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Now let's jump in. I know exactly what the Bible says. I've heard preachers preach about it. I've heard it read to me my entire life. I'm just not going to obey it.
Let's correct that together. Coming up today on the Clear Vee Today Show. 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 to the Clearview Today Show. We're glad you're joining us here in the studio with our host, Dr. Abadan Shah. And if today is your first time ever listening, first time listeners, we want to hear from you.
You can text us 252-429-6069. It's going to get you into the Clearview Today family, let you know all the great things God is doing, not only through this show, but in your life through this show and through this ministry here at Clearview Church. Dr. Shah, this might sound like a no-brainer statement, but the Word of God. is important.
It's so important for us. We started this conversation on yesterday's episode, and I don't think there's anybody who is watching who would deny the importance of the Word of God, but it does so much more for us than just give us some general yes-no principles on how to live life. Oh, without the Word of God, I mean, it's like trying to survive without oxygen. Yeah. It is life.
It is. The very breath we breathe. And so, the Word of God not only gives us principles on how to make the wisest decisions in life. But it also gives us the gospel, which is the very essence of salvation. The forgiveness of sins to make us right with God, to give us eternity forever, to give us.
Life everlasting. I mean, all of that is coming from the Bible, the scripture. I think there's a lot of important things that we as people. Know are important and acknowledge are important. Like working out, right?
It's very important to exercise. It's important to eat right. It's important to get a full night's sleep. It's important to study hard and do good in life. But come on, I'm not really going to do those things.
I'm going to live the way I want to. And I think what a lot of Christians have done, Dr. Shah, and tell me what you think about this, is we've put the Bible in that same category. Like, yeah, of course, I should obey God in everything, I should take every thought captive, but come on. I'm not really going to do all that stuff.
And it reveals that the Bible really has no authority in my life. Yeah, and that's the critical word that you use right there: authority. Yeah. Because we will have someone in authority over us, and that someone can be even self. Honestly, I don't want myself to control myself because myself, my idea, my understanding of what is truth and what is reality is.
broken, it's false. And it may here and there have some truth to it, but overall It is hopelessly broken. because of sin, because of living in this world of sin.
So When people s talk about I am my own man, or I make the decisions of life, or as Frank Sinatra said, I did it my way. I don't want to do it my way because my way will take me straight off the cliff. Right.
So, I need to do it. The way that The creator intended things to be done. The Bible, I know it's a cliche, but this is the owner's manual. This teaches us How to live in this world. I think we put the Bible in the category of like, I have one and I open it when I'm told to, so I'm good.
I open it when the pastor tells me to do it, and I and I have one in my home, or I have the app on my phone.
So I'm covered. I'm honestly good. But we don't absorb the Bible in our day-to-day life. I mean, you called it oxygen earlier. How long would we be able to live and operate successfully if we just held our breath?
That's right. And that's why God's word is authoritative, but it's also authoritative. For a different reason. It's not just that, oh, this is the owner's manual, you know, this is how we know how to live life. But these are the words of God.
We are not just free agents living Oops. Any way we want to.
Now we can choose to live God's way and be happy, or we can still live our way and yeah. Live on our own terms, be unhappy, but live on our own terms. That is not a second option yet. That's how people see it.
Okay, you tell me to live the Bible way? Because that's the owner's manual way.
Well, what if I don't want to? Yeah. No, you don't have that option. People do it all the time, yes. But Refusing to obey the Bible is disobeying God.
That's right. And the farther we get from this idea, that the Bible is authoritative. The more chaos comes and the more judgment follows. Yeah, and I think it's helpful to remember that the consequences of disobeying the Bible are natural. They're not like God-imposed.
I think when people hear the word authority, they think like a parent or a teacher or a boss, where it's like, you have to do what I say, or I'll punish you. And we get We get like Uh turned off from that. But it's more, I feel like, and maybe I'm off on this analogy, but I feel like he's more like a doctor, where a doctor's saying, here's what's wrong with you. Here's the cure. How foolish is it to be like, I don't have to listen to you?
It's like, all right. Go ahead. See what happens. You're going to pay the price. Not because I'm going to impose something on you, but because you're going to suffer the consequences of that.
Yeah, like that doctor is authoritatively giving you the cure. And it's like, well, I'm just going to do it my way. It's like, okay. Go ahead. They're consequences of coming.
