You're listening to KFI A six on demand. Dan, Welcome to the Jesus
Christia. Good morning Jesus. You know, recently I've over the past years,
I've been reading a lot of physics books, and to the contrary,
brings me closer to the Lord understanding science. My question is, somewhere in
the Bible, I think it's Old Testament says you can search one end of
the avenue to the other, and you will not find anything like mankind.
So I've kind of assumed that this is it. We're the people here on
Earth. His all there is into the universe, and the entire universe is
for his glory. I've read that before too, His creation is for his
glory. Well, my question is, if there were to be life on
other planets, would Jesus, would you be out there dying on the cross
and resurrecting across the universe for other people and other life forms? Are that's
you'd have to assume that. Now, you brought up a lot of good
points. First of all, you're you're right out of the gates. You're
right. Science and and faith are not at odds. They work together,
all truth being God's truth. Uh. However, on top of that,
the concept you you paraphrased, is that there's no place in scripture that allows
for this kind of outside extraterrestrial world. Now, I know a lot of
people have problems with that because of the sex appeal of the thought of extraterrestrials
and that type of thing. And and plus then you put people's personal experiences,
some that say they've been abducted, and it causes you know, it's
almost a religion unto itself. So although the curiosity is there and it's a
fascinating topic, that when you look at the scriptural foundation, you have a
hard you're you're hard pressed to try and fit the two together. For a
couple of reasons. It takes away the specialness of humanity in many ways.
Also, Hebrews two sixteen says, for assuredly, he capital h speaking about
me does not give help to angels, but he gives help to the descendants
of Abraham speaking about humans. So angels aren't saved. That's why when one
third of Heaven left, they stay gone. They can't change their mind or
come back or be saved or any of that process. Because they're very different
than humans in that sense. As far as the amount of knowledge they have
based on who they are and how they were created. So that shows that
there is a difference between me coming as man and saving man versus just me
coming as a creature. In this case intellect, will and emotion. I
say creature because it's too mirror create. So you can't just say, well,
it's going to cover everybody, because if they're different in any way,
like the angels are different, then it doesn't count. The purpose was to
come as a human to take on the sins of humanity, so there's no
way to get over that in scripture. And lastly, I will say,
on the scientific note, it's interesting that when you hear a scientist talk about
the mathematical probability of humanity existing from an evolutionary standpoint, that you are talking
about numbers, you know, sixteen zero zeros or more behind that concept,
which puts it actually it would be more, which puts it in the mathematical
category of an impossibility. So if this one group of life is already an
impossibility mathematically that it would come out of chaos or nothing, then to say
that there's life somewhere else from a scientific standpoint becomes an interesting mathematical situation too,
because now you're saying this one time was impossible by our you know,
equations, but now you're saying, well, there's there's going to be life
somewhere else, and now that becomes even more mathematically impossible, not just improbable.
So on the science side, it doesn't lend a whole much to it.
Although nobody likes to come out and be the bad guy and say now
there's probably not life anywhere else, but theologically Dan there's no real room for
it. There are people that try and look at versus like there are others
that are not of this flock, or I have flock that are not of
this group. And people say, oh, look, that's talking about you
know, it's talking about you know, extraterrestrials and God is making room for
them. And that's not the case. It's talking about Jews and Gentiles.
It's talking about those that were the faithful of the day and those that were
not. And so there, you know, people try and look at things
the wheel in the sky and Isaiah and all these type of things and try
and make them into something dealing with extraterrestrials, but that it's just not in
there. In the scripture, there's no real place for it there to boot.
