Bible Q&A • Episode 54

Hi, everybody. We're back with some more of your Bible questions. You emailed us, or we saw your note on one of our YouTube videos, and we've compiled them together, and we're gonna do our best to answer the questions in front of us today. I'm Pastor Paul. I'm here with my wife, Sue, and it's a lovely July morning.

Yes, it is. And we're going to see what we have this time. Alright, we'll begin with Grace. Okay. She said,

Yeah, that stumps people, you know, when people say, hey, well, you know, God made me that way. And that kind of tends to shut down the conversation, and like she says in her note, I didn't really know how to respond to that. But if you carry that idea out, and you say, okay, all right, I'll give that to you, all right, that you're born that way. So if someone came to you and said, I have a predisposition to having sex with small children, and I believe I was born that way, does that now make that okay, you see? So if we're gonna get into I was born that way, then we have to really excuse pretty much all human behavior. There's really nothing that we can say that's wrong, because it all gets thrown up in the air, and it becomes part of our origin story, you know, that can't be argued with. I was born that way, and since God knew me, even before I was born, obviously that makes it okay. Well, see, the problem with that is that the Bible says that we are all, all of us, born with a sinful heart, and God knew that too. He knew that you would be born with a sinful heart, but He wants you to do something about it. He doesn't want you to live your life giving into the inclinations of your heart to go toward that area of sin. He wants you to come to Him. He wants you to recognize and acknowledge your sinful nature, which is that bent toward going against God's creative will, and He wants you to come to Him for forgiveness and for the power to overcome that sinful nature. So, you know, the whole argument of I was born that way, it doesn't hold up. I mean, somebody could literally say, I really have a hard time telling the truth, but I was born that way. And since God knew me before I was born, obviously it's okay for me to lie, right? Or I take things that belong to other people, and I was born that way. I was born with a predilection to stealing. So I guess it's okay because I was born that way. Once you become a Christian and the Lord begins to expose areas in your life that are less than stellar, we recognize that we're born all kinds of ways. The Lord has shown me over the years the areas in my life that are part of the fallen sinful nature, and He has never given me the ability to use that excuse. You were born that way. He said, Paul, that's sin, and sin kills, sin destroys. And so, yeah, you were born that way, but now I want to give you a new birth, and I want you to be born again to be like my son and not like the old sinful flesh. Now, that's a long explanation, you know, for a arguably difficult question, but still, it's the answer.

Well, I think it's super understandable the way you've put it, and I think it will rest the heart of a question whether they're able to, or the person asking the question, whether they're able to express that is a whole different matter, but it helps to understand.

I hope so, I hope so.

Okay, Rachel is from Northern Ireland, and she says,

In his harem.

Yeah.

I feel for all the women, too, throughout human history who've been part of a harem.

Right.

Yeah, they stayed the night with the king. That was part of it, and yeah, we feel horrible for them, and you know, God redeemed the situation in a powerful way in the case of Esther, but you know, women have been abused that way over the years. They've been drawn into a powerful man's harem, and he simply, you know, takes them whenever he wishes, and that's sad, but it's part of the way things were, and so yeah, it's unfortunate, but I love the fact that the Bible doesn't try to hide that from us, you know?

Yeah, the Bible narrates reality.

It does, and the fact of the matter is, in the book of Esther, Esther was smack dab in the center of a pagan kingdom, and sex was a huge part of pagan religious practices, and people didn't just, they didn't see it as a problem, and so yeah, there were things that happened that shouldn't have happened, no question about it.

Buell is from Zimbabwe.

Okay.

"Good day, Pastor Paul and Sue. Should I have an altar where I put my prayer requests or planned church offerings somewhere in my house? Is it biblical or not?"

