Friday, November 17th | The Blessing of Marriage (pt. 2)

Hello, everyone. Today is Friday, November the 17th. I'm Ryan Hill. I'm John Galantis. And you're listening to Clearview Today with Dr. Abbadon Shaw, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

You can visit us online at ClearviewTodayShow.com, or if you have any questions for Dr. Shaw or suggestions for new topics, send us a text at 252-582-5028, or you can email us at contact at ClearviewTodayShow.com. You know, I say email us every episode, but our email inbox is getting cobwebs. People text in a lot, and we love that. Please keep texting in. But some of you are emailers.

You can email. That's fine. Yeah. You know what?

I got to go against the grain here. There's no need to email. Email is dead, dude.

No, come on. Send an email. I can email. Who do you email? Do you email your favorite radio show? I try to email you, but now this conversation is letting me know why we keep having to refresh these issues. You can email if you want to, but I understand why a lot of y'all do that. It's there as an option.

That's right. Because some of you are like, hey, I don't really text. I'm not comfortable texting into a radio show. Send us an email.

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We're going to leave some links in the description so you can do just that. The verse of the day today comes from Mark chapter 12, verses 30 through 31. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment.

And the second, like it, is this. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. Kind of sums up what's expected of us in the Christian life. There's a lot of checklists that Christians will give themselves to make other people around them accept them. Like, go to church, put money in the offering plate, serve in the church. All those things are wonderful.

Those are great. And we actually need those things. But to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, this is what God expects of you.

You know? And I love, I mean, the context here is the scribes trying to trap Jesus. Like, which is the greatest commandment? Because if Jesus gives them one, then he is differentiating between the Ten Commandments is what's in their mind. So he's going to differentiate between these Ten Commandments, and they're going to be like, ha, got you. Like, you're playing fast and loose with Moses' law. And so Jesus, he tells them that the Ten Commandments are summed up in these two commandments.

Love God first, then love people. All the other ones come from that. And it's a funny thing, too, because number one, they're trying to trap Jesus. But number two, they're still so focused on what they have to do. We have to follow the law. Look, Moses gave us that law, and we're following it. Are you saying you're greater than Moses?

And then he's like, yeah, absolutely. Who do you think gave Moses that law? I'm saying that 100 percent. Moses didn't come up with that on top of his dome. Like, that originated from me.

I wrote it. This is kind of unorthodox, but should we do two gripe vines in a week? Yes. I think if the harvest is ready, we— The harvest is plentiful? The fields are white on the harvest.

It would be irresponsible for us not to harvest. I'm ready. I'm ready. I did a formal gripe vine request only this morning. I'm kind of hesitant, because I think I know what he's going to gripe. So today we are griping—oh, wait, you didn't do the sound. Oh, sorry. Welcome to the gripe vine, everybody. Welcome to the gripe vine. Okay, so— Thank you for holding this animal, Dave.

I appreciate that. I didn't want to do a gripe vine, because I don't want this to feel like an unofficial gripe. Right, right, right, because this is a real official.

This is official, yeah. All right, my gripe is—I'm just going to come out and say it—it's with people who disengage way too quickly. I gotta go. Hello? Yeah, no, I'm not busy.

Nah, he's just doing a gripe vine. It doesn't even matter. All right, I'll talk to you soon. All right, bye. What's up?

Bro. Go ahead, go ahead, because I already know—I know what this is about. First and foremost, when the podcast ends, Nicholas needs you to not, like, disengage so quickly, because Ryan's sitting here doing the outro like, you know, text the number, you know, 252, whatever, whatever, and you're over here, and as soon as Ryan starts talking, you're like— Yeah, I'm opening up my book to cross off today's episode. I've got to keep all the— That's you.

He said this is not your harvest. Okay, so that's one. Two, this extends into other areas, like, if you're ever on a phone call or a FaceTime— You generally or you—me? You.

Not you, generally. Let's call it what it is. This is a gripe about you. Yeah, I can tell that. So John has this habit of answering the phone and then, you know, talking for—about whatever, but then if you're talking for what he perceives to be too long, he'll just hang up and just be done. So it's like, it's like, oh, yeah, I thought that was pretty—yep, bye.

Alright, bro, good. And we're just done talking. It's not— Mid-conversation. It's not mid-conversation. Mid-sentence, mid-word. Ryan, am I lying?

