You're listening to Clearview 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, and welcome to the Clearview Today Studio Midweek pick-me-up right here for you guys on the radio and your Podcast app. We are so excited to be joining you today with our host, Dr.
Questions, who is also a PhD in New Testament textual criticism professor at Carolina University author, full-time pastor, and the host of today's show. Dr. Questions, it's crazy. You were just, Dr. Shaw was just here.
He stepped out for a minute. You came in and sat down. I don't know what to say to that. You just keep missing it. It's like ships passing in the night.
I do want to get your question on something, Dr. Questions, or your opinion on something. The internet, especially here in the South, but I think all over the country, is a buzz with this. A private equity company has recently bought Cracker Barrel, and there's this effort to attract new customers, right? And so they're rebranding, restyling the restaurants, restyling the logo to be less country, less folks.
Just catch it up with the times. And boy, howdy, people are not happy. People are not happy about this.
So.
Well so first and foremost, the the logo on the left It's pretty cool, right? It is. It is. And then the logo on the right, I think, is way more indicative of the times we're living in, where everything's flat. There's no bevel at all.
It's just very, very minimalist. Yeah, you guys are both way more into style and design than I am. Which logo do you prefer just objectively?
Well, if I were to design a logo. Present day for 2024 with no context of what Cracker Barrel was. I'm going with the logo on the right.
Okay, the new logo. The new logo. New logo, minimalist, kind of like very sharp lines. What about you, Daddy? For me, I am people don't realize I'm a traditionalist.
So I like the tradition. Yeah. I like the man over there in the overhauls. He's sitting there. And just, you know.
That very, very iconic look. When you see that sign on the side of the highway, you know you're gonna get some.
Some good country ham, cornbread. Yeah, you're gonna me and Ma's gonna walk around the store for a while. Yeah, and I'm gonna, oh, yeah, exactly. I was gonna say just that, walk around, look at things. You know, so it's got that feel to it, right?
But, you know, maybe if that helps their business, if that helps them grow, I'm okay with the rebranding. Yeah, I hope. I see recently Olive Garden, you know, declared Chapter 11. Bankruptcy. I didn't know that.
Yeah. Oh, I know. Wow.
So that was recent? Very recent. Oh, no. Very recent. So, if that's the case, then I would rather them do this than to go into a bankruptcy or, you know, whatever.
I hate to hear that. It's like they're like when I was there, it was like I was family. Yeah. Is that the redesign of the restaurant? That looks like a new interior.
That's not even that bad. I don't think they still have those iconic um You know, old hardware, the antique things from farm equipment or guns and deer heads and all that. It's still there. People are freaking out over this? It looks a lot more open, so you don't have the lattice work in the middle that you have in the past.
So a lot more open. Look at the logo on the menu. That does not even look all that different, y'all.
Well, that's different than the modern logo.
So that's just the old logo without the barrel. It's not, but it doesn't have the it doesn't have the fella on the side. No. This is not that bad. I thought when people were like flipping out and the internet was losing its mind over a cracker bread, I mean, people are like boycotting.
People are really upsetting. My real question is: are they going to take away the peg game? Oh, the checker. The little triangle peg game.
Now there's going to be. No, I don't think so. I hope not. I hope they keep it. They're going to have instead of the peg game, we're going to have iPads for your kids.
The Mimas and Papas hate the. Oh, okay. That's not that bad, y'all. It's okay. That's not that bad.
I mean, no reason to be all up in arms over Cracker Battle changing them. If that can help. Businesses. Thrive and flourish in a new, fresh way, keeping the old and bringing on the new. Hey, go for it.
That's right. That's right. We support it.
Well, Dr. Questions, we played a really great game with everybody yesterday. It's called the Imposter Game. Ryan, do you want to explain this game just for all of us who may not have listened to yesterday's game? Yeah, so the imposter game works where these cards are passed out.
In fact, we're going to go ahead and pass these around to ourselves now. These cards are passed out. To everyone who is playing the game. Uh and three of the well depending on how many you're playing Most of the cards will have most of the cards will have one word on them per round. Yeah, there's that thing.
I like that. Most of the cards will have one word on them per round. It's the same word.
