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I'm John Galantis. You can find us online at Clearview Today Show dot com. If you have any questions for Dr. Shah or suggestions for new topics, send us a text to 252-582-5028. Or you can email us at contact at Clearview Today Show dot com.
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Just go on and click on it right there. It's just there. You got mail. You remember you got mailed out of shot?
Oh, my goodness. I remember that. At the time and of course, I was like, how does it come? Is it like a like an envelope comes out?
You know, when I used to hear that, I guess I was so naive, so naive. There were people who are more advanced than me when it came to technology, computers. But when they would say it's like you can go online and you can go to the Web site and on the World Wide Web and you can find the the the Web. What do they call it?
The Web Web page or Web site for this and this. I was like, so you go online and you are like like if you want to go to a destination, like if I wanted to go to, let's say, the Caribbean. So. It's going to be like water. I mean, how how how do we do that? How does it do that?
Do I like step through or? Yeah. I mean, it was it was really confusing for me the first time. Look, it was not just you. I know I was a younger. I was a much younger person when we had the Internet. But even as a teenager, when we got Internet in the house, I thought for sure you put cash into the computer because my mom would be like, I'm gonna try just doing something. My shopping on the Internet. And I was like, where do you put the money?
You just like the CD driver. I went in there and I was like I would be on eBay and you can see all like the listings and stuff on eBay. And I would take cash and I would be like, put it on the screen. I'd be like, I don't know where to put. It wasn't just you.
I definitely did that, too. But after a while, you learn it's like, wait a minute. Oh, yeah. There is this place. But then how do you know it's real? Is it a picture? Is it a video?
Well, how how do you like? Who has the picture? Where does it? How does it get there? Where is the Internet? Where is the Web?
It's crazy. It's in Oslo, I think. It's in Oslo? Oh, my bad. Can I go like sit in the World Wide Web?
Can I go touch the World Wide Web? Yes, technically, yes. Sorry. I wanted to show off that I knew that. Okay, go ahead. The verse of the day today is coming to us from Philippians chapter 1, verse 27.
Paul has Professor Oak energy. I'm always, I'm always watching. I'm always listening.
No, not at all. I think Paul hits on that, like, let your conduct be worthy. I think we forget that. I think we over romanticize the heart.
You know, it's my heart. God knows my intentions. We we over romanticize what we mean and what we intend, not our actual conduct, because I think that would take some confrontation to be like, you know what?
My conduct was pretty poor. Yeah, it's like the old adage. Old adage is the same thing. It's like the adage goes, we judge others by their actions and we judge ourselves by intention.
A hundred percent. That's not what I intended. Yeah. But you you did this, this and this. And yeah, here's what you did. And it's like, but you did that, too. But what I meant was it was it matter what you meant what you did.
I got to tell you, it has really I know we're kind of joking around laughing, but it has transformed my marriage. Yeah, I no longer feel any burden. To let Ellie know what I meant.
Yeah, like we don't do the whole what I tried to do with it because it was like if I'm if if the whole focus of our argument is for her to understand where I'm coming from, at the end of the day, she's just going to be like, OK, I guess I understand. But I still felt this. And it's it's this is what you said. It is so freeing. Right.
It is so freeing to be like, you know what? What I meant doesn't matter. I goofed up.
Yeah. Here's how here's how it affected me. Here's how it made me feel. Here's how I perceived it. That's what that's a matter.
Hundred percent thing. Dr. Shaw, I do have a quick question for you. We didn't we didn't even introduce our host, by the way. We're in the studio with Dr. Albert Hunchaw, who's a Ph.D. in New Testament textual criticism, professor at Carolina University, author, full time pastor and the host of today's show.
And Dr. Shaw, I do have a quick question for you. Did I do that? This is one of my favorite segments that we do. It's called Did I Do That? It's where we share those moments in life that just make you cringe thinking about them.
