Unlocking the Bible: A Casual Chat on Deep Faith with Andrew and Cassian

Welcome to the wrap report with your host Andrew Rappaport where we provide biblical interpretation and application. This is a ministry of striving for eternity and the Christian podcast community. For more content or to request a speaker for your church Go to striving for eternity org.

Well, welcome to another edition of the wrap report. I am your host Andrew Rappaport the executive director of striving for eternity and the Christian podcast community of which this Podcast is a proud member.

Knowing God Through Scripture, Not Just Church Attendance

We are here to give you biblical interpretations and applications for the Christian life and in this episode we are gonna have someone on who I got to meet through podcasting and. For those who are going, you know.

You say you're about the everything for biblical interpretations and applications for the Christian life. But how could that play out in the life of someone who has attended church and not really gotten into deep study of the Word of God.

Well, if that's you this podcast is for you. Want to welcome Cassian from biblical speaking podcast. Welcome to the wrap report.

Hey, thanks for having me. I'm so glad to be here Andrew. I was honored to be on your podcast not too long ago.

Depends. I shouldn't say it because by the time we're recording this it'll probably be six weeks before people hear it. So they'll have to go back a few so I'll have to listen to past episodes to catch up, right?

But. Introduce yourself to folks here listening. Let them know a little bit about you. How and why you started the biblically speaking podcast? Oh.

Gosh, where do I begin? But just to know just to get to know me. My name is Cassian Bellino. I am the host and the creator of the biblically speaking podcast and like just trip down I am curious and I'm confused.

I was a Christian my whole life. I mean you could argue that I was like the good Christian girl and yet when I you know reached I'm not even 30 yet. And yet I didn't know anything about my faith and for someone that's very logical.

It didn't make sense to me why I gave my mind soul body spirit soul to soul again. To a creator that I didn't know anything about and you know, I did all the things I read my Bible obediently. I went to church every Sunday I even joined Bible studies but it just didn't make sense to me and I found that it didn't make sense to a lot of people I was around and God put it on my heart in 2018 exactly what I wanted.

I said, listen God I feel like it's the right thing to love you. I objectively don't know you well enough, but I wish I did so in order to do that I just need someone smart and someone funny to just give me the straight facts about the Bible and What was that seven years ago?

I guess it would have been six years because I started it last year. Someone gently nudged me that hey Cass you've still been wanting that. I think it's up to you. So why don't you start it and we'll probably get into this but I gave God every excuse under the Sun as to why I shouldn't.

And here I am now interviewing smart people and hopefully being the funny one and it's just incredible. The day like the deeper you get into the Word of God how much more meaningful it is and how you it's like spending time with your best friend and it's an Practical application of like wow, you have a lot of history best friend.

Tell me more. Whoa, I didn't know you could love me that way best friend. And so it feels like a real relationship now because I have so much more information on it and it is the joy of my life. It's the most important work I've ever done.

It's truly blessed by God because by no means. Doesn't make sense that I should have the success that I have and a guest that I have. Even talking with you now and having you on my show Andrew like it's just it's truly Under the hand of God and I'm just so grateful to be you know involved, you know, because your story is.

The story of many. Most people go to church. I Read my Bible in the morning before I go to work and that's the last time they think about the Bible for the rest of the day.

And.

Yet we say this is an important thing. What would you just expressed is something that every Christian should express and realize. The Bible is not just something we read to check off. Okay done.

Yeah.

It's something we should be meditating upon all day long throughout the day as. The way you described it, you know, this is how we learn about God. Okay, how are we gonna know him. I mean how for anyone in the audience who's married how did you get to know your spouse.

Well, let's see. You spent a lot of time with them. You asked a lot of questions about the other person so you can learn more about them. You studied their family you studied their friends you study everything about them to get to know them.

Unfortunately for most you get married and then you stop studying. Shameful don't do that. Because that well, that's what people do and then they would. Then they come to me for counseling. Go why is my marriage in the rocks.

Cuz you stopped trying to learn about one another. Yeah. But we say we love God and yet we don't. For many don't spend the time To learn more about him. So I really appreciate how you said it as hey, this is my best friend.

