Christian Questions Bible Podcast

Jesus loves you! This is a true, simple and potentially life-changing statement. Once we accept what that three-word sentence actually means, it can become a steering mechanism for everyday of our lives, pointing us to righteousness, godliness and self-sacrifice. Jesus loves you. Pointed and refreshing, but what does it really mean? Does Jesus’ love for us guide us in our everyday experiences? Yes! Does his love for us mean that he wants the best for us? Of course! Okay, so if he wants the best for us does that refer to comfort and abundance in our lives? Does Jesus’ love for us bring us to better living conditions, more financial stability, a much better present and a brighter future? The answers to these questions will vary wildly depending on whose brand of Christianity you look at and this just confuses the matter. Instead of asking different Christians about the role of comfort and abundance in a Christian’s life, let’s find the answer from Jesus’ own teachings and the Apostle’s own words. First of all, let me be crystal clear...we believe Jesus wants his disciples to live full lives of great abundance! Now the really big question is what does “great abundance” mean? Once we establish its meaning, it stands to reason we can begin to settle in to find and apply that abundance in our everyday existence. To find the meaning we have to look at what Jesus stood for – not what we would like for him to have stood for, but what his ministry was actually about. When you look at the body of what Jesus taught what you find is the vast majority of his teachings were in place to bring hope to the average person. He focused on love, on personal sacrifice and on putting God first. Much of his ministry was spent building the foundations for his kingdom, and those foundations were revealed in the words “Follow me.” Okay, “follow me” to where, through what kind of experiences and to what end result? Again, looking at what Jesus stood for we see that he was an itinerant preacher – he had no real earthly possessions and no place that he called home. Yet, this man who might be described in this light as a poverty-stricken soul by some, had the power to heal sickness in others, the power to talk down the religious leaders of his time and the power to speak godly hope and direction to the masses of people. So, is this the “abundance” that Jesus wants for our lives? Not exactly. The abundance Jesus wants for us is actually bigger, broader and eternal. The abundance he wants for us stands in stark contrast with what we would consider abundance by worldly standards. This fact flies directly in the face of what so many preachers of Christianity talk about today. It truly exposes their money-based ministries as not being about the Gospel of Jesus Christ but being about their own personal worldly abundance. Spiritual abundance and worldly abundance are simply contrary and must be revealed as so. Check out our March 6th, 2017 podcast, “Is Christianity a Greedy Religion?” and follow along with us as we, according to Jesus’ own words, separate worldly abundance from spiritual abundance and learn how to seek that which is eternal. It just might make your life fuller and happier!

Fear is a life dominator.  When fear wells up within us we are often physically paralyzed, speechless or at a loss for cogent thought.  When fear strikes we run, we hide or we cower before it as our new and merciless master.  When we see fear in others we can easily be drawn into its overwhelming grip and become hapless and helpless in our ability to see clearly and find our way.  Because fear is such a powerful dominating emotion, it has always been a preferred tool of Satan.  What better way to gain control of the masses of humanity than to instill fear?  While fear can occasionally save us, fear is most often a pathway to dysfunction, a weapon of despair and a tool of defeat.  So, what do we do to conquer fear?  How can we learn to feel fear but not be afraid? You have probably heard or seen motivational speakers who talk about fear and illustrate how to overcome it. They are powerful, logical and inspirational in their delivery, and what they suggest can actually work towards overcoming our fears. The problem for most of us is that we get all juiced when we hear the speaker and when we see the real life examples, and we begin to feel like we can do this. Then it happens. Some time goes by and we forget what we learned or we rationalize our way out of applying what we learned and our fears again well up and we face them – not to defeat them but to be instructed by them as we again cower before their power. Kinda depressing, isn’t it! To make matters worse, we can be afraid of so many different kinds of things, ranging from the likes of failure, vulnerability and disappointment to success, acceptance and love. All in all we can clearly conclude that the fears in our lives may easily become the overwhelming dictators of our futures. Ouch! Okay, enough of the depressing talk already! Let’s move on to finding the tools attitudes and methodologies to overcome this debilitating emotion. The Bible is a brilliant help for us to be able to grasp and manage fear. It tells us there are things we should rightfully have fear of (in a positive and healthy way) for our own protection – the power of angels – sin – and God himself. The Bible also shows us that there are many very justifiable fears we may encounter. Think about those people in life who have great power for darkness and who would oppose us. They provoke justifiable fear. Here is the key. Having a justifiable fear does not mean that it is acceptable to crumble before its feet. Justifiable fears are actually seeds of opportunity if we are willing to learn to see them in such light. Is it really possible to go from being afraid to being excited? Check out our February 27, 2017 podcast, “Does Fear Torment Your Life?” Follow along with us as we talk about three specific Christian characteristics that have the power to deal with, replace and evict fear as a motivator from our lives. Why let fear continue to push you around when you can learn to, by God’s grace, face it and use its power for good?

