Thinking Out Loud with Alan Shlemon - Man or Maker: Who Has the Answers to Humanity’s Most Critical Questions?

Episode Date: March 12, 2023

When it comes to answering critical questions about how we humans should live, identify, and behave sexually, who should we listen to? Man or our Maker?

When it comes to answering questions about how we humans should live, like how we should build relationships or what our sexual behavior should look like, who should we turn to for the definitive answer? Should we look to man or our maker? Well, that's what I want to think out loud about in the latest episode of my podcast, Thinking Out Loud with Alan Schliemann. So whenever I watch an ad for GoPro, you know, the action camera, I always feel like my life is incredibly boring, right? If you don't know, GoPro is the company that makes those tiny video cameras that capture footage of extreme sports.

And their promotional videos often show people doing all kinds of incredibly exciting and amazing things. You know, they'll be surfing these massive swells or they'll be skiing off of cliffs or they'll be jumping a car. And all the while, this action cam is mounted on their helmet or on a surfboard or maybe even under the wheel well of a truck, right? It's rather impressive to say the least. But I have some questions.

Like, for example, how far underwater can you take a GoPro? Or what's the lowest temperature it can tolerate? Or what's the best way to optimize its battery life? Or is there a way to sort of mount the GoPro so it doesn't fall off accidentally? Well, any GoPro owner needs to know what this action camera can handle. Now, here's my next question. Who is the best person to answer these questions? Okay. Who would be the one who can give us the definitive answer to these questions? Now, would it be a sports star, right? Would it be a news anchor? Would it be the president of the United States? Well, obviously you realize like none of those

people is qualified, right? The best people to answer my questions would be the engineers at GoPro, right? They're the ones who decided what materials to use. They designed the device, right? They're the ones who fabricated it. They know its limits and how to optimize its performance. After all, they're the makers of the GoPro camera. And so this is why every GoPro camera comes with an owner's manual that's informed by the makers of that device. And notice it will simply tell the camera owner how far underwater you can take it, what temperatures it can tolerate, how to optimize its battery life, and of course, many other important limits and features of the GoPro. Now, failure to heed the directions in the owner's manual will lead to damage or perhaps even catastrophic failure.

In the same way, there are a lot of questions that we humans have about ourselves. For example, how are we made to function? How should we build relationships, right? Like marriages and friendships, what should those look like? How should we engage in sexual activity? Are there any boundaries for sexual activity? What's the best way to resolve conflict?

And of course, there's an endless and a whole bunch of other important types of questions. Right? Now, again, my question would be this. Who is the best person to answer these questions? Should we listen to a news anchor, a biologist, a Hollywood celebrity, right? I mean, none of these people is the most qualified to answer those questions. I mean, sure, they can give a kind of answer, but they're not the ones who are the person

who can give the most definitive answer. The best person to answer those questions would be our engineer, right? Our maker. He's the one who made us and designed us to function a certain way, right? God is our maker. In fact, God is also the one who's provided us an owner's manual as well. In fact, we call it the Bible. And in it, we can learn about how we should live our lives, how to build relationships,

how to flourish sexually, how to resolve conflict, and other countless instructions. And of course, it makes sense to ask him, right? I mean, he's the one who made us. He's the one who knows how we're supposed to function. So, for example, what should marriage look like? Well, our maker tells us it should be a lifelong covenant between a man and a woman. It should be characterized by submission, self-sacrificial love, and putting one another's needs above our own. Or here's another question. What should sexual activity look like? Right?

Again, our maker answers again. Sex should only occur between a married man and a woman. And any sexual activity outside of that relationship ultimately hurts us and is prohibited. What about when a friend wrongs you? Well, our maker says we should forgive one another. That's key. And so you see, there's an endless set of principles and prohibitions that are conveniently written down for us by our maker and made available in our owner's manual. Could it be any better? Right? Now, despite the easy access to our maker's teaching,

Christians often look for ways to sidestep his precepts, right? We're tempted oftentimes to believe that anyone other than our maker, when it comes to how to live, how to identify, and how to behave sexually. And maybe it's because we think we know better, right? But it seems that we often want to listen to man to justify our sort of desire to sin. And so it's why many believers are what I call sexual atheists, right? Though they believe in a maker, they behave like they don't. Fornication and adultery too often characterize the activity of those who verbalize obedience to our owner's manual. And despite their declaration, they just want to do what they want to do.

It's also why many believers adopt pro-gay theology. They don't want to condemn the behavior of close friends or family who satisfy same-sex attraction. Instead, they try to shoehorn man's sexual ethics into the maker's manual. So you get the picture though, right? The options are clear. We either listen to man or our maker. There's no room for compromise. Our maker demands total

allegiance, but he also, I'll say, deserves it, right? He's not some sort of capricious tyrant trying to make our life miserable. Rather, he's a loving father who's provided everything we need for a fulfilling life and the opportunity to enjoy him forever. Well, that's all I have for you today. If you've enjoyed this podcast or other ones where I've talked about apologetics, theology, or cultural issues, be sure to rate or review my podcast on iTunes or Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts on. And thanks for listening. I look forward to thinking out loud with you next time.