Matt Slick Live

The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network. It's Matt Slick Live. Matt is the founder and president of the Christian Apologetics Research Ministry, found online at carn.org. When you have questions about Bible doctrines, turn to Matt Slick Live for answers, taking your calls and responding to your questions at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick.

Hey everybody, welcome to the show. It's me, Matt Slick. You're listening to Matt Slick Live. And if you want to give me a call, it is easy. All you need to do is dial 877-207-2276, and we can.

Get to you and uh You can also email me info at carm.org. Info at CARM.org. Just send an email there with a subject line, radio comment, radio question, and uh. We'll get to it. I'm hearing a uh Little vibration back there.

Okay, that's no big deal. All right. Hey, there we go. If you're a newbie to the show and you want to know what we're about, I'm a Christian apologist, which means I defend the Christian faith, answer, and teach, and things like that. I did it last night, too.

I'll tell you a story of what happened last night. It was an interesting discussion I had on Discord, and it really was. I'll go through some stuff. When we get after this caller, which we'll just jump right on to right now, Cole from Georgia. Cole, welcome.

You're on the air. Hey, Mr. Fat Sick, how you doing? Doing all right. Hanging in there, man.

What do you got? Can you read Second Samuel twelve, twenty four and twenty five? Sure. Uh let's see. It says where'd we go?

Come on, there we go. Here's our Bible program. All right, 2 Samuel 12, 24. David comforted his wife Bathsheba, went to lay with her, and she gave birth to a son named Solomon. The Lord loved him and sent word for Nathan the prophet, and he named him Jedediah for the Lord's sake.

Okay.

Okay, um Jeneziah, okay. Um Now why does he go buy Solomon? And the Yeah. gave him a commandment to to name him. Oh, interesting.

It means beloved of the Lord. And sometimes Okay. Uh Well, think of American Indian names. And there we go.

So American Indians' names mean things like running bear or sleeping cow, whatever these kinds of names would mean. And so they would often name someone in as a hope for what their name might mean.

So, not to be narcissistic. Matthew means gift of God, but I just happen to know that. Nathan means, you know, is to give. And Isaac, you know, laughter. And.

Uh I think that means. Anyway, so the thing is that these names mean something. The word Solomon means peace, and Yedehaya means beloved of Yah.

So it was given uh the name was given by uh the prophet. Nathan. And showing divine acceptance.

So it's like naming him is an approval.

So that's what was going on.

Okay, but it's a good question. No, but God gave God God actually gave him the name. God told Nathan to name him. That name. My question is.

Why didn't they go by that name?

Well, uh it doesn't say that the Lord Told him the name of it. Did you back it up? I think it does. I'm not around the Bible right now, but yeah, it says he sent word through Nathan the prophet, and he named him Jedediah for the Lord's sake.

So it just means beloved of the Lord, and Solomon means peace. But it's an interesting thing. It's interesting.

So.

Okay.

Yeah, you never I just never heard anybody address Solomon. Yeah. I just ran across it but daily Bible reading and that's where I'm at. When I run up on something, I'll call you that I didn't ever see. And that was kind of interesting to me.

Yeah, I've never noticed it before. But generally, the answer would lie in the issue of what the names mean. They're trying to name their children according to what their calling is, what their hope for them is. Like Methuselah means when he dies, it will come. I mean, what a name.

You know, what a big name. Hey, where's it when he dies, it will come? We better hope he's doing okay. You know, when he died, it's coming. And in fact, the year he died is when the flood came.

So names mean things.

So Solomon means peace, and Jedediah means blood of the Lord.

So it's just different names addressed to him. Uh For the sake of hopefully showing the calling and the expectation, the calling of the Lord and the expectation of the people.

Okay.

Yeah, I wonder um So And this is not really trying to be funny, but a swick, what does that mean? And. It it's slick. My last name comes from the German schlichtine. S C H L I C H T I N G.

So what happened was my my dad was the second born male in the family. The first born male, Uncle Bill, his last name was Schlichtin. And so schlichtine is a hard thing to kind of say all the time. And back in the day, they called they started shortening it, hey, schlick. And literally, My dad told me that you know, what her mom what his mom said was that when the doctor said, Okay, what's his last name?

she just said slick, because that was a nickname everybody was calling the family Schlichteen to Slick. It was kind of a cool name. And so my dad's brother's last name is Schlichteen, but my dad's name is Slick, and that's how we got our name. Oh wow. That that's something.