We are so shortsighted.  Most of us can only see as far as the next phone, tablet or computer screen and we really don’t think much about we are seeing – we just want to see it, to have our minds toyed with and occupied, never giving thought to what is beyond and what is lasting.  In our obsession with the occupation of our moments, we have completely lost one of the greatest things that we could ever personally bring to our world. We have lost the value of LEGACY.  Legacy by one definition is “something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor or from the past.”  You see, we have the ability to leave a lasting and positive impression on our world, if we would only realize that potential and act on it.  Elijah is a great example of legacy.  In fact, Elijah left one of the most unique and powerful legacies of any Bible hero.  What legacy did he leave?  How did he do it? There are two important points that need stating as we begin.  First, when we think of leaving a legacy we often think about money – large sums of money - left behind for some specific purpose through which the donor is recognized and honored.  The legacy we are talking about today has nothing to do with dollars and cents but everything to do with a life-changing example.  Elijah left behind a legacy of courage and humility that money can’t buy and THAT is what makes it priceless and even eternal.  Second, in leaving his legacy Elijah didn’t think about or plan his legacy to be one way or another.  No, Elijah simply lived his life and his calling to serve God in a way that others could not.  Though far from perfect, he was bold relentless and faithful and thus created a powerful legacy by simply living for God. One of the happy or sad facts of life is that we all leave a legacy.  We will all be remembered for the things we did or said.  The question is, will those memories of you spark happiness or inspiration or courage in those left behind or will those memories of you spark relief or anger or forgetfulness in those left behind?  Either way, it’s your legacy so you might want to give it some thought, then perhaps you might want to consider what you are saying to the world around you with the statement of your everyday life. Elijah’s everyday life produced remarkable long-term results.  Did you know that the last two verses of the Old Testament were about him and the first event of the New Testament which happened over four hundred years later was about him as well?  Why would that be?  Did you know the work of Elijah was prophesied to be repeated when Jesus came over 2,000 years ago, and that Jesus himself said the work of Elijah would continue at his second coming?  Why would that be? Find out!  Check out our February 20, 2017 podcast, “Elijah (Part III) – The Power of Legacy” and see the stunning significance of Elijah through the ages.  Realizing his amazing impact on the world just might inspire you to be more aware of your own impact on the world.  After all, it is your legacy…      

“The best things in life are free.” That certainly can be true, but as always there is more to the story. Take love - the love that is between a husband and a wife as a for instance. While this love certainly should be free – freely given and freely received, it does have a maintenance schedule attached to it. Funny thing is, we never hear much about love’s maintenance schedule as it can be difficult, demanding and even daunting. The good news is that if we stick with the schedule, the results will literally last a lifetime and the love that we were freely given will have become a most valuable admired and cherished part of our lives! So, how do we get there? How do we learn what to do and how to do it so our love will last a lifetime? The answers to these questions are priceless, so when we began to look for sources that would show us the answers, we found some guidelines for love written by some of the staff at eHarmony.com.  Now for a podcast that goes by the name of Christian Questions, sourcing eHarmony sounds a bit weird and to be honest, it feels a bit weird.  Just know that the reason we followed through with that source is their advice was all clearly backed up (though I think not knowingly) by biblical principles. To begin, with we need to understand the word “love” in the English language has a very broad meaning.  I love mint chocolate chip ice cream, I love my job and I love my wife.  Does this mean my wife is in the same category as ice cream? Not even remotely close, for my wife is THE greatest earthly gift of my entire life!  (By the way, if you had to stop and think about how to answer that question, then I believe we have already begun to identify some of your love and relationship issues!)  Romantic love (which often borders on infatuation), family love, fraternal love and selfless love are all ways of connecting to others and are all fulfilling in their own way.  Making love last a lifetime means we need to consciously work on and maintain the romantic, family AND selfless kinds of love.  Yes, I did say "work on," and I did say "maintain."  No magic, just work. The first eHarmony suggestion was listening...really listening.  This probably requires more effort than you would think, for our world is one massive, shiny technological distraction.  Try this – when your spouse is talking to you about something important, put down your phone or your fork or your tablet, turn off the voices in your head from work or the kids or your sports team and focus your eyes, your mind and your heart on your spouse.  That is listening.  The best part of this approach is actually two-fold:  First, you will actually hear what your spouse is saying and you will open the door to being engaged in his or her story.  Second, your spouse WILL NOTICE you are truly listening and that will give them confidence and trust in you.  Listen!! There is so much more to this!  Please check out our February 13, 2017 podcast, “Can Love Last a Lifetime?” and learn what you can do to make your marriage all that it can be.

