April 5, 2026 • 26 mins
Lost Friend, Was a Different Religion
Is it OK to be mad at God
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to KFI AM sixty on demand.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
John, Welcome to the Jesus Christ Show.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
Good morning, Jesus. Thank you so much for taking.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
My call on pleasure. What's going on, John?
Speaker 3 (00:16):
I lost my best friend for thirty seven years and
he's a different religion. He was a Buddhist. Language is
not a barrier. Our friendship was bullheart and I just
(00:39):
having a hard time coping with it. And I just
want to know if whatever I see my maker, well
I see him as well. Since he practiced a different
religion and I found I was researching something about the
religion and they don't believe in the soul, that the Buddhism.
I was not aware of that. But and he's he's
(01:02):
in another state. Unfortunately, I him out on the East
coast and he's on the West coast.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
And uh, when did he.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Pass the last He passed away on Friday, and I
found about found the found about found just about him
on Saturday. They unfortunately, he had a brain aneurysm, So
(01:36):
it was fairly I think. Yes, we talked every Friday
and Saturday, even though we were at different time zones.
We kept communication and I was fortunate enough to see
him one last time. Last year, I drove to the
West coast to just be with my father and him,
(01:56):
and we shared some times with my family.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
I can hear that you're obviously in pain. It is
very fresh, and it's incredibly normal to start wanting to
process this through the lens of your faith and your
belief and I can give you some answers, certainly that
(02:31):
are academic. We can look at the belief system of Buddhism,
but the reality is regardless, John, You're going to be
in pain as you mourn the loss of a friend.
The faith of the friend is important to God, but
(02:53):
to you, that's a relationship between your friend and God.
That your relationship ship, John, and your connection. That's important
to you. And that was for here, that was for
this time in this world. And regardless of the beliefs,
which are different Buddhists, there have many heavens, but all
(03:19):
of these heavens are a very temporary part of what
they refer to as the sumsara kind of the cycle
of life, this circle and that process of reincarnation or rebirth.
That cycle is about reaching nirvana, which is enlightenment. It's
(03:44):
different than the concept the Christian concept of heaven, which
is a reconnection. It's going home to be with your
Maker and celebrating that. It's not about people make it.
You know all these different things. Well, you're going to
(04:05):
see all your friends and family, and yes, does that
is that part of it? Yes, but it's not the
core of it. The core of it is to reconnect
with your Maker. So there's differences. Absolutely, there are two
completely different belief systems with nothing in common. But that's
(04:27):
not your concern. That is something for God to work out,
not for you. For now, you are to celebrate the
life of your friend, celebrate the uniqueness and the preciousness
of that individual and what they brought to your life,
(04:47):
and what they brought to the lives of others, how
they dedicated themselves to a belief and an understanding all
of those things. I think that I think that many
use religion as a way to separate and faith as
a way to separate. And it's not that there It's
not that there aren't important times where Scripture says iron
(05:11):
sharpens iron. The two people can argue, or the two
people can can share their faith and argue about these
things and guide each other, and all that has beauty
and wonderfulness to it. However, sometimes it gets in the
way of true connection as well, and there's a The
(05:36):
focus of a person and their core belief is important
because it lets you know how they think about things
and how they work through problems or troubleshoot life. But
I don't like to see people separate themselves, you know,
in some sort of cult way where they forget that
(05:56):
interacting on this planet and interacting with each other its
purpose as well. So just rejoice in the friendship. Rejoice
that you knew him. What was his name?
Speaker 3 (06:09):
John uh Katara?
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Well, rejoice in Katara, Rejoice in the friendship and that
you had a chance to connect with one another, and
celebrate that, you know, share him with others when you
have an opportunity. But this is a time of mourning. John.
You don't need to work out the or solve the
(06:34):
problems of God. If there is an opportunity for you
guys to connect, ever, again, that's up to God. It's
not something you need to put on your shoulders right now.
What was one of the things that you miss about
him most?
Speaker 3 (06:55):
His patience is understanding.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
How that come up between the two of you.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
He was there for me when I have really hard
situations in my life. He was always there. I could
count on him, I could speak to him. He never
had any sort of an agenda behind his friendship, even
though he spoke a different language. I speak a different language, Hispanic,
(07:26):
and he's tied descent.
