How are you drawing this distinction? I

576
00:35:23.840 --> 00:35:27.719
am trying to make? This distinction becomes very problematic, especially

577
00:35:27.719 --> 00:35:29.519
when you look at some of the scriptures where it

578
00:35:30.280 --> 00:35:35.199
places within the heart, thought, intellect. Well, then it's going

579
00:35:35.239 --> 00:35:37.599
to be very difficult in how to figure this out,

580
00:35:37.800 --> 00:35:47.480
all right. So I think that my own personal belief

581
00:35:49.119 --> 00:35:54.880
is that the discussion about mental assent is not really

582
00:35:55.000 --> 00:35:58.920
so much about Wait does the Bible even mention mental assent?

583
00:35:59.320 --> 00:36:02.159
What is man to assent? How do we even define it?

584
00:36:02.480 --> 00:36:05.880
How do we know when my belief is mental versus heart.

585
00:36:06.280 --> 00:36:08.440
I think when it comes down to it, none of

586
00:36:08.480 --> 00:36:12.440
that's really the issue. The issue always comes down to

587
00:36:13.119 --> 00:36:18.880
how do we determine if someone's faith is legitimate? It

588
00:36:18.920 --> 00:36:20.800
really comes down to that. How do I look at

589
00:36:20.800 --> 00:36:23.599
someone and go, your faith is real, your faith is fake?

590
00:36:23.840 --> 00:36:25.400
How do you look in the mirror and go, my

591
00:36:25.519 --> 00:36:28.159
faith is real or my faith is faith? How do

592
00:36:28.239 --> 00:36:31.480
you draw this conclusion? And I think that the debate

593
00:36:31.519 --> 00:36:37.039
about mental assent basically is more about this. In fact,

594
00:36:38.000 --> 00:36:41.280
at its core, this debate often shifts from a purely

595
00:36:41.320 --> 00:36:45.280
theological question to a practical concern about how to evaluate

596
00:36:45.320 --> 00:36:49.119
the authenticity or legitimacy of someone's faith. That's what it

597
00:36:49.159 --> 00:36:53.400
really kind of comes down to, right, It's not like, hey,

598
00:36:54.039 --> 00:36:56.320
well this verse seems to draw a distinction between the

599
00:36:56.360 --> 00:36:58.440
mind and the heart. Well, but this verse seems to

600
00:36:58.440 --> 00:37:01.360
make them synonymous. Well, I mean, you can make out

601
00:37:01.400 --> 00:37:03.239
a chart if you want, right, you could put like

602
00:37:03.440 --> 00:37:06.519
all the verses that seem to use the mind and

603
00:37:06.599 --> 00:37:09.039
heart as synonymous, and all the verses that seem to

604
00:37:09.079 --> 00:37:11.159
draw a distinction, and then you can look at the

605
00:37:11.239 --> 00:37:13.559
chart and then you can try to determine, well, which

606
00:37:13.559 --> 00:37:15.559
one is used. I guess you could go with some

607
00:37:15.599 --> 00:37:18.199
simplistic idea, well, this one is used more than the up.

608
00:37:18.880 --> 00:37:21.000
If you want to do that, you can. I don't

609
00:37:21.000 --> 00:37:24.039
know really what you're going to accomplish by that. I

610
00:37:24.079 --> 00:37:27.840
think overall Old Testament, well, clearly the Old Testament. I

611
00:37:27.840 --> 00:37:30.079
think you can just eliminate the Old Testament even from

612
00:37:30.280 --> 00:37:32.360
your chart. You could go with the New Testament. But

613
00:37:32.440 --> 00:37:36.519
even within the New Testament, we've at least seen a

614
00:37:36.519 --> 00:37:42.880
couple of examples where they're put together, they're synonymous. So

615
00:37:43.599 --> 00:37:45.880
what we really need to do is look about, well,

616
00:37:45.880 --> 00:37:49.719
how do we look at the authenticity or legitimacy of

617
00:37:49.719 --> 00:37:54.599
someone's faith? And this, to me is the real problem here, right,

618
00:37:54.840 --> 00:37:59.719
So let's consider mental assent versus saving faith. Let's consider

619
00:37:59.760 --> 00:38:09.960
mental assent versus saving faith and philological discussions. Mental assent

620
00:38:11.000 --> 00:38:15.199
typically refers to an intellectual agreement with certain truths about God,

621
00:38:15.599 --> 00:38:23.199
Christ and salvation without necessarily involving trust, commitment, or transformation. So,

622
00:38:23.360 --> 00:38:26.159
in some philological circles, that's how they would define mental assent.

623
00:38:26.400 --> 00:38:31.960
You're simply you're you're you're simply agreeing intellectually with certain

624
00:38:32.000 --> 00:38:36.920
truths about God, Christ, and salvation. However, you don't necessarily trust,

625
00:38:37.400 --> 00:38:40.159
or you don't necessarily have a commitment, or you're not

626
00:38:40.280 --> 00:38:43.679
necessarily transformed. Now, as soon as I see the word transformed,

627
00:38:43.679 --> 00:38:45.840
I get nervous because now I know where this is

628
00:38:45.880 --> 00:38:48.039
going to go. Right, this is gonna this is going

629
00:38:48.119 --> 00:38:51.599
to lead to a major theilological problem. And we'll get

630
00:38:51.599 --> 00:38:58.119
there now if I intellectually agree, and I just do

631
00:38:58.159 --> 00:39:01.239
want you to think about this, and it's very I

632
00:39:01.280 --> 00:39:03.840
think at the very and I probably need to do

633
00:39:03.880 --> 00:39:05.320
a little bit more work on this, but I think

634
00:39:05.320 --> 00:39:08.679
we can agree that at its very basic level, what

635
00:39:08.719 --> 00:39:12.639
we typically say is someone must repent and believe. Now, repent,

636
00:39:13.400 --> 00:39:15.960
this is just a fact, means a change of mind.

637
00:39:16.519 --> 00:39:19.239
That's what it means. Everybody wants to say, well, it

638
00:39:19.280 --> 00:39:21.679
means a change here, a change here. Look you can

639
00:39:21.920 --> 00:39:24.079
if you want to say repentance is a turning away

640
00:39:24.119 --> 00:39:27.400
from sin, well, then okay, I don't know exactly how

641
00:39:27.400 --> 00:39:29.440
you're gonna measure this. Because the Bible says be holy

642
00:39:29.440 --> 00:39:31.320
as God is holy, You're never gonna be holy, So

643
00:39:31.400 --> 00:39:33.480
you're always in a perpetual state of sin. So when

644
00:39:33.519 --> 00:39:35.000
are you going to repent from that sin? And turn

645
00:39:35.039 --> 00:39:39.880
from it so that it's a change of mind. What

646
00:39:39.920 --> 00:39:42.039
does that mean, Well, it means in your mind, you

647
00:39:42.119 --> 00:39:45.119
now believe. You believe Jesus is the eternal son of God.

648
00:39:45.239 --> 00:39:47.639
You believe he died for your sins. You believe that

649
00:39:47.679 --> 00:39:50.280
God is holy, You believe sin is wrong. You believe

650
00:39:50.280 --> 00:39:52.639
there's a heaven, and believe there's a you now believe

651
00:39:52.960 --> 00:39:56.159
I believe in your mind. You're not to acknowledge it.

652
00:39:56.199 --> 00:39:59.559
There's that's some level of belief. You're now accepting it

653
00:39:59.559 --> 00:40:03.239
to be true true, You're believing it to be true intellectually.

