The Sean McDowell Show - 12 Tough Qs on God and the Bible

Episode Date: February 13, 2024

Who created God? Why is there evil? Will Dogs be in heaven? I was invited to speak at an event in Singapore and was asked these questions and many more important and foundational questions about God, the Bible, and morality. Check it out and leave more questions down below! Don’t forget to like this video, subscribe to our YouTube channel, and ring the notification bell so you never miss a future upload! READ: 77 FAQs About God and the Bible (https://amzn.to/49aHEn3) *Get a MASTERS IN APOLOGETICS or SCIENCE AND RELIGION at BIOLA (https://bit.ly/3LdNqKf) *USE Discount Code [SMDCERTDISC] for $100 off the BIOLA APOLOGETICS CERTIFICATE program (https://bit.ly/3AzfPFM) *See our fully online UNDERGRAD DEGREE in Bible, Theology, and Apologetics: (https://bit.ly/448STKK) FOLLOW ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA: Twitter: https://twitter.com/Sean_McDowell TikTok: @sean_mcdowell Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanmcdowell/ Website: https://seanmcdowell.org TIMESTAMPS: 0:00-1:05 Best Spiderman 1:05-4:38 How should we answer someone with difficult questions 4:38-11:15 Why is there evil and wars? 11:15-13:57 Is the Bible true or a bunch of random people writings? 13:57-16:15 How is the Bible relevant? 16:15-22:02 How do we reconcile science and Faith? 22:02-25:19 If God created the universe who created God? 25:19-26:46 Is there a need for change in my life if we're already saved? 26:46-30:24 What if someone hasn't heard of God? Are they doomed to hell? 30:24-32:27 What about babies that are miscarriages or have mental challenges? Do they get God's grace? 32:27-36:22 How should we respond if friends have spiritual questions? 36:22-40:12 Do dogs go to heaven? 40:12-43:18 Could there be another variant of me somewhere else in the universe? 43:18-48:39 Does God have soulmates for everyone? 48:39-53:58 Should you live together before marriage? 53:58-56:58 Is Christianity for the weak? 56:58-1:00:52 What should we do if someone keeps asking us questions?

So, to kick start, I have a very important question to ask Dr. Sean, okay? I know you like Spider-Man. So, which is the best Spider-Man? Tom Holland, Andrew Garfield, or Tobey Maguire? All right, so here's a quick story. I grew up older than most of you, and it was literally a dream that there'd be any Spider-Man film. There were not Marvel movies when I was a kid. So my wife can attest, wave, honey, real fast, just in case. She's right there. There's my high

school sweetheart. The very first Spider-Man that came out, it was early 2000s. We're sitting in the theater and she turned and looked at me and was like, I think at that moment was some of the greatest joy I've ever seen on your face. So I'm going with Tobey Maguire, the OG. Tobey Maguire, the answer. Awesome, awesome. The others are great, but I'm sticking with Tobey. Cool, I'll tell him that. Okay, but before we go into the what should we say,

I think it's very important that we frame this whole Q&A to how, you know, even before we go to what, but how should we answer somebody who comes to us with a difficult question? You know, what should our posture, what are some things that we need to look out for? So a couple things to keep in mind. Jesus was a masterful communicator,

the greatest communicator ever. And he did two things primarily. Number one, he told stories. And number two, he asked questions. We have recorded 339 questions of Jesus, 262 questions of Paul. So one of the things I try to do is I try to ask questions and listen well.

That's step number one. So there's a lot of times people have asked me questions and I've launched into a response and realized I'm not really answering their question. How do you find out what they're really asking is you ask questions and you listen and you try to get to the heart of it. That's number one. Number two is also realize there is an answer even if you don't have it. So I grew up in a Christian home. My father's written over 150 books, I think. He, for 50 years, was probably arguably one of the most influential Christian leaders in the world. That's just the family I grew up in. And he's an apologist. He would defend the faith and still does. And when I was about 19 years old, I went through a pretty intense season of questioning where I wasn't really convinced Christianity was true. And I went to this

philosopher at Biola University where I teach now. His name is J.P. Moreland, and he's been considered one of the top living philosophers in the world. He's brilliant. And I said to him, I said, I've got questions. And he goes, Sean, let me tell you something. He goes, I'm older than you. He's probably 25 years older than me. He said, one thing I've learned in my life is there is an answer if I'm willing to look for it. And at that point, because I was 19 or 20, I remember thinking it must be nice to sit in his shoes. I'm going to have to take his word for it. Now, 25 years later, he was absolutely right.

You might not have the answer if you're 16, 18, 25, 30 years old. But Christianity has, we have a deep bench, let's say. We have a history in the East and in the West of loving God with our minds. Do you know why there's an answer? Are you ready for it? It's because Christianity is actually true. So ask questions and listen,

but have the confidence that there is an answer if you're willing to seek for it. And as the Bible says, give it with gentleness and give it with respect. Wow, this is brilliant. Let's give Dr. Sean a big hand. Listen and have the confidence that there will always be an answer.

