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 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. All right, everyone. Welcome to the show and hope you're going to have a good time today. So this is let's see, it is January 20th, 2022, and we have five open lines. Why don't you give me a call?
877-207-2276. When I hear from you, we can talk about all kinds of stuff. I got something I want to talk about. I thought about this. As you know, yesterday I had to I talked about about a family who's had to make a decision to medically. You know, the term is, you know, pull the plug.
I'm trying to say it in a nice way. And so being clergy, they asked me to come over. I volunteered, you know, come over to the house and talk to them.
And then last night they had to make that decision. And they asked me to go to the hospital. And so I went to the hospital and we all got there coincidentally at the same time. And we went into ICU and they had to put masks on us. They put this plastic kind of a garment all over us. And we had to wear gloves. We went into the ICU.
And the sons and, you know, one of the sons' wives and the mother who of the sons was the wife of the man who, well, you know, was dying. And I'm bringing this up for a reason, OK? I'm not trying to invade anybody's privacy, you know, publicize things like that. I know that a lot of us go through things and have gone through things. I certainly have with my father, my mom, my son, my wife, father, others. Things happen like this in life.
But the reason I'm bringing it up and I'm trying to be delicate about it is because, you know, it's a family thing. And they did ask me to go. When we were in ICU, I was off in the distance trying to be polite, distant. But be there, you know.
When they need me, I'm right there. And I watched. And I watched as the process went through, as they arranged, you know, to say goodbye. Or they did, they said goodbye in the tears and talking to him. Could he hear?
You know, probably not, of course. And there he was with the tubes and stuff. And then it was time to take all the support equipment away, which means that his body would fail. And so they made the decision and they pulled a curtain and we stayed behind the curtain as the staff did that.
And then after about five minutes, they said, OK, here we go. And so I stayed where I was at a polite distance and watched the family as they grieved the loss of the loved one. And what struck me was the glory to the Lord that was in that room. The wife, she was praying and thanking Jesus and rejoicing that her husband was going to be with the Lord. And of course, there were tears and it was sad and it was tough. But I was just struck by that hope and dedication to the Lord Jesus.
Even the praise of his glory and his mercy in the middle of all that pain and suffering. And I was privileged to be able to sit by and watch. Now, I've certainly participated from the other end, seeing loved ones go. But as a clergy, when I sat and watched and of course, as I'm not trying to be distant, but not trying to be intrusive or rude either, that balance is hard to maintain. It hit my Bible and at one point they asked me to pray and I did or say to me, I prayed for them and him and we watched him pass away. And we watched him, you know, by faith, enter into that presence of the Lord. And I was just pleased to see and to hear the name of Jesus being exalted and through the tears, the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And realizing that the nature of sin on this world and in this world has caused suffering in varying kinds, varying levels. And yet somehow, in some way, Christ is there. And it was a pleasure to see that, see others who are dedicated to the Lord and, you know, they were suffering. But yet they loved God, they loved the Lord Jesus. It was good. You know, it reminds me when my wife and I, so many years ago, about 28 years ago, buried our son.
And I won't get into all the details, but I can tell you this and if she were on the air with me, she would say the same thing. That somehow through it, the Lord was there, the presence of God is there. What I've learned, one of the things I've learned through situations like this, particularly for us Christians, is that suffering is something as appointed to us, and it is, it's granted to us. Philippians 1 29 says so. But also it's not a cold work of God's hand where he says, here, deal with this, and he turns away.
That is not it. Instead, what it is, is his care, his grieving with us, his suffering with us. And through it, when we praise his name and look to him, and go through those difficulties, you know, it glorifies God, but it also in that way comforts the ones who are grieving. And there is, this is hard to explain, but through the process, there's a peaceful presence of God while we suffer. Christians know what that is, many of them do, who have experienced this. And I relate this because I know there's a lot of people out there who are going through some difficult times in this area of losing family members with sickness and things, and that their hearts break and they ache, and you want to not to suffer so much, and you ask questions, why, Lord?