Speaker 4 (07:31):
We both.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
He knew when I was going to call him. I
knew we had that scene between each other, like indicate it.
We're both on the different coasts, and we would still
make the opportunity to speak to each other every every
weekend or every Friday. We were all that.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Should be cherished. That's a powerful friend. What you just explained, Patie,
the lack of judgment, being able to listen and hear
what you're going through, that's pretty incredible. I can see
why the pain is deep losing someone like that.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
I called them my brother.
Speaker 4 (08:23):
He was truly.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
You're going to wrestle with this for a while, John,
I don't think you should rush through it. I think
you can contemplate the friendship. I think that it's inspiring
that you found ways to connect at a distance with
language barriers and faith barriers and all these different things.
(08:51):
The two of you fought to have a relationship. You
had to. There was a lot of hurdles and a
lot of things you had to deal with, but you
did it. John, You found a way, and I think
that you should celebrate that. You continue as always anybody
who loses somebody, you become the curator, John, of Katara's life.
(09:14):
You become the curator of his laughter, his insights, all
of these and you contain those in who you are
and you pass them along. And for now, that's how
you'll experience him, and that's how others will experience him
as well. Let's talk to Jeff. Jeff, Welcome to the
(09:38):
Jesus Christ Show.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Good morning in Happy Resurrection Day Jesus.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Thanks Jeff, and the same to you. How can I
help you?
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Okay, my main question is, and I'd like to ask
a little something else if I can, But my main
question is is that I deal with self hate. And
I know God probably hates that. But the problem is
I've learned that, you know, the three fingers pointing out,
it always comes around and you turns and I blame
(10:10):
myself for everything in my life. And that started, you know,
when I was young, but it's still with me today.
I don't I do hate people, but it'll eventually come around.
And I blame myself for my part, and so I
just can't get over that hurdle of hating myself and
(10:31):
because that's where it boils down to into you know, depression.
And and the second thing was is that when did
the disciples realize that you died for our sins? I mean,
I know they realized that he was Lord, but and
what he said he was that did they understand right
(10:53):
then that they were, you know, forgiven for the sins?
So the first thing is is, well, they're both as important.
I guess.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Okay, well let's take a look at those, Jeff, because
we only have about a moment here. First of all,
self hate has zero value. And you quickly went over
the old illustration that when you point at other people
with your pointing finger, there's three fingers pointing back at you. Now,
that's usually used to help people understand that judging others
(11:26):
has no benefit, because ultimately people can judge you as well.
But in your case, you kind of use it as
putting things back on yourself. What do you do for
a living.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
Jeff, I'm a carpingder.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Okay, excellent, So you create, you build for a living. Yes,
I love that. I think that's incredibly important. I'm going
to give you some As far as you see, this
is not a show about medicine or anything like that.
So if there is something going on chemically or with
(12:05):
you dealing with depression, you need to see a professional
about that that deals with that. But as far as
finding yourself in this, donate your time go and help
others is a great way to remind yourself what a
piece of the puzzle you are and how you can
play a part in this with everybody else. That is
(12:29):
very powerful. That will help you see things different. So
that's the homework you have is find a soup kitchen
or something like that that you can safely go and
help other people for now. Get the focus off of yourself.
You're focusing too much on yourself and not on others.
That will be a powerful tool for you and imperative
(12:51):
to your growth. The second thing is the disciples knew
they went through different things. The things that you see
in scripture are there humanity winning, their humanity and doubt
coming in and their faith wobbling. They knew, I mean
it says in scripture. Well, they misunderstood this. They misunderstood
(13:12):
that about the rising of the temple, all these things.
There was confusion, but they knew, but they were fearful,
and at the point of the resurrection, it all came
together and they finally understood that dying was not a
spiritual death on the cross, it was a physical death,
(13:37):
and that their spirituality would be eternal because of that payment.
That's what they knew. That's what they learned and understood
in its fullness after the resurrection, John, thank you for
being so patient.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
Hello Jesus, how are you?
Speaker 2 (14:00):
I am well, John, and you pretty good.