Yeah. Love that. And so with that mindset, let's dive into some questions that you guys may have. All right. So Nate, you seem excited to ask the questions. Yeah. So Sean, I think like you say that there are a lot of questions that people ask. And I think like one of the questions that all of our friends really love asking, and I think a lot of people here all have these questions in their head also, is like, you know, right now there's like a lot of wars, a lot of like problems, you know, World War I, World War II, all the way, food wars, all the wars, every single war. And then now all the Christians, we give them this speech that we have a good God.

You know, God is great and all that. But then they'll ask us back the question. So why is there evil and suffering in the world? Okay, so this, I would actually say this is the number one question. This is the big question. Behind almost every social issue. Like say there's a struggle with immigration. At the heart of it in my country is,

how do we love our neighbor? Why are people suffering? At the heart of issues like racism is, why is there division? Why is there evil and suffering in the world? This is the big question. Now, keep in mind, it's not just Christians who have to answer this question.

Everybody does. Every faith and religion or non-religion like atheism has to make sense of why the world is broken. So the question is not, can I tell you why every single bad thing has happened in your life? Because I can't. I don't know.

Quite obviously, I'm not God. That's not the question. The question is, which worldview offers the most intellectually and emotionally satisfying response to evil? And I'm a Christian because I think Christianity does. Now, somewhat quickly, I teach a full three-day, a full semester class on the problem of evil. I'll just give you three things to think about, okay? I'll be fast. One is the existence of evil is one of the best reasons to believe that God exists. Here's why. Evil and good are not equal and opposite forces.

They're not. Rather, evil is parasitic upon good. So think about it this way. Think about tooth decay. You have healthy teeth, but you can only have decay when healthy teeth go bad. So you have a standard of good, and then when something rots and decays, it goes bad. Think of evil like tooth decay. Or think of evil like a lie. What's more basic, a lie or truth? You can have truth without somebody telling a lie. But a lie, by definition, is a corruption or a twisting of the truth. Okay, sorry, one more example.

Take a test. You can have a right answer without somebody getting it wrong. But a wrong answer, by definition, is to not get that which is right. So you can have truth without a lie. is to not get that which is right. So you can have truth without a lie. You can have right without wrong. You can't have a lie without truth. You can't have wrong without right.

You can have good without evil, but you cannot have evil without good. That means if somebody looks at the world and says, why is there evil? What are they saying? They're saying something's gone wrong, something's broken, which only makes sense if there's an objective standard of good. So you can't have evil without good, and you can't have objective good without there being a God. That's why C.S. Lewis said as an atheist, he said, I looked at the world and I said, it's so unjust. But then the thought occurred to me, where did I get this idea of unjust? You can't have unjust unless you first have justice.

And you can't have objective justice unless there's first a God. So this question, why is the world broken, only makes sense if there's a designer and a maker and things are not the way they're supposed to be, which only makes sense if there's a God. Now, I said there'd be three things. We'll just give you two. Here's the second one.

In the 1800s, there was a pastor, a priest by the name of Father Damien. And he saw that people on an island at the end of Hawaii called Molokai were dying of the skin disease called leprosy. And this is the 1800s. With full awareness of this, he couldn't imagine that people would die alone without somebody to care for them. So he stepped in to become their priest. He couldn't imagine that people would die alone without somebody to care for them. So he stepped in to become their priest. He would bandage their wounds. He would counsel them. He would pray for them. He would preach to them. After 12 years, he stood up in front of them and he said two words that changed everything. He stood in front of this leper colony, opened up his robe and showed the first signs of leprosy. And he said, we lepers. He had become one of them. Let me ask you something.

Did they know that he loved them before he got leprosy? Yes. What changed on that day? He wasn't on the outside looking in. He became one of them and literally gave up everything for them. Who is Jesus more like? Father Damien before he got leprosy or after? It's only in Christianity where God actually steps into our pain and understands and becomes one of us and literally lays down his life and pays the ultimate price. That's the unique Christian response. If you're suffering, you can't say, God, where are you? God is like, I am right there and I have suffered with you

and I promise I'm gonna come back and redeem everything for good. That's the beginning of a response to the problem of evil. But more than anything, when people suffer, they don't need a response. They need someone to love and listen and empathize and be present with them for starters. I won't go that long on all of them, but that's an important question. So hopefully that helps.

Wow. Now I'm curious to know what number three is. Okay. I have another question, which is my friend actually asked me recently, like, did the Bible just come about because like a group of random dudes decide to just write a book? So I guess essentially what he was asking was, is everything in the Bible, is it true? Is what in the Bible to be true? Yeah. Okay. So by the way, if somebody says to you, did the Bible come about by a bunch of random dudes? Here's what I would say. Instead of giving an answer, I'd say, well, that's interesting. What makes you think that the Bible came about by a bunch of random dudes? I would ask that question. I'd say, if the Bible came about by a bunch of random dudes, why do you think

it's the most influential book, government, music, art, history, literature, architecture, why do you think that book has shaped more lives and history than anything if a bunch of random dudes just threw it together? If a bunch of random dudes just threw it together, why do you think there's seemingly 40 authors, 66 books, and yet there's a common story that runs through all of scripture? How could a bunch of random dudes tell such an influential, brilliant story? And there's really no answer to that. So notice what I did. Questions are almost always better than answers. You don't have to prove the Bible wasn't written by a bunch of random dudes.

