Episode Information
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Topics Covered
- Berlin-Style Curry Ketchup
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- Is violating copyright law ever morally permissible?
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- Spiritual gifts and addiction
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- Regional liturgical vestments compared to Hawaiian shirts
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- Girls who attend non-denom churches
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- IQ scaling question. obviously a given delta isn’t “transitive”, because the higher you go, the fewer tasks are impossible. So: how would the 180 view of a 150 differ from the 150 view on a 120?
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- Are our loved ones who were Christians aka saved who have died in paradise with Jesus or are they sleeping? What does it mean to be absent form the body is present with the Lord?
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- Listening through your End Times episode, I understand the 144,000 are not the literal tribes, but can you give your understanding of the purpose of Rev 7:5-8?
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- Do you enjoy singing? Ever sing in the choir? I’m new to Lutheranism and have quite enjoyed the hymns and trying to find my singing voice. Fluctuate between bass and an octave higher and not sure how to find where my comfortable range is.
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- Is there even one vaccine that I should give my child?
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- What is your take on near death experience stories? They obviously vary but it seems the most common experience is nothingness or darkness akin to sleep without a dream
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- What do we do with the widespread use of abortifacients like the pill? Surely people should be held culpable, but very few people that use it truly understand it. What about the clerics that never condemned the pill in their support for contraception?
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- The Dead Sea scrolls, Enoch, Jubilees, et cetera. Were they removed? Do they belong? Is scripture being withheld from us?
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- Is KJV really the most accurate translation? How can we trust King James? He has a bad reputation
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Transcript
WEBVTT
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At any rate, it is the 24th of April, 2026, and after that short delay, this is At Any Cost.
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I am Corey J.
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Moller, and this is episode 26, a Q&A episode.
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I have a number of questions ready to go.
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I do not know if I will get through all of them.
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15 is probably a little ambitious, but we’ll see how it goes.
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And of course, I’ll account for that wasted time there to start trying to get the audio stack to work.
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I did remember to reboot this time to try and not have a memory leak in OBS, but apparently it’s going to have a novel problem instead, because software, as any IT guy will tell you.
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Anyway, question one, a nice, easy question to start, and also a nice thumbnail for the show art, which is why I picked it.
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Berlin-style curry ketchup, this sounds good.
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Would you mind sharing a favorite style of making this?
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A type of sausage, pork, of course, that is a good pairing.
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So this one’s actually fairly easy, although any answer I give is probably going to make someone mad.
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But for the curry ketchup itself, if you’ve never had it, it’s probably easiest to buy one that is in the right style, right style insofar as that’s concerned, so that you develop a sense for the taste, right?
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I re-created it when I had some sausage I wanted to use for Currywurst, but that’s because I ate it however many times while living in Berlin.
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So I knew the flavor, and I could re-create that from memory.
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Schaller und Weber, that’s so hard to say.
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It’s, I’ll spell it for everyone because I’m going to wind up saying it as in German.
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It’s a New York based company, S-C-H-A-L-L-E-R, and Weber, or V-A-B-E-R, depending if you want to pronounce it, it’s if it’s German or not.
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I would just order their curry ketchup.
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It’s the Berlin style.
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It’s one of the best available ones in the US.
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You can get it a lot of different places.
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I think Amazon carries it.
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They ship it from their own website.
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That’s probably the go-to option for the curry ketchup itself.
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And then of course you can make your own.
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There are a lot of recipes online for making your own, and you can develop it to your taste.
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As far as the sausage is concerned, that’s going to vary a little bit by region, but it’s pretty much going to be bratwurst, knockwurst, or this will make the Bavarians mad, weisswurst.
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They’re going to say weisswurst should be served only with the spicy and sweet ketchup, or the spicy and sweet mustard rather, which is very good.
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Schaller and Weber had that as well.
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But any of those sausage kinds, and a few others will work as well.
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So basically you just make that, prepare the sausage.
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It’s usually grilled in Berlin.
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Sometimes it’s prepared other ways.
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Cut it into pieces, serve with French fries.
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Very simple, easy meal.
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Very common food stall item or quick lunch sort of thing.
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But for getting the sausages, again, it’s going to be Schaller and Weber, probably the best option.
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And then the second best option would be Stiegelmeier, which is in Chicago.
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Those are pretty much the only two that actually ship in the US.
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Unless you live in a part of the country where you have a German butcher, then by all means, buy them fresh.
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But they’re going to be fresh from these butchers as well.
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Just support the local business if it’s an option.
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There’s unfortunately no German butcher anywhere near me, so I have to get them shipped if I want them.
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Or, you know, acquire a sausage maker and make them yourself.
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And no, that’s not a euphemism for a wife, but it can be if she knows what she’s doing.
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Question 2.
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Is violating copyright law ever morally permissible?
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For example, and he gives three examples.
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Cracking a piece of software one is paid for, but the company which published it is now defunct, and the license servers are shut down, rendering the software otherwise unusable, to distributing the aforementioned software.
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A common argument in favor of this is that it is the publisher or developer is no longer in business or is not selling that software.
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Then, they are not incurring losses from distribution.
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Three, scanning a particular Bible translation that currently has no extant Bible app module and building one so that I can read it on my phone instead of having to carry a book and distribute it to friends.
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So, I’ll take the third one first, the third example there.
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I don’t know what Bible version you’re reading that doesn’t have an electronic version available, because almost all of them do.
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And so, if it’s a really old one, it’s in the public domain.
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If it is a really recent one, maybe just go with an older one that’s in the public domain.
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If there’s some really compelling reason that you want to read this one, I’m not going to say you can’t do that for yourself.
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Now, are you violating the law, at least if you distribute it to friends?
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The answer is probably yes, and so I guess there are really two answers to this sort of thing.
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There’s the attorney answer I could give.
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None of this is legal advice, right?
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Give the standard disclaimer, the caveat there, and then the moral answer, the real answer, as it were.
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The attorney answer is that basically all of this is illegal.
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The exception here would basically be number one, there is sort of a carve out for some software.
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For video games in particular, if a server has been shut down and you have to do something in order to play it still, there’s kind of a carve out for that, and so you can do that.
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For other software, it’s more of a gray area, but the reality is, if the company is defunct, there’s no successor company, who’s going to sue you?
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No one, right?
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So, I don’t have a moral objection to any of this.
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Legally speaking, yes, some of it is going to be technically a violation of the law, whether or not you have any consequences from that is going to depend on a number of factors.
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And, by and large, if it’s, again, defunct company, probably no one around to sue you unless they have a successor that acquired the IP and perhaps they’re litigious, but that’s fact-specific, you don’t know the successor company.
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And if you do, then you can figure that out.
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But, morally speaking, no, I don’t have an objection to any of these.
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I don’t think that you should be able to copyright a Bible translation.
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They think that it should be available for free, period.
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So any of the translators should just make them available.
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It’s completely ridiculous that they copyright the Word of God.
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And no, it doesn’t matter if you put in the work as a translator, it still belongs to God, it should still be in the public domain.
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So at least have the kind of license where you just attribute, right?
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I don’t mind that if you say translated by, that’s even probably better because then you know who did the work, which is important.
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But no, I don’t have a moral objection to these, but legal caveats, because some companies are very litigious when it comes to IP.
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It’s one of those areas where that is definitely a thing.
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And IP was one of the areas I kind of specialized in, so.
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Question three, spiritual gifts and addiction.
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If the presence of spiritual gifts makes one desire more spiritual gifts, reading scripture makes one want to read more scripture, does this indicate that addiction, which operates in the same way, is spiritual in essence and not spiritual by accident?
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There is a spiritual, at least you could call it spiritual, aspect to things like addiction.
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And the reason I could say you could call it that is because the mind is involved, and good luck drawing a sort of firm or solid line between the mind and the spirit or soul, right?
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And it depends which one you mean here.
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If you mean spirit and mind, because it’s one of those terms where I usually use soul, because spirit is often used for both mind and soul, so you aren’t really certain what the author means if he says spirit.
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But if you’re making that tripartite division of man, body, mind, and soul, then good luck dividing between the mind and the soul, right?
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We can’t really do that.
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Maybe we can never do that.
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Maybe that’s something that only God is able to do.
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Or maybe we can do it in the next life.
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We’ll understand the tripartite division a little bit better.
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But given the limitations of technology and things like that, the nature of the soul, I’m not sure we can draw that firm distinction.
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So insofar as that’s concerned, the mind is certainly involved, and perhaps the soul as well, when it comes to things like addiction.
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And so is there some sort of analogy you can draw there?
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I think that’s the case.
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But I don’t think that it’s necessary what you would call an addiction when it comes to something positive.
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Usually we call that a habit.
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And habits are good.
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They’re self-reinforcing.
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If you have good habits, bad habits are obviously bad.
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This is one of those things in psychology that’s very important.
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It harkens back to a question in a previous episode.
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So, forming new habits is a good thing if the thing you’re doing is good.
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So, reading scripture, wanting these spiritual gifts, I don’t think it’s necessarily the same sort of thing.
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The idiopathy is not the same, right?
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When it comes to addiction and involving yourself in good spiritual things, making you desire more of them, it’s not an addiction to wanting good things.
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It’s recognizing the goodness of the thing and pursuing the good instead of the evil.
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Addiction is sort of a fundamentally different thing in some ways, because addiction is latching on to some aspect in the human body or in the mind, and then exploiting it, which this is an exploitation.
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And, of course, that’s also touching on the fact that there’s very much a physical aspect to most addictions, right?
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Drinking caffeine is an addiction.
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It’s a very mild addiction.
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No one really cares.
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It’s not…
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You’re not going to ruin your life, in theory anyway, because you drink caffeine.
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So there are some addictions like that where they really don’t matter.
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They’re so trivial, no one cares.
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Using nicotine is an addiction.
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It doesn’t mean that nicotine is necessarily bad.
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Now, smoking five packs of cigarettes a day, probably not a good idea.
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You have some of that here as well, where just because the thing makes you want more of the thing doesn’t mean it’s bad.
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Doesn’t mean it’s an addiction even.
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And if it is an addiction, it also doesn’t mean it’s bad, right?
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Again, the caffeine example.
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I’ve got tea sitting here, and I’m going to take a sip of tea.
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It’s not bad that I drink tea, just because caffeine is habit-forming, which I don’t get caffeine headaches.
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Some people do, and for them, obviously, it’s a little bit bigger concern, because you have to drink the caffeine.
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But no, I think you can definitely draw out that analogy there.
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It’s a useful illustration, but I don’t think that they are identical, just somewhat similar in certain aspects.
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So the spiritual habits are good, sort of, again, habits, and then the addictions are bad, because addiction and to bad things is what’s implied here.
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I’m going to take a second, copy some questions from the chat, just so I can get to them in the future.
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I probably will not get to them tonight.
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There are a number of questions.
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Question four.
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You previously derided Hawaiian shirts in the pulpits.
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That’s completely fair.
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I’ve worn a Hawaiian shirt.
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I’m not saying they’re always wrong.
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I was in Hawaii, but not in church.
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You are also a proponent of national churches reflecting their specific national character.