That's something.

Well, it I guess it means everything. And one more thing while I'm going out, man, one guy that I usually listen to for a long, long time, a great Bible scholar passed away, John McConsey. I don't know if you heard, but man, he passed away I think yesterday. Yeah, that was my guy, man. I listened to him often.

And uh, You know, they never really even had word out that he was sick, you know, or anything. But I don't know if he just suddenly passed or I think he was dealing with some ailments, though. Yeah, I heard that's his soul. That's my guy. Yeah.

I heard that he was in the hospital and that he wasn't expected to recover and then got word later that he didn't recover.

Okay.

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Well, anyway, I just wanted to pass that off out of respect. Thank you very much, Matt Slick. I'll talk to you later. Sure, sounds good, man. God bless.

Thanks. Bye. All right. Alrighty, hey, if you want to give me a call, it's easy. 877-207-2276.

Let's get to Dave from North Carolina. Dave, welcome. You are on the air. Hey, thank you, sir. Can you hear me?

Yes, I can. Sure. What do you got? Awesome, awesome.

Well, listen, first of all, I'd just like to say for the record, I really do appreciate how you're willing to accept calls and Answer things pertaining to the Bible and the Word of God and everything. And you do it very boldly. I just want to say that first. Praise God. Praise God.

Yesterday, you. Yes, sir, you met. You were Speaking.

So a gentleman, I kind of got halfway into it. You were talking about reparations and um how it was um I think it came up like it was coming out of anger or something. I I don't know if you were saying that some Christians might be angry or something if they're asking for reparations. I guess they're talking about the reparation movement. Yeah, there's a Oh yeah, it's it's causes division and uh It's illogical and I believe it's immoral too.

But uh we could talk about it. Could you maybe? I know you already talked about it yesterday. I missed something about it. But could you possibly elaborate 'cause 'cause immoral?

I mean, what what do you mean?

So reparations require assigning a kind of moral guilt to people who did not commit any acts of slavery.

So, for example, my ancestors, from what I understand, came over here from Germany in the mid-1800s. They didn't have any slaves. They didn't do anything like that. And so here we are.

So am I supposed to pay reparations? Am I supposed to?

Well, then people will say Well, you benefit off of this slavery.

Well, so do so do the blacks. Are they to be reparations? If it's based on who benefits, that doesn't make any sense.

Well, if I benefit, everybody benefits, so to speak. And then what do you do about people who uh What do you do about the white slaves? There were white slaves. A lot of people don't know about it, it's kind of suppressed. There are two hundred fifty thousand, I've heard two hundred, two hundred fifty thousand slaves from Irish areas, Ireland, things like that, who were also enslaved, not to mention the Asians.

And then what do you do with the slave owners who are black? Because there were a lot of black slave owners, and that's kept under wraps as well. But it's true. I think the first I've heard, I think it was Candace Owen of all people who said it, the first slave owner was a black person. I don't know if it's verified, but she said it.

You tend to believe her. Yeah, yeah. That wasn't true. I don't know where she got that from. That wasn't true.

But I do understand what you said. I guess my concern is. Um When making that statement, Um we automatically And we can because the country is so polarized with it, make it about white versus black. When you know the reparation movement is the descendants of slaves issue with the government not against white people. But the government of the United States who reneged on their policies after the Civil War.

All of the recommendations that were made after the Civil War. They relieved on that. The Democrats did it. I'm sorry. The Democratic Party is the one that did that.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We know the Democratic Party at that time, yeah, it was one of the racist organizations in the country. Yeah, we know that. But what I'm saying is, it was about the government.

It's not about like you, sir. It's not about you. Paying money at It's not about that, it's about the government. being willing to find a way to mend this.

So where does the uh money come from that the government is going to use?

Well, I guess it would come from the same pool that it comes from that we send to help other countries who need aid. Exactly. I guess it would come from that, too. It comes from taxes.

So the government yeah, the government doesn't make its own money. The government uh gets lives off of taxes of of uh the nation and the people of the nation agrees. Yeah. So that means then that uh the taxation of people who did not who weren't involved with slavery at all are now being forced to uh support this. Would you think it's a moral thing to do?

Yeah, well, and I can see that point too. You know, people that are being taxed. who had nothing to do with that, but I mean Everything that we do for taxes someone has nothing to do with something. You know, but there are plenty of people that don't agree with helping other countries, but our taxes go to help other countries. Yes, I I get that, but uh this is a moral issue at this point and uh moral Yeah, it is.

