Is anyone actually in favor of marriage equality? 

Audio

 

Transcript

It has become politically incorrect to say that marriage is only between a man and a woman and that no other type of interpersonal relationship qualifies. People will say, "You're being discriminatory. You're being a bigot. Marriage should be marked by equality. We don't treat black people differently than white people so we shouldn't treat same sex attracted people differently than opposite sex attracted people." But the question that should immediately form in our minds is, “why is marriage something that government is involved in to begin with?” What's the compelling state interest in the government being involved in the interpersonal relationships in our lives in general? 

This comes down to the family, and we'll talk about that in a minute, but I want to return to our central question. Is anyone actually for marriage equality? I would put forth to you that I don't think anyone actually is for marriage equality, because marriage equality would mean that all relationships are looked at equally and they are all equally valid in terms of being able to be called a marriage or not. It's not just a man and woman. We're told now that it could be a man and man or a woman and a woman or a man who thinks he's a woman and a man, maybe. Transgendered issues come into this. To be equal, we need to treat everyone the same way. 

Okay, what about if I love my dog so much that I want to marry it? It wouldn't be treating me equally to say that I can't do that, because marriage equality means marriage for everyone. Anyone who wants to get married, right?  We've talked about intersex relationships, same sex relationships. What about intergenerational or cross generational love? Someone who's forty with someone who's twelve. If we're going to be in favor of marriage equality and giving the same options to everyone, we should say to the forty year old, "Yes, you can marry a twelve year old. You can marry your daughter. You could marry your mother." That's what marriage equality would mean based on the definition that's been advanced today. Hopefully what you see is that if marriage means everything, then marriage means nothing. 

All of this should bring us to the question of why is government involved at all? Why has government seen fit to promote marriage? When it comes to any issue, government has three options. It can simply prohibit something and say you cannot do that, it can permit it and say that's acceptable or it can promote it and give it elevated status or a tax break or other benefits. Traditionally, government has promoted heterosexual unions for a specific reason. It has not prohibited same sex unions, it has permitted them. It has not been illegal in this country to be gay. In some countries it has been and there's certainly been a social stigma associated with it. But government has permitted those type of relationships. 

It has not promoted them until recently. This should raise the question, “why has government promoted heterosexual relationships”, long term ones and monogamous ones, which is what marriage means. The reason for that is because as a group and as a rule and by nature, heterosexual unions provide for the next generation, literally. They provide a stable environment for a couple to create and raise a child. Fathers and mothers, two parent households are best for raising children, but it's not just two parents. It's a mother and father. It's not two individuals. Studies have borne this out. More than that, having a father in the home, specifically, has a salutary effect on reducing the likelihood that child will act out poorly in school or commit crime when he or she is older. 

What we see is the family is really the social foundation for our whole socie…

There are nine things Christian students should be thinking about as they head off to college.Audio

TranscriptThe transition from living at home to living off at college, even if that college is in your same town, is one of the largest transitions a person can undergo in life, sometimes even greater than the transition from single to married. Because you're moving from a place you've lived in — generally in comfort for 18 years, where you've been supervised, you've had a support system, you've had an accountability structure in some form or fashion — to a place where you can do whatever you want, no one knows you, there's no accountability and there's total freedom.

That can and should be a scary thought, because as scripture teaches, we are all pointed towards and have evil desires. Man is fundamentally fallen, and yes, God redeems that and gives us a new nature, but we still have sinful impulses. When we don't have a community and a support system and an accountability structure to temper those, we should have some caution there.

I have nine steps, nine things to think about as you head off to college. Parents, these would be maybe good things to talk about with your child if you're listening to this.

1. Decide Today Whom You're Going To Serve

The first one is simply decide today whom you're going to serve. Joshua said, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." In the same verse he's telling other people you need to decide who you're going to serve.

Right off the bat, you need to make a commitment to serve God, to have his priorities be your priorities. Now this might seem very foundational, but in a time where you're going to have incredible change in your life — you're going to have meals be different, you're going to have tons of organizations vying for your time, attention, and energies, new friends, different classes, all of this, and a lack of support and accountability — you need to make the first thing be the first thing. That starts with making a commitment to honor God with how you live and make that a conscious action.

