Transcript: Episode 0085

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<v SPEAKER_2>Welcome to the Stone Choir Podcast.

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<v SPEAKER_2>I am Corey J.

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<v SPEAKER_2>Mahler.

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<v SPEAKER_1>And I'm still woe.

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<v SPEAKER_1>On today's Stone Choir, we're going to be talking about truth and lies.

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<v SPEAKER_1>As a subject that we frequently visit, we've done a couple episodes entirely about portions of the truth.

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<v SPEAKER_1>We did an episode early on, on the clarity of scripture, and we did another one on speaking the truth plainly.

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<v SPEAKER_1>Those are both within the first few months of Stone Choir.

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<v SPEAKER_1>We're going to talk about different aspects of it today.

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<v SPEAKER_1>The purpose of this episode about truth and lies is to demonstrate to you, dear listener, that the truth is a much broader category than you want to think it is, and the category of lies is also much broader than you want to think it is.

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<v SPEAKER_1>And in the middle is the category of opinion, which is where everybody wants to live.

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<v SPEAKER_1>We all want to hang out in the opinion zone, where I think my thing and you think your thing, and we're okay.

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<v SPEAKER_1>You know, somebody might be wrong, somebody might be in error, but you can't say that somebody's telling the truth and therefore the other man is lying if he disagrees, because it's a matter of disagreement and not a matter of truth and falsity.

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<v SPEAKER_1>I'd like for you to picture a gradient where at one end you have the truth and it's a bright white light.

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<v SPEAKER_1>That's where truth is located.

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<v SPEAKER_1>That's how we talk about truth with a capital T.

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<v SPEAKER_1>We think of it as this metaphysical concept.

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<v SPEAKER_1>It's this idealized, perfected form of something.

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<v SPEAKER_1>God is truth.

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<v SPEAKER_1>It's one of the transcendentals, which I'm sure Corey will get into here in a bit.

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<v SPEAKER_1>But that's got to be fairly small because it's about God, right?

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<v SPEAKER_1>If God is truth, then only things that are God can be truth.

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<v SPEAKER_1>And then we got all this other spectrum of, well, who knows?

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<v SPEAKER_1>It's people stuff.

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<v SPEAKER_1>And so in the middle, that's where we have this huge chunk of opinions where it's not truth and it's not lies.

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<v SPEAKER_1>It's just, yeah, some better ideas, some worse ideas.

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<v SPEAKER_1>Maybe they work, maybe they don't.

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<v SPEAKER_1>It becomes subjective.

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<v SPEAKER_1>And the reason that we all wallow in this pit of subjectivity today is that I think in part, mass literacy has been a disaster and democracy has been a disaster.

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<v SPEAKER_1>The intersection of those two things has created a circumstance today where every man feels like he has to have an opinion about everything, and it really matters that he does.

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<v SPEAKER_1>The problem with that is that most men aren't going to take the time to figure out if their opinions match with the truth, and they don't really care.

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<v SPEAKER_1>Because you think, well, it's just, I'm just going to have an opinion, and I'll read a couple of books that somebody recommended, and I'll be on pretty good standing.

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<v SPEAKER_1>The problem with that is that it doesn't actually reflect whether or not the belief that one then holds and espouses is actually true.

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<v SPEAKER_1>Because remember, truth is sequestered way at the bright end of this gradient, where it's only God glowing so bright that you can't look at him.

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<v SPEAKER_1>And then we're not really dealing with truth as men.

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<v SPEAKER_1>We're dealing with the ideas and subjects that sound better than others.

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<v SPEAKER_1>That's where everybody is.

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<v SPEAKER_1>That's our whole culture today is pure subjectivity.

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<v SPEAKER_1>And a lot of it is governed by, well, I don't feel like that's good.

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<v SPEAKER_1>I don't like the sound of that.

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<v SPEAKER_1>How often do you see that directed at someone?

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<v SPEAKER_1>If you look at the mentions to Corey and myself, it's rampant.

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<v SPEAKER_1>Guys are like, I don't like the sound of that.

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<v SPEAKER_1>I think that sounds bad.

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<v SPEAKER_1>Their emotional response is to factual claims.

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<v SPEAKER_1>Stone Choir has, you know, this will be our 85th episode, I believe.

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<v SPEAKER_1>We've never done a single episode about an opinion that we held.

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<v SPEAKER_1>We've had moments in various episodes where we express our opinions, and we make it very clear within those moments, here's my opinion.

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<v SPEAKER_1>My opinion is that Adam was 1000 years old when he died.

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<v SPEAKER_1>I can't prove it.

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<v SPEAKER_1>I can't assert that that's true.

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<v SPEAKER_1>That's my opinion.

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<v SPEAKER_1>But you'll know that that's something that's indifferent.

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<v SPEAKER_1>It was an indifferent matter, just speculation, pious speculation, that would fill in a potential blank in the broader subject of evolution and all the rest.

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<v SPEAKER_1>Everything that we said in the episode 6000 years and counting was about true things.

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<v SPEAKER_1>So we don't do episodes about things that are our opinions.

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<v SPEAKER_1>I don't think that most people approach the world that way.

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<v SPEAKER_1>I think most guys don't sequester their own views inside your head.

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<v SPEAKER_1>You're just going to share whatever you think.

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<v SPEAKER_1>And people think, well, we're just sharing whatever we think.

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<v SPEAKER_1>I think a whole lot of things that I would never put on an episode because it's not my place to talk about it.

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<v SPEAKER_1>I don't want to assert something to tens of thousands of people that I can't back up.

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<v SPEAKER_1>And if I do them, it's going to be a small portion of something.

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<v SPEAKER_1>It's my opinion.

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<v SPEAKER_1>But I would never hold it against you.

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<v SPEAKER_1>So when we do an episode, it's about things that are true, that are demonstrable, that we make a reasoned case for.

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<v SPEAKER_1>And then we also very carefully say, and we've said from the very beginning, don't take our word for it.

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<v SPEAKER_1>We don't want you to just believe what some guy says, even if it's us.

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<v SPEAKER_1>Because it's a bad model.

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<v SPEAKER_1>It's a bad model for pursuing truth.

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<v SPEAKER_1>You don't acquire truth.

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<v SPEAKER_1>You don't perceive truth by just rolling over a bunch of sources and glomming onto the ones that you like.

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<v SPEAKER_1>If what we say is true, it will bear out in the test.

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<v SPEAKER_1>When you look at scripture, when you look at reality, when you look at the reason presented, you will have to come to the conclusion that, yeah, what we said was true.

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<v SPEAKER_1>You may not like it.

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<v SPEAKER_1>It may make you uncomfortable, but either we're telling you the truth or we're lying.

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<v SPEAKER_1>We're never going to do anything here that you could just say we were wrong about.

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<v SPEAKER_1>And it's one of the points we want to make by the end of this episode.

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<v SPEAKER_1>The vast majority of what men deal with is either truth or it's lies.

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<v SPEAKER_1>And this has spiritual import.

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<v SPEAKER_1>This is not simply a question of having stronger opinions or being strident about beliefs.

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<v SPEAKER_1>Ultimately, all truth comes from God.

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<v SPEAKER_1>All truth, every truth.

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<v SPEAKER_1>And we'll get into one of the most pernicious lies that's going on today, where we have so-called Christians running around screaming, that's not the gospel.

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<v SPEAKER_1>And we'll make the point that when a guy screams, that's not the gospel, they're almost always attacking something that's true.

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<v SPEAKER_1>If I tell you that African Americans are 120 times more likely to murder you than a white man, they'll say, that's not the gospel.

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<v SPEAKER_1>That's racist.

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<v SPEAKER_1>That makes me feel bad.

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<v SPEAKER_1>I like the sound of that.

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<v SPEAKER_1>The fact that it's true is immaterial to someone who doesn't like it.

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<v SPEAKER_1>This is not Christian.

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<v SPEAKER_1>This is not Christian behavior.

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<v SPEAKER_1>There's a right and a wrong way to tell the truth.

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<v SPEAKER_1>We would never say you just need to run around screaming true things all the time.

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<v SPEAKER_1>We did an entire episode on persuasiveness matter saying, a lot of times, you just got to keep your mouth shut, even if you know the truth.

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<v SPEAKER_1>It's not enough just to be right, but you have to be able to do something positive with the truth.

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<v SPEAKER_1>But if you're not sure or if you're getting something wrong and someone reprimands you and corrects you and says, look, what you said was false, this is true, maybe you were just mistaken before and you're confused.

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<v SPEAKER_1>It happens.

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<v SPEAKER_1>It happens to all of us.

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<v SPEAKER_1>That's fine.

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<v SPEAKER_1>It's not fine, but it's a normal part of the human experience.

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<v SPEAKER_1>When you hear the truth, if you then despise it and you double down in your hatred, then it is an unequivocal spiritual problem.

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<v SPEAKER_1>Because Satan is the father of lies.

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<v SPEAKER_1>This is not an incidental statement.

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<v SPEAKER_1>And note that when Satan is described as the deceiver and as the father of lies, it is not the gospel that he is accused of deceiving men about.

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<v SPEAKER_1>One of the very worst things about Protestantism is we continue to try to re-litigate the Reformation.

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<v SPEAKER_1>It's no longer a going concern.

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<v SPEAKER_1>It is very rare that you will hear a man anywhere say, I think I can save myself.

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<v SPEAKER_1>Now, what happens?

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<v SPEAKER_1>It absolutely happens.

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<v SPEAKER_1>And when it does happen, when a man says, I don't think I need to believe in the right God.

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<v SPEAKER_1>I think I'm just live a good life and I'm going to be saved.

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<v SPEAKER_1>You find that outside the church.

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<v SPEAKER_1>You don't find much of it inside the church.

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<v SPEAKER_1>When that heresy comes up, yes, absolutely, the Reformation arguments are irrelevant.

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<v SPEAKER_1>The rest of the time, it's simply not.

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<v SPEAKER_1>And so, guys are running around pretending that these things are matters of opinion when it's fundamentally almost always either truth or lies.

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<v SPEAKER_1>And the exhortation for this episode is take the truth more seriously, realize it's a much broader scope than you think.

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<v SPEAKER_1>Take lies much more seriously than you do.

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<v SPEAKER_1>And we'll demonstrate from scripture exactly what we mean by that.

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<v SPEAKER_1>And then in the middle of that gradient, where you have the gray area that we've said in the middle is really big and it's a bunch of opinion, that needs to get a whole lot smaller, because in reality it is.

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<v SPEAKER_1>The things that are actually subjective, they're incidental, they're not important things.

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<v SPEAKER_1>The things that are important necessarily have to be either be true or false.

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<v SPEAKER_1>And the way that we define true or false in our daily lives is not remotely in accord with reality.

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<v SPEAKER_1>Incidentally, reality and truth are synonymous.

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<v SPEAKER_1>It's not a thing we're going to get into today.

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<v SPEAKER_1>So by the end of this, we hope you will take away that maybe I should speak less, maybe I should be less confident in my opinions, until I've actually sorted out whether they're true.

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<v SPEAKER_1>Because just thinking something, if it's consequential, isn't sufficient for you to run around saying it.

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<v SPEAKER_1>You can be wrong in your head.

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<v SPEAKER_1>You're not going to hurt anyone else if you're wrong in your head.

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<v SPEAKER_1>But when you're wrong in your head about something that's disprovable in reality, and then you go tell it to other people, you are becoming a false teacher.

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<v SPEAKER_1>And it doesn't matter what your intent is.

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<v SPEAKER_1>You're doing something terrible to everyone to whom you open your mouth.

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<v SPEAKER_1>And we don't think that way.

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<v SPEAKER_1>We don't take it seriously.

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<v SPEAKER_1>Corey and I both take that deadly seriously.

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<v SPEAKER_1>There's lots of things that we think that we don't say in public because they wouldn't be fruitful.

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<v SPEAKER_1>It's not a question of shame or anything.

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<v SPEAKER_1>It's just the things that are important, the things that are salient, are the things that are worth fighting for and fighting over.

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<v SPEAKER_1>And the truth is that entire ground.

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<v SPEAKER_1>That is the battlefield.

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<v SPEAKER_1>The battlefield is reality.

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<v SPEAKER_1>It's not simply the tiny, shiny, glowy truth of God himself.

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<v SPEAKER_1>It's not simply the gospel.

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<v SPEAKER_1>Creation itself, reality itself, is truth.

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<v SPEAKER_1>And every attack on that is a lie, and that is fundamentally spiritual in nature.

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<v SPEAKER_2>I've mentioned this before, but it's worth mentioning again.

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<v SPEAKER_2>This is not a philosophy podcast.

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<v SPEAKER_2>That, of course, does not mean that we will not touch on philosophy from time to time.

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<v SPEAKER_2>We will, of course, do that, because what does philosophy mean?

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<v SPEAKER_2>It is simply, philosophy, the love of wisdom.

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<v SPEAKER_2>And scripture speaks of wisdom in many places, and those verses should certainly come to mind when I mention that.

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<v SPEAKER_2>But this is one of those episodes where, at least here at the outset, we will touch on philosophy just a little bit in order to couch what it is we are discussing, and also to delineate what we are not discussing.

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<v SPEAKER_2>Because this is not a philosophical discussion of truth and lies and falsity versus veracity in any of a number of related topics.

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<v SPEAKER_2>We will get into that a little bit as we go, simply because it is related to what we are discussing.

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<v SPEAKER_2>But to give you the foundation of the discussion, and for those who are somewhat familiar with the philosophy in this area, we are dealing primarily and almost exclusively in the correspondence theory of truth.

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<v SPEAKER_2>And what the correspondence theory is, in brief and short, and this is essentially the theory to which most philosophers, ancient philosophers, subscribed and also many moderns as well, with some caveats in some cases.

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<v SPEAKER_2>But correspondence theory asserts that is true, which corresponds with reality.

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<v SPEAKER_2>Very simple definition, very easy to understand that.

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<v SPEAKER_2>Something is true, a statement is true, if it corresponds with reality.

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<v SPEAKER_2>And so if I say right now, I am holding a pen, that statement is true because I am in fact holding a pen.

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<v SPEAKER_2>Now you just have to believe me because this is not a video podcast, nor will it ever be, but I am holding a pen.

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<v SPEAKER_2>Very easy to believe that I am doing that.

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<v SPEAKER_2>That statement corresponds with the reality, and so the statement is true.

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<v SPEAKER_2>We are not dealing with any of the other various philosophical theories regarding truth.

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<v SPEAKER_2>So we are not dealing with the coherence theory, for instance.

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<v SPEAKER_2>I will decline to describe that one because it's not relevant for what we are discussing here.

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<v SPEAKER_2>Just focus on that first one.

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<v SPEAKER_2>We are describing true statements as those which correspond to reality.

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<v SPEAKER_2>So necessarily, something that does not correspond to reality is not true.

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<v SPEAKER_2>It is false.

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<v SPEAKER_2>It is a lie.

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<v SPEAKER_2>With regard to lies, there are many different kinds of lies.

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<v SPEAKER_2>I will put an image in the show notes that will outline lies.

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<v SPEAKER_2>I'll go over it very briefly here just to give you essentially a framework, a mental framework, in which you can place some of these things.

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<v SPEAKER_2>First and foremost, and essentially, there are two kinds of lies.

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<v SPEAKER_2>You can either distort the truth, or you can falsify.

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<v SPEAKER_2>If you're falsifying, basically, you're inventing or you're modifying that which otherwise would be true.

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<v SPEAKER_2>If you're inventing it, you're creating something out of whole cloth, of course.

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<v SPEAKER_2>Distortion would be minimization or exaggeration.

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<v SPEAKER_2>You should start to understand there are many ways in which you can lie.

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<v SPEAKER_2>There is essentially only one way in which you can tell the truth.

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<v SPEAKER_2>The issue of intent is one that comes up throughout this episode, obviously, but also throughout this entire issue when we deal with it in our daily lives.

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<v SPEAKER_2>Intent is blown out of proportion in some cases.

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<v SPEAKER_2>Too much is assigned to intent.

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<v SPEAKER_2>Will and I were discussing this before we started recording.

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<v SPEAKER_2>I think one good example of this that will resonate with those who have watched true crime shows or have an interest in the subject, certainly anyone who's been involved in law at all.

00:14:53.932 --> 00:15:07.752
<v SPEAKER_2>Everyone seems to think, unless they have been trained to think correctly about this, that in order to be charged and convicted of murder, you have to intend to kill the person.

00:15:07.752 --> 00:15:13.692
<v SPEAKER_2>You have to intend to kill the person in specific circumstances, because just killing the person isn't actually murder.

00:15:13.692 --> 00:15:15.252
<v SPEAKER_2>But that's not the case.

00:15:15.252 --> 00:15:22.352
<v SPEAKER_2>If, for instance, you intended to inflict grievous bodily injury and the person dies, that's still murder.

00:15:22.352 --> 00:15:24.192
<v SPEAKER_2>So, does intent matter?

00:15:24.192 --> 00:15:24.512
<v SPEAKER_2>Yes.

00:15:24.892 --> 00:15:30.972
<v SPEAKER_2>But does the intent necessarily have to be this specific intent to cause the specific outcome?

00:15:30.972 --> 00:15:32.152
<v SPEAKER_2>No.

00:15:32.152 --> 00:15:35.432
<v SPEAKER_2>The same is true with regard to lies.

00:15:35.432 --> 00:15:44.192
<v SPEAKER_2>It doesn't necessarily have to be the case that you are intending to deceive for what you are saying to be a lie.

00:15:44.192 --> 00:15:48.392
<v SPEAKER_2>It can be a lie if, for instance, you just have a reckless disregard for the truth.

00:15:50.672 --> 00:15:58.872
<v SPEAKER_2>But with regard to intent, there are a number of different intents you can have behind a lie.

00:15:58.872 --> 00:16:01.792
<v SPEAKER_2>You can intend something beneficial.

00:16:01.792 --> 00:16:08.052
<v SPEAKER_2>It is possible to tell a lie that is for the good of another person, and we'll get into that later in the episode.

00:16:08.052 --> 00:16:13.712
<v SPEAKER_2>But not all lies are necessarily harmful, and not all lies are necessarily wrongful.

00:16:14.932 --> 00:16:21.932
<v SPEAKER_2>There's, of course, neutral, and then there's deceptive, malicious, those intended to cause harm.

00:16:21.932 --> 00:16:26.492
<v SPEAKER_2>The issue here of inadvertence or error should be raised.

00:16:26.492 --> 00:16:31.092
<v SPEAKER_2>If you are simply in error, it isn't really a true lie.

00:16:31.092 --> 00:16:32.352
<v SPEAKER_2>And this is just pure error.

00:16:32.352 --> 00:16:34.572
<v SPEAKER_2>This is not you should have known.

00:16:34.572 --> 00:16:38.092
<v SPEAKER_2>This is not if you had investigated, you would have known.

00:16:38.092 --> 00:16:40.212
<v SPEAKER_2>This is just you are simply in error.

00:16:40.212 --> 00:16:41.892
<v SPEAKER_2>You make a misstatement.

00:16:41.892 --> 00:16:43.872
<v SPEAKER_2>That's not really a lie.

00:16:43.872 --> 00:16:44.592
<v SPEAKER_2>That's error.