No, you're absolutely talented. It's not mid-conversation. It is absolutely mid-conversation. It's just once I have a feel of what the conversation's about. You're done.

Right, but here's the thing. Like, a conversation is two parts. Otherwise, it's a monologue. So in your mind, when you have finished your assessment of the conversation, you gleaned all the necessary information. You're like, I'm done with this now. Bye. But a conversation is a social engagement.

It is a contract between two people to see that through to its completion. I would say I do that really well professionally, like you're on the radio show. Huh? Oh, you're done. I don't partake in the whole, in the whole, alright, well, listen, man, how have you been? You've been good? Alright, cool. Well, listen, tell your mom I said hey and anything. I don't do that.

I'm like, okay, cool. See you. Click. Shut up. No, you have hung up on me in the middle of ask me answering the question that you asked. I'm giving you the answer. I haven't even reached the end of the answer yet.

And you're like, all right, cool. Oh, I'm actually getting a call from the Clearview Today show. Hello.

You're on Clearview today. Yeah, this is, uh, David. I'm calling. Oh, I see. Yeah.

Hey, it's. Oh, he hung up. Alright. You've been duped. I've been, I've been had.

Unbelievable. I've got some self-reflection to do. I've got some, a little bit of growing up to do. So this was nice.

This was really nice. Text in and let us know your take. What do you think? Two five two five eight two five zero two eight. Give us a call and we'll see if Jon hangs up on you.

I want to get Dr. Shaw's take on this. So stay tuned after the ad. We'll be right back. What's going on, listeners? My name is Jon.

And I'm David. And we hope you are enjoying the podcast thus far. You know, we really appreciate how many of you download the podcast every day.

Right. But we also want to remind you that we are first and foremost, a radio show clear view today is actually syndicated through the truth network. And we just want to let you know right now that in addition to hosting the all time best Christian talk show, clear view today, clear view today, the truth network also, as it turns out, has an extensive library of Christian programming. We really love everything they're doing at the truth network because the whole goal is to encourage challenge, confront and uplift listeners with the life changing truth of Jesus Christ through Christian talk radio. And listen, we know we're not the only show wanting to expand its audience. So if you have a vision for your show or for your ministry, why don't you consider syndicating your show through the truth network because they rely on decades of experience of self syndication with a full array of features for your long form or short form content. Make sure you visit the truth network online today at truth network.com. Or you can give them a call at 336-759-0363.

Again, that's 336-759-0363. Well, John, are you ready? I was born ready, my friend. Let's hop right back in. All right. Welcome back to Clear View Today with Dr. Abbadan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can visit us online at ClearViewTodayShow.com. Or if you have any questions or suggestions for new topics, send us a text at 252-582-5028.

That's right. We are here in the studio on this amazing Friday afternoon with Dr. Abbadan Shah, who is a PhD in New Testament text for criticism. Abbadan Shah, the show is touching so many people and so many lives, and we get so much encouraging mail. We usually don't get hate mail on the show. We usually don't get negative comments.

It's rare that that happens. But I do have to say that we have gotten one of our first pieces of hate mail, and I hate to say it's from someone close to you. It says, because we did a show a while back on our email inboxes, how organized they were. I remember we made the comment, we said, let's ask Dr. Shah after the break, how organized his email inbox is, and we got a comment. I don't even want to read this.

I don't even know how to bring it up. It says, the only thing that is organized in Abbadan's life is his desk in his church office. Love, Nicole.

And I was like, we just did a show yesterday on the beauty and effectiveness of a good Christian marriage. And to read this, this, this, this poison, this is poison poison. Well, sometimes there are parts of your body that hurt, right? Like your head can hurt. Yeah. I feel like it's betraying you a little bit.

Yeah. Your, your, your, uh, your, uh, elbow can hurt. Your shoulder can hurt. Your knees can hurt. Your ankle can hurt. Sometimes in marriage, some people hurt. Sometimes love hurts.

So for those of you who are like, I don't know, you need to go back and listen to yesterday's episode. But we talked about the idea of marriage, a husband and wife being connected, like Christ is connected and Christ and the church are connected. We're connected as the body.

Right. It all began from that one flesh. One is made two, but then in marriage, they're one again. And so also, uh, when it comes to spiritual life, our salvation, we are taken out of Christ in a sense. We are his, um, offspring, would you say in a sense?

