Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 84 | Phil-osophy, What Socrates & Plato Didn't Know, Atheism & Why Jase Shot His Rubik's Cube

Episode Date: May 3, 2020

Phil imagines the reaction to his worldview if he, Jase, and Al were dropped into ancient Greece before the birth of Christ. Al and Jase point out what we have in common with ancient Greek culture. Phil notices something curious about atheists who embrace the great philosophers. And the guys discuss Phil's pet raccoon, the Village People, how Jase uses sin and death as conversation starters, and the time Jase shot his Rubik's Cube. See episodes of "Unashamed with Phil Robertson": https://bit.ly/2J4XsiX   See clips from Phil's TV show "In the Woods with Phil": https://bit.ly/2PNM6k1  - Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey Unashamed Nation, so glad you tuned into the podcast today. We know you're getting a lot of great Bible and we're loving doing it. I want to tell you about Dad's show In the Woods with Phil that's on Blaze TV. I know some of you know about that and right now we're doing a current special called In the Quarantine with Phil. These guys at Blaze TV, they came to us and said, we want a podcast about the Bible. And can you believe that? And so we said, man, we're willing to do it.

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I mean, look, you sell these, you're like, boy, you're prepared. These are, these are, Phil, these are lessons that I've done on John 5. Have you ever thought about a computer? Maybe. Yeah, I think, I think about it, but I'm a, I like, like a notebook. See, I do the same thing. The difference in you and me is that once I've written it out, because I like to write it.

There is something powerful about looking at it and writing it down. I like that. It takes me back. But then I take the written one and I type it into my computer. And then I've got notes that then I can use later, look back. It's just all organized. It's so easy to send it to somebody. I would agree.

That's a better method. Because digging through that. Well, you have all that material, just so you'll know. I was telling Al, I'll make this brief. Oh, boy. I'll be brief here. That's the famous last words. That means sit back and relax.

All right. Let's see some coffee. Here's what would be a shocker. If you could transport, you, Jace, you Al. What do you mean by transport? Like you're in one location and you can go, like you can get a teleport. And you could insert.

That's not transport. Teleport. Yeah. Teleport. Yeah. Well, transport, teleport, whatever. I can transport something. I can send, I can get them a UPS test.

I'm saying if you could take the three of us. Yeah. And stick us on top of Mars Hill in Athens, Greece. Because we did, you did that one time. I did that. I mean, I was able to. You were transported there. If you could just place all three of us right now and you could just send us.

to Mars Hill of 2,000 years ago. Ah, that's where you need to talk about it. We're going back in time. Yeah, if you could insert us back in time, pre-Jesus, just prior to Jesus, you would come up on people, thinkers, like, for three to 400 years, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle. If you could insert three guys of average intelligence, us. Wait a minute.

Look, and insert us. I'm taking that as a compliment. Put us on Mars Hill just before Jesus shows up. And if you could watch the crowd, it would be about 100 people all lounging back, eating grapes. And they're all pontificating. And they're discussing the latest ideas of the day. If you insert it us into that in 3 BC, right before you. Jesus shows up. Because you're going to

Act 17, right? And if we it if we, us three, we elaborated on what John said in John Chapter 5 on top of that hill. If we unleashed on them Jesus Christ, they'd say who? We would say as they. If we

unleashed what is discussed in John 5, I don't think we'd make it through the day of life. That is a distinct possibility. I would say it would shock the Greeks. They would have said, what are you talking? Well, he did what?

God coming. Wait, a minute. Because when the Apostle Paul went there, Jay, you got to remember, they sneered. They're like, what the world. He's some false God. He's brought in there, holl about the resurrection. What's your?

Yeah. Well, if you just took us right now and inserted us in 3 BC, and we elaborated on what we're fixed to elaborate on, you would not believe the reaction in your life might not, you may not get off at Hill before they killed you. Well, since you brought this up, which is completely out of the blue. I'm just bringing in a little context here.

I like it. I want to give a good. We had a DeLorean. We could go back. Skip Cooby on the Dolorian. I kept thinking, yeah, Scotty, beam me up, Scotty. Chase, they would think the people on the hill that you, although way out and left field, they would have said, now there is a thinker.

Because they were used to listen to Aristotle and Plato and Socrates, and they would elaborate on the soul, you know. You need to get out more. If I'm a think. Ms. Kay heard me telling Al about that this morning, and I got pretty loud about it before we walked out the door. He got real loud. And she said, Phil Y'all are hot. And I said, always remember this. When the men folks raise their voices, get back.