Speaker 4 (14:02):
My question is probably gonna seem kind of simplistic compared
to the other listeners, but I don't I'll just phrase
it as.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Well, nothing and nothing ever seems to be so simplistic,
so please ask away.
Speaker 4 (14:15):
I was kind of raised in the religion where that
you almost love was the secondary to fear in you.
That's why you did good things stuff, not because necessarily
you love God. But I don't know if you're familiar
with it was called the Baltimore Catechism, and that's what
I was raised on. And I was raised to you,
you know, immortals and venial sin, and you more did
(14:38):
it because you were afraid of your of your punishment.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Sure.
Speaker 4 (14:43):
And then later on in life, thirty years ago I
lost my sons in an automobile accident. And I guess
my question is is it okay? Sounds? Is it okay
to be ma at you?
Speaker 3 (15:01):
Of course?
Speaker 4 (15:02):
Upset with you? Of course, and still love you and
still love you, but just be.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Upset with you your boys? Did you ever get in
arguments with them?
Speaker 4 (15:13):
Yeah? Sure, well they were really young, and you know
it was uh yeah, we always had you know, our thing,
No you can't and you know yes.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Yes so and you love them?
Speaker 4 (15:25):
Oh God, yes, yes.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
People put emotions into interesting categories at times, and it's
easy to do John. It's easy to look around and say, well,
if you're angry, then there's hate, but it doesn't have
to be. Anger is not hate, Anger is righteous indignation
(15:51):
if it's proper, Rage is not of God, and rage
is ugly, and rage is not healthy. But it's it's
a form of love that you're that you even get angry.
The opposite of love is, of course, as you might
have heard, not anger or hate. It's indifference. It's not
caring at all.
Speaker 4 (16:11):
I would rather have somebody dislike me.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Than be indifferent toward me absolutely, because that means you
don't matter at all. That means there's no reason to care.
Speaker 4 (16:21):
So you star me though you I still have that
fear of you on it. I don't understand some of
the things you do, and I'm going to, well, what
is going on or what you know? It's actually I
question your judgment going what is and and okay, you
better not do that because he's going to get upset
with you. You know he's gonna And I get that once again,
(16:45):
I think that's real simplistic, but I just have that
just very surface notion of of what things what things are.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
No, it's it's completely legitimate. And fear is one of
those things that unfortunately gets misunderstood when it comes to
the relationship between God and man because fear is like,
oh well, it's only used for fear, yes, And fear
is not legitimate as if you were to go running
(17:15):
around and saying, yeah, well, this group only gets people
behind them because they rule by joy. It's an emotion.
There is legitimate fear to be had with certain things
you do. If you run around with a high powered
weapon or a flame or something sharp without giving reverence
(17:42):
and understanding and having fear of its power. You're a fool. Now,
that doesn't mean that the fear that people see is
like an extortion based fear, and that's not what God is.
The fear that is proper and that should be applied
(18:04):
is a fear of understanding of the power and value
of what you're dealing with. If you have something valuable
in your house, maybe you put it in a safe,
maybe you lock your doors. Why because you fear that
it might be taken from you. Fear has a very
legitimate and important purpose in the relationship of anything that
(18:27):
you care about, and more so with God and understanding
the consequences of not having God in your life. Now,
you can think of it as extortion, like many skeptics
and atheists do, and we'll throw that in the face
of a Christian, But that's silly. You fear many things
(18:47):
on a daily basis. You look both ways before you
cross the street. You don't lick a car battery, you
don't stick your finger in a light socket. Yeah, there
is how many people. I hear men that love tooling
around the house, tinkering and fixing things often say yeah,
I'll fix this I'll fix that. I don't like to
(19:08):
work with gas or electricity, but I'll fix everything else.
There is a healthy fear about the consequences and the
intensity of the consequences if you make a mistake. It
is normal and expects.
