Faith without religion.
Exploring the Depths of Spiritual Questions
Kingdom of Heaven, Baptism, Fire
In a recent Q&A session, Shawn and Delaney tackled some profound theological questions, diving deep into topics like the role of Satan, the nature of evil, and the intricacies of biblical prophecy. One listener questioned why God would allow Satan any power in the world, referencing II Corinthians 4:4. Shawn explained that while Satan once held power, his influence ended with Jesus’ crucifixion, emphasizing that human nature itself is prone to evil without needing Satan’s temptation.
Another inquiry delved into the genealogy of Jesus, questioning the significance of Joseph’s lineage given Jesus’ divine conception. Shawn admitted the complexity of the question, suggesting that scriptural narratives often contain nuances that are difficult to reconcile perfectly.
The discussion also touched on the concept of being spiritually dead due to original sin and the process of being “saved to” the Kingdom of Heaven. Shawn highlighted differing theological views, including the belief that Christ’s victory has already secured salvation for all, though many may not accept it.
These thought-provoking questions showcase the depth of theological exploration and the diverse interpretations within Christian thought. While some answers remain elusive, the dialogue encourages deeper reflection and understanding of faith.
Podcast Transcript:
risk
recording in progress
hi everybody
why don’t I make you say garlic it got
it at the recordings in progress
oh it made you click got it
it made me click got it
you have to consent
DOD comma it
um all right we’re doing a bunch of
question and answers
um today everybody hi everybody it will
probably carry on for a few episodes so
we’re gonna go in order
and they go way back because I haven’t
been seeing them like you all know
so here’s the first one
I don’t know if I should say the
person’s name we’ll keep it anonymous
yeah we’ll keep Anonymous okay hi Sean
and Delaney this question is focused on
Satan and Faith it has been hard for me
to get
past why God would give any power to
Satan in this world we know God is
Sovereign but God has allowed Satan to
operate in this world within the
boundaries God has set for him
while the Bible says Satan has power II
Corinthians 4 4
Satan who is the God of this world has
blinded the man the minds of those who
don’t believe
they’re unable to see the Glorious light
of the good news they don’t understand
this message about the glory of Christ
who is the exact likeness of God from
this passage God has given Satan domain
over unbelievers do you think God
planned this
did God create Satan for a purpose was
it to show us what it’s like to walk in
darkness
you could probably spend two hours on
for the simple reason that our re our
listener there has taken what Satan did
and was and is using that and applying
it to a day when he’s not applicable
that that reader is reading about Satan
having had power having been allowed to
do things but uh it’s a mistake to think
that he’s still in power because
Revelation says no he’s not he’s Jesus
even when Jesus was alive says the power
of Satan is about to end when did it
when did the power lose its abilities at
the cross when Jesus died for the sin of
the world so uh you’re not going to be
doing much talking on this but really
quickly Satan earned the right to the
things of This World by getting the
first created people made in God’s image
to turn against him
he got the whole human race ostensibly
Adam and Eve to turn against God and
rebel against him and Satan took the
power and was in in the place of power
as a fallen angel yes he was still
beholden to God but God’s Paramount uh
Love Is Free Will he gives it to Angels
he gives it to men he gives it to
animals you have a will and you can do
what you want and Satan did and Satan
earned the power so that’s why the
second Adam came beat Satan at all of
his Temptations crushed his head and did
away with him forevermore are or
probably will say well then how come
there’s still evil because we are evil
our Nature’s evil we don’t need a Satan
to tempt us we will do our own evil on
our own so that re listener is leading
text and assigning it to now that has no
bearing on us today
there’s my answer does that make sense
to you yeah so just a couple major
things are that God I think the question
is really like
did God plan plan it and you’re saying
God gave Satan the freedom and Satan
orchestrated it I don’t believe there’s
any planning going on okay and and
um the questions like
I I don’t know that that oh my gosh
that’s the main question that I could
ask from them
um yeah it’s not it’s not God creating
Satan
evil creates Itself by virtue of
choosing to go against God
is the god is there he is he’s not
creating evil and the virtue of of
something saying no to him is the evil
it’s the lack of God it’s the self-will
it’s the dark versus the light it’s
selfishness versus love
that the opposite that’s where evil came
from and the angel Satan fell by into
the dark and the power it gave him
