You're listening to Clear View Today with Dr. Abadan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Ryan Hill. I'm John Galantis. Happy Winstie, everybody.
We are so glad. Happy Winston. That's how my mom says it. Happy Winston. It's so good to see all you guys here in the Clearview Today studio.
We're here with our host, Dr. Abadan Shah, who's a PhD in New Testament textual criticism, professor at Carolina University, author, full-time pastor, and the host of today's show. You gotta have a breath full to be able to say that's a lot. You gotta have a lot of lonesome control. Dr.
Shah, it's so good to see you, man. Thank you. And thank you for saying all the nice things about me, and I appreciate that. But really, the success, of course, is to God. Amen.
And then, you guys, how hard each of you work. I appreciate y'all very much.
Well, thank you. It's a blessing. It's a labor of love. I have fallen in love with this show. And I've really, really fallen in love with just this type of work.
I know that you did this, like broadcasting and stuff in college. I think if I was able to do this in college, I don't know. I don't know that I would have gone into that line of work. But I guess what I'm trying to say is I'm glad that I get to do this for the church. I'm glad that Clearview now has broadcasting arm that we're out there.
We're doing it because this work is really, really fun and really rewarding. It's exciting to hear from those who are listening, you are listeners and our viewers, and to know that, you know, there is someone on the other side of the camera that as we're talking, as we're, as we're learning, as Dr. Shaw is sharing and teaching, that lives are being impacted and lives are being changed for the gospel. And, you know, I'm 33 now. When I started here at 21, you know, I wanted to do things like this.
I wanted to like, at the time, it was all, everything was podcasting. But I remember talking to you, Dr. Shah, and you saying, you know, God has this on, God has this in store for us on the horizon. Hearing that like 13 years ago, you know, as a young man, I was frustrated because I was like, I want it now. Can I just have it now?
But it's funny how when you wait on God and when you do it on his timing, he gives you the platform that you think you want back then. You know what I mean? Absolutely. And we have to grow. We have to develop.
We have to become mature in our understanding of life, of God, of the word, of how life works. And so, yeah, we can have a platform, but do we really have what it takes to influence people? Because this platform, books, All that we're doing is about influence. And if you really want to influence people, don't you want to know that you really have something positive, uplifting, God-honoring, everlasting to make an impact in people's lives? Amen.
I'd rather not have any platform if what I'm going to say and do or write and publish is going to negatively impact somebody. That's right.
Sometimes you see people writing books or are on social media or have some other platform, and the things they're saying and doing, I'm thinking to myself, man. you will sacrifice your own mother Right. If that would give you popularity, another viewer, another follower, another dollar. Yeah, if that would put some million dollars in your bank account, you will run over your own children. Yeah, you'd punch your mother in the gut for $20.
Of course, you will. $20?
Okay. But I know what you're saying, though.
Some will.
Some will.
They certainly will. But it's true. What we're doing is about influence. And all of that goes to this new big announcement. Ryan, you want to say it?
You want to be the one? Ladies and gentlemen, we are excited to announce the release of Dr. Abadan Shah's brand new devotional, 30 Days of Seeing Christ in Judges. 30 Days of Seeing Christ through Judges. That's the fourth book in the 30 Days Devotional Series.
And this one takes a deep dive into what is probably the most misunderstood book in the Bible, the book of Judges. Dr. Shah, do you want to tell the story of how judges came to be? Why judges? Like, why dive into the Old Testament and begin with?
Because you're a New Testament scholar, but then why judges particularly? Because judges really, to me, exemplifies where America has been over the past few years. And I felt like this is something that we really need today because we need people who will stand out, who will go against the culture and make a positive influence for Jesus Christ. And so that was my original motivation behind choosing judges. And the thing is, these guys are not exemplary characters like we would consider them to be like meek, mild, just kind of somber dudes who are just like living in their little shell.
No, they are different. They're doing things that are outlandish. But. You cannot say that they are bad guys. Right.
Because they're not, right. like Samson killing bunch of Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey. No, he is not a bad guy. He is using something as insignificant as the skull of a donkey. To Kill God's enemies.
That's right.
Now, it may seem like, oh, what a brute of a man. No, to the contrary, he's a man who knows how to give whatever is in your hand to the Lord, and God will use it for a mighty purpose. I know we're going to probably have an episode dedicated, or a bunch of episodes dedicated to when the book came out or comes out. But why is it that, like, why the judges? Like, why are they the ones who are mislabeled?
