Answering a Fool: How Could a Just God Condemn Men for Failing to Obey Hearsay?

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The message of Christianity is that salvation is found in Christ alone and any who reject

Christ therefore forfeit any hope of salvation any hope of heaven

The issue is that humanity is in sin and the wrath of Almighty God is

Hanging over our head. They will hear his words They will not act upon them and when the floods of divine judgment when the fires of wrath come

They will be consumed and they will perish God wrapped himself in flesh

Condescended and became a man died on the cross for sin was resurrected on the third day

Has ascended to the right hand of the father where he sits now to make intercession for us

Jesus is saying there is a group of people who will hear his words They will act upon them and when the floods of divine judgment come in that final day their house will stand

Welcome to Bible bashed where we aim to equip the Saints for the works of ministry by answering the questions.

You're not allowed to ask Listen and enjoy this midweek installment of answering a fool as pastor

Tim Answers a fool according to his folly lest he be wise in his own eyes in these shorter episodes pastor

Tim answers objections from internet trolls in an effort to help them go home and rethink their lives

Troll hunting is hard work, but hey, someone's got to do it now without further ado.

Here's pastor Tim one of our primary purposes for doing this podcast was we wanted to provide a

Helpful resource for people who actually have sincere questions about the Bible whether that's a believer or it's an unbeliever

We wanted to provide a resource online that was interacting with questions Particularly questions that as we said in our main podcast that people are too afraid to ask or that they're not allowed to ask

But then that can extend to any kinds of questions that an individual might have Now, you know that when you put anything out on the internet that there are

Never -ending list of trolls who are going to respond to what you have put out Particularly if it's a religious podcast, you know that you're going to get any number of atheist trolls that will

Respond as trolls do and received internet wisdom has always been that you You don't feed the trolls lest they keep on coming back for more but one of the things that we wanted to do with the podcast was to provide a resource that's going to equip the

Saints for the work of ministry and to help people to Know how to answer objections, even if they come in a way that is somewhat sarcastic or distasteful in certain ways and and so we wanted to use this podcast as a

Have a means of answering these common questions, whether they're related to the Bible or religion in general and one of the things the

Bible says is that a fool says in his heart that there is no God and The Bible gives us some sort of instruction on how to answer fools

So when you go to Proverbs 26 for it says answer not a fool according to his folly lest you be like him yourself

But then answer a fool according to his folly lest he be wise in his own eyes and and what you have there in the language of wisdom is that there is a type of person who can get

Drug down into the mud answering foolish objections And the end result is that you appear to be foolish yourself if that's what's characteristic of you and yet at the same time

There is a moral imperative to seek to answer questions even when they're in when they're given or objections even when they're given in a foolish sort of way and and We want to be the kind of people who are always ready to give a defense for the hope that is in us

And so in so doing And the things that we're going to do in this podcast. We're gonna have a section that's gonna and be

Titled answer a fool section and then we'll also have general sincere questions

Sections that will also be included in this podcast as well So one of the things that we're going to do with our weekly content is we're gonna have

Primarily probably one each week probably probably one Question that we're gonna pop button kind of question that we're gonna interact with but then we hope to have shorter questions devoted to particular questions whether they're coming from trolls or online internet trolls or Whether those sincere questions

And so if you do have a question feel free to send it out and if you if you don't want to be included in our answer a fool section then a pro tip would be just to Let us know that it's in serious since their question and maybe actually be persuasive as far as that goes in The way that you're presenting it present it to present it as a sincere question, but For all of our internet trolls out there that we have already and that we are soon to acquire we we hope that you feel the warm affection that is flowing from us as we

Seek to spend our time answering your questions as far as that goes. But the first question we're going to be asking today is

Coming from a troll. So this will be an answer a fool section and Here's the question.

I will withhold the name just for the sake of protecting guilty Now here's the question maybe haven't noticed this but the

Bible and the Quran and every other sacred text in The religions that have them were written by people who claim

God spoke to them directly Thomas Paine and the age of reason pointed out the rather obvious fact that if God did reveal something to one particular individual it was

Revelation to that one person only it's hearsay to everyone else and we're not under any obligation to believe it so this was opposed it was or this is a comment that was posted below our

Question should those who claim God speaks to them directly be considered false prophets the the atheist or agnostic individual in question

Wanted to let us know that That you know in case we haven't noticed this before in the course of our life that it seems to this individual that every single religion

The comment says every other sacred text in the religions that have them were written by people who claim that God spoke to them

Directly now. This is you know, this is a remarkable insight that this individual has

I Man, I'm floored by it. I don't know that I've ever considered that before that there are other religions that exist that Believe that God spoke to them as well.

