Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 447 ｜ Christianity： Religion or Relationship？｜ Q&A

00:00:00.000 Hey guys, welcome to Relatable. Today we have another Q&A episode. You guys asked me a lot

00:00:16.360 of great questions. In case you're new to the podcast, these are pre-recorded maternity episodes

00:00:21.280 because whenever this episode is coming out, as I'm recording it, I don't know when it's coming

00:00:25.880 out. I have either had a baby or I'm about to have a baby. I don't know. So I stopped recording new

00:00:32.280 episodes at 38 weeks. And then after that, all of these pre-recorded episodes have come out,

00:00:37.440 which includes topical episodes. They include these Q&As and they include a lot of really

00:00:42.360 wonderful interviews. So stick around. There's a lot of good content that has come out in these

00:00:47.680 maternity episodes and will continue to come out. A lot of really good conversations. Today,

00:00:52.400 I'm going to answer a few of your questions, political, theological, personal. And we'll see

00:00:59.420 how many we get through. Typically, we only get through a few. But this first question that I am

00:01:04.820 going to answer is a big one. And that is, why do I believe in God? So I believe that I believe in

00:01:13.660 God primarily, fundamentally, because of Ephesians 1, 4 through 5, that in love,

00:01:20.460 he predestined us for adoption as sons for the sake of our redemption, for the sake of his glory to

00:01:27.660 graciously share in his inheritance. Ephesians 2 also talks about how we are dead in our sin,

00:01:37.040 that we are sons and daughters of disobedience, that we are under the influence of Satan,

00:01:42.800 whom the passage calls the prince of the power of the air, who is now, the passage says, at work

00:01:49.500 continually at work in those who do not know Christ. But then that chapter says, but God being

00:01:55.720 rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, made us alive together in Christ by

00:02:01.440 grace. You have been saved through faith, 8 through 9 or 8 through 10 says, but this is not your own

00:02:09.700 doing. It is a gift of the Lord. It's not something that I can boast in or take credit for. And so

00:02:15.660 ultimately, I believe that God calls people and you hear his voice. And Jesus also says that the flock

00:02:22.520 knows the shepherd's voice. When you know the shepherd's voice, you can't help but follow the

00:02:28.140 shepherd that God has given you through grace, the faith to believe in and to trust. And so I can't

00:02:35.080 take any intellectual credit. I can't take any moral credit. I can't take any spiritual credit

00:02:40.260 for believing in God because I believe that that belief is actually bestowed upon us. Now God has

00:02:47.160 given us the critical faculties to be able to understand not everything about God, but to be

00:02:54.480 able to, through both special and general revelation, understand his ways and understand his

00:03:02.500 existence. And so when I say that I believe that God has graciously given me and millions of people

00:03:08.440 the faith to believe in him and to believe in Christ for salvation, that's not to say that

00:03:13.560 I've never thought about it, that I've never asked questions because God has given us an intellect.

00:03:18.860 He's given us the ability to critically think. He's given us the capacity to have doubts and to ask

00:03:25.440 really difficult questions and to wrestle through different parts of our faith. Now, this is different

00:03:31.120 than deconstructing your faith. Deconstruction, faith deconstruction is this postmodern, morally

00:03:37.660 relativistic idea that shuns the idea of absolute truth and starts to break apart the different

00:03:44.360 parts of Christianity, Orthodox Christianity, that don't fit into what we feel or don't fit into

00:03:50.580 popular cultural dogma. And what is almost always left when someone deconstructs their faith is not

00:03:56.880 stronger faith, not better theology, but this random mosaic of secular ideas and religious ideas

00:04:04.700 from other religions, from Christianity, but conveniently almost always fits into

00:04:11.360 mainstream leftist ideology on most ideas and most moral and political issues. There's just not a

00:04:19.840 biblical basis for that kind of process. That's different than asking questions. And here's the

00:04:25.740 difference. Typically, when I see people deconstruct their faith, they ask questions and then they allow

00:04:31.720 their doubts to be satiated by other people or affirmed by other people who have had those doubts,