Two weeks ago we talked about Elijah and the incredible courage he had toward accomplishing God’s will. We saw him prophesy, take responsibility, wait, perform miracles, wait some more, appear before his greatest enemy and overwhelmingly conquer in a challenge to prove that God is in fact God over all. The next thing we knew, Elijah was running for his life – afraid and feeling alone. Turns out that all his heroics got him was more threats on his life. So, what happens to that courageous prophet of God now? He still must fight but in a different way, for in this next stage of his life God is going to teach him submission. Submission – it does not sound like a characteristic that belongs with courage, but as we will see courage will burn you without submission and submission will burden you without courage.

As Christians, we pin all of our hopes on the belief that Jesus was crucified and died for our sins. This is the bottom line core reason for our coming to Christ for it speaks of him doing something for us out of pure love that we in no way could do for ourselves. To us the sacrifice of Jesus represents the ultimate gift. Those outside of Christianity often look at this belief with disdain and even sarcasm for to them it is foolishness and evidence of a blood thirsty god. One question that is probably not talked about much is about the breadth of Jesus’ sacrifice – who did it cover and how do we know? In the present conditions of our world, the Muslim faith is often thought about and referenced. What do Muslims think of Jesus? While they do believe in him, they don’t see him as a redeemer. Does this mean that they are not covered by his sacrifice? This is obviously a touchy subject, because like it or not, discussing Islam even in the brightest and most positive way can easily lead a variety of emotional responses from upbeat and accepting right down to angry and condemning.  So, to try and avoid the emotional rollercoaster, we laid a foundation. We said from the very beginning that: Our representations of Islam would only be done through the words of Muslims themselves or from third party reporting that we deemed objective. We would view Islam in a positive light and therefore make no room to entertain the interpretations of the minority radical and hateful sects that seem to get all of the attention. We have no plan or desire to attempt to translate the meaning of the Quran – we leave that to those who have studied it and believe in it. Our beliefs regarding Islam are straightforward. We believe that it is not an accurate representation of the God of the Universe or his plans and purposes – but – we do not discount the positive examples of moral living and principles that are shown to us by so many upstanding moral and peaceful Muslims. With the previous foundation in place, our objective was to compare how Muslims view God, Jesus and the Scriptures of the Bible with our own take on these matters as those who believe in that the Bible is the inspired word of God.  As we approached the similarities and differences, we began to be able to clearly view not only perceptions of Jesus’ role but the scripturally-explicit guidelines of his role.  One glaring reality we discussed was the absolute inability to  have both perspectives “be right.”  In the case of these two belief systems, one really does have to choose which perspective (if any) they see worthy of following. In short, we attempted to have a frank conversation about differing beliefs without going down the road of condemning or insulting.  We would encourage you to check out our January 30, 2017 podcast, “Did Jesus Die for Muslims?” and see for yourself why we gave an answer that some may consider surprising to that question.  Hopefully you will listen and tell us what you think!

