You're listening to KFI A six forty on demand. I was talking to Ned
off the air and wanted to let you know that we chatted a little bit
about the church. He had some concerns of two different churches, one that
kicked someone out, saying that they were making people feel uncomfortable, and the
other one that he said was keeping a family from seeing other parts of their
family, which is really odd. There are movements called the Shepherding movement where
Christianity starts to borderline on cultism and wanting to control your life, where who
you marry, where you move, things like that. I don't see that
from the church that he mentioned in Aspen. Taking a look at that,
I don't see anything that overtly at this point is problematic. But we chatted
a little bit about not wrapping your faith up into the people of the church.
Churches will make major mistakes and people abuse power, even people, even
Christians, and power abuse power. And we didn't have time to go through
every single detail there, but always have a watchful eye for how the church
treats people. It's an important part of being in a community. And if
something gives you a red flag, it's it's worthy of going to ask.
But if you're looking for perfection in a church, you're going to be frustrated
as well, because it's it's You're not going to find it there. There's
going to be issues there, just like any other place. Quite honestly,
sadly but true. Jay, welcome to the Jesus Christ Show. Yeah,
thank you for kicking my goal. My question. My question is this,
My sister wants to be uh ashes when she passes away and Jesus yashuah I
had to go back to his body to be resurrected. Are we supposed to
be ashes or should we? Should we have our body intact? So I've
heard that the temple of God, you can't mess with the temple. The
body is the temple of God. She wants to be as I say no,
no, because we need a theological answer. Yahu. I'm asking you,
should we be intact or should we be ashes? It's cheaper and yeah,
it's cheaper and more convenient and more eco friendly and all kinds of things.
So, Jay, the fact that you are using Yeshua are you do
you come from a Jewish belief system? No? I say you show it
because I come from Catholic. But now and then, I'm not a feeling.
I've never really studied the whole stuff, but I am searching. But
I am also I want my sister to be attacked. Okay, so let's
that that's your one that Let's look at scripture. There is nothing in scripture.
As a matter of fact, Scripture says ashes to ashes, dust to
dust, from the ground. You came from the ground, you shall return
there. There is nothing, there's no benefit. God is not stupid.
God is not sitting there going, oh my gosh, she's ash. How
am I going to put this back together? God created her from ash,
and from ash he can create her again. There is no there's no issue
there. There's no issue in cremation to a Christian. Our Jewish brothers and
sisters may feel differently, but to a Christian there is no problem with cremation.
Also, there is uh and no problem in scripture. And also there
is no problem with donating your body to science. God is not going to
be going, oh what am I to do? That has nothing to do.
The reason why I was fully intact during that process is because it was
less than three days and there it was part of a burial which was the
which was the tradition then, but now as there are over seven billion people
on the planet and real estate is at a high price because it's more and
more, there's less space that it if for those that choose to be cremated,
it becomes a very practical way to do it, and it doesn't affect
God or spirituality or resurrection or any of those things at all. It's a
personal choice. So if your sister wants to do it, there's nothing in
scripture that says she can't. I know, it may make you feel a
little odd. I know a family member, there's a lot of family members
feel that way because they feel like it's the body's being destroyed. But scripture
never puts weight on the body. The body is just a vessel. It's
like your car. It just moves your body from place to place. So
your body just moves your spirit from place to place. But once the body's
gone, it doesn't matter. You're going to be in a resurrected body anyways,
it's going to be different. So we have your permission absolutely, if
that's your choice, there's nothing wrong with it whatsoever. There's nothing in scripture
that says that you can't be cremated, or that it's going to somehow cause
some a problem during the resurrection or anything like that. Nothing whatsoever, personal
choice, that's all. Okay, all right, thank you, you're quite
welcome. I know that those things weigh heavy on people because they think that
somehow you're destroying the temple. You're not, because the body is the temple
that holds the spirit. The spirit is that which is important. Okay.
