The Sean McDowell Show - Answering the Top 20 Bible Questions (w/ Andrew Farley)

Episode Date: October 8, 2024

It seems like there are a lot of questions about Christianity we’re not supposed to ask—at least not in church. Author, pastor, and talk-show host, Dr. Andrew Farley is here to answer some tough biblical questions. He grounds his answers in Scripture and offers a radical new outlook on the nature of God and His boundless love for you. And there's one issue we differ on, too, which creates (hopefully) an helpful dialogue. READ: 101 Bible Questions: And the Surprising Answers You May Not Hear in Church by Andrew Farley (https://amzn.to/4dP18jB) *Get a MASTERS IN APOLOGETICS or SCIENCE AND RELIGION at BIOLA (https://bit.ly/3LdNqKf) *USE Discount Code [SMDCERTDISC] for 25% 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

Is baptism necessary for salvation? Does God send disasters on nations today? What is the gift of tongues and can Christians still practice it today? These are just three of the 20 questions we are going to explore today with Callin Radio host, pastor and author Andrew Farley, who you sent me a copy of your book, 101 Bible Questions. I read most of them, agree with you on most of them, but there's one at the end I definitely differ on. We will get there, but here's my hope. Each one of these, we could do a full show on this. Instead, just give us kind of your quick take on one of these when someone calls in your show, how you answer it,

and then we'll see if we can work through these. How does that sound? Yeah, absolutely. Sounds great. Well, I love the book. Appreciate you coming on. And this is going to be fun. So let's jump right into a controversial one. And here's the question. Is baptism necessary for salvation, especially in light of Acts 2.38 that seems to imply that belief and baptism go together. Yeah, well, the short answer is no, that you don't have to be water baptized to be saved. Of course, we can think about the thief on the cross who didn't have time to be splashed in water. We can

think about Paul's comments to the Corinthians, God did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel. Why would Paul say that God didn't send me to baptize? Well, they were arguing over who baptized whom. Look at me. I've been baptized by Peter. Look at me. I've been baptized by Paul. And Paul was tired of it. He was sick of it. And he said, you know, God didn't send me here to baptize people, but it's the gospel that saves. And that's why Paul's emphasis was always on the death and resurrection of Christ. Water baptism is awesome. It's an amazing celebration. It's like a birthday party, but a birthday party doesn't make you born and an anniversary celebration doesn't make you married. You're already married, you're already born. Those are celebrations. And it's the same

with water baptism. So with regard to Acts 2.38, I know a lot of people make a lot of that single verse, but what are we going to do about the 50 other passages that talk about justification by faith and make no mention of water? What are we going to do about Ephesians 2 that says we're saved by grace through faith? No mention of water. I could go on. Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. No mention of water. So we can't go running to our favorite pet verse to build a doctrine. The bottom line is that Acts 2.38 certainly highlights that it was very normal for people to believe and then announce their belief, to believe and be baptized, saying, I associate with this group called Christians. I identify with Jesus Christ,

but water has never saved anybody. That was a great answer. So there's different ways people debate about Acts 2, but if we compare it in light of all the other verses you read, like Ephesians chapter 2, that make it clear we're saved by grace, not by works, we probably shouldn't isolate that verse and say baptism is necessary, especially when Paul says to Corinthians, I am here not in terms of baptism, but to preach the gospel. Great answer. I think that's really helpful. All right, so let's work to the

next one. And this is one of the, there's a couple answers in here that you made me rethink. I'm like, huh, I might've had this one wrong. And this is one of them, Andrew. So I really appreciate this. It's on James chapter two and deals with the relationship between faith and works. And of course, James makes the point clearly that we are justified by works. Whereas Paul says in Romans and elsewhere that we're not justified by works. So is there a contradiction? Does James 2 state that we are justified by works? Well, first, yes. I'm so glad that you quoted it correctly, because I cannot tell you the number of people that just want to sweep that passage under the carpet and act like James never said

it. But he says it three times in his second chapter. He says, was not Rahab justified by works when she opened the door? Was not Abraham justified by works when he offered Isaac and then he says so we see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone so you can see why a guy like Martin Luther well the hair might stand up on the back of his neck as he's freaked out about James too and he concluded different from you and me he concluded that James didn't deserve to be in the Bible, in the biblical canon. So this was his big issue. So it's there. It's staring us in the face. We cannot sweep it under the carpet, but what we can do is take it in context. So what I love about James is that he gives us examples.

First, we have the example of Rahab the prostitute. Well, how many times did Rahab open that door? One time. She didn't have a lifelong record of opening doors for spies. She opened the door one time. And then how many times did Abraham offer Isaac? Again, one time. He didn't have a lifetime career of putting Isaac on an altar. So what we're seeing is James is trying to say this,

look, even the demons could pass a theology test. Even the demons could say there's one God. The demons are monotheistic. They know the truth about one God. But what separates us is that we have responded by faith. And that's what Rahab did. She responded by faith to the message of God by opening the door. How do we respond? We open the door of our lives to Christ. And then how did Abraham respond? He offered Isaac. How do we respond? We offer ourselves to God. We say, I can't save myself. Only you can save me. And I'm going to let you. I offer myself to you. And he says, great. I'm not going to put you on an altar, but I'm going to put you on a cross and you'll

be crucified, buried and raised to newness of life. So the bottom line is James is not a contradiction. What he's saying is it's faith plus decision. It is faith plus response. Whoever calls on the Lord, whoever opens the door, whoever offers themselves to God, that's how we're saved. Even Jesus taught this. He said, you know, they came to him and they said, what are the works of the father that we can do them?

Show us the works. And he corrects their grammar. And he says, the work of the father is that we believe in the one whom he sent. He was talking about active faith, saving faith, faith that opens a door to Jesus. So what would you say real quick if somebody said, well, then that response and that action and that opening door is a work. So therefore you're preaching, Andrew, that you're saved by works. Yeah, well, I think they're playing with Jesus's words. And I don't even have to answer that. Jesus did. I would agree with them. I would say, you know what? Here's Christ's words.

