Christian Questions Bible Podcast

Here’s a question...what do the 4th of July and Thanksgiving have in common? The most obvious answer is these two celebrations are uniquely American in that their very founding was undeniably linked to the founding of the United States. The less obvious answer is that these two holidays were also founded in humble recognition of God Almighty. Just read the first and last parts of the Declaration of Independence and the first declarations for Thanksgiving and you will see that God was first and foremost. Here we are about 240 years later and God is no longer first and he certainly is no longer "for most." So, as we approach the Thanksgiving holiday this Thursday what can we do to relight our own fire of gratitude towards God and towards one another? Let’s start by talking about it!
Think about back when you were a kid.  If you were fortunate to have parents (as I did) who believed in manners and gratitude you probably recall the humbling lessons of constantly being reminded to say thank you.  Remember?  Someone would do something for you and your mom or dad would say, “What do you say?” and you would dutifully (and sometimes with a twinge of embarrassment) say thank you.  Gratitude really is a simple lesson but is often a hard to implement response.
As with anything that is hard to do, it is always a good idea to know why you should do it.  If you just take a small peek at the science of gratitude, what you will find is that people who make gratitude an intentional part of their lives are happier, they are healthier, they have better relationships and they even tend to live longer.  Thank you, Mom and Dad, for getting me started on the road to gratitude!
Okay, so we now know why we should have gratitude.  Knowing why is a great motivator and brings us to the next logical question – how.  How do we not just have gratitude, but how can we learn to live a gratitude-based life?  We can start by looking at some practical examples of gratitude in action.  We can find these examples in the world around us (granted that is probably not as easy as it once was) and we can find these examples written for us in the Bible.  The difference between these two sources may not be obvious until stated.  Current day gratitude stories are primarily focused on being thankful to and for each other, whereas biblical gratitude lessons are primarily focused on being thankful to God.
Both types of gratitude focus are necessary, and both sadly are in critically short supply today.  Consider this; our deepest gratitude would naturally be towards those whom we most trust.  If we don’t display an attitude of gratitude to even these individuals then we have actually crossed over into living an attitude of entitlement.  This is not merely worrisome, it is tragic!
Please look into our November 21, 2016 podcast, “Is Gratitude Your Attitude?” and follow the many examples of gratitude we talk about, gather up our many observations regarding how to make gratitude work every day and open the door to a fuller, happier and more contented life.  There is so much to be thankful for!

A goose that lays golden eggs. King Midas and the ability to turn things to gold through “the Midas Touch.” A winning Powerball Lottery ticket. Confessing Jesus as your Savior and inheriting an irrevocable one-way ticket to heaven. What do all of these things have in common? First of all, they all sound really good at the outset as they all provide a way to find some kind of wealth without work. It sounds like fun, though if you know the stories of the goose and King Midas, things didn’t work out so well. Secondly, they are all not based in reality, even Powerball. With odds of winning placed at over one in 175,000,000, this translates to “not gonna happen, so don’t hold your breath.” Wait a minute; did I just imply that a one-way ticket to heaven is not based in reality? Yes and no! Let’s look!
The concept of being “saved” is a tricky subject because the perception of what being “saved” means for the Christian varies widely depending on what denomination you are ascribing to.  For me, the best way to get to the bottom line on the matter is to ask what seems to be some of the most basic questions – what are we being saved from and who is in line for saving?
To be saved means to be delivered.  I think every Christian would agree that we need to be delivered from sin, so let’s go back to the time when sin introduced itself to humanity.  What we find there is that there are actually three things that we need deliverance from.  First, there is Satan.  His usurpation of authority from the expressed will of God created an alternative path for mankind to follow.  This alternative requires a shift in loyalty from God as the God of the world to accepting Satan as the god of the world.  How do you make this shift?  You listen to and obey Satan’s word over the word of God.  Adam did this and we need deliverance from its results.
Second there is the choice of sin.  Adam made a distinct choice to follow what Satan had said to Eve, and in so doing, he shifted the destiny of humanity from loyalty to God to follower of Satan.  I know it sounds kinda rash, but that’s what sin is, that’s what we are born into – disloyalty to God.  Adam’s choice to sin created the need for deliverance.
Third, there is the result of following Satan’s lead through the choice of sin - and that is death.  Death comes to all of humanity and rightfully so, for God had plainly declared it to Adam.  To be a part of God’s original design of life, we need to be delivered from death.
Enter Jesus who comes and fulfills the required justice by giving his life for the life of Adam.  Saving – deliverance - is now possible, but for who?  Some Bible texts say that there are a few who will be saved and other Bible texts say that EVERYONE will be saved.  The cool thing is that both are correct.  By the way, being saved/delivered is not an end result.  It is actually the beginning of a growth process for those who are saved.  Check out our November 14, 2016 podcast, “Once Saved are You Set for Life?” and see for yourself!