Speaker 4 (19:21):
And fear which could that be rather than yes, respect.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
It is a part of it. Reverence is a part
of it, but it's not the complete picture. It says
in scripture that the beginning of wisdom is fear of God,
because you should fear God. But it's not the extortion
based fear. It's the reality, consequence based fear. You should
(19:49):
fear not having air, not because air is extorting you
to fear it somehow, sitting somewhere and going wow, I
just want people to fear me. No, because air is
that valuable, oxygen is that valuable to your life. That yes,
you should be in fear, and you are. The moment
(20:09):
you get dunked underwater, the moment your nose and your
mouth is plugged, your body goes into hyper fear, knowing
that it cannot exist without it. That's where your heart
and your mind should be with God. Not in the again,
in the extortion sense, but in the very real consequential
(20:30):
sense that.
Speaker 4 (20:32):
God is necessary fear, but not the kind of fear
where it's tramely with fear that I'm gonna I'm going
to somehow lose you. You know.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
No, it's based differently. It's uh just children should fear
their their parents, not because their parents are against them,
but they should fear the consequences of not living by
their rules or ideas because their rules or ideas are
more mature, have been timed, tested, have been experienced, have
(21:03):
come from multiple sources, and not just the small world
of children, all kinds of reasons, but not fear them
in a sense that they're different or less than or
not important or anything.
Speaker 4 (21:16):
One thing that does help me a lot overcome my
bitterness is I know that you understand and no matter
what kind of how I feel, You'll always loved me.
And I think that's that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Absolutely, that's the whole purpose of all of this. You
know how how much pain you're going through with your boys.
Speaker 4 (21:43):
Yeah that was thirty years ago and I still I
still feel it.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
Man.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
So when you when you hear a day like today Sunday,
what most people call Easter, and you think about what
took place and the importance of today. And maybe you
hear you know versus over and over again, like John
(22:17):
three point sixteen. I want you to hear this not
as a Christian, not about anything, but hear this as
a father. For God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him
(22:38):
should not perish but have eternal life. For God did
not send the Son into the world to judge the world,
but that the world should have salvation through him. He
who believes in him is not judged. He who does
(23:01):
not believe has been judged already because he has not
believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
That verse is talking about a father sending his only
son to die in a way on the cross. The
(23:25):
very word excruciating. The root of the word excruciating is cruse.
It's cross. It comes from the cross, the very thing
I died on. A father sent his son to die
on a cross and resurrect today so that you would
(23:49):
have the opportunity to live life eternally, not only with
your boys, with your family again, but with the Almighty
creator of all creation. That doesn't sound to me like
a God who is looking to be willy nilly, and
(24:11):
I kind of care about my people. I sort of do.
Speaker 4 (24:16):
YEA. That helps, man, it really does. I don't know
if this is bless you for saying that to me,
I mean just for me, or would you he blessed
me when you when you? It makes more sense if yeah, yeah,
I can just kind of feel it some of that
(24:37):
coming out of me. Now, Okay.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
I want you to go in peace today, and I
want you to think about those things and even the
pain that comes with them, and know that you are
absolutely positively loved and the process isn't going to be
easy anymore than it's easy to raise children or go
through the process of being a parent in any way,
shape or form. Our relationship with a will have high points,
our relationship will have low points. You will yell at me,
(25:04):
I will be upset with you, but that's a relationship.
And today I want you to think about what that
sacrifice is, sacrifice you've made, sacrifices I've made, and how
that makes us better as partners in this world.
Speaker 4 (25:21):
And we still love each other.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Absolutely wonderful and that isn't going to change. And you're
going to go in peace today.
Speaker 4 (25:31):
Thank you. Thank you so much. I appreciate that you're welcome.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
John, God bless you, and God bless your resurrection. Sunday,
and as we do our traditional Easter program and we
always end with a Dolly Parton song will be playing
in a moment. I want you to be thinking about
what part of the story you're in, the beginning, middle
(25:54):
or the end, what part of the trial you're in
the beginning, middle or the end, and who you trust
in to see you through that story. And as life
gets more complicated, are you looking for ways to separate
yourself from others by way of faith, politics, their last question,
(26:19):
dealing with your perceived notions of race, or are you
looking for excuses to connect with one another, to have empathy,
to understand each other. That's going to be a big
part of how this story ends. Remember, more importantly than
all the craziness in this world, these simple words, I
(26:41):
Am with you Always.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
KFI AM six forty on demand
You're listening to KFI AM sixty on demand.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
John, Welcome to the Jesus Christ Show.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
Good morning, Jesus. Thank you so much for taking.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
My call on pleasure. What's going on, John?
