Matt Slick Live

A previously recorded Matt Slick show. It's Matt Slick live. Matt is the founder and president of the Christian Apologetics Research Ministry, found online at karm.org. When you have questions about Bible doctrines, turn to Matt Slick live. Francis, taking your calls and responding to your questions at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick.

For the podcasters, it is October 16, 2020. If you want, you can give me a call. We have three open lines. 877-207-2276. They just let you know that we stay on the air by your support. If you want, you feel like it, all you have to do is go to the website, karm.org. The right-hand side of any page, you'll see the word donate. We ask $5.10 a month. If you do that, then it really does help us out a great deal because we can make budgets. We just got thinking about something because on Friday mornings, we have our weekly meeting and people from all over the world come into our weekly meeting. We have a guy from Turkey, another guy from Brazil, another guy from Colombia, and we have a guy from Malawi, Africa. We get online, do a meeting.

We just kind of catch up with each other. We got a new guy. He's from Tanzania. Just this morning, we finally agreed. We had to vet him, make sure he was okay.

It looks like we're going to be trying to get a ministry going to people in Africa with a website in Swahili. Good stuff. I was talking to the guy. He's already been vetted by our African counterpart. He's a good guy. He loves theology. He said, yeah, I've been using karma for years.

I said it was great. He's sitting in his home. He's got his camera on the whole bit.

I'm joking around. I go, is that a window behind you? He says, yeah. I said, can you open it up?

I want to see if I can find some zebras. He's laughing. He said, you have to go to a preserve for that.

I says, darn. At any rate, they're going to be out meeting pastors. Joster, he's one of our guys out there, our African connection. He's going to be meeting 100 pastors pretty soon to equip them and to teach them.

They use karma material. Just to let you know, what we did was we raised the funds for a printer. We looked at different ways of getting material to him. It just became obvious the best thing to do is just buy a printer.

We spent about $1,000 because they're expensive out there. A printer with a laser printer, cartridges, and paper and stuff like that. Now he can just print up manuals.

He can print them up on his own. Praise God for that. We're trying. Your support supports them.

Stuff like that. It does. If you jump in and help, it supports. That's what we were looking for.

If you want to help out, $5 or $10 a month, just go to karm.org forward slash donate. All the information is right there. Not a big deal. I think that's about it, isn't it?

I think so. All right. If you want to give me a call, three open lines, 877-207-2276. Let's get to, let's see, that'll be Chris from Raleigh, North Carolina. Chris, welcome. You're on the air. Hey, Matt.

Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my call. I love your show. I absolutely love your show. My wife is listening now, too.

Any chance we can get? What's your wife's name? Her name is Renee. Hey, Renee. How are you doing out there? I'm waving. Matt says hello. Thanks, Matt.

I wanted to get your perspective on something that I've been exploring recently in the Old Testament. Let me give you some context. It's fall here in North Carolina. This is a big hunting area. I'm in my 50s. I actually didn't start hunting until about four or five years ago. And I kind of got into it because I've always appreciated healthy organic foods and the idea of harvesting an animal in the forest and all of that was just appealing to me. So I got into it. The funny thing is my daughter is a hardcore vegetarian, so we have a mutual respect for each other. She is disciplined about her approach, but she respects that, you know, I eat what I kill. But all of this got me thinking a few months ago about, you know, what does God say about all this?

Because, you know, still, you know, the act of taking an animal's life, especially a large game is, you know, there's a lot associated with it, a lot of emotion in it and whatnot. So here's what I discovered, and I wanted to get your perspective. In the very last paragraph or two of Genesis chapter 1, verse 29, and I'm reading from NIV. Then God said, I give you every seed bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit and seed in it. They will be yours for food and to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground, everything that has the breath of life in it, I give every green plant for food. So, you know, it looks to me like originally God created us to be vegetarians. But then when you go to Genesis chapter 9, right after the flood subsides, chapter 9, verse 2, the fear and dread of you will fall onto all the beasts of the earth and on all the birds in the sky and every creature that moves along the ground and all the fish in the sea. They are given into your hands.

Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you, just as I gave you the green plant. So there, I guess, God is saying now it's okay to kill animals and eat meat. So I just thought that was interesting. I'd never known about that before.

