WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:03.920 It is Friday, the 20th of March, 2026. 00:00:03.920 --> 00:00:05.040 I am Cory J. 00:00:05.040 --> 00:00:08.480 Mahler, and this is at any cost. 00:00:08.480 --> 00:00:12.800 The slight delay there when it said beginning now was my having 00:00:12.800 --> 00:00:17.040 to do a sanity check on my end, I reconfigured some storage 00:00:17.040 --> 00:00:19.280 stuff and I had to make sure it was actually recording the 00:00:19.280 --> 00:00:23.200 file so that I can post that later. 00:00:23.200 --> 00:00:26.560 At any rate, I don't believe there is any housekeeping 00:00:27.520 --> 00:00:30.320 for this week, so I can get right into the question. 00:00:30.320 --> 00:00:32.960 I see that there are some questions in the chat. 00:00:32.960 --> 00:00:35.200 I've been noting those down as they come in. 00:00:35.200 --> 00:00:38.960 So as always, if I don't notice your question in the chat, 00:00:38.960 --> 00:00:42.080 go ahead and post it on the forum or ask me elsewhere 00:00:42.160 --> 00:00:46.240 so I can make sure to answer that. 00:00:46.240 --> 00:00:52.880 The first question for this week is do certain ethnicities have a 00:00:52.880 --> 00:00:58.560 genetic or epigenetic predisposition to disbelief or a rejection of God? 00:00:58.560 --> 00:01:02.000 If the answer is no, then what is the mechanism that explains 00:01:02.000 --> 00:01:07.040 why ethnic Jews have largely rejected God continually since their inception? 00:01:07.040 --> 00:01:11.520 If the answer is yes, how do we reconcile genetic predisposition with 00:01:11.680 --> 00:01:13.600 double predestination? 00:01:13.760 --> 00:01:16.320 Or without resorting to, really. 00:01:16.400 --> 00:01:19.680 Am I in danger of becoming proud or arrogant toward the branches 00:01:19.680 --> 00:01:24.240 that were broken off, Romans eleven, for believing that ethnic Jews face 00:01:24.240 --> 00:01:28.720 greater temptation to reject God in light of the false ethno religion 00:01:28.720 --> 00:01:30.960 they have created? 00:01:32.240 --> 00:01:37.200 The short answer is that yes, there is a sort of genetic 00:01:37.200 --> 00:01:40.080 component to belief or unbelief. 00:01:40.080 --> 00:01:46.400 It is not so powerful that it is in itself determinative, but 00:01:46.400 --> 00:01:51.520 it is going to make it more difficult for some races and 00:01:51.520 --> 00:01:56.240 less difficult for some other races to believe, and it is going 00:01:56.240 --> 00:01:59.600 to make converting some races more difficult, as we of course see 00:01:59.760 --> 00:02:03.440 with the Jews are a good example, but Europeans are a good 00:02:03.440 --> 00:02:05.680 example in the inverse. 00:02:05.680 --> 00:02:10.720 Europeans were the easiest to convert to Christianity in part for racial 00:02:10.720 --> 00:02:15.360 reasons, because we had not fallen as far with regard to false 00:02:15.360 --> 00:02:18.960 worship. We had not fallen into the same sort of evil kinds 00:02:18.960 --> 00:02:23.440 of demon worship that were rampant in say Africa, India, other places 00:02:23.440 --> 00:02:27.840 like that, certainly parts, most of the New World. 00:02:27.840 --> 00:02:33.040 And with regard to the Jews, the big thing for them is, 00:02:33.040 --> 00:02:36.640 as scripture says, all over the place, you are a stiff necked 00:02:36.640 --> 00:02:38.320 people. They are a stubborn people. 00:02:38.320 --> 00:02:41.200 They don't agree with God. 00:02:41.200 --> 00:02:43.040 They rebel against God constantly. 00:02:43.040 --> 00:02:45.440 They rebel against God at the foot of the mountain while God 00:02:45.440 --> 00:02:49.040 is physically present on the mountain, they make a golden calf. 00:02:49.040 --> 00:02:52.800 Even the Africans, the Hamites would not have done that, right? 00:02:52.800 --> 00:02:56.880 So there's very clearly a racial component when it comes to belief 00:02:56.880 --> 00:02:58.720 or unbelief. 00:02:58.720 --> 00:03:02.160 But with the Jews it's not just that. 00:03:02.160 --> 00:03:06.000 It's also the fact that, as I mentioned last week, you know, 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:11.280 culture downstream from race, there's an interconnection there, there's a feedback loop. 00:03:11.280 --> 00:03:14.320 The entirety of Jewish culture post 00:03:15.520 --> 00:03:18.240 the New Testament era, right? 00:03:18.240 --> 00:03:22.160 So after really the destruction of the temple is when they really 00:03:22.160 --> 00:03:26.800 sort of double down on this into Rabbinic Judaism and Talmudism, which 00:03:26.800 --> 00:03:32.400 the Talmud then formalized in its current form in the 500s AD, 00:03:32.400 --> 00:03:35.600 not BC. 00:03:35.600 --> 00:03:39.280 In the process of doubling down into that, they create their entire 00:03:39.280 --> 00:03:42.720 culture as being contrary to Christ. 00:03:42.720 --> 00:03:44.240 They hate Christ. 00:03:44.240 --> 00:03:47.600 That has become essential to their identity as Jews. 00:03:47.600 --> 00:03:50.560 It's why we said in Stone Choir and why we have said 00:03:50.560 --> 00:03:54.960 elsewhere that for Jews in order to convert, it's not the same 00:03:54.960 --> 00:03:59.280 as other peoples because the entirety of their cultural and their racial 00:03:59.280 --> 00:04:02.480 identity has become that rejection of Christ. 00:04:02.480 --> 00:04:06.640 No one else has that as a core component of their culture. 00:04:06.640 --> 00:04:09.920 Now could some other people over a course of centuries develop that? 00:04:09.920 --> 00:04:12.880 Sure. The Indians seem well on their way to doing that with 00:04:12.880 --> 00:04:17.120 how they behave with any depiction or mention of Christ. 00:04:17.440 --> 00:04:22.480 But that requires them to essentially reject being a Jew in order 00:04:22.480 --> 00:04:23.040 to convert. 00:04:23.040 --> 00:04:25.440 That's one of the reasons it's so difficult for them. 00:04:25.440 --> 00:04:28.720 You don't have to reject being a Frenchman or a Dutchman or 00:04:28.720 --> 00:04:31.680 British or German in order to convert to Christianity 00:04:32.720 --> 00:04:37.520 back when neo-pagans, pagans at that point were actually a thing. 00:04:37.520 --> 00:04:41.120 Right. All you had to do was recognize that you had a 00:04:41.120 --> 00:04:44.080 portion of the truth and now the fullness had come back and 00:04:44.080 --> 00:04:48.960 been re revealed to you, and so it wasn't a fundamental rejection 00:04:48.960 --> 00:04:52.320 of who and what you are, it was simply a rejection of 00:04:52.320 --> 00:04:55.280 false beliefs that had crept in over time, and a return to 00:04:55.280 --> 00:04:59.840 the true faith The Jews can't do that so easily, because their 00:04:59.840 --> 00:05:03.680 entire culture again and their racial identity is bound up in that 00:05:03.680 --> 00:05:05.760 rejection of Christ. 00:05:05.760 --> 00:05:12.480 And that's not double predestination, that's just biological consequences of sin. 00:05:12.480 --> 00:05:14.320 There's a spiritual component as well. 00:05:14.320 --> 00:05:21.200 We should never fully disconnect the spiritual, the soul, and the body 00:05:21.280 --> 00:05:22.880 because again, you're a gestalt. 00:05:22.880 --> 00:05:24.720 You're not one or the other. 00:05:24.720 --> 00:05:28.480 You're not a ghost piloting a meat mech, right, as the the 00:05:28.480 --> 00:05:30.320 atheists like to joke. 00:05:30.320 --> 00:05:33.280 Although I guess for them it's not really a joke, it's incoherent. 00:05:33.280 --> 00:05:39.200 But you are the totality, not any individual component. 00:05:39.200 --> 00:05:44.240 And so you are not just biologically whatever race you are, you 00:05:44.240 --> 00:05:45.920 are spiritually that race as well. 00:05:45.920 --> 00:05:48.320 So there are both aspects to that. 00:05:48.480 --> 00:05:52.000 it will be more difficult for some people to convert than others. 00:05:52.000 --> 00:05:59.040 That doesn't mean double predestination is true, because the biological consequences of 00:05:59.040 --> 00:06:05.520 longitudinal or generational sin are not equivalent to God condemning someone before 00:06:05.520 --> 00:06:09.360 creating him to be that thing. 00:06:09.360 --> 00:06:13.680 It's not the libertarian sense of individuality and free will which is 00:06:13.680 --> 00:06:15.440 sort of where the tension is here. 00:06:15.440 --> 00:06:17.840 There are those who want to look at every person as tabla 00:06:18.000 --> 00:06:18.640 rasa, right? 00:06:18.640 --> 00:06:20.240 They want you to be the blank slate. 00:06:20.240 --> 00:06:23.200 You just start off you're a person, you're cast into the world, 00:06:23.200 --> 00:06:26.720 and then you become whatever you're going to become on account of 00:06:26.960 --> 00:06:28.880 your own decisions and your own actions. 00:06:28.880 --> 00:06:30.160 And that's just not true. 00:06:30.480 --> 00:06:33.440 You bring a lot of things to the table when you are 00:06:33.440 --> 00:06:37.680 born because you're not just born a human. 00:06:37.680 --> 00:06:40.640 You're born again, list any race you want. 00:06:40.640 --> 00:06:44.480 You're born a German, you're born an American, you're born a Scotsman. 00:06:44.480 --> 00:06:49.040 That brings things to the table that other races do not have 00:06:49.040 --> 00:06:52.400 in the same amounts, or have in greater amounts, right? 00:06:52.400 --> 00:06:53.840 There are differences there. 00:06:54.400 --> 00:06:59.040 So the sins of our fathers do not damn us, but they 00:06:59.040 --> 00:07:02.640 can certainly make it more difficult for us to convert. 00:07:02.640 --> 00:07:08.240 Similarly, too, the sins of the fathers can so mentally impair you, 00:07:08.240 --> 00:07:13.600 cognitively compare you, where you can never produce your race in this 00:07:13.600 --> 00:07:17.200 case, not just you personally, but you personally as well. 00:07:17.200 --> 00:07:20.960 You can never produce a theologian, someone who could truly defend the 00:07:20.960 --> 00:07:23.360 Christian faith at a high level. 00:07:23.360 --> 00:07:28.400 Races that have fallen that far can be Christianized, but they can 00:07:28.400 --> 00:07:32.960 only remain Christian in so far as someone else is shepherding them. 00:07:32.960 --> 00:07:36.080 They are sheep, and if they don't have a shepherd, they're going 00:07:36.080 --> 00:07:37.440 to go astray. 00:07:37.440 --> 00:07:41.680 So it's not a pride thing, it's not oh look at me, 00:07:41.680 --> 00:07:44.800 I'm so great, and these other people are so terrible. 00:07:44.800 --> 00:07:49.520 It's recognizing that God has built a system where there are real 00:07:49.600 --> 00:07:53.680 consequences for sin and they do accumulate down through the years. 00:07:53.680 --> 00:07:54.400 We have them as well. 00:07:54.400 --> 00:07:57.200 I've pointed it out before, right? 00:07:57.200 --> 00:08:02.720 Disease, the way that we age, the various maladies that are common 00:08:02.720 --> 00:08:04.560 to certain groups and not to others, right? 00:08:04.560 --> 00:08:07.360 There are groups that have autism at higher rates. 00:08:07.360 --> 00:08:10.320 There are groups that have coronary disease at higher rates. 00:08:10.320 --> 00:08:15.520 These things are also consequences of sin accumulating over time. 00:08:15.520 --> 00:08:18.240 Not all of these are going to affect you in the same 00:08:18.240 --> 00:08:21.360 way with regard to being able to convert to Christianity. 00:08:21.360 --> 00:08:24.400 So it's not a matter of arrogance. 00:08:24.400 --> 00:08:26.640 And you can have a certain degree of pride, and you should 00:08:26.640 --> 00:08:30.080 have a certain degree of pride in the accomplishments of your ancestors. 00:08:30.080 --> 00:08:33.840 That's rightful, that's honoring your father and your mother as you are 00:08:33.840 --> 00:08:35.440 commanded to do. 00:08:35.440 --> 00:08:39.840 So So it's not the arrogance and toward the branches that were 00:08:39.920 --> 00:08:42.560 broken off that's being spoken of in Romans eleven. 00:08:42.560 --> 00:08:45.440 That would be like saying, Look at how great I am, I 00:08:45.440 --> 00:08:48.400 was chosen because I'm a great person, and the Jews are rejected 00:08:48.400 --> 00:08:53.840 because they're an evil No No, I am elect because God decided 00:08:53.840 --> 00:08:56.480 to count me among the elect. 00:08:56.480 --> 00:08:59.920 I have benefits that have accrued to me due to the relative 00:08:59.920 --> 00:09:04.560 faithfulness, and in some cases, more recently, of course, the true faithfulness, 00:09:04.560 --> 00:09:07.840 and all the way back with Japheth as well, of my ancestors. 00:09:07.840 --> 00:09:10.080 I benefit from those things. 00:09:10.080 --> 00:09:14.240 So it's right to recognize that you have those benefits and you're 00:09:14.240 --> 00:09:19.040 just recognizing the way God built the system, designed the system You're 00:09:19.040 --> 00:09:21.760 not being impermissibly arrogant. 00:09:21.760 --> 00:09:23.520 That's not what's in view there. 00:09:23.520 --> 00:09:27.040 So, you know, don't brag, oh look at me, I'm so great. 00:09:27.040 --> 00:09:30.080 I'm great, and God chose me because I'm great. 00:09:30.080 --> 00:09:31.360 That's what's in view there. 00:09:31.360 --> 00:09:32.160 Don't do that. 00:09:32.400 --> 00:09:36.080 Because of course it's all grace, it's all faith. 00:09:36.080 --> 00:09:39.360 You didn't have anything to do with saving yourself. 00:09:39.360 --> 00:09:43.200 But there is a very real component there with regard to biology 00:09:43.440 --> 00:09:46.720 and your spirituality, your soul, in this case, not in the modern 00:09:47.120 --> 00:09:48.640 sense of that term. 00:09:48.640 --> 00:09:52.320 That's very real, and it influences how likely you are going to 00:09:52.320 --> 00:09:54.080 be to convert. 00:09:54.240 --> 00:09:56.480 Is there a tension here that we can't resolve? 00:09:56.480 --> 00:09:57.360 Of course. 00:09:57.360 --> 00:10:01.200 We can't ever in this life fully resolve the tension of how 00:10:01.200 --> 00:10:03.200 exactly election works. 00:10:03.200 --> 00:10:06.080 All we can do is look at it in scripture, accept that 00:10:06.080 --> 00:10:08.960 it is true, accept that God has put it in his word, 00:10:08.960 --> 00:10:13.760 that's how he operates, and then we live with it. 00:10:13.760 --> 00:10:17.760 God also works through means though, and so we should continue to 00:10:17.760 --> 00:10:21.840 read his word, study his word, spread his word, partake of the 00:10:21.840 --> 00:10:24.800 sacraments, because God works through means. 