WWUTT 2315 Q&A Catechism for Kids, Where did Ethnicites Come From, Ectopic Pregnancy

Proverbs on Adultery, Covenant Faithfulness, and the Seriousness of Sin

What are some good catechisms you can do with your children? Where have all these different ethnicities and skin tones come from? And is saving a mother from an ectopic pregnancy the same as an abortion?

The answers to these questions and others when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible teaching podcast that we may be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. Tell your friends about our ministry at www .wutt .com.

Here once again is Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky, who is not with me today and won't be with me next week either. So I guess she's not gonna be on the Q &A with me for the rest of the year. I'll tell you why in a moment and something that you can be praying for us about, especially for her.

I'll also answer some of your questions. But first, let's come back to what we've been looking at in Proverbs. And I'm gonna pick up where we left off last week. So Becky and I read a section of Proverbs 6, beginning in verse 20, where a father tells his son, keep your father's commandment and forsake not your mother's teaching, bind them on your heart always.

Here's where that was going. Let me pick up reading in verse 23. For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life to preserve you from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the adulteress.

Do not desire her beauty in your heart and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes. For the price of a prostitute is only a loaf of bread, but a married woman hunts down a precious life. Rather interesting way to put that, to say that it is a worse sin to sleep with your neighbor's wife than it is to go after a prostitute.

Now that doesn't make going after a prostitute permissible, but there is something even more evil, deeply evil about committing adultery. It's one of the 10 commandments, of course, you shall not commit adultery.

It also breaks apart a covenant that's been made between a man and a woman. It is the most sacred union that God has given to mankind, this human relationship of husband and wife. And to come in and break that covenant, it is also an offense against the gospel because God has given marriage to be a picture of the way that Christ loves his church.

Remember what we read about in Ephesians chapter five, that a husband must love his wife as Christ loves the church and gave himself up for her. In the law, as it was given to Israel, a person who committed adultery, what was the consequence?

They were to be put to death. Deuteronomy 22, verse 22, if a man is found lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman and the woman. So you shall purge the evil from Israel.

And then later on talking about a man who seizes his neighbor's wife. So he would be taking the woman against her will. It is said of that man, it is like attacking and murdering his neighbor. So adultery and especially violating a neighbor's wife is treated the same way as if one had murdered someone else.

Because again, it's breaking apart. It is destroying that one flesh union that God created and called good. There are serious consequences to adultery. There are real life consequences. And then there are also spiritual consequences.

Adultery as it's presented to us in scripture is both physical and spiritual. As we've been reading about in Jeremiah with Israel being unfaithful to God, they're regarded as adulterers. They have whored themselves out with the false gods of the pagans around them.

And God even talking about giving them a certificate of divorce. But of course he calls them back to himself and gives them an opportunity to repent. Even from adultery, a person can be forgiven. But it is still a serious sin.

And it's something to be reminded of, especially with how our culture tends to romanticize it. You've probably watched movies or TV shows where someone's committing adultery in the show and you're kind of rooting for it, right?

They've crafted it in such a way as if you want these two people to get together, though they might be married to other persons. There are romantic comedies that are built around this. So our culture treats this as something that's no big deal, but it is a very serious sin in the eyes of God.

And we should not be playing around with it. As said in Hebrews chapter 13, I believe it's verse four, let marriage be held in honor among all and let the marriage bed be undefiled for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.

We're going to talk a little bit more about that as we continue in this section of Proverbs chapter six, kind of opening up our Q and A on Fridays with a little bit of Proverbs. Let's get to some of your questions here, which we like to do on the Friday edition of the broadcast.

You can send those questions to whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com. That's our email address or send us a voicemail. We love to hear from you. Go to www .utt .com. There's a menu across the top there.

On the top right corner, you'll see a tab that says voicemail. Click on that. You can record a question to us, either using your phone or on your laptop. And we love to listen to those as well and even laugh along with your questions and comments.

I found this one particularly amusing. This is a follow-up from Roberto. Listen in.

Hey, Pastor Gabe, this is Roberto again. I had sent you a voicemail about two, three weeks back, and it's actually kind of funny because after you gave me the recommendation for that book by Vodibach on my family's shepherds, you will not believe what happened.

We went to our local pregnancy center because my wife currently doesn't have insurance until 2025. So they went ahead and they did the ultrasound and everything, and they gifted me that very book. It's funny because at first they thought that we were considering abortion, and it's an anti-abortion center.