Speaker 3 (00:16):
I lost my best friend for thirty seven years and
he's a different religion. He was a Buddhist. Language is
not a barrier. Our friendship was bullheart and I just
(00:39):
having a hard time coping with it. And I just
want to know if whatever I see my maker, well
I see him as well. Since he practiced a different
religion and I found I was researching something about the
religion and they don't believe in the soul, that the Buddhism.
I was not aware of that. But and he's he's
(01:02):
in another state. Unfortunately, I him out on the East
coast and he's on the West coast.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
And uh, when did he.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Pass the last He passed away on Friday, and I
found about found the found about found just about him
on Saturday. They unfortunately, he had a brain aneurysm, So
(01:36):
it was fairly I think. Yes, we talked every Friday
and Saturday, even though we were at different time zones.
We kept communication and I was fortunate enough to see
him one last time. Last year, I drove to the
West coast to just be with my father and him,
(01:56):
and we shared some times with my family.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
I can hear that you're obviously in pain. It is
very fresh, and it's incredibly normal to start wanting to
process this through the lens of your faith and your
belief and I can give you some answers, certainly that
(02:31):
are academic. We can look at the belief system of Buddhism,
but the reality is regardless, John, You're going to be
in pain as you mourn the loss of a friend.
The faith of the friend is important to God, but
(02:53):
to you, that's a relationship between your friend and God.
That your relationship ship, John, and your connection. That's important
to you. And that was for here, that was for
this time in this world. And regardless of the beliefs,
which are different Buddhists, there have many heavens, but all
(03:19):
of these heavens are a very temporary part of what
they refer to as the sumsara kind of the cycle
of life, this circle and that process of reincarnation or rebirth.
That cycle is about reaching nirvana, which is enlightenment. It's
(03:44):
different than the concept the Christian concept of heaven, which
is a reconnection. It's going home to be with your
Maker and celebrating that. It's not about people make it.
You know all these different things. Well, you're going to
(04:05):
see all your friends and family, and yes, does that
is that part of it? Yes, but it's not the
core of it. The core of it is to reconnect
with your Maker. So there's differences. Absolutely, there are two
completely different belief systems with nothing in common. But that's
(04:27):
not your concern. That is something for God to work out,
not for you. For now, you are to celebrate the
life of your friend, celebrate the uniqueness and the preciousness
of that individual and what they brought to your life,
(04:47):
and what they brought to the lives of others, how
they dedicated themselves to a belief and an understanding all
of those things. I think that I think that many
use religion as a way to separate and faith as
a way to separate. And it's not that there It's
not that there aren't important times where Scripture says iron
(05:11):
sharpens iron. The two people can argue, or the two
people can can share their faith and argue about these
things and guide each other, and all that has beauty
and wonderfulness to it. However, sometimes it gets in the
way of true connection as well, and there's a The
(05:36):
focus of a person and their core belief is important
because it lets you know how they think about things
and how they work through problems or troubleshoot life. But
I don't like to see people separate themselves, you know,
in some sort of cult way where they forget that
(05:56):
interacting on this planet and interacting with each other its
purpose as well. So just rejoice in the friendship. Rejoice
that you knew him. What was his name?
Speaker 3 (06:09):
John uh Katara?
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Well, rejoice in Katara, Rejoice in the friendship and that
you had a chance to connect with one another, and
celebrate that, you know, share him with others when you
have an opportunity. But this is a time of mourning. John.
You don't need to work out the or solve the
(06:34):
problems of God. If there is an opportunity for you
guys to connect, ever, again, that's up to God. It's
not something you need to put on your shoulders right now.
What was one of the things that you miss about
him most?
Speaker 3 (06:55):
His patience is understanding.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
How that come up between the two of you.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
He was there for me when I have really hard
situations in my life. He was always there. I could
count on him, I could speak to him. He never
had any sort of an agenda behind his friendship, even
though he spoke a different language. I speak a different language, Hispanic,
(07:26):
and he's tied descent.
