# AAC: 26 Dec 2025 (Q&A) **URL:** \ **Category:** At Any Cost\ **Created:** [January 2, 2026, 12:32am UTC](https://omnifora.com/t/aac-26-dec-2025-q-a/4898 "2026-01-02T00:32:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mahler](https://omnifora.com/user_avatar/omnifora.com/mahler/32/7_2.png) [@mahler](https://omnifora.com/u/mahler)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2026, 12:32am UTC](https://omnifora.com/t/aac-26-dec-2025-q-a/4898/1 "2026-01-02T00:32:16Z")
# Episode Information - **Date** : 2025-12(Dec)-26(Fri) - **Links** : - Episode: [26 Dec 2025 (Q&A) | Corey J. Mahler Podcasts](https://podcasts.coreyjmahler.com/2025/12/26-dec-2025-qa/) - Transcript: [e0009.vtt](https://aac.cdn.coreyjmahler.com/transcripts/e0009.vtt) - Other Platforms: - Video: - YouTube: [https://youtube.com/live/LZY36lgPn0A](https://youtube.com/live/LZY36lgPn0A) - X: - Twitch: - Kick: - Rumble: - Original Broadcasts - YouTube: [https://youtube.com/live/LZY36lgPn0A](https://youtube.com/live/LZY36lgPn0A) - X: [At Any Cost: 26 Dec 2025 (Q&A) - Live Broadcast by Corey J. Mahler / X](https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1BdGYZeREngJX) ---
**Author:** ![mahler](https://omnifora.com/user_avatar/omnifora.com/mahler/32/7_2.png) [@mahler](https://omnifora.com/u/mahler)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2026, 12:32am UTC](https://omnifora.com/t/aac-26-dec-2025-q-a/4898/2 "2026-01-02T00:32:42Z")
# Episode Wiki _This is the episode wiki — trusted users can edit it._ ---
**Author:** ![mahler](https://omnifora.com/user_avatar/omnifora.com/mahler/32/7_2.png) [@mahler](https://omnifora.com/u/mahler)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2026, 12:32am UTC](https://omnifora.com/t/aac-26-dec-2025-q-a/4898/3 "2026-01-02T00:32:49Z")
# Transcript WEBVTT 00:00:01.180 → 00:00:05.100 It is the 26th of December, 2025. 00:00:05.100 → 00:00:06.020 I am Corey J. 00:00:06.020 → 00:00:10.020 Moller, and this is the At Any Cost podcast. 00:00:10.020 → 00:00:17.820 This is the eighth episode of 2025, also incidentally the eighth episode of, actually no, this is the ninth episode. 00:00:17.820 → 00:00:20.980 I was just editing the show art for the eighth episode. 00:00:20.980 → 00:00:23.620 This is the ninth Q&A episode. 00:00:23.620 → 00:00:33.860 And I tried to select questions this time that aren’t topics that are too particularly heavy, since it is the second day of Christmas, so I figured it would be a little lighter this week. 00:00:33.860 → 00:00:39.340 I will still be doing an episode next week as well, so we’ll dive back into some of the heavier questions then. 00:00:39.340 → 00:00:47.340 So if you have an outstanding question, as it were, that is a heavier topic, I may not get to it this week, but it will probably be up next week. 00:00:48.460 → 00:00:54.680 So with that being said, I will leave housekeeping and such for the end, so I will jump right into it. 00:00:55.760 → 00:00:58.540 The first question is language learning. 00:00:58.540 → 00:01:06.140 I’ve been asked this one a lot with regard to German, particularly, and this time it’s Greek. 00:01:06.140 → 00:01:12.980 The question is a little different, and so the answer is a little different for a reason that will be obvious in a second here. 00:01:12.980 → 00:01:15.380 My son and I have begun trying to learn Greek. 00:01:15.380 → 00:01:19.840 How would you recommend we do this, and are there any resources you would suggest? 00:01:20.920 → 00:01:39.800 My first suggestion is going to be just learn modern Greek, because once you know modern Greek, it’s going to be trivially easy to read various other kinds of Greek, maybe not ancient Attic Greek or something, but certainly coin of Greek, the Greek of the scriptures. 00:01:39.800 → 00:01:56.640 And so the other advantage of that, of course, is if you learn the modern version of the language, you’re going to be able to access a wealth of resources, and also you’ll have access to things that are in modern Greek that you otherwise would not be able to read, which is kind of nice. 00:01:56.640 → 00:02:14.100 And really, the big difference is going to be you’re not going to learn the constructed pronunciation of Erasmus or a number of other schools of pronunciation, and so your pronunciation will be different from what, say, a lot of pastors have learned, a lot of priests historically. 00:02:14.100 → 00:02:16.280 That doesn’t really matter, honestly. 00:02:16.380 → 00:02:27.080 It’s sort of the equivalent of, say, learning the ancient pronunciation of Latin, which is what I learned when I was in high school, versus the medieval pronunciation. 00:02:27.080 → 00:02:37.380 So if you, for instance, sing any of the various hymns written in Latin, they’re almost always going to be medieval pronunciation instead of classical. 00:02:37.380 → 00:02:40.940 And so there’s some differences there, but they’re not big enough to make it difficult. 00:02:40.940 → 00:02:42.300 Same thing is true with Greek. 00:02:43.320 → 00:02:47.820 And so, what actual resources would I recommend? 00:02:47.820 → 00:02:50.020 I think I would say first, podcasts. 00:02:50.020 → 00:02:54.580 Not just because I’m a podcaster, I guess, and I’m biased, it’s not that. 00:02:54.580 → 00:02:56.720 Listening to the language helps a lot. 00:02:56.720 → 00:03:20.720 And for most languages now, major languages anyway, there are podcasts meant to help you learn the language, so you can listen to how it is spoken, you can pick up the sounds and start to develop sort of that foundation in your mind, and how the language functions, and you start to build up a little bit of the structure of it as well, because you sort to get a bit of an ear for the grammar and things like that. 00:03:20.720 → 00:03:27.260 In addition to that, children’s books, because you’re learning a new language, you should learn it the way you learned your first language. 00:03:27.260 → 00:03:36.080 Of course, ideally for language learning, immersion, but you’re probably not going to pick up your life, move to Greece for five years to learn Greek. 00:03:36.080 → 00:03:36.840 Most people don’t do that. 00:03:37.440 → 00:03:42.880 But, second best is immersing yourself in it as much as you can. 00:03:42.880 → 00:03:49.140 So, however many minutes, or if you can spare an hour a day, by all means, that will certainly benefit you. 00:03:49.140 → 00:03:53.660 But make sure it’s consistent, even if it’s just 15 minutes a day. 00:03:53.660 → 00:03:55.260 Dedicate that time. 00:03:55.260 → 00:03:57.740 You’re making those neural pathways, you’re developing the habit. 00:03:57.740 → 00:04:01.860 There’s a lot of benefit to doing it every single day. 00:04:01.860 → 00:04:07.480 And so, of course, one of the ways that will be helpful in doing that is any of the various apps that are available. 00:04:07.480 → 00:04:10.920 I don’t like Duolingo for a number of reasons. 00:04:10.920 → 00:04:12.400 I used it for many years. 00:04:12.400 → 00:04:21.900 I had like a 1200-day streak or something going, and then I just stopped using it because it finally annoyed me enough with all of their nonsense politics, to put it mildly. 00:04:21.900 → 00:04:24.500 However, there are other alternatives that are better. 00:04:24.500 → 00:04:26.580 For German, I recommended Babel. 00:04:26.580 → 00:04:30.360 They do not have a Greek course yet, so you can’t use them. 00:04:30.360 → 00:04:40.500 But there’s Primsler, which is not going to be free, but they have very good deals usually at the end of the year because people are making the resolutions to learn a new language. 00:04:40.500 → 00:04:42.200 And so they run discounts. 00:04:42.200 → 00:04:46.980 You can usually get a year or perhaps even lifetime for a pretty reasonable price. 00:04:46.980 → 00:04:49.000 Lifetime is probably going to be $200. 00:04:49.000 → 00:04:56.460 That tends to be how it goes for language learning companies, with the exception of some of the more expensive ones. 00:04:56.460 → 00:05:01.100 And then there’s also Rosetta Stone, which is a good option for Greek. 00:05:01.880 → 00:05:07.140 And that definitely has a lifetime deal, sometimes for as little as $80. 00:05:07.140 → 00:05:08.660 Great option. 00:05:08.660 → 00:05:12.500 So I would say those are probably the best recommendations. 00:05:12.500 → 00:05:13.400 That’s what I have here. 00:05:13.400 → 00:05:16.260 So I think that’s probably your best way to learn Greek. 00:05:16.260 → 00:05:19.740 And then once you get up to the level where you can do it, read scripture. 00:05:19.740 → 00:05:25.440 That’s one of my recommendations for learning any language, because you’re familiar with it in English. 00:05:25.440 → 00:05:33.380 And so when you’re reading it in another language, you already have sort of that foundation to help you understand what’s happening in this language you’re trying to learn. 00:05:33.380 → 00:05:38.100 Same thing if you’re trying to learn German, French, Japanese, whatever it happens to be. 00:05:38.100 → 00:05:44.640 Focus perhaps on one book of the Bible, whichever one you happen to know really well, whether it’s a gospel or the Psalms or Proverbs. 00:05:44.640 → 00:05:46.720 It’s probably one of those. 00:05:46.720 → 00:05:53.260 Pick that book and then read it in your new language until it flows naturally for you. 00:05:53.260 → 00:05:57.140 And then of course, once you’ve done that, you can start picking up more advanced books. 00:05:57.300 → 00:05:59.860 Pick whatever topic you like and read about it. 00:05:59.860 → 00:06:02.940 I have the entire Dune Collection in German, for instance. 00:06:02.940 → 00:06:10.580 So, it’s helpful to read something you’ve read before in your natural language, your native language, in the language you’re trying to acquire. 00:06:13.440 → 00:06:26.480 The next question is more directly, obviously, Greek is tangentially related to scripture, in this case, but this one is sort of more directly related, a doctrinal or dogmatic question. 00:06:27.820 → 00:06:37.040 Could you speak on 2nd Maccabees 12, 43-46, and where Catholics get the idea of purgatory slash praying for the dead? 00:06:37.040 → 00:06:41.920 Also, if you could touch on the difference between the Catholic slash Lutheran canons, that would be helpful. 00:06:43.400 → 00:06:48.740 So, I think I’m going to leave the canon question for next time. 00:06:48.740 → 00:06:51.620 There were a couple people who asked about the difference in the canons. 00:06:51.620 → 00:06:54.300 I can give the short answers that Lutherans don’t have one. 00:06:54.300 → 00:06:57.820 You can search the Book of Concord as many times as you’d like. 00:06:57.820 → 00:06:59.760 We don’t define our canon. 00:06:59.760 → 00:07:07.860 We sort of left that up in the air because Christians have been fighting over certain edge cases, which is to say the apocryphal books, for centuries. 00:07:07.860 → 00:07:10.260 And we were not trying to settle that during the Reformation. 00:07:11.120 → 00:07:14.060 We haven’t tried to settle it since, because it just doesn’t matter. 00:07:14.060 → 00:07:15.000 You have the core books. 00:07:15.000 → 00:07:16.820 We all know those are scripture. 00:07:16.820 → 00:07:19.700 And then the fighting over some of the others is just going to continue. 