Hey, this is John Galantis from the Cleaview Today Show checking in with you guys to plug our new show, How to Read Biblical Hebrew with Dr. Abadan Shah. It's a video podcast. You can watch it right from your favorite podcasting app, and we're releasing new episodes every single week. You don't have to be intimidated about learning Biblical Hebrew.
We're going to start with the alphabet. We'll start with sounds, basic grammar. We'll work our way up. But our guarantee is this. If you follow this podcast and put in the work, you will be reading the Old Testament in its original language in no time.
Again, that's how to read biblical Hebrew with Dr. Abadan Shah. Links in the description.
Now let's start the show. Judge not lest ye be judged. Mean this: you are never allowed to judge people. But listen, what does judging people actually mean? Discovering that and more coming up right now on the Clear Vee Today Show.
Uh 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. Welcome back to the Clearview Today Show, right here in our studio with our host, Dr.
Abadan Shah. If you're listening for the very, very first time today, we want to say welcome to the show. We want to let you know exactly who's talking to you today. Dr. Shah is a PhD in New Testament textual criticism, professor at Carolina University, author, full-time pastor, and the host of today's show.
Dr. Shah, we've been walking through the book of James. Back in James, and I'm excited about it. You know, we got so much feedback on this book because it's so applicable, it is so real, and people are very, very excited about this.
Sometimes it's nice to just get back to basics. You know what I mean? There's a lot of times where, like, I'm doing something, like I'm doing something in the sound system or our video system or our lights or whatever it is. And I'm looking at these little small details and I just forgot to plug it in. Back to basics.
I have forgotten the very basics of what we're doing. That's like the IT joke. Like the first question is: did you turn it off, turn it back on? Yeah. Yeah.
Back to basics. And James does a great job of that, walking us through what to do when you encounter temptation, what to do when you're walking through difficult seasons in life. You know, we just kind of navigated how do you, how are you obedient to God's word? What is your response when you encounter those moments? But today we're talking about judging other people.
That's right. This is when we pass judgment on others. Yeah, absolutely. And this is something that I am legitimately really interested to talk to you about, Dr. Shaw, because I think when we say, you can't judge me.
Don't judge people. Yeah, only God can judge me. I think genuinely, myself, I know for myself, I'm definitely saying this. I don't know what that means. Does that mean you're not allowed to think less of me?
You're not allowed to correct me. You're not allowed to put yourself in a position of authority over me. You can't judge me. What does that mean?
Well, in our world right now, that is the big thing. You cannot judge me. I have my own set of circumstances that you're not privy to.
So I, you know, I can be whatever I want to be, and you cannot tell me that I am wrong. That's where the world is at right now. You cannot tell me that I am wrong. What gives you the right to say I am wrong? I can do whatever I want with my body.
I can do whatever I want with my life. You cannot tell me. And when we're talking about judging others, biblically speaking, We're talking about several different things. The one we're going to address in the book of James today has nothing to do with those some things. I mean it's it has more to do with how we look down on people.
It's not about calling sin sin. There is a place to call sin sin, and that's not judging. In fact, that may be the best thing we can ever do for people: say, hey, that is a sin. You are made by a holy and a righteous God. And you are accountable to him whether or not you accept that accountability.
Or you reject him, it does not matter. You are accountable to him.
So we're doing you a favor by just telling you there's a day of judgment coming. We're warning you now. Not judging you, but warning you, you need to turn from sin. Repent. Receive Christ as your Savior, and you will avert or you will avoid that judgment that is coming.
But the judgment we're talking about in James is a very different kind. And this is often used. to talk about The other one. Does that make sense? Yeah.
People misunderstand. Yeah, we take this one and then sort of. You know, just like those people you see around parks and in the streets of New York or somewhere, they're shuffling things around. It's like, where'd he go? Where'd he go?
Follow the apple, follow the apple. Yeah. And that's what they do with this passage. They take it and put it under a whole different topic, which is calling sin sin, which is not what's happening here.
So, do you think as Christians we can rest easy in the sense that we are seeing people who are openly engaging in sin, or maybe even people who have world views that we just fundamentally Don't respect. Right. We can not respect someone's worldview. We can not respect someone's position and still not be judging them. Absolutely.
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we can definitely call it out and say that's wrong. And that's a whole different issue. Here in James chapter 2, verses 1 through 4, it's a judgment in the sense of condescension or based on how much money you have or what kind of clothes you're wearing or what part of the world you come from or color of your skin.