No, it's not biblical for a New Testament Christian. We don't, you know, the only altar that we know of is the altar of the Lord in heaven, and we don't have altars in our worship practices, prayers, we don't kneel at the altar, we don't come to the altar except for, you know, we come to the throne of grace in prayer. That's where we go. No, there's nothing biblical about having an altar. It has been added to Christian practice over the years, and many churches had an altar, but there's nothing in the New Testament telling believers to erect an altar in their buildings. Well, first of all, in the New Testament, they don't know anything about buildings. They didn't have buildings. There was no such thing as church buildings, but the altar is a carryover from the Old Testament, but it's not something that we are commanded to do or need to do or have.

Okay, Jackie is from Tanzania. "Is it okay for a born-again Christian to attend Mass at the Roman Catholic Church?"

Yeah, it's okay. I mean, I've been to a Roman Catholic Mass. I went to a Roman Catholic funeral one time for the father of a gal who attended our fellowship. You learn a lot when you go, and the question I think that really needs to be asked is why are you going?

Sure.

Are you going because of family pressure? Are you going because of curiosity, just to kind of see what it's like? Are you going because you're drawn toward Roman Catholicism? That's the issue. God cares more about what's going on in your heart than He does with your specific actions. What is behind it all? What is the intent? So I would probably ask Jackie, why are you going? Or why do you feel the need to go? Or what is motivating you? That's the real question that needs to be answered.

Alice is from Japan, and we're back to Esther again.

Another question on Esther?

She said,

Yeah, it wasn't a literal promise. None of these guys were offering half their kingdom. It is called a rhetorical idiom, and it is something that is hyperbolic, you know, hyperbole. And it is said in a way to express great favor, great appreciation. And it's almost like the king kind of giving you a blank check. But at the end of the day, you can't fill it out for what you want. He's gonna oversee that. So yeah, it's rhetorical.

We've been pulling out shrubs at our house, which is something I would not tackle myself. And so I hire somebody to do it. And it's so distasteful to me that I might say, I'll just give you a truckload of cash if you'll pull that out.

Yeah, exactly.

I don't intend on that.

We're not gonna really load a truckload full of cash. It's a way of saying, please, any amount, do this for me.

Exactly. Alright. And Sue, if a church wants to use some land to put on a program and a local political party asks for money, is it right for the church to pay? If they don't pay, they risk not getting approval and having to cancel their program."

I'm pretty sure this comes from a country outside the United States.

Probably.

Yeah. And I think what is at the heart of this question, obviously this isn't really a biblical question, it is more of an ethical question. So if a church wants to use some land to put on a church program—let's say they're doing a concert outdoors or something like that, doing music, maybe even a VBS that invites kids in from the local neighborhoods—and there's a group that has political ties that is saying, well, give us some money and we'll help make this happen. They're kind of asking, is this okay? It depends. There's so many things it depends on. What is the political party that's asking for money? Are they something that goes completely against biblical principles? In other words, is their platform, their motives, are they ungodly? Well, you know, if I were a pastor and I were looking to rent or use property for an outreach program, and it was owned by a group that I knew was unbiblical and did unbiblical things, and they said, well, it's gonna cost you X amount of dollars, I would probably go look for another piece of property. I would say, yeah, not interested. If they were willing to let me use it for free, that's different. But I do think that there's an ethical element that comes into play when churches or even Christians, you know, give money to a group that they know is completely contrary to biblical principles. Now, having said that, it's very difficult to live in the world that we live in today without doing some of that. You have to kind of pick your battles, you know, and decide what exactly is the deal here. And if the church is going to put on a program, and let's say the property is owned or controlled by an organization that is contrary to biblical principles and does unbiblical things, a church would need to be very cautious about that because they might be seen in the community to be aligned with that organization, right? In other words, if here in the United States, if I asked the local Mormon Church if they owned a big plot of land and I said, hey, we want to do a Christian concert on your property, would you let us do that? I probably wouldn't do that, even if it was for free, because I would be concerned that people would connect my church with the Mormon Church and say, well, obviously they don't see any problem here between Mormonism and biblical Christianity. Well, there is a problem. There's a big problem, and I have to be very careful about that connection, right? If it's a political group, same thing. I got to be careful.

