Participants:
Series Code: AU
Program Code: AU000107S
|
00:01 - Now, here's a bit of an uncomfortable question.
00:02 Have you ever hesitated 00:04 to invite a friend to church because, 00:07 well, you're afraid of who's gonna talk to them 00:09 or what they might say? 00:10 That's what we're gonna look at 00:11 on today's episode of "Authentic". 00:36 If you've been watching the show for a while, 00:37 you'll know I have this love/hate relationship 00:40 with social media. 00:42 On the one hand, 00:43 well, I'm part of the Dutch diaspora, 00:45 and social media allows me to stay in touch 00:48 with my family members 00:50 who happen to live on the other side of the planet. 00:52 And do I like being able to stay in touch? 00:55 Well, yeah, of course I do. 00:56 I mean, social media is a vast improvement 00:59 over the way we used to communicate. 01:01 If it wasn't for social media, 01:03 all of my cousins would still look like they were teenagers 01:06 in my imagination, 01:07 because, well, that's the last time 01:09 I actually saw them in person. 01:11 Today, though, they're in their 50s, 60s, 01:13 maybe even a few of them are bumping up against 70. 01:16 I'm not exactly sure how old they are. 01:18 That's the upside. 01:20 But there's a downside to social media, 01:22 or maybe I should say downsides, plural, 01:24 because, well, I've never been completely convinced 01:27 that social media has been a net positive for us. 01:31 I mean, just look at the depression rates 01:33 and the anxiety that's demolishing a lot of Gen Zers. 01:37 And then, tell me you're actually surprised 01:39 when you find out that studies have discovered 01:41 that social media is a massive contributing factor 01:45 to all of that unhappiness. 01:48 Now, back in my day, 01:49 I know, I'm sounding kinda old now. 01:51 But back in my day, 01:53 the bullying you went through at school 01:55 actually stopped at 3:30 01:57 when you got on the bus or you walked back home. 02:00 It didn't follow you all the way 02:02 into the wee hours of the night. 02:03 It didn't follow you into the weekend, 02:06 and it didn't create online feeding frenzies 02:08 where everybody ruthlessly devours one poor kid, 02:12 piling on like a bunch of jackals attracted to a carcass. 02:17 I mean, middle school is hard enough 02:19 without making the worst parts of it go on 24/7. 02:24 And of course, social media is also incredibly superficial, 02:30 with kids taking selfie after selfie after selfie, 02:32 just trying to make their lives seem, 02:34 well, more interesting. 02:36 But what they're building on social media 02:38 certainly is not an authentic life. 02:42 And honestly, it's not just the kids 02:44 who have a problem with this. 02:46 Once upon a time, 02:47 I used to have a public Twitter account. 02:49 But because I have a TV and radio show, 02:51 I'd have to be checking that thing all day long 02:54 to root out the kooks and the crackpots 02:56 who seem to love the anonymity 02:58 that comes with a laptop and an internet connection. 03:01 There are some people who have got nothing better to do 03:04 than constantly stir the pot 03:06 and indulge their inflated sense of importance 03:08 by taking other people down online. 03:11 And just trying to keep up with that, it was exhausting! 03:14 I mean, nobody, nobody can monitor 03:17 their social media account 24/7, 03:20 not if you're trying to do something 03:21 productive with your life. 03:22 And so, I chose to just get off of social media. 03:28 But you know, there is one aspect of it that I do love, 03:32 and that's the way it provides me with a forum 03:34 for studying human nature. 03:36 Now, admittedly, it's an imbalanced forum, 03:39 because certain personalities 03:41 tend to dominate the digital town hall, 03:43 and so, you'll get more content 03:46 from some personality types than others. 03:49 But in spite of that, 03:50 I find it fascinating to see 03:52 what so many people think about world events 03:54 or even certain philosophical ideas. 03:57 It can be so entertaining sometimes 04:00 that I have to be really careful that it doesn't become, 04:03 well, a time vampire, 04:05 drinking up all my time until it leaves me drained. 