Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 348 | Uncle Si’s Tall Tales from the Duck Blind & How Christians Misapply the Rules of the Bible

Episode Date: September 19, 2021

Jase talks about an outlandish story Si told in the duck blind. Phil and Jase discuss how to love your neighbor — especially when it's hard. Jase shares the story of a misguided church that disfellowshipped a woman who divorced her serial-killer husband, and the guys explain why extreme legalism isn't what God wanted. And Jase and Al break down why religious groups shouldn't become law enforcement agencies. -- Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? So what was the TIL report today, Jays? Well, the last time we were together, I think, said it was about FOMO, the fear of missing out. So we were all there again today. We got them three days in a row. So you're thinking, no. But we had this tropical storm that actually was a hurricane when it made landfall. South Texas.

Well, they had the track going to hit us, which was we were all panicky because we don't want too much water this early in the year to ruin our feed and our dirt work that we got undergoing. At a point, just a point, that the water fluctuates in North Louisiana, where we live, 30 feet on any given year. It will fluctuate. It's 100 yards from your house. that fluctuates 30 feet.

And you being six foot tall, that means it's dangerous. That is correct. That's why when we see something coming on the southern end of Louisiana, we brace ourselves to see whether we start a whole movement, equipment, everything of worth is moved to higher ground. We were on watch. We were on Tropical Storm Watch. But, however, my point is,

as bad as that would be, you would shoot the teal during that storm because they tend to follow the storms. And so do we. Well, and so do we. I mean, we've actually hunted, we've said before, in a hurricane and 70, 80 mile in our wind. The one factor we didn't compensate for then was it's hard to hit your target. when the wind is blowing 70, 80 miles an hour. You're already flying 70 miles an hour. That's a teal speed.

Yeah. Add a hurricane to it, and you've got gust up to 50, 60, 70 miles an hour. Combine those two, and good luck on your shooting ability. Which brings to today's theme, which was the tropical storm barely missed us. We had a little wind, though, and there was a slight mist in the air. So it was different. It wasn't just hot and humid. So the theme became reaction time.

So we get in the blind. Legal shooting hours is about 6.20, but you can't see till 625. And the prime time for Teal in our area, we've noted, is 640 to 720. And you must know, be aware at all times. that nothing but teal. You can't kill anything but teal. Can't kill teal. So it's a prerequisite for you to understand,

you better know the difference between a wood duck and a teal, or that's a $500 fine 60 days to spend in jail. Look, they come down on you like you have killed somebody. So we're in the blind, and nobody's really, because the last three days, we haven't seen a till since the season started. until 640 because that's when the prime time starts. Well, today, everybody was moving a little slow, getting their stuff.

We got there later because the mosquito factor. So it's about 635. I've just loaded my gun. So even though it's been legal 15 minutes, you're just now able to see. And I'm standing beside your uncle and his name is Silas M. So it's me. met Roberts. Uncle Si, it's Phil, it's Jay Stone, and we had a cameraman, Jacob.

So there's four of us, and Phil said, that's all I heard, which means teal are in the area. Something's happening. Yeah, because he's on one end of the blind, I'm on the other. Well, when I looked up, I just see the flickering of teal in the decoys. And I mean, we have a lot of decoys up, but they're really close. They're coming in and lighting at 20 to 25 yards directly in front of four men, four men with shotguns in their hands.

So I raised up when the last three or four were hovering. It was about seven of them. And I said, kill them. And so it was, it sounded like one simultaneous. a shot, just boom, and then only two got up. And it was boom, boom, boom, all dead. And so Sae said, well, boys, I didn't fire a shot, which is highly unusual because Saia usually says, well, it looks like I got them all. He had just told a story in front of a camera where he said he thought he killed 30 in one bunch.

Yeah, 30. So I thought there was a couple of things that came to my mind. Number one, I think that's impossible. We've never killed 30 out of a bunch. Number two, why would you be claiming to do that when that would be a gross violation of the law? And you're doing it on camera. And he's doing it on camera.