Courage is perhaps the most underrated, under-appreciated and invisible virtue of our time.  We are so busy complying with the status quo, with watching our words and with following what others say and do on social media that we seem to have forgotten the simple yet powerful virtue of courage.  Courage is stepping up, stepping out and standing against the tide of darkness.  Courage is being what you know you should be when it is unpopular with others.  Courage is having the guts to listen when others only want to argue; it is reaching out to give when others are focused on taking and courage is leading by example when following in anonymity would be so much easier.  Courage, when observed, incites others to stand, it provokes others to act and it plants hope where there is none.  Yes, we need courage, but how do we find it and how do we learn to truly be courageous? Learning courage – that seems like an odd combination of thoughts. Can you go to a class at your local community college, take “Courage 101” and walk out of there all powerful and courageous? Of course not! What you CAN do is look at the lives of those who had courage – not just the courage to perform one mighty feat but those who had the courage that permeated their being – you can look at those lives and learn an incredible amount about how courage works. That’s what we did. We looked at a three-year span in the life of Elijah the prophet to see if we could figure out what made him so amazingly brave. What we found was enlightening! First of all, let’s understand that courage is almost never achieved in the absence of fear and is almost always discovered while acting in the very face of fear. This simple realization can be personally freeing as most of us do not see ourselves as courageous because we feel afraid. Once we understand that fear is part of courage then we can begin to see ourselves in a different light and perhaps allow ourselves to begin to think courageously. A really simple definition of courage we found was “walking towards something you would rather walk away from.” With all of this in mind, let’s begin to look at this prophet Elijah with an all important initial question – why did he need to have courage? In Elijah’s Israel, idol worship had completely overtaken the nation. King Ahab had married Jezebel, a heathen woman who was heartless and horrible in her treatment of others. Between the two of them they reigned over Israel with terror and tyranny. Elijah was called upon to challenge and end this era and he was called upon to do it pretty much by himself. Interestingly Elijah’s name actually means “My God is Jehovah.” So our first lesson on courage is this – courage is summoned when there is a great need. For Elijah’s Israel, their very existence as God’s people had been lost and Elijah was sent to once again stand for the God of all things. Check out our January 23, 2017 podcast, “Elijah, Part I – The Power of Courage.” There are a boatload of other practical lessons to learn on how to live your life courageously not to mention the incredible and inspiring drama of Elijah’s personal story. Don’t miss this episode!

George Orwell’s 1949 book, 1984, was about the future.  It was a scary and suggestive look at what could happen to society if we didn’t protect our freedoms from totalitarianism.  The idea that “Big Brother is watching” was a fearful one, as this fictional story gave the feeling that what we say and think are monitored and forcefully used to keep us in line.  So, here it is, 2017, and the year 1984 passed 33 years ago without Big Brother watching.  But wait a minute – the sexist and alarming thought of Big Brother watching would invade safe spaces and be recognized as a potential trigger for some.  We need to be gender and social status-free in our policing of the masses.  Instead of Big Brother watching, we should say, “Thought interpreting humans are guiding the collective.”  The point is, we have entered a time in history where the policing of thoughts and words has overtaken us in a unique and disturbing way.  What would Jesus do in this environment?  Would he stand in support of it or against it? Would Jesus be politically correct? The short answer to that last question is an emphatic NO!  Jesus never did nor ever will fit into the mold of political anything.  Besides, understanding how to define political correctness is like trying to hit a moving target.  If you look at the history of the phrase, you find that in the early to mid 20th century it was attached to Stalinism and Communism and described a position of holding to the party line regardless of its morality.  Basically, it said that to be politically correct you check your brain at the door and unequivocally comply.  Scary! Fast forward to political correctness today and the question arises, are we still being asked to check our brains at the door and just comply?  Are we being pressed to accept only those things which certain groups have proclaimed "acceptable?"  What if you are offended by specific behaviors labeled as “must accept” behaviors? Now by being offended, I don’t mean you just don’t like something.  For some reason, not liking something seems to have become a trigger for emotional breakdown. I guess I never got the memo on that, because I was taught not liking something meant that you let others have their opinions, you respectfully stand up for your beliefs and you move on.  Being offended has to do with being crossed, regarding your deeply-held firm and timeless beliefs that are way bigger than you. Jesus had a fascinating way to address all of these things.  There are many important areas of life that Jesus didn’t talk much about, such as children and marriage, but what he did say was extraordinarily powerful and relevant.  The key is putting his words in their proper context on these things and then trying to stand for what he stood for, which was spiritual correctness and not political correctness. Jesus also talked about social tolerance, and he did address politics as well.  What did he say and whose side was he on?  Take some time and listen to our January 16, 2017 podcast, “Was Jesus Politically Correct?”  It may help you gain perspective and insight into how and why Jesus stood for certain principles, and how we can do the same while living in a society that has lost its way.  

