Participants:
Series Code: RQRA
Program Code: RQRA000003A
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00:01 I don't understand
00:04 why did this have to happen to me? 00:08 I feel like I just can't make sense of things. 00:12 I need answers. 00:15 Where is God? 00:20 In the 16th century, 00:21 the state religion combined with France, 00:26 perpetrated one of the worst massacres in Christendom. 00:31 Seventy thousand innocent lives 00:34 were slain in a few weeks. 00:38 It was an incredibly intense time. 00:42 Welcome to Raw Questions Relevant Answers. 00:44 My name is Mark Paden, 00:46 and I'm joined by my co-host Dee Casper 00:48 and Michelle Doucoumes. 00:49 And this is a program 00:51 in which we seek biblical answers 00:53 to the raw questions that we deal 00:55 with as young people on a day-to-day basis. 00:58 And today's topic 01:00 that we are heading is a pretty heavy one. 01:02 It's on the subject of bad religion. 01:06 And the reason I started off 01:07 with that example from Christian history is that, 01:10 you know, a lot of times it seems 01:12 like the followers of God do some of the worst things, 01:16 I mean, 70,000 innocent lives, 01:18 against fellow Christians nonetheless. 01:21 So what we're going to do is again 01:23 we're going to dive through some of these questions 01:25 that have been submitted by young people 01:27 around the country and around the world. 01:29 So the first one 01:30 that we're going to hit is from a young female, 01:32 age 15, in the state of Tennessee. 01:36 "Why does the church force things upon you 01:38 and cause you to have feelings of guilt? 01:42 Don't they realize 01:43 that they are just confusing everyone 01:44 and making them resent God? 01:46 Then we have to live 01:48 for what other people tell us to do, 01:50 but inside we are alone and hurting 01:52 because our whole life is a lie. 01:54 Does God really want this? 01:56 If not, why doesn't He do something about it?" 01:59 So the first thing we would say is no, 02:02 God doesn't want this. 02:03 And I just want use a brief reference here, 02:04 two brief references 02:06 that God has nothing to do with this. 02:07 The first is in Ezekiel 36:22, 02:11 He says, "Therefore say to the house of Israel, 02:13 'I do not do this what I'm about to do 02:14 for your sake, O house of Israel, 02:16 but for My holy name's sake, 02:18 which you have profaned among 02:19 the nations wherever you went.'" 02:21 In short, God is distancing Himself 02:23 from the behavior of the people of God. 02:25 "I'm going to have to do something 02:26 because you've made a mess 02:28 of My reputation before the world." 02:29 He would eventually end up telling is actually the promise 02:31 of the new covenant in Ezekiel 36 02:33 of God transforming our lives 02:35 through the Holy Spirit to live an obedient life. 02:37 And He says that, 02:38 "The surrounding nations will know that I'm the Lord 02:39 when I'm hallowed in you before their eyes." 02:42 People will want something to do with God 02:45 when the people of God look like God. 02:47 There's a similar illusion to this in Acts 26 02:49 where Paul is telling his testimony to King Agrippa. 02:52 And as he's confronted by Jesus on the road to Damascus 02:55 he says, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" 02:59 Well, the thing is he didn't have a warrant 03:01 for the arrest of Jesus. 03:02 Jesus is ascended to heaven at this stage. 03:04 He had a warrant for the rest of people 03:05 who followed Jesus. 03:07 And Jesus here seemed to be identifying 03:09 with the people who are persecuted 03:11 in His name by people who believed in God. 03:15 And so I think 03:16 that there is some good news for us immediately 03:18 that God has nothing to do with bad religion. 03:21 He distances Himself from incenses of bad religion. 03:24 The question then is, 03:26 "Why does God allow these things to happen?" 03:28 Well, this is not God's ideal by any means, 03:31 but what God is seeking to do 03:33 is to redeem that bad influence, 03:34 and His call for them was always to be 03:36 a good influence. 