So they were kind of like put me in a separate room and tried to counsel me. And I kind of had to tell them, no, I'm a born again believer. We're just young people just don't think about insurance, unfortunately.

So we're waiting on that to kick in. But yeah, that was great. So back in my charismatic Pentecostal days, we would have called you a prophet. But anyway, I do have a question in regards to how did you raise your kids growing up?

I know I still got a few more years for that to go, but did you catechize your kids, any type of family devotionals? And then like just what are some good tips that you give for a father to be? I know you gave us some books, but what are some good tips?

Thank you, Pastor Gabe, we really appreciate you.

Catechisms, Family Devotions, and Scripture Memory for Children

I appreciate you, Roberto. And I laughed all the way through that. That was terrific. And congratulations to you and your wife once again on expecting your first. We are praying for a healthy baby. So yeah, how about catechizing kids, doing devotionals together, things like that.

Now, I'll tell you, I've not been especially diligent with catechism, doing catechism with our kids. We have done catechism. Usually the catechism that we do is the Baptist catechism, which is also referred to as Keech's catechism.

Sometimes that can get a little heady, and especially for like my seven and 10 year old. It can be a little advanced even going through the Baptist catechism. So there are some simpler kids catechisms that you can get.

In fact, I'll recommend this to you. There's an app that you can download for your phone. Let me see if I can pull this one up. It's called the Reformed app, very simply. Reformed app, look for it in the app store, whether you use iPhone or Android or whatever.

It's called something else on Android, I don't remember. You know what I'm talking about. But anyway, let me pull this up here. It's got confessions, catechisms, and creeds. So among the confessions, the Westminster, you've got the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith.

There is the Belgic Confession, the Canons of Dort. So those are among the confessions you've got right there in that app. And then there are different catechisms. There's the Westminster Shorter Catechism.

There's the Larger Catechism, Baptist Catechism, Heidelberg, Orthodox. And then there is the Catechism for Boys and Girls. And this one's very simple. And I'll tell you how simple. Question number one, who made you?

See, even your three or four-year-old can answer that one. God made me. Question number two, what else did God make? God made all things. Question number three, why did God make you and all things? Answer, for his glory.

So you can do these simple catechisms with your kids, especially as you're just starting out. So, you know, it's gonna be a couple of years yet before this child of yours is able to speak enough words to answer these questions in such a way.

But you've got simple catechisms that are out there. You don't have to feel like you need to do something terribly advanced in starting out with catechizing your kids. But of course, the great benefit of catechism is it puts common sense answers into the minds of your children.

And they don't necessarily have to understand everything that's being said in that catechism to memorize it. And then later on, there will be greater application to that. So, you know, that goes along with like the Baptist catechism, for example.

Sometimes we are memorizing questions that my seven-year-old may not understand, but she's still remembering it. And as she gets older, those things are going to start to make more sense to her. This is like doing apologetics for kids.

So how do you take the Bible lessons that you might be doing with your children and then give them real-world application? And catechism helps to do that. Or even to draw out some of those deeper theological concepts from the things that you are reading and learning about.

Now, in addition to catechism, my kids also do scripture memory. In fact, they'll do way more scripture memory than they do catechism. Becky, for like a week, when homeschooling our kids, we'll have one verse that they'll learn all week.

And then the next week, it'll be another verse. A lot of times it's something from Proverbs, but it could be another passage as well. And then during family devotional time, we've memorized entire chapters together.

So we've done all of Psalm 1. We did all of Psalm 23. We did all of 1 John 1, because that's just 10 verses. Now again, there with 1 John 1, there might be some things that my youngest kids are not going to get.

But as we go through those things together, sometimes those questions just automatically come out of them, or I will ask them questions about like, what does that mean? So coming back to 1 John 1, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands concerning the word of life, the life was made manifest and we have seen it and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us.

Okay, that's just the first two verses. But we might read that and memorize that. And then I'll ask the kids now, what does that mean? What is John talking about? That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, what's he talking about there?

And there's some of that also comes out of John 1, the gospel of one, yeah, gospel of John 1. You can go back there and read some of those things and see how that corresponds with what John is writing here to the churches in 1 John 1.

So that's a little bit about how we do memorization and study and things like that. Sometimes we'll go through a book of the Bible together and that'll be our family devotion, or it could be a book that we read together.

Like for example, I read to the kids Dr. D. James Kennedy's book, Why I Believe. I think this was published like in 1980. So it's an old book, but I read it when I was really young and it's great for breaking down simple concepts and helping the kids understand those basic reasons why we understand and believe that the Bible is true, why this faith is true.

