Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 195 | Why God Is A "He"

Episode Date: December 9, 2019

Today I address a very commonly asked question: Why is God referred to as a he? I also answer more of your theological, political, and personal questions. Today’s Sponsor: Exhausted. Every. Single. Day? Bolster Sleep is my favorite brand for my mattress and pillows. Bolster Sleep has high quality, hybrid mattresses and bedding along with cooling technology for the ultimate nights sleep. To get 15% off your entire purchase, use code ALLIE at: https://bolstersleep.com/#

Hey, this is Steve Day. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort.

We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed, you can watch this D-Day show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us. Hey, guys, happy Monday. Welcome to Relatable. I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. I think we can agree now that it's acceptable for us to be listening to Christmas music, to put up our Christmas decorations and to be excited about the Christmas season, right? There are some of you out there who are like Baja. bumbug until December 24th. You're like not until Christmas Eve, actually midnight of Christmas Eve. Can we even utter the word Christmas? But I would say that most people have accepted at this point that we can be celebrating the holiday season. So I hope that you guys are enjoying that. I would love to hear some of your Christmas traditions. I don't know if we had a ton of Christmas

traditions growing up. And so I would really like to establish some now that we have a baby. and we're our own little family. And so I would love to hear some of the things that you guys do. That's not what we're talking about today. Maybe I'll talk about it a little bit more because there is kind of a smorgasbord of things that we are talking about today. But the main thing we're talking about or the thing that I want to talk about first, at least quickly,

because I saw this kind of circulating on social media and I've seen it a million times and it's important to talk about. And that is why God is referred to as he and why he is necessarily referred to as he. Believe it or not, there are people. who push back on this. And this is not a new thing. People have been pushing back on this for probably decades, but especially when third way feminism seems to be at its all-time fiercest and ugliest. They are trying to manipulate God into being something that he is not. I heard this myth perpetuated

on social media the other day that God was never gendered as male in the Bible, that it was never really he and that actually was added much later because of the patriarchy. That's not true. We'll get into a little bit of that in just a second. Hey, this is Steve Day. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort, we ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's

unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed, you can watch this T-Day Show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us. Okay, so we're going to answer a few questions today that you guys have. I get so many emails, so many messages every day, either asking like personal advice or asking me what I think about, a particular biblical passage or an opinion that someone is shared on social media or a news story. And I don't have time to be able to answer them all. Although I love, I love to message you guys back when I have the opportunity. I just am not always able to. So today,

I'm taking some of the questions that you guys have. And one of the questions that I've been asked multiple times. And like I said, I've seen this kind of circulating on social media is, is God necessarily a he in the Bible? And this is different than our typical theology Monday podcast in which we take, you know, one subject, one theme, one cultural happening. And we say, okay, here's what the Bible has to say about this thing. Here's how Christians from a biblical perspective can analyze this particular topic. We've been going through most misused. Last week we did Matthew 7.1, judge not, lest you be judged. And how that's often de-contextualized. and misapplied. We've done Psalm 374, delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you

the desires of your heart, what that actually means. And we will pick back up on that. We're going to do that series here and there. You guys have been sending me a lot of verses that you want to dive into, and I'm excited about that. But today, I just want to take some of your questions and the things that you guys are interested in knowing a little bit more about or talking about, because I don't always have the opportunity to do that on social media and via email when you send them. So, like I said, This idea that God may not be a man, that he could be a woman, you know, the Ariana Grande's song, that God is a woman. Of course, I don't think she's talking about like Yahweh there.

She is making some kind of weird reference that I don't understand because I'm not cool anymore and I'm just not in pop culture. And so I think it's some kind of metaphor, but I don't know. But this idea I actually saw Glennon Doyle. You know, she is, was the mommy blogger now. she's an activist, social media person anyway. She refers to God as she often. And that's kind of part of her brand now. And then I saw a comment the other day that said, not by her, but by someone else saying, you know, God was never really referred to as he. That's something that's a tool that's a product of the patriarchy. So here's my response to that, since a lot of you guys have asked me