And those questions just aren't answered. But we know that God is there with us, that God grieves and suffers with us, because he lives in us, and he is aware of our pain. And I was reminded last night, even, of the suffering of the Son of God on the cross, and those who loved him must have grieved, and God the Father undoubtedly was affected by the suffering of the Son. This is what we go through sometimes, it's what's appointed to us in this life by God's permissive will, as he allows it, and through it we look to him. And so I just thought I would talk about that a little bit, just as an opening, it's pretty sobering. But if any of you are going through something like that and you want to talk about it, give me a call. If you have questions about anything else, because we talk about all kinds of things on this show, from UFOs to the occult to evolution to logic to theology, Bible verses, personal questions and issues.
So if you want to call, the number is 877-207-2276. In fact, I think it was Charlie who put the verse in, 1 Thessalonians 4.13, but we do not want you to be an informed brethren about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose, that's it. If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.
And last night that was their confident hope. And so that's where the peace and the joy can come in, even though it's not easy. Just as I know I will see my son again, who I lost so many years ago, my wife and I will see him. Just as the loved ones last night who lost their father, their husband, will see him again. And we know this because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. You see, for those of you who don't know Christ, what I mean by know Christ is not to know about him, but to know him in a personal way. If we receive him, John 1-12 says, for as many as received him, to them he gave the right to be called the children of God.
We receive Christ, we receive that loving sacrifice on the cross. See, he was sent to that cross. He's God in flesh and he could have stopped at any time.
He could have just said, enough of this. What God did was allowed himself to be killed, to be crucified, so that, in that place of crucifixion, our sin would be given to him, put upon him, and with that sin he would die on the cross. The sins that we've committed, like lying and stealing and lust and coveting and gossip and hatred, these things were put upon Christ, given to his account.
And the spiritual suffering he went through probably was, I can't tell you for sure, but it must have been incredible, maybe even greater than the physical suffering. And yet he endured it so that those of us who put our faith and our trust in him would have that hope and that expectation. And his resurrection, the resurrection of Christ, is the proof that what Jesus said was true. And he claimed to be God in flesh and I'll give you the verses. And he told us to believe in him and to trust in him and that he would go and build homes for us in the heavenly.
His resurrected body is the precursor to ours and the hope for the resurrection to come. I know that a lot of people out there aren't Christians who might be hearing these words. I would urge you to look to Christ and ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins, to look to him as the one who died on that cross when he didn't have to. He permitted it and in the process took that evil from your own heart, from your own actions, your own words, the rebellion against him and others, the injury you've caused, the suffering you've caused, the lies, the cheats, the stealing, the adulteries, the fornications, all of these things, all of them. He bore if you trust in Christ. Trust in him. Receive what he did on that cross and you will have the same hope that all of us do in the resurrection.
And the privilege of being with him forever. Well, folks, I wanted to talk about that and I did. And we had a break coming up here and then we'll get to Michael or Mitchell from Charlotte, North Carolina afterwards. But I want to invite you to call.
We have three open lines, 877-207-2276. We'll be right back, folks, after these messages. It's Matt Slick live, taking a call at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick.
Welcome back to the show. We have two open lines. If you want to give me a call. 877-207-2276. Let's get to Mitchell from Charlotte.
We lost Mitchell. So we have three open lines. Give me a call. Let's get to Anthony from Virginia. Anthony, welcome. You're on the air.
Hey, Matt. I've been listening to some of your debates about free will. And I just kind of wanted to ask you, do you think that when it comes to the concept of libertarian free will, did Adam and Eve have libertarian free will in their original state?
It would seem so since they were not restricted by the depravity of sin. But you see, compatibilism means that free will is compatible with the sovereignty of God. So they would have had compatibilist, theoretically, compatibilist free will in the sense that all their free will choices were compatible with the sovereign work of God. So libertarianism doesn't like compatibilism, because incited compatibilism is also the condition that the sin nature of an individual restricts his ability to freely choose.
He's still free. He's just restricted in his freedom and that he can't choose the things of God for foolishness to him. I understand that Calvinist perspective. I was kind of curious to know that if, from your perspective, libertarian free will is something that man had in his original state before the fall. You have to see the thing about libertarian free will is its definition and what it means.
And this is why we have to be careful because there are aspects of it that are a little bit difficult to just say in all places and all situations and all this and all that. So what I like to do is start with compatibilist free will. That is basically the sovereignty of God and man's freedom to choose and his freedom of choice is completely compatible.