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Would you be opposed to regionally specific vestments for pastors that incorporate the local flora and fauna, as an example, using the white hibiscus to decorate the pastor’s stole for Easter and All Saints Day, but only in Hawaii, or an evergreen tree motif for the season of Pentecost and Appalachia?
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I have no problem with that.
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I think that would be perfectly fine.
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Having different aesthetics for your church is completely fine.
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You’re going to see different themes, to some degree, and different designs, certainly, in stained glass across different nations.
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You’re going to see different materials, to some degree, and different designs in the vestments.
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I think that’s completely fine.
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The sort of larger question is one of, is it right decorum?
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Are you showing proper respect for God in how you are undertaking things in the church?
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How you’re dressing, how you’re behaving, all these things.
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As long as what you’re doing is the right mindset and the right level of decorum, and it’s not just mindset exclusively, it doesn’t mean that you can show up to church in a speedo, as long as you think you’re doing a good thing.
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You’re not, don’t do that.
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But I think it’s completely fine to incorporate these local flourishes, as it were.
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Think about how the temple was designed.
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It incorporated a lot of local flourishes, a lot of things that people would have seen in their life.
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So I think that’s perfectly fine.
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That would be a good thing.
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A similar note would be that not everyone has to dress the same across the whole world.
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In fact, not everyone should, because you have traditional dress in various places, right?
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You have the sort of stereotypical one of which people think when they think of traditional dress for whites, right?
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It’s usually Bavarians, Trachtun.
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It’s the Lederhosen and the Dürndl.
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It’s all of that stuff.
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If you want to wear that to church, because that’s formal wear, culturally, historically, for the Bavarians, if you want to wear that to church and you’re in Bavaria or a German area, I think that’s completely fine, because that is seen as the formal wear of that culture, and it’s not unduly revealing, it’s appropriate, it is a right level of decorum and respect for God.
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It’s also, incidentally, what they would wear to their wedding.
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So this is not something where it’s just for show.
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This is an important part of the culture, and every culture has traditional dress, and there are different registers of that traditional dress, right?
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There’s the everyday, there’s the slightly more formal, there’s the truly formal, and then different levels of formal, usually based on wealth or rank in society.
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As long as you’re dressing appropriate and, you know, dressing appropriately and not engaging in the sort of showiness that is condemned in scripture, right, the look-at-me sort of thing, I have no problem with local dress in church and local designs.
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I think that’s a good thing.
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It’s an expression of Christianity for that people, for that race, and God clearly likes that kind of diversity.
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There’s nothing wrong with diversity when it remains diversity, which it can’t remain if it’s all brought to one place, one of the great ironies, as it were, between the right and the left.
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Question 5.
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I’m currently attending this young adults group at this non-denominational church in the hopes of meeting a girl who is actually at About Christian.
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Unfortunately, this particular church used to be a United Methodist church, so they permit women to teach men and practice open communion, even going so far as to serve communion, fluffy bread and grape juice, at these young adult gatherings, which I, of course, not partake of.
00:16:06.380 → 00:16:07.060
Good idea.
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Do you think it is possible for a girl attending such a venue to make a good wife?
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There’s a lot in there on which I could comment, but the question itself, yes, of course, there are women in those churches who would make good wives.
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They are going to have to unlearn some things, probably.
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And in many cases, they’re probably just going to have to learn them for the first time, because these churches don’t teach people anything.
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So at most, they’re going to have this very superstitious sort of feminist-infused set of talking points with nothing underlying them.
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So will you have some work set out for you?
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Yes, probably.
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Very probably.
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But it doesn’t mean that there are no women there who are wife material.
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There very well could be.
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In fact, there probably are.
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So if that is, for whatever reason, logistically, it’s close to you, it’s a decent-sized group, the right women are there, whatever it is, if it makes sense to go there for that reason, I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing.
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You know, hopefully attend a better church for actual church services, but if you’re just going to a place like this to try to meet women, there are a lot worse options, even than the United Methodist Church.
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So there are probably some good women there, and best of luck with that.
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The only other thing on which I would comment is, you don’t have to use unleavened bread in the Lord’s Supper.
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You can use regular bread, but not grape juice.
00:17:40.200 → 00:17:41.100
It has to be wine.
00:17:42.540 → 00:17:46.660
So fluffy bread is fine, but grape juice is not.
00:17:47.440 → 00:17:53.560
Grape juice also did not exist in Christ time, unless you went out and squeezed it yourself and drank it.
00:17:54.600 → 00:18:01.800
Room temperature right away, which I’ve never done, but I can’t imagine, is a pleasant experience with grape juice.
00:18:03.960 → 00:18:07.320
Question six, IQ scaling question.
00:18:07.340 → 00:18:14.460
Obviously, a given delta isn’t transitive, because the higher you are, the fewer tasks are impossible.
00:18:14.960 → 00:18:20.860
So, how would the 180 view of a 150 differ from the 150 view of a 120?
00:18:24.460 → 00:18:39.120
This is one of those I could comment on at great length, or just sort of provide an overview, and I think I’ll go with the overview instead, in the interest of not spending too much time on the one question, since I want to get to most of the questions on the list tonight, at least.
00:18:40.940 → 00:18:47.220
The real difference is pretty much exactly what you observed in the introductory part of the question there.
00:18:48.200 → 00:18:59.360
The higher you go with regard to intelligence, which again, IQ is just a measure of intelligence, that’s all it is, the greater the level of insight you generally have.
00:18:59.360 → 00:19:04.960
You see more, and you recognize more things, and you recognize them more accurately.
00:19:05.200 → 00:19:24.120
Now granted, there are some very highly intelligent men who are wildly deluded, but they’ve done that to themselves, which is kind of a danger for some intelligent men, because one thing being intelligent gives you the ability to do is lie to yourself a lot better than you would be able to do if you were not particularly right.
00:19:24.400 → 00:19:27.220
You can convince yourself of some dumb stuff.
00:19:27.220 → 00:19:31.720
It’s why not all atheists are idiots, but they are idiots, right?
00:19:31.780 → 00:19:35.300
They’ve chosen to be idiots, then convinced themselves to remain in that camp.
00:19:36.300 → 00:19:46.520
But I don’t think that necessarily you have this fundamentally alien view of everyone else if you get high enough up the scale, as it were.
00:19:47.920 → 00:19:56.120
You do understand a little bit more of the scope of humanity because you get to see more of the scale, right?
00:19:56.940 → 00:20:04.440
If you’re higher up the scale, you can look at the rest of the scale and to some degree, at least, maybe you don’t have any idea what it’s like to be 65 IQ, right?
00:20:04.900 → 00:20:05.940
That’s kind of alien.
00:20:06.700 → 00:20:14.840
But you see more of the scale, you see more of the possibility for humanity than someone a few standard deviations down the scale would see.
00:20:15.320 → 00:20:17.940
So it does give you a different perspective.
00:20:18.560 → 00:20:23.840
But like I’ve said before, when the issue of IQ comes up, it’s not like a fundamentally alien thing, right?
00:20:23.840 → 00:20:29.540
There are still ways in which, regardless of IQ, we all share some commonalities, right?
00:20:29.540 → 00:20:30.620
I was just drinking tea.
00:20:31.220 → 00:20:34.240
I share that with a huge chunk of the people who watch this.
00:20:34.260 → 00:20:38.420
And if I had a British audience, I would share it with basically 100% of the people watching this.
00:20:39.420 → 00:20:43.220
Granted, the more Southerners I have, the more tea drinkers I’ll have, but they put sugar in theirs.
00:20:44.800 → 00:20:46.100
You won’t get me on that yet.
00:20:46.480 → 00:20:57.400
But it does give you sort of a 30,000-foot view of humanity, as it were, once you get to particularly the 160-plus range.
00:20:58.420 → 00:21:01.440
That does give you a perspective that other men don’t have.
00:21:02.040 → 00:21:06.700
But I don’t think that it makes you look down on other people, right?
00:21:06.700 → 00:21:09.680
You’re not looking at them and going, well, that person’s only 110.
00:21:10.180 → 00:21:11.300
It’s not so much that.
00:21:11.300 → 00:21:13.380
You recognize there’s a difference there.
00:21:13.380 → 00:21:14.560
There’s a distinction.
00:21:14.980 → 00:21:25.700
And that should feed into the way that hierarchy is built into our society, because there are men who can do things at the top of the pyramid that men at the bottom don’t have to do, right?
00:21:26.040 → 00:21:28.060
You probably want the king to be pretty bright.
00:21:28.780 → 00:21:32.460
You don’t want the king to be 85 IQ.
00:21:33.020 → 00:21:35.800
He won’t run anything except into the ground.
00:21:36.360 → 00:21:42.380
So you recognize that more firmly when you get higher up the scale.
00:21:43.180 → 00:21:49.620
You recognize where men should be in that hierarchy in society, and the consequences of them not being there.
00:21:50.500 → 00:21:53.220
But it doesn’t, again, it doesn’t mean that you look down on other men.
00:21:53.220 → 00:21:55.500
It just, you recognize those differences.
00:21:56.500 → 00:21:59.220
Similarly, right, as men, we recognize women aren’t the same.
00:21:59.220 → 00:22:00.580
It doesn’t mean we denigrate women.
00:22:00.580 → 00:22:01.640
It doesn’t mean we hate women.
00:22:01.640 → 00:22:06.500
We think that they’re, you know, all these things that you see online, so about women, it’s just they’re different.
00:22:06.900 → 00:22:07.820
They shouldn’t be in charge.
00:22:07.820 → 00:22:08.720
They shouldn’t vote.
00:22:09.520 → 00:22:13.080
But God made them for us, and they’re a great gift.
00:22:13.080 → 00:22:14.980
So we don’t hate them because of what they are.
00:22:14.980 → 00:22:25.180
We just recognize those differences exist and should function as a way of determining hierarchy and structure and organization in society.
00:22:27.800 → 00:22:29.120
Question seven.
00:22:29.880 → 00:22:37.220
Are our loved ones who were Christians, which is to say saved, who have died in paradise with Jesus, or are they sleeping?
00:22:37.680 → 00:22:41.380
What does it mean to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord?
00:22:43.200 → 00:22:47.480
This one has really two answers.
00:22:47.480 → 00:22:56.940
So first off, we can just dismiss the whole soul sleep stuff that gets brought up in some denominations and is not warranted in scripture.
00:22:57.360 → 00:23:01.940
When sleep is used, figuratively, it just means death, right?
00:23:02.140 → 00:23:04.720
The body is sleeping in the ground to be born again.
00:23:04.720 → 00:23:15.000
That’s why you get all of these illustrations from Christ and others about gardens and plants, and because unless the seed falls into the ground, the plant cannot be born, right?
00:23:15.220 → 00:23:17.540
That’s symbolic death, resurrection.
00:23:18.380 → 00:23:22.820
But with regard to what happens when we die, right?
00:23:23.500 → 00:23:26.300
Scripture does not give us an exact answer.
00:23:26.580 → 00:23:37.240
Scripture does not, in fact, say in any particular place, when you die, that exact instant, or that exact next instant, you appear before the Lord in paradise.
00:23:37.740 → 00:23:41.920
And the thing it doesn’t tell us is how time works.
