Theology For the Rest of Us | Quick Answers to the Questions About God and the Bible

It is widely believed by most Evangelical Christians that once we get into heaven and with Jesus, that we will not ever be able to sin or ever choose to walk away from God. This begs the question: How did Lucifer sin in heaven? Lucifer did indeed sin while he was in heaven (Note: Today Lucifer is often called "Satan" or "the devil" or "the enemy"). So, what confidence do we have that we will not ever sin when we are in heaven? In this episode, Kenny answers this question by making sure that we understand that it is not the place that keeps us from sinning, but rather the state we find ourselves in once we are in eternity. Once we are in heaven we will be fully transformed, given new bodies, and enter into a state of holy perfection. This will protect us from sin and this shall only be made possible by the power of Christ at work within us. Highlighted Passages: Philippians 3:21 Jude 1:24 Revelation 21:27 1 Timothy 5:21  

Gambling, card games, sports betting, games of luck or chance, poker tournaments, and even raffles. These are all forms of contests that have been labeled as "gambling" by many people. And with the label of "gambling" comes a taboo within North American evangelicalism. So that begs these questions: Is gambling a sin? Should Christians participate in any such events or contests? Why or Why not? In this episode, Kenny gives a thorough response to the topic of gambling. The Bible does not directly label these contests or games as sinful, but as with many things in life, we need to examine the topic more closely before indulging. Kenny opens the episode giving us an important warning about gambling addictions. Just like addictions to drugs or porn, addictions to gambling have destroyed families, therefore we must be extremely cautious and careful before participating. Kenny encourages anyone dealing with a gambling addiction to immediately seek help from a church elder or visit www.gamblersanonymous.org. The Bible does not specifically condemn gambling, so Kenny makes the point that he does not have any specific issues with people participating in contests where money is on the line such as a sports pool or a poker tournament (and Kenny makes the admission that he himself has participated in some such activities), but there are several important elements to remember before choosing to gamble in anyway whatsoever: 1- The Bible warns us about the dangers of loving money (see 1 Timothy 6:10 and Hebrews 13:5). 2- The Bible encourages us to stay away from attempts to “get rich quick” (see Proverbs 13:11 and Ecclesiastes 5:10) 3- Gambling is often a waste of money, but so are many other things we indulge in or purchase (ie: going out to eat, cable television, owning a more expensive car than what we actually need, many forms of entertainment, etc.). Seek to be consistent in your convictions. 4- The Bible tells us that all things are "permissible" but not all things are "beneficial" (see 1 Corinthians 6:12; 10:23). This should always be our guide when these topics arise. After highlighting these important reminders, Kenny then closes the episode by reminding each person to also consider their own personal evangelism opportunities and Christian witness. We must always ask the question: "Will this hurt or help my chances to preach the Gospel?" There is a strong argument to be made for either position. Some people say that some forms of gambling could harm your credibility, and therefore harm your opportunities for evangelism. However, other people might state that participating in such activities could lead you to building relationships that help bring the Gospel to unsaved people that otherwise might not have heard it. Kenny feels that each person ought to prayerfully seek wisdom from the Holy Spirit as to what he/she ought to do, but none of us ought to be flippant or careless when making this sort of decision.  

Did Jesus have physical siblings? If so, wouldn't that prove that Mary was not a virgin for her entire life? And, if that is the case, why do Catholics still refer to her as the "Virgin Mary" even though she conceived and gave birth to several children after Jesus? These questions and thoughts came to Kenny by email from a listener. In this episode, Kenny makes the point that Jesus did indeed have physical siblings, children of Mary and her husband Joseph. Catholics have been known to have a deep reverence for Mary, the mother of Jesus. Mary was very deserving of honor for her role in God's redemptive story, however some of the beliefs embraced by Catholics (and some other Christians) about her "perpetual virginity" may not be a Biblically-founded doctrine. Some other Christians may not embrace the doctrine of her perpetual virginity, however they may still refer to her as the "Virgin Mary" simply a sign of respect, although she clearly was not a virgin for her entire life. The Biblical evidences for Jesus having biological siblings: - Matthew 13:55: A group of people questioning Jesus' authority, referring to His Earthly parents and siblings. - Matthew 12 and Mark 3: Mary and the brothers of Jesus sought to talk with Jesus. - John 7:5: Makes mention that even some of Jesus' siblings didn't believe He was the Messiah. - Galatians 1:19: Paul mentions meeting James, the younger brother of Jesus.  

