Lightning Round Questions

Hey everybody, today is Friday, March the 24th. I'm Ryan Hill.

I'm John Galantis. You're listening to Clearview Today with Dr. Abbadan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You can find us online at ClearviewTodayShow.com. If you have any questions or suggestions for future episodes, send us a text at 252-582-5028, or you can email us at contact at ClearviewTodayShow.com. That's right, and you guys can help us keep the conversation going by supporting this podcast, sharing it online, liking it, and giving us a good review on iTunes, Spotify, anywhere that you get your podcasting content from. Man, that was hard to say today. We're going to leave a link in the description of this podcast so you can do just that, but before anything else happens, we've got to read the verse of the day. We've got to.

You want to do it? The verse of the day today comes from Colossians 1, verse 16. For by him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through him and for him. The entire universe, everything that exists, was made by Jesus for the purpose of declaring his supremacy. Everything in all of creation ranks below him in authority and in power and in glory. Everything is below him. When he returns, that's the only response that we have is that every knee is going to bow and every tongue is going to confess that he's Lord to the glory of God the Father. That's what this is saying, is that everything was created by him, so it's his.

Everything. Absolutely. Just saying Jesus is Lord, it doesn't necessarily mean that you've yielded your life to his will. Just affirming that truth vocally doesn't reflect a heart change.

What's required is recognizing this truth and submitting your life to the authority of Jesus Christ. That's right. Speaking of affirming truths vocally, David, I wanted to tell you, buddy, I love your haircut. Thank you. Thank you very much. I saw you this morning and I was like, that is fresh. Yeah. That is sharp. It is a crisp haircut.

Where'd you get it? It's a long story. Really? It's a long story. Is that the name of the barber shop? Yeah.

If only we had a radio show designed for telling some of the long stories of our lives. Oh, wait. Oh, wait. Well, we do.

My story begins in 2020. Really? I moved out of my mother's house and I moved like two minutes down the road. Sure.

So not a big deal. Yeah, that's fine. I was moved out, but I was still close enough that there was a level of comfort. Well, here recently I've moved farther out, probably like 15 minutes away. Sure, sure, sure. And that has sparked some want to spend time on my mother's side, which is fine.

Right. So she's like, hey, I haven't seen you a little while. Let's go to lunch. It's like, all right, Monday's the only day off, so let me know when you want to do that. So we go out, we go to lunch, we get George's in Oxford.

Nice. She's like, your hair needs to be cut. And I'm like, yeah, I know I'm going to Wake Forest after we finish here and I'm going to go get my hair cut.

Sure. You go to Lady Jane's? Yeah, I go to Lady Jane's.

Love Lady Jane's. Yeah. She does not like that idea. Why?

Oh. It's because she doesn't like the thought of me driving to Wake Forest to get my hair cut. That's what you've been getting it cut for years, isn't it?

That doesn't matter. Don't you normally drive to Wake Forest on a Monday? Like that's a, that's not an uncommon thing for you. That's a kind of normal thing. Yeah. I mean, that's pretty much, you're always in Wake Forest. I mean, not during the date, but like on a Monday. That's where you go.

Yeah. On a Monday, like I go to Wake Forest. I'll go to Barnes and Noble.

I'll go get a haircut. Sometimes I'll go to other places, but yeah. But she doesn't like you driving out there just at night? Was it nighttime?

No, it's just going out to Wake Forest. She doesn't like the thought of it. Oh, okay.

So she's like, uh, I heard there was this local barbershop in Oxford that I think she should... Wait a minute, wait a minute. Well, I immediately have questions. Okay. I heard there was this local, that she, has she been here or talked to anybody who's been here? She don't know nothing about it. Okay. She's heard that it exists.

Red Flag is number three. She heard that it exists and she was like, I want you to go there and just check it out. Why? Why? So we go to this barbershop in Oxford. To save time? I guess. Okay. So we go to this barbershop in Oxford. Oh yeah, to save time. That's the funny part. We go to this barbershop in Oxford.

I get my hair cut. Sure. It was a fine experience. Very nice people. Conversation was good.