654
00:40:03.440 --> 00:40:05.599
So I think that there's and and and. If you're

655
00:40:05.639 --> 00:40:08.760
believing it and you're acknowledging it, how can you say

656
00:40:08.760 --> 00:40:11.039
that in your mind that there's not you're not trusting

657
00:40:11.079 --> 00:40:15.760
in it? Right When I when I right over here

658
00:40:15.960 --> 00:40:21.920
behind me, there's an electric electrical outlet when I plug

659
00:40:22.000 --> 00:40:24.400
in something there? Am I not not only with my mind?

660
00:40:24.440 --> 00:40:27.559
Am I not acknowledging that that's an electrical outlet and

661
00:40:27.599 --> 00:40:29.400
it's going to plug in or it's going to give

662
00:40:29.440 --> 00:40:31.880
power to whatever I wanted to give power to. Not

663
00:40:32.039 --> 00:40:36.920
my mind acknowledges that. But am I not trusting it's

664
00:40:36.960 --> 00:40:39.000
I am I trusting it with my heart and not

665
00:40:39.119 --> 00:40:41.840
my mind. You see how trying to draw this distinction

666
00:40:41.960 --> 00:40:44.920
becomes very how do you even measure that? Well, you see,

667
00:40:45.119 --> 00:40:49.000
in my mind, I believe, I acknowledge that Jesus is

668
00:40:49.000 --> 00:40:52.159
the eternal son of God. But wait a minute, is

669
00:40:52.199 --> 00:40:55.519
my mind believing or is it my heart believing? How

670
00:40:55.519 --> 00:40:57.920
do I draw? How do I draw this distinction? Is

671
00:40:57.920 --> 00:41:04.119
there is there a detector that's only coming from your mind.

672
00:41:04.239 --> 00:41:05.920
You've got to get it down to your heart. You're

673
00:41:05.920 --> 00:41:08.280
gonna go to hell. You're missing it by fourteen inches.

674
00:41:10.079 --> 00:41:12.599
Now what this almost inevitably turns into, though, is the

675
00:41:12.599 --> 00:41:16.360
word transformation. Well, see, if you really believed you would

676
00:41:16.360 --> 00:41:18.599
be transformed. Well, wait a minute, now, how are we

677
00:41:18.599 --> 00:41:21.440
going to measure transformation since I'm already in a perpetual

678
00:41:21.440 --> 00:41:29.519
state of sin? Saving faith this is typically how they

679
00:41:30.199 --> 00:41:33.719
draw this distinction. Is so mental assent refers to intellectual

680
00:41:33.719 --> 00:41:37.760
agreement with certain truths about God, Christ, and salvation without

681
00:41:37.800 --> 00:41:41.320
necessarily involving trust, commitment, or transformation. Saving faith, on the

682
00:41:41.320 --> 00:41:44.039
other hand, of seene is a deeper, more relational kind

683
00:41:44.079 --> 00:41:48.119
of faith, which involves not only intellectual agreement but also

684
00:41:48.239 --> 00:41:51.800
trust in God. A change life and perseverance in that faith.

685
00:41:51.880 --> 00:41:54.360
See the change life. Everything really comes down to the

686
00:41:54.440 --> 00:41:57.639
change life. See if you, if you, if you just

687
00:41:57.719 --> 00:42:01.719
believe with your mind, well then there won't be change.

688
00:42:01.800 --> 00:42:04.039
So if there's a lack of change, it's because, well

689
00:42:04.079 --> 00:42:06.679
you're missing heaven by fourteen inches. You're going to go

690
00:42:06.679 --> 00:42:08.000
to hell. How do you know you're not going to

691
00:42:08.000 --> 00:42:10.079
go to hell? There's been a change on. How are

692
00:42:10.079 --> 00:42:21.719
we measuring change? How do we measure change? We're going

693
00:42:21.760 --> 00:42:29.280
to find some subjective standard. This is where it becomes

694
00:42:29.519 --> 00:42:38.480
very complicated. However, this is very important. The distinction often

695
00:42:38.519 --> 00:42:42.800
becomes less about philological nuance and more about practical evaluation.

696
00:42:43.320 --> 00:42:45.559
How can one tell whether a person's faith is genuine

697
00:42:45.639 --> 00:42:48.239
or just intellectual assent? The question has long been a

698
00:42:48.280 --> 00:42:52.119
concern for Christian communities, particularly when assessing someone's claim to

699
00:42:52.159 --> 00:42:54.679
be a believer. See it's really not about I want

700
00:42:54.719 --> 00:42:57.599
to make sure you hear that. It becomes less about

701
00:42:57.639 --> 00:43:01.679
philological nuance and it becomes about evaluation. The reason we

702
00:43:01.760 --> 00:43:06.239
have created this idea of mental assent versus heart believe

703
00:43:06.679 --> 00:43:08.440
is because we just want a way to be able

704
00:43:08.480 --> 00:43:10.920
to determine if someone is saved or not. It's not

705
00:43:11.000 --> 00:43:18.199
really determining whether the text draws this nuanced distinction. Now

706
00:43:18.199 --> 00:43:20.639
we may find verses that we think, oh, oh, this works,

707
00:43:20.719 --> 00:43:22.159
But then I can go to a verse that says, well,

708
00:43:22.199 --> 00:43:27.280
wait a minute, the heart is the center of the mind,

709
00:43:27.679 --> 00:43:29.840
or is the center of the intellect and thoughts as well?

710
00:43:29.880 --> 00:43:32.280
So how are you drawing this? Well, this verse seems

711
00:43:32.320 --> 00:43:34.440
to draw a distinction. Well, this verse doesn't seem to

712
00:43:34.480 --> 00:43:36.559
draw a distinction. Now, at some point you've got to

713
00:43:36.599 --> 00:43:39.280
just be like, well, wait a minute, Am I just

714
00:43:39.320 --> 00:43:41.360
going to throw out the verses that don't go along

715
00:43:41.400 --> 00:43:43.960
with my distinction? Or am I just going to ignore

716
00:43:43.960 --> 00:43:46.320
the verses that go against the holistic approach? And I

717
00:43:46.320 --> 00:43:48.519
guess you can just play that little game. I don't

718
00:43:48.519 --> 00:43:53.360
think you're going to get anywhere. I think the whole

719
00:43:53.400 --> 00:43:56.559
concept of mental assent versus saving faith is an argument

720
00:43:56.599 --> 00:43:58.599
to be able to determine who we think is saved

721
00:43:58.679 --> 00:44:00.559
or not saved. And I think it's going to lead

722
00:44:00.559 --> 00:44:03.039
people going, wait a minute, Well, I, knowing my mind,

723
00:44:03.079 --> 00:44:05.440
I believe, Well, maybe I don't believe in my heart.

724
00:44:05.639 --> 00:44:14.880
How do I get it to my heart? So a

725
00:44:14.880 --> 00:44:20.079
desire to judge legitimacy. The underlying concern behind the debate

726
00:44:20.199 --> 00:44:23.480
often revolves around how to judge the authenticity of another

727
00:44:23.519 --> 00:44:25.920
person's faith. People want to know if faith can be

728
00:44:25.960 --> 00:44:30.440
assessed through outward evidence or inward transformation, and thus tends

729
00:44:30.440 --> 00:44:34.320
to manifest in two ways. So basically, a mental assent

730
00:44:34.440 --> 00:44:37.280
comes down to this, how can we judge if someone's

731
00:44:37.280 --> 00:44:40.440
faith is real or not? And it really comes down

732
00:44:40.840 --> 00:44:50.039
to a couple of concepts, external signs and behaviors. Many

733
00:44:50.119 --> 00:44:54.320
philological traditions emphasize that saving faith will result in visible

734
00:44:54.440 --> 00:44:59.719
changes in behavior, moral conduct, or commitment to Christian practices.

