July 24, 2025 • 56 mins
Pastors' Perspective is a one-hour call-in program where listeners can call in and get answers to questions about the Bible, Christianity, family, and life. The program is live Monday through Friday from 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM Pacific. You can call 888-564-6173 to ask your questions.
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Speaker 1 (00:15):
Hello and welcome to Pastor's Perspective. I'm your host, Brian Perez.
888-564-6173 is the number to call us for the next hour.
We would love to talk to you, answer questions you
might have about, well, what? That's up to you. You
kind of choose the agenda on the program.
You call us and we talk about whatever issues it
(00:37):
is that you bring up. If you've got questions about them,
it could be about the Bible, it could be about
the Christian faith, or other religions. Either way, we would
love to talk to you at 888-564-6173. And here to
answer your questions today, we've got Brian Broderson, pastor at
Calvary Chapel Coast.
Lisa in Southern California, and Doctor Scott Ray, professor at
(00:59):
Biola University. Always good to have Scott in the studio.
He is the professor of philosophy and Christian ethics. So
if you've got a question about philosophy or Christian ethics,
today would be a great day to call 888-564-6173. If
you're watching
On Facebook, YouTube, or Instagram, you can call in too. Yeah,
you can just watch if you want, but we'd love
(01:20):
it if you would participate by calling the number there
on the bottom of your screen. It's 888-564-6173. Yeah, you
can send in your questions online, but it's not like
hearing the sound of your voice. So call 888-564-6173. Hey guys,
how you doing? Good.
I missed you guys. We missed you too. Yes, good
(01:41):
to have you here. Yeah, good to be together. This
is my last, uh, Tuesday in the studio for a while,
but it's Wednesday, but it is. So he's already so
it's good to be here with Scott and, um, and
always glad that you're able to drop by. Well, I
will always say yes to the invitation. Really, we heard that.
(02:01):
We heard that.
All right, guys, give us a call so we can
chat about, like I said, whatever it is you want
to talk about. Here's a question that was sent in online.
It's from Carol in Bloomington, and Bloomington, California. She writes,
I'm Mexican, and I still like Mexican music, and I
dance at parties. I would like to know your perspective
(02:21):
about dancing. Brian?
Well, I, I thought we were gonna talk about Mexican food, maybe.
I was gonna, I was getting a hearty. They do
serve Mexican food at parties, so that's one of my favorite, uh, cuisines. Um, well,
you know, look, I, I think, um, there, there's nothing, uh,
the matter with dancing, um, you know, you can read
(02:44):
places in scripture where they were celebrating and say the
Jewish culture, for example, which much of the
Biblical context is set in that Jewish culture. Um, is,
is it a celebratory culture, festivals and lots of dancing
and things that go along with that. I, I think
(03:04):
that the only thing, you know, we have to be
careful about when it comes to this sort of stuff is, um,
you know, that we're, we're maintaining, um, you know, purity
and
That, that, that sort of thing, which I, I would
assume that that is the case here. So, I mean,
(03:25):
there are, I guess there are forms of dancing that
you might say, I, I'm not sure about that, but,
but then I think for the most part, if you're
just enjoying yourself, you're having fun, um, God's not against fun.
What do you think Scott? As to your heart's content
unless it's overtly sexual. Yeah, I like that. That's a simple.
(03:46):
Wait
Do it. What if it's slow dancing and you're not married?
What if you're just
Close speed it up a little bit you know, there
you go, arm's distance, right?
Yeah, I, you know, if it slow dancing you're not married, well, I,
you know, I, I, I think that's just uh.
(04:07):
Everybody has to go with their own.
Conviction I would say, you know, unless, unless it's overtly sexual,
that's a no harm no foul. Yeah, yeah, OK, very good. Yeah,
I mean, because there obviously there, there could be sexual
connotations behind certain types of dancing and things, but there
doesn't have to be, and if there's not, then
(04:30):
No problem. All right, Carol, thanks for sending in your
question online. And what do you think? I mean, you know,
do you dance? Doesn't matter. I'm not a pastor, but
you're Mexican.
I like Mexican food. Uh, I don't dance. I have
two left feet, so, um, yeah, I did not get
the dancing gene from my mom. She was a dancer,
but really your mom was a dancer. My mom was
(04:52):
a dancer. That's amazing. You know, I thought I could
dance and then I danced in front of my kids
and they're like, Dad, don't, don't ever do that again
because you can't dance.
I tried. What was the other, um, not square dancing, goodness. Well,
what do you call it? The other, there's a line,
not line dancing. What is that called? I can't think
of it. Well, see, that's how bad I was at it,
that I don't even want to think about the fact
that I took lessons and I just could not do it.
(05:15):
So I said, forget it, not my thing. I'll just
stick to talking on the radio. Not that I can
do that either, but I'm a little bit better. OK, uh,
thank you, Carol, for sending in your question. Here's an
Instagram submission.
I think we're on a theme here, Chicana mama.
Writes in on Instagram.
I'm reading the book, the book of First Corinthians and
(05:36):
wanted to ask, how does a woman interpret chapter 14,
verses 34 and 35. Is it as written that women
are to stay silent?
In the church, Scott, let's say you? Well, since we
have 3 men around the table here and she's asking
for for a woman's response to this, maybe, maybe we
should plead the fifth on that. Well, you know, can
(05:56):
we get Cheryl on the phone? Yeah, you know, you
know what, I just read that passage this morning actually,
in my, in my reading was, uh, 1 Corinthians 12
to 14.
And I, I'm looking at the passage, and I, I
have heard, you know, pastors kind of drill down pretty
hard on that. Look right here, it says, you know, um,
women are not allowed to, to, you know, women are
(06:19):
to be silent in the church. And I thought, you know,
if you, if you look at the context, the context
is disorderly behavior in the church. That's the context because
Paul's not just talking about that, he's talking about a
bunch of things and all of a sudden he goes
over to this issue of women.
And if you understand the context of disorder in the church,
(06:39):
you realize what Paul is saying, he's not permitting, uh,
prohibiting women from speaking at all in the church. He's
prohibiting them from disrupting or disruptive speech in the church. I,
I think that's clear because in the 11th chapter, of course,
he mentions the fact that women are praying and prophesy
in the church. Yeah. So, so I think that's the,
(07:00):
that's the key there, um, and boy, I, I wish
more people would.
Take the context into consideration because I've heard many come
down with just look, it says it right here, you know,
women are to be silent and that's the end of it.
And I think, well, let's look up a little more
closely at the past. If that's an absolute absolute, then
Paul contradicted himself. He did and just, yeah, just a
(07:22):
few because it's clear that that.
That was limited by the context that we're in because
he he's obviously does not intend for women to be
entirely silent because he gives them lots of lots of, uh,
space for, you know, prophesying and uh things like that
in 1 Corinthians 11, uh, you know, I was in
a church this was several years ago where they had a,
(07:45):
a young, a young woman, uh, read scripture.
And it was just, just where the reader is the
public reading of scripture before the message and right as
she was finishing this.
Elderly gentleman stood up the back of the church and
at the top of his lungs said women are to
be silent in the churches. Hang on, that happened here.
(08:07):
Are you sure something else you're referring to something else. OK, OK.
But uh I remember being here when that happened. I,
I remember thinking, and I don't think, I don't think
that's the right application of that. Yeah, and that was
actually more.
What Paul say not to do, being disruptive. That's exactly
what the woman well put, yes, Chicana mama, thank you
(08:31):
for sending in your question through Instagram. 888-564-6173 is our number,
and now we'll talk to Isaiah calling in from Rancho
Cucamonga listening on the Kwave app. Thank you for downloading
the app and thank you for calling 888-564-6173. You're on
with Brian Broderson and Scott Ray.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Hi, can you hear me OK?
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Loud and clear.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Uh, yeah, I believe I'm dealing with like some self pride,
you know, kind of like self ambition. I'm, I'm, you know,
I'm kind of like returning to the Lord like kind
of recently, and like, you know, I just feel like
I'm like lacking knowing my place a little bit. I'm,
I'm trying to see what advice you got to give
on that and if you can keep me in prayer
about it. I don't want to learn this lesson the
(09:16):
hard way.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
So, can you give us an example of what it
is that's going on?
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Mm, you see, I, uh, I'll give you like two examples. I, uh,
recently lost a job. I, I used to be a
school bus driver. I used to make, uh, a good
amount of money and, uh, I noticed that I had
gotten kind of prideful about it and, uh, you know,
kind of like.
Letting my girlfriend know, hey, this is, I'm able to
(09:42):
support you better and all that and then I end
up losing that job because of, uh, you know, doing
the wrong things and stuff, uh, specifically a DUI um
and now I got another position here as a security.
I'm the supervisor and though it's a very low position
kind of.
I, uh, I just believe it's getting to my head
(10:03):
a little bit and I'm just like lacking knowing my place.
E earlier I was talking to my, uh, to my manager,
as if I was the manager, and not just the supervisor, like,
you know, kind of like trying to lay down some
rules and stuff for the other guards. I just don't like,
I just don't like my approach and how, how I
feel a little big-headed.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
All right, Brian, what do you tell Isaiah? Well, I'd say,
I think that this is the great thing that you're
recognizing this because, you know, it would be a big
problem if you were just doing all of that, you,
you know, you were oblivious to it. That would be, uh,
that would be more of a problem. So the fact
that you're, you're seeing like, wait, this this this attitude
(10:43):
is not really godly. This isn't what Jesus is is about. That,
that's good.
And so, uh, a couple of things, um, I'm thinking
of when Paul writes to the Christians in Corinth, and they,
they were wrestling with some pride and things like that, he,
he reminded them that um,
(11:06):
He said, you know, what do you have that you
didn't receive?
And if you received it, why do you boast as
though you didn't? And so he's he's calling them to,
to really think um realistically about themselves. And so that
(11:26):
that's one passage that comes to mind. And then the
other passage is in Philippians chapter 2.
And there in, uh, the first, you know, part, the
first like the 1st 11 verses, um, the apostle is
talking about, um, preferring other people more than yourself and
(11:48):
things like that. And he says, let this mind be
in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, although he
was by nature God, he didn't use his divinity to
his own advantage, but he
actually used it to serve other people, and he talks
about how Jesus became a servant, he humbled himself, he
(12:08):
humbled himself even to the point of death, even death
on a cross, and therefore God has highly exalted him.
So but the but the but the word there is
follow this example. Jesus is the example. So you're, it's
great that you've got the conviction.
Now the follow through is, you know, Lord, forgive this attitude,
(12:28):
help me to not think more highly of myself than
I should, to remember that whatever I have you gave
me and help me to follow the model that you set.
And I think the other thing I'd add to that, uh,
is that I would, I would have a, uh, you know,
a small handful of people in your life who you
trust and who are, you know, who love you unconditionally
(12:48):
and give them permission to call you out on it
when they see it.
Uh, and I, I mean, I think Brian's right about this, Isaiah,
that it's your, your self-awareness on this is a huge
first step is most, I mean, the overwhelming majority of
prideful people are not aware that that's, that's how they are,
or else they, you know, or else they wouldn't be
so stuck in it, uh, you know, I remember my,
(13:09):
my mentor when I was in seminary.
Used to say that everybody who wants to be a
pastor should should spend at least a year waiting tables
because you have to serve people when you don't feel
like it and you and and it keeps you from
thinking too highly about yourself and.