We've also gone through a church history book together. We're not quite done with it, but we're getting there. It's the church history book that was released by Simon at a car a little over a year ago, and a couple of years ago.

And it was even several Christian websites had it as their book of the year, Ligonier being one of them, I think. And this would have been at the end of 2023. So it's been a very popular book and I highly recommend it.

You'll learn a lot from it, but it's also written in a way and in a style that's simple enough for your kids to follow along. There's some think about it questions in there where you're asking the kids, why is this important?

We've read about this in church history, now let's apply it to you. Would you have responded the same way as these people that we're reading about in history or something to that effect? So it's a very well put together book and I encourage that one for you as well.

That's just a few ideas. To go along with family worship, sing a hymn. I think it was Johnny Erickson taught a number of years ago said two books every family needs. You need a family Bible, you need a hymnal.

And so open up the hymnal, buy several hymnals so the kids have a hymnal of their own and they'll even learn to read music through this. And y 'all sing a hymn together, learn these hymns because you're even getting catechized through that, believe it or not.

Reading those lyrics and singing them and lifting up praise together to God as a family. Those are some precious times and we'll remember those things for years to come. Even when we're not all living in the same household anymore.

My oldest daughter, Annie, she's got a year and a half left of school and that's it. I don't know what she's going to end up doing after that but she'll be the first one to move out of the house most likely.

Family Worship, Prayer, and God’s Care Through a Difficult Year

Hey, before going on with these questions, I was going to let you know why Becky is not with me this week. Her grandfather is nearing the end. And this is my kid's great grandfather. They've had the privilege to know their great grandparents.

Both of Becky's sets of grandparents, mom's parents, dad's parents have been alive almost our entire marriage. She lost one of her grandmothers a few years ago shortly after COVID. And then her other grandmother, her mom's mom died just a few months ago.

And she went back up to Kansas for that. So that was, what was that in June? Well, now is her dad's dad is about to go. And so she has gone back up to Kansas and is going to be gone over Christmas. So I'm at home with the boys.

It's me and the two boys, Zachary and Zeke. We're at home together. We'll find some fun guy things to do. But all the girls have gone with Becky and have traveled up to Kansas. So pray for safe travels for them.

And that she'll be able to make it there in time to say goodbye. She's on the road right now, actually, at the time that you're listening to this, if you're listening to it on Friday or Saturday. So she's in route.

And pray for safe journey, that she gets the chance to see her grandfather and that she'll spend some good solid time with family over the Christmas holiday. We're gonna have our Christmas as a family when she gets back.

So it's not like Christmas is canceled for us this year. We're just postponing it to another day. All that's arbitrary anyway. But we've got gifts for the kids and we'll still have a Christmas together.

But in the meantime, if you could be praying for her, we would certainly appreciate that. We have so appreciated the encouragement that we've received from so many of you over the course of this year.

This was a really trying year for us, but we had more support from our own church family, the church family that we just left, in fact, in Texas. We've heard from friends of ours from our church in Kansas.

And then of course, this church that we're a part of now in Casa Grande, Arizona has done so much for us to help us through what was a very difficult year and then our listeners also. And we don't even know who all of you are.

Some of those gifts were sent to us anonymously, but we're still so very grateful for you all and continue to praise God. And this is gonna be something I'm gonna share with the kids too, when we do have our Christmas together, I'm gonna say to them, you know that we've had some difficult months this year, and you know that there are some people that stepped up and helped us, and you don't know all the details about that, quite frankly, mommy and daddy don't even know all the details about that.

But I want them to see and know how God took care of us this year through his church and how amazing it is that we were so well-supported so that they will give glory to God over the way that we were assisted, beyond what I could have expected.

And sometimes I didn't even properly express the need, and yet someone just knew and sent us a gift and lifted us up in an incredible way. And so I want my children to be able to see that, so they likewise will glorify God for the way that he took care of us this year through those people who have loved us so much.

And whether you sent in 10 bucks for us to buy a pizza, or your gift was much larger than that, everything mattered. Everything was so very precious to us. That was your money, and you shared it with us to help us in a difficult time.

And we're so grateful to you for that. That's one of the things that keeps me going on the podcast, even though I might be exhausted one week, and I don't know, I just don't feel like I have the strength or the stamina to do it, yet I know there are people listening and loving it and supporting and are thankful for the Bible teaching, and that keeps me going.