00:07:19.700 → 00:07:21.080 That’s sort of the short answer to that. 00:07:21.080 → 00:07:27.140 But to get into second Maccabees here, I will pull up Logos. 00:07:30.320 → 00:07:32.660 Actually, I think I may just read. 00:07:34.340 → 00:07:37.480 I will pull up Logos anyway, because I think I’m going to use Logos in a second here. 00:07:37.520 → 00:07:46.620 But I think I’ll just read from my physical copy, because I don’t remember which copy of the Apocrypha I happen to have in Logos. 00:07:46.620 → 00:07:55.100 And I’d like to have this particular one, which if you’re interested in the Apocrypha, I definitely highly recommend this volume from CPH. 00:07:55.100 → 00:08:07.460 As much as I don’t really particularly love CPH’s pricing and things like that, which is unfortunate, but it’s the reality of it. 00:08:07.460 → 00:08:11.780 Their volumes are very good in terms of the quality of the scholarship for things like this. 00:08:11.780 → 00:08:13.380 And so it’s the… 00:08:13.440 → 00:08:15.480 I’ll put it up for the camera. 00:08:15.480 → 00:08:23.860 It is the Apocrypha with Lutheran edition, they have to call it, of course, but it’s just a scholarly edition of it with helpful footnotes. 00:08:23.860 → 00:08:28.560 But anyway, Maccabees, 12, okay, here we are. 00:08:30.600 → 00:08:33.860 The header, which of course is not part of the text. 00:08:33.860 → 00:08:41.360 I wouldn’t say part of scripture, because I don’t consider Maccabees to be part of scripture, but prayers for those killed in battle. 00:08:41.360 → 00:08:44.860 Then Judas assembled his army and went to the city of Adullam. 00:08:45.280 → 00:08:51.740 As the seventh day was coming on, they purified themselves according to the custom, and they kept the Sabbath there. 00:08:51.740 → 00:09:02.060 On the next day, as by that time it had become necessary, Judas and his men went to take up the bodies of the fallen, and to bring them back to lie with their kinsmen in the sepulchers of their fathers. 00:09:02.060 → 00:09:09.340 Then under the tunic of every one of the dead, they found sacred tokens of the idols of Jamnia, which the law forbids the Jews to wear. 00:09:09.340 → 00:09:16.960 In other words, they were praying, seeking intercession of foreign false gods in order to help them in battle. 00:09:16.960 → 00:09:21.520 And it became clear to all those that this was why these men had fallen. 00:09:21.520 → 00:09:31.760 So they all blessed the ways of the Lord, the righteous judge, who reveals the things that are hidden, and they turned to prayer, imploring that the sin that had been committed might be wholly blotted out. 00:09:31.760 → 00:09:40.760 And the noble Judas exhorted the people to keep themselves free from sin, for they had seen with their own eyes what had happened because of the sin of those who had fallen. 00:09:40.760 → 00:09:49.580 He also took up a collection, man by man, to the amount of two thousand drachmas of silver, and sent it to Jerusalem to provide for a sin offering. 00:09:49.580 → 00:10:01.260 In doing this, he acted very well and honorably, taking account of the resurrection, for if he were not expecting that those who had fallen would rise again, it would have been superfluous and foolish to pray for the dead. 00:10:01.260 → 00:10:08.300 But if he was looking to the splendid reward that is laid up for those who fall asleep in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought. 00:10:08.300 → 00:10:12.860 Therefore, he made atonement for the dead, that they might be delivered from their sin. 00:10:14.380 → 00:10:18.040 Now, of course, there are a number of things in that passage, some of which are actually quite useful to Christians. 00:10:19.220 → 00:10:28.300 For instance, the fact that obviously, you have the anticipation of the resurrection already here in the intertestamental period. 00:10:28.300 → 00:10:31.200 And so, that was not something new that Christ brought in. 00:10:31.200 → 00:10:37.420 That was something that was expected already by those who actually believed in scripture. 00:10:37.420 → 00:10:42.540 And so, the Pharisees obviously were more correct than the Sadducees, at least on that point. 00:10:42.540 → 00:10:51.440 With regard to praying for the dead, I think there are really two questions there that are related questions, but they have different answers. 00:10:51.440 → 00:11:02.200 The first one, and the one to which I’m going to object, is, can we pray for the dead that their sins be blotted out? 00:11:02.200 → 00:11:06.440 Which is to say that their sins be blotted out after they have died. 00:11:06.440 → 00:11:09.980 I think the answer to that is very clearly no. 00:11:09.980 → 00:11:14.320 Now, of course, you have the issue of purgatory, which I will get to that. 00:11:15.140 → 00:11:19.820 And so, Roman Catholics, for instance, believe they’re praying for those who are in purgatory. 00:11:19.820 → 00:11:21.960 I don’t think they’re praying for those who are in hell. 00:11:21.960 → 00:11:23.640 There’s obviously a difference there. 00:11:23.640 → 00:11:26.180 And so, obviously, it would be worse if you were praying for those in hell. 00:11:26.180 → 00:11:34.500 But scripture does very clearly say that is appointed for man but wants to die, and after that, the judgment. 00:11:34.500 → 00:11:44.880 So, I think that actually forecloses purgatory as well, but certainly it forecloses praying for those who have already been judged. 00:11:44.880 → 00:11:57.700 Now, the caveat that I’m going to give for that, and this answer to the second related question is, can we pray for the departed that they didn’t die in impenitent sin? 00:11:57.700 → 00:11:59.660 There’s a difference there. 00:11:59.660 → 00:12:14.440 I say we can’t pray, logically, according to what scripture teaches, for those who died in impenitent sin, and then pray they are forgiven after they’ve been judged, because, again, appointed for man but wants to die, and then the judgment. 00:12:14.440 → 00:12:20.940 But can we pray that they died in faith, or they died in felicitous inconsistency? 00:12:20.940 → 00:12:37.400 So, for instance, these men who happened to have idols or paraphernalia of idolatrous worship on themselves when they died, can you pray that they actually died in faith, that they didn’t die believing in this foolishness in which they had engaged? 00:12:37.400 → 00:12:38.480 I think that’s a different thing. 00:12:38.580 → 00:12:41.740 I think that is probably fine. 00:12:41.740 → 00:12:50.380 It’s certainly fine in the cases of individuals where we don’t have any real reason to believe that, say, they died in impenitent sin. 00:12:50.380 → 00:13:00.060 And so a good concrete example would be we have All Souls Day as one of the days in All Hollow Tide on the calendar, on the church calendar. 00:13:00.060 → 00:13:13.700 I posted an article about that last year moving things around a little bit because I wanted it to be a more reasonable ordering of things, particularly for the correct doctrinal teachings on these topics. 00:13:13.700 → 00:13:15.240 But I’ll leave that aside. 00:13:15.240 → 00:13:18.140 I’ll put a link to it in the show notes. 00:13:18.140 → 00:13:26.660 So, can we pray for our ancestors in so far as saying, we pray to God that they died having faith? 00:13:26.660 → 00:13:29.020 I don’t think that that is wrongful. 00:13:29.020 → 00:13:31.140 I don’t think that’s a sin. 00:13:31.140 → 00:13:32.860 Should we focus on it? 00:13:32.940 → 00:13:42.660 Absolutely not, because we should not be obsessed with the dead and the departed and focusing our lives on that, because that will lead us astray from Christ. 00:13:42.660 → 00:13:50.060 We see that, for instance, probably one of the best examples would be the Malagasy, the people who inhabit Madagascar. 00:13:50.060 → 00:14:00.060 They are so obsessed with their ancestor worship and this attention to the dead that they often have tombs that are nicer than their homes. 00:14:01.280 → 00:14:02.920 That’s obviously a problem. 00:14:02.920 → 00:14:05.020 You should not go down that road. 00:14:05.020 → 00:14:10.680 But taking that one day out of the year on Old Souls Day to pray for the departed, I don’t think that’s wrongful. 00:14:10.680 → 00:14:15.900 Because what you’re praying is, I pray that they departed in the faith. 00:14:15.900 → 00:14:17.340 That’s completely fine. 00:14:17.340 → 00:14:26.820 You’re not saying, dear God, please go into hell and pull this great grandfather who was an evil, terrible man out of hell. 00:14:26.820 → 00:14:27.800 I don’t think you can do that. 00:14:28.480 → 00:14:32.360 Because I think that violates the very clear teaching of scripture. 00:14:32.360 → 00:14:41.300 And you’re asking God for sort of a special treatment, an exception to his laws and what is right and what is good. 00:14:41.300 → 00:14:44.820 But praying they died in the faith, I think, is entirely fine. 00:14:44.820 → 00:14:49.480 And so I think that sort of addresses both the issue there in Second Maccabees related to this. 00:14:49.480 → 00:14:53.960 There’s some other things as well, but and the issue of purgatory. 00:14:53.960 → 00:15:03.480 But another one that the Roman Catholics like to bring up, I guess I should have left Logos out there, because I do actually want Logos. 00:15:03.480 → 00:15:09.500 Another passage they will bring up is from Second Timothy. 00:15:09.500 → 00:15:10.200 Let me pull that up. 00:15:17.114 → 00:15:26.574 They like to read this one, and I’ll read it first, and then comment on what it is that they try to do with this passage, and why I don’t think it necessarily follows. 00:15:26.574 → 00:15:35.614 Notably, I don’t think it can’t follow, I just think it doesn’t necessarily follow, and so they can’t prop up their doctrine of purgatory on this passage. 00:15:35.614 → 00:15:41.894 May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesephirus, for he often refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chains. 00:15:41.894 → 00:15:44.814 But when he arrived in Rome, he searched for me earnestly and found me. 00:15:45.474 → 00:15:48.814 May the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day. 00:15:48.814 → 00:15:51.994 And you well know all the service he rendered at Ephesus. 00:15:53.074 → 00:16:04.154 Now the argument from the Roman Catholic camp, with regard to this, insofar as purgatory is concerned, is that they try to say that this is implying Onesephirus is dead. 00:16:04.154 → 00:16:05.834 He’s departed. 00:16:05.834 → 00:16:07.774 I don’t think it implies that. 00:16:07.774 → 00:16:09.054 Can you read it that way? 00:16:09.054 → 00:16:10.274 Absolutely. 00:16:10.274 → 00:16:11.954 Do you have to read it that way? 00:16:11.954 → 00:16:13.214 Absolutely not. 00:16:13.854 → 00:16:20.374 Because, just because it’s in the past tense, doesn’t mean that Onesephirus is himself in the past tense. 00:16:20.374 → 00:16:25.974 It simply means the things being referenced that Onesephirus did happened in the past. 00:16:25.974 → 00:16:29.894 So, is this a prayer for the dead? 00:16:29.894 → 00:16:31.514 Not necessarily. 