This is who I want to spend time with. I want to. I learn about God through God's Word. That's how I hear from him. I Know there's plenty of people who think they hear from God. You don't unless it's in the Bible.

You might have his providence and things like that that he works, but if you're not hearing his voice, sorry but. And if anyone doubts that you know, cuz they know there's some they're going. Yeah, but but what about the passage?

It talks about a still small voice. Okay. I got some encouragement for you. Go get Jim Osmond's book God doesn't whisper where he puts every one of those verses that people use to say God is speaking directly to them in their context and.

Providence, Direct Revelation, and the Danger of Subjective Guidance

Okay, this is interesting because I feel like in my faith walk like God was gently making like gently Softening my heart because that didn't start in 2018. It started years before that. And in the midst of me about to make this big move to Hawaii, which is where it all began now I live in Hawaii before I was living in Arizona and I was going through this breakup and it was with a man that I Was unequally yoked to and as I was, you know becoming a Christian I began reading crazy love and began reading all of these Christian books.

So like my heart was now hungry for in a way that it never has been. Long story short. I'm going through this breakup I'm praying about it and just like to me. It was a vision from God. So what you just said is very interesting because I feel like that was the start of God being like him.

Revealing himself to me and I was praying about what do I do, you know? I love this person so much, but it's just not working and it was a vision that was so on the nose. It couldn't have been from me and it was almost like the way I can best describe a vision from God or at least what?

I experience is like when you're about to fall asleep. And you know your thoughts start getting weird because you're like beginning to dream and then you don't fall asleep and you're like, whoa. That was such a weird thought.

That's how it felt and I ended up telling the guy my vision. And I was like this to me explains exactly what's wrong with our relationship and that we essentially don't trust each other. But like the vision was us in a train station and it was just like the circumstance was just so clearly communicating.

Are you saying that perhaps I conjured that up?

No, no, I mean, especially if it's like in sleep, well first off for the record. Yeah, okay for the record. I can't exegete someone's experience, right? I can't do it was scripture. I can look at the words and and exegete those.

And I and I get that line from a friend of mine Justin Peters who always says I can't actually experience. So when people give experience, I can't tell you what it is. I could tell you that I've spoken to lots of Mormons and Catholics and Hindus that have experiences that they attribute to God.

And and yet we know from the Bible. That's not from God. I've even had people tell me that they got a you know, God spoke to them to divorce their spouse and Go get married to someone that they wanted to marry.

You know that they were having an affair with. So, you know, there's a lot of people that for some it's it's a thing of. These are the things you're thinking sometimes there's things that are in our subconscious that we attribute to God speaking to us.

Can God use that and that's why I said in his Providence. He does do things. You know, you're thinking of somebody, you know, just randomly all of a sudden. You know someone that you know pops in your head and you start praying for that person.

They call him a couple days later and find out they were just in a car accident at the exact time that you started praying. How do I explain that? Well, I don't. I truck that up to God's Providence and God does work through but but I don't put that in as and so this is the distinction I make.

That I put up as God's Providence rather than saying that this is something where God is speaking to me right. So God works through us in ways where he does line things up and and it you know. But the ultimate way we hear from God is through his word.

Yeah, now when we have something that's aligned with his word, like you're saying you're unequally yoked.

Well, his word speaks about that, right? So, you know, I think when you say hear about it through his words. They're expecting to open the book and a voice to audibly come out of that.

And yeah.

I think it's more of like you learn the characteristics of God and again. Like I cannot emphasize enough what an idiot I was when I started this process. Obviously, obviously I've learned a lot. I don't think I'm an idiot, but just like my level of knowledge was just like Below ground like on air you can hear me go wait.

The Gospels are the same story told four different ways. Like I didn't know anything and I was going to church every Sunday like and I think just sometimes. You need it to be spelled out and when you open the Word of God and you learn his characteristics and you hear that voice of God.

It's really hard I think because I wanted to obediently Open it and hear the Word of God. But I needed a scholar to say like this is what he's actually saying and this is why he's saying it and this is happening in this timeline and that's when I could literally grasp the Characteristics of God that now I can apply to my life and say well that that sounds like the enemy because God would never do.

That that's not in his voice.