Yeah. And we have moral obligations to defend others from the Bible. But the thing is, should uh people be forced to do these like my taxes go to are forced to go to pub uh public radio, which is a leftist pagan leftist uh organization, uh NPR, and also for abortion. And uh I I'm against both of those. And yet my taxes are forced to forced to go there and pay for schools where leftist people brainwashed kids.

And you know so there's a lot of moral injustice there, but that doesn't mean that it's okay or that because those bad things happen, then it's okay to ignore this other bad thing. That's it.

Okay.

Well, now what ba what other you talking about the reparations thing? Yeah. Yeah, and I guess I can understand from a certain point of view where your point does have. Clarity. And and And we're not, you know, we're just looking at different points of views as brothers in Christ.

I guess my concern is that. You know, sometimes we make this, we polarize it and make it about race when it's really not about race. It's about the government and what they were supposed to have done, and they've never done that.

So They go to the Democrats. The Democratic Party is the one. I will say that. I will say that. You know, the Democratic Party was a Democratic president at the time.

Andrew Johnson, who happened to be from North Carolina, sad to say, who remeaged on everything after the war. I agree. I agree. And then there's the issue. We'll take a break, but a hold on.

Okay, we'll put you on hold. But then think: what about the people who were killed? Stopping slavery in the Civil War. Should their families be recompensed also? Hey, hold on, man.

We'll be right back after these messages. Please stay tuned. It's Matt Slick Live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick. Alright everybody, welcome back to the show.

We'll get to him. I just did a bit of research during the break. The first legally recognized slave owner in America was Anthony Johnson, a black Angolan who was brought to Virginia as an indentured servant in the 1600s. After serving as indenture, he gained freedom, acquired land, and began employing both indentured and enslaved laborers. And that was 1655.

He went to court in Virginia and won the case to keep John Casser, a black man, as a lifetime slave. And that's in. Teach Benson, Mind Own Ground, Race, and Freedom from Gen.

So, yeah, it has documentation. Anyway, it's just something interesting.

So, let's get back to. Let's get back. Here we go. Dave. Hey, Dave, Dave.

Welcome back, buddy.

Okay.

You there? Dave Dave's not here. Hey, Dave, you there?

Okay.

Yeah. We're having a little trouble here, man. Are you come on? Are you there? Dave, I can't hear him.

Alright. Maybe you should call back because sometimes the connections go bad, as happens. Maybe he's traveling or something like that on the road or something. And we'll give him a few more well, hearing your in-n-out day. Why don't you call back, okay, buddy?

Get a new connection. All right. Come come come back, buddy. All right. Yeah.

Let's get to Alberto from Georgia. Alberto, welcome. You're on the air. Yeah. Yes, yes.

How are you doing, Maslick? Oh, for Dave, I recommend him to watch Thomas Saul. reparation videos. And another man, I'm pregnant. You he's a black gentleman said he don't he doesn't want reparations.

Okay.

So what what do you got, buddy?

Okay, so. Yeah, my question is Uh if a pastor wants you in your church, to do a certain position in the church. Daniel. and you know you're not qualified or you know that God did not call you to that position. Why should a pastor force that person in that position?

If you know you're not qualified, or you know, I got any calls to do it. Yeah, but just because there's no one else. Much like the only wants you to do it. own it because they don't have nobody else to do it. Because only have young people only, you're the adult.

Okay, big question. Big question. Big question. So.

It comes down to should can a pastor force you to do something? For the church, right? In a church, yeah. Yeah, he shouldn't. You know, you should ask and recommend and and uh if people don't feel led to it and they don't want to do it, they say, Okay.

And he goes to the congregation and say, We have a need here and you ask people and that's how to do it.

Okay.

Yeah, but what about the person not qualif you know you're not qualified to do it? You know what I mean?

Well, hold on, hold on. If the per if you he asks someone and that person doesn't want to for whatever reason, that person has the freedom to decline. That that's it. Right. I don't know, but what about he keeps that he could they get upset about it?

They don't give their attitude Then in fact uh Okay. I can't talk about people's attitudes and stuff, but I'm just saying that the person who's asked has that freedom to say no, and the pastor should respect that, and that's it. Yeah. But what about he doesn't respect after he has every time he comes out to church every time? He had he had a bone against you after that, and he's throwing in the ready market for the poor bears.

He shouldn't carry any grudges about it, okay? All right. Wow.

Okay.