04:09 And you know, there's one feature in Twitter 04:12 that I really have come to appreciate, 04:14 and yes, I still call it Twitter 04:16 because Elon Musk's new name X 04:19 just doesn't roll off the tongue. 04:21 The feature I love about Twitter is Spaces, 04:25 which is kind of like a town hall meeting 04:27 that the whole world can listen to. 04:29 You can listen to people debate their favorite topics live. 04:33 And of course, when the subject of religion comes up 04:36 and I actually have a few minutes, 04:38 I'm probably gonna sit down and listen to some of that, 04:41 probably gonna listen to that. 04:43 So, just a few weeks ago, I found this Twitter meeting 04:46 that looked like it was gonna be 04:47 the granddaddy of all conspiracy theories. 04:50 And as you know, 04:52 some of those can be like 04:53 these multi-car accidents out on the freeway. 04:56 It's a huge, huge mess, 04:59 but there's always something 05:00 that makes you slow down and take a look. 05:02 So, of course, I tuned in, 05:04 and I gotta say, wow! 05:07 This meeting involved a lot of people 05:09 who didn't really know each other. 05:10 It was kind of like a conspiracy convention, 05:13 and every single theory I've ever heard of 05:16 made its way to the microphone at some point. 05:18 I'm talking UFOs, JFK, the Illuminati, 05:22 secret military bases in Antarctica or on the Moon, 05:26 aliens under the Denver Airport, you name it. 05:29 Everything was there. 05:30 It all showed up. 05:32 And it dawned on me 05:33 as all these different people were congratulating each other 05:36 on how enlightened they were, 05:38 how they were the only ones who knew the real truth, 05:41 they weren't being duped by the government. 05:43 Well, it suddenly dawned on me 05:45 that all these people appeared to be blind to the fact 05:48 that all of these theories 05:49 cannot possibly be true all at once. 05:52 I mean, you can't have a flat earth 05:55 covered with an impenetrable dome on the one hand, 05:58 and then secret alien spaceships 06:00 that orbit our globe on the other. 06:03 But somehow, both those theories showed up 06:06 and nobody pointed out the discrepancy. 06:08 It reminds me of a verse 06:10 that's found in the Song of Solomon 06:12 where the inspired poet tells us, 06:14 "I went down to the garden of nuts." 06:17 Now, obviously, I'm ripping that verse out of context 06:20 because Solomon wasn't talking about crazy people, 06:23 but I have to admit that I was listening to these people 06:27 and thinking about this, 06:28 that passage just popped into my head, 06:30 and I started laughing. 06:33 I really think we have a bit of a problem 06:36 emerging here in Western Christianity 06:38 that we should probably address. 06:41 So, let's take a look at something you find 06:42 in one of the letters that Paul wrote 06:44 to his young protege, Timothy. 06:46 And what you'll find in these letters 06:49 is a lot of good advice 06:50 about how you should be running a church or a ministry. 06:54 And this comes from 1 Timothy 1:3, where Paul writes: 06:58 As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, 07:01 remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons 07:04 not to teach any different doctrine, 07:07 nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies 07:12 which promote speculations, 07:13 rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. 07:18 Now, the first thing I wanna point out 07:20 is the matter of causing disputes at church. 07:23 I don't know if you've ever noticed this, 07:25 but when people start to bring weird ideas to the table, 07:29 it can actually rip a congregation apart. 07:31 I mean, not that biblical doctrine 07:34 doesn't ever cause a dispute, 07:35 because over the last 2000 years, it has, clearly. 07:39 But when somebody brings an idea 07:41 that has no spiritual value whatsoever, 07:44 when somebody brings a weird concept 07:47 that has no bearing on the teachings of Christ, 07:50 it seems to have a way of dividing the church 07:52 and causing all kinds of trouble. 07:54 And it's trouble that usually compromises the work 07:57 the church is actually supposed to be doing. 