The work is to believe. If you want to call belief a work, you can play that mental gymnastics game all you want. But it's very clear that the New Testament says, today if you hear his voice, don't harden your heart. You've got to call on him, you got to believe in him. He stands at the door and knocks, you got to open the door. I mean, we can play mental gymnastics. Oh, opening the door is a work. Oh, calling on him is a work.

Oh, believing in him is a work. We can play all those games, but the New Testament says a decision is required. We have to respond to the gospel. Great answer. Let's move to number three, one that I get asked a lot, which is often not just an intellectual question. It's a very pastoral question that people are asking, and personal. Can you lose your salvation, or is it once saved, always saved? It's definitely once saved, always saved, and I'll tell you why. Three great reasons from the New Testament. First of all, how forgiven are we? God never forgives you 27%. No Christian is 84%

forgiven. Jesus said that he remembers our sins no more. He's removed them as far as the east is from the west. He keeps no record of our wrongs. Jesus doesn't forgive people partially. He said on the cross, it is finished. And Hebrews chapter 10 verse 14 says, by one sacrifice, we have been made perfect for all time. What does all time mean? It means forever. By one offering, we've been made perfectly forgiven forever. So the first

reason you're saved forever is because you're totally forgiven, not partially forgiven. The second reason is because we have eternal life, not temporary life. Jesus said whoever believes in him has everlasting life. It would not be everlasting if it came to an end. It would not be eternal if you could mess it up and cause it to pause or stop. And so it's just crazy talk when the promise is total forgiveness and the promise is eternal life what are we doing say and it's partial forgiveness and temporary life we don't know what we're talking about and then lastly I

would say this look at all the promises of God is God a liar when he says I'll never leave you I'll never forsake you nobody can snatch you out of my hand even when you are faithless I remain faithful and nothing separates you from the love of Christ we have to decide is God a liar hmm so God won't leave us to forsake us and people will not be snatched out of our hand, but can people apostatize and choose to reject Christ and then lose their salvation in a sense? What's your take on that? My take is no, because if we think we can, I'm not sure we really know who we are. You look at Ephesians 6 verse 24, it says we have an undying love for Jesus. So if we have an undying love for Jesus, I take that to mean that our love for him will never die. So we will always

be lovers of him at heart. Let's look at what salvation is. So many people run around talking about my faith, your faith, faith in general, and generic terms. That's not what being a Christian is. I don't just get some faith. I don't just get some movement. I don't just enroll in a self-improvement program. It is a heart surgery. I get my heart ripped out and replaced. My old self dies on the cross and I become a new self. So what kind of self are you? If you're the new self, if you're a new creation, if you are a slave of righteousness, I want you to think about that one because remember when you were a slave of sin, you couldn't get away from it. There was no escape. You were a slave of sin. Well, Paul says in Romans 6, he says, you've become a slave of righteousness

and you've become obedient from the heart. So I believe a new creation has an undying love for Jesus, has an obedient heart, and is a slave of righteousness. Yes, we mess up. Yes, we fail. Yes, we stumble. Yes, we we struggle but he began a good work in us and he's going to carry us on to completion good response number four is one i've also been asked a lot by students is people have said how do i know i'm truly saved might i get to heaven and god says depart from me i me. I never knew you. What's your take? Yeah, well, you notice that those people are hearing these words from Jesus, and it's not just get out of here, leave me alone, depart from me. It also says, I never knew you, which is a statement about their past relationship. They had none. They've never had a relationship with Christ. So anybody who's freaking out,

quaking in their boots there about this passage as a believer, forget about it. Let it go, because this is not your resume and you're reading someone else's mail at this point, because God is telling us that if we're in Christ, we're safe and secure. All those promises we just finished talking about, he's never going to say, get out of my face, get out of here. So who is he talking to? Well, he's talking to people at the final judgment, and they've got the gospel backwards. I mean, look at what they're saying. They're saying, Lord, look at all the stuff we did. Come on, let us in the kingdom.

Let us in the door. Look at all the stuff we did. Come on, let us in the kingdom. Let us in the door. Look at all the stuff we did. Well, that's not the gospel. The gospel is look at all that Jesus did. So they have the gospel backwards. They're bragging on their own religious works. And Jesus says, I never knew you. That's an unbeliever, someone who never had relationship with Christ.

Here's another personal one, Andrew. I've done a full show on this, an hour plus, I think. Is suicide the unforgivable sin? Or maybe you could say an unforgivable sin. Yeah, that one kind of saddens me. It makes me sick that we're saying that to people. In my view, you know, people are dragging out this passage in 1 John about a sin that leads to death. And first of all, they're saying that's an unforgivable sin. Well, John never even says that. He never even writes those words. All he says is you can't pray for that person in that regard and expect a result. He says there's a sin that leads to death, and then there's a sin that doesn't lead to death. And he says regarding the sin that leads to death, I'm not telling you to pray for that. So what does he mean? Well, I think he's talking about

spiritual death. I think he's saying I cannot pray a person into the kingdom. Now, I know that there are false teachings and cults out there who talk about praying for people after they're dead and praying people, other people into the kingdom, but John is actually refuting that. And he is saying that if you, if a person is dead in their sins, if a person is committing the sin that leads to death, which is rejecting the gospel, then I cannot force that person to believe. I cannot pray that person into believing. They have a decision. If they hear the voice of God through the gospel, they can harden their heart against it or they

can open the door to Christ. So the suicide is not an unforgivable sin. What a tragedy. I think it really historically came from the Catholic Church to be candid with you. And the reason that they did this is because you wouldn't have time for your last confession on your hospital bed. You wouldn't have time for your last confession if you took your own life. So dying by suicide, they concluded, might be an unforgivable sin because there's no last rites. There's no last ceremony. Well, let's not forget that we are not forgiven because of our many, many confessions. We are not forgiven because of last minute ceremonies.

