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In this episode, we follow up on our last episode where we concluded with the fact that God is the Author and Determiner of morality. Arnie and Fred begin by noting that moral character is unique to mankind. We discuss the human spirit which was created by God when He created mankind in His image. We look at several passages in Genesis which tell us this. Jesus notes that God is a Spirit which identifies us as spiritual beings as Moses said, made in His image. Both Paul and Peter discuss our conscience which functions as our moral compass if we listen to it properly. We look at what Paul says about the possibility of searing our conscience to the point it is desensitized and doesn't work as God intended. We note that morality is universally applicable. God is no respecter of persons. His moral requirements apply to all countries and people who live in them. We close out this episode by noting that immorality is the same as sin. We will begin our next episode by a fuller discussion of this fact. Take about 30-minutes to listen in on our discussion. Have your Bible handy so you can verify what we are saying. There is a transcript of this Buzzsprout episode provided for your convenience. 

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Arnie and Fred begin this episode on what the Bible says about morality, by noting that morality is not determined by philosophers and their philosophizing. So-called deep thinkers in every culture possess the same human desires and emotions as other people. So, they tend to approve or condemn moral principles according to their own interests. We move on to discuss the fact that morality is not religiously decreed. Canaanite religion in the Old Testament offered human sacrifices as part of their worship. Abortion today is seen in much the same light as being no problem.  The phallic cult included fornication, incest, sodomy, bestiality and other immoral activities. We discuss what is commanded in the Qur'an that are clearly immoral from God's standards. We talk about some of what the Catholic Church did during the Crusades that were a part of that religion at the time. Many denominations today accept certain behavior as a part of their religion that is clearly wrong. We next note that morality is not legislated or enforced by government and look at what the apostles said about that. We discuss several instances that our own government has done in this regard. We also note that morality is not ordered by judicial fiat even though in our society we find it being done. We look at that situation. We close this episode out by discussing the fact that God is the Author and Determiner of morality and moral character is unique to mankind. We discuss why this is the case by examining some Bible passages that teach us this fact. We will have to finish this part of the episode in the next one. Take about 30-minutes to listen in on our discussion. Have your Bible handy so you can verify what we are saying. There is a transcript of this Buzzsprout episode provided for your convenience.

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Arnie and Fred begin a new episode by discussing what the Bible says about morality. We begin by looking at what Paul went through while he was in protective custody by a Roman garrison and his discussion with the Roman official in charge of the area where he was imprisoned. We find out that the Roman official was totally unprincipled and rather immoral. This was not unusual for Roman officials. We then note that in large measure, modern day America is not much different as is much of the world. We discuss the fact that morality is not of human origin. Observing human activity, one gets the idea that each individual has their own morality. We note that it is the Lord who provided the standard of morality to the Israelites. We note that this hasn't changed. We also talk about the fact that morality is not legislated by the majority, even though we see this done all the time. We continue by looking at what the Bible says about philosophies and the deep thinkers who produce these in every culture. Unfortunately, we ran out of time and will have to address this item in the next episode. Take about 30-minutes to listen to this episode. Have your Bible handy so you can verify what we are saying. There is a transcript provided for your convenience.

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In this final episode of why the Bible was written, Arnie and Fred note that it teaches how to live as a Christian. We discuss the fact that all of the New Testament epistles were written to and for Christians. In the second chapter to Titus, Paul said that God's grace teaches us what we must deny and also specifies how we should live. In the second chapter of Peter's first epistle, he describes God's people in verse 9. We discuss that description. We talk about what Paul said about the Christians at Rome in the first verse of that letter. Paul also addressed the disciples in Ephesus in the first verse of chapter one. We look at that. Likewise, we note what Peter said in the first verse of his second epistle. We talk about how Paul told Timothy and Titus that Christians are required to live acceptably unto God. The Bible teaches how a disciple develops and grows or doesn't grow as a child of God. We note what Jesus, Paul and the Hebrew writer say about this. We close out this episode by noting that the Bible reveals the destiny of our souls, telling us that our souls continue to live after the body dies. We talk about what Jesus said about this when He discussed the rich man and Lazarus in Luke chapter 16. Jesus tells us of the judgment scene where He will judge everyone. We talk about what He says about that. Take about 30-minutes to listen in on our discussion. Have your Bible handy so you can verify what we are saying. There is a transcript of this episode provided for your convenience.

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Arnie and Fred continue to discuss why the Bible was written. We pick up where we left off in the last episode by noting that the Bible explains how people become Christians. We look at what Luke says in Acts about when the disciples were first called Christians. We note that there was a prophesy that discussed this in the Old Testament. We move on to look at various passages that tell us how to obey the gospel, that is, how to become a Christian. Jesus and Paul both note why it is important to hear and learn the gospel. Mark records what Jesus said about believing, as did Luke when he wrote Acts 16 verses 30 and 31. Jesus has something to say about repentance and we discuss that. Paul was on Mars Hill and had a lengthy discussion with the intelligentsia of Athens there and talked about the need for repentance. We close out this episode by noting two occasions that Luke recorded in Acts that contained references to baptism. Take about 30-minutes to listen in on our discussions. Have your Bible handy so you can verify what we are saying. There is a transcript of this Buzzsprout episode provided for your convenience. 