If you have a goal in life to run a marathon and you never actually write that down, you never actually make that a goal or make it a priority, you're not going to achieve it. In order to have any hope of living for God, you've got to make living for God a priority in your mind.

2. Be Willing To Talk With Everyone

Step number two is much more simple in some ways. Be willing to talk with everyone. I wouldn't turn anyone off when it comes to sitting next to them, talking with them, hanging out with them, getting a meal, a cup of coffee. Who knows how the spirit will use you in the lives of the people you're around, regardless of your biases and prejudices. We should be willing to talk with everyone and anyone. That doesn't mean every conversation starts with "Have you heard about Jesus?"

What it should involve, though, is being sensitive to what the other person is saying and taking opportunities to put a stone in their shoe, give them something to think about with regards to spiritual things or faith or the Gospel. Be willing to talk with everyone.

3. Don't Waste Your Time With Everyone

Don't waste your time with everyone. Be willing to talk with everyone but realize that doesn't mean that you have to always talk with that person you started with, because there are going to be some people who just want to argue. There are going to be some people who honestly are going to be a bad influence on you, and bad company corrupts good morals. You need to know yourself well when it comes to choosing what situations you're going to allow yourself to be in.

It is worth saying that eating with tax collectors and sinners still works. That was Jesus' MO — his pattern of operation — he we…

There are nine things Christian students should be thinking about as they head off to college.Audio

TranscriptThe transition from living at home to living off at college, even if that college is in your same town, is one of the largest transitions a person can undergo in life, sometimes even greater than the transition from single to married. Because you're moving from a place you've lived in — generally in comfort for 18 years, where you've been supervised, you've had a support system, you've had an accountability structure in some form or fashion — to a place where you can do whatever you want, no one knows you, there's no accountability and there's total freedom.

That can and should be a scary thought, because as scripture teaches, we are all pointed towards and have evil desires. Man is fundamentally fallen, and yes, God redeems that and gives us a new nature, but we still have sinful impulses. When we don't have a community and a support system and an accountability structure to temper those, we should have some caution there.

I have nine steps, nine things to think about as you head off to college. Parents, these would be maybe good things to talk about with your child if you're listening to this.

1. Decide Today Whom You're Going To Serve

The first one is simply decide today whom you're going to serve. Joshua said, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." In the same verse he's telling other people you need to decide who you're going to serve.

Right off the bat, you need to make a commitment to serve God, to have his priorities be your priorities. Now this might seem very foundational, but in a time where you're going to have incredible change in your life — you're going to have meals be different, you're going to have tons of organizations vying for your time, attention, and energies, new friends, different classes, all of this, and a lack of support and accountability — you need to make the first thing be the first thing. That starts with making a commitment to honor God with how you live and make that a conscious action.

If you have a goal in life to run a marathon and you never actually write that down, you never actually make that a goal or make it a priority, you're not going to achieve it. In order to have any hope of living for God, you've got to make living for God a priority in your mind.

2. Be Willing To Talk With Everyone

Step number two is much more simple in some ways. Be willing to talk with everyone. I wouldn't turn anyone off when it comes to sitting next to them, talking with them, hanging out with them, getting a meal, a cup of coffee. Who knows how the spirit will use you in the lives of the people you're around, regardless of your biases and prejudices. We should be willing to talk with everyone and anyone. That doesn't mean every conversation starts with "Have you heard about Jesus?"

What it should involve, though, is being sensitive to what the other person is saying and taking opportunities to put a stone in their shoe, give them something to think about with regards to spiritual things or faith or the Gospel. Be willing to talk with everyone.

3. Don't Waste Your Time With Everyone

Don't waste your time with everyone. Be willing to talk with everyone but realize that doesn't mean that you have to always talk with that person you started with, because there are going to be some people who just want to argue. There are going to be some people who honestly are going to be a bad influence on you, and bad company corrupts good morals. You need to know yourself well when it comes to choosing what situations you're going to allow yourself to be in.

