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You can use promo code T-O-D-A-Y at checkout to get 10% off your next order. It's going to save you money and it's going to support all of us here at the Clearview Today show. So stay hydrated, stay healthy and without further ado, let's start the show. You're listening to Clearview Today with Dr. Abbadan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I'm Ryan Hill. I'm John Galantis and thank you for sticking with us throughout this week. We have got a great Friday episode with you.
Very, very excited. This is one of my favorite segments on the entire show. We've got a special guest right here in the studio in the Clearview Today studio. Friday episode, Friday lightning round questions with Dr. Questions who is also a PhD in New Testament textual criticism, also a professor at Carolina University, author, full-time pastor and host of today's show.
We've got to welcome him to the show. It's Dr. Questions here in the Clearview Today studio.
There should be a studio audience, but they're showing you disrespect today, by the way. I don't know what's going on. Well, I would say I think I'm better looking than Dr.
Questions. Or I messed it up. Than Dr. Shah. It's all right, we can take it one more time.
Sometimes even Dr. Questions makes mistakes. Yeah, I make mistakes.
I don't know, man. I think y'all are two pretty good looking dudes. Well, thank you.
It's hard to choose. Thank you. You're very suave, very put together and I got to say, man, I'm always digging the threads.
Yeah, the jacket is always fire. Always good. Thank you. Dr.
Questions. Today's verse of the day is coming to us from Micah chapter five and verse two. It says, but you Bethlehem Ephrata, though you were little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to me one to be ruler in Israel, whose comings and goings, whose goings forth are from of old from everlasting. Dr. Shah, you've been to Bethlehem.
I have several times. Bethlehem. Sorry, that was my southern coming out. Bethlehem.
You sounded like my mom. Bethlehem. Bethlehem. What was it like to walk through Bethlehem knowing that this is where the Savior was born? The first time I went to Bethlehem was in 2015 with Nicole. And for those of you who haven't gone, the way it works is your Israeli guide is going to tell you, hey, look, we have our partners in Bethlehem who will now take you from here. So I was like, oh, I thought he was going to go with us.
I kind of like this little report we've been building on. Yeah, because, you know, it feels safe. So I felt like something was not right.
And then the person said, no, no, no, this is how it works. I can't go in there being an Israeli because this is the West Bank. So somebody is coming and trust me, they're wonderful people. They'll take good care of you. We've been doing this for a long time.
Nothing ever happens. I just cannot go in there as an Israeli citizen. So I was like, okay, all right. And so there was a little bit of trepidation because, you know, you hear on the news so much about the West Bank. And then when you go in there, there are elements who are evil, who are hateful and who do horrible things. But the regular people are just glad to see you because you're bringing in money. And especially the Christians there, because when you go there, you go buy the gift shops, you go buy some of those specialty shops where they make olive wood artifacts and things like that. We actually have some right there on the shelf.
So they're happy to see us. So I wholeheartedly recommend people when you go to Israel, make sure you go buy Bethlehem. Don't skip Bethlehem. Don't skip Bethlehem. It's a great, great site.
It was really cool. When you went, did it feel as small and insignificant as it says that it is in Scripture? Or did it feel like that's kind of how God... Because to me, I was like, this is the site I'm looking forward to most. But in Scripture, they say, you know, it's the smallest... It's the little town of Bethlehem. Yeah, it's the smallest among Judah. But it's so cool that on this side of the cross, it will always be part of God's plan.
Yeah. And it's a principle that God uses small towns and small places to do some very, very big things. Great point. And we believe that right here in our own community in Henderson, which is a very small town, and Vance County is a very small county.
For those of you who do not know, Vance County was created by taking portions of Granville, Warren, and Franklin counties, and Vance County was created. There's a history behind it. Maybe some of the time, we'll cover that. We can get into that, yeah. But it's a very small county, and God is using us to touch the world from this little spot of ground.