00:23:42.980 → 00:23:47.660
This gets a little complicated, but it can also be explained pretty simply, right?
00:23:48.460 → 00:23:52.380
Time is an attribute of the universe.
00:23:52.860 → 00:23:55.940
God isn’t bound by time, and so that’s part of the equation.
00:23:56.420 → 00:24:01.380
But also, when this body dies, right?
00:24:01.380 → 00:24:03.400
My soul continues on.
00:24:03.400 → 00:24:09.560
It’s not good to be separated from your body as your soul, because you are a gestalt, you are greater than the sum of the parts.
00:24:09.960 → 00:24:15.440
It’s not a good thing to be separated, if that does in fact happen, and I’ll get to that in a second.
00:24:16.120 → 00:24:18.160
But the issue is that we don’t know how that time works.
00:24:18.160 → 00:24:24.640
And so the two possibilities are that God has a clock running in paradise, right?
00:24:24.640 → 00:24:27.020
In the next world, in the renewed creation.
00:24:27.020 → 00:24:30.020
You want to call it new or renewed, whichever one you want to call it, both are true.
00:24:30.800 → 00:24:36.220
If he has a clock running, and then you die and you enter into that one at the same time, right?
00:24:36.340 → 00:24:37.900
So the clocks are running in parallel.
00:24:38.320 → 00:24:47.020
The alternative to that is that everyone who dies arrives simultaneously at the judgment, and then time in paradise starts.
00:24:48.380 → 00:24:51.300
We don’t know which one it is, because God doesn’t tell us.
00:24:51.700 → 00:25:00.780
I’m inclined toward the second one, because I don’t think that the time being bound together makes any real sense, but I fully admit it could be either one.
00:25:01.240 → 00:25:17.100
So, in either case, it’s good news for those who die as Christian, for those who were saved, because they are either in paradise now, or they arrive at the same time we arrive, and we all enter paradise together.
00:25:17.460 → 00:25:25.180
So, it doesn’t really matter which one it is, and certainly for those of us still alive, it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t influence us one way or the other.
00:25:25.440 → 00:25:32.200
The only thing it would mean is those in paradise, if they died 500 years ago, would have sort of a head start, as it were, right?
00:25:32.460 → 00:25:36.140
Luther’s had 500 years of brewing beer, and I have to catch up.
00:25:36.460 → 00:25:38.360
However that works, we don’t really know.
00:25:38.980 → 00:25:40.860
It’s not something at which we have to worry.
00:25:41.240 → 00:25:44.020
Because again, either case is good news.
00:25:44.020 → 00:25:47.300
It’s just that scripture doesn’t tell us specifically which one it is.
00:25:48.200 → 00:25:55.360
And like I said, I’m inclined toward one, but you can believe whichever one you want, because scripture does not mandate you believe one or the other.
00:25:58.700 → 00:26:03.500
But to be absent from the body is to be present from the Lord, regardless of either one, right?
00:26:04.000 → 00:26:07.620
In either case, you die and you appear in paradise.
00:26:07.820 → 00:26:10.900
The only question is, does everyone appear at the same time?
00:26:15.240 → 00:26:18.000
Copy a couple of questions here from the chat.
00:26:28.303 → 00:26:30.263
I see someone has a sort of follow-up question.
00:26:30.263 → 00:26:36.103
I’ll get to that before I get to the next question here, just pasting these for myself.
00:26:40.023 → 00:26:41.263
So a follow-up question to that one.
00:26:41.263 → 00:26:48.403
For the instances where God returned people to earth temporarily to appear to men, would you feel that implies more of a concurrent clock?
00:26:48.623 → 00:27:05.083
I think that you could interpret it that way if you want, but I think you could also interpret it as time being so disjointed that there’s no actual causal connection or relationship whatsoever between the clock in this universe and the clock in the next.
00:27:05.383 → 00:27:18.423
Because if they’re not related, then it doesn’t actually matter what time, as it were, God takes someone from that one and has them appear back in this one, because the time isn’t related in any way.
00:27:19.963 → 00:27:20.923
Time gets weird.
00:27:21.283 → 00:27:22.603
It’s just how it is.
00:27:23.003 → 00:27:26.583
We still don’t really, fundamentally, understand exactly how time works.
00:27:27.503 → 00:27:35.363
It’s mostly conjecture, and relativity starts to make it very weird, of course.
00:27:36.103 → 00:27:42.763
You start having different clocks for different people, including different clocks for different satellites, depending on a number of factors.
00:27:43.343 → 00:27:46.123
And we know that’s real, because we have to account for it in GPS.
00:27:46.123 → 00:27:48.803
So time is a very weird thing.
00:27:55.601 → 00:27:56.541
Question eight.
00:27:57.241 → 00:28:08.061
Listening through your End Times episode, I understand the 144,000 are not the literal tribes, but can you give your understanding of the purpose of Revelation 7, 5 through 8?
00:28:09.561 → 00:28:16.141
And so, of course, Revelation 7, 5 through 8 is the listing of the 144,000 in…
00:28:19.881 → 00:28:31.641
Actually, I will just pull this one up because it’s good to look at the text of this one, because I want to point out a couple things, a few things about the text itself.
00:28:32.641 → 00:28:37.101
So, let me just pull that up, and…
00:28:44.717 → 00:28:47.757
And we will see if Logos cooperates.
00:28:49.017 → 00:28:52.277
I opened Logos to start recording, and it decided to show me an ad.
00:28:53.497 → 00:29:01.817
For Logos, granted, which made me a little annoyed, since it was an ad for, have your whole congregation sign up for Logos, and pay us some amount of money.
00:29:03.157 → 00:29:06.637
But we went into that in one of the episodes of Stone Choir, of course.
00:29:06.897 → 00:29:07.837
Pay wall and god.
00:29:08.077 → 00:29:10.897
But anyway, this list of the tribes, right?
00:29:10.897 → 00:29:13.877
12,000 from every tribe of the sons of Israel.
00:29:14.277 → 00:29:14.677
Okay.
00:29:15.577 → 00:29:24.357
So, if it were, in fact, a literal listing of 12,000 from every tribe of the sons of Israel, meaning Jacob Israel, right?
00:29:25.097 → 00:29:26.957
Because that’s part of the equation here.
00:29:27.297 → 00:29:30.937
Then we have a very real problem for the men who try to interpret it that way, right?
00:29:32.397 → 00:29:35.237
Well, we have Joseph, right?
00:29:36.917 → 00:29:38.177
Where’s Ephraim?
00:29:38.717 → 00:29:39.517
He’s not there.
00:29:40.077 → 00:29:40.517
Okay.
00:29:40.697 → 00:29:41.577
Levi is here.
00:29:41.717 → 00:29:42.037
Okay.
00:29:42.037 → 00:29:44.457
He’s one of the tribe, but he didn’t inherit.
00:29:44.457 → 00:29:47.757
And so, usually, the listings of the tribes don’t necessarily include him.
00:29:48.837 → 00:29:49.817
We do have Manasseh.
00:29:50.017 → 00:29:52.537
So, we have the brother of Ephraim, but we don’t have Ephraim.
00:29:53.057 → 00:29:56.337
And Dan’s not here.
00:29:56.857 → 00:29:58.157
He’s disappeared.
00:29:58.797 → 00:30:09.417
Judah’s listed first, which gives you your first hint, really, that this is symbolic, because he’s not the first born, but he is the one from whom Christ is descended.
00:30:09.417 → 00:30:10.057
So, it makes sense for him.
00:30:10.057 → 00:30:10.717
Then you’ve got Reuben.
00:30:10.717 → 00:30:11.497
That makes sense.
00:30:11.977 → 00:30:19.037
But there are a number of things in this list that just don’t make any sense if you take it as a literal list.
00:30:19.337 → 00:30:26.277
And that’s true even for the dispensationalists who try to deal with this, because you can tell them, well, why is this different from every list in the Old Testament?
00:30:26.277 → 00:30:29.197
And they hem and haw, and they never give you an answer, and then they probably scurry away.
00:30:30.017 → 00:30:32.877
But this is symbolic.
00:30:32.957 → 00:30:34.077
This is Revelation.
00:30:34.077 → 00:30:35.977
This is a symbolic book.
00:30:35.977 → 00:30:36.957
It’s a prophetic book.
00:30:37.477 → 00:30:40.777
144,000 is 12 times 12 times 1,000.
00:30:41.577 → 00:30:42.437
What are those numbers?
00:30:42.877 → 00:30:43.897
Why those numbers?
00:30:44.217 → 00:30:46.237
1,000 is a number of God’s perfection.
00:30:46.697 → 00:30:52.457
Because 10 is a number of completion or perfection, and then cubed, which is to say the Trinity, 1,000.
00:30:53.217 → 00:30:56.217
I know this starts to sound a little weird, but it’s Revelation.
00:30:56.217 → 00:30:58.317
This is what happens when you’re dealing with prophetic books.
00:30:58.977 → 00:31:01.057
12 times 12 is 144.
00:31:01.697 → 00:31:03.937
This is all of those who will be saved.
00:31:03.997 → 00:31:09.757
And of course, 12 representing the Old Testament, 12 tribes, 12 representing the New Testament, 12 apostles.
00:31:10.177 → 00:31:12.637
God likes to use numbers as symbols.
00:31:13.857 → 00:31:14.757
So do we.
00:31:14.757 → 00:31:17.337
So we can’t really object to God liking to do it.
00:31:17.597 → 00:31:18.557
We like to do it, too.
00:31:18.557 → 00:31:24.417
Granted, we like to do it because he likes to do it, but that’s just part of creation.
00:31:24.417 → 00:31:26.017
It’s part of how God operates.
00:31:26.017 → 00:31:28.817
So these are symbolic.
00:31:28.997 → 00:31:34.077
Again, this is all believers through all time, Old Testament and New.
00:31:34.077 → 00:31:39.417
And now, at least, my mouse is finally showing up in Logos, although still not the interstitial menu.
00:31:39.817 → 00:31:44.217
But at any rate, you know where the interpretation is for this because it’s the very next paragraph.
00:31:45.097 → 00:31:52.377
After this, I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every tribe, nation, people, language, etc.
00:31:53.137 → 00:31:54.497
That’s what that is.
00:31:55.057 → 00:31:55.957
Those are the same.
00:31:56.377 → 00:31:59.017
This header should probably not be here.
00:31:59.017 → 00:32:05.437
This header is inserted to confuse people by those who want you to turn to Judaizing.
00:32:06.517 → 00:32:12.097
So usually, you know, you just go to formatting if you’re in something like this, and turn off the non-Bible text right there.
00:32:12.277 → 00:32:16.097
The distraction that isn’t part of God’s Word is now gone, because it doesn’t belong there.
00:32:16.597 → 00:32:18.477
And it’s put there for a pernicious reason.
00:32:19.237 → 00:32:21.437
In this case, not always, but in this case, yes.
00:32:22.017 → 00:32:25.557
But the 144,000 and the great multitude are the same.
00:32:26.037 → 00:32:32.757
And those are all of those who are saved, because they’re the ones who are clothed in white robes and have washed themselves in the blood of the Lamb.