Judging based on that, that's a wrong judgment. Right. That shouldn't happen.
So Let me just say this. We're still under the topic of be you doers of the word, not just hearers only. And someone said it this way. I'm not sure if I 100% agree with it. But I think it does make sense.
Someone said, We believe as much of the Bible As we practice, I believe that 100%. Yeah, I love that.
So I'm not sure if it's you know, I can really base my whole life on that. Statement, but it does make you think. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
It's sort of a good check. It's a check. You have those passages where Paul talks about, like, you know, the thing I want to do, I don't do, and the thing I don't want to do, that's what I end up doing. But this does cause you to look in the mirror and say, are my actions lining up with what I claim to believe? Right?
Yeah, they're. Am I living out my faith in a way that points other people back to Jesus? 100%. I think there's definitely. Relationship between what we believe and what we do, and even what we're willing to do.
Like, if I was to say, I believe 100% that this couch is gonna hold me up, if I sit on it, I will not fall through the floor and into the downstairs area.
Okay, we'll sit on the couch. I won't. No. I refuse. I won't.
I'm going to do that. I can't. Like, you might think that, okay, he really does believe that, but day after day, if I won't sit on this couch, eventually you're going to come to the conclusion he does not really believe it at all.
So I think you're 100% right, Dr. Show. I think ultimately what we believe is what we do. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yeah, it's tough for me to say that that is the truth, but. It seems like it is. It seems like every time you put it to the test.
Seems like that's what's happening. People are not really believing that truth. Like, you know, one day God's going to judge you. Oh, I know. I tell you what.
Man, you know, I need to say I do need to. I wonder if they really believe that one day God's going to judge them. I'm with you on that. Because the way you're living and some of the choices you're making don't reflect that. That's right.
Yeah. So, in this particular passage, as we have sort of made the distinction between calling sin sin versus looking down on somebody because they don't have enough money or they don't look like you or they don't come from the right side of the tracks. Here we're talking about Partiality. Partiality contradicts our faith. Christians through the ages, or believers through the ages.
Have Demonstrated partiality and they have undermined the very thing they were trying to do. If someone's listening, and maybe this is their first time ever listening, maybe they're a brand new Christian, what do you mean by partiality? Partiality, again, you know, I mentioned a few moments ago, this is judging people based on. what they have in their pockets. what they look like.
And which side of the tracks they're coming from. For those of you who are listening from other sides of the world where you don't have this kind of idiom or American expression, other side of the tracks means, you know, like in some of the smaller towns, you would have the railroad track going through the town. One side of the tracks you have, you know, the rich and the famous. The other side of the tracks, you would have the people who are Yeah, not so much. Not so much.
Blue-collar workers or just. You know, they are kind of on social welfare. Was it divided in India? Because you lived in a railway junction town. Was it divided by the tracks?
Not our town.
Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Not because it was not. Just if you're talking about geographically or geometrically, it was not done that way because we had rich people on this side and then we have some rich people on the other side.
So, yeah, it wasn't actually. You know, by the tracks, but it was in reality, good grief. I mean, Indian culture. based on Hinduism being the majority religion, there are four castes. There is the Brahmin caste, which is the priestly caste.
Then there is the business class or caste, which is uh Veshyas. Right? And they are business communities. That's what they do. They've been doing that for generations.
Then there is the fighting caste, the Kshatriyas. They just fight. I mean, nowadays, you know, those things have sort of been available. Is there any soldiers or like these are like street brawlers? They get into trouble.
No, no, no. They're soldiers.
Soldiers, gotcha. Generals, army people, going back in ancient times. And then there is the lower caste, which is the Shudras, they are the ones who do all the menial.
So growing up Christian, I'm sure you were much more westernized in your way of thinking. But like in the West, we've more or less accepted, even if we don't practice it perfectly, we've more or less accepted that categorizing people or showing partiality based on their family or their means of birth. We don't we shouldn't do that. But s what you saw in India was that was much more accepted. Like that's who those people are.
We don't associate not Christians, no, not Christians, and and not Muslims. Muslims don't have that caste system either, okay? Because that's you know, in Islam, they don't have that now. Islam has other kinds of prejudices that people don't talk about and is there, but since we're talking about Hinduism right now, those are the four castes, and then there's those who don't even make it into the castes, they are the untouchables, they are the ones who do you know just the cleaning stuff, or they're they're the ones who will take care of the you know the lavatories, and that's that's what they do so. Th so there are four casts.
