The Ten Commandments Of Religious Talk

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Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

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No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the

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Apostle Paul said, �But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.�

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In short, if you like smooth, watered -down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for you.

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By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we�re called by the

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Divine Trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King. Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.

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Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry. Mike Abendroth here. Engage. Always biblical, always provocative, always in that order.

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That�s what I�m after. Here�s what we do on the radio show if you�ve never listened to us. I just try to say to myself, �Self, if you were to listen to a podcast for 24 and a half minutes, actual talking time, what would you like Something fast paced?

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Something maybe a little, I don�t know, edgy? I like edgy.

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See, I�m a pastor and so I preach on the side of the church. on Sunday mornings, and I used to preach on Sunday nights.

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I used to do Sunday school on Sunday. I used to do discipleship. I used to do elders meetings on Sunday. I used to do a lot of that stuff on Sunday.

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Now I just preach two times on Sunday morning. Last week I preached on Sunday night, but it's rare.

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Sometimes I preach at other places and do some radio. I do some TV once in a while.

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TV gigs, no co -TV, Worldview weekend. And so I don't have the skill set of a

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John MacArthur or, you know, I don't know, Al Mohler or someone. So I have to kind of speed it up a little bit.

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So I guess if you like talk about Jesus, who never compromised, in an uncompromising way, calling spade spade.

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I think our demographics for YouTube watchers are 75 to 80 % men, but I get tons of ladies emailing.

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Actually, there are probably more ladies email and, you know, text slash Facebook message to say thank you for the show than men do.

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Now maybe men are busier during the day and can't, you know, have an opportunity to write an email.

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Maybe men are just too lazy to write. Maybe men or, I mean, this has nothing to do with who works harder.

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My wife works harder than I do because she wakes up at work and I go to work. So I don't mean that, ladies.

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I'm not trying to say that at all. I'm just saying maybe there's an opportunity for you.

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What am I saying? This is really bad and I'm so fired. I'm glad ladies listen.

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I'm glad men listen. But I have to tell you that I'm especially glad when ladies listen. So lots of good comments.

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Now, once in a while, I probably rub people the wrong way, but you know what? There's all kinds of shows, right? I'm sure, you know, you could listen to The Dividing Line or The Briefing or, you know, those kinds of shows.

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But what we do is we sit here in West Boylston, Massachusetts, and we talk about biblical issues.

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I try. The general theme is Mondays, it's a sermon because I need a day off. It's the mental health day.

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And Tuesdays, I talk to Pastor Steve, kind of like a little, we have a point, but we usually laugh to get there.

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Wednesdays, I interview people. Thursdays, I talk about, I don't know, whatever I want, something that's biblical, you know, the burial of Jesus.

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Why is there significance to the burial, death, burial, resurrection? And then

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Friday, and I go after people, I don't know, we might go after Tim Keller or Andy Stanley, and say, what does the

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Bible say about what they say or do? That's all. I'm sure they're nice people. I'm sure they're probably nicer than I am, more friendly than I am.

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All right. By the way, if you have not picked up the Discovering Romans commentary, written by S.

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Lewis Johnson, then I suggest you might want to do that. Very devotional, very biblical.

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Chapters 1, 2, and 3. Chapter 5, Chapter 8. Excellent chapters. I know 6 and 7 aren't the best, but I did what

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I could. So much time. So many times I could fly down to Dallas for the notes. And I'm saying this for a couple of reasons.

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Number one, you'll be blessed. Number two, if you buy it, if a lot of you buy it, then I can start working on Colossians because the publishers out of them, they don't, you know, they don't want to give me the green light for Colossians until, you know,

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Romans sells. So today on No Compromise Radio, Ten Commandments for Talking to Your Kids About Religion by Wendy Thomas Russell.

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Wendy Thomas Russell. And I'm not going to make any comments about last names or hyphenated or, you know, taking your husband's last name or not.

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Maybe, I don't know, maybe her middle name's Thomas. Maybe not. Maybe it's hyphenated.

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Maybe not. Maybe she's a feminist. Maybe not. She has a book called Relax, It's Just God, How and Why to Talk to Your Kids About Religion When You're Not Religious.

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Okay. And this is from a website dated March 31st, 2015.

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Beware the double I's of March. Now that doesn't make sense either. And so she says, secularism is on the rise.

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Agreed. Between 2012 and 2014 alone, 7 .5

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million Americans lost their religious faith. Agreed. If they were, unless she means true

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Christians, could lose their salvation, then the real question is can Jesus lose a Christian? How do we, as first generation secular parents, it's nice that we have books written about how to talk to kids about God from secularists.

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Oh, these consistencies that are foolish and hobgoblin -ish, as Walter Emerson would say.

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Is anything good come out of Nebraska? They don't talk that way in Nebraska, by the way.