The ability to compromise is a lost art.  We have become so diverse in our thinking, so polarized in our viewpoints and so set in our conclusions as unequivocally right, that the mere idea of compromise is in some cases viewed as a repulsive evil.  Now look – there are times when compromise should be off the table.  There are times when that which is right and sound should not be approached with the idea of watering it down for the sake of making someone or some group or some sect happy.  But when? When do we stand as an immovable force and when do we bend and acquiesce to include the preferences of others?  Fortunately for us, these very issues existed in biblical times so we actually do have a pretty clear set of guidelines to follow.  Is compromise good?  Yes!  Is compromise bad? Yes!  Let’s figure this out! We often make simple assumptions about those who lived in biblical times.  For instance, when we think of New Testament Christians we think – Jesus’ influence of love and kindness was clear and they all loved, cared for and respected each other.  What a great and harmonious environment to live in!  Now, they did love each other,but what we don’t often realize is that in many cases and for many years, mutual respect was sometimes lacking - and tenuous at best - and had to be learned. It was a hard and arduous lesson to say the least!  We might wonder why that would be – after all, the Apostles were there and they would certainly be able to guide everyone to the higher ground of mutual respect in Christ, right?  Right? Yes and no.  The unconsidered factors here are culture and human weakness.  For some reason, we don’t like to think of the founders of Christianity as having to wrestle with these things as we do, but the happy truth is they did.  They wrestled hard with different cultures colliding under the grace of Christianity and had to do some pretty bold things to make it all work.  To me, as I mentioned, this is a happy truth, for their struggles have become our guidelines.  One of those bold things they struggled with was being willing to compromise.  Here again, we don’t often think of compromise as a bold move; rather, we think of it as a wimpy and spineless one.  In many circumstances, compromise is simply an exit door for the weak, but in other cases such as with the Apostles and elders in the fifteenth chapter of Acts, compromise is a bold and defining decision that can be a primary tool in building a firm and lasting legacy. What the Apostles and elders did in their meeting recorded in Acts was to absorb the tensions of two opposite sides of a major issue, listen, consider discuss and find a mutually-acceptable path to move forward.  How did they do that?  Check out our January 9, 2017 podcast, “How Much Should Christians Compromise?” and follow along with us as we lay out the steps they took, how they took them and how we can do the same thing.  Compromise, in the right place and circumstance, is a bold and powerful answer!

How is it that life seems to go by so fast?  How is it that we more often than not look back on our life - the things we did and what we became - with a measure of regret, knowing that we could have been more or contributed more?  Have you ever stopped to think of what makes life happen?  It is actually a pretty simple equation:  TIME + EXPERIENCES  = LIFE.  Now I know that is an oversimplification, but stay with me.  If we can accept that life is the combination of time and experiences, then wouldn’t solving the issue of making one’s life fuller and more meaningful be easier to understand?  Time is measurable and predictable and we all have the same amount each and every day.  Experiences, be they physical, observational or thoughts, are essentially the sum total of what we do with the time given to us each day.  So, what can we do to make our time and experiences produce a rich, fruitful and contented life?
Many of the thoughts we based this important conversation on were derived from the book, “The Power of Consistency” written by Weldon Long.  Throughout the book, Mr. Long shares pieces of his amazing personal story that chronicle his journey from being a prison inmate to being a terrific dad and an amazingly successful business entrepreneur.  As you might guess, he made this journey by applying specific principles to his life with undying consistency.
Consistency.  If you want to know what you should do differently to change your life, consistency will always show up as a primary and necessary ingredient.  This you can count on.  The opposite is also true - consistency will always be "MIA" – missing in action - when failure to change occurs. This is one of those unwritten life rules that is always true and that no one likes because it takes discipline.  Ugh!  Discipline is another one of those nasty words that upsets our comfort zone.  Face it, if we are going to talk about making our lives better then we need to accept consistency and discipline as parts of our better life vocabulary.
Okay, we want to make our lives better, so where do we start?  Simply stated, we need to start by honestly looking at where we are in our lives right now.  It’s kinda like being in one of those huge malls and trying to get our bearings.  We look at the big mall map that has the red arrow pointing to a specific spot with the message “You are here,” and we can now figure out how to get to where we what to go.  In real life, finding where we are so we know how to get to our destination is obviously a bit more challenging.  To do it we actually need to observe what we daily do and think to keep our equilibrium – to keep ourselves on what we feel is an even keel.  Once we begin to understand what makes us feel even and comfortable we can then truly begin to grasp what our individual next step might be.
What might that next step be?  Check out our January 2, 2017 podcast, “So what should I be doing differently?” and find out.  Listening just might be the beginning of something great!