00:10:24.800 --> 00:10:28.240 If you believe that there's a bit of a tension there, that's 00:10:28.240 --> 00:10:31.520 fine. There's going to be some tension in life with regard to 00:10:31.520 --> 00:10:32.400 some of these things. 00:10:32.400 --> 00:10:36.560 It doesn't have to be resolved to the satisfaction of human reason. 00:10:36.560 --> 00:10:46.560 If God said it, it's true, that is sufficient for Christians. 00:10:46.640 --> 00:10:50.080 The second question for tonight is 00:10:50.960 --> 00:10:55.200 perhaps a little bit Lutheran specific, but it has applicability to everyone. 00:10:55.200 --> 00:11:00.320 It's Lutheran specific because of some lectures turned turned into believe they 00:11:00.320 --> 00:11:04.400 were lectures first and then turned into essays from CFW Valter, the 00:11:04.400 --> 00:11:06.320 founder of the LCMS. 00:11:06.320 --> 00:11:11.360 He gave two lectures, a series of four actually, two lectures against 00:11:12.400 --> 00:11:15.680 the theater and then two lectures against 00:11:16.640 --> 00:11:19.360 now I can't remember what the dancing. 00:11:19.360 --> 00:11:19.840 That was it. 00:11:19.840 --> 00:11:22.960 Two lectures against dancing, two lectures against the theater for a series 00:11:22.960 --> 00:11:24.240 of four lectures. 00:11:24.240 --> 00:11:27.920 I don't 100% agree with him, but I'll read the question first, 00:11:27.920 --> 00:11:30.240 so we can see where we're going with this. 00:11:30.240 --> 00:11:34.000 What is the place, if any, in a Christian society, this side 00:11:34.000 --> 00:11:38.640 of eternity for the theatre, cinema, opera, etcetera. 00:11:39.280 --> 00:11:44.000 Apart from the subversive elements in places like Hollywood and Broadway, can 00:11:44.000 --> 00:11:46.880 the performing arts be of any edifying use? 00:11:46.880 --> 00:11:49.920 If there is a proper use of these arts, what is it 00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:52.000 and how should we use them? 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:56.320 So So I believe that they do have a great deal of 00:11:56.320 --> 00:12:00.080 utility and I'm not just biased because I happen to like opera 00:12:00.160 --> 00:12:02.000 and plays and things like that. 00:12:02.000 --> 00:12:04.880 There were some very good companies in LA. 00:12:04.880 --> 00:12:08.160 I had I guess full disclosure, I had season tickets to the 00:12:08.160 --> 00:12:10.480 LA Opera for years. 00:12:10.480 --> 00:12:14.640 And I didn't go to all of the operas because obviously it's 00:12:14.640 --> 00:12:16.720 LA. It's the LA Opera. 00:12:16.720 --> 00:12:19.280 Some of them are going to be well many of them I 00:12:19.280 --> 00:12:22.560 didn't go to because they were terrible, because they were doing the 00:12:22.800 --> 00:12:26.400 DEI and nonsense, but some of them I just didn't go to 00:12:26.400 --> 00:12:29.520 because they were not something that really a Christian should be attending. 00:12:29.520 --> 00:12:32.800 And that's true with regard to many plays. 00:12:32.800 --> 00:12:36.480 Not as many with regard to operas, but certainly many plays, particularly 00:12:36.480 --> 00:12:40.960 the modern ones, and particularly movies, right, when we start expanding out 00:12:40.960 --> 00:12:45.920 into the totality of the visual arts. 00:12:45.920 --> 00:12:48.800 I do think there's a place for it in society because I 00:12:48.800 --> 00:12:52.960 think that it is instructive and I think it's part of human 00:12:52.960 --> 00:12:57.600 culture. It's been part of our culture for millennia at this point. 00:12:57.840 --> 00:13:01.280 I don't think that all of it is wicked. 00:13:01.280 --> 00:13:04.640 I see someone mention saw Don Giovanni in LA. 00:13:04.640 --> 00:13:05.440 That was a good production. 00:13:05.440 --> 00:13:08.160 Depending which one you saw was one was very good. 00:13:08.160 --> 00:13:10.480 There was one that was also good, but not quite as good. 00:13:11.200 --> 00:13:11.520 So 00:13:13.200 --> 00:13:16.960 with regard to the theater, I think we should still have it 00:13:16.960 --> 00:13:21.280 in a Christian society, but we have to have it with some 00:13:21.280 --> 00:13:23.600 caveats, right? 00:13:23.600 --> 00:13:28.320 There are some problems that we need to avoid. 00:13:28.320 --> 00:13:33.520 You wind up with some untowardness, some things that are inappropriate, particularly 00:13:33.600 --> 00:13:38.160 when you're mixing young unmarried women and men, which happens with regard 00:13:38.160 --> 00:13:41.520 to theater and ballet and things like that. 00:13:41.520 --> 00:13:44.960 That's something for which society has to account. 00:13:44.960 --> 00:13:48.960 Part of that will necessarily be changing how we structure how these 00:13:48.960 --> 00:13:49.680 things are done. 00:13:49.680 --> 00:13:54.320 I don't think it's good to have individuals where that's the entirety 00:13:54.320 --> 00:13:55.200 of their career. 00:13:55.200 --> 00:13:57.440 Like you devote your life to this. 00:13:57.440 --> 00:14:01.040 I think that we're going to have to accept that, particularly for 00:14:01.040 --> 00:14:04.560 women, You know, you can have a certain number of years and 00:14:04.560 --> 00:14:08.080 a certain amount of time you devote to this, but for a 00:14:08.080 --> 00:14:11.280 woman, being a wife and a mother is really what she's supposed 00:14:11.280 --> 00:14:12.080 to do. 00:14:12.080 --> 00:14:16.000 Her efforts, her energy, her time should be focused on that. 00:14:16.320 --> 00:14:21.040 Necessarily that's going to change how we balance these things with regard 00:14:21.040 --> 00:14:22.080 to the theater. 00:14:22.080 --> 00:14:24.960 At some point I think I would actually like to go through 00:14:25.200 --> 00:14:31.680 and look at Luther not Luther Vaulters essays and perhaps go through 00:14:31.680 --> 00:14:33.840 them more thoroughly, sort of point by point. 00:14:33.840 --> 00:14:38.000 So I'll make a note for myself to do that. 00:14:38.240 --> 00:14:44.560 Going to close my window the dog and barking. 00:14:44.560 --> 00:14:49.840 But I do not think that these things are simply negative. 00:14:49.840 --> 00:14:53.360 I think that they have utility in society, I think that they 00:14:53.360 --> 00:14:58.080 are particularly good at instructing with regard to morals in many cases. 00:14:58.080 --> 00:15:01.120 Now, does that mean that we should maintain all of them, that 00:15:01.120 --> 00:15:04.960 we should keep all of them, that we should just have no 00:15:04.960 --> 00:15:07.120 sort of control over these things. 00:15:07.120 --> 00:15:12.480 No. I have for a very long time thought that one of 00:15:12.480 --> 00:15:17.600 the most important aspects of any proper government is control over things 00:15:17.600 --> 00:15:18.080 like this. 00:15:18.080 --> 00:15:23.120 A Christian government, a Christian prince, should determine what is permissible and 00:15:23.120 --> 00:15:26.000 what is not permissible in his territories. 00:15:26.000 --> 00:15:30.080 He should not just permit anything goes in the theatre, right? 00:15:33.920 --> 00:15:39.200 And there is also an aspect of it, some men are going 00:15:39.200 --> 00:15:42.160 to get more out of the theater than others. 00:15:42.160 --> 00:15:44.960 And some men are going to be endangered by certain things in 00:15:44.960 --> 00:15:46.720 the theater more than others. 00:15:46.720 --> 00:15:50.560 I can think of a a good example, and I'm not necessarily 00:15:50.560 --> 00:15:54.000 making a recommendation to go out and find a production of this 00:15:54.000 --> 00:15:56.000 and see it. 00:15:56.000 --> 00:16:00.080 There was a Was a production of a picture of Dorian Gray, 00:16:00.080 --> 00:16:04.080 not obviously the book, but a staged version of it a play, 00:16:04.080 --> 00:16:06.480 when I was living in LA. 00:16:06.480 --> 00:16:09.920 And obviously, if you know anything about the book and anything about 00:16:09.920 --> 00:16:15.760 Oscar Wilde, it deals with some themes that are not Christian, but 00:16:16.000 --> 00:16:18.640 can have a Christian tenor depending on how they're presented. 00:16:18.640 --> 00:16:22.800 And the reason I bring it up is that Oscar Wilde clearly 00:16:22.800 --> 00:16:26.240 didn't intend this, and I highly doubt the playwright did. 00:16:26.240 --> 00:16:28.240 I don't know that much about him. 00:16:28.400 --> 00:16:35.200 But it was probably the single, most compelling and strongest condemnation of 00:16:35.200 --> 00:16:38.880 homosexuality I've ever seen in my life. 00:16:38.880 --> 00:16:43.360 Which, if you've read the novel alone, you probably wouldn't necessarily pull 00:16:43.360 --> 00:16:44.000 that out. 00:16:44.000 --> 00:16:46.560 It's there as well as an undercurrent. 00:16:46.560 --> 00:16:51.440 Not necessarily intended by the author, but sometimes authorial intent is not 00:16:51.440 --> 00:16:53.360 what actually tends to come through. 00:16:53.360 --> 00:16:58.320 Sometimes the author manages to say something that he didn't necessarily intend, 00:16:58.320 --> 00:17:01.760 right? You can think of Dune and Herbert trying to say Paul 00:17:01.760 --> 00:17:03.600 is the villain, right? 00:17:03.600 --> 00:17:07.040 No one comes away thinking Paul is the villain. 00:17:07.040 --> 00:17:10.240 He's the hero of the story, no matter what Frank Herbert tried 00:17:10.240 --> 00:17:11.360 to do. 00:17:11.440 --> 00:17:11.760 So 00:17:13.600 --> 00:17:18.960 that's an example where I think for a certain type of man 00:17:18.960 --> 00:17:22.240 you can go and see that and see it as a moral 00:17:22.240 --> 00:17:27.040 play condemning a sort of wickedness in Christian terms, and I think 00:17:27.040 --> 00:17:29.440 that has value. 00:17:29.440 --> 00:17:32.160 I I would agree with the person in the chat who said 00:17:32.160 --> 00:17:34.240 that the underlying morality was Christian. 00:17:34.240 --> 00:17:38.320 He was in a Christian society, and so he was inculcated, he 00:17:38.320 --> 00:17:42.240 was steeped in that, even if he himself rejected it in some 00:17:42.240 --> 00:17:45.360 ways. It came through in his writing because you benefit from the 00:17:45.520 --> 00:17:49.120 or suffer from the culture around you, because you absorb it to 00:17:49.120 --> 00:17:50.000 some degree. 00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:53.440 There is a feedback loop with you in your culture as well. 00:17:53.440 --> 00:17:56.640 So I think I think it is something that we need to 00:17:56.640 --> 00:18:00.960 be careful about as Christians, and we should not have the degree 00:18:00.960 --> 00:18:06.080 of license we've granted to the art set these days. 00:18:06.080 --> 00:18:08.080 But I think it still has a place in society. 00:18:08.080 --> 00:18:11.440 And like I said, I would like to go through those essays 00:18:11.440 --> 00:18:14.640 more closely and maybe go point by point right. 00:18:14.640 --> 00:18:18.880 Not a refutation, but perhaps sort of a clarification. 00:18:18.880 --> 00:18:23.120 In some cases, yes, I'm going to disagree bluntly with Walter because 00:18:23.120 --> 00:18:26.640 he sort of hated dancing and the theater, and I think both 00:18:26.640 --> 00:18:27.840 are fine. 00:18:27.840 --> 00:18:29.760 Not all dancing, obviously. 00:18:29.760 --> 00:18:32.640 There are some kinds of dancing that Christians should just should just 00:18:32.640 --> 00:18:33.120 not do. 00:18:33.120 --> 00:18:34.240 Don't participate in that. 00:18:34.240 --> 00:18:38.480 But the waltz, ballroom dancing, those things, I don't have any objection 00:18:38.480 --> 00:18:38.960 to them. 00:18:38.960 --> 00:18:42.080 I think they are a part of our culture. 00:18:42.080 --> 00:18:44.640 And I think they're a necessary part of our culture. 00:18:44.640 --> 00:18:46.240 I think they should be maintained. 00:18:46.240 --> 00:18:50.800 And with the right sort of structure in society, there's nothing wrong 00:18:50.800 --> 00:18:51.600 with those. 00:18:51.600 --> 00:18:56.720 If they're used as an avenue for licentiousness, that's a problem. 00:18:56.720 --> 00:19:03.120 But if you have a more structured, proper understanding of an interaction 00:19:03.120 --> 00:19:07.040 of the sexes, dances in the theater are perfectly fine. 00:19:07.040 --> 00:19:09.200 And in fact, I do think they're also good. 00:19:09.200 --> 00:19:11.760 And I should mention explicitly one of the things that I have 00:19:11.760 --> 00:19:13.840 in the back of my mind the whole time I've been saying 00:19:13.840 --> 00:19:17.680 this, some of the ancient Greek plays are great in terms of 00:19:17.680 --> 00:19:18.960 the morality they teach. 00:19:18.960 --> 00:19:23.440 So I don't agree with Walter when he says that it is 00:19:23.680 --> 00:19:28.400 anti-Christian virtues in some cases or pagan virtues that are praised and 00:19:28.400 --> 00:19:30.000 to the detriment of Christian. 00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:32.720 I think you can praise both at the same time. 00:19:32.720 --> 00:19:38.240 You don't have to denigrate the Christian virtues in order to esteem 00:19:38.400 --> 00:19:41.120 what some would call pagan virtues, and I don't think they're pagan 00:19:41.120 --> 00:19:47.040 virtues, because being strong and capable and knowing who you are and 00:19:47.040 --> 00:19:50.080 going through life with courage, things like that, those are themes in 00:19:50.080 --> 00:19:51.360 many of the Greek plays. 00:19:51.360 --> 00:19:54.640 I think those are consonant with Christian morality as well. 00:19:54.640 --> 00:19:57.520 So the short answer is yes, it has a place. 00:19:57.520 --> 00:20:00.560 The longer answer is obviously a lot longer. 00:20:11.040 --> 00:20:14.240 The third question is about circumcision. 00:20:14.240 --> 00:20:17.840 Not only does scripture tell us it is useless, correct, Luther himself 00:20:17.920 --> 00:20:21.280 plainly and strongly condemned circumcision. 00:20:21.280 --> 00:20:26.160 Why is the Lutheran Church ignored him on this topic? 00:20:26.240 --> 00:20:30.240 I don't necessarily know that it's the Lutheran Church that ignored him 00:20:30.240 --> 00:20:32.640 on this topic because certainly 00:20:33.760 --> 00:20:40.400 those who came from a Lutheran background, so Germans, Scandinavians, and some 00:20:40.400 --> 00:20:46.240 others, were by and large not circumcised until relatively recently, I think 00:20:46.240 --> 00:20:48.560 it was about the nineteen fifties that really became popular. 