Bible Q&A • Episode 61

It's okay when you're talking to a Jehovah's Witness who is wrong about pretty much everything, right, to simply say on this point, well, that's a, that's a good question, and I'm not really sure how to answer that. Hi everybody, it's good to have you join us again for a Bible Q&A. I'm Pastor Paul. I'm here with my wife Sue, and we're gonna do our best to answer some of your questions And try to give some clarity.

All right. Well, let's start with Sandy. I actually have a sister named Sandy.

Yeah, you do.

I've been following your channel since 2023. It has been wonderful. How do you explain truly forgiving someone while genuinely wanting God's wrath to happen to them for hurting you intentionally and deeply for no reason?

Wow. Typically, I would see those things as mutually exclusive. To, to desire God's wrath in a person's life seems to me to kind of be the opposite of releasing that person in forgiveness. Now, if they've committed, you know, if they've committed a sin against God, and obviously they have if they've done something against you, and even if they've committed a sin against the state, meaning they've done something illegal.

Right.

That's something that we as believers can leave in the hands of God or the state, you know.

Yeah.

If, if I, I can trust that if, if someone did something to really hurt me badly, me or my family, I can release that person from the personal debt that they owe me, right? And I can say, Lord, that person's in your hands. I forgive them. I choose to release the debt. And that's what forgiveness means.

Right.

But, Lord, I trust that, you know, you're going to— you're going to do whatever you do. You are the judge of all the earth. And if you forgive or if you punish, that's your business. Right. And it's the same thing, really. If someone has committed a crime against the state, we can leave that in the state's hands. and just say, hey, what they did was illegal. That's not against me. That's against the state, the laws of the state. So I'm going to leave that in the state's hands to deal with, and I'm going to personally choose to release that person in forgiveness.

Yeah, I think that's a good explanation.

Okay.

Next question is from Hudson. How do you find the balance between legalism and grace when it comes to restraining sin?

Yeah.

I try to rely on God's grace but find myself falling into sin. Why do rules seem to work better? That's a good question. Yeah, and they, they seem to, and they do.

Here, here, here's the deal. We need to understand that legalism is, is something that we want to try to avoid when it comes to our understanding of how we are saved.

Sure.

Okay, we want to avoid legalism at all costs because we're not saved through legalistic means. We're saved by grace through faith. Now, what, what I think this person Hudson is trying to do is apply that same principle to everyday life and to withholding or holding back or restraining sin.

Yeah.

The natural sins that, that come into our lives. There's a place for legalism and rules when it comes to sin. Because, you know, we've mentioned many times on this podcast that when we sin, we create ruts in our lives. We talked about this last week, and those ruts are very difficult to get out of.

Right.

And, and they become impressions in our lives that become our go-to response, our sinful go-to response. And they— when they become habitual, it's very, very challenging to break those sinful habits. And sometimes rules, frankly, can really be useful in starving that impetus to sin. So, don't think that rules are necessarily a bad thing all the time.

Rules don't equal legalism.

Not necessarily, because again, legalism is more along the lines of wanting to be acceptable to God by what I do. Right, right. Or don't do. Now, having said this, having said that rules can have a place, they're not gonna— rules can't change your heart ultimately.

Yeah.

Okay. I can't create a rule that is going to change the, the inner man, the, the sinful nature. Rules will not dominate my sinful nature. Yeah. So I ha— I cannot rely exclusively on rules. Rules can help me for a period of time to get out of a rut. They can help me to, again, like we say, starve that sinful pattern, that sinful habitual pattern.

Yeah.

Okay, but ultimately, I've got to cry out to God, and I have to say, strengthen me, give me a heart that longs to be obedient to you, and transform my mind.

Yeah.

You know, I want to change the way I think about these things. I want to change the way I react. We talked last week about what it takes to get out of those ruts. And if somebody's interested, they can go back to the previous episode and get some of those particular tips. But I'm not trying to say that grace isn't necessary, because God gives us grace to overcome sin and, and that sort of thing. But rules can have a place to give you a kickstart, you know.

Rules can have a place to help avoid the temptations.

Yeah, they can.

You know, if we want to make it very simplistic, if drunkenness is what you are trying to avoid, the rule of your life that I just, I don't drink, that's going to reduce the temptation along that path.

You know, the Bible tells us to make no provision for the sinful nature, for the flesh. And what that means is don't give the flesh an easy road to travel. Make it hard, make it difficult. Those are the things you, you, you bring about, frankly, through creating rules that are going to help.