Just get back. Hey, get back, Miss Kay. Get back. Get out of there. I don't know what that means. Look, I have two comments on this weird icebreaker. In Acts 17, 18, which is what I think you were referred to, I did what they call a deep dive on these two groups of people.

It says a group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to dispute with them. So I said, well, who are these people? We have an internet now, or I do, but you don't, but you get the idea of it. You have encyclopedias. So I looked up what these guys believe and talk. You know what I was shocked at? What is that? You said, who are these people?

Oh, you did the same thing. They were followers. I didn't know you were going to do what you were going to do. Well, I didn't know you were going to do what you were going to do. They were followers of the big three, Jay, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. You said that's who they were, all lounges and eating grapes discussing what Aristotle said because Plato told him what Socrates had said. And by the way, I'm just enamored with how the eating of the grape, people still eat great.

There's nothing wrong with eating grapes. I'm just saying that however we eat grapes, they had to eat something. Yeah, you've seen the things with the palm leaves and the grapes. If you're going to sit there all day discussing the latest ideas. You need some snacks. You grab some grub there. Maybe some olives. I don't know.

All right, whatever. So here you come and take it from there, Jay. You walk up there. The point I was going to make is what I was amazed at is most of their philosophies, because, I mean, I did this a few years ago, so I don't have it at the ready. But I was, I do remember this that stood out. Most of their philosophies were the same things that we do today. You are correct.

It was like, and stuff that's not necessarily bad. I mean, I thought some of the things were good. Like, one of their philosophies was do everything in moderation. Plus virtue equals happiness. All three said that. Socrates, Plato. Virtue leads to, you know, the knowledge of behavior. Virtue, if you live a decent, holy life.

They didn't say holy. If you live a virtuous life, you will be happier than if you, you don't live in virtue. But they still had virtue only in the intellect. Therefore, they got engaged in some pretty raunchy stuff. But the reason why is because they saw the body is. But here's how they did it. But they're like, but as long as you do it in moderation.

Which, look, you go to our college campuses today, same thing. You can get high, you can get drunk, you can, you know, have sex with it. But look, but don't go crazy with it. You got to remember. And all of their teaching. Now, this went on for three to 400 years. As these guys are stepping up, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, and their adherents, the ones that are following them,

you say, and they're expounding, but they don't have little small texts like, all are sinners, and all have sinned and fallen short of the glory. They didn't know that. This is pre-Jesus, pre-New Testament, pre-death of Jesus coming down in flesh and died. They didn't know that. So you say, but they're wrestling. with the ramifications of sin, but they didn't call it sin. They just said, we just noticed that people that seem to be real good people,

you said they have more knowledge than the people who are out there ripping, romping around. So they were putting together, well, what we need is knowledge, and that'll lead to virtue, and then they'll be happy. They were just deducting this from observing the human race. I want to note one other thing. you know, at the end of his, because people that have listened to us, you know, most of the episodes, we really reference Act 17 a lot.

And I want to just make a clarification while we do that. It's because Paul ran upon some people who were philosophers and they were into all the things of the day, but they didn't understand God. And so Paul in a little mini sermon explained the living God in a very very, practical way. In 20, in about a 15-minute speech. That's why I alluded to the fact that if you took us and you had dropped us, Paul was there post-Jesus, telling them about what's what had happened. He's given, he's told all men to repent because he's said a day when he would judge this world with justice. He's given proof of this to all men by raising it from the dead. Well, you can imagine,

Jason, all this philosophy, all of what Socrates said, Plato, Aristotle, none of them ever got to that. Well, right. And that's why I was going to read. That's why I said people of C-plus mentality, if you had dropped us in the midst of all, those knowledge, those very wise men, they would have been blown away if you were telling them this. Well, this is why I want to make this point.

When it gets to verse 32 of Acts 17, we're not studying Acts 17, but I think it's a fair point. When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, when he got to that part of the speech on what is the real true living God about, it says some of them sneered, which is the same thing in our culture. People are like, they're still sneering. You know, especially when you kind of get out of the Bible belt and you start, because I'll make little comments, especially when I'm outside the Bible belt, even if I'm in an airport or something and something comes up, I try to get in little jabs of like, well, it doesn't matter. I'm coming back from the dead.

Or, you know, I'm going to live forever. I say those comments on purpose, like to a stewardess on a plane. And there are, you know, some of them sneer because they're like, well, this dude's crazy. Or I roll. That would be an eye rolling today. They're like, oh. But then it says. Another one of those.