00:20:48.560 --> 00:20:50.480 I may be off by a little bit, but I think it 00:20:50.480 --> 00:20:53.200 was right around then. 00:20:53.200 --> 00:21:00.000 It was pushed by both Jews and just some crazies over in 00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:07.200 non-denominational territory, arguing that it was a measure against masturbation, 00:21:07.200 --> 00:21:10.000 that it would decrease the incidence of that. 00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:13.920 These were also the men who were advocating for eating very high 00:21:13.920 --> 00:21:17.680 fiber food and having frequent enemas, though, so I'm not sure I 00:21:17.680 --> 00:21:20.960 would particularly take their advice on anything. 00:21:20.960 --> 00:21:23.760 But they'd also tried to argue that it was for cleanliness, and 00:21:23.760 --> 00:21:27.280 that was always just a post hoa rac rationalization. 00:21:27.280 --> 00:21:30.640 That was them trying to say, Well, we want to achieve this 00:21:30.800 --> 00:21:33.360 end, we want to do this thing, and so we have to 00:21:33.360 --> 00:21:34.080 justify it. 00:21:34.080 --> 00:21:36.000 Oh, we'll say it's about cleanliness. 00:21:36.560 --> 00:21:40.000 You know, the same thing could be said with regard to your 00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:40.720 fingers, right? 00:21:40.720 --> 00:21:43.040 If you don't have any fingers, it's a lot easier to keep 00:21:43.040 --> 00:21:44.480 them clean. 00:21:44.480 --> 00:21:48.960 You don't remove parts of your body because you have to wash 00:21:48.960 --> 00:21:55.840 them. That argument is so completely ridiculous and evil that it's quite 00:21:55.840 --> 00:21:58.640 frankly insane that anyone ever parrots it. 00:21:58.640 --> 00:22:01.360 But people repeat it without thinking about it, right? 00:22:01.360 --> 00:22:03.920 You know You know, if you shave all the hair off your 00:22:03.920 --> 00:22:08.160 body, if you're completely bald, you never have to wash your hair. 00:22:08.240 --> 00:22:12.240 Yes, true, but do we want everyone to be bald? 00:22:12.240 --> 00:22:15.280 Right? You know, I say that as someone who's mostly bald, but 00:22:15.280 --> 00:22:16.960 I have a beard and other hair. 00:22:16.960 --> 00:22:18.800 I'm not going to shave all of it off because then I 00:22:18.800 --> 00:22:20.560 wouldn't have to shampoo it ever. 00:22:20.560 --> 00:22:22.080 That's a dumb argument. 00:22:22.080 --> 00:22:25.840 And so, no, Christians should absolutely oppose circumcision. 00:22:25.840 --> 00:22:29.280 It is Judaizing, it is wicked. 00:22:29.280 --> 00:22:32.560 And it is worth saying, of course, that the modern version is 00:22:32.560 --> 00:22:34.400 not the ancient version. 00:22:34.400 --> 00:22:35.760 Very different practices. 00:22:35.760 --> 00:22:37.440 You can look that up and they have diagrams. 00:22:37.440 --> 00:22:40.800 I'm not going to show the diagrams on the stream, but there 00:22:40.800 --> 00:22:43.200 are significant differences. 00:22:43.200 --> 00:22:45.840 It was not the total removal of the foreskin, it was basically 00:22:45.840 --> 00:22:46.640 a cut. 00:22:46.880 --> 00:22:52.080 Which is why when you see the Israelites, the second generation, after 00:22:52.080 --> 00:22:56.080 the wandering in the desert, are circumcised and then recover quickly and 00:22:56.080 --> 00:22:57.920 go fight a battle. 00:22:57.920 --> 00:23:02.640 I think all of the men listening recognize that if someone removed 00:23:02.960 --> 00:23:06.480 your whole foreskin, you would probably not recover quickly and go fight 00:23:06.480 --> 00:23:07.360 a battle. 00:23:07.360 --> 00:23:09.920 I think you would want to take a little bit longer to 00:23:09.920 --> 00:23:14.640 heal. And so it's very clearly a different practice. 00:23:14.640 --> 00:23:16.880 The modern one is just evil. 00:23:16.880 --> 00:23:20.800 It is meant as a form of basically torture and Judaizing and 00:23:20.800 --> 00:23:26.480 it should absolutely be opposed by Christians. 00:23:26.480 --> 00:23:31.120 The fourth question is back to a topic that we all know 00:23:31.120 --> 00:23:36.720 and love World War II and consequences of it basically in this 00:23:36.720 --> 00:23:43.280 case. Do you believe America is doomed due to their Americans ongoing 00:23:43.280 --> 00:23:46.880 actions against the world and especially Germany specifically in World War I 00:23:47.040 --> 00:23:48.480 and World War II. 00:23:48.480 --> 00:23:51.520 Israel has America totally under their control. 00:23:51.520 --> 00:23:55.760 The demographic collapse since after World War II seems to indicate being 00:23:55.760 --> 00:23:59.440 under a curse from God. 00:23:59.440 --> 00:24:03.280 I will not disagree with regard to us being under a curse 00:24:03.280 --> 00:24:03.760 from God. 00:24:03.760 --> 00:24:06.880 I think that is very true that we are. 00:24:06.880 --> 00:24:10.080 Does that mean that we cannot repent? 00:24:10.080 --> 00:24:12.000 I don't think so. 00:24:12.000 --> 00:24:14.720 Because I don't think we're so far gone that we can't repent. 00:24:14.720 --> 00:24:17.360 So the answer to are we doomed is no, I don't think 00:24:17.360 --> 00:24:18.400 that we're doomed. 00:24:18.400 --> 00:24:20.400 Right. But 00:24:22.000 --> 00:24:26.320 some sins bring their own punishment with them. 00:24:26.320 --> 00:24:29.280 Right? You go back to the Oscar Wilde example, right? 00:24:29.280 --> 00:24:32.640 Homosexuality. Bring some of the punishment with it. 00:24:32.640 --> 00:24:35.360 Abortion is one of the greatest sins of America. 00:24:35.360 --> 00:24:37.600 In many other nations at this point, I'm not just singling out 00:24:37.600 --> 00:24:40.400 Americans, but I'm American, so I'm answering in that context, in the 00:24:40.400 --> 00:24:43.360 context of the question. 00:24:43.360 --> 00:24:47.120 Abortion brings part of the punishment with it, because part of the 00:24:47.120 --> 00:24:51.040 punishment is that you don't have a next generation because you have 00:24:51.040 --> 00:24:53.040 murdered them. 00:24:53.040 --> 00:24:58.000 That is one of the reasons that we are under God's curse, 00:24:58.000 --> 00:25:01.600 because we permit abortion is still rampant in this country. 00:25:02.240 --> 00:25:06.000 And I was actually drafting an article, I need to finish that 00:25:06.000 --> 00:25:09.760 one, about one of the ways in which we have just sort 00:25:09.760 --> 00:25:13.520 of normalized abortion and very few people think about it, which is 00:25:13.520 --> 00:25:17.280 to say Hormonal birth control is an abortive patient. 00:25:17.280 --> 00:25:18.880 That's another thing. 00:25:18.880 --> 00:25:23.600 So women who have been on hormonal birth control, if they have 00:25:23.920 --> 00:25:27.840 engaged in sexual intercourse while on it, which if you're on it, 00:25:27.840 --> 00:25:31.680 you're probably sexually active, or else there's no real reason to be 00:25:31.680 --> 00:25:32.880 on it, right? 00:25:32.880 --> 00:25:37.280 I know there's the the medical justification supposedly of regulating your cycle. 00:25:37.280 --> 00:25:40.880 That's nonsense made up by evil doctors who want to ruin your 00:25:40.880 --> 00:25:42.160 life. So 00:25:43.280 --> 00:25:46.720 those women need to repent, and the men who have been with 00:25:46.720 --> 00:25:50.160 them need to repent, because that is a great wickedness. 00:25:50.160 --> 00:25:56.480 It is at least accepting the possibility of murder, which is very 00:25:56.480 --> 00:25:59.520 close to being morally tantamount to committing murder. 00:25:59.520 --> 00:26:02.800 So, not in the terms of the punishment and things like that, 00:26:02.800 --> 00:26:05.520 but it's certainly something of which we need to repent as a 00:26:05.520 --> 00:26:08.240 nation. And so are we Are we cursed with regard to that? 00:26:08.240 --> 00:26:10.320 I think absolutely, yes. 00:26:10.320 --> 00:26:10.640 But 00:26:11.920 --> 00:26:16.240 like I said, I don't believe that it is to such a 00:26:16.240 --> 00:26:20.160 degree that we cannot repent, and I want to bring up a 00:26:20.160 --> 00:26:21.680 relevant verse here. 00:26:21.680 --> 00:26:25.360 I want to switch over to a different window in logos so 00:26:25.360 --> 00:26:29.520 it's not taking up the whole screen here. 00:26:29.520 --> 00:26:32.080 So the one that comes to mind for me at least immediately 00:26:32.160 --> 00:26:36.800 with regards to questions like this is from Joel II. 00:26:36.800 --> 00:26:40.240 Even now says the Lord your God, return to me with all 00:26:40.240 --> 00:26:43.760 your heart, with fasting and with weeping and with mourning, and rend 00:26:43.840 --> 00:26:46.800 your hearts and not your clothing, and return to the Lord your 00:26:46.800 --> 00:26:52.400 God, for he is merciful and compassionate, patient and very beneficent, and 00:26:52.400 --> 00:26:54.480 repenting concerning evils. 00:26:54.480 --> 00:26:57.680 Who knows whether he will turn and repent and leave a blessing 00:26:57.680 --> 00:27:02.080 behind him, a sacrifice and a libation for the Lord your God. 00:27:02.080 --> 00:27:07.280 Trumpet with a trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, proclaim a service, 00:27:07.280 --> 00:27:12.400 gather the people, sanctify an assembly, welcome the aged, gather the infants 00:27:12.480 --> 00:27:16.480 sucking the breast, let the bridegroom come from his breadroom, and the 00:27:16.480 --> 00:27:18.000 bride from her chamber. 00:27:18.000 --> 00:27:21.440 Between the fountain and the altar, the priests who minister to the 00:27:21.440 --> 00:27:25.360 Lord shall weep and say, Spare your people, O Lord, and do 00:27:25.360 --> 00:27:29.280 not subject your inheritance to the reproach of being ruled over by 00:27:29.280 --> 00:27:35.440 nations, lest they say among the nations, where is their God? 00:27:35.440 --> 00:27:38.720 The first point I'd like to make is do remember the Old 00:27:38.720 --> 00:27:40.800 Testament is for Christians. 00:27:40.800 --> 00:27:43.840 It's not a Jewish book, it's not for the Jews. 00:27:43.840 --> 00:27:44.880 It's for Christians. 00:27:44.880 --> 00:27:47.840 And so when you read things like this, read them as God 00:27:47.920 --> 00:27:51.840 speaking to you, speaking to your nation, telling you what he is 00:27:51.840 --> 00:27:53.680 going to do with your people. 00:27:53.680 --> 00:27:54.240 And so 00:27:56.080 --> 00:28:00.080 I guess the great challenge here is that we don't have 00:28:01.360 --> 00:28:02.880 Christian rulers. 00:28:02.880 --> 00:28:06.320 We don't have true Christians really in any of the positions of 00:28:06.320 --> 00:28:09.760 power in our nation, which of course makes it very hard to 00:28:09.760 --> 00:28:15.280 call a national assembly and sanction a national day of fasting and 00:28:15.280 --> 00:28:19.600 repentance and prayer and mourning, which is what we should do with 00:28:19.600 --> 00:28:22.560 regard to a number of our sins as a nation, not least 00:28:22.560 --> 00:28:28.800 of all abortion and unjust wars, things like that. 00:28:28.800 --> 00:28:34.240 But we can do this with regard to the Christians who have 00:28:34.240 --> 00:28:36.000 ears to hear, right? 00:28:36.000 --> 00:28:41.360 I think that we should definitely have a period of national fasting, 00:28:41.360 --> 00:28:42.240 morning, and repentance 00:28:43.440 --> 00:28:49.520 annually. I think that's just good practice, generally speaking, but specifically in 00:28:49.520 --> 00:28:53.280 terms of these national sins of which we have not repented as 00:28:53.280 --> 00:28:57.200 a people, the best we can do as Christians is to do 00:28:57.200 --> 00:29:02.080 this ourselves until we have rulers who can do it at a 00:29:02.080 --> 00:29:04.880 national level in an official capacity. 00:29:04.880 --> 00:29:08.640 And so there are obvious times during the year where this can 00:29:08.640 --> 00:29:09.440 be done. 00:29:09.440 --> 00:29:13.600 I think the period around All Saints, All Souls is sort of 00:29:13.600 --> 00:29:15.040 the you know Halloween. 00:29:15.040 --> 00:29:17.920 I think that's sort of the natural period for this. 00:29:17.920 --> 00:29:20.800 That's something that I've recommended in the past and on certainly I 00:29:21.440 --> 00:29:25.920 will sort of tune that and recommend it again this year. 00:29:25.920 --> 00:29:29.120 So I don't think we're doomed, but I don't think we're in 00:29:29.120 --> 00:29:34.400 good shape, and I think that we definitely need to repent. 00:29:34.400 --> 00:29:37.360 We need to turn back to God, and I think God is 00:29:37.360 --> 00:29:38.560 true to his word. 00:29:38.560 --> 00:29:42.320 If we do that, I believe He will still bless us. 00:29:42.320 --> 00:29:45.920 I don't think we're so far gone that we can't repent. 00:29:45.920 --> 00:29:49.040 But it doesn't mean that we should test the limits. 00:29:49.200 --> 00:29:52.880 The goal should never be to find the red line. 00:29:52.880 --> 00:29:55.920 We need to repent of our national sins, we need to turn 00:29:55.920 --> 00:29:59.840 back to God, and we certainly need to stop committing those sins 00:29:59.920 --> 00:30:03.040 and and change the laws so that some of these things are 00:30:03.040 --> 00:30:05.280 no longer permitted in our lands, right? 00:30:05.280 --> 00:30:10.080 It's not enough to be a Christian and not engage in these 00:30:10.080 --> 00:30:15.760 sins if we do absolutely nothing to ban these things from happening 00:30:15.760 --> 00:30:17.120 in our lands. 00:30:17.120 --> 00:30:18.960 God is very clear. 00:30:18.960 --> 00:30:21.680 That kind of blood pollutes the land. 00:30:21.680 --> 00:30:27.360 Look at all of the rules for sanctification, for sacrifices, for dealing 00:30:27.360 --> 00:30:29.760 with these things in the Old Testament. 00:30:29.760 --> 00:30:33.680 Even a homicide that happens in the countryside where the perpetrator is 00:30:33.680 --> 00:30:36.480 unknown, there's a provision for that, right? 00:30:36.480 --> 00:30:39.360 God cares deeply about these things. 00:30:39.360 --> 00:30:41.680 We should care about them as well. 00:30:41.680 --> 00:30:46.000 And again, as Christians, the best we can do in the interim, 00:30:46.000 --> 00:30:50.480 while we do not have Christian rulers, is get as many of 00:30:50.480 --> 00:30:56.480 our Christian brothers to participate in what is sort of a partial 00:30:56.480 --> 00:31:04.880 national repentance, the best that we can do under the circumstances. 