And that's true with Adam and Eve. So if we say compatibilist will or libertarian free will, then when they say that they're trying to get to the idea that libertarian free will is not compatible. That human free will is not compatible with God's absolute sovereignty.
So do you see the problem? I would kind of agree with that, but I understand that Calvinist and Reformed theologians argue that we're totally depraved and therefore since the fall we've lost that. And I understand that perspective, but how does, people can argue that humans have libertarian free will in that God ultimately controls, is the creator of the universe, but he's given us in the Imago Deo the ability to make free will choices. Of course we have free will choices. Calvinists don't deny that. Well they kind of do because they are... No they don't.
They've been defending it for 30 years. No it's not, they don't deny free will. Well, my understanding is that Calvinists adhere to what's called the Westminster Confession of Faith, and in that it does explicitly state that God has foreordained all things that shall come to pass, whatsoever shall come to pass.
Of course, don't you believe that? I don't see how that's compatible with the notion of libertarian free will. Exactly, that's why libertarian free will is false. Don't start with human free will and then say God's sovereignty... Well you just said that Adam and Eve had libertarian free will.
Wait a second, wait a second, wait a second. Don't start with human centered free will and then restrict God. That's humanism. Okay, don't do that. The Westminster Confession, and I know the Confession, I have a Masters of Divinity from a Calvinist seminary, been defending this for 30 years or so, and I'm going to tell you, Calvinists don't deny free will.
They never have. They simply say that an unbeliever's free will is restricted to pure sinfulness. Okay, that's not free will though.
Yes it is. Define for me what free will is. Go ahead. Let's see. Define for me. Free will is the ability to choose between two competing options at a moment in time, whatever the options may be.
I've got a question for you. Being able to choose between two competing options, okay, does it mean they have to be able to accomplish each one? Does it mean they have to be able to accomplish each one? Not necessarily because there are physical limitations and things like that, like we can't use the fly to the moon. No, within reason, okay. Like they can choose to steal or not to steal, to lie or not to steal, lie or not to lie. They have to be able to choose between and be able to accomplish them, right?
Yes, they have to fall within the... So you're a humanist. You're not looking for... No. Let me explain. Explain how I'm a humanist. I'm going to explain, Anthony, because does God have free will by your definition of free will? He has to be able to accomplish or not accomplish the ability to lie in order to be free? Does God have that free will? Theoretically, God could lie, but...
Okay, okay. He does not... Anthony, Anthony, Anthony, you've just committed blasphemy. The Bible tells us, Titus 1-2, God cannot lie, and you're saying that God can lie.
What do you serve? Well, you have to understand why God cannot... Anthony, Anthony, the Bible says God cannot lie. Titus 1-2, do you believe God can lie?
He can't lie because he won't lie. No. See, you are a humanist.
I'm trying to shock you. You're a humanist whose demoted God exalted your own understanding and your own wisdom. Now, let me ask you, do you even believe that Jesus Christ is God in flesh? I think that's a separate issue. Yes, it is. Be honest. Do you believe that Jesus Christ is God in flesh?
I think there are questions about that. So you're not a Christian, okay? You're not a true Christian. I'm just trying to help you out here.
I'm finding out where you're at. You're not a true Christian. This is why you're saying these things. You don't know who God really is, and you're humanistic in your philosophy. If we're going to stick to the issue of free will, it's not humanistic.
Everything's related. But listen to me. It's my show, not yours.
So if I want to ask a question about where you're coming from, I have that right. And I'm trying to find out where you're coming from, and I can tell you right now that you're full of man-centeredness, not God-centeredness. You accuse God of the ability of unholiness in being able to sin, and you don't even affirm that Jesus Christ is God in flesh. We cannot call you a brother in Christ. Jesus says, unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins. Now, I am is claiming to be the divine one, and you don't even acknowledge that. So you will die in your sins.
May I defend my perspective? You can try, but you won't be able to because it's un-biblical. When people who believe in liberty and people say God is holy, holiness is the abstinence from commission of sin.
So God is the only being. You have no idea. Anthony, I'm sorry, but you don't know what holiness is. Where are you getting all this stuff?
Are you making it up, or just thinking it? Well, it's simple definitions. A holy being is one who does not... Anthony, I asked you where you got it. It's a simple definition.