Okay.

Another quick thing, Manka quick question. Um you know like uh why do creations attack each other so much? Why, if they have the spirit of God, they claim to have the spirit of God, the spirit of Christ, the love that God poured in their hearts. Why do Christians? It technically so much on YouTube.

Even as for the workplace, for the streets? they're not following the Scripture close enough. It's closely enough.

Okay?

So, you know, I I my job is to expose heresies. Like I'm working on a new cult I found because I got called up yesterday, the worldslastchance.com site. It's a non-Christian cult. And so, you know, pointing it out as a non-Christian cult, you know, and and uh Now, I'm reformed, and others are not reformed. We shouldn't divide over those kinds of things.

because it's not an issue of division. But people will raise Debatable issues to the level of essentials, and then disfellowship with others because of it. They shouldn't do that. It's because they're not believing God's Word. And not being as as, um as gentle as they need to be in their hearts in in certain areas.

That's why.

Okay.

So like an example, like I see Justin Peters all the time.

Sometimes people criticize it because sometimes he kind of thinks maybe too. Too too peeky about every preacher you supposed is out there.

Well, you know, uh, one of the I know Justin, and um. He's a good guy. It's certainly possible that he, myself, and other apologists get a little too carried away with things. It's certainly possible. If you have a particular issue, with him.

Then, you know, if you have a video or something you think has gone too far, you could send me an email and say, Hey, here's Justin Peters' video. He says this about this guy. Is this legit? Should I be concerned? Is Justin okay or not?

I can always call up Justin. Hey, Justin, man, someone called up the show, blah, blah, blah. What do you think of this? And he'll just say, oh, yeah, that's this, you know, and I can verify with him. He's a good guy.

He really is. Mm-hmm, I know.

Well, sometimes a lot of people criticize him about when Jimmy Schwarger, you know, passed away. He heard the video. People should have waited and they should have waited.

Well, that's subjective. I mean, what does it mean? He should have waited. Is that in the Bible? You know, where are they getting their ought?

So it's up to Justin and between God and Justin. And if you think Justin was too quick, let's just say, releasing some information, well, you can always email him and say, hey man, I thought you were too quick in doing that. And the thing is, people have varying reasons for doing what they do. It might be it wasn't anything personal, it was scheduled to be released. And it just was coincidence.

It could be that. Could be something else. All right? All right. Thank you.

Okay.

All right. Thank you.

Okay.

Bye-bye. All right. Sounds good.

Okay.

We'll talk to you later.

Okay.

All right, now let's get to Scott from Ohio. Scott, welcome. You're on the air. Hi Matt, thanks for taking my call. Should I have a message?

Is it? Does this seem at least to me, um, I was attending a Baptist church and Um when people like John MacArthur or somebody comes up. in question, it's almost as if because they're Calvinists, it's almost as if they're acting like they're a total different religion.

Some think that Calvinists are not Christians, and some think that Calvinism is another religion. It's not. Uh it's his people are very mistaken. about th their opinions and things. Yes, I mean, I myself am not Calvinist, but then again, too, I listen to you every day and I'm totally fine with that.

I I believe you're just as much as a believer as I am or anybody else. Good. You know, um I appreciate your commentary and your knowledge Very very helpful, that's for sure. And see, that's the right attitude to have. You see, if you don't agree with me on my five points, well, okay, as long as you affirm the Trinity, the deity of Christ, justification by faith alone, and Christ alone, you know, the essentials of the faith, and you, my brother, and Christ.

And if you disagree, I'm like, okay, disagree. All right? If you want to talk about it sometime, let me know. If you don't, that's okay. Yeah, and XAT.

It's almost like there's a difference in um It's almost like arguing church doctrine or Sometimes there are the little things that really aren't worth arguing over when it comes to that. But you see, sometimes what they'll do, and I've heard this millions of times, I've been accused of real evil from being a Calvinist. Hey, we've got a break. Hold on. I'll tell you some of the things that...

No problem. Yeah, hold on, man. Hey, folks, we've got a break coming up, and may the Lord bless you while you're waiting. Hopefully it doesn't bore you with this conversation. But if you want to give me a call, the number is 877-20-722-76.

We'll be right back. It's Matt Slick Live, taking a call at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick. All righty and welcome back to the show. Scott, are you still there?

Yes, sir. All right. Yeah, I was going to say, you know, before the break, some of the things that I've been accused of, and people ignorantly. have have said of reformed theology. Uh that Uh They'll say Calvin was a murderer.