00:04:37.340 but haven't actually sought the answers to those doubts and those questions in the Bible. So when

00:04:42.720 we have questions about Christianity, which I think we should, because God has given us ability to have

00:04:49.520 those questions, when we don't understand something in the Bible, which again, I think is part of our human

00:04:54.120 nature because we're finite, because we're fallible, God is infinite. So we're never going to understand

00:04:58.500 everything perfectly in this life. And I'm not saying that, you know, we become infallible one

00:05:07.820 day, but in this life, like we are bound by the constraints of the limitations of our intellect and

00:05:14.800 the limitations of the access of, you know, to understanding that we have as human beings. So when we have

00:05:22.120 these doubts, it's important to go deeper into the truth and deeper into scripture and closer to God

00:05:28.120 to get the answers to those questions. And through prayer and through the study of his word, the

00:05:34.300 clarity that he gives us through scripture as a lamp to our feet and the light to our path to ask and

00:05:40.440 then try to answer and grapple with these questions. When we go to outside, you know, secular sources that

00:05:48.320 are only going to affirm our doubts and tell us that we're out of step with mainstream society, of course,

00:05:54.080 what you're going to end up with is some kind of postmodern agnosticism that you slap the label of

00:05:59.960 Christianity on, but no longer holds to any core tenets of Christianity and rejects the gospel as

00:06:07.200 truth. So while I say that it is important to ask questions and wrestle with our doubts, it's important

00:06:14.320 also how we do that. Are we going to people who have been faithful Christians for longer than we have?

00:06:21.680 Are we going to the Lord? Are we going to the gospel? Are we going to scripture? Are we going to

00:06:29.200 godly mentors that have already asked these questions, have already wrestled through some of

00:06:35.200 these doubts to give us godly wisdom? Or are we going to people that we know are just going to tell us

00:06:40.940 that all of our doubts are right and that actually Christianity is just antiquated and is bigoted and 0.83

00:06:47.760 we should just reject most of it. But hold on to some of it for some sense of nostalgia and some

00:06:56.560 sense of comfort. And so I choose the former. And when I've chosen the former, when I've chosen to go

00:07:06.060 to theologians who know more than me, who have lived longer than I have, when I choose to go to the Lord

00:07:11.740 and ask him for wisdom that he promises to give, by the way, in the book of James, when I go into the

00:07:17.840 word, when I go to godly older people and ask these questions, what I end up with is a kind of peace that

00:07:28.620 surpasses understanding, even if I don't necessarily have clarity on every single doubt or question that

00:07:36.300 I have. So all that to say, that's the process that I encourage you to take as well. If you have

00:07:42.240 questions, it's okay to have questions and doubts. Tim Keller once said, faith without doubts is like a

00:07:47.320 body without antibodies. I think it's important to think through the questions and the doubts that we

00:07:52.980 have in accordance with scripture and what we already know to be true. So when I ask this question

00:08:00.100 to myself, why do I believe in God? It's not only that I believe that he's graciously given me this

00:08:05.360 faith. It's also that when I think through basic questions of where did this all come from and why

00:08:12.660 are we here? And these are questions that every human being since the beginning of time has asked,

00:08:18.220 which I think actually speaks to the biblical truth that eternity has been written on the human heart.

00:08:25.640 That when I think through these questions, I find at the very least the necessity for some kind of

00:08:34.500 transcendent divine existence, that it doesn't make sense to me that this world and everything that

00:08:44.040 is in it could come from nothing. Like even if you believe in evolution, even if you believe in the

00:08:50.120 big bang, even if you believe that billions and billions of years ago, this cosmic accident just

00:08:55.920 occurred. And now we're all just living here, still wrestling with all these existential questions

00:09:01.500 that human beings have for a very long time. How did it start? Where did it come from? How is it

00:09:10.540 possible for things to just have existed from nothing? Like where did it start? And your brain can't even

00:09:19.820 comprehend that. And there is this theory called the God of the gaps theory that a lot of people in

00:09:26.820 particular on the left, but a lot of so-called scientists used to say, you know, as there's more

00:09:31.940 scientific discovery, uh, there's less need for God. God is just this idea that's used to try to fill

00:09:39.540 in the gaps of what we don't know. But as there are fewer and fewer gaps, smaller and smaller gaps,

00:09:45.100 uh, then the need for belief in God will dissipate. It will kind of go away. Well, that's not true.