So, for instance, we'll all have the word flamingo. But one of us will have a card with the word imposter on it. And the imposter does not know the word that everyone else has.
So he's trying to blend in. Right, so we're going to go around and say words related to the word that is on the card. And if we're not the imposter, our goal is to use words that are kind of obscure so that it flushes the imposter out. The imposter wants to fly under the radar.
Okay, that's right. We're ready.
So we've got to spot who the imposter is. It's a fun game. It is pretty good. Look at my card here. I'll tell you what, Ryan, why don't you go ahead and start this one?
Okay. All right. Oh, also, we played just to keep it short because it's a 30-minute show. If someone guesses wrong, the imposter automatically wins. Yeah.
So you make you want to make your accusation count. Yeah. Um I'm gonna go Apple.
Okay. Um ball drop.
Okay. Confetti Concrete. You are an imposter. I'm not the imposter. I think David is the imposter.
I think David's the imposter. How do you keep getting at that? How do you keep getting that? Like, almost every time yesterday.
Okay. Crazy. The word was in YC. Yeah, New York City. All right, all right.
Dr. Shaw, do you want to start this one? Whew, okay.
So Lake.
Okay. Okay. Guns. Axis. Allies Yeah.
Let's go another round. Mm yeah. Another round? Another round. Yeah, Dr.
Shaiki, go ahead.
Okay. Road. Tank. It's Dr. Shaw.
Oh, yeah. What is the word? World War II. Oh, really?
So, you set him up for failure because he had to start. Yeah, I was like, that was kind of sneaky right now. Start with the imposter is tough. Yeah, that's almost guaranteed. All right, last one.
Last one, round three. Here we go. Ready? Got it. I'm gonna look at my words here.
Okay. Here, David, why don't you start this one? Drums. Guitars. Base.
You can do it. That's just what I point to it. Can I point to you? You can accuse him, yeah. I can accuse you.
I'm not the imposter. If not, who in the world do I accuse you? What was the word? The word was David. Oh, I thought it was going to be like band.
Well, I mean, we all named instruments that David can play. Yeah. Yeah. So I don't know if it was a biblical David or something. That's why I like Caroline choosing the words.
That was all chosen by Adam.
Next time we need to fire Adam, let Caroline choose the word. Because I didn't know. When he said bass, I was like, David usually doesn't play bass. He doesn't usually, but he can. He can play bass.
He's capable of playing the bass. David is a man of many. There's not much that David can do. Musically, yes, you're right. That's exactly right.
We have to clarify that.
Well, he's pretty talented when it's interested in the variety. Let's see. Yeah, musically, vocally, technology. He's pretty talented. Yeah, he is.
All right. Dr. Questions. Enough games, enough cracker barrel banter. Enough imposter.
You're here for a reason, and that is for our lightning round episode. Lightning round questions. Because here on the play root of those questions, right? These are questions that sometimes Ryan and I come up with. These are questions that sometimes listeners come up with.
So we're actually going to do another, well, you know what? I'll talk about that. I want to go ahead and fire off some of these lightning round questions. Start the questions. What is one experience that has shaped who you are today?
Something that happened in your life?
Something that happened in my life was in 1993. When I had Reached at a low point in my life, you know, I lost everything, and there I am on this side of the New Jersey. Turnpike waiting for a ride. Oh no, Philadelphia Turnpike, waiting for a ride. And that night was very crucial because it's Two o'clock in the morning, my brother was supposed to pick me up from this exit.
that I was dropped off at, you know, going home for a Christmas break. And um He was coming from the north, so he was on a whole different exit. At a very different part of the town. And so that was not like it was a fearful night. It was just a night of saying, God, I want to.
I want to follow you and help me. Help me. Help me. Not just tonight, but help me in life. I mean, it was below freezing, right?
It was snowing.
So it was not below freezing. I don't think it was below freezing. Gotcha. But I was inside a telephone booth wrapped up trying to survive. Cold, certainly cold.
Yeah. People coming up to the booth trying to. I mean, they would pull up. And then they would drive off, seeing me all covered up in there holding onto a phone. Did you do that thing where you like play like you're on the phone so they'll drive off?