We are forgiven because of the blood of Jesus shed once for all. He took away all of our sins. So the idea that a loving God is going to take his own child who is suffering maybe from depression, takes their own life. He says, well, that's it. I mean, you got down on yourself. You got depressed. So I'm kicking you while you're down and I'm yanking your salvation. It's just outrageous. I mean, what a horrible thing to say to anybody who's lost someone by suicide. The truth is, all sins are forgiven, not some sins, and God says grieve with those who grieve. He's not kicking us when we're down. There might be some Catholics who would take

issue with this, but that is a debate for another time that maybe we could have. Nonetheless, there's no freedom in living as if you think I sin and did not confess that sin either before the Lord or formal confession, knowing you die in a car accident after you just flip off somebody driving down the road, you go to hell. That seems crazy. There's no freedom in living that way. And so if we apply that logic to suicide, as painful and just horrific as that is, wouldn't imply that somebody would lose their salvation if they were genuinely saved. Now we could ask how somebody who was filled with the Holy Spirit to get to the point of taking their own life, but that goes beyond the biblical question we're wrestling with here. So thanks for weighing in that one. All right, we got five down, 15 to go. We might make this in time. You're incredible at how quick you're

responding without doing it. Here's one I get, tends to be from my, sometimes from my Latter-day Saint and Muslim friends, a critique of the idea of grace, meaning that the message of total forgiveness encourages people to sin because they're just going to get forgiven anyways. Your take. Yeah, I hear you. Well, you know what? I think we're sinning just fine thinking that we're not forgiven. I think people are sinning just fine when they think, well, you know, 10 minutes later, 10 days later, 10 weeks later, I'll go to the priest or I'll go to God and confess it or I'll ask him to forgive me. It seems like the Christian world is sinning just fine without believing much in grace. So Titus chapter two says the grace of God teaches us to say no to sin. So I don't think

we need less grace. I think we need more grace. More grace teaches us to sin less, and that's what Titus 2 is telling us. God's grace teaches us to say no to sin. How about what Jesus said? He said, whoever is forgiven much loves much. That means who is forgiven little is loving little. So, you know what? If Jesus is telling us this, I'm going all the way with it. Like, I think that what happens for me is I recognize the size of God's grace. I recognize what's involved in God's grace. It's not just forgiveness. It's everything we talked about moments ago. He rips out your heart by grace. He gives you a new heart by grace. He gives you a new identity. You become obedient from the heart by grace. It's a gift to us that we become slaves of righteousness. It's a gift that we are alive

to God and we can count ourselves alive to him. Like grace is bigger. I think we have a puny look at grace, a puny perspective on grace. When we say, well, grace is dangerous. That's like saying victory over sin is dangerous. For me, I mean, I'm looking at grace and I'm saying, you know what? I need more of it because look at what he's done by grace. He has given me a new heart, a new spirit. He's given me his spirit. He's put me in right relationship with him. I'm connected to Christ forever. He's given me power over sin through this resurrection to newness of life. So here comes a tempting thought, and I'm not going, well, I'm forgiven, so I guess I'll do it. I'm going, you know what? I don't want to be forgiven and miserable. No, thank you. I've learned my lesson. Like,

I am dead to sin, alive to God. I am made for so much more. I'm not like the guy next door. I really am different at the core. And so I think that's ultimately what grace teaches us. Grace teaches us our new identity, not just our forgiveness. Love it. Now, this next one is also very personal. We recently had our Biola faculty training, and one of our faculty at Biola, Todd Hall, has this approach on relational spirituality, how our relationships shape our spirituality with God and with others. And he said, I want you just to ask yourself this question, how do you think God views you? Such an interesting question. Now, I know a lot of people think, well, God is just angry with me, and he's this vindictive, angry judge in heaven because I sinned and I fell short.

And that brings us to a specific question in your book. Again, the title is 101 Bible Questions. Does God get angry with believers? I guess you could throw non-believers in there, too. Yeah, well, obviously God hates sin, but for believers, our sins are taken away. Obviously God hates sin. He doesn't like sin. He's punishing sin. There's a final judgment for that, but believers have no sin on their record, So God doesn't get angry at his children. I mean, we see this in Romans 5.

It says we've been saved from God's wrath and we have peace with God. We do see in the New Testament that we can grieve the spirit and we can quench the spirit. And I think those are worth talking about. So we can grieve the spirit, meaning he has a deep concern like a mother for a child who's riding their bicycle in the road I mean there's a deep concern there and we want the child to learn and grow and be responsible so there's grieving the spirit but that's not anger I mean think about it what is the only thing that angers God well it's sins well what did he do with our sins he took him away once for all and he keeps no record I remember your sins the only thing that angers God? Well, it's sins. Well, what did he do with our sins? He took them

away once for all, and he keeps no record. I remember your sins no more. So we are left with a God who cares deeply about us, and he grieves over us, which I'm thankful for. And then, you know, we can quench the spirit, which means not expressing him. And to me, that's common sense. Like, how can you express sin and Jesus at the exact same time? You can't, you're either gonna quench the spirit or you're gonna quench sin. And when we walk by the spirit, we're quenching sin.

When we walk by the flesh, we're quenching the spirit. I mean, it's just about what are we expressing in a given moment? There's no anger in that. You know, the final judgment will be beautiful for believers. I think we freak out about all of that. But then Paul tells us, look, you're going to be involved in the judging. You're going to be judging the world and the angels, he says.