We have a, we have a sister school that, uh,
has they have character traits that they emphasize at different
(13:32):
times during the year and emphasize humility. They require that
the student takes, take the three month stint doing a
job that they think is beneath them. uh, those are good.
I mean, you know, I'm not suggesting that for everybody, but, uh, if, uh,
you know, that's why I think, you know, the job,
I say, the job that you're in at the moment,
I think may actually be helping you get on top
(13:53):
of this.
Uh, but like what Isaiah was saying is he's in
this new job and because he's had better paying jobs,
he does kind of feel like he's, you know, so
that like he's in a job that that's perhaps beneath
him and that's why he's talking back to his supervisor
and everything else. So I don't know, should you get
a job waiting tables or no, I think it's fine
(14:13):
to stay, stay, stay in that job, but I think
just have a, you know, I say have a handful
of friends who you give permission to ask you about
this and.
You know, ask, you know, tell me about times when
you may be tempted to show pride, um, so that
they can hold you accountable for that.
So Isaiah, you also mentioned a DUI. Let's talk about
(14:34):
that for a little bit.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Oh man, all right, I'll go ahead and be open. Hey,
you
mentioned
Speaker 1 (14:39):
it. I, you know, I'm just following up.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
No, yeah, I mean, I just, I, I like to
be open, kind of give you a picture of where
I'm standing because right now I'm, I'm praying and then
I'm also seeking for answers everywhere I can. So I
was uh working for a school district and, um, during
the summer, I ended up uh going on and, uh,
using some, some, you know, some drugs I shouldn't have.
(15:06):
And, uh, in the, in the process of it in
the morning on my way to go take a hike,
I just ended up doing a DUI hit and run.
And basically I ended up running off and by the
time they found me, I, uh, I had already parked
(15:27):
the car. I was kind of out of it. I
almost didn't know that I crashed.
And when I came back to my car, my, my
car was surrounded by police and then they asked me
a bunch of questions. They asked me, do you, uh,
do you allow us to search your car? I'm like, yeah,
I'm actually kind of out of it. Go ahead and
do whatever you guys want. I passed my sobriety test
(15:48):
with them. I passed the breathalyzer test. It was just
through blood that I was dirty, um.
And yeah, that was the DUI case and just recently
like God like really helped me and blessed me, uh.
You know, I'm not, not a lot of people are
gonna be happy about hearing that. I was like, all
(16:09):
the charges were dropped and I am only gonna serve
8 hours of community service, but the only reason I
bring that up is
You know, somehow I was found innocent in God's eyes,
and he helps us through situations where we really feel
hopeless and, you know, I even felt like I lacked
a little faith, but as in during the whole time
(16:31):
I knew that whether I go into prison or stay free,
I need God to be my, my, my strength, you know.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Yeah.
I'd say, Isaiah, you caught a huge break, brother, and to,
to give gratitude to God for that but uh I
think the other thing is that, uh, you know, most,
most prideful people are not particularly vulnerable in sharing hard
stuff about themselves, so you, you may be a little
bit farther down the road in dealing with this and
(16:59):
you're giving yourself credit for.
Yeah, and just, and, and, you know, I, I know, I,
I think from everything you're saying that you, you realize like, OK,
God's really been merciful to you. Um, but like Jesus,
you know, would sometimes, you know, he would, he would
forgive somebody and then he would say, go and sin
(17:20):
no more. So in other words, this is, uh, you know,
it's kind of like, all right, you know, you, you
had a pretty serious situation going there, the Lord, the
Lord got you out of it.
Not so you could go back and repeat it, but
so you could move forward now in your relationship with Jesus. So, and,
and like we said from the beginning, you know, the
fact that you're calling and you're, you know, publicly saying, man,
(17:42):
I'm struggling with pride, that's great because you've got some
self-realization and that's when you have self-realization, that's where you're
able to move forward. So, keep, keep moving forward.
Isaiah, thank you for your phone call today here on
Pastor's Perspective. 888-564-6173 is the number to call, so you
can talk to Brian Broderson and Scott Ray. Here's another
(18:05):
question that was sent in online. It's from Tiffany.
Who's asking about Acts chapter 27. Paul was a prisoner
being transported. Was he in chains? What was the protocol
for transporting prisoners in those days? How heavy were the chains?
Why didn't he sink if he had chains when the shipwrecked?
Is it safe to assume he was in chains? In
(18:27):
my mind, I'm assuming he was, because in prison he was,
hold on, in my mind, I'm assuming he was in
chains because in prison he was, and they're moving him.
So how did he manage to swim to shore? Bound.
How and why did the centurion take instruction from a
bound man?
Lots of questions.
Where, where do you wanna start? Hey, I, I, I
(18:48):
think this caller is making a making a pretty good
argument that he wasn't chained, uh, and I'm, you know,
I'm not sure what the tradition was, and I think
he sometimes when Paul speaks about himself being in chains,
he means that as a figure of speech, not, not
literally he's a prisoner, he's he's in prison, um.
But I think, you know, the idea that he could swim,
now the, the whole, I think the whole thing, him
(19:10):
surviving this basically a hurricane essentially that that that shipwrecked
their boat, uh, him surviving that he all attributed that
to a miracle of God's grace.
And I suspect that, uh, you know, if, if God
can get him out of that, he can also, you know,
enable him to swim to shore, having been in chains.
(19:31):
But I think probably the more plausible explanation is that
he was not chained, uh, and was, and was able
to swim to to shore by, by God's grace. Um, that,
that makes the most sense to me. And, and you know,
when you think of some of the other things that
are said about, uh, you know, Paul's imprisonment or his transfer,
you know, from Cesarea to Rome.
(19:53):
Um, let it, uh, let, let him, you know, let
his friends take care of him, you know, it was something,
maybe something more akin to house arrest. Yeah, yeah, it
seems like there was some leniency there. I think that's
definitely true because he was in prison in Rome for
two years, uh, and we, and we know that the,
you know, the Roman.
Guards, you know, they, they came and went, uh, and
(20:16):
he had a lot of interaction with them. In fact,
I think he had, he had a captive audience for
the gospel during those two years, and those guards then
went out to the far reaches of the Roman Empire,
which is in my, in my view why, uh, I
think you can make a good case that Acts 1:8
to take the gospel to the end of the earth
might actually have been fulfilled by the end of the
book of Acts.
(20:37):
Yeah, maybe so.
Great. Tiffany, thank you for sending in your question through
Kwave.com's Pastor's perspective page, and CJ writes in from Surprise, Arizona,
and he wants to know why does God harden hearts.
Is the hardening of one's heart God making them do
evil things, which takes away their free will, or is
(20:58):
it that God is giving people over to their already
hardened hearts and or reprobate minds, as Romans 1:29 seems
to indicate?
Scott, I, I'd say I, in my view it's more
the latter of those two that God gives them over
to their own desires and basically takes away any common
(21:21):
grace that would restrain their their basis desires from being,
you know, fully actualized.
Uh, and now it may, it may have been the
case that, uh, in Exodus God God did something a
little extra to Pharaoh so that he would let the
Israelites go, but I, I wanna be really careful with
(21:43):
that because I, I, I don't wanna be, I don't
wanna make the theological statement that basically says that God
causes evil because that's not true. God's not the author
of evil. God allows it for reasons that we understand
a lot better when we get to glory.
Uh, so I'm, I'm inclined to say that God, uh, the, the,
the Romans one text is more the norm. Yeah, yeah,
(22:05):
and I mean, the first part of the question was,
you know, is like God hardening the heart, like he's,
he's forcing them into a sinful situation and taking away
their free will, and I don't think that happens. I,
I agree.
All right, CJ, thank you for sending in your question
through the pastor's perspective page on Facebook. Yeah, that's it.
(22:27):
888-564-6173 is the number to call. And here's another one
from online. It's Brittany, also on Facebook. Does it really
matter for a Christian to start a ministry when there
are many, when there are so many hard times going
on in the world? I plan to start a ministry
next year, but I have no experience other than volunteering.
(22:48):
In the church, so I think Brittany wants to know
why start a ministry of Jesus might be coming back
soon anyway, um.
Uh, yeah, what do you guys say?
I'd say busy yourself with kingdom work until that day
comes and you know Paul got after the Thessalonians for
(23:08):
basically sitting on the mountaintop waiting for the Lord's return
and part of the reason I think he got after
them for that was because they they didn't want to
go be in the real world where Christians were being
persecuted for their faith, so they, it was, it was
the easiest is easy escape from that and also made
them look like they were exercising great faith waiting for
the Lord's return.
(23:29):
Paul told them, you know, be, be about your, your
work and your family and serving your community, uh, and even,
even when the Israelites were in exile that they know
that was temporary, but they were commanded still to seek
the welfare of the city that they were in and
to seek the flourishing of that. I think the same
holds true here.
Yep, amen, and I, what's her name? Brittany, Britney, yeah,
(23:55):
and I would just say Brittany, you know, um.
we have to be careful with like,
Well, the Lord's coming back, so why bother? You know,
there's probably not enough time. We just don't know that,
and
The New Testament is written with the, the sort of
(24:18):
the overarching reminder of the Lord's coming, but it's not like, hey,
the Lord's coming, so just hang out until he gets here. No,
the Lord is coming, so let's be about the business
of the kingdom until he gets here. So go for it.
I mean, you know, and, and God will, God will
lead you and, you know, Scott, sometimes I, um, I,
(24:40):
I
I get encouraged when I'm talking to people who God's
giving them vision for ministry, you know, I like I
know friends that are gonna go plan a church somewhere,
they're gonna go overseas, and they've got this passion and
And, and I just look at that and I think,
you know, that to me indicates that the Lord's not done,
(25:00):
he's not done working. I mean, he's, he's leading these
people that I know well, I trust that they're mature
enough to know that, you know, when God is working
and speaking versus just being caught up with some emotional thing.
And I look at that and I, I take courage
from that and I think, you know what, yeah, there's,
there's still work to do. Yeah, I, I don't want,
I don't want us to be misunderstood that we're discouraging
(25:21):
her from starting this ministry. We, we, we, I mean,
I'd like to know a little bit more what it
is and whether it's gonna, whether she's expecting that to
support her financially, but if it's something that she's is
volunteering to do, yeah, I'd say go, go for it, absolutely.
And people ask this question too when it comes to
marriage or having kids, etc. because they're like, well, why
(25:43):
have kids? Why bring more people into the world if
Jesus is coming back soon and the world is so
messed up anyway, do we really want them living here
and yeah.
You get stuff like that too. Well, if, you know,
if people would have adopted that mindset, um, throughout church history,
we wouldn't have much of the gospel in the world today,
(26:04):
you know, and the world's always been a mess, and
there have been plenty of times in history where it
sure looked like we're, you know, it's about to all
wind up, but it didn't. It kept going. And so
here we are today, so I just think we need
there's kind of there's an environmental thing too that people
think about.
But I think you need to be aware too that if,
(26:26):
you know, if people are born into economies and systems
that are that that enable them to be net producers,
then having more people is actually a really good thing
because if you're in if you're in and if you,
you know, if you're not, then that's a different, that's
a different discussion.
But I think in most of the West, you know,
more people means more people who are net producers and
(26:48):
net contributors to their communities as opposed to net consumers, uh,
and so that's, I think an important distinction to make.
So I would, you know, if you're concerned for him,
I think for environmental reasons about not for to not
have kids.
I'm not sure. I'm not so sure that that's an
argument that will stand in the long run. Yeah, and
(27:08):
sometimes I think it's also um.