Speaker 4 (07:31):
We both.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
He knew when I was going to call him. I
knew we had that scene between each other, like indicate it.
We're both on the different coasts, and we would still
make the opportunity to speak to each other every every
weekend or every Friday. We were all that.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Should be cherished. That's a powerful friend. What you just explained, Patie,
the lack of judgment, being able to listen and hear
what you're going through, that's pretty incredible. I can see
why the pain is deep losing someone like that.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
I called them my brother.
Speaker 4 (08:23):
He was truly.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
You're going to wrestle with this for a while, John,
I don't think you should rush through it. I think
you can contemplate the friendship. I think that it's inspiring
that you found ways to connect at a distance with
language barriers and faith barriers and all these different things.
(08:51):
The two of you fought to have a relationship. You
had to. There was a lot of hurdles and a
lot of things you had to deal with, but you
did it. John, You found a way, and I think
that you should celebrate that. You continue as always anybody
who loses somebody, you become the curator, John, of Katara's life.
(09:14):
You become the curator of his laughter, his insights, all
of these and you contain those in who you are
and you pass them along. And for now, that's how
you'll experience him, and that's how others will experience him
as well. Let's talk to Jeff. Jeff, Welcome to the
(09:38):
Jesus Christ Show.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Good morning in Happy Resurrection Day Jesus.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Thanks Jeff, and the same to you. How can I
help you?
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Okay, my main question is, and I'd like to ask
a little something else if I can, But my main
question is is that I deal with self hate. And
I know God probably hates that. But the problem is
I've learned that, you know, the three fingers pointing out,
it always comes around and you turns and I blame
(10:10):
myself for everything in my life. And that started, you know,
when I was young, but it's still with me today.
I don't I do hate people, but it'll eventually come around.
And I blame myself for my part, and so I
just can't get over that hurdle of hating myself and
(10:31):
because that's where it boils down to into you know, depression.
And and the second thing was is that when did
the disciples realize that you died for our sins? I mean,
I know they realized that he was Lord, but and
what he said he was that did they understand right
(10:53):
then that they were, you know, forgiven for the sins?
So the first thing is is, well, they're both as important.
I guess.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Okay, well let's take a look at those, Jeff, because
we only have about a moment here. First of all,
self hate has zero value. And you quickly went over
the old illustration that when you point at other people
with your pointing finger, there's three fingers pointing back at you. Now,
that's usually used to help people understand that judging others
(11:26):
has no benefit, because ultimately people can judge you as well.
But in your case, you kind of use it as
putting things back on yourself. What do you do for
a living.
Speaker 3 (11:37):
Jeff, I'm a carpingder.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Okay, excellent, So you create, you build for a living. Yes,
I love that. I think that's incredibly important. I'm going
to give you some As far as you see, this
is not a show about medicine or anything like that.
So if there is something going on chemically or with
(12:05):
you dealing with depression, you need to see a professional
about that that deals with that. But as far as
finding yourself in this, donate your time go and help
others is a great way to remind yourself what a
piece of the puzzle you are and how you can
play a part in this with everybody else. That is
(12:29):
very powerful. That will help you see things different. So
that's the homework you have is find a soup kitchen
or something like that that you can safely go and
help other people for now. Get the focus off of yourself.
You're focusing too much on yourself and not on others.
That will be a powerful tool for you and imperative
(12:51):
to your growth. The second thing is the disciples knew
they went through different things. The things that you see
in scripture are there humanity winning, their humanity and doubt
coming in and their faith wobbling. They knew, I mean
it says in scripture. Well, they misunderstood this. They misunderstood
(13:12):
that about the rising of the temple, all these things.
There was confusion, but they knew, but they were fearful,
and at the point of the resurrection, it all came
together and they finally understood that dying was not a
spiritual death on the cross, it was a physical death,
(13:37):
and that their spirituality would be eternal because of that payment.
That's what they knew. That's what they learned and understood
in its fullness after the resurrection, John, thank you for
being so patient.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
Hello Jesus, how are you?
Speaker 2 (14:00):
I am well, John, and you pretty good.