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We, Nebraskans, have the perfect accent, which is accent -less, did you know that?

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When you call the Marriotts or hotel places, at least they used to be,

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I don't know if they are anymore. The call centers were in Nebraska. Why? Because they didn't have a southern growl, and they didn't have a

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New England caw, and they didn't have the

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California, that's groovy, man. So anyway,

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Ten Commandments for talking to your kids about religion. And this is going to be my foil today to talk back. Talk back radio.

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Number one, expose your kids to many religions. These are the Ten Commandments. So we love law stuff, so back to law.

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Charting new courses for our families. What many of us lack is a clear path how to get there.

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We don't consider ourselves atheist, agnostic, human, deist, or nothing at all, but we do have a common goal. Here's the goal, okay?

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If you don't shoot for something, you're always sure to get it. So what are we shooting for? Why are we fighting?

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As one man said to the Altamont audience. This is our goal.

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To raise kind, happy, tolerant kids.

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See, those are the virtues. Kind, happy, tolerant. Capable of making up their own minds about what to believe. And that's special.

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So all right, let's talk about these. Now, we're not going to get through the whole thing, but this is just low -hanging fruit.

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This is an underhand slow ball for no compromise radio. Not because I'm so great. That's not my point.

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But if you just stop for a second and think, that's what I'm after. I want you to think biblically.

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I want your mind to be renewed. What I say doesn't matter. What does the Bible say? And think about issues in life through the lens of Holy Scripture.

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The Ten Commandments. You know how people have the talk with their children about sex? This is the

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God talk. On a side note, parents, your children need that talk from you.

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Led by dad, helped by mom. Isn't that biblical, by the way? Led by dad, helped by mom.

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Seems like it. It'd be a new book. And there is a new no compromise book coming out.

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There's going to be a series of no compromise books coming out. No compromise media. And I think the first one is going to be this fall.

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Stay tuned. The number to call is 1 -800 -BR -549.

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That one's for Fred. Expose your kids to many religions.

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That's the first one. Expose your children. Oh, regarding the sex talk, you got to talk to them earlier.

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That was what I was going to say. So if you have four kids, you can't say, well, I'm going to talk to every one of them at 13 years old or 14 or 12.

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Whatever you pick, it's up to you. You're the parents. But the later one, you know, the youngest one, you should probably talk to them earlier.

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Why? Because they have A, siblings and B. People talk about this stuff in school now. Expose your kids to many religions.

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All right. Have you ever noticed how religion can get in the way of religious education? Either children are schooled in one particular belief system or they're not being taught a blank thing.

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I won't read any of those other kind of words that are in here. But a good religious education is one that covers the basics of many religions.

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Put major religious holidays such as Rosh Hashanah, Diwali and Eid al -Adha on your calendar.

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Point out signs and symbols, religious clothing. Seize opportunities to visit places of worship. Religious literacy is a gift to give it.

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All right. So expose your children to many religions. Now there is in some sense for the Christian parent, that's a good thing to do.

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And we need to tell them, here's what Hindus believe. Here's what pagans believe.

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Here's what Wiccans believe. Here's what Muslims believe. Here's what Latter -day

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Saints believe. Here's what Roman Catholics believe. I mean, the list goes on. And for those of you that don't like me lumping the

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Roman Catholics into those other groups, well, all you have to do is write me and prove me wrong.

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That's all you have to do. But what we do at our house is we say, look at the common theme with all these other religions.

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I mean, what she means is expose your kids, let them pick. I'm sure that's what she means because she's already said something in it earlier.

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Don't, don't, you know, it'd be bad to talk about one particular thing. Well, we do talk about the one particular thing because I'm commanded to do it.

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I'm exhorted to do it. I want my kids to, I almost knocked my glasses off. Think rightly about God.

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I'd like them to go to heaven. I'd like to have them have their sins forgiven. I want them to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the only way of salvation.

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Hebrews talks about Jesus. He's greater than angels. He created the universe. He upholds the universe.

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He made purification for sins. He sat down at the right hand of God, the father. He's better than Moses. He's better than Aaron.

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He's better than the old covenant system. He's great. He's a great savior. So fix your eyes on him.

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Of course, that's what we do. But I do tell my children, look at the common theme. There's only really two religions in the world.

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And by the way, if you don't like me calling Christianity a religion, A, I understand your pain.

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I commiserate. But you probably should read James chapter one. I know it's just not a bunch of law religions have all these things you must do.

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I understand that part, but probably should read James one. Christianity, you can call it religion without, you know, turning down the volume button.

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So the common denominator with all these other religions, every religion but Christianity, it's a works -based system.

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Oh, they might say grace. After all, you can do book of Nephi, second Nephi in Mormon.