00:31:04.880 --> 00:31:08.640 The fifth question is about NPCs. 00:31:08.640 --> 00:31:12.400 What is your opinion on the empty vessel theory that there are 00:31:12.400 --> 00:31:15.920 people on the earth that are only flesh with no soul? 00:31:15.920 --> 00:31:18.160 I do not subscribe to it. 00:31:18.640 --> 00:31:22.480 And I don't like to go too far down that road because 00:31:22.480 --> 00:31:24.800 I think it leads into dangerous territory. 00:31:24.800 --> 00:31:25.120 But 00:31:27.200 --> 00:31:32.640 sort of the fundamental recognition, realization there is that there are different 00:31:33.200 --> 00:31:37.040 levels of sort of awareness for human beings, right? 00:31:37.040 --> 00:31:43.040 Which is really just recognizing the difference in spirituality, again, in the 00:31:43.040 --> 00:31:44.000 proper sense, not the 00:31:45.280 --> 00:31:50.080 novel modern sense, across people groups, and part of it's just intelligence, 00:31:50.080 --> 00:31:53.360 right? We're talking about can a person understand a hypothetical? 00:31:53.360 --> 00:31:55.360 Can a person plan for the future? 00:31:55.360 --> 00:32:00.240 Does a person recognize that he will still be around a year 00:32:00.240 --> 00:32:02.880 from today, and that's him a year from today, and so he 00:32:02.880 --> 00:32:06.240 should not do things that will harm that person because he is 00:32:06.240 --> 00:32:08.160 that person, right? 00:32:09.600 --> 00:32:14.640 I don't think just because you have these different levels of awareness 00:32:14.640 --> 00:32:19.280 and intelligence and we could pick on all sorts of other attributes, 00:32:19.280 --> 00:32:24.720 right? Recognition of beauty, recognition of the good and the true, recognition 00:32:24.720 --> 00:32:24.800 of 00:32:25.680 --> 00:32:28.400 God's hand in creation. 00:32:28.400 --> 00:32:32.400 All of these things relate to man and also with regard to 00:32:32.400 --> 00:32:33.680 the Imago Dei. 00:32:33.680 --> 00:32:37.040 And there was a thread that I did with a hostile pastor 00:32:37.280 --> 00:32:40.560 at one point on X talking about the Imago Dei and its 00:32:40.560 --> 00:32:45.360 presence and the way in which it is present across people groups, 00:32:45.360 --> 00:32:48.720 right? Because the classical understanding of the Imago Dei 00:32:49.600 --> 00:32:50.880 is twofold. 00:32:50.880 --> 00:32:52.560 There are two senses. 00:32:52.560 --> 00:32:55.280 One is you're a human being, you're made in the image of 00:32:55.280 --> 00:32:56.720 God, period. 00:32:56.720 --> 00:33:00.480 The other, and this is all through the church fathers and theologians 00:33:00.480 --> 00:33:00.960 and others, 00:33:01.920 --> 00:33:05.440 Is that you are in the image of God with regard to 00:33:05.440 --> 00:33:08.640 the attributes that God gave us that sets us apart from the 00:33:08.640 --> 00:33:10.240 rest of creation. 00:33:10.240 --> 00:33:13.520 So part of that, of course, is going to be original righteousness, 00:33:13.520 --> 00:33:15.760 which is lost in the fall, and then 00:33:16.880 --> 00:33:24.560 restored juridically in baptism and then actually in the general resurrection. 00:33:24.560 --> 00:33:28.640 But there are also other aspects and attributes I mentioned as well, 00:33:28.640 --> 00:33:32.240 intelligence, recognition of the beautiful, recognition of the good, recognition of the 00:33:32.240 --> 00:33:38.320 true, recognition of God's control and God's goodness with regard to his 00:33:38.400 --> 00:33:43.680 creation and his organization of things, trusting in God, believing that God 00:33:44.000 --> 00:33:47.680 will work all things out for the good, having hope with regard 00:33:47.680 --> 00:33:48.160 to God. 00:33:48.160 --> 00:33:50.720 All of these different things are also part of that. 00:33:50.720 --> 00:33:55.200 And yes, they vary across not just individual men, but across groups 00:33:55.200 --> 00:33:56.320 of men. 00:33:56.320 --> 00:33:59.040 But I don't think it rises to the level where we can 00:33:59.040 --> 00:34:03.200 say that any particular person doesn't have a soul. 00:34:03.200 --> 00:34:07.200 I just don't think that we can go that far. 00:34:07.200 --> 00:34:10.960 This isn't good news for many men, right? 00:34:10.960 --> 00:34:13.920 Because if you think about the people groups that have, say, an 00:34:13.920 --> 00:34:20.000 IQ of 55 and completely reject Christ, is it good they have 00:34:20.000 --> 00:34:21.440 a soul in their case? 00:34:21.440 --> 00:34:23.280 For them that's terrible news, right? 00:34:23.280 --> 00:34:26.320 You can think of what Christ says about Judas. 00:34:26.320 --> 00:34:28.560 It would be better for that one if he had not been 00:34:28.560 --> 00:34:33.200 born. So I think the empty vessel of the NPC theory would 00:34:33.280 --> 00:34:36.400 be good news if it were true for many who are now 00:34:36.400 --> 00:34:39.360 on the earth, but I don't find it compelling in that way 00:34:39.440 --> 00:34:44.240 I don't think it's true. 00:34:44.240 --> 00:34:45.520 The sixth question 00:34:46.960 --> 00:34:50.720 I am considering joining the US Navy after college, I love my 00:34:50.720 --> 00:34:53.200 nation, and I believe it would be great way to set up 00:34:53.200 --> 00:34:54.240 my life. 00:34:54.240 --> 00:34:56.720 Would it be wrong for me to join the military knowing that 00:34:56.720 --> 00:34:59.440 I may be serving those who hate Christ? 00:34:59.760 --> 00:35:04.000 No This question came in before the Iran War, so I think 00:35:04.000 --> 00:35:07.680 maybe there may be some slight differences in how this individual views 00:35:07.680 --> 00:35:08.400 things now. 00:35:08.400 --> 00:35:10.240 Maybe not, I don't know. 00:35:10.800 --> 00:35:13.600 Is it per se sin to join the military? 00:35:13.600 --> 00:35:18.560 No. Is it a matter of wisdom to join the military? 00:35:18.560 --> 00:35:23.120 Yes. At the current time, is it wise? 00:35:23.120 --> 00:35:26.240 I would have to say probably not. 00:35:26.240 --> 00:35:31.120 Because your odds of being sent into a foreign theater to fight 00:35:31.120 --> 00:35:34.560 on behalf of the Jews are certainly non-zero. 00:35:34.560 --> 00:35:38.560 That's been the case for decades, of course, but they're pretty high 00:35:38.560 --> 00:35:39.280 right now. 00:35:39.280 --> 00:35:44.880 They're discussing landing ground troops in Iran, which would be a disaster. 00:35:44.880 --> 00:35:45.200 But 00:35:46.640 --> 00:35:53.200 if you can join the military in a capacity that does not 00:35:53.200 --> 00:35:59.680 see you being landed in a foreign country armed to fight foreign 00:35:59.680 --> 00:36:02.720 peoples, that's probably the way to go. 00:36:02.720 --> 00:36:05.600 I don't think it's bad to have our guys in the military. 00:36:05.600 --> 00:36:08.960 And I it's even good to have our guys as special forces 00:36:08.960 --> 00:36:12.240 and things like that and just rank and file soldiers, but I 00:36:12.240 --> 00:36:16.240 can't in good conscience recommend that any of our guys join these 00:36:16.240 --> 00:36:21.280 days because the odds of dying for the Jews are too high. 00:36:21.280 --> 00:36:25.840 And that's a loss of one of our guys. 00:36:25.840 --> 00:36:27.360 That's a bad thing. 00:36:27.360 --> 00:36:29.840 And it's a loss in pursuit of 00:36:31.120 --> 00:36:34.320 interests that are contrary to our own. 00:36:34.320 --> 00:36:38.400 So it's going to depend on what you're going to do, right? 00:36:38.400 --> 00:36:40.560 If you're going to go into the Navy and be an IT 00:36:40.640 --> 00:36:44.400 guy in the Navy, fine, that's a fundamentally different thing from being 00:36:44.400 --> 00:36:46.560 a Navy SEAL, right? 00:36:47.200 --> 00:36:52.480 Your risk profile is very different between those two career paths. 00:36:52.480 --> 00:36:55.440 So it's a matter of wisdom. 00:36:55.440 --> 00:36:59.840 If you feel so personally compelled by it, say you come from 00:36:59.840 --> 00:37:04.800 a family that has been Navy for you know eight generations, nine 00:37:04.800 --> 00:37:10.400 generations, whatever it happens to be, then certainly I understand. 00:37:10.400 --> 00:37:11.840 Apply your wisdom. 00:37:11.840 --> 00:37:16.160 Don't put yourself in a position where you are likely to 00:37:17.120 --> 00:37:17.440 have 00:37:18.320 --> 00:37:22.480 your military career and what is required of you at odds with 00:37:22.480 --> 00:37:24.640 your Christian faith. 00:37:24.640 --> 00:37:24.960 So 00:37:27.360 --> 00:37:29.840 like I said, it's a matter of wisdom and a matter of 00:37:29.840 --> 00:37:33.600 conscience. I personally would not. 00:37:33.600 --> 00:37:35.840 But that doesn't mean that no one should. 00:37:35.840 --> 00:37:37.600 It doesn't mean it's sin to do it. 00:37:37.600 --> 00:37:41.120 It's not sin, but it may be unwise. 00:37:41.120 --> 00:37:41.440 So 00:37:42.880 --> 00:37:46.640 if there aren't compelling reasons, I wouldn't join up where there is 00:37:46.640 --> 00:37:51.280 a high likelihood of being sent into combat at this point. 00:37:51.280 --> 00:37:53.680 That's sort of the baseline recommendation. 00:37:53.680 --> 00:37:57.600 From there, you apply the wisdom God gave you and your conscience. 00:37:57.600 --> 00:37:59.760 Make sure you do not violate your conscience. 00:37:59.760 --> 00:38:04.240 God gave it to you for a reason. 00:38:04.240 --> 00:38:07.920 The next question, the seventh question. 00:38:07.920 --> 00:38:10.720 I know genocide is biblical. 00:38:10.720 --> 00:38:12.400 What about eugenics? 00:38:12.400 --> 00:38:16.720 The kind that involve involuntary neutering? 00:38:16.720 --> 00:38:21.840 I've actually commented on this one in an archival episode of this 00:38:21.840 --> 00:38:26.400 show. The audio quality is not particularly great because I happen to 00:38:26.400 --> 00:38:29.760 have a relatively bad cold at the time my sinuses were completely 00:38:29.760 --> 00:38:33.520 clogged, so I do not sound very good in that episode. 00:38:33.520 --> 00:38:36.080 I've been tempted to re-record it just for the sake of sound 00:38:36.080 --> 00:38:38.720 quality, but it's there. 00:38:38.720 --> 00:38:43.040 And I've also commented on it a number of times on X 00:38:43.040 --> 00:38:43.760 and elsewhere. 00:38:43.760 --> 00:38:45.360 I've written about it a little bit. 00:38:45.360 --> 00:38:47.760 Eugenics is permissible. 00:38:47.760 --> 00:38:51.760 The distinction though, before anyone gets out the pitchforks and gets really 00:38:52.000 --> 00:38:52.720 angry at me. 00:38:52.720 --> 00:38:54.640 They'll do that anyway. 00:38:54.640 --> 00:38:59.120 There's active eugenics and there's passive eugenics is the way that I 00:38:59.120 --> 00:39:01.680 like to divide them up. 00:39:01.680 --> 00:39:04.000 Active eugenics is euthanasia. 00:39:04.000 --> 00:39:05.920 That's morally impermissible. 00:39:05.920 --> 00:39:09.920 You are not allowed to just kill people because they're inconvenient. 00:39:09.920 --> 00:39:13.360 They have to have done something that rises to the level where 00:39:13.360 --> 00:39:18.400 it is morally warranted to exercise the death penalty penalty. 00:39:18.400 --> 00:39:20.800 Sterilization's a fundamentally different thing. 00:39:20.800 --> 00:39:23.600 I do not think the Supreme Court was wrong when they said 00:39:23.600 --> 00:39:27.680 that three generations of can't remember if they said idiots or retards 00:39:27.760 --> 00:39:28.480 is enough. 00:39:28.480 --> 00:39:30.400 That was a Supreme Court opinion. 00:39:30.400 --> 00:39:31.840 I don't think that's wrong. 00:39:31.840 --> 00:39:36.080 I think that is morally permissible to do. 00:39:36.080 --> 00:39:40.400 That comes along with the fact that those who are members of 00:39:40.400 --> 00:39:43.040 our society, those who are born into our society, our own our 00:39:43.120 --> 00:39:46.480 own people, regardless of their condition. 00:39:46.480 --> 00:39:51.040 So even if we have someone who is born horribly disfigured, mentally 00:39:51.040 --> 00:39:56.320 impaired, just the worst absolute lot in life, we are responsible to 00:39:56.320 --> 00:39:57.520 care for that person. 00:39:58.400 --> 00:40:01.360 So that's part of the reason that we have to undertake these 00:40:01.360 --> 00:40:02.320 sorts of things, right? 00:40:02.320 --> 00:40:06.000 If you wind up with an entire society of people like that, 00:40:06.000 --> 00:40:07.760 you can't care for yourself anymore. 00:40:07.760 --> 00:40:11.200 You wind up like the worst parts of India or Africa. 00:40:11.200 --> 00:40:12.800 We want to avoid that. 00:40:12.800 --> 00:40:15.040 Eugenics is part of that. 00:40:15.040 --> 00:40:19.840 And one of the warrants, the lines of argument I've used for 00:40:19.840 --> 00:40:24.080 this, is that God makes man steward of creation. 00:40:24.640 --> 00:40:29.680 And so God doesn't say you're the steward of this part of 00:40:29.680 --> 00:40:33.840 creation. He doesn't say you're the steward of all of cre except 00:40:33.840 --> 00:40:34.480 this part. 00:40:34.480 --> 00:40:38.720 No, he says that we're the stewards of creation, and we're part 00:40:38.720 --> 00:40:40.000 of creation. 00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:41.920 Man is part of creation. 00:40:41.920 --> 00:40:47.120 Part of stewarding any population is attempting to ensure the population has 00:40:47.120 --> 00:40:48.800 sound genetics. 00:40:48.800 --> 00:40:52.640 Anyone who is a farmer or a dog breeder, whatever it happens 00:40:52.640 --> 00:40:55.760 to be, recognizes this truth. 00:40:55.760 --> 00:40:59.120 We like to try to draw this artificial distinction when we come 00:40:59.120 --> 00:41:01.600 to human beings, but we're mammals. 00:41:01.600 --> 00:41:06.720 The same as our dogs, the same as our cats, we are 00:41:06.720 --> 00:41:11.280 not exempt from the harsh reality of biology. 00:41:11.280 --> 00:41:16.400 And if we do not pursue these sorts of policies, the odds 00:41:16.400 --> 00:41:18.640 are that things will turn out horribly, right? 00:41:18.640 --> 00:41:21.200 And another part of this that I point out for those who 00:41:21.200 --> 00:41:24.320 will object to some of the things I've said, we already practice 00:41:24.320 --> 00:41:27.600 eugenics. In fact, we practice it 00:41:28.560 --> 00:41:30.400 pretty pervasively. 00:41:30.400 --> 00:41:34.080 We've done it more in the past than today, but one example, 00:41:34.080 --> 00:41:37.360 you're not legally allowed to marry your sister. 00:41:37.360 --> 00:41:39.760 That's a eugenic policy. 