735
00:45:00.639 --> 00:45:05.440
The desire to see fruit often drives the distinction between

736
00:45:05.440 --> 00:45:09.079
mental assent believing with the mind but not demonstrating an action,

737
00:45:09.440 --> 00:45:13.960
and saving faith belief that produces visible transformation. So this

738
00:45:14.000 --> 00:45:16.559
really comes down to how do I know you're saved?

739
00:45:16.679 --> 00:45:19.320
I look for external signs now immediately you know what

740
00:45:19.480 --> 00:45:23.920
just happens? Now you're looking for external signs instead of

741
00:45:24.000 --> 00:45:27.320
looking too perfect work of Christ already. I think this

742
00:45:27.360 --> 00:45:31.360
is where theologically this all goes off. You leave the

743
00:45:31.719 --> 00:45:34.800
train tracks, you leave the path, you go off road,

744
00:45:34.920 --> 00:45:38.719
you go over a cliff, and you destroy the gospel look,

745
00:45:39.039 --> 00:45:41.599
if you want proof of my salvation, I don't look

746
00:45:41.639 --> 00:45:44.039
to any external signs in my life that may or

747
00:45:44.119 --> 00:45:49.519
may not prove anything. I look to Jesus Christ. That's

748
00:45:49.519 --> 00:45:52.239
who I look to. I look to his work. I

749
00:45:52.280 --> 00:45:56.039
look to his fruit, his work, and his fruit, because

750
00:45:56.079 --> 00:45:59.559
it's his work, it's his obedience, it's his will. Use

751
00:45:59.599 --> 00:46:02.800
the term fruit that is imputed to my account by

752
00:46:02.800 --> 00:46:06.519
faith alone. That's the whole gospel. And just let's not

753
00:46:06.719 --> 00:46:11.760
let's make sure we very much remember this. Are you ready?

754
00:46:12.400 --> 00:46:17.039
Let's remember this. Many will say to me in that day,

755
00:46:17.199 --> 00:46:21.119
Lord Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and

756
00:46:21.199 --> 00:46:24.039
in thy name cast out devils, and in thy name

757
00:46:24.159 --> 00:46:28.840
done many wonderful works. They've got all the externals. They've

758
00:46:28.880 --> 00:46:32.679
got action, they've got they're doing things, they're casting out demons,

759
00:46:32.679 --> 00:46:35.880
they're doing miracles. They're doing all of these wonderful things.

760
00:46:37.960 --> 00:46:40.639
And I will profess under them. I never knew you

761
00:46:41.239 --> 00:46:46.599
depart from me, ye that work iniquity. They've got the external,

762
00:46:47.039 --> 00:46:52.559
but they're still not saved. So external actions don't necessarily

763
00:46:52.599 --> 00:46:56.559
prove genuine faith. So just looking at external science doesn't

764
00:46:56.559 --> 00:47:04.599
really prove anything. There'sn't a good example, right there. So wait,

765
00:47:04.960 --> 00:47:07.480
that's mental assent. Well, no, they don't have mental assent.

766
00:47:07.480 --> 00:47:09.400
They believe with their heart because look at the outside.

767
00:47:09.440 --> 00:47:17.360
Look at the outside. The outside doesn't prove anything. How

768
00:47:17.400 --> 00:47:20.360
about inward experience and assurance. Others argue that faith is

769
00:47:20.360 --> 00:47:23.320
more of an internal matter, where personal assurance and a

770
00:47:23.400 --> 00:47:27.880
sense of inward transformation are key signs of saving faith.

771
00:47:28.400 --> 00:47:31.800
This view is sometimes harder to evaluate externally and relies

772
00:47:31.840 --> 00:47:35.480
on subjective measures of one's relationship with God, often assessed

773
00:47:35.480 --> 00:47:39.320
through emotional or spiritual experiences, and both cases there is

774
00:47:39.360 --> 00:47:42.840
a human desire to draw a distinction between what is

775
00:47:42.840 --> 00:47:46.519
perceived as true faith and false faith are merely intellectual agreement.

776
00:47:46.719 --> 00:47:49.760
The whole point is that that's mental assent. Comes down

777
00:47:49.800 --> 00:47:53.760
to how can I judge not only me, but everyone else. Look,

778
00:47:53.800 --> 00:47:56.800
if you want assurance of salvation, if you want to

779
00:47:56.840 --> 00:48:01.559
know someone is saved, are they trusting and alone? If

780
00:48:01.599 --> 00:48:06.719
they are, they're saved because of the imputed righteousness of Christ.

781
00:48:06.880 --> 00:48:10.559
They're saved by his work. He said, Well, is that mental?

782
00:48:10.840 --> 00:48:15.519
Is that by faith alone? Well? Where does faith occur?

783
00:48:15.880 --> 00:48:17.800
Well it occurs in the heart, not in the mind.

784
00:48:17.840 --> 00:48:19.960
Well wait a minute, the mind is the is the

785
00:48:20.440 --> 00:48:22.840
heart is the center of the thought and the intellect.

786
00:48:22.880 --> 00:48:25.280
So is then it occurring in the How do you

787
00:48:25.400 --> 00:48:34.199
draw that distinction? How about the historical and philological context?

788
00:48:34.519 --> 00:48:37.400
Throughout Church history, the debate has often been fueled by

789
00:48:37.400 --> 00:48:41.719
a desire for a clear marker of genuine faith. During

790
00:48:41.719 --> 00:48:47.079
the Reformation, the reformers emphasize that faith alone sola fide, justifies,

791
00:48:47.559 --> 00:48:50.360
but there was still a debate about where whether faith

792
00:48:50.440 --> 00:48:53.119
had to be accompanied by certain works or signs of

793
00:48:53.119 --> 00:48:56.559
transformation to demonstrate that it was real. This tension was

794
00:48:56.599 --> 00:49:00.119
reflected in the debates between Martin Luther and those who

795
00:49:00.159 --> 00:49:03.000
insisted on a more visible connection between faith and works,

796
00:49:03.239 --> 00:49:07.599
like the Roman Catholic Church, or like later movements like Arminianism.

797
00:49:08.239 --> 00:49:11.079
Puritans in the Great Awakening movement also struggled with this.

798
00:49:11.360 --> 00:49:13.800
There was a desire to distinguish between those who truly

799
00:49:13.840 --> 00:49:19.719
experienced conversion, often through emotional, intense, or transformative experiences, and

800
00:49:19.760 --> 00:49:23.480
those who simply profess faith without much of an internal change.

801
00:49:24.840 --> 00:49:28.760
So basically, this debate has been going on forever. Well

802
00:49:28.800 --> 00:49:30.840
you believe, No, you don't believe. I believe. I don't

803
00:49:30.840 --> 00:49:32.280
know if do I believe? Do I believe? Do I

804
00:49:32.360 --> 00:49:35.960
not believe? And people just keep complicating it. Why you

805
00:49:36.000 --> 00:49:38.639
could literally go to hell because of the difference of

806
00:49:38.679 --> 00:49:43.639
fourteen inches. Oh man, oh man, Okay, I gotta, I

807
00:49:44.679 --> 00:49:51.840
gotta make this work. I mean, I believe in my mind.