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They might say believe, but it's not sola fide.

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Catholics might say believe, but then it's belief plus the seven sacraments and other issues.

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So there are two religions of the world, and I do want my children to understand, okay, if we're going to India, this is what the

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Hindus believe. These are what Buddhists believe. These are what Muslims believe. And within their belief systems, you have some that are more fundamentalist and some that are more liberal.

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Here's what Jews believe. And so expose your kids to many religions, but not for the sake of you get it aside for yourself.

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Will they ultimately decide for themselves? Could I believe for them? Can I get my kids to heaven?

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We know the answer is to all those questions, but I'm going to tell them the truth and focus on the truth and spend most of my time teaching them who

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Jesus is and what does the Bible say. I know they're going to have to believe on their own, but I will encourage,

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I will affirm when my kids are little, I believe in Jesus, Daddy. Way to go. Good job.

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Keep believing. That's what I say. I don't say, you're too young to be a regenerate fool. Pity the poor fool.

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One day I was in Los Angeles and was at the Lakers game and somebody walked by me and I go,

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I know that person. They're shorter than they seem like on TV. Then on the 18, it was

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Mr. T. So that was always fun to be at the Lakers game. You'd see Jack Nicholson, uh, almost said

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Walter Mondale, Walter Mondale, Walter Matthau. Walter Mondale's at the

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Laker game. I got his autograph. Uh, is it Diane Cannon?

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No, I think she was on it. Diane Carroll, Diane Cannon, Diane Feinstein.

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Would you see people though? It was very interesting. Oh, you'd see Magic Johnson there. Norm Nixon.

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I like Byron Scott better than Norm Nixon as a player. So anyway, back to the point here.

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Number two, you can see how this is going badly. Number two, embrace.

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Remember, I'm reading 10 commandments for talking to your kids about religion. So all we need is more law around here.

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Law our church. Embrace the graven image of science. Science is something that can be valued in place of God as possible to consider science a graven image.

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So be it. For every religious book you read, tell your kids one cool thing about the real world.

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Evolution, the stars and the planets, you name it. But remember, you need not set up religion and science as opposing forces the way religious people often do.

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Present the facts. Your kids likely will figure out the rest on their own. It will mean more when they do.

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I have no idea what that means. None. The heavens declare the glory of God and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

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Day to day pours out, ESV, fourth NAS, speech, right?

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And night to night reveals knowledge. The world preaches. I'm not afraid of science.

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But if science is going to contradict something that the Bible says, how many times has science been updated?

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About as many times as psychology has been updated. And so they're not opposing forces because God made the world and he made gravity and he made the sun and the moon and the stars and centripetal force and all these kind of things, you know, are, are, are fine.

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But when we say, well, this fossil record shows, you know, 6 billion years old, and then we have to have a spark and we have to do this, that and the other.

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And you know what I'm getting at? Evolution and the stars. I mean, she just clumps these things in together.

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I'm not going to do that. I'm going to say, of course, I believe in science. And of course, you know, you back in the day, the best scientists were ones that were trying to figure out the handiwork of God.

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And if God's, you know, natural revelation shows how knowledgeable he is, let's discover that knowledge.

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And so science is not the king of knowledges. It's not the queen of knowledges. We, we know that.

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Three, don't settle your kids with anxiety over the word God. The Pledge of Allegiance, the

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Girl Scout Promise, the motto written on American money. This is religion. There's religion all around us, even in school.

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Let your kid know that God is part of our cultural language. It's songs, it's poetry, it's monuments, and it's works of art.

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You can sing Christmas songs or say bless you when you, someone sneezes.

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If your kids prefer to draw battle lines for themselves over these matters, great. Just be sure you're not nudging them toward the battle.

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What was the point again? What are you trying to say? Don't saddle your kids with anxiety over the word

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God. Well, if you want to define God properly and biblically, it has nothing to do with anxiety.

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It has to do with, this is who God is, and other people are going to say certain things. But look here, it's in the

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Bible. It's not because mommy said it. It's not because daddy said it. Here, look at God in the Bible. Let's take a look at Jesus Christ.

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It's the Lord of the Sabbath. Look at how he can heal people. Look at how he's sovereign over his healings.

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Look at how he forgives people. Look at how he's sovereign over forgiving people. Look at how he said, I'm the light of the world.

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I'm the resurrection of life. Look at how he raised Lazarus from the dead. It has nothing to do with being anxious about the definition of God.

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As Jesus said, he was God. And so look at who Jesus is and what he has done. Four, keep in mind there's nothing wrong with faith.

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Yeah, as long as it's not in the only object of Jesus Christ. Faith in faith. I met somebody the other day.

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We had a cup of coffee. You could just, I could predict what the person was going to say. I'm real spiritual.