The Origin of Ethnicities and Skin Tones After Babel

Let's get back to some other questions here. This one is from Blake.

Here we go.

Hey guys, this is Blake from Oregon. Hope you guys are doing well. Hope you guys have a good Christmas coming up. Quick question today. My question is, if we all come from Adam and Eve, like how are their different ethnicities?

How does that all work out? This reminds me of a question I would have had maybe when I was a kid. I feel like I should definitely have an answer for this, but I don't, and that's okay. So that's why I want to get your thoughts on this.

Anyway, I appreciate you taking the time to listen to this. God bless, bye-bye.

I appreciate your question, Blake. It's a good question. It's really a good one. I think I had seen on Answers in Genesis website that this was one of their most asked questions. If you go to Answers in Genesis, you'll find articles on all different kinds of things, including this question.

And this is one, an article that gets accessed quite a lot on their site. So I've done a video on this. We have a what video on it. Let me go ahead and play that. In Acts 17 .26, the apostle Paul preached that God made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place.

Every single human being is descended from the same man and woman, Adam and Eve, the father and mother of all mankind. Genesis 1 .27 says, so God created man in his own image, male and female, he created them.

Since all are made in the image of God and all are descended from the same couple, all are the same race of people. Technically, we're not even different colors. Everyone is just varying shades of brown.

So how did the nations come to look so different? Well, in Genesis 11, we read about the Tower of Babel, where God confused the languages of men and spread them over the earth. Those who spoke the same languages settled near each other.

And over time, they took on distinct physical characteristics. The nations closer to the equator produced more melanin due to the sun's direct rays and they became darker in appearance. Whereas those who settled further to the north were lighter in complexion.

But no matter the tone of your skin or the nation you come from, all are descended from Adam and all have sinned against God. So God sent his son, Jesus, in the likeness of sinful flesh to die on the cross for our sins.

All who believe in him will be saved from the judgment of God. The Bible speaks of two races, the race of the first Adam and the race of the last Adam. All who are in Adam will die, but all who are in Christ will be made alive when we understand the text.

So there you go.

And you know what?

I'm gonna put a link to that video and also one of the videos that Answers in Genesis did. I'll put the links to those videos in the show notes of this particular episode. One of the videos from Answers in Genesis is also rather short.

It's about three and a half minutes. It's called The Origin of Races and they made it back in 2011. So this one goes back 13 plus years, but you can go back to the what video again and also reference that one from Answers in Genesis if you wanna learn more and then of course share that with somebody else.

You know, by the way,.

This is not just a biblical concept of people settling in different parts of the world and wherever they settled, it had to do with the color of their skin. Again, you settled further north, the skin turned out to be lighter.

Those that were closer to the equator, skin got a lot darker. That's not just a Christian creation concept having to do with the scattering of the nations after the Tower of Babel. There are secular scientists who say exactly the same thing.

In fact, I remember as a kid, watching an episode from Bill Nye the Science Guy, who's not a Christian in any way, shape or form, very, very Darwinist. And yet he said on his program, the same thing, that these varying shades of melanin, these different ethnicities that we see in the human race came about through the repopulation of individuals in different parts of the world.

And wherever they settled on the globe, having to do with direct sunlight, climate, and things like that, might have to do with what color of skin they had. There are three main ethnicities that all the world can be divided into.

Mongoloid, which is like East Asia, that which we might call Asian. Caucasoid, which are those who are fairer skinned. You might think of like Western Europe, United States, Canada. And then Negroid, which of course, are gonna be those who are blacker, darker in skin and complexion.

Those are the three main ethnicities on the planet. Mongoloid, Caucasoid, and Negroid. And in fact, even skeletal structure can be affected by what ethnicity you might be descended from. If you've ever watched some of those forensic programs, when they can find a skull and try to recreate the person's face according to the skull, sometimes they can even figure out whether this person had a Mongoloid, Caucasoid, or Negroid sort of background, sort of ethnicity.

It's really fascinating. All of this is very incredible, the way that God made us. And we can go on talking about this for hours and hours. But I'll end there. Check out the links that are in the description to the program.

Ectopic Pregnancy, Abortion, and the Sanctity of Life

Let me do one more question here. This one is from Cole. Howdy, my name is Cole. I am a longtime listener and have grown so much in my faith and understanding of the word through your podcast. I am an emergency department nurse and come across moral and ethical dilemmas on a regular basis.