to talk about that. Obviously, that's not true. Obviously, it's not true that God was gendered later now. Maybe there is some historical fact about biblical interpretation that I don't know. But even if that was true, even if God was referred to as they instead of He until a certain point and they changed it, I'm not saying that's true, but even if that were true, that does not erase the fact that God is necessarily a he. Why? Because he's not just he. He is also Lord. He is also king. He is also Prince of Peace. He is also father. He is also these very specifically male terms. And why is that? Why is God he? Well, he is father because there is a human need for a father that is unlike our need for a mother. and God himself fills that need. There is a need for a leader in a king that is different than a need

for a queen or the role that a queen can fill. There is a need for a prince of peace that is different and more dynamic than anything a female character of the same equivalent could offer. It is important that God is a male because male is represented as headship in the Bible and he created it that way. Adam is created. first. Eve is created out of Adam. Christ is depicted as a warrior, as a savior that is a man. Of course, we know that God made flesh. Jesus came down as a real human man. God is a male for a reason. It's so funny to me that all of these people so concerned with misgendering won't apply God's preferred gender pronouns to himself. Yes, God is a male in the sense that he refers to

himself as a father, as a king, as a prince of peace, as a lord of lords. This is absolutely necessary and there's really no way to get around it. My thing is, if that triggers you, if you are triggered by God being a father, then they're probably, and I say this truly lovingly, you've probably got daddy issues that you need to deal with yourself. Like there are probably some heart issues in there. If the idea of God being a loving father and a son, sovereign king triggers you or throws you off. And I mean trigger sincerely. Like if that makes you angry or if that offends you, then you need to probably dig into your own heart and see what past pain you might be dealing with from, I don't know, if it's your father or the men in your

life or what idols you're holding on to. If your idol is feminism, yes, it's going to be very difficult for you to see God, the authority of heaven and earth, the person that should, you are subject to. It's going to be hard for you to see him as a man. And I'm not saying that God the Father is a man as we as we see him, but he refers to himself in these male ways. That would be very hard for you if you have an idol of feminism. But I would encourage you to let go of that. And I would encourage you to see actually the beauty and the grace and the mercy of viewing God as he depicts himself in the Bible that maybe there's actually a void in your life of the kind of fatherly love that God gives us and demonstrates throughout Scripture. So this is not even a point of

contention that Christians should entertain. It's not even interesting to say, well, maybe God was gender fluid. Maybe, you know, Jesus was gender fluid. Some people have argued that. Some people have argued that Jesus is effeminate. All of that is utter blasphemy. All of that is utter blasphemy. All of that is trying to make God in our image rather than remembering that we are made in his image because we are made in his image because he is the authority because he tells us what is and what isn't what's true, what's false, what's good and what's bad. We can look at God's word and trust that he is who he says he is. Again, it's not just about, oh, did someone, you know, two thousand years ago change the word they to he. It's how God refers to himself throughout the Bible

in what his fatherness, his kingship actually represents. as not just the head of the church, but the head of the universe. That is why that is important. Man is depicted as the source of woman in Adam and Eve and Jesus as the head of the church. And that is a male role in the same way that a husband is the head of the wife. Christ is the head of the church that is purposeful. That is purposeful. And again, that goes into kind of the conversation that we've had about the importance of biblical marriage, that biblical marriage is not just a matter. We didn't just get that from a few random verses that speak about homosexuality. We get that from the beginning of Genesis, how God defines marriage as between one man and one

woman. And we also see that reiterated in the New Testament as a reflection of Christ and the church. The male and female dynamic is necessary for Christian marriage. We see that reiterated over and over again throughout the Bible. And then the New Testament, all the way into revelation, we see the gospel, spiritual, eternal significance of that specific dichotomy of a male and female in covenantal marriage and that representing Christ in the church. So it's much bigger than, again, people either saying, oh, they're just a few pronouns or they're just a couple verses about what marriage is. If you are looking at the Bible with the question of how can I fit this scripture into my worldview, you're always going to come up with kooky stuff like that.