You're a co-heir with Christ. So at that final judgment, John says we can have confidence in the day of judgment because as he is, so also are we. And perfect love casts out fear. So we cannot have relationship with a God who's angry with us, frustrated with us, you know, always has some issue with us. That's going to be impossible. We'd be walking on eggshells. I mean, he's the God of the universe. Are you kidding me? That would be stressful. So what we have is a loving father who remembers our sins no more, but he also cares deeply about our attitudes and our

actions. I love the enthusiasm and tenderness in your heart and smile on your face as they answered that very very apropos and timely all right this next one we're shifting a lot of gears here but uh it's a question i've been asked does god send disasters such as natural disasters on nations today and some will cite second chronicle 714 about you know kind of repenting in the land, and then, you know, God's responses to the nation of Israel. So does God send natural disasters on nations or people groups today? No, I don't believe he does. I think we're barking up the wrong tree with 2 Chronicles 7. We could go back to that same passage, and there's, you know, dozens and hundreds of animals being slaughtered for the forgiveness of the people of Israel.

There's blood being shed over and over. We have to locate that passage. What covenant are they under? What's going on in that passage? You know, who is it written to? Well, it's written to Israel. It's written under the old covenant. They're carrying out law-based sacrifices of

animals and they're concerned about the national boundaries of Israel, of course. And so today, you know what? There's people saved all over the planet. Abraham has become the father of many nations through faith. And that was the plan all along. That was the promise. That was the new covenant. So here we are, you and I and every other believer on the planet, we're on this side of the cross. We're on this side of the resurrection. We're on this side of Pentecost. God has given his spirit. We're sealed with the spirit. We have a newness of life. We live under a new covenant brought in by Jesus and his death on the cross. So, you know what? I think God is interested in saving people, not bringing death upon nations. And we do this all the time.

People get on the airwaves. Oh, 9-11. Oh, God's angry with the people of New York. Oh, you know what? You know, tragedy in Louisiana, natural disaster. God's angry with the people who engage in Mardi Gras. Oh, California, wildfires. God's angry with the people of Hollywood. You know, we hear this and this is a trend and we have got to stop it. God says he wants none to perish. He wants all to believe.

He wants everyone to come to repentance that's the message of the new testament yes there will be a day of judgment but today is not that day today is a day of salvation and that's what we need to be proclaiming to the world you know that example about mardi gras if i'm not mistaken maybe somebody can comment and say it. I don't think Mardi Gras itself was actually affected by the floods in Louisiana, which is kind of an interesting point. But there are also a lot of Christians that were calling that natural disaster. And then a certain political convention that was led by some of the same Christians was in a place in which there was a natural disaster. I'm like, well, we can also interpret that as a kind of judgment. And the point is just that we select

certain kind of judgments that maybe you're against the positions we don't like, not those against us, which maybe should make us rethink this model of being quick to attribute it to God. I think your biblical answer is solid. Now, this one in James 3 I'm gonna ask you about is one I think you shift my mind on as

well. I had quoted this and I read your passage. I'm like, shoot, I might not have quoted this correctly. So the question is, are pastors and teachers judged more harshly, especially because of James 3 that implies this or states this? Yeah. So for me, you know, that's a common misunderstanding. I think pastors need to know you're forgiven too. Pastors need to know there's no condemnation for you. Pastors need to know that God remembers your sins no more, and pastors need to know that the gospel is not different for them. So what's really going on in James is he's saying, yes, you'll be judged more harshly, but I think he's talking about by other believers, by the church, by the world. I mean, we see that. That's plain and obvious today with media and social media. Every single thing out

there is exposed and talked about by journalists and anchor that are news anchors. And oh my goodness, I mean, there's no lack of exposure and spotlighting all kinds of debauchery and sin among church leadership. So I think that's exactly what James is talking about. We're going to be judged more harshly, but it's by our you know when it comes to judgment from God Jesus already said he who believes in me is not judged he who does not believe in me stands judged already because he's not believed so you know pastors leaders Christians of any kind my goodness we got to know the gospel here and the gospel is that we can have

confidence in the day of judgment because God remembers our sins no more. Great word. Now, of course, that doesn't contradict the idea that we who are teachers have a special burden and responsibility to understand the scriptures correctly and translate it to people with great power comes great responsibility but in terms of the final judgment i think your word and that passage in james 3 is really really helpful all right we're almost halfway there and i'm super curious your take on this one do christians need to keep the sabbath especially because it's in the Ten Commandments, I might add. Yeah. Well, so I don't believe the Ten Commandments are an exception to our freedom from the law. I think that's a very common misconception today. You know, Paul never

makes that distinction. He never says you're dead to the law, but not the Ten Commandments. You're free from the law, but not the Ten Commandments. In fact, we find in two places where the Apostle Paul specifically targets the Ten Commandments, and he says in 2 Corinthians 3 that the Ten Commandments are a ministry of condemnation and a ministry of death. Now, that's a direct quote from 2 Corinthians 3, verses six to nine. Now, secondly, in Romans 7, I would just have us hit the pause button for a second and notice the struggle that Paul is having.

His struggle is with coveting. And coveting, of course, is addressed by one of the 10 commandments, thou shall not covet. Now, in that context, he says that it caused coveting of every kind in him. And then he says, apart from the law, sin is dead. Now, what does that tell you? He thinks that he should live apart from the coveting law, which is one of the 10. And he's also told us the 10 are a ministry of condemnation and death. So here's what I'm finding. And I'll just be candid with you here. Many Christians are happy to say, oh, we're dead to the law. Oh, we're free from the law. Oh yes. Grace, grace, grace, grace, grace. Absolutely.