Leave me alone so I can stay warm. Golly. And I had my suitcase and everything with me. Wow.
So in a similar vein, who has had the greatest influence on your life? Like a biblical character or a real life? Like a regular person. A regular person. A regular person in your life.
Person who had had a greatest influence on my life. I would say probably my dad and Nicole's dad. Those are two people I would say made a big impact on my life. Um Nicole's dad initially, I would say, but then my dad because um I went into the ministry and I followed his example. I don't know if I've ever asked you this, but did the two of them ever meet?
They talked on the phone.
Okay. Yeah. Oh, did they? They talked on the phone.
Actually, they've spoken to one another. Yeah. Wow.
Several times when after Nicole and I. And decided to get married, but they couldn't come to the wedding, so they did talk on the phone. Gotcha, gotcha. Wow, that's wonderful. That's really awesome.
Is there any text-critical issue that you would turn down if someone offered you the chance to study?
So, like, I don't know if ETS proposes things, but like if someone says, hey, I'd like you to write a paper on this text-critical issue. Is there any that you'd say, No, I'm going to pass on that? Either it's too complex or I'm not interested or anything like that? I can't think of anything. Yeah.
If someone really asked me to study that issue, I would definitely take it on. Gotcha. Yeah. I I can't think of anything that I would Or like any that are like intimidating. Like you would, like you're.
Oh, I see. Like, like it's too much to do. This is like, that's too much. I'm not ready for that. Or you're like, no, I'll pretty much.
If you're asking me to study it, I'll go ahead and no, I'll go for it. Gotcha. I believe in taking calculated risks. Mm-hmm. I truly believe that if when you know you're ready, don't hold back, step out.
In faith and know that God's with you, know that you put in the work and you don't need to back down. Just being a risk taker to be a risk taker to prove to people that you're somebody, it doesn't appeal to me. I think it's silly. But calculated risks means you have. what it takes.
But you're still unsure that this may work out. But if it works out, it's going to catapult the ministry or the job or Your life, then I will take that risk. Right, nice. Yeah, absolutely. I'll take that risk.
What's one childhood memory that you still think about sometimes? One childhood memory, there's so many that I have. Um One that is kind of um Not a happy one. Is that I had a nightmare one time. Really?
Yeah, a nightmare. It was uh a nightmare, it was a scary nightmare. Do you still remember it to this day? Oh, I remember it very well. Very well.
It was, it was, it was sort of demonic. Oh, yeah. I don't know if I want to hear it. Yeah, I'm not going to share it either. I don't want to scare anybody.
But it really got me to follow God more. You know, it's funny that you say that because I think coming from the East, this is something I know you've said to us privately. I don't know if you've ever said it. I think you've said it from the pulpit or maybe on the show, but we really. We in the West are sort of shielded and protected from that world.
Oh, yeah. Compared to what goes on in the East. We don't understand the world of demonic possession and spiritual warfare and all those kinds of things. We say that we do, but there's a whole world out there that we don't. We don't know about.
And also in the West, there's a fascination with it. Yeah. There's a fascination that and I mean in the East there is too. I should be careful. But not as much among Christians.
In the East, the Christians are not fascinated. At least in India, they were not. Christian Indian Christians were not fascinated with the demonic. Um People in general in India and other places are fascinated with the demonic. In the West.
When you start talking about those things, people listen in, they perk up, they're like, oh, talk to me more. And that's a good sign for me to change the subject. Yeah. Because at that point, the enemy is getting attention. I don't like to give him attention, good or bad.
Even right now. I don't want to continue that conversation. Yeah. Well, I've got another one. What's a theological question that you still wrestle with?
Mm go. I mean, of course, a predestination election issue. I know which way to go with it, but I still. I'm studying more and more into it, understanding it, understanding the reasons why certain people. Chose a certain view.
Do you think that in your life, like whether whether as a scholar, as a pastor, or as a Christian, you come to a place where you're like, okay, I'm pretty settled on what I believe. And I might not change my mind, like go the opposite way, but I can still refine. And clarify some things that I think about certain issues. Oh, yeah, all the time. Do you think it's more like...