I heard someone the other day saying it was an amazing interpretation. It was this video that was going around and it was this female pastor. So there you go. But she was saying, yes, women are able to lead churches. They're able to, you know, pastor men and all of that. And we actually know that that's forbidden in scripture. And she was saying the reason is, is because, okay, Jesus is the word made flesh. and if Mary delivered the word, then we too are able to deliver the word. We too are able to deliver

Jesus. First of all, that's not what that verse means. She actually starts out the video saying, blah, blah, blah, word made flesh. So you know, you know when people refer to scripture as blah, blah, blah, that it's probably going to be something very inspired coming out of their mouths next. So not only is that not what that verse means and not what Mary's delivery actually means for women because the Bible doesn't contradict itself. That is obviously incorrect, and that's exactly what happens. That's exactly what happens when we look at scripture and we ask the question, how can I fit scripture into my preconceived notions of what the world is or my own personal

worldview or my subjective feelings? How can I be as little inconvenience as possible? how can I feel as good about myself as possible when I look at scripture? How can I avoid repentance as much as possible? Avoid sanctification as much as possible. How can I stay as comfortable as possible? If that is your idea when you are looking at scripture or if you are trying to fit scripture, certain verses into your worldview, rather than trying to subject your worldview you and subject your opinions and subject your feelings and your comfort and all of that to scripture, then we're always going to come up with kooky ideas of, oh, no, God didn't really

mean that marriage is between a man and a woman. Oh, no, God didn't really mean that male and female are different. God didn't really mean that the husband is the head of the wife. God didn't really mean that a woman isn't supposed to teach a man in church or lead a local church. God didn't really mean those things. Surely, he didn't really mean that we were supposed to. repent from our sins. Surely he didn't mean all of that because God did know the things that we would be going through right now. God didn't know how we would feel. God didn't know all of the things that would be popular. So surely God didn't mean what he said in the Bible, right? And then you start getting people saying things like Paul's not Jesus. Paul's different than Jesus. And what Paul said,

we can kind of take it or leave it. That's amazing hubris by the way to be. be able for you to decide what part of the biblical canon has authority and which one doesn't, even though scripture says that everything is that all scripture is God breathed. So you get people saying things like that. They separate the words of Jesus from the words of Paul thinking that that is going to give them an out. Well, that, when people tell you, Jesus is not Paul, or when people tell you, you know, Paul's word isn't inerrant, yes, Paul's word isn't inerrant, but what is in the biblical

canon we believe is anerrant because it's fully inspired by the Holy Spirit and therefore it's sufficient for our instruction and encouragement and reproof and all of that. So someone who disregards the words of Paul is not really important or just suggestions or just opinions, they have a fundamental misunderstanding of scripture and a fundamental misunderstanding, I would say, of the Trinity. Because if the word of God is inspired by the Holy Spirit and Jesus and the Holy Spirit are three and one with the Father, then Jesus's words and Paul's words, or God through Paul, we don't separate them and say, okay, you know, one is one we should listen to, one we shouldn't listen to. No, we listen to all of it because it's all God's word.

That's why we call the Bible God's word, not just the red letters, that Jesus said God's word. We call all of it God's word. And plus, it's people think that, oh, if I just read what Jesus said, then I don't have to worry about the sin stuff. Jesus talks about hell more than he talks about heaven. I sometimes wonder if the people who call themselves, you know, red letter Christians who say, let's just focus on what Jesus said, not what Paul said or anything else in the Bible. Like, have you actually read what Jesus says, though?

He's a pretty intense guy. He's a pretty intense God. He cares about sin. Do you remember the part when he went to the cross? He died for your sin? Yeah, that's how much he cares about it. He died to death that he didn't. have to die. He lived a life that he didn't have to live to pay for your sin. How dare us keep on

sinning and rejoice over our sin, celebrate our sin and try to fit our sin into scripture or try to fit scripture into our sin when he paid the price for that sin already. I sometimes wonder if the people who say, let's just listen to Jesus and not the rest of the Bible have actually listened to Jesus. But like I said, when you go to the Bible and you say, what can I get away with? How can I stay the most comfortable possible, how can I not have any of my feelings or desires challenged at all, you're going to come up with some really kooky theology. But when we go into the Bible and we ask the question, who is God and what is His will? Then that starts to change us. That starts to change us. And if we pray for wisdom and we study scripture, we meditate on scripture,

then we will change. God will change us from the inside of. out. That is the power of his word through the Holy Spirit. That's the amazing thing. But if we are using scripture as a means to our either political ends, social ends, personal ends, relational ends, then we won't end up changing. We'll actually end up growing very bitter and confused and disappointed and very likely we will end up losing faith, if, you know, for lack of a better term, losing faith altogether because the Bible no longer really fits into what we believe anymore. Eventually, you'll say the Bible's not even really necessary for me to build my worldview. If you're just picking and choosing verses to fit into what you want to believe.