Those kind of just embarrassing stories that just keep you up at night. Yes. Things that these things that you just got to really ask yourself, did I really do that? This is not me.
I didn't do this. Someone to die. Yeah. Ryan, well, you. Oh, I know this one.
I know this one. Somebody. Well, here's here's my question. Yeah. I want to ask you, Dr. Shaw, did a person did a member of your congregation. Take their pants off or attempt to take their pants off in your living room. They attempted.
OK, I want to narrow down a little bit. Yeah. Get your seat.
Get in your seat now. Did the person who attempted this, are they not only a member of your church, are they a member of your staff? Yes. Is that person a member of the Clearview Today show? Yes.
David, why did you try to take your pants off? Is that person related to you by what? Before he even remotely tries to answer, let me set up the scenario. Yeah.
Yeah, go for it. We're sitting there. OK, I'm there. I think Nick was there. Nicole was there. Thomas was there. And so I think I told them, if you just want to go and relax, you know, because he was going to stay the night.
It was ice on the road and stuff. You can go home if you want to. I said, I'm not trying to keep you here, but if you're safer. He's like, I just want to hang out here.
I was like, OK, that's fine. I said, you go and get relaxed. He said, OK, I can just take off my pants. So he let you know? He let you know what was about to happen? Yeah, he did.
I didn't know that. I was like, I have basketball shorts and everything. I'm like, no, no, no, no. It doesn't matter if you are perfectly dressed. You're not going to start undressing. Right, right.
You're not taking your pants off in my living room. No, I didn't know he let you. That makes it worse. Yeah, I know that you think that makes it better. That makes it worse.
It makes it way more uncomfortable. Because I thought he just was like, oh, man, it's hot. I stood up, start unbuckling your pants and you're like, hey, bud, you can go to the bathroom if you want.
But the fact that he was like. I'm going to now remove my pants. Yeah, here we go. Right.
And start sliding them down. So he texted me. And I don't know if he texted Ryan. I think he texted Ryan too. He texted me, hey, I've got a topic for the radio show.
Is it OK to remove your pants in public if you're wearing basketball shorts underneath? I said, I probably wouldn't. Right. And he said, Dr. Shaw said to bring it up on the show.
I brought it up to the worship team. Yeah. Oh, really? Everybody said, except for two people. One of them was, I'm not going to say who the two people were. Everybody said, no, no, no.
Everybody except for two people said, yeah, don't do that. Yeah. The whole action looks weird. It's odd.
All of a sudden it's like, whoa, what are you doing? You know. Yeah.
So I'll say one of them. One of them was our piano player, Sarah. Sarah was like, I mean, if you got on basketball shorts. I said, Sarah, picture your husband at small groups. Right.
We got small groups at Clear. And he says, man, it sure is hot in here. I got basketball shorts on.
Picture him sliding his pants down at the table. Tell me that's normal. She was like, oh, well, I mean, Andrew wouldn't do that. I said, you know why? Because it's not normal.
It's not normal. And that was everybody, anybody who tried to set up for it, I was like, could you see your husband? Like Melissa, I said, could you see Chris doing that? Oh, Chris wouldn't do that. Why?
Because there's a reason why they wouldn't do it. David, what do you have to say in your defense? My defense is that I had on basketball shorts. Overruled.
Nobody questioned that. Go ahead. And yeah, that's pretty much it. I got to be honest. I go to the gym with David. I don't even like the whole locker room. I feel like he should wait till I'm out of the locker room. Like, I don't even like that. I mean, if you if you have basketball shorts on and you're wearing jeans over it, just excuse yourself to the restroom or another room. Like if you have doesn't matter what you have, you may have a tuxedo underneath.
Nobody wants to see you slide your pants down your legs. It does not look right. It's not a good thing.
It's not it's not good. If it's a bunch of bros hanging out, I get it. It was it was two ladies in the room.
Yeah. And one of them was his wife. And it's your employer, by the way.