But it says, but others said, well, we want to hear more about this subject. And the point I want to make is, you know, when we study with people and we've gotten tons of letters and emails and people like, well, how do y'all go about studying with people exactly? And here's what the point I want to make. What separates this philosophy than all others, especially in the ones you're in our college campuses, is that when you talk about sin, which are mistakes that people make, we all have that in common once you reach the age of, you know, where sin is. But just think about that. Everyone has that in common.

And when you talk about death, everyone has that in common. I mean, you know, except for crazy people who... You're sounding like the philosophers now. That's what they were looking at. That's right. So here's my point. So when you bring up those two subjects, those are two things that we all have in common as a human. Now hold it right there.

Well, I'm really having a hard time holding it right there. Just hold that thought. Hold it. Hold it. And listen. Hold. So therefore, Jace, pre- Jesus. Yeah.

Pre-speech on Mars Hill by the Apostle Paul, pre-that, just before that, what do you think people were, when they were listening to you saying, we have what in common? What do you say? They didn't know this, Jase. Well, they didn't, but my point is the reason, when you read that some sneered and some wanted to hear more,

my point is when you introduce those two things to get people's attention, it always worked because it's something that everyone goes through. So I use those points to start the conversation because when you get to Jesus, just like Paul did, he's going to take care of those two issues. That is correct. But the reason it always triggers a response, which is my main point here. You could talk about anything else under the sun, all these philosophies and you go to these college campuses and talk about do things in moderation, but you'll have some people that will not be, that will not elicit. a response. But when you talk about your sin and your death and you talk about how God sent

Jesus to solve those problems, there will be a response. Now, it may be what we always say, mad, glad, or sad, but it will be something. You are correct, my friend. And I find that incredibly powerful, and I find it evidentiary where people on how God uses the that to get people's attention. Now hold that right there. Whether you agree with it or not. Hold that right there. Because what you've just said is my point, just prior to God becoming flesh and all of this

being unveiled about we all sin, we all die, just prior to that. Think about a world of very intelligent individuals that didn't know that. They didn't have an answer for what Jay's just said. They didn't have an answer for what sin. Neither do people today. Well, today, though, they have one thing they didn't have 2,000 years ago just prior to Jesus. They have Jesus now. They have the story.

They have the knowledge of God. It's written down for them. I'm just saying in some obscure places, they need people like us to go share. Hang on. Let's take a quick break. So one of the practical things I noticed from the text, since we're there now in verse 20, is one of the things they said. I thought this was interesting, Dad,

because you and I were in Athens about three years ago. And I only see one thing that's carried through 2,000 years in that culture. And it's this one in verse 20. You are bringing you some strange ideas to our ears, and we want to know what they mean. And then verse 21, here's what I see still around today. All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there

spent their time doing nothing. I saw a lot of that. But talking about and listening to the latest ideas. So it's the same thing I see going on in the Greek culture today, except without the thinking about ideas. I mean, that culture is really in a lot of trouble. Socialism, unemployment is high. Of course, they're being in and day with refugees. So I thought it was interesting.

There's still a lot of sitting around doing nothing by a big part of that culture. Now they're just doing it without the thinking. But a lot of the point is, Al, when you go. It's a fair point. It's a fair point. I mean, we were there. We saw it. When you go back and read the culture, like when I did a, I think two years,

years ago at our church, I did a class on First and Second Corinthians. I mean, it went on for months. But what was so enlightening about that was, you know, in that culture there, I mean, if you go back to everybody's heard of Sparta and, you know, Corinth was not very far from there. Well, a lot of these issues that arose, especially with male, female, you know, gender issues and all that stuff that's in First Corinthians, it came from. this quest to be, from a body standpoint, in Sparta's case, the greatest warriors on the planet. So what they do is they got into the childbearing business

of basically trying to put the most athletic male with the most athletic female. That's why when you read something weird, here's my point. In 1st Corinthians 5 where it says, you know, a man has his, what's the exact phrase? He has his or a son has his father's wife. I mean, it's something

weird. People of that. Yeah, yeah. It was basically he was having an affair with his stepmom. A man, a man has his father's wife and you're like, now how in the world is that going? I mean, that can't

be right. But when you read the history of it, they were trying to produce this ultimate society. And so if your father, you know, his wife was the best qualified, you know, female, they were trying to build warriors. So what I'm saying is when you go back and read all that history, it does kind of open your eyes about why or how they were trying to be creative in getting Jesus and why you had such an, such a opposition to it. Because they were putting more emphasis on how much money they had, on what kind of fly. philosophy you could come up with to find peace in life, but just in all of these, you can't have it

without Jesus and just the body itself. But all of those things have dead ends. Because you get older, no matter how much you work out, it's not going to work for you. If you look at it, think about God looking down upon a planet. It's been there biblical time, at least five to six thousand years, up to Jesus. And then you read about the few men of faith. And then you read about the few men of faith. who came out of that, a remnant. You look at that and you say, the carnage that that group of individuals left in that five to six thousand years. Think about it.

