March 26, 2025

Reasons for Storms

Reasons for Storms

A look at reasons we have storms in our lives

Spreaker Apple Podcasts Spotify PocketCasts Amazon Music Overcast Audible Castro iHeartRadio Castbox Podchaser TuneIn Deezer Pandora RadioPublic Podcast Addict RSS Feed YouTube Fountain PlayerFM Goodpods Podverse Podyssey Breaker Podurama Audacy JioSaavn
Spreaker podcast player icon Spreaker Spreaker Apple Podcasts podcast player icon Apple Podcasts Apple Podcasts Spotify podcast player icon Spotify Spotify PocketCasts podcast player icon PocketCasts PocketCasts Amazon Music podcast player icon Amazon Music Amazon Music Overcast podcast player icon Overcast Overcast Audible podcast player icon Audible Audible Castro podcast player icon Castro Castro iHeartRadio podcast player icon iHeartRadio iHeartRadio Castbox podcast player icon Castbox Castbox Podchaser podcast player icon Podchaser Podchaser TuneIn podcast player icon TuneIn TuneIn Deezer podcast player icon Deezer Deezer Pandora podcast player icon Pandora Pandora RadioPublic podcast player icon RadioPublic RadioPublic Podcast Addict podcast player icon Podcast Addict Podcast Addict RSS Feed podcast player icon RSS Feed RSS Feed YouTube podcast player icon YouTube YouTube Fountain podcast player icon Fountain Fountain PlayerFM podcast player icon PlayerFM PlayerFM Goodpods podcast player icon Goodpods Goodpods Podverse podcast player icon Podverse Podverse Podyssey podcast player icon Podyssey Podyssey Breaker podcast player icon Breaker Breaker Podurama podcast player icon Podurama Podurama Audacy podcast player icon Audacy Audacy JioSaavn podcast player icon JioSaavn JioSaavn

A look at reasons we have storms in our lives

WEBVTT

1
00:00:02.160 --> 00:00:05.919
Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is

2
00:00:05.919 --> 00:00:13.199
the Theology Central podcast, making Theology Central. Good afternoon everyone.

3
00:00:13.480 --> 00:00:17.800
It is Wednesday, March twenty six, twenty twenty five. It

4
00:00:17.960 --> 00:00:22.679
is currently twelve six pm Central Time, and I'm coming

5
00:00:22.679 --> 00:00:26.760
to you live from the Theology Central studio located right

6
00:00:26.920 --> 00:00:32.439
here in Abilene, Texas. Well, I guess for this episode,

7
00:00:32.880 --> 00:00:36.039
I can only say, well, if you can't beat them,

8
00:00:36.960 --> 00:00:40.079
join them, right. I mean, that's kind of an old cliche.

9
00:00:40.159 --> 00:00:42.000
If I can't beat them, I just as well go

10
00:00:42.039 --> 00:00:44.320
ahead and join them, because what else can I do?

11
00:00:44.679 --> 00:00:48.880
And so for this episode, I'm going to join all

12
00:00:49.000 --> 00:00:52.759
of those pastors and all of those churches and all

13
00:00:52.840 --> 00:00:56.840
of those devotional books and commentaries and everyone else who

14
00:00:57.000 --> 00:01:01.399
uses this storm storm of life, right, this kind of

15
00:01:01.759 --> 00:01:07.239
storm of life concept that Christians constantly talk about anytime

16
00:01:07.280 --> 00:01:09.400
they open their Bible and they see a storm. They

17
00:01:09.400 --> 00:01:12.079
talk about the storms in your life, the storms in

18
00:01:12.120 --> 00:01:14.799
my life, the storms and the life of this church,

19
00:01:15.079 --> 00:01:17.480
and how God is with us in the storm and

20
00:01:17.519 --> 00:01:20.439
he walks upon the water and he calms the storm,

21
00:01:20.480 --> 00:01:24.760
and that kind of illustration, that kind of allegory. It

22
00:01:24.840 --> 00:01:28.000
is used over and over and over again. Now already

23
00:01:28.040 --> 00:01:33.719
in this series, I have completely rejected that entire concept.

24
00:01:33.959 --> 00:01:36.799
We trace the history of it where it kind of started.

25
00:01:37.159 --> 00:01:40.280
It's clear that that's imposed on the text of scripture.

26
00:01:40.560 --> 00:01:44.200
It's not coming from scripture, because none of those storms

27
00:01:44.200 --> 00:01:46.840
in the Bible are talking about the storms in your

28
00:01:46.879 --> 00:01:50.000
life or the storms of my life in some metaphorical way.

29
00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:54.000
You know. They're talking about actual storms, and those narratives

30
00:01:54.159 --> 00:01:58.640
have very specific purposes. For some reason, we overlook the

31
00:01:58.680 --> 00:02:01.599
purpose of those stories and we turn it into some

32
00:02:01.840 --> 00:02:05.159
story about the storms in your life or my life. However,

33
00:02:05.719 --> 00:02:09.120
even though I've already rejected it, even though I've spoken

34
00:02:09.199 --> 00:02:15.039
against it, I'm going to go along with it simply

35
00:02:15.080 --> 00:02:18.080
to try to get us to a very important philosophical

36
00:02:18.159 --> 00:02:22.599
discussion that will probably be extremely uncomfortable for many, and

37
00:02:22.800 --> 00:02:26.879
many will probably reject some of my thoughts and some

38
00:02:27.039 --> 00:02:30.199
of my words. But either way, that is where we're going.

39
00:02:30.240 --> 00:02:34.400
So let's try to explain how we ended up here. Remember,

40
00:02:34.560 --> 00:02:37.520
just briefly, I'll go through it briefly. Three four o'clock

41
00:02:37.560 --> 00:02:40.919
in the morning, listening to Christian radio, They're like, hey,

42
00:02:41.080 --> 00:02:43.319
you can go to this website and get a free

43
00:02:43.759 --> 00:02:48.000
seven week study guide, and I'm like, whow that sounds good.

44
00:02:48.319 --> 00:02:50.039
So I go and look for the study guide and

45
00:02:50.080 --> 00:02:54.199
it's entitled how to Weather the Storms and Your Life.

46
00:02:54.280 --> 00:02:57.520
And I'm like, oh boy, here we go, and so

47
00:02:57.639 --> 00:03:00.840
we down I told everyone to download the study guide.

48
00:03:00.840 --> 00:03:03.199
I downloaded the study guide. And this kind of brought

49
00:03:03.280 --> 00:03:06.479
us to this Acts twenty seven discussion that we have

50
00:03:06.599 --> 00:03:11.159
been having right Acts twenty seven. And not only did

51
00:03:11.159 --> 00:03:13.879
we start working on ACS twenty seven, reviewed some sermons

52
00:03:13.919 --> 00:03:15.919
on X twenty seven. And if you don't know the

53
00:03:15.960 --> 00:03:17.919
story of ACX twenty seven, it was a story of

54
00:03:17.960 --> 00:03:21.159
a storm that the apostle Paul finds himself in. And

55
00:03:21.319 --> 00:03:25.919
of course every sermon, everything you can read with in Christianity,

56
00:03:26.080 --> 00:03:29.560
Acts twenty seven becomes a story about the storms and

57
00:03:29.719 --> 00:03:33.080
your life, and supposedly it's teaching us how to weather it.