You're right. And that's a great segue into our next segment, because our check-in is coming to us from right here in Vance County, from Henderson, North Carolina. Wonderful. John R... What do you think the R stands for?
Rutabaga. John Rutabaga says, hey, Dr. Shah, just wanted to say I caught the live stream of the sunrise service, and I absolutely loved it. Your message hit home, and the worship was so beautiful. Thanks for making it available online.
I'm going to make it a point to attend in person next year. Blessings, John Rutabaga. That's awesome. That is awesome.
You know, it's one of the things that... So for those of you who have never seen our sunrise service online, it's not here in the church. We actually go out into a field from... One of our church members who... Yes, one of our church members. ... are very generous and welcoming to us to come over into the backyard.
Yes, that's right. And they have these three enormous crosses, and we live stream out there in the field so that people can see it and see this beauty. We have drone shots. It's a great... We can actually link that sermon in the show notes of this. But it's so beautiful, and so much effort goes into it, and it's such a payoff, because all over town, and I think even now that we're on Pray.com, people are seeing this and saying, man, our church could do something like that.
We have the materials. It's not a stretch to call it breathtaking. Oh, it's great.
It is. And when you see people leaving, you can see it on their faces, how much they've been impacted by being outside in God's creation, and the sun comes up at just the right moment, and we talk about the risen Savior. It's a truly transformative service. Somebody texted me yesterday, and they said, I want to thank you for your Easter sunrise message. I have been studying the Adam and Eve story since you talked about it in Sunday. I keep thinking about forgiveness, and if they asked God for forgiveness, or if they even knew they could, we'll get that with you.
We'll get with you sometime to discuss. Just wanted to say how much your service meant to me. And this person does not go to Clearview, but they attend our sunrise service and other special services that we have here. But again, it goes to tell you people from all walks of life come. We had pastors there as well, and we welcome them, and we tell them, maybe get inspired and do it in your own community.
Do it. Absolutely. And we would support it. We would attend. It's really great to see pastors being inspired by things that are happening here at Clearview Church. And that's one of the markers for me to know that God is working here, is that people from other churches, from other walks of life, even from people who are not even in our state, now that we're able to do this online and have a further reach, are being impacted by this.
It's fantastic. It's worth it to take things like that above and beyond and pursue excellence. Because we could get out there in a field and put up a music stand, and you could deliver a message, and then we'll just call it a day. But we pursue excellence, because that's what God deserves.
God deserves our very best, so why not give him our very best? And in turn, people like John R. are impacted by it, because they see the livestream out there. I love it. Gentlemen, I got something for you guys. It's a new segment. We just started it here a little bit ago. It's called Hot Take. That was very much like kung fu fighting.
Oh yeah, everybody was kung fu fighting. This is where the opinions are spicy, truths are going to be unpopular, and someone, someone in this room is going to definitely lay down and die on the hill of their choosing. Ryan, speaking of hills, this is your week. This is your week, man. What is your hot take?
All right, hot take is this. We all love and appreciate superheroes and superhero kind of mythos in this room. One of the greatest superheroes in the history of comic books and superhero creation.
I already know what you're going to say, brother. Is the Green Lantern. But no one knows it, because no one has ever done the Green Lantern well in in film or television or media like that. No one has ever done it well. We have yet to see it.
The closest we've had is animation and nobody really. Okay, so I was gonna I was about to I was about to step to you there with you. You saved it there because I was gonna say the Justice League's Green Lantern is probably the quintessential Green Lantern. Oh, sure. Like the 90s animated.
Yes, yes, no problem. There was actually there was a Green Lantern animated series that followed the mythos of the Green Lantern Corps. Those of you don't know who Green Lantern is sort of intergalactic cop. And the mythology behind Green Lantern is so fascinating, because there's the spectrum of color, you know, what we think of as the rainbow, right? But each, each color represents a different emotion. And each emotion has a different core co rps of lanterns that are champions of that emotion. And the further you get like toward red or toward violet, they're a little bit more extreme.