808
00:49:51.960 --> 00:49:53.679
Well do you really believe in your mind? You gotta

809
00:49:53.679 --> 00:49:55.559
believe in your heart? You just in your mind? You

810
00:49:55.639 --> 00:49:58.320
just know it? Oh, how are you going to draw

811
00:49:58.360 --> 00:50:08.239
that distinction? It just become it just becomes maddening. How about?

812
00:50:08.480 --> 00:50:11.119
Some of this deals with control and assurance. A desire

813
00:50:11.159 --> 00:50:14.000
to determine the legitimacy of someone's faith often comes from

814
00:50:14.039 --> 00:50:20.480
two interconnected concerns control. Community. Communities and leaders often want

815
00:50:20.480 --> 00:50:24.519
a way to control or establish boundaries for membership in

816
00:50:24.639 --> 00:50:28.440
the faith community. If someone professes faith but doesn't exhibit

817
00:50:28.480 --> 00:50:31.320
outward signs, should they be considered a true believer? Can

818
00:50:31.360 --> 00:50:35.960
they be trusted with church leadership or participation in certain sacraments.

819
00:50:36.239 --> 00:50:39.800
This concern leads to an attempt to establish criteria external

820
00:50:39.840 --> 00:50:43.639
and internal, which one can judge faith. So this is

821
00:50:43.639 --> 00:50:47.840
about control. Hey, we're going to control who can be

822
00:50:47.840 --> 00:50:49.599
a part of our group. Oh wait, wait, wait, wait,

823
00:50:49.639 --> 00:50:51.760
you don't do enough of this. You can't be a

824
00:50:51.800 --> 00:50:57.400
part You're not truly saved. This is about control. How

825
00:50:57.400 --> 00:51:00.920
about assurance? On a personal level, many Christians desire assurance

826
00:51:00.960 --> 00:51:04.199
of their own salvation. This distinction between mental assent and

827
00:51:04.239 --> 00:51:06.880
saving faith allows them to measure their own experience against

828
00:51:06.880 --> 00:51:11.519
perceived standards real faith providing comfort or prompting concern. However,

829
00:51:11.559 --> 00:51:14.199
this can also lead to anxiety, as people may wonder

830
00:51:14.239 --> 00:51:16.519
whether they're truly saved if they don't see enough proof

831
00:51:16.679 --> 00:51:19.000
or transformation in their lives. Yeah, you know what the

832
00:51:19.039 --> 00:51:21.920
problem is. You're looking to yourself and you're looking to

833
00:51:22.039 --> 00:51:24.519
change to see if you're saved. You should be pointed

834
00:51:24.559 --> 00:51:28.880
to Christ. Don't look to your imperfect life for assurance

835
00:51:28.880 --> 00:51:33.159
of salvation. Look to the perfect obedience and holiness of Christ.

836
00:51:34.280 --> 00:51:37.719
Your assurance should come from Him, not from you. It

837
00:51:37.800 --> 00:51:41.000
comes from His finished work because we are saved by it.

838
00:51:43.719 --> 00:51:47.000
Trying to draw mental assent should be like, if you're

839
00:51:47.000 --> 00:51:49.320
going to get into this never ending debate, the issue

840
00:51:49.320 --> 00:51:56.960
should simply be are you believing and trusting in Christ alone? Now?

841
00:51:57.000 --> 00:52:00.679
And next, we have biblical complexity. The Bible self reflects

842
00:52:00.679 --> 00:52:03.920
a tension between these two ideas. All right, now, here

843
00:52:03.920 --> 00:52:06.719
we go the first you know what verse are going

844
00:52:06.719 --> 00:52:08.760
to quote first, Oh, you can go ahead and turn

845
00:52:08.800 --> 00:52:11.679
there James chapter two. You should know that that's where

846
00:52:11.679 --> 00:52:13.880
they were going to go. You had to know, right,

847
00:52:16.719 --> 00:52:20.840
Even so, faith, if not, if it hath not works,

848
00:52:21.360 --> 00:52:25.840
is dead being alone. Now how is that typically preached? Well,

849
00:52:25.880 --> 00:52:28.000
if you have faith but you don't have works, your

850
00:52:28.000 --> 00:52:30.440
faith is dead, meaning you're not saved, so you're going

851
00:52:30.440 --> 00:52:32.960
to go to hell. So meaning you have to have

852
00:52:33.000 --> 00:52:35.079
works in order to be safe. Listeny, No, if you

853
00:52:35.159 --> 00:52:37.440
have true faith, you will have works. You can play

854
00:52:37.480 --> 00:52:40.519
that little game. The bottom line is you're still saying

855
00:52:40.519 --> 00:52:42.480
the same thing. You have to have works, And I

856
00:52:42.559 --> 00:52:45.280
will argue, yes, I have to have works in order

857
00:52:45.320 --> 00:52:48.039
to be saved. It's the works of Jesus Christ imputed

858
00:52:48.079 --> 00:52:51.400
to my account. Then I have perfect works because if

859
00:52:51.400 --> 00:52:52.960
I'm going to look to my works to prove that

860
00:52:53.000 --> 00:52:56.519
I'm saved, even my good works are nothing but filthy

861
00:52:56.599 --> 00:53:00.639
rags because they're corrupted by my own internal sin. Right,

862
00:53:01.199 --> 00:53:02.800
I do them for wrong reasons, I do them for

863
00:53:02.840 --> 00:53:05.280
wrong motives, or they become a source of pride. Even

864
00:53:05.320 --> 00:53:18.559
my good works can literally become sin. So they go

865
00:53:18.639 --> 00:53:20.800
on and they quote they quote Matthew seven, Which is

866
00:53:20.840 --> 00:53:23.239
bizarre that they would quote Matthew seven, because Matthew seven,

867
00:53:23.480 --> 00:53:26.800
to me, actually disproves looking to your external, because all

868
00:53:26.840 --> 00:53:29.119
of these people are like, Lord, Lord, we did all

869
00:53:29.119 --> 00:53:31.119
of these things. Is like depart from me, I never

870
00:53:31.199 --> 00:53:34.159
knew you. Okay, Well, then that means the external doesn't

871
00:53:34.159 --> 00:53:39.239
prove anything, all right. So when the debate becomes too

872
00:53:39.239 --> 00:53:42.599
focused on identifying legitimate faith through external markers, at risk

873
00:53:42.800 --> 00:53:46.800
oversimplifying what faith actually is. True faith, according to scripture,

874
00:53:46.920 --> 00:53:51.079
encompasses belief, trust, and a relationship with God that impacts

875
00:53:51.079 --> 00:53:54.480
one's whole life. However, people grow in faith at different rates,

876
00:53:54.480 --> 00:53:59.880
and spiritual transformation is not always linear or even immediately visible. Furthermore,

877
00:54:00.079 --> 00:54:02.920
Jesus and Paul both warned against making judgments on someone

878
00:54:02.960 --> 00:54:07.199
else's heart or faith, as God knows the heart. So

879
00:54:08.679 --> 00:54:11.760
it's much more complex than this very simple thing that

880
00:54:11.800 --> 00:54:14.760
we want to be able to judge. Oh, that's mental assent. No,

881
00:54:14.880 --> 00:54:21.159
that's faith. No. The debate over mental assent versus saving

882
00:54:21.159 --> 00:54:23.360
faith is often driven by a desire to have a

883
00:54:23.440 --> 00:54:26.280
method to judge or verify the legitimacy of someone's faith.

884
00:54:26.639 --> 00:54:29.920
While some theological distinctions are made about the nature of faith.