Or do you ever ever ever have where you're like, oh, I think I was completely wrong. I should go the opposite way? Does it not really get to that point? Oh, that's a great question. There are t there are things that I have over the years Change my mind on.
Yeah, I have changed my mind on certain things. Um But Not as much because I had some good teaching growing up. Dad was not just an average pastor, he was also a seminary professor, although he never had the opportunity to get a PhD because it was not available. But he did go and get a law degree because he felt like if I can't get a Ph D, at least I can get something that may help me in my reasoning, in my studies. And so he went and got a law degree.
Wow.
A lot of these are like uh you know, theologians like Calvin and others had a degree in law. Yeah. Help with reasoning, help with logic and debate. That's right. Wow.
Yeah. That's awesome. This next question might be one of my favorite questions that we have ever asked on the show. I came up with this one. What Bible character would you most want to slap some sense into?
David. I'm for sure. You were going to say Jonah. I had Jonah in my mind when I was writing. I mean, Jonah, I get it because, you know, he.
Was just did not want to go to those Assyrians. I mean, who would want to? They tie you up. Uh Two, you know, horses and and pull you apart. Yeah.
So, I mean, why would you want to go there? I would be scared too. But David, your first year. David is one that it doesn't make sense to me why at times he did the things he did. Yeah.
You know, he would he made some silly, silly choices. And um Yeah. Do you think this is not one of the lightning round questions, but do you think David was somebody who was led by emotion? If he gave us a lot of wonderful psalms that kind of movement emotion, do you think he was more prone to being led by emotion? Yeah, I would say so.
I would say so. I mean, if you read Like, of course, we know the David and Bathsheba incident, right? It was very tragic that he. Went ahead and did it. You know, come on.
Yeah. You, okay, you attempted. Walk away. But he went ahead and did it. The whole time, what do you think is going through your head, man?
Yeah. What are you doing? What are you doing? That's a thing where it's like, it's not even like you've got it on your phone. You can just instantly be like, you have to plan that.
You have to send someone to go get her. You've got time to sit there and wait while she's coming back. She's coming. You know what I mean? Like, you had plenty of time to turn back.
And ruin lots of other lives as a result. Yeah, I had a man killed and he was a hittite. Yeah. So, you know, he's coming from. A Gentile world, and he's a believer now, and you're taking his wife.
And having sex with her and and all I mean, come on, you you just and then having deceiving him, getting him drunk. all that kind of stuff. And then then In the end, you got him killed. You made sure he died.
So that really. Is tragic, but then some of the other things he did, you know. Like when one of his sons did something wrong. You know, raped his sister, which his daughter, David did not say much on it. And then Absalom.
Held that grudge against his father and then went after him. And then, in the end, Absalom ends up dead. Dying, right? He is, he gets, his hair gets caught in the forest, and then they spear him to death. And then, when David hears about it, he's crying over there.
And then his commander has to come and tell him, it's like, enough. What are you doing? You know, your men fought for you today. Yeah. And now you're crying over your son who was trying to usurp your throne.
Come on, what's wrong with you? Yeah. Okay, fine. I'll get up. And then he gets up.
It's like, come on.
So what happened to the David and Goliath? What happened to the Psalm 23 man? What happened to the great. To the great psalmist of the psalmist, you know, the man after God's own heart. Yeah, I would definitely want to slap some senses.
And that's not to say that I am not susceptible. Right. Mm-hmm. Yeah, that is not to say that. Right.
Um if tomorrow They discovered a lost letter of Paul. could it ever be considered a new canon? In my opinion, I think the cannon is closed. It's a done deal. It's a done deal.
Gotcha. Yeah. Uh finding A lost letter implies that the church was simply you know Just kind of Blindly walking through the maze of history and then somehow through. a voting system that decided on the books of the Bible. That completely Ignores the fact that the Holy Spirit was was uh Supervising the entire process.
Among scholars, are the criteria for canonicity?
Solid. Does everyone agree on it? Uh, no.
So there are some scholars who would say, Yeah, if we found a new letter and it met those criteria, yeah, we're good. Yeah. It's canon. Right. And they also talk about taking away books from the canon, too.