There's a word that most people don't use too much in the duck world. that is ignorance. Yeah. But I thought, well, I think when you get 70-something, you can pretty much say or do anything is what I was thinking. And it could be pawned up. He's just some old man. He's crazy, you know.

So then we got into this discussion about reaction time. He said, well, you know, because he said that happened. And Cy said, 2.5 seconds. And I said, well, I'm trying to figure out why you didn't shoot. Because Phil shot three times. Jay shot three times. I shot twice. So the point was three men,

because the other one didn't shoot, he's in a state of mouth open, just saying, what just happened? Well, three men, boom, bump, and they killed. That's what it sounded like, like three shots, like boom, boom, but it was actually, bum, bump, we, they both shot at the one of them getting up, then they both shot at the other one.

but the reaction time was 2.5 seconds. So I basically said, hey, my reaction, he concluded his reaction time at his age and health is 4.5 seconds. The funny part was to do anything. He said, it takes me 4.5 seconds to walk, breathe. He said, anything but talk. He said, I can talk quicker than 4.5. So I said, well, what is your reaction time, you know, with your, with your wife? And he said, no, we're recalculate.

He said, I hit a point in my life where it was recalculating. He went to GPS. It's like you took a turn. It recalculating. He said, but it's always recalculating. There is no reaction time. It's just spinning. It's just spinning.

It was one of the fun of the more funny things. I've ever heard in my life. I hope you got that on camera because that's, that's, that's a goal right there. But to Phil's credit, because Phil's older than Si, but Phil's reaction time was in the 2.5 seconds

because you shot three times. Sy's problem was he never saw them to begin with. But I just look up and I see them coming out of a mist and they just cut in there, made a short loop,

and that's when you heard when English speakers see ducks coming early in the morning at the break of day it goes through it's kind of a duck hunter it's a duck hunter

version of speaking in tongues because you can't no one knows exactly what's said but I know the tone and the cadence that I know there are in the hole. It's because you're trying to tell everybody without saying, hey, there's ducks in the area.

So it turns into just gibberish. I never heard it. I don't know. Maybe I'm not up on my top. If you're from Alabama and you're like, well, I think there's some ducks out there, or Georgia, then boys out in the woods. They said, well, you know, there's a bunch right there. No, and none of that.

It's if you say it too loud, then they flare. Because if you don't, you laid on the draw like Cy. Oh, he was embarrassed. I mean, he kept saying every five minutes, well, I'm glad I got to come down here and watch y'all shoot some ducks, which is so contrary to what he's usually saying. But you know, Jay, you bring out something interesting. So I was trying to explain this to Phyllis because, you know, Phyllis is new to hunting last year. And I heard this the other day when I was watching a football game. they talk about what it's like for college, you know, athletes who are very good at the college level.

But when they get to the NFL, they keep talking about the speed of the game. Like, you have to be able to catch up to the speed of the game. It's so much faster than they are. And I think it's the same with hunting. You get in your mind that it's a certain speed. But when you're in the blind and it happens as fast as it does, if you can't anticipate and know where to look and watch the cues of the people who are watching what's going on, you can't, you'll be always behind.

Poor fella, she was sitting next to me. She would always everybody, blah, blah, blah, blah, and she'd look up and it was like, it's over. And I never, but she, you know, until you learn the speed of the hunt, it's just a hard thing to describe. I mean, that's the only way I know how to describe it. I've noticed that with all guests when they come. They just can't react. By the time you say 1001, 1002, then the duck world, they have come in and are gone by the time you get to 1002. It's over.

Actually, when you make the call to shoot them, you're actually making it, if you're doing your job, two or three seconds before it's time to actually shoot them because you're allowing for the get-up. and the reaction. So every once in a while, you'll say cut them, and as you're going up, they turn away. And then you're like, nope, nope. And if you're late to the party, by that meaning instead of a frontal, just before they light, it's when we took them those this morning. You wait 1001, they could have already lifted up

and are leaving the vicinity from 25 yards to 50 yards, and it doesn't take long either. They're gone. Well, they're flying at high rates of speed. So we had another single come in later, and so I thought, well, I'll give Si an opportunity. Because you just come in under radar and lit, but a pretty good ways away. So I went the one, two, three. There was two shots.