So yeah, and I'd like to add that many times on these science
channels and things they talk about all they always say, you know, the
odds are the tremendous galaxies out there and all this, the odds are there
would have to be beaming with life. And I always come back and say
to myself that they're always saying, man is arrogant to think that he's the
only one in the whole universe. I say, well, no, on
the contrary, we're so special that God creative size, that he came down
here and locked among us, that makes us very special. And that's I
think that's the end of it all. Because he created a universe and he
came here makes us very unique and special. And you hear and that's right,
Dan, And you hear arguments sometimes people saying, oh, well,
you know, the faithful or the religionists say that there aren't extraterrestrials, and
that's just because they want to feel like they're special. They're the only ones,
as you're saying, they're the only ones on the planet. There can't
be anybody else, And it's just humanity's way of feeling special. However,
those who believe in extraterrestrials believe what that they visited where here? Why would
they visit here because you think you're special, because you think Earth is worthy
of visiting. Yeah, So it's kind of an interesting thing that people get
caught up in, Dan, and I appreciate you bringing that up today because
a lot of people get caught up in that and listen, it is incredibly
interesting and a fascinating discussion. I get that, and I want you to
explore things, and I want you to question things. And you know there's
forums for that, you know, Coast to Coast and George and Ian they
do a wonderful job, and there's there's places to discuss those things and those
ideas, and this is one of them as well. But scripturally, there
is not a whole lot of footing for that idea. There's just not And
I know that angers some people. And we have a rule here on the
show, and that is that that when it comes to people that you don't
change the mind the mind of a devout anything unless they're a devout truth seeker.
You won't change the mind of a devout Protestant. You won't change the
mind of a devout Catholic. You won't change the mind of a devout Muslim,
devout Jew, a devout atheist. You won't change the mind of anybody
unless they're a devout truth seeker. First and foremost. That is that that
is what they're seeking. And if they're seeking that, then then there is
hope. Cindy, Welcome to the Jesus Christ Show. Hello Jesus, Hi,
Cindy. I have a question. I have been I'm a middle aged
individual and had pardoner been recently diagnosed with depression, well recently, it's been
a couple of years, and I've also got some sematic pain that I experienced
from time to time, and I had also sought treatment alternatively, herbly speaking,
if you know what I'm talking about, Yes, marijuana, I'm assuming
they're right, Okay, for medical purposes okay, and uh and it's not
for the high per se, I mean, unfortunately, that's the side effect.
But I do notice that it does pardon me, help, I mean,
I'm concerned about some of the side effects. But marijuana is a depressant.
Well, that's what I understand. Why why would why would that help?
Well, I also have anxiety issues. So sometimes that that helps I
see, that makes more sense. My question is this, I'm not for
certain as to the you know, veracity, how the Lord will look at
it. But there's been scripture. You know, they talk about pharmakia a
lot of evangelists on the television doo. Yeah, Pharmacia is the the the
Greek term for sorcery, mostly in scripture, and it's tied into you know,
the word it's where you get the root word for pharmacy or pharmaceuticals.
Correct. And yes, there is a point where using certain pharmaceuticals or using
certain things to you know, take the edge off or have a different experience,
can be considered a form sorcery. But they're specific in nature. You
can't just broad brush it. It's important to understand that that's speaking about people
that are using them recreationally for a particular high, to remove themselves out of
reality. It's going to lump the whole thing. And especially when you look
at the television commercials and you see the side effects for some of these medications
to treat certain illnesses, and it's starting to fold sure at fifty five and
you know you're thinking, gosh, the side effects are worse than the treatment
that you're going for. Yes, you wonder if everything in the world causes
loose stool by the sounds of those commercials, Yeah, exactly. You know
what I'm thinking it Could we possibly have the de lerk? Can we love
all of you know, Man's pharmaceuticals in with that pharmakia thing? Or what's
the deal here? Where do we draw the line? Well, when it
comes to marijuana, it may sound like a technicality, but it's an important
one. It's about its legality. If it's illegal work to Scripture says you're
to be respecting the laws of the land unless those laws dictates you to reject
God in some way. You know, I don't want to bring what's reproach
upon the Lord for doing something that's not right at you know, the stumbling
and things like that too. I mean, it's not something I advertise,
but I want to get, you know, an opinion on that because I'm
thinking pharmachea, I'm thinking gush. I mean, some of the stuff that's
out there, like Vicardin is abused. Absolutely. That's one of those things
that become is a Christian comfort level. And you look and you see things
that are become cultural and therefore the church thinks, well, this is where
the stance on scripture, but it's not. It's been a cultural part of
the church, but not a theological part of the church. And you shouldn't
be abusing any substance whatsoever, whether it's something legal like alcohol, or whether
it's something you drink alcoholic it makes me sick. Thank God. Well,
there's different things that that you know, people are comfortable, and that's that's
not the fair way to look at The fair way to look at it is
that mostly scripture is silent on it specifically but generically when it's speaking about pharmacia.