00:16:31.514 → 00:16:37.514 So, and also, it’s worth noting, this is a man who did depart in the faith, if he died. 00:16:37.514 → 00:16:48.674 But I don’t think this props up their doctrine of purgatory, because you don’t have to conclude that he’s dead, and that he’s being prayed for here. 00:16:48.674 → 00:16:51.594 So, it just doesn’t follow. 00:16:51.594 → 00:16:57.734 This is one of their other big passages they try to use for purgatory, and I just think it’s extremely weak. 00:16:57.734 → 00:17:02.174 You cannot find purgatory in the text in any way that is convincing. 00:17:02.174 → 00:17:14.654 And I know that somewhere, there are Roman Catholics who are currently screaming, because the other one they like to use is speaking of the purification as if by fire, right? 00:17:14.654 → 00:17:17.514 And that’s talking about the judgment. 00:17:17.514 → 00:17:29.334 It’s not talking about purgatory, and then you’re purified by fire in purgatory, and then you get to go to paradise, or well, if you’re being purified, you’re going to paradise, you’re not going to hell. 00:17:30.674 → 00:17:46.094 But that also just doesn’t follow, because if you read that passage itself, it clearly speaks of after the judgment, you go to paradise, or you go to hell, you go to eternal bliss, or eternal torment. 00:17:46.094 → 00:17:56.294 There’s no in-between state, there’s no wording there whatsoever, implying that there is a purgatory, somewhere where you are purged of these things. 00:17:56.294 → 00:18:02.514 Yes, you’re renewed when you’re resurrected, but you’re not renewed in purgatory. 00:18:02.514 → 00:18:17.014 The doctrine of purgatory, to sort of give the broader picture, is really built up and propped up by Rome because it has historically helped them to sell indulgences and things like that. 00:18:17.014 → 00:18:24.554 It has been linked to monasticism because obviously you have them believing they have this treasury of merit that they can then sell to others. 00:18:24.554 → 00:18:35.814 And so it props up the whole Roman system with regard to indulgences and increasing your merit and then storing it up and giving it to others, well, selling it to others. 00:18:35.814 → 00:18:47.174 Or the Pope giving you a plenary dispensation for whatever it happens to be, saying this particular prayer on this particular day, this particular year, that still happens today. 00:18:47.174 → 00:18:50.934 So I’m not giving some example that’s historical and uncharitable. 00:18:50.934 → 00:18:53.214 That still happens to this day. 00:18:53.214 → 00:18:58.094 That’s really why you have the doctrine of purgatory, the dogma of purgatory in Rome. 00:18:58.094 → 00:19:03.774 It’s to prop up other things and to facilitate other doctrines to which they adhere. 00:19:03.774 → 00:19:05.794 It’s just not in scripture. 00:19:05.794 → 00:19:18.514 You can find a couple of passages that if you interpret them in a certain way, they would be consonant with the idea of a purgatory, but they don’t teach purgatory, and that interpretation is not necessary. 00:19:18.514 → 00:19:28.834 And so you can’t just read passages of scripture and conclude this one particular interpretation teaches this doctrine basically created out of whole cloth. 00:19:28.834 → 00:19:31.514 You need to find other places in scripture. 00:19:31.514 → 00:19:34.094 Scripture is entirely consistent throughout. 00:19:34.094 → 00:19:51.274 And when we have places where it speaks of the judgment, it says things like, it’s appointed for man but wants to die, and then comes the judgment, and then Christ speaking in Matthew 26 or 27, I think it might be 25, let me pull that up. 00:19:53.234 → 00:19:56.954 I may as well read the passage because otherwise, I’m going to have people who are mad at me. 00:19:58.694 → 00:20:01.194 Yes, it’s the end of 25. 00:20:03.494 → 00:20:12.494 Then you will answer them saying, truly I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me, and these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. 00:20:13.694 → 00:20:16.054 So, there are only two options there. 00:20:16.054 → 00:20:22.014 There’s no third option of purgatory where you go into the purgatory for a little while, and then you go into paradise. 00:20:22.014 → 00:20:23.274 It’s not there. 00:20:23.274 → 00:20:33.174 And it’s nowhere in scripture, nowhere where Christ is speaking about the end times and the judgment, does he give this sort of third option of a particularly nasty waiting room. 00:20:33.174 → 00:20:44.414 So, I know that Roman Catholics don’t like that answer, but it really is just a dogma that they have built up that is not actually based in scripture. 00:20:50.162 → 00:20:51.742 Can answer a quick question here. 00:20:51.742 → 00:20:53.702 I saw someone ask me, how many languages do I speak? 00:20:53.702 → 00:20:55.622 It’s really just English and German that I speak. 00:20:55.622 → 00:20:59.822 I happen to know some Latin and Greek, but I don’t speak either one of those. 00:20:59.822 → 00:21:06.242 I can fluently read Latin aloud, but it doesn’t mean that I can process it that quickly and understand it. 00:21:06.242 → 00:21:08.242 My Latin is not that good. 00:21:11.582 → 00:21:14.222 The next question here, let me pull that up. 00:21:20.020 → 00:21:23.020 Should we pray that our faith not fail? 00:21:25.420 → 00:21:36.920 Says, I’ve heard you condemn the prayer, O Lord, help me to be pure, but not yet, which of course, yes, I’m going to condemn that one because you’re not supposed to pray the prayer of, you know, I’d like to be chased, but not quite yet, Lord, right? 00:21:36.920 → 00:21:39.960 That’s praying that God will permit you to continue in sin. 00:21:39.960 → 00:21:42.500 That’s praying for something that’s wicked. 00:21:42.500 → 00:21:46.380 Should we pray that our faith may not fail, but when restored, we strengthen our brothers? 00:21:47.160 → 00:21:51.760 So, there’s nothing wrong with praying that your faith won’t fail. 00:21:51.760 → 00:21:58.520 And in fact, you should be praying for God to strengthen your faith, to give you a stronger faith, a more powerful faith. 00:21:58.520 → 00:22:06.100 Let me open up the small catechism here. 00:22:06.100 → 00:22:13.880 I want to open up the small catechism, because we actually already do pray for this all the time, because we pray for this in the Lord’s Prayer. 00:22:13.880 → 00:22:18.740 There are a couple different petitions where you could say that we pray for this. 00:22:18.740 → 00:22:26.760 But I think one of the strongest ones, of course, is going to be the sixth petition, and lead us not into temptation. 00:22:26.760 → 00:22:27.640 What does this mean? 00:22:27.640 → 00:22:28.660 Answer. 00:22:28.660 → 00:22:40.780 God indeed tempts no one, but we pray in this petition that God would guard and keep us, so that the devil of the world in our flesh may not deceive us, nor seduce us into misbelief, despair, and other great shame and vice. 00:22:40.780 → 00:22:45.640 And though we be assailed by them, that still we may finally overcome and gain the victory. 00:22:45.640 → 00:22:49.620 And so, of course, when we pray that, we’re praying for a strong faith. 00:22:49.620 → 00:22:53.100 We’re praying for God to preserve our faith to the end, and there’s nothing wrong with that. 00:22:53.100 → 00:22:56.720 That is, obviously, it’s a prayer directly from God. 00:22:56.720 → 00:23:01.360 So, praying that our faith will not fail is not a problem. 00:23:01.360 → 00:23:01.840 It’s a good thing. 00:23:01.840 → 00:23:02.480 You should do that. 00:23:02.480 → 00:23:04.500 You absolutely should do that. 00:23:04.500 → 00:23:07.580 And you do, if you’re praying the Lord’s Prayer. 00:23:07.580 → 00:23:10.820 And then, strengthening your brothers, of course, is part of just being a Christian. 00:23:10.900 → 00:23:12.640 That’s what you do. 00:23:12.640 → 00:23:14.320 It’s iron sharpening iron. 00:23:14.320 → 00:23:19.680 When you discuss the faith, when you spend time in the word together, things like that, you’re strengthening each other. 00:23:19.680 → 00:23:22.000 And that, of course, is also a good thing. 00:23:25.320 → 00:23:30.360 See a sort of follow up question here in the chat that I’ll just address because I haven’t noticed it. 00:23:31.520 → 00:23:36.960 Is there a purgatory in quotes in this case, in the sense of a holding area per se before judgment? 00:23:36.960 → 00:23:43.580 In Revelation, it mentions the saints asking how long until Christ returns, and they’re told to wait a bit longer. 00:23:43.580 → 00:23:56.720 I think in the case of Revelation, you’re dealing with mostly figurative language, you’re dealing with a lot of symbolism, you’re dealing with a lot of things that are not literal, because, of course, Christ is not a literal lamb with seven horns and seven eyes. 00:23:56.720 → 00:23:59.380 So you can tell that’s not literal, at least. 00:23:59.380 → 00:24:13.220 But when it comes to what happens between death and the judgment, I don’t get the sense when I read the passages dealing with that, that there’s any real elapse of time between the two. 00:24:13.220 → 00:24:19.780 And I think the best answer to it is that there isn’t an elapse of time, because time is tied to this universe. 00:24:19.780 → 00:24:26.760 Now, I’m not saying there won’t be time in the renewed creation, but time is a physical property, essentially. 00:24:26.760 → 00:24:34.840 And so I don’t really want to get into physics and space-time, but time is something that exists as part of the universe. 00:24:34.840 → 00:24:36.920 It does not exist outside the universe. 00:24:37.580 → 00:24:44.060 And so the judgment and the renewal and all these things, those are outside of time. 00:24:44.060 → 00:24:53.000 And so the chronology breaks down if we try to say that what happens between your death and the judgment. 00:24:53.000 → 00:24:54.840 I don’t think there’s a between. 00:24:54.840 → 00:24:58.960 I think you die and you wake up at the judgment seat. 00:24:58.960 → 00:25:02.300 And so, yes, your perception, you’re immediately at the judgment. 00:25:02.300 → 00:25:03.940 I think that is how that works. 00:25:03.940 → 00:25:12.840 And so there’s no need for a waiting room, as it were, because when Adam died, he appeared at the judgment, and when you die, you appear at the same time as Adam. 00:25:12.840 → 00:25:21.840 Because time is not an issue here, because we’re dealing with time in the universe and then something that is outside of it, an entirely different thing. 00:25:24.520 → 00:25:30.400 The next question is about Judaism and how it is a corruption of Christianity. 00:25:31.420 → 00:25:40.900 What are ways by which we can tell that Judaism came from Christianity and is a corruption of it so as to refute the in quotes, Judeo-Christian heresy? 00:25:40.900 → 00:25:44.900 Heresy not in quotes, notably, because that is correct, it is a heresy. 00:25:44.900 → 00:25:49.840 And there are a lot of answers to this one. 00:25:49.840 → 00:25:52.360 There are a lot of different proofs you can bring up. 00:25:52.360 → 00:25:59.980 I think there are three that are probably key and are probably the most likely to get you any sort of traction. 00:25:59.980 → 00:26:12.580 And I think I’ll start with the one that is going to be sort of the hard sell, because it’s difficult for some men to wrap their mind around it because of what they have been taught. 