So again, my encouragement is that when we go to the Word of God, whether we're, you know, trying to figure out whether or not God really refers to himself as a male for our purpose, whether we're trying to figure out marriage or the rules of men and women, the role of the church and all of that. Our question is, who is God and what's his well? and how can we best conform to that so that we can better worship him, which is the sole goal of our entire lives. Okay, now I'm going to answer some of your questions. So here is, here's an awesome question that really goes with this. So someone asked me biblical texts to refute the claim that

God is sexist. So this is what I like to do when people try to throw something like that at me and they think that they have caught me. Not this person who's asking the question, but I'm guessing someone asked you this question and they're trying to catch you in this trap and people who ask me, you know, isn't God sexist? They're just trying to trap you. They think that they've got you. They don't actually really want to know the answer to it. But what I like to do is to ask questions.

So why do you think God is sexist? What makes you think God is sexist? because what people who, you know, don't like Christianity, who want to disprove you, what they want to do is put you on the defense. It's the same thing if you're trying to have a conversation about abortion. They're putting you on the defense. When in reality, yours is the logical, truthful position. So they should be on the defense. Well, you know, why do you believe it's okay to kill a child inside the womb? Or why don't you believe in God? How do you think we all got here? Why do you think there's a right and wrong? Really,

that's a more fantastical view. And so they should be on the defense. So this question, what I consider an illogical question, kind of crazy question, is, is God a sexist? I want to know, what do you mean by sexes? Why do you believe that God is sexist? What I'm guessing this person means, not this person who asked, but this person who's being asked this question, I assume. what I'm assuming that they mean is that God prefers men over women. And I'll just be honest with you. I understand. I totally understand this feeling.

I do. I'm not going to just pretend like, how could you possibly think that? There's no reason to think that. No. I mean, there is definitely, God does ordain a patriarchy. He does. He ordains a patriarchy, not just in the Old Testament, but also in the family. Like the man is the head of the wife, just as Christ is the head of the church, like we said,

and that is a patriarchy, and that is for our good. That is for the woman's good. God does, or the Bible does say that the woman is the weaker vessel. The Bible does say that women are more easily deceived than men are. And so if you, especially for those of us who have been raised, whether we like it or not, guys, all of us, Christian, conservative, unless we have just been like, whole. hold away from the world and we have never entered into, you know, popular culture at all, we have all been infected by feminism. We have all been affected by feminism. We have all got this

idea in our head that I am a strong, independent woman who can do absolutely everything. I can do anything a man can. I should do anything a man can. Actually, I can do better things than a man can. And I want to have an egalitarian marriage. Some people say I want to have the exact, same role as my husband. There's no need for this complementarian stuff. And there are a lot of Christians who believe this. They believe that any kind of difference in role between a man and a woman is inherently unequal. That is why you have people saying that women should be able to pastor a church despite what First Timothy says about that. And the problem with that, the problem with that is that obviously it's not true. The difference in role between a men of a man,

and a woman, according to God's word, does not mean that God doesn't value the woman. On the contrary, it means that he values her very much. Like if we look at Ephesians 5, for example, husbands love your wives as Christ love the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water by the word so that he might present the church to himself in the splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such thing that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way, husbands should love their wives as their own body. He who loves his wife loves himself for no one ever hated his own flesh but nourishes and cherishes it just as Christ does the church because we are members of his body. Does that sound to you

like a God who doesn't care about women, who doesn't care about the wife, instructing a husband to love his wife in the same way that Christ loved the church? Christ died for the church. Christ bled on a cross for the church. Christ sacrificed his life for the church. Christ sacrificed his life for the church gave himself up for her that he might sanctify her in the same way a husband is to lay down his life for his wife that she might be sanctified he is committed to her holiness he is committed to her spiritual to her emotional to her physical well-being he lays down everything for her that is what the christian husband is called to the christian patriarch of the family is called to to utter in total submission, submissive authority to his wife. And the wife is also called to submit to her

husband as she submits to the Lord. And that is the kind of husband that we want to submit to. It's the kind of husband that is laying down his life constantly for the interest, for the needs of his family, particularly his wife, so that she may be presented as wholly spotless without blemish before the Lord. And of course, whether or not we have a husband who perfectly emulates this every day, we are still, we are still called to submission as wives to our husbands. So if you, sure, if you say, you know, the verse that says wives are supposed to submit to their husbands, if you say that, well, that is inherently sexist because he never calls husbands to submit to their wives. Read, read this chapter. It's not the same way. Yes. That's.