Where did you get this stuff? Philosophy. Hold on. And I'm going to talk to you about your philosophy. Folks, we'll be right back after these messages. I'm going to tackle his philosophy.
All right. It's Matt Slick live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick. All right, folks, looking back at the show, we have three open lines. If you want to give me a call, 877-207-2276.
Anthony, are you still there? Yes. So you like philosophy, huh? Is that how you judge truth?
That's one way. How do you know it's the right way? Well, God gave us reason for a reason, I guess. So how do you know your reason is correct? Well, we have to use our human faculties to the best of our abilities. How do you know your reasoning is correct?
That's my question. Observations, empiricism, logic. Empiricism is self-refuting because empiricism says you gain information through your senses. How do you know your senses are actually representing reality? The senses are faulty, but they can be used to gain a minimal understanding of the reality around them. So a minimal understanding of reality, can you define what reality is? It's the universe God has created. And so you observe the entire universe with your senses?
No, no, I'm not saying that I'm saying that's one of them. You don't understand what reality is, do you? Empiricism, does that work?
You got anything else you want to work with? That's pretty much all we have. We have revelation as well, I do admit that. We have a revelation.
So empiricism is subjective because it's based on your personal experience. That's not how you judge actuality and truth. So you say revelation. Where does revelation come from?
True revelation comes from God. Which God? The God of the universe. Who's the God of the universe? That's the first person to determine for himself, but... Whoa, whoa.
Wait a minute. So if one person says God of the universe is Islam, is Allah, and the other one says that Yahweh is Yahweh, which one is correct? Oh, no, that's not what I meant. You said you got to determine for themselves.
You said that, so what do you do? I said it in a confusing way. What I meant is, there is one God who reveals himself, but... Okay. Who is this God?
It's up to each person. Well, I believe it's the God spoken of by Christ and the prophet. Is Christ God? Christ is an emissary of God, for sure. I didn't ask if he was an emissary.
I said, is he God? That's an interesting issue. All right. So you don't know how to gain knowledge if it's a epistemological issue. Your empiricism is ultimately self-refuting because it's so subjective. You base your rationalism on it, but you can't trust your own rationalism because you don't know if you're being rational. Yet you go to Revelation, and then you don't trust Christ with what he says. So now you judged all knowledge and the reality of the universe based on your sensibilities.
Like I said earlier, you're a humanist. You use yourself and humanism as the measure and standard of all truth. Well, I do believe that we can use logic to determine absolute truth. But to use logic to determine absolute truth means you have to already believe in absolute truth in order to use the laws of logic, like the law of identity. If everything is what it is and is not what it is not, it's an absolute truth. You presuppose its actuality in order to use logic, so you're circular. Your foundation isn't built on anything other than your subjective experience and desires. There are certain foundations upon which humans have to work. Like Descartes said, I think, therefore I am.
So there are certain foundational actions... When he was at a restaurant and someone asked him if he would like some wine, he said, I think not. He disappeared. But look, you're denying who Jesus Christ is. You deny who Christ is.
Now, Jesus Christ fulfilled the prophecies of the Old Testament. Jesus Christ walked on water. Jesus Christ raised people from the dead and he rose from the dead himself. Jesus the Christ said, unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins.
So let me ask you, do you believe that Jesus is the I Am? That is a very nebulous and difficult to understand section of John that is open to... Anthony, Anthony, Jesus claimed to be God in flesh. The Bible says he is in the book of John. In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God. In verse 14, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. That means he's God in flesh.
Paul understood this in Colossians 2, 9, when he says, in him dwells all the fullness of deity in bodily form. When Jesus says, unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins, they were very upset with him. Then just a few verses later in John 8, 58, he says, before Abraham was I Am, they want to kill him. The Jews wanted to kill him, and the only mention of stoning next to that is in John 10. John 10, 30, when he says, I and the Father are one, they pick up stones again to kill him. And he said, many good works from the Father I've shown you, for which of these are you stoning me?
And they said, for good work we don't stone you, but you being a man, make yourself out to be God. They understood he was God, but you don't agree that he is. You agree with the Pharisees that he's not God, because they certainly denied it. They wanted to kill him for what he was claiming. He was claiming it. So you deny. If you were to die right now, Anthony, I'm not mad at you, I'm just trying to inform you, if you were to die right now, and I don't want that of course, you'd go to hell.