I'd never heard that before. And I was curious what your perspective on it is, you know, what happened between those two time periods. Well, I don't know what happened between those two time periods. Is that your question? Yeah. And are there other things in the Bible that might give a clue?

Talk about why there's a change. Well, actually, when you look at Genesis 1.30, like you read, you know, 1.29 and 30, it says, you know, I've given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of the earth and every tree which has fruit yielding seed. It shall be food for you and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to everything that moves on the earth which has life.

I've given every green plant of food and it was so. Why is he mentioning the birds and the animals in the concept of food if it's not for food? That's what I would read out of Genesis 1.29 and 30. And what happened with Noah?

Well, there was the flood and it was a change of things and afterwards, of course, you have a reduction of lifespan significantly. Maybe there's something to do with that and health, I don't know. But don't forget, Jesus himself ate the Paschal lamb. So he was a vegetarian. I think, you know, I've done a lot of health research and I've tried vegetarianism for a few months and veganism I can't do.

But I've kind of come down to the balance of 80% veggies and 74% veggies, the rest meat, fish, eggs. And it's fine. So no big deal. And as far as hunting goes, I've been invited to go hunting in a few weeks. And I haven't said no. It's not like I'm not going to do it because it's not biblical. If I get a tag and took my AK out and knocked something down, you know, clean it and do what we've got to do. As long as you're eating, you know, you're providing for your family in this means and it's in a humane way, I don't have any problem with it. I don't see anything biblically against it either. So, you know, we had chicken, you know, chicken yesterday in a bag.

So the chickens had to be killed and eaten. I don't have any problem with that. My wife's eating chili for tonight and there's a little bit of hamburger beef in there. She's a good cook. She is. Oh, I'll bet.

Oh, yeah, she's a good cook. You know, it's interesting. I saw somewhere, you know, right again in Genesis chapter 1, right after the fall, God covers Adam and Eve with a skin. You know, an animal had to die or be sacrificed for that, which is, you know, foreshadowing in other ways, too, but it's interesting. Yeah, I've got one more question.

So thanks for the insight. One more question is are there animals in heaven? What does the Bible say about that? You know, I've seen documentaries and read things about people who have supposedly, you know, died and been in heaven and come back. Now, I reserve judgment on that.

I don't know if that's true or not. But, you know, I've heard them say, oh, there's animals and there's mountain streams. What does the Bible say about that? I don't know of anything in the Bible that says that animals go to heaven.

Heaven is the dwelling place of God and the redeemed enter his presence. Now, we could make this the case because Colossians 1-20 says that God, you know, is reconciling all things through Jesus Christ. And generally what it's understood to mean is all the created order. And, you know, as we know that when Adam sinned, he represented the world as well. And sin entered the world, God's going to make things right. And the only way it can be made right is through the cross of Christ. So animals are part of the created order that have fallen.

That's why they die. So what's going to happen in heaven? I don't know.

I don't know. I do know that there's going to be new heavens and a new earth. Now, I would expect that God would restore the animals that have gone extinct. Like 98% of all species that have ever lived are now extinct.

It's a surprising and stunning number, but it's true. And so who knows what we'll see on the rebuilt earth. But as far as the dwelling place in heaven goes, I don't know.

Now, I'm going to expand a little bit more here. There are three heavens in Jewish cosmology. The first heaven is the earth, the plants, the trees, the wind, the clouds. The second heaven is the stars, moon, sun. The third heaven is the dwelling place of God. So people say go to heaven.

What do they mean? Do they mean the very dwelling place of God? I see nothing in scripture that says animals are up there in the Shekinah present, glowing presence of heaven God.

I don't see that. But in the earth being rebuilt, heaven. We call that the lower, in a sense, it's the lowest heaven.

But it's not really the way we're using the term. So they will be restored on the earth. But in heaven, we don't know what heaven, where God dwells, is like. Because God doesn't dwell on a planet unless you're a Mormon, because God gave another planet near a star called Kolob, or Kenneth Copeland who says there's a mother planet out there.