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And I have a lot of, well, I guess you could say that in a positive way.

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I think about the unknown and I think about the invisible. And I think about things relating to my spirit versus the flesh.

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And I have a lot of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I get that it could be, but let's just face it just between us girls.

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It's my father would always say a bunch of guys around doing like boxing club, just between, you know, hey girls.

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He'd always say, I have psych problems. I know. I'm just telling you, I'm blaming my dad, right?

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It's a daddy complex or something. Of course, there's nothing wrong with faith.

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Let's say, consider the chances for instance, that any two people envision heaven the exact same way.

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I interpret all the Bible, major Bible passages the same way or inject religion in their politics and social mores in the same way.

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Not bloody likely in the end then to say someone is Christian or Jewish or Muslim means very little.

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Well, finally, we agree on something that's true regarding labels. So there's nothing wrong with faith and in terms of society, if you want to believe in whatever you want to believe, you can, you can, you know, put the pasta hat on your head and get a picture taken to the driver's license.

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You can be the pastafarian, which, you know, it's, it happened. But there is one faith and all the faiths are against Jesus and they defame him and they blaspheme him.

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Honor your mother's faith. Just because you're non -religious parent doesn't mean you have to shield your child from religious family members.

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If they're trying to undermine my kid's faith, that's true. Of course, if I've got an unbelieving grandparent, by the way, let's just, let's just, you want to know why

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I've got psych problems. My children have no grandparents and for a long part of their lives, they never did.

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There was one great grandmother that died several years ago, but I don't know if my kids, you know, remember much of her these days even.

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And so grandparents, you know, oh, that's what grandpa believes and grandpa believes this, that or the other.

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Okay, fine. I get it all. Six, don't kill your kid's good time.

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The same goes for tales of Abraham and Sheba and Muhammad and Zeus and all the other religious figures, both past and present.

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The more fun the stories are, the more your kids will want to hear them. And the more likely they'll be able to remember them. And that's good. What kids don't know can hurt them.

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And that's especially true when it comes to religion. And then she has one,

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I don't even want to say what it was. I'll just condense it. Don't be a jerk. Conviction need not translate into being snarky, arrogant, or mean.

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There's nothing at all wrong with criticizing people for saying hateful things or doing harmful things. But let's cut the vitriol.

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You may discuss, suppose, even argue, but do not try to do without name calling, generalization or degradation. Okay. And see,

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I get that. That's part of no compromise radio, where I can just say, I disagree. That's not true. It's wrong.

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But I'm not saying anything about this lady. Wendy's probably a nice lady, friendly lady, kind lady, wants to do what best.

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But here's what the Bible says. And it's contradicting that. And so I tolerate her beliefs.

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But that means I, that does not mean I celebrate. Eight, don't steal your child's ability to choose.

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Well, you can't steal. But I remember someone came here to the building once.

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We had an Awana program for children. And our Awana program talked about how we're telling kids they're sinners.

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This guy was really mad. We would tell kids that they were sinful. And I said, well, what's the sign out there say?

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And he said, Bethlehem Bible Church. And I said, well, that means we teach the Bible. And here's what the

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Bible says about sin, about my sin, your sin, your daughter's sin. And well, and then he just, he had to back down some.

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And then he's like, well, I just want her to make decisions for herself. And I thought, your bad idea of not letting your children, you know, not clamping down on your children's desire to want to study here is actually, you know, you're dropping the parental ball, but it's actually working out good for your daughter.

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Number nine, don't lie about your own beliefs. Why would

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I? Admit when you're confused or don't have all the answers. Okay, that's nice.

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Number 10, respect the religions without tolerating intolerance. Back to that.

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Is it okay that I say they're wrong? These other religions, it's not right.

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Jesus is the only salvation. Don't hold religious beliefs against people who are being nice. Well, of course not.

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Because if I'm right, third -class conditional, it's because of who

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God is, not in me. I left to myself, I do everything all the wrong way.

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And many things in my life, I have done things the wrong way. And even done things the wrong way as a Christian. But I'm going to keep pointing to the one that never did anything wrong.

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And he is holy and pure. And it would never break one of the real commandments, even.

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His life above reproach, blameless, perfect. And that's the Lord Jesus Christ.

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So I do hope you talk to your children about the Lord Jesus Christ. These 10 commandments for talking to your kids about religion.

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You see, this is the best that the world has to offer. I think if you just read the Proverbs on a regular basis, you could get some divinely inspired words.

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That is breathed out by God through human instruments like Solomon. My name is

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Mike Abendroth. No Compromise Radio. At NOCO, radio for Twitter. God bless you. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

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Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life -transforming power of God's Word through verse -by -verse exposition of the sacred text.

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Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6. We're right on Route 110 in West Boylston.

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You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

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The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff or management.