The LS Collective Podcast

We continue with our third episode from our FAQ video series: What Happens on Judgment Day? This was recorded during the summer of 2020. You listen here or watch the video below:

We continue with our next FAQ question: Did God create evil? This series is taken from a videos we did over the summer of 2020. You can listen here, or watch the video below:

This episode is the first in our FAQ series.  Pastor Chris Shelly began this series at his church, and then invited us to continue the conversation via our podcast.  Today we're talking about matters of the Trinity.  We're particularly excited about this one because it's the first time we've been able to provide an audio AND video podcast!  You can watch the video below or catch us on your favorite podcast app.  Thanks for listening!

This is our first ever, social distancing approved, Skype recorded podcast episode!  We recorded this episode on March 24th, only a couple weeks after the COVID-19 lockdown happened.  We talked about many things, including... COVID-19; Target; Hazmat Suits; Could viruses be evil? Is COVID-19 the fault of humanity because of something we’ve done?  Is it the fault of evil spiritual forces? God's original quarantine; Idols are falling; Uncertainty; Church in our homes; etc.  Thanks for listening!

The New Testament is filled with warnings of false teachers who would preach a different gospel, which Paul says is no gospel at all (Galatians 1:7).  False gospels have been around since the first century and are still alive and thriving today.  Our question for this episode pertains to the person who has been deceived by one of these cults.  Whose fault is it?  Would God really judge a devout person who unknowingly follows a false gospel?  This is a question that should strike at home because there are millions of people today who have been deceived into following a cult.  So what do we do about it?

Scriptures:

1 Thessalonians 5:20-21 (key verse) - Test everything!

1 Corinthians 4:6 - Don't go beyond what is written in the Scriptures

1 Corinthians 3:13 - faith tested by fire

1 Peter 1:7 - faith tested by fire

2 Corinthians 8:22 - testing a brother in the faith

2 Corinthians 13:5-7 - test (examine) your own faith

Philippians 2:22 - Timothy was 'approved' (implies that his faith was tested)

1 Timothy 3:10 - Deacons in the church are tested

Acts 17:11 - The Berean Jews tested everything Paul was saying according to the Scriptures

Revelation 2:2 - Testing those who claim to be apostles and finding them to be false

1 John 4:1 - Test the spirits to see whether or not they are from God

Galatians 1:6-9 - Even if an angel brings another gospel, that angel is to be accursed

Galatians 2:1-10 - The gospel Paul preached was tested and approved by pillars of the faith

2 Timothy 4:3-4 - Some would rather hear what they want to hear, rather than sound, biblical teaching

Ephesians 5:6-14 - Encouragement to not be deceived

Resources:

The Kingdom of the Cults, 6th Edition, by Walter Martin

God, Greed, and the Prosperity Gospel, by Costi Hinn

Cultish - Apologia Studios Podcast with Jeff Durbin and Jeremiah Roberts

American Gospel: Christ Alone documentary

Secret Church 18: Cults & Counterfeit Gospels

Unbelievable? Podcast - Justin Brierley, Bruxy Cavey and Paul Carter

In this final episode of our LGBTQ series, we continue the conversation with a question that was posed at the end of part 2: "What if genetics proves that genes make us gay or straight?  Why would God do that?"  This leads us into a discussion on gender and the different terms.  We'll also take a look at eunuchs in the Bible, Joseph's coat of many colors, and an Old Testament law that forbids men and women from cross-dressing.  We'll wrap up our series discussion with what the Bible says about our identity as a human being.

During our episode we went into some technical discussion on Greek and Hebrew biblical languages.  Below are the notes from that discussion:

"eunuch"

OT Hebrew = "saris"; NT Greek = "eunouchos")

A eunuch broadly references a general court official who, for natural or personal reasons, cannot reproduce.

Scripture References: Old Testament (42x) - Examples: Genesis 37:36, 39:1; Esther 2:3, 14-15 // New Testament (10x) - Examples: Matthew 19:12; Acts 8:27, 34, 36, 38-39

Joseph's Coat

Genesis 37:3 - (Hebrew) "passim ketonet"

"passim" has an uncertain meaning // "ketonet" has a range of meaning (robe, tunic, garment).  When both words are used together (Gen 37:3; 2 Sam 13:18-19) the phrase is translated in various ways due to the meaning of passim being somewhat lost.

Hebrew Nouns Fact and Implications:

They are usually masculine or feminine, but that has nothing to do with whether or not the noun was for a man or a woman (Futato, 18-19).  It simply has to do with the form of the words.  For example: "passim" is masculine (because of the "im" ending) and "ketonet" is feminine (because of the "et" ending).  The point here is that Joseph's coat being a feminine coat due to "ketonet" being a feminine word is not a legitimate argument.

Greek Nouns work much the same way (Black, page 22).

Additional Resources:

Transforming, by Austen Hartke

Beginning Biblical Hebrew, by Futato

It's Still Greek To Me, by David Alan Black

Logos Bible Software 8 [various resources]

Part 2: Marriage in the Bible

If you haven't checked out Part 1 of this series, we recommend that you do that before listening to this episode.  In this episode we take a look at what the Bible has to say about marriage.  What is the purpose of marriage?  Why is there polygamy in the Bible?  Would Paul, or any of the New Testament writers, have considered life long, committed same sex attraction relationships in his writings?  Also, if God is supposed to be all about love, would He really deny any of His children marriage?  The main scripture references we used are listed below.  We are also providing you with a list of resources we used for this entire series.  We hope this series is helpful to you!  We would also love to hear your thoughts and questions.  Feel free to write to us at [email protected].  You can also find us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter [@TCPyouthpastors].