00:26:12.580 → 00:26:43.120 And even if you explain it thoroughly and in a way that is entirely Christian, incontrovertible, unassailable, many men will still reject it because it goes against so many of their presuppositions that they have been taught with which they have been propagandized for probably in some cases decades, particularly if you’re dealing with baby boomers, which, as I’ve said before, if you’re dealing with your parents, baby boomers, maybe some of you grandparents at this point, just don’t. 00:26:43.120 → 00:26:56.660 You’re going to cause yourself nothing but trouble and annoyance and make things more difficult and it’s going to make it hard for you, at least in the sense of a challenge to fulfill the fourth commandment, thou shalt honor thy father and thy mother. 00:26:56.660 → 00:26:57.980 So probably in that case, don’t do it. 00:26:58.080 → 00:27:08.260 But in other cases where you’re trying to do this, by all means, the first of the three then would be pointing out that Adam was, in fact, the first Christian. 00:27:09.280 → 00:27:17.940 And there are two ways that you need to approach this if you are going to advance this argument for someone in order to get him to understand it. 00:27:17.940 → 00:27:22.320 First, you have to point out, what is a Christian? 00:27:22.320 → 00:27:25.680 Seems trivial, but a lot of men have no idea. 00:27:27.020 → 00:27:28.900 How do you define a Christian? 00:27:28.900 → 00:27:33.220 A Christian is someone who has faith in the Gospel. 00:27:33.220 → 00:27:34.880 What is the Gospel? 00:27:34.880 → 00:27:46.980 The Gospel is that there will be or has been a Christ who died for you to wash away your sins, and that if you believe in him, you will be forgiven and have eternal life. 00:27:46.980 → 00:27:53.120 That’s the short version formulated for this particular argument. 00:27:53.120 → 00:27:57.860 That time element, sort of tying into the last question, I guess, but that time element is key. 00:27:57.860 → 00:28:06.480 Because if you died before Christ came, well, now you believe in the Messiah who is to come, who will come in the future. 00:28:06.480 → 00:28:19.340 If, like those of us here, you were born after the Christ was born, lived his life, was crucified and resurrected, well, you believe in the Christ who has come. 00:28:19.340 → 00:28:21.520 And yes, it’s typically better to say Christ than Messiah. 00:28:21.520 → 00:28:29.160 Sometimes I still use Messiah, but it’s one of those words we’re going to retain just because, various reasons, we’ve taken it, it’s fine, it’s ours now. 00:28:29.160 → 00:28:30.640 It’s part of our language. 00:28:30.640 → 00:28:33.300 And we have a wonderful piece of music using it. 00:28:33.300 → 00:28:47.880 That tangent aside, though, when you’re dealing with the Gospel, once you’ve established what it means to be a Christian, you point out, well, where is the Gospel first spoken in Scripture? 00:28:47.880 → 00:28:55.760 It’s first spoken by God in Genesis 3.15, the Proto-Evangelion, because that is the Gospel. 00:28:55.760 → 00:29:01.760 When Adam believed in that Gospel, and keep in mind, Adam smarter than any of us, Adam got it immediately. 00:29:01.760 → 00:29:02.820 He knew what was going on. 00:29:02.820 → 00:29:05.920 He knew what God was saying and the implications of it. 00:29:05.920 → 00:29:16.080 And so Adam believed in the Gospel, spoken to him by God face to face, incidentally, spoken to him by Christ, perhaps ironically. 00:29:16.080 → 00:29:20.040 And so he was a Christian because he believed, because he had faith. 00:29:20.540 → 00:29:24.080 The same as Abraham was a Christian because he had faith. 00:29:24.080 → 00:29:29.300 And so you’re going to get those who will push back against this, and they’ll try to say, well, no, they were Jews. 00:29:29.300 → 00:29:37.600 And no, first off, Adam can’t be a Jew because chronologically, Judah, from whom we get Jew, came long after Adam. 00:29:37.600 → 00:29:53.560 And so if you can get them to recognize that the Old Testament figures who believed in the Messiah who was to come were Christians, great, you’ve made a great point, and you’re well on your way to convincing this person of something important. 00:29:53.560 → 00:30:13.520 But you are also going to have to point out, sort of the second point here, there is a difference between modern Judaism, which is, I’ll get into that in a second, there is a difference between modern Judaism and the Old Testament ceremonial temple religion. 00:30:13.520 → 00:30:19.940 The Old Testament ceremonial temple religion instituted by God, did not justify. 00:30:19.940 → 00:30:26.040 Very clearly, we know that, because we have passages, the blood of bulls and goats cannot wash away sins. 00:30:26.040 → 00:30:28.900 Scripture is very clear about that fact. 00:30:28.900 → 00:30:35.180 And so hopefully, you are not going to reach any sort of contention, point of contention there, any pushback. 00:30:35.180 → 00:30:44.380 But that was to prefigure the things that Christ would do, the sacrifice of Christ, the institution of the Lord’s Supper, the washing away of sins and baptism, things like that. 00:30:44.440 → 00:30:50.220 These are all prefigured in the Old Testament, because God really likes symbolism and typology. 00:30:50.220 → 00:30:54.780 And so you have types and antitypes all over the place in Scripture. 00:30:54.780 → 00:30:58.300 The ceremonial law is not Judaism. 00:30:58.300 → 00:31:11.520 Judaism is not the ceremonial law, because what Judaism is, is a Jewish response to the destruction of the temple and the exile, particularly the Babylonian exile. 00:31:12.100 → 00:31:17.080 Because what can they not do when the temple is gone? 00:31:17.080 → 00:31:18.860 Well, they can’t sacrifice. 00:31:18.860 → 00:31:24.660 For Christians, that’s not a problem, because we recognize Christ was the sacrifice once for all. 00:31:24.660 → 00:31:26.860 The ceremonial law is done. 00:31:26.860 → 00:31:27.960 It served its purpose. 00:31:27.960 → 00:31:28.960 It’s dead and gone. 00:31:28.960 → 00:31:30.800 God got rid of it. 00:31:30.800 → 00:31:32.240 That doesn’t mean it was bad. 00:31:32.240 → 00:31:33.160 Doesn’t mean it was wrong. 00:31:33.160 → 00:31:35.340 It means it was fulfilled. 00:31:35.340 → 00:31:37.320 This is another thing that’s sort of tangentially related. 00:31:37.320 → 00:31:43.860 You get people that don’t recognize that once God’s fulfilled a promise, he’s done what he said he would do. 00:31:43.860 → 00:31:52.500 Obviously, you can see why that’s tangentially related, but the ceremonial law having been closed out and the temple having been destroyed, the Jews can no longer do that. 00:31:52.500 → 00:31:53.980 So what did they do in response? 00:31:53.980 → 00:32:00.500 Well, in Babylon, there’s the issue of, you know, learning black magic and things like that, and that being distilled into the Talmud. 00:32:00.500 → 00:32:05.460 But they started to form up the Talmud during the Babylonian exile. 00:32:05.460 → 00:32:11.980 It wasn’t completed and formalized, as it were, until the 500s AD., incidentally, not BC. 00:32:11.980 → 00:32:24.700 And that’s Judaism, because Judaism is based entirely on the synagogue and on rabbinic interpretation, not of the Torah, not of the Pentateuch, but of the Talmud. 00:32:24.700 → 00:32:32.200 And so one of the sayings about this, of course, is that what Torah forbids, Talmud permits. 00:32:32.200 → 00:32:35.580 This has been something the Jews have been doing for a very, very long time. 00:32:36.260 → 00:32:43.220 And so Judaism is a fundamentally different thing from the religion of the Old Testament. 00:32:43.220 → 00:32:47.620 Christianity has been the only religion that saves all along. 00:32:47.620 → 00:32:57.280 There was a ceremonial aspect with regard to the practice of certain things in Old Testament Israel for a period of time to prefigure the Christ. 00:32:57.280 → 00:32:59.080 That was it. 00:32:59.080 → 00:33:00.500 There’s a clear divide there. 00:33:00.500 → 00:33:01.640 These are not the same thing. 00:33:03.140 → 00:33:07.780 If you can get them to recognize the truth of that, you will have made a great deal of progress. 00:33:07.780 → 00:33:10.840 That’s going to be difficult in most cases, though. 00:33:10.840 → 00:33:12.100 So just recognize that. 00:33:12.100 → 00:33:14.780 But I think most of us know that at this point. 00:33:16.540 → 00:33:24.800 And I think, really, I sort of made the third point I wanted to make there, contained within the second point. 00:33:24.800 → 00:33:29.980 And that is, you really have to drive home the fact, and this one is going to be a hard sell. 00:33:31.100 → 00:33:36.520 You have to drive home the fact that Judaism is not the religion of the Old Testament. 00:33:37.720 → 00:33:40.500 Judaism is the religion of the Talmud. 00:33:41.900 → 00:33:43.980 That is the fundamental distinction. 00:33:43.980 → 00:34:01.520 And so, maybe you can get somewhere by pointing out, I was trying to see if the book is on my shelf here, there is a book by a Jewish academic pointing out all of the places in which the Talmud deals with Christ and blasphemes him. 00:34:01.520 → 00:34:04.060 And he treats it in a dry academic fashion. 00:34:04.060 → 00:34:12.640 So, sometimes you can get some purchase by having them read that book and say, here’s a Jewish academic saying, this is what the Talmud says about Jesus. 00:34:12.640 → 00:34:15.980 This is what Jews believe about Christ. 00:34:15.980 → 00:34:30.500 So, I think those three points are really probably the best approach for dealing with this issue of Judaism being a corruption of Christianity, instead of actually being the Old Testament religion, because it addresses those main points. 00:34:30.500 → 00:34:37.680 And you have to drive home that Christianity has only ever been the one true religion. 00:34:37.680 → 00:34:44.480 And scripture is abundantly clear about that, of course, because I am the way, the truth, and the life, among many other passages. 00:34:44.480 → 00:34:46.300 There’s never been another way to the Father. 00:34:46.300 → 00:34:54.720 There’s never been another way to see forgiveness of sins, to have your wickedness washed away, to be given white robes, to enter into paradise. 00:34:54.720 → 00:34:56.620 It’s always been Christ and only Christ. 00:34:56.620 → 00:35:01.620 The only question is, do you believe in the Christ who is to come, or the Christ who has come? 00:35:01.620 → 00:35:07.700 These days, of course, are relevant, because everyone you meet was born after Christ, obviously. 00:35:07.700 → 00:35:15.140 But when dealing with history, you’re going to have those who lived before Christ came. 00:35:15.140 → 00:35:20.980 And if they believed in the Christ who was to come, they were, in fact, Christians, not Jews. 00:35:21.760 → 00:35:29.380 And a great way to point that out, of course, is all of the men who came before Judah, who believed in the Christ. 00:35:29.380 → 00:35:33.600 Many of them are not in the line of Christ, are not part of Israel at all. 00:35:33.600 → 00:35:38.740 And so, they are Christians still, but they are not Jews. 00:35:38.740 → 00:35:44.120 They did not follow Judaism, they believed in the Christ, and so their religion was Christianity. 