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Why Did God Create Different Ethnicities and Races?

Core Christianity / Adriel Sanchez and Bill Maier
The Truth Network Radio
May 4, 2021 6:30 am

Why Did God Create Different Ethnicities and Races?

Core Christianity / Adriel Sanchez and Bill Maier

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May 4, 2021 6:30 am

Episode 698 | Adriel Sanchez and Bill Maier answer caller questions.

Show Notes

CoreChristianity.com

 

1. Are Christians commanded to go to church and gather together for worship?

2. Are the promises for Old Testament Israel for Christians today?

3. Should Christians study other religions and philosophies for apologetics purposes?

4. Was the Apocrypha illegitimately removed from the canon of scripture?

5. Why did God create all the ethnicities if he knew these differences would lead to prejudice?

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Why did God create different races if He knew those differences would lead to prejudice? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. That's 1-833-843-2673.

You can also post your question on our Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts, and you can email us at questionsatcorechristianity.com. Right now, let's go to Chet in East St. Louis, Illinois. Chet, welcome to the program. Hello. Can you hear me? Hey, Chet, we can hear you. Yeah, you're on, brother.

Good to hear from you. What's your question, brother? Yes, sir, Pastor Sanchez.

I just thought I'd call and ask you this question since I listen to your program frequently. We saw it as a homework project in my Bible study class. We were discussing the scripture in Hebrews chapter 10, where it's verse 24 and 25, but specifically verse 25 that talks about not forsaking the assembly of yourself together as is the manner of some. And it goes on, you know, talking about the day of the Lord. We were discussing whether or not it's a command from scripture that we should assemble together as believers. And I just thought I'd like to get your opinion on that.

Yeah, hey, Chet. No, I appreciate this question a lot, and it's actually a question we've been getting more and more recently because of, you know, the lockdowns and that kind of a thing. I do think that this is a command that we have in scripture to gather together. Of course, you have the fourth commandment of the Decalogue, you know, to remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. So the people of God historically, even under the old covenant, were called to gather together for worship, to honor the Lord, to rest and to worship him. And under the new covenant as believers, you know, the book of Hebrews is really focused on the new covenant, we're still called to gather together on the Lord's day to fix our eyes on Jesus Christ and to receive the gifts that God has for us through his son Jesus Christ. And so one of the problems, you know, the book of Hebrews is written to a group of Christians who were being tempted to turn away from the gospel.

They were drifting. False teaching had begun to creep into the church. Some of them were beginning to deny the supremacy and sufficiency of Jesus Christ.

And as they were doing that, they were no longer gathering together with the church, with other believers to hear the gospel, to receive those gifts that I mentioned, things like baptism, things like the Lord's Supper. And so the author of the Hebrews is really concerned for them. He knows that when we begin to drift, when we begin to fall out of Christian fellowship, that has a serious effect on our spiritual lives.

And that's why he says, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some. It seems like some of the people there to whom he was written, they'd already started to do this, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near. Now there's a, there's a little bit of a parallel earlier in the book of Hebrews in Hebrews chapter three, verse 12, take care brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart leading you to fall away from the living God, but exhort one another every day.

As long as it is called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. We need brothers and sisters fellowship with other Christians. We can't live the Christian life in isolation on our own. God calls us to be a part of local churches, cared for and governed by elders, deacons. You know, Paul talked about this in first Timothy three and Titus chapter one.

And so it's, it's just so necessary. And my encouragement to all of you as you listen to this, you know, you believe in Jesus, you receive the gospel. Are you in a good church where you're gathering together with others, where you're not forsaking the assembling, but growing together with the gifts that God has given you and being invested in by the ministry of the word. And so, Chet, that's my view.

Yes, this is a command. We are called as believers to gather together with the saints on the Lord's day to worship him. So thank you for your question. And so excited to hear you studying this book and doing a Bible study. May the Lord bless your study, brother.

Thanks so much for your question, Chet. Adriel, I'm curious for those churches that are in states where things are still pretty locked down and churches are not allowed to meet. What would you say to those believers? Yeah, I mean, I would say we have to exercise wisdom, obviously, you know, we're looking at this passage of scripture, and I think that there is a clear command here. But are there ways that we can meet that are still safe, that still allow us to worship as God has called us to worship, but can also be faithful to, you know, respecting governing authorities?

I think that there are. I mean, I'm here in Southern California, and it's been difficult, you know, over the years. Now things are, over the last couple, few months, a couple years.