The temple has always been the thing that held the Holy of Holies. It
wasn't the temple, wasn't the important part as much as it was what was
inside the temple. And in this particular case, when it talks about in
Corinthians about your body being the temple, it's really it's really talking about don't
take your body for granted during this life and destroy it, you know,
treat to be a good steward of the life you've been given. But at
the point of death, it doesn't mean treat the body as some sort of
sacred object per se. It's if you want to be buried, be buried.
If you want to be cremated, be cremated. If you want to
be turned into a tree fertilizer for a tree and it's legal, then so
be it. There's nothing that's not going to get in any way messed up
with the final judgment or anything like that. People get lost in that and
it becomes becomes a fear that somehow you're not you're going to miss out because
you it became cremated or had your body cremated. It doesn't, it doesn't
play into it as a whole. Jeff, Welcome to the Jesus Christ Show.
Yes, sir, good morning. How are you doing? I am
well. How can I help you? Jeff? Well, first of all,
I want to thank you for taking my call, and I appreciate listening
to you on Sunday mornings. That's nice, appreciate it. The pleasure's mine.
How can I help you? Thank you? Well, I'll start with
I have two things that I asked you about, but I'll start with the
most important one here. I've been thinking about perhaps I've been either hypercritical on
myself and others a lot lately, especially since I then set in scripture and
listen to your show and so into attend church more than you know when I
was you know, a young man. Whatever. But you know, I'll
make this a little more brief relationship wise, This is where it becomes important.
I have a very significant other. I've known her for about five years.
In the beginning, I well, of course liked her a lot,
but didn't want to be with her. She was a few years older than
me, already has a child with a past marriage the last year and a
half or so. Then wanted, you know, decided like you are,
you know, kind of being a foolish to not see good person that had
in front of me. And then it's become nothing but strife and and you
know, you know, basically, uh, you know, a lot of
frustration after that. Once once I decided to go the path she wanted,
you know, as far as being being with her, then it became,
you know, nothing but a lot of negative output. Whereas before she wouldn't
leave me alone when I didn't want to be with her in a committed relationship.
So yeah, and then now I look at things like a might being
hypercritical on how I look at her behavior. I hypercritical o myself as far
as what I do as well. To not elaborate of that one yet,
but it goes on both ends, So I don't know, I'm very perplexed
by this one. I will tell you this, Jeff as a as a
simple answer. Whenever a Christian asked me, are they being over judging and
hypocritical of others in themselves? The answer ninety nine point nine percent of the
time is yes, Christians do that. Now, what if you feel,
well, I'm not trying to be like so judgmental where I'm saying, you
know, what you're doing is completely wrong. It's against the you know,
word of God or whatnot. I used to do with that out of a
born again Christian aunt who no matter what you know, nothing, nothing was
correct. But yeah, and that becomes annoying for yourself and for others.
Yeah, yeah, exactly. We used to call her you know, well
it doesn't matter but yeah, no, no, Now her and I are
friends. Actually I'll be going to with her later. In fact, we
had a falling out a few years back, and now I decided, when
I was changing some things around that I would make contact and that we're actually
really really close. So this is really about a relationship with a woman,
right, Well that's yes, that's where the first part of it starts.
But I also have applied this into other other areas of my life. A
good example would be yesterday I had a homeless individual, you know, say
something to me, to ask me a question I didn't know nobody asked me,
and I told him no, more like he was asked me for something,
don't know what told him no, an he kind of kind of fronted
me in an aggressive way, and so it looks like you're too scared to
talk, and then I definitely should have wasn't too scared to talk? And
well maybe that's a little too aggressive, right, So that's that's just one
analogy. But back to the relationship factor though, Like I said, I
can apply this to many areas of life. The relationship factor, though,
would be all right. So now that I'm trying to have this relationship with
this individual and understand certain things, I feel there's like this big pull away.
So when I see certain things that happen where I don't feel I've been
spoken to honestly or schedules don't keep up. Am I being extremely judgmental?
Well not judgmental? Sorry? Am I not? Am I failing to realize
the fact that we She's got a daughter and you know there's other factors in
their life. Yeah? I think there. I actually think there's a a
couple of things going on here, Jeff so hack and tight, and I'll
give you my response in just a moment, I was talking with Jeff and
I wanted to clear some things up. We have just a moment here.