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In this fourth episode, Arnie and Fred begin by noting that the Bible produces faith in Jesus Christ. It does this by providing the words and deeds of Jesus Christ. We look at Luke's Gospel account first and note that it was addressed to a high-ranking Roman official with the intended purpose of providing the eye-witness accounts of what they believed. We also point out that Luke wrote Acts and addressed it to the same official. We discuss the fact that the Bible contains and provides the evidence needed for the belief that is required to produce that faith. We discuss at length how the Bible identifies the Lord's church. It contains the promise that Jusus made that He would build His church, singular. He built only one church, and we point out where the Bible states that it is a spiritual body in heaven. We also discuss the local churches that existed in the first century and note that Paul on a number of occasions made sure that we know that he preached the same thing in every local church. This shows us that the Bible records the specific pattern for the Lord's church. We begin our final discussion in this episode about how the Bible teaches an individual to become saved. We run out of time before finishing it. We will begin the next episode on what the Bible teaches us about what we must do to be saved. Take about 30-minutes to listen in on our discussion. Have your Bible handy so you can verify what we are saying. There is a transcript provided for your convenience.

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Arnie and Fred begin this episode where they left off, that is, the Bible reveals the identity of the Messiah. Jesus criticized the Jewish leaders in John 5 for refusing to accept that He was the Messiah even though the Old Testament scriptures that they studied identified Him as the Messiah. We look at 2 other scriptures in the New Testament that identify Jesus as the Christ. We move on to talk about how the Bible reveals the source of our salvation. We note that man cannot save themselves from their sins. God made salvation possible by providing a way that makes that possible. Again, mankind could not know this unless God revealed it in His written word, the Bible. We close out this episode by beginning our discussion of how the Bible produces faith in Jesus Christ. We look at some of the words and deeds recorded in the Bible that produces this faith. We will finish this particular point in the next episode. Take about 30-minutes to listen in on our discussion. Have your Bible handy so you can verify what we are saying. There is a transcript of this Buzzsprout episode provided for your convenience.

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Arnie and Fred continue their discussion on why the Bible was written by looking again into more of the scriptures that reveal the purpose of man, why we are here. Jesus, Solomon and Micah all provide us with some of that information. We discuss what they say. We move next to how the Bible reveals the nature of sin to us. We note that without God telling us, we would not know we were violating God's laws. We look at what Paul said about that. We finish this point by discussing some of the passages that tell us the consequences of our sins. The last point in this episode is to look at how the Bible revealed the Messiah to mankind. We discuss both Old and New Testament scriptures that do this. We run out of time before finishing this point. But we close out this episode by noting Jesus' criticism of the Jewish religious leaders of the day for their failure to accept the Old Testament scriptures that identified Him as the Messiah. Take about 30-minutes to listen in on our discussion. Have your Bible handy so you can verify what we are saying. There is a transcript of this Buzzsprout episode provided for your convenience.

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Arnie and Fred begin this new episode on what does the Bible say by discussing why the Bible was written. We suspect that most people have given little thought to the reasons the Bible was written. They don't seem to realize that it is the total revelation of God's will - that it really is the Word of God. Many it seems regard it as just containing the opinions of religious men - men that they may or may not hold in especially high regard, for one reason or another. Only a few people actually realize or accept the Bible as having been God - breathed as it says. We begin by looking at what Jesus had to say to the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16. We see that some of the purposes the Bible was written are revealed in those passages. The first purpose we see is that the nature of God is revealed there. We talk about the physical creation and the evidence it provides to show the existence of God. We then note that a different method was needed to reveal God's will to man. We look at that method. We begin our next point by noticing that the Bible reveals the purpose of man, why we are here, what God expects of us. We run out of time before we can complete this point. We will begin here in the next episode. Take about 30-minutes to listen in on what we have to say. Have your Bible handy so you can verify that. For your convenience, there is a transcript of this Buzzsprout episode provided. 

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Arnie and Fred begin this last episode about New Testament worship by discussing the reading of scripture that we find was done during that time. Paul wrote to Timothy about this practice. Luke records in Acts about scripture that was written to the church at Antioch which they read during their worship. In looking at these six elements of New Testament worship, we have noted that if there are items added to them or if any of these items are excluded, the worship engaged in would not be "in spirit and in truth as Jesus requires. We move on to discuss the church as the New Testament body of Christians. We look at the word "church" noting is meaning from the original Koine Greek word. We look at a number of passages that this word is used in and point out what each passage is saying. We look at passages that teach us that the Lord's church is called a "spiritual house". We take some time to talk about the difference between this spiritual house and the local churches the various letters in the New Testament were addressed to. We close out this episode by noting that all of Christ's local churches believed and taught the same things and worked and worshipped in the same way. Since the New Testament specifies the kind of worship God requires, we pose the question, "Is it the kind of worship that you offer?" Take about 30-minutes to listen in on our discussion. Have your Bible handy so you can verify what we are saying. For your convenience, there is a transcript of this Buzzsprout episode provided.