Nobody believes that. Nobody believes that. Anybody who knows history and art and literature has at least have to recognize that the Bible's brilliant and influential and the greatest book that's ever been written. My question is, well, you got to be gracious how you do it. But I want to know why a book of that influence throughout the history of the world, why you would think it came about by a bunch of random dudes, I'd say, have you ever read it? And that's not a gotcha question. I seriously, if someone says that, I go, have you ever read the Bible? Why don't you read it first? And then when you're done, if you still think a bunch of random dudes just wrote it, let's talk.

That's what I would say. Mic drop. So just to hop on on that question, right, because the Bible is written like thousands of years ago, so some of my friends, they have been asking, how is it relevant in today's time? Okay. So I would ask your friend this. I would say, do you think sibling rivalry is still relevant in today's time? Yes. Do you think questions like self-image and self-esteem are still relevant in this time? Do you think questions of identity are still relevant in this time? Do you think questions of sexuality

are still relevant in this time? Do you think wars and rumors of wars are still relevant at this time. I could keep going, but I think you see the point. You know what's amazing? Is almost every movie that comes out and tells a story is basically repeating some story that existed in the Bible. Almost every sports movie is like a David versus Goliath type of story, right? I mean, think of any sports movie. Go, it seems to me it's still relevant today. Take any superhero movie.

Oh, don't even get me started on this. Superhero movies are themes of justice and redemption and forgiveness and heroism. I mean, if you think any of those things are still relevant today, basically these are just repeating the themes that the Bible wrote 2,000 years ago. So if those themes are relevant, the Bible is relevant. That's what I would say. Wow, this is incredible.

And I think I hope that encourages all of us as well, that the Bible is still speaking today. Amen. So we got to read our Bible. We got to know our Bible. The Bible is the living word of God. Preach it. All right, so...

Back to Nate. Yeah. I think something that's quite relevant to a lot of Singaporeans is science. Everybody loves science stream here. Everybody, a lot of science students around. Yeah, you can hear them. So, you know, for my university,

I think there's one module that's quite popular. It's on evolution. It's popular because, you know, it's quite easy to score. The Singaporean mindset. The Singaporean mindset. Goes with what you can get an A for, right? Yeah, that's right.

And so, some of my friends really do feel that, you know, they're quite convinced that we come from monkeys. You know, they're talking about superhero movies. You know, they believe in like those string theory, multiverse, Loki style. Don't worry, no spoilers. And so, with these kinds of thoughts, when we talk to them about faith, they have this feeling like, oh, maybe it's something of the past, something that doesn't gel together. So, what would you say, how do we reconcile faith and science for it to coexist?

Okay, so I'm going to list some names. I want you to think in the back of your mind what they have in common. Newton, Galileo, Pascal, Boyle, Faraday, basically every great scientist throughout the history of the world and scientific founder. Boyle, you could throw in there. Not all, but most. You know what they have in common? Christians or theists. Motivated to do science

largely because of their Christian faith. Now, why would they be motivated because of their Christian faith? Number one, we have the cultural commission in Genesis that says multiply, you know, subdue over the earth. Take care for it, grow of it, medicine, culture, we're supposed to create things. But if there's a God, then the world is orderly. It's rational. It makes sense. And our minds have been built to match up with the world and to be able to understand the world. So if you just look

throughout the history of the world, the scientific revolution as a whole was led by people who believed in God and applied their belief in God to the natural world. I actually think there's far more of a conflict between naturalism and science than between faith and science. One of the greatest living philosophers today, his name is Alvin Plantiga. And he wrote a book, you can read it, called Where the Conflict Really Lies. And since you quoted Darwin, I'll quote Darwin. Darwin wrote this. He said, the horrid doubt always arises whether the conviction of man's mind, which has evolved from the lower monkeys, is at all trustworthy. Would anyone trust the conviction of a monkey's mind. Now, what was Darwin's point?

He said, if we've evolved, and by evolution, he means a blind, purposeless, unguided, incremental process. He didn't mean some God-guided process. Blind, purposeless process. If that's the case, then my brain is the result of millions of years of small, accidental, purposeless processes that wasn't built to help me understand the world. It just happened to be enough to help me survive.

So that raises a really interesting question. If my brain is a cosmic accident, how do I know I can trust anything my brain tells me is true? In other words, what Darwin was saying is, if his theory were true, then it would undermine any confidence we could have in rationally concluding that his theory were true, because it undermines our basis for believing anything our brain tells us is true.