00:32:32.917 → 00:32:33.897
Those are believers.
00:32:34.317 → 00:32:35.517
That’s all this means.
00:32:35.517 → 00:32:48.897
And so, when someone tries to make some big deal about 144,000, usually it’s a dispensationalist trying to say it’s 144,000 literal Jews, literal Jewish men, they’ll try to say, literal Jewish men who have never known a woman.
00:32:50.217 → 00:32:51.117
It’s just absurd.
00:32:51.117 → 00:32:52.697
It’s not supported by the text.
00:32:52.697 → 00:33:00.377
It is reading their eschatology into the text instead of reading the text and letting the text interpret itself in light of the rest of scripture.
00:33:09.702 → 00:33:14.582
The next question, actually, I have a sort of tangentially related one.
00:33:15.222 → 00:33:43.202
This is not an official question, as it were, but I know someone said that he was currently torrenting the archive of Stone Choir, and I just wanted to comment that if you have a torrent client that supports URLs, not all of them do, some of them do, then you will get it much more quickly because the Stone Choir server also acts as a node, but only if your client supports URLs.
00:33:43.942 → 00:33:46.322
So I don’t know what the health is of that torrent.
00:33:46.322 → 00:33:50.702
I have not looked at it recently, so I don’t know if there are a lot of cedars or not.
00:33:54.202 → 00:33:57.422
Just copying a question from chat so that I will have it for later.
00:34:07.994 → 00:34:09.254
Next question.
00:34:11.154 → 00:34:13.394
Question nine, do you enjoy singing?
00:34:13.554 → 00:34:15.234
Ever sing in the choir?
00:34:15.714 → 00:34:20.094
I am new to Lutheranism, and have quite enjoyed the hymns, and trying to find my singing voice.
00:34:20.974 → 00:34:27.634
My voice fluctuates between bass and an octave higher, and not sure how to find where my comfortable range is.
00:34:29.634 → 00:34:35.974
So as far as finding your comfortable range, part of it’s just going to be literally what’s comfortable.
00:34:35.974 → 00:34:39.874
I can probably get rid of Logos now, but I don’t need that.
00:34:40.494 → 00:34:45.054
If you find that when you are singing, your voice gets scratchy, right?
00:34:45.054 → 00:34:46.454
You’re doing something wrong.
00:34:46.674 → 00:34:52.114
That’s a really good place to start for figuring out what your range is.
00:34:53.054 → 00:34:58.934
There’s also just your natural singing range is going to be relatively close to your natural speaking voice?
00:34:59.454 → 00:35:00.214
Probably.
00:35:00.434 → 00:35:01.194
There are exceptions.
00:35:01.194 → 00:35:02.914
There are some extreme exceptions.
00:35:02.914 → 00:35:08.494
I can think of some opera singers where night and day, you hear them talking versus singing.
00:35:08.954 → 00:35:13.774
But generally speaking, you’re going to be in the same rough area with your speaking voice and your singing voice.
00:35:14.114 → 00:35:16.134
And you’re going to have some idea what that is.
00:35:16.134 → 00:35:18.114
It’s what’s going to come naturally to you.
00:35:18.854 → 00:35:25.014
If you want sort of a more in-depth analysis on that, go talk to a choir director.
00:35:25.714 → 00:35:36.274
He or she is going to be the one who knows more about this and will have some good tips for you, and will probably be able right there to help you figure out sort of where your range is.
00:35:37.234 → 00:35:42.894
For my part, yes, I have sung in a choir, but that was back in high school.
00:35:43.134 → 00:35:45.274
Other than that, yes, I sing in church.
00:35:45.834 → 00:35:48.334
For every man listening, you should be singing in church.
00:35:48.694 → 00:35:51.374
Don’t just stand there like a stone statue.
00:35:51.514 → 00:35:52.354
Go ahead and sing.
00:35:52.894 → 00:35:59.274
Doesn’t matter if you’re perfectly in tune, if you are perfect with all the notes and all that.
00:36:00.214 → 00:36:04.354
If you find that you’re struggling with a particular hymn, sing a little more quietly.
00:36:04.594 → 00:36:05.354
That’s fine.
00:36:05.754 → 00:36:06.434
But sing.
00:36:06.794 → 00:36:09.714
God is not judging you based on the quality of your singing.
00:36:10.154 → 00:36:18.294
Now, would it be better if we had training for children and adults who are new to the faith when it comes to singing?
00:36:18.494 → 00:36:19.334
Yes, it would.
00:36:19.614 → 00:36:21.414
We used to do that in the Lutheran Church.
00:36:22.054 → 00:36:25.114
We still do, to some degree, with those who attend Lutheran schools.
00:36:25.114 → 00:36:32.174
That’s one of the reasons I took, actually did choir, I guess, in elementary school and middle school, and then also in high school.
00:36:32.614 → 00:36:41.654
But that’s one of the reasons that you have Lutheran children tending to be a little better when it comes to reading music and singing hymns.
00:36:42.054 → 00:36:45.134
They’ve just been trained, whereas most others have not.
00:36:45.354 → 00:36:50.134
If you go to a non-denominational church, they probably don’t train the children in music at all.
00:36:50.574 → 00:36:55.814
Maybe, maybe, they will teach them the bass and the treble clef at the most, right?
00:36:56.014 → 00:36:59.854
They’ll teach them the notes, and they will have forgotten it by the time they get to high school.
00:37:01.054 → 00:37:05.994
It’s trained, it’s practiced, this is not something that necessarily you will just pick up and you’re great at it.
00:37:06.334 → 00:37:07.874
Some people are, very few.
00:37:08.434 → 00:37:10.494
Singing is something where you have to develop it.
00:37:10.494 → 00:37:14.134
So if you join the choir, that’s probably good practice.
00:37:14.654 → 00:37:22.434
They can certainly help you, and you probably will be able to sing well enough to be part of the choir with practice.
00:37:22.754 → 00:37:23.694
Most people can.
00:37:24.234 → 00:37:27.434
There are exceptions, but relatively few.
00:37:36.205 → 00:37:37.265
Question 10.
00:37:38.445 → 00:37:42.405
Is there even one vaccine that I should give my child?
00:37:45.085 → 00:37:46.725
I have two answers for this one.
00:37:47.325 → 00:37:52.945
And the reason I have two answers is because of the current state of the medical field.
00:37:53.945 → 00:37:58.225
The problem, I’ll get to the problem first before I give the sort of core answer.
00:37:58.725 → 00:38:10.765
The problem is that they are pushing all of the various novel sorts of treatments and delivery methods, particularly RNA and things like that.
00:38:11.105 → 00:38:18.045
And we could get into all of the new sort of designer viruses they’re using to infect people with things.
00:38:18.845 → 00:38:21.245
I’m not saying that that technology doesn’t have promise.
00:38:21.245 → 00:38:22.565
It certainly does.
00:38:23.065 → 00:38:31.905
But I think that we have gone full bore with something that we do not yet understand and has the potential for disastrous consequences.
00:38:32.745 → 00:38:35.065
This is the biological…
00:38:36.505 → 00:38:45.765
I mean, the other is biological as well, but this is sort of the human body biology equivalent of what we’ve done many times historically with invasive species.
00:38:46.745 → 00:39:07.245
Someone has said, wouldn’t it be nice if, you know, we didn’t have this bug, we had more of this bug, we had this creature that we like, we had this tree that we like, we had this tree that grows as a windbreak, can be used as wood, whatever the excuse is, wouldn’t it be nice?
00:39:07.585 → 00:39:09.965
Turns out, didn’t think it through.
00:39:10.505 → 00:39:12.105
This is a problem in California.
00:39:12.245 → 00:39:13.725
I’ve given this example before.
00:39:14.445 → 00:39:26.245
California, actually not California, the state, but a number of individuals imported a huge amount of eucalyptus from Australia, planted it all over the place.
00:39:26.645 → 00:39:32.585
It’s in some campgrounds, it’s all up and down the freeways in the Central Valley because they try to use it as windbreaks.
00:39:33.005 → 00:39:34.445
It’s all over the place.
00:39:36.065 → 00:39:50.605
The problem is that the Australians lied because they told the men who were buying these trees that they make great hardwood for furniture and other things, which is true if a eucalyptus tree lives long enough.
00:39:51.565 → 00:39:52.965
They don’t, often.
00:39:53.685 → 00:39:56.445
And then the other problem is that they are extremely flammable.
00:39:57.385 → 00:40:01.905
California does not need more extremely flammable trees, right?
00:40:02.345 → 00:40:04.805
They drop leaves, they kill other things.
00:40:05.345 → 00:40:06.305
Those are flammable.
00:40:06.805 → 00:40:08.065
Their sap is flammable.
00:40:08.465 → 00:40:10.005
The tree itself is flammable.
00:40:10.405 → 00:40:13.485
And bonus, they occasionally drop large limbs.
00:40:13.745 → 00:40:22.925
And so there are campgrounds now in California that are closed because if there’s high wind, it might just drop a giant limb on you and crush you in your sleep.
00:40:23.905 → 00:40:25.485
Probably not great for a campground.
00:40:26.105 → 00:40:34.265
So thinking these things through and testing them in a rational and safe way is the approach we should take with most things.
00:40:35.325 → 00:40:37.085
Certainly with novel medical treatments.
00:40:37.565 → 00:40:46.125
For instance, I read through part of the information about the man who treated himself for cancer with DNA technology.
00:40:47.865 → 00:40:50.345
We should probably not be doing that yet, but that’s part of the problem.
00:40:50.345 → 00:40:54.665
And this kind of gets into a larger area that I don’t know that I want to cover all of it right now.
00:40:54.665 → 00:41:00.065
But the issue with all of these things is that there is an appeal, right?
00:41:00.065 → 00:41:01.025
It’s sort of like sin.
00:41:01.945 → 00:41:04.565
If sin had no appeal, no one would do it.
00:41:04.945 → 00:41:10.485
If the only thing sin did was separate you from God and damn you, no one would sin.
00:41:10.845 → 00:41:12.345
There’s no appeal in that.
00:41:14.065 → 00:41:16.625
But that’s not all there is to sin, right?
00:41:17.105 → 00:41:18.745
There’s appeal of some kind.
00:41:18.885 → 00:41:22.865
If someone gets addicted to drugs, they enjoy the high they get from the drugs.
00:41:23.345 → 00:41:27.005
There’s a whole bunch of downsides, but they like the high, and so there’s a hook there.
00:41:27.305 → 00:41:28.965
The same thing with regard to sin.
00:41:29.405 → 00:41:32.165
Some men are tempted toward certain sins more than others.
00:41:32.185 → 00:41:34.205
Some men toward other sins as well.
00:41:34.245 → 00:41:43.505
So I understand why someone would want to cure his own cancer or take the extreme example.
00:41:43.865 → 00:41:52.065
Say you have a mother who has an advanced degree in biology and perhaps genetics, right?
00:41:52.065 → 00:41:53.205
That’s sort of the obvious field.
00:41:53.205 → 00:41:54.705
Statistics, something like that.
00:41:55.865 → 00:41:58.005
Her child, young child gets cancer.