Like I said, nice people. Right. I get out of the chair.

I go to where I can see like in a mirror and there's very obviously a big problem. Oh no. There's like splotches of hair like sticking out of the side. Oh no.

It's not faded. So it's like all the way up and then it's just normal hair. Oh, so you got like the bulk of it.

It was bad. So I get in, I go back and I'm like, see what you did? See, I listened to you. To the barber or to your mom? No, to my mother.

So you left with your hair looking jank? Yeah. What else am I supposed to do? Fix it, y'all.

If he did that, I don't think he can fix it. Okay. Well. Okay. Fair enough. So you are scolding your mother.

Yeah. I'm like, I'm not really scolding. I'm just like, this is why I go to Lady Jane's. And she was like, well, I can fix that. I was like, no, I'm going to just go to Lady Jane's right now. And she's like, no, I think I can fix it.

I'm like, I'm going to Lady Jane's. Let me guess, hard cut to her trying to fix your hair. Yep. I knew. You let her do it. Oh no.

So I'm like, I need to like, I need to prove to her that this is not good. So I FaceTimed Jon. Yeah.

He FaceTimed me. Oh no. And I didn't know Christy was in the room.

Right. And so she was like, he was like, what do you think of this haircut? And I thought, you know, I didn't know what to think. Does she think that it looks good at this point? No. Okay.

So she's fine. I didn't know if this was like, see what I did. He FaceTimed me and I was like, what do you think of my haircut? And I was like, are we given, are we playing or are we like furry?

He's like, furry. I was like, somebody messed you up. And then he trapped me because Christy was like, what's wrong with it?

Why don't you like it? And I was like, why would you do that, David? And then, so anyway.

It's like, here, sit down in this bear trap. Yeah, exactly. So I was like, no, I mean, I think it looks fine or whatever. And then she said something like, I have such a bad history of cutting his hair.

I did it all the time when he was little and it never looked good. And so I was like, Christy, why are you surprised? Yeah. She thought that this time, and this is my explanation for that. She, all the time I was growing up, thought that the problem was me. So she was like, oh, he's grown up now. He's older. He's more mature. Therefore he won't be the problem. The problem was never me.

He's more mature. Therefore I am more skilled at cutting hair. Turns out, not the case. So you went to Lady Jane's and got it fixed.

Go to Lady Jane's, got it fixed. I'm so sorry. Well, guys, on today's episode, it is Friday, so we're going to bring back lightning round questions on today's episode.

Woo! We love lightning round questions. These are the questions that you guys have submitted to that number that we keep telling you.

It's so important. We take those questions and we group them based on a subject matter or a theme. So if you don't hear your questions today, we still have them. We do our best to respond to every single text message that comes through.

So keep sending those messages in. You may just hear them on a lightning round questions episode. We're going to get Dr. Shaw in just a second. But if you have those questions, if you've been sitting on them for a while, send those in to 252-582-5028 or visit us online at ClearviewTodayShow.com.

Yep. We'll be back after this. Hey there, listeners. I'm Jon Galantis.

And I'm Ellie Galantis. And we just want to take a quick second and talk to you about Dr. Shaw's and Nicole's book, 30 Days to a New Beginning, daily devotions to help you move forward. You know, this is actually the second book in the 30 Days series. And the whole point of this devotional is to help us get unstuck from the ruts of life. You know, when it comes to running the race of life, it matters how you start. But a bad start doesn't ultimately determine how you finish the race. You can have a good finish even with a bad start. And that's where this book comes in. No matter who you are or where you are in life, you're going to get stuck.

Instead of going out and buying some gadget or some planner, like I know I've done several times. I know that's right. 30 Days encourages you to find your fresh start in God's Word. Life doesn't have a reset button. But our God is a God who does new things.

His mercies are new every day, which means every day is a new chance for you to start over. You can grab 30 Days to a New Beginning on Amazon.com. We're going to leave a link in the description box below. And if you already have the book, let us know what you think about it.

