What is the Difference Between the Bible and Other Holy Books?

What's the difference between the Bible and the other holy books of other religions? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of Core Christianity. Hi, this is Bill Meyer, along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and this is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. Our phone lines are open right now, and you can call us with your question at 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. You can also post your question on our Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts. You can always watch us live or by delay on YouTube, and you can email us with your question at questions at corechristianity.com. First up today, let's go to Chris in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Chris, what's your question for Pastor Adriel?

Hey, Chris, are you there? Yes, sir. Yes, I just got a curiosity question. Does the Bible address dinosaurs?

Hey, thank you for that question. You know, I just started preaching through the book of Genesis, and, you know, the beginning of the Bible makes it very clear that God created all things, that he created all things from nothing. When we think about the creatures of the world, God created all of them, I would say, including the dinosaurs. You read in Genesis chapter 1, beginning in verse 24, and God said, Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds, livestock and creeping things, and beasts of the earth according to their kinds, and it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds, and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind, and God saw that it was good. Now, in terms of, you know, specific discussions, there are some people that will point to one passage in the book of Job, where this great creature is being described. It's in the book of Job, Job chapter 40, the behemoth, in Job chapter 40, beginning in verse 15.

Listen to what the text says there, and Job is actually one of the oldest books of the Bible, of the Old Testament. Behold behemoth, which I made as I made you. He eats grass like an ox. Behold, his strength is in his loins, and his power in the muscles of his belly. He makes his tail stiff like a cedar. The sinews of his thighs are knit together. His bones are tubes of bronze, his limbs like bars of iron. He is the first of the works of God. Let him who made him bring near his sword, and then in the very next chapter, you have this description of this great sea creature, the Leviathan, and, you know, there are some people that point to these passages and say, oh, is this a biblical description of dinosaurs? Well, maybe.

I'm not 100 percent sure, but I think that's the closest thing that you're going to get to, Chris, in terms of the Bible specifically addressing dinosaurs, and so I'd point you to those passages. Thank you for your question. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. We would love to hear from you. Our phone lines are open for the next 25 minutes or so. Here's the number. It's 833-THE-CORE, 1-833-843-2673.

Let's go to Conley in Bentonville, Arkansas. Conley, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Where in Scripture does it say that a lost person, an unsaved person, must repent of their sins or ask for forgiveness in order to be saved?

Yeah, good question. I think it's an important one, because, you know, how we define repentance is key. In the New Testament, the Greek word repent means a change of mind, essentially.

That's what the Greek word metanoia means. And repentance unto life, this sort of initial turning to the Lord, is something that I think God does require. I mean, Jesus, he went out preaching. John the Baptist went out preaching, repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. And we see, in particular, Conley, in Peter's Pentecost sermon. So the Spirit of God was poured out on the day of Pentecost.

Peter is preaching the Gospel to everyone there. And then we read in Acts 2, verse 37, Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, Brothers, what shall we do? And Peter said to them, Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

For the promise is for you, and for your children, and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself. Sometimes, Conley, we think about repentance as a sort of negative aspect of faith, even. Repentance is turning away from myself and turning toward God positively, ultimately turning toward Jesus and what he's done for me, laying hold of his work of salvation on the cross by faith. And so if we're thinking of repentance in that way, turning from our sins, turning from ourselves, really, in anything that we would try to do to justify ourselves before God, and looking to Christ, laying hold of him by faith, then it's something we're all called to do. And in preaching, like Peter does there in Acts chapter 2, it's what the apostles did.

They preached, repent, and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And of course, we also know that repentance is something that is ongoing in the Christian life, in the sense that we're day by day called to put to death, to mortify the sinful deeds of the body, to, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, walk with the Lord. And so it's something that, you know, repentance is something that we do throughout the Christian life. And that doesn't mean that our justification is based on, you know, our ongoing repentance, that sort of a thing. But initial repentance, repentance into life, we might call it, is turning from our sins, from ourselves, and looking to Christ and laying hold of him by faith.

And that's what Peter was calling the people to do there in Acts chapter 2. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. By the way, you can listen to Core Christianity anytime and hear previous episodes by subscribing to our podcast. And if you subscribe and leave us a five star review, even more people will hear about the podcast and have a chance to learn more about the core truths of Christianity. So look for our program in your podcast app and give us that review. That would be a huge blessing to us.