00:41:39.920 --> 00:41:43.200 No one objects to that, no sane person objects to that. 00:41:43.200 --> 00:41:48.240 Most places you are not morally or legally allowed to marry your 00:41:48.240 --> 00:41:49.760 first cousin. 00:41:49.760 --> 00:41:55.440 That's a eugenic policy In some places, you are not morally you 00:41:55.440 --> 00:41:59.840 are not legally allowed to marry if you have certain conditions. 00:41:59.840 --> 00:42:04.640 All of these are eugenic policies that we already pursue. 00:42:04.640 --> 00:42:09.120 Sterilizing certain individuals is just part of that. 00:42:09.120 --> 00:42:12.320 It's on the passive side because you're not euthanizing someone. 00:42:12.320 --> 00:42:15.760 You're just ensuring that you do not pass on these problems to 00:42:15.760 --> 00:42:18.560 future generations and say, you deal with it. 00:42:18.560 --> 00:42:20.480 Don't kick the can down the road. 00:42:20.480 --> 00:42:22.240 That's morally impermissible. 00:42:22.240 --> 00:42:25.840 Burdening your children with a problem that you can solve is never 00:42:25.840 --> 00:42:27.360 the solution. 00:42:27.360 --> 00:42:31.760 And so, with regard to certain conditions, I don't think it's morally 00:42:31.760 --> 00:42:34.400 impermissible. I think it is a policy that we should enact. 00:42:34.400 --> 00:42:38.720 So members of society who have an IQ below a certain point, 00:42:38.720 --> 00:42:42.640 whatever the cutoff is, 75, 80, 85, whatever it happens to be. 00:42:42.640 --> 00:42:45.280 Sterilization, I think, is a good option there. 00:42:45.280 --> 00:42:50.000 We still care for them, we provide for them, we give them 00:42:50.000 --> 00:42:54.640 a good life, but we don't permit that burden to continue on 00:42:54.640 --> 00:42:58.240 indefinitely for each subsequent generation. 00:42:58.240 --> 00:43:00.880 That would be foolish, and I also would say that it is 00:43:00.880 --> 00:43:05.680 morally impermissible because again, you're burdening those future generations with a problem 00:43:05.840 --> 00:43:11.440 you could have solved, in part because quite frankly, I think cowardice. 00:43:11.440 --> 00:43:14.480 So is eugenics morally permissible? 00:43:14.480 --> 00:43:19.040 Yes, as long as you understand it as the passive policies, the 00:43:19.040 --> 00:43:22.560 passive means, and not the active ones that are being pursued. 00:43:22.560 --> 00:43:29.200 Christians should absolutely be against euthanasia, doctor-assisted suicide, whatever it is, that's 00:43:29.200 --> 00:43:31.520 all morally impermissible. 00:43:31.520 --> 00:43:36.400 The only sort of carve-out there is there are the rare cases 00:43:36.400 --> 00:43:39.600 where burn victims are the usual example? 00:43:39.600 --> 00:43:44.240 We know that if we keep upping the dose of painkillers, eventually 00:43:44.400 --> 00:43:47.920 we will cross a line and the person will overdose and die. 00:43:47.920 --> 00:43:51.120 Is that physician assisted suicide? 00:43:51.120 --> 00:43:54.880 Kind of, but I think it's morally permissible because the goal is 00:43:54.880 --> 00:43:56.480 not to kill the person. 00:43:56.480 --> 00:44:01.600 The goal is to address a problem that is ultimately insoluble, right? 00:44:02.000 --> 00:44:04.800 to get rid of as much of the pain as we can 00:44:04.800 --> 00:44:08.240 for someone who has horrible burns or something. 00:44:08.240 --> 00:44:10.400 There's only so much you can do. 00:44:10.400 --> 00:44:13.920 I don't think that that is morally impermissible because again the intent 00:44:13.920 --> 00:44:14.640 does matter there. 00:44:14.640 --> 00:44:18.400 You're not trying to kill the person, you're trying to alleviate pain, 00:44:18.400 --> 00:44:21.600 you just don't have the tools to do it without risking killing 00:44:21.600 --> 00:44:23.280 the person in the process. 00:44:23.280 --> 00:44:25.600 Which is always a risk with surgery, right? 00:44:25.600 --> 00:44:35.280 It's also a risk with pain management, particularly in those severe cases. 00:44:35.280 --> 00:44:40.000 The next question, slightly lighter topic. 00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:42.000 The eighth question. 00:44:41.920 --> 00:44:46.160 What is your favorite whiskey, bourbon, or scotch? 00:44:46.400 --> 00:44:51.040 That is a broad question, and it's really going to depend on 00:44:51.040 --> 00:44:53.200 what I am doing with it. 00:44:53.200 --> 00:44:55.280 And yes, everyone's thinking, well you drink it, right? 00:44:55.360 --> 00:44:59.440 Well it depends if you're mixing it with what you're pairing it. 00:44:59.440 --> 00:45:01.840 I like Islas, usually for Scotch. 00:45:01.840 --> 00:45:06.560 I like really heavily peated stuff, Lefroig, Ugadel, things like that. 00:45:07.040 --> 00:45:07.360 For 00:45:08.480 --> 00:45:12.560 bourbons, I usually drink rye because my drink of choice is usually 00:45:12.560 --> 00:45:14.960 a Manhattan, not an old-fashioned. 00:45:14.960 --> 00:45:18.480 So Wo likes the old fashioned, I like the Manhattan. 00:45:18.480 --> 00:45:20.560 So I usually go with the rye. 00:45:20.560 --> 00:45:22.720 There are a number of good rye whiskies. 00:45:22.720 --> 00:45:24.880 It sort of just depends on how you're pairing it. 00:45:24.880 --> 00:45:30.160 Some vermouths go well with better go better with certain whiskies than 00:45:30.160 --> 00:45:34.000 others. That's actually a good point worth making here as well. 00:45:34.000 --> 00:45:35.120 For those who aren't familiar with 00:45:36.240 --> 00:45:42.800 cocktails, Vermouth is very wild in terms of price range. 00:45:42.800 --> 00:45:46.800 The most expensive one may not be the best option for what 00:45:46.800 --> 00:45:48.480 you're doing. 00:45:48.480 --> 00:45:54.000 Sometimes the really cheap ones pair really well with pretty good whiskey. 00:45:54.000 --> 00:45:55.040 It just depends. 00:45:55.040 --> 00:45:58.880 It's a flavor profile thing, it's how the liquors interact. 00:45:58.880 --> 00:46:02.480 And And it's going to be partly a matter of taste. 00:46:02.480 --> 00:46:05.360 You're just going to have to figure out which ones pair well. 00:46:05.360 --> 00:46:08.320 So if you're a Manhattan drinker, you probably have a preference for 00:46:08.400 --> 00:46:11.760 I like this rye with this vermouth, I like that vermouth with 00:46:11.760 --> 00:46:12.640 this rye. 00:46:12.640 --> 00:46:14.160 It's not a matter of price. 00:46:14.160 --> 00:46:17.360 This is not one of those places where you pay more, it's 00:46:17.360 --> 00:46:21.200 better. This is one of those places where it's better because it's 00:46:21.200 --> 00:46:23.840 better in this specific case. 00:46:23.840 --> 00:46:27.440 But I guess that's sort of the general answer to that question. 00:46:27.760 --> 00:46:29.520 There are actually a number of distilleries around here. 00:46:29.520 --> 00:46:31.920 I obviously live pretty close to Kentucky. 00:46:31.920 --> 00:46:34.800 And there are some in Tennessee as well, including one here in 00:46:34.800 --> 00:46:37.760 Knoxville. And they have some some pretty good stuff. 00:46:37.760 --> 00:46:41.600 It's nice that we're sort of getting back to having micro distilleries 00:46:41.600 --> 00:46:45.520 and things like that with some better local options instead of just 00:46:45.840 --> 00:46:48.240 the giant names in the field, right? 00:46:48.240 --> 00:46:49.760 The same thing with beer. 00:46:49.760 --> 00:46:51.760 Um we used to have 00:46:52.880 --> 00:46:54.720 a lot of breweries. 00:46:54.720 --> 00:46:58.240 We used to have tons of breweries, quite frankly. 00:46:58.240 --> 00:47:01.680 Almost every town used to have its own brewery. 00:47:01.680 --> 00:47:05.040 And then because of prohibition, that was all destroyed. 00:47:05.040 --> 00:47:08.800 And then when it started back up, you basically have these behemoth 00:47:08.880 --> 00:47:11.520 brewing companies that just took over the entire market. 00:47:11.520 --> 00:47:15.440 I'm glad that we're going back to things that are more local 00:47:15.680 --> 00:47:19.280 produced in a more reliable and sustainable way. 00:47:19.280 --> 00:47:20.720 It's great to have those options. 00:47:20.720 --> 00:47:23.840 It's great to have that as part of our cultural fabric again. 00:47:23.840 --> 00:47:26.560 And of course I know that anyone listening who thinks that alcohol 00:47:26.560 --> 00:47:29.200 is a sin is going to be mad at me, but it's 00:47:29.200 --> 00:47:32.480 not. God says specifically that drinking liquor can be one of the 00:47:32.480 --> 00:47:33.360 ways you praise him. 00:47:33.360 --> 00:47:35.920 It's called Sakara, it's in the Old Testament. 00:47:35.920 --> 00:47:38.320 It's one of the things you could do to praise God if 00:47:38.320 --> 00:47:43.200 you sold and then took your money and went to Jerusalem and 00:47:43.200 --> 00:47:43.760 bought something. 00:47:43.760 --> 00:47:44.160 You could buy 00:47:45.200 --> 00:47:47.520 beer, probably wasn't the best beer. 00:47:47.520 --> 00:47:51.360 You could buy sort of low ABV liquor was one of the 00:47:51.360 --> 00:47:54.720 options. We don't know exactly how they distilled it, so we don't 00:47:54.640 --> 00:47:58.240 know exactly the ABV, but it was certainly higher than wine and 00:47:58.240 --> 00:48:05.520 beer. Question number nine, can you explain more about why 00:48:05.520 --> 00:48:08.560 beauty is a moral issue has a moral quality? 00:48:08.560 --> 00:48:12.720 I explained this one specifically so that I could mention I published 00:48:12.720 --> 00:48:16.080 the article on that, The Moral Salience of Beauty. 00:48:16.080 --> 00:48:19.840 I said that I would get that done, and I did. 00:48:19.840 --> 00:48:20.160 So 00:48:23.040 --> 00:48:27.280 you can go ahead and read that. 00:48:27.280 --> 00:48:33.200 That is sort of the baseline of my argument there. 00:48:33.200 --> 00:48:35.280 And the foundation of the argument there. 00:48:35.280 --> 00:48:38.400 I'm going to expand on it because there are some things I 00:48:38.400 --> 00:48:41.840 deliberately did not address in the article that need to be addressed, 00:48:41.840 --> 00:48:45.120 sort of population level realities and things like that. 00:48:45.120 --> 00:48:48.800 I will record a standalone episode of this show and just release 00:48:48.800 --> 00:48:52.320 that into the RSS stream to comment on those issues. 00:48:52.320 --> 00:48:57.200 But for those who asked about why I was tweeting about the 00:48:57.200 --> 00:49:00.320 moral salience of beauty and how beauty is related to related to 00:49:00.320 --> 00:49:07.200 morality, this article answers that. 00:49:07.200 --> 00:49:08.880 Question number 10 00:49:10.320 --> 00:49:14.000 is about whether or not there are dogs in heaven. 00:49:14.000 --> 00:49:17.040 And And I don't know if this was as sort of tongue 00:49:17.120 --> 00:49:20.480 in cheek, but I left it in because I wanted to comment 00:49:20.640 --> 00:49:25.600 on something that is rampant in American Christianity and elsewhere, because we 00:49:25.600 --> 00:49:28.400 have a lot of bad teachers. 00:49:28.640 --> 00:49:32.160 You are not going to spend eternity in heaven. 00:49:32.160 --> 00:49:35.760 You are going to spend eternity in paradise, which is why I 00:49:35.760 --> 00:49:39.680 have been deliberately using the term paradise for a number of years 00:49:39.680 --> 00:49:44.080 now Years now instead of saying heaven because there is a new 00:49:44.080 --> 00:49:46.720 heaven and a new earth. 00:49:46.720 --> 00:49:49.840 Man again is a Gestalt, you are not just a soul, you're 00:49:49.840 --> 00:49:53.120 not just going to exist as a spirit in heaven. 00:49:53.120 --> 00:49:55.360 God the Father is Spirit. 00:49:55.360 --> 00:49:58.160 The Holy Spirit is obviously Spirit. 00:49:58.160 --> 00:49:59.840 The angels are spirit. 00:49:59.840 --> 00:50:04.080 And so heaven is the natural abode for them because they're spirit. 00:50:04.080 --> 00:50:07.120 You're not just spirit, you're also your body. 00:50:07.120 --> 00:50:08.720 You are the sum, right? 00:50:08.720 --> 00:50:12.400 The gestalt, to use the word again. 00:50:12.400 --> 00:50:17.200 You are going to spend eternity in the new earth, in paradise, 00:50:17.200 --> 00:50:20.560 and so it's not going to just be a bunch of human 00:50:20.560 --> 00:50:24.400 beings wandering around with nothing else on the planet. 00:50:24.400 --> 00:50:25.440 Or multiple planets. 00:50:25.440 --> 00:50:26.560 However, that's going to work. 00:50:26.560 --> 00:50:29.920 Scripture doesn't tell us exactly how that works. 00:50:29.920 --> 00:50:32.560 God is going to renew all things. 00:50:32.560 --> 00:50:34.160 It speaks of that in the New Testament. 00:50:34.160 --> 00:50:37.600 It says the creation is groaning together for the renewal of all 00:50:37.600 --> 00:50:42.640 things. Christ redeemed all things in his death, in his atonement. 00:50:42.640 --> 00:50:46.400 It's not just human beings, it's not just the elect, it is 00:50:46.400 --> 00:50:49.120 everything in creation was redeemed. 00:50:49.120 --> 00:50:53.840 And so there will be animals in the new earth, there will 00:50:53.840 --> 00:50:55.920 be plants in the new earth. 00:50:55.920 --> 00:50:57.200 It is going to be what God 00:50:58.080 --> 00:51:00.880 wanted this creation to be. 00:51:00.880 --> 00:51:04.880 And due to the fallen original sin it did not become. 00:51:04.880 --> 00:51:06.240 That is what it's going to be. 00:51:06.240 --> 00:51:08.880 And so, yes, there will be dogs. 00:51:08.880 --> 00:51:13.200 Insofar as whether it's your specific dogs that you've had through your 00:51:13.200 --> 00:51:15.280 life, I don't know exactly how that works. 00:51:15.280 --> 00:51:19.120 I think it probably will be, in some way, the perfect version 00:51:19.120 --> 00:51:21.840 of that dog you used to have that you loved. 00:51:21.840 --> 00:51:27.840 That seems consonant with how God has designed things, God's character, God's 00:51:27.840 --> 00:51:29.360 intention for man. 00:51:29.360 --> 00:51:32.080 So scripture is not clear on that. 00:51:32.080 --> 00:51:33.600 It doesn't give us a definitive answer. 00:51:33.600 --> 00:51:35.600 That's what I happen to believe. 00:51:35.600 --> 00:51:37.520 You can believe it or not, that's up to you. 00:51:37.520 --> 00:51:40.080 You're not bound to believe one way or the other. 00:51:40.080 --> 00:51:42.400 But there will be animals in paradise. 00:51:42.400 --> 00:51:45.120 It's not going to be human beings standing around on a naked 00:51:45.120 --> 00:51:47.520 rock staring at each other for eternity. 