885
00:54:30.280 --> 00:54:34.039
Much of the debate reflects the practical concern of how

886
00:54:34.079 --> 00:54:38.800
to determine who is truly in and who is truly out. However,

887
00:54:38.840 --> 00:54:42.719
Scripture suggests that while faith does involve more than intellectual belief, making,

888
00:54:42.760 --> 00:54:46.760
definitive judgments about the authenticity of someone's faith can be problematic,

889
00:54:46.920 --> 00:54:49.599
as faith is ultimately a matter of heart, known fully

890
00:54:49.760 --> 00:54:57.039
only by God. Now at this point, I was like, Okay,

891
00:54:57.880 --> 00:55:01.880
I'm glad that there's some acknowledgement here, but I started

892
00:55:01.920 --> 00:55:04.920
struggling with some of this, and I'm like, Okay, I'm

893
00:55:04.920 --> 00:55:08.199
going to have an argument with artificial intelligence here. I'm

894
00:55:08.239 --> 00:55:11.559
gonna argue with AI, right, because I was like this

895
00:55:11.760 --> 00:55:15.400
James two seventeen verse, don't I'm so sick of it

896
00:55:15.480 --> 00:55:17.760
that Matthew seven doesn't even make any sense to use.

897
00:55:17.800 --> 00:55:20.039
Because here's are people. Here are people who have all

898
00:55:20.079 --> 00:55:22.960
the external signs of being saved, but yet they're not saved.

899
00:55:24.119 --> 00:55:28.920
Why because you have to believe in Jesus Christ. They

900
00:55:28.960 --> 00:55:30.960
can run around and do all of these things, but

901
00:55:31.039 --> 00:55:34.079
they've got to truly believe in Christ. And for some

902
00:55:34.119 --> 00:55:37.079
reason how they're able to do these things. But they

903
00:55:37.079 --> 00:55:39.239
clearly don't believe in Christ, because if they truly believe

904
00:55:39.239 --> 00:55:41.159
in Christ, he wouldn't say depart from me, for I

905
00:55:41.199 --> 00:55:44.480
never knew you. So Matthew seven just brings up a

906
00:55:44.599 --> 00:55:48.239
million other problems. So I would not quote matt James two.

907
00:55:49.000 --> 00:55:53.440
I'm just tired of hearing people quote James because people,

908
00:55:53.559 --> 00:55:56.960
I think people do a great disservice. So I started

909
00:55:56.960 --> 00:56:01.320
asking some questions about James two seven. All right, so

910
00:56:01.440 --> 00:56:05.880
it so, AI, after a lengthy back and forth, said this.

911
00:56:07.079 --> 00:56:09.800
It doesn't necessarily mean James two seven, where says faith

912
00:56:09.840 --> 00:56:13.199
without works is dead, it doesn't necessarily mean that such

913
00:56:13.239 --> 00:56:16.519
faith isn't saving faith. And the term dead can indeed

914
00:56:16.519 --> 00:56:20.159
be interpreted in multiple ways. Let's explore some of the

915
00:56:20.239 --> 00:56:25.400
possible interpretations and nuances behind the idea of dead faith,

916
00:56:25.440 --> 00:56:27.920
because typically it's a preach. Hey, if you don't have works,

917
00:56:28.000 --> 00:56:30.400
your faith is dead. You're going to hell. So not

918
00:56:30.480 --> 00:56:34.360
only do you miss heaven by possibly fourteen inches, you

919
00:56:34.360 --> 00:56:39.000
could also miss heaven by the absence of I don't

920
00:56:39.000 --> 00:56:42.440
know a certain level of works, a certain amount of works.

921
00:56:44.079 --> 00:56:45.960
I don't know how you even measure it. Because in

922
00:56:46.039 --> 00:56:49.039
Matthew seven they had a lot of works but they

923
00:56:49.039 --> 00:56:52.880
even said they did marvelous works, and they went. They

924
00:56:52.880 --> 00:56:54.719
were said, depart from me. I never knew you. So

925
00:56:55.800 --> 00:56:57.880
I don't even know how you measure this. But what

926
00:56:57.920 --> 00:57:01.440
can how could we understand this? Well? We could understand

927
00:57:01.519 --> 00:57:09.239
dead here as ineffective or incomplete. One interpretation of dead

928
00:57:10.079 --> 00:57:12.920
is that it refers to a faith that is ineffective

929
00:57:13.079 --> 00:57:17.320
or incomplete, rather than an entirely nonexistent or non saving

930
00:57:17.800 --> 00:57:21.159
This understanding sees faith without works as still real but

931
00:57:21.360 --> 00:57:26.559
lacking its intended fruit or purpose. Faith without action might

932
00:57:26.599 --> 00:57:28.679
be genuine in the sense that it represents a belief

933
00:57:28.679 --> 00:57:31.280
in the truth about God, but it has not matured

934
00:57:31.360 --> 00:57:34.320
or produced the corresponding works that naturally flow from a

935
00:57:34.360 --> 00:57:38.559
living faith. The faith exists, but it is unproductive. This

936
00:57:38.800 --> 00:57:42.199
use is supported by James context or he emphasizes that

937
00:57:42.239 --> 00:57:45.400
faith is meant to produce action. Faith without action is

938
00:57:45.480 --> 00:57:49.039
like a body without a spirit. It's still identifiable as faith,

939
00:57:49.239 --> 00:57:52.920
but not functioning as it should. Thus, a dead faith

940
00:57:52.960 --> 00:57:55.119
could still be saving faith in the sense that the

941
00:57:55.159 --> 00:57:58.679
person believes in trust in God, but it's stunted or

942
00:57:58.800 --> 00:58:03.000
underdeveloped faith. The lack of works doesn't negate the faith entirely,

943
00:58:03.159 --> 00:58:06.679
but shows that faith has not grown into its full expression.

944
00:58:06.920 --> 00:58:09.320
So the idea of dead here is just it's ineffective,

945
00:58:09.360 --> 00:58:13.360
it's incomplete, it's not doing anything. Doesn't mean you're not saved.

946
00:58:13.559 --> 00:58:17.519
It just means, hey, from a practical standpoint, it's dead

947
00:58:17.599 --> 00:58:21.920
because it's not doing anything. Your faith is not doing anything.

948
00:58:22.599 --> 00:58:27.039
You believe, but it's not something is not happening here.

949
00:58:27.119 --> 00:58:29.480
Now see some people say, well, see that's mental assent.

950
00:58:29.639 --> 00:58:32.480
You believe, but you're not saved. But dead here doesn't

951
00:58:32.480 --> 00:58:39.599
necessarily have to mean not saved. A second, so the

952
00:58:39.639 --> 00:58:44.719
first possible idea is that dead is ineffective or incomplete. Second,

953
00:58:45.039 --> 00:58:48.320
dead is not or I'm sorry. Number two, dead is

954
00:58:48.480 --> 00:58:53.079
useless or lifeless. Another possible interpretation is that dead in

955
00:58:53.119 --> 00:58:57.239
this context means useless or lifeless, but not necessarily indicative

956
00:58:57.599 --> 00:59:01.000
of non saving faith. James maybe arguing that faith, if

957
00:59:01.039 --> 00:59:03.920
not accompanied by works, is ineffective and fulfilling the purpose

958
00:59:04.000 --> 00:59:06.480
God of God in a believer's life. It's not seeing

959
00:59:06.519 --> 00:59:09.360
the person lacks saving faith, but that their faith isn't

960
00:59:09.400 --> 00:59:12.519
accomplishing its intended goal, namely a life of obedience and

961
00:59:12.559 --> 00:59:15.480
love towards others. In this sense dead might refer to

962
00:59:15.559 --> 00:59:19.159
faith that is dormant or inactive. The person may still

963
00:59:19.199 --> 00:59:22.000
be justified in the sense of salvation Romans five to one,

964
00:59:22.320 --> 00:59:24.159
but they're not living out their faith in a way

965
00:59:24.159 --> 00:59:26.880
that bears fruit and good works, which is the goal.