Speaker 4 (14:02):
My question is probably gonna seem kind of simplistic compared
to the other listeners, but I don't I'll just phrase
it as.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Well, nothing and nothing ever seems to be so simplistic,
so please ask away.
Speaker 4 (14:15):
I was kind of raised in the religion where that
you almost love was the secondary to fear in you.
That's why you did good things stuff, not because necessarily
you love God. But I don't know if you're familiar
with it was called the Baltimore Catechism, and that's what
I was raised on. And I was raised to you,
you know, immortals and venial sin, and you more did
(14:38):
it because you were afraid of your of your punishment.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Sure.
Speaker 4 (14:43):
And then later on in life, thirty years ago I
lost my sons in an automobile accident. And I guess
my question is is it okay? Sounds? Is it okay
to be ma at you?
Speaker 3 (15:01):
Of course?
Speaker 4 (15:02):
Upset with you? Of course, and still love you and
still love you, but just be.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Upset with you your boys? Did you ever get in
arguments with them?
Speaker 4 (15:13):
Yeah? Sure, well they were really young, and you know
it was uh yeah, we always had you know, our thing,
No you can't and you know yes.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Yes so and you love them?
Speaker 4 (15:25):
Oh God, yes, yes.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
People put emotions into interesting categories at times, and it's
easy to do John. It's easy to look around and say, well,
if you're angry, then there's hate, but it doesn't have
to be. Anger is not hate, Anger is righteous indignation
(15:51):
if it's proper, Rage is not of God, and rage
is ugly, and rage is not healthy. But it's it's
a form of love that you're that you even get angry.
The opposite of love is, of course, as you might
have heard, not anger or hate. It's indifference. It's not
caring at all.
Speaker 4 (16:11):
I would rather have somebody dislike me.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
Than be indifferent toward me absolutely, because that means you
don't matter at all. That means there's no reason to care.
Speaker 4 (16:21):
So you star me though you I still have that
fear of you on it. I don't understand some of
the things you do, and I'm going to, well, what
is going on or what you know? It's actually I
question your judgment going what is and and okay, you
better not do that because he's going to get upset
with you. You know he's gonna And I get that once again,
(16:45):
I think that's real simplistic, but I just have that
just very surface notion of of what things what things are.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
No, it's it's completely legitimate. And fear is one of
those things that unfortunately gets misunderstood when it comes to
the relationship between God and man because fear is like,
oh well, it's only used for fear, yes, And fear
is not legitimate as if you were to go running
(17:15):
around and saying, yeah, well, this group only gets people
behind them because they rule by joy. It's an emotion.
There is legitimate fear to be had with certain things
you do. If you run around with a high powered
weapon or a flame or something sharp without giving reverence
(17:42):
and understanding and having fear of its power. You're a fool. Now,
that doesn't mean that the fear that people see is
like an extortion based fear, and that's not what God is.
The fear that is proper and that should be applied
(18:04):
is a fear of understanding of the power and value
of what you're dealing with. If you have something valuable
in your house, maybe you put it in a safe,
maybe you lock your doors. Why because you fear that
it might be taken from you. Fear has a very
legitimate and important purpose in the relationship of anything that
(18:27):
you care about, and more so with God and understanding
the consequences of not having God in your life. Now,
you can think of it as extortion, like many skeptics
and atheists do, and we'll throw that in the face
of a Christian, But that's silly. You fear many things
(18:47):
on a daily basis. You look both ways before you
cross the street. You don't lick a car battery, you
don't stick your finger in a light socket. Yeah, there
is how many people. I hear men that love tooling
around the house, tinkering and fixing things often say yeah,
I'll fix this I'll fix that. I don't like to
(19:08):
work with gas or electricity, but I'll fix everything else.
There is a healthy fear about the consequences and the
intensity of the consequences if you make a mistake. It
is normal and expects.