08:00 Which, of course, would make you wonder 08:02 why the strife showed up in the first place. 08:05 Paul would call these strange ideas myths, 08:08 and he's quite right. 08:09 A lot of Christians seem to have this overwhelming urge 08:12 to leap on any idea they think would somehow 08:16 verify, vindicate their beliefs. 08:19 But those ideas almost always 08:21 prove to be a fable, an urban legend. 08:24 And what that really does, at the end of the day, 08:27 is discredit the Christian faith. 08:29 It doesn't help it. 08:30 It turns out that not everything 08:32 that claims to promote the teachings of Jesus 08:35 is actually true or useful. 08:39 Let me give you a stunning example from the Book of Acts 08:41 so that you get a sense 08:42 of what I'm trying to drive at today. 08:44 Paul and Silas are in the city of Philippi, 08:47 and as they wander the streets, 08:48 there's this girl who shows up 08:50 to supposedly help them promote what they're teaching. 08:53 You'll find the story in Acts 16, where it says, 08:57 "She followed Paul and us, crying out, 08:59 'These men are servants of the Most High God 09:02 who proclaim to you the way of salvation.'" 09:06 That's a good thing, right? 09:08 Well, not exactly, 09:10 and I'll be right back after this break 09:12 to tell you why it's not. 09:14 [no audio] 09:23 [no audio] 09:34 [no audio] 09:43 [no audio] 09:47 All right, we're back from the break 09:48 and we're still looking at Acts 16, 09:50 where there's this servant girl 09:52 following Paul through the streets of the city, 09:55 supposedly helping him promote his cause. 09:58 "These men are servants of the Most High God," she says, 10:01 "Who proclaim to you the way of salvation." 10:04 Now, today, there's this conventional idea 10:07 that there's no such thing as bad advertising. 10:10 They say that if people come across your brand, 10:12 even when it's cast in a bad light, 10:14 that might be a good thing, 10:15 because now they know you exist. 10:18 Even if it's a really negative news story, 10:20 it still means that people know who you are 10:23 and it might even give you a bigger platform 10:25 to do positive marketing at some point in the future. 10:29 Of course, the actual examples of people 10:32 who managed to turn negative press completely around 10:34 are rather few and far between, 10:37 even though a lot of people still believe 10:39 that bad news could be good news. 10:42 But not so in this story. 10:44 In this story, 10:45 Paul rebukes the girl and tells her to be quiet. 10:48 Why? 10:49 Because she's a well-known occultist. 10:51 Let's go back and read the whole thing. 10:53 It says: 10:55 As we were going to the place of prayer, 10:57 we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination 11:01 and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling. 11:04 She followed Paul and us, crying out, 11:07 "These men are servants of the Most High God, 11:09 who proclaim to you the way of salvation." 11:12 And this she kept doing for many days. 11:14 Paul, having become greatly annoyed, 11:17 turned and said to the spirit, 11:18 "I command you in the name of Jesus Christ 11:20 to come out of her." 11:21 And it came out that very hour. 11:24 Now, here's what I want you to think about. 11:27 I know a lot of you are really excited 11:29 by your Christian faith. 11:31 It is, after all, who you are, 11:34 and I know you really wanna help other people understand it. 11:37 But it's entirely possible to do that so badly 11:41 that you're actually driving people away, 11:43 hurting the cause instead of helping it. 11:46 And sadly, this happens far more often among Christians 11:49 who isolate themselves from the rest of the world. 11:53 You think you know what's going to appeal 11:55 to the people you talk to, 11:56 but the truth is that you have no idea 11:58 how other people think about the planet. 12:00 So, you say things and do things 12:02 that, frankly, make people think you might be crazy. 12:06 Let me give you a case in point, 12:08 urban legends, conspiracy theories. 12:11 Way back in the early '90s 12:12 before either of my kids were born, 12:14 there was this book from presidential hopeful Pat Robertson. 