00:09:51.040 Like we're still dealing with the most fundamental questions of human existence, of the existence of

00:09:56.680 creation. Like those gaps are not getting smaller. Sure. There are a lot of things that we have

00:10:00.780 discovered that I think actually just speak to the awesomeness and the bigness and the creativity and

00:10:06.520 the intelligence of God. And hasn't actually diminished my belief or need for a belief in God, because

00:10:12.620 we're still dealing with the most basic questions of where this all came from and why we're here and

00:10:18.060 why apparently millions and millions of years later, according to some people, uh, we're still

00:10:24.420 asking those questions. Shouldn't we have evolved to the point of no longer needing to ask those

00:10:28.760 questions? If God really is just the God of the gaps that is getting smaller and smaller, why are we

00:10:34.120 still asking those things? Why do human beings still long for something bigger than them? Even those

00:10:39.640 who are atheists have that longing for an attachment to something that is bigger, this rise in the new

00:10:46.560 age and, um, kind of, um, spirituality that people are, uh, that people are embracing today, even as they

00:10:56.180 reject Christianity as superstitious shows that the human heart wants something transcendent. And so even

00:11:03.800 as I'm just asking these like very, I would say general philosophical basic questions about human beings,

00:11:12.440 human nature, human existence, I can't, I can't escape this nagging feeling that there is something or

00:11:20.300 someone bigger than us that had to have started it simply because I believe that there's a source

00:11:24.600 and like that there's a reason for, for these, uh, for these, uh, questions that we have for these

00:11:32.580 curiosities that all human beings have wrestled with, that there's a source for all things seen and

00:11:38.340 unseen. How do we explain all of this? How do we explain everything that exists if it all really

00:11:45.040 came from nothing? And you've probably heard this phrase, I don't have enough faith to be an atheist,

00:11:51.160 but truly how do you explain the beginning of everything? Um, and I know people have tried.

00:12:00.820 I think that their arguments are very frail and there are plenty of questions that people can ask.

00:12:07.920 Well, how can you believe God if X, how can you believe God if Y, but I have way more questions

00:12:14.160 about how can you not believe God if Z, for example. Um, and I also, when I also think about

00:12:24.040 human history and I think about all of the regimes, all of the governments, all of the people that have

00:12:29.840 been characterized officially by atheism and how they have always led to repression.

00:12:35.720 Like when I think about communist China, when I think about the communist revolutions, when I think

00:12:41.540 about the totalitarian regimes that have been, um, that especially dominated the 20th century and how

00:12:49.520 they were all functioning or officially atheistic regimes. And I see how when godlessness takes over

00:12:56.920 a society, freedoms also diminish and charity diminishes and unity diminishes. And it makes me

00:13:05.860 wonder like, what is this thing about Christianity? What is this thing about a belief in God that makes

00:13:12.460 people in societies better? Not perfect because sin is always going to exist, but better. Like what is it

00:13:19.980 about Christianity that has stuck? People say that Jesus had, you know, that he was just a copycat.

00:13:25.980 There were six other people like him. Why are we still basing our calendar on this guy?

00:13:30.160 Like why have millions and millions of people just been tripping over this Jesus person? If he really

00:13:36.140 is just a liar or a lunatic or just a good teacher, like any other good teachers who just got, as I heard 0.98

00:13:43.920 a popular commentator say, killed for his troubles, um, by the Romans. If like, he's nothing more than just 0.99

00:13:52.440 a guy, why are we still having some of the most heated and fundamental debates about him 2,000 years

00:13:57.440 later and are still basing our calendar on his, on his, uh, on his existence? That's a little crazy.

