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Modern terminology is chalked with “I am a person of faith,” or “I am spiritual.” How should we respond to these statements?
Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. 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 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.
In short, if you like smooth, watered-down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for you. 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 Divine Trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.
Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.
Welcome to No Compromise Radio, ministry. I�ve not done a show for quite some time, and Steve Cooley, it is good to see you.
Well, can you see somebody on radio?
I can. Oh, okay. Josh McDonald always tells me that we should have a camera here and we could do the live Facebook camera divide and line type of thing. Has he seen us? Tell me, have you seen her?
You know what? The Shy Lights. I was just listening to that song the other day, but you know what, I think maybe our radio audience would like to see the lush No Compromise studio in all its splendor and glory.
And I mean, I really have a magnificent chair of which there are few equals probably anywhere on earth because most of them have been incinerated.
My chair was pretty good until your son-in-law broke it and readjusted it during a discipleship class. Well, he was just trying to help. Steve, I, for some reason, well, I know the reason, but I was on the NoCo iTunes reviews.
And so I wanted to read this. Oh, no. We had two bad, really bad reviews. Really, really? The two-star review is this, and it was pretty recent. Okay. Oh, I'm sorry. I put that in there. It's by Des Nudo.
D-E-S space N-U-D-O. That's my online name. That is. June 27th, 2016. The top says, good content, poorly presented. Oh, thank you very much. Well, at least it's not like, you know, the criticism of Paul where it was bad content.
He looks bad. Badly, badly presented. And by the way, you're ugly too. The content of the podcast seems to be biblically sound. But after three episodes, the presentation is so off-putting that it is a chore to get through them.
From frequently laughing at his own inside jokes that others won't get to having little, if any, editing done to take out extraneous noise. There are many factors that detract from the presentation that undermine the presenter.
Now, did you do some shows while I was gone?
No, I did not. I've been busy. You know, I think what Des Nudo is saying is, oh, I see that there. And therefore, I'm sending a $10 ,000 check so they can get some better equipment and staff. Thank you so much, Des Nudo.
Appreciate that very much. Well, they either laugh at their own jokes or they laugh at each other's jokes. And the other one, number 13 for the iTunes No Compromise Radio. And if, by the way, you listeners would like to give us a rating, I think the Arbitron ratings go up if they give us some more stars, right?
Is that true?
Mm-hmm. Does Arbitron even exist anymore? You don't even know.
Number 13, perversion, it says. And this is Sid Finch 68. Sid Finch.
You know who Sid Finch is? There's a story. No, this is true. Sports Illustrated did a story, you know, like an April Fool's thing years ago and fooled a lot of people with it. Some guy named Sid Finch that they found that can, like, throw 140-mile-an-hour fastball.
And so that's the story behind Sid Finch. Huh, okay.
I didn't know that. But this is Sid Finch 68. Yeah, well, that's his change-up. Okay. There's a lot of Sid Finches out there, I guess. No. One star. But this was rated back in February 5th, 2011.
I think that was right after one of my solo shows.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten book, that whoever believes in it should not perish but have eternal life, idolatry personified here.
That was the review. You know, I think that's got to be one of our Roman Catholic friends. You know what I'm saying? Because that sounds like, you know, they worship the Bible.
It would be that and or, Steve, one of our mystical friends. But the theme with mysticism and Roman Catholicism is the same. That is, they have the Bible plus. So if it's the Bible plus emotions or experience or something like that, what many evangelicals don't like about Rome, they add the traditions and magisterium to the authority of the Bible.
Don't charismatics do the same thing? Yes, they do. Because God told me. Because God told me. Steve, this is kind of housecleaning because we haven't done a show for quite some time. I am pleased to present to, well, I've already presented this to you, so that doesn't work.
I'm pleased to present now to the world, to the audience, to the Sid Finches out there of the world and the Desnudos.
Sid, you know, Sid, if you'll just email, I'll buy your copy.
Was it not Johnny Rotten who they needed a new guitar, a bass player for the Sex Pistols? And I think Sid Vicious was not his real name. That was Johnny Rotten's guinea pig's name. And then they said, well, that'd be good for you.
I have absolutely, you know what, somebody let me borrow, this is a true story, a pirated copy of an A-track of the Sex Pistols, Never Mind the Bullocks. I listened to that like for about 25 seconds while I was in high school.
I take it back to school the next day and I just said, hey, thanks a lot, but look.
When I think of A-tracks, I think of, this is for Desnudos' sake here. I think of Captain and Tennille. My dad had, I think, Captain and Tennille and Hank Williams Jr. and John Denver.
And I don't know if that was about it. There's nothing wrong with John Denver, but the Captain and Tennille?
I think that was one of those free ones you got with, you know, you buy one, you get eight free or something in those book clubs.