12:18 It was called "The New World Order", 12:20 and it really was the granddaddy 12:22 of all Christian conspiracy theories. 12:25 Robertson pretty much ties 12:26 most of the old conspiracy theories from the past 12:29 into one big, magnificent, messy web. 12:32 I mean, you get a lot for your money in this book. 12:35 You get the Illuminati, the Trilateral Commission, 12:38 the Bilderbergers. 12:39 You get an appearance from just about everybody. 12:42 And from what I remember, 12:43 this book did pretty well 12:44 among mainstream American Christians. 12:47 And I know that because this book 12:49 was relatively popular, 12:51 there are gonna be some of you who aren't gonna appreciate 12:53 what I'm about to say. 12:54 But this book was largely a waste of time and effort 12:58 because none of the things it talks about 13:01 are the essence of what the Bible teaches. 13:04 I mean, you can always appeal to a passage 13:07 like Revelation 13, 13:09 which talks about global deception. 13:11 Maybe you can tie some of the weird ideas to that. 13:14 But you can only do it if you're gonna ignore the context 13:17 provided by the rest of the Bible. 13:19 Here's something that used to be 13:20 fairly widely known in Christian circles. 13:23 The Book of Revelation was not written in a vacuum. 13:26 It uses language and concepts that were completely familiar 13:30 to John's original audience, 13:32 and that's because something like two-thirds 13:34 of the content in Revelation 13:36 is lifted straight from the pages of the Old Testament, 13:39 which, of course, was the Bible of John's day. 13:43 If you just slow down 13:45 and take the time to search the Old Testament 13:47 for the imagery you find in Revelation 13, 13:51 you'll discover there's not a lot of wiggle room 13:53 for personal interpretation. 13:56 What you find there has a very specific meaning, 13:59 and the rest of the Bible makes it completely obvious 14:02 what that meaning is. 14:04 And I can assure you, it's not talking about the Illuminati. 14:07 It's not talking about the Council on Foreign Relations. 14:11 So, either Mr. Robertson knew this 14:15 and he chose to make money by scaring people anyway, 14:17 which would make him a phony, 14:20 or he somehow missed a few seminary classes. 14:23 Maybe it's a little bit of both. 14:26 But the real issue is this. 14:29 The core message found in the Bible doesn't need your help 14:32 because it's phenomenal the way it is. 14:35 And what you're doing when you add your own content 14:37 to the Bible's narrative is about the same thing 14:40 that the servant girl was doing to Paul. 14:42 It means you're about to discredit the Christian faith 14:45 with somebody who's listening to you. 14:48 Diligent Bible students know 14:49 that the scriptures are reasonable, 14:52 and when you muddy the content 14:53 with modern-day urban legends, 14:55 you're making Christianity look like 14:57 a belief system for wackadoodles. 14:59 I mean, let's be honest. 15:01 There is no need for Christians 15:03 to go coloring outside of the lines. 15:06 The Bible's story is a story that doesn't need your help. 15:10 One of the central features, after all, 15:12 is the resurrection of Christ, 15:13 and that's a big enough claim all by itself. 15:16 It doesn't need any embellishment from us. 15:19 If you're trying to prove the Bible 15:21 by supplementing it with your own ill-conceived content, 15:24 you're actually keeping people 15:26 from honestly studying the claims of Christ. 15:29 People instinctively know that your bonus content, 15:32 well, it's a little nutty. 15:34 And what they're going to do is assume 15:35 that the Bible must be a little nutty, too, 15:38 which means that you've now made it look 15:40 like the actual claims of the Bible, 15:42 the things that this book actually talks about, 15:45 are just another episode of the Twilight Zone. 15:47 Blend your fiction with the history of the Bible, 15:50 and you're gonna make it seem 15:51 like the whole book is fiction, 15:53 because, let's be honest, 15:55 most people aren't gonna take the time 15:56 to examine your claims carefully 15:58 and then contrast them with the claims of the scriptures. 