Deeper Roots

One of the things that gets on people’s nerves about Christianity is how centered it is on men being the leaders of the church or the household. If you aren’t familiar, the Bible talks about how women aren’t supposed to lead in the church context, and even goes as far as saying that women shouldn’t even speak in the presence of the man. So what gives?! Are we supposed to ignore this part of the Bible, or are we supposed to just suppress women, or is there really a third, true option that God wants us to take?

We did have a podcast about this, with a full women’s cast, but that conversation was more oriented about the woman’s role in the home. Today, our listener asks “Why Can’t Women Preach?”. I think both conversations are insightful, so if you want to get more perspective on the role of the woman, and how God’s role for them doesn’t mean inferiority or suppression, I suggest listening to this conversation and our other conversation.

https://www.ibbvn.org/deeper-roots/ep16

If you know a little about the Christian church, you’ll know that there are different sects that are called “denominations”, each with their own set of traditions and core beliefs that set them apart from other denominations, all hopefully unified under than banner of Jesus Christ. For example, you have a church like ours, which is a biblical first, baptist second church. You also have people who are in Calvinist churches, pentecostal churches, etc. All these are denominations.

Recently, one denomination has been taking headlines more than the rest: that would be the fundamental denomination. We see this denomination neighbored by words like “hateful”, “bigoted”, and “extremist”. But how did it get this way? What is the fundamental church supposed to be, and why would churches use the name? The question our viewer used was “What is fundamentalism and why do churches prescribe to this ideology?”

This question was submitted online, and you can submit your own question online using the form on our webpage, which is found at www.ibbvn.org/deeperroots. There, you can find more than just the form! You can find the rest of our episodes and the streaming platforms we’re on. If you like this podcast, please share it with your friends, your family, and your church, that way they can enjoy it as well AND ask their own questions.

There is this practice in musicals where if a character in the play or movie has too much emotion during a scene, they will go from talking to singing, and if the moments gets even more intense, they will go from singing to dancing. While emotions in the real world might work differently, it is a good simplification. Our emotions and feelings can grow and intensify depending on the moment we are in, and because of that, we can decide to do various things, make various decisions. Will I break into dance and song, or will I make an outburst in another way.

Its clear that God created us with emotions, but sometimes our emotions get the best of us. Most of the time, we will make decisions based on our feelings and emotions, and most of the time, those decisions will be wrong. Or at least sub-optimal. And at the same time, Jeremiah 17 also says that the “heart is deceitful above all things”, which is what prompted our listener to ask their question: “Growing up in and attending church we are often told that the heart is wicked, not to be guided by our feelings, and don't follow our emotions. What are our emotions and feelings for? How can we use them to glorify God?”

A listener submitted this question online using the form on our webpage. You can submit your own question too, either with your name or anonymously by filling out the form at www.ibbvn.org/deeperroots. There, you’ll also find all our episodes as well as where else you can find the podcast. If you want to help spread this ministry to others, please share it with your friends or your church, so more people can have the opportunity to ask their own questions!

Ever since our creation, God gave us the free will to make our own decisions. In the beginning, we could have loved God and trusted God, then we would have lived perfect lives within the Garden of Eden. But we know how that turned out and now we are in an imperfect world, with people who aren’t perfect and argue over everything. Seemingly, that freedom to choose backfired and now we are stuck with the repercussions of that freedom.

But none of us asked for this. None of us asked for sin to enter the world, and I am sure that if we had to choose between perfection and chaos, we would choose perfection on our own free will, right? … right? On this episode, we talk about the question “Did God set us up to fail from the beginning?” “Why did God punish us for Adam eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?”.

A listener submitted this question online using the form on our webpage. You can submit your own question too, either with your name or anonymously by filling out the form at www.ibbvn.org/deeperroots. There, you’ll also find all our episodes as well as where else you can find the podcast. If you want to help spread this ministry to others, please share it with your friends or your church, so more people can have the opportunity to ask their own questions!

In the Bible, both in the Old Testament and the New Testament, God shows anger when he is not pleased or honored with what people were doing. God was angry with Moses when he struck the rock, and Jesus was angry when the people were using a synagogue as a marketplace. God gets angry at us sinful people sometimes, and when Jesus is angry, it has been used as a model for what righteous anger actually is.

However, there’s an inherent problem when we try to flip the conversation around. Today’s question is “Is it OK to be angry at God?” The listener clarifies “Sometimes we can be bitter towards the Creator. We want to blame someone, something else besides ourselves. Can I blame God for the things that happen in my life and be angry, if not just for a little while?” Actually, we find a similar question in an extremely popular question as well, that is “If we can give God all the credit, can we also give God all the blame too?” We talk about both questions in today’s episode.