So that's a rather remarkable thing I don't know. Maybe maybe I should go home and rethink everything that I've ever thought about the

Bible because that's new information, but you know, sadly,

I I Don't know. I mean, I I guess What I thought was the case was that there were some religions that made appeals to direct divine authority

In terms of their sacred text and and there were others that didn't like Buddhism for instance or Satanism I know that Anton LaVey was a

Materialistic Hedonist essentially who didn't believe in the supernatural at all and in his religious text the satanic

Bible was making no claim to direct divine authority at all, but apparently our Troll wants us to know that every single religion is making a claim to divine authority.

So I guess that's news to me, but It on to more substantial issues The individual points out essentially the point of the comment is essentially to say hey

We're we're doing a podcast should those who claim God speaks and directly be considered false prophets.

So we're criticizing a type of individual who is making

Claim to direct divine authority today, but he's essentially dismissing the whole enterprise in general saying that every individual who's making a claim to direct divine authority is somehow deluded and Deceived and then he's appealing to Thomas Paine in the age of reason to point out the fact that This is a rather rather obvious fact that if God revealed something to one particular individual

It was revelation to that person only so supposing that did happen It and he did talk to one person well

It's only revelation to that person to everyone else is just hearsay because they weren't given access to that and then no one's under any obligation to believe it essentially particularly if it's secondhand and Essentially the this objection is is basically making a moral claim

It's making a moral claim to say that it's Fundamentally essentially if I try to put it in the best possible light is is immoral to hold someone accountable to a

Particular law or prescription that they have not Themself personally been given so assuming so basically the argument goes that you know it's assumed for the sake of argument and this person

Thomas Paine and this person do not believe that God exists, I assume

I assume they're agnostic as far as that goes But but assume for the sake of argument that that God himself did reveal something to someone

Then you know it And you know assuming that he has the authority to do so assume all that for the sake of argument

Then that would be only morally binding on that person to everyone else's hearsay and so the the question the the objection there is to say that it's immoral essentially for a deity to Give Give revelation if that deity did exist it would be immoral for that deity to give revelation to One individual and expect other people who did not receive it directly to hear it now.

This is them I suppose it's an interesting sort of Objection in general and the

Bible does have a lot to say about this kind of objection And there's a lot of things that we could say about it,

I'll let myself to a couple observations One of the things that we would say is that Romans 1 18

Tells us this the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men

Who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth for what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them

For his invisible attributes namely his eternal power and divine nature have been Clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world and the things that have been made so they are without excuse

So part of the biblical worldview is to acknowledge that there is a creator God who has made us it made us in his image and he's written as moral law on his heart and One of the reasons why this

God is able to hold mankind Accountable for their actions despite the fact that he has not personally spoken to anyone in a verbal and auditory way

Is due to the fact that there is a revelation of this God that is in nature That is sufficient to condemn them

And so the creation itself the Bible tells us declares the glory of God if you look around at the creation one of things you

Say is that there's strong evidence of of a designer within the creation itself so in terms of just The way this kind of argument works if you were to imagine yourself walking on a beach somewhere

And you were to see a watch that was laying in the sand you look down at that watch one of the things that you would

Notice instantaneously is that there must be you would draw certain assumptions on the basis of that and one of the assumptions that you draw

Is it that this thing looks designed this watch it looks designed You wouldn't conclude

By looking at that watch that this is obviously the result of blind random chance one of the things you would say is that this

This watch it appears to be Designed it looks to be uniquely

Designed and so And the only way that that can come about would be that there's some sort of intelligence that's behind it.