966
00:59:27.960 --> 00:59:31.480
Thus dead here means unproductive without implying the person salvation

967
00:59:31.880 --> 00:59:34.320
is in question, but rather their faith is failing to

968
00:59:34.360 --> 00:59:37.199
result in an outward action that should follow. And we've

969
00:59:37.199 --> 00:59:39.960
talked about this in great greater detail in other studies.

970
00:59:41.360 --> 00:59:44.760
So James two seven doesn't necessarily mean the person is

971
00:59:44.800 --> 00:59:47.840
not going to heaven. It just means there's the faith

972
00:59:47.880 --> 00:59:51.559
is dead in accomplishing this. It's dead from an earthly

973
00:59:51.920 --> 00:59:56.639
and earthly perspective, from a practical perspective, dead, And just

974
00:59:57.159 --> 01:00:01.000
think about that this does this not make sense? Positionally?

975
01:00:01.079 --> 01:00:05.159
What am I? Positionally I am perfect, I am holy,

976
01:00:05.280 --> 01:00:09.360
I'm a new creature. What am I practically a sinner

977
01:00:09.519 --> 01:00:16.559
who sins? There's always this dichotomy and this distinction within Christianity.

978
01:00:17.440 --> 01:00:20.400
My faith before God, I believe in God, and I

979
01:00:20.440 --> 01:00:26.119
am saved. My faith from a practical standpoint may look ineffective, incomplete,

980
01:00:26.199 --> 01:00:29.079
and may appear to be dead because of the never

981
01:00:29.239 --> 01:00:36.320
ending presence of sin in my life and in your life. Now,

982
01:00:36.440 --> 01:00:41.599
Dad is a not a as non genuine faith. This

983
01:00:41.719 --> 01:00:45.519
is the third possible interpretation. A third, more critical interpretation

984
01:00:45.880 --> 01:00:48.559
is that James could be using dead faith to refer

985
01:00:48.599 --> 01:00:51.599
to a non genuine faith, suggesting that faith without works

986
01:00:51.639 --> 01:00:53.719
is an indication that the faith never existed in the

987
01:00:53.760 --> 01:00:56.480
first place. This would mean that a person who claims

988
01:00:56.480 --> 01:00:59.800
to have faith but has no works might be deceiving themselves,

989
01:01:00.079 --> 01:01:02.440
and this view dead faith would mean that the person's

990
01:01:02.440 --> 01:01:06.079
profession of faith is hollow, lacking and the transformative power

991
01:01:06.480 --> 01:01:09.199
that true faith entels. This would align with what James

992
01:01:09.199 --> 01:01:11.559
says in verse nineteen, where acknowledges that even the demons

993
01:01:11.599 --> 01:01:13.719
believe in God but do not have saving faith. However,

994
01:01:14.280 --> 01:01:18.679
this interpretation is often contested because it implies that works

995
01:01:18.679 --> 01:01:21.960
are necessary to validate faith in a Selvafic sense, which

996
01:01:21.960 --> 01:01:25.480
seems to conflict with Paul's teaching on justification by faith alone.

997
01:01:25.760 --> 01:01:28.679
Some see this as a mere more severe judgment of

998
01:01:28.719 --> 01:01:33.880
faith than what James is necessarily communicating. All right, so

999
01:01:34.599 --> 01:01:37.679
now that's the typical evangelical thing. See, they have a

1000
01:01:37.719 --> 01:01:40.760
dead faith, they're not saved. They're going to help because

1001
01:01:40.840 --> 01:01:43.480
a true faith will transform. Well wait a minute, a

1002
01:01:43.519 --> 01:01:45.840
true faith will transform. So let me get this right.

1003
01:01:46.519 --> 01:01:51.119
Be holy as God is holy. Oh you never do that.

1004
01:01:51.239 --> 01:01:56.039
Well I thought it said it was going to transform.

1005
01:01:58.719 --> 01:02:00.719
Why are you still in sin? Because you're in a

1006
01:02:00.760 --> 01:02:05.440
perpetual state. See, this just becomes it just never ends.

1007
01:02:06.440 --> 01:02:09.719
A fourth interpretation, and just please note two thousand years

1008
01:02:09.719 --> 01:02:13.440
of church history, there's no not one unified, agreed upon

1009
01:02:13.519 --> 01:02:16.880
interpretation of dead faith in the Book of James. Everyone

1010
01:02:16.960 --> 01:02:20.119
just seems to think, well, if you should just read it, Well,

1011
01:02:20.280 --> 01:02:22.320
people have been reading it for two thousand years and

1012
01:02:22.400 --> 01:02:27.400
nobody agrees. So just make sure you understand that. One

1013
01:02:27.440 --> 01:02:30.800
interpretation that aligns with James' overall argument could be that

1014
01:02:30.920 --> 01:02:33.360
dead refers to faith that is not demonstrating love and

1015
01:02:33.400 --> 01:02:36.599
care for others. The immediate context of James two fourteen

1016
01:02:36.639 --> 01:02:39.760
through seventeen focuses on how faith should result in actions

1017
01:02:39.760 --> 01:02:42.880
of mercy, care for the poor, and practical expressions of love.

1018
01:02:43.360 --> 01:02:46.119
The lack of works, particularly in terms of helping others,

1019
01:02:46.360 --> 01:02:49.079
indicates that faith is dead, and the terms of fulfilling

1020
01:02:49.119 --> 01:02:52.840
the Christian command to love one's neighbor where Paul says

1021
01:02:52.880 --> 01:02:56.639
that faith works through love, and this sense faith doesn't lead.

1022
01:02:57.039 --> 01:02:59.519
A faith that doesn't lead to love for others is

1023
01:02:59.599 --> 01:03:03.599
dead because it's not fulfilling the relational and ethical responsibilities

1024
01:03:03.599 --> 01:03:06.800
that comes with following Christ. However, this doesn't necessarily imply

1025
01:03:06.920 --> 01:03:09.440
that it's not saving faith, but that it's faith, that

1026
01:03:09.880 --> 01:03:13.079
it's faith that is failing to live up to its potential. Now,

1027
01:03:13.079 --> 01:03:16.800
this really emphasizes love and caring for others. Well, a

1028
01:03:16.840 --> 01:03:19.719
lot of people who are so, oh you got you

1029
01:03:20.199 --> 01:03:22.239
got to do good works to prove that you're saving

1030
01:03:22.320 --> 01:03:25.119
Some of them are the most unloving and lack of

1031
01:03:25.239 --> 01:03:29.559
compassion people on the face of the earth. But they're like, well,

1032
01:03:29.639 --> 01:03:32.159
I'm not a homosexual, or I don't look at pornography,

1033
01:03:32.280 --> 01:03:34.000
or I don't listen to rock and roll, and you're

1034
01:03:34.039 --> 01:03:36.920
still the most unloving and lack of compassionate person I've

1035
01:03:36.920 --> 01:03:41.719
ever met. So you you've reduced now good works to

1036
01:03:41.840 --> 01:03:45.519
this where James talks about feeding the poor and visiting