You know, just looking at the, the condition of society
and the direction of the culture, and you're just like, man,
do I actually wanna bring a child into this. But again,
that's something that we, you know,
If you think back through history, I mean, look at
the time of Jesus. You look at the situation in Israel, like, man,
(27:31):
was that a good time to bring a child into
the world? Those were all lousy, yeah, exactly. But that
was the time that God ordained to bring his son
into the world. Brian, I would say there, there, there's
never a bad time to bring people into the world
who are gonna be salt and light. Yeah, never. I agree.
Brittany, thank you for sending in your question on the
pastor's perspective Facebook mess or yeah, pastor's no, no, no, yes,
(27:57):
pastor's perspective Facebook messenger. There's so many different ways to
get your question to us nowadays that I get them
all confused, but the best way is to call us
at 888-564-6173. We're gonna hang out in the studio for
another half hour.
and would love to hear from you at 888-564-6173. Let's
talk about this really quick. We talked about it yesterday,
(28:17):
this new book that is so popular, it's on backorder now,
so it'll be a while before you can order it,
but you can download it for free. If you want
a physical copy, you'll have to wait, but it's called
Calvary Chapel. It's essence and identity.
Yes, uh, yeah, so it's a, it's a small book
where we just took, um, myself and a few other
(28:39):
guys on our, uh, CGN leadership team. We just decided, let's,
you know, let's talk about the things that really, I,
I think identify the ministry of Calvary Chapel and so
we talked about the work of the spirit, we talked
about the emphasis on expositional teaching, we talked about.
Um, evangelism and reaching the next generation. We talked about
(29:00):
fellowship and the importance of unity and, and I, you know,
I think it, it turned out really, really well. And
so yes, we've already sold out of the first printing,
and I just got a text while we were sitting
here giving me a price for the second printing. Say yes, yes,
you can get them in stock. So anyway, but it
is available uh at CGN.org. Um, you can download it
(29:25):
for free if you want it.
What do you say to people who think, oh, you're
trying to replace the Calvary distinctives with this book? Well, no,
we're not. Um, it's, it's, you know, but it's the
Calvary Distinctives was written 30 years ago, you know, times
have changed. Things have changed a little bit.
Um, so we're just looking at it from that direction, uh,
from that perspective. All right, get more details about this
(29:48):
book at CGN.org. CGN stands for Calvary Global Network. You
can download it for free, or it's on backorder to
have some more in stock soon so that you can
order a physical copy. 888-564-6173. We'll be back with your questions.
(30:18):
All right, welcome back to Pastor's Perspective. 888-564-6173 is the
number to call. We've got Brian Broderson from Calvary Chapel
Costa Mesa here to answer your questions for another 25
minutes or so. Give us a call, grab an open line, 888-564-6173.
Also here is Professor Doctor Scott Ray from Biola University.
(30:41):
He's the professor.
of philosophy and Christian ethics at the Talbot School of
Theology at Biola. You can find out more about Scott
and Biola at biola.edu. Biola.edu. 888-564-6173 is our number. And
here is Kerry, who is calling in from Fullerton, watching
us on YouTube. So let's wave hi to Kerry. Thanks
(31:02):
for calling in today. How can we help you?
Speaker 2 (31:05):
Hi, uh, in your last segment, you guys spoke about, uh,
more people would possibly bring more light and more salt
to the world. When Lot's wife turned back and turned
into a pillar of salt, was she then
A negative turned into a positive, being turned into the
pillar of salt as like a preservative, like.
(31:27):
From her negative turning into a positive.
What's your perspective?
Speaker 1 (31:32):
Um, so are you saying like, uh, why assault seen
as a negative thing there when we're describing is it
a positive thing?
Speaker 2 (31:40):
No, no, no. No, what, what was it, was she
then was her example uh turned into a positive. Yeah,
Speaker 1 (31:48):
I get, I get what you're saying, Carrie. I get
what you're saying. You're and you're, you're kind of going
off the idea that
Um, salt, like Jesus said, you are the light of
the world, um, you are the salt of the earth.
So the idea of salt being a preservative or a
positive thing, um, was Lot's wife, um, when she, you know,
(32:11):
because she turned back, she was turned into a pillar
of salt. Was that a a positive thing? No, I don't,
I don't think that was a positive thing. I think
we just, uh, you know, although being the salt of
the earth.
Means something in the context that that Jesus spoke about it, uh,
something positive, like being a preservative. Um, it doesn't necessarily
(32:35):
mean that wherever you have salt, you've got the same
uh idea. So.
No, she, this wasn't a positive thing. Yeah, this, this was, uh,
in my view, uh, evidence of God's judgment, uh, on,
on her and on, you know, just part as part
of God's judgment on the entire sort of Sodom and
(32:57):
Gomorrah communities.
Does this help you carry?
Speaker 2 (33:00):
It's like
it does in a way. I thought it was, yes, her,
her judgment on her but also turning her judgment into
the positive in that way. But, OK, I, I understand
what you're saying.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
No, the the positive is what what everybody has learned from.
This episode in the scriptures, that's, that's the, that's the
redemptive value of it. Was this real salt? I mean,
maybe that's kind of what the, the angle that Kerry
is taking that, you know, here's some, here's a judgment
from God. It turned this woman into a pillar of salt,
but now there's salt in the community.
(33:35):
Yeah, uh, well, no.
No, I, I think, you know, this is where again,
we have to be careful to understand things in, in
their context. So, you know, some people think, oh, salt, OK, yeah,
salt here means this. OK, everywhere I look, salt's going
to mean the same thing. No, it doesn't, and Jesus just,
(33:59):
Jesus is.
He isn't even talking about literal salt. He's saying, you know,
like what salt is in that it enhances flavor, it preserves,
that's what you are to the culture, or you are
the salt of the earth. So, yeah.
All right, Kerry?
Yes, thank you very much. Thank you for calling in today.
(34:20):
888-564-6173 is the number Carrie called, and you can call
it too to ask your question, 888-564-6173. James wrote in online,
and here's what he wants to know. Two questions from James.
I have epilepsy.
And I'm having most of my right temporal lobe removed.
My son has Duchinous dystrophy. I understand hardship brings us
(34:43):
closer to God. I'm worried the surgery will affect my
faith in God. What do you say to the fact
I am saved now and fall short but still place
my eyes on God. If this surgery changes me, will
God see who I am now or who I become?
What would you guys say, Scott? I think God neither
(35:04):
of those actually. God, God sees you for who you
are in Christ at at the moment, uh, and I
understand that my, my first, my heart goes out to
this person just for what, what you're facing, uh, and
how just I think just how how scary that can be.
Uh, but I think unless, you know, unless the surgeon
(35:24):
is doing something to your soul, that won't, that shouldn't
affect the way you relate to God, because God ultimately
our spirit is is the capacity within our soul that
that provides the ability to relate to God.
And that's immaterial and that's not a material substance, uh,
(35:46):
and you know, no, no surgeon can excise that so I, I,
I wouldn't, I, I, that's not something for me. I
think you've got a lot of things that you can
be losing sleep over, uh, for, you know, the surgery
that's coming and for dealing with the condition, but your
ability to connect with God is not one of those
things that would cause me to be losing sleep.
(36:07):
So Scott, when, you know, uh, there are people that
are concerned, like, say they say they end up with
Alzheimer's at some point or something, and, and they're worried like, well,
what if I forget about God, you know, what if,
what if, what if my fai, what if I, you know,
what if that happens, then what does that mean for
(36:29):
my soul? Am I OK or?
What would you say? I, I, I don't think that
has any bearing on your eternal security, uh, you know,
assuming that that initial profession of faith was the real thing, um,
that I don't, I don't think that has any impact
on it.
(36:49):
So I think you know the fear of somebody, you know, losing,
you know, losing their memory, uh, you may, I think
you may lose your memory of some of the things
that God's done in your life in the past in
the same way that you might lose your the remembrance
of you know how people impacted your life in the past,
but again, I, I don't, I mean, as far as.
(37:11):
We know Alzheimer's doesn't doesn't impact the soul. Now it's
true that your brain and your soul, you know, work
in tandem and that a lot of the capacities of
your soul require brain function to, to be actualized but
not all of them, uh, and we know that, you know, God, God,
God can impact your soul even when you know your
(37:35):
brain is not functioning like you're accustomed to.
So I, I guess what I don't want to do, Brian,
is to reduce a human being to just the physical
stuff of their body and brain and even if I
mean if you even if you lose half your brain,
you're not half the person you were a full person
with half the brain capacity and the reason you're a
(37:57):
full person has to do with the fact that you
are regardless of your brain function, you are still made
in the image of God.
Uh, and, and maybe this is a good place to
bring this in, because in, in my view, you may,
you may see this differently and we could talk about
that if you do, but in my view, the, the
image of God is not dependent upon somebody's ability to function.
(38:19):
Uh, and there's a really important reason for that, and
that is if, if, if the image of God is
dependent upon our characteristics like our ability to relate to people,
our rationality, you know, things like that, then those characteristics
come and go over over life and they diminish as
life goes on if that and if that's true, then
(38:40):
what we're saying is that the image of God then
becomes something that's more or less instead of something that's
all or nothing.
And the image of God in the scripture is definitely
all or nothing. I mean you were either, you either
entirely made in the image of God, which human persons are,
or you're not as animals are, for example.
(39:00):
And so I, I, I wanna be really careful that
we don't tie the image of God to certain functions
uh that are necessary to be a person. Does that
make sense? Yeah, and I think you're, I mean, obviously
there are many things happening in the culture, uh, maybe
not immediately our culture, but in, let's say in the
(39:22):
western culture, there are many things that are happening with
euthanasia and things like that.
That are really rooted in these kinds of questions, right?
That's right because they're like, well, because this person doesn't
um show any signs of personhood, then are they really
a person? And so, well, we, we want to go
(39:43):
back to the.
Ultimately they're created in the image of God regardless of
how they function and the image I would put it
this way, the image of God is a status that
we have not a function that's good that we're given
and I say, you know, if say take the person
you're describing at the end at the end of life,
I don't, I don't, I don't really think that as
(40:03):
a culture we believe everything we say about people at
the end of life because if that were true, if
they if they if they they were so debilitated that
they're no longer a person.
Then there's nothing that would prevent us from just taking
them out and burying them or experimenting on them or
taking their organs without their consent. In fact, even the
idea that you would consent to euthanasia is sort of
(40:25):
a moot point if you're no longer a person.
But we hold all those things really dear and we
don't allow those things to take place precisely because we
I think deep down we believe that even though your
functions are limited, you are still a person with intrinsic
dignity still made in the image of God and the
minute you lose that in a in a culture, you're
(40:48):
in trouble. God help you, yeah.
James, thank you for sending in your question. He actually
had a second question too. My son has been on
steroids since age 2 in a wheelchair since 12. A
year and a half ago, he had his entire spine
fused to relieve pressure from his heart and lungs. I
understand the pain of adults, but children who have had
(41:10):
their lives muted in some way doesn't make sense other
than to use to glorify God, and this confuses me.
What am I missing?
Well this confuses me too, uh, and I'm, I'm reminded
of what Solomon writes in Ecclesiastes that under the sun,
the term he uses to describe this side of eternity,
(41:31):
there's just a lot of things that we, we just
don't know, you know, there, I mean, you know, God
has not given I put it this way, uh, you know,
the one thing you need to make a, make a
jigsaw puzzle, put it together is the box top right
with the picture.