It's to understand that if you are in an altered state, you are
more susceptible to, you know, spiritual suggestions. And in this particular case,
if that's the same with any medicine that you're on that's not just ones
that you feel a buzz on necessarily. The difference is, you know,
somebody can have a glass of wine and not get high. However, if
you're smoking pot, the only effects you're going to have or reward from it,
if you will, if it's used medicinally, is going to be if
you obtain that high. There's not you know, a bunch of shades of
gray. So there's not like a high level like there is, you know,
an alcohol blood level. Well, you have to be responsible too,
I mean, if you know that that's a side effect, it's relieving other
issues, but don't drive. You don't do stu the things exactly, other
medication exactly. So so the takeaway here that is important. Cindya's first and
foremost. You have to use it appropriately and protect it. Treat it like
a powerful prescription drug. Don't leave it out, don't leave it where kids
can get it, those types of things. And if you're in the confines
of those laws, then there's not going to be anything in scripture that's going
to have a problem with that. Tim, Welcome to the Jesus Christ Show.
Hi, Tim, you're there. Yeah, I got questions. Yes,
I grew up. Mesis a whole fortification by school, church camp.
That the whole up. Then I got kicked out of my house of the
moment r And then I basically blamed God because you know, I felt I
did anything I should and he let me down. I feel And now my
wife and my kids they go to church, and every time I go with
them, I feel out of place. Why do I feel that way?
Because you you aren't right with God. I mean, if you feel uncomfortable
in front of somebody, it's usually because of something you did, or miscommunication,
for one, blaming me for the things that you've done, or or
putting on me the you know, the situations in your life obviously built there
by you, Tim is gonna put a division. And I think you know
that deep down if you're honest with yourself and you look at the decisions you've
made and the actions you've put forth in the relationship, in the situation that
you you know, if you're honest with yourself, we'll say, Okay,
there's things that I've done that I'm not happy about, I'm not proud of,
or are not productive in the relationship, either with your family or with
God. And by doing those things, you separate yourself from God. You
go into a church, of course, you're not going to feel comfortable because
you're not comfortable. I mean, there's always the option that you could not
feel comfortable because the church is odd or the people in the church aren't very
loving. But just based on the simple description that you gave to me today,
I would say that there's something you're doing to separate yourself. And if
you start playing that name, that name and blame game that everybody does,
you know it's their fault, or it's their fault or I blame it on
God. That usually points to the fact that you're not being honest to yourself
about things that you've done or things that you haven't done, in a relationship
with your family, whatever it might be. To make things work. Frank,
welcome to the Jesus Christ Show. Thank you for taking my call,
my pleasure. How can I help you? Yeah, my question is about
what some people call negative of theology, and I ask it maybe specifically with
the thought of how is a Christian, myself or any Christians supposed to view
or have a picture of God. You know, my feelings as God is
such just a wonderful, great transcendence thing. I can't even understand, a
mystery, true awe, not all like people use these days. Sure people
say awesome all the time. Yeah, yeah, it gets watered down a
little bit, doesn't it. Yeah, So I find it easier and somewhat
valuable to think that God is not this, He's not an old man with
a gray beard, the Father God, if you were here, so we
have a picture of you as you were as a human. But I just
at least, yeah, God is just a great, wonderful mystery. And
I wondered your thoughts about that. Well, oh, I am a Christian.
Any Christian should try to view God. That's a wonderful question. It
brings up a whole lot. So let's see how much of it we can
get to. First of all, when you're dealing with negative theology or what's
referred to as via negativa in a Latin or in the negative way, or
another theological term for it would be a prophetic theology. So if you're if
you're dealing with that kind of theology or the the the removal where you're removing
that there are or pointing out the things you can't know about God. Is
is a process. There's a there is some controversy with it. I will
tell you the thing that I don't like about it, or statements like and
you alluded to this yourself, and I'll point out why. But you said
yourself about knowing what you can't know about God. That when you get to
that negative theology concept where where you say statements like human beings cannot use words
about the essence of God. Unfortunately, that's self stultifying because you're using words
about the essence of God, even if it's in the negative. The use
of the negative in philosophy makes the philosopher feel that they're removing themselves and like
almost humbling themselves and removing themselves from the equation. But really you're not.