Alvin Plantinga argues, and so did C.S. Lewis, that it's actually the naturalistic worldview that is far more deeply in conflict with science than the Christian faith is. And I think he's right. Now, on the surface, age of the earth, questions of evolution, depending on what we mean by evolution. Those are things we have to work out, but on a deeper level, there's far more conflict in a worldview that gets rid of God with science than a worldview of faith that matches up with science. We've seen it historically, and philosophically,

I think it makes more sense too. Wow, mind-blowing. seen it historically, and philosophically, I think it makes more sense too. Wow. Mind blown. Yeah, I love it because science is basically the study of God's creation. It is. Yeah. By the way, atheists can do science. You don't have to believe in God to do science. There's some great scientists who are atheists, but think about the assumptions of doing science. You can't do science if the world is a chaos. It has to be orderly. There has to be regular patterns. My brain has to be able to match up with the natural world. There's so many assumptions built into science, which is why the great founders were motivated by what you said. You know, if you have an animistic worldview and God is in nature, then you don't dissect nature.

It's a Christian worldview that says God is distinct from creation. Then you start to study creation. So anyways, keep going. Next question. Right. So since we're talking about the world, faith, and science, right, I think there's a big question circling around that if God created the universe, who exactly created God? Okay. So I love this question, but this question is what you call a categorical fallacy. What do I mean by this? It's like saying, what does the color blue taste like? Or how much does the musical note C weigh? Taste and colors are different categories.

Musical notes and weight, different categories. So it makes sense to say who made your hat or your Vikings jersey. Now, by the way, if you were wearing a Chargers jersey, I would be like, you're awesome. But Vikings, at least you've got an American football jersey on, so you get big kudos for that. It makes sense to say who made your hat and who made your jersey and who made the microphone

because these are the kinds of things that can be made. But God, by definition, cannot be made. God is an unmakable self-existent being. That's what it means to be God. So if God could be made, then we'd say, wait a minute, then who made that God? And then who made that God? And who made that God? You'd have an endless cycle until you get to some being that itself is uncreated and self-existent and not made. That's exactly what we mean by God. So why is it a categorical fallacy? When you say who made God, you're saying who made the unmakable creator of the universe? That makes no sense. Like if you say what caused God, God by definition is not caused. God is uncaused. So if I say what caused God, you're

literally saying what caused the uncaused creator of the universe? You might as well ask what the color purple tastes like. Now, by the way, here's what's interesting, is for years, atheists would say things like, well, the universe is eternal and uncaused. And Christians would say, God is eternal and uncaused. What did they both agree on? Something can be eternal and uncaused. And then in the 20th century, what did we discover? The universe is not eternal. The universe itself, all the science is pointing firmly towards the universe having a beginning. So the universe needs a cause because it has a beginning, namely a cause outside of the universe that's powerful and personal and timeless and spaceless, which sounds a lot like God.

So things that are caused, things that begin to exist need a cause. But God didn't begin to exist. God can't have a cause and be God. So it's actually a categorical fallacy when you think about it. Does that make sense? If it doesn't, just nod. It'll make me feel good. Okay, another question we have is some people,

they ask like, God already loves me for who I am and he has made me this way. So is there a need for change in my life? I'm sorry, say that one more time. Okay, the question is like, God already loves me for who I am and he has made me this way. So is there a need for like change in my life? Okay, yes, there's need for change in your life because God loves you. I don't look at my kids and say, you know what? I love you. You don't need to change. In fact, if I looked at my kids and said that, I would be an unloving father. And you know that, right? It's because I love my kids. And you know what? If they didn't change, I would still love them. But it's because I love my kids. And you know what? If they didn't change, I would still love them.

But it's because I love my kids and I see areas they need to grow in that I encourage them to change. Do you really want a God that doesn't want you to change? That would be convenient. That would be easy. But that would not be a loving God. Man, God is holy and he's just and he's loving. And he wants us to conform us to the image of his son. Because God is good, because God is loving, that's exactly why he wants us to change. Yeah, that's good. And another question that sometimes like people ask us is if someone never hears about like God or like Jesus before, do they get to go to heaven? So for example, like if, you know, very sadly, like a baby is lost through miscarriage, like will that baby like go to heaven as well? Okay, so there's actually two different questions, the baby in a miscarriage and somebody who will that baby, like, go to heaven as well? Okay, so there's actually

two different questions, the baby in a miscarriage and somebody who hasn't heard, but they do relate. So here's what I think. The baby aside, we'll come back to that. I think there's nobody who's ever lived who doesn't have a basic knowledge that there's a God and they are morally accountable before this God. Now, how can I say that? Romans 1 tells us, even people, every, let me take a step back. Romans 1 tells us that everybody knows that God exists because we look at creation, but we suppress that. So just like a painting points towards a painter, creation points towards a creator. We know there's something powerful and timeless beyond us that brought us into existence. That's Romans 1. Romans 2 tells us even people without the law still know right and wrong because it's written on their hearts. So Romans 1 and 2 tells us we all know there's a creator and we all know there's a moral law that we've broken. Now, not

everybody has heard the name Jesus. So does that mean people who just don't hear the name Jesus go to hell? Here's what I think. I think if people reject the natural revelation that God has given through creation and through our conscience, I don't think God is required or morally bound to give people any further revelation who reject the way God has already made himself known. But to those who would respond, God can and does reach out and makes himself known. Friends, I just interviewed somebody, I haven't posted yet on my YouTube channel, who had a radical conversion of Christianity.