Bo-boom. I was like, well, Cy, you're in. I shot also, but I just make sure. And so I was like, nope. So that's when we concluded that his reaction, we got to start counting the 4.5. because it just didn't happen. One, two, three won't work. One, two, three didn't work because he didn't see him.

There's an old adage. The older you get, the slower you get, it's proven true more in duck hunting than anything else. Your reaction time becomes very slower. That's why I said recalibrate. Well, you haven't got time to recalibrate. Not on ducks. Especially blue-winged tealmers.

Let's be blue winged tail. They're there. They're gone. It's quick. Yeah. Well, I knew that when we all walked 10 feet to the blind. We actually shot them precisely the way you need to shoot them. Just before they like?

We parked the wheeler. How far from the blind to get when we got out to get in? 10 feet? 10 feet. So me and Sao walked up there and Sao said, you go ahead. I said, no, you go ahead. He said, no, I got arrested. bit. I said, side, we walk 10 feet. He said, yeah, that's what I'm talking about. Go ahead and get in

because it's a pretty good leap. Well, in size defense, he is battling a few. He's got, he's a kind of advanced COPD. So it's pretty amazing he's actually doing as well as he's doing. Let's take a break. He's actually been there every day. Yeah, I love that his desire for it has not changed. It's just, just been harder for him to do it. You know, it has to do oxygen now, you know, stuff like that. But hey, he survived COVID. So that says something. I didn't think he, you know, where he is. I didn't think he would, but he did. That's why I brought up the fear of missing out. That's what's bringing him down. He doesn't want to hear us shoot a bunch of teal and he wasn't there because

it's usually you don't get them for three or four days. Then you get them. But today's been different. We've gotten them four days in row, but we haven't really hammered. remembered them any day. It's just a bunch here. But I mean, I'm happy if you can shoot a little mess to eat every day. That's pretty good. Well, it's actually, yeah, because some of years you go a week without ever shooting your gun. Yeah.

And then, of course, then they show up. So you'd rather have it a little more consistent. We had one season where we went the whole season without shooting. So I think it was less than 10. One day we killed a couple. I mean, but, you know, 16 days and just nothing. That's tough. And yet, the reason you went back every day, FOMO.

The fear of missing out. Yeah, that was a good one. That's the TIL report. Now, I studied this last night what we're going to talk about. And, you know, this, I feel like this is a difficult venture. so y'all enlighten me i understand why that you would say that so we're in uh we're in matthew chapter five last time we talked about well last couple of podcasts we talked about the beatitudes and then we we talked about salt and light and being a light jesus talks about and then he sort

of in he sort of shifts gears in when he gets his verse 17 and he starts talking about the law and he says to them that he didn't come to abolish it but fulfill it. Or, you know, another word there is complete it. You'll see the same Greek word later to end the law. All those ideas are that in Christ, the culmination of the law is in him. And I'm sure they were looking at him like he's crazy because all they've ever known is law. And so this is new intel for these. religious leaders and Pharisees and teachers of the law because they spent their whole life

to them. However, he had one thing going for him and it was a monster of a thing. Jesus went throughout Galilee. He was, from that time on, that's 417, 411, 417, let's see, 417, repent for the kingdom of heaven is near. There's a different way. There's something as big is fixing to go down. And you say, well, how would you draw a crowd, your God himself in flesh, born of a virgin, which is remarkable. And you said, well, how would you draw a crowd? Here's how much it takes to draw a crowd in any era of the human race. Jesus, went, so before he ever gets to his teachings, he's going to give him a little example of who it is that's talking.

Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and watch this, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. Now, you want to get the attention of America, 2,000 years later. if you get Jesus on the scene and he was healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about him spread all over Syria and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon possessed, the epileptics, the paralytics, and he healed them. well large crowds from galilee the decapolis Jerusalem Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him so I understand from that reading right there before we ever read what he actually started saying

is that it's hard for human beings if they were there at the time it would be hard for me to deny what he's doing. Well, then he's preparing the soul for what he's fixing to say. He did first things they were stunned. They were like, whoa, did you see that? Well, you just think about it, Al, in that environment. Who is this?