Yes, but we've got all these pieces, these puzzle pieces
of our lives. God, this side of eternity has not
(41:51):
given us the box top, yeah.
And I think the reason for that is if he,
if he gave us, you know, all a way to
see all the pieces of life's puzzle in our lives
in a coherent whole we probably would ask for another option, yeah,
you know, we might, we, I, I suspect we, and
I think the reason he does that is he knows
(42:12):
that we being human beings, we just this side of
eternity we can't handle seeing all of it. That's why
he gives it to us piecemeal typically right.
So I would, you know, I, I agree this doesn't
make sense. Uh, it will, I think when we meet
the Lord face to face, but I think it's, it's,
it's hazardous, I think, to try and speculate what, you know,
(42:33):
what God might be doing or how this might fit
together in God's plan because uh we just don't know
and it and it's OK to not know exactly and
and to just say I, I, I don't know.
Uh, there's, there's so many things that happen in the
world that you look at and you just say, wow,
I don't, I don't know how and, and of course
(42:54):
people so often, well, why did God let that happen? I,
I don't know why God let that happen. It doesn't
seem to me like that was a good thing to happen,
but I'm not God. And I, and I think, um,
you know, the, the more we get to know who
God is.
The easier these things become. Not that they ever become,
(43:15):
you know, easy, but they become easier because we realized that, OK, God,
you know, God is just, he's so much bigger than
we can even conceive of.
And so it's, and I always think of Job, you know,
because Job, of course, he's the classic example of the
person who he's got a lot of questions about why,
you know, he's lost all of his family, all of
(43:35):
his children have died. He's lost his wealth, his wife
has left him, his body is riddled with boils. He's
in this deep depression, and if anybody could say why,
Job could say it.
And yet, when the Lord finally comes to Job, Job's,
the minute he sees the Lord, he's like, it's almost
like he's like, I, I, I don't even have any
(43:55):
more questions, you know, God Himself is the answer to
the question. When you realize who God is, then the
questions go away. Jesus said this, and the context is different,
but I think, I, but I like to make the
connection because Jesus is talking to the disciples and he's
telling them that he's, you know, about to go die,
but he says he's gonna rise again.
And he says, in in that day, you will ask
(44:18):
me nothing. Now he goes on to say, you're gonna
ask the Father, but I think in that day when
you see Jesus risen from the dead, it's like all
questions are answered. It's like, like Tim Keller, you know,
as at least they become irrelevant. Yeah, as Tim Keller
was dying, he said, you know, if, if it is
true that Jesus rose from the dead, then everything's gonna
(44:39):
be OK, and I, I like that.
James, thank you for sending in your questions on the
pastor's perspective Facebook page. No, no, no, on the, on
the Kwave.com pastor's perspective page, and I am losing it today.
I need more coffee or maybe I drank too much
coffee today. I don't know. 888-564-6173 is our number. Let's
(44:59):
talk to. No, wait, we were just talking to Kerry.
Is this a different Kerry? It's a different Carrie. We
are the most listened to radio program amongst women named Kerry.
I love that. This is Carrie in Moreno Valley listening
on FM 107.9 K wave. What's your question for us, Carrie?
My question is, what is your perspective on Jesus cursing
the fig tree when he was hungry, but it wasn't
(45:22):
the time for figs?
Like it wasn't the time for figs, so why would
he curse it? Wouldn't he already know? I mean, why
did he do this, Brian, what do you think?
Well, it is a fact that, um, and I had
this verified by a farmer in Israel. A fig farmer. Uh, yes,
it is a fact that the fig tree will blossom early,
(45:47):
like a, like, um, you know, before the normal season
there is a like a pre
Blossom time, I don't know what you'd call it, um,
and that you can, you can fully expect a healthy
tree to do that. And so Jesus is going to
the tree, although it's not technically the
(46:10):
Harvest time, it is that time where you could expect
figs on it, and he comes and he finds no
figs on it. So he curses it. Now, is Jesus
just doing that just to show his power? Why is
he even bothering with this? Um, Jesus, I think is
there's there's an illustration and a kind of a parable
here that the fig tree, I think in this case
(46:31):
is symbolic of the nation.
Jesus is coming to the nation expecting fruit, and yet
he's not finding any fruit, so there's gonna be a judgment.
In Luke's Gospel, there there's the the similar thing, uh,
but Jesus tells a little parable about um the fig
tree that that didn't blossom, so he says to the,
(46:54):
the farmer, cut it down.
And he says, uh, the farmer says, no, let me
cultivate it a little bit more. Give it a little
bit more time and let's see if it bears fruit,
and then if it doesn't, it, it can be cut down.
And I think that all of that is, there's a
connection with what's happening with the nation. Jesus is coming
(47:16):
to the nation looking for fruit, and there there the
fruit is not there, and there's a judgment that will come,
and we know, of course, historically, that did happen.
Yeah, I guess that sounds pretty good to me. Sound good? Yep,
I can't, I can't. I got nothing to add to that.
All right, what do you think? Carry help Kerry?
That helped, but can I ask another question? The next day,
Peter pointed out that the fig tree had died up.
(47:39):
Jesus just started talking about faith. Mhm.
If you have the faith, you know, you can say
that this mountain, it'll be moved into the ocean. So
I was wondering if cursing of the fig tree had
something to do with we should have faith whether we
expect to find fruit or not. Mhm.
Yeah, I mean, Jesus did do that, you're right, and
I don't know exactly how that would connect to the
(48:03):
other thing I was saying, but for Jesus at the moment, this,
this is the lesson of faith.
All right, Kerry, I just, I just wanted your perspective.
Thank you for giving it to me. You're welcome. Thanks
for calling. Yep, it's what we do Monday through Friday
from 3 to 4 p.m. Pacific time. Answer your questions
about the Bible, the Christian faith from a pastor's perspective.
(48:26):
888-564-6173 is the number. Here's Megan. She submitted this question
through the pastor's perspective Facebook page. Two questions actually. What
does the Bible say about suicide? Is it true we
will be damned to hell if we commit suicide? I
feel I'm in serious spiritual warfare, and I cannot shake
off this feeling. Her second question, don't know if it's
(48:48):
related to the first as to, you know, her spiritual warfare,
but
She says, what should I do about my spouse continuing
to fall into lust and porn? It's it's reoccurring and heartbreaking.
We just had a baby 4 months ago, and I
don't want a broken family, but I don't trust him
at all and have mentally detached myself, and I don't
(49:09):
know what to do. Scott.
Well, I, I'll take, I'll take the first one, and Brian,
I'll give you the second one. I think I nowhere
in the scripture do I read that suicide is what
I would call a mortal sin.
Uh, now it's, it's, that's not saying it's, it's moral,
but I mean it's, it's clearly wrong, uh, the, the
(49:31):
sanctity of life is true not only for other people
in the culture, but it's true for, for the individual
as well. And the reason that the scripture, uh, prohibits
the taking of innocent life, particularly your own, is that
the timing and manner of our death belong to God.
That's, that's, that's his domain. He gives, he gives us
(49:52):
our days from his hand, uh, and being the active
cause of death for an innocent person, even yourself, is immoral.
That being said, in, in my view, I don't, I don't,
I don't think that disqualifies someone from eternity.
Because you know, the only thing that I, I read
(50:13):
in the scripture that disqualifies someone from eternity is rejecting
the gift of grace in the death of Christ, uh,
to die for our sins rejecting that rejecting the, the
provision for our sins is what separates someone from God
for eternity.
So I would, you know, of course I would never
want to give aid and comfort to the notion of
(50:36):
somebody committing suicide, but, and I, I would encourage this
person to get, to get help, uh, like, like really
quickly because any, anytime somebody verbalizes that, that inclination to
commit suicide, we take that really seriously and you should too. Brian.
(50:56):
Yeah, absolutely. And again, whether the second question is connected
to the first or not, um, I mean, you could
see where it would lead to that, perhaps the depression,
you know, and kind of the hopelessness because of the situation.
Um, yeah, this, this is hard and hopefully, um, is
(51:17):
it Tiffany, Megan, Megan, hope, hopefully Megan, um, you guys
have a church and that you could get some counseling through, uh,
you know, I think you have to be very candid
with your husband about what this is doing to you
and how, how you feel, and if he's a confession, uh,
(51:38):
confessing Christian.
Uh, he needs to get his life together in this
area because this is, it's potentially going to destroy everything
if he hangs on to this lust leading to the
pornography and all of that. So our, our hearts go
out to you. That's, that is a difficult thing. And hopefully, again, you,
(52:00):
you guys have a local church that you can
Approach the leadership, the pastors, and, and get some, some counsel,
and hopefully he will respond to that council.
Megan, thank you for sending in your question, and if
everybody listening and watching can please keep Megan in your prayers.
You know, you know, it's, it's just so, you think
(52:21):
of the
You know, sin is by its very nature destructive. That
that's what it does. It, it never does anything good.
It appears uh sometimes innocuous, but we know the reality is, right?
Sinsin brings forth death. And you, you look at these
kinds of situations where you have like a young family
(52:43):
and you, you have a person who
You know, they have a they have a baby and
they have a wife and you know, they just, they
just want the love and the security and then the
person in all of their self-centeredness is just off logo,
you know, I'm gonna do my thing over here and it's,
it's so heartbreaking. It's, it's just tragic. Isn't that an
(53:04):
example too of like in this case, Megan's husband.
Delving into porn and he's thinking, well, I'm not hurting anybody.
This is just something I'm doing.
What do you say? Well, he needs to hear the,
the question that his wife sent into us, uh, because
it is hurting them, and I would, I would suggest
that that gives the fact that they have a young
child that puts urgency on both parts of her question,
(53:28):
urgency to get help because if she's having suicidal thoughts
with a young child, you know, that, that we needed
to get that under under control but.
Their husband needs to know that, you know, he's now
got a young child that he's that he's responsible for
and this is not this is not something to mess
around with because it will I mean this eventually tears
(53:49):
families apart and I think Brian, you're right, sin sin
is insidious, uh, and one of the deceptive parts of
sin is our thinking that it's a, it's, it was
not doing any harm's not doing any harm, yeah, yeah, and,
and I would, the last thing I would say to
Megan is that um.
If, if this indeed, if the first question is tied
(54:09):
to the second question, then know this, that your, your
deliverance ultimately is not in your husband's behavior one way
or the other. Your deliverance is is with Jesus and
you and you really have to look to him because
he wants to be the one who will comfort you
and give you hope and encouragement and a reason to
(54:31):
go on living because regardless, you know, we can't control
what other people do.
But what other people do does not dictate or determine
God's heart for us and his plan for us. So
let's just say worst case scenario, your husband never got
his act together. God still has a plan for your life,
(54:52):
for the life of your baby, and you need to
just press into that and see God's faithfulness.
Megan, thank you for sending in your question online, and
we've run out of time on today's episode of Pastor's Perspective,
but we will be back tomorrow between 3 and 4 p.m.
Pacific time. We open up the phone lines about 7
minutes before 3. So start thinking of your questions tonight.
(55:13):
Maybe you couldn't call in today because I don't know,
your phone battery died or, uh, I don't know, you
were stuck on the freeway and I, I, I don't know, but, uh,
write down your questions as you read your Bible.
Tomorrow morning and something comes up, write down your question
and then call in. If you hear something on the
radio that you're wondering about, you can call in with
those questions as well. And, um, if you guys follow
(55:35):
some of those so-called preachers on YouTube, they've always got
interesting things to say. So if you have, if you
watch one of them and you want to call in
and ask about something you heard, call us tomorrow from
3 to 4. God bless you guys. Thanks for watching
and thanks for listening to Pastor's Perspective.
