You're listening to Clearview Today with Dr. Abadan Shah, a daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Ryan Hill. I'm John Galantis. Thank you so much for sticking with us throughout this entire week.
We've had some great conversations, and guess what? We're going to have another one today 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. Dr. Shah, I want to welcome you to the studio today.
Thank you. Good meeting you, studio audience. We're going to give us some good claps. Good claps. There it is.
Oh, man. This dude touched a power star. That watches don't go forever. Here, let's just wait. Oh, no, there we go.
I thought it was going to go forever.
Well, before we jump in today, we want to remind all of you about Dr. Shah's upcoming book, 30 Days of Seeing Christ in Judges. Let's talk about the 30 Days devotional series on here. It's been a huge blessing in people's lives, in my life. And we're excited about this new installment that's going to be a little bit different than our previous installments.
Walking through a specific book of the Bible and seeing how Jesus is present in that book in the Old Testament, specifically in this case, in the book of Judges. That's right. There's three that are available on Amazon right now: 30 Days Through a Crisis. That's the first one: 30 Days to a New Beginning, and then 30 Days of Praying for America. But this fourth one wanted to do something a little different and explore Christ in the Old Testament.
And Dr. Shah was going through the book of Judges at the time, and so we thought Judges would be a really great one because, number one, it's one that most people would probably avoid, right? Trying to find Christ in Judges. Yeah, because the characters seem to be so outlandish and just crazy at times. The stories, the events are so off the chart that you go, I don't know how this matches.
But if you were in our series through Judges last year, you see how each of those characters are a type of Christ. And those events, if you begin to. Understand the role of Christ in the Old Testament, you go, wow, I get it. This is about Christ and his work. On the cross for us.
That's right. Absolutely. It's beautiful to see. It was powerful to see in those messages, and I'm excited to see as this book is coming together and as it's taking shape for this to be a blessing in your life. Maybe it's a book of the Bible that you've been hesitant to read or you've been confused when you read.
But not only will this give you a better understanding of Judges, but you'll also be able to see Christ on the pages as well. Our verse of the day today is coming from Titus chapter 1, verse 9. Holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and convict those who contradict. No matter what you're trying to do in the Christian life, Dr. Shai, you're trying to exhort people, convict people, no matter what you're trying to do, you got to have that sound doctrine.
And we've been talking about that a lot over the course of the show, but then also these past two days, we've been talking about the doctrine of America. What do Americans really believe? We say that America is a Christian nation. It's founded on Judeo-Christian principles. And so you like to fool yourself into thinking that everybody's up to speed.
But we've seen that in some things. Americans really kind of have their head on straight on other things. It's like, what in the world are you thinking about right now? That's right. So Titus falls under the pastoral epistles, and Paul wrote these probably towards the latter part of his life to encourage these young men, whether it's Timothy or Titus, to be leaders in the church.
They were pastors. And so he wrote them not necessarily to teach them any doctrine as much as to teach them how to lead the church of God. That's right. How to lead the house of God. Paul tells Timothy, you know, you're leading the house of God, which is the church of the living God.
You're teaching people how. to um To live in the presence of God.
So there are a lot of good things there in Titus. But again, just like Timothy. The word of God is primary. He's telling Timothy, he's telling Titus: remember doctrine. Doctrine matters.
Don't. Turn to fables, don't turn to myths and mythologies, stick to the Word of God. Don't waste your time. on genealogies that profit nothing. Get to the word of God.
And where we are in America today, for various reasons, some reasons maybe. The church hasn't done a good job. Christians have been Turn inward. Um immigration I'm an immigrant, but many times the immigrants who come to America do not have the same biblical values. They don't have the same Christian mindset, the Judeo-Christian Foundation.
So they're coming in because they love America. Right. They like the capitalism, the free enterprise that is America. They like the freedoms and the liberties we have, but as to. Thanksgiving being a American holiday, it's it's Yeah, I love my family.
Christmas being about The birth of God's Son in this world? I mean, I like to watch the parades and stuff. I like parades, and I like to. Santa Claus. Santa Claus stuff buys gifts and stuff.
That's pretty cool. Yeah. Easter, Good Friday, in many places that's not even a holiday.
So I'm just giving you some.
Some examples there, which are such extreme examples, because that's not what defines Christians. Christians is based on whether or not you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.
So A lot of factors why where we are. As a nation But I think God is doing something. Amen. And it's time for us to reclaim, in a sense, what is lost. That's right.