Scripture References:

Origin of Marriage:

Genesis 1:27-28 - "God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Genesis 2:23-24 - "The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. 23 The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh: She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.” 24 For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh."

Polygamy:

Genesis 4:19 - Lamech

1 Kings 11:1-6 - King Solomon

Deuteronomy 17:17 - "And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold."

Marriage in the New Testament:

Matthew 19:6 - "Some Pharisees came to Jesus, testing Him and asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?” 4 And He answered and said, “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate."

Download PDF of "sexual immorality" used in the New Testament (Greek = porneia)

Mark 7:14-23 [example of "sexual immorality"]

Ephesians 5:21-33 [Wives and Husbands]

Colossians 3:18-19 [Wives and Husbands]

Revelation 21:1-4 [The Church as the Bride of Jesus]

Resources used for this Series:

*Were loving, faithful same-sex relationships around in ancient history?  Some say "no," but the historical evidence says otherwise.  Hubbard's book below addresses this, but here is a blog article that is just as helpful.

Books:

Two Views on Homosexuality, The Bible, and the Church - Gundry and Sprinkle

Eros The Myth of Ancient Greek Sexuality - Bruce Thornton

Homosexuality in Greece and Rome: A Sourcebook of Basic Documents - T. K. Hubbard

What Does the Bible Really Teach about Homosexuality? - Kevin Deyoung

Paul Behaving Badly - Richards & O’Brien

Gay Girl, Good God - Jackie Hill Perry

A War of Loves - David Bennett

Queer Theology - Linn Marie Tonstad

Unashamed - Amber Cantorna

Software:

Logos Bible Software

Podcasts:

Unbelievable? Podcast - Multiple episodes

Hole In My Heart Podcast - All episodes

Think Biblically Podcast - [Apr 4; Jun 21; Mar 8 & 15; Feb 22]

Part 1: What does the Bible really say about Homosexuality?

The LGBTQIA+ topic is one that is not only relevant to our society today, but all cultures in and throughout history.  You probably already know that the Bible has some things to say about this, but is what you have heard an appropriate and sound use of the biblical text?  In this first part of our series we take a look at what the Bible says about homosexuality.  The main scripture references we used are listed below.  We are also providing you with a list of resources we used for this entire series.  We hope this series is helpful to you!  We would also love to hear your thoughts and questions.  Feel free to write to us at [email protected].  You can also find us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter [@TCPyouthpastors].

Scripture References:

Leviticus 18:22 - "You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination."

[Chris takes a look at how "lie with" is used.  When we compare it to Leviticus 20:12-16 we can conclude that "lie with" means to have sexual intercourse.]

Genesis 19:1-14 - Homosexual gang rape (not related to monogamous and consensual committed gay relationships between two individuals) [compare to Judges 19:22-25]

Romans 1:26-27 - "For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error." [We talk about the root of the sin issue here, and how it builds to Romans 3:23.]

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 - "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God." [Paul makes a key distinction here between active and passive partners.]

Note: All of these passages deal with the act of homosexuality, but not necessarily committed relationships between two individuals.  We will get into that in Part 2 as it is a point that is often talked about in these discussions.

Resources used for this Series:

Books:

Two Views on Homosexuality, The Bible, and the Church - Gundry and Sprinkle

Eros The Myth of Ancient Greek Sexuality - Bruce Thornton

Homosexuality in Greece and Rome: A Sourcebook of Basic Documents - T. K. Hubbard

What Does the Bible Really Teach about Homosexuality? - Kevin Deyoung

Paul Behaving Badly - Richards & O’Brien

Gay Girl, Good God - Jackie Hill Perry

A War of Loves - David Bennett

Queer Theology - Linn Marie Tonstad

Unashamed - Amber Cantorna

Software:

Logos Bible Software

Podcasts:

Unbelievable? Podcast - Multiple episodes

Hole In My Heart Podcast - All episodes

Think Biblically Podcast - [Apr 4; Jun 21; Mar 8 & 15; Feb 22]

Journal Articles:

[We wanted to know how LGBTQ scholars handle the biblical languages.  These articles will only be helpful to those who are familiar with biblical Greek and Hebrew.]

LGBTQ/Queer Hermeneutics and the Hebrew Bible - David Tabb Stewart - available here

The Bible and The Transgender Christian: Mapping Transgender Hermeneutics in the 21st Century - Katherine Apostolacus - available here

We were asked by our friend, Brett Foote, to explain how we came to the denominations we currently serve.  This leads to larger questions like: Why are there so many churches?  What do we think of denominations in general?  Can we really be one body of Christ if we're split into numerous denominations?  We'll talk about questions like these and we'll also reveal our next topic at the end of the episode.  Thanks for listening!

This episode is just for fun! We split it into two parts:

Part 1 answers the question of what movies would we bring to a desert island if we could only pick 5. There are more rules to consider, of course, which Chris lays out for us. This proved to be a tough exercise as some of us took it more seriously than others ;-)

Part 2 comes from an off-mic conversation where we were talking about Scott's old band, Red Thread, from his early college days. Eric expressed interest in hearing some their music, so we thought it would be fun to include some songs on an episode like this for everyone to hear.

Scott: "I'm not exactly sure how old these songs are, but it's somewhere in the ballpark of 15 years. The four songs included were written by my dad, Scott MacFeat Sr, with some of my help on the lyrics. The picture below was taken in 2006, which I believe was toward the end of the Red Thread days."

Red Thread - 2006From Left: Scott MacFeat Sr (lead vocals and guitar); Billy Sholly (guitar); Mike Ross (keyboard, background vocals); Scott MacFeat Jr (drums); Eric Muench (bass guitar)