Let me give you a quick example of the difference between happiness and joy.  My grandson, Domenic, just turned nine the day of this podcast so Trish and I went to our daughter’s house for dinner to celebrate.  Once we finished the formality of eating dinner, Domenic became ever more excited as the time for cake, candles and gifts approached.  He was genuinely happy and the emotion poured out of him.  His eleven-month old sister, Autumn, joined in with his happiness in a way that only an infant can.  As I watched his unbridled actions and expressions I looked over at our daughter Amy as she watched her two children interact with their dad.  What I saw in her face was bigger than happiness.  I saw joy.  I saw that deep and satisfying state of mind that absorbs appreciates and is transformed by an open-hearted embracing of a significant experience - in this case it was the experience of raising two precious children.  Her joy was much more than the joy of that particular moment; it was the joy of the precarious journey of parenthood.
Finding such joy is difficult, for it cannot be summoned simply because we want it, and this is why we talked about Zacchaeus in our podcast.  You remember Zacchaeus.  He was the short guy in Jericho who climbed a tree so he could get a glimpse of Jesus as he walked by.  Jesus unexpectedly saw him and opened up a life of joy for him that he could have never anticipated.  So, what did Zacchaeus do to be in position to receive such joy?  He allowed himself to be vulnerable.  He allowed himself to be the recipient of ridicule and gossip and he even allowed his own weaknesses to be put on display.  Like I said, he allowed himself to be vulnerable.
It turns out that we cannot find life-changing joy unless we are willing to navigate the unsettling waters of vulnerability.  Now, I understand that even thinking about "navigating through vulnerability" is uncomfortable.  This is why you need to check out our November 7, 2016 podcast, “Is Your Heart Looking for Jesus?” It walks you through identifying and taking some steps to joy and it also gives you tools to use along the way.  Check it out!  What you find might prove to be priceless!

So, what is Halloween about anyway? Is it all about the costumes, the candy and the parties? Is it all about the social connections of people actually seeing and talking to other people or the excited grade school kid who gets to dress up like a video game hero? Or is Halloween all about the dead? Is it all about communication with the spirit world, fire festivals and the dark arts? Can dead souls really “cross-over” the boundary of our physical world on this unique night? What is real and what is not? Where did this all start and what has it become? There is a lot more to this than you might think!Okay, to begin with, souls cannot “cross over” on Halloween night (or any other night!).  The Bible is emphatic that death is the absence of life and this obviously does not mesh with any kind of crossing over.  This is a fabricated tradition of pagan origin dating back to ancient Celtic traditions.  In those pagan traditions, the changing of seasons always sparked religious reaction, for paganism is an earth-based belief system and a seasonal change was a major earth event that needed attention.  The Autumn solstice was the night when it was believed the veil between our physical world and the spirit world was thinnest and that the souls of the dead could come back to the physical earth.  This is where the traditions of bonfires, costumes and lighted pumpkins (though in their culture they were candlelit turnips) came from.
All of that is fascinating, but what really caught my attention about this Halloween thing is that it is described as a “liminal” event.  Now, I admit that before preparing for this podcast, I was not aware of what “liminal” even meant, so here is what I learned:  Liminal has to do with being "in between," with crossing a threshold from one place, state of being or condition to another.  Being engaged to be married is a liminal experience – so is pregnancy, going to college, applying for a new job, etc.  With all of these things we are in the process of crossing a threshold – no longer fully in the security of our previous experience but not yet fully integrated into our new one.  In the world of horror fiction (And I am stressing fiction here), zombies, ghosts and spirits are liminal in that they are all in-between worlds.  The old 1950’s TV series “The Twilight Zone” always pictured a door (symbolizing a threshold) in its program opening and it always focused on being in between man’s conscious and subconscious mind.
So, here is the catch.  Whenever we are in a liminal state we are more vulnerable to outside influence, be it for good or evil.  Satan knows this and as we look at biblical history we can see how he always seems to be hanging around the thresholds of our lives, just waiting to influence and snare anyone who is not watchful.  If you think about this, it can be very unnerving, because most of us are just trying to get through whatever transition we are facing, nevermind fighting against evil spiritual influences.  The good news is that God is the author of liminal experiences and has given us many ways to be safeguarded as we experience them.
Check out our October 31, 2016 podcast, “Can Souls 'Cross Over' on Halloween?” and fill in the gaps to better understand this important and really fascinating subject.  Knowledge is power and that power is available to you – you just need to go get it!