Hello and welcome to Pastor's Perspective. I'm your host, Brian Perez.
888-564-6173 is the number to call us for the next hour.
We would love to talk to you, answer questions you
might have about, well, what? That's up to you. You
kind of choose the agenda on the program.
You call us and we talk about whatever issues it
(00:37):
is that you bring up. If you've got questions about them,
it could be about the Bible, it could be about
the Christian faith, or other religions. Either way, we would
love to talk to you at 888-564-6173. And here to
answer your questions today, we've got Brian Broderson, pastor at
Calvary Chapel Coast.
Lisa in Southern California, and Doctor Scott Ray, professor at
(00:59):
Biola University. Always good to have Scott in the studio.
He is the professor of philosophy and Christian ethics. So
if you've got a question about philosophy or Christian ethics,
today would be a great day to call 888-564-6173. If
you're watching
On Facebook, YouTube, or Instagram, you can call in too. Yeah,
you can just watch if you want, but we'd love
(01:20):
it if you would participate by calling the number there
on the bottom of your screen. It's 888-564-6173. Yeah, you
can send in your questions online, but it's not like
hearing the sound of your voice. So call 888-564-6173. Hey guys,
how you doing? Good.
I missed you guys. We missed you too. Yes, good
(01:41):
to have you here. Yeah, good to be together. This
is my last, uh, Tuesday in the studio for a while,
but it's Wednesday, but it is. So he's already so
it's good to be here with Scott and, um, and
always glad that you're able to drop by. Well, I
will always say yes to the invitation. Really, we heard that.
(02:01):
We heard that.
All right, guys, give us a call so we can
chat about, like I said, whatever it is you want
to talk about. Here's a question that was sent in online.
It's from Carol in Bloomington, and Bloomington, California. She writes,
I'm Mexican, and I still like Mexican music, and I
dance at parties. I would like to know your perspective
(02:21):
about dancing. Brian?
Well, I, I thought we were gonna talk about Mexican food, maybe.
I was gonna, I was getting a hearty. They do
serve Mexican food at parties, so that's one of my favorite, uh, cuisines. Um, well,
you know, look, I, I think, um, there, there's nothing, uh,
the matter with dancing, um, you know, you can read
(02:44):
places in scripture where they were celebrating and say the
Jewish culture, for example, which much of the
Biblical context is set in that Jewish culture. Um, is,
is it a celebratory culture, festivals and lots of dancing
and things that go along with that. I, I think
(03:04):
that the only thing, you know, we have to be
careful about when it comes to this sort of stuff is, um,
you know, that we're, we're maintaining, um, you know, purity
and
That, that, that sort of thing, which I, I would
assume that that is the case here. So, I mean,
(03:25):
there are, I guess there are forms of dancing that
you might say, I, I'm not sure about that, but,
but then I think for the most part, if you're
just enjoying yourself, you're having fun, um, God's not against fun.
What do you think Scott? As to your heart's content
unless it's overtly sexual. Yeah, I like that. That's a simple.
(03:46):
Wait
Do it. What if it's slow dancing and you're not married?
What if you're just
Close speed it up a little bit you know, there
you go, arm's distance, right?
Yeah, I, you know, if it slow dancing you're not married, well, I,
you know, I, I, I think that's just uh.
(04:07):
Everybody has to go with their own.
Conviction I would say, you know, unless, unless it's overtly sexual,
that's a no harm no foul. Yeah, yeah, OK, very good. Yeah,
I mean, because there obviously there, there could be sexual
connotations behind certain types of dancing and things, but there
doesn't have to be, and if there's not, then
(04:30):
No problem. All right, Carol, thanks for sending in your
question online. And what do you think? I mean, you know,
do you dance? Doesn't matter. I'm not a pastor, but
you're Mexican.
I like Mexican food. Uh, I don't dance. I have
two left feet, so, um, yeah, I did not get
the dancing gene from my mom. She was a dancer,
but really your mom was a dancer. My mom was
(04:52):
a dancer. That's amazing. You know, I thought I could
dance and then I danced in front of my kids
and they're like, Dad, don't, don't ever do that again
because you can't dance.
I tried. What was the other, um, not square dancing, goodness. Well,
what do you call it? The other, there's a line,
not line dancing. What is that called? I can't think
of it. Well, see, that's how bad I was at it,
that I don't even want to think about the fact
that I took lessons and I just could not do it.
(05:15):
So I said, forget it, not my thing. I'll just
stick to talking on the radio. Not that I can
do that either, but I'm a little bit better. OK, uh,
thank you, Carol, for sending in your question. Here's an
Instagram submission.
I think we're on a theme here, Chicana mama.
Writes in on Instagram.
I'm reading the book, the book of First Corinthians and
(05:36):
wanted to ask, how does a woman interpret chapter 14,
verses 34 and 35. Is it as written that women
are to stay silent?
In the church, Scott, let's say you? Well, since we
have 3 men around the table here and she's asking
for for a woman's response to this, maybe, maybe we
should plead the fifth on that. Well, you know, can
(05:56):
we get Cheryl on the phone? Yeah, you know, you
know what, I just read that passage this morning actually,
in my, in my reading was, uh, 1 Corinthians 12
to 14.
And I, I'm looking at the passage, and I, I
have heard, you know, pastors kind of drill down pretty
hard on that. Look right here, it says, you know, um,
women are not allowed to, to, you know, women are
(06:19):
to be silent in the church. And I thought, you know,
if you, if you look at the context, the context
is disorderly behavior in the church. That's the context because
Paul's not just talking about that, he's talking about a
bunch of things and all of a sudden he goes
over to this issue of women.
And if you understand the context of disorder in the church,
(06:39):
you realize what Paul is saying, he's not permitting, uh,
prohibiting women from speaking at all in the church. He's
prohibiting them from disrupting or disruptive speech in the church. I,
I think that's clear because in the 11th chapter, of course,
he mentions the fact that women are praying and prophesy
in the church. Yeah. So, so I think that's the,
(07:00):
that's the key there, um, and boy, I, I wish
more people would.
Take the context into consideration because I've heard many come
down with just look, it says it right here, you know,
women are to be silent and that's the end of it.
And I think, well, let's look up a little more
closely at the past. If that's an absolute absolute, then
Paul contradicted himself. He did and just, yeah, just a
(07:22):
few because it's clear that that.
That was limited by the context that we're in because
he he's obviously does not intend for women to be
entirely silent because he gives them lots of lots of, uh,
space for, you know, prophesying and uh things like that
in 1 Corinthians 11, uh, you know, I was in
a church this was several years ago where they had a,
(07:45):
a young, a young woman, uh, read scripture.
And it was just, just where the reader is the
public reading of scripture before the message and right as
she was finishing this.
Elderly gentleman stood up the back of the church and
at the top of his lungs said women are to
be silent in the churches. Hang on, that happened here.
(08:07):
Are you sure something else you're referring to something else. OK, OK.
But uh I remember being here when that happened. I,
I remember thinking, and I don't think, I don't think
that's the right application of that. Yeah, and that was
actually more.
What Paul say not to do, being disruptive. That's exactly
what the woman well put, yes, Chicana mama, thank you
(08:31):
for sending in your question through Instagram. 888-564-6173 is our number,
and now we'll talk to Isaiah calling in from Rancho
Cucamonga listening on the Kwave app. Thank you for downloading
the app and thank you for calling 888-564-6173. You're on
with Brian Broderson and Scott Ray.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Hi, can you hear me OK?
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Loud and clear.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Uh, yeah, I believe I'm dealing with like some self pride,
you know, kind of like self ambition. I'm, I'm, you know,
I'm kind of like returning to the Lord like kind
of recently, and like, you know, I just feel like
I'm like lacking knowing my place a little bit. I'm,
I'm trying to see what advice you got to give
on that and if you can keep me in prayer
about it. I don't want to learn this lesson the
(09:16):
hard way.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
So, can you give us an example of what it
is that's going on?
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Mm, you see, I, uh, I'll give you like two examples. I, uh,
recently lost a job. I, I used to be a
school bus driver. I used to make, uh, a good
amount of money and, uh, I noticed that I had
gotten kind of prideful about it and, uh, you know,
kind of like.
Letting my girlfriend know, hey, this is, I'm able to
(09:42):
support you better and all that and then I end
up losing that job because of, uh, you know, doing
the wrong things and stuff, uh, specifically a DUI um
and now I got another position here as a security.
I'm the supervisor and though it's a very low position
kind of.
I, uh, I just believe it's getting to my head
(10:03):
a little bit and I'm just like lacking knowing my place.
E earlier I was talking to my, uh, to my manager,
as if I was the manager, and not just the supervisor, like,
you know, kind of like trying to lay down some
rules and stuff for the other guards. I just don't like,
I just don't like my approach and how, how I
feel a little big-headed.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
All right, Brian, what do you tell Isaiah? Well, I'd say,
I think that this is the great thing that you're
recognizing this because, you know, it would be a big
problem if you were just doing all of that, you,
you know, you were oblivious to it. That would be, uh,
that would be more of a problem. So the fact
that you're, you're seeing like, wait, this this this attitude
(10:43):
is not really godly. This isn't what Jesus is is about. That,
that's good.
And so, uh, a couple of things, um, I'm thinking
of when Paul writes to the Christians in Corinth, and they,
they were wrestling with some pride and things like that, he,
he reminded them that um,
(11:06):
He said, you know, what do you have that you
didn't receive?
And if you received it, why do you boast as
though you didn't? And so he's he's calling them to,
to really think um realistically about themselves. And so that
(11:26):
that's one passage that comes to mind. And then the
other passage is in Philippians chapter 2.
And there in, uh, the first, you know, part, the
first like the 1st 11 verses, um, the apostle is
talking about, um, preferring other people more than yourself and
(11:48):
things like that. And he says, let this mind be
in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, although he
was by nature God, he didn't use his divinity to
his own advantage, but he
actually used it to serve other people, and he talks
about how Jesus became a servant, he humbled himself, he
(12:08):
humbled himself even to the point of death, even death
on a cross, and therefore God has highly exalted him.
So but the but the but the word there is
follow this example. Jesus is the example. So you're, it's
great that you've got the conviction.
Now the follow through is, you know, Lord, forgive this attitude,
(12:28):
help me to not think more highly of myself than
I should, to remember that whatever I have you gave
me and help me to follow the model that you set.
And I think the other thing I'd add to that, uh,
is that I would, I would have a, uh, you know,
a small handful of people in your life who you
trust and who are, you know, who love you unconditionally
(12:48):
and give them permission to call you out on it
when they see it.
Uh, and I, I mean, I think Brian's right about this, Isaiah,
that it's your, your self-awareness on this is a huge
first step is most, I mean, the overwhelming majority of
prideful people are not aware that that's, that's how they are,
or else they, you know, or else they wouldn't be
so stuck in it, uh, you know, I remember my,
(13:09):
my mentor when I was in seminary.
Used to say that everybody who wants to be a
pastor should should spend at least a year waiting tables
because you have to serve people when you don't feel
like it and you and and it keeps you from
thinking too highly about yourself and.
We have a, we have a sister school that, uh,
has they have character traits that they emphasize at different
(13:32):
times during the year and emphasize humility. They require that
the student takes, take the three month stint doing a
job that they think is beneath them. uh, those are good.