16:02 Always, always ask yourself 16:04 before you speak about your faith, 16:07 is this actually what the Bible says, 16:09 or is this just something you read on the internet? 16:13 Of course, right now, 16:14 I'm tempted to talk about some of the crazier stuff 16:16 that's going around out there, 16:18 but I think I've done that more than once on this show. 16:20 And believe me, based on some of the correspondence I get, 16:23 I have absolutely touched on quite a few nerves. 16:26 The flat earth crowd is unhappy, the alien abduction crowd, 16:30 the Illuminati crowd, the British Israelites, 16:32 and, well, there's just a lot of these groups out there. 16:35 Do I ever answer their letters? 16:37 Nah, I just save it up for this show. 16:40 So, here's my core message 16:42 to those of you who love these theories 16:44 and say you believe in the claims of the book. 16:47 Just stop doing it, please. 16:50 The Bible doesn't really need your help. 16:52 And what you're likely doing is making this 16:54 seem more ridiculous to the people 16:56 who listen to your off-the-wall ideas. 16:59 In fact, consider the possibility 17:01 that you might be the reason that your fellow churchgoers 17:03 are afraid to bring their friends to church. 17:06 They don't know when you're gonna pull out 17:08 all that wackadoodle stuff and embarrass them. 17:10 So, please, I beg of you, 17:12 stick to what the Bible actually says. 17:16 There is no need to go mining 17:17 for some secret esoteric truth, 17:19 some mystical secret 17:21 that only the enlightened few could possibly understand, 17:24 because the information that God actually wants you to find, 17:27 it's right here on the surface. 17:29 It's in the plain reading of the Bible. 17:32 I mean, look, there's no doubt 17:33 you can spend the rest of your life 17:35 mining the incredible truths of the Bible, 17:37 and you will never get to the bottom of it. 17:39 It gets more profound as you go. 17:42 But the core message of the scriptures is on the surface, 17:45 right out in the open. 17:47 "The Holy Scriptures," 17:48 Paul tells us in his second letter to Timothy, 17:51 "Are able to make you wise for salvation 17:53 through faith in Christ Jesus." 17:55 There's no need for a secret decoder ring. 17:59 That kind of esoteric thinking came to us 18:01 courtesy of the ancient pagan mystery cults. 18:04 And from there, it made its way into Christian thinking 18:07 by way of the gnostic cults 18:09 that were synthesizing mystical teachings 18:11 with biblical theology. 18:13 Only a special elite group, the gnostics taught, 18:16 and of course, that group was them, 18:18 only a special group could actually understand 18:20 the real nature of the universe. 18:22 Only they could lay hold of the higher realities 18:25 and the deeper truths. 18:27 But these people were dead wrong. 18:29 The saving grace of God is available to everybody, 18:32 and everything you really need to know, 18:35 it's right here on the surface 18:36 just waiting for you to read it and understand it. 18:40 I'll be right back after this. 18:43 [no audio] 18:53 [no audio] 19:03 [no audio] 19:13 [no audio] 19:15 Sometimes, it's possible for Christians 19:17 to spend so much time in isolation 19:19 locked away from the rest of the world 19:21 that they begin to lose touch 19:23 with the very people God wants to reach 19:26 through their efforts. 19:28 It's a problem that began 19:29 in the very earliest days of the Christian Church 19:31 when ascetic monks took to the wilderness 19:34 to engage in the work of self-perfection. 19:37 To do that, they disappeared 19:38 into the deserts of North Africa, 19:40 eager to separate themselves from all worldly influence, 19:44 from the other people who might corrupt their spirituality. 19:48 And there really is a part of that that's appealing. 19:51 I mean, I can understand why somebody 19:53 might crave peace and quiet, 19:55 so they can sit and think 19:57 without having somebody interrupt their thoughts. 19:59 I can see why it might look easier to pick up and leave, 20:03 because there's nobody to bug you out there in the desert, 20:05 nobody to argue with you, 20:07 nobody who can exert a bad influence. 