1037
01:03:45.519 --> 01:03:48.239
the widow and all of these other things. Right, Oh, well,

1038
01:03:48.239 --> 01:04:00.400
well that sounds like liberalism. So we've looked that all

1039
01:04:00.400 --> 01:04:04.000
the different possible meanings of dead. We can look at

1040
01:04:04.119 --> 01:04:07.199
the idea of complementary to Paul's theology. It's important to

1041
01:04:07.199 --> 01:04:11.000
remember that james teaching on dead faith isn't necessarily contradiction

1042
01:04:11.960 --> 01:04:15.519
to Paul's theology of justification by faith. Many scholars believe

1043
01:04:15.599 --> 01:04:18.639
James and Paul are addressing different issues. Paul's addressing the

1044
01:04:18.719 --> 01:04:22.840
idea that people could earn salvation through works, where James

1045
01:04:22.840 --> 01:04:25.719
is addressing the opposite problem people claiming to have faith

1046
01:04:25.719 --> 01:04:28.159
but showing no evidence of it in their lives. James

1047
01:04:28.239 --> 01:04:30.239
isn't saying that work saves a person, but rather that

1048
01:04:30.280 --> 01:04:34.840
works naturally flow from genuine faith. That's what everyone always says, okay,

1049
01:04:34.840 --> 01:04:36.360
But then that would say you still have to have

1050
01:04:36.400 --> 01:04:39.239
works in order to be okay. The idea of dead

1051
01:04:39.239 --> 01:04:41.199
faith could thus be seen as james way of saying

1052
01:04:41.239 --> 01:04:43.320
that faith, when truly present, will bear fruit in the

1053
01:04:43.360 --> 01:04:45.400
form of good works. A faith that doesn't lead to

1054
01:04:45.440 --> 01:04:50.000
any transform transform transformation, or action is still faith, but

1055
01:04:50.079 --> 01:04:54.280
it's not living up to its full purpose. Now, I

1056
01:04:54.320 --> 01:04:57.199
got no problem saying that you can say you have faith,

1057
01:04:57.599 --> 01:04:59.159
but if it doesn't do this and this and this,

1058
01:04:59.480 --> 01:05:02.639
that faith is dead. At least from a human perspective.

1059
01:05:02.800 --> 01:05:06.679
It's dead and accomplishing anything. It's dead from doing anything

1060
01:05:06.960 --> 01:05:10.400
doesn't mean it's dead in a practical sense, doesn't mean

1061
01:05:10.440 --> 01:05:16.360
it's dead in a positional sense. Positionally, I'm saved by

1062
01:05:16.360 --> 01:05:20.719
faith alone, without doing anything. My faith that saves me

1063
01:05:20.840 --> 01:05:24.320
doesn't have to do anything, because the faith that saves

1064
01:05:24.519 --> 01:05:27.719
it's faith, it's not has anything to do with what

1065
01:05:27.760 --> 01:05:31.280
I do. It's faith in what Christ did. Everything that

1066
01:05:31.360 --> 01:05:34.719
needs to be done has been done for me by Christ. Therefore,

1067
01:05:34.800 --> 01:05:38.360
my positional faith that saves is it has nothing to

1068
01:05:38.360 --> 01:05:46.119
do with my practical works. And light of these interpretations

1069
01:05:46.119 --> 01:05:49.199
saving faith, saying that faith is dead in James two

1070
01:05:49.360 --> 01:05:52.679
seventeen doesn't necessarily mean it it isn't saving faith. It

1071
01:05:52.719 --> 01:05:56.119
can mean that such faith is ineffective, incomplete, unproductive, or

1072
01:05:56.119 --> 01:05:58.920
filling to demonstrate love. While some might interpret it as

1073
01:05:58.960 --> 01:06:01.679
indicating no genuine faith, this is not the only or

1074
01:06:01.719 --> 01:06:05.199
even the most likely interpretation given the broader context of scripture.

1075
01:06:05.559 --> 01:06:08.000
James point seems to be that saving faith naturally leads

1076
01:06:08.039 --> 01:06:10.840
to works, but the absence of works doesn't automatically negate

1077
01:06:10.840 --> 01:06:14.199
the existence of faith. Rather, it calls into question whether

1078
01:06:14.719 --> 01:06:19.159
the faith, whether the faith is living and active as

1079
01:06:19.320 --> 01:06:26.679
it should be So what does that all mean? Means?

1080
01:06:26.719 --> 01:06:31.000
Then how do you determine if faith is simply mental assent?

1081
01:06:36.280 --> 01:06:40.519
How do you determine that? Now some people say, well,

1082
01:06:40.559 --> 01:06:44.159
but the demons believe and they're not saved. Yeah, okay, now,

1083
01:06:44.280 --> 01:06:46.079
and so then we try to say, well that belief

1084
01:06:46.360 --> 01:06:57.679
is well, simply do its simply intellectual assent? I guess

1085
01:06:57.760 --> 01:07:00.079
you could try to use that, but it doesn't go

1086
01:07:00.119 --> 01:07:07.039
along with the entire concept in fact. And let me

1087
01:07:07.039 --> 01:07:10.199
see here, I'm gonna go do some I'm gonna see

1088
01:07:10.239 --> 01:07:19.960
if I can find it here. See here is it

1089
01:07:20.000 --> 01:07:27.400
two nineteen? Well, first, when it says they believe, it

1090
01:07:27.440 --> 01:07:31.840
says they only believe that there is one God. That's

1091
01:07:31.840 --> 01:07:33.960
a that's the When it talks about the demons here,

1092
01:07:33.960 --> 01:07:35.719
it just says that they just believe that there is

1093
01:07:35.760 --> 01:07:39.719
one God. Does it say that they believe that Jesus

1094
01:07:40.039 --> 01:07:43.960
was a substitutionary sacrifice? Does it say that they believe anything? There?

1095
01:07:44.119 --> 01:07:48.880
So I'm gonna I'm gonna do some work here on James,

1096
01:07:48.960 --> 01:07:59.679
hang on, I'm gonna do I'm gonna do here. See

1097
01:07:59.719 --> 01:08:04.039
how I went? How would I want to do this? Well,

1098
01:08:04.079 --> 01:08:06.639
here's what I'll do since we're already at sixty eight minutes.

1099
01:08:06.639 --> 01:08:09.440
I'm going to stop here and maybe we'll come back

1100
01:08:09.480 --> 01:08:12.800
to this because I think James two nineteen is where

1101
01:08:12.800 --> 01:08:18.399
people typically try to go right, that they believe that

1102
01:08:18.439 --> 01:08:21.079
there is one God that'll do us well. The devils

1103
01:08:21.159 --> 01:08:24.800
also believe and tremble. I think we got to be

1104
01:08:24.920 --> 01:08:27.760
very careful here, because first it only just says that

1105
01:08:27.800 --> 01:08:30.039
they believe there's one God. It doesn't give anything else

1106
01:08:30.079 --> 01:08:34.239
about what they actually believe. It doesn't, it doesn't, right,

1107
01:08:34.680 --> 01:08:38.600
And so we'll have to do a little work here.

1108
01:08:38.760 --> 01:08:42.000
This may be the best verse. Well, you can't take

1109
01:08:42.039 --> 01:08:45.640
this one verse and just ignore everything else. The Bible says.

1110
01:08:45.920 --> 01:08:51.199
We're trying to take how demons operate and try to

1111
01:08:51.239 --> 01:08:55.439
then extrapolate that into something and how we are made up.