00:14:07.180 That's, that's, that's a little amazing. Like, why is it that people who have believed in this Jesus

00:14:13.920 Christ? Why is it, has it been them that have started most of the hospitals in the country,

00:14:19.780 most of the free societies that have existed? Again, not perfect societies because still marred

00:14:25.220 by sin. Why have they started most of the universities? Like, what is it about belief

00:14:30.300 in Christ that tends to dramatically change families and hearts and cultures? And again,

00:14:36.000 yes, there are hypocrites inside the church. There are people who do bad things in the name of 0.95

00:14:41.480 Christianity. Absolutely. Just as there are people who do bad things in the name of all kinds of other,

00:14:47.860 uh, belief systems. But why has Christianity spread so much, so fast, had such a stronghold

00:14:56.260 on the world in so many places? Why is it the number one persecuted religion in the world? Why are

00:15:03.360 Christians constantly used as scapegoats in so many different forms of society and so many different

00:15:09.460 parts of history? Asking those questions of why Christianity seems to just be the standout 0.86

00:15:16.420 in its history, I think is a good question to ask in addition to those fundamental questions. Because

00:15:22.520 it's not enough just to say, oh, it's just another mythological belief system that people have gotten

00:15:28.460 hung up on over time. I don't think that, I don't think that answers the question at all. And maybe you ask

00:15:34.600 those questions and you still don't come to the conclusion that it's all real. But I think it's

00:15:38.820 at least important to ask, like, why, why do Christians make this crazy claim that other religions

00:15:46.180 don't claim that their God became flesh and then was killed for their sins and then came back to life

00:15:54.160 and conquered sin and death? And they actually think that he's coming back and that that is going to be

00:16:00.820 what satisfies our innate desire for justice and the abolition of evil, that one day he's going to

00:16:08.300 take care of all evil and wickedness that exists. That's another big question that human beings tend

00:16:12.940 to wrestle with that secularism can't answer. Like, who's going to do something about all the bad?

00:16:18.900 Who's going to do something about all the evil? Who's going to take care of the evildoers, 0.64

00:16:22.240 the Unitarians that believe that everyone ends up in heaven? They've got Hitler there too. 0.86

00:16:26.320 I'm sorry. That's just not going to settle with me. Of course, anyone who repents, anyone who God

00:16:34.280 calls, anyone who believes in the name of the Lord, calls upon the name of the Lord by grace

00:16:39.320 through faith, no matter what their sins are, we believe is in heaven. But I need to know that

00:16:45.520 something's going to be done about the evil that exists. When I think about the evil, the wickedness,

00:16:50.660 the abuse that occurs to the most vulnerable people in the world, I got to know that there

00:16:56.940 is recompense coming. Like there is punishment coming for that. That the righteous people in

00:17:05.320 the world, the meek people in the world will win in the end. And that someone is going to take care

00:17:11.400 of the bad, take care of the sin, take care of the corruption. And one day that we can actually look

00:17:16.360 forward to a day when all of those things will be no more. That hope I also think is innate.

00:17:23.640 And Christianity has an answer for those things. Christianity has an answer for the existence of

00:17:27.940 evil, that God's patience is actually storing up more and more wrath, that he is being patient and

00:17:35.320 sitting back and waiting so more people come to salvation and he will destroy evil and evildoers

00:17:40.020 forevermore. And so even that desire that we have for vengeance on the evildoer, that's even satisfied

00:17:48.500 in the victory that Christianity represents in Christ Jesus. And so when I doubt, because I do,

00:17:56.960 there are things all the time that make me say, now, why? Why would God let that happen? Or is this

00:18:03.460 really true? Or how can I possibly believe this? Or what about this part of the Bible? I have those

00:18:08.400 questions all the time. These are the things that I also think through. A book that I do recommend

00:18:15.100 on this is Reason for God by Tim Keller. I've often recommended Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem. He

00:18:23.080 has a really great way of explaining things. But Reason for God by Tim Keller kind of goes through all