58
00:03:33.360 --> 00:03:37.719
So we took that all apart. I've been frustrated with it.

59
00:03:37.759 --> 00:03:41.319
But everywhere I turn around there's more Acts twenty seven

60
00:03:41.439 --> 00:03:45.879
discussion right here, sort of the Lord in the midst

61
00:03:46.120 --> 00:03:49.919
of the storm, and guess what they have right here

62
00:03:49.960 --> 00:03:53.520
as the key verse. I'll read it. But not long

63
00:03:53.639 --> 00:03:57.759
after there arose against it. A tempetuous win called urokadon

64
00:03:58.400 --> 00:04:02.879
Acts twenty seven thirteen your rock ladan, if I can

65
00:04:02.919 --> 00:04:08.199
say it correctly, Acts twenty seven fourteen. And so immediately

66
00:04:08.240 --> 00:04:10.919
I'm like, oh boy, here's another article on well the

67
00:04:11.000 --> 00:04:14.080
storm and Acts twenty seven. But guess what they what

68
00:04:14.120 --> 00:04:15.800
they do? I'm not going to read everything here because

69
00:04:15.840 --> 00:04:18.399
we will cover this. But if I read everything here,

70
00:04:18.439 --> 00:04:21.240
they kind of give the introduction they go back to

71
00:04:21.480 --> 00:04:24.160
then they tell me to jump to page fourteen and

72
00:04:24.199 --> 00:04:27.160
the sort of the Lord newspaper. So I go to fourteen.

73
00:04:27.560 --> 00:04:30.519
They kind of retell the story and Acts twenty seven

74
00:04:30.560 --> 00:04:32.839
about Paul being in this storm, and then look what

75
00:04:32.879 --> 00:04:37.040
they do. Finally it comes right here. Are you ready?

76
00:04:37.040 --> 00:04:39.800
Here's the paragraph. I do not know how many of

77
00:04:39.839 --> 00:04:43.439
you have been in any storms at sea, but I have.

78
00:04:44.160 --> 00:04:46.839
It was a bad one. We were in a large

79
00:04:46.879 --> 00:04:50.040
troop carrier when those waves became so violent they were

80
00:04:50.040 --> 00:04:52.439
breaking over the bow of the ship. The storm was

81
00:04:52.480 --> 00:04:54.720
so bad that two thirds of the crew, even the

82
00:04:54.720 --> 00:04:58.079
men regularly assigned to the ship, were seasick. What should

83
00:04:58.079 --> 00:05:02.480
one do? And thus then it starts using Ax twenty

84
00:05:02.519 --> 00:05:04.680
seven to tell us what you and I should do.

85
00:05:05.079 --> 00:05:08.319
Guess what in the storms of our life. We have

86
00:05:08.360 --> 00:05:10.759
to get rid of excess baggage. We have to get

87
00:05:10.800 --> 00:05:14.920
alone with God. We have to realize He is with us.

88
00:05:15.399 --> 00:05:19.480
Then we are to go to jump to page nineteen.

89
00:05:20.480 --> 00:05:24.079
Go to page nineteen. Then we are to believe his promises,

90
00:05:24.160 --> 00:05:26.600
and we're to thank him for all things, and we

91
00:05:26.639 --> 00:05:32.160
are to make sure of a safe landing. All right, life.

92
00:05:32.279 --> 00:05:34.759
See now, this is then getting close to the end.

93
00:05:35.160 --> 00:05:40.160
Life See is stormy and rough today, however there is grace.

94
00:05:40.279 --> 00:05:45.399
Tomorrow there could be judgment. So guess what. It's an

95
00:05:45.560 --> 00:05:48.800
article about taking ACTS twenty seven about a literal storm

96
00:05:48.959 --> 00:05:53.399
and making it, turning it into a prescriptive list of

97
00:05:53.480 --> 00:05:55.319
things you and I are to do or not do

98
00:05:55.800 --> 00:05:58.240
in the storms and our life, which has nothing to

99
00:05:58.240 --> 00:06:01.560
do with X twenty seven. That's lately I'm imposed on

100
00:06:01.720 --> 00:06:04.920
the text. Every Christian should reject that kind of preaching.

101
00:06:05.279 --> 00:06:08.000
Every Christian should reject those kinds of sermons. But not

102
00:06:08.040 --> 00:06:11.399
only do people not reject them, they love them because

103
00:06:11.439 --> 00:06:14.040
I guess they like making the Bible all about themselves.

104
00:06:14.120 --> 00:06:18.439
So that's just one example. Throwing it on the ground

105
00:06:18.879 --> 00:06:22.279
drives me crazy. But then we stumbled upon the other one.

106
00:06:22.519 --> 00:06:27.199
The other example from the Gospel Coalition. Remember their article

107
00:06:27.720 --> 00:06:34.040
Biblical Theology helps explains Paul's sea journey and Acts twenty seven.

108
00:06:34.680 --> 00:06:39.720
Now this one comes across far more academic, far more philological,

109
00:06:40.160 --> 00:06:43.839
but it still takes the same approach. It turns Acts

110
00:06:43.879 --> 00:06:47.839
twenty seven into some kind of allegory, some kind of metaphor.

111
00:06:48.360 --> 00:06:50.879
So they go through this and they're like, hey, here's

112
00:06:50.879 --> 00:06:54.000
some of the things we need to remember Paul the conqueror.

113
00:06:54.360 --> 00:07:00.639
So the story somehow becomes symbolic or the sea becomes symbolic.

114
00:07:01.800 --> 00:07:04.000
I'll just read directly from the article. The first thing

115
00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:07.079
to understand is that the sea is symbolic and the

116
00:07:07.079 --> 00:07:11.120
Biblical narrative it was known to be a place for

117
00:07:11.800 --> 00:07:14.600
It was known to be a place for Greeks or

118
00:07:14.639 --> 00:07:17.560
other nations. Jews were more land bound, and the sea

119
00:07:17.680 --> 00:07:22.879
represented that which was other. All right, So then Paul

120
00:07:22.920 --> 00:07:27.000
becomes the conqueror I guess of the other. It becomes

121
00:07:27.000 --> 00:07:31.800
symbolic of I guess Paul conquering through his missionary journeys

122
00:07:31.839 --> 00:07:35.720
just becomes ridiculous. Not only that, Paul now becomes the

123
00:07:35.800 --> 00:07:39.639
new Jonah. All right. So then somehow this gets connected

124
00:07:39.639 --> 00:07:45.399
to Jonah, then Paul the Prophet. It basically uses the

125
00:07:45.399 --> 00:07:50.439
same kind of metaphorical, allegorical, symbolic approach to Acts twenty

126
00:07:50.480 --> 00:07:54.920
seven instead of just seeing it as a historical narrative

127
00:07:55.480 --> 00:08:01.399
that's descriptive in which some philological lessons about God can

128
00:08:01.480 --> 00:08:03.959
be understood. But no, no, no, no, nobody wants to

129
00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:06.439
handle it that way. So there's the sort of the Lord,

130
00:08:06.639 --> 00:08:11.120
there's the Gospel Coalition. We've reviewed multiple sermons like what

131
00:08:11.160 --> 00:08:13.079
do I do? Like I'm almost to the point of

132
00:08:13.120 --> 00:08:16.519
just wanting to just do I keep covering these things.