He was talking about being judging and hypocritical of others in himself, and that's
pretty common with Christians that get wrapped up, or religionists in any way,
or people of faith in any faith can Often you're finding structure and it's almost
like you're finding structure for the first time. And there's a difference in life
between building. Let me put it this way, there's a difference between fine
art and architecture. Both are absolutely art, but one has to have structure
and rules to it because you're going to be building mass. You're going to
be building something that has to house people or things or have electrical wiring,
have to be structurally sound, and therefore it has to it has to be
built by rules. Doesn't mean there is an art involved in it, but
it has to be built by rules. And then on the other side,
there is free flowing art. There is Jackson Pollock and an explosion of pain
on a canvas and you're trying to put these two together and figure out how
they work in life and how they can be from the same thing. When
something's so rigid and something is so not so when it comes to Christianity,
when it comes to faith, when it comes to applying your faith in life,
there are going to be times where the rigidity of those laws and the
things taught in scriptures, the thou shall and those thou shall not are going
to be important because of the structure you're building has more to do with housing
life and spirituality and things that need structure. And then in those instances it's
okay to be judgy and specific and hypercritical of yourself and others. And then
there are other things in life that are more fluid and have to breathe.
They need space and poetry and not just symmetry. And in those things there
has to be charity and acceptance and a broader look. And most of the
things in life, in relationships, really deal in that area. And it
doesn't mean that there aren't eyes you need to dot and tease, you need
to cross when you're finding a mate or a partner in life, most certainly
because it's going to be an important part but if you're looking for perfection or
for the fine detail that comes with architecture, you're not gonna find it because
people aren't built that way. So have a little bit of breath and a
little bit of open openness towards those things, and you'll find that life will
become easier. And then when it comes to the structure of morality and making
choices in life and doing the right thing, then that structure should be there,
and you should dot every eye and cross every TV Renee, Welcome to
the Jesus Christ Show. Yes, how can I help you, funny to
get your input on transgendered people and their relationship with God and stuff. I've
fifty six years old. I've been transitioning for twelve years, and I came
back to a town that I lived in for many years and was invited to
a church by some people there, and then abruptly, once I found out
I was transgendered, with asked not to come or I have to be under
strict codes, and started to be able to come to anything, and then
another church they accept that fine. And as a Christian person myself, I've
wrestled with the question and how I don't trying to figure out what God's views
on that are. I you know, I don't really know. I guess
I just know I'm transgendered, and I don't know what God's views are.
I said that, hear what you had to say. Well, first of
all, I think it's important that the church treated you the way that it
did. I find that to be unloving and Unchristian on so many levels.
I think the church. The interesting thing is, the church would love to
say you're the one that's confused, but I think the churches, I think
the church is in a place of that has a major deficit and understanding what
is taking place, what these different gender identities are, and how they're applied,
and what's the difference between somebody who may be confused and somebody who genuinely
is saying I'm struggling with a mismatch of my body and my brain. And
they don't know where to put that. There's no clear definition, so they
start applying scripture that should not be applied to it at all and kind of
throwing it into one bucket and saying, Okay, I think this is this
is wow, We're going to make the decision. And unfortunately, people like
yourself are struggling with their faith and saying, hey, I believe, and
I want to be a part of a church community, and I want to
give and I want to dedicate myself, and you're not allowing me to do
that. Some churches are. I don't want to put that on every church,
but I do have a church now that I found that I go to
and an Episcopal church and they're very accepting. So but you say that you
wrestle with it yourself, that as a believer you've wrestled with it. What
part do you wrestle with, Well, just the whole part. And it's
like, God, you know you made me this way. You know,
I guess I had that part of me, and then I guess, and
then I guess some of the brow beatings from early on in my life.