He had Servetus killed, which is not true. Servetas I mean, Calvin risked his life to save Servetus. And that's a whole other story. Calvinism leads to fatalism and determinism and no free will. That's not true either.

That it means if someone wants to be saved, they can't be saved, they're not predestined. That's not Calvinism either. Oh. I've been told I worship a monster, a false god. I've been told that the God of Calvinism, the god of Calvinism, is arbitrary, doesn't love everybody, just arbitrarily damns people to hell for no good reason.

You know, just all kinds of stuff. And I repeatedly said that's not the position. You know, it's not what it does pretend. And uh And then, when I tell them I'm qualified to tell them what it is, then they call me arrogant. You know, it's it's some people.

Well, seriously, you know, after an hour conversation once with somebody, a couple of people, I said, I said, look, I said, I know what it is. And I said, I have a Masters of Divinity from a Calvinist seminary. Oh, no, you're just boasting. And, you know, they're Diperinians. That's what I call them.

It's just someone who's basically clothed in childish attitudes and doesn't want to think. And so it's pretty bad. And it's unfortunate. You know, that's what it is. You know, oh, absolutely.

You can Pretty much any time you witness to somebody who's lost or you're start or you have a conversation or a discussion about why you believe the way you believe in in Christ and salvation. eventually, a lot of those conversations will end and you're just arrogant or closed minded or you're holier than thou attitude or something. I mean, it's the same argument either way it goes. Yeah, what I tell people is, you know, are you teachable? And then they don't like that question.

And they don't want to be taught from somebody whose last name is Slick, who knows the topic and knows how to defend it very, very well. And I do. I've been defending it for 35 years.

So.

You know, there's a a guy that's on Discord. And he he hates Calvinism. And He knows enough about it. to represent it. Mostly right, but then he twists things.

That's not our position. And he'll say, Yes, it is. And I'll say, but it's not our position. He goes, Yes, it is. And he won't listen.

He refuses to listen. There are a lot of people like that. And they won't. I work with a young man. Go ahead.

Yeah, absolutely. I work with a young man that's. Calvinist and, you know, um The way I have always understood it is You know, there is free will. Accept Christ in your heart. But what I get from him is Once you receive Christ you know, it's because the Holy Spirit led you naturally to receive Christ.

And that was Basically kind of like predestined, but you're you know, it's because you accepted Christ, that that was going to be something you did out of free will.

Well, let me clarify, okay? Jesus says, You cannot come to me unless it's granted to you from the Father. John 6.16. Exactly. So if free will, if free will.

is defined as the complete ability inside of your sin to just choose Jesus or not. Then that wouldn't make sense for Jesus to say, You can't come to me unless it's granted to you by the Father. Because I use that verse a lot with people, and they say, That just means the opportunity. And they change God's word. And I say, No, no, that's not what it says.

You're altering the very words of Christ to make it fit your theology. And they don't like that. And I say, You have to define free will biblically. And free will is simply the ability to make a choice that's not forced on you, that's consistent with your nature. And right.

And that's it. And so an unbeliever is a slave of sin, etc. A hater of God doesn't seek for God. God grants that they have that faith, Philippians 1:29, and they truly do believe, once God grants that they believe. And Jesus says, John 6:29, this is the work of God that you believe.

on him whom he has set.

So we have a reasonable Right. Am I correct to say unless we're called You know, only only we can only have faith is if we're called from given faith from him or called by the Holy Spirit. That's right. And Acts 13:48, it says, as many as had been appointed to eternal life. believed.

And that's And you know, when I first read this stuff in the Bible, I'm like, I I don't like this stuff. Because I'm the sovereign, I have my own free will, it's up to me. I had to change. And learn what the Bible taught about certain things. And so.

Well, brother, I can tell you, Rod, there's no good in us unless it's through Christ. You got that way, brother. Amen. I appreciate your ministry. And thank you for taking my call.

Hey, you're welcome. God bless. Keep up the good attitude, all right? God bless. All right.

All right. Thanks, brother.

Okay.

Bye. All right, we have nobody waiting right now. If you want to give me a call, the number is 877-207. Let me uh tell you about a conversation I had last night on Discord. I go into these rooms and I'll just listen.

And a lot of times I'll just take notes and write answers to some of the questions. I don't like to jump in unless people generally unless people just ask me, you know, Matt, would you take over or ask answer this? And so after about a half hour, I finally was involved in a conversation with A group of people. Uh uh one woman in particular who Was very much against the Trinity and very much against the deity of Christ. And she had scriptures.