00:51:47.520 --> 00:51:49.280 That would not be much of a paradise. 00:51:52.480 --> 00:51:53.760 Question eleven. 00:51:53.760 --> 00:51:56.320 I'm going to drink some tea before I answer. 00:52:06.640 --> 00:52:10.240 Since we do not choose what race or ethnicity we are born 00:52:10.240 --> 00:52:13.920 into, and this is completely out of our control, is it not 00:52:13.920 --> 00:52:18.400 unjust to hate others for their race or ethnicity? 00:52:18.480 --> 00:52:22.640 I won't get into the the distinction between race and ethnicity. 00:52:22.640 --> 00:52:24.880 They're basically the same. 00:52:24.880 --> 00:52:27.040 Think of them just briefly in the same way as sex and 00:52:27.040 --> 00:52:28.400 gender, right? 00:52:28.400 --> 00:52:34.320 The biological reality and then the expression of it that is consonant 00:52:34.320 --> 00:52:38.240 with the underlying biological reality in terms of a totality, basically is 00:52:38.240 --> 00:52:40.320 the how to think of that. 00:52:40.320 --> 00:52:46.000 But But with regard to whether or not we hate other races, 00:52:46.000 --> 00:52:51.680 I have for quite some time now drawn a distinction between racial 00:52:51.680 --> 00:52:57.760 animus and sort of the proper hatred for those who are our 00:52:57.760 --> 00:53:00.320 enemies out of our control. 00:53:00.320 --> 00:53:02.880 Because do remember that scripture tells you to be at peace with 00:53:02.880 --> 00:53:05.680 others insofar as it depends on you. 00:53:05.680 --> 00:53:10.800 Right. So if others decide they hate us and they are at 00:53:10.800 --> 00:53:14.080 war with us, it no longer depends on us to be at 00:53:14.080 --> 00:53:15.280 peace with them. 00:53:15.280 --> 00:53:18.400 We would be at peace with them if they were at peace 00:53:18.400 --> 00:53:19.520 with us. 00:53:19.520 --> 00:53:23.520 So So do we hate I'll just pick the Indians because why 00:53:23.520 --> 00:53:26.640 not? Do we hate the Indians because they're Indian? 00:53:26.640 --> 00:53:32.240 No. If they were Indian in India and not causing problems for 00:53:32.240 --> 00:53:35.120 the rest of the world like polluting the oceans. 00:53:35.120 --> 00:53:36.640 Fine. Great. 00:53:36.640 --> 00:53:38.560 Be Indian over there. 00:53:38.560 --> 00:53:39.760 We have no problem with you. 00:53:39.760 --> 00:53:41.040 We don't want to go to war with you. 00:53:41.040 --> 00:53:42.640 We don't want to harm you. 00:53:42.640 --> 00:53:45.840 We don't want you know, bad things for you. 00:53:45.840 --> 00:53:50.080 We would prefer they all convert to Christianity and desist from worshiping 00:53:50.080 --> 00:53:52.320 demons and things like that and all those other problems. 00:53:52.320 --> 00:53:56.640 But as long as they're over there, why would we even think 00:53:56.640 --> 00:53:57.440 about them? 00:53:57.440 --> 00:53:59.760 They would not be relevant to our lives. 00:53:59.760 --> 00:54:03.600 The problem is they're invading our country. 00:54:03.600 --> 00:54:06.160 The same thing is true for many other groups. 00:54:06.160 --> 00:54:08.880 I could think of any of a number of dozens of groups 00:54:08.880 --> 00:54:11.920 who are doing that, depending on how large you want to draw 00:54:12.240 --> 00:54:14.240 those groups, right? 00:54:14.240 --> 00:54:19.440 So the issue is not that we hate them because they're different. 00:54:19.440 --> 00:54:24.880 It's that they have chosen to make themselves our enemies by their 00:54:24.880 --> 00:54:30.400 actions. And so we hate them with a perfect hatred, because they 00:54:30.400 --> 00:54:31.520 are our enemies. 00:54:31.520 --> 00:54:35.600 And they're God's enemies as well, because they are violating his intention 00:54:35.600 --> 00:54:38.640 for creation, his laws, and 00:54:39.760 --> 00:54:44.400 generally being a nuisance, it's not again, it's not a matter of 00:54:44.400 --> 00:54:47.600 hating other people because they're different. 00:54:47.920 --> 00:54:50.800 We don't hate the Chinese because they're Chinese, we don't hate the 00:54:50.800 --> 00:54:55.280 Japanese because they're Japanese, or the Koreans because they're Koreans or whatever 00:54:55.280 --> 00:54:56.720 other group. 00:54:56.720 --> 00:55:00.560 If they are causing harm to our nation, if they are causing 00:55:00.560 --> 00:55:03.040 harm to our people, then it is a problem. 00:55:03.920 --> 00:55:07.200 And then it no longer depends on us because they are the 00:55:07.200 --> 00:55:09.040 ones causing the harm. 00:55:09.040 --> 00:55:12.880 We are fully within our rights, and quite frankly within our duty 00:55:12.880 --> 00:55:15.840 as well, to respond to that. 00:55:15.840 --> 00:55:21.360 With With animosity, with enmity, because that is what they have done. 00:55:21.360 --> 00:55:22.560 If we are 00:55:23.520 --> 00:55:27.360 instead of this moral way of going about things, if we were 00:55:27.360 --> 00:55:31.520 simply naked aggressors and we decided to declare war on some random 00:55:31.520 --> 00:55:38.480 country and attack them just because they're different, that's not morally permissible. 00:55:38.480 --> 00:55:40.320 That would be sin. 00:55:40.320 --> 00:55:47.120 But if some nation is invading our nation or otherwise causing harm 00:55:47.120 --> 00:55:51.440 to our nation, then yes, having hatred for them is permissible because 00:55:51.440 --> 00:55:56.160 they are enemies, and yes, you are supposed to hate public enemies. 00:55:56.320 --> 00:55:57.280 Which is the distinction. 00:55:57.280 --> 00:55:58.240 I've drawn that before. 00:55:58.240 --> 00:56:02.800 I'll put the article on that in the show notes. 00:56:02.800 --> 00:56:08.080 There is a difference between public and private enemies. 00:56:08.080 --> 00:56:11.680 When God says that you are to forgive your enemies and pray 00:56:11.680 --> 00:56:15.440 for them, he's speaking about your private enemies. 00:56:15.440 --> 00:56:20.800 So your neighbor who keeps borrowing your tools and never returning them. 00:56:20.800 --> 00:56:22.480 I'm not talking about a new I don't have a neighbor who 00:56:22.800 --> 00:56:26.000 does that, but as a hypothetical, if you had a neighbor who 00:56:26.000 --> 00:56:28.320 does that, that's kind of your personal enemy. 00:56:28.320 --> 00:56:32.160 Or if you have someone who just doesn't like you, you pray 00:56:32.160 --> 00:56:34.000 for him, you forgive him. 00:56:34.000 --> 00:56:38.320 You cannot forgive your public enemies. 00:56:38.320 --> 00:56:44.240 If we had another nation at war with us, currently bombing us, 00:56:44.240 --> 00:56:47.840 you can't just say, Well, I'm a Christian, and so I forgive 00:56:47.840 --> 00:56:48.720 you, and then do nothing. 00:56:49.760 --> 00:56:53.760 That actually just makes you a coward and a traitor, and condemned 00:56:53.760 --> 00:56:57.280 both by scripture and just general revelation. 00:56:57.280 --> 00:56:57.600 So 00:56:58.800 --> 00:57:01.280 you forgive and pray for your private enemies. 00:57:01.280 --> 00:57:02.960 You can pray for your public enemies as well. 00:57:02.960 --> 00:57:04.320 You pray they stop being your enemy. 00:57:04.320 --> 00:57:06.400 You pray they stop being evil. 00:57:06.400 --> 00:57:10.400 But you can't forgive them because they are not your enemy to 00:57:10.400 --> 00:57:15.760 forgive. To forgive someone, there has to be that relationship with you. 00:57:15.760 --> 00:57:20.080 It's a relationship of enmity in this case, but the public enemy 00:57:20.080 --> 00:57:21.920 has that with your nation. 00:57:21.920 --> 00:57:23.920 You are not the avatar of your nation. 00:57:23.920 --> 00:57:27.040 You do not stand in for your nation and forgive the enemies 00:57:27.040 --> 00:57:28.320 of your nation. 00:57:28.320 --> 00:57:32.480 An easier way for people to grasp this than perhaps national enemies 00:57:32.640 --> 00:57:35.520 is the enemies of God. 00:57:35.520 --> 00:57:38.560 Can you forgive Satan? 00:57:38.560 --> 00:57:40.640 If you can't forgive Satan, then there's an enemy 00:57:41.600 --> 00:57:43.040 you can't forgive. 00:57:43.040 --> 00:57:45.440 The question now is where is the line? 00:57:45.440 --> 00:57:49.120 Where do you draw the line for enemies you forgive and enemies 00:57:49.120 --> 00:57:50.320 you cannot forgive? 00:57:50.320 --> 00:57:52.000 You can't be more moral than God. 00:57:52.000 --> 00:57:56.160 You can't forgive his enemies, you can't forgive your national enemies, you 00:57:56.160 --> 00:57:59.600 can pray for them, but you do forgive your personal enemies because 00:57:59.600 --> 00:58:01.760 that is what God commands you to do. 00:58:07.040 --> 00:58:10.640 Little change of pace with question 12. 00:58:10.640 --> 00:58:12.960 Is the earth flat or round? 00:58:13.280 --> 00:58:16.400 I left this one in. 00:58:16.400 --> 00:58:18.800 Not because I find the question compelling. 00:58:18.800 --> 00:58:20.640 The earth is round. 00:58:20.640 --> 00:58:23.760 Oblate spheroid, so round ish. 00:58:23.760 --> 00:58:25.120 Round enough. 00:58:25.120 --> 00:58:28.160 I left it in to mention that we have an episode of 00:58:28.160 --> 00:58:32.080 Stone Choir that touches on this, the moon landing, conspiracy theories, things 00:58:32.080 --> 00:58:32.880 like that. 00:58:32.880 --> 00:58:34.080 Well worth listening. 00:58:34.080 --> 00:58:38.320 I'll put that in the show notes. 00:58:38.320 --> 00:58:38.640 But 00:58:39.600 --> 00:58:44.880 with regard to this one, there are some Bible verses to come. 00:58:44.880 --> 00:58:47.520 There are two here that are cited by the person who asked 00:58:47.520 --> 00:58:47.920 the question. 00:58:47.920 --> 00:58:51.520 And I want to bring those in here, so I'll pull up 00:58:51.520 --> 00:58:56.880 logos. The ones that come up, I don't actually want the Greek 00:58:56.880 --> 00:59:01.280 necessarily. Genesis one six and God said let a firmament come into 00:59:01.280 --> 00:59:03.680 being in the midst of the water, and let it be a 00:59:03.680 --> 00:59:06.400 separator between water and water. 00:59:06.400 --> 00:59:07.920 And it became so. 00:59:07.920 --> 00:59:11.600 And God made the firmament, and God separated between the water that 00:59:11.600 --> 00:59:15.360 was under the firmament and the water that was above the firmament, 00:59:15.360 --> 00:59:19.280 and God called the firmament sky, and God saw that it was 00:59:19.280 --> 00:59:21.760 good, and it came to be evening, and it came to be 00:59:21.760 --> 00:59:24.160 morning a second time a second day. 00:59:24.160 --> 00:59:27.200 So we actually already have the answer here, right? 00:59:27.200 --> 00:59:29.440 The firmament is called the sky. 00:59:29.440 --> 00:59:30.960 That's all it is. 00:59:30.960 --> 00:59:36.400 It is simply a poetic version of referencing the sky. 00:59:36.400 --> 00:59:41.200 It is not some solid thing through which you cannot penetrate that 00:59:41.200 --> 00:59:42.960 you can't get into outer space. 00:59:42.960 --> 00:59:49.120 Right. We know this both because well, we've done it, and if 00:59:49.120 --> 00:59:52.320 you read scripture in the context, we know that this is poetic 00:59:52.320 --> 00:59:55.200 language. The other of course is Genesis one fourteen 00:59:57.040 --> 01:00:00.400 et sec and God said let luminaries come into being in the 01:00:00.400 --> 01:00:03.200 firmament of the sky for illumination of the earth to separate between 01:00:03.200 --> 01:00:06.480 the day and between the night, and so on and so forth, 01:00:06.480 --> 01:00:13.120 right? This is poetic language speaking about how these things look from 01:00:13.120 --> 01:00:17.600 Earth. It looks like the stars are stuck in the sky, right? 01:00:17.600 --> 01:00:18.560 We know they're not. 01:00:18.560 --> 01:00:22.240 We know there are some that are significantly further farther away from 01:00:22.240 --> 01:00:28.320 us. God is not saying here that there is a hard barrier. 01:00:28.320 --> 01:00:32.080 Now between the waters and the waters, that may be language that 01:00:32.080 --> 01:00:36.000 is pertinent pre flood, that may reference something that was different about 01:00:36.000 --> 01:00:39.520 the way God had organized the earth, or it may simply be 01:00:39.520 --> 01:00:44.160 a way about speaking of the sky as waters. 01:00:44.160 --> 01:00:46.960 Not just because of the color, but the reality that a lot 01:00:46.960 --> 01:00:49.920 of it is in fact water vapor. 01:00:49.920 --> 01:00:52.560 We have other parts of scripture where it speaks about things like 01:00:52.560 --> 01:00:57.680 this that also highlight God speaks about the sky in figurative or 01:00:57.680 --> 01:00:59.440 poetic language in a number of places. 01:00:59.440 --> 01:01:02.000 One that came to mind was Deuteronomy twenty-eight. 01:01:02.000 --> 01:01:04.720 And the sky over your head shall be bronze for you, and 01:01:04.720 --> 01:01:06.320 the earth under you iron. 01:01:06.480 --> 01:01:09.680 May the Lord render the rain of your land as powder, and 01:01:09.680 --> 01:01:12.800 dust from the sky shall come down upon you, until it wipes 01:01:12.800 --> 01:01:15.520 you out, and until it destroys you. 01:01:16.000 --> 01:01:19.280 So obviously the land is not going to transform into iron if 01:01:19.280 --> 01:01:24.560 the Israelites are disobedient to God, because otherwise it would be iron, 01:01:24.560 --> 01:01:25.840 and it's not. 01:01:25.840 --> 01:01:28.640 Neither is the sky going to turn into bronze. 01:01:28.640 --> 01:01:32.240 This is a again, a poetic way of speaking about the way 01:01:32.240 --> 01:01:36.160 it's going to look Partly because of the lack of clouds and 01:01:36.160 --> 01:01:39.360 rain, because the heat and the dryness are part of the punishment, 01:01:39.360 --> 01:01:42.000 and partly because of the great amount of dust in it, it's 01:01:42.000 --> 01:01:44.000 going to have a bronze hue. 01:01:44.000 --> 01:01:47.200 And the earth is described as iron because of the hardness of 01:01:47.200 --> 01:01:48.160 it due to the lack of rain. 01:01:48.960 --> 01:01:52.560 This is one of the punishments, of course, for disobedience for not 01:01:52.560 --> 01:01:55.040 obeying God's covenant. 01:01:55.040 --> 01:01:58.080 It's not saying God will transform the sky into bronze. 01:01:58.080 --> 01:02:02.640 Similarly, When it speaks of the firmament, it's not saying that it 01:02:02.640 --> 01:02:05.840 is a shield, an impenetrable barrier. 