00:41:58.745 → 00:42:04.865
Think of the incentive she has, the pressure she has to do something, anything to save her child.
00:42:06.125 → 00:42:13.465
This is kind of why we need safeguards that are not just an individual deciding, this would be bad to pursue this.
00:42:13.465 → 00:42:23.905
The same thing happens with regard to technology and warfare and things that are, can be reasonably legally deployed in the battlefield, things that cannot, right?
00:42:24.085 → 00:42:27.225
There are certain weapons we decided are too terrible to use.
00:42:28.205 → 00:42:29.705
The same thing with these technologies.
00:42:29.705 → 00:42:32.965
We don’t yet know if it’s safe or not.
00:42:33.865 → 00:42:44.545
And once you start injecting yourself, there’s a man curing cancer in his dog, start injecting your dogs, your pets, your livestock, you’ve released this thing into the world.
00:42:47.105 → 00:42:48.625
We don’t know where it’s going to go.
00:42:49.065 → 00:42:55.545
Now, at the other end, right, there are some mild interventions that I don’t think are necessarily quite that extreme.
00:42:56.065 → 00:43:06.385
When you’re using viruses to try to inject or modify DNA, you’re using something that you can debate whether it’s alive or not.
00:43:06.845 → 00:43:10.825
You’re using something that replicates, so it can spread, right?
00:43:11.665 → 00:43:16.485
If you have something that can’t replicate, can’t spread, that’s different.
00:43:16.545 → 00:43:18.265
That’s a different risk profile.
00:43:18.425 → 00:43:21.565
And no, I’m not talking about, you know, the Jurassic Park plotline, right?
00:43:22.265 → 00:43:23.965
Something that actually can’t spread.
00:43:24.145 → 00:43:25.085
That’s possible.
00:43:25.865 → 00:43:32.325
Or something that is such a mild change that perhaps there’s no risk attached to it.
00:43:32.785 → 00:43:37.305
I’m thinking of, for instance, there’s a glow-in-the-dark plant now.
00:43:38.025 → 00:43:40.925
It has DNA from, I believe, it’s a mushroom.
00:43:41.365 → 00:43:43.365
So that’s what they did.
00:43:43.365 → 00:43:49.025
They took some DNA from the mushroom, spliced it into the plant, and now it is able to glow.
00:43:50.545 → 00:43:52.965
That is less of a risk.
00:43:53.345 → 00:43:56.225
Because one, you haven’t created anything novel, really.
00:43:56.565 → 00:44:02.525
You’ve taken something that exists, added it to something else that exists, and now it has a new property.
00:44:03.005 → 00:44:04.645
Is there some risk involved?
00:44:05.005 → 00:44:08.405
Perhaps, but this is the sort of thing, it’s a petunia.
00:44:09.485 → 00:44:10.225
Is there some risk?
00:44:10.225 → 00:44:11.045
A little bit, sure.
00:44:11.565 → 00:44:24.945
It’s not the same level of risk as designing new genes or designing delivery vehicles that can replicate, that alter the human genome.
00:44:25.745 → 00:44:30.745
That can spread and cause disaster on an unprecedented scale.
00:44:31.205 → 00:44:42.125
So, that’s sort of my caveat with the vaccines, because they’re starting to push these new vehicles to say, oh, this is a better version of the vaccine, right?
00:44:42.565 → 00:44:44.385
I don’t trust any of that stuff.
00:44:44.465 → 00:44:50.245
That stuff is insufficiently tested and has much too high of a risk, and we just went through COVID-19.
00:44:51.045 → 00:44:53.185
Granted, there were some other factors there.
00:44:54.685 → 00:44:57.825
I can’t possibly trust that stuff at this point.
00:44:58.945 → 00:45:05.965
The problem, and this is the core answer, is that many of the vaccines I think are good.
00:45:06.365 → 00:45:12.325
And I know there are going to be people who are angry at me about this, and they’re going to say that, you know, I’m believing in X, Y, and Z.
00:45:13.985 → 00:45:22.585
When I look at the data, I do not see any way to interpret them other than some of the vaccines have been beneficial.
00:45:23.125 → 00:45:31.045
Some of the vaccines have basically eradicated in the part of the world that vaccinates certain diseases.
00:45:31.905 → 00:45:36.825
The diseases are still rampant in parts of the world that don’t vaccinate.
00:45:37.885 → 00:45:45.465
I don’t know how you can look at these data and conclude that vaccines do nothing or they’re fictitious or it’s just nonsense or whatever.
00:45:46.545 → 00:45:51.525
And also, if you understand the biology and you look at what they do, it’s not actually that complicated.
00:45:51.525 → 00:45:53.985
We just needed the technology to be able to do it.
00:45:55.865 → 00:46:06.085
Showing the immune system something that’s very close to a thing you wanted to fight is not a bad system because you’re teaching it how to fight a thing without putting it in any real danger.
00:46:06.745 → 00:46:10.605
Think of it like sparring at your dojo, right?
00:46:11.205 → 00:46:13.405
That’s different from a street fight with a knife.
00:46:14.405 → 00:46:15.885
The latter one is pretty dangerous.
00:46:15.885 → 00:46:17.465
You probably don’t want to be involved in that.
00:46:17.865 → 00:46:23.365
The former increases your odds of succeeding if the latter should come to pass.
00:46:23.645 → 00:46:25.085
The same thing works with vaccines.
00:46:25.085 → 00:46:25.825
That’s all it is.
00:46:26.025 → 00:46:33.005
It’s a weakened version or a slightly modified version or a slightly different version of the disease, right?
00:46:33.105 → 00:46:34.905
You know, cowpox versus something else.
00:46:35.765 → 00:46:43.905
Helping to teach the immune system in order, in the hope that it will be ready to fight the other thing more quickly.
00:46:44.605 → 00:46:47.945
And that gets complicated because the immune system is very complicated.
00:46:47.945 → 00:46:51.185
I’m not getting into that right now because it’s not really the core point here.
00:46:52.125 → 00:46:54.585
But I think that some of those vaccines were good.
00:46:54.785 → 00:46:57.205
And so I’m thinking of like rotavirus, right?
00:46:57.205 → 00:47:03.225
And MMR, measles, bumps, rubella, and maybe meningococcus, right?
00:47:04.565 → 00:47:10.145
Just off the top of my head, those five, there are probably a few others, but some of those are horrible diseases.
00:47:10.625 → 00:47:12.525
Measles is an awful disease.
00:47:14.125 → 00:47:20.765
If you get meningitis, that’s a terrible thing to get, and it might very well kill you, even today, with medical interventions.
00:47:21.885 → 00:47:31.925
It is good not to have to deal with those diseases, and we basically don’t have to deal with them in the Western world because we exterminated them with vaccines.
00:47:32.345 → 00:47:40.805
So I think that those are good, and if we were still using sort of the classical formulation, as it were, I don’t have an objection to those.
00:47:42.025 → 00:47:51.185
I don’t trust the medical establishment not to start using new and improved versions of those using these techniques that are highly suspect.
00:47:51.485 → 00:47:52.605
That’s my problem.
00:47:53.025 → 00:48:08.845
So if I had children, I would be doing a great deal of research on which ones of these vaccines are still using a formulation that is 40 years old or something, not something that was cooked up by some lab for IP purposes in the past six months.
00:48:08.845 → 00:48:09.545
I don’t want that.
00:48:09.545 → 00:48:13.225
I don’t want that anywhere near me or anyone about whom I care.
00:48:14.725 → 00:48:19.765
So the short answer is that yes, I still do firmly believe that there are some good vaccines.
00:48:20.065 → 00:48:27.165
I don’t believe that they have particularly severe, if any, side effects for most of them.
00:48:27.305 → 00:48:30.965
Yes, rotavirus can give you diarrhea and occasional vomiting.
00:48:31.545 → 00:48:41.265
And I think that there are some problems with the sheer number that we’ve started giving to children, and perhaps the schedule needs to be modified.
00:48:41.445 → 00:48:52.865
But if it were just some of these classical, the ones I listed, just like these classical ones that are horrible diseases you don’t want, and not HPV and adding on 15 other vaccines, I don’t think there’s a problem.
00:48:53.285 → 00:49:03.745
I think when you add a whole bunch of them all at once, yes, that probably causes some negative interaction with regard to the immune system and overloading, and there’s probably something there.
00:49:04.105 → 00:49:06.165
I don’t know exactly the etiology.
00:49:06.165 → 00:49:09.005
I don’t know how all those moving parts work together.
00:49:09.065 → 00:49:11.825
I have not investigated enough personally.
00:49:13.205 → 00:49:19.205
But I still think that sort of those standard vaccines are beneficial.
00:49:20.765 → 00:49:27.105
But with that enormous caveat of I don’t trust the medical profession at all, certainly not at this point.
00:49:30.945 → 00:49:35.145
Question 11, little change in gear, I guess.
00:49:35.885 → 00:49:39.845
What is your take on near-death experience stories?
00:49:39.985 → 00:49:47.145
They obviously vary, but it seems the most common experience is nothingness or darkness, akin to sleep without a dream.
00:49:48.685 → 00:49:54.905
There are a lot of different near-death experience stories, and there are a lot of different patterns.
00:49:54.905 → 00:50:00.985
There are obviously you see people who, you hear from people who say they saw nothing, there was just blackness.
00:50:01.505 → 00:50:03.125
There are people who say I saw light.
00:50:03.385 → 00:50:05.265
There are people who say they saw a loved one.
00:50:05.265 → 00:50:09.245
There are people who say all sorts of things, but those are some of the common ones.
00:50:09.405 → 00:50:11.245
You do get some people who say they saw demons.
00:50:11.765 → 00:50:16.605
Usually those people change their lives when they make it back from that experience.
00:50:17.005 → 00:50:19.065
So take that for what you will.
00:50:19.985 → 00:50:33.485
I think that generally speaking, most of them are probably biological, but not all of them, because some of them are just very strange, right?
00:50:33.665 → 00:50:41.265
You’ll get ones where they’ll supposedly talk to a loved one, loved one will tell them about things, and there’s something else there.
00:50:41.265 → 00:50:45.065
There’s something spiritual going on with at least some of them.
00:50:45.705 → 00:50:58.005
And on a related note, death is actually a very interesting thing, and it’s a huge problem for the materialists, for the Darwinians, the evolutionists.
00:50:59.125 → 00:51:09.825
Because there are things that happen around death, perimortem, that don’t make any sense biologically, evolutionarily.
00:51:10.965 → 00:51:13.065
Two things in particular I’m thinking of.
00:51:14.065 → 00:51:22.785
When you have someone who is near to death, very near to death, there’s actually a huge spike in certain brain waves.
00:51:23.045 → 00:51:25.225
For instance, gamma, there’s a huge spike.
00:51:25.985 → 00:51:28.725
And this also happens in rats, incidentally.
00:51:28.725 → 00:51:30.465
Unsurprisingly, we experiment on them first.
00:51:30.465 → 00:51:34.585
But there are huge spikes in certain brain waves.
00:51:35.025 → 00:51:39.845
That’s weird for what is a shutting down of the body.