Sheesh, oh man, slapping upside the head. But so the dwelling place of God, I don't believe there's going to be animals up there personally. But on the earth, yes. That's just my opinion.

I couldn't prove it, but that's just my opinion. Those three different things that you were talking about, three different descriptions of heaven, where are those now? In the Bible.

What you can do is go to Carm and you can look up, let me see, three heavens, I think it is. What does the Bible mean? It refers to the third heaven. And yes, so what does the Bible refer to when it means third heaven? Just look up third heaven. And I have the verses. So I did the research, did the verses right there. And you can check it out.

Great, I'll check it out. Well hey, thank you very much. That was interesting and insightful. Have a blessed day. You too.

God bless. All right, hey folks, if you want to give me a call, all you have to do is dial 877-207-2276. And let me hear from you.

We have four open lines. All right, let's get to James from Wake Forest, North Carolina. Welcome, James. Yes, sir. Hey, Matt. Just a question.

When the sun left heaven to come to the earth, did he do that because he was commanded to do that by the Father, or did the son volunteer to do that on his own? Good. Very good question.

So let me read the scriptures where Jesus speaks about this. And I'll do that right after the break. Hey folks, we have four open lines. Give me a call. 877-207-2276.

It's a beautiful Friday. Give me a call. It's Matt Slick live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276.

Here's Matt Slick. All right, welcome back to the show, everyone. If you want to give me a call, we have two open lines.

877-207-2276. Now, I'm not sure if something happened to what we call the stack because it went blank and looking for the callers. The lines are going up and down, so I don't know what's going on, but I'm going to kind of pause here for a little bit so if Keith knows which line it was that the guy was on because he wasn't going to leave.

I think something happened to the stack. No big deal. I'm kind of stalling here while he gets up. He hung up. Oh, he hung up. Okay. All right.

Well, let me talk about this issue then, and then we'll get to the next callers. Did Jesus come here to do the Father's will and he did not want to come to the earth? What I'm going to do is read two areas of scripture, and then we'll talk about it. This is what Jesus says in John 637. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I certainly will not cast out, for I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. This is the will of him who sent me, but of all that he has given me, I lose nothing but raise it upon the last day. So Jesus is saying that he did not come here to do his own will but the will of the Father.

Now, we've got to be careful because we don't want to say that Jesus, his choice was not to come here. We don't want to do that because in the perichoresis of the Trinity, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit each enter and dwell, each other. The mutual indwelling of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Now, look at the yawn coming on.

Oh, there's a good yawn. God has one will, one mind, but yet there's three persons. I won't get into this. This is how we look at that, but nevertheless. What we can say is that the will of the Father was for the redemption of all people, not all people but for Jesus to redeem. Now, Jesus said, I didn't come to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. It doesn't mean his will was contrary.

It could just mean his will wasn't involved. He came to do the will of the Father because this is what Jesus says in John 5.30. I can do nothing of my own initiative as I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just because I do not seek my own will but the will of him who sent me. So Jesus is saying he seeks the will of the Father. It doesn't mean he disagrees with the Father, but it couldn't happen. So what we could say here is that Jesus came to do the will of the Father. It doesn't mean he's in contradiction of the will of the Father, didn't want to do the will of the Father. It just means he says, I came to do the will of the Father.

So what we can say is that that's the case. He came to do the will of the Father. Now, some people might say, well, in Luke 22, 42, it says, Jesus said, let this cup pass for me. I don't want to do this. Now, that's another issue. He didn't want to go through the crucifixion. We get into the doctrine here of the communicatio idiomatum. Oh, boy, you're yawned, man.

Sorry about that. And what that means is the communication of the properties, which in turn means that the attributes of both natures are ascribed to the single person. Jesus had a divine nature, and he also has a human nature.

So what we could say is that the two, oh, it gets complicated. Dietheletism is the teaching that each of the natures has a will, but it's manifested in single. Well, when Jesus says, I, me, you know, wants to do this. So what we kind of think about is that Jesus has a man, and he didn't want to go through the torture of crucifixion and the beating.