Who is this person, this guy? Who? So then he begins to teach him. and they begin to listen. But you understand, without probably the miraculous and the healings, the crowds would have been much smaller, Al. I think that's worthy of note.

Plus, it's worthy of note that if he's going to do that, I better listen to what he has to say, well, what's your message here? Well, that's going into the beatitudes and the salt and the light. and keeping the law, well, all that is tied together among a group of people that have seen things just recently of the miraculous, and they are just, their mouths are open. That's my take on the way God planned it. Right.

Well, he was, as he will say later, he was establishing his authority because what would happen was they would ask later, who gives you the authority to do what you're doing? Why do you think you have the authority? And then he's like, you remember all those people I heal? You remember all that power I displayed things that no one else could do? Can you explain that? And they're like, God, no. He said, okay, so just now I want you to listen to what I'm trying to get in your head.

Because human race, they all have a habit. And that's being hard-headed, hard-headed. People have been under the law for 1,500 years. you got a person that comes along and says, I've kept the law, and here's how you've butchered it. And he begins to lay out what their problem is. And it's pretty remarkable. Right. Well, it is.

And I think, but I think the reason it's important for us to establish is, is we get into this text. And like Jay said, people can get very confused by what he was speaking in this time frame to these people. But remember, he had a very specific goal in mind. These are people that thought that they were saved. the keeping of law. And he's established a whole new identity. And they didn't keep it. They just said they were keeping it.

They didn't keep it anyway, exactly. But even on top of that, he's going to take some laws, some from the Ten Commandments, others that were traditional laws they come up with. And he says, look, you put it here, but I'm telling you that the heart behind it never was good to begin with. So he takes everything to another level, another level, another level. What's happened, though, in the modern time, as people look back and they read this text and they think, oh, do not murder. That's right.

But now we're going to add more law because we're going to say if you do this, then here's what's going to, here's the condemnation that comes from it. And that's, you're totally missing the point of what Jesus was saying in the time and in the moment. He was saying it's all in me. So you remember, we haven't had the, we haven't, the kingdom has not been unlocked yet. That's going to happen in Acts 2. So people, this interim time, they have a hard time because they want to apply it all into modern day. And if you don't understand the context of who he was talking to, why he was telling them what he was telling them, you'll miss it. And you'll be more legalistic than they were.

Yeah, I think that's what's happened. Does that make sense? Yeah, I think that's what's happened. People go to these sections of scripture that he's fixed talking about sex and immorality and adultery and murder and divorce and oath. and oaths, making oath. So then they come up with all these kind of legalistic teachings. Plus, I think the Apostle Paul, Al, covered that in Romans chapter 7, when he says, apart from law, sin is dead.

Once I was alive apart from law, when he was a child, too young to break it, a baby, an infant. But when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life, it's a great code, is what he's saying, actually brought death. Yep. Because he couldn't keep it. For sin seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceives me. And that's the problem of the human race when it comes to law. And through the commandant put me to death because I broke it.

I didn't keep it perfect. So then, and Jesus is pointing in Matthew, chapter four and five, the law is holy. and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. There's absolutely nothing wrong with law. Unfortunately, no one has ever kept it but me, he's saying. I didn't come to abolish it. I came to fulfill it, and he took our place. The lawbreakers and the law, the one that kept it,

he says, I'm the perfect one, and my sacrifice is the perfect sacrifice. because I kept what I wrote back there 1,500 years ago. No, I think you're right. That's why when he said one of the... Hang on, Jason. Let's take a break. One of the B attitudes was blessed of those who are persecuted because of righteousness. And then when he gets to verse 20, he says,

I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teach the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom. Well, if you fast forward in Romans or 1 Corinthians, you're realizing that eventually he's going to be the one supplying that righteousness. That's right. It's his righteousness, not ours. And I'll give you a couple examples. Like in 1st Corinthians 1.30, it says, it is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God. that is our righteousness, holiness, and redemption.