03:38 Sometimes our zeal can lead us to take actions 03:40 that we think are right, 03:42 wanting to do right that cause harm. 03:45 The amazing thing is God pursues us in spite of that, 03:48 and God is earnestly striving to improve His reputation 03:52 in the eyes of the world through genuine Christians. 03:54 And above all else, 03:56 you know, we're really going to know what God is like 03:57 is by searching the Word of God for ourselves. 04:00 That would be my initial answer. 04:02 Yeah. 04:03 You know, Dee, I see through Scripture 04:05 how much Jesus hates bad religion too. 04:07 Yes. 04:08 And so, you know, Matthew 23, 04:11 there is pretty much a whole chapter of Him 04:13 be crying the evils of the religious system 04:16 in His day. 04:17 Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees 04:19 because of all these different things 04:20 that they do including the fact 04:22 that they were whitewash tombs, He said, they looked good 04:27 but they weren't inside. 04:28 Or in Matthew 21, Jesus cleanses the temple. 04:32 There was nothing that He hated more. 04:34 You don't see Jesus really getting angry often, 04:37 but when it came to His house, 04:39 His people, His church not being 04:42 what they were supposed to, it really made Him angry. 04:45 At the same time though, we see God who's merciful, 04:48 and that He's reluctant to give us up. 04:51 He talks about Jerusalem 04:52 and said that He wanted to gather them under His wings 04:55 like a hen gathers its chicks. 04:57 And so realize that Jesus doesn't love it 05:01 when the church puts guilt that shouldn't be there. 05:04 At the same time, oh, my, He's also merciful, 05:08 not wanting to lose His church, His body either. 05:12 And so I would say with this 05:14 that the huge thing is to look at what's going on and say, 05:17 "Hey, is this guilt? 05:19 Is this really coming from God? 05:21 Or is this coming from a source that is not God?" 05:24 Maybe some people 05:26 who are unfortunately misrepresenting God. 05:29 Yeah, it reminds me, like, even with the Apostle Paul, 05:32 God is seeking to use him in ministry, right? 05:35 He changes his life and He says, 05:36 "For this purpose I've come to you 05:38 that you may proclaim My name among the Gentiles." 05:40 God's still pursuing those people 05:41 that are hurting us 05:43 because He wants them in the kingdom 05:44 'cause He's got something He can work with. 05:46 They want to serve God, they have a zeal 05:47 but not according to knowledge, 05:48 they need to have a transformation. 05:50 What they need is a face-to-face encounter 05:51 with Jesus. 05:53 If it worked for Saul of Tarsus, 05:54 it can work for me, it can work for them. 05:56 And, I think, it's a great point 05:57 that Michelle made 05:58 that we can't lose sight of that. 06:00 These people are sincere, right? 06:01 It's not like that they want nothing to do with God, 06:03 they want to, you know, 06:04 just absolutely destroy His reputation in the world. 06:07 They're trying to do right, 06:09 they're just doing it the wrong way. 06:10 I just want to make sure that's clear. 06:12 But God has a better plan in mind, 06:13 and for whatever reason God feels 06:16 that He can get the most glory out 06:17 of using people to spread the gospel 06:19 to the world instead of angels. 06:21 And what God is doing is making the best of that situation 06:24 by transforming people to be the best messengers. 06:27 He's still working that process out 06:28 but He will succeed. 06:30 Here's another thing that I really appreciate. 06:32 This is from a periodical 06:33 actually, Signs of the Times, July 1, 1889 in fact. 06:39 Yeah, it was written a little bit ago, but... 06:40 Yeah. 06:42 I think this is just really refreshing perspective. 06:45 "There are many who try to correct 06:46 the life of others by attacking 06:48 what they consider are wrong habits. 06:51 They go to those who may think 06:52 are in error and point out their defects. 06:54 They say, 'You don't dress as you should, 06:57 you don't dress as you should.' 06:59 They try to pick off the ornaments 07:00 or whatever seems offensive. 07:01 But they do not seek to fasten the mind to truth. 07:04 Those who seek to correct others should present 07:06 the attractions of Jesus. 07:08 They should talk of His love and compassion. 07:10 Present His example and sacrifice, 07:13 reveal His Spirit." 