You're essentially saying, I can't utter one word of English, not one.
By saying that statement, you've countered the statement. So by saying that you
can't Emmanuel Kant said this as well, that you can't know God. But
by making that statement, you're making a knowledge statement about God. So if
you can have that one piece of knowledge about God, how come you can't
have other pieces of knowledge about God? That would be my I guess what
I mean is, you know, I used words to say that God is
great, and God is a great and that's awesome. So I believe you
can say things about God. But perhaps the negative side has some value in
saying, indeed, this is what he's not. He's not an old man
with a great beard. Absolutely. So that brings me to my second point,
which furthers this which is that it's more fair to say that there are
certain things you can know and certain things you can't know. Certain things you
know by special revelation meaning scripture where God says this is who I am and
this is what I do, and that way you can know. And then
in Romans one it talks about general revelation and that there are things that you
can know by the designer, by way of the design. So for instance,
you can learn things about an artist if they put enough of themselves into
their art. Yeah, you can tell if they like reds, if they
like textures, textures, or if they like muted colors or these types of
things. These will give you insights to the individual, just like creation will
give you insights to the creator. That God is a reasonable God, that
God is a god of justice, that God is a god of intellect,
will and emotion. These things can be seen in the creation, so you
can know things. Now, then you brought in this third element, which
is why I said, such a wonderful question, but very complex. You
brought in this third possibility, and that's dealing with anthropomorphism when you start applying
human attributes to God. And that is a huge problem and we talked about
this some weeks ago, that people tend to make God a bigger them.
It's like God is just a better me. And you say that in your
head over and over and over again, and you think, okay. And
that's why you think an old man because it age comes wisdom, right,
So you assume that God is wise. God has to be old then,
and then the man part comes from patriarchal society and those images. And obviously
that scripture written in the masculine tense when it's refers to God most of the
time save for one name of God else Shaudai, which is a female tense
speaking of the nurturing aspects of God. But these things all kind of mix
and mesh frank into your knowledge of God and how you see God. The
problem lives inherently in trying to see God in the physical, that's the biggest
problem. But trying to see God in intellect, will and emotion, and
see God as a God of justice in these things becomes quite clear through scripture,
specials of revelation, and through creation general revelation. So there are things
that you can see and know about God. You can't know everything. And
I agree with you on two points. That one that nowadays people use the
word awesome towards things that aren't hardly and that every word you use is coming
from the imperfect mouth of an imperfect human being. Will be imperfect in the
description of God, but it doesn't mean that it can't be beneficial towards the
understanding on a human level of God. So you can say things about God.
You can say God is great. Is it trite in comparison to the
magnificence of God? Yes, but so is the word magnificence. So there
there really is things that words and language is wonderful because it often comes out
of the experience, like, for instance, the word excruciating. You know
what the root word of excruciating as crosses, So it comes from the very
the very pain on the cross. Krush come is in the word excruciating.
It comes from death on the cross. It comes from that experience. And
therefore you say, gosh, I went through this experience. It was an
excruciating experience. Was it really like being nailed to the cross? No?
So there's the words are going to be imperfect. Every analogy about God is
going to break down. Every you know, conceptual discussion about the intensity of
who God is and the vastness of who God is. It will fall imperfect
at the foot of God. But you also use terms like the foot of
God. It's just that's just the way language works. I'm reminded of.