Therefore, it is written that him who boast in the Lord. So they were boasting in their lawkeeping skills, which in my opinion, what I got out of that was, but then he would come up with a situation where their heart wasn't involved and show them the hypocrisy of what they were trying to do by their own righteousness, because Romans three is pretty clear.

There's no one righteous. Not even one. That's what it says. That's why Al, when they hear the solution, there's a battle, a war going on inside their head. When the solution is not, I'll keep the law, and that'll make me righteous. And I am keeping it.

And the Pharisees were saying, Jesus comes along and says, no, here's what's going to have to happen. you need grace instead of law you need love you need mercy and you need forgiveness and I'm the one who will supply that but I'm perfect so then all you have to do is believe it and repent that's why the repentance is always there and you say and put your faith in Jesus the one who kept the law and the ones who freed you from your sin, and on top of that will raise you from the dead.

Think about it. The law, what about the resurrection? How's the law, even if you kept it? How would that guarantee you that you could be raised from the dead? It just wasn't big enough. It was there, so sin would be exceedingly sinful, and we can be brought out from under law and under grace, where there is blood that was shed for us,

and that's what he was trying to get them to see. But to this day, I'll look at the ones who are legalistic, religious groups, from one end to the other, they'll keep superimposing law and they're the whole time. This is the creed we live by and all of that. They just need to understand, love God and love your neighbor. How to do it for you. It's just so simple, it's profound.

But I think you've got to have this surrendered heart to Jesus, which they were having trouble because he's from Nazareth. I mean, what, like Al said, where's he getting his authority? Because later when Paul said in Philippine 3.9, he wanted to be found in him not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ Jesus, the righteousness that comes from God. and is by faith. So he's trying to introduce that, but he's going to get into all these really tough situations that's not gotten any easier today. I mean, we've all...

What's the same? We've shared Jesus with actual murderers and people who are made a mess of their marriage and someone committed adultery, and now you've got two different... I've been in a room where there were two people that were married, and now they're with their new, they committed adultery on each other, and now they're married again with two other people,

and we're all in the room together. Well, you know, I'm looking around thinking, I might, should have gotten some qualifications to venture off into this. And so if you say, well, what do you do? And Missy's like, what are we going to do? I was like, I'm going to share Jesus, because all, All I know is that he's the one that can make this right, because this is a mess. Yep.

And so instead of trying to come up with these legalistic laws in the religious settings. By the way, your dad here has been in the mess right in the smackdown middle of it. Yeah. So, Al, how do you want to approach these each issue as we get into them? So let me give a big picture. and I think it'll be easier when we get into the specifics. So he starts out with murder and adultery. Those two are top ten, if you want to put it that way.

They're in the big ten, right? I wonder why. That's two things. Everybody would recognize. Wouldn't you say because all sin is sin, but some sins carry more consequences and affects other people. So, I mean, maybe in theory that's why he started there. I think he's just picking two to, so everybody will recognize it.

Look, it says, do not murder. And everybody says, yeah, that's right. That's in the Ten Commandments. Everybody knows that. Then he says, but I'm telling you it's deeper than that because I want your heart to not even be so mad at a brother that you could do anything to hurt it. We want to go 10 steps back from I did everything except murder the guy. Same with adultery. He's like, you've heard and said, do not commit adultery.

Wouldn't he be introducing this? concept of love being the fulfillment of the law by doing that? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, in that what, so I'm just trying to get people who are, you know, I don't, I'm not very smart, but I'm trying to get people to read this and say, how can I grasp what the point is? And it's like if you love, I mean, even like you take, it'll be easier for me to do the sexual thing.

You know, when you look at Jesus's love, he was not lusting. women while he was here. I think he's probably the only man who was above, you know, and Tina, when he reached the age of accountability, that never, you know, had that he, he never looked at the opposite sex in a lustful way, which is incredible. Even murder, they've tried to get around that. Well, you know, killing their own children in their wounds and you're like, what in the world? What I'm saying is the point is he's saying his love was greater than that, any kind of selfish view.