If there's any other way to do this, let's find that. But nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done. So what we're seeing here is the submission of the will of the Son to the will of the Father. It doesn't mean it's a contradiction to the eternal decree and eternal will of God to redeem, because Christ came to do the will of the Father. But when he was in the garden, he didn't want to go through the crucifixion because of the physical pain and suffering that would be put upon him, and yet he came to do the will of the Father, so he did.

So this is not an easy, easy question to answer, because there are several related doctrines and topics to the whole thing, and I just hope that it makes a little bit more sense. And if I didn't, call me up and say, uh, it didn't really make much sense. All right, let's get on the phones with Jamal from North Carolina. Jamal, welcome. You're on the air.

Hi, Matt. Thanks for taking my call again about your show. Thanks.

You're welcome. I wanted to ask about dream catchers, those Indian trinkets that Native Americans make. I just wanted to get your opinion, and if you have time, I have a follow-up question. Sure. What would you say about, say, an Indian object that is used in their animistic religious ceremonies to get in contact with animal spirits, and you hung it up in your car? Would that be good? No. No, yeah, right. So a dream catcher, which I haven't studied, so I don't know too much about it, depending what it is, if it's used in the religious systems and stuff like that, get rid of it.

Just get rid of it. I don't want anything that is going to be perceived as something that is not glorifying to God, and I don't see a dream catcher doing that. When I go to the New Age Convention that they have here in Boise every now and then, I always see dream catchers.

Get in tune with the animal spirit within you. They have dream catchers here and there. And so I would never. I wouldn't let one in my home. I wouldn't keep one in my car and use it as an ornament or anything like that.

It's associated with the paganism of American Indian theology. Right, right. Good answer.

Time for a follow-up? Sure. Go ahead. All right. I'll take this one off air. How come fallen angels cannot seek redemption?

Thank you. It can't be what? How come fallen angels can't, and then I didn't hear what he said, but I think what he was saying was it can't be redeemed.

Yeah, seek redemption. That's what it was? Okay, thanks, Keith. Keith is saying, say hi to everybody, Keith. Hello, everybody. Yeah, Keith, he's our producer. Before the show, I always call and we do a little sound check and sometimes we'll blab about stuff.

Sometimes he has really good questions, and I say, hey, that's good for the air. So anyway, how come angels can't be redeemed because they don't have a redeemer? We have a redeemer, Jesus Christ, God in flesh, who became one of us, became a human. He's God so that he could offer a sacrifice sufficiently efficacious to be able to cleanse our sin to God the Father.

But he had to be man in order to offer sins on behalf of men and women, of course. And so if angels are to be saved, ones who have fallen, then they would need a redeemer for them because they have sinned. The law must be satisfied. The law is satisfied in Jesus Christ for people.

But there is no law option for the angels and no means of redemptive work for the angels. So they fell, they're lost, no hope for them. That's the way it is. All right, let's get, well, give me a call, folks. We have three open lines, 877-207-2276.

And there's the music again for another break. Why don't you just hold on and give me a call, 877-207-2276. We'll be right back. It's Matt Slick live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick. Welcome back to the show. Let's see.

Get the KY from Georgetown. You're welcome. You're on the air. Hello. Can you hear me? Yes, I can.

Okay. I've got a sort of a random question. Earlier this year, before we closed down the country because of COVID-19 and the whole pandemic situation, I was talking to a street preacher in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, in the downtown area, if you're familiar with that area.

Big touristy area, everyone signs yelling the whole lot and that sort of thing. I made a friendship with a gentleman and he said that, he said that when babies are born, they are born innocent and without sin. And then I grew up Lutheran and then non-denominational. The Lutherans thought that, you know, you had to baptize the baby or else when they die, they would go to hell, sort of thing. But Protestants, obviously, we don't go outside of that. We're Baptists.

We don't believe that. But the correspondence I've been making with this gentleman, he said that babies are not born with sin. And I thought, and I was taught in at least in the Baptist and the non-denominational church that we are born into sin, if that makes sense.

So I guess my question is, what is it? Are we born sinning or do we have the propensity to sin as babies or do... Just sort of a clarification. I think I read in the New Testament that by one man sinned, and then I thought because of that, we inherited it from our parents. So a sort of clarification, if that makes sense. Yes, it does.

