Deeper Roots

Hey everyone and welcome back to Deeper Roots. 

Recently there has been a lot more attention on the issue of mental health, which in many ways has been a good thing as a call to attention to a deeper need in the growing generations. People everywhere, from all walks of life, from every generation have always dealt with the human issues of how they view others, how they think others view them, or even how they view themselves. So a deeper scrutiny into the mind, the spirit and relationship between the two helps us understand and learn to live with the thoughts that God wants to transform in us that make us start healthier lives instead of potentially unhealthy actions or habits. 

But today there is also much debate amongst the Christian circles about the topic of mental health and particularly therapy, it's definition, and what kind of "therapy" the bible teaches for the ills of mankind. Various reasons go into that, and that is what we are going to talk about today on the podcast. Although it was not mentioned in this discussion, we did want to state that as a ministry we do believe in the Bible as being the main tool in counseling/ therapy dealing with the "inner man" but that once those possibilities have been discarded, the chemical and or physical possibilities should also be explored. 

If you have a question that you would like answered on the podcast, you can submit an anonymous question at www.ibbvn.org/deeperroots. Also if you can share the podcast with anyone who might be interested, that would be greatly appreciated.

Before we get started, I want to be clear: this episode is not therapy, nor is it meant to be therapeutic. If you are dealing with something at this moment, do know you are not alone and that God loves you. If you don’t have trusted wise biblical counsel available to help you, we strongly encourage you to call one of these hotlines:

The New Hope Telephone Counseling Center has a hotline that is ready to connect you with a trained counsellor either for biblical counseling or suicide prevention. You can give them a call at 714-NEW-HOPE or 714-639-4673.

Covenant House provides housing and supportive services to youth facing homelessness. You can give them a call at 1-800-999-9999

Are you struggling with feelings of depression or suicide? Or do you know someone who is? The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available 24/7 at 1-800-273-TALK or 1-800-273-8255

Please give one of those numbers a call if you are struggling with anything, like depression, abuse, homelessness, suicide, or anything that can put you or anyone else in harms way. God created you with a purpose, and you have a reason to be here. Remember that God loves you and you are important. 

Thank you for joining us here on Deeper Roots. Let’s get to the conversation!

Hey everyone and welcome to a special episode Deeper Roots.

A couple episodes ago, I promised that we were going to be talking about a question that we believe warranted an all-women’s cast, and that is this episode. I’m just here for this intro, but the question a listener submitted was “How submissive does a woman have to be?” Ester does a wonderful job hosting this podcast, and the women in the podcast do a good job of taking the topic, breaking it down, and realizing the truth in the question and concerns it brings.

If you have a question of your own, maybe something that you have just been dying to know, I suggest that you leave an anonymous question at our website: www.ibbvn.org/deeperroots. The question from today was submitted from the online form, so you can be sure that those questions get seen and get talked about! We also would really appreciate is if you could share the podcast to someone you think may be interested in the topics we talk about. You can do it now, maybe when you get to a part of the conversation that just resonates with you, or maybe at the end, but I hope that you will share the podcast to someone today.

Thank you for joining us here on Deeper Roots. Let’s get to the conversation!

Hey everyone and welcome back to Deeper Roots.

Unless you’ve been averting your eyes from the news, you will see that recently there has been a lot of fighting happening in and around Israel, and while it is a situation we need to be praying for, this isn’t an isolated event. For as long as the Jewish, Muslim, and Christian faiths have existed, there has been fighting for the capital of modern day Israel: Jerusalem. And the Bible backs this up, with prophecy of an Israel without an ally, being attacked from all sides. And that is where the question of the week lies.

Will there be a second chance for salvation after the rapture happens? Through the way our church interprets the prophecy, we know that the rapture marks the beginning of the tribulation, and that during the tribulation, there will be this “veil of deception”, so in this podcast, we go over what that could mean for people in the tribulation, as well as other questions that may come up. This study of the tribulation is probably one of my favorite things to learn more about, and every time I learn something, it makes me interested to learn even more. I hope its the same way for you!

One of the most influential events of the generation has been going on for over a year now, that is the Coronavirus pandemic. It has been a rocky year for a lot of people. Lots of bothers and sisters from our church have been… effected, to say the least. There is a lot of pain going around because of the pandemic, and I hope that is understood that as individuals, we can take actions to prevent the further spread of the virus. Our church has been on board since the beginning, social distancing and limiting our crew to the essentials. We believe that the church is an essential function of society, but that doesn’t mean we are going to ignore the risk at hand.

But as time progresses, we are entering a new part of the pandemic, the part where we have the vaccine! But the country is still split on this vaccine, and frankly so is the American Church. So. Using the words of the person who asked vibatim, today’s question is “What role should Christians play in the current COVID Vaccine dilemma”. What should you as a Christian do regarding the vaccine? I hope you listen through and hear what we have to say on the Deeper Roots podcast.

Hey everyone and welcome back to Deeper Roots.

Ever since the great commission was given by Jesus Christ in Matthew 28, the primary goal of his followers has been to spread his gospel. We are told to spread these good news but a lot of the time, it comes at such difficulty, with hesitancy and lack of knowledge being the greatest inhibitors to the mission. On top of that, it also comes down to the personal decision making of the person we are talking to. A lot of complicated factors go into the decision whether or not we are going to uphold the mission Jesus Christ set out before us.