And then there is the People who are outcasts. That's where the word comes from, actually. Wow, I didn't know that. Yeah. I thought I was making a clever joke.
No, that's actually what it means. Out of the cast.
So, yeah, I saw that growing up.
Now, Since India received its independence in nineteen forty seven. The government has tried to sort of do away with these caste systems, but they're still there. I was going to ask: have people bought into that, or are those so entrenched in life that they were entrenched in life before, they were entrenched in life when I was there, and they are still there. Wow. Of course.
They try to You know downplay them, but they're there when it comes down to marriage. says, I'm gonna marry that girl, you wanna know what caste is she from? Oh, she is, you know, this and that caste, no. You're not going to. They'll put a stop to it.
They'll put a stop to it. Now they're not going to say if she's not a Brahmin, we cannot marry. Or or if she's not a Shatri Shatriyas or Veshiyas, you know, sh n th th those f top three ones, that's not going to be an issue. But if you say the fourth one, That'll be an issue. If you say the outer ones, they're known as the scheduled class or scheduled tribes.
Definitely not gonna. Would that even come up? Would anybody even try to? I guess that's what I'm gonna do. They do.
They do try. They do try. And sometimes it happens, the families will disown them and stuff like that. Let's say you are born into that fourth cast or that outer cast. Is there any like genuine?
By the way, big difference between the fourth cast and the outer cast. There's a gulf between them. Big gulf.
Okay. Yeah. Let's say you're born into, let's say, the fourth cast, where it's still. Is there opportunity to Overcome. Is there an opportunity to make a name for yourself to become successful?
Or is it more or less, this is the hand I was dealt? People are going to treat me this way because of how I was born?
Well, like I said, again, the government has tried to. I'm not sure the government right now is trying to really help people in that area. I think they're trying to exploit those differences. They're doing their best to exploit those differences for their benefit. But growing up, when the Congress party was in charge, this was more.
A party that was more favorable towards Christians and people of other religions and didn't want Hindu nationalism to rule. Yes, they definitely tried to find ways to help those people from the outer castes or castes or the lower castes to kind of come up. Did it help? Only in government jobs. 'Cause there was a certain quota.
that if you were part of that lower caste or outer caste, you could You know, get a job, you can get a promotion, you can get an admission to a medical college. Based on the quotas. Is there any sort of moving in between casts? Like, would a family ever be if they did something. Dishonorable, or they did something like some horrible crime or generational evil, or something like that.
Do they ever get demoted? No. And is there ever like a promotion from a lower caste? No. So it's just like this is it forever for eternity.
I don't want to hyper-fixate on this, but like. Because I know we're talking about judgment as like Christians shouldn't judge, but I am genuinely interested in this. The government tried to help.
Okay, it didn't really work. Let's just, like, the citizens. Because the people. This is their religion. That was what I was going to ask you.
The citizenship would any would any Just average citizen who's Hindu, not Christians, but any average citizen in India who's Hindu say, oh, It's wrong for us to treat that person badly or look down on them because they're a lower caste. It's wrong for me to do that. A lot of Hindus would say that.
Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, growing up, the friends I grew up with, yeah, I mean, we had people from the low caste and the outer caste hanging out with us. And nobody thought even twice.
that person if one of those guys were to What a date. Things change because it's arranged marriages for that reason. You won't go into other castes. Yeah. The lower caste.
If someone. were to Leave the Hindu faith if they were, like, say, a person grew up Hindu, but then became a Christian. Right. Are they still recognized as the caste that they were a part of, or are they just completely removed altogether? They're out, which means this.
which means all the government benefits that they would have received being a Hindu Are no longer applicable.
So, last question, I promise we'll get back to you. No, no, I mean, I want to follow up on this because this is very important. This is one of the big reasons why it is very difficult for. The people there to become Christians because they following Christ. Means now you cannot take advantage of that seat or that quota or that reservation that's given for you, for your people, for that because you come from this tribe that you know up in the hills, there's the scheduled tribe.
Shedul means you came late. It's kind of sad to say that, but it's that's what they named it. Scheduled tribes and scheduled tribes. class. Means it's a British thing.
It means they got there late. Yeah. It's a nice way of saying you guys got late. You guys were late. Last pick.
Yeah, well, not last pick. It's more like y'all were so backwards. Oh, but really, you get pushed in the backwards world. But you. Got there late, so here we're going to help you get ahead.
Okay, which you understand. It's sort of like the DEI of our day.