I'm a grace guy. Yeah, you are too. That's awesome. But the 10 commandments, that's different. That's the moral law. That's different. So what you're telling me is that Jesus freed you to wear polyester. Jesus freed you to wear whatever clothes you want. He freed you from animal sacrifices. He freed you from dietary restrictions. But when it comes to lying, cheating, and stealing, you're going to go with Moses. You're going to go with 10 commandments written on stone to keep you from falling instead of trusting his spirit who is alive in you. And he's already told you what the fruit of the spirit is, which includes self-control

and love. You can't love somebody and kill them. You can't love somebody and steal their stuff. You can't love somebody and, you know, cheat on them. You know, we could go on, but love covers a multitude of sins. And what I'm saying is we don't need to be turning to Moses when we get nervous about morality. The fruit of the Spirit is enough. Now, you know, back to the Sabbath, that's one of the 10. So what does Paul say? Colossians 2. He says, don't let anybody act as your judge about a Sabbath day. He says, that's just a shadow of the things that were to come. And the reality is Christ. So he's saying, resting in Christ is what that was a picture of. It was a beautiful

picture of resting in Christ. But you don't have to stop emailing people Friday night. You can still mow your lawn on Saturday and you can rest in Christ spiritually. That's the shadow picture or symbol that the Sabbath was all about. I'm going to pivot here. We've done 10 of these. You're doing incredible. We're at halfway through. Instead of running through 10 more, maybe we'll have you back to do that. We're going to do five.

And then I've got some other questions for you more about how you came up with these questions and the questions people are asking. So let's ask you some of these big ones. I'm curious your take on this. And then we'll get to the one which I might have a different take on than you do to keep folks hanging in here with us. So here's a huge one people ask. Can a believer be possessed by a demon? Yeah, I don't think possessed. So I know that we can be accused. Revelation says he accuses us day and night.

I know that we can be tempted, accused, afflicted, you know, bothered. But remember, I think that we are looking at an enemy who's all bark and no bite, meaning that there's a message he can deliver. He can lie to us. He can deceive us. He can trick us. He can accuse us, but he cannot inhabit us. I don't believe God will share you with a demon. So have you noticed that all of the exorcisms of Christians are not really there? In Romans, Galatians, Ephesians, there's no manual for exorcisms of believers. You notice that after the gospel comes on the scene, we're not seeing Peter, James, John, and Paul giving us instructions on how to cast out demons from Christians. Instead,

we're seeing things like Jesus is your armor, the armor of God, breastplate of righteousness, sword of the Spirit, shield of faith, helmet of truth, helmet of salvation, belt of truth, feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. This is who Jesus is to us. He's our protection. He's our salvation. He's our truth. So I'm not seeing exorcisms for Christians and I think that's for good reason. And that's because the way you drive a bad man out is you invite a good man in. And we have received Christ and we're sealed until the day of redemption.

In fact, John says it. I mean, he answers your question better than I can. He says the evil one cannot touch you. So that's pretty clear. All bark and no bite. Good response, man man i'm impressed uh here's a big question i used to get asked this all the time or at least people were talking about kind of in the 80s and 90s less pressing now but still important what is your take on the gift of tongues and whether or not it is still active and can be practiced by Christians today? Yeah, so I believe that all the gifts certainly are here. I don't think gifts have gone anywhere.

I mean, I know that one day they'll disappear, and Paul talks about love enduring forever, and I don't think that day has come. I mean, we still have prophecy, which is, in my view, not future telling anymore. I mean, Revelation capped off all the future telling. He says, don't add to that. Don't take away from that. But, you know, we still have gifts today that are happening in the church.

That's plain and obvious. So for me to say, oh, well, let me pick one gift or two gifts or three gifts that are done with, I personally don't think that's very consistent teaching. So as far as the gift of tongues, I believe it's human languages. I believe it's a missionary gift. I think we're seeing it in Acts chapter 2, for example, at Pentecost. We're seeing the sharing of the gospel in many human languages. Now, I know that some people argue for two types of tongues. I personally don't think that Paul is communicating that. I would highlight the simple fact that there's no mention of any private prayer language in any chapter in the New Testament. People will go to

1 Corinthians 14 and they'll say, well, you know, people are speaking mysteries to God there. Well, maybe so, but they're doing it in church. That's the context. He tells women in church to be orderly. He tells prophets in church to be orderly, and he tells tongue speakers in church to be orderly. Nobody's at home. Nobody's in their prayer closet, nobody's engaged in private prayer. There is no passage on a private prayer language. It simply does not exist. So I believe in one type of tongues, and that is the speaking of human languages,

powerfully enabled by God to share the gospel like a missionary would in a foreign land if he didn't know the language. So if he or she is miraculously enabled by the Spirit to communicate, that's what we see in Acts chapter 2. So, you know, lastly, I would just say in 1 Corinthians 14, the mysteries that are happening there is that people are taking this evangelistic gift, the Corinthians are, they're taking it off the street into the church, and they're disrupting things. And Paul says, look, if you're going to do this, maybe two people, maybe three at most, but only if there's an interpreter, otherwise skip the

whole thing. Now, we walk into some churches today, and there's 55 people on the front row babbling away as a total distraction, and they're disobeying 1 Corinthians 14. So if they've got a private prayer language and they're hearing secret insights from God, then why are they disobeying scripture directly? So that's where I take issue with the private prayer language. I think the Corinthians were simply having this Acts 2 gift, this missionary gift, but they're coming in off the street into the church and showing it off and distracting people from the church service. And that's why Paul is calling them to the carpet. And he's saying, I'd rather you speak with your spirit and your mind so that people can say amen, because otherwise you sound like a barbarian. It's just like me

right now. I mean, if I were to spout off in Vietnamese, which by the way, I speak a bit of Vietnamese, but I did you no good there. You cannot say amen to what I said. I sound like a barbarian. I sound like a crazy person. And that's exactly what they were doing speaking human languages that nobody knew in church so it was a mystery to everybody except god for half a second i thought oh boy he is imitating vietnamese on my channel we are going to get some hate for this but you really speak it i'm impressed i'll take your word for it because i'm a linguist yeah i'm a linguist and actually a a lady from vietnam uh grew up in our home and lived with us for 30 years. Wow. That's awesome. I love it.