That's right. Send us a text 252-582-5028. Share what God has done in your life through this devotional. Hey, maybe we'll even read your story on the air. Ellie, you ready to get back to the show?

Let's do it. Welcome back to Clear View Today with Dr. Abbadon Shai, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can visit us online at ClearViewTodayShow.com. If you have any questions or suggestions for future episodes, send us a text 252-582-5028.

That's right. And if you're joining us for the first time today, we want to let you know who's talking to you. Dr. Abbadon Shai has a PhD in New Testament textual criticism, professor at Carolina University, author, full-time pastor, and host of today's episode.

You can find all his work on his website. That's AbbadonShai.com. Dr. Shai, welcome to Friday's episode. Are you ready? I am ready. I think I am. Are you ready?

I am. How do you smell? From the four corners of the earth!

From the four corners of the earth! We have not done lightning round questions in a little bit. It's been a minute. In fact, I can tell you. I can tell you when the last time was, if you want to give us some lightning round questions.

So lightning round questions. Oh, it didn't take that long. Three weeks. Sorry.

That was far less than a minute. I'm sorry. Lightning round questions, for those of you who don't know, maybe this is the first time you're tuning in on a Friday to this silliness. Lightning round questions is a collection of listener-submitted questions.

We tell you guys all the time, texting that number, 252-582-5028. This is why. We love getting those messages, and we respond to all those messages, but you may not always hear your question immediately on the show. That's because we take them and we group them in groupings that make the most sense, and then we air them on lightning round questions. Also, some of y'all's questions are good questions, but it's not questions that we can put at the end. So we've got questions we put at the end like, what's your favorite type of candy? But then some people are like, explain false prophets to me.

That's not a question Dr. Shaw can answer in 30 seconds. We save them to devote full episodes to, or we save them for lightning round questions. But I will say, these lightning round questions, we have a ton of people who just want to get to know you a little bit. So we kind of group these.

These are more like, they're not icebreakers, but they're just like, who is Dr. Shaw? Oh, okay. I'm ready. And we're going to learn more today.

We're going to dive in today. So you want me to say the first one? Yeah, you got the first one. Okay. The first question comes from Charles M. Charles wants to know, how did you meet your wife?

Oh, great question. So I was working security at the college where I was studying down in Georgia, Northeast Georgia. And you know, my co-guard, you know, the guy who was with me on the shift, he was a crazy one. He's one of those, I know where he is now, but yeah, he had issues. But anyways, he would, yeah, he would do crazy things. Like he would like follow people without them knowing, hide and jump out.

And let me just weird. And he was just, I hate to say he was a creepy guy. So he came back after one of the rounds in the squad car and he comes, he's like, yep, found my wife. I'm like, oh, okay.

Who did you find? Oh, she is, she is here. She just got here. I said, okay. He said, yeah, she's one of those Southern types, you know, but they're nose up in the air kind of one.

I liked that kind. He just saw her. Yeah. Well, I didn't know he was referring to Nicole. Oh, this was Nicole. Yeah.

The real Georgia peach Southern bell type. You know, I should have known that's where the story was going. But she was not really like that.

I mean, maybe a little bit, but not necessarily like that at all. So anyways, so I'm like, okay, whatever. And then few weeks later I actually met Nicole and when we were down in Georgia for the eclipse, we went on the campus and we stood up on the gym steps, right. Coming off into the parking lot, headed towards the cafeteria.

That's where I met her for the first time. Yeah. I believe, I believe I could be wrong on this, but I believe the year was 2017. That was the year. When, when, when we went to see the eclipse, I was like, no, I don't think in 2017, right?

No, no. We went to go see the eclipse in 2017 and Dr. Shah took us down to Toccoa Falls because that was where you could see the total singularity. Like when we were here in North Carolina, my dad was like, yeah, we couldn't really see it, but we were like, no, we want to see this thing. And we got, we got to visit your college. Yeah.

Yeah. We stood on those steps. And then this was back in 1994 when this guy told me about Nicole, it was in 93, but it was in 94 that I actually, in 93 I saw her, but it's in 94 that we met. I saw a video that you had filmed a long while ago.