I love what you said in last episode we recorded yesterday. God's doing something, and we want to be a part of it. That's right. We want to be involved. God, use us, involve us in what you're doing.
Well, here's one of the questions. Again, for those who are listening or watching us for the first time, or this is the first show in this series that we're doing on a research that came out through Ligonier Ministries along with Lifeway Research. They asked a series of questions to about 3,001 people participants. And now they framed the results in statements. And percentages.
That's right. So here's one. We've looked at a lot of them. Go back and listen to the past two shows. But here's the third show.
And here's another fact. that uh another uh stat that they found When asked a question regarding the Bible. The Bible, like all sacred writings, contains helpful accounts of ancient myths, But it's not literally true. Jordan Peterson wrote this question. Oh, boy.
It is a myth. It's real in the sense that it brought Rome to its knees. I'm sorry. Go ahead. Go ahead.
Jordan Peterson, you may be a great guy. You start out great, but I don't think we're speaking the same language. That is the story of JP. That is the story of JP, but that's the story for another day. Yeah.
So once again, listen to that statement. The Bible. Like all sacred writings, what sacred writings are we talking about? Are we talking about the Bhagwad Gita of the Hindus? Are you talking about the Quran for the Muslims?
Are you talking about all the. the Buddhist writings? Of various forms of Buddhism. Fortune cookies, you know, fortune cookies. Confucius.
Confucius say fortune. Tip your waitress, yeah. If you want to make egg roll, push it. What did you say? If you want to make egg roll, push it.
I thought you would like to flick it. Yeah, I did too.
So The Bible, like all sacred writings, right that there's a problem because the Bible is not like all other sacred writings. Right. The only. Faiths that have sacred writings. And again, a lot of people may.
Not understand this statement and may disagree with me, but really they're only three. Christianity? Judaism and Islam. You say, well, what about Hinduism? What about Buddhism?
It's not the same thing. We try to make it as if. The Bhagavad Gita or the Vedas are the Bible of the Hindus. They did not look at those books as their Bible. Do they today?
I think unfortunately, because of Western philosophy, Western scholars who tried to categorize them as such. But Hinduism was not based on books. It's not a book religion. Gotcha. It's not about a sacred text.
It's not about a sacred text. Yeah. Gotcha. But because Western ideas, they've been like, you know what? That is our Bible.
Well, it's it's because Uh German or British Scholars From the history of religion school back in the 19th century, maybe even going into the 18th century, they said, Okay, there's a religion, they gotta have a book. What is your book? Oh, we don't even have a book. I mean, some people think that Book Tells our old story.
Well, that's your book. That is your book.
Okay, that's our book now.
So, a few generations of that, and they're like, Yeah, that's our book. That's our book. Wow. That's our holy book. Yeah.
The Sikhs have the Guru Granth Sahib, which is. kind of interesting because what they're saying is that their book is like a Um It's like a person. Gran Sahib means Mr. Book. Wow.
Oh. Yeah, Guru, Mr. Book. Wow. Mr.
Book. So the vast majority of world religions do not have if you can even call them religions do not have a holy book. Only those three. Only those three. Only those three.
Christianity. Mm-hmm. Um Judaism and Islam. This might be a completely we can totally talk about this in another episode, but People will group those three as Abrahamic religions. Is that a misnomer?
It's a huge misnomer.
Okay. Yeah, for ease of categorization or for some political purpose, people can do that, but they're not. The only two that are connected are Judaism and Christianity. Islam is not connected to Judaism or Christianity. In fact, it completely repudiates it, misunderstands it, misquotes it.
Uh just because somebody Uh, becomes a squatter in my home does not mean they're part of my family. They're part of my family, you know. You cannot do that, right? That's right. You know, I can say that.
I'm one of the galactices now. Yeah, it's like, well, I need you out of here, bud. I live here, but my, I feel like my ancestry may have gone back to the Greeks. I need you out of here, bud. Yeah, so the Bible, like all sacred writings, contains helpful accounts of ancient myths, but is not literally true.
21% of Americans agreed with that strongly. Yeah. And 27% somewhat agreed. But 29%. Disagreed strongly, which I am proud of those 29, but I'm sort of disappointed in the rest of these over here.
What is it about Christians that they're like They're is it like they're ashamed? To be like, yeah, I think a fish swallowed a man and he survived for three days and got spat up. Or I think that, I think that. Moses really you know Held out his staff and the waters parted. Are they like embarrassed to admit they believe that happened?