There are a few issues we have to look at here, and I can't give you a definitive answer, but let me explain. When Adam sinned, we fell in him. 1 Corinthians 15, 22 says, In Adam all die. Romans 5, 18 says basically the same thing. So he represented us. This is called federal headship.

Federal headship is the teaching that the male represents the descendants, not the female. And Adam and Eve were in the garden. She sinned first. She gave the fruit to Adam. Then he sinned. But Romans 5, 12 says, Sin entered the world through one man. So Adam represented us. That's it.

Federal headship. Now, when he sinned, we have an issue. Because you have to exist in order to accomplish a sin, to perform a sin. Now, what is sin? Sin is breaking the law of God.

1 John 3, 4. Well, you know, if my daughters, when they get married, have children, well, those children have not yet even existed. They haven't committed any sin. So we can't say right now that any children that they may have, have sinned.

Because they haven't. But, so do they have a sin nature? Well, yes. We are by nature children of wrath, Ephesians 2, 3 says. And so, they're coming to get you, huh? So, we have a sinful nature.

Now we have to ask another question. Can infants sin? I'll just say infants, okay? Can infants sin? Well, yes they can. Right away.

Because they're human. Sorry, I'm a four year old. I didn't mean to cut you off.

No, I'm laughing. He does not listen. I'll tell you that every day. I love him, but at that age, he already knows what not to do. Yes, that's true. But what about a one day old baby?

One day old, nine months and one day after birth here. So, what would I say about that? Well, you see, the Bible says we're to honor God and to serve him and worship him. So, if we don't do that, are we sinning? So if a baby does not do that, the question that I'm going to ask is, is that a sinful thing because the baby isn't doing it? But then again, I can't say a baby is not doing it because, out of sheer logic, I can't say that I know what's in the heart and the mind of any baby.

So, you see, it becomes a very difficult thing here to answer. I get more technical than a lot of people do in answering things like this, but normatively speaking, we'd say that they haven't sinned. Normatively speaking, but I couldn't prove that. So, yet, they have inherited a sinful nature and Adam represented them, so we could say that they have fallen in Adam and they are by nature a sinful, at the very least, are fallen, which manifests quite naturally. I've raised children too. It's like, I didn't teach you how to be like that. Where'd you learn that? It's right out of their hearts. I saw something you have to teach.

That's right. My thing is it opens up so many questions because I'm always thinking that, like I've heard people say, first of all, I don't believe that garbage that, you know, babies, if they're not baptized by water, they die, they go to hell. I don't believe that. That's not anything like that. But, by the same token, I have to, I have to, that makes me answer or ask other questions.

I know you don't have time, Paul. Like, I believe in, I guess, the doctrine of election and predestination, coordination, whatever you want to call it, because I believe in that reform theology. I have to ask if someone aborts a baby or something like that, right? Does God not hold their salvation or maybe, because they hadn't done anything wrong at that point, right?

Well, here's the thing. You know, I've lost a baby right at birth and he lived about a half hour. And I believe I will see him in heaven. Thank you. And I baptized him too because I believe in infant baptism, but not for salvation.

I went to a Lutheran college. I believe it only as a covenant sign, as a sign, as a seal, the same way circumcision was a sign of the seal. If you disagree, okay. But, at any rate, so I'm not going to die on that hill, but that's just me. So, not because of the baptism I believe I'll see him, but I just, because I believe that babies go to heaven. Why?

I'm not sure why. If any babies go to hell, then it's because they belong there. If all babies go to heaven, then that's what's right.

And I don't know how God works. Did you say it, Roman? Yeah.

Go ahead. I'm trying to remember. You've got a lot better memory than I do, but isn't there a place in Romans 9 where it talks about like they were chosen, Abraham and Isaac in the womb?

I'm sorry. Jacob and Esau. Jacob and Esau. Right. They had done anything good or bad.

Anything they had done. Right. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, that's Romans 9, starting at verse 9. And so God's election is not based on any foreseen quality in them, and they were chosen in the womb before the foundation of the world, actually. Ephesians 1, 4 and 5 talks about that.