That's why he made the point, Chase, that you've heard it said, do not murder. But he said, but I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother, if you just anger and hatred towards your brother. Well, that's why I'm saying, but I think he's subject to judgment. I mean. Because he loves people. And so that anger, it's like if you attack the motive on where it all started,

you wouldn't even go down that road. If he does you wrong, all right, he does you wrong. And you say, you know what, I've got to love him and extend mercy, even though he was dead wrong. That's like the opposite of saying, you know what, I'm going to make this right. I mean, isn't that what he's saying now? Yeah, so let's take another break.

So remember, again, who's he talking to, and how are they viewing what he's saying? He's speaking to people. Experts in the law. That's right. And these are people, most of them are sitting there. They've never murdered anybody. But in their hearts, they think they can carry all this vitriol to people,

and they're still okay. In other words, I haven't crossed the line of the law, so I'm good. I'm better than this guy over here. That's who he's trying to get at over and over and over. So he says, okay, I've never committed adults. I never slept with some other guy's wife. But I've had all these lascivious thoughts.

And I've, you know, but all that's okay because I haven't crossed that line of law. He keeps coming back to that. So he's going to start out with two big ones. Yeah, I can hate the Samaritans and get away with it. At least I'm not kidding them. That was their idea. Exactly. That's it.

That's the point. And so what he's doing, he's breaking down their idea that if I can just not cross this one line, I can live however I want to and be fine. But he's breaking all that down and saying, no, you understand. Wickedness is wickedness. You have to fully give yourself to me. It's what he's eventually going to say. But he's got to get him off the law thing, or they're never going to want to listen to what he has said. They never want to follow him, which most of those didn't.

It reminds me when I did that prison ministry for two years. and every time, you know, I would let them talk. They would whine and complain a lot of times because they hadn't had sex with a woman. That's something they had given up. But, and it wasn't necessarily a reflection of their heart, but they were like, well, I've had to give that up. But I'm like, well, there's no women here. You know, you can still in your mind, it would be like me saying, yeah, but. what's going on in your head every day?

Because I mean, most of these guys I'm talking to were not in Jesus at whatsoever, but it kind of justified their life like a lot of us do at different stages of our life. But that's the one that kept coming up. And I'm like, but you're not, you don't even have that opportunity to be with a woman. That's beside the point. What's going on in your mind about women? Well, then it got quiet. but I'm like, you can think about it while you're here.

I mean, I was like, you're pulling my leg if you're telling me there's a difference in not having sex with a woman and being locked up in prison and doing everything else that you could possibly do in your mind. Yep. So, I mean, I see a similarity to that. Right. So he's establishing this. And so after those first two, then he's going to bring in one, two, three, four. more with the idea of these aren't out of the Ten Commandments, but these are recognized laws to these people.

What is the law of divorce. And it's interesting because, you know, later on, he's going to quote, you know, Genesis 2, Jesus does, which was what he said. He was there too. Jesus was there, the Father was there, the Spirit was there, that one man, one woman. God began to allow the Jews to divorce

because the women had no other recourse unless they were given a certificate of divorce, they had no way to survive. They couldn't, I mean, a guy could just put them away. They couldn't remarry, so they starved it. So it was even divorce granted to the Jewish people was a merciful situation. Was it what God intended and wanted? No. Which again, I think that's Jesus' point here.

He said, you've said this about divorce. I'm telling you, God's always. planned. I've always planned for it to be one man, one woman for life. But people break that. People fall short of that. In their case, people were being, literally were dying because of it. So again, it's not that to make a new law about marriage is to show that only in Christ can we be made right. And Jace, I love your illustration about the people that had divorced and remarried. People come to Christ in different places. You can't go back and undo everything for from your sinful past.

I mean, I can't. Dad, you can't. And sometimes it'll come forward and all of a sudden you're faced with a situation. So what do you do? So Phyllis shows up and you said,

well, you know, she was from an area of my life where I was a sinful person. I don't have anything to do with this person. No. I mean, she's your daughter. She's our sister. We embrace her in grace

and say, hey, let's spend the rest of our time together. That's the point of all of this that you can't miss. Or you'll go through these things. You'll say, well, you know, Jesus said, you know, I can't make an oath because so therefore, but that wasn't his point to make new law.