So I got a couple more for you, and then one I might see a little bit differently. But this one is big. This one comes up a lot in apologetic circles. Is the King James Version of the Bible superior to other translations? Absolutely not. I mean, there's nothing magical about 1611. There's nothing magical about Great Britain. I love that the King James Bible came out and impacted people for centuries and still does, and that's awesome. But we do find errors in the King James. It is not perfect, and God is not randomly saying, hey, you know what? There's a perfect Bible that came out on a British isle in the year 1611, and you guys should go with that. I don't care if you're speakers of Chinese or Spanish or any

other language. You need to go with this King James version. Well, King James may have not even been a believer. Many people, you know, don't think he was. He just wanted his name on the project. But secondly, I mean, you know, we've got earlier manuscripts today that we have access to that have shown us that there are some errors in the King James. We're not picking on the King James. It's as good as many other translations. It's great, but we've got some earlier manuscripts today that they did not have access to back then, and so we've discovered that there are some areas that could be fixed. In fact, some of these errors have been fixed in later editions of the King James. So if we're falling at the feet of a randomly chosen

English version of the Bible, we really need to think for a second, wait a minute, wasn't it the apostles' writings that were inspired and perfect in every way? Wasn't it the original manuscripts, not some translation from centuries later? That's a great answer. Now, the King James still could be used today. It has the gospel within it, helpful, wonderful, beautiful translation, but to say it's superior doesn't recognize that language itself changes, and we have better translation techniques today, and even earlier manuscripts, like you said. So I think that was a great answer. All right, so this I think that was a great answer.

All right, so this one I reword a little differently. We're here with Andrew Farley, and we're working through his book, 101 Bible Questions, and you have good, short, succinct answers, kind of like you're giving here for many more than we've asked today. I reworded this one a little bit because I'm curious your take. You have a question on the prosperity gospel. I'm curious if you think the prosperity gospel is bad theology or if it's really a false gospel within itself. Oh, I definitely think it's a false gospel. You know, the bottom line is Paul says anybody who thinks that godliness is a means to financial gain, that they are of

depraved mind, he says. So that's pretty strong language to say that someone's mind is depraved. So, you know, where in the Bible are we seeing that if you have enough faith in God, you're going to be healthy and wealthy? Every single one of those preachers who has proclaimed that, they all end up in a casket like the rest of us. And, you know, I've seen where people are, I've met some of these guys where they're hiding their injuries. I've heard them even whisper among themselves. They're not free to talk about their back pain, their shoulder pain. Some of them are wearing eyeglasses even as they preach the prosperity health wealth gospel. Why can't they speak perfect vision unto themselves? Name it, claim it, gab it, grab it. I mean, it's crazy that there are people following these teachings when the

messengers themselves are obviously not able to activate that same so-called faith. So it's definitely a false gospel. It's a message that is focused on circumstances. It might work well with the American dream. And I know a lot of people are suckered by the sales pitch of getting rich or being healthy constantly. But the reality is Jesus never said, you're gonna have perfect circumstances.

He said, in this world, you'll have trouble. You look at Paul telling Timothy about his stomach ailments. Timothy has these frequent stomach ailments. And Paul says, maybe take some red wine for that. He doesn't say, come on, Tim, have some more faith. What's wrong with you? Come on, buddy. And then Paul was sick. I mean, Paul

thanks the early church. He says, thank you for taking care of me the way that you did in my illness. You would have plucked out your eyes for me. You would have done anything for me. You love me so deeply and cared for me in my illness. Well, Paul was sick. He had a thorn in the flesh also. He said, take it from me three times. And God said, my grace is sufficient. So I don't know what we're doing. I don't know why there's so much traction. Well, I know why, because it's an easy sell and everybody wants to get rich and all that. But the folks that are controlling the channels and the avenues for this sort of teaching to have a platform I don't understand why they allow it as just one

stream among many when it is truly deceptive it sets people up for unrealistic expectations of God and disappointment and disillusionment so I say we got to fix our eyes on Jesus and say what Paul said, Lord Jesus Christ, you are my secret of contentment in all my circumstances, whether I have little or plenty, I have learned the secret and it is knowing Jesus Christ.

I did my dissertation on the death of the apostles. So I read through the entire New Testament paying attention to whenever it talked about the fact that we would expect to suffer or be persecuted and it's like a drum beat through the entire Gospels and the rest of the New Testament in James and Hebrews obviously revelation all through the teachings of Jesus the teachings of Paul in particular in Philippians and the prosperity gospel is the teachings of Jesus, the teachings of Paul in particular and Philippians. And the prosperity gospel is the opposite of that. Rather than suffering well and trusting God through it,

it's an easy fix to not only get rid of our suffering, but promise us things that Scripture doesn't promise. So I agree with you. It's not only bad theology, it's also a false gospel. All right, last one on this that you address in your book. You have different sections of the book I think might be helpful for people to know you kind of break it up into. So sections of forgiveness, freedom, relationship with God, spirit in the church. Marriage, sex, and gender is a topic I deal with a decent amount here.

I didn't ask you any of this, but I have one on here that I get asked a lot by students, and they'll just simply ask the question, is masturbation always wrong? What's your take on this? Yeah, so the Bible doesn't specifically address masturbation as a physical act. A lot of people will point to an Old Testament passage about Onan spilling his seed, but that's really about the sin of disobeying God and not being a kinsman redeemer. It's not addressing masturbation in any regard. So, you know, I know this is a controversial issue. You could look back at 50 years of Christian broadcasting, teaching, online resources, including Focus on the Family, other organizations. There's been debate among very, very reputable Christian counselors about this. Let me be clear. Obviously, lust

in any form is sin if it's not involving your spouse and just loving him or her. So, but yes, sexual lust is a sin. Pornography is sin. Fantasy, you know, picturing it in your mind, all of that is sin. To me, that's a no brainer. But you know what? I think that some people have had masturbation ruined for them because they've,

from 11 or 14 or 17 years old, they have always associated masturbation with pornography or masturbation with fantasy and lust. And so they've never known any different. They cannot divorce the two. The two are intertwined and one doesn't happen without the other you know can can you can you masturbate without fantasy and lust and sinful activity I think you can you know I I'm fortunately never got into pornography in the slightest and so I can see how you know a person especially a single, who maybe lives life single, a person that's been widowed, a person that doesn't have a marriage partner, we're asking them to basically go 50, 60, 80 years without any sort of sexual release.