That's a good point. What is the hesitation with saying that the Bible is literally true? I think it's the hesitation. This is my personal opinion, okay? I believe the hesitation comes from saying.
Thi this is the only true book. The rest are all fables. But if we're Christians, then why would we hesitate to say that? But I'm not saying Christians. are the only ones who took this survey.
True, that's true.
So I think some of those who took the survey may not have been Christians or they are Christians but with a very poor understanding of the importance of the Bible or the veracity of the scriptures or the integrity of the Word of God. They they may have a very poor understanding because of the church they went to or um didn't go to for that matter.
So They don't understand. You want to move on to the next question? Yeah, the Bible is 100% accurate in all that it teaches. Thirty-one percent agree. Strongly.
Yeah. Eighteen s somewhat agree. 28% strongly disagree, though. It's not so good. Yeah.
Don't love that. And you always got that 6% that's not sure. Yeah. Yeah. So close to 50% are.
are okay with it. But The rest are not, which is disappointing to me. Yeah, it seemed like it. Like like does that say something about America, do you think? Yeah.
So one of the things, and maybe this is a conversation for another day, because I don't want to get us off a rabbit trail, but was America as 50-50 in the 90s when you came here? Or was it more. Overlap. I would say probably more than that. I'm I cannot give you the exact numbers right now.
I want to make sure they're accurate. I would say more in the sixties. Gotcha. I was in the 60s. 60-40.
I would say, and even more at times. But it definitely has shifted over the years. Definitely has shifted. Here's another one. Modern science disproves the Bible.
Hey, I like that one. 33% strongly disagree. That's good. That is good. But 16% strongly agree that the modern science disproves the Bible.
Yeah, look, big question: how do you reconcile? Science with the Bible, but you don't. You don't. You don't have to reconcile those two things because they go hand in hand. Right.
Yeah, I don't even understand what modern science is supposed to mean in this concept. And what is it what is it disproving? Oh, well, here I think they're talking about evolution or how do you see um the planetary system or the earth's rotation, all the age of the earth, the rotation I mean, all these things are saying modern science disproves the Bible. And and again, I ha in my PhD Uh seminars back in 2000. I took a seminar on modern science and the Bible.
That stretched me. Because that was not in my field. And I was reading books which were like, I read a book called. I think that it c it was it was um called um the fifth element. And it was fill with some deep stuff.
But that class helped me a lot because I read on the relationship between science and the Bible. And one of the things I walked away from that class that really benefited me is that modern science was birthed. in the the cradle of of Judeo-Christian principles.
Some people would take issue with that and say, Are you telling me that the Egyptians were not scientific? Are you telling me like the ancient Babylonians and the Phoenicians? They didn't know anything about science. Not science in the way we know science today. They need geometry.
They understood some medicine But they did not understand science. Modern science that that adjective is very important. Modern science is different. Modern science experiments. Are you telling me that The Egyptians, when they did all the embalming and all that stuff with their pharaoh, that they didn't know how to how to cut a body open?
Yes, they did, but they did not understand it. To the level we do today. It was not based on observation with a. With a desire to understand, like the modern sciences, like the scientific method, that we have to do it. On the level on which we do it, yes.
Yes, there have been people in the past. Yes, of course, the Greeks studied the human body, and you see the diagrams and all of that. Yes. They did, but not to the level. And to the volume.
By which science has grown. Science has grown by leaps and bounds ever since. the Renaissance, Enlightenment, Reformation period. I mean, it has just gone to the roof. I'm with you on that.
I mean, you can now. Put people Under and do all kinds of things. I mean, I was just talking to a church member while we began the show.
Okay, while we began the show, their surgery started. By the middle of the show, of the second show, the surgery had ended. Yesterday's episode, you mean? Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. And.
So we were talking back and forth. And it's awesome to to just See that so quickly this could be done. We do a 30-minute show, that's like a 15-20-minute surgery. Yeah, imagine. 2000 years ago, that would not have been possible.
You didn't have the facilities, you did not have the equipment, you didn't have the medicine, the knowledge of the human body. A talk about nuclear energy. The ancients did a lot of things. I mean, go watch the pyramid, and you'll be amazed standing there going, How in the world did they build this? And even that prism or that.
you know That figure is so perfectly laid out that maybe an inch or two at the most, if it is going to be. off measurement. But that's not the same thing. as putting a man in a rocket ship Sending him off into space. and then landing that rocket.