I mean, you know, I'm not suggesting that for everybody, but, uh, if, uh,
you know, that's why I think, you know, the job,
I say, the job that you're in at the moment,
I think may actually be helping you get on top
(13:53):
of this.
Uh, but like what Isaiah was saying is he's in
this new job and because he's had better paying jobs,
he does kind of feel like he's, you know, so
that like he's in a job that that's perhaps beneath
him and that's why he's talking back to his supervisor
and everything else. So I don't know, should you get
a job waiting tables or no, I think it's fine
(14:13):
to stay, stay, stay in that job, but I think
just have a, you know, I say have a handful
of friends who you give permission to ask you about
this and.
You know, ask, you know, tell me about times when
you may be tempted to show pride, um, so that
they can hold you accountable for that.
So Isaiah, you also mentioned a DUI. Let's talk about
(14:34):
that for a little bit.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
Oh man, all right, I'll go ahead and be open. Hey,
you
mentioned
Speaker 1 (14:39):
it. I, you know, I'm just following up.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
No, yeah, I mean, I just, I, I like to
be open, kind of give you a picture of where
I'm standing because right now I'm, I'm praying and then
I'm also seeking for answers everywhere I can. So I
was uh working for a school district and, um, during
the summer, I ended up uh going on and, uh,
using some, some, you know, some drugs I shouldn't have.
(15:06):
And, uh, in the, in the process of it in
the morning on my way to go take a hike,
I just ended up doing a DUI hit and run.
And basically I ended up running off and by the
time they found me, I, uh, I had already parked
(15:27):
the car. I was kind of out of it. I
almost didn't know that I crashed.
And when I came back to my car, my, my
car was surrounded by police and then they asked me
a bunch of questions. They asked me, do you, uh,
do you allow us to search your car? I'm like, yeah,
I'm actually kind of out of it. Go ahead and
do whatever you guys want. I passed my sobriety test
(15:48):
with them. I passed the breathalyzer test. It was just
through blood that I was dirty, um.
And yeah, that was the DUI case and just recently
like God like really helped me and blessed me, uh.
You know, I'm not, not a lot of people are
gonna be happy about hearing that. I was like, all
(16:09):
the charges were dropped and I am only gonna serve
8 hours of community service, but the only reason I
bring that up is
You know, somehow I was found innocent in God's eyes,
and he helps us through situations where we really feel
hopeless and, you know, I even felt like I lacked
a little faith, but as in during the whole time
(16:31):
I knew that whether I go into prison or stay free,
I need God to be my, my, my strength, you know.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Yeah.
I'd say, Isaiah, you caught a huge break, brother, and to,
to give gratitude to God for that but uh I
think the other thing is that, uh, you know, most,
most prideful people are not particularly vulnerable in sharing hard
stuff about themselves, so you, you may be a little
bit farther down the road in dealing with this and
(16:59):
you're giving yourself credit for.
Yeah, and just, and, and, you know, I, I know, I,
I think from everything you're saying that you, you realize like, OK,
God's really been merciful to you. Um, but like Jesus,
you know, would sometimes, you know, he would, he would
forgive somebody and then he would say, go and sin
(17:20):
no more. So in other words, this is, uh, you know,
it's kind of like, all right, you know, you, you
had a pretty serious situation going there, the Lord, the
Lord got you out of it.
Not so you could go back and repeat it, but
so you could move forward now in your relationship with Jesus. So, and,
and like we said from the beginning, you know, the
fact that you're calling and you're, you know, publicly saying, man,
(17:42):
I'm struggling with pride, that's great because you've got some
self-realization and that's when you have self-realization, that's where you're
able to move forward. So, keep, keep moving forward.
Isaiah, thank you for your phone call today here on
Pastor's Perspective. 888-564-6173 is the number to call, so you
can talk to Brian Broderson and Scott Ray. Here's another
(18:05):
question that was sent in online. It's from Tiffany.
Who's asking about Acts chapter 27. Paul was a prisoner
being transported. Was he in chains? What was the protocol
for transporting prisoners in those days? How heavy were the chains?
Why didn't he sink if he had chains when the shipwrecked?
Is it safe to assume he was in chains? In
(18:27):
my mind, I'm assuming he was, because in prison he was,
hold on, in my mind, I'm assuming he was in
chains because in prison he was, and they're moving him.
So how did he manage to swim to shore? Bound.
How and why did the centurion take instruction from a
bound man?
Lots of questions.
Where, where do you wanna start? Hey, I, I, I
(18:48):
think this caller is making a making a pretty good
argument that he wasn't chained, uh, and I'm, you know,
I'm not sure what the tradition was, and I think
he sometimes when Paul speaks about himself being in chains,
he means that as a figure of speech, not, not
literally he's a prisoner, he's he's in prison, um.
But I think, you know, the idea that he could swim,
now the, the whole, I think the whole thing, him
(19:10):
surviving this basically a hurricane essentially that that that shipwrecked
their boat, uh, him surviving that he all attributed that
to a miracle of God's grace.
And I suspect that, uh, you know, if, if God
can get him out of that, he can also, you know,
enable him to swim to shore, having been in chains.
(19:31):
But I think probably the more plausible explanation is that
he was not chained, uh, and was, and was able
to swim to to shore by, by God's grace. Um, that,
that makes the most sense to me. And, and you know,
when you think of some of the other things that
are said about, uh, you know, Paul's imprisonment or his transfer,
you know, from Cesarea to Rome.
(19:53):
Um, let it, uh, let, let him, you know, let
his friends take care of him, you know, it was something,
maybe something more akin to house arrest. Yeah, yeah, it
seems like there was some leniency there. I think that's
definitely true because he was in prison in Rome for
two years, uh, and we, and we know that the,
you know, the Roman.
Guards, you know, they, they came and went, uh, and
(20:16):
he had a lot of interaction with them. In fact,
I think he had, he had a captive audience for
the gospel during those two years, and those guards then
went out to the far reaches of the Roman Empire,
which is in my, in my view why, uh, I
think you can make a good case that Acts 1:8
to take the gospel to the end of the earth
might actually have been fulfilled by the end of the
book of Acts.
(20:37):
Yeah, maybe so.
Great. Tiffany, thank you for sending in your question through
Kwave.com's Pastor's perspective page, and CJ writes in from Surprise, Arizona,
and he wants to know why does God harden hearts.
Is the hardening of one's heart God making them do
evil things, which takes away their free will, or is
(20:58):
it that God is giving people over to their already
hardened hearts and or reprobate minds, as Romans 1:29 seems
to indicate?
Scott, I, I'd say I, in my view it's more
the latter of those two that God gives them over
to their own desires and basically takes away any common
(21:21):
grace that would restrain their their basis desires from being,
you know, fully actualized.
Uh, and now it may, it may have been the
case that, uh, in Exodus God God did something a
little extra to Pharaoh so that he would let the
Israelites go, but I, I wanna be really careful with
(21:43):
that because I, I, I don't wanna be, I don't
wanna make the theological statement that basically says that God
causes evil because that's not true. God's not the author
of evil. God allows it for reasons that we understand
a lot better when we get to glory.
Uh, so I'm, I'm inclined to say that God, uh, the, the,
the Romans one text is more the norm. Yeah, yeah,
(22:05):
and I mean, the first part of the question was,
you know, is like God hardening the heart, like he's,
he's forcing them into a sinful situation and taking away
their free will, and I don't think that happens. I,
I agree.
All right, CJ, thank you for sending in your question
through the pastor's perspective page on Facebook. Yeah, that's it.
(22:27):
888-564-6173 is the number to call. And here's another one
from online. It's Brittany, also on Facebook. Does it really
matter for a Christian to start a ministry when there
are many, when there are so many hard times going
on in the world? I plan to start a ministry
next year, but I have no experience other than volunteering.
(22:48):
In the church, so I think Brittany wants to know
why start a ministry of Jesus might be coming back
soon anyway, um.
Uh, yeah, what do you guys say?
I'd say busy yourself with kingdom work until that day
comes and you know Paul got after the Thessalonians for
(23:08):
basically sitting on the mountaintop waiting for the Lord's return
and part of the reason I think he got after
them for that was because they they didn't want to
go be in the real world where Christians were being
persecuted for their faith, so they, it was, it was
the easiest is easy escape from that and also made
them look like they were exercising great faith waiting for
the Lord's return.
(23:29):
Paul told them, you know, be, be about your, your
work and your family and serving your community, uh, and even,
even when the Israelites were in exile that they know
that was temporary, but they were commanded still to seek
the welfare of the city that they were in and
to seek the flourishing of that. I think the same
holds true here.
Yep, amen, and I, what's her name? Brittany, Britney, yeah,
(23:55):
and I would just say Brittany, you know, um.
we have to be careful with like,
Well, the Lord's coming back, so why bother? You know,
there's probably not enough time. We just don't know that,
and
The New Testament is written with the, the sort of
(24:18):
the overarching reminder of the Lord's coming, but it's not like, hey,
the Lord's coming, so just hang out until he gets here. No,
the Lord is coming, so let's be about the business
of the kingdom until he gets here. So go for it.
I mean, you know, and, and God will, God will
lead you and, you know, Scott, sometimes I, um, I,
(24:40):
I
I get encouraged when I'm talking to people who God's
giving them vision for ministry, you know, I like I
know friends that are gonna go plan a church somewhere,
they're gonna go overseas, and they've got this passion and
And, and I just look at that and I think,
you know, that to me indicates that the Lord's not done,
(25:00):
he's not done working. I mean, he's, he's leading these
people that I know well, I trust that they're mature
enough to know that, you know, when God is working
and speaking versus just being caught up with some emotional thing.
And I look at that and I, I take courage
from that and I think, you know what, yeah, there's,
there's still work to do. Yeah, I, I don't want,
I don't want us to be misunderstood that we're discouraging
(25:21):
her from starting this ministry. We, we, we, I mean,
I'd like to know a little bit more what it
is and whether it's gonna, whether she's expecting that to
support her financially, but if it's something that she's is
volunteering to do, yeah, I'd say go, go for it, absolutely.
And people ask this question too when it comes to
marriage or having kids, etc. because they're like, well, why
(25:43):
have kids? Why bring more people into the world if
Jesus is coming back soon and the world is so
messed up anyway, do we really want them living here
and yeah.
You get stuff like that too. Well, if, you know,
if people would have adopted that mindset, um, throughout church history,
we wouldn't have much of the gospel in the world today,
(26:04):
you know, and the world's always been a mess, and
there have been plenty of times in history where it
sure looked like we're, you know, it's about to all
wind up, but it didn't. It kept going. And so
here we are today, so I just think we need
there's kind of there's an environmental thing too that people
think about.
But I think you need to be aware too that if,
(26:26):
you know, if people are born into economies and systems
that are that that enable them to be net producers,
then having more people is actually a really good thing
because if you're in if you're in and if you,
you know, if you're not, then that's a different, that's
a different discussion.
But I think in most of the West, you know,
more people means more people who are net producers and
(26:48):
net contributors to their communities as opposed to net consumers, uh,
and so that's, I think an important distinction to make.
So I would, you know, if you're concerned for him,
I think for environmental reasons about not for to not
have kids.
I'm not sure. I'm not so sure that that's an
argument that will stand in the long run. Yeah, and
(27:08):
sometimes I think it's also um.