00:16:44.592 --> 00:16:45.412
<v SPEAKER_2>It's a misstatement.

00:16:45.612 --> 00:16:47.152
<v SPEAKER_2>It is a different thing.

00:16:47.152 --> 00:16:49.232
<v SPEAKER_2>It appears the same in many cases.

00:16:49.232 --> 00:16:53.432
<v SPEAKER_2>It has a superficial similarity, but it is not the same thing.

00:16:53.432 --> 00:16:55.272
<v SPEAKER_2>They are not identical.

00:16:55.272 --> 00:17:02.292
<v SPEAKER_2>And then finally, with regard to lies, there are the different means for how one lies.

00:17:02.292 --> 00:17:03.712
<v SPEAKER_2>And that would be omission.

00:17:03.712 --> 00:17:09.972
<v SPEAKER_2>You omit information in order to, typically in that case, deceive or mislead, commission.

00:17:09.972 --> 00:17:11.332
<v SPEAKER_2>That is the affirmative lie.

00:17:11.332 --> 00:17:14.672
<v SPEAKER_2>You are creating information, deliberately misstating.

00:17:15.272 --> 00:17:30.852
<v SPEAKER_2>And then, of course, there's manipulation, where you are often just carefully wording things in order to mislead the person, in order to get the other person to believe that which is false, even though technically, you did not say anything false.

00:17:30.852 --> 00:17:33.112
<v SPEAKER_2>That can still be a lie.

00:17:33.112 --> 00:17:37.592
<v SPEAKER_2>It is possible to deceive someone with a very carefully worded truth.

00:17:37.592 --> 00:17:47.472
<v SPEAKER_2>Your intent there is what truly matters, because that intent to deceive, even using the truth, is itself a kind of lie.

00:17:47.472 --> 00:17:48.712
<v SPEAKER_2>You cannot do that.

00:17:48.712 --> 00:17:56.132
<v SPEAKER_2>You don't get a free pass simply because, well, technically speaking, every word I said was true.

00:17:56.132 --> 00:18:01.072
<v SPEAKER_2>That may fly in the civil courts, but we're not dealing with the civil law here.

00:18:01.072 --> 00:18:02.612
<v SPEAKER_2>We're dealing with the moral law.

00:18:02.612 --> 00:18:04.732
<v SPEAKER_2>We're dealing with the things of God.

00:18:04.732 --> 00:18:06.892
<v SPEAKER_2>And there is a higher standard.

00:18:06.892 --> 00:18:09.712
<v SPEAKER_2>That standard is not simply technically correct.

00:18:10.432 --> 00:18:13.892
<v SPEAKER_2>That standard takes into account your intent.

00:18:13.892 --> 00:18:15.592
<v SPEAKER_2>Why are you doing the thing?

00:18:15.592 --> 00:18:19.532
<v SPEAKER_2>Why are you doing the thing the way you did the thing?

00:18:19.532 --> 00:18:25.812
<v SPEAKER_2>All of these things matter with regard to truth or lies, truth or falsity.

00:18:25.812 --> 00:18:32.832
<v SPEAKER_1>It's very clear, just listening to other Christians talk today, that Christians don't think they're liars.

00:18:32.832 --> 00:18:34.752
<v SPEAKER_1>They don't think that they really can lie.

00:18:34.752 --> 00:18:40.772
<v SPEAKER_1>Like, sure, if you lie, you know what sort of lie it's going to be an example that Corey gave.

00:18:40.772 --> 00:18:45.052
<v SPEAKER_1>Or if someone gives you the wrong change at the store, they give you too much money.

00:18:45.052 --> 00:18:48.572
<v SPEAKER_1>If you are going to always return that change, you're an honest man.

00:18:48.572 --> 00:18:49.512
<v SPEAKER_1>That's defrauding.

00:18:49.512 --> 00:18:53.932
<v SPEAKER_1>It's a type of lie, not with your lips, but with your actions, with your silence.

00:18:53.932 --> 00:18:59.672
<v SPEAKER_1>You've actually told a lie by receiving change when you knew that you got a 20 instead of a one.

00:18:59.672 --> 00:19:02.292
<v SPEAKER_1>Christians draw the line there and say, well, okay, I would never do that.

00:19:02.292 --> 00:19:04.052
<v SPEAKER_1>I'm an honest man because I wouldn't do that stuff.

00:19:05.092 --> 00:19:14.952
<v SPEAKER_1>The problem is that while it's true that what Corey just said is absolutely correct, it's entirely possible for an honest man to be mistaken.

00:19:14.952 --> 00:19:19.252
<v SPEAKER_1>And therefore the thing that he said was not him lying.

00:19:19.252 --> 00:19:33.552
<v SPEAKER_1>It does not therefore follow that the thing that the man said is not a lie because the content of what a man said, you know, typically, again, we're talking about these big ticket items that are going around in the world.

00:19:33.552 --> 00:19:36.012
<v SPEAKER_1>People are getting their ideas from somewhere else.

00:19:36.012 --> 00:19:38.632
<v SPEAKER_1>Men are not originating their own ideas.

00:19:38.632 --> 00:19:42.352
<v SPEAKER_1>They're very few actual thinkers in the world.

00:19:42.352 --> 00:19:50.732
<v SPEAKER_1>Everybody pretty much just passes around whatever they heard on a podcast or they saw on a tweet or read in an article, heard in a sermon, they got it from somewhere else.

00:19:50.732 --> 00:19:56.892
<v SPEAKER_1>And so when they repeat it, their intent is completely, you know, honest, assumed for the sake of generosity.

00:19:57.812 --> 00:20:02.432
<v SPEAKER_1>It doesn't mean that the intent of the originator was necessarily the same.

00:20:02.432 --> 00:20:05.312
<v SPEAKER_1>And there are many, many cases we've demonstrated over and over again.

00:20:05.312 --> 00:20:09.312
<v SPEAKER_1>When you look at the genealogy of many of the ideas floating around, they're lies.

00:20:09.312 --> 00:20:13.152
<v SPEAKER_1>Racism was a lie that was invented just over 100 years ago.

00:20:13.152 --> 00:20:14.932
<v SPEAKER_1>It's an absolute lie.

00:20:14.932 --> 00:20:20.412
<v SPEAKER_1>And it was told for the specific purpose of destroying Western nations.

00:20:20.412 --> 00:20:24.692
<v SPEAKER_1>And yet today, it's a lie they hear on almost every Christian's lips.

00:20:24.692 --> 00:20:28.172
<v SPEAKER_1>In good conscience, they're doing what they've been taught to do.

00:20:28.172 --> 00:20:30.292
<v SPEAKER_1>And so what Corey said is correct.

00:20:30.292 --> 00:20:35.692
<v SPEAKER_1>I wouldn't necessarily call someone who's running around calling people racist a liar.

00:20:35.692 --> 00:20:36.412
<v SPEAKER_1>It depends.

00:20:36.412 --> 00:20:37.092
<v SPEAKER_1>Many of them are.

00:20:37.092 --> 00:20:43.352
<v SPEAKER_1>But some of them are well-meaning people who are engaging in what they believe is moral behavior.

00:20:43.352 --> 00:20:46.552
<v SPEAKER_1>The problem is that what they're saying is itself a lie.

00:20:46.552 --> 00:20:51.532
<v SPEAKER_1>And when you look at the genealogy of what they're saying, it's clear that it's a lie.

00:20:51.532 --> 00:20:54.492
<v SPEAKER_1>And so that's where the truth versus lie thing comes into this.

00:20:54.912 --> 00:20:56.812
<v SPEAKER_1>It's not a matter of opinion.

00:20:56.812 --> 00:21:07.332
<v SPEAKER_1>When you look at the origin of the invention of racism just over 100 years ago, there can be no possible doubt that this is a new creation of a new sin.

00:21:07.332 --> 00:21:12.232
<v SPEAKER_1>And therefore, that all by itself means it cannot be Christian morality.

00:21:12.232 --> 00:21:18.772
<v SPEAKER_1>And so when you work through all those things, you work through the historical facts, you make all the arguments, an honest man will say, I was wrong.

00:21:18.792 --> 00:21:21.012
<v SPEAKER_1>I was saying these things I said in good conscience.

00:21:21.012 --> 00:21:22.152
<v SPEAKER_1>I personally did.

00:21:22.152 --> 00:21:23.492
<v SPEAKER_1>I used to call things racist.

00:21:23.912 --> 00:21:28.992
<v SPEAKER_1>I was more racist so-called than most people even before I figured this stuff out.

00:21:28.992 --> 00:21:32.992
<v SPEAKER_1>But I had a lot of sensibilities about things that are completely gone now.

00:21:32.992 --> 00:21:42.032
<v SPEAKER_1>Not because I want to be meaner, but because I realized that that lie, that specific payload of deception was inserted into the zeitgeist.

00:21:42.032 --> 00:21:42.592
<v SPEAKER_1>It's everywhere.

00:21:42.592 --> 00:21:43.712
<v SPEAKER_1>It's in sermons.

00:21:43.712 --> 00:21:44.712
<v SPEAKER_1>It's in every TV show.

00:21:44.712 --> 00:21:50.792
<v SPEAKER_1>You cannot get away from it, specifically because of the payload that it delivers when it lands.

00:21:50.792 --> 00:22:01.792
<v SPEAKER_1>So once you realize that a Christian can be a liar because of what they're doing without their intent, the passages in scripture talking about liars, suddenly we realize they applied us to.

00:22:01.792 --> 00:22:09.112
<v SPEAKER_1>When we tell things that are false, regardless of our intentions, we become liars because it's not something we originated.

00:22:09.112 --> 00:22:09.932
<v SPEAKER_1>I think that's a problem.

00:22:09.932 --> 00:22:15.072
<v SPEAKER_1>I think that when Christians think, I'm not a liar, I don't make things up.

00:22:15.072 --> 00:22:17.552
<v SPEAKER_1>Well, okay, that's the origination question.

00:22:17.552 --> 00:22:22.372
<v SPEAKER_1>If you're not originating new thoughts that are deceptive, Christians think that means you're in the clear.

00:22:22.852 --> 00:22:25.212
<v SPEAKER_1>But where are you getting all the stuff that you are spreading?

00:22:25.212 --> 00:22:37.612
<v SPEAKER_1>When you're spreading whatever on Facebook or wherever else, if the things that you're saying do not accord with the truth, and they're demonstrably lies, you're not off the hook because it wasn't your idea.

00:22:37.612 --> 00:22:41.632
<v SPEAKER_1>It just means that you have an opinion about something you don't understand.

00:22:41.632 --> 00:22:56.392
<v SPEAKER_1>And as I said, the worst thing is that once someone is confronted with the truth, when someone says, hey, look, you need to understand that what you're doing in good conscience is actually an evil act, your intent was not evil, but the act of spreading this lie is evil.

00:22:56.392 --> 00:22:57.252
<v SPEAKER_1>They get indignant.

00:22:57.252 --> 00:22:58.072
<v SPEAKER_1>I can't be a liar.

00:22:58.072 --> 00:22:58.592
<v SPEAKER_1>I'm not lying.

00:22:58.592 --> 00:22:59.652
<v SPEAKER_1>I didn't make anything up.

00:22:59.652 --> 00:23:00.932
<v SPEAKER_1>I'm saying exactly what my pastor said.

00:23:00.932 --> 00:23:02.012
<v SPEAKER_1>How can I be lying?

00:23:02.012 --> 00:23:04.132
<v SPEAKER_1>Well, okay, you're a papist.

00:23:04.132 --> 00:23:06.312
<v SPEAKER_1>That's not the root of authority.

00:23:06.312 --> 00:23:08.632
<v SPEAKER_1>The root of authority is truth.

00:23:08.632 --> 00:23:13.112
<v SPEAKER_1>The root of authority is reality, which accords with God.

00:23:13.112 --> 00:23:18.612
<v SPEAKER_1>When God created creation and made reality, it's all true.

00:23:18.612 --> 00:23:20.232
<v SPEAKER_1>It's a dumb thing to say.

00:23:20.392 --> 00:23:24.732
<v SPEAKER_1>It's tautological, but it's because it's so intrinsic.

00:23:24.732 --> 00:23:39.672
<v SPEAKER_1>In the war that we see in the world today, where guys call things libtarded and woke, we constantly rail against that sort of nonsense, derogatory name calling about it, because it hides the fact that it's real evil.

00:23:39.672 --> 00:23:45.672
<v SPEAKER_1>There's actual evil in the world that seems ridiculous if you don't understand its spiritual nature.

00:23:45.672 --> 00:23:53.192
<v SPEAKER_1>And then once you understand the spiritual nature of those attacks on reality, some people will correctly identify without having thought about it too deeply.

00:23:53.192 --> 00:23:56.792
<v SPEAKER_1>They'll say, the left is at war with reality.

00:23:56.792 --> 00:24:00.632
<v SPEAKER_1>That's something that's fairly common for people to say some variation of that.

00:24:00.632 --> 00:24:01.972
<v SPEAKER_1>And that is true.

00:24:01.972 --> 00:24:06.992
<v SPEAKER_1>The problem is, I think they don't really correctly understand what reality is.

00:24:06.992 --> 00:24:12.952
<v SPEAKER_1>It's not simply that they're at war with reality as though they're a crazy person that's having delusions.

00:24:12.952 --> 00:24:23.432
<v SPEAKER_1>They're actually quite literally at war against creation itself, which is why we have men and women defiling their bodies, trying to turn themselves into the opposite sex.

00:24:23.432 --> 00:24:28.212
<v SPEAKER_1>Never mind the fact that every cell in your body has the sex with which God created you.

00:24:28.212 --> 00:24:29.852
<v SPEAKER_1>You can't get away from it.

00:24:29.852 --> 00:24:33.152
<v SPEAKER_1>If you're a man, you have a man's skeleton forever.

00:24:33.152 --> 00:24:35.592
<v SPEAKER_1>You have a man's brain forever.

00:24:35.592 --> 00:24:37.732
<v SPEAKER_1>You have a man's hips forever.

00:24:37.732 --> 00:24:40.172
<v SPEAKER_1>You have a man's skin forever.

00:24:40.172 --> 00:24:46.212
<v SPEAKER_1>Every aspect of our bodies has elements that are intrinsic to both our sex and our race.

00:24:46.692 --> 00:24:48.932
<v SPEAKER_1>As we've talked in other episodes.

00:24:48.932 --> 00:24:50.372
<v SPEAKER_1>The left is at war with that.

00:24:50.372 --> 00:24:54.072
<v SPEAKER_1>The left is at war with creation as God created it.

00:24:54.072 --> 00:25:02.252
<v SPEAKER_1>And so when we say they're at war with reality, it's because they are deceivers who are seeking to invert everything.

00:25:02.252 --> 00:25:06.412
<v SPEAKER_1>They're seeking to invert creation because it's a war against God.

00:25:06.412 --> 00:25:20.992
<v SPEAKER_1>And as we've said in numerous occasions, the Protestant desire to continue to re-litigate the Reformation means that we keep going back to the toolbox that has no arguments, no weapons against the new battles.

00:25:20.992 --> 00:25:23.432
<v SPEAKER_1>Satan is not attacking how we're saved.

00:25:23.432 --> 00:25:25.672
<v SPEAKER_1>Satan is attacking how we're created.

00:25:25.672 --> 00:25:27.292
<v SPEAKER_1>It's a different question.

00:25:27.292 --> 00:25:28.892
<v SPEAKER_1>It's a different tack.

00:25:28.892 --> 00:25:38.732
<v SPEAKER_1>And the difference that we are seeing today is that the world and the church are almost in perfect harmony and agreement with the attacks on creation.

00:25:38.732 --> 00:25:58.452
<v SPEAKER_1>And even the scattershot collection of conservative Christian bodies that are trying to hang on to some semblance of creation, they have been divorced from the underlying philosophical underpinnings that are necessary to actually defend it, which is why we've done an episode on the sexes, did an episode on marriage itself.

00:25:58.452 --> 00:26:06.232
<v SPEAKER_1>Once you understand the ontological reality of those things, the arguments about the political and the religious get a lot simpler.

00:26:06.232 --> 00:26:12.172
<v SPEAKER_1>Once you understand that God did this specific thing, he made you, he made me, and he made us different.

00:26:12.192 --> 00:26:15.172
<v SPEAKER_1>I am created mostly English.

00:26:15.172 --> 00:26:17.472
<v SPEAKER_1>Cory is created mostly German.

00:26:17.472 --> 00:26:20.812
<v SPEAKER_1>Each of you is created mostly something or other.

00:26:20.812 --> 00:26:21.732
<v SPEAKER_1>That's how God did it.

00:26:21.732 --> 00:26:26.752
<v SPEAKER_1>He did all these various things in all these various ways because that's who he is.

00:26:26.752 --> 00:26:27.752
<v SPEAKER_1>It's amazing.

00:26:27.752 --> 00:26:31.632
<v SPEAKER_1>There's seemingly infinite variety in the world in all things.

00:26:31.632 --> 00:26:38.272
<v SPEAKER_1>You can look at a pet and just look at its fur, and every single hair is different, different lengths, different colors, different shapes.

00:26:38.272 --> 00:26:39.952
<v SPEAKER_1>It's incredibly fascinating and beautiful.

00:26:40.632 --> 00:26:45.832
<v SPEAKER_1>God puts that kind of attention to detail in the smallest places because he loves variety.

00:26:45.832 --> 00:26:50.952
<v SPEAKER_1>So there's no despising of diversity to point out that things are different.

00:26:50.952 --> 00:27:08.752
<v SPEAKER_1>When you approach things from the perspective that to despise reality, to despise the created truth of the world is actually an attack on God, then the admonition that you become a liar when you do that involves all the passages in scripture that deal directly with us being liars.

00:27:09.332 --> 00:27:12.312
<v SPEAKER_1>So I'll give you just a few examples here because they're dire.

00:27:12.312 --> 00:27:15.292
<v SPEAKER_1>This is not small stuff.

00:27:15.292 --> 00:27:23.032
<v SPEAKER_1>In Proverbs 12 is written, lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but he who acts faithfully is acceptable to him.

00:27:23.032 --> 00:27:28.252
<v SPEAKER_1>Psalm 101, no one who practices deceit shall dwell in my house.

00:27:28.252 --> 00:27:32.232
<v SPEAKER_1>No one who utters lies shall continue before my eyes.

00:27:32.232 --> 00:27:36.912
<v SPEAKER_1>Matthew 5 talks about in the Beatitudes, Jesus describing when lies are directed at us.

00:27:37.652 --> 00:27:45.972
<v SPEAKER_1>Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

00:27:45.972 --> 00:27:56.192
<v SPEAKER_1>How often do we see that in the world, where someone is targeted and they're picked out and they're selected for that sort of evil and reviling and persecution because they told the truth about God?

00:27:56.192 --> 00:27:57.832
<v SPEAKER_1>We see it in lots of cases.

00:27:57.832 --> 00:28:10.372
<v SPEAKER_1>Guys who will go to bat correctly against the sodomy agenda, against the transgender agenda, there are lots of guys who have paid the price for defending different aspects of God's created order.

00:28:10.372 --> 00:28:23.192
<v SPEAKER_1>Unfortunately, it's almost impossible to find someone who would go to bat for all of it, because often the very same guys who will rail against sodomy correctly, then scream racist and scream Nazi in the other direction.