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The Word of God as the Ultimate Standard

Yeah, and see the ultimate standard is his word. Right, that's the thing that that's how we know whether it is something that God may be providentially working through us on because.

So I.

Always think back to when I was in college and a guy said he got a word from the Lord and The word was that he was gonna marry this girl, which he ended up doing. Because she thought this was God's word.

This was what God's plan. He supposedly prophesied so she break broke up with her fiance and married this guy in which they. Yeah, and they are now divorced. So so he would argue. Yeah, but see we did get married.

It was God's will. Yeah, because you it was put in her head that you're supposed to. I just saw a testimony of a young woman. Where she basically was prophesied she would marry a guy and the guy was physically abusing her almost killed her and she stayed in this relationship because.

She thought this is God's it was prophesied by this preacher that I would marry him. And so she thought this is what God wants for her. And meanwhile, you know, you look at the preacher and it's like yeah, he gets his prophecies through.

You know like this little device right here called a phone and He would he would have prophecies about people as he looks people up on social media, right? So. Well, I'm careful not to use the language God speaks to me.

Just because of the way people mean how people use it. A lot of people think it means an audible voice or like a dream. I mean things like that. When God could use something we dream. To to bring to mind something in our subconscious, but I don't think it's direct Revelation if that makes sense.

I completely agree and I'm by no means saying like God spoke to me to start this podcast. Like I'm the first one to say I didn't want to start this podcast. I did not want to be online like this. I did not know how to even start a podcast.

I didn't have any guests like when my sister gently nudged me and she's like well I think maybe you should start this podcast because you know, you're still looking for it. Maybe God put it on your heart to do and she always does do a good job of like, I don't know just you know.

Like I'm not saying this is God's voice like she does do that. You know qualify but as much as I fought against the Lord and was like no. What is it. I don't know how to work the technology like let's say that that's the excuse that I came up with.

I got on a call with someone and I'm like Okay, like you podcast give me the lowdown and she's like, oh, it's so easy. Like every like you're so late to the game that everything's connected. You just need one login and it connects to Spotify and then it connects to the editor.

So it's all through this one thing. I was like, okay.

Well.

I don't want to be on the internet like I don't want to because the Internet's forever and Lord knows I can't run for president. Like I just like you don't have the digital footprint. You're supposed to and like I was crazy in college and it's just like one of those like I'll be the first to admit.

Like I should not be here. This does not make sense and yet God made it made sense and I really fought against him for a long time of like I'm Scared but then he put me on a plane next to a pastor who like poured into me and he was like listen like it sounds like you have to do this to be obedient like this is no longer whether you want to like God is so Clearly putting this on you.

I was like, oh crap like now there's the pressure. Well, who am I gonna interview? I don't know a single person that meets my criteria as a smart person like and what has to be a PhD. I do you know, I have interviewed rabbis and pastors but I don't want it to become a sermon because that didn't work for me my whole life and some people have been amazing on my show, but I was dating somebody at the time and in Hawaii you hike when you take tourists hiking.

So that was his job as he was taking people hiking bragging about me as all boyfriends should do about their girlfriends and He's like, yeah, she started this podcast. She interviews theologians and the guys he took hiking.

We're like, oh, we're theologians. We'd love to go on our show and like that was my first guest and then his colleague was my second guest. So, it's like, okay God, well like you clearly are providing I'm not one to like assume and I would love to assume that I can just stay in my tech job.

But now I've just added like 20 hours to my week working on this for free. And now here we are. One year into it and then I got laid off and I was like, okay. Well, like I don't know like God hasn't given me any dreams, but I guess I'm gonna do it full time.

And so now I'm doing all of this basically volunteer work, but like adding all my money and time to it. And it's like every single day. Okay, God, let me know if I can quit Again, just waiting on the word from the Lord, but also trying to stay obedient like that is a very tough line to to walk.

Wisdom, Counsel, and Avoiding a Secret-Will Religion

Yeah, and I think many people have had that experience. It's trying to Figure out. Okay, Lord, what is your will a lot of people think that God's got some secret will you can't find who should I marry and I I remember a friend of my great Coco.

He talks about someone that he went to a church and the the they had told him the story that the person the guy who was Leading the the choir a single guy Realized who he should marry because he read it in the Bible.