What I mean by that is when David is fighting God's enemies in a time of war, it's all cool. When Moses or Joshua are fighting God's enemies in a time of war, it's all cool. But the judges do it, and it's like, nah, they're bad guys, especially Samson. Because some of the things that we have. We read that the judges did, they seem so crazy.
Like, you know, a man. And again, I'm putting it in air codes here, you know, killing his daughter, sacrificing his daughter, or a man trying to kill his concubine, or or or not coming to the rescue of his concubine, or Samson you know, some of the things that he did. marry a Philistine woman. We think, man, that's That's gotta be sin. Right.
But that is our misunderstanding. Right. The Bible never ever calls what they did as sinful. And each of those issues you tackle in 30 days through the 30 days of seeing Jesus. We set the record straight.
Yes, true. And they are the heroes.
Now, here, if you disagree with me, they are mentioned in the book. of Hebrews in the Hall of Faith. Right. So if the Bible proclaims them not, if it doesn't just not. Denounce them as villains, but it proclaims them as heroes.
We ought to treat them as such. That's right.
There are a lot of messages out there where, um, Put some conjecture on characters, and we say, Well, Jacob, he was a wheeler and a dealer. The Bible never calls him that. Mm-hmm. Or David was, you know, a good guy when at times Bible calls him a bad guy. That's right.
The things that happened to him was because of what David did.
So we have to be very careful. If the Bible calls something sin, then call it sin. If the Bible doesn't call something sin, Don't assume that it is sin. I think that's precisely what makes the Bible so interesting: is that its heroes are not cookie-cutter, like shiny, glossy people who make no mistakes, nor are its villains like these, you know, these completely far-removed, just evil characters. It's much more.
Not gray in the sense that you can't tell right from wrong, but gray in the sense like these are actual people. There were humans who struggled, who made mistakes, who had flaws, but God still worked through them. Right. But in judges, their flaws are not being highlighted. That's right.
To the contrary, What is highlighted is our own misunderstanding. What is highlighted is that God's people were sinning, not the judges. That's important to remember: the whole reason we have the judges in the first place is because Israel couldn't get their act together. That's right.
They were going right back into sin. They kept going right back. You know, there was no king in Israel. Everybody did what was right in their own eyes. The judges were the ones who were doing right in God's eyes.
So then we have to go back to our drawing board and say, okay, we got to figure this out. And the whole purpose behind these messages is seeing Christ in the book of Judges. Absolutely. That's 100% right. We don't have a release date yet, but I'm very, very confident it's going to be out before October.
Soon and very soon. There's no reason at all it shouldn't be out mid-September, early October, but we don't have a date yet.
So just keep your eyes peeled. 30 days of seeing Christ in judges. That's right.
So exciting. Our verse of the day today comes to us from Proverbs chapter 10, verse 8. The wise in heart accept commands, but a chattering fool comes to ruin. Am I quick to obey or am I quick to avoid obedience? You know what I mean?
If I hear a command, whether it's from a person that I trust or whether it's from an authority figure in my life or even from scripture, do I wince? You know what I mean? Like if someone, do I like, I don't know. Am I looking for reasons to disobey? Yeah.
And I hate what it's, I really, I love what it says there. A chattering fool comes to ruin. The more that I talk, the more I reveal my own heart. Very true. Learning to Be silent, learning to speak less, learning to be precise and concise is an art form.
Dr. Shell, we have a check-in today.
Okay. Calling for your opinion on something like this. I'll just read the check-in. It's from an anonymous email. Hi, Dr.
Shah. I hope you're doing well. I've been meaning to reach out for a while now, but I've been sitting with this concern and not quite sure how to put it into words. My son has recently expressed a strong desire to go to seminary. It says seminar, but I think that's supposed to be seminary.
After he graduates high school. On the one hand, I couldn't be more grateful to God for putting this on my son's heart, but on the other hand, I'm nervous. When I was in seminary years ago, it was a place where the authority of scripture was upheld. But looking around now, it feels like things have changed and not for the better. There seems to be so much confusion now around core doctrines, gender and sexuality, and the uniqueness of Christ, and even basic biblical inerrancy.
Everything feels weak. What once would have been considered foundational is now up for debate, and it's hard to know who's standing firm and who's drifted. Any encouragement? Should I try to nudge my son in different directions or simply pray for God to take control? Wow.
What he just described has been a problem, I would say, since about Since about 2010.
So we're coming upon fifteen years where seminaries, mainline Seminaries have sort of lost their focus. I'm not saying everybody is or the entire seminary is, but at times, and if you disagree with me, then you need to do your homework. Yeah, that's true. About 10 years ago, it was very difficult for me to even recommend anybody to a seminary because some of the things that were being taught, it was wokeness.