00:28:23.192 --> 00:28:30.152
<v SPEAKER_1>See, they understand that when they're receiving the reviling for Christ's sake, because they've said one thing that's true about creation.

00:28:30.152 --> 00:28:31.172
<v SPEAKER_1>All right, I'm good.

00:28:31.172 --> 00:28:31.852
<v SPEAKER_1>Not a liar.

00:28:31.852 --> 00:28:32.772
<v SPEAKER_1>I'm standing up for Jesus.

00:28:32.892 --> 00:28:34.512
<v SPEAKER_1>My reward is great in heaven.

00:28:34.512 --> 00:28:42.512
<v SPEAKER_1>And then they turn right around, they see another man who's defending a different part of creation that they don't understand, that they've been catechized to believe falsely about.

00:28:42.512 --> 00:28:46.992
<v SPEAKER_1>And they spread exactly the same kind of hatred that they were just receiving.

00:28:46.992 --> 00:28:52.432
<v SPEAKER_1>And everyone thinks that these are just like matters of opinion and it's personality conflicts and all that stuff.

00:28:52.432 --> 00:28:53.152
<v SPEAKER_1>It's not.

00:28:53.152 --> 00:28:56.012
<v SPEAKER_1>It's about what is true and what is false.

00:28:56.012 --> 00:28:58.812
<v SPEAKER_1>And the truth is usually easy to discern.

00:28:58.812 --> 00:29:00.852
<v SPEAKER_1>The truth is not that tricky.

00:29:00.852 --> 00:29:04.952
<v SPEAKER_1>As one of the messages of this episode, the truth is a broad thing.

00:29:04.952 --> 00:29:07.072
<v SPEAKER_1>It is not confined to God.

00:29:07.072 --> 00:29:10.132
<v SPEAKER_1>The truth is all things that are real.

00:29:10.132 --> 00:29:11.632
<v SPEAKER_1>And some of them are bad.

00:29:11.632 --> 00:29:13.892
<v SPEAKER_1>Like truth doesn't mean wonderful.

00:29:13.892 --> 00:29:16.172
<v SPEAKER_1>It is true that you will die.

00:29:16.172 --> 00:29:17.012
<v SPEAKER_1>Why will you die?

00:29:17.012 --> 00:29:20.032
<v SPEAKER_1>Your sins to death because of the sins of your father.

00:29:20.032 --> 00:29:23.092
<v SPEAKER_1>Every one of us has the father, Adam, who sinned against God.

00:29:23.092 --> 00:29:24.272
<v SPEAKER_1>He is our head.

00:29:24.272 --> 00:29:25.852
<v SPEAKER_1>We inherit his sin.

00:29:25.852 --> 00:29:27.192
<v SPEAKER_1>We're punished because of that.

00:29:27.192 --> 00:29:28.392
<v SPEAKER_1>And that's the truth.

00:29:28.392 --> 00:29:29.952
<v SPEAKER_1>We can't get mad at it.

00:29:29.952 --> 00:29:31.432
<v SPEAKER_1>We can't have an emotional reaction.

00:29:31.932 --> 00:29:33.472
<v SPEAKER_1>We can't say, God, you're so mean.

00:29:33.472 --> 00:29:34.672
<v SPEAKER_1>That's not fair.

00:29:34.672 --> 00:29:36.792
<v SPEAKER_1>We say, okay, that's really bad news.

00:29:36.792 --> 00:29:37.712
<v SPEAKER_1>What's the fix?

00:29:37.712 --> 00:29:40.092
<v SPEAKER_1>And that's when the gospel comes in.

00:29:40.092 --> 00:29:48.352
<v SPEAKER_1>Another passage that is frequently used about love actually contains something at the end about truth that I don't think people usually pick up on.

00:29:48.352 --> 00:29:51.572
<v SPEAKER_1>1 Corinthians 13, love is patient and kind.

00:29:51.572 --> 00:29:53.312
<v SPEAKER_1>Love does not envy or boast.

00:29:53.312 --> 00:29:55.052
<v SPEAKER_1>It is not arrogant or rude.

00:29:55.052 --> 00:29:57.072
<v SPEAKER_1>It does not insist on its own way.

00:29:57.072 --> 00:29:58.872
<v SPEAKER_1>It is not irritable or resentful.

00:29:59.392 --> 00:30:04.772
<v SPEAKER_1>It does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.

00:30:04.772 --> 00:30:09.012
<v SPEAKER_1>So this love passage lists a whole bunch of things that love isn't.

00:30:09.012 --> 00:30:11.752
<v SPEAKER_1>And what's the one thing that it says love is at the end?

00:30:11.752 --> 00:30:14.472
<v SPEAKER_1>Love rejoices in the truth.

00:30:14.472 --> 00:30:17.032
<v SPEAKER_1>You may say that you don't fit any of those things.

00:30:17.032 --> 00:30:17.872
<v SPEAKER_1>You don't boast.

00:30:17.872 --> 00:30:19.512
<v SPEAKER_1>You're not irritable.

00:30:19.512 --> 00:30:21.592
<v SPEAKER_1>Therefore you have love.

00:30:21.592 --> 00:30:23.332
<v SPEAKER_1>Do you rejoice in the truth?

00:30:23.332 --> 00:30:29.012
<v SPEAKER_1>Because if you drop that end of the sentence, you don't have the true love that God's talking about.

00:30:29.012 --> 00:30:30.312
<v SPEAKER_1>It's an impossible test.

00:30:30.312 --> 00:30:34.512
<v SPEAKER_1>No one can pass all of it perfectly, which is why Christ lived the perfect life.

00:30:34.512 --> 00:30:36.352
<v SPEAKER_1>Again, that's the gospel.

00:30:36.352 --> 00:30:45.092
<v SPEAKER_1>This is not a set up for us to try to earn our salvation, but it's a reminder that when you start looking for truth and lies in scripture, you're going to find that you are condemned.

00:30:45.092 --> 00:30:45.932
<v SPEAKER_1>You should.

00:30:45.932 --> 00:30:50.752
<v SPEAKER_1>If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

00:30:50.752 --> 00:30:53.472
<v SPEAKER_1>We should rejoice in all truth, all of it.

00:30:53.472 --> 00:30:55.752
<v SPEAKER_1>We should rejoice in everything that is true.

00:30:55.752 --> 00:30:57.372
<v SPEAKER_1>Truth is not just about the gospel.

00:30:57.592 --> 00:30:59.392
<v SPEAKER_1>It's much bigger than that.

00:31:00.612 --> 00:31:07.692
<v SPEAKER_1>The Christian approach of trying to make everything about the narrow confines of John 3.16 is not a Christian approach at all.

00:31:07.692 --> 00:31:10.532
<v SPEAKER_1>And it's a deadly error that we're facing today.

00:31:10.532 --> 00:31:17.412
<v SPEAKER_1>Because if that's the only thing you can rejoice in, then you're free to be wrong about all these other things, because they don't matter.

00:31:17.412 --> 00:31:19.892
<v SPEAKER_1>I don't have to rejoice in the truth of how I made.

00:31:19.892 --> 00:31:22.532
<v SPEAKER_1>I rejoice in the truth about how Jesus died for me.

00:31:22.532 --> 00:31:23.632
<v SPEAKER_1>And we do.

00:31:23.632 --> 00:31:27.132
<v SPEAKER_1>That is the most important thing that we've ever been told.

00:31:27.412 --> 00:31:29.192
<v SPEAKER_1>That Jesus died for us.

00:31:29.192 --> 00:31:30.732
<v SPEAKER_1>But it is not the only thing in our lives.

00:31:30.732 --> 00:31:32.432
<v SPEAKER_1>It is not the only thing in the universe.

00:31:32.432 --> 00:31:34.812
<v SPEAKER_1>We were created for a purpose.

00:31:34.812 --> 00:31:35.992
<v SPEAKER_1>That's the truth.

00:31:35.992 --> 00:31:41.652
<v SPEAKER_1>If we don't love all the things about that, we're not fulfilling the command of love that God gives us.

00:31:43.012 --> 00:31:52.292
<v SPEAKER_2>When an author writes a book, within that book, within the world created in that book, the author creates a set of truths.

00:31:53.372 --> 00:31:59.172
<v SPEAKER_2>Now, if the author is skilled, those things will be coherent.

00:31:59.172 --> 00:32:02.372
<v SPEAKER_2>There will be a lack of contradictions.

00:32:02.372 --> 00:32:05.372
<v SPEAKER_2>That is not always the case for human authors.

00:32:06.452 --> 00:32:10.052
<v SPEAKER_2>God does not have the limitation of human authors, of course.

00:32:10.052 --> 00:32:14.172
<v SPEAKER_2>And so, when God writes a book, there are no contradictions.

00:32:14.172 --> 00:32:16.992
<v SPEAKER_2>Everything in scripture, for instance, is true.

00:32:18.412 --> 00:32:27.972
<v SPEAKER_2>To give an example that will work for many of those listening, because you may have read the novels when you were children, or had them read to you.

00:32:27.972 --> 00:32:30.652
<v SPEAKER_2>You may have read them to your own children.

00:32:30.652 --> 00:32:34.272
<v SPEAKER_2>If I were to tell you that Aslan from CS.

00:32:34.272 --> 00:32:40.392
<v SPEAKER_2>Lewis's books was a goat, I would be lying about what CS.

00:32:40.392 --> 00:32:45.152
<v SPEAKER_2>Lewis wrote, because of course Aslan is a lion representing Christ.

00:32:45.152 --> 00:32:48.612
<v SPEAKER_2>I don't feel that's a spoiler for anyone who's read those books.

00:32:48.612 --> 00:32:49.572
<v SPEAKER_2>That should be obvious.

00:32:51.012 --> 00:32:53.912
<v SPEAKER_2>With regard to the work of CS.

00:32:53.912 --> 00:33:00.412
<v SPEAKER_2>Lewis, if I lie about something that he wrote, yes, it's a lie.

00:33:00.412 --> 00:33:02.252
<v SPEAKER_2>It's a fairly minor one, though.

00:33:02.252 --> 00:33:04.312
<v SPEAKER_2>He's a human author.

00:33:04.312 --> 00:33:08.612
<v SPEAKER_2>That series of books is not of the utmost importance to anything, really.

00:33:08.612 --> 00:33:09.992
<v SPEAKER_2>I'm not saying it's a bad series.

00:33:09.992 --> 00:33:11.892
<v SPEAKER_2>I'm not saying it's a particularly good series.

00:33:11.892 --> 00:33:14.512
<v SPEAKER_2>I'm not saying anything about it with regard to quality.

00:33:14.512 --> 00:33:24.892
<v SPEAKER_2>I'm simply saying it is a series of books written by a human author, and whether you speak the truth about it or lie about it does matter, but not that much.

00:33:26.712 --> 00:33:30.452
<v SPEAKER_2>The same cannot be said with regard to God's books.

00:33:30.452 --> 00:33:32.432
<v SPEAKER_2>And yes, I do mean the plural.

00:33:32.432 --> 00:33:39.732
<v SPEAKER_2>If you lie about what is contained in scripture, every single Christian recognizes that is a grave sin.

00:33:39.732 --> 00:33:43.132
<v SPEAKER_2>At least every Christian should recognize that is a grave sin.

00:33:44.452 --> 00:33:57.192
<v SPEAKER_2>And so, when you have supposed pastors who stand up and try to excuse sodomites and try to explain away the passages that condemn them, that's lying about God's Word.

00:33:57.192 --> 00:34:00.952
<v SPEAKER_2>We all recognize that is grave sin.

00:34:00.952 --> 00:34:03.772
<v SPEAKER_2>That is extreme wickedness.

00:34:03.772 --> 00:34:08.152
<v SPEAKER_2>That is an abomination, both the defense of the thing and the thing itself.

00:34:09.152 --> 00:34:11.732
<v SPEAKER_2>But God wrote two books.

00:34:11.732 --> 00:34:14.232
<v SPEAKER_2>Vitally important to remember this.

00:34:14.232 --> 00:34:18.792
<v SPEAKER_2>The first and most important is creation.

00:34:18.792 --> 00:34:26.792
<v SPEAKER_2>Scripture is second, because again, I will remind you, what does God say about himself?

00:34:26.792 --> 00:34:33.892
<v SPEAKER_2>To what does he appeal as an example of his greatness when he speaks to Job in the Book of Job?

00:34:33.892 --> 00:34:35.712
<v SPEAKER_2>He appeals to creation.

00:34:35.712 --> 00:34:37.632
<v SPEAKER_2>He does not appeal to his written Word.

00:34:38.812 --> 00:34:42.092
<v SPEAKER_2>In fact, that is pretty much what God always does.

00:34:42.092 --> 00:34:46.192
<v SPEAKER_2>He appeals to his greatness as revealed in creation.

00:34:47.872 --> 00:34:50.252
<v SPEAKER_2>Yes, every word of Scripture is true.

00:34:50.252 --> 00:35:02.632
<v SPEAKER_2>Yes, Scripture is of the utmost importance for Christians, but creation also contains truth, because creation also is truth, because again, creation is God's first book.

00:35:02.632 --> 00:35:07.152
<v SPEAKER_2>Every single thing written in the Book of Creation is true.

00:35:08.412 --> 00:35:21.572
<v SPEAKER_2>And so when you speak falsely about creation, when you lie about creation, you are doing the same thing as if you lied about what is contained in the pages of Scripture.

00:35:23.672 --> 00:35:40.532
<v SPEAKER_2>So if you say that sodomy is not a sin, that it's actually about lack of hospitality, it's about not being welcoming to sojourners and strangers, instead of sexual sin, that's not what the story of Sodom and Gomorrah actually is.

00:35:40.532 --> 00:35:43.132
<v SPEAKER_2>If you say that, that's a wicked lie.

00:35:43.132 --> 00:35:46.472
<v SPEAKER_2>You are lying about God's word.

00:35:46.472 --> 00:36:01.952
<v SPEAKER_2>With regard to creation, if you say the races of men don't really exist, they're all equal, there's no difference, we're all the same, you are doing the exact same thing as the one who attempts to lie about how God views sodomites.

00:36:03.332 --> 00:36:05.912
<v SPEAKER_2>You are committing the same sin.

00:36:05.912 --> 00:36:14.932
<v SPEAKER_2>In fact, the second one, lying about creation, may very well have worse consequences longitudinally than the first.

00:36:14.932 --> 00:36:18.252
<v SPEAKER_2>In this case, it may be debatable because they're both horrible.

00:36:18.252 --> 00:36:23.472
<v SPEAKER_2>But lying about creation is still lying about God.

00:36:24.572 --> 00:36:27.592
<v SPEAKER_2>And in fact, what is lying about God?

00:36:27.592 --> 00:36:33.912
<v SPEAKER_2>Particularly if you are doing it with intent, but even without intent, lying about God is blasphemy.

00:36:35.112 --> 00:36:40.972
<v SPEAKER_2>What we're talking about here is violating the first table of the Ten Commandments.

00:36:40.972 --> 00:36:43.852
<v SPEAKER_2>You are not permitted to have another God.

00:36:43.852 --> 00:36:47.772
<v SPEAKER_2>You are not permitted to speak falsely about God.

00:36:47.772 --> 00:36:51.732
<v SPEAKER_2>And that includes the things of God and the things created by God.

00:36:51.732 --> 00:36:56.752
<v SPEAKER_2>And so as Christians, we must speak truthfully about creation.

00:36:56.752 --> 00:37:03.492
<v SPEAKER_2>As Woe was saying, many of these things that are supposedly opinions are not in fact opinions.

00:37:03.492 --> 00:37:09.992
<v SPEAKER_2>They are matters of truth or falsity, of truth or lies.

00:37:11.792 --> 00:37:17.592
<v SPEAKER_2>Whether or not you like strawberry ice cream is a matter of opinion.

00:37:17.592 --> 00:37:22.872
<v SPEAKER_2>How you feel about a particular flavor of ice cream is not very meaningful.

00:37:22.872 --> 00:37:24.572
<v SPEAKER_2>It may have some meaning for you.

00:37:24.572 --> 00:37:33.112
<v SPEAKER_2>It may have some meaning for those who care about you and want to get the thing you like for you if they're picking up ice cream at the store, the shop, whatever it happens to be.

00:37:33.112 --> 00:37:34.472
<v SPEAKER_2>It's not that it doesn't matter.

00:37:34.472 --> 00:37:37.952
<v SPEAKER_2>It matters, but it's a minor matter.

00:37:37.952 --> 00:37:40.352
<v SPEAKER_2>It matters in a small sense.

00:37:40.352 --> 00:37:41.792
<v SPEAKER_2>That's a matter of opinion.

00:37:41.792 --> 00:37:44.472
<v SPEAKER_2>Things like that are matters of opinion.

00:37:44.472 --> 00:37:48.292
<v SPEAKER_2>They're matters of opinion because they actually don't really matter.

00:37:48.292 --> 00:37:55.012
<v SPEAKER_2>Things that are matters of the truth always matter because they are more important.

00:37:55.012 --> 00:37:56.072
<v SPEAKER_2>They are grander things.

00:37:56.452 --> 00:37:58.912
<v SPEAKER_2>They are the things of God.

00:37:58.912 --> 00:38:04.632
<v SPEAKER_2>So again, if you lie about the reality of human race, you're lying about God.

00:38:04.632 --> 00:38:12.072
<v SPEAKER_2>If you lie about the reality of human sex, male and female, man and woman, you're lying about God.

00:38:12.072 --> 00:38:13.992
<v SPEAKER_2>You're lying about his creation.

00:38:13.992 --> 00:38:17.492
<v SPEAKER_2>You are blaspheming the Creator.

00:38:17.492 --> 00:38:31.412
<v SPEAKER_2>These are matters of the utmost importance because lying about God and particularly lying about God and God's name, as so many modern pastors do and modern teachers, that's abominable.

00:38:31.412 --> 00:38:34.352
<v SPEAKER_2>That is high-handed, impenitent sin.

00:38:34.352 --> 00:38:45.252
<v SPEAKER_2>And yes, that is the case even if you are in error and believe wrongly because you have a duty as a teacher to investigate the truth and to teach correctly.

00:38:46.932 --> 00:38:50.312
<v SPEAKER_2>Teachers are held to a higher standard.

00:38:50.312 --> 00:38:53.932
<v SPEAKER_2>Teachers and pastors, of course, pastors are also teachers.

00:38:53.932 --> 00:39:03.612
<v SPEAKER_2>Teachers will receive the stricter judgment because if you take up the mantle of teaching, you have a duty to teach correctly.

00:39:03.612 --> 00:39:05.752
<v SPEAKER_2>And you may say, well, I was just an error.

00:39:05.752 --> 00:39:06.972
<v SPEAKER_2>I didn't know.

00:39:06.972 --> 00:39:08.432
<v SPEAKER_2>It doesn't matter.

00:39:08.432 --> 00:39:16.392
<v SPEAKER_2>Why did you take up the mantle of teaching if you did not have the capacity to discern that which is true and false?

00:39:16.392 --> 00:39:28.192
<v SPEAKER_2>Whether or not God has given you the talents, the abilities necessary, the capacity needed in order to teach is a matter of true or false.

00:39:28.192 --> 00:39:31.292
<v SPEAKER_2>Either you have those things or you do not.