But the more toward the middle like green, they're, they're kind of like representing law and order. And it's such a fascinating mythology, but no one has done it. Well, Dr. Questions being that you are in that jacket, I would assume you at least had some interaction with with the Green Lantern. I am the Phantom man.
So same thing. Yeah, the Phantom is a really cool superhero that nobody knows. Yeah, nobody, nobody knows it.
It's frustrating. Unfortunately, in this part of the world in America, it's other than people who are in their 60s 70s, they remember seeing it in their newspapers. But most people today have no idea. And there was a movie that came out, I believe in the late 90s, early 2000s, maybe late 90s, I think late 90s on Phantom and it's a great movie. But I was never exposed to the comics. But I watched that movie repeatedly because I watched it. It was so fascinating. I was like, I don't even know who this character is. I never saw and I grew up on comic books. But then when I met you, Dr. Shaw, you started talking about the Phantom is your favorite super house.
Like, wait a minute, wait a minute. Someone else knows who the Phantom is? Because no one else ever knew when I thought about it. Yeah, we have a different like we all three of us love comic books.
I think we all have different priorities because you definitely Dr. Shaw. Remember like the child like I'm sure Phantom was huge in India, like when you were growing up. Oh, yes. And Ryan, Ryan, wait, he dives way deep into mythos. Like Ryan's like real, real deep into all sorts of comic books. I'm more like, okay, I have my stories and I'm going to collect all those. So like, I've got the complete ultimate Spider-Man. I'm working on the complete ultimate Fantastic Four.
Like that's that's sort of my I'm not going to get super deep. But in my one thing, I'm going to have the complete set. Yeah, I thought for sure you were going to say what everything you said about Fantastic Four. Because I think they're finally getting their first good movie coming up.
I hope so. All the trailers look good. No one has done the Fantastic Four. Well, what did you but I hope this one changes my mind. David, if you will, if you'll pull up the Green Lantern from the new Superman trailer, I want Dr. Shaw to see this dude's haircut and tell me if he thinks he's cool. What did you think about?
I'm so angry. And I love so Nathan Fillion plays Green Lantern in the Superman. The new Superman movie that's coming out. But it's not the Superman that everybody knows. The most popular green light.
Nope, sorry. It's not the Green Lantern that everybody knows. The Green Lantern that everybody knows from comic books is Hal Jordan. Hal Jordan is the most popular Green Lantern from Earth. I always said Jon Stewart. So Jon Stewart is the most popular if you're a fan of the animated shows because he was the one who was introduced in Justice League. That one right there.
Get clicked that middle one on the second row. The least popular. The least popular is this guy, Guy Gardner, who is another Green Lantern of Earth, but he is the least popular one. There's four from Earth. Us with the hair. Yeah. It's straight out of the comics. He had this dopey bowl cut when he was introduced in the comics and they brought it for this movie. So he looks accurate, but why would you pick this one?
Not in 2025. Could you get into that, Dr. Shaw? Why would you pick this one? If you were the director of that movie. Depends on how good an actor he is and how much he really gets you into the story and gets you hooked and makes you loyal to that character.
If he can pull that off, I think it could work. But if you were the director, let's say you're directing this movie. Who is directing this? Zack Snyder? I think so. So if you're directing this movie and he shows up on set, do you at least call a time out and be like, hey guys, let's do a different wig.
Golly. Of all the choices you could have made, and again, Nathan Fillion is a great actor. Yeah, he's pretty good. Of all the choices for Green Lantern you could have made, you went with Guy Gardner.
Those of you who are Green Lantern fans out there, you understand what I'm saying. Pick anyone. Pick Kyle Rayner. Pick Jon Stewart. Why Guy Gardner?
The best superhero, of course, is Jesus Christ. There you go. Amen. That's it. So yeah, that's the purpose behind all these segments, man.