This question like the other questions we’ve talked about were submitted online using the form on our webpage, which is found at www.ibbvn.org/deeperroots. There, you’ll not only find the form, but also all our episodes as well as where else you can find the podcast. If you want to help spread this ministry to others, please share it with your friends or your church, so more people can have the opportunity to ask their own questions!

Have you ever found it difficult to get started at something? Maybe you wanted to start exercising or maybe learning a new skill, but everything pretty much was seemingly going against you? That is something we all remember feeling at some point. No one is born great at something, and we all know that habits aren’t formed after trying out something once. Good habits form after many times of trying and learning.

Well, the same can be applied for our spiritual lives. As new Christians, we may find it difficult to start forming a relationship with God. You might find it difficult or even impossible considering your past relationship with faith or your past mistakes, but God calls everyone to him, not just the healthy or the righteous, but the broken and the sinners too. This difficulty, however, is what pushed a listener to ask this question: “Is building a relationship with God supposed to be hard?”

This question like most of the other questions we’ve talked about were submitted online using the form on our webpage, which is found at www.ibbvn.org/deeperroots. There, you’ll not only find the form, but also all our episodes as well as where else you can find the podcast. If you want to help spread this ministry to others, please share it with your friends or your church, so more people can have the opportunity to ask their own questions!

Hey everyone and welcome back to Deeper Roots.

One of the great things about today’s society is the fact that we now have an understanding of what mental health is and how our psychological well-being can effect the way we handle our lives and the situations our lives drag us through. This understanding however leads to this assumption that we can fix everything which is often the nature of mankind. We see something we don’t like, so we fix it.

It wasn’t until recently where people started talking about things like ADHD, ADD, anxiety, and depression. And it also wasn’t until recently where we are able to medicate for it. But considering that we don’t actually fully understand how our brain works, should we consider medication, or is there other steps to helping people? That is what a listener asked: “Should we use medication to treat anxiety?” This is quite specific, but we are going to be addressing this as a whole with other mental illnesses like the ones I mentioned before.

This great question, along with the other wonderful questions we have received, were all submitted online, and if you want to ask you own question, you can at ibbvn.org/deeperroots. On that website, there is a form where you can submit a question, follow up on a question, or even just give some feedback. We would love to hear it.

Thank you for joining us today. Let’s get to the conversation!

Hey everyone and welcome back to Deeper Roots.

At church, we can often see some things that aren’t necessarily mandated in the Bible, but are instead a bit of tradition that doesn’t interfere with the gospel, namely things like an American flag on the stage to the left of a Christian flag. But there are some things that stem from these traditions or ideals that can end up becoming more than just traditions, and more than just convictions.

This week’s question was submitted online, asking: “Why do we like war so much?” While the Bible does use the idea of war to illustrate some points, American Christians seem to have taken the concept and ran with it, bringing some political undertones along for the ride.

This great question, along with the other wonderful questions we have received were submitted online, and if you want to ask you own question, you can at ibbvn.org/deeperroots. There is a form there where you can submit a question, follow up on a question, or even just give some feedback. We would love to hear it.

Thank you for joining us today. Let’s get to the conversation!

One of the things that we are taught in Sunday school was about how the pharisees in Jesus’ time were very strict with their traditions. So strict even that it potentially conflicted with doctrine, or that it even prevented them for being able to see that Jesus was indeed their messiah. They held their tradition over God’s law sometimes, which is basically what we are talking about today.

“At what point does reverence become idolatry?” We know that we have things in our lives that must be honored and respected, but at what point does that become more than just a respect, when does it become an obsession, or something we worship?

This question was submitted online, and if you would like to submit your own question, you can visit our website: www.ibbvn.org/deeperroots. There, you can see where we publish our podcast and you can submit your own questions using the form on that page. Asking a question online is anonymous, that way you aren’t afraid of asking anything that is on your mind.

People are difficult, and we all know that. People make things weird, and sometimes there can be tension between people. This tension is what makes relationships hard, and not just romantic ones, but every relationship we have with each other. We can disagree on a load of things, or we can say one thing and then not follow through. Such is the complexity of being with people. But despite these difficulties, people are inherently social. God designed us in that way, so despite the difficulties of life, we can look to each other and find some help within the people we know, our brethren.

But unless you live in a place where there is only perfect people, there is no exception to the fact that we are going to have relationship problems. We might fee like someone did something unfair and so we become bitter or angry with that person. And this includes with brothers and sisters within the church. So, the question a listener submitted for today’s podcast is “How should Christians deal with bitterness and resentment with other brethren?”

If you like this podcast and want to see it grow, you can also visit our website: www.ibbvn.org/deeperroots. There, you can see where we publish our podcast and you can submit your own questions using the form on that page. Asking a question online is 100% anonymous, so you don’t have to worry about asking a question you might be afraid to ask. And, it can really be a great blessing to have someone have a conversation about your question through a biblical lens.