00:35:49.865 → 00:35:52.925 Sort of a related question here. 00:35:54.605 → 00:35:59.525 How can I share the word and gospel with others when I am not very social? 00:35:59.525 → 00:36:07.725 I can walk up to and talk to people with no problem, but my problem is that I’m monotone and robotic, or, in quotes, autistic. 00:36:07.725 → 00:36:13.505 However, I think that if I try to force myself to be very bubbly, it wouldn’t be genuine. 00:36:13.505 → 00:36:15.465 I’m not going to tell you to force yourself to be bubbly. 00:36:15.465 → 00:36:17.525 I’ve certainly never done that in my life. 00:36:17.805 → 00:36:21.165 So, you don’t have to be that. 00:36:21.165 → 00:36:25.985 There are different approaches to sharing the faith that are going to work with different men. 00:36:25.985 → 00:36:31.185 And they’re going to work in different times and different places, and some men are more suited to them than to others. 00:36:31.185 → 00:36:35.385 So, there are going to be those who are very good at apologetics. 00:36:35.385 → 00:36:39.005 There are going to be those who are good at different kinds of apologetics. 00:36:39.005 → 00:36:42.025 And it is going to depend on the person. 00:36:42.025 → 00:36:43.445 You have to tailor these things. 00:36:43.445 → 00:36:53.125 You’re not going to find a one-size-fits-all, as-it-were, argument, because that’s not how human beings work. 00:36:53.125 → 00:37:00.025 So, just because you’re not particularly social, or you’re monotone, or robotic, I’ve been accused of those as well. 00:37:00.025 → 00:37:02.185 So, I truly understand. 00:37:02.185 → 00:37:10.565 But that doesn’t mean that you can’t find some way to share the faith that will still be very effective with certain men. 00:37:10.565 → 00:37:21.465 If you’re going to take it in that direction, approach it in that way, you’re probably going to take it from the sort of intellectual angle, the academic angle, and that can be very effective. 00:37:21.465 → 00:37:24.925 It’s going to be very effective almost exclusively with men. 00:37:24.925 → 00:37:27.845 You’re probably not going to convince any women with those arguments. 00:37:27.845 → 00:37:30.545 That’s just the reality of the fact. 00:37:30.545 → 00:37:36.865 But that’s not a bad thing, because by and large, you probably should be arguing with other men instead of women. 00:37:36.865 → 00:37:38.865 Topic for another time. 00:37:38.865 → 00:37:48.225 But, no, I don’t think there’s a problem with being a little bit reserved or less social when it comes to these things. 00:37:48.225 → 00:37:55.705 You can absolutely be that kind of man, have that kind of disposition, and still share the faith very effectively. 00:37:55.705 → 00:37:57.605 Look at some of the apostles. 00:37:57.605 → 00:38:01.385 They were not all the most upbeat and chipper individuals, certainly. 00:38:01.385 → 00:38:04.345 Paul was a particularly cranky man from time to time. 00:38:04.345 → 00:38:09.305 And if you start looking at the Old Testament prophets, you certainly are getting even crankier territory. 00:38:09.965 → 00:38:18.445 I don’t think anyone would say that Elijah or Elisha was upbeat and bubbly, and, you know, any of those things. 00:38:18.445 → 00:38:19.405 So there’s nothing wrong with that. 00:38:19.405 → 00:38:27.165 Different men have different dispositions, and you’re going to find different things are effective in different scenarios with other men. 00:38:27.165 → 00:38:32.925 Some are going to be convinced by cold calculating reason, and maybe that’s what you’re good at. 00:38:32.925 → 00:38:33.645 By all means, use it. 00:38:38.365 → 00:38:49.765 There’s another question here that the person who asked it actually deleted it, but I’m still going to answer it just because I think it is an important question. 00:38:49.765 → 00:38:50.985 It’s come up a number of times. 00:38:50.985 → 00:38:58.165 I’ve answered it a few places, but it’s always worth repeating it just because there are those who are going to have this question. 00:38:58.165 → 00:38:59.885 So I’m going to pull up Logos again here. 00:39:01.945 → 00:39:04.725 And we’re going to go to the Book of Acts this time. 00:39:06.945 → 00:39:11.305 So here in the Book of Acts, we’re dealing with the 21st chapter. 00:39:14.245 → 00:39:14.805 Let’s see. 00:39:14.805 → 00:39:24.865 And when he had given him permission, Paul, standing on the steps, motioned with his hand to the people, and when there was a great hush, he addressed them in the Hebrew language, saying… 00:39:24.865 → 00:39:32.785 Well that sounds like it’s directly opposed to the things that we have said about Hebrew on the Stone Quar podcast and elsewhere, right? 00:39:32.785 → 00:39:33.705 It does. 00:39:33.705 → 00:39:35.405 Of course it does. 00:39:35.405 → 00:39:43.145 The problem with that is that there are two different senses of that term there, the Hebrew language. 00:39:43.145 → 00:40:03.605 The way that I pointed it out before that should resonate with Americans certainly is, if I were to say that I addressed them in the American language, we don’t really speak that way these days, but if I said that, you would all know full well I didn’t mean American, because that’s not a separate language. 00:40:03.605 → 00:40:04.505 We speak English. 00:40:04.505 → 00:40:06.285 I am speaking English now. 00:40:06.285 → 00:40:19.025 And so, if I said that I addressed you in the American language, what I really mean is that I addressed you in English, because I addressed you in the language of the Americans. 00:40:20.105 → 00:40:35.985 So, in this case, it’s here in the Greek, which I have up now, Ibraidi dialecto legon, which is, this is the article here, the definite article. 00:40:35.985 → 00:40:45.645 So, it’s dative, so it’s in the, in this case, dialect of the Hebrews, or the Hebrew dialect, and then he speaks to them, legom. 00:40:47.365 → 00:40:54.545 So, he’s speaking to them in the dialect used by the Hebrew people at this time, in this place. 00:40:54.545 → 00:40:56.245 It’s Aramaic. 00:40:56.245 → 00:40:57.485 It should be translated Aramaic. 00:40:57.485 → 00:41:00.345 It’s misleading when it says Hebrew. 00:41:00.345 → 00:41:19.025 I have, when recording these things, I’ve said Aramaic, because it’s just confusing for most people to hear Hebrew and not think the Hebrew language, as opposed to the language of the Hebrews living in 1st century Palestine, which is what is being said here. 00:41:19.025 → 00:41:23.305 No one who read the original copy of this letter would have been confused. 00:41:23.305 → 00:41:25.265 Everyone knew exactly what he meant. 00:41:25.265 → 00:41:27.885 Not least of all, because they didn’t speak Hebrew. 00:41:27.885 → 00:41:31.985 They spoke Aramaic and Greek, the language of the letter itself. 00:41:31.985 → 00:41:40.485 But when you see someone being addressed in the Hebrew language in the New Testament, it’s Aramaic, because that was their language. 00:41:41.225 → 00:41:57.685 Their personal, as it were, language as a people, even though many of them had switched to using Greek, Greek was still the language of empire, as opposed to the personal language, the specific language of the people who were Hebrew by blood living in this area at this time. 00:41:58.945 → 00:42:03.405 And so, sort of a, I guess, long-winded way of saying, it’s not Hebrew, it’s Aramaic. 00:42:08.065 → 00:42:11.645 The next question here, let me pull that one up. 00:42:13.785 → 00:42:15.665 Where did Firefox go? 00:42:15.665 → 00:42:16.905 There we are. 00:42:19.685 → 00:42:26.765 The next one is, I guess, the short version is the Mormon Frage, or otherwise known in English as the Mormon Question. 00:42:27.785 → 00:42:30.125 How do we solve the Mormon Question? 00:42:33.125 → 00:42:35.285 Obviously, there’s a very straightforward answer to this. 00:42:35.285 → 00:42:39.725 I guess I can move log-offs at this point, as I’m not using it right now. 00:42:41.485 → 00:42:44.965 Mormonism is a Christian heresy. 00:42:44.965 → 00:42:53.945 Granted, Islam started off as a Christian heresy too, and perhaps there’s a little bit of overlap there, not to be unduly uncharitable, but there’s some overlap. 00:42:55.745 → 00:43:05.725 Mormonism being a Christian heresy, and it’s not heterodoxy, it’s not anything less, it is rank-open, impenitent heresy. 00:43:05.725 → 00:43:11.585 It should be punished by a godly prince in the same way you would punish any sort of rank heresy. 00:43:11.585 → 00:43:15.245 You punish the teachers with capital punishment. 00:43:15.245 → 00:43:22.045 And generally speaking, that solves the problem, because when you strike the shepherd, the sheep flee. 00:43:22.045 → 00:43:27.805 Now, we should not view the rank-and-file Mormons as our enemies. 00:43:27.805 → 00:43:29.025 Absolutely not. 00:43:29.025 → 00:43:35.045 Because the rank-and-file Mormons are, by and large, our brothers and sisters, deeply deceived. 00:43:35.045 → 00:43:37.425 They believe horrible lies. 00:43:37.425 → 00:43:50.685 They are very difficult to evangelize, very difficult to disabuse of the propaganda for a number of reasons, somewhat related to Pentecostalism in that way, because there’s the burning and the bosom sort of thing. 00:43:50.685 → 00:44:01.325 And I don’t want to get into Mormonism too deeply right now, but we want to evangelize the rank-and-file Mormons, because we want them to come over to our side. 00:44:01.325 → 00:44:02.485 We want them to be Christian. 00:44:02.485 → 00:44:04.185 We want to care for our people. 00:44:04.185 → 00:44:06.505 You can think of the words of St. 00:44:06.505 → 00:44:16.725 Paul, when he says that he wishes that his name would be blotted out of the Book of Life, if only he could thereby save his own people, his brothers according to the blood. 00:44:16.725 → 00:44:20.365 And so, that’s the sort of care that we should have for our own people. 00:44:20.445 → 00:44:26.845 And by and large, in the US., Mormons demographically are white. 00:44:26.845 → 00:44:30.325 And so, they’re our problem. 00:44:30.325 → 00:44:31.545 They’re our brothers and sisters. 00:44:31.545 → 00:44:34.325 We need to deal with them as best we can. 00:44:34.325 → 00:44:47.845 But insofar as the high-handed, impenitent false teachers are concerned, so their prophet and various higher-up temple Mormons, people like that, absolutely, it is the duty of the Christian prince to deal with them with the sword. 00:44:47.845 → 00:44:52.825 That is the solution to it, when it comes to open heretics. 00:44:52.825 → 00:44:57.225 And there’s also obviously a lot of political and other issues like that surrounding the Mormons. 00:44:57.225 → 00:45:08.965 Particularly many of them have, I’m tempted to say infested, but perhaps I’ll say they have gone to work for the CIA, the FBI, and related organizations. 00:45:08.965 → 00:45:14.445 And so they’ve infiltrated government, but that’s sort of a tangentially related issue. 00:45:14.445 → 00:45:19.585 But yes, the short answer is they are deeply deceived, but they are our brothers. 00:45:19.585 → 00:45:30.925 We want to bring them out of Satan’s camp, back into God’s camp, but false teachers have to be struck down by the Christian prince who has been entrusted with the sword by God. 00:45:30.925 → 00:45:33.385 And so, pray that God would give us a godly government. 