133
00:08:16.519 --> 00:08:18.279
What do I do? So at some point we'll get

134
00:08:18.279 --> 00:08:21.600
to a more a positive teaching on Acts twenty seven.

135
00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:25.759
We will do a full observational outline on the chapter

136
00:08:25.839 --> 00:08:28.839
and then kind of an exegetical study and try to

137
00:08:28.839 --> 00:08:32.039
handle it in a correct way to give more more

138
00:08:32.080 --> 00:08:34.240
than just to criticize what everyone else is doing. To

139
00:08:34.240 --> 00:08:37.399
give a positive But I keep getting distracted by all

140
00:08:37.440 --> 00:08:40.399
of these other things. So I guess what I'm going

141
00:08:40.480 --> 00:08:42.600
to do in this episode. We're going to play along.

142
00:08:43.519 --> 00:08:47.039
You know what, Acts twenty seven the Bible, it talks

143
00:08:47.080 --> 00:08:49.720
about the storms of our lives, even though it doesn't.

144
00:08:49.720 --> 00:08:54.120
But okay, let's play along now, So let's go to

145
00:08:54.200 --> 00:08:58.279
the study guide that started all of this, how to

146
00:08:58.360 --> 00:09:04.120
Weather the Storms of Life. I'm looking at day one,

147
00:09:05.399 --> 00:09:08.879
Day one in this seven week study guid So far,

148
00:09:08.919 --> 00:09:11.919
all all we've done is worked on the introduction. Just note,

149
00:09:11.919 --> 00:09:13.960
if we go through all seven weeks of this, we're

150
00:09:13.960 --> 00:09:18.000
gonna be doing this series until until I'm dead. But

151
00:09:18.080 --> 00:09:21.240
that's okay. So here we go. Now we're gonna play along,

152
00:09:21.360 --> 00:09:23.720
ladies and gentlemen, We're gonna play along here. I'm not

153
00:09:23.840 --> 00:09:26.759
going to be criticizing the use of this illustration and

154
00:09:26.799 --> 00:09:30.240
this symbolic idea and this whole metaphor about the storms

155
00:09:30.240 --> 00:09:32.320
of life. I'm not going to criticize it. I'm just

156
00:09:32.399 --> 00:09:35.759
going to play along with it. So are you ready?

157
00:09:36.559 --> 00:09:46.200
Here we go, Day one. Reasons for storms. First, ponder

158
00:09:46.279 --> 00:09:48.080
it is what the study guide tells me to do

159
00:09:49.279 --> 00:09:53.519
when we are in the middle of life, of one

160
00:09:53.559 --> 00:09:57.399
of life's storms, just immediately, it just it just assumes

161
00:09:57.440 --> 00:10:01.639
the metaphor. It just like everyone's just accept this. When

162
00:10:01.679 --> 00:10:03.639
we are in the middle of one of life storms,

163
00:10:03.879 --> 00:10:09.519
we often ask God, why is it happening? Scripture tells

164
00:10:09.600 --> 00:10:15.799
us four reasons we can find ourselves in a storm. Okay,

165
00:10:15.919 --> 00:10:19.279
so we're gonna be given four reasons why you and

166
00:10:19.360 --> 00:10:22.759
I find ourself in the midst of storms, not real storms,

167
00:10:22.960 --> 00:10:27.600
metaphorical storms, all right, allegorical storms, storms that are symbolic

168
00:10:27.639 --> 00:10:34.360
of trials and difficulties in our lives. Four reasons Are

169
00:10:34.399 --> 00:10:39.039
you ready for? These four reasons? Number one, we live

170
00:10:39.080 --> 00:10:44.440
in a fallen world. Unfortunately, even if we are believers,

171
00:10:44.480 --> 00:10:47.039
we will face life's challenges until we get to Heaven.

172
00:10:47.559 --> 00:10:52.799
Good things and bad things happen to us all Matthew

173
00:10:53.000 --> 00:10:56.279
five forty five. He makes his son rise on the

174
00:10:56.360 --> 00:10:58.919
evil and on the good, and he sends rain on

175
00:10:58.960 --> 00:11:02.440
the just and on the unjust. So we live in

176
00:11:02.480 --> 00:11:04.639
a fallen world. Will we may talk about these in

177
00:11:04.679 --> 00:11:06.440
a little bit more depth. I just want you to

178
00:11:06.480 --> 00:11:08.440
at least hear them. I mean, if you have the

179
00:11:08.480 --> 00:11:10.759
study guid I told everyone to download it, then you

180
00:11:10.799 --> 00:11:12.960
can be looking at this for yourself. But I want

181
00:11:12.960 --> 00:11:15.519
you to really contemplate these four reasons why you have

182
00:11:15.559 --> 00:11:17.879
difficulties in your life. Number one, we live in a

183
00:11:17.960 --> 00:11:22.480
fallen world. We just it's just a natural consequence of

184
00:11:22.519 --> 00:11:24.759
living in a fall fallen world. So there's going to

185
00:11:24.799 --> 00:11:31.440
be pain, suffering, death, tragedy, disaster. Okay, all right, I

186
00:11:31.440 --> 00:11:36.960
mean I still got lots of philosophical questions, but okay.

187
00:11:37.720 --> 00:11:42.720
Number two, we create storms through our own foolishness and disobedience.

188
00:11:43.000 --> 00:11:45.279
Jonah found himself in one of these storms when he

189
00:11:45.320 --> 00:11:47.759
tried to flee from the presence of the Lord. He

190
00:11:47.840 --> 00:11:51.720
ended up being swallowed by a fish because of his disobedience.

191
00:11:52.039 --> 00:11:53.639
So the first reason you can be in the middle

192
00:11:53.639 --> 00:11:55.519
of a storm in your life is just because, well,

193
00:11:55.559 --> 00:11:59.399
you live in a fallen world, so things happen. Number two, Well,

194
00:11:59.519 --> 00:12:02.120
it could be because you're your own foolishness and your

195
00:12:02.159 --> 00:12:05.679
own disobedience. So the storms could be your fault. It

196
00:12:05.679 --> 00:12:08.720
could be natural consequences of living in a fallen world,

197
00:12:08.919 --> 00:12:14.159
or it could be your fault. Number three. God uses

198
00:12:14.200 --> 00:12:17.960
storms to help us mature. Sometimes God allows us to

199
00:12:18.000 --> 00:12:22.159
go through storms for our own development, to make us

200
00:12:22.279 --> 00:12:28.240
more like Him and Matthew fourteen, Jesus commanded his disciples

201
00:12:28.279 --> 00:12:30.120
to get into a ship and sell to the other

202
00:12:30.200 --> 00:12:34.759
side of the sea, right into a storm. He did

203
00:12:34.840 --> 00:12:39.080
this to teach them a lesson about trusting the Lord. Sometime,

204
00:12:39.600 --> 00:12:43.960
sometimes God sends us through storms to disciple and teach.