Okay, so The same thing would happen in normal ways

I was looking at YouTube and for whatever reason it was showing me some videos of Individuals who made log cabins so one of I watched one of these videos of this guy making spending a year

Making some log cabin in the middle of the woods and then it was showing me other suggestions of a video of a man who basically made a small

Apartment out of a cave in a mountain and one of the things that you realize Instantaneously is if you were to ever stumble upon one of these little log cabins or this cave in this apartment cave in the mountain

In China or whatever you would know you you would say that someone made this this this wasn't the result of random

Blind chance and you know that just because of how complex it actually is So you look at it and you see the evidence of something that is exceedingly

Complex it doesn't bear It doesn't bear the evidence of blind random chance it it's way too complex to just have happened, right?

So you think about the log cabin in the middle of the woods kind of thing it you have trees that are cut down and Cut down in a uniform kind of way.

There's cement that's put in between the Tree branches. There's a roof that has nails and everything

This is not the kind of thing that results from planet blind and random chance and when you look around the world

You if you know anything about the world and as science increases our knowledge of how?

Complex the world actually is one of the things that you realize is that nature doesn't tend towards order, but it tends towards disorder

And you look around the world and it bears strong evidence of design. It is complex and not only is it complex

It's irreducibly complex and what that means is that? In order for something to be irreducibly complex.

It is so complex to the point where You can't take any part away from it and it still function as The thing that it's designed to function as and so think about a mouse a mousetrap a mousetrap is irreducibly complex meaning you know in order to have a mousetrap you need kind of a board and then you need a spring and then you need a

Bar lever and then you need some sort of pressure plate and every single part on this mousetrap has to come together

And if you take away each part particularly any of the parts, it's no longer going to function as mousetrap is irreducibly complex

And this is one of the great lies that evolution is that you can just you know, randomly have you know

Certain survival mutations that are adapting upon an existing framework and you to go from something very simple to something very complex

But the problem is that the world as we see it is irreducibly complex. That's the point. So getting back to the question the morality of God revealing himself to a particular person

And that would being hearsay to every everyone else that the the objection there is to say that If God does exist and it does, you know reveal himself, then he must you know

Reveal himself personally to each individual person in some sort of audible or verbal way Everything that he has to say or else

That objection is somehow immoral because how can you held to memory accountable to something that you know that you haven't been told?

Well, the Bible tells us that God has revealed himself in nature and the revelation of himself in nature is a revelation

That's sufficient to condemn and one of the reasons why it's sufficient to condemn is because the world obviously bears

The distinct marks of being designed we live in a world that that can't possibly have

Slowly evolved in terms of on the basis of blind random chance the more we actually learn about science and where we realize how

Impossible that is. I mean the world is Far complexer, you know when you think about just something like the genetic code

It's far come far far more complex than something like Shakespeare is but you give a monkey a typewriter and give them 10 ,000 years of of 10 ,000 years millions of years of banging away at that Typewriter and he's never gonna be able to produce

Shakespeare it's just not going to happen because it's designed and you look around the world you see that there's evidence of Design and anyone who denies that the

Bible would say would be a fool the fool says in his heart There is no God because there has to be some sort of intelligence that Produces the intelligence that we see on the level that we see it

But so that's one response you could have that sort of question but then another response that you might have is to say that you know if the world is just the result of blind and random chance as our atheists or agnostic commentator

Assumedly believes where do you get all the moral indignation? anyways you know if an individual wants to believe that there's a

God who made us and that God who's who exists and has moral standards for individual that he's chosen to reveal and he's chosen to reveal in the way that he wanted to reveal in a way that He thought was wise and sufficient and that to hold them morally accountable.

Who are you to say? That that morality even exists. And so the idea of morality doesn't make sense in an evolutionary materialistic worldview.

Anyways There's no way to go from what is to what ought to be

As far as that goes in the move that you're trying to make and so where does the moral outrage come from? in you know in a blind evolutionary

System morality doesn't even exist. Anyways, and so So the idea that somehow that this

God that you disbelieve in would be doing something Fundamentally immoral by giving a revelation to prophets and then holding the whole entire human race accountable to that Secondhand information so to speak as you would say that's you know, that's

Where do you get the moral indignation to say that's wrong. Anyways, right and wrong don't exist, you know

Evolutionary framework there, you know, if there is no law giver there is no such thing as right and wrong

It's just ultimately about might makes right, isn't it? Now to answer the first part of this

