Transcription

Connor
You’re listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun and practical ways.

Chris
Well. Good morning. Good morning. You know that. You know that’s from.

Wesley
Yeah, well, I know the song. Okay.

Chris
It’s from singing in the rain. Yeah, yeah. So anyway, he’s Wesley, I’m Chris, and today we are the Bible guys because Jeff is out sick and Wesley’s been filling in all week. Yeah. So how have you been liking it, buddy?

Wesley
It’s great. It’s always good to be on the Bible, guys. It’s it’s such a prestigious platform.

Chris
Oh, you’ve been you’ve graduated to a title?

Wesley
Yeah. I’ve written my thesaurus this morning. Well, yeah.

Chris
Well guess what? Guess what? Everybody’s a Bible guy or a Bible girl. Yeah, everybody is right. Not just us. So, hey, today we are going to launch into a segment. And I love this segment. It is called Stump the Pastor. Yeah. Dun dun dun dun. So and by the way, let’s take a moment to say we love your questions. So if you want to take a minute and send us an email to info at the bible guys dot com, or you can just respond to YouTube. You can respond on speaker a couple of different ways. We would love for you to ask any question at all, and we would love to consider answering it. Yeah. So let me go ahead and read through this. And in fact, you have it in front of you. Yeah.

Wesley
Why don’t you should it be the same one? Um, this is Stump the pastor. How do I explain that there are no contradictions in the Bible? My spouse wants to know why God was so angry and vengeful in the Old Testament, but is all loving and forgiving in the New Testament. And that’s from a Kathy T.

Chris
Yeah. So you want me to give it a shot first or give it a shot? Okay. So yeah. So here’s here’s what I would say. The nature of God, first of all does not change. Right. So we know that. So God talks about himself and says that he is the same yesterday, today and forever Jesus Christ. We believe God is in Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit is one God in three persons. So whenever it talks about the nature of any one of those persons, he’s referring to the nature of God himself. And so, by the way, that’s that’s called the Trinity. And but I think out of the persons of God, I think that in general it was God the Father who generally had the wrath in the Old Testament. Right. And then and then and then what he’s saying is, is all the words about God the Father in the New Testament is all about forgiveness. So here’s what I would say. I would say the God of the Old Testament is the same God of the New Testament. So think about this. Whatever God. Whatever whatever sin that God hates in the Old Testament. God hates in the New Testament. Yeah. Which, by the way, side note, there are people who say, well, God, Jesus never mentioned this one sin issue in the New Testament. Therefore God has changed his mind. Yeah, but but guess what? Jesus’s job description wasn’t to cover the gamut of of God’s values or rules or list of sins. That wasn’t his job description. Yeah. You know, Jesus never necessarily talked about witchcraft. I don’t think he did personally in the New Testament. He never talked about the sin of witchcraft. But just because God mentions it in the Old Testament, it doesn’t mean that God is okay with witchcraft. Chris
Yeah, right. Just because Jesus didn’t cover it, that wasn’t Jesus’s job, right? And so so the God who hates sin in the Old Testament is the God who hates sin in the New Testament. The second thing I want to say is God hates sin just as much, right? So the God who used to get angry with sin and wrathful with sin, he hates sin just that much. In the New Testament, the only thing that changed between the Old Testament and the New Testament is not God’s position of sin. It’s God’s response to sin. Yeah, right. God’s response to sin has changed drastically. And the reason why is because of Jesus Christ. Yeah, right. So that’s the difference. So Jesus Christ came and he died to pay the penalty that sin demands as sin demands a price. Sin, you know, without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. Before Jesus came, sin had to be satisfied. Yeah. And and the warnings that exist in the Old Testament exist today. It’s just that Jesus took upon him. What does it say? The punishment of us all? Yeah, right. So if Jesus took upon himself the punishment of us all, Isaiah says, then, then that means the wrath that was executed in the Old Testament has been absorbed and paid for by Jesus Christ. Yeah, yeah. Anything to add to that?

Wesley
Yeah. No, I think that’s good. Yeah. Jesus was the difference. He was the key.

Chris
Yeah. Yeah. So so hey great question Kathy. And and I think that there are probably a ton of other thoughts about the Bible having contradictions. You know, if you have any more of those you can send them in. But basically I know that there. Are on the surface. Sometimes verses that seem to indicate one thing or the other. And without proper context, I know that sometimes it’s easy on the surface level to. Misinterpret or, you know, say, well, I’m not sure what God meant there or doesn’t that contradict with this? We would welcome all those questions. Yeah. So but thank you for writing in. That’s awesome. Yeah. So all right. Well that was a good one. Yeah.