Sometimes we forget that life is precious and it is worth fighting for. When someone dies as a result of suicide, that fight has been lost. When we lose a loved one to suicide we might ask ourselves; have we become so entangled in the web of social standing and status that we somehow stepped over and ignore our loved one who was struggling with being able to hold onto the sacredness of life? Were we so absorbed in our own stress and schedule that we were blind to our loved one’s battle or did they do such a convincing job of hiding their pain that the whole thing was just a shocking tragedy? What happened to our loved one that they found themselves drawn downward into a vortex of torment and suffering so dark that they despaired of life itself? How do we better understand and cope with suicide? How does God treat those who take their own lives?It goes without saying that suicide is difficult to talk about for several reasons.  First, it hits way too close to home - you probably know someone who has taken their own life or attempted to do so unsuccessfully.  Second, it is a grief filled issue - no one wants to look at or think about death by suicide and its ripple effects.  Third, it is really hard to understand - what triggers such a dire and final choice?  For me, these three reasons made this a trying podcast to research and deliver and yet, ultimately researching and delivering it was the best thing that I could have done.  I learned a lot!
The necessary research of suicide put understanding right in front me.  I tend to have an analytical mind and listening to the several individuals who attempted suicide (whose experiences are featured on our podcast) was incredibly enlightening.  Absorbing the thinking, the circumstances and the psychological imbalances they all spoke of satisfied the analytical part of me.  I now better understand the illness and imbalance that are attached to such a drastic choice and have a clearer sense of the need for the right kind of help and medication for those who are in need.  I now understand that suicide is a social issue and not a crime.  These people are not attention seekers or cowards or selfish; they are simply hurting human beings who can no longer cope and who cannot see any other way out of their pain.
The delivery of the suicide research overwhelmed me with compassion.  To read, hear and learn about something is valuable, but to digest and talk about it is life-changing.  Those of us who are in the lives of people who suffer from the debilitating issues that can lead to suicide CAN make a difference – we can make a dramatic and perhaps even a life-saving difference by being aware, being educated but most importantly by being a friend.  We need to look up from our electronic devices, notice the people who surround us, and with heart and compassion be willing to reach out and be available to them.
Please check out our October 24, 2016 podcast, “Is Suicide an Unforgivable Sin?” It is a little tough to listen to due to the intense content but the benefits we hope you walk away with can help to save a life!

What does it mean to be a Christian? Seriously, what is the real bottom line true meaning of following in the footsteps of Jesus? Is being a Christian like an entitlement program? By professing Jesus do we receive protection from evil, deliverance from trials or the healing of our maladies? Do we receive a promise of an abundant and prosperous life? Or, is being a Christian more like a “getting whipped into shape” work and endurance program where we lose our own will, learn to do without and have to somehow rejoice in tribulation every day of our difficult lives? Is the price of true Christianity a simple acknowledgment of Jesus being in your life or is it a “sell all that we have and change what we are” mentality? What DOES it cost to be a true Christian? Is it a price we are willing to pay?The question of the personal cost of Christianity has never been a popular question even from the very inception of discipleship.  Personal cost did not seem to be on the minds of the twelve Apostles nearly as much as the question of the rewards of Christianity.  These twelve, the very first and only hand-picked followers of Jesus, are recorded in the Gospels as having several conversations regarding their individual placement and stature in the coming kingdom of Christ. The debates of who would be greatest in the kingdom or who would occupy the honored positions at Jesus’ right and left hand were clearly on their minds.  For them those debates were about the results of loyalty and love for the Master, but for Jesus those debates were about an opportunity to show them their immature perspective and the necessarily difficult path to maturity and true discipleship.
So Jesus taught them.  Each time the subject came up he responded with lessons of servitude and giving.  He told them how their lives as followers were not to be like the lives of those involved in other earthly endeavors, where the leaders were hailed and lauded and always looked up to.  No, their lives would be different – their lives would be contrary, for they would be reflections of his life.  Jesus’ life was filled with serving, always doing the will of God instead of his own, always speaking the words of God instead of his own and always seeking the glory of God instead of his own.
What this tells us is there really is a price to pay for being a true footstep follower of Jesus.  It is a heavy price, and yet on the other hand there are many promises of peace, strength and joy along the way.  What does a life look like that merges these two ends of the spectrum?  Check out our October 17, 2016 podcast, “Is the Price of Christianity Too High?” and follow along with us as we piece together what Jesus said would be required of his followers.  If being a Christian is important to you, this can really help to clarify your expectations and nudge you another step closer to that God-honoring Christian life that you are looking for!

