Would God Ever Tell Us to Do Something that Contradicts the Bible?

Would God ever tell us to do something that contradicts the Bible? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of Core Christianity. Well, hi, I'm Bill Meyer, along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and this is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. We would love to hear from you and our phone lines will be open for the next 25 minutes or so. You can call us with your question right now. At 833-THE-CORE. That's 1-833-843-2673. Now, you can also post your question on one of our social media sites. You can log on to YouTube right now and watch Adriel live in the studio in San Diego. And of course, you can always email us your question at questionsatcorechristianity.com.

First up today, let's go to a voicemail from one of our listeners named Sandy. I'm a Christian believer. I have strong faith, been a Christian all my life. And I have people asking me or telling me, oh, the Bible is not right.

It's outdated. There's flaws. And when they say there's flaws, I say, show me. And then I have someone tell me, well, we're using the King James Version. You know, how do we know that unless we can actually read the original scrolls or Bible that was in Hebrew that we have no clue if this Bible is correct? To me, it is through faith and my love of God.

I believe it to be true. But what do you say to those people? How do you, you know, answer their questions? I don't know what to do. Thank you so much.

Love listening to your program. Sandy, I love what you say when people bring this up to you. You say, show me. Because I think a lot of times people will, you know, say, well, the Bible is outdated. It's not relevant or it has errors. And they're just repeating something that they've heard. It's not that they've actually really studied the Bible. Maybe some of them have, but so often what I've found is these are just individuals who are making these claims but who actually couldn't point you to any clear contradictions or maybe they're just not understanding the text of Scripture well.

And so I think it's good to ask those kinds of follow-up questions. The fact of the matter is, and we know as those who study the Scripture and read it, I mean, just think of your own life personally as you've read the Bible, how much it's helped you. I can't begin to express, you know, as I've studied Scripture throughout my life, how relevant it is. You're reading the Old Testament, the New Testament, and yet still by the Spirit of God, God's Spirit speaks to us through His Word, sanctifying us, strengthening us in our faith. And this is why the Apostle Paul could say in 2 Timothy 3 verse 16, All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

And so I think we ask that follow-up question. We can point to the wonderful things that we see in Scripture that I think reveal that it is divinely inspired. Think of the prophetic evidence, for example, the prophecies that have come true. God says in Isaiah 46 verses 9 and 10, I am God and there is no other. I am God and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times, things that are not yet done. And so God says, look, this is how you're going to know that I'm the true and the living God. My word is true.

I'm going to tell you what happens before it happens. And so there are a number of things that we can point to, but ultimately it's the work of the Holy Spirit in an individual's life, opening their eyes and giving them understanding in the Scriptures. And so you pray for your friends and pray that the Lord gives you good opportunities to get to have these discussions and hopefully to search the Scriptures together.

God bless you, Sandy. That's some great counsel, Adriel. I think sometimes we feel like it's our responsibility, like we have to convince people, we have to persuade them. And yet, as you said, it's the Holy Spirit's work in their life that makes them open, opens their eyes, opens their ears to the truth of God's word. Yeah, it's that piece that's so important. Otherwise we might feel like the burden is totally on us, you know, my persuasive skills.

And if this person isn't understanding, well, it must just be my fault. No, I mean, we are called to be bold and I think to understand what we believe, the reasons we believe it, to be able to make a case, I think that's really good for all of us as Christians. But it is the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of an individual, giving them eyes to see the grace of Christ and the truth of Scripture.

Amen. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. We would love to hear from you. Maybe you've got a question about doctrine or theology.

Maybe you've got some doubts about the Christian faith or you practice some other religion and you're really confused about some of the claims that Christianity has made. We would love to hear from you. We're open to any questions today. 833-THE-CORE is the number. That's 1-833-843-2673. You can also leave a voicemail at that number 24 hours a day. And here's a voicemail from one of our listeners named Jasmine. Hi there. Thank you for your show.

I really do enjoy listening to it and it really gets me thinking. I was talking to somebody in my church. She was telling me about when she met her husband who's not a Christian. And I've always believed that the Bible tells us not to marry someone who's not a Christian and she believed that as well. She didn't want to marry this person who's not a Christian.

But God brought them together and they got married. I guess my question is, do you think that God would ever ask you to do something that is outside of scripture? Because I know that there was a prophet and he got told to marry a prostitute. So I don't know if God asks you to do things like that. I kind of just want to know your opinion on that.