And he said, Sean, Jesus showed up to me in a dream. He goes, he showed up crystal clear. I had a dream that Jesus was there. And he said, it's time for you to follow me. He said, I wasn't sure if I was, my mind was going nuts. So I prayed again. I'm like, if this is true, I need to have it again. Went to sleep and he's like, stop, I meant it. Follow after me. It's your time. So here's somebody who had no physical Bible, didn't have a missionary come to him.

And God showed up to him in a dream and made himself real. So I think God can and does reach people with open hearts and open minds, willing to respond. Now, by the way, I've had people say to me, what about those who haven't heard? And sometimes I'll say, you know what? Part of being God is judging fairly.

If there is a God who exists, you and I might not understand how, but if this God is good and his job is to judge, he's going to judge fairly. But guess what? You're not one of those people who haven't heard. You've heard. So don't use how God might judge them to get yourself off the hook. You have heard the gospel. The question is, how are you going to respond? Now, babies, I think there's babies, there's people with, I love how the pastor up here didn't want to call it mental illness, mental issues. I was like, I love, you know, the sensitivity. Look, there are people with

mental issues and challenges that it's like, can this person really understand the gospel? In some ways, you could put that person in the category of this person really understand the gospel? In some ways, you could put that person in a category of a child or in the unborn. I do believe in the age of accountability. Now, I'm not going to say it's like when you turn 12, because I think it might be different for people. Like when you look in the desert when they're wandering 40 years, it's like everybody who was over 20 was held accountable for that and the next generation was kind of given a pass for the sins of their fathers now that's not exactly identical to this but i think because of god's grace and because of god's mercy somebody who's incapable of even

understanding their own sinfulness doesn't have the opportunity of life, I happen to believe that God's grace would cover them. If I'm wrong about that and he has some other way, I know God is going to be God and he's going to do what is good, even if I don't fully understand how he's going to work that out. So now, by the way, then some people say,

then Christians should be pro-choice because then you just send everybody to heaven, right? Right? Never thought of it that way. But think about it. Now you're thinking like Thanos. Right? I get to play God

and end certain lives for the result that I want, we are not supposed to use people. God has given us the dignity of making choices and we have no right to determine somebody's destiny like that. And in case you haven't seen Endgame, Thanos loses. Yeah, so I think we've been asking you a couple of difficult questions, but I think the thought in everyone's heads right now is if we are afraid, if like our friends ask us difficult questions, you know, how should our response be?

Should I say, I don't know? Should I say, let me get back to you? Like if you don't know the answer. If I don't know? Should I say, let me get back to you? Like if you don't know the answer. If I don't know the answer. If your friends are asking you spiritual questions, good for you. That means you're in a relationship with them. That means they feel the freedom to ask you.

That's a compliment. That's what we want. 1 Peter 3.15 says, sanctify Christ as Lord in your heart. Always be ready with an answer when somebody asks for the hope within. So that's good they're asking you this question. Now, what happens if you don't know the answer? You just simply say, that's a really thoughtful question. I don't know the answer to that. Can I find a thoughtful answer and get back to you? I'm telling you, if you make up a bad answer and then the person finds out it's not true,

that person will never ask you again. You'll lose credibility in that person's eyes. But if you say to somebody, guy, I really don't know the answer to that, but can I find an answer and get back to you? It shows you care. It shows you're speaking out of what you actually know and you can be trusted. And then you continue the conversation. That's how you learn. That's it.

That's great. I hope your friends are asking you those kinds of questions. But I also, like I said earlier, ask more questions. So oftentimes there's a question behind the question. So I had somebody ask me about the problem of evil years ago. And actually somebody asked me, they said, some of the effect of,

oh, I was getting my hair cut like years ago. And they asked me, I had a Christian book. They're like, oh, you're a Christian. Can I ask you a question? Like, sure. You know, why does God allow evil and suffering? And I launched into this response and I was super insensitive to her. This is like, this probably was 30 years ago. No, I'm not that old. It was 25 years, 20 years ago anyways can't do the math um 20 some years ago and the bottom line is she wasn't asking an intellectual question she was asking a personal question like when somebody says why is there evil in the world they could mean how do you make sense of evil from a Christian standpoint? Or they could mean, why is my uncle dying of cancer? Why did my parents get divorced? Why was there a global pandemic? Do you see how one is personal and one is kind of

intellectual? So when our friends ask us questions, I might say, you know what? That's a great question. I got a fine answer to you. I don't know, but can you tell me of all the questions you ask about God, why that question? Are you at a certain point in your life? What's the story behind that question? And that might give you a glimpse into somebody's heart. Wow, I love that. It's always the question behind the question. And I think that's something that we need to ask ourselves in that conversation and address the question behind the question, because that is what, actually, that's the answer, not the answer that they want, but that's the answer that they need for their lives.