But now things are starting to open up again, which I'm really, really excited about. But we've been able to find ways to gather together safely in respect of governing authorities, while also ultimately, first and foremost, honoring the Lord and focusing on his word. And so I think we have to exercise wisdom here and seek to praise the Lord, worship him as he calls us, but also to do it in ways that are wise and in line with, you know, essentially what's being asked of us. And so that's what I would say, Bill. I know that there are some situations where it's even more difficult, where, you know, that's just impossible.

It's impossible for believers to gather together, and you think of places where believers are being persecuted and whatnot. And so, you know, I think that God gives grace, but we have to exercise wisdom in these situations, and so. Good counsel. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. If you have a question for us, here's the phone number to call. It's 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. You can call for the next 15 minutes or so with your question about the Bible or the Christian life. Let's go to James in Robinson, Illinois. James, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Hi, can you hear me? Yeah, I can hear you, James. What's your question, brother? Okay, well, yeah, a privilege to get to talk to you.

I really enjoy the program. My question is, in the Old Testament we see a lot of promises for Israel, wonderful promises. But some things I read make me think they're for us as Christians today, and then other things I read make me think, no, no, this just applied to them at that time, and I was wondering if you could help me out on that.

Yeah. I love the way that you're wanting to parse out the Scriptures here faithfully. There are ways to misapply the promises of God that we see in the Old Testament. One of the places where I see this happening all the time is in movements like the Prosperity Gospel movement, where people will look at these promises, you know, blessings for obedience under the Old Covenant, that kind of a thing, or the promise of riches and wealth to men like Abraham.

And they'll say, well, this applies to us as Christians. You know, God is going to bless me if I just do these things, take these steps, sow this seed, then God is going to make me rich and healthy and powerful and so on and so forth. That would be a misapplication of the promises of God in the Old Testament. But we have to realize that through Jesus Christ, now we are the children of Abraham. Look, the Apostle Paul said that very clearly in Galatians chapter 3, and now in Christ, in one sense, these promises do apply to the people of God, but we have to be, again, really careful in terms of how we parse that out. The Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 20, for all the promises of God find their yes in him.

That is Jesus. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. We are, as Christians in Christ, the recipients of these great promises, ultimately the promise of salvation that you see throughout the Bible through faith.

We are the children of Abraham, Galatians chapter 3. So, I would want to say we want to be careful when we think about applying those promises, but we also have to recognize that, yeah, in Jesus and through Jesus, these passages of scripture do relate to us in some sense, and that's where it takes wisdom in applying the word of God and understanding how it fits for us today. Now, let me just ask you, James, was there a specific promise you were thinking about under the Old Covenant that you're wondering, hey, is that for me today? No, honestly not. I just, you know, I try to read God's word every day, and it's something that's always troubled me that I never could quite pin down, you know.

Yeah. No, and again, I think it's really important for us to understand how to read the Old Testament, especially there are a lot of believers who, you know, they go to the Old Testament and they just think this doesn't really apply to me with regard to the promises or with regard to the warnings, but the reality is that the warnings, I mean, Paul says this in 1 Corinthians 10, they do apply to us. Those things were there for us so that we might take heed, but even with regard to the promises through Jesus Christ.

Now, think about it like this. Think of the promise of land that was given to Abraham, you know, the land of Canaan throughout the book of Genesis, for example, right? Abraham is looking forward to this promise to receive this land from the Lord, but ultimately that land was a type of a greater reality, and insofar as it was a type of a greater reality, it applies to us as well.

We're looking forward to the heavenly Jerusalem. You know, think about what the author of the Hebrew says in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 8. By faith, Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance, and he went out not knowing where he was going. The text goes on, you know, as he continues, these all died in faith, verse 13, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth, for people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had an opportunity to return, but as it is, they desire a better country that is a heavenly one. See, the promise right there is pointing to this heavenly land, this promise for the people of God even today. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared for them a city. And so, really, it's understanding, seeing how the apostles themselves interpreted those promises and then applied them to us as believers under the new covenant. And so, continue to dig into the Scriptures, brother, and appreciate this question. I think it's a really important one. We can go wrong in two directions.

We can say they don't apply to us at all, or we can misapply them to us today, and so it takes discernment. This is CORE Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and if you have been helped by an answer that you heard here on the CORE and you want to share a previous episode with a friend or family member, you can actually send them a video of our episodes from our YouTube channel. And be sure to click the subscribe button while you're there so you can follow along for extra videos from CORE Christianity.