00:18:28.460 of the skeptics' questions about Christianity. And whether or not you're dealing with doubts, I really

00:18:33.240 recommend that book. Mere Christianity does a great job of doing this too. Mere Christianity probably had 0.92

00:18:38.280 one of the biggest impacts on my faith and my understanding of Christianity. But those two

00:18:42.220 books I think are really helpful. I love Screwtape Letters too. It's not necessarily an apologetics

00:18:47.060 book, but it does give you a new and a different perspective and a creative perspective on faith

00:18:53.440 and the kind of doubts that actually are a product of spiritual warfare in some sense. And it kind of

00:19:01.440 gives you the tools to combat that. And so those are three resources that I recommend when you're

00:19:06.160 asking these questions. Let's see. Next question is Whataburger or In-N-Out? Whataburger. My husband

00:19:25.540 hates Whataburger, but I think it's pretty good. It just takes a long time. Takes a long time to get

00:19:33.820 anything. I can't say that I go to Whataburger very much. In high school, we would go after like

00:19:39.280 football games and get something that's called a honey butter chicken biscuits. Honey butter chicken

00:19:43.360 biscuit at Whataburger is really good. It's not as good as the Chick-fil-A chicken biscuit. Chick-fil-A

00:19:48.780 would do well to do a honey butter chicken biscuit because they could probably do better

00:19:53.340 at it than Whataburger. But the honey butter chicken biscuit was something that we would get after

00:19:58.780 football games, you know, back when you're in high school and like you don't have a metabolism and

00:20:02.200 things like that don't matter. And you can eat two honey butter chicken biscuits and then just sit down

00:20:06.480 for 12 hours and nothing happens to you. Today, if you look at a honey butter chicken biscuit

00:20:11.500 and you're coming up on 30 like I am, then you gain 50 pounds in five minutes. So things change.

00:20:22.040 But all that to say, Whataburger,

00:20:24.980 hmm, like I feel like I need to say it. I feel like I need to say Whataburger is better than In-N-Out

00:20:32.660 because I'm from Texas. But honestly, In-N-Out has way better service. Smaller hamburgers,

00:20:41.360 but way better service. It's a Christian owned company and it has very Chick-fil-A like service.

00:20:47.280 That's another thing. Christian owned companies almost always have really good work ethic and really

00:20:52.260 good customer relations. So it's a little bit difficult. Whataburger does not have good service.

00:20:57.820 They have terrible service. Those people hate their lives. But the people who work at Chick-fil-A

00:21:02.020 and the people who work at In-N-Out, they do a good job. And so I might have to go. I might actually

00:21:08.100 have to go with In-N-Out strictly for the customer service, but better food, I think, at Whataburger.

00:21:15.460 Next question. What have you enjoyed most about this pregnancy? Well, it's gone by a lot more quickly

00:21:20.780 than my last pregnancy. I haven't been as in as much like physical pain this pregnancy. And if

00:21:26.660 you've never been pregnant and you're like, Oh my gosh, what's wrong with you? Why do you have 1.00

00:21:29.040 physical pain when you're pregnant? Hardy har har. There's a lot of physical pain that comes with 1.00

00:21:34.380 pregnancy and not anything like I haven't ever had any. Thankfully, thank the Lord, haven't had any

00:21:40.140 kind of complications or anything like that or any kind of trouble with my pregnancies. It's just the

00:21:46.060 normal aches and pains like hip pain, back pain, all of that kind of stuff, restless leg syndrome

00:21:53.440 when you're trying to fall asleep. There's a lot of physical ailments that come with pregnancy.

00:21:56.820 I'm not complaining. I like I am so thankful for my ability to bear children. I'm so thankful for my

00:22:02.360 children. I'm so thankful for the gift of being pregnant. Right now, as I'm speaking, though, I'm

00:22:07.360 about I'm almost 38 weeks. And this is the point if you've been pregnant where you're like,

00:22:13.200 Oh my gosh, I have been pregnant for 68 years. And you are just kind of over all of the symptoms 0.96

00:22:22.540 that come with it. And plus, like you start to really like swell at this stage. There's a lot

00:22:26.980 of discomfort that comes with it. It's not complaining about pregnancy, though. It is.