Maybe we can put this on the YouTube channel if everybody's okay with it, but there was you meeting Nicole in a grocery store. Was that when you all met at Walmart? Was that when y'all met for the first time or had y'all known each other? We had sort of, I had sort of seen her and I waved at her in the, in the chapel, which was in the gym.

And so sort of had some acquaintance, but not really no conversation had happened. And I was in the broadcast journalism department. So we were preparing for campus previews. So for campus preview, we have videos playing and all this kind of crazy stuff happening.

So usually the broadcast department would be tasked with get some videos ready for, to show our students, our incoming students or these prospective students of how fun it is to be in college here. So we were the fun video taping people. So we have my friend, I forgot his last name, I think Andy something, but he and I went to Walmart. He's like, let's go to Walmart. I said, what are we going to do? He said, we're going to put the camera in the buggy, river it up with some clothes. So nobody knows we're doing this and let's walk around and film to call all students and then ask them what are they doing here and how much fun it is to go shopping.

Yeah. It was just kind of weird that we were filming people. I mean, it makes sense, but cause, but, but you're right. Cause when I saw the video, cause the reason I saw it was because for y'all's anniversary, you wanted to update it.

You wanted to add on to that. But cause you had a video that was highlights of yours and Nicole's life together as a couple. And the very first clip in that video is you meeting her officially for the first time. And I remember being like, okay, so he's, he, the camera is down in the buggy and it's looking out. So it's seeing through like the rails of the buggy. And I remember thinking like, how did he know that this woman, he was, he was going to like set the camera up, film the first time ever meeting her.

But it makes sense. You're like, no, we were filming students to ask him. But it's crazy because now you have on camera the very first time you ever met your wife. That's incredible. She was, she had, was it John Michael Montgomery? Was that a singer? You the, yeah, I think so. I think so. She had her, that, that cassette or CD, I can't remember now is in the video. And then she was also had the, the, the, the, the gas treatment, you know, you put it in the cars and help your car clean up or whatever.

I don't know how much is real, how much it worked. Is it Joshua Katison? Joshua Katison is our song.

Beautiful in my eyes? That's our song. That's not the song you were talking about? No. Okay. I think it is John Michael Montgomery. Yeah.

That's a country singer. Okay. Okay. So anyways, so we talked about that and that's how we have it. That's insane. That's so special to have that on like on video. I'm going to see if I can find, I'm going to see if I can find the video.

Maybe we can tag it at the end of the episode. Cause I think it's pretty cool. I love that. It's pretty cool. Absolutely.

I got one coming in from Lori B. Where did Clearview's name come from? Like, like how, like, what does it mean? Why Clearview Church? So, well, this is probably the first you will hear it on, on like on a big stage, I guess, but it was my idea. So how it began with, we were going through the core values, mission vision statement and all that stuff. And so time came for us to change the name of the church, right? It was like, okay, it's time to change the name. Not because we're embarrassed of the old name, not because, you know, this is somehow going to change everything because we have a new name. No, but we felt like enough has been put into place that now it's time to even have a new name so we can have a new beginning. Right. And so we put it up to the people to come up with some names and genuinely to put to them, you know, Hey, what do you think? What do you think?

And there were all kinds of weird names, you know, the, our father's house of prayer, genuine worship or something like that, you know, Potter's house, the people for God, holy communion on Baptist church. And I'm like, Oh, this is not going well. And then one day I'm just going about my life, my business, and it hits me. Clear view, my clear view. Yes. Clear view, clear view to Christ, clear view to the gospel, clear view to doctrine, a clear view to reaching the lost. And all that is there. I can see it.

And so I didn't put my name in there. I just suggested, I said, somebody suggested clear view. What do you guys think? And they're like, Oh yeah, I like clear view.

I'm like, yeah, let's, let's, let's go for that. So David just texted me a potential church name is Christians R us. I figured I'd read that one. Yeah. So that's when I brought up clear view.