It is worth saying that eating with tax collectors and sinners still works. That was Jesus' MO — his pattern of operation — he we…

Two of the main and clear biblical prohibitions of homosexuality occur in the Old Testament. But this raises the question, "Is the OT law binding on Christians today?"Audio

Related ReadingHow Does the Old Testament Law Apply to Christians Today?Are the Sabbath laws binding on Christians today?TranscriptIs the Old Testament law binding on Christians today? If not, what do we make of Old Testament prohibitions against homosexuality? Stay tuned and find out on Unapologetic.Matthew Vines is the leader of the Reformation Project. This is a group of homosexuals and LGBT persons who claim to be Christians, who are trying to lobby for legitimacy of homosexuality in the church. Now, generally, this is couched in terms of long-term monogamist, loving homosexual relationships. In general, they are just also trying to get homosexuality be accepted. Now, Matthew Vines has written a book God and the Gay Christian and he's also put out a short promo video for this book a year or so ago. He goes through the six Bible passages that are traditionally used to talk about homosexuality. He even is forthright in saying that the Bible doesn't seem to portray homosexuality in a good light. He goes through each of these passages and shows how they've been misinterpreted.One of the passages is from the Levitical Law — the Old Testament law. Now, there were 613 laws in the Torah, which is in the first five books of the Old Testament, and the Jews were supposed obey all of them. Here are two such laws. “You must not have sexual intercourse with a male as one has sexual intercourse with a woman. It is a detestable act.” This is in Leviticus 18:22. In Leviticus 20:13, “it says if a man has sexual intercourse with a male as one has sexual intercourse with the woman, the two have committed an abomination. They must be put to death. Their blood guilt is on themselves.”Here's another law from Leviticus. “You must not allow two different kinds of your animals to breed. You must not sow your field with two different kinds of seed and you must wear a garment made of different kinds of fabric.” I think, my shirt's made of cotton and polyester. I'll be right back… No. Here's the problem is that we want to say that, no, we can wear shirts that are made out of different kinds of fabric and I can plant two crops from different types of seed in the same field and all of that. But, No, that homosexuality thing, that's wrong. People view this as a contradiction, as an inconsistency in the Christian position.We're left with the question as Christians, how do we answer this? How do we deal with this claim of inconsistency? “You want to claim that Levitical Law code is right when it comes to homosexuality being a wrong but the Levitical law code no longer applies when it comes to tattoos or when it comes to shirts and multiple clothing or eating shellfish or eating pork.” How do we deal with that as Christians? This might take some of you aback but the answer is that the Levitical Law code doesn't apply to the New Testament Christian at all. The Levitical Law code was with Israel. It was a covenant made with Israel. We are not Israel, therefore, we are not under that covenant that was made with the Jew, the nation of Israel.Deuteronomy was the second time the law was given, actually. It was first given in Exodus when Moses was at Mt. Sinai, and then the Jews wandered in the desert. One of the last things that Moses does is give the law again as he's handing off the reins, handing over leadership. It's important to understand, this was a covenant made with the nation of Israel, and we are not Israel as New Testament Christians. Now, does this mean everything in the law no longer is wrong if it was said to be wrong? No, that's not true. Things can be wrong, but not because th…

Two of the main and clear biblical prohibitions of homosexuality occur in the Old Testament. But this raises the question, "Is the OT law binding on Christians today?"Audio