No Jesus, no forgiveness, no resurrection. You're looking at it like, whoa, whoa, whoa. Can you imagine just the few that took a stand and said, I will do what is right? Well, biblical, when you read the Bible in the Old Testament, seeing what few had an idea of God. And there's a lot of bad stuff in these pages. Well, that's how they come up with Zeus and all that.

They were after what Jesus represents. You know, they were like, well, it's up to the gods and the God of the Son and the God of the power. And then they came up with all these. And you know, the reason why is because all men are made in God's image. So, of course, they were looking for deity. They just kept thinking somehow it was a hybrid with, which, again, they were close because that's what Jesus.

Is God pulled this off and you can start, when you get into one right after the other with your points here, I'll just think about it. 33 years, you change the whole thing in a 30-year period. But to your point, people don't embrace it because it seems too simple. The simplicity, when you say, we're all. average intelligence, we get up, we share what Jesus, they're like, well, that's it. That seems so simplistic that. And how in the world could you change a whole culture and go worldwide and people are

actually becoming part of, are counted as the children of the resurrection? Let's see, first major sign, water to wine, healing the royal official son, healing the prayer. You said, wait a minute here. You mean God's going to unveil this whole thing with seemingly small little incidents. He's with one woman standing by a whale to get some water? You said he's going to show him that there's life beyond the earth, that their sins can be removed, that they can be raised from the dead. you mean he's going to start with talking to a woman standing out of water well? But just think of John 5 with that.

You'd think he'd gather a huge crowd together and said, all right, I'm God in flesh, and I'm making an announcement here to the human beings. I got as many as I can. There's about 200,000 of you, but I think I can reach enough of you. You'd think he would have gone big and said, well, let me draw, you know, you're not going to get anywhere talking to one woman. You see what I'm saying? Oh, yeah.

But that's why I went over that. Is that amazing or what? Because it doesn't fit a human mindset. And you know what? What doesn't fit at the beginning of John 5, which is where we're going to be, he comes up here to this pool. In verse 3, it says, here a great number of disabled people used to lie. The blind, the lame, the paralyzed.

One who was there had been an invalid for 38 years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in the condition for a long time, I mean, he really didn't learn it. I'm pretty sure he knew it. But all right, John, we get your point. He says, do you want to get well? And my point is, those types of people laying there are the types of people that philosophy, they don't want to deal with.

They don't want to look at. You know, when you think about trying to figure out the philosophies of life, that's what causes all the problems in philosophy. You're like, we just don't want to deal with it. we don't want to go there. We don't know why it's happening. And it's just, that's the way I feel. We don't want to talk about it.

And that's the very first place Jesus went. Now that I think about it, you said, well, why didn't he start with a large crowd, announce who he was? Well, first of all, no one but has shown up. We got a guy coming, and he's going to give y'all an answer every question you've ever had about where it all came from, what we're doing here, where we're going. He's going to answer them all. You need to come to hear and speak.

It doesn't cost you anything. You just gather up and listen. I figure five or ten people would have shown up and said, yeah. Well, Phil, if you were standing on a street corner with a sign that said, Meet me here tonight and I'm going to share some good news. Yeah. It would be less than five or two. They would tell you how many would be there.

Zero. Double. On top of that. They would sneer. But so look, Al. They might put five dollars. But it just occurred to me. I said, and wait a minute.

He had the woman at the well. But then this guy, he's going to heal. Al, when you look at some guys all crippled up, whatever, or blind. And presto, he's standing back up and said, Al, it doesn't take many of those. And you'll start drawing a crowd. Wow, right. That was the idea.

In other words, I was thinking, why don't you do something big? well, you can do something little, and enough people standing there would say, did you see that? Did you see that? You said, good night. What, who in the world is that? It would begin to emanate out from you, and it would cover a lot of ground in a short period of time. I got a thought on that, but let's take a quick break.

What's interesting to add about this way he did it there, so he does that, and he tells him, here's the way he tells him. He says, get up, pick up your mat, and walk. Because the guy has basically said, you know, there's this tradition that an angel the Lord comes through and stirs the water every once in while, and the first man in it gets healed. Now, I don't know if that was just a story that was, you know, emanating through this group of people, you know, because some of the old managerships don't even have it, which is why it's not in the end of it. Over there, it's like the same reason. When you were there, is there actual still a Besseta point? Well, it's big, yes.