so there’s God creating him so a
specific
entity Satan wielded that thing that
exists that still exists now
Darkness still exists now it’s just not
Satan the absence of God yeah
so okay
so Satan and and the absence of God is
is self yourself the absence of God is
the ultimate form of self self knowledge
self-will dark
uh non-love because the absence of God
is self-love
so it’s ABS we don’t need a little angel
to be tempting us like he did under the
law for the Jews that’s Satan really has
his powers by the law so it’s
contextually in that narrative that
Satan played a role but he is not out
there doing that now and Christians have
long made that mistake of thinking he is
the power that convinced Satan to rebel
against God that’s what dwells and that
is real terror that’s something you want
to be terribly frightened of that dark
absence of God yeah and that we could
like
I’m wondering if we could get to the
point of tapping into that as much as
Satan did absolutely absolutely you
humans who have said
happily to God
I will tap into me my will and in that
you see the worst depredations of of the
darkness’s power and it is power and it
does and it can give you life it sustain
you in this world with wealth yeah yeah
well that’s that’s good I know you’ve
done a lot of thinking on that and
studying some puns we could I’m trying
to
keep it a little bit you keep it inside
but within the Corral okay
um oh same question
okay
a quick rewind in this series according
to Matthew 1 16
what rewinding
according to Matthew 1 16 it was Joseph
Jesus is legal or Foster father who has
made the cut who made the cut and met
the precise requirement of the order
Jewish bloodline
then in passages from Matthew 1 18 to
Matthew 1 25 it’s clear that Jesus was
conceived without the genetic
contribution is Joseph
so what about the distinct qualifying
fleshly standards of the family
background of the Messiah
weren’t those significant and conclusive
in actuality James the brother of Jesus
its exact meaning is being debated would
would be more fitting accordingly right
was this breach God’s Telltale sign to
indirectly step over or mock the
material criterias of prophecies is it a
hill to die on theologically or did I
just miss something from the equation
and it’s a heavy question it would I
would have to really sort of give it
thought and research I’m not equipped to
answer it I don’t I I’d have an answer
to that the complexity of that question
off the top of my head you and that’s
something you haven’t necessarily
considered I’ve considered it but I
don’t have a reasonable answer I’m not
sure where it fits I know when it comes
to try to make scriptural narratives
stand on all fours of the of the peg of
the of the stool so there’s a balance
resting it’s very difficult difficult
okay we have to incorporate not only
scribal differences in the text but you
also have to uh for you have to include
um
they’re not mistakes but they’re glosses
over information that doesn’t seem to be
necessary for us to read to know and so
it’s really hard to make sense of
questions like that perfectly okay don’t
have an answer is really the short
response to that okay
I think this person has submitted a few
questions and they’re all like robust so
maybe we’ll he’s the remote robust
thinker
we’ll see if we can get some answers but
okay here’s the next one do you have any
clue or idea what does the Galilee of
the Gentiles refer to in Matthew 4 15.
reportedly it sent from Isaiah 9 1 where
it is more of the Galilee of the Nations
by the by the way Eugene Peterson
interpret it as Galilee Crossroads for
the Nations but if both wordings mean
non-jewish people then one who are they
living who are they living there in the
northeastern part of Galilee
actually non-jews or deeply sinful Jews
with the overstatement or quirky
hebrewism
or two does this mean
that in the apostolic record all the
occurrences of the Greek word ethnos
indicates non-jewish people for instance
the prophecy or prediction in Matthew 24
4-14 the passages like Nations will rise
against Nation or you’ll be hated by All
Nations ought to be non-jewish people
or in revelation 22 2 Nations should
mean non-jewish populations of the world
how would you explain these ostensibly
odd ones out
I would say that uh the whenever the
word ethnos is used it’s talking about
the 12 tribes it’s not talking about
non-jewish Nations instead of the
evidence given at the beginning of the
question so I don’t see uh uh if they
were uh talking about the Gentiles of
Galilee you’re talking probably about
people who were deemed non-israel uh
which might be uh Samaritans or it could
have been Fallen Jews who were so
steeped in sin they were just considered
not uh part of the house anymore I don’t
know it’s a speculation but bottom line
answer is I think tribes are tribes of
Israel and I don’t think it I don’t
think it always or
I don’t think it frequently reviews as
tribes to refer to Gentile Nations the
same
thank you and we asked about things like
how many sheep are in the fold
I think there’s some more of these
coming these are some I’m away man
okay here’s the next