You'd have no hope. There's a very significant question of what exactly one has to believe when Jesus says, you must believe that I Am. He doesn't lay it out very clearly. In Exodus 3.14, Moses is talking to God at the burning bush, and he asks God, what's your name? And he says, I Am that I Am. Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, I Am has sent me to you. Jesus says, unless you believe that I Am, you will die in your sins. Before Abraham was, I Am.
He kept saying this. You deny Christ. You deny the true God.
Now understand, I'm not mad, I'm not name calling. I'm informing you so that you can recognize your problem and your dilemma. You need to take philosophy and you need to set it down on the floor where it belongs. I can argue with philosophy easily.
I do it a lot with people who love philosophy. You have to, and the ultimate thing is this, you have to assume certain values consistent with your philosophical positions in order to even begin an argument, but then I can ask you to justify those basic assumptions. And you can't do it using the assumptions you have. The only way to ultimately do it is to presuppose the Trinitarian God, which that's a long conversation, but it's necessary.
It's a necessary actuality. You don't have any basis by which you can determine what truth is. When you talk about revelation, you deny the very revelation of Jesus Christ and what he says.
You look for a way to deny him. You understand the early church wrestled with the Trinitarian doctrine very strongly for centuries before they settled upon it, though. Okay, I'm trying to tell you what the scriptures teach, what the Christian church has arrived and understood.
I quote you the references. When I quote you, when it says, God cannot lie, you say, well, maybe he can. See, you deny God's self-revelation. Look, I'm trying to tell you, if you were to die right now, you would have no hope you would go to eternal flame.
No hope. I understand a Calvinist would believe that. It's not Calvinism. It's biblical. I'm quoting you scripture. I'm quoting you the word of God.
I've referenced it. This is not just a Calvinist thing. You don't even understand Calvinism, obviously. You are lost. Look, Anthony, you're lost and you need to come to Christ. You need to trust in Jesus.
You need to ask Jesus to forgive you of all of your sins. You need to be exposed to his true holiness. Your wisdom is not good enough. Your philosophy, and I've talked to hundreds of guys in philosophy who love philosophy, and it's just a way of confusing the crud out of themselves. Do you think, well, I just want to ask, do you think humans using their wisdom to determine truth is humanistic or a front to God? If we try to use our own minds and reasoning to determine truth? The only way to know truth is if the infinite God reveals it to you. Philosophy is human thinking and human wisdom. That's definitely not true, though. Yes, it is true. Philosophy is human wisdom.
Phileo, love, sophia, wisdom, the love of wisdom. It's human thought. I can take any philosopher and have a discussion with them. Some of them know a lot more than I do, certainly, but everybody has to presuppose certain things, and I always ask them, what justifies your presupposition? And they can't give it to you without begging the question. I'm honestly interested.
What do you think is the thumb tool? If you define all of where we find God's revelation, where would we find it? Scripture. You find it, well, actually you find it in three places. In the Bible. I'm trying to tell you. Okay.
Three places. The word of God, creation, and the person of Jesus. But for us, it's recorded in the scriptures. You deny the scriptures. You deny Christ.
You deny him. Okay. I didn't think you would include the creation there. So we do include the creation, and part of creation is human reason.
There's the break. You are working hard at your own damnation. Why don't you call back tomorrow and continue a conversation, because I'll have some more in-depth questions you want to ask philosophically. All right? Okay, buddy. All right. Hey, folks, please pray for Anthony.
He desperately needs the revelation and the grace of Christ. We'll be right back, folks. Please be tuned. It's Matt Slick live. Taking your calls at 877-207-2276.
Here's Matt Slick. All right, everybody. Welcome back to the show.
We have four open lines. If you want to give me a call, 877-207-2276. Let's get to Clay from North Carolina. Clay, welcome. You're on the air. Well, hey, brother Matt. Top of the Thursday evening to you. I tell you what, I want to say a big thank you to the Lord for the person that you are and the job that you do, but that was way too much time spending that trying to explain to him.
I mean, I know you're trying to do it right, but if he's hooked up and set his ways, I mean, you can only do so much. And I mean, the reason I called in is I was listening to what you were saying about suffering. And, you know, I was going to share this passage with you that I've been doing this, studying this book called Making Sense of the Bible.
