Biblical Answers to Challenging Questions

Coming up next on Renewing Your Mind can we go to the wedding of a heterosexual couple who claims to be believers but are sleeping together, are we not to attend a homosexual wedding does attendance essentially make us a witness and if we are witness at a wedding that dishonors God is that ascendant can it ever be biblically justified.

Confusing time, culture, Koreans at breakneck speed away from its biblical foundation scrambling for biblical answers this week on Renewing Your Mind were bringing your messages from this year's international conference where our theme was upholding Christian ethics conference help us understand how we as Christians can live with integrity, as we engage world were God's hated morality celebrated today will hear a very helpful tunings hosted by our president and CEO.

Thank you offer these questions that you submitted.

We are going to get through as many as we possibly can. And so just right out of the gate. Why did God formed woman out of the rib of the man rather than create her separately.

This a very famous statement that Matthew Henry implies, but he's not the author of it. I don't remember who the author of it, but he took the rib not from his head that he might rule over her and not from his feet that you much trample on her, but from his side nearer to his heart that he might cherish her to get the right almost who was the original author but student Matthew Henry was after my period and the original author was before lumbar fits in Peter Lombard. He may not be the ultimate MIDI item was the originator when the Bible doesn't tell is explicitly left trying to follow line slits of might suggest to us that might give us clues and we might say because he hasn't told us explicitly. We just don't know but we might also think that because of what the rest of the Bible does without relationship.

On the way, Paul reflects on it in Ephesians chapter 5 that it was a kind of creating a clue and creation as to where he was going in redemption, but also real indication that in the prophetic creation. All the first woman he's never done this again so you didn't do this with any of our lights. He did this, only with one woman that he was establishing in that one acts 12 creation the pattern that would be experienced in all matter to us. The man and the woman would be 1/under that would be in the sense the relaxation which we have in my life all via unity that reflects both on the creator Dr. on this.

A reflection off the redemptive article of the relationship between Christ and instruct this question comes from Ellie. She's 13 years old and she asked why is God called a jealous God in the Bible, and specifically mentions Deuteronomy 5 verse nine. Well, he's jealous because he will not share his glory with another that he is to be the object of all glory that is given in worship and it would be spiritual adultery, for there to be someone or anything that would take the place of supremacy. And so God rightly guards his own glory and he is passionate for his own glory, and so I think the answer in a simple way lies there. What advice would you give to young couples today. In their first year of marriage, what habits would you develop now that have blessed your marriage and family over the years. Learn to say yes ma'am I was wrong and you should have listened to your mother. We we we clearly need a panel of wives speakers one year to get the real story well, maybe I'll be the only serious one on the panel today. I don't know so that's been on my brain lately. Just this idea of how important it is not is to be a prayerful person and that is to pray for your family or your church or the ministry that you know the missionaries he served, but to pray, particularly for your spouse and we pray scripture for your spouse. So what advice I get any newly married couple is no sound cliché but you be on your knees before God on behalf of your spouse for the Lord asking them to bless their ministry, their character, their efforts, your marriage, their job so many other things.

I can't imagine a better thing to kick off a marriage than being in prayer like that. My mom thinks the Holy Spirit tells her things outside of Scripture is that true, we don't know your mother, so it's hard to that there's a uniting of the spirit in the word and Calvin was very clear on that.

I think Scripture is very clear on that.

That where the Holy Spirit is at work in the world. He is at work in partnership with the book that he is the author of and so to say that the spirit is speaking today apart from Scripture.

II think is an incorrect position.

I think the spirit is at work in conjunction with the written word of God such that no one would ever be saved without the written word of God, no one would be sanctified without the written word of God and in both instances of regeneration and sanctification.

The spirit would have to be at work with the word and first Peter 125 did 27. I think it is makes that very clear of the union of the word and the spirit. Yes, I agree with all that I think we need to distinguish carefully between the Holy Spirit engaging in someone's mind on the level that we think of in terms of inspiration on and the production of Scripture and the Holy Spirit's effective ministry on our spirits and on our emotions and in the role that the spirit might play and guidance in and with and through the written word of God, but I don't want us to go in the opposite direction and can completely stifle genuine ministry of the Holy Spirit witnessing with with our spirits that we are the children of God so thinkable to make that kind of distinction, but the kind of the kind of distinction whether the Puritans, for example, would've had an want to sing to the Puritans view of the role of the Holy Spirit in day to day life and what is the role of the Holy Spirit in guidance about something that the Scripture doesn't speak to directly.