Sure, And I say, you know, I always wrestled with it with
God. I guess before I came out. I mean I was married and
had a family and everything, and you know, it goes lives all that,
But that's the way it was dealt with back then, right. You
just kind of well tried to get on the path that seemed normal and seemed
like the average Jane or John and you just got married and tried to do
what you thought everyone else wanted, and now you have people like yourself that's
saying no, I'm not going to do that, because living a lie for
God is should not be condoned either, correct. So this is a tough
one. I will say that it is the belief of this program that being
transgender is not incompatible with Christianity or with your faith, and that will frustrate
a lot of people listening right now. But in the bigger picture, I
want you to see it this way. Now, there are many shades,
and there are many different beliefs and cist gender and all these different new names
that are being thrown out at people, and there's a lot to them.
This is not a blanket for everything. But what this is is people is
an opportunity for people to think differently and think that if there is nothing else
where you would condemn a child or an individual based on medically being born one
way, you wouldn't say somebody with a cleft palate shouldn't correct the cleft palate,
or shouldn't or somehow isn't going to get into heaven because of the cleft
palate. That's not the way it works. Now you can go into debating,
and science is doing a wonderful job trying to dig in and to understand
all of this more and more as people are coming out and saying no,
I've been living a lie and that's not okay. But the church doesn't know
what to do with it right now, and I'm sorry for that. I
know that they need time to process all of this, and it doesn't It's
not about a liberal mentality or watering down the church. It's not about that
at all. This show is not about watering down the truth of the Gospel
or the truth of scripture. But it is about making people, especially the
church, look at themselves, at some of the things they've done in the
past and some of the things they continue to do, and ask themselves why
Because you have churches that have female pastors, you have churches that think,
oh, well, you can have a single pastor. Yet they'll use the
same types of verses against transgender folks or gay folks and say well, you
can't be a part because X, Y, and Z. Yet they will
rewrite whatever they want because they're comfortable with it. The fact is, and
the church should be brave enough to say this that their biggest concern is the
ick factor. They think it's icky. They don't know how to just see
two adults that are the same sex relationship or two adults that say I'm not
the right gender in my brain and in my body. And the world has
always been the same way. Renee, you've got you come out of your
mama. You're put there in front of a doctor and a team of nurses,
and they go, they've got They've got an audi. It's a boy.
They've got an any it's a girl. And that binary concept is all
this world has known for a long time. And people confuse the story of
Adam and Eve being the only standard because it was the necessary standard for for
procreation. But that doesn't mean the two people that can't pro create, meaning
even if they are male female, are are not doing the will of God.
It's you know, there's a lot of a lot of areas in which
Christianity just runs from. And I am proud of you for one being honest
with yourself and for taking those steps to correct what you felt. Not God.
God didn't make a mistake, which is another thing the Church doesn't know
what to do with. But life has paths that it goes down to chemically
and structurally and biologically, and that aren't put necessarily on God, like the
cleft palate or these types of things, and correcting them is a noble thing
and not an ugly thing. But God bless you for saying, I will
not live a lie and I will not refuse and reject my God. So
you gotta I'm sorry you have to wait for the church to catch up with
you. But it's struggling, and it's trying. It's trying to understand,
and it's trying to figure out where it lands on all of this. And
I can promise you this, They will find the right path. They just
are scrambling to understand. And the best way to do that is to be
honest. People like you. To be honest and to be willing to explain
and to teach and those that ask or have questions and not take offense to
it and allow people to learn during this process of change. Because you think
you said yourself it took twelve years of transition, right, Yeah, And
I I started transitioning twelve years ago, right started normale treatments. Yeah,
I'll tell you what I disclaimed from you More than anything one was my attitude
at the at the churches. I guess as a Christian person myself, that
helped me. I guess for any bitterness that I might have towards them,
you know, I guess the best teacher is to give you. God wants
just to love, to learn to love, and if I could learn to
love them back, I wish they would have loved me. They'll get there,
Yeah, I guess for me, that's my job, though, is
to reach back in love and not hate and be mad at them. Well,
you think that the church, and everyone thinks this, the church has
the corner on all faith and the love of God, and that's not true.
It's just a building with people. It's people coming together and rejoicing in
God. However, you as a believer, are just as accountable for teaching
them and teaching others about your faith. So you have to love them the
same way you expect them to love you, even if they don't give you
that you do exactly because you are yourself that church, as every saint is.