Trust is a tricky thing. In some instances it comes to us with ease – as children we typically trust our parents above all others. As we become adolescents we often lose that trust, because we have replaced it with trusting our friends who are obviously much cooler and smarter than our parents. When adults, the door once again opens to trusting our parents because, well, because they have somehow become smart again! Now, let’s look at trust from the other side. Parents will or will not trust a child based upon what they see in them regarding maturity and integrity. A child really must earn their parent’s trust and that usually takes time and evidence. It is the same with God? We obviously should trust Him at all times and for all things. The real question here is can – should - God trust us? What must we do or be to warrant our Father in Heaven truly trusting in us? One of the many ways to address this question is to find examples of those who have already proven to be untrustworthy before God.  Fortunately or unfortunately (depending on where you sit), the Pharisees position of authority as well as their treatment of Jesus shouted out a dramatic lack of integrity.  Jesus not only observed this lack, he tried to help them see and correct it as well.  What is the best way to try and enlighten someone about trustworthiness who doesn’t like you?  You tell them a story.  You build into your story characters who obviously lack what’s needed to be trustworthy and you let those characters make the point.  Jesus told them such a story.  While the Pharisees did get the point of the story, they sadly wanted nothing to do with applying it to their own lives.  As a result, what we are left with are several principles we can apply to our own lives as we attempt to be trustworthy servants of God.
David Horsager, author of several articles and books on trust, has suggested that the foundations of trust are built upon what he calls, “The Eight pillars of Trust.”  We used his premise and pillars to look at how we can, in a very practical way, become more trustworthy before God.
The first pillar is Clarity.  Clarity enables trust while ambiguity disables it.  When we are clear on our role in the matter, when we are clear on the objective of our mission and when we are clear on the necessary “how to” elements of our task, our trustworthiness becomes an evident factor in success.  Contrarily when we are ambiguous on any of these things, the foundation of trust is likely to crumble.  Clarity before God and therefore our trustworthiness before Him can be tricky to determine. We can easily fall into being focused and clear on a skewed perspective of what our role before Him is supposed be and end up walking an untrustworthy path of ambiguity.
Please check out our October 10, 2016 podcast, “How do you know God can Trust You?” and join with us in our conversation as we seek to better understand Clarity before God as well as the other seven pillars of trust.  We all need to be trustworthy!

Defining God is a monumental task. The measure of its difficulty is such that very few will ever follow through with it, for the world is overrun with contradictory myths, stories and legends about the nature and purposes of God. So many stories, so little truth! Defining God requires us to look into things beyond our natural sight. It requires us to grab hold of things beyond our physical reach, and it requires us to believe in things that are beyond our earthly capacity. To know who God is means we would know His character, His mind and what drives Him. Can we know these things? Can we know God’s heart and mind? Can we know God’s plans and purposes? Will knowing God help us to better know ourselves?The first important point to consider about knowing who God is begins with establishing His position within the realm of all we know about spirit life.  Typically, we envision God as the mighty Creator and source of all that is good.  Contrarily, we envision Satan as the embodiment of all that is evil.  We end up concluding that God and Satan are opposites and are engaged in a powerful battle one against the other over whether good or evil will prevail.  While this all sounds like it would be a logical conclusion, it could not be further from the truth!  God and Satan are not opposites!  Hear me out on this…
The Bible describes God as being "from everlasting to everlasting" – essentially an eternal life that always has and always will perpetuate itself.  He is His own origin.  On the other hand, the Bible describes Satan as having a beginning - and not just some arbitrary or coincidental starting point – he was a creation of God Himself for the purpose of being a powerful “Morning Star” within the spiritual family.  (Please see our broadcast from August 15, 2016, “Who is Satan?” for details on how one so mighty could have turned so evil).  Comparatively, God always was and always will be while Satan had a beginning and will have an end.  God and Satan are not fighting one another at all.  The truth is that Satan is fighting God for all that he is worth and God is simply allowing Satan to flail away until an appointed time when God will end it.  No contest here.  God wins.  He won even before Satan started to rebel.  God is bigger, wiser, more powerful and infinitely mightier than Satan and all others.
This barely scratches the surface of knowing about God.  In our October 3rd, 2016 podcast, “Who is God?” we sought to better understand Him through four basic character traits attributed to Him in Scripture.  We found our God has expansive and overwhelming power, justice that is unquestionable and sure, love that is unfathomable and wisdom that is incomprehensibly deep and eternal.  We invite you to listen in and get a glimpse of who God is – it just might change your life!