That's your pastor and your employer. I don't want to see you do that in front of me. Not a good look.
Don't do it. And then what happens to the jeans? Do they just sit in your living room floor? Yeah, they're sitting there just like, nobody's naked in here. Just balled up. A pair of jeans just balled up in your living room floor. And Nicole's like, I reckon I'm going to bed. She ends up tripping over the jeans. We're bringing some civility in David's life.
Yes. He just he just dove right in the room. He just took his pants right. He just took his pants right off.
Don't do it. I knew I couldn't get what he said. He doffed doff doff. It was the secret word to remove an article of clothing. Oh, wow.
It was like the perfect word. I didn't figure. But there was no way. No, I heard that. But I was like, doctor.
Okay. Also, when you edit this, when you do a close up on the way Ryan's face fell, he was like. It was really funny.
I just want an extreme, extreme close up on Ryan's face. I think the secret word was like, if you like don a cap, when you take it off, you doff your cap. We actually talked about that in it was in the the notes for A Christmas Carol. It says the characters are supposed to doff their hat to other.
Take their hat off and bow. It's cute. It's cute. Well, that was my secret word. It's gone.
Guys, don't go anywhere. We're going to take a quick break and be right back with more clear view today. Hey, clearly today, listeners, we want to take a quick moment to thank you for tuning in. As you can imagine, producing a show like this takes a lot of time, effort and resources. And we're grateful for the Truth Network for giving us a platform to syndicate our show. But the vast majority of our support comes from listeners just like you. If you enjoy these talks with Dr. Shah and you want to see Clearview today continue to grow, consider making a donation today because your contributions help us deliver fun, relevant and biblical content right to your phone every single day.
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Thank you for being part of this community. Now let's get back to the show. Welcome back to Clear View today with Dr. Abadan Shah, a 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 to 252-582-5028. Dr. Shah, a Gallup poll just came out. This isn't even the giddy-up poll. This is the Gallup poll. This is the Gallup poll.
I'm going to be honest with you. I didn't like it. I don't know what to think about it.
Dr. Shah, you sent it to us and I was reading it and I was like, I feel like we ought to talk about this. It's a Gallup poll. I didn't even know they did polls on stuff like this, but on public trust. It says that public trust of pastors has dropped to a new low. The survey finds that there's only 30% of Americans rate clergy, pastors, ministers, bishops, stuff like that, as honest and ethical.
And so what they ended up doing, they measured like 23 different positions. Clergy was placed the 10th most trusted. We were ranked below auto mechanics.
We were ranked below judges. Don't auto mechanics have a reputation of trying to sell you on services you don't actually need? Not all of them are like that. Many of them are very, very good people.
But unfortunately, you end up getting your reputation as like, ah, they go send all of you. 33% of Americans said that auto mechanics were reliable, ethical people. 28% judges were. And then 23, only 30, said that clergy were. I'm not a huge fan of these pollsters.
Gallup poll, I'm fine where they are, but I'm not a huge fan. Are they a Christian? I don't think so. I don't think so. They've been around for a long time and they do these surveys and some things you can go and go by and go, okay, there's some good information.
Some things they have an inherent bias and I just cannot agree with that. Yeah. I do know that lately, in the past couple of years, you have seen many well-known mega church pastors, big ministry leaders who have come out and really defamed the name of Christ by their bad behavior or sexual immorality or things like that. And I know that's been very hurtful and painful. I know it's been painful for me. There are a couple of names that I'm not going to mention right now, but you know who they are in the past couple of years.
They really fell from grace. Yeah. I guess I can see that.
And I think that they're very well publicized failures. I understand the argument. I don't agree with it, but I at least understand it. But at the same time, like nurses, they considered nurses, like 76% of people considered them to be ethical. Well, the funny thing is here, nurses have more of a positive outlook than even doctors. Yes. Yeah, exactly. And even pharmacists.