husband is the head of the wife. It's not the exact same kind of submission that a husband does to his wife, but it is absolutely self-sacrificial service. That to me tells me that God values women just as much as he values men. He just has a different role for them because egalitarianism in marriage just doesn't work out very well. There has to be some kind of headship structure, some kind of authority that says, okay, at the end of the day, I am ultimately responsible for the protection, for the, for the provision, for the direction, for the spiritual well-being of my family. That is the man's role. And we get to rejoice as wives that that's not our responsibility. We have lots of responsibility. We have responsibilities over the children,

over things of the home, not saying that a man can't do anything in the home. I'm not saying that a woman can't make decisions, obviously. I think that you can probably pick that up from who I am and how I am. If you've been following me for any length of time, but the rules that God has placed for men and women are for our good and are for our protection. And we can try to argue all we want to against the nature that the Bible depicts of women as being easily deceived as being the weaker vessels. But I think if we laid down our pride, if we laid down our ego for a second, we would say, that's true. Maybe not in every single instance. And I am talking as a very, a very, a very.

opinionated, a very outspoken, I would say a very strong, willed woman. I can look at something like that. And even though it rubs my pride the wrong way, I realize that it's pride and ego that's stopping me from agreeing with the God of Scripture who created woman. The idea that God is sexist goes against every single thing that we know about God and creation and how he structures things, even if we look at Genesis, how woman was made. If man was refined from dust and woman was a refinement of man, then we can know that God sees us as glorious image bears alongside our husbands. We are called Azaire. We are called the helper to come alongside the man. If we are married, women are made in the image of God. They are valuable. They are integral parts.

of the church. We see several roles for women within the church in the New Testament as evangelists as teachers of women and of children, of moms, of we see in Proverbs 31, the kind of enterprising and clever and strong and wise and kind woman that scripture calls us all to be through the power of Christ. And so I would say that scripture has an extreme high view of women. Can you show me any other world religion that views women that cherishes women as much as Christianity does? I can't. Certainly not Islam. You're not going to find the kind of reverence for women. And obviously I mean that in an earthly way, not in a blasphemous way. You're not going to find the kind of preciousness of women in

any other world religion except for biblical Christianity. you're just not going to be able to find it. I mean, think about how Jesus treated women. He talks to women that had probably never been talked to respectfully. They probably couldn't remember the last time they had been spoken to respectfully. The woman at the well who had five husbands. Jesus met her at the well, had a conversation with her. The woman who was caught in adultery who looked at her and said,

for any of you who want to condemn her, want to stone her. If any of you haven't sinned, you can be the, one to throw the first stone. The woman who had been bleeding for 11 years who touched him, he turned around and he paid attention to her. He looked at her. He didn't have to do that. She touched his robe and he said that he, or the Bible says that he felt power go out. He could have just kept going. He turned around and he looked at her. Mary, the mother of Jesus obviously has a very significant role. Martha obviously has a very significant role in the Bible. In the Old Testament. We've got Ruth. We've got Hannah. We've got Esther. We've got Rachel. We've got Sarah.

We've got all of these amazing women of the Bible that God saw fit to highlight and God saw fit to use. I don't know any other religion that honors women the way that Christianity does as image bears of God and as useful vessels for God's work. So God being sexist, it's impossible. It's impossible for God to be sexist. He created us and he created us in his image and he ascribes us value and he gives a lot of value. Okay. Next question. Your thoughts, this is totally different. And I'm only going to be able to get to a couple because I kind of got super into that one. Next question, your thoughts on Santa Claus. So I was actually talking about this the other day on Instagram because I don't know what exactly we're going to do. I There are, you know, there are parents that I've talked to that do Santa Claus and it's perfectly fine. Like, I believed in Santa Claus growing up and growing up not for very long. I actually found out when I was six that Santa Claus isn't real because I believed in the tooth fairy. You know, you really just start losing teeth when you're five or six.