07:14 Wow! 07:15 And, I think, the power of this is just that, 07:18 you know, if we really as, 07:21 especially as leaders in the work of God want 07:25 to affect lives for the good 07:27 and want to change them and bring them closer to God, 07:30 really what we need to do is 07:31 show them Jesus, show them His love, 07:33 show them His sacrifice. 07:34 Be an example of kindness and courtesy 07:36 and true Christian grace and friendship. 07:39 And in this process, 07:41 that will win people that going up 07:43 and just telling somebody 07:45 to stop doing that little thing, 07:46 he's going to do. 07:48 Now I do want to just flip over on one hand 07:50 and bring around the fact 07:52 that just because somebody comes to you 07:55 and addresses something in your life in a way 07:57 that you may not appreciate and may actually be wrong 08:01 and bad doesn't give you 08:03 then the license to negate what they said. 08:06 They may be right, you know. On spirit, right. 08:09 Exactly. 08:11 So as Christians and as young people 08:13 especially who are most often the ones 08:15 who are prone to face this kind of thing, 08:19 you know, when that person comes up to us 08:22 and says something that, you know, we don't like it, 08:24 maybe the better part of humility 08:26 would be to say, 08:27 "Okay, I really don't appreciate that." 08:29 And recognize that for what it is, 08:31 you know, it's not good. 08:32 But then at the same time say, "Okay, Lord, search me. 08:35 Am I doing Your will?" 08:37 Because that's really where wisdom comes in. 08:40 Yes. Wow! 08:41 Check our pride at the door. Exactly, exactly. 08:45 Okay. 08:46 Now let's move on to our next question. 08:48 This comes from a female, age 28, 08:49 in the state of Washington. 08:51 "How can we learn to separate the hurtful actions of people 08:54 within our denomination from Adventism itself?" 08:58 Well, first, I just want to say 09:00 that we amongst all faiths are not unique. 09:03 All denominations, all faiths are wrestling 09:06 with bad representatives, right? 09:08 But that does not negate the fact 09:10 that we still have a problem internally 09:11 that we should deal with, right? 09:13 Just make sure that that disclaimer is clear. 09:15 I remember hearing the story of Gandhi, 09:17 Mahatma Gandhi who had heard about 09:19 the teachings of Jesus 09:20 and they were supremely attractive to him 09:22 and he wanted to learn more. 09:23 And so he shows up to a church, 09:25 and I'm going somewhere with this, I promise, 09:27 you may think I'm just making rant, 09:28 "What's this guy doing?" 09:30 But he shows up to a church and one of the elders 09:32 in this church in India 09:33 makes a beeline for the door and says, 09:35 "You are not welcome here." 09:38 And it's because 09:39 there's the caste system in India, 09:40 you know, kind of different tiers of society. 09:42 He wasn't of the right caste and he wasn't white. 09:45 So because of this the guy told him, 09:46 "No, you can't come here. 09:47 You are not welcome there." 09:49 He had another instance where he was staying 09:50 with Christians in South Africa, 09:51 and just a disclaimer here, I love South Africans, 09:53 and I've had some really good roommates 09:54 from South Africa. 09:56 Nothing against South Africans at all, 09:57 just want to make sure that's clear. 09:58 But he had stayed with some bad Christians 10:00 in South Africa 10:01 that were not good examples to him. 10:03 So these two instances lead him to have statements 10:05 that are so much debated on 10:07 how he exactly phrased it but the basic instance was, 10:10 "I would be a Christian were it not for the Christians. 10:12 And Christians are so unlike your Christ. 10:15 And, you know, if all Christians were like Christ, 10:17 the whole world would be Christians." 10:19 These are some potentially apocryphal quotes from Gandhi. 10:25 We've heard, "Are they actually from him? 10:26 Are they not?" 10:28 But the premise stands true to the fact 10:29 that this man was a seeker, he was earnestly seeking. 