That was deep, man. Well done. Thanks. Sitting next to him, I'm imbibing some of the... Don't leave me hanging. I know Giselle has a very personal question. She was like, we were preparing for this,

and she said, I'm dying to ask this question. I really need to know the answer to this question. So, okay, my dog died a few months ago. I just need to know. Will I see him in heaven? Oh, gosh. Well, was your dog a Christian?

I mean, I don't know. I mean, he heard me pray. Okay. So let me... Okay. All right. So... Trying to think about how much backstory to give to this.

So I think animals have souls. But I don't think they have spirits. A soul is your immaterial self. You're not just physical, you are body and soul. You are material and you are immaterial. Your soul is your center of consciousness that when your body stops functioning, you can continue as a center of consciousness, and then in heaven someday we will be re-embodied. Animals, God breathes life into the animals. An animal is not like a bottle of water that's just physical. There is a life force in an animal. But an animal has a more simple soul than a human being does. So animals don't have a moral conscience.

Animals don't have higher order thinking. They can't do calculus. They can't do calculus. They can't do art. They have simple emotions, but not complex emotions like human beings do. So because they don't have a moral conscience, animals don't have to repent of their sins and thus go to heaven, right? I've seen some dogs that I think are sinful,

but that's a separate issue. So the question is- Or some people that are like dogs. Well, I don't know. Ah, there you go. So the question is, will your dog be in heaven? I can't, if I'm going to be completely honest, I can't 100% answer that.

But I do think it's pretty obvious looking at Scripture that animals are important to God. You ever just looked at the Bible and noticed how many illustrations are animals? God saves animals on the ark. They're present when Jesus is born. Like animals are all over. They're a part of God's good creation before the fall. And so that makes me think that the renewed creation, there's going to be animals that are there. Now, I can't prove whether your dog will be there or not.

So I think one of two things would happen. Either you would get to heaven and the relationship you had with the dog would just not matter to you anymore because the new heaven is the new earth. Or I think God would reward you by bringing that dog back because you love it so much.

Okay. I can't prove that. Right? I'm trying to be honest when we're dealing with theological speculation beyond what the text says, but based on God's character, his love for

animals, what the nature of heaven will be like, I think we're on somewhat solid theological ground to assume one of those two would take place. That's the best I can do. Thank you so much. Just start praying for your dog right now. Right, so more burning questions.

I have one, I have one. Okay, so I'm a Marvel fan as well. And I don't know if you've watched Loki yet, but they talk a lot about variants. So my question is, could there be another variant of me somewhere else in another universe? Okay.

Let me take a step back on this. The idea of a variant only makes sense if there's a multiverse, right? That's right. Now, the way multiverse is portrayed in science fiction because it's science fiction doesn't always match up if there were a multiverse let me just make a general point about multiverses one of the things we know about the universe that i think is one of the most powerful arguments for the existence of god is that certain laws and constants of physics and cosmology are narrowly fine-tuned to the precise range they need to be to have a universe capable of supporting life.

So gravity has to be calibrated to the equivalent of 1 times 10 with 40 zeros after it. If there was the slightest change in the strength of gravity up or down, then life could not exist in our universe. Now, there's about 30 to 40 parameters that must each be fine-tuned to an exquisite level. And that makes sense if there's a fine-tuner. Some people have said, well, fine-tuning, you can explain it away because there's a multiverse. There's a ton of different universes and we just happen to be in the one universe that is fine tuned. But if you pay close attention, both in DC and in the Marvel universe, I'm dead serious here, bear with me. Even in science fiction, they realize that if there is a multiverse, you still need a

mind and intelligence to navigate it. So the recent, somewhat recent, what if Marvel series on Disney Plus. How many of you have seen this? Okay, a lot of you have. There's the what if, if Ultron like was not defeated and took over. You notice there's this being in this between the worlds. And I forget the name of this being. The Watcher. The Watcher. The Watcher. You guys know it's better than I do. You've got the Watcher that navigates between these different universes. In other words, you need some kind of mind and some kind of intelligence,

even in science fiction, if you have a multiverse. So what this tells me is if you grow the number of universes thinking that you're getting rid of God, you're actually not. Because even in science fiction, they know you still need some mind and intelligence to navigate this multiverse. So does that mean there's variance of view? That does not follow. I don't think it works the way they portray it in Loki, as moderately interesting as that was. But I had to take the opportunity to say, sometimes even in these worlds we set up,

we think we're getting rid of God, but you still see the signs of intelligent presence from the top down. And we all need to find our glorious purpose. That's right. There you go. Okay. Yeah, so since we're on the topic of movies, right?

In movies, they always portray romantic relationships, saying that, you know, there's the one out there for you. So I just want to ask, does God have a soulmate for each and every single one of us? Do soulmates even exist? No, he doesn't. Sorry to burst your bubble. Now, how can I say that? First off, the Bible says there's two powerful, significant ways to live in relationship. One is marriage, which is one man and one woman, one flesh, one lifetime. That's what marriage is. One man, one woman, one flesh, one lifetime. And second, singleness. Paul was single. Jesus was single.