Let's go to Bill who's calling in from Southern Illinois. Bill, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? I've done a lot of research on different religions, philosophies, even evolution and cosmology, stuff like that, with the intent that if I run into people, which I do occasionally, who kind of lean those ways, I can have a conversation with them if they start attacking me or attacking Christianity or something. But I've had a number of people telling me I shouldn't be doing that, reading of other religions and philosophies and such, because that might be opening the door for Satan to come in to pervert my thinking and fall into that.

What are your thoughts? Well, I do think if we're engaging with somebody, we want to make sure that we're representing their views well, that we understand their views. And so first, I would say I really appreciate the fact that as you're seeking to have conversations with others and to share the Gospel with them or to defend the Christian faith, that you want to be intentional about understanding where it is that this person is coming from and what it is that they actually believe so that you can respond to it.

I think that that's really good. Now, if all we do is study other religions and their beliefs, I think that that could be a problem. I think that we have to focus on the teachings of the Scripture, what the Bible teaches, so that we can understand the Word of God, be shaped by it, be formed by it first and foremost. And so if that's happening, if you're first and foremost being shaped by the Scriptures, but then also studying these other things on the side in order to better understand what others believe and how you can engage in a conversation with them, I think that that's great. I think of what Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 3 verse 15, from childhood you've been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Recently, brother, I've been just meditating on the pastoral epistles, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, and over and over again you have this sort of refrain of being rooted in the Scriptures, of paying attention to devoting yourself to good works and to the public reading of Scripture and knowing the Scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation. So I think you have to take heed to that and say, Lord, I want to be shaped first and foremost by your Word, but I also want to make sure that as I'm sharing your Word with others that I'm able to engage in a real conversation and respond to what they believe from a place of understanding.

So I don't think that there's anything wrong with that. The one thing I will say is there is just so much out there. It's sort of like the great apostasy.

You're not going to be able to keep up with it. There's always some new movement, some new idea, some new twist on the Scriptures. So if we devoted all of our time to that, we would just not have any time to really fix our eyes on Jesus and his Word. That's the one caution I would give you, but if you're engaging in particular with one idea or with a group of people who hold to a certain view, then I would say, yeah, understand what it is that they believe and respond to it according to the Scriptures with gentleness, with love, with respect, so that God in his mercy might grant them repentance to come to the knowledge of the truth.

God bless you. And I know, Adriel, you've done that in your own life. You've had relationships with Mormons and with Jehovah's Witnesses where you've actually been able to lead them to the Scriptures that show them that their beliefs are in error. Yeah, and I do think that it really is an important part, the relationship, really understanding what another person believes.

Otherwise, if you're just sort of barking out information at them and not taking the time to actually listen as well, you're not going to have as effective of arguments because you really don't understand where it is that you need to focus or where the difference actually lies. The better you understand another view, the more you'll be able to effectively critique it from the Word of God, and so I think that there's wisdom in this, and may the Lord bless us as we seek to engage in that with wisdom while also focusing first and foremost on the teachings of the Bible. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and if you or someone you know is struggling with depression right now, we actually have—I'm sorry, I should mention that resource, but I also want to mention one other thing, but the depression resource you can find on our website. It's called Nine Things Everyone Needs to Know About Depression, and I want to mention our brand new Bible study, which is on a book that a lot of Christians struggle with. It's the Book of Revelation. Yeah, we just have a ton of resources, Bill.

It's easy to forget. It's got the depression resource, which is a really, really important resource in which we want people to get their hands on Nine Things Everyone Should Know About Depression, but also this new Bible study that we've just come out with hot off the press, a Bible study on the book of Revelation. As we've said before, look, if you have questions about the end times, the rapture as it's sometimes called, persecution that Christians are experiencing today, that kind of a thing, get your hands on this resource. It's a resource that really is going to help you dig into the book of Revelation, one of the most misunderstood books of the Bible that we want to help illuminate for you, and I know it'll be a blessing for you.

It's a resource that's yours for a gift of $20 or more. It's a beautiful booklet, hard copy Bible study of the book of Revelation that we'd love to send you. And to get that resource, just go to our website, corechristianity.com forward slash revelation. That's corechristianity.com forward slash revelation.

Of course, you can call us for that resource or any one of our resources at 833-843-2673. That number is 833, the core. Well, let's go to Tom in St. Louis, Missouri. Tom, what is your question for Pastor Adriel? Yes, first I want to thank you, gentlemen, for your service to the Lord and for this program. And my question is about the books of the Bible.

There's 66. Was there more or less, you know, are we taking out or adding to the Bible? Because the Apocrypha used to be part of the Bible, and I believe that was through the Catholic Church. So, you know, are we deleting some of the word or what?