I did some research to see if there are other clear views and there were, but they were not, you know, like nearby here. So that was a good thing. Cause I didn't want to pick a name that, you know, for church down the road.

That's not what you want. And I'm so glad we picked. Oh yes.

So glad we did. Well, there's certain words that when you say them, they just invoke emotion and they invoke like a, like a reaction in clear view has a, I mean, really it's like a breath of fresh air. Yeah. It's always, to me, it's always seemed very, very soothing, very calming, but also very driven, very focused. Like it's not like harsh and in your face, but it's also like, we know where we're headed. We know who we are.

We know where we're going. And I feel that it's, it's, it's clear view church. And people always say, you know, it's clear view Baptist church, but the, but the name of the institution is clear view church so that people can feel welcome to come in. It's not that we're ashamed of being Baptist. It's that we're secure enough to where we don't have to feel that number one, we need to justify our existence as a denomination, but also people are welcome.

People are, this is where God is being worshiped and you can come in and you can worship without feeling like you belong or don't belong. There's some people who get really hung up on that title, that denominational title or the designation is like, Oh, you're embarrassed of that. I see y'all have taken that out. And all I, you know, when somebody says that it's indicative of their understanding of, of, of history. That's exactly right.

Right. Prior to what, 1800s, were there something, something Baptist church? Were there something, something Methodist church? I mean, how, how were the church designated right or 17, 1600 let's just, let's just say 1600.

No, there were no designations. It was simply a church. And so we have taken this phenomenon for the past 300 years and made a normative like, Oh, you gotta have a denomination in there. Are you ashamed? Are you embarrassed of being a Baptist?

It's like, no, but we're secure enough. As John said, to say, we are Clearview church. That's right. Now go a little further, come inside and you'll find out, are we Baptist? Are we Southern Baptist? Cause that's who we are. And then come up even closer and see more about who we believe.

Cause not all Southern Baptists are the same. That's right. Yeah.

Of course we have the same core doctrines, but then there's a lot of things we do differently. So I'm happy we chose that name. It's a, I mean, it's a fantastic, yeah. And it's not trendy either, right? No, it's, it's sort of timeless in a way. Yeah.

Cause you'll always have those, you know, Mark 11s or those numbers. Reaver, Ignite. Right. Like illuminate church. Spawn. I said spark, but spawn. 479. You're named after some scripture, but in time that style will go away.

Clearview, it can't, how can that go away? Right. Our next question for, on today's episode comes from Harold B. And Harold wants to know, did you play sports in school? I did. Ooh.

I did. I'm sort of forgotten, but until about a year ago, somebody from my old high school, St. Deloitte's High, sent me a message and he's like, man, I remember you. You were so athletic.

And so, and I'm like, well, thank you. Somebody remembered me. I used to play soccer. I used to play cricket for school.

I played soccer. We didn't have a cricket team for the school as, as, as odd as that sounds, we didn't have a cricket team and cricket is the most popular sport in India. I was going to ask, was that common with schools in India? Did everyone pretty much have a cricket team?

No, the schools didn't have it. And the reason our school didn't have it and many schools didn't have it is because cricket requires so much. A whole day goes to play cricket. Soccer, two hours you're done. Cricket, you can go half a day, all day playing a sport. I mean, how are you going to have a school education?

That's true. I mean, the entire student body, you know, will sign up for cricket. But you enjoyed playing cricket. I enjoyed playing cricket, which is more, you know, with neighborhood or a little, little team here that we put together so we can, you know, get in this tournament. We never won, but it was, it was pretty good.

But then soccer, it's interesting story there. You want to hear that story? I was really good. I was really good.

Not, not like the best or anything. I was good. I was a go-getter, especially as a goalie, as a, you know, I was really good. And then my dad realized how much time I was wasting just out there running around, you know, not studying. So, you know, he was, he was a teacher in town at one time. So he knew all those, those guys, those teachers. So he made a trip to my coach and said, do me a favor.

No, don't pick him. So, so tryouts for the new year. And I tried out and of course I'm, you know, I'm good. I can kick the ball. I can run.