It's to draw the people in and see that there is a message here. And Dr. Shaw, we're going to get into that message right now because it's time for lightning round questions. Awesome. And now that I got my things back, lightning round questions.
Here we go. So here's how lightning round questions work. These are questions that Ryan and I have put together. They're very deep questions. They're personal questions, but they're questions that is sort of designed to be answered in a rapid fire. Hence, lightning round questions. All right, Dr. Shaw, first lightning round question.
I'm sorry, Dr. Questions, let me get my respect right. What is something that most people misunderstand about you? Wow, that's a great question. I think one thing they most misunderstand about me is how patriotic I am towards the United States.
And it's because of my Christian upbringing. Because when you grow up in a Christian home overseas, and you understand the foundation of America, and you look at your own nation and your own community, and you see why it does not work. I'm not saying that India doesn't work. A lot of good things there. But the blessings we have in this nation, they're not there. That's one reason why people are coming here in droves, whether some people come for bad reasons, and that's one reason they have to be sent back. But the good reasons when people come is because they see something so unique, there's no other country like the United States in the world. And so that's one thing I believe a lot of people don't know about me. I love the statement that you've made. You can tell the merit or the the worth of a country, whether people are trying to get into the country or people trying to get out. That's right. That's right.
The British Prime Minister who said that one time, yes. What's one experience in your life that changed you forever? There are many experiences, but there was one experience that helped me tremendously was when I met Nicole's dad. So this happened after Nicole and I were dating for about a month or so. And she said, you need to meet my dad.
I love the story. And I was like, oh, I don't know about that. And she said, no, if you want to date me, we have to do this. I said, okay. And she set up a time. And of course, I came and saw him through the cafeteria window from the outside. He was there.
They were going to eat lunch and I was going to come and eat lunch with them. But I saw him and he seemed like a tall person, a big person. So I was like, I don't know.
I don't want to go here and have this person try to intimidate me or try to show me that this is his daughter, you better or else or something. I just walked right in. I left. I checked out. Said Sia, I'm gone.
I'm just not going to. And then she called me up. She said, where are you? I said, I got so much things going on.
I've been busy, had this and that. I'll see you tonight. I said, yeah, that's great. But make sure I want you to meet my dad.
And this is very important to me. I said, okay. And then about a week or two later, he came back on campus because he had just come to town as the pastor of a church in the same town where the college was or near there. And of course he came and I had worked security all night. I was tired. I was exhausted. And about three o'clock, four o'clock or so, of course the phone rang or maybe even earlier. And she said, hey, he's going to be here in about 30, 40 minutes. Can you come?
I said, okay. I remember to this day, so vividly walking from my dorm and this was over summertime. So we were not in the typical dorm. We were in these homes, these missionary homes that were vacant over the summer. So we would stay there.
Those international students who had nowhere to go. And so I remember walking down that hill, it was sort of hot and I was a little bit off because I hadn't slept well all night. So I'm like walking down kind of like in a zone, walked up the hill, walked to the cottage, walked up the steps, and there he was.
And he stood up. I was like, oh my gosh. What's going through your mind right now? I'm like, okay. I'm like, get it over with. Whatever you want to say, because people say dumb things.
They do. Yeah. So I was like, just get it over with, whatever it is. And then he shook my hand. And in that one handshake, I knew that this man loved me, even though he never met me. That's incredible. And that is a powerful effect that transformed me, although I was saved already, but it really changed the trajectory of my life. Wow.
I love it. If you could go back and do your PhD in anything else, would you? I'm very happy with the PhD I did in New Testament textual criticism. And there are plans to go back and get another one. And I'm praying and planning on that right now because I have so many projects that I'm doing. I mean, I am supervising a PhD student right now. So that would be a lot of work that I'm supervising someone doing their doctoral program, and I'm doing one of myself.