Some of the things were all about. DEI and even in some weird way supporting of the LGBTQ type movements. They didn't say it, but they were doing it. And so I feel like What this father is struggling with, I struggle with that. Like, why are they doing this?
What is the benefit they get out of? Putting this end. A lot of these seminars and universities and colleges are struggling. Many are shutting down. Yeah.
Yeah, they're shutting down because they lost their focus. They began to sort of emulate those Ivy League or well-known universities and thought, man, if we sound like them, we look like them and talk like them, we will be just as cool as them and more people will come to us. Is that the motivation just relevance? Just staying current, having a voice in the game? Absolutely.
Okay. Absolutely. Because when you see fellow professors or colleagues who went to similar universities, but they are in a prestigious school, you are in a Christian college or a Christian seminary. You want to sound like them a little bit so that we can sort of powwow. together on certain issues.
And and I feel like those people Never really respect us, anyways. But then we lose the respect of our own people. We go. Which side are you on? You're losing respect that you already have to gain respect you're never going to get.
That's a good way to say that. Yeah, nobody in this room knows academic culture like you do, Dr. Shah. And the thing I'm trying to figure out is: I thought the whole point of being a Christian was to stand apart from the world. And so I don't know where this is coming from.
This idea is coming from where it's like, if I want legitimacy as a Christian institution, I need to look like secular universities, liberal institutions. I need to look like them. I thought, like, and I'm not a scholar in any sense, but I've got enough common sense to know. That doesn't sound right. I thought the whole point was to not be like them.
Well, one of the aspects of being a scholar, an academic is to to to go into uncharted waters. One of the sp The aspects of being a good scholar is that you are digging where no one else has dug before. And I get it because we all want to make our mark on scholarship. We all want to find that something. Maybe it's a document, maybe it is a historical truth, maybe it's a new way of looking at scripture and doctrine.
We want to do something that will be, that will put us. in the annals of history. And I get it. And I think we can still do that. We can still do fresh research and not just copy somebody else.
But in the process, do we have to compromise our soul? I don't Think that's necessary. And I feel like some Sometimes seminary or Christian college. Professors A scholars feel like I have to do this.
So I'm gonna go outlandish. Have we seen any change in recent years or is there is that still the boat that we're in where it comes to higher Christian education? It has gotten better. Because what they were doing, the whole wokeness that was happening, I would say. back in twenty 18, 2019, the wokeness that was happening has sort of settled down.
I mean, every day there was some. famous and not just Seminary. College professor in a Christian seminary. But also, pastors, well-known pastors, were making statements that I was like. What is happening?
There were several chapel sessions in seminary. Devoted to critical race theory, where we're going to get well-known black pastors up on stage and we're going to have a quote-unquote real, honest dialogue. And instead of preaching the word of God, we're talking about race relations in the United States. Oh, yeah. Which is like, that's not a bad conversation to have, but this is the pulpit.
This is a chapel service. This is a chapel service in a Christian seminary where we're supposed to be preaching the word of God. And I saw that too, and I just did not want to join in because it was like, you need to join in. I even even remember one of my good friends, and still is a good friend, I won't mention by name, uh, who was who one time I was having breakfast with him and immediately he launched into that same rhetoric and I was like, What are we talking about?
So I didn't say anything. I was like, yeah, yeah. I mean, you know, that's the truth. That that's that's And I was like, Wow, you're really going along with this Well, guess what? Since then he changed his tune.
I'm sure, yeah.
Now he's singing the new tune, which is Oh, All That Was Junk. I cannot believe they were doing that. And I'm like You must think I really don't have a memory because I remember very distinctly what I was having for breakfast and what you came in and what you said. I remember very well. And I was shocked.
And that's why I remember it, because I was shocked that you were saying the same things that some of these. these so-called you know professors were saying. Is it do you think it's inevitable? Do you think it was inevitable that Christian education was going to go down this road, even if we were able to make it back? Or do you think this could have been prevented?
I think it could have been prevented. I think just like we did during the whole pandemic and even prior to that, we did not capitulate. We did not give in to the movements. People were coming to us and saying, Hey, if we just do this, if we just do that. If we just force people to Get vaccinated or force people to put on a mask and force people to do that.
I'm like, I'm not going to force them. Neither am I going to deny anything. Like, there's a pandemic going on, and if you need to wear, please do. Please stay safe. Please keep your distance.
Whatever you need to do. I get it. But I'm not going to fall in line with this rhetoric and be the cool pastor. Because I just I cannot do it. I'm not able to do it.