Wesley
We got a verse John 913 through 34. So this is a long passage here. Yeah. But I’m going to try to fly through that again. That’s John 913 through 34. New Living Translation. It says, then they took the man who had been blind to the Pharisees. So this is a continuation of yesterday.

Chris
Yeah, yeah, yeah. He healed the man who was blind from birth.

Wesley
Yes. Because it was on the Sabbath that Jesus had made the mud and healed him. The Pharisees asked the man all about it, so he told them. He put the mud over my eyes, and when I washed it away, I could see some of the Pharisees said, this man, Jesus is not from God, for he is working on the Sabbath. Others said, but how could an ordinary sinner do such miraculous signs? So there was a deep division of opinion among them. Then the Pharisees again questioned the man who had been blind and demanded. What’s your opinion about this man who healed you? The man replied, I think he must be a prophet. The Jewish leader still refused to believe the man had been blind and could now see. So they called in his parents. They asked them, is this your son? Was he born blind? If so, how can he now see? His parents replied, we know this is our son and that he was born blind, but we don’t know how he can see or who healed him. Ask him. He is old enough to speak for himself. I love that response there. Verse 22. His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders who had announced that anyone saying Jesus was the Messiah would be expelled from the synagogue. That’s why they said he is old enough. Ask him, verse 24. So the second time they called in the man who had been blind and told him, God, God should get the glory for this, because we know this man, Jesus is a sinner. I don’t know whether he is a sinner, the man replied, but I know this. I was blind, and now I can see.

Chris
There it is.

Wesley
But what did he do? They asked. How did he heal you? Look, the man exclaimed. I told you once, didn’t you listen? Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too? Then they cursed him and said, you are his disciple. But we are disciples of Moses. We know God spoke to Moses, but we don’t know where this man comes from. Why, that’s very strange, the man replied. He healed my eyes, and yet you don’t know where he comes from. We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but he is ready to hear those who worship him and do his will. Ever since the world began, no one has been able to open the eyes of the someone born blind. If this man were not from God, he couldn’t have done it. You were born a total sinner, they answered. Are you trying to teach us? And they threw him out of the synagogue.

Chris
Yeah. So there’s there’s a lot in here. Yeah. This is a great passage. Religious leaders question the blind man. The blind man. Yeah. So yeah. What sticks out to you?

Wesley
Yeah there’s a few things that stick out. Are there any references in the study Bible for this section?

Chris
Oh for sure, for sure. And so it says a couple of different things. One says while the Pharisees conducted investigations and debated about Jesus, people were being healed and lives were being changed. The Pharisees skepticism was based not on insufficient evidence, but on jealousy of Jesus’s popularity and the influence of his people. And then it talks about there’s another note about the Sabbath. And we talked about this yesterday, but basically how how the Pharisees created the law that you must not heal on the Sabbath. This wasn’t God’s law. Yeah, God’s law was. You must not work on the Sabbath. And the Pharisees deemed healing as work. Yeah. And so yesterday on yesterday’s podcast, Jesus said, well, wait a minute. You get your donkeys water. Yeah. And so isn’t that work?

Wesley
That’s work too.

Chris
So so you’re classifying something as work. But this is work. You got a bunch of hypocrites. Yeah. Right. And so they’re trying to, you know, execute their own personal standards and pass them off as sin. Right. And then and then there’s another one right here. Let me read this last one. It says in verse number 25. By now the man who had been blind had heard the same questions over and over. He did not know how or why he was healed, but he knew that the man had been miraculously changed, or he had been miraculously changed, and he was not afraid to tell the truth. You don’t need to know all the answers in order to share Christ with others. It is important to tell them how he has changed your life, and trust that God will use your words to help others believe in it too. And so guess let’s just jump straight to that.

Wesley
And I was going to say that would be the big point to this. To me. Yeah. Verse 15, the Pharisees asked the man all about it. So he told them, I think the most powerful thing in that one of the most powerful things in this passage is the fact of him sharing his testimony. And I think that’s something that we can all do. You don’t have to know the New Testament and Old Testament frontwards and backwards. You don’t have to know every read section in the New Testament of what Jesus said. But everybody can articulate to somebody how God transformed your life. Yeah. And that’s what he was doing right here.

Chris
Yeah. And by the way, I once was blind, and now I can see. Yeah. Right. So so I once was lost and now I’m found.

Wesley
He didn’t quote eight scriptures.

Chris
No, no, no, Wesley
He just said I used to be blind and now I can see.