Now, some of it is great, you know. Hey, we're going to give you a hand, but it went out of control in our country to a point where it's like. How many more categories are going to go into this? This does change, I think, the tone of the conversation to clarify this and tell me if this is accurate to say. The caste system, looking down on people because they were born in the wrong caste.
That's not an Indian culture thing, that's a Hinduism thing. Absolutely. Okay. But keep in mind.
Some of these traditions Because Hinduism was the majority religion, at least when I was growing up.
Now, we're not talking about the pre-1947, pre-partition India where there were Muslims and Hindus living side by side. After partition, the Muslims were kicked out of India and the Hindus were kicked out of Pakistan. And so. India became more Hindu majority and Pakistan became more Muslim majority. You see, there there's some changes happened there.
There was a transmigration that took place that changed the dynamics.
So how I grew up may not be how things were in nineteen forty six. But I think that does help frame it because I think a lot of people think, oh, that's just how India is. But India is that way because of Hinduism, because of the religious, the religious doctrine that they've adopted. On the flip side of that, because America has adopted Christianity, it's built on Judeo-Christian values. Absolutely.
We believe really the exact opposite is that you should not. Judge people based on things that, like the circumstances of their birth.
Well, let me just look at our Declaration of Independence. We hold these truths to be self-evident. that all men are created Equal.
Now when when foolish people say that Those founding fathers, man, they were slaveholders and they were old white men who were. Wanted to keep. the black people down and just want to keep enslaved. I'm like, golly. Again, the conspiracy theories, you right?
I mean, put two dots on the board and say, So you see the connection? It's got to be a connection. There's no evidence for that. In fact, evidence is just to the contrary. When you read their letters, read their letters, read their correspondences to each other.
Should we go ahead And make slavery illegal? Should we Do this now. And And they had a very tough decision, which was, and they talk about it. They talk about it. This is evidence.
Okay, this is where you have to read. They're like, No, if you do it now. this union was going to fall apart. That's right. We're not going to be able to fight the British.
we're going to lose even before we get started in the Revolutionary War.
So let's leave that out. But let's put in there: all men are created. They could have easily written. All Anglo-Saxon men are created equal. they could have easily written All European Background Men.
are created equal. They didn't say that. They said all men are created equal. They're brilliant people. Have you read the Constitution?
Have you read the Federalist Papers? Have you read the Bill of Rights?
Some of the provisos and exceptions to the I mean They were they were looking at the fine print. Yeah. So, why did Thomas Jefferson pen the Declaration the way he did? Because he was making a point. Mm-hmm.
that one day you're going to use this document to fight For the right of every person who is truly an American. To know that they are created equal. They included me in that declaration. Yeah. It shows the wisdom of the founding fathers.
Absolutely. This was a battle to be fought, but one that didn't need to be fought right now. Right, because we would lose even before we get started. And it goes back to this, what we're talking about today. It's more important than just don't look down on others, don't judge others.
It's this idea that God has created all of us equally. Yeah, that's huge. And that comes from a Judeo-Christian framework. That comes from a biblical framework. That comes from an Old Testament, New Testament framework.
It does not exist in other religions. It does not exist. And and I will debate anybody out there who will say that, No, no, no, no, that's uh have you considered Islam? Have you con uh I'd be glad to debate with you because that's not true there. If you read Paul's letter, I mean the book of Galatians, there's no longer male nor female, slave nor free, Jew nor Gentile.
Wow, that's a Jewish man. Saying those words. Of course, he's a believer, but this is Paul saying these words. Powerful words. Genesis.
Talks about that. And, you know. Through you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. All the families. Not the families with the same skin tone are from the same continent.
Thank you.
So, from the very beginning, this was God's plan. Absolutely. It didn't happen in the New Testament, it was always there. I mean, look at some of the people they included into the family of God. I mean, if you think about Rahab.
Rehab, I mean what's the word rehab even mean? It it it's like it's like Leviathan, that's what it means. It's like a Monster, sea monster. Wow. When God's people come to the promised land, those spies, they meet.
Rahab of all people, her name meant the sea monster. The Leviathan. And she got converted. And she said, Look, we saw your people. We're hearing about you guys.
God is with you. Our strength has left us. Mm-hmm. When you come back, please remember me and my family. And so when they came back, they said, Okay, just drop that rope on the other side.
When we see that, we're not going to attack your house. Yeah. And you'll be our people. And Rahab, a sea monster named person, became The ancestor of King David. And then, of course.