Yeah.

You know, so make no provision for the flesh. And, and, and but while you're doing that, make sure that you're praying every single day and using the Word of God, you know, in your prayers and, and in your crying out to, to appeal to the Lord to bring strength into your life increasingly day by day. that you can have victory over sin.

Yeah, yeah, good. Dakota says, I've been having an ongoing conversation with a Jehovah's Witness friend about war. He believes there's no New Testament command or authorization to go to war and cites several passages which he says proves Christians should not go to war. Yeah, apparently JWs actively tell their people not to go to war, and they believe that makes them the true Christian religion. I'm really not sure how to respond in this case.

Yeah, responding to a Jehovah's Witness can be hard. I'll just say that for this person. But I think it's okay to respond in this situation by saying, those are tough questions, and I'm not really sure except to say that somebody just really needs to pray through some of those issues and seek the Lord's wisdom and will for their life in their country and for the issues that are going on at that time. I don't think it has to be an issue that makes one religious expression the true religion of the world, like the Jehovah's Witnesses like to kind of say. It's okay. It's okay when you're talking to a Jehovah's Witness who is wrong about pretty much everything, right?

Sure.

To simply say, on this point, well, that's a That's a good question, and I'm not really sure how to answer that because, see, this isn't really a doctrinal issue.

Sure, and you start off saying it's difficult to respond to Jehovah's Witnesses. For one thing, they have a different Bible.

They have a very different Bible.

And I've learned that personally in my driveway by trying to witness to them, opening their Bible to—

And reading a verse that you saw.

And reading a verse, I'm like, well, this isn't helpful at all.

Because they changed it.

Because they changed it.

Yeah, that's right. That's right. So it's okay, I think, in this particular situation for this person to say, you know, that's a tough question, and you might have a point there.

Sure.

It's okay to even concede a point to a Jehovah's Witness when it's not a life-and-death doctrinal issue.

That is really good advice.

And that's the way I would kind of leave it.

Yep.

Good.

Okay, Tristan says, is laziness a sin? I know multiple times throughout the Bible it tells us to train our body, and too much of that can become idolatry. but I can't find anywhere where it speaks of laziness as a sin.

Oh, dear.

Well, he, he probably needs to read Proverbs thoroughly.

Yeah, yeah, because laziness is addressed. Now, you got to understand, some translations may not use the word lazy, right? They're going to use the word sluggard, right? That's a very common word, particularly in the ESV, right? But, you know, um, translations like The New American Standard Bible and even the New King James use laziness or the lazy person. So I would encourage this person to do a study through Proverbs. In fact, go to our website, go to the Proverbs study that I went through, and you'll, you'll see a lot. You'll see a lot. Laziness is most definitely seen as a very negative thing in the Bible.

Well, throughout the Proverbs, it shows you the result of the sluggard compared to the diligent person.

Yes, exactly.

And it doesn't describe it as, don't do this, this is a sin. It basically says, here's the outcome of the choices.

That's exactly what it does. And it says laziness brings to poverty.

Yeah. Now, now this person is also though connecting the dots, which I also did in my recent Bible study called The Way of Wisdom.

Okay.

Connecting the dots here, he's saying, but too much of training, too much of not— what he's saying is too much diligence can lead to idolatry. And that is true.

Sure.

And so the virtue of diligence can lead us to be, you know, overachievers, workaholics, and that sort of thing. And that in itself needs to be tempered with contentment.

Yeah.

When is enough enough?

Yes.

And so it's a very— the Proverbs are a very interesting study in these virtues and how to Balance them.

Godliness with contentment is great gain.

Right. Yeah.

Yep.

Okay, uh, Janette says, I often attend Catholic funeral Masses for relatives and neighbors in my small town. During communion, I do not partake because of transubstantiation, so I stay seated. I'm concerned that this looks disrespectful to them and could harm my Christian witness to Catholic loved ones.

Is there a respectful way and biblical way For those who may not know, transubstantiation is the Roman Catholic teaching that during the serving of the Eucharist and a prayer that is said, made by the priest, that the elements turn literally into the body and blood of Jesus Christ. So this person is saying, because I don't believe in that, I don't participate. in the serving of the Eucharist during a Mass? And this person is talking about Masses during a funeral. Of course, they have Mass, you know, and serve the Eucharist—

Sometimes at weddings.