Chris
Yeah. And by the way, that’s, that’s a part of amazing Grace. Yeah. Amazing Grace was written based on this comment right here, right? Yeah. Amazing grace. How sweet the sound. That saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I’m found. Was blind, but now I see. Yeah. And by the way, that was written by a slave trader who then became came to know Christ and then considered himself to be a wretched man for the things he used to do. Right. And I forget his name. Who wrote who wrote amazing Grace? But basically he discipled the guy who wrote down everything. And from this one man, that’s who Abraham Lincoln studied. Yeah. So? So the guy who wrote amazing Grace was basically responsible for both in England and in America for all of that. So which is pretty cool. Yeah. Um, and by the way, let me just go ahead and say that, uh, this is a great passage because they’re trying to question him about details. Yeah. And they said, well, wait a minute, God should get the glory. But we know that Jesus is a sinner. Can you explain that? Yeah, there’s a contradiction here, which is appropriate. Why we did stumped the pastor today. Right. And so it’s like so people want to say, I reserve my right to make a judgment about who Jesus is based on getting all my answers, all my questions answered. Yeah. And let me just say this. If you’re a skeptic, which, by the way, I am a skeptic by nature, I am radically skeptical and almost everything that I do. But let me let me say, in my experience as a pastor, if you’re an intellectual who reserves their right to make a decision about faith until you get all your questions answered, I’ve never met a single person that intellectually decides to enter into heaven based on getting all the answers. Chris
Yeah. Not one person. Yeah. Not one single person. Well, now I’ve had enough answers to my questions. To where? Now I’m satisfied. And I’ve decided to then deem Jesus worthy of my faith. I’ve never met one person who’s done that. If anything, what ended up happening is they just decide to let go of their questions. Yeah. And they decide to trust God, and then they have their lives transformed. Yeah. Which is really cool.

Wesley
Yeah, yeah.

Wesley
That’s awesome. There another subtle point that I get out of this when you go down a little further. Verse 17 as an example. Then the Pharisees again questioned the man, and they do this over. It’s like they’re probing. They’re going to get an answer, kind of like what you were just talking about. They ask him, they ask the parents, they’re asking everybody. And then it says, what’s your opinion about this man who healed you? The man replied, I think he must be a prophet. The thing that I get out of that is don’t let anyone silence your testimony. Yeah, I think sometimes Christians, we do this thing where we become a chameleon based on the environment that we’re in. Right? We don’t want to stand out too much. We don’t want to rock the boat too much. So I don’t want to let my light shine. How Jesus said that you are the light of the world. We don’t want to be the light of the world in every instance. So sometimes we want to shrink back and kind of be quiet and not say anything and just, I’ll go with the the crowd, I’ll go with the grain. But this guy clearly was not doing that. He was not. Yeah. You can ask me 12 times. And then finally, I don’t know what to tell you. I was blind, but now I see. But I’m telling you, this man healed me. So it’s like he would not allow the Pharisees to silence him.

Chris
Well, there’s two things. Number one, he was already not a part of the church. Yeah. So remember yesterday’s podcast? He was a beggar. Yeah. All he could do is sit by the city streets and beg, you know? And so he was. He was viewed as somebody. The Pharisees even said it. He said, you are you were born a total sinner, in other words. In other words, we know the reason why you were blind is because you’re a sinner. Yeah, right. God’s judgment was on you, right? So he was already excommunicated from the synagogue. So he is void of all church politics. So. So here are the Pharisees have said, hey, if you proclaim that Jesus is is, you know, supernatural or a prophet, then you’re excommunicated from the church. Which is why it says that the parents, yeah, they were fearful. They were afraid.

Wesley
Yeah.

Chris
So they cared about church politics. They cared about, oh, the church politics of the church. This guy could give a rip about church politics. Yeah. So that’s the first thing. And then the second thing is, is that his gratitude compelled him to say, don’t. Hey, you can’t take away from anything from this man. This man healed me. Yeah, right. So don’t try to sit here and say he’s a sinner or this or that. Let me tell you what I believe. I believe that I once was blind, now I see. I don’t know about him being a sinner. I just know he has to be from God. And they say, well, you know, he’s you know, we can’t explain it. We’re disciples of Moses. And then I love how the blind man has wisdom here. Yeah. And he goes, well, that’s very strange. Yeah, the man replied. Healed my eyes. And yet you don’t know where he comes from. In other words, he’s saying like, that’s interesting, because the only conclusion is he comes from God. Yeah. And yet you’re claiming to be children of Moses. Yeah. And you don’t know where he comes from. So that’s very strange. How you have no idea. Yeah. How where this man comes from. Yeah.