Yeah. I wondered about that. We saw apartment complex now or whatever. But, yeah, that was one of the things that was pointed out to us. But I think that comes from, it's like, you know, when we went to the Dead Sea, you know, they, it's a, I don't know how much business, but they sell the mud and the, it's all supposed to have this. Are you saying it turned into a money-making racket? Shocker. But, no, I'm saying it probably works to some degree.

It is an unusual place, and there's unusual minerals. Right. Gathered in one place. But I'm saying our debate about it is probably what was going on here. Right. Well, that's why I'm saying. I'm not so sure as this guy's just hoping. I mean, he's been crippled for 38 years.

And so the deal is whenever somebody thinks the water stirred, people are jumping in the pool, but he can't quite get there is his deal. Well, which was my point. People tend to neglect and overlooked and don't want to get involved with people who have special challenges. Well, like you said earlier, they were whole cultures and civilizations that guys like this guy or some baby that was the runt of the, you know, because he didn't look like a warrior, they'd just snuff you out. You saw that with Nazism and all that. I mean, they killed people like this. That's exactly right. My point is, it's still in view of the great

philosophers of the age leading up to Jesus. They couldn't do this. My point is, if you can't do what Jesus started doing here, turn the water into wine, the woman at the well, the guy in there that's all crippled up, you're like, if you can go in and just clean it up and heal the ones that have,

whatever it is they have, if you start doing that, that puts you in another league above the present-day philosophy of that age. Well, look, Phil, just think about this. If you look back,

philosophy can just go so far. Right. If you go back, We're in chapter five. We haven't even read it yet. Just look at where we're at right now. Jesus didn't avoid some wilderness man that everyone thought was crazy. He didn't avoid a bunch of commercial fishermen.

He didn't avoid a religious hypocrite, which was Nicodemus. He didn't avoid a woman who was steeped in sin. And I mean, who was the Jezebel of the town. Yeah. You get to five, he didn't avoid people who were challenged. And those are the ones he's talking with. Yeah. I mean, we're not even five chapters in, and most of the people that we tend to avoid in life and in philosophy, he all of a sudden is right there with them in each case.

So you start seeing a picture here that maybe Jesus is not what we thought he was in the religious world. And to your point, Dad, to your point, the philosophers pre-Jesus or even during his day would never even given this guy a second look because what they would have looked at, said, well, this is poor sad sack. I mean, you know, there's obviously some, you know, he's done something and some, he's offended some God, whatever. So you don't even get a pass if something's wrong with you. Look, modern day atheist, if you mention Socrates, yay, Socrates, yay, Plato. Yay, Aristotle. Look, that's before Jesus got there. Look, that's older. They were there. They're older. And their dates are there. You know, there's a few question marks after their dates.

We might have missed it a few years, guys. They're like, that's okay. Well, it's all right. We know they were there, though. So they'll embrace the philosophers pre-Jesus. Here comes Jesus along, and their calendar is based on him. You're counting time by them. And they're saying, y'all are into a myth, a fairy tale.

I'm like, so let me get this right. Just before Jesus got here, the philosophers, y'all embraced them wholeheartedly. Yeah. And I'm like, here comes Jesus. after they got here, here comes Jesus, and he's going around helping people, and you're like, nah, get that Bible.

You can't believe that thing. It's a myth. That's a fairy tale. It's pretty amazing to watch, How? It's really interesting, Dad, when you look at some of the guys that came along hundreds of years later that became sort of champions

in the atheist movement when you hit Nietzsche and these guys, they believed in these guys. What's interesting is almost all of them wound up at a place in their life where they just committed suicide. In other words, I mean, most of the famous ones kill themselves. Yep.

And so the question is, is that where you wind up? Like when you follow this thinking out, if you can't think to something bigger than yourself, and you wind up just saying, why live? Why would they care if we're looking at it? We're looking at the great thinkers? I studied them this morning for about an hour. I looked at them in college when I was in college, it was in some course, but I looked at all these great thinkers from the Greeks had.

But then I get to Jesus and I read about his thinking. and I'm like, Jesus is way above this, these, he's way above them. He's way above them. He's answering the questions. They were worrying about why does virtue really make it happy? But he was meeting all the needs of people, which is what their philosophies can't do.

And even if your needs aren't met in life, oh, guess what? You'll live again. We'll take, at some point, you will be taking care of. That's why his philosophy is way more appealing. Because look at the people he's with. That's why I don't think this is by accident. You start reading.

It's just like all the things that people are like, why do these things happen? And we get to another one in John 9. But one thing I wanted to note before we get to the big issue, and the reason I love this passage, this story so much, is because I think this is what's wrong. What happens in this story is what's happened in religion today. They put a rule system or they put a rule system above people. And they miss the relationship aspect of us in God and us in each other.