205
00:12:44.720 --> 00:12:48.120
So sometimes it's just natural consequences. Sometimes it's the result

206
00:12:48.240 --> 00:12:52.120
of your own disobedience and foolishness. And sometimes God is

207
00:12:52.159 --> 00:12:55.360
doing this to mature you. The reason you're suffering, the

208
00:12:55.399 --> 00:12:58.799
reason there's paining, the reason there's difficulty. Well God, see,

209
00:12:58.840 --> 00:13:01.320
isn't it a wonderful thing? Because God is doing it

210
00:13:01.360 --> 00:13:04.840
to mature you? And please know what they did. They

211
00:13:04.960 --> 00:13:08.440
used Matthew fourteen to support that point. But let me

212
00:13:08.480 --> 00:13:11.559
make it very clear. Matthew fourteen has nothing to do

213
00:13:11.799 --> 00:13:13.879
about the storms in your life or the storms of

214
00:13:13.919 --> 00:13:17.639
my life. Matthew fourteen is about a literal storm. That

215
00:13:17.879 --> 00:13:20.360
the whole purpose of that story. I don't think I

216
00:13:20.360 --> 00:13:22.639
had anything to do with about how about the storms

217
00:13:22.639 --> 00:13:24.320
in your life? For my life? I think it had

218
00:13:24.320 --> 00:13:27.799
more to do about something about Christ. But I digress,

219
00:13:27.919 --> 00:13:31.000
and we will get into these in further detail. And

220
00:13:31.039 --> 00:13:36.759
then number four we get dragged into storms by other people.

221
00:13:37.600 --> 00:13:40.440
Paul experienced this kind of storm in Acts twenty seven.

222
00:13:40.679 --> 00:13:42.879
Paul did not choose to be a prisoner on the ship.

223
00:13:42.919 --> 00:13:46.120
In fact, he was experienced. He was an experienced sailor,

224
00:13:46.519 --> 00:13:49.799
made many journeys at sea, and even endured a shipwreck

225
00:13:50.039 --> 00:13:52.879
when the ship he was on headed into the storm.

226
00:13:53.080 --> 00:13:55.600
He knew everyone aboard was in trouble. He tried to

227
00:13:55.639 --> 00:13:58.240
warm people, but they would not listen. All of us

228
00:13:58.240 --> 00:14:02.879
face storms that are not of our own making. Sometimes

229
00:14:02.960 --> 00:14:05.960
children have problems because of their parents, and vice versa.

230
00:14:06.039 --> 00:14:09.960
Sometimes we face challenges because of poor decisions that others make.

231
00:14:10.240 --> 00:14:15.000
That was the case for Paul So according to this article.

232
00:14:15.279 --> 00:14:17.919
According to this study guide, there can be four reasons

233
00:14:17.960 --> 00:14:20.840
you have storms in your life, all right. Number one,

234
00:14:20.919 --> 00:14:24.159
you live in a fallen world. It's just the natural consequence. However,

235
00:14:25.600 --> 00:14:27.960
sometimes you could be in the midst of the storm

236
00:14:28.120 --> 00:14:32.200
because of your own foolishness and your own disobedience. Number three,

237
00:14:32.720 --> 00:14:36.159
sometimes God sends you into the storm so that he

238
00:14:36.240 --> 00:14:40.440
can mature you. And number four, you're in the storm

239
00:14:40.480 --> 00:14:44.720
because someone else dragged you into it. Right, Four reasons

240
00:14:44.720 --> 00:14:47.279
for storms in your life. Now. You may love those

241
00:14:47.279 --> 00:14:49.919
four points. You may be writing those down right now.

242
00:14:50.039 --> 00:14:52.200
You may want to put them on your refrigerator, and

243
00:14:52.240 --> 00:14:55.519
you may think they're wonderful. But are they wonderful? Well? First,

244
00:14:56.039 --> 00:14:58.159
even if you think they're wonderful, do they actually come

245
00:14:58.159 --> 00:15:05.559
from the Bible? Are they being imposed on the Bible,

246
00:15:05.600 --> 00:15:07.960
and then we're acting like it's being pulled from the Bible.

247
00:15:08.440 --> 00:15:11.559
I mean, that's an issue. Then the article goes on

248
00:15:13.440 --> 00:15:19.159
to quote Acts twenty seven nine through eleven. Now, when

249
00:15:19.279 --> 00:15:23.279
much time has been spent and sailing was now dangerous

250
00:15:23.320 --> 00:15:27.360
because the fast was already over, Paul advised them, saying, men,

251
00:15:27.840 --> 00:15:30.679
I perceive that this voyage will end with disaster and

252
00:15:30.759 --> 00:15:33.759
much loss, not only of the cargo and ship, but

253
00:15:33.799 --> 00:15:38.879
also our lives. Nevertheless, this centurion was more persuaded by

254
00:15:39.039 --> 00:15:43.360
the held helmsman, if I can speak correctly, and the

255
00:15:43.399 --> 00:15:47.360
owner of the ship, than by the thing spoken by Paul. See,

256
00:15:47.440 --> 00:15:50.240
this situation was completely out of Paul's control. The owner

257
00:15:50.279 --> 00:15:53.039
of the ship, likely a businessman, was more probably was

258
00:15:53.080 --> 00:15:56.039
probably motivated more by profit. Paul, a man of God,

259
00:15:56.120 --> 00:15:58.200
knew that it was for everyone's good that the ship

260
00:15:58.240 --> 00:16:00.960
waited to sail. Paul found self in a storm that

261
00:16:01.039 --> 00:16:05.600
was the result of the poor decisions of others. Rather,

262
00:16:05.639 --> 00:16:09.080
we face the storms of life, whether we face the

263
00:16:09.120 --> 00:16:12.440
normal storms of life, storms from our sins, or storms

264
00:16:12.440 --> 00:16:16.000
from our development for our development, or storms that we

265
00:16:16.039 --> 00:16:19.080
have been dragged into, we will all face storms in

266
00:16:19.159 --> 00:16:22.919
our lives. The question is for you? How will you

267
00:16:23.080 --> 00:16:30.840
navigate the storms? So it just doubles down on that right,

268
00:16:31.159 --> 00:16:34.039
So then it says, put it in writing, what kind

269
00:16:34.039 --> 00:16:37.000
of storms have you faced in your own life? What

270
00:16:37.120 --> 00:16:38.840
kind of storms have you faced in your own life? See,

271
00:16:38.879 --> 00:16:41.399
all of a sudden, this all becomes about you, even

272
00:16:41.440 --> 00:16:43.879
though it's quoting from Max twenty seven, which has nothing

273
00:16:43.919 --> 00:16:46.879
to do with you, And how becomes about you? What

274
00:16:46.960 --> 00:16:49.519
kind of storms have you faced in your life? Are

275
00:16:49.559 --> 00:16:52.440
you going through a storm right now? Do you see

276
00:16:52.440 --> 00:16:56.279
a storm on the horizon. Is the storm you're currently

277
00:16:56.320 --> 00:16:59.399
facing something you helped create or something out of your control?