He opened his Bible and read grace be unto you and there was a single girl in the choir named grace. That is not how we read the Bible. So it counts yeah, but and that's but that's what I literally had a guy come to me for counseling he had two jobs to choose from and He opened his Bible.

He was doing his daily reading and he read something about going north. One job was north one job was south and he was like see that's that's God speaking to me to say I should go take The job at the north.

I said well, let me ask you a question. Every single person you've asked did they all that were Christians didn't they all tell you to take the one in the south? He goes. Yeah, and every world every non-believer told you to take the one.

I'm north. Yeah well wise counsel kind of says which one you should probably be taking based on on the information you've given to everybody that worldly people say go north and Sorry, it's not that's not from the Bible the you know, but this is what so many people think and You're what you're identifying for so many people what you're trying to do with your podcast is take people who are that Pew sitting Christian who and I'm gonna upset people whose Devotional life is nothing more than reading our daily bread.

And saying how does this verse make me feel? Yes I do not care how you feel and that's where I struggled with Bible studies of like How does this make me feel and I'm like girlfriend? I don't know just why are we here in Babylon?

Like how did we even get here? Why is this the ruler? Why does it matter that there was so much symbolism that just goes over our head because we don't live 2 ,000 years ago. And I just needed someone to break it down to me.

I didn't need to know how I felt. I wanted God to say this is who I am and then I will obey. Obediently, you know, I I don't need someone to tell me and it's just truly phenomenal. How much people are You know willing to say that like really willing to stand ten toes down on God's Word when they don't know it themselves.

I mean my qualifications are you have to be a PhD like yes, I've had a rabbi. Yes, I've had pastors but like you have to be an accredited professor a PhD a theologian a scholar to be on my show and I trust what they say.

Do they all agree?

No.

But they are. I think they've earned the right to make their claims because they've spent decades Studying it and teaching it and learning it and actually been in the ancient languages. So for their claims, I take it with a grain of salt.

I apply it some disagree. I've interviewed three different scholars on Genesis. None of them agree, but they're all very Insightful claims. I think it's worth listening to and yet people are raised. Not do not go to seminary.

Just are very firmly in their own testimony telling me I'm wrong. And sure, you know, I could be. I'm not saying that I'm like a hundred percent, right, but We need to learn we need to have it explained to us.

This is insane and wild that you are willing to be led So blindly like God wants us to understand like ask for wisdom. He'll give it generously without fault. God wants us to ask this doesn't make sense to me.

Can you explain it? Please explain why and even today we're doing a live interview with a scholar and it's like, okay. So homosexuality is a detestable act. It's not okay. Why why is it? I think we're okay to ask the creator of the universe.

Why. Because he wants us to understand and know him.

Genesis, the Trinity, and Teaching the Bible to Children

Yeah, and for the Genesis debate, I'll just state for the record.

I.

You had different people on your podcast. Biblically speaking podcast. Ken Ham is the one that has the right view. I'm just saying you interviewed him. He's the one with the right view. Okay, so. Oh, absolutely, absolutely.

Yeah, okay. Ken has the right view of Genesis. Yeah, I I'm saying that Ken has the right view. Well, he's not my best friend.

But.

So, yeah, no, I because he's got the view that's coming from Scripture. So not from trying to fit and this is the problem I have with Hugh Ross trying to fit science and Scripture together. There's it but but you know to the point you were making and it's an important point is a Lot of Christians believe That well, I need to have a seminary degree or my pastor.

He's the one that's supposed to know all this stuff. Yeah, and this is what your podcast is about. Why why do you think it's so important for people in the pews?

To study the Word of God. Oh my gosh, like so it like why do you study anything? So, you know it so you can actually be good at it and like at the end of the day I had a moment where I was living in Thailand and I had this curiosity.

It's where in 2018 this happened. I was like gosh, I just like don't understand and I'm going to this Thai church led by the Swedish couple. It was the craziest thing and it was like half and I and I go up because it was super close super close knit.

And I was like, hey, I love church. But before we get into the Scripture, this is a real conversation word for word. Before we get into Scripture Can you give a little bit of background on John cuz like who is he like what time like I asked her to do this.