John the Baptist and Jeremiah were single. Now, Paul talks about it in 1 Corinthians chapter 7. There's benefits of being married, and there's burdens of being married. There's benefits of being single, and there's burdens of being single. So the benefits of being single, and there's burdens of being single. So the question when we ask, is there a soulmate, it's as if we're assuming that all of us, in fact, are supposed to be married. But when I look at scripture, I see beauty and goodness and importance

in both singleness and in marriage. That's the scriptural reality. Second, if God has a soulmate for everybody, so A is supposed to marry B. What happens if A marries C? Well, C was supposed to marry D. But D was supposed to marry E, and E was supposed, you messed up for everybody. Right? You get the point? It trickles down. When we think think about a soulmate we think my job is to find that one person god has for me i don't find that scriptural advice when it comes to dating rather what i find is the bible talks about using wisdom god's Holy Spirit is with us, but more valuable than gold and silver is wisdom.

Get wisdom. God has given you the choice to be single or to be married. If you get married, God will, I'm gonna, I wish I had more context for this, but God will allow you to step into a marriage that might be difficult and painful. God allows us to make choices. A friend of mine got married to a worship pastor.

It wasn't six months in that she discovered he was hooked on porn. She didn't do anything wrong. She followed everything, but you know what god was with her and god redeemed the circumstances now she ended up getting married to somebody else but the point is is that god is with us through the thick and through the thin marriage is a beautiful thing but god has given us the ability to make choices, but then we get to live with those choices. So I don't think God,

now I would call my wife my soulmate because we've been married 23 years and I can't imagine life without her. We've formed, in the sense that we've formed a life together and we've become soulmates on that level. But when you think about marriage, the other thing with this, I'm probably taking too long, is like when you think about movies like The Notebook, you've seen The Notebook, it's the idea that there's like this one person and there's these

forces that keep you together. It really makes you think about marriage on just this passionate, relational, human level that fills me up and gives my life meaning and passion. That's not a biblical view of marriage. The biggest view of marriage is that it is the prime illustration God uses to portray his love for the church to the world through marriage. So more than finding a soulmate,

it's finding someone that says, can we live in a relationship where we love each other and we serve Jesus and serve the church and can have a marriage that's gonna show God's love to the world through our relationship? That's the kind of question a Christian should be asking, not how do I find my soulmate. So much relationship nuggets here. And so if you are single, stop waiting for your

soulmate. Go and make it happen, all right? Okay, Sean. So talking about, you know, choices and soulmates and, okay, let's get a bit more practical. Maybe some people, it's a good year. Some people have made the choice to not be single. And then they are thinking towards marriage and all that. But before that, they are still navigating these times. So what are your thoughts on living together before marriage? Oh, okay. So I think the studies... By the way, I think you have the books out in the back. I document

some of these in my book, Chasing Love, is that couples who live together, there's higher rates of disagreement, higher rates of physical abuse. There's more problems you find in a living together relationship as a whole than you do those who are married second when people who live together first end up getting married as a whole you're less likely to have a lasting significant marriage over time than if you don't live together first. So practically speaking, here's what I would say to you. And this is someone who's been married 23 years to his high school sweetheart. If you want a successful, loving, biblical marriage,

don't live together first. And you might have to sacrifice to do so. I paid $5,000. I remember it. This was in the, when was this? I got to think about this. I guess it was around the year, well, we got married in the year 2000,

so it was in 1999, to get an apartment in the same complex as my wife rather than move in with her. For six months, cost me five grand as like a 23-year-old. That's a lot of money for anybody, let alone when you're 23. Do I regret that? No chance. Not for half a second. You know in part why? I travel a lot. My wife is with me here, obviously. I don't travel internationally alone, but sometimes I'll travel within the States alone. And she's not worried that I'm cheating on her.

She's not worried about those things. And you know what's interesting? I have some friends who, before they got married, either were gonna live in together or they're gonna be sexually active beforehand. They thought, well, we're going to get married anyways. It's just a ring, et cetera. You know what's interesting? On the other side, when you get married, you don't think about this when you're just dating.

But when you get older, what could go through your spouse's mind is, you know what? He was willing to push limits before we got married. I wonder what kind of rules and limits he's willing to push now. My wife's not worried about those things. We didn't live together. We didn't have sex. We had boundaries that we set up. And it did cross my mind that that would bless me 10, 23, 24 years later. God's commands are for your good. I'm going to talk about this tomorrow. I don't know if there's room or not, but my talk tomorrow afternoon is on a biblical view of sexuality. What is God's design for sex and relationships and marriage?

You are welcome to come back as long as there's room. And here's one of the most important things I want to impress upon you tomorrow is that God's design is for your good. So here's one more way I can put it because this issue is so important. There is nothing you can learn from living with somebody that matters for having a significant lasting marriage that you can't

learn from not living with that person. There is nothing that matters for a lasting, significant marriage that you can learn from living with somebody that you can't learn from not living with them. Do you know why there's more conflict in a living together relationship? You know why? Because the ring makes all the difference. Think about how different arguing is or differing, not like yelling at each other, but just differing and dealing with conflict. If you're not married, what do you think?