My most recent one was my patient who had an ectopic pregnancy and I had to administer an abortive medication. I don't think what I did was wrong, but it just feels weird. I didn't think about the fact that I was administering an abortive medication until after I had done so.

In my job, everything is so fast-paced and I tend to just get into a rhythm of just doing what needs to be done, so I did not think about this until later. I understand the biology of the situation better than most people, but most of what I listen to from reform circles always have blanket statements about abortion always being wrong, but they don't commonly address medical abortions when one or both lives are at risk and when you have to decide between one or the other life.

An ectopic pregnancy can never come to term and puts the mother and baby at an extreme risk and almost 100 guarantees for death of both if it is left without treatment. I was just wondering if you had any biblical input on this or a way to help me think through this.

Thanks, your grateful brother Cole, listening from Kentucky. Well, I sure appreciate that, brother. Well, let me just tell you that as a pastor, I have sat in waiting rooms with a husband whose wife is having an ovary or a tube removed because of an ectopic pregnancy and we sit in that room and we pray together for her safety.

We pray for the loss of life because as you mentioned, the child who had been implanted in a fallopian tube is not able to come to term, that child is doomed anyway and so the ovary or the tube might be removed in order to save the life of the mother.

So we know that a child's life is being lost but mom's life is being preserved and we're praying about those things as we're sitting together in the waiting room. That is not the same as an abortion and when we use that term abortion, we're talking about the willful termination of that life, the murdering of a child in the womb who is not allowed to come to development and be born.

That's really what we refer to when we're talking about abortion. Now medically, people might use that word abortion and apply it to an ectopic surgery or something to that effect but whenever we are speaking out against abortion as murder, that's what we're talking about, the willful destruction of that child in the womb not being allowed to come to term and be born.

So I say that to you so that your conscience can be put at ease. You were doing what you needed to do in your profession and brother, you did the right thing and do not feel guilty in your conscience in any way.

Now, one of the reasons why you do feel that tug of conscience is because you know, you as a Christian with the Holy Spirit in your heart, you know that a life died and there's a grief that's happening there because you know that child did not have that opportunity to grow and be born and there's something grievous that's happening in your heart.

Now, it's difficult to understand what that feeling is so that might be why you're kind of wrestling with, do I feel guilty? What is this feeling that I'm having? But there is a sense of grief inside you over the fact that a life has been lost but do not feel guilty.

Do not heap guilt upon yourself in thinking that you had something to do with the murder of a child. Just like you said, you get into a rhythm, you do what needs to be done and afterward when you're thinking about it, some of those moral questions start coming into play.

It's good to think about those things but don't feel like that you have done something to harm a life like you said and like you understand in your own profession, that child was never going to come to term anyway and if left without being taken care of, then the child would have died and it would have killed the mother as well.

So this was an important procedure to save a mother's life and we grieve over the loss of life that had to result from that but that is an altogether different category from what we call an abortion. Every life is sacred from conception to natural death.

Every human life made in the image of God and worthy of our love and our protection. At this time of year around Christmas, we remember the incarnation that Jesus Christ put on flesh and dwelt among us.

As said in 1 Timothy 1 .15, Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners and he chose to come into the world the same way you and I come into the world. Now, of course, we've come into existence through natural generation.

Jesus came from supernatural generation. He was conceived of the Holy Spirit but his life began at conception and he went through that entire gestation process like you and I have gone through. So he verifies and sanctifies every stage of life from conception to natural death for he himself also died so that you and I might live.

He, that perfect spotless lamb, gave his life to be crucified on the cross for our sins, rose again from the dead so that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life. God is the one who has created life, made in his image and it is important for us to defend those lives that cannot defend themselves.

As said in Proverbs 31, speak up for the mute for the rights of those who are destitute. And in our day and age, that includes unborn children. My friends, that's all I got time for this week and I so appreciate you listening.

I know there has been some complications with the uploads. Some of these programs are coming a day late. Some of that is my fault but I'm also noticing that there's been some changes that have happened internally even with some of these podcast providers.

So I'm trying to work through that. We'll try to get some of that solved for you so that I can get these things out in a more timely manner. We appreciate your prayers. Thank you for your encouragement and support.

The best way to support us is just by sharing this program with somebody else. Tell someone else about when we understand the text and from Becky and myself and even our children and our entire church family.

In fact, Providence Reform Baptist Church in Casa Grande, Arizona, we wish you a Merry Christmas. God bless and God willing, I'll be back on with you next week.