You know, just looking at the, the condition of society
and the direction of the culture, and you're just like, man,
do I actually wanna bring a child into this. But again,
that's something that we, you know,
If you think back through history, I mean, look at
the time of Jesus. You look at the situation in Israel, like, man,
(27:31):
was that a good time to bring a child into
the world? Those were all lousy, yeah, exactly. But that
was the time that God ordained to bring his son
into the world. Brian, I would say there, there, there's
never a bad time to bring people into the world
who are gonna be salt and light. Yeah, never. I agree.
Brittany, thank you for sending in your question on the
pastor's perspective Facebook mess or yeah, pastor's no, no, no, yes,
(27:57):
pastor's perspective Facebook messenger. There's so many different ways to
get your question to us nowadays that I get them
all confused, but the best way is to call us
at 888-564-6173. We're gonna hang out in the studio for
another half hour.
and would love to hear from you at 888-564-6173. Let's
talk about this really quick. We talked about it yesterday,
(28:17):
this new book that is so popular, it's on backorder now,
so it'll be a while before you can order it,
but you can download it for free. If you want
a physical copy, you'll have to wait, but it's called
Calvary Chapel. It's essence and identity.
Yes, uh, yeah, so it's a, it's a small book
where we just took, um, myself and a few other
(28:39):
guys on our, uh, CGN leadership team. We just decided, let's,
you know, let's talk about the things that really, I,
I think identify the ministry of Calvary Chapel and so
we talked about the work of the spirit, we talked
about the emphasis on expositional teaching, we talked about.
Um, evangelism and reaching the next generation. We talked about
(29:00):
fellowship and the importance of unity and, and I, you know,
I think it, it turned out really, really well. And
so yes, we've already sold out of the first printing,
and I just got a text while we were sitting
here giving me a price for the second printing. Say yes, yes,
you can get them in stock. So anyway, but it
is available uh at CGN.org. Um, you can download it
(29:25):
for free if you want it.
What do you say to people who think, oh, you're
trying to replace the Calvary distinctives with this book? Well, no,
we're not. Um, it's, it's, you know, but it's the
Calvary Distinctives was written 30 years ago, you know, times
have changed. Things have changed a little bit.
Um, so we're just looking at it from that direction, uh,
from that perspective. All right, get more details about this
(29:48):
book at CGN.org. CGN stands for Calvary Global Network. You
can download it for free, or it's on backorder to
have some more in stock soon so that you can
order a physical copy. 888-564-6173. We'll be back with your questions.
(30:18):
All right, welcome back to Pastor's Perspective. 888-564-6173 is the
number to call. We've got Brian Broderson from Calvary Chapel
Costa Mesa here to answer your questions for another 25
minutes or so. Give us a call, grab an open line, 888-564-6173.
Also here is Professor Doctor Scott Ray from Biola University.
(30:41):
He's the professor.
of philosophy and Christian ethics at the Talbot School of
Theology at Biola. You can find out more about Scott
and Biola at biola.edu. Biola.edu. 888-564-6173 is our number. And
here is Kerry, who is calling in from Fullerton, watching
us on YouTube. So let's wave hi to Kerry. Thanks
(31:02):
for calling in today. How can we help you?
Speaker 2 (31:05):
Hi, uh, in your last segment, you guys spoke about, uh,
more people would possibly bring more light and more salt
to the world. When Lot's wife turned back and turned
into a pillar of salt, was she then
A negative turned into a positive, being turned into the
pillar of salt as like a preservative, like.
(31:27):
From her negative turning into a positive.
What's your perspective?
Speaker 1 (31:32):
Um, so are you saying like, uh, why assault seen
as a negative thing there when we're describing is it
a positive thing?
Speaker 2 (31:40):
No, no, no. No, what, what was it, was she
then was her example uh turned into a positive. Yeah,
Speaker 1 (31:48):
I get, I get what you're saying, Carrie. I get
what you're saying. You're and you're, you're kind of going
off the idea that
Um, salt, like Jesus said, you are the light of
the world, um, you are the salt of the earth.
So the idea of salt being a preservative or a
positive thing, um, was Lot's wife, um, when she, you know,
(32:11):
because she turned back, she was turned into a pillar
of salt. Was that a a positive thing? No, I don't,
I don't think that was a positive thing. I think
we just, uh, you know, although being the salt of
the earth.
Means something in the context that that Jesus spoke about it, uh,
something positive, like being a preservative. Um, it doesn't necessarily
(32:35):
mean that wherever you have salt, you've got the same
uh idea. So.
No, she, this wasn't a positive thing. Yeah, this, this was, uh,
in my view, uh, evidence of God's judgment, uh, on,
on her and on, you know, just part as part
of God's judgment on the entire sort of Sodom and
(32:57):
Gomorrah communities.
Does this help you carry?
Speaker 2 (33:00):
It's like
it does in a way. I thought it was, yes, her,
her judgment on her but also turning her judgment into
the positive in that way. But, OK, I, I understand
what you're saying.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
No, the the positive is what what everybody has learned from.
This episode in the scriptures, that's, that's the, that's the
redemptive value of it. Was this real salt? I mean,
maybe that's kind of what the, the angle that Kerry
is taking that, you know, here's some, here's a judgment
from God. It turned this woman into a pillar of salt,
but now there's salt in the community.
(33:35):
Yeah, uh, well, no.
No, I, I think, you know, this is where again,
we have to be careful to understand things in, in
their context. So, you know, some people think, oh, salt, OK, yeah,
salt here means this. OK, everywhere I look, salt's going
to mean the same thing. No, it doesn't, and Jesus just,
(33:59):
Jesus is.
He isn't even talking about literal salt. He's saying, you know,
like what salt is in that it enhances flavor, it preserves,
that's what you are to the culture, or you are
the salt of the earth. So, yeah.
All right, Kerry?
Yes, thank you very much. Thank you for calling in today.
(34:20):
888-564-6173 is the number Carrie called, and you can call
it too to ask your question, 888-564-6173. James wrote in online,
and here's what he wants to know. Two questions from James.
I have epilepsy.
And I'm having most of my right temporal lobe removed.
My son has Duchinous dystrophy. I understand hardship brings us
(34:43):
closer to God. I'm worried the surgery will affect my
faith in God. What do you say to the fact
I am saved now and fall short but still place
my eyes on God. If this surgery changes me, will
God see who I am now or who I become?
What would you guys say, Scott? I think God neither
(35:04):
of those actually. God, God sees you for who you
are in Christ at at the moment, uh, and I
understand that my, my first, my heart goes out to
this person just for what, what you're facing, uh, and
how just I think just how how scary that can be.
Uh, but I think unless, you know, unless the surgeon
(35:24):
is doing something to your soul, that won't, that shouldn't
affect the way you relate to God, because God ultimately
our spirit is is the capacity within our soul that
that provides the ability to relate to God.
And that's immaterial and that's not a material substance, uh,
(35:46):
and you know, no, no surgeon can excise that so I, I,
I wouldn't, I, I, that's not something for me. I
think you've got a lot of things that you can
be losing sleep over, uh, for, you know, the surgery
that's coming and for dealing with the condition, but your
ability to connect with God is not one of those
things that would cause me to be losing sleep.
(36:07):
So Scott, when, you know, uh, there are people that
are concerned, like, say they say they end up with
Alzheimer's at some point or something, and, and they're worried like, well,
what if I forget about God, you know, what if,
what if, what if my fai, what if I, you know,
what if that happens, then what does that mean for
(36:29):
my soul? Am I OK or?
What would you say? I, I, I don't think that
has any bearing on your eternal security, uh, you know,
assuming that that initial profession of faith was the real thing, um,
that I don't, I don't think that has any impact
on it.
(36:49):
So I think you know the fear of somebody, you know, losing,
you know, losing their memory, uh, you may, I think
you may lose your memory of some of the things
that God's done in your life in the past in
the same way that you might lose your the remembrance
of you know how people impacted your life in the past,
but again, I, I don't, I mean, as far as.
(37:11):
We know Alzheimer's doesn't doesn't impact the soul. Now it's
true that your brain and your soul, you know, work
in tandem and that a lot of the capacities of
your soul require brain function to, to be actualized but
not all of them, uh, and we know that, you know, God, God,
God can impact your soul even when you know your
(37:35):
brain is not functioning like you're accustomed to.
So I, I guess what I don't want to do, Brian,
is to reduce a human being to just the physical
stuff of their body and brain and even if I
mean if you even if you lose half your brain,
you're not half the person you were a full person
with half the brain capacity and the reason you're a
(37:57):
full person has to do with the fact that you
are regardless of your brain function, you are still made
in the image of God.
Uh, and, and maybe this is a good place to
bring this in, because in, in my view, you may,
you may see this differently and we could talk about
that if you do, but in my view, the, the
image of God is not dependent upon somebody's ability to function.
(38:19):
Uh, and there's a really important reason for that, and
that is if, if, if the image of God is
dependent upon our characteristics like our ability to relate to people,
our rationality, you know, things like that, then those characteristics
come and go over over life and they diminish as
life goes on if that and if that's true, then
(38:40):
what we're saying is that the image of God then
becomes something that's more or less instead of something that's
all or nothing.
And the image of God in the scripture is definitely
all or nothing. I mean you were either, you either
entirely made in the image of God, which human persons are,
or you're not as animals are, for example.
(39:00):
And so I, I, I wanna be really careful that
we don't tie the image of God to certain functions
uh that are necessary to be a person. Does that
make sense? Yeah, and I think you're, I mean, obviously
there are many things happening in the culture, uh, maybe
not immediately our culture, but in, let's say in the
(39:22):
western culture, there are many things that are happening with
euthanasia and things like that.
That are really rooted in these kinds of questions, right?
That's right because they're like, well, because this person doesn't
um show any signs of personhood, then are they really
a person? And so, well, we, we want to go
(39:43):
back to the.
Ultimately they're created in the image of God regardless of
how they function and the image I would put it
this way, the image of God is a status that
we have not a function that's good that we're given
and I say, you know, if say take the person
you're describing at the end at the end of life,
I don't, I don't, I don't really think that as
(40:03):
a culture we believe everything we say about people at
the end of life because if that were true, if
they if they if they they were so debilitated that
they're no longer a person.
Then there's nothing that would prevent us from just taking
them out and burying them or experimenting on them or
taking their organs without their consent. In fact, even the
idea that you would consent to euthanasia is sort of
(40:25):
a moot point if you're no longer a person.
But we hold all those things really dear and we
don't allow those things to take place precisely because we
I think deep down we believe that even though your
functions are limited, you are still a person with intrinsic
dignity still made in the image of God and the
minute you lose that in a in a culture, you're
(40:48):
in trouble. God help you, yeah.
James, thank you for sending in your question. He actually
had a second question too. My son has been on
steroids since age 2 in a wheelchair since 12. A
year and a half ago, he had his entire spine
fused to relieve pressure from his heart and lungs. I
understand the pain of adults, but children who have had
(41:10):
their lives muted in some way doesn't make sense other
than to use to glorify God, and this confuses me.
What am I missing?
Well this confuses me too, uh, and I'm, I'm reminded
of what Solomon writes in Ecclesiastes that under the sun,
the term he uses to describe this side of eternity,
(41:31):
there's just a lot of things that we, we just
don't know, you know, there, I mean, you know, God
has not given I put it this way, uh, you know,
the one thing you need to make a, make a
jigsaw puzzle, put it together is the box top right
with the picture.
Yes, but we've got all these pieces, these puzzle pieces
of our lives. God, this side of eternity has not
(41:51):
given us the box top, yeah.