His point was to say, I want your whole heart and I want you to love God and love your neighbor. And that's what you strive for. And to do that, you won't, not only do you not commit murder, you won't be thinking terrible thoughts about people and then go right on down the line of all the stuff he mentioned. But somewhere in there. I think it's important to keep going back to that.

Some religious groups, and I guess these are on the fringe, you know, they miss this. I remember reading an article one time about a one. woman, I was telling Phil about this earlier, who divorced her husband, but in the article was about the church had disfellowshiped her, whatever church it was, but she got a divorce because her husband was convicted for being a serial killer. And they made the point, they didn't disfellowship her because she was married to a serial killer. They married, they disfellowshipped her because she got.

got a divorce from him. And I'm like, I think being married to a serial killer reaches a level where divorce should be allowed. The reason's a lot. I mean, but I was just saying it was so silly to me. And I thought, this church had read this and that's what they concluded. Well, she shouldn't have got a divorce. Right. So to your point about making new law. Well, another point is a lot of people do not like Jesus because of this. On adultery, you've heard that it was said, do not commit adultery, but I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It's better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body

to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It's better that you to lose one part of your body than to your whole body to go to hell. Now that's pretty blunt. To put it mildly. When I studied this, I noticed that in their old... Hang of this. Let's take our last break. I noticed in the old law that they had this system of, what was the word, if someone like caused you to lose your eye, you could take their eye. You know, I mean, you're talking about a brutal system. So don't you think that's what he was going to talk about that later.

Yeah. Don't you think that's... He talks about it later in this content. So, I mean, it seems barbaric in this age to read that. But, you know, if they had a system, that's what they did. And theoretically, what he said is actually true, though. If you got eternity and lost something that kept you, from missing the turn to it would i mean it was theoretically true it's just so shocking

that i think that's why he did it well again his point is if you if we were going to live by your standard of law this is what you would have to do to keep yourself from breaking law and look by the way there are people on the planet earth as we sit here this morning and have this discussion the taliban and others who are practicing this very thing now they're not cutting their own hands off and gouging their own eyes out, but they're going around and they're doing that to other people because they've set a standard of law to live under Sharia law and here's what's going to happen to you and they're actually doing it. So Jay's, you're talking about a shocking and preposterous. It is there are people and who aren't Christians, but I mean who are basically

taking these same principles and they're doing it. They're making other people suffer. Well, look, it happens to me greatly when when they're doing. dragged a woman who was caught in adultery and Jesus forgave her, it is the thing to do, Al. Well, that's where we're going to get to is when I read this, I'm not trying to make apologies for what Jesus said. I'm thinking grace is way better than being underlaw. I remember a missionary speaking one time.

I can't remember. I remember who he was, but he was in a different country, sharing Jesus. they bring this woman to the Lord. Well, she starts reading her Bible. When she came in there and had her hand bandaged up, you know, and they're like, what happened? Well, she had read this.

Now, he said, whether she had some psychological problems, who knows. But she just thought, okay, I'm, if this is a road we're going down, but he said, you know, in that situation, she's already done it. But I explained to her that we're under grace. You know, she just stopped right here and thought, you know what? Whatever her problem was, stealing, I guess. She thought, I'll just take this hand off. And, you know, I'm going to be with Jesus.

But it was a real graphic story. But he was like she had missed the point somewhat, but her heart was at least trying to grasp the fact that I want to live forever, want to be with Jesus. That's why we're saying he was leading them. in their minds to get to a point where they could understand God's grace and true love. Yep. That's the point.

And again, if you, this is one of those kind of studies, you know, people will get deep into the weeds of it. And they'll lose the sight or the above exactly what Jesus' purpose was here. Because you're right, Dad. So somebody will read this text and say, well, no. And they'll quote this verse about divorce. but then right above it the one about gouging out the eye and cutting off the hand. Well, no, that was, he didn't mean literally. Yeah, exactly.