Let's go to Sandy in St. Louis, Missouri. Sandy, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Yeah, my question, first of all, thanks for having me on and letting me voice my question. But my question is about the parachurch organizations. And I've been involved in those for most of my life. And someone told me recently that they weaken the church by taking leaders and teachers from the church, and that parachurch was really not God's plan, and God designed the church to train and disciple. And so I want to know if there's any truth to that, and if there's any scripture to support parachurch organizations. Yeah, what a great question.

And thank you for that question, Sandy. You know, as a pastor of a local church, I think that this is a really important one, because we don't want to try to create a substitute for the local church. It is true that Jesus said, I'm going to build my church. He promises to be with his church and to operate in the church through the means that he has given, the preaching of the word of God, the administration of those ordinances that he left to the church, baptism and the Lord's Supper. This is the work of the church.

And that's what Christ is building in the world today. Now, I think where parachurch organizations can be unhelpful, and I've seen this happen before, sadly, is when they take people away from the church. So when they try to take upon themselves the sort of role of the church, and they're doing baptizing and the Lord's Supper and those kinds of things, and nobody's, you know, really becoming members of local churches, even parachurch leaders aren't involved in local churches.

And I think that's a really big problem. I've seen this, sadly, at times with certain campus ministries and that kind of a thing. But I also think that parachurch organizations can be very, very helpful if they are supporting the local church, if they're coming alongside of the local church as a system to funnel people into the local church. I mean, that's one of the things that we want to do here at CoreChristianity, Sandy, is we're always pointing people to the local church. I know, you know, it's wonderful to be able to answer these questions about the faith, but I know that our listeners, more than anything, what we all need is to be plugged into solid churches where we're hearing the Word of God every week, the promise of the Gospel, where we can go and be baptized if we've never been baptized, where we can receive the Lord's Supper, where we're going to have the accountability in the structure that God himself has set up for us through the apostles and what they outlined in Holy Scripture. And so I think that there can be a danger with parachurch organizations if they are drawing people away from the local church or if they're trying to become a substitute for the local church.

But if they're pointing people to the local church and if they're supporting the church in her worship and work and serving in that way almost as this sort of missionary wing of the local church, I think it's a wonderful thing and we should be encouraged to support those organizations insofar as they're supporting the church. Great perspective. Thank you for that, Adriel. This is CORE Christianity.

We would love to hear from you. Here's the number, 833-THE-CORE. That's 1-833-843-2673 if you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life.

Let's go to Mary in Cedar Hill, Missouri. Mary, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Yes, I have been trying to find in the Bible where when God cast Satan out of heaven, I had a lady come by and say that he didn't do it till 1914 and I thought, no, that's not true. I know that's not true. I've read the Bible before but I can't remember where it was at and I have hunted it and I cannot find it and I don't know and I was just wondering if Adriel could point me in the right direction.

Yeah, thank you. Well, that's interesting. I'm not sure why this friend would say, you know, 1914 and I'm not going to give you a specific date but there are passages of scripture that you can go to. Two in particular in the Old Testament and one that I would say in the New Testament. The two in the Old Testament are Isaiah chapter 14 and Ezekiel chapter 28. There it talks about the fall of Tyre and the arrogant king of Tyre essentially being being brought down and there's a parallel there with Satan. And then in the New Testament you have this language of Satan being cast out of heaven in the book of Revelation chapter 12 verses 7 and following. But I'm just going to read that text in Isaiah 14 beginning in verse 12.

It says how you are fallen from heaven oh day star son of dawn how you are cut down to the ground you who laid the nations low you said in your heart I will ascend to heaven above the stars of God I will set my throne on high I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north I will ascend above the heights of the clouds I will make myself like the most high but you are brought down to Sheol to the far reaches of the pit. You see Satan was cast out of heaven if you will because of his pride because he wanted to ascend to be like the Lord and to be greater than the Lord. There was this pride that was found in this angel this very prominent and powerful angel and so the Lord brought him low. And those are the passages that you're going to want to go to again Isaiah 14 Ezekiel 28 and then read Revelation chapter 12 verses 7 and following. Thank you for your question Mary. Great question dealing with God's word and thanks for pointing her there, Adriel. I never heard about the devil being cast out of heaven in 1914. That's interesting.