In this episode, Kenny responds to a regular listener asking about giving to charities. Kenny opens the episode by making it clear that Christians should be extremely generous; God has given us so much, we ought to demonstrate His generosity by choosing to be generous to others. There is no set amount that we ought to give, but we should seek to be sacrificial in how we give. There are no shortage of options when it comes to organizations that are in need of money, so where should we give our money? Kenny gives us three primary places where we ought to consider giving: 1- Your local church. 2- Missionaries that you know personally or missions organizations that you trust. 3- Any cause or campaign focusing on social justice that reflects well on the Gospel. Kenny's encouragement and advice to believers: Determine a vision for what types of causes that you want to give towards, based on your personal passions and the specific arenas that grab your heart, and then seek to give as much as possible to those types of causes and organizations. This also allows you to develop a clear strategy as to when you ought to say "yes" and when you ought to say "no." Eventually, many of us will end up giving money to non-profit organizations and charities. Kenny closes the episode by giving us the parameters he uses when determining which organizations to give to, and he also encourages us to vet the organizations, as best as we can, before giving them money, and he gives us some resources to help us in our quest to determine which charities are the best to consider giving our money towards. Recommended Helps When Vetting Charities: Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA) CharityWatch.org CharityNavigator.org Information on Pulling 990 Forms

Throughout the Scriptures we see these supernatural creatures called "angels" highly involved in a variety of things that God is doing with and through His own people. While we don't have a lot of specific information about angels, there are plenty of things about them that we can observe. In this episode, as a response to an e-mail from a regular listener, Kenny tells about these creatures, their nature, and their purpose. Angels are supernatural spiritual creatures that God employs in His service to accomplish tasks as God sees fit to employ them. They are living beings with personality, intellect, emotions, and their own sense of determination. They are powerful, but not omnipotent. They are wise, but not omniscient. We don't know precisely how many angels there are, but we do know that there are a lot of them; maybe thousands, or maybe even billions. We know a few of their names, such as Gabriel, Michael, and Lucifer (check out episode 17), but overall we don't know much about specific angels. They were likely created in eternity past, they never die, and it appears that God isn't going to create any more of them. In the Bible, angels always appear male, however gender is not ascribed to angels in the way we understand gender. Highlighted Passages:  Colossians 1:16-17 Luke 20:36 Luke 16:22 Hebrews 13:2  

Throughout the centuries God revealed His truth to certain people, and in most cases those persons documented the revealed truth. Typically the truth was revealed for some specific contemporary purposes, but those truths were also typically transcendent and therefore valuable to all peoples of any time period. God did this many times throughout the pages of the Old Testament through the prophets. Any time God revealed some element of truth to His people, this was referred to as a form of revelation. One of the greatest forms of revelation we have ever received has come through the writers of the New Testament, after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus, giving us the clarity of the full Gospel message and its implications. In this episode, Kenny explains that we, as orthodox Christians, believe that the "cannon has been closed" ever since the death of the last Apostle; meaning there will be no more new writings ever added to the Bible. The Apostles and the New Testament writers were the last group of people God gave special revelation to; everything we needed revealed was fully revealed to us through the pages of the New Testament. Kenny makes the point that any truth that God has ever intended to reveal, about Himself and about His plan of salvation for humanity, has indeed already been fully revealed through the Bible, therefore there is no longer any need for anyone to ever experience any sort of personal revelation of any kind. Kenny makes the simple point that any revelation that agrees with the Bible is unnecessary, because we already have that truth, and any revelation that disagrees with the Bible is false, which means it must be completely disregarded. Any and all contemporary revelations are either wholly unneeded or are completely false, there are no other options.

Throughout the Bible we see several moments when God spoke to people through dreams and visions. Does God still do this? Does He still speak to people in this manner? In this episode, Kenny reminds us that the Bible is sufficient in terms of knowing what God desires from us. The Scriptures must always be the ultimate authority in our lives when it comes to determining the will of God and determining what we believe to be absolute truth, therefore we should not ever expect God to speak to us through a dream or vision in order to directly reveal any new truth to us. We should not be getting our primary spiritual guidance or our doctrine through dreams. However, there is nothing in the Bible that ought to lead us to believe that God has stopped doing this as a secondary manner of getting people's attention and helping them see that Jesus is indeed the only way to God. In addition, there have been some contemporary accounts of people around the world seeing dreams that eventually points them to the Gospel. While these events are rare, Kenny challenges us to consider that God is using these supernatural dreams to draw people unto Himself.

In the pages of the Old Testament, we see God declare pork (and several other foods) as unclean. Any person that ate these foods would be labeled "unclean" meaning that he/she would be unfit for worship. But when we fast forward to the New Testament, we see God declare pork clean. Why? In this episode, Kenny dives into understanding why God declared pork unclean in the Old Testament but then declares it clean in the New Testament. Kenny reminds us that we must consider why God told them to refrain from eating pork in the first place. The Old Testament mandates do not apply to New Testament believers, however when we examine God’s purposes and motives in these matters, we learn valuable lessons that do indeed apply to the lives of New Testament believers.