And so, yes, on one hand, yes, you want the good life scriptures. You don't want the good life.
Well, there are consequences. There are no, well, I did it my way. Maybe not the Bible way. No, that doesn't work like that. The scripture has authority over every person, saved or lost.
Yeah. Every person. Yeah. You know, Paul says here in 1 Corinthians 14 thirty seven If anyone thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, Let him acknowledge that the things which I write to you are are the commandments of the Lord. Same thing back in Deuteronomy 18, 18.
I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brethren. and will put my words in his mouth, And he shall speak to them all that I command him. Of course, this is a messianic prophecy about Jesus. but it also applies to the prophets, the apostles, the writers of Scripture. when they wrote they were writing the commandments of God.
Hence the Bible. is authority. And you said this before, but the people who were writing scripture, we were writing the commandments of God, they understood what they were doing. Oh, 100%. It wasn't like, surprise later, this is actually God speaking through you.
No, they knew that they were writing scripture. Absolutely. And that's one of the things that scholars and theologians. Agree and disagree over all the time is that did they know, were they aware, was Paul aware? And the answer is, yes, he was.
And maybe we're kind of going off on a tangent, but but maybe for a little bit. Are Paul's letters or for that matter Peter's or John's letters Are they occasional documents? Occasional means they're written for a certain situation. Or When they wrote those letters, yes, they were dealing with a situation. but as they were riding it they had an acute sense of awareness.
That it was the Holy Spirit who was riding through them. No, it was not like he was moving th his their hands or whatever, like a mechanical dicta dictation theory. Like they're not just in a trance and just copying down blinds. No, it was not like that. It was real people, real situation, real problems, real personalities, r real educational You know, capabilities.
Yeah, all that was taken into account. But They're still new. that what they were writing Was as if God was speaking to them. Right.
You mentioned this a little bit earlier, Dr. Shah, but talk about the state of our world now that we've gotten away from the authority of the scripture, right? Everybody's an authority unto themselves. Yeah. Sounds kind of familiar to another Old Testament.
Nation where people were like, Yeah, I'm the king. Yeah, everyone did it. I mean, it's an old problem, it goes all the way back in the Garden of Eden. When Satan tempted Adam and Eve, has God indeed said? Challenging the authority of God's Word, Is one of the oldest problems.
Probably the oldest problem. As God indeed said. Yeah. Where do you think America or the world would be right now had we not. Had we not done that?
Had we not gotten away from God's authority? I mean, there would be an awakening. And I think there is some awakening that has happened here and there.
Some revival fires have sort of, you know, begun to blaze on college campuses or a church here and there. But not as widespread. And I believe one major reason, I think people use a lot of reasons like Holy Spirit or. Or evangelism, and I think all those are. Are true, but I think another major reason is the word of God.
I think you're 100% right. I think you see those revival fires breaking out in various places. I mean, I'm thinking of online personalities. I mean, obviously, you know, Charlie Kirk and Turning Point USA had a huge impact, not just in the political sector, but in turning people back their minds toward Christ, toward the Word of God. Bryce Crawford is another one that comes to mind who, you know, he says some things that are out there sometimes, but he's in the forefront of people's for you pages and online presence defending the faith, defending the faith of other people who he's interacted with.
But for every person like that, there are countless others who claim to be the truth, who claim to be an interpreter of God's word, but are really leading people. Down path that scripture doesn't follow? How do we parse out the true? Biblical teachers from false teachers. Because I think a lot of people, I think you're exactly right.
I think a lot of people are like, you know, I would obey the Bible if I could just understand it. But there's so much noise. How do I know who to listen to? Yeah. How do I know instead of just reading the Bible myself?
That's a great question. I mean, that's an again, once again, an old problem because. Everybody is claims to be an authority on the Bible. or they they just know how to find that Niche that they can connect with people, or they just have this down-to-earth personality, or they just have. Have this persona which is so So, you know, inviting, and you feel like you connect with this person.
And so, whatever they say, is Is the word of God? And that's not always the case. That's not always the case. How do you know if that person is really? teaching the truth Well, it takes time.
It takes time to examine their what are they teaching. Where are they on the authority of Scripture? Yeah. Do they believe the Bible is the inerrant, infallible word of God?