And you'll see that happen. But before we get to that, when I taught this class on this, John Fib, I was trying to really highlight on this guy when it says he has been an emphasis for 38 years because you quickly read over that but you think 38 years i mean that's pretty well half your life if you're lucky and so i jotted down a few things i think i did this a couple years ago just to make that sink in 38 years ago from when i did this lesson you know what the hot toy was the rubics cube you remember that thing oh yeah i mean it seems like a distant memory now i never tried it but i saw some children playing with it man it took me

forever. I bet you got on it, didn't you days? I got on it, the competitor in me, you know, and I think it took years before I finally did it. That's where the concept of average intelligence played in through the Rubik's Cube. It's really just some kind of process. Some people can see those patterns. Some people do it easy. They just do them in like, you know, one or after.

Well, I didn't know there was a manual to help you. And, you know, it took me years before I got it. And when I did, when I finally got it and all the squares, look, I put it up on post and I shot it with a shotgun. I'm trying to get there. Where are you talking about? Well, the frustration, Phil, had built up because I couldn't do it. And then when I did, I felt embarrassed that it took so long, but I conquered the mountain

and guess what? That was my signal that I'm moving on. I bet Jason is the only person in America that shot his rubies. Yeah, I haven't heard that. I didn't know about that. I'm not sure why y'all find that. That's the first time I heard that's a disturbance. disturbing.

Hang on, let's take a break. You can give us another one. How is that disturbing? I told you the reasoning behind it. I was moving on with the next challenge. I've said this to you over the last few months, and I will reiterate what I've already said. Oh, James, he's not going to run out of stories out.

It ain't going to happen, dude. You needed to pay more attention when I was younger, and you would have seen some of these things. All right, you know, we had the Walkman. You know, now they have these things you stick in your ears, and they're not even attached. Oh, I remember the Waltman. Yeah.

Yeah. It was radio, and then they cut, then you had a Waltman that you could put a CD in, which was the number one movie was alien. Ooh, I love that one. That's rated all right. You're going to have to repent. I know, well. But I think it was because of scary images.

So what would have been 30? So this would have been around. So I must have done this a couple years ago. Yeah, so it was around. But I had this down. I thought they'd be fun to go through. John Wayne had died. So whenever he died is when I did.

this left, I mean, 38 years from when I did this last. Because we all used to watch John Wayne movies when we were young. Here's the, here's the, here's the one I thought it was funny. The two most popular songs were YMCA. YMCA. The village people. I wasn't into the village people. I'm so shocked, because I would have thought you were doing.

Even when I was a sinful scoundrel, I never got into that. Well, now they have, the games and all they do, the Siglo. The YMCA. Oh, I know. Do you do that? No. And the other... Our crew's laughing on that.

The devil went down to Georgia. Ooh, that was a good one. Charlie Daniel. McDonnells was introducing this new concept called the Happy Meal. It was the birth of the Happy Me? Yeah, that was all my facts. But I said all that to say when this guy who had been an invalid for 30 million, 1879, dude.

This is the year of John Wayne done. So plus 38 years. So I did this in 2017, I guess. Yeah. It's been three years, I guess. I still have my notes. You can do a Rubik's cue with that quick math. I like that.

So look, when Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition, he said, do you want to get well? Sir the invalid replied, I have no one to help me into the pool because we talked about when there was a belief that maybe. And look, when you've been an invalid. then you have a chance of getting well? You're doing it. But no one would help him. That pretty much just goes to my point about society.

You walk up to a guy who's been in this shape and Jesus says, do you want to get well? Oh, I love it. It's the state in the obvious. The guy I'm sitting there thinking, do I want to get well? Yeah. That's why I'm here. Is that a redundant question?

So Jesus said, but I think he got his attention with that question. So he's like, well, will you help me get in there, which? He's thinking, are you going to hang around next time we get a stirring? Are you going to throw me in the pool? That's what he's thinking. So then Jesus has got his attention. Yeah. So he's like, oh, this guy's going to help me.

Oh, is he going to help? You see what I mean? Yeah. So verse 8, he says, then Jesus said to him, get up, pick up your mat and walk. which I always find, you know, interesting because I think most people would say, would find that so offensive that they wouldn't even try. Yeah. It'd be that.

What do you, you know, get up and walk. My first thing thought is, man, my first thought is, you know, pick up and be mad and walk. I said, I thought to myself, I wish I could do that. You know, I mean, I would take it. You wouldn't want me to be able to do that. Because, I mean, I would go across the country. country saying, get in line. I got great news for you.