So this gets into- I don't think it's salvation necessarily, but- Well, election is to be chosen to be predestined to be saved, okay? Right, right. In the context of individuals. So, like this gets really complicated. There are just so many other things- I know, it's a lot of questions.

It's okay. I deal with them, and I think about them, and I've talked about them over the years many, many times. So here's what I'll say about babies. If any go to heaven, it's because God is merciful.

If any go to hell, it's because God is just. And that's it. Sure, sure. And I don't know.

I believe I'll see my son in heaven, and I hope I see all babies that have been killed in the womb and such. The question is not to ask. Yeah, yeah. I guess the question is not to ask, why does God not save everyone? It's why did he save anyone? That's the right question.

I mean, he didn't have to. Anyway, yeah. Okay.

Sorry, a lot of questions, but I appreciate it. Thanks. Amen. God bless. Okay.

All right. Let's get to Joe from Australia. I'm going to let you guys know if he calls from outside the country, I'll move you up at the front of the line.

Welcome. You're on the air. Hello. Can you hear me?

Yes, I can hear you. Hello. Hi. Hey, hello. Matt. Hi.

I hear you. Hello. I'm excited to ring. Yeah. Now, first call for your ministry. I've rang a few times before.

Dan Ferrer from New Zealand, Australia. Hey. But anyway, I've got a question. What is the New Testament church meant to look like, a new historical authority? The New Testament church is supposed to be one where the elders rule and where Jesus is the centrality of the work and the ministry. They're supposed to be living for Christ and witnessing for Christ and being missionary and minded.

Those are just some of the aspects. Women pastors are not allowed in the biblical church. It's just not their position. There's no homosexuality being supported in the church, except to say that homosexuals are welcome, but they can't hold offices in their unrepentant homosexuality.

It's just things like this. So the New Testament church, what I've seen and read, is evangelistic, is dedicated to Jesus, is sacrificial, is missionary-minded. It teaches Christ and him crucified and sticks to doctrine and deals with the issues in the culture and opposes them, but does so in a peaceful, loving way and seeks to change the world through the conversion of everyone. That's what the New Testament church is.

Okay. Okay, because there's an independent Baptist minister that reckons there's supposed to be like a heritage line, an authority line from when Jesus gave the Great Commission. An authority, passing down an authority? Is that what you're asking?

Yeah, like a heritage line? No. And you're meant to be baptized or something? No. He's an independent church Baptist. Well, the idea comes from within Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodox, when they're elevating their church and they want their church to replace Christ.

And so the church has to have the authority, the church is the way, the truth, and the life, and it has all the apostolic authority handed down through the laying on of hands. We have a break, man. You want to hold? If you do, we'll get to you after the break.

If not, well, let's get another caller because it's a long distance. Hey, folks, 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. Welcome back to the show.

Joseph from Richmond, Virginia. Welcome. You're on the air. Hey, Matt. How's it going? God bless. Thanks for all you do. Hey, praise God, man.

So what do you got, buddy? So I just had my mom in town recently. I'm kind of a new Christian.

About three years ago, I gave my life to the Lord, and it's been a stair climb ever since. But my mom is actually a lesbian, and that was really hard for me to come to terms with that. She would, you know, be going to hell if she's not going to recognize her sin. And so having seen her with my kids recently on her visit, I'm wondering what I need to do or what I should do to protect my kids against her nature and what I should do for myself. Yeah, what I would do is I would lovingly, respectfully tell her and set her aside and just, you know, tell her you love her and, you know, you're always going to be there for her, you know. But the issue of the lesbianism with her children is absolutely, unequivocally not allowed, period. That if she ever is going to watch them, she cannot promote that, and that if she does even once, then all communication with the children basically will be cut off unless under strict supervision. I mean, I would just tell her that and say it's not because you don't love her, but because your commitment is to Christ over her sexual preferences and that you must honor your Lord. And just, you know, but say it in a loving way because, you know, you want to honor your mom, you know. That's what I've been trying to do, but that's the hard part is, like, I can see that she has some demons or spirits in her or something, and I just do not want that messing with my family because I know how it messed up my childhood. Well, she's in rebellion against God, and there is an issue of doors opened for the occult and spiritual things by her presence depending on her attitude and practices, and it gets a little scary to say it, but I'm not saying that she's all weird and whacked and demonic.