00:22:32.480 It's the just anticipating and the wanting the baby to actually be here that you're feeling

00:22:38.680 at this point. So I don't want it to seem like I'm a negative Nancy about pregnancy. It's just at

00:22:44.480 this point, you're like, Oh my gosh, I really want the baby to actually be here and no longer be

00:22:48.880 pregnant because you're carrying around like this human being that is now large in your stomach. 0.99

00:22:54.560 And it's just it's just a lot. So I would say my favorite part of this pregnancy is that

00:22:59.700 it's gone by quickly. And that I have been I've had a little bit more comfort. I'll give you some

00:23:06.780 advice if you are pregnant. I highly recommend a chiropractor. I did a chiropractor my last

00:23:11.660 pregnancy, but not until like 36 weeks. That was too late. I've done a chiropractor this time

00:23:17.060 from about I don't know, it might have even been like 25 weeks like it was or maybe 28 weeks. It

00:23:23.020 was pretty early on that I started going to the chiropractor. I also got a physical therapist

00:23:27.040 this pregnancy to kind of help me, you know, with different stretches and different movements and

00:23:33.260 things like that to try to alleviate the pain and get ready for labor and all of that.

00:23:37.540 And so I think now as I'm saying this, I don't know if that stuff is going to help me in labor,

00:23:41.840 but I do know that it has helped me, I think, with being more comfortable and not being in quite as

00:23:49.880 much pain. So I do I recommend those two things if you can swing it. And if you're pregnant, especially

00:23:55.080 if this is like a second pregnancy, a lot of people say they're more miserable and their subsequent

00:23:59.460 pregnancies after their first. I recommend a chiropractor. I recommend a PT if you feel like 0.94

00:24:06.700 you need one. A pelvic floor therapist, a lot of women really benefit from that in their pregnancy 1.00

00:24:13.340 and especially in postpartum. I've also been, you know, you're just more active too when you have

00:24:19.720 a toddler rather than your first pregnancy when you're not chasing after another child. And so that

00:24:25.080 can either help things or hurt things. I think for me it's actually helped things. So yeah, I guess

00:24:31.260 those have been kind of my favorite parts of this pregnancy at this point. Ready for ready to have

00:24:39.340 the child's earth side though. Lots of food questions. Salty or sweets? What's your favorite

00:24:45.740 of each? So the first thing that comes to mind when I see the word salty is pretzels. I don't like

00:24:50.920 pretzels. Like I've never liked pretzels. I just think that they're gross. So I don't know why that

00:24:54.760 comes to mind. That's not my favorite thing. I love chips and guacamole if that counts as

00:24:59.360 as salty. Something that's sweet. I love peanut butter. So anything like Reese's or something like

00:25:06.160 that I really like. But I also really like like cream cheese type thing. So I love cheesecake.

00:25:11.680 That's probably my favorite dessert or anything with like cream cheese icing. That's probably my

00:25:18.140 favorite. I've also been really just craving sugar these past few weeks, which is not good for you.

00:25:23.900 It's not good for you. But just being perfectly honest.

00:25:37.940 Oh, this is a good question. Is Christianity a religion or a relationship? So we've actually

00:25:42.600 done a podcast on this and we'll try to link it in the description. It's I think I've answered this

00:25:48.880 question. I'm not saying that you should have already known this because this is an old podcast

00:25:52.900 episode. But I think the title is like religion or relationship or something like that, because I

00:25:59.040 hear this a lot that it's not a religion. But the book of James says that pure religion is serving

00:26:05.500 the orphans and serving the widows. And so I don't think it's actually accurate to say that Christianity 0.89

00:26:13.000 isn't a religion. The word religion gets a bad rap. It is kind of people think it's synonymous

00:26:20.760 with legalism, but it's not like if the Bible tells us that there is a pure religion that comes

00:26:26.900 from a pure heart and sincere love that is inspired by the Holy Spirit, which is our down payment,

00:26:34.100 which is our helper as Christians, as people who follow Christ, then I would say that there is a way

00:26:43.700 to regard religion as pure and holy and good and as Christianity as that kind of religion.