And then bringing that rocket back here. That's right. You see, Modern science, modern science, so it's not saying there was no science back then. Modern science and the way we do things is very, very, very vastly different. And it happened because.
Of the Christian culture. It happened because of the Judeo-Christian culture. It gives you a sense of confidence. That you know the Creator. It gives you a sense of hope that this creator has made this world And the living beings in it.
in a beautiful way. There's a system to it. And if you study well you will understand that body or Yeah. The earth, or whatever, you will understand it.
So This happened because In the West, people took the Judeo Christian principles, and began to harness the power of nature, began to study the human body, began to make improvements and build things. Never in the history of the world has there been such advancement as it has been in the past four or five hundred years. Yeah, I agree with you a hundred percent. That's what we mean by modern science.
So before you jump up and say, are you telling me that the ancients didn't know how to have you looked at Stonehenge? Have you looked at Uh the Egyptian pyramids have you look um Don't misunderstand what we're saying here. That modern science qualifiers is very important. And that can only happen because of the work. What was that book you gave me?
Alvin Schmidt's book. That basically said the exact same thing. It's called Under the Influence. Yes. Christianity Changed the World.
That's right. If it weren't for the Judeo-Christian Foundation, none of that stuff would ever have happened because you didn't have the opportunity or the, I guess, really the opportunity or the culture in which that was safe to even start, begin to experiment that way. Yeah. Yeah. Here's another one in this survey and kind of it reveals the hands of the surveyors.
God chose the people he would save before he created the world. I wonder who wrote this question.
Well, Ligonier is a very reformed organization. And by the way, I respect Ligonier. There are a lot of wonderful things that they do and doctrines that they stand for, especially when it comes to scripture. They're very solid on that. Like Duncan Ligan, I mean A lot of places I really respect him.
There are places I may disagree with him, but here it's kind of funny. Yeah, 14% only 14% of people strongly disappear. Yeah, they didn't agree with him. No, they didn't go with you on that one. 39% strongly disagree.
Duncan, they didn't go with you on that one. Yeah. Yeah, 39% strongly disagree with that. Yeah. Good on you.
Yeah. Good on you. Uh going further along. Hell is a real place where certain people would be punished for ever. 37%.
I strongly agree. Strongly agree. I'm surprised. I thought that's what I'm saying.
Some of these. They don't like talk about hell a lot.
Some of these have surprised me because I've known Christians who can't get on board with this. Yeah. They're like, no, I just don't think that a loving God can't. Do eternal punishment? I can't believe they can do it.
Yeah, after a while, God's going to be like, you know what? Enough is enough. Come on in. Yeah. But y'all get to sit in the back.
The corner where the dunes cap first thousand years.
Well, I've even heard people say, no, God will just obliterate them. That's way more merciful. That's merciful to know that you've never existed. Yikes. There will be a time when Jesus Christ returns to judge all the people who have lived.
Forty-three percent strongly agree. Man, that's good. Yeah, that is good. I wish it was 73% higher than that would be great.
Well, yeah, because then it puts an urgency to the gospel. Like 43% strongly agree, 19% somewhat agree. But then you see like 7% somewhat disagree, 19% strongly disagree. There's no urgency there. If you don't think Jesus is coming back, then it's like, hey.
It's sad that that any any kind of um Christian sect or denomination that does not emphasize the bodily return of Christ uh is to me, they're they're not in line with uh biblical Christianity. Um Yeah. I saw A post on Facebook, and usually, you know, some of the posts, most of the posts don't impress me, but this one did. They were talking about the Preterists. The preterists are the those people who Believe that Jesus came in 70 AD in a spiritual form.
Oh, yeah. Yeah. And and the posters of a man Opening the door to somebody Who has come knocking on the door? And kind of like a door-to-door evangelism type. Right.
And the man who is. Who has come to the door, asks the homeowner the question. Um, Are you waiting for the 70-80 return of Christ? Uh It's a preterism, and it said like preterism evangelism. That's pretty funny.
Here's another one. worship Worshiping alone or with one's family is a valid replacement for regularly attending church.
Now, people disappointed me on this one. We were doing fine. Our numbers were pretty good, and then you 30% of people strongly agreed. 33% somewhat agreed. That's 63% of people saying, Yeah, man, you ain't got to go to church if you don't want it.
63% of people with a wrong understanding of what the church is. You can thank COVID for that. Yeah, yeah.