And I remember there was like something on my window in my bedroom and I thought that the tooth fairy left it there was like a piece of tape or something. And I remember telling my brother who was 16 at this. time, oh, that's from the tooth fairy. And he rolled his eyes and said, that's stupid. And it was at that point that I said, oh, this isn't real. And then I kind of started to connect the dots as a lot of kids do. So I was young, six years old when I figured out. And I was very upset. I remember being mad at my mom that they had lied to me. And I think it kind of like hurt a little bit because we had done all this stuff like, you know, I would make milk and cookies for Santa Claus.

I would put out fruit on the porch for Rudolph that my parents would like take a bite out of. And so all of these things, of course, in my mind were proof that Santa Claus was real. And you don't really think about the logistics of him making it around the world in one night. Because if you're a Christian, you believe in God and you believe that God has supernatural abilities that you can't comprehend. And so at that point, you don't know that Santa Claus can't too. So thinking about all of that, I'm not resentful at all that I believed in Santa Claus. It was perfectly fine. I never had a moment of saying, oh, if Santa Claus is not real, maybe God's not real. I never had that moment. And it was all well and good. Now, I don't know if we will, if we will tell our

daughter about Santa Claus. We might in the sense that, okay, here's the story of Santa Claus. and here's who, you know, St. Nicholas was. And, you know, this is something that is a part of Christmas. This is a theme of Christmas, but this is not what Christmas is about. I don't know that I want to start telling her about the existence of someone who's not real because the Bible does tell us not to lie. And it is a little bit of a lie. It is, I mean, it is. It is a lie. Now, of course, parents tell their kids certain things. explain certain things to their kids in ways that they can understand that might not be the whole truth. But I think Santa Claus is a little bit different than that. You're just kind of straight up making up a story. And I'm not sure that it's right. I know this is going to say some people aren't going to like this. Not judging you. But I'm not sure that it's right to kind of, I don't know, manipulate their naivete, their innocence into believing something just because it's fun for a few years. So I don't think that we're going to do it. But parents have done it the right way.

Like I said, I believed it. And if you have your kids believing in Santa Claus, you know, it's fine. Your kids are going to grow up and thrive and be perfectly fine. And I'm sure it's a a whole lot of fun, but I think there's probably a balance to it. Like, you don't want to be a joy sucker and you don't want them to be the kind of kid that's going to school and being like, yo, here I am rolling up at preschool. Santa's not real. Bye. I mean, you don't want your kid to be that kid. Do you? No. And so I think there are conversations surrounding that and you can talk about the story and all that good stuff. But, yeah, I don't think that I don't think that we are going to, unless something changes my mind, but I don't think that we're going to say, you know, Santa left you these presents.

That's also just like a lot of work and a lot of secrecy. And I would, it would probably end up like she would see me putting the presents out of the tree and it would be this whole dramatic thing and ruin Christmas. So I don't want to do that. Someone asks me, do newborns go to heaven? So this is a very good question. And I defer to John Piper on this, who is. is far more learned than I am.

By the way, a lot of you ask me what podcasts I listen to. Ask Pastor John is a podcast that I listen to pretty frequently. They're like 10-minute podcast. Someone submits a question and he answers it. And he has answered before. I don't know if it was on the podcast or on his website, Desiring God, do newborns go to heaven? Now, the reason why this is complicated is because we believe,

as, you know, reformed Christians, we believe in something called total depravity, that we are inherently sinful, that we don't have to learn sin, that we are, as the Bible says, born in iniquity. We know sin in the core of our being. We are guilty, no matter, we are guilty automatically. We're not guilty when we, you know, reach an age of accountability. We have sin inside of us from the very beginning. You don't have to teach a toddler how to sin. You have to teach a toddler how to sin. You have to teach a toddler how to show. share. You don't have to teach a toddler how to be selfish and to take away a toy or to disobey you or to lie. We are born with selfish ambition to look out for our own happiness and our own

preservation and sin is a part of that. And so we believe in total depravity. So the question is, if we believe in that, are newborns, our babies in the womb guilty then? If we are totally depraved from the inside from, you know, the very beginning are babies guilty and worthy of hell. And the answer to that, I would say according to scripture, but through what I have learned through the interpretation of John Piper, the answer is no, babies do not go to hell. And the answer for that is because God is just because God is gracious. And yes, every single soul that ends up with Jesus in heaven, in paradise will have to be reconciled by Jesus Christ. Without faith in Christ, no one sees God.