Yeah, I think more likely in a lot of countries, the government has spaces that they watch over, and as a favor to individuals, someone is put in charge as an overseer of that space. And it's very common for a bribe to be, it's like, oh, you want to use this space? Yeah, we could do that for, you know, whatever. It's just, this is just how the world works in a lot of areas. So it's not, I think some of this isn't necessarily like even seen as a political party. It's just like, you got to get through the guy. You got to do some favor for this guy who has the keys to that kingdom.

You got to jump through the hoops.

Yeah, you got to jump through the hoops. And so, what are the ethics of, like, jumping through hoops that are just put in front of you?

Well, it depends on whose hoops I'm jumping through or being asked to jump through. That's what it would come down for me anyway.

Sure.

Because I'm not going to, you know, give that money to somebody who I think is going to abuse it and has an agenda contrary to my faith. So once again, it comes down to walking in the Spirit.

Yep.

Praying it through.

Yep.

Seeing how the Lord would lead you in that case.

Yep, absolutely. Lynn says,

Yeah, I know it's challenging. When Jesus returns and the Battle of Armageddon ensues, and then after that battle, the Millennial Kingdom begins, there will be people on the earth who will have survived the Great Tribulation that never had come to Christ in the first place, but came to Christ either during the Tribulation and survived, or came to Christ obviously once He returned, right? And they are mortal. And so just because Jesus is there and on the throne doesn't change the fact that they were mortal when He returned, and they're going to stay that way, yes, until they die. They will die. And then they will be raised for the final white throne judgment, apparently. I mean, that's what we assume. But yeah, everybody is going to die, you know, at one point or another. Except for the believers who are on the earth when Jesus returns. They will simply be transformed. But yeah, even though it's hard to understand, hard to grasp, that is the case.

Alright. A YouTube viewer asked you,

Well, you know, the Bible gives us some guidelines about being married to an unbeliever. We're told to be devoted to that marriage if the unbeliever wishes to stay. The believer is to stay in the marriage. If the unbeliever says, I'm out of here, and Paul says in that case, the believer is not bound. So if just because your wife or husband is an unbeliever, you're in the marriage, right? And so you stay in the marriage, and you be faithful in the marriage. If a man has a wife who refuses to submit, and that's understandable. Now, he doesn't say if she's refusing to submit because she's an unbeliever, or maybe she's a Christian who refuses to submit.

Stubborn.

Yeah, stubborn. It could go either way. Then a man needs to pray for his wife, love her, and exhort her, and help her to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus. If she's an unbeliever and refuses to submit, which kind of makes sense, because as unbelievers, unbelievers typically don't understand the whole concept of biblical submission anyway, and they typically reject it. Then, you know, you pray for your wife. Your biggest problem is not getting your wife to submit. Your biggest problem is getting your wife saved. And so I personally wouldn't address the issue from a submission standpoint. I would address it from a salvation standpoint, and I would be praying for my wife to come to faith in Jesus Christ. And I would have to kind of put up with the fact that she's unwilling to submit to my leadership because she's unwilling to submit to the Lord. And so this is a matter for prayer, you know. With man, this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible.

Amen. That's our hope. Here's another YouTube question. "Hi, Pastor Paul. In Genesis 38, 11, Judah tells Tamar to remain a widow until Selah, my son, grows up. Does this mean that Selah was younger than Tamar, and does this tell us that age gaps aren't a big deal in relationships, especially if the woman is older than the man?"

Yeah, he was much younger. He was a boy. She had already been married to one of Judah's sons, who the Lord put to death. And she came back to Judah because she was looking for him to make good on what will eventually be referred to as the Leverite Law, where a brother marries his brother's widow and has children for him. That wasn't codified until much later, but obviously there was a concept of it, even at this point. And so Judah promised Tamar, his young son... I don't think he had any intention.