Yeah maybe it was having a bad year that year and just thought this has got to be the it must have happened just now but yeah. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez and by the way we have a wonderful booklet that we would love to send to you. It's a devotional booklet that Adriel wrote himself. Yeah if you haven't gotten a hold of Seeing Jesus yet I hope that you will take advantage of this offer today. It's a really a booklet a devotional booklet four chapters just helping us dig into the word and have a better understanding of who Jesus is what he came to do and so get a hold of this resource Seeing Jesus. Here's how you do it go to our website at corechristianity.com forward slash jesus you can also call us at 833-843-2673 for help getting any one of our offers you can also leave a voicemail with your question at that number it's 833 the core if you want to spell it out on your phone well right now let's go to a voicemail we received yesterday just wondering if you could explain the difference between the bible and other religions like islam and the quran and how do we know which one is true thank you yeah that is a very big question what's the difference between the bible and other religions like um i mean i'm assuming you're saying you know the christian faith and other religions like islam one one thing that i often will point oftentimes will point to is the fact that in scripture in the bible we have is god's revelation of how he has redeemed humanity and it isn't a list of you know here are a number of rules that you need to follow and teachings you need to embrace and you know sort of jump through these hoops and maybe one day god is going to let you into heaven that sort of a thing it isn't this sort of works-based system of salvation that i think you found and find in so many other religions it's you know if i obey these certain rules maybe god is going to let maybe i'll be good enough and my good works will outweigh my bad works that's not the good news of christianity and so that's one thing that i think distinguishes christianity from the other religions of the world is it's not how you can climb your way up to god it's how god sent his son down to us sinners who had not obeyed his law who didn't follow him like we should have and yet he shed his blood jesus shed his blood for the forgiveness of our sins so that we might have communion with god you're not going to find that in islam you're not going to find that in buddhism you're not going to find that in the other religions of the world of the world peter i love the way he puts it in second peter chapter 1 verse 16 listen to this for we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our lord jesus christ but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty for when he received honor and glory from god the father and the voice was born to him by the majestic glory this is my beloved son with whom i am well pleased we ourselves heard this very voice born from heaven for we were with him on the holy mountain now just a quick note there islam rejects the the truth that jesus is the eternal son of god the second person of the holy trinity so there's a big difference right there now peter goes on to say in verse 19 and we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts knowing this first of all that no prophecy of scripture comes from someone's own interpretation for no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man but men spoke from god as they were carried along by the holy spirit see that that promise there peter saying look we didn't we didn't make this stuff up this gospel that we experienced we were eyewitnesses of his majesty and not only were we eyewitnesses we have the prophetic word and this is one of the things that makes again christianity unique in the bible unique when you compare it to other other quote unquote holy books in the bible we have the revelation of almighty god in a way we don't have that in in in the quran i'm just gonna gonna say one of the ways we know that this is true is that prophetic word that peter talks about here god himself appeals to this in isaiah 46 verses 9 and 10 he says i am god and there is no other i am god and there is none like me declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things that have not yet been done in other words god says here's one of the ways that you can know i am the true and the living god i'm going to tell you what happens before it ever happens and that's the prophetic word that peter is is appealing to here and so those are things that i think we can point to and say look christianity is distinct we have the gospel the good news of how sinners are redeemed it's the hope of the world and so that's why we cling to the truth of the word of god thank you for that question this is core christianity with pastor adriel sanchez we'd love to hear from you if you have a question about the bible or the christian life by the way you can leave a message on our voicemail or you can go to our website click the little microphone icon and leave a message there 24 hours a day our website is corechristianity.com let's go to sharon in taylor texas sharon what's your question for pastor adriel hi um i'm glad thank you for taking my call i was wondering if the bible says anything about um ghosts and hauntings um my son believes in ghosts and i was always taught that the bible says absent from the body in the presence of the lord how can there be ghosts and hauntings if if that's true yeah that's a great question and i agree with you you know you're referring to second corinthians chapter five uh you know paul says in verse eight yes we are of good courage and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the lord and there he's talking about the fact that when when a believer dies we're immediately in the presence of