Thanks again and God bless. Hey Jasmine, what an excellent question. Does God ever tell us, maybe as individuals, yeah, I know this is what the word says, but does God ever speak to us individually in a way that would contradict his law? And I would say that the answer to that is no. God does not contradict his word and he doesn't give us as individuals a free pass to disobey his word. Now that doesn't mean, I've heard many stories, sounds like this is maybe the situation with your friend where they're in a relationship. Clearly scripture says that we should not marry someone who's outside of the faith. But I've heard stories where this happens and that doesn't make it right. But then in time this person came to believe and I think praise God for that in his providence.

That's how things worked out. But the fact of the matter is that the Bible is very clear about the fact that when a believer marries, they ought to marry, should marry, are required to marry in the Lord. That is somebody who believes in Jesus, who is a part of a church. And where that, the most important thing, faith in Christ, is something that the couple shares. This is seen in 1 Corinthians. It's also very clear in 2 Corinthians where Paul talks about not being unequally yoked with non-believers.

And so this is something that's just very clear in scripture. And my concern is, you know, sometimes we can really want something. And usually I think this is true in the context of relationships.

Maybe we really want to be with someone, we're attracted to them. But we know that they don't have faith in Christ. And so we're looking for a justification.

Well, how can I make this happen? Or maybe, I've seen this a lot of times, you know, individuals say, well, they go to church. They were baptized or they used to go to church. But they really don't understand the gospel or have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. And so we want to oftentimes, I think, justify our behavior when we're going against God's word.

And we have to be careful that we don't do that. We want to submit to what God's law says and realize that God is not going to contradict himself. Now, God is, in his sovereign providence, able to make all things work together for the good of those who are called according to his purpose, those who love him and are called according to his purpose, even our own failures and sinful decisions.

But that doesn't justify those decisions. And so I appreciate your question. I just think we all need to be on guard against thinking that God is going to give us a free pass to do something that's not laid out in his word.

It goes against his word specifically. May the Lord bless you. And I hope that the Lord does bless your friend as well, that this person that she is with comes to faith in Christ and that they are on the same page eventually with regard to that. Thank you. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez.

Let's go back to the phones at 833-THE-CORE. We've got Calvin on the line from Iowa. Calvin, what's your question for Adriel? Yes.

Thank you for your show, first of all. I was just curious, I mean, what do you think happens to our soul when we're waiting for Christ to return? You know, they always say at funerals that we're in heaven now, we're with our loved ones, but what's our soul, where is it at when we die?

Excellent question, brother. Well, the souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness, and they immediately pass into glory. They're in the presence, you're in the presence of Jesus Christ. Our bodies go down into the ground where they experience decay, but we're still, there's still a part of who we are, and so that's why we have the hope of the resurrection. So we call this the intermediate state. We die, our bodies go down into the ground, our souls are in the presence of the Lord, worshipping him, perfected in holiness, joy, bliss, together with the saints, together with the angels, waiting for the final day, the restoration of all things, the resurrection of our bodies and the ushering in of what the Bible calls the new creation.

Now, the evidence for this is all over the place. I mean, you think of Jesus' statement to the thief on the cross, today you're going to be with me in paradise, or Paul's discussion with the Philippians in Philippians chapter 1, where he was talking about his death and he said he wanted to depart and be with Christ because that was far better than anything else. In other words, he saw his death, which was right around the corner as being the doorway, if you will, to his soul going to be with Jesus, and that's precisely what he says in 2 Corinthians chapter 5. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

And so, Calvin, if you are in Christ, if you belong to Jesus, we have the hope of the resurrection, but before the resurrection of the dead, we also have the hope of being with Jesus in heaven, perfected in holiness, worshipping him with joy and celebration, and that's what the Bible teaches. God bless. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. We get a lot of tough questions on this program, and we actually have put together a wonderful resource that answers many of those tough questions that our listeners have asked, and we think will help you answer some tough questions maybe from somebody in your life who is not a believer, an agnostic, or an atheist, or maybe one of your children has some tough questions. We'd love to get this new resource into your hands. It's called Tough Questions Answered by Doug Powell, and it's a short booklet about 50 pages long. I mean, this is something you could read over the weekend or maybe even in an afternoon, but we focus on some of the tough questions that people do have regarding things like world religions, science.

I mean, the questions that people are asking today, we want to help equip you as you talk with friends, have conversations with skeptics, or even just wrestle through these questions on your own. And so get ahold of this resource for a donation of any amount. Give what you can over at corechristianity.com. Love to get this in your hands.

Maybe you could work it out this weekend, or maybe it'd be something your small group could go through this fall in a Sunday school class. Here is the web address again. It's corechristianity.com forward slash offers. Again, corechristianity.com forward slash offers and look for tough questions answered.