You know, scientists that will occasionally call in and be upset at a term
that's used that's casual. And I said, what happened this morning with the
sun? The sun rise raised? Did it really? No? No,
it doesn't rise. The sun doesn't rise and doesn't set. Yeah, but
every scientist that looks out, you know, at a beach, is going
to say that the sun is setting. They're going to be looking because it's
observational language, and you're going to be limited in that. So philosophically,
is there is there some value in the in the concept of the vietn negativa,
you know, theology or the negative theology. Yes, if it's put
in there in part with a greater understanding that, Yes, you can't know
everything about God, you can't know the fullness of God, but there are
things that you can know, many of which are taught to you or revealed
to you by God himself and through scripture, through creation. And if you
can know those things, then you can get an idea. You can't put
God in a box. You can't put a beard on him. You can't
make God white, black or yellow. You can't make a God man or
woman in the big concept in the in the you know, uh, the
the different concept dealing with Christianity would be the trindity. And then you put
me into the equation and you have God becoming flesh. So says John one
one in the beginning was the word, the word was with God, the
word was God, and the word became flesh. So there's there's difference in
Christianity because you have that image. Now you said picture. There are no
photographs of me. Scripture says that there was nothing in my outward appearance that
made me, you know, there was nothing like a charisma or attitude,
no reason to follow me over someone else's. It's not like girls were following
me because they thought I was good looking and men were following me because they
thought I was super smart. It was more than that. And so Scripture
says that it wasn't like I was I wasn't anything special to look at.
Now in paintings or movies or depictions, it's always this long, sort of
blonde haired guy with piercing blue eyes. Doesn't you know that doesn't fit the
time period or any of those things. But that's to set me apart in
the context of the movie or the player what have you to be different than
anybody else. But you can know certain things about my physical appearance because you
know it talked about certain things, but it's not about the physical man.
Yes, exactly, I had two eyes at two ears, out of nose
and mouth all those things. But I find confusing and forgive me for him
no, please. As you know, I was always taught as a child
that we were made in the image and likeness of God. Now I've come
to understand that that doesn't mean literally the image and likeness of God as physical,
because then God would look like a man. Exactly. It deals with
intellect, will and emotion. That humans have intellect, will and emotion.
There are some theologians, actually Frank, that argue that angels also were created
in the image of God because they have intellect, will and emotion. And
so there are some that go back and forth as to that dialogue and if
that might be something of value as well. But really people often misunderstand that
and think that that has to do with the physical. But God is not
talking about the physical. If you remember my discussion in scripture talking about being
born again is people think that that's a you know, that's a group of
church or something. It's not. It's a it's a concept in Scripture.
It's actually translates to mean be gotten from above, not to be born again,
but but but to be born from above technically. So in that conversation
with Nicodemus, i'm I remember talking to him and he's trying to grasp it,
and he says, well, so I've got to climb in, you
know, my mother's womb again. And I said, no, no,
no, they're born. You're born once the flesh and wants the spirit.
If you're born of the spirit when you come into the understanding of God.
And so to say that that you are created in the image of God in
the physical is a misnomer. It's to understand that in the physical your soul
is made up of intellect, will and emotion, and that is in the
image of God. Taren, Welcome to the Jesus Christ. Show hi,
my lord, Hi. I wonder if you would explain what you mean when
you say, I am with you always. Oh, at the end of
the show. Yeah, okay, at the end of the show. Essentially,
it's a reminder and it's loosely referencing Matthew twenty eight, verse twenty.
It says, teaching to them to observe all that I command you, and
lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.
And the reason why I say that at the end of the show is
because we have limited time here on the show, and it goes by quickly,
and we, you know, only to share so much, and that
it's very easy when the show ends to forget. You get wrapped up in
the show, or you get wrapped up in what we're doing here. And
it's not about the show, and it's not about the circumstances, which is
why we refer to them as life circumstances. Not about just the things around
you that will change. It's about what's around you that won't change, and
that's God, and that God is a constant. And every time we come
together and it's you know, only for a little bit of time, and
I hope that you continue to join me every Sunday. But there's some that
don't or they go away, or they can't listen, or they move or
whatever it is. And I don't want it to be about the show.
If it's just about us meeting here, then everything I say every single week
is lost. It means nothing. The only way that it has power,
the only way that it has potency and understanding and is relevant to your life,
is if you know that it's it's not a the fleeting moment. It's
not about this show, but it's about a relationship with God. And so
it's important to me every single week to spend that last few seconds of the
show to remind you of the importance of that and to let you know that
no matter what takes place on the show, outside of the show in life,
that I am with you always. KFI AM six forty on demand