And we got talking, and I brought up an interesting point, I thought it was interesting, that the doctrine of the Trinity is not arrived at by a single verse, nor is it refuted by a single verse. It's arrived at systematically, looking at the whole of Scripture, Genesis to Revelation. And I said, the truth of the Trinity is based on whether or not that system is correct. And I said, Have you ever heard of this before? and she said, No.

And she went this other direction because didn't like not having that kind of answer.

Well, we went on and on, and and just imagine how I gave her answers and I gave her this, I gave her that, and I put a U R L in to my website on on the article. Uh on the Trinity. And she was uh dismissing it. And So she said, no, no, no, it's just man's opinion. I said, no, the scriptures teach these things.

It's just scriptures. Go look at the scriptures. You know, the father's called God. And I show the verse where the father's called God, Jesus called God. I said, it's not opinions, it's just there are the scriptures.

You put your mouse over the references, and the scripture pops up. You can just read it. And Then come to find out, she rejected the entire New Testament.

So, she says, you have to show this from the Old Testament. And So I went, okay. I said, just rejecting the New Testament's not valid, but blah, blah, blah. I said, let me work with you from what you say, from your perspective. And I said, is it the case that God the Father is seen in Exodus 6, 2 through 3, Exodus 24, 9 through 11, Numbers 12, 6 through 8?

I gave her varying references. We went over them, okay? And she says, Yeah, the Father is seen. And I had normally gone to Jo John, the New Testament, but couldn't do that because he wouldn't accept it.

So I went to where God in Exodus 33:20 says, You cannot see my face, for no man can see me and live. I said earlier you said that Moses saw God. And she says, Yeah. And I said, well, but God says no one can see him. I said, your Unitarianism.

has a problem now. The Trinity can answer this. But as a Unitarian, you now have a contradictory belief, a contradictory set of scriptures. According to your perspective, your perspective can't answer this. And I politely pressed her on it, and she actually granted that it was a problem.

And I said, Look, I'm glad you did. Because I wouldn't let her get out of it. I mean, it was very polite, but I held her feet to the fire. It says, This is what it says. And she finally had to agree with the scriptures.

And so I said, here's the thing about truth. It does not contradict itself. If something contradicts itself, then you need to abandon it because it's not true. Things that are not true. are contradictory.

I said, since here, from your perspective, you have a contradiction you cannot resolve. That means your system, your belief, is a contradiction. and therefore you should abandon it. And she's not like that logic. And she just refused to give into the scriptures.

And I told her that: I said, You're refusing to submit to God's Word. And she would change the word of God, she'd alter the verses. I said, No, you can't do that. And that I pointed out Before I had to go, I said to everybody in the room who's there listening for 45 minutes having this discussion, I said, This is a good example of someone who submits God's word. to their mind, their understanding.

Not the other way around. And that's a a point we need to examine. When we read Scripture, are we submitting to what it says? Are we submitting what it says to what we want it to say? That's a serious question.

Hey folks, we'll be right back after these messages, please. Stay tuned. We'll be right back. It's Matt Slick Live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick.

Everybody, welcome back to the show. If you want to give me a call, you can: 877-207-2276. Let's get to. Luke from Washington, D.C. Luke, welcome.

You're on the air. Hi, Matt. How are you? Doin' all right, man. Hanging in there.

How are you, buddy? Um I There's a question regarding um uh if God decrees everything, including sin, How can He hold people responsible? Isn't God then the author of sin? No, he's not the author of sin. He doesn't create it.

The decretive work of God is not simply the idea that he causes everything directly by his hand, but that some things he does directly cause, but others he indirectly permits, because the conditions in which people act are arranged by him.

So he's what's called the proximate cause, but the efficient cause is because of their own decisions.

So like Adam and Eve was in the garden, she sinned first, she gave the fruit to Adam, and then he sent. But God... is not the one responsible. Because Adam is the one who made the free will choice to rebel against God. No one forced him.

So he is therefore the actor and the originator of his rebellion. God didn't make him do it. God didn't originate his rebellion. God didn't put it in his heart to do this. God created the circumstances, and that is that the garden existed, the trees let the devil come in, etc.

So God is the proximate cause or the proximate condition. Proximate condition, cause means the condition in which an actual action, moral action, occurs.