00:39:31.292 --> 00:39:37.652
<v SPEAKER_2>If you do not have them, attempting to exercise them is wrongful, is sinful.

00:39:37.652 --> 00:39:42.112
<v SPEAKER_2>This is one of those matters that is sometimes difficult for people to understand.

00:39:42.112 --> 00:39:44.772
<v SPEAKER_2>So let me give an analogy.

00:39:44.772 --> 00:39:49.132
<v SPEAKER_2>Let me compare it to something that will make it very obvious, it's very straightforward.

00:39:50.932 --> 00:39:56.852
<v SPEAKER_2>All gifts, particularly spiritual gifts, but of course all gifts flow from God.

00:39:56.852 --> 00:39:59.252
<v SPEAKER_2>Your height is from God.

00:39:59.252 --> 00:40:02.012
<v SPEAKER_2>Your intelligence is from God.

00:40:02.012 --> 00:40:05.912
<v SPEAKER_2>Everything you have is a gift from God.

00:40:05.912 --> 00:40:11.272
<v SPEAKER_2>Every good and perfect gift flows down from heaven from God.

00:40:11.272 --> 00:40:24.712
<v SPEAKER_2>And so, if you have intelligence and eloquence, and all these things that teachers are supposed to have, well, that's a gift from God, and you should use those to the glory of God.

00:40:24.712 --> 00:40:30.512
<v SPEAKER_2>And some will think, well, these are things that perhaps you can learn, and to some degree, perhaps.

00:40:30.512 --> 00:40:33.572
<v SPEAKER_2>Some of them know intelligence is hardwired.

00:40:33.572 --> 00:40:35.672
<v SPEAKER_2>You can't learn intelligence.

00:40:35.672 --> 00:40:38.232
<v SPEAKER_2>Discernment is largely a spiritual gift.

00:40:38.232 --> 00:40:39.792
<v SPEAKER_2>You can't learn that.

00:40:39.792 --> 00:40:43.172
<v SPEAKER_2>You can train that gift, certainly to the degree you've been given it.

00:40:45.272 --> 00:40:51.752
<v SPEAKER_2>But to give you that promised analogy, prophecy is a gift from God.

00:40:51.752 --> 00:41:01.552
<v SPEAKER_2>Whether or not you are a prophet, and probably no one to whom I am currently speaking, or perhaps no one who will ever pick up this podcast, is a prophet.

00:41:01.552 --> 00:41:09.192
<v SPEAKER_2>But whether or not you are a prophet, is a matter of whether or not God has given you the gift of prophecy.

00:41:09.192 --> 00:41:16.812
<v SPEAKER_2>If you do not have it, and you attempt to exercise it, we call that a false prophet.

00:41:16.812 --> 00:41:19.072
<v SPEAKER_2>And that's lying in God's name.

00:41:19.072 --> 00:41:21.852
<v SPEAKER_2>That's high-handed, impenitent sin.

00:41:21.852 --> 00:41:24.612
<v SPEAKER_2>That will damn you to hell.

00:41:24.612 --> 00:41:32.832
<v SPEAKER_2>That compares directly to those who attempt to take up the mantle of teacher, and do not have the capacity to do so.

00:41:32.832 --> 00:41:39.192
<v SPEAKER_2>It is the same sort of thing as declaring yourself a prophet when you have not been given the gift of prophecy.

00:41:40.372 --> 00:41:47.032
<v SPEAKER_2>If you compare those two things, it becomes abundantly clear where the problem lies and why this should not be done.

00:41:47.032 --> 00:42:06.612
<v SPEAKER_2>It's simply, again, to return to what Woe said earlier, it's the issue of mass literacy and this delusional belief that has been inculcated into society of equality, this egalitarianism, this supposed belief that all men are created equal, which is abundantly and obviously false.

00:42:08.092 --> 00:42:19.632
<v SPEAKER_2>God has given different gifts to different men, and he will require from them different things, different results, because God requires you to use the gifts that he has given you.

00:42:19.632 --> 00:42:24.232
<v SPEAKER_2>He doesn't require you to attempt to use gifts he hasn't given you.

00:42:24.232 --> 00:42:32.292
<v SPEAKER_2>If God didn't give you two legs, if you were born with one leg, he does not expect you to be a sprinter.

00:42:32.292 --> 00:42:40.232
<v SPEAKER_2>If God didn't give you the abilities that are necessary to be a teacher, he doesn't expect you to be a teacher.

00:42:40.232 --> 00:42:48.652
<v SPEAKER_2>The same as if he didn't give you the gift of prophecy, he doesn't expect you to attempt to be a prophet, because you can't do it.

00:42:50.652 --> 00:43:13.472
<v SPEAKER_2>But to return to the issue of truth and lies, the subject of the episode, the fundamental reason that these things matter with regard to everything in life and not just with regard to scripture, is because, again, when we speak of the truth, we are speaking of that which corresponds with reality.

00:43:13.472 --> 00:43:17.052
<v SPEAKER_2>And reality is just another term for creation.

00:43:17.052 --> 00:43:27.872
<v SPEAKER_2>And so if you speak falsely, if you say something that does not correspond with reality, but rather is contrary to reality, you are lying about creation.

00:43:27.872 --> 00:43:38.232
<v SPEAKER_2>And to lie about the creation is to lie about the Creator, in the same way that to lie about what is written in a book is to lie about what the author has said.

00:43:38.232 --> 00:43:40.812
<v SPEAKER_2>Creation is God's first book.

00:43:40.812 --> 00:43:55.812
<v SPEAKER_2>We do not get to lie about what He has done in creation, because when we do that, we are lying about God, we are blaspheming the Creator of the universe, something that at the very least is Christians.

00:43:55.812 --> 00:43:58.212
<v SPEAKER_2>We should want to avoid at all costs.

00:43:59.492 --> 00:44:02.592
<v SPEAKER_2>And so with regard to these matters, we need to speak the truth.

00:44:03.312 --> 00:44:11.772
<v SPEAKER_2>If you don't know the truth on something, as Woe said, and as we've said many times before, it is entirely fine to remain silent.

00:44:11.772 --> 00:44:27.392
<v SPEAKER_2>You do not need to have a position or an opinion, if it happens to be an opinion, which in most of these cases it is not, but sometimes we use the term in a way that conflates some senses, that you do not need to have a position on everything.

00:44:27.412 --> 00:44:33.532
<v SPEAKER_2>I have no position with regard to basically anything in quantum chemistry.

00:44:33.532 --> 00:44:43.952
<v SPEAKER_2>I know too little about the subject to have any positions or any opinions on things on which one could have an opinion with regard to that subject matter.

00:44:43.952 --> 00:44:49.112
<v SPEAKER_2>I have very few opinions on woodworking, because I don't know it very well.

00:44:49.112 --> 00:44:53.352
<v SPEAKER_2>I'm not going to say this joint versus that joint is better or worse.

00:44:54.752 --> 00:44:59.112
<v SPEAKER_2>I have positions and opinions on things about which I am knowledgeable.

00:45:00.132 --> 00:45:03.012
<v SPEAKER_2>That is the way men should conduct themselves.

00:45:03.012 --> 00:45:12.692
<v SPEAKER_2>The overwhelming majority of subjects and subject areas, you should have no position, no opinion, because you don't know anything about them.

00:45:12.692 --> 00:45:17.752
<v SPEAKER_2>And that is the same for me, for Woe, for everyone else.

00:45:17.752 --> 00:45:28.572
<v SPEAKER_2>Because the world of information out there, the sum of information in reality, in creation, approaches the infinite because it was created by the infinite.

00:45:30.012 --> 00:45:37.512
<v SPEAKER_2>You simply cannot know everything, and so you do not need to have an opinion or a position on everything.

00:45:37.512 --> 00:45:41.232
<v SPEAKER_2>It is entirely acceptable to hold your tongue.

00:45:42.632 --> 00:45:48.872
<v SPEAKER_1>I want to focus now briefly on the first lie ever told, because it's a pretty big deal.

00:45:48.872 --> 00:45:56.012
<v SPEAKER_1>In Genesis 3, it's written, Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.

00:45:56.692 --> 00:46:00.012
<v SPEAKER_1>He said to the woman, Now listen very carefully to this.

00:46:00.012 --> 00:46:05.292
<v SPEAKER_1>Did God actually say, You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?

00:46:05.292 --> 00:46:13.112
<v SPEAKER_1>And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is the midst of the garden.

00:46:13.112 --> 00:46:15.232
<v SPEAKER_1>Neither shall you touch it lest you die.

00:46:15.232 --> 00:46:18.512
<v SPEAKER_1>But the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die.

00:46:18.512 --> 00:46:23.252
<v SPEAKER_1>For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God knowing good and evil.

00:46:23.832 --> 00:46:35.732
<v SPEAKER_1>So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.

00:46:35.732 --> 00:46:42.972
<v SPEAKER_1>Then the eyes of both were open, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves loincloths.

00:46:42.972 --> 00:46:47.512
<v SPEAKER_1>The first lie the Satan told was not, You will not surely die.

00:46:47.512 --> 00:46:57.052
<v SPEAKER_1>The first lie that the deceiver told to deceive Eve was, Did God actually say, You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?

00:46:57.052 --> 00:47:04.892
<v SPEAKER_1>The question itself was the first lie, because it was completely the opposite of what God said, and Satan knew it.

00:47:04.892 --> 00:47:11.232
<v SPEAKER_1>There was a very specific reason why Satan gave a question that had no bearing on reality.

00:47:11.232 --> 00:47:17.792
<v SPEAKER_1>It was similar to what God said, but it was very clearly a functional, fundamentally false misstatement.

00:47:17.792 --> 00:47:21.692
<v SPEAKER_1>Satan said, You shall not eat of any tree in the garden, and then Eve corrected him.

00:47:21.692 --> 00:47:24.712
<v SPEAKER_1>No, no, no, just the one tree in the midst.

00:47:24.712 --> 00:47:27.292
<v SPEAKER_1>What did Satan do when he said this?

00:47:27.292 --> 00:47:30.592
<v SPEAKER_1>He triggered covetousness in Eve.

00:47:30.592 --> 00:47:35.292
<v SPEAKER_1>She suddenly coveted the fruit that was fit to make one wise.

00:47:35.292 --> 00:47:41.652
<v SPEAKER_1>And so by Satan falsely framing the question, was you can't eat any of this fruit?

00:47:41.652 --> 00:47:43.652
<v SPEAKER_1>Eve just went, We can eat all the fruit.

00:47:43.652 --> 00:47:46.572
<v SPEAKER_1>Everything is here for us, except for that one.

00:47:46.572 --> 00:47:48.892
<v SPEAKER_1>And Satan said, Well, that one's the good one.

00:47:48.992 --> 00:47:50.512
<v SPEAKER_1>It's not going to hurt you.

00:47:50.512 --> 00:47:52.292
<v SPEAKER_1>And so she looked at it and she loved it.

00:47:52.292 --> 00:47:53.632
<v SPEAKER_1>Like, he tricked her.

00:47:53.632 --> 00:47:57.392
<v SPEAKER_1>He deceived her with a question.

00:47:57.392 --> 00:48:00.072
<v SPEAKER_1>Now, note this lie from the deceiver.

00:48:00.072 --> 00:48:04.672
<v SPEAKER_1>And he's called throughout much of the rest of scripture, the deceiver, because of what he says here.

00:48:04.672 --> 00:48:09.792
<v SPEAKER_1>He deceived her by twisting what God had said and done.

00:48:09.792 --> 00:48:13.152
<v SPEAKER_1>It was God's will that they not eat of one tree.

00:48:13.152 --> 00:48:17.012
<v SPEAKER_1>He made her greedy by saying, Oh, God said you can't eat any of this stuff, didn't he?

00:48:17.752 --> 00:48:20.112
<v SPEAKER_1>And so she just marched right into it.

00:48:20.112 --> 00:48:23.432
<v SPEAKER_1>She got excited, just like so many of us get excited online.

00:48:23.432 --> 00:48:31.492
<v SPEAKER_1>When we see that somebody's wrong about something and we march in there and straighten them out, not realizing that it was a trick, it was a setup.

00:48:31.492 --> 00:48:33.852
<v SPEAKER_1>Satan knew exactly what she was going to do.

00:48:33.852 --> 00:48:38.052
<v SPEAKER_1>Satan wanted her to correct him and to say what God said.

00:48:38.052 --> 00:48:41.752
<v SPEAKER_1>Satan tricked Eve into confessing God's command.

00:48:41.752 --> 00:48:43.852
<v SPEAKER_1>And that's how we got her.

00:48:43.852 --> 00:48:46.212
<v SPEAKER_1>Because it wasn't the command itself that was the problem.

00:48:46.772 --> 00:48:52.692
<v SPEAKER_1>It was the inherent covetousness that she had for that which she had been denied by God's command.

00:48:52.692 --> 00:48:54.992
<v SPEAKER_1>Satan said, God said, you can't eat any of this stuff.

00:48:54.992 --> 00:48:57.632
<v SPEAKER_1>She's like, no, it's all for us, just the one thing.

00:48:57.632 --> 00:49:00.972
<v SPEAKER_1>And so then the one thing that she couldn't have became the focus.

00:49:00.972 --> 00:49:03.652
<v SPEAKER_1>And that's how he deceived her.

00:49:03.652 --> 00:49:10.672
<v SPEAKER_1>It's very interesting when you look at the definition of the word that's used for deceiver or deception.

00:49:10.672 --> 00:49:14.352
<v SPEAKER_1>The root planos, it's the same root for the word that we have for planet.

00:49:15.312 --> 00:49:20.972
<v SPEAKER_1>Before they knew what planets were, when they were first identified in the stars, they were called wanderers.

00:49:21.312 --> 00:49:23.772
<v SPEAKER_1>That's where planet came from, because they wander.

00:49:23.772 --> 00:49:25.952
<v SPEAKER_1>That is the word that is used for deceiver.

00:49:25.952 --> 00:49:27.392
<v SPEAKER_1>Why is that?

00:49:27.412 --> 00:49:38.392
<v SPEAKER_1>On one hand, on the gradient, on the good side of the gradient, we have the truth, God's eternal truth, all things that are true, all things that are real.

00:49:38.392 --> 00:49:42.592
<v SPEAKER_1>The opposite is not absolute black lies and malevolence.

00:49:43.292 --> 00:49:45.072
<v SPEAKER_1>The opposite, the deceiver.

00:49:45.072 --> 00:49:51.592
<v SPEAKER_1>When Satan is repeatedly called the deceiver in Revelation, he's called the one who causes her to wander.

00:49:51.592 --> 00:49:55.592
<v SPEAKER_1>He deceived by causing Eve to wander away from the truth.

00:49:55.592 --> 00:50:01.192
<v SPEAKER_1>Now, this is a crucial distinction because the truth requires laser focus.

00:50:01.192 --> 00:50:09.412
<v SPEAKER_1>It requires absolute certainty and devotion to that, which is actually true, every detail.

00:50:09.412 --> 00:50:11.572
<v SPEAKER_1>Satan just needs you to wander off the path a little bit.

00:50:11.912 --> 00:50:13.912
<v SPEAKER_1>It doesn't matter which way you go.

00:50:13.912 --> 00:50:18.952
<v SPEAKER_1>See, this first lie, although the lie of you will not surely die, was a complete inversion.

00:50:18.952 --> 00:50:21.852
<v SPEAKER_1>The first deception of the question wasn't an inversion.

00:50:21.852 --> 00:50:25.192
<v SPEAKER_1>It was kind of an inversion of the actual command.

00:50:25.192 --> 00:50:29.752
<v SPEAKER_1>But the point was not, you should go do all these terrible, evil things.

00:50:29.752 --> 00:50:31.872
<v SPEAKER_1>Just ignore what God said about fruit.

00:50:31.872 --> 00:50:32.792
<v SPEAKER_1>Go kill Adam.

00:50:32.792 --> 00:50:33.392
<v SPEAKER_1>Go poison him.

00:50:33.472 --> 00:50:36.652
<v SPEAKER_1>Go do something super bad.

00:50:36.652 --> 00:50:39.432
<v SPEAKER_1>Satan just caused her to wander.

00:50:39.432 --> 00:50:42.552
<v SPEAKER_1>This is the appeal that it's intrinsic to every man.

00:50:42.552 --> 00:50:48.552
<v SPEAKER_1>It takes laser focus to stay on the truth, and it's very easy to be distracted by anything else.

00:50:48.552 --> 00:51:02.232
<v SPEAKER_1>And so I think when we look at the world around us today, the notion that deceiver is rooted in wandering, and then you look at all the things in our lives that are sources of distraction, they take on a very different context, don't they?

00:51:03.332 --> 00:51:17.932
<v SPEAKER_1>Whether it's sports ball or video games or drinking or church, if your entire focus is maybe you want to become a monk, you love God so much, you want to go whole hog and devote every moment of your life.

00:51:17.932 --> 00:51:27.472
<v SPEAKER_1>If you have another vocation, if you have other duties that you would necessarily have to neglect in order to do that, perhaps you're wandering from the path that God actually wants.

00:51:27.472 --> 00:51:34.912
<v SPEAKER_1>The things that Satan uses to cause us to wander aren't necessarily evil in and of themselves.

00:51:34.912 --> 00:51:36.972
<v SPEAKER_1>Alcohol is a blessing from God.

00:51:36.972 --> 00:51:39.452
<v SPEAKER_1>Too much alcohol is destruction.

00:51:39.452 --> 00:51:40.832
<v SPEAKER_1>Same with calories.

00:51:40.832 --> 00:51:46.772
<v SPEAKER_1>You die without a certain number of calories, and yet if you have too many, it leads to your destruction.

00:51:46.772 --> 00:51:50.972
<v SPEAKER_1>And so wandering from the path of what is true is the deception.

00:51:50.972 --> 00:51:53.292
<v SPEAKER_1>It's the deceiver's bread and butter.

00:51:53.292 --> 00:51:57.232
<v SPEAKER_1>It's not always complete inversion, even though that's ultimately the goal.

00:51:57.812 --> 00:52:02.952
<v SPEAKER_1>The goal is always ultimately the complete inversion of creation, of reality.

00:52:02.952 --> 00:52:05.912
<v SPEAKER_1>But he gets there by causing you to wander.

00:52:05.912 --> 00:52:09.572
<v SPEAKER_1>Lust is often called in a relationship wandering eyes.

00:52:09.572 --> 00:52:14.352
<v SPEAKER_1>Sure, he's a faithful husband, but when a pretty girl walks by, he checks her out.

00:52:14.352 --> 00:52:16.172
<v SPEAKER_1>That's a wandering eye.

00:52:16.172 --> 00:52:23.192
<v SPEAKER_1>Jesus condemns that specifically because he's already lusting in his heart, and the adultery is a fait accompli at that point.

00:52:23.192 --> 00:52:25.672
<v SPEAKER_1>He's already done in his heart, why not follow through?

00:52:25.672 --> 00:52:27.472
<v SPEAKER_1>In for a penny, in for a pound.

00:52:27.472 --> 00:52:28.072
<v SPEAKER_1>I liked it.

00:52:28.072 --> 00:52:29.032
<v SPEAKER_1>I saw it.

00:52:29.032 --> 00:52:32.092
<v SPEAKER_1>I saw that it was good, just like Eve.