00:51:40.165 → 00:51:43.405
You have a huge spike in certain…
00:51:43.405 → 00:51:46.105
beyond what you usually see even while alive.
00:51:46.785 → 00:51:50.145
And notably, this has also happened in coma patients.
00:51:50.805 → 00:51:59.345
We’ve had recordings from coma patients who died, and you saw the same sort of spike in activity right around the time of death, which is a little weird.
00:51:59.705 → 00:52:07.025
There’s also the fact that the brain just has a huge rush of serotonin right near the time of death.
00:52:08.185 → 00:52:11.485
That doesn’t make any sense evolutionarily.
00:52:11.985 → 00:52:15.245
That doesn’t make any sense if you are a pure materialist.
00:52:15.245 → 00:52:17.185
There’s something else going on there.
00:52:17.365 → 00:52:22.305
I think there’s an aspect of it that is spiritual.
00:52:22.805 → 00:52:35.345
I think the serotonin might be in part just God sort of helping ease death for us, because obviously if there’s a huge rush of serotonin, it’s somewhat easier, in theory anyway, because obviously none of us know.
00:52:35.625 → 00:52:43.745
But that would seemingly, understanding what serotonin does, make it easier for the person who’s passing.
00:52:45.045 → 00:52:55.305
So yes, I think that some near-death experiences are spiritual in some aspect, and I think a lot of them are just sort of how the brain functions in those final moments.
00:52:56.485 → 00:53:03.805
But like I said, there’s obviously something going on with death that can’t be explained purely by the materialist standpoint.
00:53:07.265 → 00:53:08.705
Question 12.
00:53:09.705 → 00:53:14.205
What do we do with the widespread use of abortifacients, like the pill?
00:53:14.725 → 00:53:19.325
Surely people should be held culpable, but very few people that use it truly understand it.
00:53:19.605 → 00:53:24.165
What about the clerics that never condemn the pill in their support for contraception?
00:53:26.925 → 00:53:33.625
This is a difficult question, and I actually have a partially written essay on it, and I know I mentioned it some weeks ago.
00:53:33.625 → 00:53:35.025
I have not finished it.
00:53:35.025 → 00:53:37.465
Not exactly a happy topic about which to write.
00:53:38.125 → 00:53:53.185
If you start running the numbers, though, it’s a little bleak with just the potential number of murders that have occurred because of hormonal birth control, among other things.
00:53:53.885 → 00:53:55.085
And that is the problem.
00:53:55.085 → 00:53:58.505
For those who don’t understand, I’ll explain how it works just briefly.
00:53:58.925 → 00:54:06.045
There are a number of ways that hormonal birth control works to stop conception.
00:54:06.945 → 00:54:13.305
However, it doesn’t just stop conception, it also stops implantation.
00:54:13.905 → 00:54:19.965
And I hope you remember enough of your high school biology or sex ed course to know what that is.
00:54:21.645 → 00:54:27.145
The first thing it does is it makes the female body inhospitable to male gametes.
00:54:27.465 → 00:54:32.345
And so less likely that anything is going to reach the egg.
00:54:34.025 → 00:54:37.825
Then it makes ovulation less likely.
00:54:38.305 → 00:54:40.205
And I’m just giving the short version.
00:54:40.205 → 00:54:42.065
I’ll give the longer version of the article.
00:54:43.245 → 00:54:49.545
But the part of it that is morally problematic, there’s actually a fourth way as well, but I’m just going to get into the three here.
00:54:50.045 → 00:55:09.125
The other way is that it basically modifies the lining of the uterus and makes it less likely so that the fertilized egg, the child, this is now a child, morally speaking from the Christian perspective, cannot successfully implant, and so it causes a miscarriage.
00:55:10.305 → 00:55:19.285
Now miscarriage is one of those terms that somewhat confuses people, because it has a wide breadth of senses.
00:55:19.285 → 00:55:26.845
The same is abortion, incidentally, because a miscarriage, if it is a natural one, is actually just a spontaneous abortion.
00:55:27.245 → 00:55:28.485
Those terms are equivalent.
00:55:28.765 → 00:55:32.965
So what we’re obviously talking about here is more willful sort of thing.
00:55:33.005 → 00:55:38.365
But if you take a pill and it causes a miscarriage, that is an abortion.
00:55:38.965 → 00:55:42.405
That is morally culpable crime.
00:55:42.445 → 00:55:43.345
That’s a murder.
00:55:44.645 → 00:55:49.065
And the question then is, what do we do?
00:55:49.085 → 00:55:55.365
Because our society has been engaged in this behavior for decades at this point.
00:55:56.345 → 00:55:59.585
We all probably know women who have taken birth control.
00:56:01.865 → 00:56:09.725
Many of them did not know, because many of them know absolutely nothing about their own bodies, and they learned absolutely nothing in health class, as it were.
00:56:10.665 → 00:56:14.965
So all they know is, I take this pill, I can’t get pregnant.
00:56:14.965 → 00:56:16.045
And that’s how they think about it.
00:56:16.045 → 00:56:17.965
They think, I can’t get pregnant.
00:56:17.965 → 00:56:29.065
They don’t think, I can get pregnant and have the child aborted, and so I will not really be, when they think of pregnant, when they think big belly and all that.
00:56:30.345 → 00:56:32.305
That’s not when pregnancy starts.
00:56:33.165 → 00:56:38.065
It starts with conception, because that’s when you have that unique life, that’s a human life.
00:56:38.585 → 00:56:41.365
That is the morally salient point.
00:56:41.545 → 00:56:47.725
And so a pill that causes that life to be terminated is a murder pill.
00:56:48.205 → 00:56:55.465
It is morally impermissible to use it, it is morally impermissible to create it, it is morally impermissible to prescribe it.
00:56:55.965 → 00:57:06.785
And so certainly the companies that are making it should be prosecuted, including criminal penalties for their leadership, many of them located in Israel, surprise, surprise.
00:57:08.405 → 00:57:12.125
And certainly the doctors prescribing it should also be punished, because they know.
00:57:12.245 → 00:57:20.565
They know exactly how it functions, they are prescribing it with full knowledge of how it works, and so they are morally culpable for each and every one of those murders.
00:57:21.985 → 00:57:24.885
The girls themselves, by and large, do not know.
00:57:25.345 → 00:57:29.325
And so, there is an intent aspect to murder, right?
00:57:30.145 → 00:57:33.305
Murder is not absent intent.
00:57:33.445 → 00:57:37.485
There are intent crimes, and there are crimes that don’t involve intent.
00:57:38.845 → 00:57:43.285
Or at least, not always crimes in that case, sometimes they’re just a civil wrong.
00:57:43.285 → 00:57:45.545
It may not rise the level of a crime without intent.
00:57:45.705 → 00:57:48.585
There are some, but most crimes involve intent.
00:57:48.945 → 00:57:51.165
But there are different kinds of killing, right?
00:57:51.445 → 00:57:54.825
And they’re basically distinguished more or less by intent.
00:57:54.825 → 00:57:57.605
There are some other factors there for some things, but it’s usually intent.
00:57:58.025 → 00:58:08.165
Murder is the highest one, at least murder one, because that’s the willful killing of one human being by another malice aforethought.
00:58:08.165 → 00:58:11.665
It’s that malice aforethought that matters in our criminal justice system.
00:58:11.965 → 00:58:16.845
If you’re talking about morally, then it is the insufficiently morally warranted killing of one human being by another.
00:58:17.445 → 00:58:20.485
And then, of course, you get to debate over what is sufficient moral warrant.
00:58:20.785 → 00:58:21.645
But this is not.
00:58:22.685 → 00:58:27.365
So yes, I think it is a very real problem for our society.
00:58:27.365 → 00:58:31.825
The best thing we could do is stop producing that pill and bomb any country that produces it.
00:58:32.045 → 00:58:35.545
Just absolutely get rid of it, destroy it from the face of the earth.
00:58:35.545 → 00:58:39.705
It is a great, unbelievable wickedness.
00:58:40.505 → 00:58:51.285
Satan designed something that results in more human sacrifice than what the Aztecs and the Mayan empires have achieved over a course of centuries.
00:58:52.145 → 00:58:59.625
And many Christians use it, and they think what they’re doing is perfectly morally fine because they don’t understand what they’re doing.
00:59:00.045 → 00:59:05.545
So no, it is a great evil for which God is certainly punishing us.
00:59:05.545 → 00:59:07.445
And part of the punishment is just not having children.
00:59:15.645 → 00:59:16.305
Question 13.
00:59:17.105 → 00:59:20.625
The Dead Sea Scrolls, Enoch, Jubilees, et cetera, were they removed?
00:59:20.625 → 00:59:21.585
Do they belong?
00:59:22.065 → 00:59:24.005
Is scripture being withheld from us?
00:59:24.905 → 00:59:26.125
This one comes up a lot.
00:59:26.245 → 00:59:28.065
I see this all the time in various places.
00:59:29.185 → 00:59:39.785
I think the best way to explain it, and the specific example you give is going to change from audience to audience, but for this audience, and because I’m me, I’m going to use Dune.
00:59:40.765 → 00:59:44.765
Frank Herbert wrote six books in the Dune series, the core six books.
00:59:45.545 → 00:59:56.885
He took a ton of notes, and then his son and another science fiction author wrote a bunch more books, mostly prequels.
00:59:57.185 → 01:00:00.785
I think some of them were sequels as well, but a bunch more books in the Dune universe.
01:00:01.905 → 01:00:11.705
And then you have fan fiction, people who have just wrote their own stuff, supposedly set in the Dune universe, and said, this is part of it, right?
01:00:11.705 → 01:00:13.045
Same thing happens with Lovecraft.
01:00:13.605 → 01:00:23.425
You have the novels and the essays and the things that Lovecraft wrote, and then you have some stuff that’s based off some of his notes, and then you have just fan fiction set in his universe.
01:00:25.665 → 01:00:33.845
When it comes to scripture, the stuff written by the original author is the analogous thing here for scripture.
01:00:34.345 → 01:00:39.145
So the six core novels of Dune would be the scripture of the Dune universe.
01:00:40.785 → 01:00:45.005
Then you have the stuff that is related, but not scripture.
01:00:45.325 → 01:00:47.085
And so I’m thinking of Maccabees, right?
01:00:47.545 → 01:00:56.185
Maccabees is a history text recorded by people who lived around the time of the events, and they weren’t writing scripture.
01:00:56.505 → 01:01:03.665
They were writing something about stuff that happened in an area relevant to scripture, but not scripture.
01:01:04.225 → 01:01:10.065
And then you have people who go off and write crazy fan fiction, like the Mormons, right?
01:01:11.025 → 01:01:17.105
Just because it says it exists in the universe of something doesn’t mean it does.
01:01:17.585 → 01:01:24.125
So some person could write an essay right now, publish it, say, this is part of the Dune universe.
01:01:24.605 → 01:01:26.565
Does it make it part of the Dune universe?
01:01:27.005 → 01:01:27.905
The answer is no.
01:01:28.425 → 01:01:30.185
The same thing with regard to scripture.