00:26:50.460 Do not allow the world's definition of words to define how you define Christianity. And so the world 0.90

00:26:57.820 has a problem with this word religion. The Bible doesn't have a problem with this word religion.

00:27:03.100 Christians shouldn't have a problem with this word religion. It depends on how you're defining it.

00:27:07.260 And the book of James defines it for us. And so it's okay for us to say, yes, Christianity is a

00:27:14.680 religion, but it is more than just a religion. It's not just a list of rules. It's not just a list

00:27:20.740 of regulations or restrictions. It is a relationship with the God of the universe that has been made

00:27:26.880 possible through the death and the resurrection of his only son, that Jesus is our intercessor,

00:27:34.640 that through him, we have access with confidence because of our faith with him or in him. And so

00:27:40.940 we as naturally unholy people have been made holy, have been made righteous by grace through faith in

00:27:48.540 Christ. And therefore we are spotless. Our slate is clean. We have been completely forgiven of all of

00:27:55.100 our imperfections and sins. And we can come before with confidence, uh, the throne of the Holy God,

00:28:01.900 the creator and the sustainer of the universe. We have a relationship with him. We get to call him

00:28:07.280 father. He calls us his children. That's an amazing miracle that I don't see displayed,

00:28:13.420 um, in other religions. And so, yes, it is something I would say more than traditionally what

00:28:19.320 we understand religion to be. It is a relationship with a Holy God. That's not possible because of

00:28:24.980 anything we bring to the table, but because of what God did for us through Christ. So again,

00:28:32.040 don't allow the world's negative connotations of something or negative definitions of something

00:28:37.240 to change our definitions or our perspectives of something. I see the church do this a lot when it

00:28:44.760 comes to justice or when it comes to the definition of sin or holiness, trying to appease the world

00:28:50.020 and make Christianity more palatable, more secular, more cultural. Um, so that, I don't know,

00:28:57.240 you avoid cancellation or you make people comfortable. That's not what we're called to do.

00:29:01.500 Things are what they are according to scripture. And if that causes people discomfort, we actually

00:29:07.660 believe that that's natural in a sense and good because we don't worship the same God. And so why

00:29:14.180 should you be comfortable or why should you, uh, agree with all of my definitions of everything if

00:29:20.420 mine is informed by my belief in God and your definitions are informed by your disbelief in God

00:29:25.480 or your belief in another so-called God? Um, and so, uh, and so, yes, I hope that, I hope that answers

00:29:33.420 your question, both a religion and, uh, a relationship. Okay. I think we've got time for

00:29:39.420 one or two more questions. Let's see. Someone says, how do we do proper exegesis and not eisegesis?

00:29:48.480 So I'm not a preacher, I'm not a pastor. And so there are a lot of really wonderful resources on

00:29:54.540 this. Um, however, however, uh, I think just a simple answer is making sure that if we are reading

00:30:02.840 our Bibles, we are reading the text and we are asking ourselves some questions like,

00:30:08.760 who wrote this, who was it written to? What was the context? Like what was going on historically

00:30:14.820 at the time? What does the rest of scripture say about this? If we see a verse that's confusing

00:30:22.140 or we need more clarity on the rest of scripture can very often inform us of, um, and inform us of the,

00:30:32.040 of the, of the clarity that we need and can offer answers to our confusion. Um, and so when we're

00:30:41.320 reading the Bible, we ask those questions and then we ask, what does this mean? Not does,

00:30:46.300 not what does this want? What do I want this to mean? Or how can I make this about me? How can I

00:30:52.940 center myself in the biblical narrative? How can I make myself the star of the show? Um,

00:30:57.980 how can I make this specifically about this specific situation that I want it to be about?