It's not even I was like a radical pastor. I've never been that. I'm sort of like middle of the road, you know? I believe in balance. Right.
So it's not even like I grew up like, hey, this is our moment. Let's go radical. No. No. Let's lick every doorknob in town.
You know? Just to show it to those silly liberals. Show them that I'm not scared of doorknobs. Communal toothbrushes, everyone. Yeah, we don't know.
No, none of that. I'm actually quite docile in that way. Right. But that was just like, no, not going to do that. Not gonna give into wokeness, not gonna give in to this fear-mongering.
So I don't know. I think um Some of these seminaries are paying for it now because student enrollment is dwindling.
Some of those colleges that those presidents made those videos about how we need to be like this and how we need to be more sensitive on race issues and all of that. And again, you know me, I'm not racist. Sure, of course. I believe we're all coming from Adam and Eve. We're all saved only Through Jesus Christ, there's only two races: the lost and the saved.
So we don't believe in that, anyways. We're not racist, but at the same time, Um doing what so many people were doing Um Is backfiring now. That's why many of these colleges are shutting down every day. You hear about another one. Yeah.
Are there any resources for people who might be listening to this and say, you know, my son or my daughter has been wanting to go into Christian education, but I'm not really feeling this environment right now. Do you have anything you could? Yeah, just like the gentleman who checked in with us and sent that email. There are two books that I have made our four children read before they left our home. For college, or they graduated high school.
And the two books are: the first one is called In But Not Off: A Guide to Christian Ambition and the Desire to Influence the World by Hugh Hewitt. Hugh Hewitt? Yeah, Hugh Hewitt. He is on the Salem Radio Network. He is a commentator, a political commentator, a lawyer, was a professor.
He worked on Capitol Hill. I mean, he has been around for a long time, conservative, Bible-believing. um Christian and um I read this book Gosh, this book came out. Let me get the this was the copy I bought. In 2003.
He writes right here, if I can quote him right here, he said, This is what you need to get down: the Jews, the Greeks, the Romans, the English, and of course the Americans. The Jews, the Greeks, the Romans, the English, and of course the Americans. I want to study about. Assyria, and I want to study about Babylon and Egypt and India and China and South America or the Native Americans here. But I really want to focus on these five groups if I want to know about the history.
This is a book that talks about under the Greeks. Read um Books like The Gates of Fire And tides of war. the history of the uh Peloponnesian wars. Uh read um Gibbons' Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Read Churchill's A History of the English-Speaking Peoples.
I mean, this is a great book. Yeah. Great book. Make your children read 'em before they read it, before they leave their home. Great point.
Leave your home. Great point. And what's the other one? The second book that I again read and this one came out in two thousand and two, about the same time.
So uh this one is Letters to a Young Conservative by Dinesh DeSouza. We've got that one at the house. That's a great one as well. Dinesh de Souza worked as a senior domestic policy analyst under Ronald Reagan. He still, I mean, he made some of those movies that we went and saw.
True. Very powerful movies. He's written lots and lots of books. People disagree with him, and there are things you can disagree with. Uh and that's fine.
But then there are things that he um stands for and has written over Uh, over the years, there are just financials.
So things like Authentic versus bogus multiculturalism. Wow. Multiculturalism is a big buzzword. It has been for like 30 years. That's big.
That's big. Yeah. Like, hey, we're all, America is just a melting pot. We're all a melting pot. I don't say that anymore.
Yeah, I haven't said that when I was in school. Oh, I haven't for sure growing up. I haven't said that in. twenty five years. And the reason for that is because of this book.
Because when we say that melting pot, what we're saying is America does not have anything but the pot. True. There's no foundation. No foundation. We just come together and make this stew or soup or whatever it is.
Oh no. That's not true. The main ingredient is there. That's right.
And that's our Judeo-Christian foundation.
Now, we can bring a certain cultural flavors. I can bring Indian food, I can bring. Um you you can bring your food, you can bring certain Elements from your culture, maybe it's food, maybe holiday or whatever. Yeah, that's fine. But America has a culture.
America has a culture. And so you say, what is that culture?
Well, it's a Judeo Christian culture. It's a culture that has Protestant work ethic. You say, what is that? I don't know. Everything I'm saying, there are liberals out there or moderates out there who will Who will fight back with me on that?
And that's fine. This ain't letters to a young liberal, and it ain't letters to a young monster. Read your books. For you. Yeah.
Well, there are books like that. Letters to a young liberal. Oh, really? Yeah, there are books like that. Gotcha.
But I would say. You know, reading a book like this. Helps you understand that America is worth fighting for. those values that we talk about Our good values. He talks about abortion in there.