00:52:32.092 --> 00:52:33.832
<v SPEAKER_1>That's how temptation comes.

00:52:33.832 --> 00:52:38.572
<v SPEAKER_1>Satan's deception is with temptation to cause you to wander just a little bit.

00:52:38.572 --> 00:52:44.012
<v SPEAKER_1>Even if it's an ordered desire, if it's disordered because it's the wrong girl, then it's sin.

00:52:44.012 --> 00:52:58.032
<v SPEAKER_1>And so, when we're looking at what is true and what is false, and we're looking at the nature of Satan, the father of lies, just keep in mind that the father of lies, his go-to move, is initially wandering.

00:52:58.032 --> 00:52:59.052
<v SPEAKER_1>You will not surely die.

00:52:59.052 --> 00:53:00.352
<v SPEAKER_1>It's not going to be as bad.

00:53:00.852 --> 00:53:03.112
<v SPEAKER_1>You've heard that these things are going to happen if you do this.

00:53:03.112 --> 00:53:03.852
<v SPEAKER_1>Don't worry about it.

00:53:03.852 --> 00:53:05.092
<v SPEAKER_1>It's going to be okay.

00:53:05.092 --> 00:53:06.772
<v SPEAKER_1>Just take one sniff, take one bite.

00:53:06.772 --> 00:53:08.132
<v SPEAKER_1>It's not going to hurt you.

00:53:08.132 --> 00:53:19.352
<v SPEAKER_1>And then you get into it and it destroys you because you wandered off the path of truth, of what is godly and the destruction will inevitably follow if you continue to wander down that false path.

00:53:20.332 --> 00:53:30.372
<v SPEAKER_1>When we don't view truth and lies in this context, it's so easy to gobble up lies left and right because the lie that Eve gobbled up was a small one.

00:53:30.372 --> 00:53:35.132
<v SPEAKER_1>She retorted Satan with exactly what God said, or at least close to it.

00:53:35.132 --> 00:53:40.352
<v SPEAKER_1>We're not sure about the extra part that was tacked on about not touching it.

00:53:40.352 --> 00:53:41.972
<v SPEAKER_1>But she responded with confession.

00:53:41.972 --> 00:53:46.032
<v SPEAKER_1>She confessed what God had said against the false statement that Satan had made.

00:53:46.032 --> 00:53:48.572
<v SPEAKER_1>And that was how he caused her to wander.

00:53:48.572 --> 00:53:52.832
<v SPEAKER_1>I think this is what we see today with people shouting, that's not the gospel.

00:53:52.832 --> 00:53:59.692
<v SPEAKER_1>When someone says something that has nothing to do with salvation, there are many things in life that have nothing to do with salvation.

00:53:59.692 --> 00:54:10.612
<v SPEAKER_1>If you listen to a podcast or read an article that talks about proper health and proper nutrition, if you don't follow those guidelines, you will be less healthy, whether you know it or not.

00:54:10.612 --> 00:54:25.332
<v SPEAKER_1>And so when you learn about it, if you read dietary advice, like the best possible way to feed yourself, to care for your body, and you do the exact opposite, you're going to get the inevitable result from it, because it's baked into the behavior.

00:54:25.332 --> 00:54:37.292
<v SPEAKER_1>The fact that not everything is about the gospel refutes nothing, because gospel matters, as they specifically relate to how God saves us, are in fact very narrow.

00:54:37.292 --> 00:54:39.612
<v SPEAKER_1>One of my mutuals on X pointed this out yesterday.

00:54:39.612 --> 00:54:40.712
<v SPEAKER_1>It's a brilliant observation.

00:54:41.232 --> 00:54:44.792
<v SPEAKER_1>Lately, a bunch of guys have been running around shouting, well, that's not the gospel.

00:54:44.792 --> 00:54:47.252
<v SPEAKER_1>It's a refutation of what guys post online.

00:54:47.252 --> 00:54:53.772
<v SPEAKER_1>As though if you're not saying John 3.16 with every post, you are evil, you're not a good enough Christian.

00:54:53.772 --> 00:55:00.032
<v SPEAKER_1>And my friend pointed out, if you apply that test to scripture, scripture is then evil.

00:55:00.032 --> 00:55:03.172
<v SPEAKER_1>To say that's not the gospel applies to most of scripture.

00:55:03.172 --> 00:55:09.032
<v SPEAKER_1>In fact, saying that's not the gospel the way these guys lie about it, it damns most of the gospel themselves.

00:55:09.492 --> 00:55:13.072
<v SPEAKER_1>When you read the gospels, most of the gospels is not the gospel.

00:55:13.072 --> 00:55:13.912
<v SPEAKER_1>It's in there.

00:55:13.912 --> 00:55:15.552
<v SPEAKER_1>It's in there abundantly.

00:55:15.552 --> 00:55:18.732
<v SPEAKER_1>But the abundance is because of how important it is.

00:55:18.732 --> 00:55:20.512
<v SPEAKER_1>It's not by volume.

00:55:20.512 --> 00:55:24.232
<v SPEAKER_1>The test by volume of how much gospel is present is ridiculous.

00:55:24.232 --> 00:55:26.232
<v SPEAKER_1>It's anti-Christian.

00:55:26.232 --> 00:55:31.752
<v SPEAKER_1>And yet this new attack has emerged where guys want to sound pious and they don't know what to say.

00:55:31.752 --> 00:55:33.572
<v SPEAKER_1>And they hear something they don't like.

00:55:33.572 --> 00:55:35.452
<v SPEAKER_1>And they say, that's not the gospel.

00:55:35.452 --> 00:55:37.292
<v SPEAKER_1>They're doing exactly what Satan did to Eve.

00:55:38.132 --> 00:55:44.152
<v SPEAKER_1>They're introducing a completely false non-sequitur and using it to invert the situation.

00:55:44.152 --> 00:55:50.952
<v SPEAKER_1>Because what they're fundamentally doing is setting the gospel, which they're misconstruing, against things that are true.

00:55:50.952 --> 00:55:56.052
<v SPEAKER_1>They're not saying the guys who are posting a bunch of stuff that aren't the gospel are even liars.

00:55:56.052 --> 00:56:00.032
<v SPEAKER_1>They're saying, well, sure, that's true, but it's not the gospel, therefore it's invalid.

00:56:00.032 --> 00:56:02.572
<v SPEAKER_1>That's fundamentally Gnostic.

00:56:02.572 --> 00:56:05.932
<v SPEAKER_1>As we said in the Gnosticism episode earlier in the year, I'm not using that flippantly.

00:56:06.352 --> 00:56:09.132
<v SPEAKER_1>I'm not just name-calling by calling it Gnostic.

00:56:09.132 --> 00:56:21.572
<v SPEAKER_1>If you are so focused on one narrow aspect of doctrine that when a man says something that's true, you shout him down, you do not love the truth, and you are not a Christian.

00:56:21.572 --> 00:56:23.412
<v SPEAKER_1>These are the stakes here.

00:56:25.052 --> 00:56:42.372
<v SPEAKER_2>To return to the issue of philosophy, just briefly and sort of tangentially, in philosophy, there's a thing called a razor, which essentially is just a tool for helping you think about a particular type or class of problems.

00:56:42.372 --> 00:56:57.452
<v SPEAKER_2>The most common one, or at least the most well-known one, is probably Occam's razor, which there's some irony in how abused that razor is, and the way in which it is particularly most often abused, but that's a topic for another time.

00:56:57.452 --> 00:57:01.672
<v SPEAKER_2>I want to give you a razor for dealing with problems in this area.

00:57:02.992 --> 00:57:04.712
<v SPEAKER_2>It's a very simple one.

00:57:05.932 --> 00:57:34.492
<v SPEAKER_2>If a response to a particular purported fact that has been advanced is tangential and attacks something ancillary about the fact or the consequences of the fact or the speaker, then you should be very deeply suspicious, because the person launching that attack almost certainly has ulterior motives.

00:57:34.492 --> 00:57:40.192
<v SPEAKER_2>To give a concrete example, and this ties into what Woe was just saying, but the concrete example makes it easier.

00:57:41.552 --> 00:58:03.132
<v SPEAKER_2>If you point out that statistically speaking, looking at the crime data, at least as best as they are reported these days, in the United States, blacks are overwhelmingly more likely than any other group, particularly than whites, to commit violent crimes.

00:58:03.132 --> 00:58:06.612
<v SPEAKER_2>And someone responds to that, well, that's racist.

00:58:06.612 --> 00:58:07.652
<v SPEAKER_2>That's an example.

00:58:07.652 --> 00:58:11.532
<v SPEAKER_2>That should trigger your defense with regard to that razor.

00:58:11.532 --> 00:58:13.852
<v SPEAKER_2>Because what has that man said?

00:58:13.852 --> 00:58:17.632
<v SPEAKER_2>And more importantly, what has he not said?

00:58:17.632 --> 00:58:20.972
<v SPEAKER_2>He said, I don't like that.

00:58:20.972 --> 00:58:23.312
<v SPEAKER_2>I don't like what you've said.

00:58:24.072 --> 00:58:25.492
<v SPEAKER_2>It makes me uncomfortable.

00:58:25.492 --> 00:58:27.032
<v SPEAKER_2>I don't want you to say it.

00:58:27.032 --> 00:58:29.572
<v SPEAKER_2>He said a bunch of stuff like that.

00:58:29.572 --> 00:58:32.332
<v SPEAKER_2>What he's really said is, I want you to shut up.

00:58:32.332 --> 00:58:36.512
<v SPEAKER_2>But what he has not said is, that's wrong.

00:58:37.772 --> 00:58:51.172
<v SPEAKER_2>If the thing being advanced, if the purported fact were wrong, if the man speaking were in error, the correct response is and would be, that's wrong.

00:58:52.692 --> 00:58:55.952
<v SPEAKER_2>It would be, no, look at these data.

00:58:55.952 --> 00:58:58.012
<v SPEAKER_2>I have an answer to that.

00:58:58.012 --> 00:59:00.092
<v SPEAKER_2>What you just said is wrong.

00:59:00.092 --> 00:59:05.432
<v SPEAKER_2>But they don't attack you by saying that what you've said is wrong.

00:59:05.432 --> 00:59:35.892
<v SPEAKER_2>They attack you by saying that what you've said is racist or sexist or misogynist or kinist or supremacist or any of these other words that are meant to terminate the discussion and also serve as a threat because they're threatening, I am going to attempt to ruin your life by branding you as these various things that society says are unacceptable, instead of actually addressing the point you've made.

00:59:36.992 --> 00:59:48.592
<v SPEAKER_2>A serious man who is dealing with the conversation, dealing with the topic in a serious manner, will address the actual thing that has been advanced, which is the fact.

00:59:48.592 --> 00:59:53.752
<v SPEAKER_2>Boiled down to its simplest, one man has said, X is true.

00:59:53.752 --> 00:59:57.392
<v SPEAKER_2>And then the other man has said, I don't like you.

00:59:57.392 --> 00:59:59.252
<v SPEAKER_2>It's irrelevant.

00:59:59.252 --> 01:00:07.612
<v SPEAKER_2>It may be tangentially related because he may say, I don't like X, which is tangentially related in the mathematical sense.

01:00:07.612 --> 01:00:10.472
<v SPEAKER_2>It has one point of contact with the thing.

01:00:11.512 --> 01:00:12.952
<v SPEAKER_2>But it is not a refutation.

01:00:12.952 --> 01:00:14.472
<v SPEAKER_2>It's not an actual response.

01:00:15.612 --> 01:00:19.832
<v SPEAKER_2>And so when someone takes that tact, you should be on your guard.

01:00:19.832 --> 01:00:23.992
<v SPEAKER_2>You should recognize that person is intending to mislead you.

01:00:23.992 --> 01:00:26.292
<v SPEAKER_2>He is trying to lead you astray.

01:00:26.292 --> 01:00:28.892
<v SPEAKER_2>He is acting in the place of the deceiver.

01:00:28.892 --> 01:00:31.492
<v SPEAKER_2>That is the very sort of thing that Satan does.

01:00:31.492 --> 01:00:34.672
<v SPEAKER_2>It is not the sort of thing Christian men should do.

01:00:34.672 --> 01:00:38.392
<v SPEAKER_2>And it is certainly not the sort of thing for which Christian men should be known.

01:00:39.712 --> 01:00:52.352
<v SPEAKER_1>I want to give you an example from 1st John to illustrate one of the things that we frequently say about determining whether or not someone's confession that they are a Christian is true or not.

01:00:52.352 --> 01:00:55.832
<v SPEAKER_1>I'm going to read a couple paragraphs so I don't pluck anything out of context.

01:00:55.832 --> 01:00:57.092
<v SPEAKER_1>I'm not proof texting here.

01:00:57.092 --> 01:00:58.972
<v SPEAKER_1>I hate that.

01:00:58.972 --> 01:01:05.292
<v SPEAKER_1>In 1st John 2, it is written, My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.

01:01:05.292 --> 01:01:10.272
<v SPEAKER_1>But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the Righteous.

01:01:10.272 --> 01:01:16.292
<v SPEAKER_1>He is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

01:01:16.292 --> 01:01:20.832
<v SPEAKER_1>And by this, we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.

01:01:20.832 --> 01:01:27.872
<v SPEAKER_1>Whoever says, I know Him, but does not keep His commandments as a liar, and the truth is not in Him.

01:01:27.872 --> 01:01:32.472
<v SPEAKER_1>But whoever keeps His word, in Him truly the love of God is perfected.

01:01:32.472 --> 01:01:35.032
<v SPEAKER_1>By this, we may know that we are in Him.

01:01:35.032 --> 01:01:39.992
<v SPEAKER_1>Whoever says he abides in Him, ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

01:01:39.992 --> 01:01:43.252
<v SPEAKER_1>So when you hear that, you're probably thinking, well, that sounds like works righteousness.

01:01:43.252 --> 01:01:45.812
<v SPEAKER_1>That sounds like self-justification.

01:01:45.812 --> 01:01:51.552
<v SPEAKER_1>Or you'll say, well, yeah, I go along with that, but obviously I can't believe it, because then that would be works righteousness.

01:01:51.552 --> 01:02:03.412
<v SPEAKER_1>There are a lot of passages in scripture when you actually just take them at face value, especially Protestants who correctly understand that we can't save ourselves, have the wrong reaction, and we get angry with the text.

01:02:03.412 --> 01:02:11.292
<v SPEAKER_1>God says, whoever says, I know Jesus, but does not keep his commandments as a liar, and the truth is not in him.

01:02:11.292 --> 01:02:17.172
<v SPEAKER_1>Now this is important, because I'm going to go two chapters later, and show you where the proof textures leap into this.

01:02:17.172 --> 01:02:18.292
<v SPEAKER_1>First John 4.

01:02:18.292 --> 01:02:23.052
<v SPEAKER_1>Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God.

01:02:23.052 --> 01:02:26.112
<v SPEAKER_1>For many false prophets have gone out into the world.

01:02:26.112 --> 01:02:28.392
<v SPEAKER_1>By this you know the Spirit of God.

01:02:28.392 --> 01:02:37.052
<v SPEAKER_1>Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.

01:02:37.052 --> 01:02:42.492
<v SPEAKER_1>This is the Spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard is coming and now is in the world already.

01:02:42.492 --> 01:02:48.552
<v SPEAKER_1>Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

01:02:48.552 --> 01:02:53.332
<v SPEAKER_1>They are from the world, therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them.

01:02:53.332 --> 01:02:54.632
<v SPEAKER_1>We are from God.

01:02:54.632 --> 01:02:56.772
<v SPEAKER_1>Whoever knows God listens to us.

01:02:56.772 --> 01:02:59.732
<v SPEAKER_1>Whoever is not from God does not listen to us.

01:02:59.732 --> 01:03:03.892
<v SPEAKER_1>By this we know the Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error.

01:03:03.892 --> 01:03:09.452
<v SPEAKER_1>So the proof texter will want to ignore John 2 entirely and use this definition of Christianity.

01:03:09.452 --> 01:03:11.312
<v SPEAKER_1>By this you know the Spirit of God.

01:03:11.312 --> 01:03:16.372
<v SPEAKER_1>Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.

01:03:16.372 --> 01:03:19.772
<v SPEAKER_1>And every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.

01:03:19.772 --> 01:03:20.812
<v SPEAKER_1>It's very simple.

01:03:20.812 --> 01:03:23.392
<v SPEAKER_1>That's a basic definition and it's true.

01:03:23.392 --> 01:03:27.432
<v SPEAKER_1>The problem is that it is only true in the context of 1 John 2.

01:03:28.552 --> 01:03:32.172
<v SPEAKER_1>How can we confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh?

01:03:32.172 --> 01:03:35.352
<v SPEAKER_1>If we do not, that's saying, I know him.

01:03:35.352 --> 01:03:38.612
<v SPEAKER_1>To confess that Jesus has come in the flesh is to say, I know him.

01:03:38.612 --> 01:03:41.552
<v SPEAKER_1>But if you do not keep his commandment, you're a liar.

01:03:41.552 --> 01:03:44.892
<v SPEAKER_1>So see the confession with your lips to say, Oh yeah, Jesus came.

01:03:45.152 --> 01:03:45.952
<v SPEAKER_1>I believe in Jesus.

01:03:46.112 --> 01:03:47.472
<v SPEAKER_1>I'm a Christian.

01:03:47.472 --> 01:03:50.172
<v SPEAKER_1>If you don't keep his commandment, you're a liar.

01:03:50.172 --> 01:03:51.372
<v SPEAKER_1>This is not works righteousness.

01:03:51.372 --> 01:03:53.592
<v SPEAKER_1>This is the Christian life.

01:03:53.592 --> 01:03:54.612
<v SPEAKER_1>Do you see the problem here?

01:03:55.012 --> 01:04:04.632
<v SPEAKER_1>It's very easy to focus in on that really easy sounding passage in 1st John 4, where every spirit that confesses Jesus Christ has come from the flesh, is from God.

01:04:04.632 --> 01:04:05.452
<v SPEAKER_1>Okay, great.

01:04:05.452 --> 01:04:06.952
<v SPEAKER_1>That's all our pastors, isn't it?

01:04:06.952 --> 01:04:09.492
<v SPEAKER_1>Every pastor pretty much confesses that.

01:04:09.492 --> 01:04:15.612
<v SPEAKER_1>How many pastors who say, I know Jesus, don't keep his commandments, who tell me you don't have to keep his commandments.

01:04:15.612 --> 01:04:20.372
<v SPEAKER_1>God calls that man a liar and says the truth is not in him.

01:04:20.372 --> 01:04:23.252
<v SPEAKER_1>Now, again, this is not works righteousness.

01:04:23.652 --> 01:04:26.172
<v SPEAKER_1>We can't possibly follow God's commands perfectly.

01:04:26.172 --> 01:04:27.392
<v SPEAKER_1>We cannot.

01:04:27.392 --> 01:04:30.592
<v SPEAKER_1>Every one of us will sin multiple times a day.

01:04:30.592 --> 01:04:32.692
<v SPEAKER_1>Every day we sin in all sorts of ways.

01:04:32.692 --> 01:04:34.832
<v SPEAKER_1>We have original sin.