01:02:05.840 --> 01:02:09.360 It is simply God spreading out the sky over the earth, and 01:02:09.360 --> 01:02:14.880 it being this great expanse that looks in a certain way, from 01:02:14.880 --> 01:02:20.240 our perspective here on Earth, to be not necessarily solid, but it 01:02:20.240 --> 01:02:25.520 looks like it's sort of one layer with things moving across it. 01:02:25.520 --> 01:02:28.080 But we know today that it is not. 01:02:28.080 --> 01:02:32.000 And I would say go listen to the episode on conspiracy theories 01:02:32.320 --> 01:02:36.800 and read the Wikipedia article on retro reflectors. 01:02:36.800 --> 01:02:37.920 They don't occur in nature. 01:02:38.480 --> 01:02:39.520 They're on the moon. 01:02:39.520 --> 01:02:41.600 They're on the moon because we put them there. 01:02:41.600 --> 01:02:45.120 And with a couple thousand dollars in hardware, you can test it 01:02:45.120 --> 01:02:48.640 yourself. You can bounce a laser beam off it and detect it 01:02:48.640 --> 01:02:50.240 coming back to you. 01:02:50.240 --> 01:02:53.280 Because we built them and put them there. 01:02:53.280 --> 01:02:58.240 And also, as sort of a more practical standpoint, I think that 01:02:58.240 --> 01:03:01.360 these conspiracy theories about things like the moon landing and things like 01:03:01.360 --> 01:03:06.880 that are 100% designed to denigrate European civilization. 01:03:06.880 --> 01:03:09.920 Because the moon landing was one of the heights of our civilization, 01:03:09.920 --> 01:03:13.120 certainly the technological height of our civilization. 01:03:13.120 --> 01:03:16.800 And to say that, oh man could never do that is just 01:03:16.800 --> 01:03:20.880 denigrating our ancestors in a way that is impermissible. 01:03:20.880 --> 01:03:23.040 It is not something we should be doing. 01:03:23.040 --> 01:03:27.840 They built those rockets, they got to the moon, using impressive technology 01:03:27.840 --> 01:03:28.880 for the era, certainly. 01:03:28.880 --> 01:03:32.000 We're having a hard time now replicating it. 01:03:32.000 --> 01:03:35.280 We can get things into space trivially easily, but getting people to 01:03:35.280 --> 01:03:38.160 the moon now is quite the undertaking. 01:03:38.160 --> 01:03:40.080 And yes, I know there are those who try to say that 01:03:40.160 --> 01:03:42.960 oh well that's the No. 01:03:42.960 --> 01:03:48.240 We've literally lost the ability to maintain some of our current airplanes. 01:03:48.240 --> 01:03:50.880 We couldn't rebuild the B-2. 01:03:50.880 --> 01:03:53.280 The B-2 exists. 01:03:53.280 --> 01:03:55.520 Just because we can't build more of them right now 01:03:56.560 --> 01:03:58.320 doesn't mean they don't exist. 01:03:58.320 --> 01:04:00.160 Doesn't mean they're impossible. 01:04:00.160 --> 01:04:03.040 It means we lost some of the technology. 01:04:03.040 --> 01:04:07.120 Another example similar to that, there are only a tiny handful of 01:04:07.120 --> 01:04:14.320 men currently living who understand the highest level of processor construction, 01:04:14.320 --> 01:04:16.320 of microchip construction. 01:04:16.320 --> 01:04:20.560 If those men were to die simultaneously, we would lose the ability 01:04:20.560 --> 01:04:23.520 to make some of those things, in short order. 01:04:23.520 --> 01:04:27.280 Does that mean or would that mean they don't exist? 01:04:27.280 --> 01:04:29.120 Well obviously no. 01:04:29.120 --> 01:04:30.720 Knowledge can be lost. 01:04:30.720 --> 01:04:33.600 Just because we can't do something today, doesn't mean it couldn't have 01:04:33.600 --> 01:04:37.680 been done fifty years ago. 01:04:45.520 --> 01:04:49.680 Question thirteen. 01:04:49.680 --> 01:04:53.520 What of my forefathers who were Freemasons are they in hell and 01:04:53.520 --> 01:04:55.840 what do I tell the ones who are still alive about their 01:04:55.840 --> 01:05:00.160 lifestyle? The Lutheran answer to this is actually very easy because we 01:05:00.400 --> 01:05:02.720 call it felicitous inconsistency. 01:05:02.720 --> 01:05:07.200 And this is the same thing we would apply to heterodox or 01:05:07.200 --> 01:05:11.200 even in terms of the group but not the individual heretical Christian 01:05:11.200 --> 01:05:12.080 groups. 01:05:13.200 --> 01:05:15.680 The basics of 01:05:16.960 --> 01:05:22.480 this would be that we hope that an individual relies on Christ 01:05:22.480 --> 01:05:28.320 alone for his salvation, despite the official teachings of his church, and 01:05:28.320 --> 01:05:30.720 this is going to be the same for any number of groups, 01:05:30.720 --> 01:05:34.320 particularly of course from the Lutheran perspective, which is as Lutheran my 01:05:34.320 --> 01:05:39.360 perspective, are there Christians in Masonic lodges? 01:05:39.600 --> 01:05:40.800 I would say yes. 01:05:40.800 --> 01:05:45.440 Particularly at the lower level, because there are many men, unfortunately, most 01:05:45.440 --> 01:05:48.800 of the older generation at this point, not as many younger men, 01:05:48.800 --> 01:05:51.920 millennials and younger not joining in very large numbers. 01:05:51.920 --> 01:05:54.240 For a number of reasons. 01:05:54.240 --> 01:05:57.040 There are many men at the lower level who simply look at 01:05:57.040 --> 01:05:58.560 it like a boys' club. 01:05:58.560 --> 01:05:59.920 You know, a men's group, right? 01:05:59.920 --> 01:06:02.080 You go and you have a beer or whatever, it's like the 01:06:02.080 --> 01:06:04.800 Elk's Lodge or something, but I don't know which one they view 01:06:04.960 --> 01:06:06.080 as more prestigious. 01:06:06.080 --> 01:06:09.520 Probably they view the Masons as more prestigious because of the h 01:06:09.840 --> 01:06:12.800 men who have been members historically. 01:06:12.800 --> 01:06:19.520 But the actual teachings of Freemasonry are incompatible with Christianity're wicked, they're 01:06:19.520 --> 01:06:20.560 evil, they're demonic. 01:06:20.560 --> 01:06:22.560 I'm going to be completely blunt about that. 01:06:22.560 --> 01:06:24.880 One of the best ways to describe it is that it is 01:06:24.880 --> 01:06:27.280 Talmudism for the Goyim. 01:06:27.280 --> 01:06:29.920 That's sort of how a Jew would describe it, right? 01:06:29.920 --> 01:06:31.760 So don't join it. 01:06:31.760 --> 01:06:33.680 Do not be part of it. 01:06:33.680 --> 01:06:37.040 The men who are part of it need to recognize that it 01:06:37.040 --> 01:06:37.760 is wicked. 01:06:37.760 --> 01:06:42.000 It is something in which they should not participate. 01:06:42.000 --> 01:06:42.320 And 01:06:43.360 --> 01:06:45.840 the best way to go about it is going to depend on 01:06:45.840 --> 01:06:48.480 the man with whom you're interacting. 01:06:48.480 --> 01:06:51.840 If you are dealing with a man who is a Christian, who 01:06:51.840 --> 01:06:55.360 is a Christian who's firm in his beliefs, who is sound in 01:06:55.360 --> 01:06:58.080 his beliefs, then you can point out the incompatibility 01:06:58.960 --> 01:07:02.240 of the Masonic teaching that basically all religions are a way to 01:07:02.240 --> 01:07:05.680 God. Because as a Christian he's going to recognize I am the 01:07:05.680 --> 01:07:07.840 way, the truth, and the life. 01:07:07.840 --> 01:07:13.680 Not one of many, I am the way, the truth, the life. 01:07:13.680 --> 01:07:16.640 So if you're dealing with a man who will be open to 01:07:16.640 --> 01:07:19.840 that sort of argument, that's the obvious path to take. 01:07:19.840 --> 01:07:23.440 If you're dealing with someone who believes that all pathways lead to 01:07:23.440 --> 01:07:27.120 God, you have other groundwork you need to do first, because you 01:07:27.120 --> 01:07:30.000 need to get him to be an actual Christian before you can 01:07:30.000 --> 01:07:33.600 tell him that Freemasonry is incompatible with Christianity. 01:07:33.600 --> 01:07:36.880 So are these men in hell? 01:07:36.880 --> 01:07:38.640 Probably not. 01:07:38.640 --> 01:07:42.240 If they were high up and they understood what the Masons teach 01:07:42.480 --> 01:07:46.720 and they kept going, then yes, they are probably in hell. 01:07:46.720 --> 01:07:50.240 But if they just joined the local lodge because they wanted to 01:07:50.240 --> 01:07:54.560 hang out with their other friends who were also Masons, and they 01:07:54.560 --> 01:07:59.840 never really got very deeply involved into it, I think Phyllis's inconsistency 01:07:59.840 --> 01:08:02.160 probably is going to cover them. 01:08:02.400 --> 01:08:07.120 I think that they were Christian, but had some weird views and 01:08:07.120 --> 01:08:09.600 did some dumb stuff. 01:08:09.600 --> 01:08:16.400 If doing dumb sinful stuff disqualified one from being a Christian, heaven, 01:08:16.080 --> 01:08:21.840 paradise, more appropriately, as I commented on earlier, would be empty, right? 01:08:21.840 --> 01:08:24.880 So should you be a Freemason as a Christian? 01:08:24.880 --> 01:08:26.480 Absolutely not. 01:08:26.480 --> 01:08:30.720 Can you possibly be a Christian and a Freemason at the same 01:08:30.720 --> 01:08:33.920 time, yes, but you should not. 01:08:33.920 --> 01:08:38.720 So it's sort of the same as with regard to some of 01:08:38.720 --> 01:08:41.280 the more fringe Christian groups, right? 01:08:41.280 --> 01:08:42.320 What their group teaches 01:08:43.200 --> 01:08:48.160 is incompatible with Christianity, but many of the rank and file don't 01:08:48.080 --> 01:08:49.440 believe any of that. 01:08:49.440 --> 01:08:54.480 They just really like Jesus, and they've always gone to this church. 01:08:54.480 --> 01:08:58.720 I would say similarly, there are probably a lot of Mormons who 01:08:58.720 --> 01:09:04.400 are Christian despite the evil of Mormonism, despite what the Mormon church 01:09:04.480 --> 01:09:08.080 so-called teaches, because they don't believe any of it. 01:09:08.080 --> 01:09:12.080 They just say they're Mormon because their family's been Mormon for a 01:09:12.080 --> 01:09:15.040 while. They're barely involved in the church. 01:09:15.040 --> 01:09:18.000 They tithe because the elders come to your house and actually audit 01:09:18.000 --> 01:09:19.440 your finances. 01:09:19.440 --> 01:09:19.600 But 01:09:20.880 --> 01:09:25.200 They don't believe the things the church teaches, and so they actually 01:09:25.200 --> 01:09:27.920 have a faith in Christ and rely on that. 01:09:27.920 --> 01:09:30.000 These things are dangerous to your soul. 01:09:30.000 --> 01:09:33.840 Don't think what I'm saying is minimizing any of this. 01:09:33.840 --> 01:09:37.200 It's a danger to your soul, it should not be permitted in 01:09:37.200 --> 01:09:41.760 Christian lands, we should ban Masonic lodges and the Mormon Church Church 01:09:41.920 --> 01:09:43.680 so called. 01:09:43.680 --> 01:09:49.760 But just because someone participated in these organizations does not mean that 01:09:49.760 --> 01:09:52.160 he is necessarily in hell. 01:09:52.160 --> 01:09:57.280 So I can't obviously give a definitive answer for any particular man, 01:09:57.280 --> 01:09:59.360 but I can say that no, you don't have to go, oh 01:09:59.600 --> 01:10:02.240 he's a Freemason, he's absolutely in hell. 01:10:02.240 --> 01:10:05.600 No, he was probably just a member of a local lodge and 01:10:05.600 --> 01:10:09.520 didn't know what he was supporting. 01:10:09.520 --> 01:10:13.200 It wasn't good, it was sin, he should not have done it. 01:10:13.200 --> 01:10:17.200 But when we pray the Lord's Prayer, we also pray that God 01:10:17.200 --> 01:10:20.640 would forgive our trespasses of which we are not aware. 01:10:20.640 --> 01:10:22.800 Because we don't know all of our sins. 01:10:22.800 --> 01:10:25.120 We can't list all of our sins. 01:10:25.120 --> 01:10:32.400 The Psalms are very clear about that. 01:10:32.400 --> 01:10:35.280 Question 14. 01:10:35.280 --> 01:10:36.960 Let's see what the time is here. 01:10:37.200 --> 01:10:38.720 Not too bad. 01:10:38.800 --> 01:10:42.800 What is your biggest critique of confessional Calvinists? 01:10:42.800 --> 01:10:44.480 For example, the Presbyterians? 01:10:44.480 --> 01:10:46.560 And do you consider them brothers in Christ? 01:10:46.560 --> 01:10:50.080 So I guess sort of tangentially related to the last question. 01:10:50.400 --> 01:10:52.880 Also, what is your take on the Puritans? 01:10:52.880 --> 01:10:55.600 To be clear I'm not saying that all of the Presbyterians are 01:10:55.600 --> 01:11:00.240 Freemasons. I do consider Calvinists to be brothers in Christ. 01:11:00.240 --> 01:11:03.440 I consider them to be brothers in error, incidentally, but I do 01:11:03.440 --> 01:11:06.560 consider them to be brothers in Christ. 01:11:06.560 --> 01:11:10.160 The two biggest problems that I would say I have with 01:11:11.680 --> 01:11:17.760 Calvinism, and really it's one because only one's specific to Calvinism, because 01:11:17.920 --> 01:11:24.080 obviously there is the issue of their understanding and teaching on the 01:11:24.080 --> 01:11:27.600 nature of the sacraments, particularly the sacramental union, which is say the 01:11:27.600 --> 01:11:30.080 real presence of Christ in the supper. 01:11:30.080 --> 01:11:31.840 I believe they're wrong on that. 01:11:31.840 --> 01:11:35.360 But obviously that applies to everyone else, right? 01:11:35.360 --> 01:11:38.480 I agree with the Lutheran teaching on that, which means I disagree 01:11:38.480 --> 01:11:41.360 with Rome because I do not believe in transubstantiation. 01:11:41.360 --> 01:11:46.480 I I disagree with the non-denominationals who all say, including the Baptists, 01:11:46.480 --> 01:11:49.840 who all say that it is purely symbolic, and I disagree with 01:11:49.840 --> 01:11:54.240 the Reformed, who think that it is a real spiritual presence. 01:11:54.480 --> 01:11:58.720 Sneak that word in there between the two terms. 01:11:58.720 --> 01:12:05.440 But specifically with regard to Calvinists, I don't hold to double predestination. 01:12:05.440 --> 01:12:11.440 I don't believe that you can actually justify it from Scripture without 01:12:11.440 --> 01:12:16.880 ignoring very clear teachings in Scripture, right? 01:12:17.200 --> 01:12:19.440 Or resorting to some 01:12:20.560 --> 01:12:25.120 form of sphinglys aliosis, right, in order to try and change the 01:12:25.120 --> 01:12:29.200 predicate because the subject doesn't match in your mind. 01:12:29.200 --> 01:12:29.520 So 01:12:30.400 --> 01:12:35.600 God very clearly says He does not desire that any be lost. 01:12:35.600 --> 01:12:39.520 He desires that all would come to repentance and faith and be 01:12:39.520 --> 01:12:43.440 saved. Well, that's the end of double predestination to my mind. 01:12:43.440 --> 01:12:45.360 That it's gone at that point. 