So the moral agent is the one responsible for that action. And Adam is was responsible, just like we are responsible for our actions. And so God is the one who ultimately decrees that I'm in this house right now. And that my wife's in another room, I'm on the radio.

Well, I'm the one responsible for my own free will choices here and now. God's not making me talk on the radio. He's not forcing me to do it. And he hasn't forced me to do something stupid. And so, when people don't understand this, they misrepresent what it means to decree.

They think it means that God forces it. That's not what it means.

Furthermore, it says in Ephesians 1.11 that God works all things after the counsel of His will. And I ask people who misrepresent this issue of God's fordination and our compatibilist will, the idea that our free will is compatible with the sovereignty of God. It's called compatibilism. I ask them, is it the case in Ephesians 1:11 that God works all things after the counsel of his will? And I've had some people just refuse to answer the question because if they did, they're supporting the idea of God's decrees and sovereign work and our responsibility at the same time.

And so what they will do is often ignore Scripture because they have an agenda. But nevertheless, God works all things after the counsel of his will. And the all things means even the sin of Adam, the fall of Satan, and the various things people do all over the world. But it does not mean that God is causing them to behave badly. He's simply permitting it to occur in the world he created.

Yes, you're saying that God is not the one who is morally responsible for Adam eating the fruit because Adam acted freely without force and in disobedience to God's command. Right, it's his response, not God's. He's the one who freely chose. God didn't choose it for him.

Okay.

So he said the ultimate cause is God created the universe and he. provided evi uh the foundation upon which the event can occur, right, is the initial cause of all things. But God is not culpable. Right, he's the initial cause.

So.

People may not like it, but that there's no way out of this. Because you can't have an infinite set of regressions without a finite or without an initial cause. The physical world has a beginning, and that beginning is made by God Himself.

So he's the one who created the universe. He's the ultimate cause of everything. It means that in that sense. But it doesn't mean he's the one who forced Satan to fall. God is one who initiated all things, and the conditions in which people act freely, those are created by God, but they act freely, and therefore they're the ones responsible.

But what about Calvin's Institute, what Calvin's doctrine people always blame Calvin was right name, God created some people damn nation and God created some people for Uh election um for Well that's a different that's a different topic. But the issue then becomes one of interpretation of Scripture.

So, when you go to Proverbs 16:4, for example, the Lord, as Yahweh, has made everything for its own purpose, even the wicked. for the day of evil.

Well, it's in a wisdom statement, but that's what it says. And I say, What do you guys do with it? Or Romans nine twenty two and twenty three, what if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy which He prepared beforehand for glory.

So I asked people You know, if you want to say that God created people for the purpose of hell, whether it's true or not, because there's ways of answering this from different logical angles, I say, if it's the case that that's what you think. that we're saying, what do you do with those verses? And that's another example of people refusing to deal with Scripture. And I ask questions. I'm not saying that God specifically does it.

I'm not saying He doesn't either. I'm just saying, what do you do with the scriptures? And how do you answer them? And most people Most people I've encountered in this ilk Do not want to submit to scripture. They want Scripture to submit to their preferences because they know better.

They do. And they should read the book of Job.

Now it's a big book, but they should read the book of Job because basically when the people were complaining, God and finally, Job, you know, in the end, they talk, and God comes back basically and says, And who are you? Who are you going to say to me what I do? The cause because for example God said to Satan, Yeah, you can touch him. Just don't kill him. You can hurt them.

He'd kill his family. Don't touch him. I mean, don't hurt him. And then God gave him permission to touch Job.

Well, Does God have the right to do that? Of course He does. Can anybody lay a claim against God? God should not have done that?

Well, where's your universal standard of morality that you apply to God Himself and say He can't do that? Because Job is a big answer to this kind of question. And basically, the answer is God's saying basically, shut up and sit down. You're not God. You don't know what's going on.

You don't understand everything. But what people want to do is they want to exalt themselves and their own understanding to the level of an apostle and say, This is what it means that God would ever do that. And I often trick people into seeing the truth. And I'll say, when they bring up this topic, I'll just quote Proverbs 16:4 without them even knowing I'm quoting it. And I'll say, well, do you believe?

I believe this. I believe that God makes all things, even the wicked for the day of evil. I believe that. They go, He would never do that. I just quoted Proverbs sixteen, four.

I do this sometimes with them. And then they don't like that I believe something, which is exactly me quoting scripture. They understand exactly what it means, and then they go against it when I call them out on it. You're going against scripture. I just quoted it.