01:04:34.832 --> 01:04:39.272
<v SPEAKER_1>The only thing that washes that out is Christ's blood on the cross.

01:04:39.272 --> 01:04:40.692
<v SPEAKER_1>That is the gospel.

01:04:40.692 --> 01:04:43.252
<v SPEAKER_1>The only thing that saves us is Christ.

01:04:43.252 --> 01:04:47.812
<v SPEAKER_1>Nevertheless, as Christians, we must keep his commandments.

01:04:47.812 --> 01:04:51.072
<v SPEAKER_1>Now, must doesn't mean or you're not saved.

01:04:51.072 --> 01:04:53.112
<v SPEAKER_1>This is the hard part here, or the easy part.

01:04:53.112 --> 01:04:54.692
<v SPEAKER_1>Like, it's not tricky.

01:04:54.692 --> 01:04:57.352
<v SPEAKER_1>Yes, you must keep his commandments, and yes, you will fail.

01:04:57.352 --> 01:04:59.092
<v SPEAKER_1>And yes, you must keep them anyway.

01:04:59.092 --> 01:05:04.812
<v SPEAKER_1>That's not a source for despair, because the salvation has already taken place at the cross.

01:05:04.812 --> 01:05:10.792
<v SPEAKER_1>When we have faith, we receive the gift that was given on the cross, and we know that we're saved.

01:05:10.792 --> 01:05:14.732
<v SPEAKER_1>And in that context, keeping God's commandments is joyous.

01:05:14.732 --> 01:05:20.352
<v SPEAKER_1>Here's why it's so deadly to use the definition from John 4 against the definition in John 2.

01:05:21.192 --> 01:05:28.732
<v SPEAKER_1>If your only definition, which is the typical one for most Christians, every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.

01:05:28.732 --> 01:05:29.492
<v SPEAKER_1>Okay, great.

01:05:29.492 --> 01:05:30.372
<v SPEAKER_1>That's all our pastors.

01:05:30.372 --> 01:05:33.492
<v SPEAKER_1>It's everybody who says he's a Christian confesses Jesus came from God.

01:05:33.492 --> 01:05:34.672
<v SPEAKER_1>Okay, fine.

01:05:34.672 --> 01:05:36.272
<v SPEAKER_1>Look what we find in Luke 4.

01:05:36.272 --> 01:05:42.092
<v SPEAKER_1>And in a synagogue, there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, Ha!

01:05:42.092 --> 01:05:44.352
<v SPEAKER_1>What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?

01:05:44.352 --> 01:05:45.692
<v SPEAKER_1>Have you come to destroy us?

01:05:45.692 --> 01:05:48.092
<v SPEAKER_1>I know who you are, the Holy One of God.

01:05:48.652 --> 01:05:52.032
<v SPEAKER_1>But Jesus rebuked him, saying, Be silent and come out of him.

01:05:52.032 --> 01:05:57.132
<v SPEAKER_1>This demon confessed Jesus precisely the way 1 John 4 says to.

01:05:57.132 --> 01:05:59.232
<v SPEAKER_1>He said, You are Jesus of Nazareth.

01:05:59.232 --> 01:06:01.352
<v SPEAKER_1>You are the Holy One of God.

01:06:01.352 --> 01:06:05.472
<v SPEAKER_1>That was the very confession in John 4 that we're told is saving.

01:06:05.472 --> 01:06:07.172
<v SPEAKER_1>And this is coming from a demon.

01:06:07.172 --> 01:06:08.212
<v SPEAKER_1>Why?

01:06:08.212 --> 01:06:14.332
<v SPEAKER_1>Because he was noting a fact, but he did not keep God's commandments.

01:06:14.332 --> 01:06:15.372
<v SPEAKER_1>Demons are liars.

01:06:15.372 --> 01:06:17.812
<v SPEAKER_1>They are always and ever set against God.

01:06:18.512 --> 01:06:26.332
<v SPEAKER_1>And so the reason he was hanging out in a synagogue and then screaming only when Jesus showed up, because that was the first time there was any holiness in that place.

01:06:26.332 --> 01:06:31.572
<v SPEAKER_1>Jesus came into a synagogue where he often found demon-possessed men hanging out quite casually.

01:06:31.572 --> 01:06:36.652
<v SPEAKER_1>They're very comfortable until a Christian walked in, and then they freak out and start shouting.

01:06:36.652 --> 01:06:38.552
<v SPEAKER_1>That's a subject for another day.

01:06:38.552 --> 01:06:44.052
<v SPEAKER_1>But the confession of this demon is the same as the confession of many clerics.

01:06:44.052 --> 01:06:46.392
<v SPEAKER_1>They say, yeah, Jesus of Nazareth, he's the Holy One of God.

01:06:46.852 --> 01:06:47.832
<v SPEAKER_1>Okay, great.

01:06:47.832 --> 01:06:50.652
<v SPEAKER_1>Do you say that we keep God's commandments or we're liars?

01:06:50.652 --> 01:06:51.932
<v SPEAKER_1>No.

01:06:51.932 --> 01:06:55.712
<v SPEAKER_1>So, do you see how truth and lies are in all of these things?

01:06:55.712 --> 01:07:00.832
<v SPEAKER_1>It is always the test of if you're a liar, you disagree with anything God says.

01:07:00.832 --> 01:07:02.232
<v SPEAKER_1>Not the gospel.

01:07:02.232 --> 01:07:12.212
<v SPEAKER_1>It's very often the case, it's almost always the case, that the things that are lied about in scripture by evil men, the things that are denounced as lies, are not about the gospel.

01:07:12.212 --> 01:07:13.692
<v SPEAKER_1>They're not about how we're saved.

01:07:13.692 --> 01:07:15.292
<v SPEAKER_1>They're not about who Jesus is.

01:07:16.072 --> 01:07:19.052
<v SPEAKER_1>They're about whatever it's going to take to get you to wander.

01:07:19.052 --> 01:07:23.312
<v SPEAKER_1>And that is why Corey and I have such an adamancy about the truth.

01:07:23.312 --> 01:07:30.712
<v SPEAKER_1>If you're laser focused on all things that are true, and only those things that are true, there's no room for you to wander.

01:07:30.712 --> 01:07:32.292
<v SPEAKER_1>And no one can do it perfectly.

01:07:32.292 --> 01:07:36.012
<v SPEAKER_1>It's an impossible task even to try to just focus only on what's true.

01:07:36.012 --> 01:07:39.352
<v SPEAKER_1>And frankly, as human beings, we don't have the capacity to do that all the time.

01:07:39.352 --> 01:07:40.252
<v SPEAKER_1>We need a break.

01:07:40.252 --> 01:07:41.712
<v SPEAKER_1>Everybody needs a break.

01:07:41.712 --> 01:07:43.972
<v SPEAKER_1>It's not that you have to go 100% 24-7.

01:07:44.812 --> 01:07:47.252
<v SPEAKER_1>You would die if you tried to do that.

01:07:47.252 --> 01:07:49.232
<v SPEAKER_1>We're not exhorting perfection.

01:07:49.232 --> 01:07:50.892
<v SPEAKER_1>We're exhorting obedience.

01:07:50.892 --> 01:07:53.932
<v SPEAKER_1>And that simply begins with saying, when God said it, that means it's true.

01:07:53.932 --> 01:07:57.852
<v SPEAKER_1>And I love it because I love God, and the truth is in me.

01:07:57.852 --> 01:08:09.152
<v SPEAKER_1>When we see something that's true, like whoever doesn't keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him, love responds to that with joy, to receive that truth with gladness.

01:08:09.152 --> 01:08:11.732
<v SPEAKER_1>This is basic Christian preaching that you never hear.

01:08:12.472 --> 01:08:15.512
<v SPEAKER_1>You do not hear clerics and pastors talking about this stuff.

01:08:15.512 --> 01:08:16.812
<v SPEAKER_1>They should be.

01:08:16.812 --> 01:08:20.472
<v SPEAKER_1>This is the stuff that is most urgently needed today.

01:08:20.472 --> 01:08:24.772
<v SPEAKER_1>We need to hear that we have to obey God or we're liars.

01:08:24.772 --> 01:08:26.172
<v SPEAKER_1>When do we take lying seriously?

01:08:26.192 --> 01:08:27.752
<v SPEAKER_1>I don't lie about change.

01:08:27.752 --> 01:08:29.652
<v SPEAKER_1>I don't make stories up and hurt people.

01:08:29.652 --> 01:08:31.452
<v SPEAKER_1>I'm not a liar.

01:08:31.452 --> 01:08:35.072
<v SPEAKER_1>You ever lie about any of these things that are basic observable truths?

01:08:35.072 --> 01:08:38.292
<v SPEAKER_1>You ever lie about anything that's in the scripture?

01:08:38.292 --> 01:08:38.912
<v SPEAKER_1>Of course you do.

01:08:39.172 --> 01:08:41.912
<v SPEAKER_1>Knowingly or unknowingly, it's almost always unknowingly.

01:08:41.912 --> 01:08:43.952
<v SPEAKER_1>We're capable of making mistakes.

01:08:43.952 --> 01:08:46.592
<v SPEAKER_1>And they can be a mistake that wasn't intentional.

01:08:46.592 --> 01:08:50.612
<v SPEAKER_1>The intent doesn't matter because Satan is the father of lies.

01:08:50.612 --> 01:08:52.792
<v SPEAKER_1>He originates every lie.

01:08:52.792 --> 01:08:56.832
<v SPEAKER_1>Every lie has a father and his father's name is Satan.

01:08:56.832 --> 01:09:01.192
<v SPEAKER_1>The lie comes from hell because it causes us to wander.

01:09:01.192 --> 01:09:03.872
<v SPEAKER_1>And note that wandering is a matter of degrees.

01:09:03.872 --> 01:09:05.872
<v SPEAKER_1>The wandering is always small.

01:09:05.872 --> 01:09:08.132
<v SPEAKER_1>It's just a little bit and a little bit and a little bit.

01:09:08.892 --> 01:09:12.132
<v SPEAKER_1>It's almost never going from zero to a hundred.

01:09:12.132 --> 01:09:17.072
<v SPEAKER_1>No one goes from pursuing perfect truth to pursuing perfect evil.

01:09:17.072 --> 01:09:22.532
<v SPEAKER_1>That big sloppy area in the middle where all the opinions are hanging out, where they're not opinions at all.

01:09:22.532 --> 01:09:24.292
<v SPEAKER_1>That's what we think.

01:09:24.292 --> 01:09:25.852
<v SPEAKER_1>That's where people get sloppy.

01:09:25.852 --> 01:09:28.772
<v SPEAKER_1>That's where they get messy because they think it's fine.

01:09:28.772 --> 01:09:35.752
<v SPEAKER_1>That is Satan's playground because that place of wandering is the place where all these errors creep in.

01:09:35.752 --> 01:09:40.992
<v SPEAKER_1>And any error, see, you can call it an error, you can call it a lie, you can call it a mistake.

01:09:40.992 --> 01:09:46.052
<v SPEAKER_1>The bottom line is if it is not true as opposed to God, that's an impossible bar.

01:09:46.052 --> 01:09:53.672
<v SPEAKER_1>Logic and reason plus scripture give us access to almost everything that we need to understand.

01:09:53.672 --> 01:09:55.712
<v SPEAKER_1>There are things in scripture that are mysteries.

01:09:55.712 --> 01:10:03.232
<v SPEAKER_1>We've talked on many occasions about things that when you look at everything that scripture says, all you can do is say, Amen, I don't get it and I believe it anyway.

01:10:03.872 --> 01:10:06.252
<v SPEAKER_1>There are a few places where that's how it works.

01:10:06.252 --> 01:10:16.352
<v SPEAKER_1>When you're talking about the supernatural, about Christ nature, about communion, the only way to understand it is to say something that is objectively irrational.

01:10:17.512 --> 01:10:20.092
<v SPEAKER_1>Fully God and fully man, but it's not two separate things.

01:10:20.092 --> 01:10:21.232
<v SPEAKER_1>That's one thing.

01:10:21.232 --> 01:10:24.292
<v SPEAKER_1>All we can do is say that we can't make sense of it.

01:10:24.292 --> 01:10:29.132
<v SPEAKER_1>If you think you have it figured out, you're probably in trouble because I promise you it doesn't make sense.

01:10:29.132 --> 01:10:31.692
<v SPEAKER_1>You can say what's true and we must.

01:10:31.692 --> 01:10:33.172
<v SPEAKER_1>That's why we were given the creeds.

01:10:33.632 --> 01:10:38.412
<v SPEAKER_1>By faithful Christians 1,500 years ago, every word of the creeds is true.

01:10:38.412 --> 01:10:39.232
<v SPEAKER_1>You know, it's interesting.

01:10:39.232 --> 01:10:41.792
<v SPEAKER_1>I'm not going to do it for the sake of time here today.

01:10:41.792 --> 01:10:44.332
<v SPEAKER_1>Go read the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed.

01:10:44.332 --> 01:10:47.632
<v SPEAKER_1>The Apostles' Creed doesn't have a word of gospel in it.

01:10:47.632 --> 01:10:51.452
<v SPEAKER_1>It's a definition of Christianity and it talks about who God is.

01:10:51.452 --> 01:10:54.572
<v SPEAKER_1>Now, I'm not saying anything negative about the gospel here.

01:10:54.572 --> 01:11:01.092
<v SPEAKER_1>I'm saying that God, as he defines himself, is about more than just saving us.

01:11:01.892 --> 01:11:04.972
<v SPEAKER_1>He saves us because he loves us because he is love.

01:11:04.972 --> 01:11:06.412
<v SPEAKER_1>And that is the truth in scripture.

01:11:06.412 --> 01:11:07.632
<v SPEAKER_1>That is the truth of the gospel.

01:11:07.632 --> 01:11:10.472
<v SPEAKER_1>It's revealed to us only in scripture.

01:11:10.472 --> 01:11:17.112
<v SPEAKER_1>Nowhere else, never in the natural world, will you discover that God loves you so much that he died for you on the cross.

01:11:17.112 --> 01:11:19.092
<v SPEAKER_1>You can only find that in scripture.

01:11:19.092 --> 01:11:20.532
<v SPEAKER_1>But where do you find scripture?

01:11:20.532 --> 01:11:24.952
<v SPEAKER_1>In reality, you find it in a book, on a shelf.

01:11:24.952 --> 01:11:32.352
<v SPEAKER_1>When we don't take truth as seriously as God commands us to, we're naturally going to wander.

01:11:32.592 --> 01:11:34.512
<v SPEAKER_1>It's always going to happen.

01:11:34.512 --> 01:11:38.392
<v SPEAKER_1>And so, as we've said a couple of times, I want to reiterate it again.

01:11:38.392 --> 01:11:41.512
<v SPEAKER_1>A lot of people should have a lot of fewer opinions.

01:11:41.512 --> 01:11:45.072
<v SPEAKER_1>Don't be so quick to have an opinion, including about anything that we say.

01:11:45.072 --> 01:11:50.252
<v SPEAKER_1>We've said from the very beginning, don't just believe us because you heard it, and it sounded like a really good argument.

01:11:50.252 --> 01:11:53.412
<v SPEAKER_1>Believe it because you're convinced that it's true.

01:11:53.412 --> 01:11:57.532
<v SPEAKER_1>When that switch flips and you're like, oh man, that explains it.

01:11:57.952 --> 01:12:01.532
<v SPEAKER_1>I didn't get it before and suddenly it just clicks.

01:12:01.532 --> 01:12:03.572
<v SPEAKER_1>That is the truth in action.

01:12:03.572 --> 01:12:06.712
<v SPEAKER_1>And that's got nothing to do with where you heard it or where you read it.

01:12:06.712 --> 01:12:08.852
<v SPEAKER_1>It's true and it's yours.

01:12:08.852 --> 01:12:12.652
<v SPEAKER_1>The truth has no owner, but it has a creator and his name is God.

01:12:12.652 --> 01:12:17.772
<v SPEAKER_1>Every lie ever told to cause us to wander from that truth comes from Satan.

01:12:17.772 --> 01:12:21.672
<v SPEAKER_1>So that's the reason that both of us take lies so seriously.

01:12:21.672 --> 01:12:26.512
<v SPEAKER_1>And that's the reason we call so many things lies, that many men are like, oh, that's a mistake, it's an error.

01:12:27.352 --> 01:12:33.752
<v SPEAKER_1>If I come to you and say 2 plus 2 equals 5, you would laugh, you would think it was absurd, I was making some joke.

01:12:33.752 --> 01:12:37.152
<v SPEAKER_1>But if I become adamant, you probably just say I'm crazy.

01:12:37.152 --> 01:12:40.292
<v SPEAKER_1>It is a lie, it's a demonstrable lie.

01:12:40.292 --> 01:12:45.432
<v SPEAKER_1>Regardless of what my intention is, the things that are true are from God, even math.

01:12:45.432 --> 01:12:46.752
<v SPEAKER_1>Math is true.

01:12:46.752 --> 01:12:53.072
<v SPEAKER_1>One of the reasons that the pure sciences, the hard sciences have a lot of appeal to rational men.

01:12:53.072 --> 01:13:00.972
<v SPEAKER_1>It's the reason that men dominate those fields almost not exclusively anymore, but still very heavily, is that they are so heavily dominated by reason.

01:13:00.972 --> 01:13:03.012
<v SPEAKER_1>There's no subjectivity in math.

01:13:03.012 --> 01:13:05.632
<v SPEAKER_1>There's no subjectivity in engineering.

01:13:05.632 --> 01:13:16.472
<v SPEAKER_1>There's subjectivity in the art of how pretty a bridge is, but the mathematical forms and the equations to achieve a safe bridge, those are absolute.

01:13:16.472 --> 01:13:19.892
<v SPEAKER_1>And you violate those and you can guarantee that that bridge will fall.

01:13:19.892 --> 01:13:21.892
<v SPEAKER_1>That's true, that's truth.

01:13:21.892 --> 01:13:23.132
<v SPEAKER_1>It's got nothing to do with salvation.

01:13:23.472 --> 01:13:25.572
<v SPEAKER_1>I'm not talking about the gospel at all.

01:13:25.572 --> 01:13:30.692
<v SPEAKER_1>But if you have a gospel-centered engineer building your bridge, don't ever cross it.

01:13:30.692 --> 01:13:35.672
<v SPEAKER_1>You need an engineer who cares about the truth, who's focused on that because that's his job.

01:13:35.672 --> 01:13:41.672
<v SPEAKER_1>The gospel is necessary for those who think they can save themselves or who don't know they need salvation at all.

01:13:41.672 --> 01:13:44.852
<v SPEAKER_1>And we constantly need to have that faith renewed.

01:13:44.852 --> 01:13:46.892
<v SPEAKER_1>But it's not everything there is to say.

01:13:46.892 --> 01:13:49.532
<v SPEAKER_1>Don't let someone come along and distract you.

01:13:50.132 --> 01:13:54.152
<v SPEAKER_1>Just the same distracted Eve with the wrong question at the wrong time.

01:13:54.152 --> 01:13:58.632
<v SPEAKER_1>Because that trick is exactly why every one of us is condemned to death.

01:14:00.012 --> 01:14:04.612
<v SPEAKER_2>Some of these things may seem like relatively minor matters.

01:14:04.612 --> 01:14:08.452
<v SPEAKER_2>For instance, 2 plus 2 equals 4 is true.