00:31:05.900 Those are not the questions that we answer. We ask, what does this actually mean? And yes,

00:31:10.180 that will have some kind of personal application. It may tell you a sin that you need to repent of

00:31:16.460 something that you need to pray about something that you need to pray for. It might call you to

00:31:20.880 obedience in a certain answer that applies to a particular situation that you're in. It might speak

00:31:25.340 to a particular worry or particular concern or particular fear that you have. Um, yes,

00:31:30.820 we can draw those personal applications from the Bible, but we are not super imposing our meaning or

00:31:38.040 our desires or ourselves onto the text to get it to mean what we want it to mean. It also means that

00:31:44.860 we don't use the Bible as a magic eight ball. And so we're not saying, okay, like whatever this

00:31:50.080 verse is, is my life verse or whatever this verse is, is, um, is what I'm supposed to do today or what

00:31:57.980 I'm supposed to speak to. Now, I'm not saying that God can never, can never use that, but that is a

00:32:04.980 form of mysticism. That's not actually how we are told to read the Bible or to seek God. That is,

00:32:10.840 again, this kind of relying on some mysterious superstitious, uh, force that is going to

00:32:21.240 guide us to just the right answer. We just don't need that. Like we don't need that. That is what a

00:32:26.220 magic eight ball is for. That is what superstition is for, but that's not, uh, that's not how we have

00:32:33.420 to read the Bible. Like we can just read the Bible plainly in order, um, asking God for wisdom and he

00:32:41.160 will give us wisdom through his Holy spirit and through his word by asking those questions.

00:32:47.160 What does this text say? What's the, what's the original meaning of these, of these words? What is

00:32:53.440 the context? What does the rest of scripture say? And what does this actually mean now? Is there any

00:32:58.180 application that I can take from the scripture into my life? And ultimately always believing and

00:33:03.800 holding onto the fact that if we disagree with scripture, scripture's right. Um, and, uh, again,

00:33:11.340 systematic theology by Wayne Grudem can help you answer a lot of these questions. I love the ESV study Bible.

00:33:16.840 It's kind of expensive, um, but it's totally worth it. I had mine for 10 years. I now use the John

00:33:21.980 MacArthur study Bible. Um, and I really like it as well. The ESV study Bible is just a little bit more

00:33:28.660 comprehensive. It has a ton of, um, has a ton of really good resources in it and a lot of good

00:33:35.080 answers to a lot of questions that you might have. I also have a Greek and Hebrew study Bible. And so,

00:33:41.840 um, if I want to know the original word or the, um, original word used for a particular phrase that I

00:33:49.160 see translated, then I can use that. And I go into the back and I say, okay, this is the original

00:33:54.020 Greek or this is the original Hebrew. Here's what it means. Here's where it's used in the rest of the

00:33:58.420 Bible. This helps me understand what this verse is actually saying and what the author actually

00:34:02.160 meant. You don't have to do that every time you read the Bible, but it's helpful in general to

00:34:08.280 answer a lot of the questions that, uh, that you have, and you don't have to understand everything

00:34:13.560 you read by the way, when you read the Bible, I don't, there are passages that I've read a thousand

00:34:17.720 times and I find something new. Um, and that's okay. Like that's beautiful. That's a part of

00:34:22.500 sanctification. That's a part of like the joy and the mystery and the pursuit of, uh, of the Lord and

00:34:29.480 of his word. And it's a lifelong endeavor. And God gives us the grace and the perseverance and the

00:34:34.860 wisdom to be able to do that to his glory. All right. I think that's all that we have time for

00:34:39.020 today. Thank you guys so much for your questions. We'll be back here soon.

00:34:47.720 Bye.

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - June 30, 2021

Ep 447 ｜ Christianity： Religion or Relationship？｜ Q&A

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - June 30, 2021

Ep 447 ｜ Christianity： Religion or Relationship？ ｜ Q&A

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript

Ep 447 ｜ Christianity： Religion or Relationship？｜ Q&A