Again like so entitled for me to think she'll change her entire like church just for me. But I thought you know, this is a small church. She wants me to know and shouldn't pastors know all of the Bible they don't but at that time I believe that and she goes.

I think you need to go to Seminary and it was this like almost glass ceiling that I hit of okay. So I'm either going to live in ignorance or spend thousands of dollars and years my time to go to seminary even though I have a full-time paying job and I understand like the reason people don't know it like it makes sense like kind of what you said the beginning like you spend time with Your spouse and that's how you get to know them.

You study their family like who's got time for that? Who's got like that's not a rude or bad thing to say. You just simply don't have time to just study and Google and look it up and watch YouTube videos.

Like you just I don't have time for that. So I'd rather just spend an hour interviewing people and getting the straight answers like explain it to me like I'm stupid cuz for this I don't know and there are Very specific questions that I think I'm entitled to know if I kind of signed signed in blood that I gave my life to Jesus.

This is the thing though that a lot of people don't think about. They want the benefits of salvation without the hard work. And I think what you're trying to do with your your podcast is help people to realize guess what It I mean, is it hard work to study the Word of God?

Yes. But do we have to know everything. No. And so by having people on having different people come in who are Experts in different areas even like you said where you have people who are disagreeing in the view at least you're letting them communicate Why they believe what they believe?

So that the audience can study the different views and and hear from people because.

Look.

Do how often do we all study. There's a ton of different topics that most people don't study and Won't wouldn't think about. How many people are studying the different views of Genesis as you mentioned that one as an example.

We had three different people come on giving three different views. Ken has the right view because he believes in a literal six-day creation, but I'll just drop that in there. So.

But but.

The thing is that you know, there's some who believe Cassian that we should have only people we agree with. We should only have one view. That's putting yourself in an echo chamber. Right, and so I think we do like you're saying We we should be able to ask God why well, he tells us why in in his word, right?

The culture is asking the question. Why is homosexuality wrong? Because God says so but where does he say so one of the things I struggled with early on as a Christian was seeing these different cults and I would see the the Mormons and the Jehovah Witnesses and others who prayed on ignorant Christians in this sense.

I'm using Christian a very broad term whether it's Catholic the Evangelical but they prayed on the ignorance. I would talk to Jehovah Witnesses and it was interesting how many of them were from a Catholic or quasi evangelical background because They meet with the Jehovah Witnesses and they go.

I just believed the Trinity because I was taught it and they showed me from the Bible that it's not there. Here's the thing that I always noticed was missing. They believed the Trinity because they were taught it but they weren't taught why and Here you have Jehovah Witnesses saying well, we don't believe in the Trinity and here's why and people go.

Well, see that they have the answers. Well, no. Actually, we had the answers to you. Just never listened to the why and now as I try to explain the why you go you I don't want to hear it, right? That's sort of what you're it seems to me in listening your podcast you're trying to do is to get people to Not just have this surface level Belief in Christianity, but to dig into the answers to say well, why does the Bible say?

Okay, the Bible says there's a Trinity where? Where do we see the tree? How do we make that argument? Was that something that the man just created? Well, yeah I mean there is a person that created the word Trinity because it didn't exist until he defined it that way, but Do we see the principles that are in that definition in Scripture?

Yes, but the question is where?

Homosexuality, Lust, and the Need to Love Without Compromise

Topics. I'm not the most educated on the Trinity but to extent you're correct. And I think that you're a hundred percent correct because when I came out the homosexual episode I was scared. I was so scared and I the reason I chose to do with that professor was cuz he's like I've already spoken on it.

I'm gonna do it lovingly. I'm gonna do it gently and I'm not gonna say that you're wrong for being homosexual. I'm gonna say this is why the Bible says it's wrong. You do what you want. I'm gonna love you no matter what but I'm also gonna agree with the Bible no matter what.

That's the standard I hold myself to and we had to or I guess I had to like personally tread that line because like When I say I was the least qualified person like none of my friends are Christian like God put me in like the heart of a bunch of agnostics and then I became and my friends to this day still call Me that a super like a Jesus lover like a Jesus girl.