One of the greatest tools we can use to help us complete our mission as Christians is probably to put ourselves in the shoes of the people we are talking to, which brings the question of today’s podcast. “Why should I”? Why should I believe in these things that the Christians are telling me about? Why not just trust someone else or any other religion if I am going to believe in a higher power at all? All very valid questions, and while the specifics are hard to go over in the span of a 30 minute episode, we do go over some fundamentals that you don’t want to miss.

Hey, if you like this podcast, and you want to help it grow, the best thing you can do is to 1) submit a question of your own. You can go to www.ibbvn.org/deeperroots to submit a question using the form within the page. We really want to hear your questions, so please keep them coming! The second thing you can do is share the podcast to anyone you think may be interested in the topics we talk about. Whether it is your youth group, young adult group, your pastor, your friends, or anyone! We would love it if you shared the podcast to someone, so they could also have the opportunity to ask questions of their own.

Thank you for joining us today on Deeper Roots. Its always a pleasure to bring us into the conversation, so let’s get to it!

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Deeper Roots is a ministry of Iglesia Biblica Bautista Vida Nueva, which is a local church in Castro Valley, CA. You can learn more about us and our church by going to our website.

Hey everyone and welcome back to Deeper Roots.

One of the most common topics that come up between Christians and non-Christians is the debate between Creation and Evolution. As Christians, we believe in the fact that God created us and created the world and the animals the way that we are now. Of course, in that there is room for things like adaptation or micro-evolution, things that we can observe today. However, people who think that evolution is the correct way our world got to the way it is believe that it happened over a loooong period of time, and before it was wildly different from how it is now.

These sides obviously clash with each other, and then we go to the debate of creationism and the big bang, and we can just go on forever about how the other side is wrong. But the question today takes the concepts and puts them together. Is it possible that God took longer than 6 days to create the universe? Can creation and evolution co-exist? We answer these questions from a biblical standpoint in this episode, and it may not be exactly what you think the answer would be, so I hope you listen through and enjoy the podcast.

Everyone, if you like this podcast, and you want to help it grow, the best thing you can do is to 1) submit a question of your own. There is a website that has a form for you to submit your own questions, which is www.ibbvn.org/deeperroots. We really want to hear your questions, so please keep them coming! The second thing you can do is share the podcast to anyone you think may be interested in the topics we talk about. Whether it is your youth group, young adult group, your pastor, your friends, anyone! We would love it if you shared the podcast to someone, so they could also have the opportunity to ask questions of their own.

Thank you for joining us today on Deeper Roots. Its always a pleasure to bring us into the conversation, so let’s get to it!

Many times, one of the biggest warnings that young people who grow up in church get is to “not get tattoos”, and when you come from a hispanic culture like that of our church, it becomes clear as to why it would be something you don’t do, as it can be attributed to gangs or rebelliousness. But amongst the culture shift we are witnessing in America, is that still a good enough reason? Does the Leviticus prohibition apply to our society especially when looked at in its context? 

Today’s question is all about that culture difference, specifically around tattoos. “Can Christians get tattoos?” Leviticus is fairly specific about what the Lord says, but we examine this passage along with other considerations to help you the listener understand the "why?" Of the position our ministry holds. This subject is rather complicated and difficult, especially amongst young people who have been told to not get tattoos but see nothing wrong about getting tattoos. Although other loving and passionate followers of Christ may have slightly different views, we hope this podcast will be edifying to you today.

This question is kind of themed in that we recorded the episode on Good Friday. As we know, Good Friday is observed around Easter time, commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ as the means to save us from our sins, and of course Easter is about the resurrection of Jesus Christ, when Jesus beat sin and death and made a way for us to be saved.

The question today is “How responsible was Pilate for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ?” That question fits fairly well in the spirit of Easter. Brother Robert returns with us this episode and we talk about the question but also somehow get into the concepts of free will and the like. Some topics will be left for another time, but we go into what is especially relevant to the presented question.

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With the current socio-political climate, there is a lot of eyes on a certain group of people: public servants. Whether that is a police officer, or a politician, the public’s eyes are all on these people in power. As a Californian, we see that happening with our own governor during the COVID crisis, and then we also see this all over the country with other politicians from other states and within the federal government. At the beginning of last summer, there was the murder of George Floyd, which reinvigorated a fight against the police as an entity. There were calls for reform, for the removal of these police officers, but there was also calls for the complete dis-establishment of the police.

With the world seemingly falling apart around the politics of authority, it seems that today’s question is fairly relevant: “Can you be a Christian and a civil servant or politician?” We talk about the essential establishments God created for us, and how we need to be as Christians in this post-church/state country. Its a very important topic, and no matter what side of the line you may fall into, I think that it is important to listen to a different perspective. We talk about both the current state of Christians in politics and public service as well as the historical context of the American editions of God’s establishment.

I think there is a lot of people who would say that they know someone who they can’t really trust with really anything. Maybe they have lied so many times, or they have let you down on too many responsibilities, and they just can’t be trusted with anything anymore. So you take that situation between you and this person and then you apply that to God’s relationship with us. We are just bad. The worst! And yet God keeps on forgiving us. Yes, trust is different from forgiveness, but it takes some spectacular patience to forgive someone as many times as God has forgiven us, especially considering the entirety of human existence.

Today’s episode focuses on that mental exercise, which puts perspective on how good God is to us. Why does God forgive us so many times? Does he forgive us when we do the same sin over and over again? It really is an excellent example of God’s expression of love to us, but it is so difficult for us to put into perspective! But that’s the purpose of this episode, to try to understand God’s system of forgiveness.