Let's go back to the phones at 833 The Core. We've got Micah on the line from Sparta, Illinois. Micah, what's your question for Adriel? Yes, I was studying through Judges Chapter 6 for a lesson I was teaching, and I was going through the story of Gideon, and it said when the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, and a lot of the commentaries that I was reading and even a sermon that I had heard were saying that that was Jesus appearing in the Old Testament, but I couldn't find any evidence for that in the actual scripture. I was wondering if I was missing something, or just what are your thoughts on that?

Excellent question. The angel of the Lord is this figure, this individual that appears throughout the Old Testament, but what's so interesting about the angel of the Lord is he's often identified with Yahweh the Lord himself. There are many who say that this is a pre-incarnate appearance, if you will, of the Word, the eternal Son of God. I think that there's evidence for that, just because you do have this very close association between the angel of the Lord and the Lord.

It's interesting because there seems to be a distinction in some places, but then also an identification in other places. This is one of the reasons why many commentators, Michael, will say this is the Lord. This is the Word coming to the people of God.

Again, you see this in different places. You see this throughout the book of Genesis. The first time where you have the appearance specifically of the angel of the Lord is where you have that situation where Abraham's servant girl, who he had a child with, is on the run.

The angel of the Lord appears to her, extending to her these promises. You see this figure throughout the Old Testament. I do personally think that there's a strong case to be made that this is Christ. This is the Word there in the Old Testament appearing. This is also, just when you think about it, it helps us to understand. When the New Testament talks about the fact that Christ is everywhere in Scripture, Jesus saying that Moses wrote about Him is some of the places, I think, mysteriously where we can see the presence of the Lord with His people.

I think if you go that direction, I think that there's a good case to be made throughout the Old Testament for identifying the angel of the Lord with the second person of the Holy Trinity. Thanks, Micah. Hey, Micah. Thanks so much for listening to Core Christianity. We really do appreciate you. Let's go to Chad in Mankato, Minnesota.

Chad, what's your question for Adriel? Yes, hi. I hope you can hear me. So, God bless you for being able to take my call. One of the things about struggling with faith is I stepped away from the church a little bit because some people hurt me.

And then I stepped back. My question comes to, what do you say to find faith when you step away from the church and the devil disciplines you, but through a Christian life you have struggles? But then when you do turn to the Lord, the devil tempts you.

So either way, you're frustrated and you have a terrible situation. How do you come to grist and find strength in faith? You know, Peter says that the evil one goes around like a roaring lion seeking to devour us. And I think when we're outside of the fellowship of the church, outside of the ordinary operations of where God is speaking to his people, under the preaching of the word, together with other believers being cared for, watched over by hopefully good pastors and elders who are called and qualified in the local church, we put ourselves in a very vulnerable situation. And so there are some people who are just outside of fellowship with the church because they've chosen to be.

And I know I'm speaking to some of you right now as you're listening to this broadcast. You're interested in the Christian faith or maybe you would identify as a Christian, but you're not a part of a church. A lot of times I think today people just have a low view of the church and they think, well, I accepted Jesus into my heart.

I have a personal relationship with him. I don't need other believers. But that's just not true. We are a part of the body of Christ and we need each other, especially in that spiritual fight that we're in. Think about what the Apostle Paul says in Ephesians chapter 6, taking up the armor of God and praying for each other because we desperately need that protection that is found within the body of Christ. And in the body of Christ we still experience those temptations, those struggles as you know, brother, but we have the reinforcements of the family of God and we have the word of God hopefully that's washing over us week in and week out, helping us to stand firm as Paul says in Ephesians chapter 6. And so I would say it's not like, hey, if I'm in the church things are bad and if I'm outside of the church things are bad. No, if we're outside of the church we're putting ourselves in a very vulnerable position in the spiritual fight that we're all in.

We're making ourselves susceptible to the attacks of the evil when we're not being washed by the water of the word like we need to be. And so I would just encourage you in saying, hey, you're going to experience those attacks from Satan, those struggles even as a part of the body of Christ, but it's there that we're reminded of the promises of the gospel. It's there that hopefully other believers can encourage us and come alongside of us and it sounds like for you you've had some difficult experiences where you were hurt by the church.