You know, to me, there there are certain principles. I think we've talked about it on the show. I think so. You know, one is apostolicity. Make sure it's an apostle or a disciple of an apostle.
Antiquity, it's got to be old. It's got to be from the same time period, not a couple of hundred years later. Orthodoxy, you know, what is in it, got to make sure it it lines up with our Our Bible, right? The canon Old Testament and other New Testament books. Um different people receive that book.
So if they find a book later, Well, who received it? Right. I know there's some questions about some of the correspondence that Paul had with the Ro with the Cor Corinthians. Yeah, there could be another previous letter or whatever. But We we don't hear anything else about it.
Right. So that's another Big criteria that would be missed here. And then spiritual value. Does it have any spiritual value? What is it?
Is it just a. Like a Book of Maccabees. I don't think that's necessary. Gotcha. So a lot lot has to go into play, which I think has already ha worked out.
Right. This one's kind of a two-parter. What's a habit you're trying to build, and what's a habit you're trying to break? Mm. What's the habit you're trying to build?
The habit of writing every day. That's a good that's a good one. Yeah, writing every day. I do write when I'm ready on a book project or an article that I'm writing to or an essay to present. I'm very diligent.
I'll make out a schedule two hours a day, three hours a day. I'm going to diligently study and write, diligently study and write. But then I don't do that consistently. When there's not a deadline. And it's partly because I'm very busy.
I have so many responsibilities at church, in the community, in academics, in.
Some of the other things we do in our nation, there's so much. goes on.
So I sort of put down the back burner. But if there's something I would do, it would be to consistently write every day. That's a really good one. It helps too, knowing that Sunday's coming every week.
So there, there's a hard deadline.
So I think one of the things that I want to say we figured it out. I know other pastors do this, but I think. We didn't get this from anyone else, but we sort of figured out that all those sermons are just sitting there. They're sitting on your website.
So, and they're. The way that you write anyway, they lend themselves to chapters of a book. Yes.
So a lot of the devotionals that you did, a vast majority of them, not all of them, but a vast majority of them come from your sermons, which you're already writing every week.
Well researched, well structured, and it lends itself with a little bit of tweaks here and there in format, but lends itself very well to chapters in the book. But that's 100% the case with the new Judges book that's coming out this fall, by the way. That book is coming out this fall. 30 Days of Seeing Christ in Judges. That's exactly right.
Dr. Shao. Oh, yeah. What's the habit you're trying to break? I would say eating sugar.
Not that I take gobs of sugar and eat it. But a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine. Yeah, but you know, eating candy or cookies or. Cakes or pies or anything sweet, you know. It's not a good thing to do.
You need to break that habit. Whoever you are out there. Pray and ask God to help you break that habit.
Now, one thing I have done is I work out. Three days a week. That's excellent. You know, David helps me on a couple of days. And then I walk at home two days a week.
So five days I am working out. I can tell I can tell when you're working out. You're I don't know what it is, but your chest and your triceps You typically They blow up pretty quickly. Yeah. Like it's like within, yes, I can tell.
You can see it there faster than it is. Your chest, your shoulders, and your triceps. I think you do a great job. Not that you don't do a good job of hitting your lower body, but within like a couple of weeks of you getting back in the routine, I can tell. Really?
When you're preaching, especially on Saturday.
Now, on Sundays, you wear long sleeves, but on Saturday nights, if you point to stuff, seriously, sometimes the light will hit your tricep. And I'm like, Oh my gosh. I'm working. Is that chiseled marble up there? That's chiseled marble.
I believe that's Dr. Gaines up there. I'm just trying to keep my weight down. I'm just trying to get my heart rate up. No, your triceps definitely, when you're in the gym habitually, your triceps look great.
Thank you. What is one, speaking of habits, what's one daily habit that makes a leader more effective? What's one daily habit or even just a good healthy habit that makes a leader more effective? Oh, well, every day I would say learn something new. Every day Learn something new.
To me, that's very important if you stop. learning, stop reading, stop growing, you stop leading.
So I try to do that. Like even this morning, I got up. Man, decently early, sat down. I've been reading a book. You know, I'll be taking a.
A whole tri uh uh tour to Greece. You know, there are a lot of people going with me.