Yes. The pharmacists and the medical, pharmacists are more than doctors. Pharmacists, 57%.
Medical doctors, 53%. My question is this, like, if I were to say... I mean, I would be thinking twice about it with the fentanyl thing. No kidding. So here's what I'm saying. If I were to say... Current events would dictate these numbers otherwise. If I were to say there was a story in the news about a nurse who gave their... She killed her patients with potassium.
That was a big news. Nurses are not to be trusted. People would be like, oh, hold on.
No, that's not true. So if you were to say, hey, there's been some cases of pastors like stealing money from the church and sexually assaulting people. Pastors can't be trusted. I'm like, you know what? Yeah, we can. Yeah.
You know what I mean? Like, why pastors specifically? Right. Because it's an easy target. Because many times some of these mega names have... And there are many great mega names who have done a great job and continue to do so. Right. But unfortunately, the four or five who mess up give the rest of every one of them a bad name. And so I often tell people, you know, don't judge the whole category by those bad apples. Right. There are other good ones who've been very faithful in the mission. I mean, look at David Jeremiah. Right? He's been around for decades.
Why hate on him? Scandal-free? Yeah. I would say so.
And if there is anything, it may be... I don't know. He didn't shake someone's hand or something like that. Yeah, that wasn't a pointed question. I just really don't know. Like faux pas instead of an actual scandal.
Right. Or something, you know, somebody's... You know, he got upset with me over my lack of whatever. He didn't sign my book because it was midnight and I got to the book signing late. We had a lady here.
Thank God she's not here. But she was upset with this one famous pastor. And so I asked, I was like, why? He just had an attitude. I was like, what did he do? I don't know.
I don't know. Maybe he was tired, but I, you know, I wanted him to sign my book and he's like, oh, sure. And then he signed and just gave it to me. Just like that.
And it just... But later on I found out about this person. She's known for doing this. I was going to say, maybe you're the one with the attitude. Maybe you had the attitude.
Maybe you read too much into things. Yeah. Yeah.
Give people the same break that you want to be given. That's right. That's right.
Right? Because sometimes people think you have a bad attitude. So, you know, just show compassion.
There's no law against that. Show compassion, show kindness and go, you know, maybe, maybe he was probably having a headache. He was probably, he was not purposely trying to say, fine, you know, I'll do that.
Maybe he got some bad news right before he had to... I don't like you at all, love. And she gave me the book and said, like, I don't want this book. Really? Like, this is a good book. Yeah, but when he signed it, he just had an attitude. Bro, you got a free autograph book. He dotted his eye in a way that was mean. It's like, do you have any other famous people that sign stuff for you?
I'll take it. You talked earlier, Dr. Shaw, about these pastors and these big religious figureheads that are kind of like, you know, the past several years falling from grace and making mistakes, kind of on a public display. We covered this in one of our topics.
Oh, yeah, 100%. Is that happening in greater frequency today or has this always been there and we're just hearing more about it? I think we're hearing more about it because of social media.
So everybody who has a Facebook account is now open to post and rant and repost and reshare something they saw somewhere. So it almost seems like, man, everywhere pastors are going rogue and doing things that are so outlandish and terrible. But no, they've been messing up for a long time. I think it also shows like a like a cultural shift of just of like skepticism across the board. I mean, because like some of those on there, like bankers, loan officeholders, I would not have considered those to be like unethical people.
I'm trying to see the big biscuit. No, I'm just joking around. But even newspaper reporters, lawyers, nursing home operators, like it seems to me like this is like lobbyists at the very, at the very, very bottom. Look at car salespeople. I mean, I know some right now who have gone above and beyond in helping people, especially those in need and especially those who cannot afford and make a way for them to be able to have.
But right there, it's like car salesman, oh, the worst. And that's not true. That's not true. I always heard that in media. I thought it was a joke. I didn't realize that because we've got because the people here in our town who we you know, they're the exact opposite of that.