Jesus is the way, the truth in the life, and no one comes to the Father except through him. And so we believe that God makes a way for these babies who die as infants, children who die before they are able to comprehend people with special needs who are unable to comprehend babies in the wound that God will make a way for them through Christ in a way that we don't fully understand, but because we know that God is gracious and just and good and sovereign, that is what we believe. John Piper, I don't remember the exact title of the article, but I'll try to post it if you guys are interested in kind of digging into his biblical

interpretation of that. But the answer is yes, we believe that newborns, this was, you specifically said in this question two months go to heaven the answer is yes absolutely um okay last question um um two good two good questions a few good questions a few good questions okay all they're quick question so i will do a couple of them what bible would you recommend reading this is my esv study bible as you can see It's kind of worn out because a friend got it for me in 2011, and I absolutely love it. Some people swear by the New King James Version. That's fine, too.

I think that's another good interpretation. The new American standard version, that's fine too. NIV is just a little bit loosey-goosey with the interpretation, or translation. And so I probably wouldn't go with that. I also use this Hebrew-Greek keyword study Bible that I find helpful. I am still learning how to navigate it. And then I just happened to have my resources right in front of me. I also have this is, oh, I'm showing this to the camera, by the way.

If you are not watching this, you can see it on YouTube. I also have this systematic theology book by Wayne Grudom. There are a lot of other really great resources. These are not the only three resources that you can use. But these answer a lot of my questions because I have a ton of questions as I'm reading in the Bible. Well, if I don't have my study Bible with me, which sometimes I don't, and I read it on my phone. But if I don't have my study Bible with me, I have a million, bajillion questions.

I ask a ton of questions every time I'm reading because there are phrases, words, sentences that I just don't understand. I don't know how to apply it. I don't know what the context is. I don't know what the original translation was. And all of that is important to me because I really want to know what's true and what's real and what this actually means, not just what I feel like. Another question that has nothing to do with that. How do you meal plan? I don't meal plan. I don't meal plan. I wish that I did. Now I'm probably going to get some of you reaching out to me telling me how I can meal plan, which is totally fine. You can't give me your advice. That's something

that I need to do better. So I have been totally inundated with my book that's coming out at the beginning of May. And I am so excited about it. But I am also really excited. And I think I can say this. I'm really excited about it being done, not because I haven't enjoyed writing it, because I have, but it has consumed a lot of my time. And I am in this thing. I'm a perfectionist. I'm not a perfectionist in all things, but I am a perfectionist in this. I've never done something this permanent. When I do a podcast the next week, I can say, oh, you know, I said this that was a misspoke or I said the wrong thing or I thought about this. Here's the correction. No big deal. but a book is so permanent. If I say the wrong thing, then it's just out there and people read it

and they maybe don't see my correction or my caveat or whatever it is. And so that kind of freaks me out. And I have like, I have rewritten the same thing over and over again. I've added a million things. I've taken away things and all that. So because of that, I feel like I've just kind of like a little bit been drowning just a tad. But, so meal planning has been non-existent. I can't even tell you what I've eaten for lunch. Cheese? I don't know. Not healthy. It hasn't been, it hasn't been good. And if I were a more naturally organized person, it probably would have been easier. But I'm not something I struggle with. Something I struggle with is being organized. It's always been true since I was little. I could never keep track of my pens, get school supplies at the beginning of the year,

two weeks in, lost all my pens and pencils. Still how I am. Just not naturally organized. So maybe one day I'll meal plan. Maybe that'll be one of my goals for 2020. I also want to do a podcast on not just goals for 2020, but how like looking back at 2019, because I was thinking about all of the beliefs, thoughts that I've had that in ways that you probably wouldn't realize, but I realized have changed in the way that God has sanctified me and rid me of things that I believe that I didn't realize that I believed and how he's convicted me in certain ways. And I want to encourage you to kind of do the same thing. And so I want to talk about like a year in review and also give you tools to think about your year and review too, because I think it's really important as we thank God for all

the things that he's done and given us the things that we prayed for that we didn't even realize he answered. I think it's important for us to kind of take a step back and to remember the goodness and the grace that he has shown to us and also to look forward to the things that he has in store, whatever they may be. Okay, that is all today. I will be back here on Wednesday with some updates on the news and I will see you then. Hey, this is Steve Day. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity and reality itself. On the Steve Day Show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth,

and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort. We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed, you can watch this Steve Day Show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us.