10:33 But because he had a discouraging experience 10:34 with Christians, 10:36 he decided to close the book on the whole thing and walk. 10:40 What we owe to God is to search 10:41 for ourselves in the Word of God 10:43 whether what He says is true. 10:45 And it's unfortunate 10:46 because God does want His messengers 10:47 to be good representatives. 10:49 But in those moments when they aren't, 10:51 we still owe it to God to search for ourselves to see 10:54 whether it's true, to taste and see for ourselves 10:56 that He is good. 10:58 This is what God is asking from us. 11:00 And I think that's the least we can do 11:02 if He's going to give His only begotten Son. 11:04 If it goes to the heart why are we a Christian, 11:07 why am I a Christian, 11:08 why am I a part of the church that I'm part of? 11:10 We live in a very consumer-minded society, 11:13 and so basically, 11:14 "Well, that church has better music 11:16 and that church has more young people, 11:17 and this church has like, good food." 11:20 Is that how we pick our religion? 11:22 And if we do, we'll always going 11:25 to become disenchanted with the religion. 11:27 And so I really like what you said, Dee, 11:29 we need to come to the heart of the book 11:32 of why we believe 11:33 what we believe and know why we're there. 11:35 Yeah, and, you know, I just too want to say... 11:38 I really want to make an appeal to the young people out there 11:42 who may be are... 11:43 You may be going through this, 11:45 maybe somebody has hurt them, right? 11:48 Don't give up on God. Amen. 11:50 Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. 11:53 You know, I have found a God in this book 11:57 who is incredibly beautiful, incredibly loving, 12:00 and incredibly powerful. 12:02 And that far outweighs any time 12:05 that I've been hurt by somebody in religion. 12:11 You know, it's easy sometimes for us 12:13 to cry hypocrisy and want to leave 12:16 because of all the issues that we see, 12:18 but you know, God is bigger than the issues 12:21 and God isn't the issues. 12:22 Right. 12:24 And I would say with that, Mark. 12:25 Another appeal 12:27 is that your church needs you too. 12:28 Yeah. Yes. 12:29 You know, there are others who are going to have 12:31 that same experience and not come to Jesus maybe 12:34 because of things in the church. 12:36 And if you're not there to help give 12:38 a representation of Jesus, who is. 12:41 So don't give up on Jesus, 12:43 and also don't give up on your church. 12:45 What your church needs 12:46 most is a genuine Christian and that might be you. 12:48 Amen. 12:50 I want to give a brief, brief story. 12:51 I heard a minister tell a story. 12:53 He grew up in a very violent home. 12:54 Mom was a beat-up every single night. 12:56 It was horrible for him. 12:57 Mom saw how hard it was on him and it's dad. 13:00 Dad is a monster, 13:01 dad's caused all these problems. 13:02 And one day she sits him down and she says, 13:05 "Son, I need to talk to you." 13:06 And she says, "So and so is not your father." 13:09 And it's like the whole world is turned upside down. 13:11 "What do mean, dad isn't my dad?" 13:13 And she turns around a picture in her hand, 13:15 it's a teenage boy and she says, 13:16 "This is your father. 13:18 His name is so and so. 13:19 And he never did these things to me. 13:22 He never hit me, he never spoke to me like this. 13:25 He was a teenager, he was scared and he ran 13:26 when I got pregnant, but he never did these things." 13:30 And my appeal to the young people today 13:32 is your father would never do that to you. 13:34 You may think that God endorses, 13:36 that God was involved in this, He's not. 13:38 God doesn't do things like that. 13:39 Now, He wasn't a scared teenager, 13:41 He's always been there for you. 13:42 He's never not been there. But He would never do this. 13:44 This is your Father, 13:46 and He only thinks the best things about you 13:47 and treats you 13:49 as you would love to be treated. 13:51 So thank you. Thank you for joining us. 13:53 You know, this is definitely a big topic. 13:56 It's definitely one that affects a lot of people. 13:59 And, again, we just want to reiterate, 14:01 stay close to God. 14:02 Get in this Word. 14:04 Yeah, and join us, 14:05 keep joining us as we are presenting. 14:07 And share your questions with us at RQRA3ABN. 14:11 God bless. Take care. |
Revised 2018-07-16