Related ReadingHow Does the Old Testament Law Apply to Christians Today?Are the Sabbath laws binding on Christians today?TranscriptIs the Old Testament law binding on Christians today? If not, what do we make of Old Testament prohibitions against homosexuality? Stay tuned and find out on Unapologetic.Matthew Vines is the leader of the Reformation Project. This is a group of homosexuals and LGBT persons who claim to be Christians, who are trying to lobby for legitimacy of homosexuality in the church. Now, generally, this is couched in terms of long-term monogamist, loving homosexual relationships. In general, they are just also trying to get homosexuality be accepted. Now, Matthew Vines has written a book God and the Gay Christian and he's also put out a short promo video for this book a year or so ago. He goes through the six Bible passages that are traditionally used to talk about homosexuality. He even is forthright in saying that the Bible doesn't seem to portray homosexuality in a good light. He goes through each of these passages and shows how they've been misinterpreted.One of the passages is from the Levitical Law — the Old Testament law. Now, there were 613 laws in the Torah, which is in the first five books of the Old Testament, and the Jews were supposed obey all of them. Here are two such laws. “You must not have sexual intercourse with a male as one has sexual intercourse with a woman. It is a detestable act.” This is in Leviticus 18:22. In Leviticus 20:13, “it says if a man has sexual intercourse with a male as one has sexual intercourse with the woman, the two have committed an abomination. They must be put to death. Their blood guilt is on themselves.”Here's another law from Leviticus. “You must not allow two different kinds of your animals to breed. You must not sow your field with two different kinds of seed and you must wear a garment made of different kinds of fabric.” I think, my shirt's made of cotton and polyester. I'll be right back… No. Here's the problem is that we want to say that, no, we can wear shirts that are made out of different kinds of fabric and I can plant two crops from different types of seed in the same field and all of that. But, No, that homosexuality thing, that's wrong. People view this as a contradiction, as an inconsistency in the Christian position.We're left with the question as Christians, how do we answer this? How do we deal with this claim of inconsistency? “You want to claim that Levitical Law code is right when it comes to homosexuality being a wrong but the Levitical law code no longer applies when it comes to tattoos or when it comes to shirts and multiple clothing or eating shellfish or eating pork.” How do we deal with that as Christians? This might take some of you aback but the answer is that the Levitical Law code doesn't apply to the New Testament Christian at all. The Levitical Law code was with Israel. It was a covenant made with Israel. We are not Israel, therefore, we are not under that covenant that was made with the Jew, the nation of Israel.Deuteronomy was the second time the law was given, actually. It was first given in Exodus when Moses was at Mt. Sinai, and then the Jews wandered in the desert. One of the last things that Moses does is give the law again as he's handing off the reins, handing over leadership. It's important to understand, this was a covenant made with the nation of Israel, and we are not Israel as New Testament Christians. Now, does this mean everything in the law no longer is wrong if it was said to be wrong? No, that's not true. Things can be wrong, but not because th…

Audio

TranscriptCould the universe have created itself or is a God necessary for that?It's common today to hear about the conflict between science and faith, generally when it comes to our origins — where we came from. A lot of people think that the Bible says that we were created in six literal days, and this flies in the face of modern science.Now in future weeks, we might talk about Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 — two conflicting creation accounts — and look at ways to possibly harmonize them or, at the least, understand them in their context. Today, I want to talk about the scientific evidence that actually greatly supports the Christian world view. The fact that we're here is one of the greatest evidences for God's existence. Our existence is a great evidence for God's existence.We're going to look at one of my favorite arguments for God's existence. By “argument” I just mean a well-reasoned case, not something where people are yelling at each other.Before we get too far in, I want to explain what this can and cannot do. This argument will demonstrate that there is a God. It will not demonstrate that the God of the Bible is that God. However, for many people, going from “no God” to “there is a God” is a huge step. We started out looking at truth and now we're going to look at God existing. We've already looked at some evidence for the reliability of the Bible. All of these pieces can come together, when you're making a case to someone that Christianity is the best explanation for reality.This argument for God's existence that we're going to look at today it's called the “Kalām cosmological argument”. Don't be turned off by the name that you probably haven't heard. “Kalām” is actually an Arabic word that just means speech and “cosmological” just refers to the cosmos, the universe, if you will.This is a very simple argument. It's just three sentences. Whatever begins to exist has a cause. The universe began to exist. Therefore, the universe has a cause.For the remainder of this episode we're going to look at ways to support that argument, but what's worth noting is you can teach this to a seven-year old, to a five-year old. In fact, it's easier for some five-year olds to believe this than it is for people in their 30s.Studies have shown that there's actually a natural instinct inside of us as humans that we're born with to see creation in things that are actually created. This sadly gets trained out of people due to our secular influences in society.You can go as deep into this argument or as shallow as you want. What it basically says is that everything that comes into existence has a cause. The universe came into existence, therefore the universe must have had a cause.Right off the bat, we can rule some potential causes out. The cause of the universe cannot have been something in the universe because before the universe existed there was nothing in it that could have created itself. It's like saying, “I'm my father.” In order for me to be my father, I would have had been around, before I was around. There's just a logical problem there.In fact, Stephen Hawking has actually said something similar. “Due to the law of gravity, the universe can and will create itself out of nothing.” You can be really smart like Stephen Hawking (he’s far smarter than I am) but you don't get to say stupid stuff like that without people analyzing your claim and just coming to realize that there are grave, logical problems with it.Continuing on, whatever begins to exist has a cause. This matches reality and experience and reason. It makes much more sense than the atheistic position which would say that th…