I can whatever. And at the end of that, it's like, oh, your name's cut. I'm like, what happened? He said, well, you need to focus on studying more.

I think that's, that's where you're gifted more. I'm like, what? So my dad was doing me a big favor.

Now looking at the time, I was like, I cannot believe it because it was so cool to be running out there and have all these people admire me and girls, you know, loving this, this guy who is such a go-getter, slides and runs and jogs and hops. I'm cut from the table. Dad, how dare you? Well, this kind of plays perfectly into the next question. Speaking of school stories, Michael R wants to know, I think we just kind of heard one, but what's your funniest school story? Oh gosh, that's funny, but I don't know if I should share that. Which one do you want me to share? I know a couple of them.

I think the, I think the, the case of the misplaced ha is really good. Oh, okay. So the one John is referring to, at least in our school, I don't know how it was in every school in India, cause there's probably hundreds of thousands of them, but our Catholic school every Tuesday morning, I think it was we would have PT is what they would call it. PT physical training. And so we would go to our playground and there was a stage there. And then we would stand in rows in front of the stage, different classes, just a high school. And the PT instructor would be up on the stage with a whistle and he would blow the whistle.

And we had to do the, you know, stretch our arms up, arms down, stretch, whatever. Honestly that PT doesn't work. It was a weirdest waste of time. Yeah. Waste of time. How does that really enhance my physique?

It doesn't. So anyways, so it was always goofy time. We would do that and then kind of like wait to see where the teacher is looking.

And then we just kind of stand around and look around and just be relaxing. Yeah, I definitely did that too. Yeah.

Pretty much that's what we did. And so the, the instructor had a way of saying, yes, he, every conversation, everything he would say began with huh. Which is Hindi for yes.

Yes. And then he would say, huh? So the plan for the day is a lunch is delayed by 30 minutes.

So we can go ahead and get to our classes and get the first period going, huh? So he would always do that. So, so it became comical that students, when they would see him come up to either the microphone or just up there, because there wasn't a microphone in the, in the playground, they would start doing huh. They like to make fun of him. Make fun of him. One day he got, he was mad and he, he was like, who said that?

And he started walking. It's like corporal punishment was allowed back in those days. So, you know, you would get spanked for that. You get whooped.

And so some of us in the back, we see this coming. And so we're looking at this other dude over here. And of course the teacher bought it and he went after that one student. So the guy who got whooped was not the guy who made fun of him. He was just one of those goofy kids, you know, laughing, dancing is like, He's having fun.

It was also like everybody else. So like, I imagine like the teacher gets up there. Someone goes, huh? Everybody starts laughing. He's like, you know what?

That's it. And this one guy doesn't stop laughing fast enough. So the teacher just snatches him out.

And he got a couple of good whacks on the, on the head or back or shoulder. The rest of us are just laughing. Well, this kid is getting in trouble.

There's something funny anymore, but it was funny back then. There's something hilarious about somebody getting whooped for something they didn't do. Like the wrong kid. Like he snatches up the wrong kid. I don't know if even in his mind, he thinks he actually did it or if he's just like, I just got to whoop somebody.

I mean, at that point, he's like, this is the kid. This is the culprit. And it's funny because if you go to the Facebook page for a St. Deloitte's alumni, I mean, they all talk about it here and there, but you remember Sir Bangare and his huh? If you guys enjoyed today's episode, if you want to send in your questions for lightning round questions, make sure you do that by texting them to 252-582-5028. Or you can visit us online at clearviewtodayshow.com. Don't forget, you can partner with us financially on that same website. Every gift that you give goes to building up countless other ministries and furthering the reach of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Can we end with a quote?

Is that okay? So I got to have a quote here. What is, I love this because it relates, you know, when we get to know people, it helps us to further that love that we have for one another. You know, I feel like, I feel like we've got to know you a little bit better on this show.

John and I already know you pretty well, but just kind of hearing you talk about that, you know, it makes us, makes us love you even more. What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has, it has eyes to see misery and want.

It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like. Beautiful. Love it. We love you guys. We'll see you next time on Clear Read Today.