They'd have to send me a check for, you know, like 10 bucks.
What is muskrat love? I don't know. Okay. Anyway, Evangelical White Lies is out, the new book exposing some common errors in evangelicalism. And I just wanted to say in front of all the listeners that I'm thankful that Mr. Steve Cooley, Tuesday guy, wrote the foreword.
The foreword, not the forward. Not like moving forward, but the foreword. That's right.
Not like a power forward. Right. But the word in front of, the before word.
The power forward. I'm kind of the Carl Malone of the...
James Worthy, he wasn't a power forward, was he? No. Who was the power forward? I call him a small forward. Rambis would be like the...
Oh, that's right. A .C. Green was a power forward. Yeah. So, it's the dude who grabs all the rebounds and smacks people around.
Well, I want to thank you for writing the foreword.
Hey, thank you for asking me. Actually, it really was kind of just me inserting myself in the book, but I hacked his files.
Steve, today I looked at the Pew Research Center and it says, how religious is your state? I looked at it today, it's August now, but this goes back to February 29, 2016. So, it's still pretty current.
It's pretty relevant. I'm guessing not much has changed probably in the last five, six months.
By Michael Lipka,. And it says, Mississippi, Alabama, and other southern states are among the most highly religious states in the nation. Wall, any guesses who's at the bottom of religiosity?
Well, if I hadn't seen the outline of the state, I would have thought, I mean, it certainly wouldn't strike me that New England would be among the least religious, but I would have probably picked Vermont.
They just seem totally godless. A .C. It's so true, isn't it? New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Vermont, and Maine. I don't know what happened to Connecticut. Why would Connecticut somehow... Steve. Yes, same with Rhode Island.
Maybe a lot of Baptists down there in Rhode Island with the Roger Williams Zoo and such. A .C. I don't know.
Maybe it's the closer you get to New York City than where you realize you need something higher in your life than just the state.
Steve. Now, we probably should figure out what they mean by religious, but even if we went generically with religiosity or I'm spiritual or something like that, this has one to 50, the states, and there's a tie for 50, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
Well, how can there be a tie for number 50? That means like what? Because there's only... In other words, they would be tied for number 49 if there were only 50 states listed. So is Puerto Rico on there or something?
A .C. Well, I think they wanted a total of 50. Steve Or DC. A .C. And it says Massachusetts 50, New Hampshire 50, but there's only 50 on this list.
Steve. Yeah, but see those are 48 and 48. So there should be 49 and 49.
I don't get it. I don't know, but if this was being filmed with a camera, we would understand.
A .C. Well, if we had that kind of technology and, you know, again, I would say if we have, if Desnudo wants to send the check and we can then, you know, pump up the lush, no compromise studio and throw in a camera.
Steve. Does Desnudo have anything to do with Menudo? Wasn't that a band? A .C. I think they're cousins. They are. It says here there are many potential ways of defining what it means to be religious, but for the purposes of this analysis, we looked at four common measures of religious observance.
Okay, so now we'll actually get into the real bulk of the show.
Steve. Oh, define religiosity.
A .C. Yeah, Steve, if you were just gonna, I know you haven't read it, but from a Christian perspective, from the Bible's perspective, how would you identify in a tangible way, we can't look at people's hearts or the inside, how would you say, well, that's a sign, a potential sign, a possible sign of them being religious or spiritual?
Steve. Well, I mean, somebody who frequently attends church, serves at a church, reads the Bible, proclaims the gospel, prays,.
Um, gives. A .C. Yeah, those are excellent things to consider. Those are tangible. Those would actually be measurable, right? A .C. Right. What was that old analysis with management by objectives? Smart, specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and
Steve. Timely. A .C. That was it. Steve. Was it? A .C. That was it. Well, for this particular study with the Pew Research Center, remember Jethro Pew? He was a Dallas Cowboys lineman.
Steve. Yeah, like a defensive tackle or something.
A .C. Yeah, he played against the Green Bay Packers in that freeze bowl, that blizzard bowl. Steve Okay. He might have been a defensive end, but he played up a lot. A .C. I want to say number 75 was his name.
Steve Okay. A .C. And who was the guy that blocked him? Jerry Kramer, maybe.
Steve Yeah, Jerry Kramer. A .C. Yeah. Steve I think I had his biography once upon a time.
A .C. Worship attendance is one. Prayer frequency, two. Belief in God, three. And self-described importance of religion in one's life.
Steve. Self-described. That's kind of, because, you know, we wind up with the, are you a religious person? No, but I am a person of faith. I don't know what that, you know, that whole thing leads to.
If you say you're religious, I don't know many people who say that, by the way. Do you know many people who say, yes, I'm religious?