I'm not saying that. I'm just saying... She might be. You know your mom, but just, you know, you're married, right, and talk to your wife about it and make sure that your wife and you are on the same page, and there are just certain things that you have to stand your ground on, and you put Jesus before your mother. He's before your mother, period.

That's the parent I always wanted. Well, let's just say that, you know, my mom and dad were, they both passed away. They were interesting, and I'll just say that. They weren't perfect, and there was more than one occasion when I had to dress down a parent. I had to do both, and I'm not boasting in that.

I'm not taking pleasure in that, but it came to this is what the word of God says, and here's how we're going to be in this house, and ABC is not permitted, period, and they respected it, and that was it. I believe that, you know, towards the end they got redeemed, but anyway. But, you know, it's a tough. Awesome.

Yeah. Yeah, that is, well, thank you so much for the advice. I really appreciate it. Well, you're welcome.

Hope it works out, okay. Thanks. God bless. God bless. All right, let's get to Nelson from Bakersfield. Nelson, welcome.

How are you doing, buddy? Hey, Matt, God bless. Love the ministry. Thanks.

God bless you. Yes, my question is about, I was going through the scripture, and this thought came to mind a couple days ago, and I wanted to see what you can answer or whatnot. Well, if you could help me out with this. In verse 10 and 11, of course, we have to read it in context from a little bit from the beginning, but, you know, it says right there that Peter took out the sword and, I'm sorry, chapter 18 of John, and, you know, Peter took out the sword and chopped some guy's ear off, and verse 11, Jesus tells him to put the sword back in his chief because something about, should I not drink the cup that the Father has given me? Right.

And so my question was, if Jesus wouldn't have said that, Peter would have just been trying to chop off people's heads off, and would the people try to kill Jesus at the very moment when it was the time for him to die? Well... I mean, does that make sense? Yes. That question came to mind.

Right. Well, you know, he was carrying a concealed weapon, so to speak, except it really wasn't because you carry it on your hip. So he was open carry, and Jesus did not rebuke him for it. He had the sword to begin with. Or it could have been that it was in a pack or something like that because I'd been to the area where they were when the people came to get Jesus.

I was there in Israel, and you could see the people coming. So, you know, it would take them 10, 15, 20 minutes for them to walk through the valley to get to where Jesus was. So Peter would have had time to go get a weapon or to unsheathe one.

So there's lots of possibilities there. But what he's talking about there, Jesus, is don't hinder the atoning work. That's what it ultimately comes down for.

And so it wasn't his time there, and that's it. Jesus was just saying, you know, put it away. I was kind of thinking, too, while I was reading this, Jesus was kind of saying also, well, not with the words, but just put it away. We've got to control. We have it under control. Well, he didn't say that, so we've got to be careful not to say that. Yeah, no, yeah. I mean, that's what I was thinking.

It seems like it was that scenario in the way. That's why someone put that sword away. Well, but he says, put this sword into the sheath.

The cup which the Father has given me, shall I not drink it? He's talking to Peter, and he's saying, Peter, shall I not do what the Father has me do, which is go to the cross? Because what Peter was trying to do was prevent Jesus from being taken and being tried, and Peter knew that Jesus' life was in trouble. He was at risk.

So he was trying to stop, and that's when Jesus said what he said to him, because he was inadvertently working against the will of God the Father. That's what the issue is there. That's how he rebuked them earlier, right?

Get behind me, Satan. Right. Yeah, Peter is the kind of guy that's ready, fire, aim. Ready, fire, aim. That's Peter. Not ready, aim, fire, but ready, fire, aim. He's my kind of guy.

That's what it is. All right, buddy? We've got callers waiting.

We've got callers waiting to be stacked up, so we're going to get going, all right? Okay. All right, thank you, man.

All right, man, God bless. Okay, let's get to Roger from North Carolina. Roger, welcome. You're on the air.

Matt, how are you doing today? Love your show. Hey, you are a smart man. Good. Awesome.

So where are you going? Oh, man, I've got a question for you. I've got an issue that has become very dear to me. I'm hoping you can shed some light on it. All right. The last couple of months, I've been studying origins of the Bible real hard, how they were translated, how different ones came about.