And I know this is a touchy subject and people want to run from
it, and people in the church especially don't want to do that homework and
don't want to really dig deep to figure out how this all plays a part.
They even psychological movements and definitions are scrambling to come up with better understanding.
Science is scrambling come up with better understanding, and ultimately, people like
yourself are saying, hey, regardless of science, regardless of any of these
things, I know what I know, and I know what I feel,
and I know who I am, and I'm just asking to be able to
be respected as that individual. And I think that that is a right,
especially here in the United States, that you have RENEE. And I'm sorry
that you have to be so patient, but you took twelve years. You
started your transitioning twelve years ago. Think about something that's been around for thousands
of years that is dealing with this in a different way for the first time,
and it's going to take some time for them to transition as well.
And I hope that, I hope that you give the church that time to
make their own transition and understanding in this very important matter and focus. And
I get so disappointed in how the church has treated this particular community, whether
it be the gay community, the transgender community, and how their ignorance has
made them even mean mean towards this community, rather than loving and trying to
understand, even if they don't have all the answers in front of them right
now, to just find a place of lovingness and stop hiding behind. Oh
well, I love the sinner, but hate the sin business when they really
just use it as an excuse not to know, not to learn, and
not to understand. Dell, Welcome to the Jesus Christ Show. Fellow,
Hi, how can I help you? Del Oh? Wow, it's you
alrighty. I was a member of a Pentecostal holsation. I am Lutheran.
I have learned that Martin Luther taught that we are simultaneously saint and sinner.
Uh huh. Obviously in my Pentecostal holiness world, I was taught we were
sinners, but now we're saints. Which which one is right? Or are
they both right? Or you know what? You're simultaneously simultaneously Satan sinner you
are. You are a saint by the grace of God and the death and
the Cross. You are a sinner by the nature of man. Okay,
So does that mean that it's okay? Sin? And you know it's just
all right, It will work out any ow no. And that's you know,
that's actually talked about in Timothy. There's a concept of oh, well,
you know what, I'm a sinner and it's already paid for, that
I might as well do it. But think about it this way, Dell.
If you accidentally killed a man and you went to court and they found
that it wasn't an accident, but it was. They just the evidence wasn't
there, and they said, you know what, in two weeks, we're
going to put you in jail for life. So you had two weeks to
roam free. Are you going to go around murdering a bunch of people just
because well they already think you're a murderer and you've got the freedom to do
it. You're it's already been paid for. It's going to be exactly.
There's not going to change the amount of time or any of that. Well,
let's say you are. That's a good point though, if you were
saved, that that the point is about the character of the individual. The
character of the individual a true person who has saved, and that is seeking
to do the will of God each day, to love God and and and
stay by his commandments, and to focus on God's will is not looking for
an excuse to sin, and you don't need one. You sin because you're
a sinner. That's just it's going to happen. It says in Scripture all
men have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, every single one
of them. So that's the state in which you're in. Doesn't mean that
you have to continue to perpetuate it, because that stops being sin and becomes
rebellion, a deeper form of sin, and rebellion's talked about a lot in
Scripture as being different or rooted differently. So again another analogy. If one
of your children, you buy them a car and they crash the car,
and you go, well, I love them, and you know what they
learned from their mistake. I'm going to pay for another car. And you
get them another car and they crash that car. If they continue to do
this, that's not they don't love you. They don't love you, they
don't care about you. They're taking your money, they're getting they're using the
car, and they're doing what they want. And that attitude, the fruits
of those attitudes de'll show others as well. And God knows your heart.
So if you're only looking for an excuse or reason to sin, then your
heart is not in the In this state of the redemption of the Cross.
To begin with, you're kind of just doing your own thing. But if
you're constantly seeking to better yourself, you're you're what my producer Neil calls a
whip, a work in progress. That's normal. That's the way God works.
You're in that You're you're trying to get better each day, focusing on
the things of God, purifying yourself through scripture and the blood on the cross,
and focusing on God's will and not yours. And that's a process and
it takes time. But if you're going in the other direction, oh Heaven
help you, and remember, more importantly than all the ugliness in the world,
these simple words, I Am with you always. KFI A M six
forty on demand