A .C. No, I hear them saying, we don't want to talk about politics or religion, but I don't hear them say it. These days, the coined phrases are, I'm spiritual. I'm a person of faith. Steve I believe in something higher.
A .C. See, I want to talk about that for a second. When I think of religion, I think of a man-made system. I think like an evangelical. It's not a religion. Christianity isn't a religion. It's a relationship.
But it does say in James 1, verse 26, if anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. So that's the negative side. Positively, religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this, to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
So there's a bad religion and a good religion. There's a religion you want to lose, and there's a religion you want to keep.
Pete. That's kind of catchy. Losing my religion. Well, you know, I mean, in the ancient world, the idea of being religious would not necessarily have had a negative connotation. Now we view it as, you know, being fraudulent, you know.
So if somebody says you are religious, now we're like, oh, no, but I do have a relationship. And I'm not just one of those fuddy-duddys who goes to church on Sunday. You know, I actually believe in something.
Mark Steve, when I was growing up, there was a neighbor, and his name was Mark, and it was a strange family that he was a part of. They had many children. That seems strange to us. There were three of us kids.
So, you know, if we were in anything n plus one or more, then that's a problem, right? You don't have enough kids if you have less than three. If you've got more than that, then you're the doogers or duggers or something.
Anyway, they went to church on Sunday morning. They went to Sunday school also. They went on Sunday nights, and then they went to some Wednesday night deal. Pete. How bizarre. Some Moana thing. And I really thought these people are weird.
And you know, the funniest thing was, we would go to their house on Sundays in the afternoon, and then for dinner, they would have cereal, and then they'd go to church. Or they would have grilled cheese or something like that.
Very simple. And then fast forward, I came to find out they were Baptist. But in our house, when we have Sunday night service, it's, you know, fend for yourself, and the kids usually eat cereal.
Well, and I mean, we were kind of the odd ones because there were only a couple of kids in the house, you know. But I'm just like, hey, we went to, we were at church, it seemed like, all day Sunday. And then, you know, Wednesday evening, we'd go to, I don't even remember what it's called, the MIA, Mutual Youth in Action, whatever it was called.
And then earlier in life, we had primary, so, which was, you know, for younger kids, and we always did that. I mean That's all Mormon stuff? Yeah. What's a Job's daughter? Is that a Mormon deal? I don't think so.
I think that sounds like it should be Jewish. So
Oh, okay. All right. So here on No Compromise Radio, we're talking about religion, spirituality. Steve, if someone says that they're spiritual, what does that mean? Do you say to yourself, Steve, I guess I should not evangelize them because they're spiritual, and that's what is required of heaven?
Absolutely not. You know what, here's a great thing to do with anybody who has some kind of undefined spirituality or something like that. I always just say, oh, that's interesting. You know, what's the source of your spirituality?
In other words, what's the authority for it? You know, and always just ask that question, be nice about it or whatever. But it's so interesting because you'll get some really odd answers, you know, or something like this.
It'll be subjective. They'll say something like, well, I just do what seems right to me or I try to live according to the dictates of my own conscience. And so then you have a perfect chance to go to the gospel.
You say, well, that's interesting too. Let me ask you this, though. There are seven billion people on the planet. If they all have their own spirituality, just like you, and their own sense of what's right and wrong, can they all be right?
Pete. Hmm, Steve, excellent advice for our listeners today. When someone says I'm spiritual, let's ask them about their source of spirituality, their source of knowledge, their source of receiving what they would call spirituality.
What's their, oh, I'm trying to think of a synonym for source. Well, authority. Pete. Okay, authority, good. Okay, good. What's your authority? Now, moving on to I'm a person of faith, don't you think.
Now we move from what's the source or authority to the object of? Tell us the difference.
Steve. Well, the source for us, for example, would be scripture and the object would not be scripture. We don't worship scripture. You know, the object of our faith is Christ Jesus. You know, you could say the object of our faith is the Trinity, you know, Father, Son, and Spirit, but you would not say the object of your faith is the Bible.
So to be source, Bible, you know, object, God.
Pete. Don't you think people who say I'm a person of faith, they're really kind of Kierkegaardian. They have faith in, I don't know, there's the cliff, but I'm just jumping off of it intellectually anyway.
It doesn't seem to make rational sense. I'm just taking the leap of faith. Or I know I'm supposed to believe in some type of a higher power, something, God in general, because I see the creation, and I'm a person of faith.
That means I'm basically a theist. Don't they mean that? If I met a person, they said I'm a person of faith, I'd say, okay, you're a theist. Now I need to get to the gospel.
Yeah, I acknowledge that there's something greater than me. I just don't really have my finger on it. You could almost call that person somewhere between a theist and an agnostic, you know, kind of like, I think there's probably something out there, but I don't really know.
I can't define it.