I'm not entirely sure what the situation was, but one, I'm sorry about that. It's just a tragic thing that we see over and over again, but that's not, I think, an excuse for us to not get plugged into solid churches. If you were hurt by a church that has issues and is abusive and doesn't have good leadership structure, well then, yeah, maybe that's not the church that you should be in, but be in a church where the word of God is faithfully taught, where there's accountability and where your soul is going to be cared for because Jesus is present there and he wants you there too. God bless. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. After our live program finishes up today, we're going to be recording a second episode of Core Christianity, so if you haven't had a chance to call in in the next last 20 minutes or so, you can still give us a call with your question. In fact, you can call us for the next 35 minutes or so at this number, 1-833-843-2673.

That's 833-THE-CORE. You can call us up until about 1230 Pacific time, or I'm sorry, 12, yeah, that's right. Get my time zones right there. Let's go back to the phones, and Mary is on the line from Missouri, which is in the central time zone, I'm pretty sure. Mary, how are you?

Fine, thanks. Glad to talk to you. Thanks for giving us a call, Mary.

What's your question? In Leviticus 23, there's seven feasts, and it was written, you know, like, I guess 3500 years ago, but then Jesus came after 1500 years, and there were the feasts of Passover, unleavened bread, firstfruits, and then Pentecost, and Jesus just fell right in and fulfilled those first four feasts, and then the spring feasts were separated from the fall feasts, and so the fall feasts have not been fulfilled yet, but do you think this is a good way to share with people who are not sure that the Bible's true, you know, to explain to them that, you know, God was working 1500 years ago giving us a plan for the ages, but we didn't know it, but now we can look at it and see that, and the first fall feast is the Feast of Trumpets. Mary, thank you for, well, one, I just appreciate your approach. You know, is this a good way to help people see that the Bible is true?

We were answering a question very similar to that earlier. You know, how can we support the, I mean, what the scriptures say, but help others to understand that this is God's very word, and so Leviticus 23, there are a number of actually places in Leviticus that we could go to demonstrate, I think, that just the unity of scripture. I'm thinking of the Day of Atonement, for example, also back in Leviticus 16 or 17, where you have just this moment of the cleansing of the nation and this picture of guilt being removed through this sacrificial animal. Well, that's a beautiful picture of the Gospel, so I do think we can go to places like the Book of Leviticus and specifically Leviticus 23 and highlight how all of these things point us forward to Christ and his redemptive work, and so, yeah, in a real sense, I think what we can do, it requires, I think, a little bit of background because, you know, people typically don't have, especially if they're outside of the church, this context for all of scripture, but as they learn the story of God and as they see these things and then are able to see how it all sort of fits together, it's just this beautiful tapestry of redemption and how over thousands of years God has given us his revelation, but there's this unifying theme or purpose centering on Jesus.

I mean, I do think that that is remarkable, and I think it's something that should cause people to say, wow, yeah, this isn't just another human book. And with regard to the feast that you were talking about, I mean, the apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5 verse 7, cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump as you really are unleavened, for Christ our Passover Lamb has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

In other words, Jesus is the fulfillment of the Passover feast and not just that feast but all of them because Paul says in Colossians chapter 2 verse 16, let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. And so we have the substance now, and we can point that out to people and encourage them to fix their eyes on Jesus, and that's precisely where the scriptures point us, is on Christ and his redemptive work, and so may the Lord bless you as you continue to look to Christ through scripture and in your own life.

Thanks for your question. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adrian Sanchez. We do have a YouTube channel, and here's a question from Leticia, who's watching us on YouTube, and she says, can you help me understand the gift of tongues? Is it biblical what many churches are practicing today?

Well, Leticia, I have about one minute, 60 seconds to answer this question. I can't speak for every church. I know my position is that that gift was given specifically for a purpose, those miraculous gifts, in the first century, really helping to get the gospel out, specifically those sign gifts, those miraculous gifts. And so I think a lot of what you see in churches today, you can't really justify if you read 1 Corinthians, chapter 14, where it talks about how the gift was used in the days of the apostles, where there's an interpreter there, and there's someone who speaks in tongues, and then there's an interpretation given so that everybody can praise God. That doesn't really happen, I think, in many churches. I've never seen that happen, and I've been a part of many different kinds of churches, and so we want to be cautious, and ultimately we want to go to the scriptures and let the scriptures guide us and guide our worship. So important.

God has a lot to say about worship, and so we want to make sure that whatever we're doing in church, we can justify on the basis of Holy Scripture. And so God bless you, Leticia. Thanks for calling. Thanks for listening to CORE Christianity. To request your copy of today's special offer, visit us at corechristianity.com and click on offers in the menu bar, or call us at 1-833-843-2673. That's 833, the CORE. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this program, and be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's Word together. .