We I mean I don't disagree with either of the things of Saturday morning spirit work together and lots of times we talk about the spirit moving in our lives.

We need to probably understand it. That's usually the spirit helping us apply God's word to whatever situation ran as far as no ongoing revelation of the spirit.

I mean I dealt with this on the Canon side and I was to argue that that that type of revelatory work of the spirit is no longer happening today like you did with the apostles as I want to affirm that I think Dirk makes a good point. We want to leave room for the spirit to still be at work ministering to our spirits. I think we can use terms like like you know, encouraging us the spirit ministers to us the spirit blesses and helps us so this careful terminology. There would want to use, making sure we don't speak of it is revelatory new information.

I think I'm right in saying that the New Testament uses the language of Revelation to cover our in circumstances that would describe what we would call as inspired revelation, but also uses that language to describe what we would call it illumination on that thing is important. I think this is a point Mike is making this appointment, we need to make that especially today.

We need to make a distinction between the Revelation given by Christ through the apostles, for which he clearly prepared them and emphasize the absolute sufficiency of in terms of what Paul says at the end of second Timothy three, but the spirit uses not Revelation and we experience it sometimes in ways that are so illuminating. We listen to and exposition on suddenly something becomes clear. I think it is quite easy for Christians who are perhaps not as well instructed as we might want them to be to confuse those two things and to think you know the Holy Spirit is revealing this to me and I do think that that is why we wouldn't want to say all you do is read the Bible, all you do is follow the watch what's going to be applied and you need the same spirits help who was the instrument of giving the Scriptures in order to understand the Scriptures, and often that comes in ways that do seem to people to be rather direct. I find one of the most helpful titles all the units in booklet that it was referring to that is a book entitled Scripture liked the only safe flight Scripture lightly only safe flight.

I think when we got not cleared in our minds we always abutting seem to us to be illuminating thoughts about the situation back to Scripture to test whether these thoughts that we half this interpretation that we have this really faithful to Scripture that we we keep together which I think it's a little trying to do the balance between the fact that the Holy Spirit did something once and for all that he hasn't gone back to heaven. He's continuing to use not that it's a passage in one of Prof. muddies essays on divine guidance and he was a very sober Scotsman general refinement. Celia Slater formed and useless. I think very helpful way of saying we shouldn't imagine that some of the conscious that we have unnecessarily busy because when our minds on IMAX spend the Scriptures is not affecting the way we feel the way we think that we we have senses of things than what God is doing is creating a kind of metallic robots are not a living person in communion with him about nothing I find helpful is what John Newton says in his letter on divine guidance. He says eventually a suggestion always the Christian begins to have a sense of God's will. In situations the way a pianist who has really been mastered by the school instinctively plays the music. Apparently, without thinking, apparently without thinking that soul into them. They become like you know the way to live is not always to be looking up your concomitants, but to become biblical in the way you think the way you feel the way you respond that even even done to the's the senses you half of people that you may not be able fully to explain all part of the way in which the warranted by the spirit is impacting you to only make you modeling more like Christ. But sensitivities like Christ unless a lifelong is like the sense of its kind, a lifelong can a Christian have a homosexual orientation. Well, if this is a question about self identity as it may well be than the know his answer no can can Christians have homosexual desires. Yes, but those desires are sinful that to use the contemporary would that come to persons that Augustine board that the buried the very desire itself is not sufficient to say it is sinful only if that desire is acted upon, but the desire itself is sinful and I think the James one in the morphology of temptation explicitly says that so I can't identify myself as though this is my identity, I'm I'm a Christian, but that that that doesn't make any sense and for my part, I think that that's an un-biblical direction to go. Can we go to the wedding of a heterosexual couple who claims to be believers but are sleeping together, are we not to attend a homosexual wedding does attendance essentially make us a witness and if we are witness at a wedding that dishonors God is that ascendant can it ever be biblically justified so compound question. There I thought you told us in the backyard and we got all the hard questions and that no well again this is a really difficult question because there probably circumstances that you can't cover in one answer, so they posit our church is that a heterosexual couple that want to be married in the church would have to receive marital counseling. Sadly, 95% of couples who ask for marriage are sleeping together and they are told in no uncertain terms that they must stop sleeping together and and and one other move out of wherever it is that they're living and those would be the terms of being married in our church.