You tricked me. Yeah, I did. to see the truth, because I want your presuppositions to not get in the way. But they did, didn't they?

So I'm reading I'm reading a Calvin's Institute chapter one, eighteen one. For it would be ridiculous for a judge only to permit and not also to decree. What he wishes to be done at the very time that he commits the execution of it. to his ministers. How do you interpret that?

I could understand everything you said. And people have so I can't comment, but people have often read me something out of John Calvin, and I'll say two things. I'll say one, I don't follow John Calvin. And whether he said something or said or did or didn't in the Institute doesn't mean I'm obligated to believe everything he said. And that's second, I don't know the context of what it is that you're referring to, and context is important, and I would just withhold commentary until I've read that quote in its context to say, Yeah, I agree with it or don't agree with it.

Okay.

So he says God actively decrees all things. His own wise and righteous purpose. Hold on. When you say actively decree, what do you mean by that? Do you mean actively cause?

Or do you mean decree in that some things he directly causes and some things he permits because of the ramifications of people's freedom and the rebellion against him, and that's ultimately within his decision to allow to happen, and you include that in his decree? Which is it? You know, the ultimate equals, what is that called?

Something called ultimate, I forgot. Ultimate proximate Ultimate, proximate, and efficient. It's something God creates somebody to damn nation. Reprobation. It's called reprobation.

Yeah, the probation and election. Before the foundation of the world. Correct. Like Joshua eleven twenty, for it was of the Lord to harden their hearts to meet Israel in battle in order that he might utterly destroy them, and they might receive no mercy, but that he might destroy them. Just as the Lord had commanded Moses, is Joshua 11:20.

Yep. God does that. But remember, they'll say, but God wants everyone to be saved. That's it, that's what he wants.

So then I asked him, Well, why would he do that? Why would he kill people? Why would he have them killed? Why would he set a deluding influence on people to believe a lie? Why would Jesus speak in parables?

I mean, Mark 4:10 through 12, which he says why he speaks in parables, so people will not be forgiven. I show people this stuff in Scripture and they're shocked because they've been notoriously taught in church as the blonde haired, blue-eyed Caucasian surfer dude dressed in a woman's nightgown, asking permission for you and your wisdom to let him in. And I show people. This stuff. They don't do.

In fact, sometimes I say to people, If you want. I'll mess you up. Just tell me what perspectives you hold, and then I'll tackle one of them. And I'll mess you up. And I'd say with a smile, because I know the things that people believe that can be tackled.

you know, preach it rapture, or God would not like for salvation, or God loves everybody, all these things. I guess, really go to look over here, look at Scripture, because they've not been taught or studied the whole of Scripture on a variety of topics.

So they have a myopic view called myopic rigidity. They have a narrowed view that they don't want to change.

Okay.

And one more question. Anyway, Jesus. Hello? Can you hear me? Yeah.

Yeah, Jesus um Spoke in parables. But sometimes the disciples often did not understand them at first. And he said he make them to not to understand blindness. God gave blindness. The disciple did not understand the parables.

Some did, some didn't. They didn't know who he was at first. They didn't understand a lot of things. But when they asked him why he speaks in parables in Mark 4:10 through 12, he specifically answers them and says, so that people will not be forgiven. That's what Jesus himself said.

Mark 4:10 through 12. Mark 4, 10 through 12. I show this to people, and they just stare at the scripture. They don't know what to do with it. I'm going to say, you need to change your theology.

God's a sovereign king, and he loves people, but there are people he hates. And the Bible says so. Psalm 5:5, Psalm 11:5. It says it. And I show this to people, and they're like, I've never heard this before.

I say, How long have you been going to church? You know, twenty years? You never heard this?

Something's wrong. It means people are preaching What they want people to hear, or the people are only going to churches that tell them what they want to hear. About how Jesus says the blonde haired, blue eyed Caucasian surfer dude. That's not who he is Okay. We're about out of time, as the music's going to start in five seconds.

All right? Basically, God hardens people's hearts. That's right, He does. He does. And He also softens them.

And He grants them repentance. There's more to this. I'm just giving the other side of Scripture. Hey, we gotta go, buddy. All right?

Good right time, man. Thank you.

I'll back.

Okay.

Hey, folks, by God's grace, we're back on the air tomorrow, Wednesday the 18th, and may the Lord bless you. Have a great evening, and yeah, that's what the scriptures teach. God bless mine. Another program powered by the Truth Network.