Right. And I got on the whole King James only movement, did a lot of reading and studying and watching seminars. And part of the thing with the King James only movement is, is they believe Westcott and Port were basically heretics, and all the translations that came from their stuff was bad afterwards because of.

I just wanted your take on this. There's a logical fallacy we need to talk about. An analogy is, a pedophile taught me trigonometry, so therefore, trigonometry can't be trusted. And that's the kind of logical error that you're using. Westcott and Port were, let's just say, they say they're unbelievers, so therefore you can't trust their translation. Not necessarily.

You could have an atheist world-class expert translating Greek into English do a better job than a Christian who has a theological ax to grind when he's translating. So we have to be careful of what's called the genetic fallacy. The source is bad or good, therefore the information or the conclusion is bad or good. It's called the genetic fallacy out of Genesis in the beginning. So that's not a good argument on their part. What they have to do, if they want to make their case, is they need to go to other ways of demonstrating that the texts in the manuscript trees are accurate or not accurate, and what particular nuances of variations between those are important.

And I'll tell you, I am not studied up on this. We do have a section on Karm on King James Onlyism written by Luke Wayne. Maybe we'll get him on the air sometime and he can call in and he can just answer some King James Only questions. I think it might be a good idea.

Maybe we'll talk about getting on the air next week sometime and we can just kind of promote it as a first half hour or something like that for answering questions on the King James. Because he's studied it. He's written numerous articles on it, and I'm looking at it now.

And there are, he'll be able to tell you, so I think I'm going to arrange that with him. But nevertheless, so I'll leave it at that. I think I'm going to do that.

This has come up lately a few times. So I think I'm going to do that. The King James is a great Bible, but it's not perfect. If you want a better translation, go to the NASB or the ESV. The issue here becomes with the manuscript trees and which ones are more accurate as the criteria that are used to get to the place of the original documents. And it's a serious issue to undertake, and it takes some scholars in that area.

It's called historicity. I just not studied all that in depth. Right. Well, my pastor's an NASB guy. Smart man. Big time. Good. Well, he's got a doctorate and I don't, so.

Well, you know, Ph.D. just means piled higher and deeper. So anyway. Right. I just wanted your opinion on it. I do value your opinion.

I want to see where you stood. Maybe you should go out there and I'd appreciate it. You're welcome, man. God bless. All right. God bless you, Matt.

Okay. Let's get the next longest waiting person. Gavin from Cleveland, Ohio.

Gavin, welcome. You're on the air. What do you got? Hey, man. How's it going? It's going, buddy. We got about two minutes. Yeah.

So what do you got, man? Right. Yeah, I know.

Time's kind of short. Do you mind if I change my question to an emotional one? I don't care. Go ahead.

Okay. So I'm making some slides for my son to teach me about theology. He's five. You know, I have ones like, you know, how many gods do we believe in? And then there's like a picture of like a handled number one.

Right. So the one I have as far as the Trinity, the question is who is God? And it says, father, son, and I have a triangle there. And I try to teach him that just like a triangle has three points, but as one triangle in the same way that God is three persons with one being and one being. Do you think that's a decent way to explain it to a five-year-old? To a five-year-old. Okay, good.

Yeah, I would say that that works for a five-year-old. Yeah. Yeah.

Because analogies have to be age appropriate, and as his mind matures, as conceptual ability increases, you can get into the idea of time and matter and things like this. But, yeah, I think it's age appropriate. You know? Okay. Yeah. Okay.

Not a big deal. Do you think of maybe like another way to... The triangle is a good one for that. But see if he understands the issue of time. There's past, present, and future. They're all the same thing. They're time that are just kind of variations of it. But even that has problems, because we don't want to get the idea that we're teaching oneness. So you have an age appropriate thing, and you can see it.

You can explain on the triangle and increase it as it goes on. Okay? What a time, buddy. Okay, cool. Thanks. All right.

Hey, Alan from California. Call back tomorrow. I mean, tomorrow. Call back Monday, okay?

We'll talk about that. God bless everybody. Have a great weekend. Have a great weekend.