00:45:40.002 → 00:45:44.422 Apparently, we’re going with a little bit of a theme tonight. 00:45:44.422 → 00:45:50.302 The next question is about Elijah and Moses, the transfiguration. 00:45:50.302 → 00:45:52.382 Let me pull that one up real quick. 00:45:54.682 → 00:46:00.822 Do you think Christ was speaking with Moses and Elijah across time when the disciples saw them? 00:46:03.042 → 00:46:05.882 I think that that could be an explanation. 00:46:05.882 → 00:46:07.642 I don’t know that it’s necessary. 00:46:08.562 → 00:46:29.982 I think that time is, of course, not really particularly relevant when you’re dealing with those who have passed from this life to the next, because even if there is time in the renewed creation, right, it’s not our time, because again, time is a property of the universe in which you’re located. 00:46:29.982 → 00:46:32.622 And so time is a property of this universe. 00:46:32.622 → 00:46:36.482 If you’re in the renewed creation, if there’s time, it’s not the same time. 00:46:37.202 → 00:46:52.182 And so, is it Christ speaking to Moses when Moses is standing on the mountain back in time from his perspective here in time, say, when he received the Ten Commandments? 00:46:52.182 → 00:46:59.142 Maybe, it could be, but it would be pure speculation on my part as to say which one of those it is. 00:46:59.142 → 00:47:00.982 I don’t think there’s any reason to believe it is. 00:47:00.982 → 00:47:03.402 I don’t think there’s any reason to believe it’s not. 00:47:03.402 → 00:47:07.442 So whichever one of those you want to believe is entirely fine. 00:47:07.442 → 00:47:31.562 I am personally more inclined to think that it is simply Moses and Elijah having already been separated from this world and now dealing with the next, the renewed creation, being pulled back for a minute in order to paint this picture of the fulfillment of all things in Christ, because that’s sort of what you’re dealing with here. 00:47:31.562 → 00:47:46.142 And I’m inclined to agree with many of the Church Fathers, and Martin Luther also agreed with this, that Moses and Elijah are effectively representative of the law and the prophets, and Christ is standing there as the fulfillment of those things. 00:47:46.142 → 00:47:49.582 I think that’s probably the best way to look at the transfiguration. 00:47:54.822 → 00:48:02.002 The next question here, I have no running timer in OBS, which would certainly be something I should probably do. 00:48:02.002 → 00:48:05.242 It would be helpful, but I will at least go on to this question. 00:48:05.242 → 00:48:09.602 I don’t know how long I will necessarily go this week. 00:48:10.622 → 00:48:14.222 Wouldn’t want to keep any of you away from your families, if you still have family in town. 00:48:17.342 → 00:48:23.082 I am convinced monergism is the truth taught in scripture, but I grew up in an Armenian church. 00:48:23.082 → 00:48:29.342 It is difficult to keep that theology from creeping back in after screwing up and committing a sin I personally struggle with. 00:48:29.342 → 00:48:33.202 Can you speak to this topic for those of us with this background? 00:48:34.702 → 00:48:48.322 This is sort of an expansive question, so I will start off by highlighting the difference between monergism and synergism, and I guess I will comment very briefly on semi-Pelagianism, which is sort of between the two. 00:48:48.322 → 00:48:50.602 And it’s relevant because that’s what Rome teaches. 00:48:50.602 → 00:48:53.762 They don’t like calling it that, but it’s what they teach. 00:48:55.442 → 00:49:06.762 So there are a couple of different places where the human will and what it is capable of doing at that time in that place is relevant. 00:49:06.762 → 00:49:07.982 A couple of different places where that’s true. 00:49:09.042 → 00:49:12.982 The first is with regard to justification. 00:49:12.982 → 00:49:17.702 And for the first part of this, I’m going to speak specifically about justification. 00:49:17.702 → 00:49:22.002 So ignore everything else, put it out of your mind, this is just for justification. 00:49:23.322 → 00:49:29.062 With regard to justification, what the scriptures teach, and I’m just going to assert the truth here. 00:49:29.062 → 00:49:35.882 I’m not going to argue that, you know, the reform disagree a little bit, the Roman Catholics disagree a lot a bit. 00:49:35.882 → 00:49:39.622 I’m just going to assert what scripture teaches. 00:49:39.622 → 00:49:48.662 With regard to justification, your will can do nothing, because you are dead in your sins and your trespasses, and the dead do not act. 00:49:48.662 → 00:49:51.422 Corpses don’t act, they don’t do anything. 00:49:51.422 → 00:50:01.042 So if you are dead spiritually before you are regenerated, you cannot do anything, you cannot contribute anything toward your own salvation before you are regenerated. 00:50:02.542 → 00:50:04.522 How are you regenerated? 00:50:04.522 → 00:50:15.942 You are regenerated by the Holy Spirit, granting you the free gift of faith that is granted by the means of grace, baptism, and the word of the Lord. 00:50:15.942 → 00:50:21.022 Yes, there’s also the Lord’s Supper, but that is for strengthening your faith once you’re already a Christian. 00:50:21.022 → 00:50:24.982 And so you are regenerated at the same time you’re given faith. 00:50:24.982 → 00:50:29.362 There’s no chronological gap there, there’s not an order of operations, as it were. 00:50:29.362 → 00:50:32.562 Regeneration and faith are the same thing, essentially. 00:50:32.562 → 00:50:33.762 You can go ahead and think about it that way. 00:50:34.042 → 00:50:37.142 It’s close enough to completely true. 00:50:37.142 → 00:50:40.462 That’s monergism, that’s what Scripture teaches. 00:50:40.462 → 00:50:53.622 Synergism teaches that you cooperate with God by contributing works, effort, something, whatever it happens to be in the particular system, toward your justification. 00:50:53.622 → 00:50:56.562 The problem, of course, is Scripture doesn’t teach that. 00:50:57.102 → 00:50:58.242 You can’t do that. 00:50:58.242 → 00:51:00.802 The debt of sin against God is infinite. 00:51:00.802 → 00:51:02.862 I’ve gone into that previously. 00:51:02.862 → 00:51:10.422 And so, you cannot contribute at all, because again, you are dead in your sins and your trespasses. 00:51:10.422 → 00:51:14.442 So, synergism with regard to justification is false. 00:51:14.442 → 00:51:46.002 And then, the last of the three I want to comment on here, I don’t really need to comment on Pelagianism, which basically is just works righteousness, the rank form of Pelagianism, but semi-Pelagianism, which is what Rome teaches, is that due to what they call, that I’m going to say is not in scripture, because it’s not, what they call prevenient grace, which just means preceding grace that comes before, due to that, you are capable of making a step toward God, basically. 00:51:46.002 → 00:51:55.862 You are capable of putting in some initial effort, and then God will come alongside you and provide you the strength you need to continue down the path. 00:51:55.862 → 00:52:06.382 That’s Rome’s teaching, that’s semi-Pelagianism, because you can see, there’s works righteousness, at least at the beginning, but they at least admit that God has to help you, you can’t do it all on your own. 00:52:06.382 → 00:52:18.622 So it’s not rank Pelagianism, which was a heresy condemned universally, essentially, in the ancient church, but it is a form of Pelagianism as well, because they are still saying that you do something. 00:52:18.622 → 00:52:22.842 It is still a form of synergism, it’s just a minor form of it. 00:52:22.842 → 00:52:29.202 Now, justification having been dealt with, there’s the issue of sanctification. 00:52:29.202 → 00:52:38.402 Sanctification is the renewal in which you do participate in this life, working with the spirit. 00:52:38.402 → 00:52:40.122 That is synergistic. 00:52:40.122 → 00:52:50.102 And of course, the difference between monergism and synergism is just manas ergon, soul work, and sun ergon, working together, basically. 00:52:50.102 → 00:52:56.762 So it’s the difference between God being the soul worker and you working alongside and with God. 00:52:56.762 → 00:53:11.582 Very weakly, mind you, you’re the weak horse, certainly, but once your will, your person, once you have been renewed by the spirit, you have been regenerated, then you are actually capable of cooperating with God. 00:53:11.582 → 00:53:25.022 Weakly and in an imperfect fashion, and you will still sin, you will still fall, you’ll backslide, you’ll have all sorts of problems in this life, but you are capable of cooperating in sanctification. 00:53:25.022 → 00:53:28.762 Because you have been renewed, you’re no longer dead. 00:53:28.762 → 00:53:32.342 Because, of course, the greatest picture of that is baptism. 00:53:32.342 → 00:53:38.602 You pass into the water, into death, into the grave, you come up renewed to new life. 00:53:38.602 → 00:53:42.482 It’s regeneration, it’s the resurrection, it’s a picture of the resurrection from the dead. 00:53:43.022 → 00:53:44.862 It is the first resurrection. 00:53:44.862 → 00:53:50.242 And those who participate in the first resurrection do not taste the second death. 00:53:50.242 → 00:53:55.762 So, that’s the difference between monergism versus synergism. 00:53:55.762 → 00:54:02.142 So, monergistic, with regard to justification, God alone acts, because God alone can do it, because you are dead. 00:54:02.142 → 00:54:02.882 You can do nothing. 00:54:02.882 → 00:54:04.442 You are spiritually dead. 00:54:04.442 → 00:54:07.122 You are worse off than a stone. 00:54:07.122 → 00:54:13.602 But with regard to sanctification, you can do things, because at that point, you have been renewed. 00:54:13.602 → 00:54:14.762 Your will has been renewed. 00:54:14.762 → 00:54:20.182 You are actually able to act and do good, to cooperate with God in your sanctification. 00:54:22.262 → 00:54:27.742 And sort of to address the middle point there, it’s not a question, but just to address it. 00:54:27.742 → 00:54:34.022 When you have a besetting sin, just recognize that that’s generally how it is for most men. 00:54:34.022 → 00:54:46.882 Most men are going to have some sin that is a besetting sin, because if you found all of them easy to deal with, then you’re almost attaining perfection, which is difficult to do in this life, which is to say impossible. 00:54:46.882 → 00:54:49.022 No one attains perfection in this life. 00:54:49.022 → 00:54:54.502 And so if you have that sin, depending on what particular sin it may be, just work at it. 00:54:54.502 → 00:55:03.902 Remove whatever you can from your environment that leads you toward that temptation, that makes it more difficult to avoid that temptation, whatever it happens to be. 00:55:03.902 → 00:55:05.322 Don’t despair. 00:55:05.322 → 00:55:07.782 God knows that you’re a sinner. 00:55:07.782 → 00:55:09.102 God knows that you’re fallen. 00:55:09.242 → 00:55:20.162 God knows that you’re going to backslide, that you’re going to fall into these sins, and He is there to pick you up again, and there to come alongside you, and to get right back to the work of sanctification. 