Okay. Great. Where are they on the Gospel? Do they believe that the gospel of Jesus Christ? Is the main element that's the reason the Bible was written, the gospel?
Oh, they don't. What what do they what do they believe?
Well, they believe a lot of things. The belief that Obeying the Bible will make you rich. They believe that obeying the Bible will give you power. They believe that obeying the Bible will do something else. No, the Bible was written about one person, and his name is Jesus Christ.
And as simple as that sounds, you always hear people, because you've been a pastor for going on like 30-something years now, and I'm sure you've heard this time and time again. You know, I would love to read the Bible. I want to learn how to read it. It's just so doggone confusing. How many times have you heard that?
And you were also really convinced that that person gave it their all to read the Bible. Yeah, I I don't think so. You know, when you really want to understand the Bible, the clarity is there because that's another characteristic of the Bible. That it is clear.
Now, there are passages in the Bible that may appear contradictory. may appear very difficult to understand. But Clarity of the Bible means that it is written in such a way that those who are willing to read it, study it, obey it. We'll understand what it says. Am I saying that you will have a PhD in the Bible and that if you study just like that, reading the English Bible, you will aut automatically start learning the Greek?
No, that's not what I'm saying. Will you understand all the nuances of the of systematic theology. Probably not. It takes years and years of study. But On the things that matter, you will understand.
I think it was I want to say Benjamin Franklin, maybe somebody else. who said this. It's not the parts of the Bible that I don't understand that trouble me. It's the parts of the Bibles that I do understand that trouble me. Wow.
Like, I have a difficulty Obeying them. Yeah. Yeah. So it's not the ones that are like, I don't know what Paul meant there. Oh, I don't know what Ezekiel is talking about.
Yeah, I'm having trouble being the no, it's more the ones that are very easy. You go, Yeah, I know what it says. I just don't want to do it. I just don't want to do it. And I think you're right on that because I have read the Bible, you know, I've read passages in the Bible where, like in Colossians, for example, I'm like, I'm not exactly sure what Paul is saying, but if you really told me, hey, read it, give it your all, and just try to summarize it.
I think anybody who's really trying could probably do it. They could get the message of what the Bible is trying to do. At least the gist could come through. By the way, a sound engineer said it's Mark Twain. Yep, maybe it's Mark Twain.
Yeah. Mark Twain. Benjamin Franklin, they get Attribute a lot of things that maybe they never said. Oh, all you got to do, all you got to do is put a picture of him up there in some text and put it online, and people will believe they said, Yeah, he said it. I know he said it because I saw it online.
I saw a picture of him. Nobody made who would make a fake quote, Dr. Chau. For the people who are at home listening and who are saying, you know, you're saying that the Bible is clear and it is, it's easy, not easy to understand, but if you want to understand it, you can. Maybe they want to understand it, but they haven't ever taken those steps.
What advice would you give them, or what resources would you point out for the person who's like, I want to not just read my Bible, but I want to move towards studying my Bible? Yeah, that's a great question.
Well, just begin by having a good study Bible. That's a great place to start. A lot of Bibles we have are just the basic Bibles, Old Testament, New Testament. Usually small print, you can barely read 'em. You know, and then after.
A couple of times he's just sort of like, I don't understand this. Get a study Bible. There's so many good ones out there. There are Bibles by Warren Wearsby. That Wearsby Bible has helped me more than I can imagine.
Yeah, it's a good resource. David Jeremiah, there's John MacArthur. There's so many others. Will you agree with every one of them? I don't.
But they do help you in some places, and the places where you don't agree. you know, go research and see why you don't agree with whoever. And what they said, like John MacArthur, you may not agree with everything. But then there are study notes that you can say, yeah, that's pretty good. That's good stuff that I can take.
And where you don't agree. Do some research. Yeah. So, a great place to b begin is a good study Bible. That's right.
If you want to go deeper than that, you can. You can do a study on a particular book of the Bible. Pick one. Pick one. Pray pray over it.
And then pick one. Let's say you want to do a study on, say, the Ten Commandments. That's in the book of Exodus. You know, others as well. But let's just say Exodus.
So you can start. There's again, bring up Warren Weersby again. He has his B series and it's pretty much on all the books in the Old and the New Testament. Get the one on Exodus. Yeah.