Uh, but we're also connected to him. We also become one flesh with him. And I brought up Ephesians 5 30. There is a variant there in the New Testament, uh, where the shorter reading says, for we are members of his body.

And then it goes on to verse 31. The longer reading says, for we are members of his body, of his flesh and of his bones, but bones is plural there. In Genesis two, it is simply Adam exclaiming, this is bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh.

And it's singular. But when Paul is talking about the husband wife relationship, the Christ church relationship, he converts, uh, he does two things. Number one, he inverts the order. So it's flesh first and then bones or bone, but then he also makes the bone into plural bones. So in a sense, he is carrying the same analogy that is, or not analogy, the same phraseology that is found in Genesis two to describe the husband-wife relationship to explain the Christ church mystery, but it doesn't leave it that way. He inverts it and he also brings in the plural. And the question then is like, what is happening? Is it a true reference to the Old Testament?

Yes and no. Yes, it is a true reference, but no, because the order is switched. Adam saying flesh of my bone, flesh of my flesh. Paul saying, uh, we are of his flesh and of his bone. So order is switched and also the bone has become plural.

Luke chapter 24 in verse 39. So it says, behold my hands and feet that it is I myself handle me and see for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have. So here we see the order of Ephesians, not the order of Genesis two. Because it was bones and flesh.

Right. Jesus is saying flesh and bones. So could it be that Paul is at the same time quoting from two different places, maybe three if you add the Septuagint in there. So he is going to Genesis two, but then he's also looking to the Septuagint and then he's also going to Luke 24, 39. It's like he's intentionally putting Jesus in that original analogy that Adam had made. Right.

It's like he's almost like he's trying on purpose to draw our attention to the relationship between Jesus and Adam and the one. Right. Yeah.

Right. And we talked yesterday on yesterday's episode where there's so much depth there that we don't realize there's so much that goes into that. And as we dig and understand more, we realize that we have so much more still to learn.

Mm hmm. And that blessing, if we want to go ahead and move on to the next part, there's so much we can, we can call and mine over here. The blessing also extends to the children because God, when he gave Adam and the woman or man and the woman, the blessing of be fruitful in that blessing, it's fruitful for what? To have children. Yeah. Not just fruitful, like just to go have a good life. Right.

No, it was fruitful in multiply. That's right. So that's what we have here. We're being blessed by God in our, with our children.

Yeah. Do you ever feel like people, even Christians forgo having children, but based on some notion that they're too much work or they're a burden or there's too many people. This world is messed up. I don't want to bring it, be responsible. Why did you go say that?

I'm like, why not? Why don't I bring a Christian into this world and raise them up and help them turn the world right side up. Even before I had kids, like that's typically what people say is you once I had kids, I changed my mind. But even before I had kids, I was like, what, what, how, where does this line of thinking come from? And I want to clarify, if you are called not to have children, that's fine. Yeah. This show is not to tell you, Hey, you're living in sin because you do not have children.

Right. You may not have children for various reasons. And we're not here to legalistically superimpose our, our idea of how, what makes a full family on you.

You know, that used to happen and people used to do those kinds of things and that's not what we're here for. So maybe God called you to just be husband and wife. Okay. By all means follow him.

As long as you're following him, doesn't matter what anybody else says. Right. It could also be that you're not able to have children.

We understand that too. That's what God has called you to do. Maybe God calls you to have only one child, maybe just two, whatever God has called you to do. What we're saying here is don't look at children as a burden.

That's right. Change that mindset. Whether you have none or one or two or 20, it's changed the mindset behind children are a burden. I know, I know one person who, who has several children, but every time we talk to him, I mean, it seems like he loves his kids, but he is always complaining about them. Yeah. And always talking about how much a burden they are and how much he's sick of them or whatever, you know, I guess that's his love language to, to fuss and gripe about his kids.

But I wouldn't want to be his son. Yeah. Right. Doesn't feel very loving. Yeah.

Because it comes across as a burden. It feels like you had kids and then ended up regretting it. Right. Even though you're joking about it, but still it's like a regret.

So, so that's what we're talking about. Don't consider children are a burden. And there are some people who even consider children to be harmful, harmful to the environment. Like, Hey, we're bringing all these kids and you realize how much carbon dioxide is going to be in the air. And then we're going to precipitate global warming because of this. Stop having kids.