God cares deeply about the world. As Christians, one of our greatest desires ought to be to see the Gospel proclaimed in every place on Earth. In order to do so, we need to engage people-groups all around the globe. In this episode, Kenny interviews missionary Jonathan Ferguson about the theology of world missions and the importance of all believers engaging in world missions. Jonathan was a youth pastor in Southern California for more than 9 years, but has now been living in Kenya for more than 6 years. Find and Friend Jonathan on Facebook Follow Jonathan on Twitter

  Since the late 1990's, the concept of multi-site/multi-campus churches has grown is great popularity across North America. One model for church "scalability" has been the idea of "video campuses" wherein one campus of a church has a video feed or prerecorded sermon played during the teaching time of a Sunday morning service in lieu of a live communicator. Is this sinful or wrong? In this episode, Kenny dives into this topic and gives us his thoughts about this specific model of church growth. Kenny makes it clear that he does not necessarily believe it is wrong or sinful for a church to have video preaching, but Kenny asserts that he believes that it is not necessarily the ideal scenario. Kenny makes it abundantly clear that he does not think that the video campus model is inappropriate, and he concedes that in some cases it can maybe even be a useful tool, but Kenny gives us three reasons why he believes that the video campus model is not the ideal scenario; one practical reason tied to preaching style and tempo, one philosophical reason tied to contextualization, and one theological reason tied to the regulative principle.  

In this episode, our host Kenny answers the question "Are Tattoos Wrong?" He reminds us that God did indeed command the Jewish people in the Old Testament to refrain from tattoos, but Kenny makes the point that New Testament Christians are no longer under the mandates of the Old Testament. We can reasonably state that there is no Biblical argument against tattoos for modern Christians. However, Kenny reminds us that we must consider why God told them to avoid tattoos in the first place. Old Testament mandates do not apply to New Testament believers, however when we examine God's purposes, we learn valuable lessons that do indeed apply to New Testament believers. In addition, Kenny closes the episode with some quality practical advice for youth and young adults that may be seeking to get a tattoo.

While it may be rare in our modern Western world, there are some Christian communities and church leaders that hold to a more strict and more conservative view on women's fashion and modesty. Some church leaders prescribe what types of clothing a woman should or should wear in her everyday life, and sometimes that may include the claim that women ought to never wear pants or jeans. Again, this is a rare assertion, but it does exists in some contemporary church circles. In this episode, Kenny talks about how modesty shifts dramatically from culture to culture, therefore specific prescriptions as to what a women should or should not wear misses the more important Biblical value. Ultra-conservative specific prescriptions on women's fashion or clothing miss the grander point of how we ought to approach modesty in our culture in a way that points people to the Gospel; and Kenny goes as far as to say that making any such specific clothing prescriptions certainly leads Christians into the burdensome category of legalism. Kenny makes it clear that he is far more concerned with how you determine what you wear than the actually outfits themselves. He then gives listeners four reminders to consider as we approach the topic of modesty: 1- Be different than the society in which you live. 2- Be more modest or more conservative than others in your culture. 3- Be careful that your clothing doesn't cause the opposite gender to lust. 4- Make sure you spend more time on your heart and character than on your outward appearance.  

In this episode, Kenny addresses a question that he has been asked many times over the course of his ministry experience. Often young Christians have asked him whether or not they should jump into dating someone who is not a Christian? Kenny makes it clear that, if you understand the purpose of marriage, then you will know that it us unwise for Christians to date non-Christians.

Along with the expansion of new technologies and new media forums, has also come the availability of new Christian media too. One of the forums that has grown in popularity and availability over the last ten years is the live streaming of church services and sermons. So this begs the question: Is it okay for me and my family to just skip attending church services, and just watch the live stream at home? The other related topic involves how much I ought to rely upon preaching and teaching from sources such as YouTube or Podcasts? In this episode, Kenny dives into the question about live streaming as well as listening to sermons from other media platforms. Kenny makes the point that attending church and worshiping with people that you know and are "living life with" is a vital part of the Christian life. Kenny also highlights the New Testament markers for church gatherings: corporate worship, preaching/teaching, and the sacraments.

We live in a world filled with people in need; people facing difficulties such as hunger, poverty, educational needs, advocacy, injustice! One very simple way to serve people is to meet these needs with a Gospel focus. In this episode, Kenny interviews pastor, author, professor Tony Merida about the importance of "mercy ministry." In the interview Tony challenges all "ordinary" people to change the world by meeting the needs of others; both here in the USA as well as abroad and across the globe. Tony Merida is the founding pastor of Imago Dei Church in Raleigh, NC. He also serves as Associate Professor of Preaching at Southeastern Baptist Seminary in Wake Forest, NC. He is the author of several books including his most recent book Ordinary: How to Turn the World Upside Down and eight volumes in the new Christ-Centered Exposition commentary series (B&H), of which Tony also serves as a general editor, along with Danny Akin and David Platt. Tony Merida is happily married to his wife Kimberly; they have five adopted children. Visit Tony's website: TonyMerida.net Follow Tony on Twitter: @tonymerida Recommended Resources:  Generous Justice (by Timothy Keller) Orphanology (by Tony Merida and Rick Morton) Ordinary (by Tony Merida) Ministries of Mercy (by Timothy Keller) The Locust Effect (by Gary Haugen)