278
00:16:59.639 --> 00:17:01.559
How do a storm that is out of your control

279
00:17:01.559 --> 00:17:06.480
feel different from a storm you helped create? And then

280
00:17:06.480 --> 00:17:11.839
that's the end of that particular day. So four reasons,

281
00:17:12.160 --> 00:17:14.599
all right, class? What are the four reasons given in

282
00:17:14.640 --> 00:17:20.279
the study guide? Four reasons for why we may face

283
00:17:20.319 --> 00:17:23.720
storms in our life? Number one, it's the natural consequences

284
00:17:23.720 --> 00:17:26.640
of living in a fallen world. Number two could be

285
00:17:26.640 --> 00:17:30.400
because my own foolishness and my own disobedience. Number three

286
00:17:31.160 --> 00:17:33.799
God may have sent me into storm to mature me,

287
00:17:34.119 --> 00:17:37.400
to develop me. Or number four, I was dragged into

288
00:17:37.440 --> 00:17:42.480
this storm by someone else. Now what do you think?

289
00:17:42.799 --> 00:17:48.559
Do you like that? Do you love that? What do

290
00:17:48.599 --> 00:17:53.200
you think? So well, I started working on this, and well,

291
00:17:53.279 --> 00:17:57.000
let's analyze this. Let's offer some analysis and critique. I

292
00:17:57.039 --> 00:18:00.799
also asked artificial intelligence to give me it's thoughts on

293
00:18:00.839 --> 00:18:04.599
these four points. And well, are you ready to see

294
00:18:05.079 --> 00:18:07.920
what artificial intelligence had to say? And I'll share some

295
00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:11.559
of my thoughts. That'll all be mixed together. Let's just see. Now,

296
00:18:11.920 --> 00:18:14.400
I want you to write those four things down and

297
00:18:14.599 --> 00:18:17.039
let me make it very clear. Like as I'm saying

298
00:18:17.039 --> 00:18:19.440
those I'm like, man, this guy, I could preach this.

299
00:18:19.519 --> 00:18:22.039
I could turn this into a sermon, and people sitting

300
00:18:22.039 --> 00:18:26.839
in church with love it. Right, It's very practical, it's relatable.

301
00:18:27.119 --> 00:18:31.720
Everyone goes through difficulties in their life, right, everyone does.

302
00:18:32.119 --> 00:18:35.039
So you give them four possible reasons, so then everyone

303
00:18:35.079 --> 00:18:36.920
can sit there going, well, I'm going through this difficult

304
00:18:37.200 --> 00:18:39.640
Well I got dragged into this one. This is not

305
00:18:39.720 --> 00:18:42.279
even my fault, or oh this is my fault, or

306
00:18:42.519 --> 00:18:45.279
or maybe this is just the natural consequences I've living

307
00:18:45.279 --> 00:18:47.480
in a fallen world, or maybe God put me in

308
00:18:47.519 --> 00:18:50.400
this storm so I could I could be matured. I mean,

309
00:18:50.559 --> 00:18:55.480
people will love having an explanation for why they're going

310
00:18:55.480 --> 00:18:58.440
through difficulties in their life. They will love that. So

311
00:18:58.519 --> 00:19:02.240
from a preaching stamp point that study guide, I guarantee

312
00:19:02.240 --> 00:19:04.319
you pastors who see it will turn that into a

313
00:19:04.359 --> 00:19:09.599
sermon and probably two point three seconds. But none of

314
00:19:09.640 --> 00:19:13.440
those points were derived from the text. They don't come

315
00:19:13.480 --> 00:19:16.240
from Acts twenty seven, don't come from Matthew fourteen, They

316
00:19:16.279 --> 00:19:19.200
don't come from anywhere. You may think those are good

317
00:19:19.640 --> 00:19:22.599
life lessons, but you can find those same life lessons.

318
00:19:22.640 --> 00:19:27.279
That's probably in any good self help book. Are they

319
00:19:27.279 --> 00:19:34.599
what the text says? So? AI says this the teaching

320
00:19:34.680 --> 00:19:39.880
outline four Reasons for Storms, trials or Trials and Life,

321
00:19:39.920 --> 00:19:43.400
citing Acts twenty seven, Jonah, and Matthew fourteen to support

322
00:19:43.440 --> 00:19:46.519
its claims. While some of the points contain maybe valid

323
00:19:46.559 --> 00:19:50.839
Biblical principles, there are thiological, logical, and harmoneutical errors that

324
00:19:50.880 --> 00:19:55.519
distort the meaning of the passages. Now, please not even

325
00:19:55.559 --> 00:19:58.000
though some of the principles may sound good, Even if

326
00:19:58.039 --> 00:20:00.000
you could argue some of the principles are taught so

327
00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:04.039
somewhere else in scripture, the issue is there is problems

328
00:20:04.319 --> 00:20:06.559
in the text that they cite. Because the text they

329
00:20:06.599 --> 00:20:09.680
cite are not saying what they're claiming that's being said.

330
00:20:09.920 --> 00:20:12.839
This is a classic example of where you're reading something

331
00:20:12.920 --> 00:20:17.440
into the text, but because it sounds good, it sounds spiritual,

332
00:20:17.680 --> 00:20:22.200
it sounds devotional, it sounds relevant, everyone in the puel

333
00:20:22.200 --> 00:20:26.119
will eat it up. But yet they'll criticize someone else

334
00:20:26.240 --> 00:20:29.480
who reads something into scripture. Look, you're either against everything

335
00:20:29.519 --> 00:20:32.440
read into scripture or you've got to support it all.

336
00:20:32.480 --> 00:20:36.960
You can't just pick and choose. So AI starts with

337
00:20:37.000 --> 00:20:41.880
the phiological errors. This is what AI says over emphasis

338
00:20:42.240 --> 00:20:46.599
on categorizing storms as a universal system. The teaching implies

339
00:20:46.640 --> 00:20:49.519
that all storms fit neatly into one of four categories

340
00:20:50.119 --> 00:20:53.759
general suffering in a fallen world, storms caused by personal sin,

341
00:20:54.079 --> 00:20:56.920
storm sent by God for growth, or storms caused by

342
00:20:56.960 --> 00:21:00.440
others decisions. Now, this is what AI says, that there's

343
00:21:00.480 --> 00:21:05.240
a problem while these are biblical. While these are biblical realities,

344
00:21:05.440 --> 00:21:09.799
Scripture does not systematize suffering this way. Not all suffering

345
00:21:09.799 --> 00:21:13.599
fits neatly into these categories. The Bible presents a complex

346
00:21:13.720 --> 00:21:20.640
views of trials. Job suffering doesn't fit any of those perfectly. Now,

347
00:21:20.640 --> 00:21:23.720
some people say God does this to help Job grow

348
00:21:24.119 --> 00:21:27.079
well again, so he killed his entire all of his

349
00:21:27.160 --> 00:21:30.160
kids just so that job could grow. I mean that

350
00:21:30.160 --> 00:21:32.920
that's kind of twisted. Hey, hey, I'm going to kill

351
00:21:32.960 --> 00:21:36.200
your children so that you can grow spiritually. That doesn't

352
00:21:36.200 --> 00:21:39.599
seem to be what the text even implies. This all

353
00:21:39.640 --> 00:21:44.920
happens so God could prove a point to Satan. So

354
00:21:45.200 --> 00:21:49.119
it does. Maybe it doesn't fit perfectly. The danger is

355
00:21:49.119 --> 00:21:52.920
that people may forcefit their struggles into these categories rather

356
00:21:52.960 --> 00:21:56.119
than seeking wisdom and discernment about their circumstances. And that

357
00:21:56.359 --> 00:21:59.319
is what can happen. Hey, here's the four reasons. You

358
00:21:59.319 --> 00:22:01.079
can be in the middle of a storm in your life.