Audio

TranscriptCould the universe have created itself or is a God necessary for that?It's common today to hear about the conflict between science and faith, generally when it comes to our origins — where we came from. A lot of people think that the Bible says that we were created in six literal days, and this flies in the face of modern science.Now in future weeks, we might talk about Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 — two conflicting creation accounts — and look at ways to possibly harmonize them or, at the least, understand them in their context. Today, I want to talk about the scientific evidence that actually greatly supports the Christian world view. The fact that we're here is one of the greatest evidences for God's existence. Our existence is a great evidence for God's existence.We're going to look at one of my favorite arguments for God's existence. By “argument” I just mean a well-reasoned case, not something where people are yelling at each other.Before we get too far in, I want to explain what this can and cannot do. This argument will demonstrate that there is a God. It will not demonstrate that the God of the Bible is that God. However, for many people, going from “no God” to “there is a God” is a huge step. We started out looking at truth and now we're going to look at God existing. We've already looked at some evidence for the reliability of the Bible. All of these pieces can come together, when you're making a case to someone that Christianity is the best explanation for reality.This argument for God's existence that we're going to look at today it's called the “Kalām cosmological argument”. Don't be turned off by the name that you probably haven't heard. “Kalām” is actually an Arabic word that just means speech and “cosmological” just refers to the cosmos, the universe, if you will.This is a very simple argument. It's just three sentences. Whatever begins to exist has a cause. The universe began to exist. Therefore, the universe has a cause.For the remainder of this episode we're going to look at ways to support that argument, but what's worth noting is you can teach this to a seven-year old, to a five-year old. In fact, it's easier for some five-year olds to believe this than it is for people in their 30s.Studies have shown that there's actually a natural instinct inside of us as humans that we're born with to see creation in things that are actually created. This sadly gets trained out of people due to our secular influences in society.You can go as deep into this argument or as shallow as you want. What it basically says is that everything that comes into existence has a cause. The universe came into existence, therefore the universe must have had a cause.Right off the bat, we can rule some potential causes out. The cause of the universe cannot have been something in the universe because before the universe existed there was nothing in it that could have created itself. It's like saying, “I'm my father.” In order for me to be my father, I would have had been around, before I was around. There's just a logical problem there.In fact, Stephen Hawking has actually said something similar. “Due to the law of gravity, the universe can and will create itself out of nothing.” You can be really smart like Stephen Hawking (he’s far smarter than I am) but you don't get to say stupid stuff like that without people analyzing your claim and just coming to realize that there are grave, logical problems with it.Continuing on, whatever begins to exist has a cause. This matches reality and experience and reason. It makes much more sense than the atheistic position which would say that th…

Before we determine if we can kill something, we need to know what "it" is. Is the unborn alive? Is it human? And, is killing wrong?Audio