Just think about the ability of the power. If you have the power. And the way he's doing it, it's like this. It's almost kind of comical. It is. But you make an interesting point from the guy, I never thought about it from the guy's perspective, you're looking at him in laying here all these years.

And he's like, well, just get up. And I mean, we'd be looking at it if we were looking at it. That's why I did the 38-year thing. I think that's lost in how long. And if somebody asked that question, you're like, I would have been offended. I'd say, okay, holy man, or, you know what I mean, I'd have made some snide comment. I had a cune. But there was something there he knew.

I had a coon and a cage. Uh-oh. And he stayed there for five years. And what he would do is all night long and all day long, he would run up and down. The cage was about four, four, four, five feet long. You had a pet raccoon. A pet raccoon that I was feeding. Yeah.

And I'd caught him when he was. he was a little one. He was mean. I remember. So look, he would run and run back, run and run back. He had run to the end of the thing and come back and run to the end of the thing and come back looking for a way out, looking for a way out, looking for a way out. He had just packed the ground. It looked like concrete. And one day I watched him, one day I saw him and I said, you know what, I'm going to let him lose. Yeah. He's been running for years saying, is there any way what I ever find a way. So I go down there and here's what's amazing.

It reminded me of this story. I opened the gate and now it's open. He runs down there and turns around and runs back. He runs down there. He gets, the gate's open. He can leave. He's free. He can leave.

He's free. But he runs to the spot. He'd run for five years. He'd gotten such a habit that he didn't see it. So I walked over there and I started hitting that cage when he would get down the other end. I said, just go out the door, dude. Go out the door. It's open.

So finally he ran down there. When man talked to wrecking. I shook the cage and finally he stopped. And I could see him peering outside. The gates out of the way. Yeah. Wide open spaces. Look, when he finally made that step, he put his foot down, like, testing it.

Because it had always been that wire there. Yeah. And it was open now. So he took about three or four steps, looked around at me. And I mean, he took off like a, he gone. He gone, like a rocket. Jumping four feet. I mean, I said, boy, that can.

He was William Wallace. He ran toward a big, thick edge of the woods there, and he ran into those woods and never looked back. That's why I've offended a lot of people, because, like, in my book, I put, I had set him free. I put, I don't like zoos, you know, and people are like, you don't like Zip, because I just don't, I like animals to roam, and I like to chase them.

I don't like them hemmed up. And that's the reason. I kind of feel sorry for him. Let's take one last break. Then Jesus said, get up, pick up your mat and walk. At once the man was cured, he picked up his mat and walked. So you're thinking this is the greatest story ever. All people, this, if they had a newscast back then, it'd be the front line about we had a guy.

This video would go viral. All religious people are saying there's a God, you know, who can heal people. His name is Jesus. Well, watch what happens. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath. You think Jesus knew that? Oh, he knew it. And he's trying to give them a point and give us a point.

He's trying to elicit a response. And so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, it is the Sabbath. The law forbids you to carry your mat. Sounds like the governor of Minnesota, Michigan, you know. I mean, you can't. You can't buy seeds. You can't buy seeds because we got an epidemic.

And I'm like, well, what's buying seed? You can't get your boat to go catch your fish. And actually, to your point, you're exactly right because that's not what the law said, but that's what had been added by the Pharisees. Which is exactly what, what Miss Michigan dreamed up. Well, exactly. She just added. By the way, since we have a.

pandemic, you don't want to get in your boat. I'm like, well, but I'm down here on the river and I'm in my boat. The last thing I'm going to catch his coronavirus. Yeah, you're going to catch a catfish. Oh, I'm going up the river. You say, do you see any traffic? I'm like, no, no traffic is on the river, especially where I'm going to be in all these flooded woods.

You say, do you ever see anybody? Never. But you could get in a canoe, but you couldn't get on a jet ski. So, I mean, you know, I don't know. Well, and I don't know. I mean, because when I went to Caney Lake, I told you all this. it was 4th of July down there. Every redneck.

Because, you know, they lost their job, which is sad. I mean, we're up to 20 million people without their job. That's more than the people in the state of Texas. Just think about that. Or five times more than Louisiana. So our heart goes out to them. But these rednecks right here, you know what they do? Hey, let's go fishing.

Well, keep going on with your story, Judge. It's called the people there out. They're all. They're my story, but I just want to highlight one thing. That's why Jesus said, he didn't say, You know, he said, do you want to get well? And then he said, get up and walk. But that one little statement in between all that where he said, pick up your mat.