Getting my second one. That would be tough. So maybe in a year's time, I am going to, and I would love to do it more towards the Septuagint. Because Septuagint is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament. I already know Greek. Right. Yeah, I can know a lot more, but that's already my field. And I love the Old Testament. So that would be wonderful that I can do something that I already have a love for and have some level of expertise.
So if a genie came to you and said, hey, you can go back and get your PhD in something else, you'd be like, no, thanks. I'll just get a second one. Yes. Yes. I'm not going to give up the New Testament textual criticism. Gotcha. That was a degree well worth it.
And the experience I had working with my mentor, Dr. Maurice Robinson, is something that I will cherish all my life. Amen. That would be exciting to change that intro. PhD in New Testament textual criticism and Septuagint study. Yeah. What would you be?
Would you be a double PhD? Yeah. Nice. Yeah.
Dr. Abaddon-Shallis, a double PhD. Yeah. Look at that.
Love it. When did you realize, this is a good one, when did you realize you can't please everyone? Oh, wow.
It was probably sometime after I had been at this church, or Nicole and I had been at this church for several years. I realized that some people are just not going to be pleased. And no matter what I do, whether it's much or less, or whether what I'm doing would make them happy, or it doesn't make them happy, they're just not very satisfied. Yeah. It's not that they are not satisfied in the sense that they are encouraging me to reach higher or do greater things, because that's different.
Right. My dad was like that. He would never tell me, oh, that's great, just you're good where you are. He would always say, well, you know, if you try this and that and the other, that's something you need to look into. And when I was young, I was like, man, this man is never happy, or he's never told me that it's good. But he was very wise, because for him to say, it's good, would tell me, okay, you're done. Even God doesn't do that with us. Right.
Does he ever come to us and say, well done, good and faithful servant. That's going to be in the end. Yeah. So, yeah, sometimes you like to hear, you know, people please tell me that I'm good, or I have done enough, or tell me I'm good.
Yeah, I can do it if you want it. That's what you're living for. You're great.
Good luck. But what if that's not what you need to hear? Right, right.
A lot of times, a lot of times, what you need to hear. Right, right. A lot of times, the things we want are not what we need.
Right. And that was a hard lesson for me to learn, especially like as someone who wants to please people. You taught me that early on, is that there will be people, like, yes, seek to make people happy and give them, you know, what they want and what they need. But there will be people who, they're not satisfied. And it's not that they're not satisfied because you're not doing enough, they just aren't satisfied. Right. And that's a whole different thing.
This got nothing to do with my dad's spirit, which was imploring me and encouraging me to try and do greater things. This is just that it's not good enough. There is no greater, it's just not good enough. Yeah, I'm not a happy person. Right.
That's a different issue. A hundred percent. What's your personal definition of success? Wow, these are great questions, by the way.
These are really good questions. My personal definition of success, each day, if I can capture more territory for the kingdom of God, I think that's success. Sometimes people give the definition like, oh, be a great dad or be a great husband or all those things.
And that wonderful, if that makes you feel good, good. But what if success should be, how can I please God? How can I do more for the kingdom of God and reach more people with the gospel of Jesus Christ? That's to me is success. Some days it is within an encounter with somebody. Some days it is with starting a new ministry.
Some days it is with seeing the impact your sermon or your service or some product we have created here, like music, is reaching more people. I find that very satisfying. Awesome. What fear in life was the hardest for you to conquer? Wow. What fear in life was the hardest to conquer?
I would say the fear, the two really, one is the fear of water and the other one was the fear of being outdoors alone at night. Really? Or in the dark. Okay. Yeah. Okay. So did you go on camping trips and stuff to try to conquer that or with your family? No, hunting. Oh yeah, I got you.
Go hunting. Yeah. So it's not like it's a debilitating fear, but it was just... It's unsettling. It's unsettling getting in the water because I used to swim in deep water. I mean, some of y'all have seen the videos of the river where we used to swim. It has drowned some of the best swimmers. And I used to swim in that river at four o'clock in the morning or four thirty.