20:10 I can understand why somebody would be tempted to do that, 20:12 because, well, I've been tempted to do that. 20:15 I mean, how great would it be to spend the rest of my life 20:18 sitting in a distant library, just studying? 20:21 And of course, that would mean that I don't have to witness 20:23 all the crazy behavior going on in America 20:26 and other parts of the Western world right now. 20:28 Why in the world wouldn't I want to be isolated 20:31 from all that nonsense? 20:34 Well, the answer to that is found in a prayer 20:36 that Jesus actually prayed out loud. 20:38 You'll find it in the Gospel of John in chapter 17. 20:42 I know a lot of people refer to, 20:44 "Our Father, which art in heaven," 20:46 as the Lord's Prayer. 20:47 And in a way, it is, because Jesus was advising us 20:50 to use that prayer as a pattern 20:52 for building a successful prayer life. 20:55 It is a pattern for prayer that comes from the Lord, 20:58 so it is the Lord's Prayer. 21:00 But if you wanna see a prayer 21:01 that Jesus actually prayed himself out loud, 21:05 well, that's what you get in John 17. 21:07 And at one point, here's what he says. 21:10 "I do not ask that you take them," that's the disciples, 21:13 "Out of the world, 21:15 but that you keep them from the evil one. 21:17 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world." 21:21 Now, I hope you caught this. 21:22 Jesus is praying that his disciples 21:24 would stay right here in this world 21:26 because they were now his representatives, 21:29 the ones who would continue what he started. 21:32 They were tasked with taking the gospel 21:34 to the entire planet., 21:35 and there's no way that can happen 21:36 if all the Christians just take off into the desert. 21:40 And furthermore, maybe you've seen what happens 21:42 to some of those people who live in isolation 21:45 for just a little too long. 21:47 The cheese begins to slip off the cracker, 21:49 and before you know it, 21:50 they're so out of touch with everyday reality 21:53 that they actually become useless to the cause of God. 21:56 And it's often in isolation that people start to think 21:59 that maybe some of these strange theories 22:01 you find on YouTube are actually real. 22:04 You start to believe that maybe, 22:06 exposing the Illuminati is the core message of the gospel, 22:09 or ripping the mask off the moon landing hoax 22:12 is the most important thing God wants you to do. 22:15 When you cut yourself off 22:16 from the broader community of believers, 22:18 when you cut yourself off 22:20 from the broader world outside of the church, 22:22 you can develop a very warped perception of reality 22:26 and a distorted sense of what's actually important. 22:30 Let me tell you for a fact, 22:32 the average person on the street isn't kept awake at night 22:34 by the thought that members of Congress 22:36 are drinking adrenochrome. 22:38 That's not their biggest problem. 22:40 They don't panic about the alien bodies hidden at Area 51. 22:44 They're not wondering if NASA finally found the missing time 22:46 from the story where the sun stood still for Joshua. 22:50 You know what they worry about? 22:52 Far more important things, 22:53 like whether or not their lives mean something 22:56 or whether or not God knows who they are. 22:59 They're struggling with shattered lives 23:00 and an overwhelming sense of guilt. 23:03 What they don't need 23:04 is a bunch of urban legends and conspiracy nonsense. 23:08 They need to know where they can find hope in Christ. 23:12 And I know I've covered this topic more than once, 23:15 but I'm seeing so much of this nonsense going on right now, 23:18 even among professed Christians, 23:20 that somebody's got to say something. 