Wesley
He was giving them a lecture.

Chris
Yes. Yeah.

Chris
And they’re like, they’re like, don’t presume to lecture us.

Wesley
Yeah.

Chris
You born sinner. Total sinner.

Wesley
Yeah.

Chris
Son of a sinner.

Wesley
Yeah. Right.

Chris
And so I think that’s great. Yeah. And and so yeah, there’s something to be said about just, just just just saying like, hey, I don’t have to know anything about theology in order to share Christ. Yeah. The only thing you have to know is, hey, let me tell you my story. I was this way before I met Christ. Let me tell you about the experience of what it was like when I met Christ. Yeah. And let me tell you what my life is like now. Yeah. And those are the three parts of any story, which, by the way, has this aspect to it. I once was blind. Let me tell you about it. Let me tell you about my life before Jesus, I was blind. Yeah. And let me tell you about the mud. And let me tell you now that I can see.

Wesley
And here’s the interesting thing about that. He didn’t know how any of that worked.

Chris
Right.

Wesley
All that he knew is he got the in transformation. Isn’t it funny how we always like to feel. And I think because we like to be in control, right. We like to know all the ins and outs of how everything works, but only when it’s spiritual, right? We don’t act that way in any other regard. Right? Pastor Jeff has mentioned this with an airplane, we will have no concept of aerodynamics, right? And wind shear or any of that other kind of stuff. But we will literally buy a ticket to sit inside of a pressurized capsule, letting a guy or a lady that we don’t even know fly us through the air at 500mph and land us at a destination, and we won’t bat an eye or question it at all. Right? But when it’s something spiritual, oh, I have to know how the ins and outs and how everything works. I just think that’s amazing how we do that.

Chris
Well, just the other day, I had I had a friend who said that my good friend Ralph and Kathy. Kathy had her retina, something behind her eye, detached. Yeah. And they had to do surgery. And and she said, I don’t want to know how it is. I don’t want to know how the surgery is done. And he says, well, do you want me to explain to you what I’m about to do in surgery? And she goes, I don’t want to know. And then come to find out, I would have thought that they would, like, pop the eyeball out and they work behind the eyeball. No, they drill an eye, they drill through the eyeball.

Wesley
Oh, wow.

Chris
They put two holes in her eyeball and they puff it up with air and all these kind of things. Oh, man. And so she has to, like, spend 70% of her time looking down and all these kind of things like for, for weeks. Yeah. And it’s like this horrible thing and I mean, well, it sounds horrible. I mean, the surgery is wonderful. So thank God for eye doctors. Yeah. But the bottom line is, is she’s like, I don’t want to know. I just trust you. Yeah. And that’s really, you know, those of us who demand theology before we have faith is a little bit hypocritical in that regard, isn’t it? Yeah. Yeah. It’s true. And so let me just also say this. So so these men are looking for a contradiction. You know, it’s so interesting. I just taught on Sunday. So I just did the message. What was that three days ago. And at the end of my message, it was sort of the ultimate conclusion of my message. And I talked about God’s Word. It was all about God’s Word. And I said, now listen. I said, you could be a person that tries to find contradictions in the Bible, and you could try to explain it away if you’re atheist or agnostic and you could say, well, this is why I’m angry at God, and this is why the logic doesn’t make sense. And and you could try your very best. And I don’t think you’re going to win that argument. But go ahead and try. You could try to explain away all sorts of things, right? Yeah. Explain away politics of the church or, or the, you know, the, the, the fallibility of mankind or whatever, whatever it is. But the one thing that you can never explain away, you can you can’t even touch it, are the billions and billions of lives that have been changed by Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit, right? Chris
Lives on every continent. Yeah. Spoken by just about every language. You know, every race, every creed, every culture, billions of people who have their they all share like miraculous stories. Yeah. Things that are all attributed to supernatural abilities to love and forgive and to have peace and confidence and in some cases, just supernatural miracles. Right? And all of them share the common denominator of of God’s working power in their lives. So go ahead and explain that away. Yeah. You cannot which means which means listen, this guy doesn’t have to defend theology, but the only thing that he has to stand on, which you can never argue with. And the Pharisees had no answer for, which was, again, I once was blind.

Wesley
Now I see.

Chris
And now I see. And that is all I know, buddy. Yeah. So draw your own conclusions. Yeah, right. And I think that that’s, that’s a that’s a great statement for today.

Wesley
Yeah. That’s awesome I think that’s a good stopping point.

Chris
I do too.

Chris
Yeah. So hey that’s it for us today. So hopefully we will see you tomorrow on the Bible guys.