01:01:30.185 → 01:01:42.425
Some random person publishing a book, putting on a papyrus, whatever it happens to be, given the age, does not mean it is part of scripture just because it asserts that it is.
01:01:43.005 → 01:01:54.485
And you have very clear passages of scripture saying that, you know, if someone should preach to you another gospel, even if it were I or an angel from heaven, let him be accursed, right?
01:01:56.225 → 01:02:00.265
Okay, you have other gospels in many of these things.
01:02:00.645 → 01:02:10.765
And the other part of this that I would look at, I always like to run the analysis of what happens to men who become interested in this thing.
01:02:11.465 → 01:02:18.125
I think it’s a good way to look at sort of the general moral tenor, perhaps, of a thing.
01:02:18.325 → 01:02:25.265
You could do this with hobbies, you can do this with fictional universes, you can do this with books that claim to be part of scripture.
01:02:26.465 → 01:02:31.325
If every man who reads it starts to go off the rails, you should probably avoid it.
01:02:31.785 → 01:02:42.645
I have never found a man who is really obsessed with Enoch and Jubilees and all that stuff, and isn’t off the rails so far, he can no longer see them.
01:02:44.305 → 01:02:57.365
I think that’s probably sufficient as warrant to condemn this stuff, because reading scripture doesn’t drive you insane and make you want to be a hermit thinking that angels are going to hunt you or something.
01:02:57.585 → 01:03:00.925
That’s the kind of stuff you start to see from men who get obsessed with this stuff.
01:03:01.445 → 01:03:10.105
They get really into the Nephilim and they start thinking that there are angels that are taking women from the earth and then it somehow gets tied into UFOs sometimes.
01:03:10.485 → 01:03:14.605
This is not what you see from people who are reading God’s Word.
01:03:15.545 → 01:03:19.845
And so I think that you can look at the fruit and tell the tree is poisonous.
01:03:20.645 → 01:03:24.745
And there’s also the fact, if you read them, they don’t sound like scripture.
01:03:25.125 → 01:03:30.105
You get a very good sense for what is and isn’t scripture when you’ve read scripture a lot.
01:03:31.125 → 01:03:36.225
When I, yes, someone mentioned in the chat that Super Luther did a deep dive on some of these things.
01:03:37.145 → 01:03:40.965
I would recommend that for those who are more interested in going into a little bit more.
01:03:41.525 → 01:03:43.845
That’s a few more hours of listening for you.
01:03:43.845 → 01:03:45.385
Probably quite a few at this point.
01:03:45.385 → 01:03:55.625
But I just don’t think that looking at the fruit produced warrants paying any attention to the tree or certainly consuming the fruit.
01:03:55.625 → 01:04:02.425
Like I was going to say, if you read scripture, you develop a very clear sense for what is and isn’t scripture.
01:04:02.885 → 01:04:14.805
And this is incidentally something that comes up when you see pastors and others on social media presented with a chunk of scripture, not in quotation marks, and they don’t recognize it.
01:04:14.885 → 01:04:20.845
That seems alien to me because if I read something, it reads like scripture or it doesn’t read like scripture to me.
01:04:22.145 → 01:04:24.425
I’ve read Enoch, I’ve read Jubilees, I’ve read these things.
01:04:24.705 → 01:04:28.005
They don’t read like scripture, they read like fan fiction.
01:04:28.445 → 01:04:30.505
They read like something that is…
01:04:30.505 → 01:04:32.365
really, it’s a Gnostic text.
01:04:32.405 → 01:04:39.785
This is secret knowledge that you gain this secret knowledge if you read this, and then you really understand what’s going on in the old times.
01:04:39.925 → 01:04:41.125
That’s the Talmud too.
01:04:41.905 → 01:04:46.005
If you read this, it gives you secret knowledge, and now you really know what’s going on in the Pentateuch.
01:04:46.145 → 01:04:48.905
You didn’t know before because you needed this stuff.
01:04:50.105 → 01:04:53.805
The church does not call this part of scripture.
01:04:55.625 → 01:04:59.465
The church fathers, by and large, don’t consider this stuff part of scripture.
01:05:00.105 → 01:05:03.545
The Reformation fathers, by and large, don’t consider this part of scripture.
01:05:04.265 → 01:05:17.985
This has just become a modern obsession because of a number of novels and movies and things like that, and people just looking for some sort of hidden knowledge that will make everything fall into place and all the pieces fit together.
01:05:19.805 → 01:05:22.805
Scripture already gives us all the information that we need.
01:05:23.425 → 01:05:28.105
Not one of these books gives us anything beneficial that we don’t have in scripture.
01:05:28.645 → 01:05:42.545
So, and I want to be clear here, when I’m talking about the fan fiction books, not the historical ones that are sort of tangentially related, you can read Maccabees and it can be good because it gives you some historical context.
01:05:42.545 → 01:05:43.525
Nothing wrong with that.
01:05:43.785 → 01:05:54.185
Not scripture, but a history book, very biased, but gives you some information about the period from the point of view of people living through it.
01:05:54.545 → 01:05:57.785
That has utility, but it doesn’t make it scripture.
01:05:58.745 → 01:06:05.405
The same as when we find various archaeological records from various empires in that part of the world.
01:06:06.045 → 01:06:10.685
Just because they’re set in the same place at the same time as scripture doesn’t make them scripture.
01:06:10.985 → 01:06:18.705
They can be useful because we can find things like, here’s Moses’ name on something, where scripture said his name would be found, things like that.
01:06:19.805 → 01:06:21.405
They’re useful, they’re good.
01:06:21.525 → 01:06:26.525
It’s good to know them, read some of them, like I said, you know, Maccabees, and the apocrypha is fine.
01:06:26.525 → 01:06:27.345
Go ahead and read it.
01:06:27.665 → 01:06:33.365
The apocrypha is profitable to read, as Luther would say, it’s just not scripture.
01:06:33.845 → 01:06:39.605
And I was looking for my copy, I was going to set it short of the camera.
01:06:39.605 → 01:06:47.065
But anyway, the CPH created a version that’s a reader’s edition, has some notes, explanatory essays, things like that.
01:06:47.305 → 01:06:51.705
Great edition, by all means grab it used if you can, they charge too much for their books.
01:06:51.705 → 01:06:54.045
But that’s a great option.
01:06:54.165 → 01:06:57.025
It’s worth reading, but it’s not scripture.
01:06:57.145 → 01:07:00.465
So nothing is being withheld from us.
01:07:00.485 → 01:07:01.825
We have the word of God.
01:07:02.105 → 01:07:03.905
God said he would preserve his word.
01:07:04.065 → 01:07:05.225
He did preserve it.
01:07:05.325 → 01:07:06.725
He preserved it faithfully.
01:07:07.045 → 01:07:09.005
He read from it when he was on earth.
01:07:10.205 → 01:07:16.705
This stuff that is sort of in the orbit of scripture, is not what he preserved.
01:07:17.165 → 01:07:33.625
This is, again, fan fiction, written by men who are trying to lead people astray, in many cases, because there is a constant thread down through history of various Gnostic groups saying, no, we have the real truth, you have to follow us.
01:07:33.985 → 01:07:36.865
We’ll tell you what this really means.
01:07:37.605 → 01:07:38.765
Don’t read it.
01:07:39.125 → 01:07:40.565
Don’t just read the Pentateuch.
01:07:40.565 → 01:07:42.025
Don’t just read the word of God.
01:07:42.025 → 01:07:47.805
You have to come to us, so we can give you the actual insight into what the words really mean.
01:07:48.445 → 01:07:49.945
Never trust someone who does that.
01:07:50.605 → 01:07:54.785
By and large, God’s word can be read and understood by a man of average intelligence.
01:07:55.545 → 01:07:57.645
Are there some things that are harder to understand than others?
01:07:57.765 → 01:07:58.585
Absolutely.
01:07:59.005 → 01:08:00.845
There are some things no man can understand.
01:08:01.265 → 01:08:04.305
But the core of scripture is very comprehensible.
01:08:10.846 → 01:08:12.566
Then a related question from the same person.
01:08:12.566 → 01:08:14.486
I know I’ve answered this one before, but I’ll answer it again.
01:08:16.326 → 01:08:17.066
Question 14.
01:08:17.486 → 01:08:20.406
Is the KJV really the most accurate translation?
01:08:20.686 → 01:08:22.266
How can we trust King James?
01:08:22.266 → 01:08:23.706
He has a bad reputation.
01:08:26.606 → 01:08:30.086
Try not to cough into the mic, but I think my mute’s not working, so sorry.
01:08:34.566 → 01:08:39.666
It’s the revenge from King James for reading that he’s got a bad reputation.
01:08:41.266 → 01:08:45.286
Or the revenge of the Baptist for saying King James has a bad reputation.
01:08:45.286 → 01:08:49.986
Anyway, King James has a mixed reputation.
01:08:49.986 → 01:08:50.966
That’s certainly true.
01:08:51.286 → 01:09:00.506
But just because he has a mixed reputation does not mean that the translation that he funded is flawed.
01:09:01.246 → 01:09:08.106
So I don’t believe that the King James is like a fundamentally flawed translation.
01:09:09.286 → 01:09:18.926
I don’t believe it’s the best translation, because it is, with the Old Testament, obviously, based on the Masoretic text, instead of being based on the Greek, which it should be.
01:09:18.926 → 01:09:20.266
It should be based on the Septuagint.
01:09:21.086 → 01:09:22.586
So it’s not the most accurate.
01:09:23.426 → 01:09:24.906
There are better translations.
01:09:24.906 → 01:09:31.406
It has some known quirks, but I think that it is fine to use it.
01:09:31.526 → 01:09:34.286
It’s not like a bad translation.
01:09:34.866 → 01:09:48.166
Like I pointed out many times before, the problem with the King James is largely that the English is now so antiquated, so outdated, that most people cannot read it and really understand it well.
01:09:49.166 → 01:09:50.046
Some men can.
01:09:50.606 → 01:09:52.086
If you can, by all means use it.
01:09:52.086 → 01:09:53.826
I’ve read the King James a lot.
01:09:54.066 → 01:09:56.226
That was certainly the version I was using in school.
01:09:56.226 → 01:09:57.466
It’s what my father used.
01:09:57.466 → 01:10:00.266
It’s what my grandfather used.
01:10:01.046 → 01:10:04.286
Obviously, the King James has a place in Christian history.
01:10:05.346 → 01:10:13.086
Now, we need a better translation, because we need a full translation of the Septuagint, not the Masoretic text.
01:10:13.166 → 01:10:13.626
Right?
01:10:14.726 → 01:10:16.946
So, it’s not a bad version.
01:10:16.946 → 01:10:21.586
Like I’ve said many times before, the best Bible is the one you have and actually read.
01:10:22.386 → 01:10:27.766
Now, if you have and actually read one that is a good, faithful translation, that’s obviously best.
01:10:27.766 → 01:10:33.486
But if the only thing you have available is the message, it’s better that you read that than nothing.
01:10:34.526 → 01:10:36.586
Although please go buy something other than the message.
01:10:41.066 → 01:10:46.126
Like the Baptist in chat telling me that I’ve got a curse from King James.
01:10:46.126 → 01:10:47.226
Like, yes.