Lying. Okay, we know it’s bad but is it really always a bad thing? From a parent’s perspective, it is one of those things that is perched at the top of the “never do this” list of moral and ethical behavior. With children, the boundaries are clear and easy to define, because as we show them the difference between honesty and dishonesty, we reinforce what it means to take the high road, to be trustworthy and to be an honest and dependable friend. But what about the myriad of circumstances that arise as we become adults and begin to live in a world that is not awash in a bold contrast of right versus wrong but instead is overwhelmed with delicate shades of grey – with value judgments, personal rights and the fine line of being offensive? Are “little white lies” always wrong? What about only telling part of the truth – does that constitute a lie as well? Can lying ever be good?To understand lying from a biblical perspective we need to get a sense of Biblical morality.  A very simple way to do that is to look at the Ten Commandments – they can all be boiled down one word – RESPECT – respect for God, respect for your family and respect for those around you.  Respect is a simple theme carried throughout the Bible, and lying is for the most part a blatant and willful display of disrespect and therefore contrary to biblical morality.
The Bible actually does have a lot to say about lying.  We know that a lie from Satan to Eve began mankind’s downward spiral of sin and death, so right there you see that lying causes trouble.  One of the Ten Commandments is about not "bearing false witness against your neighbor"– it is focusing us on being truthful.  In Proverbs there is a list of seven things God hates and, you guessed it, lying is on that list.  Not only is it on the list once, it is an element of a second thing that God hates and can actually be implicated in the other five as well.  Our conclusion so far: lying is definitely not good!
So, how did God deal with lying in the Bible?  There are lots of biblical accounts of people lying – both good and bad people lied and for both good and bad reasons as well.  Did God always strike people down when they lied?  Did God ever ignore the lies when they were for a good cause?  Did God go as far as to bless someone because they lied?
The answer to all of these questions is no, but as with most things ethical, there is much more to the story than just a simple one word answer.  Suffice it to say, God’s highest principles ring true throughout Scripture as He blesses His people – even those who lied.  How?  Check out our September 26, 2016 broadcast “Should We EVER Lie?” and follow along as we examine what lying is, how to avoid it and finding God’s blessing after a lie.  It is a fascinating look into the reality of our imperfect human condition.

Gossip – is it ever useful or good or is it always a waste of time and bad? Have you ever stopped to consider just how much of our present culture not only accepts gossip but places it in the enviable and important position of being a core and driving value of our everyday existence? Think about just how many publications, TV programs, talk shows and news items are driven by gossip. Now think about how much of our conversations at our work place or with our friends revolve around gossip. If you see it as I do, we are relentlessly inundated with gossip at every turn. So, what can we do about it? What should we do about it? How can we reduce the role of gossip in our lives and what should we replace it with?Okay, so in the previous paragraph we gave away our position on the value, more accurately the utter lack of value, that gossip brings.  To us, gossip is a useless and damaging blabbing of information that has no positive and up-building value regarding the person being spoken of or to anyone else, for that matter.   After all, if you were talking about someone in glowing terms and describing their character or actions, who would call that gossip?  Better yet, who would really be bending their ear to listen?  The fact i,s most of us would rather hear something stinging or juicy or scandalous about a third party and not something complimentary, inspiring or courageous about them.  See, gossip has no redeeming value.  Interestingly, gossip has been around for thousands of years and the Bible in both the Old and New Testaments pretty convincingly squashes the idea of idle talk about others.
That being said, the next thing to isolate is the “why” of gossip.  Why do we speak it ?  What drives us to intentionally (or sometimes unintentionally) say things about others that reflect badly upon them and in many cases may not even be true?  Sadly, there are many answers to this question-  only one of which we will address here:  Gossip can be a defense mechanism.  It can be used as a tool of unfair comparison.  You know what I mean…there is that person who always seems to do a little better than you or makes more money than you or seems to grab the limelight instead of you – they always seem to get the best of you.  Gossip can be an equalizer – you spread uncomplimentary or odd or questionable ideas about them and now others perceive them in a lesser light...and that gives you a better shot at being perceived in a better light.  Not good!
How do we manage this common, contagious and life-poisoning dilemma?  Please access our September 19, 2016 broadcast, “Does Gossip Really Hurt Anyone?”  Check out the various circumstances under which gossip rears its ugly head.  But more importantly, follow along with us as we reveal the several concrete steps that the Bible lays out to not only fight but overcome gossip.  Once you listen then tell others what you heard – I promise it won’t be gossip!