Video

TranscriptHello, and welcome to Unapologetic, a podcast about defending, not apologizing for, our Christian convictions. Today we're going to talk about abortion, and one small segment of how we can contend for the life of the unborn. Today we're just going to simply establish, is the unborn something that's alive? And human? All too often, people want to say, "the unborn isn't alive or it's not an actual human." So we need to be able to deal with those objections. (0:33) Abortion involves killing something that is alive. Most people would say. So before we can applaud it or condemn it, we have to know what that something is. Now, some people want to say it's just non-viable tissue mass. It's a potential human being, or maybe it's a human that's not a person. Or it's just a fetus. But if the unborn is just any of those things, then no one needs to give any reason for why it can be disposed of. However, if the unborn is in fact a genuine human being, then there is no possible reason good enough to allow for the institutionalized mass-murder that is occurring today to continue. (1:14) So, as you can see, the issue of abortion really comes down to one question: what is the unborn? Is it alive? Is it human? These are the questions we're going to answer. (1:25) So, is it alive? Well, the unborn is the product of a living sperm joining with a living egg that then creates what, by all accounts, looks to be a living zygote, which is a fertilized egg. Which then grows, by getting bigger, by adding cells to itself. So, how would you get a living cell, a sperm, that combines with a living cell, an egg, that combines to form something that is not alive? That doesn't make any sense. And how would that not-alive thing be adding to itself by taking in nutrients and expelling waste? By any reasonable standard, that's something that's alive. (2:05) Now, if that, for some reason, is not alive, then at what point does a baby become alive? So, at some point, it's going to come out of its mother. It has been birthed and it's considered alive at that point. So when did it gain its "alive" status? When it went 7 inches down the birth canal? See what doesn't make sense is that the baby comes out alive, but it's not alive when it's insider her. What changed? What was growing that whole time? How did two alive cells come together to make something that was dead? None of these questions make any sense, unless the unborn is actually alive!(2:43) So, we've looked at some easy lines of thought, to prove and demonstrate that the unborn is alive and it's just, frankly, silly to say that it's not. So we've established that the unborn is alive, or reestablished, maybe. But we still have to answer the question "what is it, what is it that's alive"? Is that it an actual human being? Well I think we've made this question way too complicated in our society for some reason. I've a good friend named Reagan, who, when he was in college, was in a conversation about abortion with a classmate. And this classmate was saying that the unborn is not a human. And Reagan very good natured guy, said, "it's not a human, well, what is it? Is it a turtle that's growing in there? Are we not sure?" Well, Reagan's reply gets to the silliness of this situation. Because what could possibly be growing in there if it's not human? What do two humans come together and mate to reproduce? Another human. (3:48) With any other species, people have no trouble here. Two dogs come together and make a dog.…

Before we determine if we can kill something, we need to know what "it" is. Is the unborn alive? Is it human? And, is killing wrong?Audio

Video

TranscriptHello, and welcome to Unapologetic, a podcast about defending, not apologizing for, our Christian convictions. Today we're going to talk about abortion, and one small segment of how we can contend for the life of the unborn. Today we're just going to simply establish, is the unborn something that's alive? And human? All too often, people want to say, "the unborn isn't alive or it's not an actual human." So we need to be able to deal with those objections. (0:33) Abortion involves killing something that is alive. Most people would say. So before we can applaud it or condemn it, we have to know what that something is. Now, some people want to say it's just non-viable tissue mass. It's a potential human being, or maybe it's a human that's not a person. Or it's just a fetus. But if the unborn is just any of those things, then no one needs to give any reason for why it can be disposed of. However, if the unborn is in fact a genuine human being, then there is no possible reason good enough to allow for the institutionalized mass-murder that is occurring today to continue. (1:14) So, as you can see, the issue of abortion really comes down to one question: what is the unborn? Is it alive? Is it human? These are the questions we're going to answer. (1:25) So, is it alive? Well, the unborn is the product of a living sperm joining with a living egg that then creates what, by all accounts, looks to be a living zygote, which is a fertilized egg. Which then grows, by getting bigger, by adding cells to itself. So, how would you get a living cell, a sperm, that combines with a living cell, an egg, that combines to form something that is not alive? That doesn't make any sense. And how would that not-alive thing be adding to itself by taking in nutrients and expelling waste? By any reasonable standard, that's something that's alive. (2:05) Now, if that, for some reason, is not alive, then at what point does a baby become alive? So, at some point, it's going to come out of its mother. It has been birthed and it's considered alive at that point. So when did it gain its "alive" status? When it went 7 inches down the birth canal? See what doesn't make sense is that the baby comes out alive, but it's not alive when it's insider her. What changed? What was growing that whole time? How did two alive cells come together to make something that was dead? None of these questions make any sense, unless the unborn is actually alive!(2:43) So, we've looked at some easy lines of thought, to prove and demonstrate that the unborn is alive and it's just, frankly, silly to say that it's not. So we've established that the unborn is alive, or reestablished, maybe. But we still have to answer the question "what is it, what is it that's alive"? Is that it an actual human being? Well I think we've made this question way too complicated in our society for some reason. I've a good friend named Reagan, who, when he was in college, was in a conversation about abortion with a classmate. And this classmate was saying that the unborn is not a human. And Reagan very good natured guy, said, "it's not a human, well, what is it? Is it a turtle that's growing in there? Are we not sure?" Well, Reagan's reply gets to the silliness of this situation. Because what could possibly be growing in there if it's not human? What do two humans come together and mate to reproduce? Another human. (3:48) With any other species, people have no trouble here. Two dogs come together and make a dog.…