He talks about euthanasia. I mean, so many things. Yeah. How to think. And I've asked all four of our kids to read it, and they did.
Does it hit different for you now that? Because two of your girls, both of your girls are married. Nicholas is in college, and now your last one is about to start college this upcoming semester. Do these books hit different for you now on a personal level? Because I've read much more on these topics over the years.
I have. And so I know where he's going with this. And I have more information. I just feel more settled in what he talked about in this book. You know, I felt more settled.
From a parental perspective, where did the idea of having your kids read books before they go off to college come from? Is that something your dad did with you? Yes. Really? Yeah.
He had a library, not as big as I have now, but he had a very good library of books that he collected over the years. He bought. He got from missionaries. He had tons of really, really solid books. And he never said, you need to sit down and read that book, or you need to read that book.
But he had them around.
So I read them. I read a lot of classics. I read Treasure Island. I read. A lot of Charles Dickens' books, like David Copperfield.
I mean, two volumes of them. I read them. Like eight, nine years of age.
Sometimes I didn't even know what I was reading. But I was getting some good culture in the process. My way of thinking today is not something I developed after I came to America. Because those books would not have been something that, like, the typical English Indian teenager would be reading and getting that Western mindset.
Well, I would say this much: I grew up and went to a private school. Right, right. Catholic school. A lot more Indian kids read Classics than kids in America and even in England read about that. Wow.
You know, so I don't know what to say about that. Yeah. So many good books. Robinson Crusoe. I read that book.
As a little kid. Yeah. Yeah. And so it it shaped me. Help me.
Enjoy a world that is now gone? Because the world I was living in was not that world. It was a different world. I grew up in India. Very different culture.
But I was living in a different world, a good world. through my books that my parents gave me. And that shaped me not only in my Christian faith, but also in how I saw the world. and how I saw God using me. In the world.
So that when you left home and you encountered this like brave new world that was the West, you were able to take those, those, those. Those lessons, I guess, with you. Shaped your perspective. Absolutely. I didn't, at Clearview, I'm not trying to make it into an Indian church.
Mm-hmm. Because that's not how I grew up. I'm not trying to implement an Indian culture in America. How do you think that's happening? Because I grew up With those principles that my mom and my dad Implemented in our home and inculcated in our lives.
Of course, bathed in Christianity, bathed in our faith in Jesus Christ, bathed in our a trust in the truth of the Bible. But th this this culture is what Shapes me and guides me every single day. How I raise our family. how I was towards Nicole. I didn't try to make her into an Indian wife.
How did that happen? Why why Why was it okay for me to say, I'm going to marry her and not try to change her and make her wear Indian clothes? Right. Why wouldn't I do that? Yeah.
For one, Nicole won't do it. Anyways, I mean, didn't have to. Why don't I raise my children as kids are raised in India? Mm-hmm. very different no I mean yeah there's certain things I I would you know, stress to them.
And they're funny to the kids. Once it gets dark, close the windows. Really, yeah? Yeah, close the blinds. And the kids are like Yeah, why?
All Indian parents do that. Close the blinds.
So you can walk around closing the blinds. I never heard that before. I hadn't heard. Yeah, it's an Indian thing.
So, I guess, from what you're saying, you know, to a father like this who's writing in and saying, I'm nervous to send my son, at the end of the day, the lessons that you've instilled in him and the books that he's read, the lessons he's learned, the principles you've taught them. He should, even if he's in a seminary that's not standing for biblical principles. Though that foundation should already be laid in his life, absolutely. That's right.
That's right.
It's so important for us, especially as we're thinking about kids and those going off to college, raising up the next generation, understanding what it means to lay that foundation for them at an early age. That's right.
Guys, make sure you join us tomorrow, same time, same station. We're going to be diving into another great topic here on the Clearview Today show. Thanks again to our sponsors for making today's episode possible. Don't forget that you can support us by subscribing to the show on iTunes, Spotify, wherever you get your podcast from. You can also support us financially at Abadanshah.com forward slash give.
John, anything you want to plug as we close? Yes, absolutely. Make sure you follow Dr. Shah on Prey.com. We are barreling towards 50,000 followers.
We're at 32 right now, so we want to get that number up as high as we can. If you're listening on Prey.com, go ahead and head on over to Dr. Abadan Shah's page, click follow. You can also give to the ministry. You can support us financially there too.
Thank you for everyone who's already giving monthly. We very much appreciate all of your donations and all of your contributions to our ministries. That's right.
We love you guys. We'll see you tomorrow on Clearview Today.