Ruth the Moorbite? Down the line, became an ancestor of. King David. Yeah. I mean, come on.
Yeah. It's it's amazing. I mean, King David. King David The the sweet psalmist of Israel, the the Second King, okay, but really the man after God's own heart of Israel. Was of mixed ancestry.
Yeah. That's crazy, isn't it? That's incredible. Canaanite and Morbide mixed. Yeah.
You know, people talk about that. People talk about how the foundation of the West is this equality and the sovereignty of the individual person without referencing or acknowledging that that's not just the foundation of America, that's the foundation of humanity that God has laid out. What would you say to someone in the? We got about six minutes left. What would you say to someone who's lived their life and said, listen, maybe I've come to America.
I'm not a white, well-off, economically man. I've been made to feel lesser than. I've been made to feel like an outsider. And I'm struggling to adopt this view that. America is built on Equality for every man.
How would you encourage that person?
Well, Anywhere in the world you go, you will encounter some prejudice. Uh it's just human nature. You will encounter that. And that is part of life. I encountered prejudice living in India because.
My name was different. My name is not an Indian name. I mean, Abiddon, that's that was the first thing people would say, Well, what does that mean? I came to America. I was like, Well, what does that mean?
Yeah, because people in America think it's an Indian name just because it's a biblical name, it's a Hebrew name. Yeah, so I encountered that. And then, of course, we were Christians, so there you go, Prejudice again. And then we were my dad was Muslim. Convert, Christian.
So there you go, another prejudice. And then now, you know, so there were many layers of prejudice you go through.
So anywhere in the world you go, you're going to face some prejudice. I don't care. Even am among your own people, you'll feel. You have a choice either to spend your whole life feeling like you are. Mistreated, abused.
oppressed or you have a chance to say, Hey, look, I am going to, number one, love God, trust God. And I'm going to step out and see what God has in store for me. Instead of Fighting my whole life against who doesn't like me, who doesn't accept me. People say, Man, you are so popular, everybody loves you. People say that to me, I'm like, you have no idea.
There are people who hate my guts. They're like, really? I'm like, yeah, oh, yeah. I'm like, it's just part of life. And I can't see anybody not liking you.
Like, oh, yeah, people find a reason. But does that slow me down? I mean, does that stop me? Temporarily, it hurts me, it bothers me. It's like, why?
Why would you hate me? I mean, I think I'm a nice guy. But having said that, I keep pressing forward. I'm not going to let those things stop me.
So, my word to them is: look, the founding fathers. Had you in their mind when they wrote, All men are created equal. That's right. And they are endowed by the Creator with certain unalienable rights, means rights that cannot be taken away. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
They had you in their mind.
So, Love this country. Of course, love Jesus Christ, okay? Love this country. Uh don't worry about wildlife people Say about you or look down on you, there will always be some. Think about the ones who.
Encourage you. I mean, look at it. I mean, I was, I'm the. Chair of the Local Chamber of Commerce. And I mean, I'm not from here.
And people appreciate me, love me. and support me. Does that mean every single one of them does? Probably not. Um I can focus on that one person who may not like me, or I can say, Look, look at what I have here.
Yeah, amen. And keep moving forward. That's right. That's right. That's what you have to do.
Yeah. So good. Guys, make sure you join us next time. 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. If today's your first time listening to the show, hey, we love you. We're glad that you're here and we want to hear from you.
So write in and talk to us: 252-582-5028. Let us know what episodes are your favorite, what you're getting from the show, and send in any questions or your favorite Bible verse. We'd love to hear from you guys. That's right. Don't forget that you can always support us financially at Abadanshah.com forward slash give.
That's right. We've got a big, big, big announcement coming to everybody who's been listening to the show after March 28th. March 28th, by the way, is our apologetics conference. It's happening right here at Clearview Church in Henderson, North Carolina. Ryan, is it too late to get tickets?
It is not. It is not too late. I was actually genuinely asking. I don't know how close to sold out we are. It is not.
But listen, we want you guys to be here. You, your pastoral staff, your team, your ministry, anybody. Who wants to dive deeper into God's word? Attend this conference. It's on the Byzantine text form.
It's going to be happening March 28th at Clearview Church in Henderson. Scholars are flying in from all over the world. It's going to be big. You can get your tickets in the description right there. It says conference registration.
Just click that link and use our promo code today, T-O-D-A-Y, to get 20% off when you check out. That's right. We love you guys. We'll see you tomorrow on Clearview Today.