Whenever. Oh yeah, even at weddings as well. I've been to Catholic funerals. I've been to Catholic weddings. I've been to just a Catholic Mass, and I too did not participate when, when it came time for the Eucharist. And I think what this person needs to do is just realize, I'm not Roman Catholic. And because they're not Roman Catholic, the Roman Catholics don't expect you to get up and do that. I don't believe it is disrespectful to them. Yeah, they, they— if, if they know that you're a Protestant, you're, you're not Roman Catholic, they wouldn't want you to get up.

Sure.

And do that. So I think you should— you just stay in your seat. Just keep doing what you're doing and know that it's okay to keep doing what you're doing.

Yeah, that's good. Gloria says, someone was telling me that God looks at our faith and that if we start doubting, he won't answer our prayers. If I do not have enough faith, will God answer my prayers?

This is a really good example of a situation where someone takes a biblical passage and they come to a conclusion And they make a conclusionary statement based on that passage. The passage in question is in James chapter 1, verses 5 through 7, and this is what it says: If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. So James tells us that double-mindedness, which he goes on to call it, is a condition where I'm asking something, but I really don't believe that God is going to answer my prayer or give me what I'm asking. I'm just going through the motions of, of saying what I'm saying because for whatever reason, right? Maybe pressured to do it or whatever. James says that person shouldn't expect, you know, to receive anything, because the whole prayer was really kind of a sham. It was uttered in unbelief. That's what's being said. So, Gloria had someone tell her, and this is the way someone put it, you know, that God looks at your faith, and if you start doubting, you're not going to get an answer. Well, you know, that's a rather crude sort of a conclusion based on James chapter 1. I would, I would, first of all, I would say this to Gloria: whenever anyone says anything to you, ask them where in the Bible they got that. People gotta start doing that. That's gonna help a lot.

Mm-hmm.

And because if you can find the passage, you can read it for yourself, and you can see if that person correctly interpreted what was being said or if they kind of were a little off base about it. I think it can be dangerous to simply make a carte blanche sort of a generality to say, you know, if you ask in doubt, you'll never get an answer. God will never answer your prayers. Well, you know, there's a premise, there's a principle that James lays down here that is important to understand, that we need to ask in faith.

Right, right.

But to make a general cover-all rule that people love to do, I think is dangerous.

Yeah.

And I think you have to go back to the scripture and say, what does it say, and what was the intent of the author in saying what they said, right? Uh, the intent of the author was to say pray with faith. Pray with faith. Pray believing, right? That's the essence of it. We tend to focus on the negative aspects of statements in the Bible.

Yes, we do. Or we tend to focus— I feel like this person is encouraging her to take her focus and turn it inward to herself and say, how big is my tank of faith? It's all about me. It's all about how much faith I have. That is never a good idea. No, it's always best to be looking to the Lord and say, I know that even a crumb I know that even touching the hem of your garment, I know that you can do, even if you just speak it, you know, that looking at his ability is always the best way.

Jesus said faith the size of a mustard seed could move mountains.

Yeah. Okay, our next viewer said, can you explain how to know when someone is being oppressed by an unclean spirit versus a person just flushing out? Thank you in advance for your answer.

I, I always hesitate when people talk about being oppressed because I wonder if they mean possessed, and because those are 2 very different things. Oppression comes from without, possession comes from within.

Yeah.

And, um, so I'm not really sure how to answer the question based on that, the possibility of that. But what we're really talking about when there is a demonic spirit that is involved in someone's behavior.

Yeah.

That is determined through the discerning of spirits. It's a spiritual gift to be able to discern what's going on here. Is this the enemy or is the Lord involved in this? And discernment of spirits could come into play if someone was speaking, saying, I have a message from God, and the person who has the ability or gift discern spirits would say, no, that's not a message from God. That's a message from the enemy. The enemy prompted that. And it could also make a determination in a behavioral situation where someone is literally being harassed or even possessed by a demonic spirit. But that's a gift. That's a gift from the Lord. It's one of the It's one of the spiritual gifts that Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, the discerning of spirits, and that's how you know. It's not something you look for in their eyes or their words or their behavior. It's a spiritual directive— now, more than a directive, it's a spiritual insight that the Lord gives that we wouldn't know otherwise.

Right. In the same way, you and I have talked about, sometimes we wonder, is this drugs and alcohol speaking, or is this a demonic presence speaking? They can be difficult to figure out.

Well, they can be almost impossible to figure out, and the world has no concept of how to figure out the difference because, first of all, they've rejected the spiritual, and they've embraced the natural, and so everything has to have a natural explanation. You know, someone for, for what appears to be no reason at all kills someone else, and they have to say, well, that person was mentally ill.