23:22 If you think you need those other ideas 23:24 to make your faith seem interesting, 23:26 then you're not really reading your Bible, 23:29 because this book is easily profound enough 23:31 to be interesting for the rest of your life. 23:34 And experience has taught me 23:35 that if you're buying into 23:36 all those oddball conspiracy theories, 23:38 there's a pretty good chance that you haven't come to terms 23:41 with the nature of your relationship with a holy God. 23:45 In fact, I think there might be a good chance 23:47 that you're trying to suppress your need 23:49 to get right with God, 23:51 because let's think about this. 23:53 It's a whole lot easier 23:54 to make your religion about something weird 23:57 than it is to get into the muddy waters of the Jordan 23:59 and humble yourself beside the Syrian leper Naaman. 24:03 You probably remember that story. 24:04 When the prophet told him 24:06 to wash seven times in the Jordan to be healed, 24:08 he was incensed! 24:09 "Man, I've got better, more noble rivers at home. 24:12 Why should an important man like me 24:14 have to do something so humiliating?" 24:18 But here's the truth of the Bible. 24:19 This book requires you to admit that you're broken. 24:23 It asks you to admit that you're a sinner 24:25 who needs forgiveness and the grace and mercy of God. 24:28 And it requires coming to grips with the idea 24:30 that you are not the center of the universe. 24:33 Now, contrast that with some of those offbeat theories, 24:37 because they aren't designed to make you feel humble. 24:40 They're designed to make you feel special, chosen. 24:43 I mean, you must be in God's good graces 24:46 if he's allowed you to know such mysterious things, right? 24:50 But what you're really doing is substituting 24:52 something you think is more noble 24:54 for the actual covenant of grace. 24:57 It's entirely possible to keep yourself so busy 24:59 drawing dots between supposed conspirators 25:03 than it is to quiet yourself at the foot of the cross 25:05 and wrestle with just how awful your sin really is. 25:09 Our human nature wants to do something 25:11 to win God's approval. 25:13 And for some people, 25:14 the possibility that you might be God's special messenger 25:16 for something really strange, 25:19 well, it seems to answer that impulse to prove yourself. 25:23 And honestly, I think a lot of us are terrified 25:26 by the idea of walking into the throne room of God 25:28 exactly the way we are right now. 25:31 A lot of us feel the need to prove our worth, 25:34 and that's keeping us from finding 25:36 an authentic life with Christ. 25:38 I'll be right back after this. 25:41 [no audio] 25:51 [no audio] 26:01 [no audio] 26:10 [no audio] 26:13 Look, nobody relishes the idea 26:15 of facing God the way we are, 26:17 because we know we're not really worthy. 26:19 And so, sometimes, we resort to diversionary tactics. 26:23 We keep ourselves busy with anything but the truth. 26:26 The truth is, you're a broken sinner and you need Christ, 26:30 and you and I have not been given a license 26:32 to mess with the basic story. 26:34 When Paul was writing to the church in Corinth, 26:36 he expressed an awful lot of concern 26:38 about people who were teaching, 26:40 "Another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, 26:43 or if you receive a different spirit 26:44 from the one you received, 26:45 or if you accept a different gospel 26:48 from the one you accepted..." 26:51 There there are a lot of things in the Bible 26:52 we could debate, 26:54 but the way you're saved isn't one of those. 26:56 If you read this book honestly and carefully, 26:59 you'll quickly discover that God is offering to save you 27:02 not from some secret cabal or some vast global conspiracy, 27:08 but from yourself. 27:09 Your biggest problem isn't somebody else or something else, 27:13 it's you. 27:15 And that's one of the reasons it's so important 27:17 that you don't start muddying the waters for other people. 27:20 We dare not add our own offbeat ideas 27:23 to the message of the Bible, 27:24 because then you're compromising 27:26 somebody else's ability to find the truth, 27:29 and maybe even keeping somebody 27:31 from encountering the risen Christ. 27:34 So, I'm asking you, stop it, please, 27:37 and let the main thing continue to be the main thing. 27:41 I'm Shawn Boonstra. 27:42 Thanks for joining me. 27:43 You've been watching "Authentic". 27:46 [contemplative music] 27:56 [contemplative music] 28:06 [contemplative music] 28:16 [contemplative music] |
Revised 2024-06-18