Go online, B series, Exodus, and something will come up. There are websites out there. where you can go like there's a one called Precept Austin. And if you go on that website, there are so many older commentaries available for free. And Basically, most of what they have up there is trustworthy.
That's right. There are a discipleship library, a navigator's library. There's so many ways you can go. And I'm talking about just beginners. And if you want to go deeper, then yeah, there's more, so much more out there.
Yeah, there's an ocean of resources. Ocean of resources. And then you have to have discernment.
So find out.
somebody in your life that you can turn to, a good pastor. A Sunday school teacher who is knowledgeable and willing to guide you. They may not know the answer, but they can look it up for you or at least guide you to a resource. That's important. Yeah.
I think it's important for people to realize that there are resources out there. It's not just sort of like you come up against a brick wall and like, well, I guess I've gone as far as I can go. No, there are, there's always resources to take you into a deeper level of study. That's right. Because it's God's word.
We're never going to plumb the entirety of its depths in our lifetime. And hopefully, if you're listening to this, you've already overcome the first hurdle, which is even desiring to get into the Bible at all. You know, I think for the vast majority of Christians, and I could be wrong on this, it's not the fact that, well, I want to study the Bible. I just don't have the right resources. It's the fact that it really doesn't, it's not that important to me.
I love God and I maybe like consuming Christian media, but as far as having a dedicated time to read and study this Bible, it's just not there. Hopefully, episodes like this start to change that in you. Yeah. Yeah. Dr.
Shaw, we begin this conversation talking about revelation and talking about how the Bible points us to our Savior. It's not just enough to look at the world around us. It's not enough to just see the clouds. And then that's going to lead us to, hey, you know, there's a triune God who God, the Son, came and was became the sacrifice for my sins. We need the Bible.
We have to have scripture in order to understand who Jesus is and what he's done for us. Talk a little bit about that. Yes, that's a necessity of the Bible. That's also one of the attributes of scriptures. The Bible is necessary for knowing the gospel in order to be saved.
I was talking to a young man recently and and he said He had some question about Where do people go? If they don't receive Jesus in this life and they did not have a chance to hear them.
Now, as you've probably heard on this show many times, I think that question is is is uh You know, fallacious on various levels. Human heart is evil. People for generations have rejected God, not just one person. Generations. And so, generations they have been blinded.
So, there's a lot of things wrong with that question.
So I give him a simple answer. I say, Well, you know, it's it's quite simple. if they had responded to God, God would have giving them an opportunity to hear about Jesus. God is doing good for all humanity all the time. He's the one who heals the sick.
He's the one who feeds the hungry. He's the one who gives all good and perfect gifts. He is the one who answers prayers. But he is expecting that individual. Whether that individual right now is living in the slums of India or living in medieval time.
somewhere in in Britain? or living three thousand years ago in Egypt. Every person. has that opportunity To say, God, thank you for what you did for me. If you reveal yourself to me, of who you are.
I will follow you. Most human beings do not take the next step. Isa, how did you come up with that, Romans? Romans chapter 1 talks about that, nor were they thankful. Nor were they thankful.
I mean, that's the basic thing. Human beings have to do is say, Thank you, God, for what you've done. And then the next step is, who are you? And that's when God says, Let me reveal to you my Son. Because you cannot know me unless you come through my son.
but they never do the thankfulness. And they never see God. And so they never have the opportunity to receive Christ. Yeah, I think that's why it's so important. We started this conversation talking about that general revelation because, like you said, every human being can look around and say, okay, there's Something here, something made this.
But rather than say, who are you? They either invent something. Or they just say, oh. I don't know. I guess I'm just here for a short amount of time.
So God doesn't give. And so God does not. Go out of his way to extend that opportunity to someone who's not seeking him. And sometimes it's for generations, entire cultures. When they became hard-hearted towards God and became futile in their thoughts.
Cultures. for ages, hundreds of years, Never had the opportunity to hear about Jesus. Not because God was not willing, it's because they. did not care to know about God.
So I told her answer, gave that answer to this young man, and he said, Well, I know what the Bible says, but I also believe that there is more than Just the Bible to knowing God. I said, oh. He said, Yeah. I said, how does that work? He said, well, I.
I I'm a thinker, so I think. And I'm thinking that maybe God's going to give them a chance on the other side. Uh-oh. I said, where did you get that? In the Bible.