Four o'clock leave the home four thirty, be there. We'd swim in the dark and all that. And then one time I almost drowned and that created a fear in my mind. And I had to get over that fear by taking swim lessons. So I'm much better today, but still I have a healthy fear. Being out there in the dark, alone in the woods was kind of like, I don't know if I want to do that. But if you're going to hunt, that means you will have to be... get up early in the morning at five o'clock.
You're out there. Walking through the woods by yourself or with somebody, getting in the tree stand. That's a little unnerving. Yeah, it's a special climb on a tree in the dark.
Right. Or it's eight thirty at night and it's getting dark now or maybe eight o'clock and now you come off the tree stand, you have to wait for that truck to come. Or you've killed a deer and now you have to go find it in the woods by yourself. So it's kind of like, hmm.
But that fear is gone, thank God. You also think that out in the woods everything's super quiet and peaceful, but I mean, you hear animals. You're standing in the dark and you hear like, what in the world? What is that? You start thinking back to Old MacDonald's Farm, like, what animal makes that sound? I don't know.
I don't know about that. There's a video of the river. I don't think that's the river, but that's the one near the Adjunta Caves. But there's another river where I grew up. Toppedie River.
Toppedie River. What's one moment in your life that you wish you could relive? Not to change it, but just to feel it again.
I would say the moment when Nicole and I took our wedding vows. I was so nervous. I was so scared, so tired because of the idiots I was... Being up all night, yeah. Rooming with, or had to go and room with.
I was not rooming with them. Doctor questions and the no good. What is it? The terrible, awful... Terrible, horrible, no good, very bad evening with bachelor friends.
I was going to say bachelors. Because Nicole kicked me out of her parents' basement because she didn't want me to see her. I said, I won't see you. I promise you, I'm not going to see you.
She said, no, you're not going to be even in the house. I said, oh. But if I could go back, I would love to be rested, more aware, and taking in the moment and actually realizing how significant this is. But at the time, that wasn't there. And I knew that.
I knew, while I was doing it, I knew that one day I'm going to think about this, and hopefully I will have much greater appreciation. Yeah, that's me right there. That's it right there.
That's Nicole's dad. Well, thank you, David. All right, next question. Yeah, we've got time for one more. One more. One more question.
This is kind of a two-parter. What was a dream project that you've let go of, and would you ever pick it back up? What was the dream project that you've let go of? Would you ever pick it back up? Or do you even let go of projects?
Do you ever just say, all right, I just can't do it right now? Oh, yeah, I have several projects like that. There are books that I'm writing that I had to put away.
For example, I would love to write a story based on the Old West, but more in a contemporary time. I'd love to do that. But I have sort of put it on the back burner. I'll come back to it.
I'll come back to it. That's awesome. Dr. Questions, thank you for being with us today. It's always a joy to have you in the studio.
Always a pleasure to have you in the studio. I hate that Dr. Shaw wasn't here for you to meet him, but one day. We'll set up a meeting one day. We'll get y'all together.
We'll work on that. Guys, make sure you join us next week, same time, same station. We're going to be diving into some more great topics here on the Clearview Today Show. Thanks again to our sponsors for making today's episode possible. And don't forget that you can support us on iTunes by subscribing to the show if you want to re-listen. And you can always support us financially at ClearviewTodayShow.com. John, what do you want to leave our listeners with as we go into the weekend? Definitely find somewhere to be worshiping.
Definitely be in the church, be worshiping God. If you can't make it for whatever reason, tune into us live. We will be going live on Facebook. We're live on our website, ClearviewBC.org. We got an 830 service and an 11 a.m. service that you can live stream. You can also catch all of our content, every sermon, every radio show that we do here, Discerning Doctrine, which is an exclusive series. All of Dr. Michelle's content is on Pray.com. So make sure Sunday you are worshiping the Lord in one way or another.
That's right. We love you guys. We'll see you Monday on Clearview Today.
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