So I'm reading a book on Greece. That's awesome. And and just to just to you know refresh my mind, And I'm reading Thomas Cahill's. Um book on um On the Greeks. This is your third time going to Greece or fourth?
Third. Third. Yeah. Gotcha. Is that have you learned anything new that you didn't know the first two times?
Like reading or studying. Oh, yeah. I'm constantly learning more things about Greek history or the Iliad and Odyssey. That's awesome. So I'm constantly reading, constantly studying.
Very cool. What's the best compliment you've ever received? Probably the one about the triceps. The last one, Rick. I'm sure you've had one.
The last one would be the best one. I'm sure you've had great, great compliments. I would say the last one is the best one. Oh, yeah? Yeah.
I would say, yeah. I mean, because every time you get a compliment, not that you look for the compliment or you live. On compliments, but it does help you. Yeah, true. Yeah, true.
What's the first thing you notice or look for when you meet someone new? First thing. He noticed a look forward. I can give you an example. My mom told me.
when I was when I was like growing up and maturing. And I was about to move out. She said the very first thing that someone notices about you they look for are your shoes. Yeah, that's the old way, and that is a lot of truth there. For real?
Because I always never believed her. Is there anything that you look for when you go shake someone? Do you look them in the eye? Are you looking at their shoes? Are you looking at their hair?
Anything like that? Do you notice like their handshake? No, I don't do too much of that because there are times I used to be big on that big handshake, a firm handshake, you know, you gotta give the firm handshake. But then I've noticed people who have arthritis. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you can squeeze their hand and you'll see them cry as they walk away.
I had a I had a lady. Should I even talk about this? Sure, go for it.
Okay, I'll talk about it. We'll cut it if you change your mind later.
Okay, she was still a little bit up in age, still is. And so. Especially with ladies' hands, I don't try to reach out unless they reach towards me, then I'll do that. Um, not that I'm against shaking ladies' hands.
Some people don't want to shake hands, it's like, Okay, whatever, which I think is weird. But um, you know, shake hands, it's okay to shake hands. But some people don't. It's their prerogative. But this lady...
Already I'm um, you know, she would sh stick out her hand, but I would just, you know, gently shake hand, not like a Lymph fish kind of thing, but still not squeeze it hard. Right. And so she went out there and told people that I had We can't share. No, what's wrong with you? All right, lady.
And I was like, what? Seriously? Oh, I can solve that problem quick. But no, I was starting to be gentle and kindly. Yeah, especially shaking a woman's hand.
I mean, you know, you just. Yeah. And then, with men, at one time I used to be big on, like, give me that firm handshake. And I'm like, eh, enough of that.
Some men will just give you, you know, just a. Just dap you a little bit. And I'll do the same thing back. Respond in kind. That's all I tell people.
Respond in kind. If they give you a firm handshake, do it. Yeah. If they give you sort of like a very loose handshake, take it. Yeah, I'm with you.
So we're doing another lightning round questions tomorrow, but we want to take your questions. Me and Ryan need a break. We're not going to think of any more questions.
So send in your questions tonight to 252-582-5028. Write in, ask Dart questions, whatever it is on your mind. It can be about church, leadership, theology, Bible issues, or just something personal. But we want to answer your questions. questions on tomorrow's episode.
That's right. And make sure you tune in tomorrow, same time, same station. We're going to dig into some more of these lightning round questions, your user-submitted questions. Make sure you text that number 252-582-5028. Big thank you to our sponsors for making today's episode possible.
And don't forget that you can support us by subscribing to the show on iTunes. And you can always support us financially at Abadanshah.com forward slash give. Job, what do you want to close with today? Definitely want to encourage you guys to follow Dr. Shah on Pray.com.
We are inching ever closer to 50,000 followers. We're going to have a big celebration when we do. Also, don't forget to subscribe to Dr. Shah's podcast, The Lighthouse. Those are weekly devotions with Dr.
Albadan Shah. New episodes drop every single Saturday, 8 a.m. Make sure you download it. That's right. Keep your eyes peeled for 30 days of seeing Christ and Judges moving this fall to a bookstore near.
Love you guys. We'll see you tomorrow on Clear View Today.