And then they're probably going to have some wet dreams anyway, and that sort of thing. So if we're going to be candid about this, a male does not end up with the same sperm inside of him 80 years later that he started with. That cycle happens thousands of times throughout a lifetime. So the physical act, I do not believe is a sin. I think that it's often associated with sin. But I think it's possible to give thanks to God for it

if it's not associated with sin in any regard. That's helpful. And you're absolutely right. I wrote a book on teen sexuality and researched some of this and had to give my answer and there's people like dobson and other voices on this who hold very different opinions so this has not been a one-sided issue at least within protestant circles catholic circles i presume would have a little bit more clarity on this for different reasons but not within protestant circles there's certain distinctions we would have to make between a married couple and between a non-married couple. That could play into this as well. I think we also can make a distinction between a wet dream,

which is accidental and not intentional, and choosing to masturbate. So I don't know anybody who would say a wet dream is wrong, but does that mean masturbation in itself all of a sudden is okay I think those could arguably be different things I think the issue for me is you're right that we can't just settle this biblically there's no passage we can turn to that's going to answer it in the way we want to. So we have to look at what is the nature of sex? What is the body designed for?

And so I would look at masturbation and say, what is it? In a sense, it's kind of having sex with yourself. And if the body is designed towards outward sexual expression towards another, then it would seem to me having sex with yourself would be outside of God's design of the body. Now that's not chapter and verse, but the downside of that is of course it can condition somebody to focus on sexual release for the self rather than sexual release as it's designed scripturally towards another in a way that is life-giving. Yeah. So what I would say to that is that we're not offering anybody who's single,

maybe for a lifetime or single for decades, we're not offering them any sexual release, except for accidentally through a wet dream, as you say. I guess I would say I don't see masturbation as having sex with yourself I see masturbation as having sexual release and so you know if if for me if we're talking about masturbation without any lust or pornography or fantasy attached just just physical relief, then I think we've then put it in the category of, should we be condemning people who really enjoy a massage, really have a release or relief from, you know, so if there's a physical act that has no lust and no fantasy and no pornography attached to it, that would be the only kind of masturbation that I would say is not sinful. So I just want to be really clear about that.

And if someone says, I can't do that, that's impossible for me. I don't even know what you're talking about. Well, then I would say, okay, well then stay away from it. Stay away from it. But I do know people that can give thanks to God for it. And they say, there's no visualization, no fantasy. It is simply a physical release. And they give thanks to God that they have some way and some hope of having physical release without sinning the sin of pornography, fantasy or extramarital sex.

I mean, you know, so I've seen many people go free, you know, especially males that go free saying, wow, I never knew that this was even possible, but I'm grateful to God. I've ditched all pornography, I've ditched all fantasy and all visualization and I see now that my body is designed to recycle this fluid and It is a physical act and there's not one verse about it. I mean come on Paul. This is the number one

male issue Today, I'm sure back then biology hasn't changed. Where are you James? Where are you Peter? Peter? Where are you, Paul? Where are you on this? Give us one verse. Like, come on. So, you know, I mean, it's a debatable issue, but, which can turn sexual, but is not necessarily sexual. Right. There's a huge distinction there between relaxing your body and then touching somebody in sexual areas and in sexual ways. And sadly, some massages have turned towards that. But the nature of massage itself is not necessarily that. So I would probably make that kind of distinction. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I hate massage. I had one foot massage one time and it made me almost vomit. So

I hate massages. But I mean, you know, the point is, I think that if you're going to go with this, so there's two perspectives on what we're talking about. I mean, James Dobson, focus on the family, I think would agree with my vantage point on this. But that doesn't make it the best. I'm just saying that there's two vantage points on this. And if you believe that it's okay, here's what you're saying. You're saying my body belongs to God.

My body is not evil. God designed my body. My're saying my body belongs to God. My body is not evil. God designed my body. My body is holy and acceptable to him. And God, I give thanks to you for how my body functions. And I'm grateful for this. And so I'm not even saying it's neutral. I'm saying that it's holy and righteous and blameless. I don't think anything is neutral.

I think everything is walking by the flesh or walking by the spirit. I don't see neutral in the New Testament. So my argument is not that this is neutral or that it's okay. My argument is that if it's not sinful, then it's holy and blameless and righteous and that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and you can give thanks for this. But not if you're sinning, not if you're attached to one ounce of fantasy pornography i want to be clear on that so i hate sin and i do not want to advocate for anything sinful in the slightest we've definitely been clear on that i think anybody on all sides of this debate would agree that if pornography is brought in and their sexual lust and a third party, that's out. I think I, you know, the issue I'll bring is I think,

you know, Paul talks about self-control, you know, you cited that verse earlier and there's a difference between natural release and other ways we can live that's not focused on self sexual pleasure which is what it is versus uh you know and then having self-control and that's a fruit of the spirit that the bible talks about so i'm not going to point for that chapter and verse one quick thing is i think i would point towards a theology of the body so i'm more i'm more catholic in my approach to this even though i don't take it all the way as far as uh you know some of the birth control issues but how the body is designed how it's oriented towards male and female and sexual expression i think would apply to this as well yeah so definitely uh self-control is the fruit of the. I would say if you're out of control with anything, any physical desire or need, eating, sexuality, anything, if it's not of self-control, then it's not of God. So if something like this, masturbation or anything, becomes out of control