01:14:08.452 --> 01:14:10.652
<v SPEAKER_2>2 plus 2 equals 5 is false.

01:14:10.652 --> 01:14:12.892
<v SPEAKER_2>That may seem like a minor matter to you.

01:14:12.892 --> 01:14:18.692
<v SPEAKER_2>As Will was saying, if you're building a bridge, that error, that lie is no longer a minor matter.

01:14:19.472 --> 01:14:25.752
<v SPEAKER_2>The same is true with regard to so many of these things that we encounter in our everyday lives.

01:14:25.752 --> 01:14:31.032
<v SPEAKER_2>If someone says something that is false, it may be obviously false.

01:14:31.032 --> 01:14:34.712
<v SPEAKER_2>It may not be obviously false, but still false.

01:14:34.712 --> 01:14:36.672
<v SPEAKER_2>It may seem something small.

01:14:36.672 --> 01:14:40.992
<v SPEAKER_2>It may seem like a matter that you can just set aside or let slide.

01:14:42.032 --> 01:14:45.272
<v SPEAKER_2>But the question is always, where does that lead?

01:14:46.492 --> 01:14:52.432
<v SPEAKER_2>What are the consequences of that false belief, of that lie?

01:14:52.452 --> 01:15:06.852
<v SPEAKER_2>Even minor errors or small lies, depending on perhaps the intent here, but even small lies over time can build into something monstrous.

01:15:08.052 --> 01:15:15.612
<v SPEAKER_2>The Reformation was not undoing an error, a false teaching, a lie.

01:15:17.492 --> 01:15:28.092
<v SPEAKER_2>Of a year ago, or a decade, or even a century, Satan built up false teaching in the church over centuries.

01:15:29.852 --> 01:15:35.792
<v SPEAKER_2>He does the same thing in society, and we see the fruits of that today.

01:15:35.792 --> 01:15:48.632
<v SPEAKER_2>All the little false things that he injected into society over centuries are coming to a head, and many Christian men are defending the outcome of all of those lies.

01:15:48.632 --> 01:15:54.312
<v SPEAKER_2>They're defending the conclusions because they aren't examining the etymology.

01:15:54.312 --> 01:15:58.192
<v SPEAKER_2>They aren't examining the pedigree of the things they believe.

01:15:58.192 --> 01:16:07.072
<v SPEAKER_2>A good example of this that comes from everyday life, as it were, something with which many of you will be familiar, in some cases, perhaps even first hand.

01:16:09.212 --> 01:16:15.772
<v SPEAKER_2>We have lost spacecraft because of a minor imperfection in the heat shielding.

01:16:17.292 --> 01:16:25.392
<v SPEAKER_2>You could be missing a few tiles if it happens to be in the wrong place, and you can lose a billion dollar spacecraft.

01:16:26.592 --> 01:16:35.112
<v SPEAKER_2>We've had minor miscalculations and slammed things into Mars at ballistic speed, instead of landing on the planet.

01:16:36.652 --> 01:16:49.232
<v SPEAKER_2>These are the sorts of things that happen with seemingly minor errors, seemingly minor falsehoods, somewhere at some point, perhaps far back in some cases.

01:16:50.352 --> 01:17:09.112
<v SPEAKER_2>Things that are minor or seem minor often are not so, and particularly when it comes to matters of the truth, because again, any lie is lying about the things of God, because all truth flows from God.

01:17:09.112 --> 01:17:12.872
<v SPEAKER_2>That is why God hates lying lips.

01:17:12.872 --> 01:17:20.512
<v SPEAKER_2>God hates liars, because liars are necessarily lying ultimately about God.

01:17:20.512 --> 01:17:24.372
<v SPEAKER_2>Think of the words of David, against you, you only have I sinned.

01:17:25.452 --> 01:17:34.432
<v SPEAKER_2>Yes, you are harming others with your sins, because don't forget, David was saying that after he stole a man's wife and had him murdered.

01:17:34.432 --> 01:17:36.972
<v SPEAKER_2>So certainly he sinned against the man as well.

01:17:36.972 --> 01:17:41.032
<v SPEAKER_2>But ultimately speaking, all sin is against God.

01:17:41.032 --> 01:17:45.952
<v SPEAKER_2>And so of course, all lies, in the sense we are using this, are against God.

01:17:45.952 --> 01:17:49.632
<v SPEAKER_2>I want to give that carve out I mentioned earlier.

01:17:49.632 --> 01:17:55.072
<v SPEAKER_2>The most obvious example would be, I'll give a very easy one to grasp, a blunt one.

01:17:56.812 --> 01:18:16.552
<v SPEAKER_2>If you work in criminal law, and you are a detective or a DA, be most likely one of those two, and you happen to be dealing with a particularly gruesome crime scene, you do not need to give all and exact information to the family of the victim.

01:18:16.552 --> 01:18:21.292
<v SPEAKER_2>It may very well be that some of the things you say are in fact lies.

01:18:21.292 --> 01:18:27.252
<v SPEAKER_2>But those would be those lies earlier that mentioned, with the beneficial intent.

01:18:27.252 --> 01:18:29.192
<v SPEAKER_2>Those are not in view here.

01:18:29.192 --> 01:18:35.412
<v SPEAKER_2>Some of those things are necessary simply to keep society running as best we can.

01:18:35.412 --> 01:18:37.472
<v SPEAKER_2>That's not what's in view here.

01:18:37.472 --> 01:18:50.392
<v SPEAKER_2>We're talking about things where you are lying about reality in a destructive way, in a harmful way, a deceitful way, a malicious way, the kind of lies that Satan tells.

01:18:51.432 --> 01:18:57.532
<v SPEAKER_2>And even these small lies, again, build up over time.

01:18:57.532 --> 01:19:06.112
<v SPEAKER_2>These sorts of things, in fact, many great sins, as it were, don't start off as a big sin.

01:19:06.112 --> 01:19:09.012
<v SPEAKER_2>They start off as something small.

01:19:10.052 --> 01:19:13.332
<v SPEAKER_2>Don Giovanni or Lothario doesn't open up.

01:19:13.332 --> 01:19:18.312
<v SPEAKER_2>His opening line isn't, would you like to go commit adultery?

01:19:18.312 --> 01:19:19.812
<v SPEAKER_2>That's not how these things work.

01:19:21.412 --> 01:19:24.552
<v SPEAKER_2>These things start off small.

01:19:24.552 --> 01:19:28.192
<v SPEAKER_2>False teaching in the church starts off small.

01:19:28.192 --> 01:19:31.072
<v SPEAKER_2>It's the wrong emphasis on an answer.

01:19:31.072 --> 01:19:34.632
<v SPEAKER_2>It's the wrong wording of a question, perhaps maliciously.

01:19:36.292 --> 01:19:43.632
<v SPEAKER_2>In the case of the question, it may be that Satan is maliciously wording the question in order to deceive.

01:19:43.632 --> 01:19:48.512
<v SPEAKER_2>Now, wording a question in order to trap someone is not always wrongful.

01:19:48.512 --> 01:19:49.412
<v SPEAKER_2>Intent matters.

01:19:50.132 --> 01:20:05.512
<v SPEAKER_2>If you are a teacher and particularly if you are a teacher of teachers, it may very well be that you should ask some questions that are traps, because you are instructing your students to be wary of those things, to be prepared for them.

01:20:05.512 --> 01:20:07.552
<v SPEAKER_2>That intent matters.

01:20:07.552 --> 01:20:11.812
<v SPEAKER_2>But Satan, when he uses these things, he knows where he's going.

01:20:11.812 --> 01:20:14.132
<v SPEAKER_2>He knows what he wants to accomplish.

01:20:14.132 --> 01:20:19.172
<v SPEAKER_2>He is attempting to lead you astray, to lead the church astray, to lead society astray.

01:20:20.492 --> 01:20:32.672
<v SPEAKER_2>And so lying about things that may seem small, that may seem minor, that may seem like something over which there's no real reason to fight, that may be how it starts.

01:20:32.672 --> 01:20:35.492
<v SPEAKER_2>That is never where it ends.

01:20:35.492 --> 01:20:39.092
<v SPEAKER_2>Because sins compound, sins get worse.

01:20:39.092 --> 01:20:55.852
<v SPEAKER_2>As we have mentioned so many times, in life, in all things, and for all things, not just for human beings, but for nations, for civilizations, for empires, for organizations, for churches, you are always headed Godward or Hellward.

01:20:57.112 --> 01:20:58.772
<v SPEAKER_2>There is no other option.

01:20:58.772 --> 01:21:02.032
<v SPEAKER_2>You cannot stand still in this life.

01:21:02.032 --> 01:21:04.892
<v SPEAKER_2>The only thing that stands still is death.

01:21:04.892 --> 01:21:06.772
<v SPEAKER_2>Life doesn't stand still.

01:21:06.772 --> 01:21:09.852
<v SPEAKER_2>And so you are moving in one direction or the other.

01:21:11.272 --> 01:21:24.452
<v SPEAKER_2>If you are supporting, and most certainly if you are telling, echoing, supporting, defending lies, you are moving Hellward because you are certainly moving away from God.

01:21:24.452 --> 01:21:31.152
<v SPEAKER_2>And so defending the truth is a worthy endeavor, even if it seems like a small truth.

01:21:31.152 --> 01:21:33.452
<v SPEAKER_2>Why would you give Satan the opening?

01:21:34.612 --> 01:21:36.692
<v SPEAKER_2>Oh, it's just a chink in the armor.

01:21:37.832 --> 01:21:39.772
<v SPEAKER_2>Why would you permit that?

01:21:39.772 --> 01:21:41.452
<v SPEAKER_2>Why would you leave that weakness?

01:21:41.912 --> 01:21:45.252
<v SPEAKER_2>You don't leave an opening for Satan.

01:21:46.772 --> 01:21:54.772
<v SPEAKER_2>Perhaps it's because I live in the South, but one of the examples that immediately springs to mind is mosquito netting, or perhaps it's because I like camping.

01:21:56.132 --> 01:22:04.412
<v SPEAKER_2>You don't leave a 2 cm or even a 1 cm hole in your mosquito net, because if you do that, the net is worthless.

01:22:05.492 --> 01:22:13.452
<v SPEAKER_2>You haven't accomplished anything, because the mosquitoes will definitely find that opening, as everyone who lives in an area with mosquitoes knows full well.

01:22:13.452 --> 01:22:15.672
<v SPEAKER_2>You do not leave a chink in the armor.

01:22:15.672 --> 01:22:29.852
<v SPEAKER_2>You do not leave somewhere undefended, particularly when you are dealing with an enemy that is as intent on finding that opening, that is as persistent as a mosquito or Satan.

01:22:29.852 --> 01:22:32.412
<v SPEAKER_2>Satan is going to find the opening.

01:22:32.412 --> 01:22:37.012
<v SPEAKER_2>It's one of the reasons that he identifies with the serpent, and it's described as a serpent.

01:22:38.352 --> 01:22:43.492
<v SPEAKER_2>Everyone who knows about snakes knows if the head fits, the snake fits.

01:22:43.492 --> 01:22:51.012
<v SPEAKER_2>If the snake can get its head through an opening, the rest of the snake is going to follow, and it's getting in wherever that place is.

01:22:51.012 --> 01:23:02.172
<v SPEAKER_2>So if you leave an opening in, say, your chicken coop, if you live in an area where snakes steal your chickens, if it's big enough for the snake's head, you're losing your chickens.

01:23:03.212 --> 01:23:06.812
<v SPEAKER_2>Incidentally, raccoons are pretty devious too at squeezing through small places.

01:23:08.132 --> 01:23:09.652
<v SPEAKER_2>But you can't leave that opening.

01:23:09.652 --> 01:23:19.292
<v SPEAKER_2>Because when you leave the opening, what seemed small at the time turns out, in hindsight, to be particularly destructive.

01:23:20.752 --> 01:23:26.732
<v SPEAKER_2>And when it comes down to it, at base, every lie comes at a cost.

01:23:26.732 --> 01:23:29.292
<v SPEAKER_2>A number of costs, really.

01:23:29.292 --> 01:23:38.252
<v SPEAKER_2>It may be that you do not pay the cost, although you will certainly pay the personal cost that comes with denying the truth.

01:23:38.252 --> 01:23:41.672
<v SPEAKER_2>But someone will pay the full cost.

01:23:41.672 --> 01:23:45.932
<v SPEAKER_2>We'll pay that cost each and every time.

01:23:45.932 --> 01:23:49.252
<v SPEAKER_2>I want you to think of the example of sin.

01:23:49.252 --> 01:23:53.112
<v SPEAKER_2>We all pay for our own sins in our own lives.

01:23:53.112 --> 01:23:56.352
<v SPEAKER_2>There's a certain cost, a certain personal cost to sin.

01:23:56.352 --> 01:24:00.092
<v SPEAKER_2>Some sins have significantly higher costs than others.

01:24:01.712 --> 01:24:03.632
<v SPEAKER_2>But you don't pay the full cost of that sin.

01:24:04.612 --> 01:24:08.312
<v SPEAKER_2>You can't pay the full cost of that sin.

01:24:08.312 --> 01:24:09.832
<v SPEAKER_2>That's good news and bad news, of course.

01:24:09.832 --> 01:24:11.132
<v SPEAKER_2>It's bad news if you're not a Christian.

01:24:11.132 --> 01:24:13.232
<v SPEAKER_2>It's great news if you are.

01:24:13.232 --> 01:24:16.612
<v SPEAKER_2>Because Christ paid that full cost on the cross.

01:24:16.612 --> 01:24:22.152
<v SPEAKER_2>Because the cost of sin, the debt owed to the truth, is infinite.

01:24:22.152 --> 01:24:25.312
<v SPEAKER_2>And so only Christ could pay that.

01:24:25.312 --> 01:24:29.352
<v SPEAKER_2>Those in hell are paying for their sins.

01:24:29.352 --> 01:24:39.012
<v SPEAKER_2>But because they are finite, and the debt is infinite, the punishment is also necessarily infinite.

01:24:39.012 --> 01:24:46.772
<v SPEAKER_2>They are attempting to pay an infinite cost, an infinite debt, with a finite amount of currency.

01:24:47.932 --> 01:24:50.392
<v SPEAKER_2>And that is why hell is eternal.

01:24:50.392 --> 01:24:55.352
<v SPEAKER_2>And that is why it was necessary for Christ to die in our place.

01:24:55.352 --> 01:25:00.072
<v SPEAKER_2>Because Christ being God, his worth, his value is infinite.

01:25:00.832 --> 01:25:04.572
<v SPEAKER_2>And so he cancels the debt of sin against us.

01:25:04.572 --> 01:25:10.192
<v SPEAKER_2>But every lie incurs a debt to the truth.

01:25:10.192 --> 01:25:13.052
<v SPEAKER_2>Someone will pay that.

01:25:13.052 --> 01:25:17.552
<v SPEAKER_2>In the sense that lies are sin, Christ has paid that.

01:25:17.552 --> 01:25:20.392
<v SPEAKER_2>But do remember there are also temporal costs.

01:25:20.392 --> 01:25:24.292
<v SPEAKER_2>And so society will pay the cost of these lies.

01:25:24.292 --> 01:25:26.332
<v SPEAKER_2>You can see this across the world.

01:25:26.332 --> 01:25:34.552
<v SPEAKER_2>The societies in which truth is valued, in which it is held in high esteem, in which honor matters, are better societies.

01:25:34.552 --> 01:25:36.732
<v SPEAKER_2>Those are the places you want to live.

01:25:36.732 --> 01:25:41.972
<v SPEAKER_2>The places in which lying is as easy as one breathes, no one wants to live there.

01:25:41.972 --> 01:25:46.012
<v SPEAKER_2>That's why they're fleeing from those locations, to destroy the better ones.

01:25:46.012 --> 01:25:47.752
<v SPEAKER_2>The truth matters.

01:25:47.752 --> 01:25:58.332
<v SPEAKER_2>The truth will build up a society, or if you deny and denigrate the truth, that rejection of the truth, those lies will tear down and destroy society.

01:26:00.072 --> 01:26:07.692
<v SPEAKER_2>It will do the same thing in your life, in your relationships, in your church, in your country.

01:26:07.692 --> 01:26:10.692
<v SPEAKER_2>The truth absolutely matters.

01:26:10.692 --> 01:26:14.572
<v SPEAKER_2>This is not something over which Christians get to agree or disagree.

01:26:14.572 --> 01:26:17.152
<v SPEAKER_2>This is not a matter of opinion.

01:26:17.152 --> 01:26:24.672
<v SPEAKER_2>Speaking the truth, yes, of course, as best we can in love, but speaking the truth matters.

01:26:24.672 --> 01:26:29.452
<v SPEAKER_2>And that is part of what it means to love someone, is speaking the truth.

01:26:29.452 --> 01:26:32.252
<v SPEAKER_2>I'm not talking again about those white lies.

01:26:32.252 --> 01:26:38.072
<v SPEAKER_2>I'm talking about lying to someone in a way that is destructive or harmful.

01:26:38.072 --> 01:26:40.492
<v SPEAKER_2>You can think of the obvious examples.

01:26:40.492 --> 01:26:45.952
<v SPEAKER_2>If you tell a drug addict, Jesus loves you just as you are.

01:26:45.952 --> 01:26:47.632
<v SPEAKER_2>That's harmful.

01:26:47.632 --> 01:26:53.392
<v SPEAKER_2>You can tell him Jesus loves him, but Jesus wants him to repent and change his ways.

01:26:53.392 --> 01:26:55.772
<v SPEAKER_2>He doesn't want him to continue being a drug addict.

01:26:56.672 --> 01:27:00.032
<v SPEAKER_2>He doesn't want a prostitute to continue being a prostitute.

01:27:00.032 --> 01:27:01.932
<v SPEAKER_2>Go and sin no more.

01:27:03.012 --> 01:27:07.092
<v SPEAKER_2>Telling the person the truth matters.

01:27:07.092 --> 01:27:11.032
<v SPEAKER_2>So you can tell a sodomite, Jesus loves you.

01:27:11.032 --> 01:27:16.012
<v SPEAKER_2>But you also have to mention, Jesus hates your so-called lifestyle.

01:27:16.012 --> 01:27:19.892
<v SPEAKER_2>He hates what you are doing because he hates sin.

01:27:19.892 --> 01:27:22.332
<v SPEAKER_2>And yes, he also hates sinners.

01:27:22.332 --> 01:27:24.632
<v SPEAKER_2>So you need to turn from your sin.

01:27:24.992 --> 01:27:28.412
<v SPEAKER_2>You need to repent and be forgiven of your sin.

01:27:28.412 --> 01:27:31.072
<v SPEAKER_2>You need to go and sin no more.

01:27:31.072 --> 01:27:41.812
<v SPEAKER_2>It is necessary to tell that truth, because if you do not tell that truth, then you are displaying in fact not love, but hatred in the form of indifference.

01:27:41.812 --> 01:27:48.152
<v SPEAKER_2>Or if you wish to distinguish those two, indifference, which quite frankly is worse than hatred.

01:27:51.092 --> 01:27:54.152
<v SPEAKER_2>As Christians, we need to defend the truth.

01:27:54.592 --> 01:27:56.632
<v SPEAKER_2>We need to be known for speaking the truth.