Yeah, hey, brother, thank you for that question. I would say that the Apocrypha was a later addition by the Catholic Church. So historically, you think about some of the books that were included or are included in Catholic Bibles in the Old Testament. Those books were books that were written after the prophet Malachi and between Malachi and the time of Jesus, essentially.

Sometimes those are called the silent years, you know. And so they give us a lot of history, but the Hebrews, the Jews, didn't believe that those were inspired by God. The canon that Christ himself used would not have included those books of the Bible.

And so we would say that the 66 books that we have are the inspired word of God. And these other books that are, you know, in Bibles like the Roman Catholic Bible, while they might have some good history and information, they're not to be considered on par with the inspired scriptures. And you look at the, you know, some of the lists that you have among the ancient church fathers, and you see that it always seemed like those books were treated a little bit differently.

That is the Apocryphal books. When we think about the canon of scripture, we're focusing on these books that, especially when we're thinking about the New Testament canon, you know, they have this apostolicity. That is, they were written by an apostle or someone closely associated with the apostles. They were ancient antiquity.

They were written early on near to the time that the events happened. You think of some of these epistles, you know, the book of Revelation even, which is considered by some to be one of the later New Testament books. But still, all of these books, very ancient, associated with the apostles. They fit in terms of the theology. Oftentimes you have one apostle referring to, like you think of Peter, referring to Paul's writings as inspired scripture.

So it really just fits together. And so we would say that the 66 books of the Bible that we have are the inspired canon of scripture. And that the other books, these Apocryphal books, were later editions that, as I said, we shouldn't treat as a part of the Holy Bible, but might have some good history and interesting reading. So thanks for that question. Thanks, Tom.

Appreciate your question. Thanks for listening to Core Christianity. One of the ways you can leave a question for us is by calling and leaving a voicemail anytime 24 hours a day at 833-THE-CORE. Let's go to a voicemail that came in yesterday.

Hi. I know God knows everything. He already knows that there will be racism between white and black.

If God knows there will be racism between white and black, why did he create black and white? All right. Thank you.

Bye. Yeah. Well, thank you for that question.

Let me just say this. A lot of times when we talk about race in the church and issues of race, people think, oh, man, why are we getting into this? This is of the world, that kind of a thing. But the fact of the matter is from the very beginning, one of the biggest problems in the church, in the apostolic church, had to do with race, had to do with how different cultures come together. You think about the gospel being preached to the Gentiles and the Gentiles now being included into the covenant people of God, and how now you have these groups of people who are coming together who ordinarily would not have been together, needing to relate and love one another through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, we sin. We do things that are evil, that are wrong. People are and have racist tendencies.

We can't deny that. That's evil. That's a sin. That needs to be put to death.

It needs to be called out. But the fact of the matter is, and your question is, in light of that, why did God allow for these different races, there's something beautiful about how the gospel brings together people from all walks of life and cultures around the message of Jesus Christ, through the blood of Jesus, the forgiveness of Jesus. This is exactly what the apostle Paul talked about in the book of Ephesians, in Ephesians chapter 2.

He said, Remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision in the flesh by what is called the circumcision, which is made by the flesh by hands. Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ, for he himself is our peace who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two and so making peace and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross.

Thereby killing the hostility. See what Paul is saying there in Ephesians. Look, the cross of Jesus Christ reconciled us to God first and foremost. Our sins are forgiven. We now have peace with God through Jesus.

We're justified. Romans chapter 5 verse 1, but you know what it also did? It breaks down and it broke down the walls of division that existed between people here, Jew and Gentile, so that these different races, cultures might come together and worship the Lord.

And let me just tell you something, sister. When that happens, it's so beautiful. It's a demonstration of the power of the gospel when people who ordinarily would not be together in the same room, fellowshipping with one another, different cultures, ideas. When those people come together, not because they like the same food or the same kind of music or because they look the same. When they come together, because they've all been washed by the blood of Jesus and the world is able to look at this from the outside and say, well, look at these people who on the outside, they're at war, they fight, they don't love one another, but here, because of Jesus, are together. And so to your why question, why did God allow this? I think one of the reasons is because unity around the gospel, racial unity around the gospel, diversity and unity through the blood of Jesus Christ powerfully depicts the power of what God has done for us in His Son, Jesus. And it sets that work of God on display for all to see. 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.
Whisper: medium.en / 2023-11-22 09:20:17 / 2023-11-22 09:31:12 / 11

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