and it's not an expression of self-control then it's definitely not of god i agree with that fair enough uh i will leave it at that that even took longer than i was hoping to but i want to allow you to kind of express your point on there expand upon it a couple couple last questions and then we'll wrap up and respect your time what are the hardest questions that you get? Well, everybody's asking, am I okay? They're asking, am I okay with God? And so the most popular questions, which also I think are the hardest are, you know, did I mess this up, Lord? Did I ruin this? Am I all washed up? Am I done? Is God through with me? You know, and then they tell their story of what happened, and their story is filled with failure. Their story, one sin too many or one giant sin that shocked them, and they think

maybe God has just washed his hands of them and walked away. So it's fun to help people. It's rewarding to point people to Jesus and the finished work of Christ and to say, you know what, there are no exceptions. You're in Christ, you're forgiven, you're righteous. You're not made for sin, but you are forgiven. Like the cross worked. The cross was a grand success. You know, toughest questions, obviously, not trivial, but smaller, minor issues.

Like, you you know having to delve into head coverings on library a lot of live radio and what does that mean historically and you know people I we get crazy questions on the grace message broadcast people will ask about flat earth and what you know people get angry why don't you teach flat earth when the bible teaches flat earth uh aliens you know we get all those crazy questions but the hardest ones of all for me i would say are just uh the the nitpicky little detail questions about the 12th king of israel and why was he thinking this when he did that, you know, that sort of thing. But the best part and 90% of what we get is I feel messed up. I feel like I've ruined my

relationship with God. I feel like he's angry with me, frustrated. I need hope. I don't want to give up on this. I know the truth is supposed to set me free, but I can't see the truth. Can you help me see the love and grace and forgiveness of God? Because I feel lost in this. And that's 90% of what we're doing is helping people find freedom in Jesus and in the gospel. Have the questions changed in the time that you've been doing this, either in the content or the tone in any way? Yeah. I mean, people want to get political more the last two years or so, two to four years, I would say. I don't get political. I grew up in

a very political family, and I just am not interested in politics. So I tell people, look, I know you're disappointed, or I know you're happy right now for four years, or I know you're sad right now for four years, but our hope is not in Washington, D.C. Our hope is not in any government. Our hope is in Christ. And so I do find that people are almost getting an identity from politics. They equate Christianity with their party. Well, if you're a Christian, you must be blue or red. If you're a Christian, you must be of this party. So we're building an identity around politics instead of building an identity around Jesus.

And I see that a lot more in the last four years or so uh just the anger the vitriol so um don't love that like to keep the focus on on christ and uh and the gospel so last question do you get different questions from non-believers than believers or is there kind of the same kinds of questions evil suffering and the other ones we discussed today from believers or not believers yeah how can you say god is good when this happened to me or how can you say god is good when there's war and hate and rape and murder and violence and all these horrible things how can you say god is good? And it's like, you know, I just want to say to them, and sometimes I do, like, let's go to a play together. And when we watch this play, there's going to be 15 actors. And afterwards, if you say to me, oh, I love these plays with one

actor, I say, no, it wasn't one actor. There were 15 people on stage, and they each had a role. Now, you know, in the theater of life there are many actors and we can't put a God stamp on everything. God didn't cause the drunk driver to hit that little girl. God doesn't cause rape or war or murder or any of these things that are awful. Planet Earth is coming at us and Christ is working in us and those are two different things. So I see unbelievers asking about the pain of the world. I see unbelievers asking about the scriptures. How can you believe the scriptures?

And I'm defending the scripture itself, the truth about Jesus. How can you be so close-minded about Jesus being the only way? You know, and to that, I kind of just say, well, look at oxygen. You really need oxygen. That's not cruel. That's just a fact.

It's a scientific fact. So if Jesus is God, you really need Jesus. That's not cruel. It's just that Muhammad doesn't happen to be God, and Buddha doesn't happen to be God. Jesus happens to be God. And so that's not cruel it's just like oxygen it's scientific if jesus is life and he says come to me for life and if he really is the only way to the father then then that's just a fact it's there's no emotion to it it's just like needing oxygen to breathe we need jesus to live dr andrew farley great answers man you've thought about this a ton really appreciate your perspective on this really really well done we

got through i don't know 15 16 maybe actually 20 questions with a few i added on the end uh but i hope people check out your book 101 bible questions for discussion, good for study. Tell people how they can follow your radio program. Yeah, so everything is free on our website, of course, at andrewfarley.org. You can go to andrewfarley.org, and you'll find thousands of resources there. You can watch every radio program. There's sermons. Also, last thing is we have biblequestions.com, which is unbelievable. It's programmed AI with all of our books and messages and radio programs. So you can get an answer in 10 seconds or less in 100 languages. So check it out.

Try it. Try to stump it. You're going to love it at biblequestions.com. That's incredible. I was not aware of that. Check it out. Try it. Try to stump it. You're going to love it at BibleQuestions.com. That's incredible. I was not aware of that. BibleQuestions.com. 100 languages full of the answers that you give, like in your book and your sermons,

rooted in scripture. Wonderful, wonderful resource. Check out AndrewFarley.org, you said, right? Yes. That's where they can find links to your radio show, link to the book available everywhere. Thanks for coming on, man. You nailed it. Super, super interesting.

Made your case well. We'll do this again in due time. Folks, before you click off, make sure you hit subscribe. Got some other programs coming up and plenty of times where we will take these questions into more depth. Maybe you and I will take one or two of these next time and go into a lot more depth, kind of like we started to a little bit on the last one. And if anything, just clarify for people where people differ and why I think is also helpful in itself. If you're watching, you want

a theological education or apologetics, think about joining me at Biola. Would love to have you. Information is below. Fully online apologetics program. Andrew, well done. Let's do it again. Hey, thank you so much for having me. It was a lot of fun.