01:27:56.632 --> 01:27:59.332
<v SPEAKER_2>We need to be known for defending the truth.

01:27:59.332 --> 01:28:02.332
<v SPEAKER_2>And that's not just the truth that's easy.

01:28:02.332 --> 01:28:07.772
<v SPEAKER_2>It's not just the truth that gets you awards from polite society.

01:28:07.772 --> 01:28:15.692
<v SPEAKER_2>It's not just going to the anti-abortion march, which is very easy for Christians to do, because Christians don't disagree on that issue.

01:28:15.692 --> 01:28:20.352
<v SPEAKER_2>And yes, I'm saying that those who think abortion is fine are not Christians, because they aren't.

01:28:20.352 --> 01:28:22.712
<v SPEAKER_2>They've demonstrated that in their beliefs and in their actions.

01:28:24.132 --> 01:28:28.892
<v SPEAKER_2>But that's the easy truth to defend, because that's the one for which you get awards.

01:28:28.892 --> 01:28:34.472
<v SPEAKER_2>That's the one for which people slap you on the back, and shake your hand, and say, aren't you a good person?

01:28:35.852 --> 01:28:51.332
<v SPEAKER_2>The truth that need defended the most are those that are unpopular, those that will not get you a handshake, those that will get you shunned in polite society or cast out, because those are the places where Satan is attacking.

01:28:52.992 --> 01:28:58.032
<v SPEAKER_2>Satan isn't attacking the places where you can get away with speaking the truth.

01:28:58.032 --> 01:28:59.412
<v SPEAKER_2>Why would he care?

01:28:59.412 --> 01:29:00.812
<v SPEAKER_2>That doesn't matter.

01:29:00.812 --> 01:29:14.092
<v SPEAKER_2>He can tear down some other section of the wall, and infiltrate all of these things, your life, your relationships, your church, your society, because no one's paying attention to that part of the wall.

01:29:15.252 --> 01:29:28.312
<v SPEAKER_2>Whatever is undefended, that is what Satan is going to attack, and that, specifically, is the place where Christian men must be ready and willing to defend the truth at all costs.

01:29:29.652 --> 01:29:38.672
<v SPEAKER_1>One of the specific problems that we face today is that men don't really take the Word of God as seriously as they think they do.

01:29:38.672 --> 01:29:42.552
<v SPEAKER_1>Now, the good news is that that's a very easy thing to reframe.

01:29:42.552 --> 01:29:46.112
<v SPEAKER_1>Okay, you love scripture, you love every word from the mouth of God, good.

01:29:46.112 --> 01:29:47.512
<v SPEAKER_1>That's exactly what you need to do.

01:29:48.432 --> 01:29:50.352
<v SPEAKER_1>Here's what God's word says.

01:29:50.352 --> 01:29:56.652
<v SPEAKER_1>The Christian should respond with, Amen, and Lord forgive me, if he disagreed with it.

01:29:56.652 --> 01:30:01.032
<v SPEAKER_1>The Christian cannot respond to the Word of God with, I don't like that.

01:30:01.032 --> 01:30:02.512
<v SPEAKER_1>That doesn't sound right.

01:30:02.512 --> 01:30:14.312
<v SPEAKER_1>And yet, that is the normal experience that we often have when we point to the parts of scripture that are neglected, that are misunderstood, that are reviled because they're inconvenient.

01:30:14.312 --> 01:30:20.432
<v SPEAKER_1>Because some of the words from the mouth of God apply to the parts that we're getting wrong today.

01:30:20.432 --> 01:30:27.272
<v SPEAKER_1>And that includes this pernicious lie that, well, that's not the gospel is anything other than a deception.

01:30:27.272 --> 01:30:30.412
<v SPEAKER_1>Anyone who ever says that to you is a liar.

01:30:30.412 --> 01:30:36.352
<v SPEAKER_1>I can guarantee you 99% of the time when someone says, well, that's not the gospel, it's totally irrelevant.

01:30:36.352 --> 01:30:39.332
<v SPEAKER_1>And for them to do that is to commit deception.

01:30:39.332 --> 01:30:41.272
<v SPEAKER_1>And they're doing it in the name of God.

01:30:41.272 --> 01:30:45.372
<v SPEAKER_1>I'm going to read several passages for you to illustrate exactly what I'm talking about here.

01:30:46.612 --> 01:30:52.612
<v SPEAKER_1>For Matthew 4, Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

01:30:52.612 --> 01:30:55.892
<v SPEAKER_1>And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.

01:30:55.892 --> 01:31:02.072
<v SPEAKER_1>And the tempter came to him and said, If you are the son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.

01:31:02.072 --> 01:31:10.792
<v SPEAKER_1>But he answered, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but from every word that comes from the mouth of God.

01:31:10.792 --> 01:31:13.432
<v SPEAKER_1>This is the first time in scripture that Jesus says it is written.

01:31:14.092 --> 01:31:16.892
<v SPEAKER_1>And incidentally, he is quoting the Septuagint.

01:31:16.892 --> 01:31:23.172
<v SPEAKER_1>I checked, I was hoping that Satan would have quoted the Hebrew, but he didn't use the Septuagint too, which frankly is even better.

01:31:23.172 --> 01:31:28.192
<v SPEAKER_1>Because Satan doesn't try to argue over the nature of things, he tries to twist them.

01:31:28.192 --> 01:31:35.672
<v SPEAKER_1>So even Satan concedes that scripture is the Septuagint and that the Septuagint is breathed out by God.

01:31:35.672 --> 01:31:39.272
<v SPEAKER_1>So Jesus says, Every word from the mouth of God is what man shall live by.

01:31:39.272 --> 01:31:40.132
<v SPEAKER_1>Okay, great.

01:31:40.132 --> 01:31:40.712
<v SPEAKER_1>We all believe that.

01:31:40.812 --> 01:31:44.392
<v SPEAKER_1>Some of you probably have it hanging up on a wall in your house.

01:31:44.392 --> 01:31:51.692
<v SPEAKER_1>Here are some of the words of God that have to do with the gospel that you probably didn't pay attention to before, and you probably don't like it when you hear it.

01:31:51.692 --> 01:31:53.112
<v SPEAKER_1>Listen carefully.

01:31:53.112 --> 01:32:05.112
<v SPEAKER_1>Revelation 14, Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people.

01:32:05.112 --> 01:32:16.832
<v SPEAKER_1>And he said with a loud voice, Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.

01:32:16.832 --> 01:32:20.432
<v SPEAKER_1>So what's the eternal gospel in heaven?

01:32:20.432 --> 01:32:22.312
<v SPEAKER_1>Fear God and give him glory.

01:32:22.312 --> 01:32:25.972
<v SPEAKER_1>If someone says, well, that's not the gospel, who's right?

01:32:25.972 --> 01:32:30.012
<v SPEAKER_1>Now gospel is used in two different senses, and both are valuable.

01:32:30.012 --> 01:32:35.552
<v SPEAKER_1>Again, none of what we are saying here today is an anyway attack on John 3.16.

01:32:35.552 --> 01:32:41.972
<v SPEAKER_1>It's precious to every Christian, but every word from the mouth of God is not the gospel, not in that sense.

01:32:41.972 --> 01:32:49.292
<v SPEAKER_1>However, every word is from the mouth of God and is the gospel, which is to say the good news, because it came from God.

01:32:49.292 --> 01:32:56.972
<v SPEAKER_1>So what Jesus said about every word being something we need to hang on applies to the eternal gospel, which is fear God and give him glory.

01:32:56.972 --> 01:32:58.552
<v SPEAKER_1>That's all law.

01:32:58.552 --> 01:33:00.712
<v SPEAKER_1>God says that the law is the gospel.

01:33:00.712 --> 01:33:02.292
<v SPEAKER_1>I'm not confusing the two.

01:33:02.292 --> 01:33:06.672
<v SPEAKER_1>Lutheran heads are detonating right now, because that's some sort of cardinal sin.

01:33:07.232 --> 01:33:07.992
<v SPEAKER_1>It's not.

01:33:07.992 --> 01:33:10.432
<v SPEAKER_1>It's talking about something completely different.

01:33:10.432 --> 01:33:14.052
<v SPEAKER_1>Every word of scripture is from the mouth of God, and that makes it good.

01:33:14.052 --> 01:33:15.852
<v SPEAKER_1>That makes it true.

01:33:15.852 --> 01:33:18.092
<v SPEAKER_1>These are definitional.

01:33:18.092 --> 01:33:21.792
<v SPEAKER_1>It gets worse from there for you guys who don't like that version of the gospel.

01:33:21.792 --> 01:33:24.092
<v SPEAKER_1>Second Thessalonians 1.

01:33:24.092 --> 01:33:35.352
<v SPEAKER_1>This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God for which you are also suffering, since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you.

01:33:36.292 --> 01:33:52.572
<v SPEAKER_1>And to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

01:33:52.572 --> 01:34:07.292
<v SPEAKER_1>They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of God and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled among all who have believed, because our testimony to you is believed.

01:34:07.292 --> 01:34:10.672
<v SPEAKER_1>To this end, we will always pray for you.

01:34:10.672 --> 01:34:20.492
<v SPEAKER_1>Jesus is coming in flaming fire to inflict vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of Lord Jesus.

01:34:20.492 --> 01:34:22.232
<v SPEAKER_1>Does that sound like the gospel to you?

01:34:22.232 --> 01:34:23.192
<v SPEAKER_1>Obey the gospel?

01:34:23.192 --> 01:34:24.292
<v SPEAKER_1>Is that the gospel?

01:34:24.292 --> 01:34:27.912
<v SPEAKER_1>It should be, because that's what God says very clearly.

01:34:27.912 --> 01:34:31.652
<v SPEAKER_1>He's saying the same thing in 2 Thessalonians that he says in Revelation.

01:34:32.732 --> 01:34:38.572
<v SPEAKER_1>It's not the narrow gospel of we are saved because of Christ's death on the cross.

01:34:38.572 --> 01:34:43.472
<v SPEAKER_1>It is the gospel, the good word, the good news of every word from the mouth of God.

01:34:43.472 --> 01:34:47.512
<v SPEAKER_1>If we don't love this gospel too, we don't love God.

01:34:47.512 --> 01:34:52.492
<v SPEAKER_1>Obeying the gospel is what God says saves us.

01:34:52.492 --> 01:34:54.452
<v SPEAKER_1>Christians have to deal with that.

01:34:54.452 --> 01:34:57.612
<v SPEAKER_1>And again, the conclusion is not works righteousness.

01:34:57.612 --> 01:35:03.072
<v SPEAKER_1>This is not dabbling in Pelagianism or semi-Pelagianism or any sort of heresy.

01:35:03.072 --> 01:35:04.892
<v SPEAKER_1>It's saying that what God says is true.

01:35:04.892 --> 01:35:06.732
<v SPEAKER_1>Let's take it seriously.

01:35:06.732 --> 01:35:09.592
<v SPEAKER_1>There's nothing I can ever do to save myself.

01:35:09.592 --> 01:35:12.612
<v SPEAKER_1>And yet I am commanded by God to obey the gospel.

01:35:12.612 --> 01:35:21.732
<v SPEAKER_1>And if my response to those words from the mouth of God is anger, is umbrage, is disgust or confusion, something's wrong with me.

01:35:21.732 --> 01:35:23.712
<v SPEAKER_1>Nothing's wrong with God's word.

01:35:23.712 --> 01:35:26.332
<v SPEAKER_1>It's wrong with what I thought the gospel was.

01:35:26.332 --> 01:35:28.832
<v SPEAKER_1>And again, it's two different things, not two different things.

01:35:29.452 --> 01:35:34.992
<v SPEAKER_1>The gospel, John 3.16, is a subset of the gospel, every word from God.

01:35:34.992 --> 01:35:37.652
<v SPEAKER_1>The man who runs around shouting, but that's not the gospel.

01:35:37.652 --> 01:35:39.212
<v SPEAKER_1>Where's the gospel in that?

01:35:39.212 --> 01:35:43.372
<v SPEAKER_1>Is a liar, because he doesn't love this part of scripture.

01:35:43.372 --> 01:35:46.872
<v SPEAKER_1>He doesn't love the parts of scripture that calls cretins liars.

01:35:46.872 --> 01:35:48.412
<v SPEAKER_1>He doesn't love any of that stuff.

01:35:48.412 --> 01:35:53.212
<v SPEAKER_1>He loves the part that gets him off the hook when he's hating Christians.

01:35:53.212 --> 01:35:55.332
<v SPEAKER_1>1 Peter 4 says the same thing.

01:35:55.332 --> 01:35:57.832
<v SPEAKER_1>Yet again, this is an eschatological period.

01:35:58.872 --> 01:36:06.032
<v SPEAKER_1>Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.

01:36:06.032 --> 01:36:12.632
<v SPEAKER_1>But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.

01:36:12.632 --> 01:36:18.172
<v SPEAKER_1>If you were insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

01:36:18.172 --> 01:36:23.432
<v SPEAKER_1>But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler.

01:36:24.292 --> 01:36:29.692
<v SPEAKER_1>Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.

01:36:29.692 --> 01:36:32.972
<v SPEAKER_1>For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God.

01:36:32.972 --> 01:36:37.952
<v SPEAKER_1>And if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

01:36:37.952 --> 01:36:43.492
<v SPEAKER_1>And if the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?

01:36:43.492 --> 01:36:51.132
<v SPEAKER_1>Therefore, let those who suffer according to God's will and trust their souls to a faithful creator while doing good.

01:36:51.132 --> 01:36:51.632
<v SPEAKER_1>And that's it.

01:36:52.632 --> 01:36:59.012
<v SPEAKER_1>Let those who suffer according to God's will and trust their souls to a faithful creator while doing good.

01:36:59.012 --> 01:37:00.592
<v SPEAKER_1>That's not saving ourselves.

01:37:00.592 --> 01:37:02.852
<v SPEAKER_1>That's obeying the gospel.

01:37:02.852 --> 01:37:07.892
<v SPEAKER_1>We're not pointing these things out to try to shift the emphasis of Christianity.

01:37:07.892 --> 01:37:11.032
<v SPEAKER_1>We're trying to point out that these are some neglected matters.

01:37:11.032 --> 01:37:13.652
<v SPEAKER_1>We don't need to do another whole episode on that.

01:37:13.652 --> 01:37:18.552
<v SPEAKER_1>But when you find these passages, they have a fundamentally different definition of the gospel.

01:37:18.552 --> 01:37:20.712
<v SPEAKER_1>One that says, fear and love God.

01:37:20.712 --> 01:37:22.832
<v SPEAKER_1>One that says, obey the gospel.

01:37:22.832 --> 01:37:28.832
<v SPEAKER_1>If your first instinct is to hate those words from the mouth of God, you have a deep-seated spiritual problem.

01:37:28.832 --> 01:37:31.612
<v SPEAKER_1>The good news is, it's very simple to fix.

01:37:31.612 --> 01:37:34.992
<v SPEAKER_1>You have been taught falsely by someone who was a false prophet.

01:37:34.992 --> 01:37:38.292
<v SPEAKER_1>Probably a well-intentioned man who was repeating what he heard.

01:37:38.292 --> 01:37:39.532
<v SPEAKER_1>He didn't know any better.

01:37:39.532 --> 01:37:44.152
<v SPEAKER_1>He either never read these parts or just glazed over them, didn't believe in them, whatever.

01:37:45.532 --> 01:37:49.852
<v SPEAKER_1>It doesn't change what God is or who He is or what He has said.

01:37:49.852 --> 01:37:52.892
<v SPEAKER_1>When God tells us something, that means it's true.

01:37:52.892 --> 01:37:55.152
<v SPEAKER_1>It includes obeying the gospel.

01:37:55.152 --> 01:37:57.492
<v SPEAKER_1>It's good news because of that last sentence.

01:37:57.492 --> 01:38:05.512
<v SPEAKER_1>Therefore, let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.

01:38:05.512 --> 01:38:08.072
<v SPEAKER_1>The faithful Creator keeps His promises to us.

01:38:08.072 --> 01:38:12.332
<v SPEAKER_1>He keeps the promises of the gospel that says that He died for our salvation.

01:38:12.372 --> 01:38:14.572
<v SPEAKER_1>And that Christ died for our salvation.

01:38:14.572 --> 01:38:16.652
<v SPEAKER_1>And therefore, we do good.

01:38:16.652 --> 01:38:19.932
<v SPEAKER_1>This is the Christian life, to obey the gospel.

01:38:19.932 --> 01:38:26.592
<v SPEAKER_1>Any pastor, any cleric who comes to you with another message than this comes from hell.

01:38:26.592 --> 01:38:29.612
<v SPEAKER_1>He is a liar whose conscience is seared.

01:38:29.612 --> 01:38:31.952
<v SPEAKER_1>Because these are the plain words of God.

01:38:31.952 --> 01:38:33.212
<v SPEAKER_1>These aren't tricky.

01:38:33.212 --> 01:38:38.672
<v SPEAKER_1>There's no subtle reading of this that turns obey the gospel into don't worry about it.

01:38:38.672 --> 01:38:39.632
<v SPEAKER_1>Not how this works.

01:38:40.272 --> 01:38:42.632
<v SPEAKER_1>There's no possible argument against this.

01:38:42.632 --> 01:38:44.772
<v SPEAKER_1>This is truth.

01:38:44.792 --> 01:38:46.612
<v SPEAKER_1>I am not mistaken here.

01:38:46.612 --> 01:38:50.452
<v SPEAKER_1>Either I'm telling the truth or I'm a liar and I am damned.

01:38:50.452 --> 01:38:54.052
<v SPEAKER_1>If I'm a liar and I'm damned, it's for saying exactly what God said.

01:38:54.052 --> 01:38:57.512
<v SPEAKER_1>But there's no mistaking these sorts of passages.

01:38:57.512 --> 01:39:03.292
<v SPEAKER_1>We as Christians need to have a kind of passion for the truth that allows us to see these and say amen.

01:39:03.292 --> 01:39:10.532
<v SPEAKER_1>Even if it turns out that we have to rejigger something in our belief, that means our belief was contrary to scripture, hopefully in some small way.

01:39:10.532 --> 01:39:12.132
<v SPEAKER_1>In this case, it is.

01:39:12.132 --> 01:39:18.272
<v SPEAKER_1>The notion that the gospel is God's salvation for us is vital to the Christian faith.

01:39:18.272 --> 01:39:23.872
<v SPEAKER_1>The notion that the gospel, the good news is every word from the mouth of God is vital to the Christian faith.

01:39:23.872 --> 01:39:25.912
<v SPEAKER_1>These things are not at odds.

01:39:25.912 --> 01:39:28.172
<v SPEAKER_1>They're one in the same.

01:39:28.172 --> 01:39:34.112
<v SPEAKER_1>But the fear and love God, eternal gospel is a superset of the Jesus died for you gospel.

01:39:34.692 --> 01:39:39.652
<v SPEAKER_1>Both are good news, but everything that God said is good news because he said it.

01:39:39.652 --> 01:39:46.352
<v SPEAKER_1>Even the parts that are scary, even the parts that condemn us, because he is a loving and faithful creator.

01:39:46.352 --> 01:39:48.412
<v SPEAKER_1>And we should do good and thanks for that.