I deny I don't think that the statistics of my current community are very different from from other church communities, conservative communities, it's a very different day from 45 years ago when I got married in Wales.

I think I think the percentage of heterosexuals who are sleeping together would've been very small, but that cultural change has taken place. But I think we have to stand by biblical principles and and to do so within the terms of premarital counseling, but to be insistent about it and to hold them accountable for it was part of the question, could you attend a homosexual wedding. I was absolutely no under any conditions. I agree with the trickier question and that's that's an easy question to answer from conservative Christian biblical point of view, the more tricky question is what if a gay couple want to attend their parents Thanksgiving dinner and I've certainly had that question. Austin and I think I think part of the answer, then, would be to lay down certain rules state that can't can't sleep together in my house, but do you do you want to answer that question in a manner that says we will not have any relationship at all, ever again. If I say no you cannot attend, and that that's a that's a more difficult question to answer. I think that it's possible under very difficult circumstances to still maintain a relationship with your son or your daughter, but to lay down and without compromising your own particular points of view, but make it clear what can and cannot happen in this relationship at my house at Thanksgiving and before my family. Mercifully I've not had to address this in and in my life, but but I do know that increasingly, Christians are facing this question and I would be cautious about simply saying no disgrace prayer for unity.

In John 17 indicate that we should pursue the elimination of institutionally distinct denominations or that's in history question we we should vigorously seek to end denominational distinctions and everyone should be Dutch reformed, I I personally believe in John 17 when Jesus prays that we should be one as he and the father are one that he's praying that we should be one with him as he is one with the father so that the questions of ecclesiastical unity. I think our secondary and derivative and the meaning of that text. Personally, that's what I think I see that New Testament are glazing over.

I I do think we have an obligation as Christians to labor as vigorously as we can to be a united church with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

But where brothers and sisters in Christ are intransigent on certain issues don't encourage him because he's all wet. I'm not all witness where I can join one of Mr. Lawson's denominations, you know, I think I think the first obligation is that we seek as much is possible to show our unity as brothers and sisters in Christ and that we also continue to affirm the importance of doctrinal issues so the ecumenical movement that would say what divides us is unimportant.

I don't think really reflects biblical truth, biblical truth is truth is important and to be sure there are primary doctrines and secondary doctrines and tertiary doctrines we may have differences over which are which but we you know, like I think the only way forward with with people who don't yet fully see the truth is to sit down with open Bibles and keep talking.

There's no other way forward and and that's a wonderful thing when I when I sit and talk with Lutheran friends or Pentecostal friends or Baptist friends, acquaintances do this because we really are good friends.

I always come away having learned something important. Despite having heard their point of view and even when I'm not persuaded that have not persuaded them. I hope will come away going closer to work in determined keep spending. We love Dr. Robert Godfrey was the chairman of our board. Regular ministries really love all of her teaching fellows grateful for their wisdom and their great sense of humor.

We hear many of these issues covered in the news and talk shows these days, but that often we don't hear a biblical perspective so refreshing to hear that today. Thanks for joining us for Renewing Your Mind on this Wednesday. I believe web and all week. We are pleased to bring you sessions for March 2022 Lincoln international conference. Our theme was upholding Christian ethics.

I hope you're finding these programs helpful as you seek to stand for the truth in love your neighbor as well. We can only do that through the knowledge of Scripture and putting it into practice. Dennis recently called us to thank us for producing resources that help growing Christians do just that. I think that represents a very important ministry in our world today by offering such a broad spectrum. A comprehensive list of how the gospel can be presented in the teaching of the Bible can be given through print and audio and visual and other means, including personal and I also think that especially as we see how even what appear to be solid evangelical churches are willing to compromise the basic foundational Orthodox Church of Christianity and by leaving your stands for remains for and is unwilling to Go to the left. All as it were often passed off the straight and narrow path of the truth of Scripture. If you benefited from leaders resources and see the importance of helping Christians know what they believe and why they believe it.

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