Like I love Jesus someone said the other day I'm going through my Jesus era and it's like you know what at least you know that you can talk to me about God and I'll think it's cool. And maybe that's the closest you'll ever get.

I don't know I'm just making this up in my head. But when it came to homosexuality I had to again like operate with this topic around those types of people saying like hey My best friend your brother is gay.

Like I'm going like I'm ten toes down in this topic. But if it offends you let's have a conversation because I'm not going to exclude you from this conversation. I'm still gonna believe what I said, but I want you to know I still love you and I think that again there's a fork in the road for Christians of holier-than-thou and Again, it's like bring yourself back down to earth of like I'm a sinner.

You're a sinner. We're just talking about topics if you feel attacked. Let's talk about that because it seems like it's a you problem that I can love you through. Like if I'm trying to get on some sort of like soapbox here through look how much I know about Jesus.

Like that's just like what do I gain there?

Yeah, it's but it's also part of the issue is that a lot of Christians that will will take for example What you're bringing up the homosexuality there are Christians that want to try to accept homosexuality and and marry it up with the Bible.

Just like people did with evolution and try to marriage that with the Bible and try to Try to argue that the Bible is okay with it. On my apologetics live podcast I've had a couple of times where people come in and try to make the case for what they would refer to as affirming Christianity.

Had one guy that actually tried to argue He was in a homosexual relationship and he tried to argue that God is okay with homosexuality. Just not the abuse of homosexuality which was really funny because I just got to the to the the issue of lusting and Asked him about lusting and whether that was wrong.

And the reason I did that was because once he agreed that it by God's standard lusting is wrong. Well, okay, and any lusting outside of marriage is wrong. Well, guess what now you've broken us. You you've sinned when you lusted after someone in the same sex, so it doesn't matter anymore right.

Because God doesn't define marriage homosexually and so he was all bent out of shape because I got to the Root of the issue is a lust issue. Rather than deal with the homosexual issue because now I just broadened it to include not just Homosexuality but adultery.

They're both wrong for a similar reason. So he struggled with that because he hadn't heard that argument. He never thought of it that deeply and but yet he grew up in a Christian home going to church.

With a you know as many of the people they they have as you described. It's hey, I've been going to church all my life. I Haven't really dug into the Bible to know it for myself. Yeah, but I can repeat what others have said a lot and It's this is the importance of it is why we do this podcast why you do your podcast is that people would know the Word of God your podcast is more focused on people being who are Maybe not looking to be scholars looking to dig in deep but go I I should learn a little more I should know the Bible better and you bring people in to answer specific topics in those areas.

Yeah, I don't think that God wants us to become theologians like wow, that's great if you do but like that's not a requirement to get into heaven.

No, well depends on how we define theologian, right? Because just theology is the study of God. So in a sense if we love God, we would study but. Yeah, but as far as a scholar, no, we're not all gonna be the scholarly type of theologians.

But you know, it's kind of interesting. When I first took my first pastorate which was about I think there was like 2005.

And.

Because they they already had a retreat planned. We had. We went in and my wife and I said well, you know, they had speakers for the retreat. I said well, I will teach what we'll teach the children and.

So one of the deacons says what are you gonna teach the children? I said well, we're gonna work with them on the Trinity and. And parents were like no you can't do it. We're talking eight-year-olds.

Eight to ten year olds. They they can't understand the Trinity and. So for three days. My wife and I went through it, you know, I wrote the curriculum. We taught them from the scripture the Trinity and so on the last day all the parents we line.

We'd have the parent come in to the classroom one at a time and to get their kids. I said, okay. If you want to pick up your kids, you just have to answer two questions and your child can help you if you need.

Just ask for help. Can you define the Trinity and can you support it in Scripture. And parents were like, ah.

Christian Podcasting, Bible Tools, and Practical Study Habits

Hi, this is Daniel Minnick from the truth spresso podcast. Truth spresso is a member of the Christian podcast community from striving for eternity Ministries and I encourage you to check out all that the Christian podcast community has to offer and.

Another great member of the community is Aaron Brewster who goes by the name am Brewster. He actually hosts two separate podcasts. One is truth. Love parent. The other is the celebration of God and I highly recommend you listen to them.