And in the 23rd chapter that brother Adam Hamilton has brought, he talks about suffering divine providence in the Bible. So I was going to share about that. And some of it, you know, it's, you know, I really am thankful that you shared about that because we all do go through something. And even in the book of James, it does say, consider pure joy that when you face trials of many kinds.
Well, I also share with people about certain things regarding that. I mean, you know, you say that you're a follower of Jesus. Think about, you know, what happened to him to the night that he was captured to, you know, the day that he, you know, you know, was put on the cross. All the stuff that happened to him, and I've shared some stuff with people, you know, that we are going to suffer because of what he did for us on the cross. And he even talks about it in Romans chapter 8, you know, it talks about the suffering, but that is not compared to our future glory.
It doesn't mean that, you know, God the Father, he doesn't cause it, he allows it. And I mean, you know, I like the simple fact that in the Bible it says, you know, run the race with endurance. Also, you know, in the book of James it talks about perseverance and stuff like that. And I'm very thankful for that because it helps me to be able to help others.
I mean, you know, yeah, I think the thing with Mr. Anthony, he, you know, he really needs to grasp the hold of the overall situation because there's only one God. I mean, he's the creator. I mean, you know, I tell people quite a bit, you know, the book of Genesis talks about creation, but outside of that, each moment of every day is created differently for us to be able to talk to people. He created you, and look what you're doing. You're bringing your knowledge, your insight, and your wisdom on this program. And it's very helpful.
I'll tell you what, it was, you were missed for the time that you were gone for doing what you were doing, you know, and understand that you have other things that you need to get into, which is a helpful thing because the Lord has blessed you in that way. But, you know, I'm just wondering how, you know, do people realize this and see the thing I'm remembering. You're saying a lot of stuff. You're saying a lot of stuff. So, the opening segment is what you're kind of referring to, right?
The initial stuff, that's what the comment here says. But as far as that guy goes with the philosophy stuff, the reason I'll take extra time with people like that is I want, hopefully, the listeners to understand the futility of their position. That's the goal, is for them to understand that, to be exposed to that kind of a thing. And you can see from him, unfortunately, the reality is that he's a humanist. It's human thought, human knowledge, human wisdom. That's humanism. And he doesn't have a God-centered worldview.
He has a human-centered worldview that he filters everything through. So, that's a problem there. And it's very common. And it exists even inside the church as well as outside the church because a lot of Christians will judge truth by what they feel and what they think and not submit to the word of God.
It's very common. And so, I try and work with that and break that trend up inside of the Christian's heart and mind. Not that I'm great or anything like that, but heck, you see all this stuff. So, he didn't understand libertarian free will, didn't understand who Christ was or who God was or the basis of knowledge or philosophy. So, that's often the case with people.
But nevertheless. Well, amen to that. And I look at it as like he has not been digestively fed certain things to know what needs to be done in regards to getting his life in line or aligned with where God the Father needs him to be. Because, I mean, he's made choices and decisions that are not in alignment with that. And I mean, it's sad, I really hope and pray that he will come to the saving knowledge and grace of the overall situation because it will be helpful for him in the long run. Well, you know, and people need to pray for him. I forget his name, but God knows.
And Mitchell, I think it was, but I'm not sure. I encounter people like him regularly. This is something that is not new to me. People don't know that, you know, I do radio and all rights and stuff like that. But what I often do is spend two hours at a time in discussion rooms.
Probably twice a week I'll do that. Where I'm either, you know, off the cuff debating. We don't disagree.
It's polite usually. And we have these discussions where we don't agree with each other. We go through. We try to work through issues and problems. And the issue of philosophy has come up a great deal.
A great deal. And so I've dealt with it many, many times. And I like philosophy as long as it's used properly. So one of the things I've been doing over the past year or so is developing an outline on philosophy.
And it's only 18 pages, which is very small. But I'm researching the various topics that people bring up. Aesthetic realism, categorical imperative, consequentialism, constructivism.
There's all kinds of stuff. Empiricism, fallibilism. And what they'll do is they might have an objectivist who's a nominalist who might also be a naturalist. And I have to work through all of those and see, you know, what's your degree of this or that. Because there's degrees of nominalists. There are degrees of objectivists. Well, what's your particular subroutine in this area? And I have to analyze and take notes. Usually it's a half a page of notes on what someone believes. And then I start tackling what it is that they hold to and try to show them that there's problems.