I can just walk out the door and be done. I'm living with this person. It doesn't mean anything. If my wife and I have conflict, she knows I'm committed to her for life. I know she's committed to me for life. As a result, we're going to find a way to work it out. So don't live with somebody before you get married if you want a lasting, significant, biblically faithful marriage. It will put you at a disadvantage. Trust me. Wow, that's so good.

I think we have time for like last one or two more questions. Yeah. Yes. So some people, they say that Christianity, it's for the weak, that it's like they only go to God when

they have a problem. They don't really strive to become better. So they feel that God and church, it's like a crutch for the weak. So what are your thoughts on this? This is a very Nietzschean claim. Friedrich Nietzsche, one of the most influential philosophers of all time, outspoken atheist in the 1800s, saw Christianity as a crutch, and he said it's for the weak. I think he's 100% exactly wrong. You know what I think one of the greatest demonstrations of strength was, is when Jesus was on the cross. Now what does Pilate say? He says, I have power over your fate. And Jesus stops him and says, you have no power over me. I lay down my life and I pick it up again. Christianity from the outside, I understand why people think Christianity is weak,

because they value power and dominance and control over other people. Christianity says there's a different kind of strength. There's a strength in admitting your sinfulness. There's a strength in admitting your weakness. There's a strength in looking at somebody and saying, I was wrong. Will you forgive me? That's the biggest kind of strength. Now, can some people abuse Christianity and just keep going back to God? Of course they can. But that abuse is not a reflection of Christianity being for the weak. That's somebody who's not understanding the freedom they really have in Christ. So what is greater strength? Being bigger than somebody and bullying them and controlling them or actually loving somebody? Because you know what? You can't love somebody unless you make yourself vulnerable. You can't love somebody unless you put yourself in a position to be able

to be hurt. And it's only in Christianity that that's exactly what God did. He humbled himself like it says in Philippians 2. So I think Christianity is for the strong, the strong who say, I want to love and I want to be loved. And I'm strong enough to admit when I am wrong and when I am mistaken and I need forgiveness, that's real strength. Wow, that's incredible. And yeah, that Jesus displays real strength on that cross. And I think that speaks to all of us as well, that we can come to God and find strength in Him in our weakness as well. That's why the Bible says,

in our weakness, God's strength is made perfect. Amen. And just to wrap it all up, sometimes we meet people with a lot of questions and the questions almost seems never ending. So when do you find people coming to a point where they find a resolution in their life? So if somebody's asking me questions and it's never ending,

at some point I might say something like this. I'd say, okay, you've asked a lot of questions and I will be here to answer questions as long as you have them for me. But say they ask one more question, I say, okay, if I answer that question, would you be one step closer to becoming a follower of Jesus? If they say yes, then I'll keep answering it. I've had people say no, and I'll say, okay, thanks for your honesty. Then what would? Because I want to talk about that. People can use questions as a deflection

to not deal with the real issue. Now, oftentimes when somebody comes to faith, it can take years and years and years. And patiently being there with somebody to answer their questions is a way of loving somebody. So I never want to downplay that. You might have to just keep answering their questions. But at some point, I want to try to realize and gauge, are you using this to deflect? Are you using this to avoid? What would it take for you to get closer to trusting Jesus? What's the heart of the issue? And then try to get to that. So that's how I would gauge the scenario. Wow, I love it.

So the goal is not just to give the answers. The goal is to bring them closer to Jesus. Absolutely. Look, apologetics is a fancy word. It doesn't mean saying you're sorry. It means making a case for something. So in the Greek, apologia means to give a defense or a reason for the hope within.

All Christians are called to give an apologetic for the faith. Now, this is just a ministry of either helping non-believers see Jesus more clearly or helping Christians grow in their confidence in the faith. It's a ministry. I can't force anybody to believe. So I really just try to gauge why is this person asking questions? Where are they coming from?

Can I get to the heart of the issue and do my best to answer their questions? It really should be a way of just loving people who are trying to make sense of the world. But the only way we can do that is if you and I first love God with our minds and we take seriously the call to be ready with an answer. A part of Christian discipleship is we got to love God with our hearts. We got to love God with our souls. And we also have to love God with our minds. We have to be ready with an answer, especially in an amazing country like this where you value education and thinking. there can be a temptation to make Christianity just a part of the heart and not the mind. It's both. It's both.

Wow, I love it. You know, come on, let's give Dr. Sean a big, big hand. I do not know about you, but I'm just blown away. It's, you know, all your answers has not just the mind, but a heart behind it as well. And I love how you ended it all. It's about loving God with all our heart, soul, and mind. But it's also about loving people. At the end of the day, we're not getting into an argument. We're not getting into a debate.

But what we are doing is bringing people closer to Jesus because we love them. Amen. So one more time, let's give Dr. Sean, all the team, a big, big hand. Come stand up near your feet right now.