So, so one of the things we were talking about off-mic before we started the show is how they even said that COVID. GREATLY affected these numbers in previous years. And now, in some ways, they're starting to get back on, but in some ways, we haven't recovered. No, and I'm praying that this new revival, this awakening that is happening in America, even through Charlie Kirk's murder, that people are coming back to church. I've heard from a lot of pastors, not individually, but kind of like on.
Forums online. That there are more people coming to church than they have seen in a long time. Yeah. Praise God for that. That's right.
I believe that. Hopefully, that this will be the swing back to people coming to church in person. Here's one, and I'm glad this one came up. Christians should not allow their religious beliefs to influence their political decisions. They'll go on.
33% of people agree with that. I strongly agree. What's wrong with y'all? And then 21% somewhat agree. How do you not let your religious beliefs influence your political decisions?
If that's part of your worldview, if that's part of your convictions, what is the purpose of keeping them separate? How does it serve me at all? I'm a Christian, but I'm going to. Pretend not to be as I'm voting. God has fearfully and wonderfully made us.
Well, it's okay to kill babies. Yeah, like, what if we said, I think that when gay people vote, you should keep all of your LGBTQ worldview out of your decision making. Don't let it affect your decision-making at all. But that's part of who I am. Oh.
Well, can I have my religious beliefs? Absolutely not. Got it. Got it. Do you see that?
God calls it sin.
So I'm going to vote in a way that will not. Support sin.
Now, people in America have the right to live a gay lifestyle or whatever, but To make it marriage begins to infringe on our right. Right. And we're not going to do that.
So we're going to stand up for biblical Christian values in America. That's right. And we have to.
So, Christians. Vote your values. For goodness sakes. Educate yourself on the candidates. Know where they stand.
Know what they believe. Because it matters. Yes. Because soon you will not have any freedom left. That's right.
Here's another one. Do we have time for another one? Yeah, let's do it. Every Christian Has an obligation to join a local church. Bro, 37% of people strongly disagree.
Oh, my goodness. 22% somewhat disagree. Y'all need to go to church. I don't know who's taking this survey, the 3,000 of you. That's almost 60 church.
That's almost 60% of people that disagree. That means some of y'all is Christians.
Now, here's what I would say, and our time is very short. I think some of this has happened because of the pandemic. Secondly, it has happened because we as church leaders have not done a good enough job in meeting people where they are, in teaching them the word of God, in standing up for biblical convictions, biblical values, in teaching them what it means to be saved. To grow in grace and to grow in faith, to grow in the Word of God. We haven't helped them to use the gifts that the Holy Spirit has given them to serve Christ.
But also, I would add, partly it's because some of the downfall of um Church leaders. I mean, even just last week, I heard of another one. Uh major Name a big church pastor who was, um. Caught in infidelity. Always.
So it really hurts me because, unfortunately, because of their sin.
Now people say, oh, these church leaders, man, these pastors, they're fake, they're hypocrites. Yeah. And So the value of church membership, again, Goes down because of the moral failures of the leaders.
So. This is hopeful for us in understanding what people are thinking, and how we, as the church, as leaders, and both just as believers, need to step up and. drawing people to the truth of God's word and what he says and how you know the the church is important.
Well, like we said on on previous shows, man, it's really good to understand where we are. You know what I mean? If we have a view of where we are and it's not really where we are, Listening to episodes like this and seeing these numbers in front of you can help you better assess what God is doing. And once you see what God is doing, it's easier to get on board. Right.
You know? That's absolutely 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, Pray.com, wherever you get your podcast from. You can also support us financially at Abadanshah.com forward slash give. John, why don't you close with today? Definitely just want to let you guys know that all throughout the month of October, Dr. Shaw is going to be live on Pray Radio every single morning, Monday to Friday, at 8:30 a.m.
Eastern Standard Time. If you're not listening to Eastern Standard Time, you Just do the math, I guess. But I don't know what the fractions are. I know in California, it'd be 4 a.m., so you guys probably won't hear it. But all that to say, we're running a month-long experiment to see how you guys react.
Dr. Shah's content on Prey Radio. All of our followers, every single, and that really kind of helps me understand how much you guys are really liking this because 60,000 followers have joined almost in the past six months just on Prey TV.
So we want to see how you guys respond to radio. Make sure you let us know. You can always text us 252-582-5028. Or make sure you write and leave your testimonials on Prey. All of the guys over at Prey.com really do read your testimonials.
That's true. That helps us. Absolutely. We love you guys. We'll see you tomorrow and clearly today.