And the challenges are incredible. Sometimes I've had people, how do I put this, they actually will argue that you can't trust the meanings of any of the words we're talking about. And so, therefore, any discussion about philosophy and trying to refute it is meaningless. Get this.
I've actually had this happen many times. You can't argue against philosophy because you can't know the true meanings of the words. And what's the ultimate meaning of this phrase you meant by meant? And how do you know that it applies to your philosophical assumption? And that they'll do this. And so what I say to them, I'm just kind of rambling here, but what I'll do with them when they do that is I'll say, well, thank you for saying that I'm absolutely correct.
And we didn't say that. We said that you don't understand the basis of how to argue because you can't refute philosophy without the proper definitions of how do you know that they're really true and that it's subjective. And I say, well, no, no, my wife is nice and she's a good cook. Why do you ask? And they go, what are you doing? And I say, no, I'm not that good looking, but thank you for the thought anyway. What I'm doing is I'm saying, well, if words don't mean exactly what they mean and we don't know what they mean in context, then I can make up anything I want about what they say. Because what people will often do is try and confuse the issue so much that they work hard at damning themselves because they're in love with philosophical jargon and named perseflage. This is what they do.
And this guy was doing the same kind of a thing. Well, brother, I just want to say thank you so much for being the person that you are and sharing the things you share. It's just a heartfelt blessing because I'm thankful for you. I just thank you so much for what you do. I just want to say God bless you, brother, and keep doing what you're doing, man, because the Lord's got you on a path that I don't believe he's going to take you off anytime soon. Well, by God's grace, only by God's grace.
So he gets all the glory. Amen to that. That's right. Okay. All right, brother. God bless you, man. You have a wonderful rest of the evening. Thank you. You too.
God bless. All right, folks. So yeah, I don't have anybody waiting right now. If you want to give me a call in the last one minute or two minutes, that's fine.
877-207-2276. Wow, that's interesting. Just did a search on my website. Oh, I see why it's there. Wow, that was interesting. Interesting. Boy, I didn't even know I wrote that.
Different objects. God and apples require different kinds of evidence for their detection. Yeah, it has to do with philosophy. You know, I wrote a poem on philosophy.
I was trying to find it. Philosophy, zit boom bah, give it a chance. At any rate, it was early on years and years, a couple decades ago, when I first got involved with talking with people who love philosophy and how vacuous it ultimately is. And I'm not knocking philosophy.
I say don't use philosophy at all. But I have actually met Christians who hold to Christian theology, the truth of the word, and they actually understand the Trinity and affirm Jesus' deity. But they still subject the word of God to their philosophical understandings. And they normally get into the issue of free will and God's sovereignty. And I've noticed that what they always do is subject the scriptures to their philosophical logic.
Always. And when I point this out to them, they'll say, well, Matt, you have to use philosophy to interpret scripture. And I'll say, you do? So it's a man-mind thing, or is it by the Spirit of God awakening us and enlightening us? And they say, well, that's a philosophical understanding how you can define each one, and they always do this. They always want to keep philosophy and their own thinking of logic and what things mean as the ultimate truth. So people have definitions like this, like idealism, get this, is the metaphysical and epistemological doctrine that ideas or thoughts make up fundamental reality. And we've got to talk about that for an hour. Seriously. There are people who want it, and there are Christians, too.
Let's talk about that for an hour. Instrumentalism is the methodological view that concepts and theories are merely useful instruments, and their worth is measured by how effective they are explaining and predicting phenomena. There are people, I'm going to tell you, I'm barely scratching the surface, and they will work themselves into varying subcategories of philosophical ideologies and then judge the world through that lens. And when I ask them, ultimately, what justifies them being in that perspective in the beginning, it all comes down to subjective experience and preference because they cannot ultimately say their possession is right. This is the nature of man, to measure things by ourselves.
And it happens in philosophy, too. There's the music. The Lord bless you. Find his great grace. We'll be back on here tomorrow. We'll talk to you then. I hope you have a great evening, everybody. So God bless, and we'll talk to you tomorrow.
Whisper: medium.en / 2023-06-19 23:17:46 / 2023-06-19 23:35:24 / 18