You know, they say that and it's like, okay, for one scientifically, not sure what you're doing here, but it's, it's googly gob. So let's stop that. Let's go back to the Bible because the Bible reminds us that children are a blessing from the Lord.

That's right. In fact, God has commanded us to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. And again, parenting is not easy. Children can be bad. You may not be called to have kids. We understand. You may have been called just to have one, but I hope the mindset is not one of, Oh, I'm just tired of this. Right.

Right. And it's one thing when the world says that, but when Christians who are, who claim they're trying to build God's kingdom, you know, when, when you start buying into it, how are you going to build God's kingdom? Are you just going to do good things? Then once you're gone, those good things cease. Could it be that the whole key to building God's kingdom is to have children and to fill the earth with people who worship God or at least value children and whether they're yours or not, value them and seek to two things, seek to lead them to Christ, but also seek to help them become true followers of Christ.

So two different things, value them. And Jesus did that as well. He talked about kids and he talked about how much he wants us to look at them as a model for a follower of Christ. And I think a lot of people, I don't know, Dr. Chad, would you say that it's fair to say that people may start out like in that enamored, like I love my little newborn and sweet little baby that I can rock and dress and blah, blah, blah. But as kids grow, maybe their approach and their feelings toward parenting change because the difficulties are different. I was afraid of that for myself. I was afraid that, and I don't feel that way now that my oldest is a toddler, but I definitely was afraid that once he wasn't that little sweet baby that could move, once he was like running around and stuff hanging out of his nose and sticky hands everywhere, I was afraid that my attitude on parenting would change.

Praise the Lord it didn't. But yeah, I definitely felt that. Because you're in a setting where we value children. It's not by accident, it's not just by chance that your attitude has gotten better and you enjoy those moments. Like you had your life with father moment with Gavin, right?

I mean you were so upset with him for sort of telling on you whether he really meant to or not, who knows. But you had that moment and you were able to enjoy that. That's true. That's 100% true. But in our culture, let me say one more thing about these various stages that you brought up, Jon, where our idea of parenting can change. The unborn, we don't consider that as parenting, under the umbrella of parenting, but the unborn are considered to be a burden.

That's true. Up until recently, which is last year, June 24th, 2022, we were living under this ugly shadow of Roe v. Wade, where we had close to 64,443,118 abortions. And those stats are coming from the National Right to Life Foundation. And that's just since the 70s, right? Just since the 70s. 65 million people. How many years is that?

2023 minus 1973. That's awful. That's 39.

Unbelievable. Just in 49 years, 65 million abortion. And the scriptures are very clear on that. Psalm 139, the famous passage on the unborn, it says in verse 13, for you formed my inward parts. You covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are your works and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in secret and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance being yet unformed.

And in your book, they were all written the days fashioned for me when as yet there were none of them. Beautiful, beautiful. And the translation is quite beautiful as well. So that stage is a wonderful stage. A stage that God refers to as a blessing.

The psalmist, of course, Psalm 139, is calling it a blessed stage. But then the young baby arrives, the child arrives, and at first it is so cute and cuddly and, oh, look at him cry. That's when we can all agree that it's a blessing.

Yeah. How sweet. Until it's two o'clock in the morning and you have just gotten to bed about 1.15. It's been 45 minutes and you're like going into a REM sleep, right? And wah, wah, wah. And then you take them to church and everyone's holding them and snuggling and be like, this is a perfect angel from above. And it's like, I wish I would have called you about seven hours ago when I was up with him. So there may be times that kids may not seem or feel like a blessing, but they are.

They are a blessing from the Lord. And then kids begin to change, even in those early days, you know, when you think, oh, look at my little one. And then the little one says, no. Yeah. Attitude comes in there and you're like, what happened? We're starting to see that a little bit. In school, bite somebody or slap somebody.

And then you're like, why would you do that? I am so busy and I have so many things to do. I don't want to come here and be defending you or not defending you. At least I want to come in here.

You're making all hundreds and A's. I want to come in here that you are really doing well in the school play or in Peavey baseball or whatever it is. You're just like the best player.

And you listen to your coach. No, I have to come here because you hit somebody or you stole something. Why would you steal? You need to steal that. What's your problem?

What do you need? It's so relatable. You never want to get those calls as a parent. No, you never, I'm not there yet, but I can already, I can, golly, I can already hear it and be like, you need to come in. Gavin is, he's biting, he's hitting, he's stealing. Put gum in the little girl's hair in front of him.