So I always thought the whole used car salesman sleazy character thing. I always thought that was like a joke. I didn't think that was how people actually felt.
Yeah, it is. It's annoying. But if somebody brings it up to me, I always stop them and say, I know some who I know they do a lot for a lot of people and not say a word about it.
OK. And so we need to be careful how you accuse somebody of being this and that and the other because you don't know the whole story. I never seriously I've bought two cars, maybe three cars. I've never had a bad experience. Never once.
Neither have we. But do you feel like this is showing a trend, like a cultural trend? Or do you think it's something that's just like all the rest of these make sense, but clergy don't? You know what I mean?
Yeah. Like, do you feel like this is just showing that people are becoming more and more cynical? I think you have a good point there. I think people are becoming very judgmental. I can judge you and I can I can make my voice heard. And and I don't think there are people who think deeply about issues and I'm grateful for them.
But as a whole, our society does not think deeply about issues. Yeah. As a whole, we're not we're not as as objective as we claim to be. Yeah. We judge our emotions.
We judge on on how we feel that day. And if you rub me wrong, then all bets are off. All bets are off.
Now, now you're the worst thing that ever walked this planet. Yeah. OK. Dr. Shah, you said something earlier that I'm starting to see and maybe maybe you can kind of help me frame frame this. You said that. And I think you I think you're right.
I'm starting to see I think Gallup. You said that Gallup has inherent biases because they only measure twenty three. This is not my notes, by the way. So I'm trying to figure this out how to word this.
They only measure twenty three. Almost all of them are positions of like some sort of authority. Right. There's nurses, teachers, military pharmacists, doctors, daycare providers, funeral directors, police officers, auto mechanics. Maybe not funeral directors.
Let's stop there for a moment. And again, they're good people. I work with them all the time. We have some in our church. Wonderful, sweet people. But so so like, what can they do to jip you? There was there was a time I know one particular one that like really messed up a lot of people's cremations and all that stuff. So I mean, they were horrible.
But I mean, again, on what basis are you saying that, oh, they are the most trustworthy people in the world? Of course. Yeah. What what else can they do? Right.
Like, what do you what do you want them to do? Just like all in the backyard or something? Right.
Or like like they actually keep your body. I mean, you know, and the next day, oh, it's still there. Thank you. Yeah. I thought you were going to sell it.
Sell it away. Yeah. They're all like like I think they and again, the article made it seem like they polled people on random positions. But these are all positions of authority. Look at members of Congress all the way down. Yeah. Wait.
Almost at the bottom. So I guess I feel better as a clergy. Majority negative. Do you think they wanted these results and so they picked these professions?
I won't be surprised. Yeah. Because I think people why do you think people are getting so judgmental and skeptical about members of people of authority? Yeah. Even if it's a little bit of authority, like a doctor, that's like the one person that you that you kind of want to have some authority in your life. Yeah. A judge.
We need those. I don't know. Maybe I'm maybe I'm barking up judges before or below the clergy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Nobody trusts a judge anymore, but they definitely do trust military officers. Yeah. Like when in the world will the military officer come and deal with you? Right. What do they have to be trustworthy of that interacts with you daily? Anything with a funeral direction. If you're a military family, maybe.
But it's a family member. Right. I guess I just I guess I'm just seeing again, I don't know how accurate these numbers are.
I don't know how skewed they are because it seems like they wanted a certain result. So they picked positions that have some authority over the general public. Yeah.
But it feels like there's a growing skepticism about authority figures. Right. Well, David asked a great question. David, you want to throw that question in as to what you were asking about just a few moments ago?
Yeah. You made a comment and you said that nowadays people don't think as deeply as they think that they do. And my question was just so what what does that mean? And like what is thinking deeply? And then how do you do that so that you cannot be so you can be more objective? Great, great question. What I mean by that is get the big picture. Understand the ramifications of of why people do what they do or why certain decisions are right versus certain decisions are wrong. Get the big picture.