The New Testament contains the markings of being authentic because it includes numerous details that reflect poorly on those who wrote it and on Jesus. Moreover, the writers were willing to die for their claims, and they were in a position to know if they were true or not.Audio

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Don't use iTunes? Subscribe here.TranscriptHello, and welcome to Unapologetic, a podcast about defending, not apologizing for, our Christian convictions. (0:12) Last week, we talked about the Bible and some reasons we should trust it. One of those reasons and types of testimony was early testimony. What is written in the New Testament was written very close to the events that it describes in terms of time. However, we also talked about eye-witness testimony, that what was written was either written by eye-witnesses or people who talked with eye-witnesses. Well, today we're going to continue on with those previous two E's and talk about three more E's: embarrassing testimony, excruciating testimony, and extra-biblical testimony. (0:47) So, embarrassing testimony. One thing we talked about when we talked about the Resurrection was the principle of embarrassment, and it simply says that any details embarrassing to the author are probably true. You're not going to make up things that make yourself look bad. And yet, the New Testament writers include numerous details that do not portray themselves in a positive light. For instance, the Gospel writers are dim-witted. Numerous times, they failed to understand what Jesus is saying to them. They're even uncaring and they write this down for us to see. They fall asleep on Jesus twice when He asked them to pray. Let's re-sensitize ourself to maybe what's actually going on here. They believe that God incarnate is standing in front of them and tells them to pray. And they fall asleep. That's embarrassing enough. But they write it down and it's preserved well enough for us to read 2,000 years later. You're not going to write down that you fell asleep when God told you pray unless it happened. But it gets worse! Peter's actually called Satan by Jesus. How would that actually have gone if they're making this up? Let's say they're sitting around the campfire, and Mark is saying, "Hey Peter, there's a great plot twist here. I'm going to have Jesus call you Satan." What worse name could there be for God to call you than Satan? Frank Turek has pointed this out in the past and I find it extremely persuasive and powerful. You're not going to have God calling you Satan unless it actually happened. And even then you might not write it down. They're also called cowards and they're doubters, and they write this down for us to see. (2:23) But there are also embarrassing things in the New Testament about Jesus. For starters, He's considered out of His mind by His mother and His brothers. Now, why would you include that in the document intended to get people to believe in this guy named Jesus unless it were true? And even if it were true, why would you include that His family basically wanted to Baker Act Him? They didn't think He was God, they thought He was crazy! But they include that for us. And that's extremely helpful because, when we come to see that after Jesus' Resurrection and ascension, James is part of the New Testament church and ultimately becomes one of the leaders of it. Well, this guy went from, "my brother's crazy", to "my brother's God." What could convince him of that? Well, the Resurrection. (3:09) But there are other embarrassing things about Jesus too. He's called a drunkard. That's not a good title if you're claiming to be God. He has His feet wiped with…