Speaker 4 (19:21):
And fear which could that be rather than yes, respect.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
It is a part of it. Reverence is a part
of it, but it's not the complete picture. It says
in scripture that the beginning of wisdom is fear of God,
because you should fear God. But it's not the extortion
based fear. It's the reality, consequence based fear. You should
(19:49):
fear not having air, not because air is extorting you
to fear it somehow, sitting somewhere and going wow, I
just want people to fear me. No, because air is
that valuable, oxygen is that valuable to your life. That yes,
you should be in fear, and you are. The moment
(20:09):
you get dunked underwater, the moment your nose and your
mouth is plugged, your body goes into hyper fear, knowing
that it cannot exist without it. That's where your heart
and your mind should be with God. Not in the again,
in the extortion sense, but in the very real consequential
(20:30):
sense that.
Speaker 4 (20:32):
God is necessary fear, but not the kind of fear
where it's tramely with fear that I'm gonna I'm going
to somehow lose you. You know.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
No, it's based differently. It's uh just children should fear
their their parents, not because their parents are against them,
but they should fear the consequences of not living by
their rules or ideas because their rules or ideas are
more mature, have been timed, tested, have been experienced, have
(21:03):
come from multiple sources, and not just the small world
of children, all kinds of reasons, but not fear them
in a sense that they're different or less than or
not important or anything.
Speaker 4 (21:16):
One thing that does help me a lot overcome my
bitterness is I know that you understand and no matter
what kind of how I feel, You'll always loved me.
And I think that's that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Absolutely, that's the whole purpose of all of this. You
know how how much pain you're going through with your boys.
Speaker 4 (21:43):
Yeah that was thirty years ago and I still I
still feel it.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
Man.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
So when you when you hear a day like today Sunday,
what most people call Easter, and you think about what
took place and the importance of today. And maybe you
hear you know versus over and over again, like John
(22:17):
three point sixteen. I want you to hear this not
as a Christian, not about anything, but hear this as
a father. For God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him
(22:38):
should not perish but have eternal life. For God did
not send the Son into the world to judge the world,
but that the world should have salvation through him. He
who believes in him is not judged. He who does
(23:01):
not believe has been judged already because he has not
believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
That verse is talking about a father sending his only
son to die in a way on the cross. The
(23:25):
very word excruciating. The root of the word excruciating is cruse.
It's cross. It comes from the cross, the very thing
I died on. A father sent his son to die
on a cross and resurrect today so that you would
(23:49):
have the opportunity to live life eternally, not only with
your boys, with your family again, but with the Almighty
creator of all creation. That doesn't sound to me like
a God who is looking to be willy nilly, and
(24:11):
I kind of care about my people. I sort of do.
Speaker 4 (24:16):
YEA. That helps, man, it really does. I don't know
if this is bless you for saying that to me,
I mean just for me, or would you he blessed
me when you when you? It makes more sense if yeah, yeah,
I can just kind of feel it some of that
(24:37):
coming out of me. Now, Okay.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
I want you to go in peace today, and I
want you to think about those things and even the
pain that comes with them, and know that you are
absolutely positively loved and the process isn't going to be
easy anymore than it's easy to raise children or go
through the process of being a parent in any way,
shape or form. Our relationship with a will have high points,
our relationship will have low points. You will yell at me,
(25:04):
I will be upset with you, but that's a relationship.
And today I want you to think about what that
sacrifice is, sacrifice you've made, sacrifices I've made, and how
that makes us better as partners in this world.
Speaker 4 (25:21):
And we still love each other.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Absolutely wonderful and that isn't going to change. And you're
going to go in peace today.
Speaker 4 (25:31):
Thank you. Thank you so much. I appreciate that you're welcome.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
John, God bless you, and God bless your resurrection. Sunday,
and as we do our traditional Easter program and we
always end with a Dolly Parton song will be playing
in a moment. I want you to be thinking about
what part of the story you're in, the beginning, middle
(25:54):
or the end, what part of the trial you're in
the beginning, middle or the end, and who you trust
in to see you through that story. And as life
gets more complicated, are you looking for ways to separate
yourself from others by way of faith, politics, their last question,
(26:19):
dealing with your perceived notions of race, or are you
looking for excuses to connect with one another, to have empathy,
to understand each other. That's going to be a big
part of how this story ends. Remember, more importantly than
all the craziness in this world, these simple words, I
(26:41):
Am with you Always.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
KFI AM six forty on demand
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