Steve, why don't we go no-co on these people? And when someone asks us, or now you listeners, if they ask you about, they make a statement, I'm spiritual, or I'm religious, or I'm a person of faith, why don't we say something?
I don't know, it might be smart alecky, so I have to be careful. We want to be kind and gentle, right? Usually. Usually. Why don't we say, well, of course you are. I'm a very spiritual person. Of course, because you are made to worship God.
And if you don't worship him, you're worshiping something. And what Bob Dylan said is absolutely true. Of course you're spiritual. And if they say, well, I'm a person of faith, of course, because everybody believes in something.
And probably you, you believe in yourself.
Of course you are. Well, I mean, or he could even be, I don't know, dare I say, biblical.
I thought you were going to say diplomatic, because you have some diplomacy in you when you really try.
Once in a while it happens. Apparently not according to Des Muto or whatever, you know, Manuto.
Wasn't he the, wasn't he a receiver for the Green Bay Packers? Didn't he win the, who was the receiver? No, that's Des Bryant. That's the Cowboys guy.
I just thought, is he talking about Des Bryant and whatever. But I could say, you know, you look at creation, you see the order, you see the beauty and splendor of it all, and you think to yourself, there is a creator.
Well, congratulations, you're, you know, I mean, that's Romans 1, right? So, we all know that. That's general revelation. And so, I'd say it nicely. I'd say you look around and you see order, you see beauty, and you decide for yourself that there is a creator.
Well, God has designed us to think that way. The next step is, well, if there's a creator, what do you suppose he wants? What do you suppose he actually demands of us? What would he have us do? And the answer to that is found in Scripture.
There's no other place but the Bible where you can find out what God wants from us and really what the truth is about us, that we're not neutral, we're not good, but we're.
Actually sinners. Pete Excellent advice from Pastor Steve Cooley. You can go to, is it at TheTuesdayGuy for his Twitter feed? Steve Yes, at TheTuesdayGuy. Pete Facebook? Steve Steve Cooley. Pete Okay.
Steve, I looked up in the dictionary on my iPhone while you were talking, and I wanted to know the root word for religion, the word meaning, the etymology. Any guesses? I didn't know. I thought, duh, I should have known.
Steve No. Well, it's got in the middle of it, L-I-G, and it has nothing to do with Ligduncan. Steve Ligonier? Pete Yeah, see, there you go. Ligare means to bind or to tie, like with a ligament or a ligature type of thing, and so now you do it again, right, to re-tie.
So you are re-tying and re-plugging back into this system of faith, to re-tie. Isn't that interesting? Pete Yeah, I don't really know that I like it, but yeah, that is interesting. Steve And according to the dictionary here, it says, religion, noun, number one, a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances.
Pete. See, I don't even like superhuman. I mean, that's just not even...
Steve You know what I thought they were going to do, which I was going to be glad for, if they said supernatural. Pete Yeah. Steve I was going to like that because it was going to be Machen-esque.
Pete Yeah, but superhuman, no.
No, that doesn't work for me. Steve. And then it says, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs.
And see, I sort of like that part, except what it really implies is, you know, Christianity is a list of do's and don'ts and, you know, oh, don't do that. You know, if you do that, you're not a Christian.
Pete. When I first got saved, somebody told me that when someone asks you, you know, do you want to drink on the plane, and you say, I drink as much as I want. I just don't want to. It was so cheesy. Steve.
Because you've got to talk about your freedom, right? Pete. Yeah, that's right. Well, when I got saved 20 some years ago, that was way before the, let's push our freedoms. Let's talk about IPA and hops and all this stuff and promote it on our website.
I did sit in an aisle the other day in a row on JetBlue, and they said, oh, this is the, you know, you want any free drinks. So I said, I said, I'll have a Diet Pepsi. Pete. No, no, we mean real drinks.
And you're like, okay, with ice. Steve. Yeah. All right. Mike Ebendroth of Steve Cooley. It does say, to wrap it up, Steve, in the last minute, Alabama and Mississippi, they were at the top. That is to say, more people went to church, more people talked about church, more people had self-righteous behavior externally in those two versus Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts.
Pete. Well, the truth is, and this is universal, I don't care what state you're in, they all need to know that they're sinners, that there's a Savior. They need to hear about Jesus Christ, the God who became a man and lived a perfect life and never sinned, always did what the Father commanded, you know, voluntarily laid aside the exercise of deity and lived the perfect life, and then was raised from the dead on the third day.
They need to hear the gospel. In other words, they need to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ in order to be saved. I don't care how religious they are. I don't care how many times they go to Awana or prayer circles or whatever else.
Steve. The source of your faith is the Bible, which then would show you the object of your faith, Jesus Christ. And then from that, out of gratitude, you would be religious and serve others.
Pete Amen. Announcer. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. 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.
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. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.
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