No.

In fact, the Bible says that. He was just kicking the can down the road.

He was kicking the can down the road, just kind of, yeah, let's get some time here. And he even told Tamar, go back and live in your father's house as a widow. And then when my son comes to age, which is marrying age, then I'll give, you know, you two can be married, da-da-da-da-da. So yes, the young son was much, much younger than Tamar. Now, does this tell us that age gaps aren't a big deal? No, because this is a narrative. This is not teaching. The Bible doesn't reference age gaps in relationships. Let me say this. In biblical times, it was quite common for older men to marry younger women. And it was just the way things were done, you know. We think that Joseph probably was quite a bit older than Mary. Because by the time Jesus' ministry came along, we hear nothing of Joseph. He's not even in the story, which tells us he passed away. He was probably maybe 10 to 20 years older than Mary. Age gaps were common, but the Bible never says this is good or this is bad. That's not a comment the Bible makes.

Right. And I think that's a real key to answering this question. When she says, does this tell us that? That is never a question we should ask, and when we're reading specifically the Old Testament narratives.

Right.

Because again, we said it before, the Bible narrates what actually happened. It is not giving moral judgments or anything on it. It's just, this is what happened.

Right. Right. And often, very often, narratives are very bad and very evil even. So yeah.

Alright. He said,

Well, there's the altar coming up again in a question. The Bible doesn't say anything. You know, different groups, different cultures, different generations have come up with their own traditions about what constitutes a true marriage. Some people believe that a true marriage is made with a marriage license. Some people say you've got to be married in a church. I've had people say that to me.

Sure. Yeah.

Or you must be married by a pastor. You must be married by a pastor, an ordained pastor. None of that is in the Bible. The Bible tells us that God created marriage, that he oversees marriage, that it is the Lord who makes them one, one flesh when they come together in marriage. But the Bible does not tell us how to conduct a marriage ceremony. Altar? No. There's nothing in the Bible about being married at the altar. There's nothing about being married in a church, nothing about who officiates. You know, we have some narratives, and we just got done saying we don't turn narratives into doctrine, but narratives are interesting by telling us things that we might not have known otherwise, such as when Isaac's wife was brought to him, the Bible simply says he took her into his mother's tent and she became his wife.

Yeah.

That's it.

Yeah.

They didn't have a party. I mean, well, we're not told.

Yeah. Now, when Jesus came along, marriages were still fairly simple, but the reception part of it, the celebration part of it had grown to this week-long event, you know. But none of that is in the Bible as far as, do it this way. We have examples, but yeah. So go ahead.

As people, our cultures, we create a structure for marriage.

Yeah, we do.

All across the world, different people create structures. And it's not a bad thing to follow the structure of your culture. It's just not necessarily biblical or in the Bible.

If you're going to follow a cultural structure for marriage, call it what it is. This is demanded by my culture, not by the Bible. God does not demand this. My parents are demanding this, or you know what I'm saying? Or the culture is demanding. There are countries, there are nations that still have bride prices, that still, you know, people have to have money that passes hands for a marriage to take place. Obviously, that doesn't happen here in the United States and in many other Western countries, but different cultures have different rules. As long as we say it's cultural, not biblical, I'm fine. You can come up with any rules you want.

Sure. Yeah, sounds good. And that is our last question.

Oh, is it really?

Yep. That's it.

Wow, those went pretty quickly.

Yeah.

Well, good questions that you sent in this time. Some very good, interesting food for thought. If you have some more, the best way to send in your question is through email. Questions at lifebibleministry.com. You can also comment on a YouTube video. We'll do our best to find that. We don't always find those. Sometimes they get lost in, you know, in the shuffle. But so email is definitely the best, and we'll do this again. Sue and I are about to take a little time on the road, so we probably won't have a Q&A for a few weeks, but we'll be back in a while. And until then, may the Lord richly bless you.

Bye-bye.