359
00:22:01.119 --> 00:22:03.759
So you've got to try to take your circumstance and

360
00:22:03.920 --> 00:22:06.880
fit it in there, and you've got to just assume

361
00:22:06.960 --> 00:22:11.680
that you're fitting it in the right category. So that's

362
00:22:11.759 --> 00:22:16.160
kind of a thilological Eric number two. It misrepresents God's

363
00:22:16.200 --> 00:22:19.720
role in suffering. The teaching suggests that every storm has

364
00:22:19.759 --> 00:22:23.640
a clear divine purpose, particularly in the maturing category, which

365
00:22:23.680 --> 00:22:27.480
is point number three. The problem. Not every trial is

366
00:22:27.519 --> 00:22:33.160
meant to teach us a lesson. Ooh, I want you

367
00:22:33.200 --> 00:22:39.880
to write that down. Not every trial is meant to

368
00:22:39.960 --> 00:22:42.759
teach us a lesson. Do you agree with that or

369
00:22:42.759 --> 00:22:48.480
disagree with that? Is every trial designed to teach you

370
00:22:48.480 --> 00:22:50.519
a lesson? I think this is a common teaching in

371
00:22:50.559 --> 00:22:54.160
most churches. Everything you're going through, every trial, every pain,

372
00:22:54.559 --> 00:22:57.440
all the suffering, it's meant to teach you a lesson.

373
00:22:58.240 --> 00:23:00.759
And I think most Christians think that that's true, and

374
00:23:00.799 --> 00:23:02.880
so they'll try to find They'll try to say, oh,

375
00:23:02.920 --> 00:23:06.920
I learned this so so so it was great. I

376
00:23:07.039 --> 00:23:10.319
learned something because my mother died when I was young. Well, man,

377
00:23:10.359 --> 00:23:13.000
I'm so glad I learned something. I mean, she's dead,

378
00:23:13.000 --> 00:23:15.599
but I'm glad. I'll my father dies of cancer. I'm

379
00:23:15.640 --> 00:23:20.319
so glad he died. I got to does every does

380
00:23:20.400 --> 00:23:23.680
every lesson? Does every trial teach a lesson? Is it

381
00:23:23.839 --> 00:23:28.319
meant to teach a lesson? Now, learning lessons from it

382
00:23:28.359 --> 00:23:30.319
doesn't mean that's what the trial was meant to do.

383
00:23:30.440 --> 00:23:32.359
It just means that you can. We can learn lessons

384
00:23:32.359 --> 00:23:35.480
from pretty much anything, right if you want, if you

385
00:23:35.519 --> 00:23:42.680
try hard enough. We could get into a discussion here. Now,

386
00:23:42.720 --> 00:23:46.440
while God uses suffering for growth, some suffering simply as

387
00:23:46.480 --> 00:23:49.079
a result of living in a fallen world, Now that

388
00:23:49.160 --> 00:23:51.519
seems to go now to be fair, that seems to

389
00:23:51.559 --> 00:23:55.440
go back to. Maybe it's just the consequence of living

390
00:23:55.480 --> 00:23:57.759
in a fallen world. So if it's a consequence of

391
00:23:57.759 --> 00:23:59.440
living in a fallen world, then you can't say that

392
00:23:59.480 --> 00:24:02.160
every trial's meant to teach a lesson because some suffering

393
00:24:02.480 --> 00:24:04.960
has no real purpose. It's just you live in a

394
00:24:04.960 --> 00:24:11.200
fallen world, so you get to suffer. So then maybe

395
00:24:11.279 --> 00:24:15.160
number one. Maybe number one does at least eliminate the

396
00:24:15.279 --> 00:24:19.440
idea that every trial is meant to teach a lesson.

397
00:24:23.200 --> 00:24:25.880
So if you're not careful, though, you can lead people

398
00:24:25.880 --> 00:24:28.759
to seek hidden lessons and suffering that may not exist.

399
00:24:29.000 --> 00:24:30.759
Sometimes I think a lot of people are looking for

400
00:24:30.759 --> 00:24:35.119
some lesson. They gotta state some lesson. But look, if

401
00:24:36.400 --> 00:24:38.759
trials can happen simply as a result of living in

402
00:24:38.759 --> 00:24:41.160
the fallen world, that means there is no lesson in

403
00:24:41.200 --> 00:24:43.559
it other than I guess you live in a fallen world.

404
00:24:43.799 --> 00:24:45.880
So then maybe there is a lesson. I don't know,

405
00:24:48.599 --> 00:24:50.599
But is it again, is it meant to teach a

406
00:24:50.680 --> 00:24:54.680
lesson or can just lessons be taken from it? That's

407
00:24:54.720 --> 00:24:57.519
a difference. Right, Hey, I'm going through this because God

408
00:24:57.519 --> 00:25:00.839
wants to teach me a lesson. Well, in some cases

409
00:25:01.240 --> 00:25:03.480
that wouldn't be the case, because it's just the result

410
00:25:03.519 --> 00:25:08.680
of living in a fallen world. How about logical errors

411
00:25:10.200 --> 00:25:14.519
a misapplication of Acts twenty seven. The teaching claims that

412
00:25:14.559 --> 00:25:18.400
Acts twenty seven shows Paul being dragged into a storm

413
00:25:18.599 --> 00:25:22.960
because of others' poor decisions. Well, here's the problem. While

414
00:25:22.960 --> 00:25:24.799
it is true that Paul was caught in the storm

415
00:25:25.079 --> 00:25:27.480
due to the centurion's choice, the main point of Acts

416
00:25:27.480 --> 00:25:30.880
twenty seven is not about storms others create for us.