Well, this guy's been healed. He's doing whatever this guy tells him. Exactly. So he... Which is the point, by the way. So when they rebuked him or challenged him, verse 11, the man replied, well, the man who made me well, the man who made me well, set me. Not my fault. I know I'm carrying my death.

He told me to pick it up. The man who made him. made me well, which, look, he's been an invalid for 38 years, and these guys are missing all that. Just think, how do you make someone well after 38 years, and all he did was do it through a statement? Get up. He said, pick up my mat and walk. So they asked him, which this is the only thing they got right, because this is the greatest question in the Bible. Yep.

you say what the greatest question in the Bible who is this fellow that's why it's the greatest question in the Bible that part was good who told you to pick pick it up and walk the man who was healed had no idea who it was for Jesus well like this he had slipped away you know Jesus would get of that they were all around here which by about teleporting and transporting he could just he disguised himself so to your point point, you talked about how the Cana miracle at the wedding, the, you know, the one we just looked at where the guy comes up and he heals his son, we talked about last time. When he told him who he was in Luke 4, I think it is, and they all gathered, they said,

we need to kill him on the spot. So they all got their stone and said he walked right through him and not a one laid a hand on me. So my point is that to your point earlier, you said, you know, if we did it, we'd be wanting to draw attention to ourselves. He healed him, told him what to do. And he hides. He's gone. Basically just left the pressure.

Yeah, he slipped out. Well, because he was still keeping that mystery about it because he didn't want the evil one to know that by killing him, he's basically destroying the spiritual forces of evil. And the timing's still not right. He's not ready to make the full bomb. They had a plan. God's plan is a plan now. They stuck to the plan. And guess what?

the plan work. But I think what highlights here is God, Jesus didn't avoid people with challenges. So for our listeners, you know, there's a lot of challenges in life, physically, spiritually, emotionally, are past sin, somebody else's sin, your own sin.

Then they have all the physical ailments and things going on. But if you hadn't realized up until John 5, whatever your problem is, which is why that gets people's attention, which we started with that, X-17. And even in death, Jesus has the answer. He is the answer. So I want to add one more thing to that before we wrap up. Because we're going to do another podcast on this.

Right. Especially when we pick up. But the last thing I want to leave with on this is, this is fascinating. And it really shows you what we've talked about the whole podcast. In verse 14, later Jesus found him at the temple. So he runs back into him. him, hey, there you are. See, you are well again. I mean, he's like looking at it. He's like, man, you're still hopping and skipping and jumping. He makes that statement to him. Then look at what he says,

stop sinning or something worse may happen to you. And then he's gone. So I love it. At the end of the day, he's saying, look, he is the God of healing, but he's saying there's more than you being up skipping and hopping and jumping. He told him what he's telling him was, I know you, son. Even in your crippled state, you hadn't been living. the way you're supposed to be litters. So he's like, he brings in that spiritual concept. I took that to being, he was probably getting hammered.

You know what I mean? He was celebrating. And, uh, because it's not wrong to get a popping jump. Well, you made a whole leap. I'm saying he knew the man's life before. Just because you're crippled,

I mean, you can't do some pretty good cutting up. He says stops in it. I think he was. I think he was talking about his life. His life. He's saying, I know you more than as much as you know you. I don't disagree with you on that.

You may be right. So you're saying in the, he saw him in the temple in that same setting, Jay's. He didn't have time to get hammered. All I'm saying is, if I... This is all happening in real time. He was looking at his whole life. Are you going to let me give my argument? Sure, give you a minute. If I had been an invalid for 38 years and I can't even get down in a pool and then I'm healed.

And because Jesus didn't get in a bunch of your lifestyle. He just healed him. And all of a sudden, I'm back going again and I'm not, I don't have a spiritual bone in my body. I'm fixed to line out things I can do to celebrate immediately. A-SAP. I'm looking around. And my point is because he already knew how to do that. Well, I agree, Al, but he's the way around a pool. Yeah, but some of the most addicted people, he didn't live at the pool as he lived somewhere else.

So what happens is people can live a disabled life. Sometimes they're the ones that get the most into this sinful stuff. I think he might have lived there. He didn't live there. I mean, he was an invalid. He was hanging around. sure he you know but I mean we're both making a lot of assumptions so you may be right can you can you agree with the point that Jesus was as concerned with this spiritual walk as he was now God heals oh I wanted

to talk about that I want to talk about a whole episode now we got to do that next time we got to do that next time we're out of time man what a discussion so we're so we're so glad you guys were with us today you can subscribe on iTunes or Spotify or YouTube or Facebook and be sure and rate us on iTunes so that other people can know about the podcast.