00:55:21.462 → 00:55:22.902 That’s an important thing to remember. 00:55:22.902 → 00:55:25.962 Don’t despair because you have sinned. 00:55:25.962 → 00:55:33.002 You’re a sinner because you are living in a fallen world, having inherited original sin, which is not purged from you in baptism. 00:55:33.002 → 00:55:34.642 You still have original sin. 00:55:34.642 → 00:55:36.142 It’s not counted against you. 00:55:37.022 → 00:55:40.342 It’s not removed, but it’s not counted against you. 00:55:40.342 → 00:55:44.622 And so, you are going to continue to sin because you are a sinner. 00:55:44.622 → 00:56:03.842 Yes, in time, through sanctification, you will do less of that, but the thing is, as you sort of get rid of these obvious sins in your life, the Holy Spirit is going to start pointing to other things and going, well, now maybe we should look over here, because there will always be more work to be done. 00:56:04.542 → 00:56:16.202 And so, don’t despair if you have trouble in this life with regard to sin, because you are always going to be fighting against it, you’re always going to be putting to death the sinful flesh. 00:56:16.202 → 00:56:25.302 That’s part of the Christian walk, and it does not end until death and final renewal, when you are actually restored to what God wanted you to be. 00:56:34.897 → 00:56:45.897 The next question, we’re just really kind of following a theme tonight, is about whether or not there are any sins that, by their very nature, extinguish faith. 00:56:45.897 → 00:56:49.237 Let me see if I can actually find the wording here to make sure that I… 00:56:51.977 → 00:56:56.377 That’s pretty much exactly what the wording is, so I think my wording is sufficient for this. 00:56:57.777 → 00:56:59.737 The answer to that is no. 00:56:59.737 → 00:57:05.057 Now, this is another place where you’re going to have a difference between Lutherans and… 00:57:05.057 → 00:57:17.997 Most Protestants are pretty much going to agree on this one, and Rome, because Rome’s distinction with regard to mortal versus venial sins is that mortal sins drive out the Holy Spirit and extinguish faith. 00:57:17.997 → 00:57:20.177 That is generally their formulation of that. 00:57:20.177 → 00:57:27.577 I know that there are some Roman Catholic apologists and theologians who defined it differently, but that’s the general teaching of it. 00:57:27.577 → 00:57:33.797 That’s why they are so concerned about mortal sins, because they believe it extinguishes faith. 00:57:33.797 → 00:57:40.317 A mortal sin is still a bad thing, and Lutheran theologians have used the distinction between mortal and venial sins. 00:57:40.317 → 00:57:50.297 Gerhard basically makes the distinction, a mortal sin is a sin committed against conscience, and a venial sin is a sin committed due to weakness. 00:57:50.297 → 00:57:56.777 And so, obviously, yes, the sin against conscience, the high-handed sin, is worse. 00:57:56.777 → 00:57:59.397 And so, if you want to call it mortal versus venial, fine. 00:58:00.277 → 00:58:04.677 But does it, by its very nature, extinguish faith? 00:58:04.677 → 00:58:06.957 The answer is no. 00:58:06.957 → 00:58:18.977 Now if you persist in it, if you continue to pursue it, if you continue to sin against conscience, yes, you run the risk of searing your conscience, falling away from the faith, and finally apostatizing. 00:58:18.977 → 00:58:22.977 Because apostasy is very much possible, scripture warns about it all over the place. 00:58:22.977 → 00:58:28.457 I know the reform don’t like to hear that, but scripture warns about it, God’s very clear, you can apostatize. 00:58:28.517 → 00:58:37.457 And it’s not because you were never a Christian, because if you were never a Christian, well, it wouldn’t be apostasy, because apostasy is from the faith. 00:58:37.457 → 00:58:43.997 So necessarily, you were part of the faith, you had a living faith, you had a real faith, you were a Christian, you apostatized. 00:58:43.997 → 00:58:45.717 So is that possible? 00:58:45.717 → 00:58:47.977 The answer is yes. 00:58:47.977 → 00:59:00.917 Should you become, you know, neurotic about this, so anxious about it, that you are so obsessed with the danger of committing a mortal sin that you just obsess over that day and night? 00:59:00.917 → 00:59:02.957 The answer is no. 00:59:02.957 → 00:59:05.497 Because are you going to commit sins? 00:59:05.497 → 00:59:10.897 Again, absolutely yes, sort of similar to the last question, the answer to the last question. 00:59:10.897 → 00:59:15.977 And when you do, you repent, and you try again. 00:59:15.977 → 00:59:20.037 And if you fall again, you repent, and you try again. 00:59:20.037 → 00:59:27.297 It is the repenting and the trying again that marks a Christian, because a life of repentance is the Christian life. 00:59:27.297 → 00:59:30.017 A life of perfection isn’t the Christian life. 00:59:30.017 → 00:59:38.457 The men who believe they are perfect are the Pharisees standing up and saying, thank God I am not like that man, a sinner, and a tax collector. 00:59:38.457 → 00:59:42.657 The Christian life is the tax collector repenting of being a sinner. 00:59:42.657 → 00:59:45.997 It’s go and sin no more, of course, but you’re going to fall. 00:59:45.997 → 00:59:46.977 You’re not going to be perfect. 00:59:46.977 → 00:59:52.217 You are not going to be able to resist all temptations all the time, because you are imperfect. 00:59:52.757 → 00:59:56.797 You are living in a fallen world, and it’s a point that is worth repeating. 00:59:56.797 → 00:59:58.337 You are not a sinner because you sin. 00:59:58.337 → 01:00:00.917 You sin because you are a sinner. 01:00:00.917 → 01:00:08.037 Now, there is a bit of a feedback loop there, of course, but because of the fact that you have inherited original sin, you are a sinner. 01:00:08.037 → 01:00:09.217 You have concupiscence. 01:00:09.217 → 01:00:18.857 You have this desire to sin that would not be in you if our first parents had not sinned and brought sin into the world and transmitted it to us. 01:00:18.857 → 01:00:30.357 And so, you will continue to sin even as a Christian, it is not a cause for despair, it is a cause for trying harder, it is a cause for standing up and giving it another go. 01:00:30.357 → 01:00:32.297 That is what matters in this life. 01:00:32.297 → 01:00:51.257 You keep trying, you keep fighting against the sinful flesh and the temptations of the devil and the temptations of the world, you use the tools that God has given you, which is obviously his word, the sacraments, other Christian men and women talking to them, spending time in God’s word, and prayer, of course, never forget prayer. 01:00:51.317 → 01:00:57.517 It is something that we certainly neglect in the modern world because many men have decided it doesn’t really do anything. 01:00:57.517 → 01:00:59.257 Always be in prayer. 01:00:59.257 → 01:01:04.957 At the very least, as I’ve recommended so many times, pray the Lord’s prayer when you wake up and before you go to bed. 01:01:04.957 → 01:01:07.137 That’s sort of the starting position. 01:01:07.137 → 01:01:09.277 Then maybe pray it before meals. 01:01:09.277 → 01:01:11.077 It is a wonderful thing. 01:01:11.077 → 01:01:12.837 It is the prayer that God taught us. 01:01:12.837 → 01:01:15.137 It is the prayer that he wants to hear. 01:01:15.137 → 01:01:15.777 It is a good prayer. 01:01:15.777 → 01:01:17.337 It doesn’t mean you don’t pray other things. 01:01:17.337 → 01:01:18.697 I’m not saying it’s the only prayer. 01:01:18.797 → 01:01:23.417 I’m certainly not saying repeat it mindlessly 10,000 times a day. 01:01:23.417 → 01:01:26.857 You know, I just said say it four or five, right? 01:01:26.857 → 01:01:30.437 But that is an important part of your walk with God. 01:01:30.437 → 01:01:34.137 That is an important part of being a Christian, living a Christian life. 01:01:34.137 → 01:01:39.197 And we pray for the forgiveness of sins every time we pray that prayer. 01:01:39.197 → 01:01:40.757 And we don’t pray that idly. 01:01:40.757 → 01:01:46.257 We pray it because we probably sinned in between when we last prayed the prayer and when we’re praying it now. 01:01:47.257 → 01:01:53.217 Even if it was a venial sin, right, a minor sin, because all sin separates from God ultimately. 01:01:53.217 → 01:01:57.877 Some sins are worse than others, but all sin separates from God. 01:01:57.877 → 01:02:03.117 The sin that separated mankind from God, of course, there’s other things involved. 01:02:03.117 → 01:02:08.817 There’s pride and rebellion, all that, but it was eating a fruit God told us not to eat. 01:02:08.817 → 01:02:11.917 All sin is infinite in its nature. 01:02:11.917 → 01:02:30.257 And so if you have some besetting sin, some sin that is clearly a trouble for you, do what you need to do in order to put yourself in a position where you’re better able to resist that temptation, better able to fight against it, and do not despair if you fall into it again. 01:02:30.257 → 01:02:31.457 Stand up and try. 01:02:31.457 → 01:02:31.997 That’s it. 01:02:31.997 → 01:02:32.717 That’s all you have to do. 01:02:32.717 → 01:02:34.477 That’s the Christian life. 01:02:34.477 → 01:02:36.777 Repent, fall, repent, fall. 01:02:36.777 → 01:02:38.457 That’s how it goes. 01:02:38.457 → 01:02:48.517 So despair is what you don’t want, because when you fall into that sort of pit, that is when you’re falling into where the devil wants you to be. 01:02:48.517 → 01:02:52.257 The devil wants you to think, no, I’m too terrible of a sinner. 01:02:52.257 → 01:02:53.677 I’m a horrible person. 01:02:53.677 → 01:03:01.277 God could never forgive me again for this sin that I’ve done 487 times this year, or whatever it happens to be. 01:03:01.277 → 01:03:07.177 It’s false, because Christ’s sacrifice on the cross was of infinite worth. 01:03:07.177 → 01:03:12.377 And so no matter how many sins you commit, Christ already paid for them. 01:03:12.377 → 01:03:15.557 Christ knew you were going to commit them when he went to the cross. 01:03:15.557 → 01:03:18.037 Christ knew he was going to pay for those. 01:03:18.037 → 01:03:25.317 He knew you were going to commit them, not just when he went to the cross, before he was born, in the manger. 01:03:25.317 → 01:03:28.757 He knew absolutely everything that you were going to do in your life. 01:03:28.757 → 01:03:29.957 And he still died for you. 01:03:29.957 → 01:03:31.437 He still paid for your sins. 01:03:31.437 → 01:03:35.797 He paid for each and every one of them, even before you committed them. 01:03:35.797 → 01:03:38.137 So there’s no reason for despair. 01:03:38.137 → 01:03:39.577 You can be chagrined, of course. 01:03:39.657 → 01:03:43.937 You can hate that you fell into that temptation, that sin again. 01:03:43.937 → 01:03:45.917 But use that to drive you forward. 01:03:45.917 → 01:03:49.017 Use that to be angry at the devil and the fallen flesh. 01:03:49.037 → 01:03:54.657 Use that to fight against those temptations and stand up and try again. 01:03:54.657 → 01:03:55.377 That’s what matters. 01:04:07.238 → 01:04:09.638 I think maybe I’ll answer one more question. 01:04:09.638 → 01:04:11.938 I think I’m at just a little over an hour. 01:04:11.938 → 01:04:14.298 I have, I do actually have a timer. 