You know. Well, I think, Al, they lose the big picture of life, though. When you think of law enforcement, what do you think? You think of the police out there with guns and they're enforcing the laws of the government. well, there's some religious people that want to have law enforcement in the churches. Well, that's a brutal. Follow the law enforcement around. That's a brutal place to go down.

And I just know from reading this and reading the first section of the beatitudes, he's called us to do a lot of things, but law enforcement is not one of them. That's right. It's just not there. That's a great point. because if it was, it would say, blessed are the law enforcers. Exactly. But Al, why do we, a few verses later, have a lot of religious groups who are law enforcement agencies?

Yep. I mean, this is the classic case of taking something out of context. You have a situation come in, and they'll rush over here and read this paragraph without understanding the full. entirety of who he's talking to and why he's introducing this concept. If you were steeped in law, you had no grace, well, you would need some shock and all to come out from under it. Yep. That's right. Well, he's putting it down. That's exactly right. So by the time you advance to the New Testament epistles, Jason, you've read from two or three of them today, you know, Paul gets it. Like, Paul was these guys. Yeah. I mean, when he was saw,

he was these guys. And you read what he says later and you realize that he got it, that all of that fulfillment in Christ meant that now we're not under the wrath of law because Jesus has now broken the curse. And as long as we're in him, this is the way we're going to be. This is who we're going to be. This is how we're going to live. So you go back to a text like this, look, these are all, as dad said earlier,

these are all good things. In other words, I don't want to say. swear by anything on earth because my trust and allegiance is in Christ. So why would I go around and say, and I swear it on my oldest child's life? So the examples that he uses are good things. The way we want to live, do I want to divorce Lisa? No. I mean, if you go by this text and people say, well, you had a spiritual reason, I could have divorced my wife. But I didn't want a divorce. I wanted her to get it right in us to spend the rest of our lives together, which we have and grown from that.

So just because you can do something doesn't mean you should do something. And so I think it's the same thing by looking at this in its context on why exactly he's trying to make his point that in me is where you're going to find this trust and not in yourself. Well, that's where we get into get persecuted, which is why he said about three times you're going to be persecuted. Because now divorce and adultery is so commonplace that when you say, well, but it's better if, just a man and a woman stayed together for the rest of the life it would be better for everyone involved kids family no doubt and they're like what what that's the craziest thing but it would be better sure this place earth would be a lot better off if everyone did that no doubt about it you just think how many people have died how many fights there have been how many kids have been

abandoned over those things had the the breakdown of a mighty be thrown. So, I mean, you're right, Al. I think in one breath, you're realizing that his concepts, God's concepts, had the betterment of humanity in mind from keeping your word and not getting angry, even when you're wrong, to loving your enemies. All these things are high-quality things. And then he's eventually going to say, you know what? Yeah, and I kept them all. And now I'm to die for you who didn't and forgive you and love you anyway. That's why I think when he gets to the end, in chapter 5 and verse 48, when he says be perfect, which the law enforcers focus on the word perfect, they're like, well, I've got to be perfect, which is never going to happen,

which I don't think that was his point. The point is as he relates to the next phrase, therefore, as your heavenly father is perfect, well, all of a sudden he's made a gentleman. He's from being perfect because you're under law to being perfect as your heavenly father is perfect. There's a different motivation for trying to do right things. And it's going to be based on you having a father, which I think then that gets into your identity who loves you, who knows you, who made you, who planned you, who uses you, who loves you despite you messing up. I mean, don't you think he was introducing that relationship aspect of faith moving on versus the ritualistic? No doubt about it.

No doubt. And you set it up perfectly because we're out of time for the next podcast because if he led him up to this point that only in God can you find perfection. And he is the one that is going to offer that. So now he's going to shift gears and he's going to start talking about what it looks like for a person who then, understands that. So these next elements he talks to them about or the way your heart would be in an open situation where you understood that. So it's going to be a shift and you're going to see it in the next, you know, in the chapter six and part of chapter seven. I'm glad he introduced it. Grace, love, mercy, and forgiveness. I'm glad he came. Thanks for listening to the Unashamed podcast. Help us out

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