417
00:25:31.240 --> 00:25:35.079
Acts twenty seven is about God's sovereign plan to bring

418
00:25:35.200 --> 00:25:42.079
Paul to Rome. Right. In fact, let me look here,

419
00:25:43.960 --> 00:25:46.279
which is just once again, this is what happens when

420
00:25:46.279 --> 00:25:50.039
you start turning things into metaphors, and you start doing

421
00:25:50.039 --> 00:25:53.319
this and you're preaching and teaching, you end up creating

422
00:25:53.559 --> 00:25:57.519
many cases full blown contradiction. So I'm going to go

423
00:25:57.559 --> 00:26:04.480
to Acts Chapter twenty three, Acts twenty three eleven, and

424
00:26:04.559 --> 00:26:07.039
the night following the Lord stood by him and said,

425
00:26:07.079 --> 00:26:09.880
be of good cheer, Paul, For as thou hast testified

426
00:26:09.920 --> 00:26:13.480
of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also

427
00:26:13.799 --> 00:26:19.039
at Rome. So Act twenty seven is not about it

428
00:26:19.400 --> 00:26:22.960
is about God's sovereign plan to bring Paul to Rome,

429
00:26:23.039 --> 00:26:25.400
Acts twenty three eleven. It's not a general lesson on

430
00:26:25.480 --> 00:26:29.079
life's difficulties. It's not that he got pulled into this,

431
00:26:30.240 --> 00:26:32.240
because remember their whole point and their study and the

432
00:26:32.240 --> 00:26:35.359
study guide was sometimes you get pulled into storms. Has

433
00:26:35.400 --> 00:26:38.200
nothing to do with you. Now your fault. Paul is

434
00:26:38.240 --> 00:26:41.319
put into the storm because of God's sovereign decision to

435
00:26:41.400 --> 00:26:43.519
bring him to Rome. This is how he's going to

436
00:26:43.599 --> 00:26:50.039
getting there. The storm wasn't about Paul's personal suffering. It

437
00:26:50.119 --> 00:26:52.599
was a part of God's plan to advance the gospel.

438
00:26:54.440 --> 00:26:57.920
So there's a logical fallacy in all of this false equivalence.

439
00:26:58.119 --> 00:27:01.680
Equitting Paul's shipwreck to general life struggles misses the entire

440
00:27:01.720 --> 00:27:06.200
point of the passage. So when say that sounded good,

441
00:27:06.519 --> 00:27:09.359
Sometimes you get pulled into storms and it's not your fault.

442
00:27:09.480 --> 00:27:12.000
You get pulled in by other people. Well, look Paul,

443
00:27:12.519 --> 00:27:15.960
Paul in Acts twenty seven, he got pulled into this.

444
00:27:16.079 --> 00:27:18.079
He didn't want to be a prison. Well wait a minute,

445
00:27:18.119 --> 00:27:22.000
wait a minute. Acts twenty three says hey, I'm going

446
00:27:22.039 --> 00:27:24.599
to bring you to Rome. This is how Paul is

447
00:27:24.599 --> 00:27:27.559
getting there. This is a part of the divine plan.

448
00:27:27.599 --> 00:27:30.000
This is the part of the sovereign plan. Now, what

449
00:27:30.039 --> 00:27:33.559
we could do is say that God's sovereign plan sometimes

450
00:27:33.640 --> 00:27:36.279
takes us through a path and a journey that may

451
00:27:36.319 --> 00:27:38.680
not make any sense from a human perspective, because from

452
00:27:38.680 --> 00:27:41.279
a human perspective you get like, hey, God, you could

453
00:27:41.319 --> 00:27:44.960
just get Paul to Rome and the easiest way possible.

454
00:27:45.160 --> 00:27:47.599
But no, he doesn't getting there in the easiest way possible.

455
00:27:47.680 --> 00:27:51.119
He has n't become a prisoner, go through a massive

456
00:27:51.119 --> 00:27:56.799
storm and a shipwreck. Why. Well, the text doesn't necessarily

457
00:27:56.799 --> 00:27:59.759
say why other than this show that God is in control.

458
00:28:06.759 --> 00:28:09.400
So some of the logical errors we have a misapplication

459
00:28:09.440 --> 00:28:11.480
of ACX twenty seven. We have an incorrect use of

460
00:28:11.519 --> 00:28:16.119
Matthew fourteen Jesus calming the storm. The teaching states and

461
00:28:16.160 --> 00:28:19.400
again quoting sometimes God allows us to go through storms

462
00:28:19.400 --> 00:28:22.079
for our own development, to make us more like him.

463
00:28:22.359 --> 00:28:25.359
And Matthew fourteen, Jesus commanded his disciples to get into

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

987
01:01:46.199 --> 01:01:53.400
of suffering that we encounter in this world. That suffering

988
01:01:53.480 --> 01:01:56.480
calls us to want to question God. But God is

989
01:01:56.719 --> 01:01:59.719
irregardless of what happens. Now, why can there be a

990
01:01:59.760 --> 01:02:03.000
God and these things happen? Is the question that's been

991
01:02:03.039 --> 01:02:06.320
asked for two thousand years. The Christians tried there. They

992
01:02:06.360 --> 01:02:08.599
always try to come up. Someone will try to sound

993
01:02:08.800 --> 01:02:13.679
very academic and very philological and offering their answers, and

994
01:02:13.679 --> 01:02:17.920
that may you soothe the conscience of some people, make

995
01:02:17.960 --> 01:02:21.400
them feel better. But the reality is, in most cases

996
01:02:21.440 --> 01:02:25.480
it's not even a decent answer, because at the very

997
01:02:25.639 --> 01:02:28.800
least you have a God who knew what was going

998
01:02:28.840 --> 01:02:32.199
to happen, and not just all the way back at

999
01:02:32.239 --> 01:02:34.440
the beginning knew what was going to happen, but all

1000
01:02:34.519 --> 01:02:38.679
through everything happening. No, he knew, and he knows what's

1001
01:02:38.679 --> 01:02:43.239
getting ready to happen, and he chose not to intervene

1002
01:02:43.360 --> 01:02:45.960
to stop it from happening, and he's not intervening now

1003
01:02:46.000 --> 01:02:48.320
to stop it from happening. That's, at the very least,

1004
01:02:48.599 --> 01:02:51.320
you have a God who at least knows, who chooses

1005
01:02:51.400 --> 01:02:55.480
not to intervene. That's at the very least. At the

1006
01:02:55.599 --> 01:03:00.280
very most, you have a God who ordains it, decreed it,

1007
01:03:00.280 --> 01:03:07.760
it's a part of his providence. And that's even more problematic.

1008
01:03:07.760 --> 01:03:10.679
And we've discussed these very things when we talk about prayer.

1009
01:03:16.880 --> 01:03:25.559
Why are there storms? I mean, if you really just

1010
01:03:25.880 --> 01:03:32.639
remove all of the talk you have to, you're gonna

1011
01:03:32.679 --> 01:03:34.920
end up right back looking into the face of God

1012
01:03:35.559 --> 01:03:37.960
metaphorically speaking, right, You're going to be looking right at

1013
01:03:38.000 --> 01:03:52.039
God because he's the one who created everything. And even

1014
01:03:52.039 --> 01:03:54.159
if you say the storms are somehow for our good,

1015
01:03:54.239 --> 01:03:56.239
even if you try, you've gotta be very careful even

1016
01:03:56.320 --> 01:04:00.519
with saying that, right, because all the storm in the world,

1017
01:04:00.559 --> 01:04:02.039
I don't care how much you I don't care how

1018
01:04:02.119 --> 01:04:06.440
much you're beaten. I don't care how much you're abused, molested.

1019
01:04:06.679 --> 01:04:10.199
I don't care how many horrible diseases you suffer for,

1020
01:04:10.320 --> 01:04:13.239
and painful surgeries and painful rehab you have to go through.