01:04:14.298 → 01:04:18.778 It’s just very tiny at the bottom, and not 100% accurate. 01:04:21.758 → 01:04:24.958 So, let me see if there’s a short one here. 01:04:33.468 → 01:04:40.528 Looks like, unfortunately, I answered the short ones last week, and those were the easy ones that took me mere seconds to answer. 01:04:42.788 → 01:04:45.708 So, I think I may call it here for this week. 01:04:45.708 → 01:04:51.608 I don’t see any short questions in the chat, which I could just answer quick. 01:04:51.608 → 01:04:52.028 Let’s see. 01:04:52.028 → 01:04:55.008 How does a person simply believe in the gospel of faith? 01:04:55.008 → 01:04:59.628 What could a person do to accept the gospel as true without being able to prove the details of the story? 01:05:02.248 → 01:05:09.268 That’s not necessarily a simple question, but I think I can give a relatively simple answer before I close out this episode for this week. 01:05:11.568 → 01:05:20.708 I answered it to some degree in the answer to the question about justification, about monergism, because faith is a gift. 01:05:20.708 → 01:05:25.788 Faith is not something that you can make yourself have. 01:05:25.788 → 01:05:27.428 Faith is something that God gives you. 01:05:28.688 → 01:05:40.488 That doesn’t mean you can do nothing, because just because you are spiritually dead before you’re renewed doesn’t mean that you can do nothing, because obviously you are still biologically alive, right? 01:05:40.488 → 01:05:46.888 And so even if you are not a Christian, even if you do not have faith, you can read the scriptures. 01:05:46.888 → 01:05:48.248 You can go to church. 01:05:48.248 → 01:05:50.388 You can listen to a sermon. 01:05:50.388 → 01:05:53.228 You can do those things. 01:05:53.228 → 01:05:59.668 Those things are where God has said that he is going to meet you and will give you the free gift of faith. 01:05:59.668 → 01:06:02.608 And so all you have to do is do those things. 01:06:02.608 → 01:06:03.968 God will fulfill his part. 01:06:03.968 → 01:06:08.728 God is always going to follow through with what he has promised. 01:06:08.728 → 01:06:19.268 And so even if you can’t prove the details, every little minutia of all of the various stories in scripture, that’s not the point. 01:06:19.268 → 01:06:24.068 I’ve highlighted this before, and I think this is where I’ll close out answering this question in the episode. 01:06:25.428 → 01:06:34.548 There’s a difference between how you approach proving scripture to be true with an unbeliever versus a believer. 01:06:34.548 → 01:06:36.628 I’ll deal with the unbeliever first. 01:06:36.628 → 01:06:47.848 With an unbeliever, you point to all of the things in scripture that are so highly consistent over so many authors and such a great period of time and all those things like that, right? 01:06:47.848 → 01:06:51.608 All the apologetics with which we are, many of us anyway, are quite familiar. 01:06:52.428 → 01:07:02.928 And so, you can point to external sources as well, various historians, you can point to Tacitus, you can point to Josephus, hostile witnesses. 01:07:02.928 → 01:07:07.688 You can point to these various things that corroborate what is present in scripture. 01:07:07.688 → 01:07:11.448 You can point to the proofs of archaeology and things like that. 01:07:11.448 → 01:07:26.988 What you’re doing is you are trying to prove the reliability, at least of parts of scripture, to this person who doesn’t believe on the basis of things that person holds to be at least presumably true. 01:07:26.988 → 01:07:28.548 At least they bear some weight, right? 01:07:28.548 → 01:07:37.508 Archaeology, digging these things up, finding various engravings and carvings that have the names of people who are present in the Old Testament, for instance. 01:07:37.508 → 01:07:39.548 Many of that has been found. 01:07:39.548 → 01:07:43.248 And so, with an unbeliever, you approach it in that way. 01:07:43.248 → 01:07:51.528 Because what you’re trying to do is you’re trying to prove the reliability of scripture as an historical document, essentially. 01:07:51.528 → 01:07:56.528 You’re trying to prove it like you would any other history, any other non-fiction book. 01:07:56.528 → 01:08:01.108 Now, with a believer, you approach it fundamentally differently. 01:08:01.108 → 01:08:05.288 Because as a believer, you have already been given the free gift of faith. 01:08:05.288 → 01:08:07.568 You already believe in God. 01:08:07.568 → 01:08:10.108 You know that this is his book. 01:08:10.108 → 01:08:19.468 You don’t believe God’s book because Tacitus said, that some of these things happened in the way the book says. 01:08:19.468 → 01:08:28.348 Or because Josephus, a Jewish historian, says that some of these things happened in the way, and at the time, that scripture says they happen, right? 01:08:28.348 → 01:08:31.368 That’s not why you believe the Bible as a believer. 01:08:31.368 → 01:08:38.388 If you have the free gift of faith from God, you believe the Bible because it’s God’s word, and you believe in God. 01:08:38.388 → 01:08:41.988 So you believe the book because you believe the author to be truthful. 01:08:42.588 → 01:08:48.948 Now, that even works with human authors, but the benefit, of course, of God is that God does not lie ever. 01:08:48.948 → 01:08:49.848 God is perfect. 01:08:49.848 → 01:09:00.088 Everything God writes is exactly, perfectly true, whether he writes it himself, the Ten Commandments, or he inspires authors to write it for him. 01:09:00.088 → 01:09:04.568 And so there’s a difference in the order of the operations, as it were. 01:09:04.568 → 01:09:10.868 You are proving externally to inward with regard to those who are not believers. 01:09:11.468 → 01:09:19.428 You are really going sort of the opposite direction with those who are believers, because you are pointing out, you already believe in the author of this. 01:09:19.428 → 01:09:20.428 He’s infinite. 01:09:20.428 → 01:09:22.008 He is truth. 01:09:22.008 → 01:09:23.008 He cannot lie. 01:09:23.008 → 01:09:23.928 He does not lie. 01:09:23.928 → 01:09:27.168 Everything he says is true, and so you can rely on his word. 01:09:27.168 → 01:09:35.368 But with regard to a person who doesn’t have faith, it is a matter of just read the scripture, go to church. 01:09:35.368 → 01:09:37.348 God will do what he has promised to do. 01:09:37.348 → 01:09:38.748 He will meet you in these things. 01:09:38.928 → 01:09:42.788 He will give you the free gift of faith, because God does not lie. 01:09:42.788 → 01:09:45.708 God always follows through with everything he has said. 01:09:45.708 → 01:09:49.548 Not a single one of his promises has ever proven false. 01:09:49.548 → 01:09:55.448 So that’s sort of the difference there between the unbeliever versus the believer. 01:09:55.448 → 01:10:05.768 And so, no, it doesn’t matter if you can prove every single detail of every single part of scripture, because as a believer, that’s not why you believe that’s true. 01:10:06.588 → 01:10:09.148 It’s because you trust the author. 01:10:09.148 → 01:10:14.608 But with the unbeliever, yes, you use the external sources because you’re doing a fundamentally different thing. 01:10:14.608 → 01:10:22.388 You’re trying to convince a skeptic versus someone who already has the fullness of the reason to believe in scripture. 01:10:22.388 → 01:10:29.408 I’m not saying that it’s useless to teach Christians about the archaeology and all these other things, because of course, that can help to shore up your faith. 01:10:29.408 → 01:10:49.828 You can look at this and go, I believe this because it’s the word of God, but it’s certainly comforting that everything I see in secular history, as it were, agrees with scripture, that philosophy agrees with scripture, that you can mount a philosophical defense of the existence of God and the goodness of God and all these other things. 01:10:49.828 → 01:10:52.088 It’s helpful to have those. 01:10:52.088 → 01:11:04.408 But by and large, those are things that you use with those who are unbelievers, because you are trying to knock down their objections to the faith, so that they will be open to believing in the faith. 01:11:06.848 → 01:11:12.328 And I think that is where I will close it out for this week. 01:11:12.328 → 01:11:24.448 I will do the quick bit of housekeeping, just mention that the place to submit questions should be in the description of the video on whichever platform you’re watching it. 01:11:24.448 → 01:11:31.768 It will certainly be in the show notes for the podcast version of this, and I do put out a podcast version. 01:11:31.768 → 01:11:42.248 The podcast version is the audio from this, just put out by itself every week, and that has a little higher quality. 01:11:42.248 → 01:11:46.168 But by and large, it’s just nice to have the audio available as well. 01:11:46.168 → 01:11:48.888 There is a transcript and all things like that. 01:11:48.888 → 01:11:57.388 If I put out episodes that are not Q&A’s, they will probably just be in the podcast feed, not necessarily a live stream, as it were. 01:11:57.388 → 01:11:58.708 Just not the point of that. 01:11:59.568 → 01:12:01.888 So I think that pretty much covers the housekeeping. 01:12:01.888 → 01:12:06.048 The reason for the forum, of course, is because it is more helpful. 01:12:06.048 → 01:12:12.448 One of the reasons that I’m doing this is to build up the catalog of questions and answers so they can be pointed to in the future. 01:12:12.448 → 01:12:23.848 Much easier to do if it’s centrally located instead of my running around trying to find it on this thread and that thread and this stream and these comments and all these other places, right? 01:12:23.848 → 01:12:26.948 It’s just easier for me and for future users as well. 01:12:28.228 → 01:12:38.168 But I think that pretty much covers it for this week, and I will do the Q&A next week on Thursday. 01:12:38.168 → 01:12:41.888 I do not believe that that conflicts with anything because that is the first, right? 01:12:41.888 → 01:12:43.728 Yes, that is the first. 01:12:43.728 → 01:12:52.728 I will not be overindulging on New Year’s Eve, and so I won’t have to call off on the first, but I will do the next Q&A on Thursday of next week. 01:12:52.728 → 01:12:56.108 And I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. 01:12:56.488 → 01:13:01.088 Merry second day of Christmas because, of course, Christmas season is not over yet. 01:13:01.088 → 01:13:05.548 We are looking forward to Epiphany next, but we are still in the season of Christmas. 01:13:05.548 → 01:13:12.608 And so I hope that you have at least some of your decorations up still and didn’t tear them all down immediately after Christmas day. 01:13:12.608 → 01:13:21.268 So go and enjoy the rest of the evening, whatever is left for you, whichever time zone you’re in, with family, friends, whoever happens to be around. 01:13:21.268 → 01:13:22.248 Merry Christmas. 01:13:22.248 → 01:13:22.868 God bless. 01:13:22.868 → 01:13:25.848 I look forward to talking to all of you next week. 01:13:25.948 → 01:13:30.488 Thank you for submitting questions, and please submit your questions for next week. 01:13:30.488 → 01:13:31.008 See you in a week.