And I think the reason for that is if he,
if he gave us, you know, all a way to
see all the pieces of life's puzzle in our lives
in a coherent whole we probably would ask for another option, yeah,
you know, we might, we, I, I suspect we, and
I think the reason he does that is he knows
(42:12):
that we being human beings, we just this side of
eternity we can't handle seeing all of it. That's why
he gives it to us piecemeal typically right.
So I would, you know, I, I agree this doesn't
make sense. Uh, it will, I think when we meet
the Lord face to face, but I think it's, it's,
it's hazardous, I think, to try and speculate what, you know,
(42:33):
what God might be doing or how this might fit
together in God's plan because uh we just don't know
and it and it's OK to not know exactly and
and to just say I, I, I don't know.
Uh, there's, there's so many things that happen in the
world that you look at and you just say, wow,
I don't, I don't know how and, and of course
(42:54):
people so often, well, why did God let that happen? I,
I don't know why God let that happen. It doesn't
seem to me like that was a good thing to happen,
but I'm not God. And I, and I think, um,
you know, the, the more we get to know who
God is.
The easier these things become. Not that they ever become,
(43:15):
you know, easy, but they become easier because we realized that, OK, God,
you know, God is just, he's so much bigger than
we can even conceive of.
And so it's, and I always think of Job, you know,
because Job, of course, he's the classic example of the
person who he's got a lot of questions about why,
you know, he's lost all of his family, all of
(43:35):
his children have died. He's lost his wealth, his wife
has left him, his body is riddled with boils. He's
in this deep depression, and if anybody could say why,
Job could say it.
And yet, when the Lord finally comes to Job, Job's,
the minute he sees the Lord, he's like, it's almost
like he's like, I, I, I don't even have any
(43:55):
more questions, you know, God Himself is the answer to
the question. When you realize who God is, then the
questions go away. Jesus said this, and the context is different,
but I think, I, but I like to make the
connection because Jesus is talking to the disciples and he's
telling them that he's, you know, about to go die,
but he says he's gonna rise again.
And he says, in in that day, you will ask
(44:18):
me nothing. Now he goes on to say, you're gonna
ask the Father, but I think in that day when
you see Jesus risen from the dead, it's like all
questions are answered. It's like, like Tim Keller, you know,
as at least they become irrelevant. Yeah, as Tim Keller
was dying, he said, you know, if, if it is
true that Jesus rose from the dead, then everything's gonna
(44:39):
be OK, and I, I like that.
James, thank you for sending in your questions on the
pastor's perspective Facebook page. No, no, no, on the, on
the Kwave.com pastor's perspective page, and I am losing it today.
I need more coffee or maybe I drank too much
coffee today. I don't know. 888-564-6173 is our number. Let's
(44:59):
talk to. No, wait, we were just talking to Kerry.
Is this a different Kerry? It's a different Carrie. We
are the most listened to radio program amongst women named Kerry.
I love that. This is Carrie in Moreno Valley listening
on FM 107.9 K wave. What's your question for us, Carrie?
My question is, what is your perspective on Jesus cursing
the fig tree when he was hungry, but it wasn't
(45:22):
the time for figs?
Like it wasn't the time for figs, so why would
he curse it? Wouldn't he already know? I mean, why
did he do this, Brian, what do you think?
Well, it is a fact that, um, and I had
this verified by a farmer in Israel. A fig farmer. Uh, yes,
it is a fact that the fig tree will blossom early,
(45:47):
like a, like, um, you know, before the normal season
there is a like a pre
Blossom time, I don't know what you'd call it, um,
and that you can, you can fully expect a healthy
tree to do that. And so Jesus is going to
the tree, although it's not technically the
(46:10):
Harvest time, it is that time where you could expect
figs on it, and he comes and he finds no
figs on it. So he curses it. Now, is Jesus
just doing that just to show his power? Why is
he even bothering with this? Um, Jesus, I think is
there's there's an illustration and a kind of a parable
here that the fig tree, I think in this case
(46:31):
is symbolic of the nation.
Jesus is coming to the nation expecting fruit, and yet
he's not finding any fruit, so there's gonna be a judgment.
In Luke's Gospel, there there's the the similar thing, uh,
but Jesus tells a little parable about um the fig
tree that that didn't blossom, so he says to the,
(46:54):
the farmer, cut it down.
And he says, uh, the farmer says, no, let me
cultivate it a little bit more. Give it a little
bit more time and let's see if it bears fruit,
and then if it doesn't, it, it can be cut down.
And I think that all of that is, there's a
connection with what's happening with the nation. Jesus is coming
(47:16):
to the nation looking for fruit, and there there the
fruit is not there, and there's a judgment that will come,
and we know, of course, historically, that did happen.
Yeah, I guess that sounds pretty good to me. Sound good? Yep,
I can't, I can't. I got nothing to add to that.
All right, what do you think? Carry help Kerry?
That helped, but can I ask another question? The next day,
Peter pointed out that the fig tree had died up.
(47:39):
Jesus just started talking about faith. Mhm.
If you have the faith, you know, you can say
that this mountain, it'll be moved into the ocean. So
I was wondering if cursing of the fig tree had
something to do with we should have faith whether we
expect to find fruit or not. Mhm.
Yeah, I mean, Jesus did do that, you're right, and
I don't know exactly how that would connect to the
(48:03):
other thing I was saying, but for Jesus at the moment, this,
this is the lesson of faith.
All right, Kerry, I just, I just wanted your perspective.
Thank you for giving it to me. You're welcome. Thanks
for calling. Yep, it's what we do Monday through Friday
from 3 to 4 p.m. Pacific time. Answer your questions
about the Bible, the Christian faith from a pastor's perspective.
(48:26):
888-564-6173 is the number. Here's Megan. She submitted this question
through the pastor's perspective Facebook page. Two questions actually. What
does the Bible say about suicide? Is it true we
will be damned to hell if we commit suicide? I
feel I'm in serious spiritual warfare, and I cannot shake
off this feeling. Her second question, don't know if it's
(48:48):
related to the first as to, you know, her spiritual warfare,
but
She says, what should I do about my spouse continuing
to fall into lust and porn? It's it's reoccurring and heartbreaking.
We just had a baby 4 months ago, and I
don't want a broken family, but I don't trust him
at all and have mentally detached myself, and I don't
(49:09):
know what to do. Scott.
Well, I, I'll take, I'll take the first one, and Brian,
I'll give you the second one. I think I nowhere
in the scripture do I read that suicide is what
I would call a mortal sin.
Uh, now it's, it's, that's not saying it's, it's moral,
but I mean it's, it's clearly wrong, uh, the, the
(49:31):
sanctity of life is true not only for other people
in the culture, but it's true for, for the individual
as well. And the reason that the scripture, uh, prohibits
the taking of innocent life, particularly your own, is that
the timing and manner of our death belong to God.
That's, that's, that's his domain. He gives, he gives us
(49:52):
our days from his hand, uh, and being the active
cause of death for an innocent person, even yourself, is immoral.
That being said, in, in my view, I don't, I don't,
I don't think that disqualifies someone from eternity.
Because you know, the only thing that I, I read
(50:13):
in the scripture that disqualifies someone from eternity is rejecting
the gift of grace in the death of Christ, uh,
to die for our sins rejecting that rejecting the, the
provision for our sins is what separates someone from God
for eternity.
So I would, you know, of course I would never
want to give aid and comfort to the notion of
(50:36):
somebody committing suicide, but, and I, I would encourage this
person to get, to get help, uh, like, like really
quickly because any, anytime somebody verbalizes that, that inclination to
commit suicide, we take that really seriously and you should too. Brian.
(50:56):
Yeah, absolutely. And again, whether the second question is connected
to the first or not, um, I mean, you could
see where it would lead to that, perhaps the depression,
you know, and kind of the hopelessness because of the situation.
Um, yeah, this, this is hard and hopefully, um, is
(51:17):
it Tiffany, Megan, Megan, hope, hopefully Megan, um, you guys
have a church and that you could get some counseling through, uh,
you know, I think you have to be very candid
with your husband about what this is doing to you
and how, how you feel, and if he's a confession, uh,
(51:38):
confessing Christian.
Uh, he needs to get his life together in this
area because this is, it's potentially going to destroy everything
if he hangs on to this lust leading to the
pornography and all of that. So our, our hearts go
out to you. That's, that is a difficult thing. And hopefully, again, you,
(52:00):
you guys have a local church that you can
Approach the leadership, the pastors, and, and get some, some counsel,
and hopefully he will respond to that council.
Megan, thank you for sending in your question, and if
everybody listening and watching can please keep Megan in your prayers.
You know, you know, it's, it's just so, you think
(52:21):
of the
You know, sin is by its very nature destructive. That
that's what it does. It, it never does anything good.
It appears uh sometimes innocuous, but we know the reality is, right?
Sinsin brings forth death. And you, you look at these
kinds of situations where you have like a young family
(52:43):
and you, you have a person who
You know, they have a they have a baby and
they have a wife and you know, they just, they
just want the love and the security and then the
person in all of their self-centeredness is just off logo,
you know, I'm gonna do my thing over here and it's,
it's so heartbreaking. It's, it's just tragic. Isn't that an
(53:04):
example too of like in this case, Megan's husband.
Delving into porn and he's thinking, well, I'm not hurting anybody.
This is just something I'm doing.
What do you say? Well, he needs to hear the,
the question that his wife sent into us, uh, because
it is hurting them, and I would, I would suggest
that that gives the fact that they have a young
child that puts urgency on both parts of her question,
(53:28):
urgency to get help because if she's having suicidal thoughts
with a young child, you know, that, that we needed
to get that under under control but.
Their husband needs to know that, you know, he's now
got a young child that he's that he's responsible for
and this is not this is not something to mess
around with because it will I mean this eventually tears
(53:49):
families apart and I think Brian, you're right, sin sin
is insidious, uh, and one of the deceptive parts of
sin is our thinking that it's a, it's, it was
not doing any harm's not doing any harm, yeah, yeah, and,
and I would, the last thing I would say to
Megan is that um.
If, if this indeed, if the first question is tied
(54:09):
to the second question, then know this, that your, your
deliverance ultimately is not in your husband's behavior one way
or the other. Your deliverance is is with Jesus and
you and you really have to look to him because
he wants to be the one who will comfort you
and give you hope and encouragement and a reason to
(54:31):
go on living because regardless, you know, we can't control
what other people do.
But what other people do does not dictate or determine
God's heart for us and his plan for us. So
let's just say worst case scenario, your husband never got
his act together. God still has a plan for your life,
(54:52):
for the life of your baby, and you need to
just press into that and see God's faithfulness.
Megan, thank you for sending in your question online, and
we've run out of time on today's episode of Pastor's Perspective,
but we will be back tomorrow between 3 and 4 p.m.
Pacific time. We open up the phone lines about 7
minutes before 3. So start thinking of your questions tonight.
(55:13):
Maybe you couldn't call in today because I don't know,
your phone battery died or, uh, I don't know, you
were stuck on the freeway and I, I, I don't know, but, uh,
write down your questions as you read your Bible.
Tomorrow morning and something comes up, write down your question
and then call in. If you hear something on the
radio that you're wondering about, you can call in with
those questions as well. And, um, if you guys follow
(55:35):
some of those so-called preachers on YouTube, they've always got
interesting things to say. So if you have, if you
watch one of them and you want to call in
and ask about something you heard, call us tomorrow from
3 to 4. God bless you guys. Thanks for watching
and thanks for listening to Pastor's Perspective.
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