01:10:48.846 → 01:10:55.566
No, I think it’s just, I spent a lot of time in the sun because it’s spring here, and I’m out gardening, and I think I’m a little dehydrated.
01:10:56.866 → 01:10:59.126
So, probably also a little red from the sun.
01:11:09.534 → 01:11:14.494
Someone in chat said, please read the part of scripture where God turns his face to us.
01:11:14.494 → 01:11:17.334
Is that, I think you’re just referencing the Aaronic blessing, right?
01:11:20.734 → 01:11:24.314
Which is, I can never remember which chapter in Numbers, number six.
01:11:27.814 → 01:11:30.174
So I think that is the one you mean.
01:11:30.174 → 01:11:36.874
So yes, that is of course a great passage from scripture, and that is used all the time.
01:11:37.494 → 01:11:42.374
That is still used in, I’m typing in Greek, no wonder it’s not working.
01:11:43.234 → 01:11:45.634
That is used in church services all the time still.
01:11:47.794 → 01:11:49.754
Let me look at the chat here.
01:11:49.754 → 01:11:55.934
I actually got through the questions that I intended, so I’ll see if there are some more of them.
01:11:56.594 → 01:12:01.434
But I can say the Aaronic blessing at the end of this, if that provides you some comfort.
01:12:11.625 → 01:12:20.845
Actually, I think I will answer maybe a couple more questions from my pending list, as it were, get cut that down a little bit.
01:12:21.365 → 01:12:26.765
Some of the shorter ones, there are some in that pending list that are going to take quite a while.
01:12:38.517 → 01:12:40.237
Let’s answer briefly this question from the chat.
01:12:40.237 → 01:12:43.497
Is there a version that I use right now for the Septuagint?
01:12:43.497 → 01:12:44.357
The answer is yes.
01:12:44.677 → 01:12:46.057
I usually use the Nets.
01:12:47.037 → 01:12:48.377
That’s the N-E-T-S.
01:12:48.777 → 01:12:51.877
It is a little academic, it’s a little stilted in places.
01:12:52.477 → 01:12:57.737
The Logos version does not have full Logos support, so you can’t click and see the underlying Greek word.
01:12:57.737 → 01:13:03.997
You have to go over to the LES2, which is the Lexum, which is the one put out by Logos.
01:13:04.597 → 01:13:06.737
Between those two, you’re pretty good.
01:13:08.357 → 01:13:09.837
They’re not perfect, like I said.
01:13:10.017 → 01:13:11.117
It’s very academic.
01:13:11.117 → 01:13:11.677
It’s dry.
01:13:11.677 → 01:13:12.877
It’s stilted language.
01:13:13.457 → 01:13:29.477
But it works well enough, and it’s faithful to the underlying Greek, which is essentially what I wanted, which is why it’s what I’m using now for the daily devotions for the Old Testament and for the Psalms, and for the Through the Bible in a Year podcast.
01:13:29.477 → 01:13:32.617
I’m in First Samuel now.
01:13:34.257 → 01:13:35.477
So I’m using Nets for that.
01:13:47.768 → 01:13:49.588
Very long questions here.
01:13:49.588 → 01:14:05.228
I saw that one earlier in the chat asking about the Opium Wars and the relationship to the Opium Wars and how that influenced the relationship between the West and China, and specifically Britain and, impliedly, Germany, since the question was asked in German.
01:14:05.228 → 01:14:13.548
So I think I will have to put that one off for a future episode, since that’s a little involved for, just off the top of my head, as it were.
01:14:20.519 → 01:14:24.659
I am collecting questions that are going to take me time to answer.
01:14:28.839 → 01:14:41.919
Someone asked about how certain ethnic groups wind up getting into positions of authority at the top of corporations in the short answer, and really the fullness of the answer is just corruption.
01:14:43.099 → 01:14:45.299
Nepotism in the fullest negative sense of the term.
01:14:46.779 → 01:14:48.699
That is exactly how that happens.
01:14:50.159 → 01:14:51.259
And it happens a lot.
01:14:58.870 → 01:15:01.410
Just noting down the question for the show notes.
01:15:06.390 → 01:15:08.410
I think that is going to be about it.
01:15:08.410 → 01:15:12.970
I’d like to find one more question to answer, just one that isn’t too long.
01:15:13.130 → 01:15:15.470
Someone asked about my favorite caliber of bullet.
01:15:15.750 → 01:15:20.450
I don’t want that to be the last question, and I don’t really have one, because it depends what you’re doing.
01:15:21.250 → 01:15:32.950
I am not taking a nine millimeter if I am worried about bear, because I kind of want the bear to not charge me instead of be more annoyed with me when he gets to me.
01:15:36.330 → 01:15:42.350
On a related note, if you hike, camp, et cetera, the 10 mil is great, but carry bear spray.
01:15:42.970 → 01:15:49.930
The data very clearly show the best outcome, the best likelihood of a good outcome, is bear spray.
01:15:50.110 → 01:15:54.550
It doesn’t matter what caliber, when it comes to the firearm, bear spray is the way to go.
01:15:55.350 → 01:16:03.150
Surprisingly, even worked for polar bears, which I am glad I am not the man who had to test that.
01:16:06.610 → 01:16:07.490
Here’s an easy one.
01:16:08.350 → 01:16:09.870
I think I’ll end with this one for this week.
01:16:09.910 → 01:16:15.230
My husband and I would like to do our ancestry test to see our heritage, but can we trust the companies?
01:16:15.690 → 01:16:18.970
If so, which company do you recommend?
01:16:20.450 → 01:16:21.970
I think the best one is probably Ancestry.
01:16:23.530 → 01:16:32.110
Used to be largely owned by the Mormons, now I think they have some venture capital ownership and some other things, so you can’t trust any of these companies 100%, obviously.
01:16:32.550 → 01:16:59.110
Generally that’s true of most corporations, but I think people get a little paranoid about it, and I think it’s largely undue paranoia, because at this point they have collected enough DNA that you can do population-level analysis, so they don’t really need your specific DNA, because they already have it from so many other people who are related to you, at least at some level of cousin.
01:16:59.470 → 01:17:00.430
They just don’t need it.
01:17:00.590 → 01:17:05.450
And there’s also the fact you shed your DNA all over the place every single day.
01:17:06.270 → 01:17:10.670
So if someone really wanted your DNA, it would be trivial to get it.
01:17:10.890 → 01:17:19.030
Like, I’ve shed my DNA on this pen I’ve been holding, on the hydroflask out of which I’m drinking, you know, in the garden while gardening.
01:17:19.030 → 01:17:23.510
Like, you shed DNA all over the place because your skin cells have your DNA.
01:17:24.250 → 01:17:25.990
So you can’t avoid it.
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And if woodworking is your hobby, then blood, you’re spreading that all over.
01:17:30.410 → 01:17:39.450
So I don’t think the risk of it is so significant that you can’t send off your DNA to be tested.
01:17:39.450 → 01:17:40.250
I think it’s fine to do.
01:17:40.250 → 01:17:43.070
I had mine tested many years ago now at this point.
01:17:43.450 → 01:17:53.030
I’ve had my results public just because people like to annoy me about things sometimes, and it’s always good to point to something that’s been publicly available for more than a decade.
01:17:54.130 → 01:17:57.510
But I think Ancestry is probably still one of the best ones.
01:17:57.510 → 01:18:03.690
I’m not as familiar with a lot of them, but I would not trust 23andMe.
01:18:03.690 → 01:18:07.030
They seem to like to play games, and their ownership is very questionable.
01:18:08.110 → 01:18:08.810
Very Jewish.
01:18:09.410 → 01:18:12.130
So, I would say Ancestry is probably the best one.
01:18:12.790 → 01:18:15.090
And they also have some of the best records.
01:18:15.490 → 01:18:22.510
So, you get access to a bunch of their records when you do a DNA test for free for a certain period of time.
01:18:22.690 → 01:18:24.290
And every now and then they run that as well.
01:18:24.690 → 01:18:41.550
So, if you can grab some sort of software to do your family history, your family tree, and then get the free deal with Ancestry, just import as much information as you can, and you basically get it all done for free, instead of signing up for the…
01:18:41.890 → 01:18:43.770
whatever their monthly is now, I have no idea.
01:18:45.210 → 01:18:48.690
So, Mac family tree is the way to go if you’re on a Mac.
01:18:48.690 → 01:18:50.790
I don’t know for Windows software.
01:18:50.790 → 01:18:52.530
I’m sure someone can make a recommendation.
01:18:54.290 → 01:18:57.290
But I think that will be it for this week.
01:18:57.290 → 01:18:59.230
I did get to 16 questions.
01:18:59.870 → 01:19:02.510
A little more than I thought I would get done, which is always nice.
01:19:04.730 → 01:19:09.550
As always, if you would like to submit a question, you can submit those on the forum.
01:19:09.550 → 01:19:11.490
You can, of course, submit them in chat as well.
01:19:11.490 → 01:19:12.750
I try to catch those.
01:19:13.190 → 01:19:22.610
If you submit them on X or via Telegram, I try to take all of those and put them into the future topic slash question list.
01:19:22.610 → 01:19:28.150
It’s a topic on the forum, so if you do not see your question in that list, it means that I missed it.
01:19:28.610 → 01:19:34.210
And so, please get it to me some other way, preferably on the forum, but again, you can send other ways as well.
01:19:34.630 → 01:19:38.730
Thank you for those who submitted questions, and of course, for participating in the chat.
01:19:39.030 → 01:19:42.270
And like I say every week, I’m glad to do this.
01:19:42.270 → 01:19:45.010
It’s nice to have the opportunity to answer some of these questions.
01:19:45.470 → 01:19:48.390
So it’s Friday.
01:19:48.390 → 01:19:51.210
I try to do this on Thursday, but it usually winds up being Friday.
01:19:51.210 → 01:19:52.910
Just depends how my week goes.
01:19:52.910 → 01:19:55.250
Like I said, it’s spring here in earnest.
01:19:55.250 → 01:19:56.250
It feels like summer.
01:19:56.750 → 01:19:58.110
I’m spending a lot of time outside.
01:19:58.490 → 01:20:01.290
So that’s been absorbing my time.
01:20:02.070 → 01:20:04.790
And I think that’s it for this week.
01:20:04.790 → 01:20:09.870
I am going to go and have a Manhattan and fiddle with electricity.
01:20:09.870 → 01:20:12.590
Thankfully, it’s just low voltage.
01:20:12.590 → 01:20:15.030
So don’t worry, there will be another episode next week.
01:20:15.390 → 01:20:16.870
There’s no danger on my part.
01:20:18.030 → 01:20:21.430
But I said that I would read the Aaronic Blessing, and so I’ll do that.
01:20:23.030 → 01:20:24.650
May the Lord bless you and keep you.
01:20:24.910 → 01:20:27.970
May the Lord make his face shine upon you and show mercy to you.
01:20:28.190 → 01:20:31.490
May the Lord lift up his face upon you and give you peace.
01:20:32.430 → 01:20:34.730
Go to church on Sunday, and may God bless you.
01:20:34.850 → 01:20:35.890
See you all next week.