the lord it really is a great comfort that that we have in the book of hebrews hebrews chapter 12 you know the author of the hebrews has this vision of worship in heaven and he sees that the saints perfected you know the souls of the righteous made perfect there in the presence of the lord that's where we're going to be when when a believer dies we're immediately in the presence of the lord um and so that that's something that the bible makes absolutely clear um we're not you know disembodied and floating around earth trying to get in touch with our relatives that sort of a thing no um the bible i mean there are a few passages of scripture meaning you have this instance in the old testament first and second samuel the story of saul saul going to the witch of endor and and um essentially you know trying to invoke the the the spirit of the prophet um and and so you have this sort of interesting scene there and there's a lot of controversy around that text but i think sticking with the clear passages of scripture like the one you mentioned second corinthians 5 8 just being able to say hey when we die as believers we're in the presence of the lord we also know that there are evil sinister spiritual forces at work in the world today trying to deceive people and so i don't doubt that you know when you when you hear about some of these quote unquote hauntings um these these things that people see these apparitions you know i i don't doubt that there are um the evil forces at work at times supernatural forces at work at times leading people astray um and so i think that's one thing that we could point to that we could appeal to we know as christians that that's just a reality and we also know that the reality is for for believers that we're in the presence of the lord the moment we die thank you for for your question sharon sharon thanks so much for your call and thanks for listening to core christianity let's go to carlo in san diego california hey carlo what's your question for pastor adriel hey pastor adriel i just had a question about the doctrine of election um i know that i have followed faithful ministries such as yours you ministered to me a couple years back like justin peters and many others some um election divine you know god's election seems to be interpreted as salvation but i've heard people such as like a dr michael heiser say that election does not mean salvation yeah carlo thank you for for that question going deep here talking about the doctrine of election and what you're getting at so just this this idea election it's this it's this idea that god chooses um passages of scripture we can go to we can go to the old testament where it talks about the election of israel god choosing them deuteronomy chapter seven talks about this specifically him choosing the nation not on the basis of the fact that they were great or mightier than any other nation or more in number but because of his love and because of his promise then you get to the new testament you have passages of scripture that talk about god choosing people like eph eight you see it in romans chapter nine as well i'm of the belief i know that this is a an area where there's a lot of i mean we're talking about the sovereignty of god the mystery of god's sovereignty so there are differences of opinion within the church and faithful believers who disagree on this but i believe that the scripture teaches that yeah god chooses people even unto salvation one passage of scripture that i think you can go to that that outlines this very clearly is the book of romans chapter nine and again we never want to be ashamed of god's word sometimes the word of god will challenge us and we'll come across a doctrine that we just think oh i don't know how that makes me feel you know like god choosing people for salvation that kind of a thing what if he didn't choose me that's one of the questions that a lot of people have initially but the fact of the matter is what this highlights when you look at a passage like romans chapter nine is the absolute mercy of god that it's not on the basis of anything we do do or don't do it's solely on the basis of god's grace his goodness his kindness to us in his son jesus and that's key when we think about this doctrine of election it it's always tied to christ we were chosen in him paul says in eph this from christ and what he's done for us thank you for for your question for giving us a call and may the lord bless you hmm well we have time for one more quick question from chris in bethany missouri chris what's your question for pastor adriel hi pastor adriel uh two-part question here um i now attend a very small church uh in which i actually give the message they've asked me to preach and so every week every sunday um it's tradition in this church to uh uh for taking the lord's supper so i wanted to know is that normal because any church i've ever been to it's not every week uh hey chris thank you for that for that question well really quickly because you know the the program's about to end let me just say the lord's supper is a means of grace it's this visible you know picture of the gospel where the grace of god is exhibited to us in this very clear way and so i'm in favor of churches having the lord's supper every single week because it's this wonderful reminder of the grace of god that's for us in jesus and that god gives that to us by faith and so i would encourage you i think that that's a wonderful thing that the church does that thanks for listening to core christianity to request your copy of today's special offer visit us at core christianity.com and click on offers in the menu bar or call us at 1-833-843-2673 that's 833 the core when you contact us please let us know how you've been encouraged by this program and be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of god's word together.