He said, no, it's not in the Bible, but I think it's going to be that way, because there is a knowledge that is not in the Bible. I thought it was just it was literally just an opinion he had? He had an opinion which he was saying is a true opinion about God. But it does not come from scriptures, not from Genesis to Revelation, not from Old and New Testament. This is just.
an extra body of knowledge, That He feels like it's still from God. And I said Ah, I hate to break it to you. I didn't say it quite like that, but I said I hear what you're saying. But that's not correct. Right.
The Bible is necessary for salvation. You cannot create. This extra level of way that somebody can get saved. They have to come through Christ. And the only way they can come to Christ is if they come, they hear the scriptures.
And then he finally understands like, yeah, you're right. Yes, scripture. I said, Do you believe that scripture is your final authority? He said, Yes. I said then you cannot create A back door.
Just with yourself.
So, all that to say. The Bible is necessary for knowing About God? Mm-hmm. And knowing about the gospel to be saved. I'm glad the story ended up like that, because I think there's a lot of people out there like that, where in like I think in that young man's heart, he knew that was true.
He knew that the Bible is the final authority. He knew that exactly how you laid it out is how it is. But we just don't like it. Yeah, we just don't like it, and so I'm completely the human mind, is so amazing what it's willing to just kind of make up, and then and then. Latch onto as this is true.
I the other Is unfavorable. Yeah. And God is my ideal.
So I don't want to see him as unfavorable.
So I'm going to latch on to this falsehood. Even though the Bible doesn't allow that. But I'm going to allow it. Because here is God, here is His Word, and And here I am. And I will allow this for God.
But the Bible doesn't say that. That's okay, but because there's extra knowledge here, I can do that. Yeah. No, the Bible is God's Word. And in its entirety, that's what God wants you to know.
Anything outside is not from God. That's right. It's important for us to keep conversations like this at the forefront because it can be easy, especially with the world today where compassion is on the forefront of everyone's mind, to try to out-mercy God, to try to be more merciful than God or God's word. And in truth, I mean, you're borrowing mercy that doesn't belong to you, first of all. But the second thing is, you know, as much as that might.
Mm. Be palatable to our consciences, you're 100% right, Dr. Shaw. We can't say something that scripture doesn't about God. That's right.
We can't. And that sort of leads right into the sufficiency of scripture. Exactly. Exactly. We can't invent doctrine just because it'll help us sleep at night.
We've got to trust that God's word tells us everything that we need to know about who He is. And I think, you know, talking about sufficiency, too, it's so much more freeing, I think, to know that everything that I need for salvation is in this book. This little leatherbound book that I have right here has everything I need. I don't have to come up with any like logical. Acrobatics.
I don't have to rethink new solutions because, well, this version of God that's in the Bible isn't lining up with what I have in my head.
So I think it's actually like this, and racking myself with guilt over all the people in the world who haven't heard. The answer is right here in the book, and it's readily available for free. It's the most printed book all over the world for a reason. The truth is out there. It's accessible and it's free.
That's right. We're so tempted as humans to think that we've got to solve a challenge or we've got to uncover some hidden knowledge or hidden truth. I mean, look back through history. That's most of other religions that they've uncovered this hidden truth or this secret revelation. When in reality, God in his kindness and his goodness to us has revealed everything that we need to know in his word.
He's given us his word so that we can get to know him. No other religion on the face of the earth can boast that claim. That's right. Where they have their God or goddesses or deities or whatever who have revealed themselves because they desire a relationship with humanity. Our God does.
That's right. And this is our commitment to you, that if you listen to this show, you're not going to get some hidden truth. You're going to get the free gospel of Jesus Christ that is available to you as much as it's available to that man on the island that's. Never heard before. It is 100% salvation full and free.
There are no secrets. There are no hidden like premium packages to Christianity where you can buy. No, no, no, no, no. It is the free word of God. That's right.
Guys, thank you so much for joining us for today's conversation. These conversations are so helpful for us in understanding what it is that we believe, understanding the mechanics of Christianity, and how we can then go and live our lives as a result of what God's word says about us. And you can help us do that by heading on over to Abhinan Shah.com forward slash give and becoming a financial partner of our show. You can also do that by scrolling to the description box and click the button that says support the show. Another way that you can support us is by following along on any one of our podcasting platforms.
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