it’s even longer yeah okay
due to the original sin we’re deprived
of God’s spirit from birth so we’re
spiritually dead we only live in our
physical mental psychic Dimension with
finite existing perspectives
then through getting a sense of faith
our dead Spirit could be revived by
degrees or even in an instant depending
on the particular conditions of the
individual in other words from the very
outset we’re all at least poor in the
spirit like Matthew 5 3 says according
to the statement of the passages
those people have a pass or prospective
ownership to the kingdom of heaven
it looks like the same assertion as the
Good News tells us namely that all of us
are being saved
which we shall already know from several
passages that he lists out but seemingly
in this case the Declaration of the
verse involves not only saved from not
only the save from part
but also the saved two part or does the
context imply that a saved two part
refers to people in particular who are
not only poor in the spirit
um but moreover they acknowledge and
internalize this fact as well
so that the position of the Kingdom of
Heaven would require a new mindset and
approach as well help me tease apart the
different layers and meanings
that’s good stuff because
there are answers to support whatever
view you take on it
um I mean most evangelicals believe that
we are dead spiritually because of
Adam’s fall born dead and we need to be
born spiritually now to even begin to
see the kingdom of heaven or participate
in being saved too but
um there is evidence that all of that
has been fulfilled is done because of
Christ’s victory over sin and death and
there’s argument now among good brothers
and sisters that that think that though
saved from and saved to has been done
um been done entirely for the world
today but people love the dark more than
the light and so all it is is a matter
of them rejecting the saved two and the
saved from they just reject it all not
realize sizing the finished work is done
that men and women have in them some of
God which is contrary to Calvinism which
is pure spiritual death of everybody
still and their view is that this whole
world is getting better and all it is
now is a matter of people saying wow I
accept this gift and you can be saved uh
to the kingdom as well as saved from
does that make sense
yeah that that doesn’t sound like the
saved two is already done though
like yeah I believe the save two is done
that everybody has been saved to the
kingdom and have some of the spirit in
them but they won’t receive that they
won’t accept that they won’t Embrace
what that means they say I don’t want it
you may have done it God but I don’t
want it and so I don’t want to be in
your kingdom I got mail two passes a
pass to Disneyland yeah and it’s free to
you come on in and I say I don’t want it
like it’s right I’m understanding that
as like you’re you teach it as like you
this you’re sitting in a saved from
condition from birth and you grab on to
save two but they’re saying sit and
saved too and can walk out of it
is that that’s the difference that last
part again I do say that what you said
that’s what I believe still no I’m
saying there are other people who think
that you are born into a saved to
condition but you’re not proud of it you
leave it it’s not you walk out of it it
won’t you can’t get rid of it it’s there
it’s done it’s yours it’s just like you
have an inheritance from your father of
a million dollars in the bank but you
never ever go take a sin of it I see on
it it’s there it’s done it’s paid and I
have friends who believe that is what
God has done in the victory so he’s not
only even overcome the the the saved
from part to overcome the save Too part
and I have somebody Wonder to believe
that’s true at some in some ways as well
but in the end it doesn’t matter if you
have the gift given to you and you never
take any money out of it
or if you or if you uh Embrace or or if
it wasn’t done and you have to receive
it by faith it’s the same it’s
returning and saying I’ll receive what’s
being offered to me is that how I say
that yeah
am I making any sense yeah I’m I’m just
thinking I don’t feel like I have the
equipment to like
embody these questioners and yeah
they’re deeper thinkers yeah
and it takes a longer conversation than
a than a show to really get through so
it’s it’s not like their questions
aren’t important they are but the
question is will most people follow
along with this and since we’re trying
to reach most people and not one person
we need to have private conversations
with yeah but it does really help to
have their questions and it does they’re
great they’re really this is where we
want to get people to be stop talking
about you know sin and having faith yeah
yeah yeah they like these questions are
more than welcome it’s just that we have
to
um stir take a survey of them rather
than dive deep into them yeah okay
questions though whoever’s writing them
yeah
um I think that’s about 20 for this one
but we can we did too move on we did
three I think but yeah that’s how I
count
um all right on to the next okay bye