Yeah.

Because again, that's the only natural explanation that they can find. You know, we know from the Bible that demonic spirits can and are involved in situations of people's very strange and very destructive behavior. And, and so But again, recognizing whether or not someone— it is an act of the flesh or an act that is being prompted by an unclean or demonic spirit is a spiritual gift.

Good. Jay says, hello, Pastor Paul and Mrs. Sue. Who is the restrainer mentioned in 2 Thessalonians 2:6-7?

Yeah, this is where Paul writes about how Um, the— there is a restraining force who is keeping back the, uh, appearance of essentially who we've known as the Antichrist, or, um, the Beast, if you will. This is where Paul is kind of talking about end-time stuff, apocalyptic things, and he says, um, that, that this person will be held back. The Antichrist will be held back until the restrainer is taken out of the way. And this has been a, a huge topic of debate for many, many years by Bible scholars and Bible students. Who's— who is the restrainer? Well, guess what? Paul doesn't say. So what we have to do is we have to put together clues from other passages in the Bible. As I've said many times, the best way to interpret the Bible is with the Bible. So, um, could the restrainer be the Holy Spirit himself? Sure, sure, could be, could be. Could the restraining force that holds back the Antichrist be the Spirit of God working in the church? Yeah, and we even have biblical reason to hold that view because Jesus told us that we were the, the salt of the earth. And we know that in his day, in early— those early ancient days, that salt was used as a preserving agent to hold back decay in like hunks of meat, right? Because they didn't have refrigeration. So salt was used to hinder the decay process. Well, the church is doing that.

Yeah.

As the salt of the earth, we are holding back the decay process in the world. So it could be the church. I have tended to believe or lean upon the idea that it is the church, and when the church is raptured, that's when the Antichrist will be revealed.

Sure.

Now, there are some who believe that this restraining force is some form of government, you know, and their laws that, that will supposedly be overthrown when the Antichrist comes to power? You know, again, it's, it's one of those biblical passages that doesn't— we're not given the specifics. Again, I personally believe that it's the church, the, the work of the Holy Spirit operating through believers in the world to hold back the decay process. But, uh, that is really kind of just my personal Okay. Yeah.

Our last question comes from Kevin, and he says, I often hear the words, the battle is in our mind. Does the devil know what's in our mind?

I can understand why Kevin is asking this question, because we're told in the Bible that our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against powers, principalities, rulers, and so forth of this dark age. However, when people say the battle is in our mind, I don't think that's what they're referring to.

Mm-hmm.

I think they're referring to just the thoughts of our mind are a battlefield, whether to think properly in a worldly way or to think in a biblical way. You know, the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Rome and said, you know, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed through the renewing of your mind. In other words, what Paul was saying is the battle is in your mind. There's a battleground that's going on there. And as human beings who've been raised in the world, we tend to think like the world. You know, the world teaches us how to think, how to literally respond, and so forth. And we have to relearn how to think based on—

God's Word.

the biblical concepts and this renewing of the mind that comes through the Word of God and the Holy Spirit getting a hold of our hearts as we take in the Word of God. So again, I don't think when people say the battle is in our mind, they're necessarily referring to Satan knowing our thoughts.

Yeah.

I don't— I think those 2 things are unrelated. And by the way, there is no biblical reason to believe that Satan knows our thoughts. There's nothing in the Bible that would suggest that Satan can hear you thinking, although a lot of people believe it and some people even teach it, but they teach it without biblical precedent because it's not there.

Yeah.

Okay. So first of all, I wouldn't worry about that. The other thing, the battle is in our mind. That's biblical. That's based out of Romans chapter 12 and, and there is truly a battlefield going on in the mind and the way we think, and we have to learn to rethink in a biblical way.

Sure. And I think of Colossians 2, set your mind on things above, not on things below, not of things of the earth.

Yeah, absolutely. That's an excellent passage as well.

Yeah.

So that's it, huh?

That is it.

Those are all our questions. Those are all the ones that we're going to cover, at least in this episode. I think we've had some good discussion and hopefully have given you some food for thought. Um, if you have any questions that you'd like to send in, you can email us at questions@lifebibleministry.com. And don't forget that on our website, on the homepage, you can ask questions and get an instant answer based on everything I've taught through the Bible. So that's something to consider as well. So until we're back with another episode and more of your questions, We hope you have a blessed week, and we'll see you soon.

Bye-bye.