1021
01:04:13.440 --> 01:04:15.480
I don't care how many horrible things happen to you.

1022
01:04:15.559 --> 01:04:17.760
I don't care if everyone abandons you. I don't care

1023
01:04:17.760 --> 01:04:20.159
if you end up alone. None of that changes your

1024
01:04:20.199 --> 01:04:26.960
sinful nature, and your problems arise from your sinful nature.

1025
01:04:27.280 --> 01:04:30.480
None of that changes your sinful nature. Your sinful nature

1026
01:04:30.519 --> 01:04:33.119
is the thing that really if you're really going to change,

1027
01:04:33.159 --> 01:04:35.119
if there's really going to be any growth, you need

1028
01:04:35.159 --> 01:04:44.840
to get rid of your sinful nature. There you have

1029
01:04:44.920 --> 01:04:49.679
it once again. AX twenty seven is used Matthew fourteen

1030
01:04:49.760 --> 01:04:51.719
is used in a way that has nothing to do

1031
01:04:51.840 --> 01:04:55.719
with that. Did you do you like those four things

1032
01:04:55.760 --> 01:04:58.119
given in the study guide? Why do things happen? Why

1033
01:04:58.119 --> 01:05:01.880
do storms happen? Because general suffering, General suffering happens in

1034
01:05:01.920 --> 01:05:05.199
a fallen world. It's just the natural consequences. Storms are

1035
01:05:05.199 --> 01:05:08.159
caused by your own failure and your own disobedience. Storm

1036
01:05:08.199 --> 01:05:11.360
is somehow sent by God to help you grow. Even

1037
01:05:11.400 --> 01:05:14.000
though Matthew fourteen has nothing to do with that, and well,

1038
01:05:14.079 --> 01:05:16.679
storms sometimes are there because you were drug into them

1039
01:05:16.719 --> 01:05:18.719
by other people. And then he tried to use AC

1040
01:05:18.880 --> 01:05:22.159
twenty seven to prove that. Next twenty seven actually argues

1041
01:05:22.280 --> 01:05:25.159
against that. Paul was not there because someone drug him

1042
01:05:25.159 --> 01:05:26.960
in there. He was there because God put him there

1043
01:05:30.079 --> 01:05:33.559
to get him to Rome. Why did he use that way?

1044
01:05:35.320 --> 01:05:38.480
Does the text really sell? It just proves God is sovereign,

1045
01:05:38.800 --> 01:05:42.800
which I mean it gives you could derive some lesson

1046
01:05:42.880 --> 01:05:45.639
from that. All right, I'll stop right there. Thanks for listening.

1047
01:05:47.960 --> 01:05:49.320
I told you it wasn't going to be fun. I

1048
01:05:49.360 --> 01:05:50.599
told you it was going to be I don't know

1049
01:05:50.639 --> 01:05:52.320
if I said those words. I told you it was

1050
01:05:52.360 --> 01:05:55.119
going to be difficult, and not everyone was going to

1051
01:05:55.199 --> 01:05:56.760
like what I have to say, and that Christians would

1052
01:05:56.760 --> 01:05:59.800
get defensive. There are Christians right now, very defensive. Probably

1053
01:05:59.800 --> 01:06:02.239
are already trying to type something up to try to

1054
01:06:02.280 --> 01:06:04.360
prove me wrong. You're gonna go look in your you know,

1055
01:06:04.519 --> 01:06:07.159
apologetics one oh one handbook and try to give me

1056
01:06:07.199 --> 01:06:09.960
the same tired points the Christians have been trying to

1057
01:06:09.960 --> 01:06:12.920
say for two thousand years to make themselves feel better.

1058
01:06:13.000 --> 01:06:15.000
If you need to make yourself feel better. Make yourself

1059
01:06:15.039 --> 01:06:17.800
feel better. It doesn't change the reality of what I've

1060
01:06:17.840 --> 01:06:20.480
just spoken of. You either deal with reality or just

1061
01:06:20.519 --> 01:06:24.639
make yourself feel better just to defend, to defend your team,

1062
01:06:24.719 --> 01:06:28.239
if I can speak correctly. But I don't care about

1063
01:06:28.280 --> 01:06:30.400
defending anyone's team, and I don't care about who gets

1064
01:06:30.440 --> 01:06:32.760
offended or doesn't get offended. We have to look into

1065
01:06:32.800 --> 01:06:35.159
the reality of what is in front of us, what

1066
01:06:35.360 --> 01:06:38.679
happens in life, and not paint it up in some

1067
01:06:39.239 --> 01:06:42.960
nice little religious religious words to make us all feel

1068
01:06:43.039 --> 01:06:47.639
better sitting in the pew, because in practicality it rarely works.

1069
01:06:51.280 --> 01:06:55.800
All right, thanks for listening. I think I don't know

1070
01:06:55.800 --> 01:06:58.519
what else I can say about any of it, because

1071
01:06:58.519 --> 01:07:01.320
it's all painful, it's all difficult. It's all difficult, and

1072
01:07:01.360 --> 01:07:07.239
trust me, I've wrestled with this my entire Christian life.

1073
01:07:08.639 --> 01:07:10.079
If I just go through all the horrible things that

1074
01:07:10.159 --> 01:07:12.679
happened to me and my own life, give me a break.

1075
01:07:13.400 --> 01:07:15.679
So all right, we'll stop there. There's much more I

1076
01:07:15.679 --> 01:07:19.039
would like to say, but I've probably already caused enough problems.

1077
01:07:19.039 --> 01:07:23.519
All right, everyone, have a great day, Put those four

1078
01:07:23.559 --> 01:07:26.880
reasons on your refrigerator, and have a family discussion about it.

1079
01:07:27.559 --> 01:07:30.920
There'll probably be some in the family going, that's really good, Amen,

1080
01:07:31.039 --> 01:07:33.480
thank you for putting that there, and they'll probably be

1081
01:07:33.519 --> 01:07:36.039
that one person like me, it raises the hand, going uh,

1082
01:07:36.239 --> 01:07:39.639
got a problem here, and you'll be like, sh be quiet.

1083
01:07:40.000 --> 01:07:42.159
We don't allow that kind of person in our home.

1084
01:07:42.760 --> 01:07:47.679
You go listen to the Theology Central podcast. We like nice, simple,

1085
01:07:47.800 --> 01:07:50.719
easy answers. That makes us all feel good as we

1086
01:07:50.760 --> 01:07:53.400
live in our nice little family with her, nice little

1087
01:07:53.400 --> 01:07:56.159
house with her, and everything's perfect and wonderful, and it's

1088
01:07:56.199 --> 01:07:59.920
great until the house burns down, your spouse is murdered,

1089
01:08:00.199 --> 01:08:02.280
and then you lose all your money and you have

1090
01:08:02.360 --> 01:08:04.280
no place to live. Then all of a sudden, you're like,

1091
01:08:04.280 --> 01:08:05.800
I don't know if those four little points on the

1092
01:08:05.840 --> 01:08:09.000
refrigerator works anymore because I don't even have a refrigerator anymore.

1093
01:08:11.000 --> 01:08:16.600
All right there, thanks for listening. Have a great day.