Right. OK, so clergy get the big picture. Is it every single pastor who is a horrible person that you rate him so low?
Think about the many, many, many, many, many countless ones who have been faithful, whose wives and children have served in a church, stayed at that church for all their lives or, you know, pastored only in 80 to 100 member church all their lives for 40 years. They have gone here. They were not the best. Like they were not like Billy Graham.
Right. But still, man, they served, they sacrificed. Have you thought about them? Have you thought about their wives?
Have you thought about their children? How they sometimes had to do with what they had because the salary was, you know, not not much in a small rural community. Think about all those pastors. Get the big picture. It's a it's a job of sacrifice. Get the big picture. There's a bullseye on the pastor and his family.
So many. Sometimes it's funny when people talk to me about this pastor's daughter did this and this pastor's son did that. And I'm like, how about you stop and pray for them? Yep.
Because they are the people who are the the the target of the enemy because he knows strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter. Yeah, that's right. So guess what? That that family that kind of went crazy and went off the deep end and all that could be that they took the bullet so you don't have to. Wow.
They took the attack of the enemy so you don't have to get the big picture. That's right. So we have to think deeply. Right. What what encouragement would you give to pastors who are listening?
Maybe they're pastors or ministry leaders who are struggling to cope with this, you know, perceived lack of trust in in religious figures. What encouragement would you give to them? Follow the advice that someone gave me years ago or didn't like like particularly gave it to me, but I heard it or read it somewhere and it helped me a lot. Do what is right. That's right. Do what is right. And in time, people will know that you will not compromise. And what I mean by do what is right and do what God's word says and do what God wants you to do. As long as you do that in time, people will know you won't compromise.
That's right. And keep moving forward. Bad things may happen. Satan will attack you. And, you know, craziness will go on.
That's OK. But in the end, God will work all things together for good. Trust him. Trust him.
Know that you have to give an account. First Peter, Chapter five, verse one. It says the elders who are among you, I exhort the pastors who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed. Shepherd the flock of God, which is among you. So elders are also shepherd.
Right. Serving as overseers. So we have to make sure everything is OK. Is that family OK? Is the church building OK? Are the services lined up for this weekend?
Are they OK? Overseers? Not by compulsion, but willingly. Nobody should force you to do that.
Right. Do it with your own heart, wanting to do this, not for dishonest gain, but eagerly. So not for ulterior motives, nor as being lords over those entrusted to you.
So we don't act like I'm your boss or you submit to my authority, you know, like that video. If you submit it to me. If you love me.
If you submit it to me. No, not as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock means live it out. You want people to show up at six o'clock in the morning for prayer time, you show up. Great point.
Great, great point. And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away. Amen. That's the note to end on. I love that.
Gallipoli ain't got nothing on that. Make sure you guys join us tomorrow. Same time, same station. We're going to be diving into another great topic here on The Clearview Today Show. Thanks again to our sponsors for making today's episode possible. And don't forget that you can support us by subscribing to the show on iTunes if you want to re-listen. You can always support us financially at ClearViewTodayShow.com. John, anything you want to plug as we close today?
Yes, absolutely. Make sure you pick up a copy of Dr. Shot and Nicole's book, 30 Days of Praying for America, Daily Devotions to Heal Our Nation. This book has done wonders for my life.
It's done wonders for my wife and for our church family. Make sure you pick it up today. It's actually book three in a series of devotions. Book four is coming out very soon. We'll have more information on that as it comes out. Also, our original music. We've got a brand new single coming out very soon. It's called Great and Awesome. You can pick up your copy as soon as it drops. We'll let you know. In the meantime, you can be listening to our EP, Together Forward, and our debut album, Heaven Here and Now. It's available anywhere digital music is streamed or sold.
That's right. Stay tuned for more great Clearview Today Show content coming your way. We love you guys. We'll see you tomorrow on Clearview Today.