1112
01:08:56.199 --> 01:08:59.800
It's a completely different makeup. Right, We're not made up

1113
01:09:00.279 --> 01:09:04.119
like a demon, is correct? I mean? Right? So I

1114
01:09:04.119 --> 01:09:05.680
don't know if we can use that to draw a

1115
01:09:05.720 --> 01:09:11.000
distinction between our mind and our heart. See what they

1116
01:09:11.000 --> 01:09:13.239
want to say, Well, the demons believed with their mind

1117
01:09:13.279 --> 01:09:15.439
but didn't believe with their heart. That's just ridiculous. I

1118
01:09:15.439 --> 01:09:20.920
don't I don't think that that makes any sense. I

1119
01:09:20.960 --> 01:09:24.600
think maybe we could get we could. I think there's

1120
01:09:24.640 --> 01:09:26.439
more there that we have to look into. What we'll

1121
01:09:26.439 --> 01:09:28.119
try to get, we'll try to we'll try to get

1122
01:09:28.119 --> 01:09:32.600
into that more. But overall, when you talk about mental assent,

1123
01:09:33.520 --> 01:09:36.159
trying to draw the distinction between the mind and the

1124
01:09:36.159 --> 01:09:38.159
heart and saying someone's going to go to hell by

1125
01:09:38.199 --> 01:09:43.199
fourteen inch because of fourteen inch difference, it doesn't It

1126
01:09:43.199 --> 01:09:46.119
doesn't fit the way the Bible groups the mind and

1127
01:09:46.239 --> 01:09:50.920
heart together. It does not fit that in any way,

1128
01:09:50.960 --> 01:09:54.479
shape or form. And ultimately it doesn't even really matter

1129
01:09:55.279 --> 01:09:58.359
the idea of mental assent. It's really not about trying

1130
01:09:58.399 --> 01:10:00.960
to figure out what mental assent is. For most, it

1131
01:10:01.079 --> 01:10:03.760
just turns into another way to try to argue about

1132
01:10:03.800 --> 01:10:07.319
who's saved and who's not saved, And ultimately that destroys

1133
01:10:07.359 --> 01:10:10.840
the Gospel because it turns salvation into what I do

1134
01:10:11.000 --> 01:10:18.199
or don't do, not into what Christ did. And even

1135
01:10:18.239 --> 01:10:20.359
if you say, well, if I believe with my heart,

1136
01:10:20.479 --> 01:10:22.960
it's gonna lead to this, you're you're still gonna be

1137
01:10:23.000 --> 01:10:24.880
stuck with I don't care where you believe your mind

1138
01:10:24.960 --> 01:10:27.159
or your heart. You're never gonna be holy as God

1139
01:10:27.239 --> 01:10:29.039
is holy. You're never gonna be perfect as your heavenly

1140
01:10:29.119 --> 01:10:31.199
father is perfect. You're never gonna love God with all

1141
01:10:31.239 --> 01:10:33.039
your heart, mind, body, a soul. You're never gonna love

1142
01:10:33.039 --> 01:10:35.720
your neighbor as yourself. You're gonna constantly still do things

1143
01:10:35.720 --> 01:10:38.439
with mumbling and complaining. I can You're gonna have idols.

1144
01:10:38.520 --> 01:10:41.039
I can go. You're gonna be covetious, You're you're, you're.

1145
01:10:41.119 --> 01:10:44.239
There's gonna be deceit in you. There's still gonna be sin.

1146
01:10:44.560 --> 01:10:46.840
You're in a perpetual state of sin. So how are

1147
01:10:46.880 --> 01:10:57.079
you going to measure this now? I don't know if

1148
01:10:57.079 --> 01:11:00.800
that helped. I'm gonna say this whole mental ascent thing

1149
01:11:02.199 --> 01:11:06.880
I think is more derived from Greek philosophy and Greek

1150
01:11:06.920 --> 01:11:10.840
culture then it comes from scripture, because scripture doesn't. I

1151
01:11:10.840 --> 01:11:13.359
don't think you can find some scriptures. But as soon

1152
01:11:13.399 --> 01:11:15.159
as you find it, go look at all the other

1153
01:11:15.199 --> 01:11:18.279
scriptures that seem to combine the two concepts into one.

1154
01:11:18.880 --> 01:11:21.880
They bring the two concepts together, heart and mind as

1155
01:11:21.920 --> 01:11:25.279
being somewhat synonymous. If it's synonymous, then how are you

1156
01:11:25.359 --> 01:11:27.279
going to draw? How are you going to tear it apart?

1157
01:11:27.439 --> 01:11:29.600
Now you can try to tear it apart in some ways,

1158
01:11:30.079 --> 01:11:32.760
but I don't know how well it really works. I

1159
01:11:32.800 --> 01:11:35.399
don't know how it really works. And I know this,

1160
01:11:35.520 --> 01:11:38.680
If repentance is a change of mind, then then well

1161
01:11:39.000 --> 01:11:41.199
do you separate the mind from the heart? How do

1162
01:11:41.239 --> 01:11:43.880
you I guess you could try to do that, But

1163
01:11:43.960 --> 01:11:45.800
then how do you do with all the scriptures that

1164
01:11:45.840 --> 01:11:50.479
seem to combine the two concepts. It becomes very convoluted

1165
01:11:50.640 --> 01:11:54.680
and discombobulated. But we will stop there because we're at

1166
01:11:54.680 --> 01:11:57.600
seventy one minutes. I'll wait and see if the email

1167
01:11:57.680 --> 01:12:00.359
or has some follow up questions, and then we'll try

1168
01:12:00.359 --> 01:12:03.000
to do at least a part two and then try

1169
01:12:03.039 --> 01:12:06.000
to work in some of this and see, this really

1170
01:12:06.039 --> 01:12:09.119
comes down to people wanting a way to determine who's

1171
01:12:09.159 --> 01:12:12.359
saved and who's not saved. Here's what you want to know.

1172
01:12:12.720 --> 01:12:15.520
If someone is saved or not saved, are you trusting

1173
01:12:15.600 --> 01:12:18.560
in Jesus Christ and his finished work alone for your salvation?

1174
01:12:18.800 --> 01:12:22.039
I am okay. Then, so yourself saved because of an

1175
01:12:22.039 --> 01:12:24.640
imputed righteousness. And I'm not going to sit there and

1176
01:12:24.720 --> 01:12:26.840
judge your salvation based on what you do or don't do,

1177
01:12:27.159 --> 01:12:30.720
because it's based on what Christ did on your behalf

1178
01:12:30.760 --> 01:12:33.760
that's the whole point of imputed righteousness, and I wanted

1179
01:12:33.760 --> 01:12:36.399
to get more into that, but we're out of time.

1180
01:12:36.720 --> 01:12:40.800
All right, I'll stop there. I don't know. I mean

1181
01:12:40.840 --> 01:12:42.880
we covered a lot. I mean we covered seventy two

1182
01:12:42.920 --> 01:12:46.600
minutes of content, but when you get to the end

1183
01:12:46.600 --> 01:12:48.359
of these kinds of programs, you feel like you didn't

1184
01:12:48.399 --> 01:12:50.760
really get anywhere, because I think some of this is

1185
01:12:52.159 --> 01:12:55.199
we're trying to draw it. We're trying to find some

1186
01:12:55.279 --> 01:12:57.720
distinction where I didn't think of any cases, there's no distinction.

1187
01:12:57.920 --> 01:13:00.279
So all right, we'll stop right there. Thanks, so let'ten thing.

1188
01:13:00.920 --> 01:13:03.079
Everyone have a great day. God bless