He's pulling pigtails. Yeah. So we have to even see that stage as a blessing from God, because that's the stage where you get to share the gospel with them. That's right. That's right. That's the stage we get to help them grow in their faith.

Yeah. That's the stage you may have to discipline them. And that's the stage you may be frustrated. That's the stage you may be, you know, at the end of your rope with why are you doing that? Why? Where did you learn that? You know, stop.

But it's still a blessing. Dr. Shah, your kids, two of them are grown and married. One of them is beyond a teenager. He's sitting right here.

He's sitting right here. And then you've got one teenager and you're just about to enter the teenager. Yeah. I've got, they've got two preteens running around at the house right now. And Jesus blessed them, right? He took them and held them in his arms and said, whoever receives one of these little ones in my name receives me and whoever receives me receives not me, but the one who sent me. So if he picked them up, more than likely, they're not like a 20 year old. They were probably five or seven, maybe 10 years old. And then he also set one of them in the middle of them and said, let the little children come to me. Well, he kind of held them, I would say. He said, let the little children come to me and do not forbid them for of such is the kingdom of God.

So he held them up as a model. But then there comes another stage, which is the teenager years. This is a tough one. This is the stage where you ask the question, what happened to my sweet little child? How, what happened? Who took him away? Who is this little miniature adult walk around my house?

What is this alien that is replacing them? My little boy who was so compliant. Now he's like acting like he's angry all the time. And my little girl who loved being with her daddy or mommy, whoever, but now she doesn't want to spend time with us.

What happened? It's part of growing up. And, but even that stage is a blessing because that's how God has designed us that in time we begin to separate from our family of origin. We begin to learn to stand on our own two feet. And those are not the times that you go, well, you know, they're teenagers.

No, no, no. Those are still the time where you correct them, where you still hold them accountable. But you understand that things are beginning to change. And so we had a tough time with that age as well. But like horrible, but we still had our tough days. But I do like that you point out that the blessings are there.

They're just different in each stage. And I think, I think that's something that parents run into is they're, they get to those teenage years and they think this blessing doesn't look like it did when they were little babies. Maybe the blessing is gone. Yeah. This blessing doesn't feel the same. Yeah.

Maybe this just isn't good because I don't feel as snugly and warm as I did when they were little babies. But they're still there. There's still a blessing and you have to guide them, understand them, where they're coming from. Like we're dealing with the teenagers today. They're Gen Zs. So know what their likes and dislikes are. Know what their fears and worries are. I mean, this is the most crises ridden generation.

So meet them where they are, still hold them accountable. Don't just let them do whatever, but meet them where they are and then lead them to Christ. Help them to grow in their relationship. So that's that generation. And then finally, of course, there is the emerging generation, emerging adult generation, which is ages 18 to 29. This is when they enter into the realm of I'm an adult, but I still feel like I'm a kid. And you're trying to figure out how do I now relate with this person because you're making decisions. Obviously they're not the best, but since you're an adult, it's not like I can't tell you what to do, but I want you to grow up.

The joy that comes when a little Holden sees his mama, his mommy here, my mommy walks out of the room, he starts crying. Now with a 22 year old, unless there are physical issues there or mental issues there, what if a 22 year old does that? Yeah, that's odd behavior.

We would call that strange. Yeah. What if a 22 year old, what if Nicholas starts crying when I walk out of the room? Because he thinks he's never going to see you again. Dad's gone.

Yeah. I mean, you'd be like, buddy, you need to grow up. You need to grow up. So also with emerging adults, we have to learn that this is a different phase, but it's still a phase of blessing. Sometimes it can happen where emerging adults will project their failings and their weaknesses on their parents. And if you're the parents who are just being blamed for things, don't lose heart. Wait on God's timing. When they, meaning your children, walk in your shoes, they will understand.

Both with marriage and with parenting, it's a reflection of our relationship with God. That deeper truth that is available to us there. So good. If you guys enjoyed today's episode, you learned something about yourself, about relationships, about parenting, write in and let us know 252-582-5028. You can visit us online at ClearviewTodayShow.com and make sure you click that donate button at the bottom. Become part of our Clearview Today Show family and together with us, impact the nations with the gospel. We love you guys. We'll see you next week on Clearview Today.