Commenters question and more of a serious way the commenter noted that something that he didn't think we noticed but That the

Bible and the Quran and every other sacred text and the religions that have them were written by people who claim

God spoke to them directly And it seems like the the objection there is the kind of objection to say that hey

Well, how do you know that Christianity is true? You know every single legend and not every one of them

But I you know, I take the point that the majority of religions are making some sort of Appeal to divine authority as far as that goes

And so because every single one of them are making these claims to divine authority what makes you think that the

Christianity is uniquely? true Because these religions don't happen to all be saying the same thing

Now, I mean many times you talk with people about religion. They're saying hey, you know all roads lead to the same place

They're all basically saying the same kind of thing But then this kind of comment to its credit does realize that there are fundamental differences and then those differences do matter

So if you pick the wrong religion, then you know, you might end up in hell as Bible scribes

But then you know is the the assumption there is well, isn't it kind of immoral for God?

if he did exist to Claim that only one of these particular religions is true and then essentially

The problem there is just to say that you know people there are certain assumptions that make this make sense and so if The assumptions being that man is basically good and that man would want to follow

God if God would just reveal himself Clearly, but then the problem is that there's all these paths that are presented and then you know

Which path you pick is largely related to your upbringing and so sociological studies could be appealed to at that point that basically

Just you know, say that hey if you're born in America in the 21st century, you're most likely to be

Christian You can be born in a different part of the country or a different part of the world and that would change

What you perceive to be true and so the fact that you know Everyone there's all these competing religions out there who's to say which one is right and which one is wrong and isn't it largely based on your social location and isn't it kind of immoral for God to essentially

Hold people accountable to one particular path that he didn't reveal to them directly

But that he revealed through some sort of secondary means When there's so many things out there and and and the problem with this is just I mean there's several problems with this now,

I'll limit myself to a few comments, but You know, I'm sure that if you have a phone that functions you get plenty of spam calls all day long and one of the things that's amazing about all the spam calls that you get is that the

I mean there are people who straight -up lie to you and and You know the fact

I would say that Many many if not most of the calls I receive on my phone are from people who are lying to me trying to steal my money and So it's it doesn't follow from that logically to assume that there's no such thing as a true caller

Okay, the fact that there are counterfeits out there that there are fakes out there that there are scammers out there does not in any way

Undermine the reality that there are actually people who I know who call me and who are trustworthy and who are reliable the only way

Determine is this a scammer or is this true is to evaluate it on a case -by -case basis and so every single religion needs to be evaluated on a case -by -case basis on the basis of the merits that are presented to see if If there is evidence that would indicate that that this religion is truthful and if you do that with Christianity it far

Surpasses any kind of evidence for the truthfulness or veracity of any other religion. So Just to dismiss

Christianity wholesale by the presence of you know, other religions is Fundamentally ignorant and naive but then, you know, there are other set assumptions there that are present in that kind of Question that could be responded to as well and one of those is the assumption that man's basically good and wants to do the right thing and I think if you

Look at the history of the world. You don't see that man is basically good You look around the history of the world. You see that man is fundamentally flawed and he's immoral and The Bible tells us that no one seeks after God Apart from God's grace and apart from God's help.

No one will come to God Because man is fundamentally flawed and man is fundamentally

Sinful man is condemned as the Bible tells us because he suppressed the truth and unrighteousness he takes what's been made plain to him and he suppresses it and and and the reason why he does that is because There's moral issues that are at stake.

I was in high school. I had a friend who was a German Atheist and one of the things that he told me was that he didn't want to become a

Christian because then he would have to Give up his fornication and that's not something that he wanted to do essentially, the

Bible is making moral claims that he That was restricting the freedom that he wanted and he refused to submit himself to the demands

God has given and so when you think about the you know, the nature of religion in general

You know, you're not starting out with a you know, innocent people who are good

In fact what you see and what can be empirically verified as you look around the world is that man is fundamentally immoral and flawed and evil and You know, he needs a

Savior that's going to help him overcome that fundamental Moral problem and he has an inborn hostility to the truth that's based on The moral condition that he has and so these aren't just intellectual discussions as far as that goes this has been another installment of answering a fool with Bible bashed as Always if you would like to be included in one of our answering a fool episodes

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