01:12:45.360 --> 01:12:50.320 You can't have it And reconcile those verses. 01:12:50.320 --> 01:12:52.960 There's a lot more to it, but I don't think that you 01:12:52.960 --> 01:12:54.320 can even get past that point. 01:12:54.320 --> 01:12:57.040 That hurdle is insurmountable. 01:12:57.040 --> 01:12:58.560 Just logically speaking. 01:12:58.560 --> 01:13:01.280 I know the Calvinists like logic, so go ahead and deal with 01:13:01.280 --> 01:13:03.760 the logic of that one. 01:13:03.760 --> 01:13:05.840 I don't see any way to get past that. 01:13:05.840 --> 01:13:09.280 And so I can't be a Calvinist, I couldn't be a Calvinist, 01:13:09.280 --> 01:13:11.040 because I believe it is at odds with Scripture. 01:13:11.200 --> 01:13:14.640 And so that would be my biggest disagreement with the Calvinists. 01:13:14.640 --> 01:13:16.640 But yes, I consider them brothers in Christ. 01:13:16.640 --> 01:13:19.280 I think felic felicity and consistency. 01:13:19.280 --> 01:13:21.440 I do believe that they rely on Christ. 01:13:21.440 --> 01:13:24.560 I think that they trust in the free gift of faith that 01:13:24.560 --> 01:13:28.480 is God's grace and I think that they are saved. 01:13:28.480 --> 01:13:34.160 I don't think they're damned because they get some theological questions wrong, 01:13:34.160 --> 01:13:37.680 because they misinterpret some doctrines. 01:13:37.680 --> 01:13:42.800 Same thing with regard to Rome and the Baptist and non-denominational, even 01:13:42.800 --> 01:13:44.560 some of the Pentecostals, right? 01:13:47.040 --> 01:13:52.320 Insofar as a take on the Puritans, I think Maybe go look 01:13:52.320 --> 01:13:54.400 at Ryan Turnipseed on X. 01:13:54.400 --> 01:13:56.880 He's done a lot more reading in the Puritans than I have, 01:13:56.880 --> 01:13:58.800 I'm fairly certain. 01:13:58.800 --> 01:14:00.320 They're not my favorite. 01:14:00.320 --> 01:14:04.320 They get into the equivalent of what Lutherans would call Pietism a 01:14:04.320 --> 01:14:07.280 little bit, and I think they've caused some problems for the United 01:14:07.280 --> 01:14:08.800 States culturally. 01:14:08.800 --> 01:14:15.040 And I think they definitely laid the groundwork, or at least created 01:14:15.040 --> 01:14:16.240 the fertile soil in which 01:14:17.600 --> 01:14:20.720 Christian Zionism, so called, took root. 01:14:20.720 --> 01:14:23.040 So I do think they cause and obviously I'm not fond of 01:14:23.040 --> 01:14:24.880 Cromwell at all. 01:14:24.880 --> 01:14:29.120 But other than that I don't have an expansive view of in 01:14:29.280 --> 01:14:33.520 individual thinkers and writers in the Puritan tradition because I just did 01:14:33.520 --> 01:14:35.680 not spend as much time reading them. 01:14:35.680 --> 01:14:38.720 I didn't find them compelling, so I didn't find I didn't spend 01:14:38.720 --> 01:14:39.520 as much time with them. 01:14:39.520 --> 01:14:44.160 I spent much more time with the Reformed and the Roman Catholics 01:14:44.240 --> 01:14:48.160 and others like that. 01:14:48.160 --> 01:14:49.520 Question 15. 01:14:49.520 --> 01:14:53.520 Does a validly adopted son get firstborn rights? 01:14:54.400 --> 01:14:58.400 That's going to depend on whether or not you have a firstborn 01:14:58.400 --> 01:15:04.160 son. So if you adopt a son but have a firstborn son, 01:15:04.160 --> 01:15:08.240 I think the natural son would be the one to whom the 01:15:08.240 --> 01:15:10.480 rights would fall. 01:15:10.480 --> 01:15:15.280 I think we have to conclude that I don't think you can 01:15:15.280 --> 01:15:22.880 supplant the firstborn son, the natural firstborn son, via positive law 01:15:22.880 --> 01:15:28.480 means. Because that would be a way to circumvent God's design. 01:15:28.480 --> 01:15:34.720 And God's design is very clearly that the firstborn biological son receives 01:15:35.040 --> 01:15:40.160 a double portion of the inheritance, basically preeminence, and various other things 01:15:40.240 --> 01:15:40.640 like that. 01:15:40.640 --> 01:15:43.840 That's the right of the firstborn primogenitures, basically what we've called it 01:15:44.000 --> 01:15:46.640 down through European history. 01:15:46.640 --> 01:15:51.920 So I do not think that you can circumvent God's law with 01:15:52.080 --> 01:15:53.920 regard to adoption. 01:15:53.920 --> 01:15:57.920 But if, say, your wife is infertile or you're infertile and you 01:15:57.920 --> 01:16:01.440 cannot have children, then yes, the first male that you adopt 01:16:02.480 --> 01:16:05.440 should receive those rights as firstborn son. 01:16:05.440 --> 01:16:10.720 He's not firstborn son, but he is your first son, because you 01:16:10.720 --> 01:16:13.760 couldn't have one naturally, right? 01:16:16.000 --> 01:16:18.720 Question sixteen. 01:16:18.720 --> 01:16:23.680 Divorces permitted in cases of infidelity and abandonment, would it also be 01:16:23.680 --> 01:16:28.000 fair to say in cases of abuse and wickedness? 01:16:29.680 --> 01:16:32.960 I think at some point abuse is going to rise to the 01:16:32.960 --> 01:16:37.520 level of being abandonment, tantamount to abandonment. 01:16:37.520 --> 01:16:44.720 And insofar as wickedness is concerned, the issue is 01:16:44.720 --> 01:16:47.680 really going to be on the kind of wickedness, right? 01:16:47.680 --> 01:16:50.720 Because a lot of these problems are solved, obviously, if you're living 01:16:50.720 --> 01:16:52.000 in a Christian country. 01:16:52.240 --> 01:16:57.120 Because a truly wicked individual is probably not going to live long 01:16:57.120 --> 01:17:00.160 in a Christian country, the prince is going to deal with him. 01:17:00.160 --> 01:17:04.640 And then you know, until death do us part, death has done 01:17:04.640 --> 01:17:05.680 you part. 01:17:05.680 --> 01:17:10.640 So under ideal circumstances, I don't think wickedness is going to necessarily 01:17:10.640 --> 01:17:13.120 be a real live issue here. 01:17:13.120 --> 01:17:19.040 Under our circumstances, if there is sufficient wickedness, I think it could 01:17:19.040 --> 01:17:21.360 rise to the level of abandonment. 01:17:21.360 --> 01:17:24.400 Because say, we'll take an extreme example. 01:17:24.400 --> 01:17:29.520 Say you're married to someone and your spouse starts sacrificing animals in 01:17:29.520 --> 01:17:31.920 your living room to Satan, right. 01:17:31.920 --> 01:17:33.680 You're allowed to leave. 01:17:33.680 --> 01:17:37.840 You do not have to stay and be a participant in that 01:17:37.920 --> 01:17:40.960 by proximity, and you can take the children with you, hopefully the 01:17:40.960 --> 01:17:42.160 law will support you. 01:17:42.160 --> 01:17:44.320 Good luck. 01:17:44.320 --> 01:17:48.560 And if that person persists in that, I think that rises to 01:17:48.560 --> 01:17:49.680 the level of abandonment. 01:17:49.680 --> 01:17:53.200 And I think that would then morally justify divorce, because that is 01:17:53.200 --> 01:17:54.720 the other spouse leaving, right? 01:17:54.720 --> 01:17:58.960 And there's the verses in scripture speaking of if the unbelieving spouse 01:17:58.960 --> 01:18:02.080 leaves. Well this is the unbelieving spouse leaving, I think. 01:18:02.080 --> 01:18:06.400 I think that is equivalent there and sufficient moral warrant. 01:18:06.400 --> 01:18:09.840 Again, in a truly Christian society, not going to be a problem 01:18:09.920 --> 01:18:10.080 because 01:18:10.960 --> 01:18:13.520 the Christian Prince is going to make that person about a foot 01:18:13.520 --> 01:18:20.400 shorter. With regard to abuse, sort of the traditional way of dealing 01:18:20.400 --> 01:18:24.800 with that was the church elders and it's going to usually be 01:18:24.800 --> 01:18:26.160 the man abusing the woman, right? 01:18:26.160 --> 01:18:28.960 I mean, yes, obviously there are plenty of times where women abuse 01:18:28.960 --> 01:18:30.160 men, but 01:18:31.280 --> 01:18:35.120 men can hold their own, and if you have to, you can 01:18:35.120 --> 01:18:38.880 truly hold your own, and the law should respect that. 01:18:38.880 --> 01:18:41.600 But how it usually went, if a man was abusing his wife, 01:18:41.600 --> 01:18:44.160 was the church elders paid him a visit, the pastor didn't have 01:18:44.160 --> 01:18:46.640 to go, but the church elders paid him a visit, and by 01:18:46.640 --> 01:18:50.640 the time they left he got the point. 01:18:50.640 --> 01:18:54.640 So that's sort of the way these problems were traditionally handled. 01:18:54.640 --> 01:18:55.600 And that's a good thing. 01:18:55.600 --> 01:18:57.120 That's how it should be handled. 01:18:57.120 --> 01:19:00.160 If the problem continues, then you hand him over to the judge, 01:19:00.160 --> 01:19:02.560 and if the problem continues, you hand him over to the hangman, 01:19:02.560 --> 01:19:06.240 right? Or if Luther's preferred term, you hand him over to Master 01:19:06.240 --> 01:19:08.000 Hans. So 01:19:09.600 --> 01:19:13.200 I do think there are cases, particularly given the reality of our 01:19:13.200 --> 01:19:16.160 current society, where these things are going to rise, the level of 01:19:16.160 --> 01:19:19.200 abandonment and therefore warrant for divorce. 01:19:19.200 --> 01:19:22.560 But in a Christian society, I don't think they would ever rise 01:19:22.560 --> 01:19:27.280 to that level because the wicked individual would be removed and the 01:19:27.280 --> 01:19:31.040 marriage would be dissolved by virtue of that person's removal. 01:19:34.240 --> 01:19:38.480 Question seventeen, could we get a deep dive into polygamy? 01:19:38.480 --> 01:19:43.600 Really more polygyny because polyandry A woman having multiple husbands is always 01:19:43.840 --> 01:19:47.280 morally impermissible, so that one's very easy to address. 01:19:47.280 --> 01:19:51.040 As it was mentioned in Stone Choir, but we did not make 01:19:51.040 --> 01:19:53.120 an episode on it. 01:19:53.120 --> 01:19:57.120 I'm sort of going to leave that one for perhaps next time 01:19:57.200 --> 01:19:58.720 I will get to that. 01:19:58.720 --> 01:20:01.520 Because that's going to take a little while to address, so I 01:20:01.520 --> 01:20:04.320 don't think I'll do it tonight. 01:20:04.320 --> 01:20:09.920 But obviously the basic answer is that polygyny is morally permissible, but 01:20:09.920 --> 01:20:11.680 society can still ban it. 01:20:11.680 --> 01:20:13.200 It's not morally required. 01:20:13.200 --> 01:20:16.560 God doesn't say you have to permit this, God simply says it 01:20:16.560 --> 01:20:18.000 is morally permissible. 01:20:18.000 --> 01:20:20.080 I'm not going to get into the argument right now, so for 01:20:20.080 --> 01:20:23.920 anyone who wants to object, wait until I do the argument and 01:20:23.920 --> 01:20:26.480 then respond to the evidence I'll provide. 01:20:26.480 --> 01:20:31.200 And there's plenty of evidence from scripture, incidentally. 01:20:31.760 --> 01:20:35.840 Those are all of the questions that I had for tonight and 01:20:35.840 --> 01:20:37.680 that I pulled out of the chat at the start. 01:20:37.680 --> 01:20:41.280 I will scroll through the chat quickly and see if there are 01:20:41.280 --> 01:20:46.560 any more questions before calling it a night. 01:20:46.560 --> 01:20:56.000 Let's see. 01:20:56.640 --> 01:20:59.920 Do you think the states are headed towards balkanization? 01:20:59.920 --> 01:21:00.960 If so, what does that look like? 01:21:01.680 --> 01:21:03.920 Why did you move to Tennessee? 01:21:05.040 --> 01:21:10.880 I don't personally think balkanization is particularly likely because given the realities 01:21:10.880 --> 01:21:15.760 of the of the geography and the demographics and things like that, 01:21:15.760 --> 01:21:21.040 you're always going to wind up with some hegemonic power in this 01:21:21.040 --> 01:21:25.360 geography, whether it starts as a regional power and then conquers adjacent 01:21:25.360 --> 01:21:25.920 territory or not 01:21:26.800 --> 01:21:28.320 is up for debate. 01:21:28.320 --> 01:21:32.400 But I don't think that Balkanization is something that is likely, and 01:21:32.400 --> 01:21:35.040 if it did happen, I don't think it would persist for were 01:21:35.280 --> 01:21:37.040 persist for very long. 01:21:37.840 --> 01:21:38.160 So 01:21:39.120 --> 01:21:44.160 if it happened, the obvious balkanization for the US, give just given 01:21:44.160 --> 01:21:50.560 demographics, things like that, you have the south, you have the northeast, 01:21:50.560 --> 01:21:55.520 you have the Pacific Northwest, you have the middle of the country, 01:21:55.520 --> 01:22:00.080 the northern part, the Germanic Scandinavian, and now unfortunately some other things 01:22:00.080 --> 01:22:04.960 as well, and then the Pacific part of the southwest, right? 01:22:04.960 --> 01:22:07.840 And then maybe you can say sort of the the Texas high 01:22:07.840 --> 01:22:09.360 desert area is another area. 01:22:09.360 --> 01:22:13.600 That's sort of the general breakup just because of demographics and geography. 01:22:13.600 --> 01:22:18.560 But again, I don't find it particularly likely for the Balkans it 01:22:18.560 --> 01:22:24.400 made more sense because of you had more of the history of 01:22:24.400 --> 01:22:26.720 different groups in different localities. 01:22:26.720 --> 01:22:30.240 So you had some natural lines there along which things could break, 01:22:30.240 --> 01:22:32.560 obviously still very messy. 01:22:32.560 --> 01:22:37.200 You know, the Austrians won a war with the Turkish Empire and 01:22:37.200 --> 01:22:41.200 their consolation prize as it were, was the the Balkans, not necessarily 01:22:41.200 --> 01:22:44.400 the best thing in the world, kind of a mess for them. 01:22:44.640 --> 01:22:48.080 But But I don't think it is going to happen in the 01:22:48.080 --> 01:22:48.800 US case. 01:22:48.800 --> 01:22:52.000 So why did I move to Tennessee? 01:22:52.000 --> 01:22:53.760 I have family here. 01:22:53.760 --> 01:22:55.280 And it was also 01:22:56.160 --> 01:22:58.640 a number of boxes were checked 01:22:59.920 --> 01:23:03.760 that part of it was family considerations, part of it was just, 01:23:03.760 --> 01:23:08.160 yes, it is more conservative, it is more Christian. 01:23:08.160 --> 01:23:12.560 There's a lot of Christian Zionism, unfortunately, but the taxes are better, 01:23:12.640 --> 01:23:13.840 the laws are better. 01:23:13.840 --> 01:23:15.200 There's a lot of considerations. 01:23:15.200 --> 01:23:17.680 But I've had family in this part of the country for a 01:23:17.680 --> 01:23:20.080 very long time, longer than the state existed. 01:23:20.080 --> 01:23:24.000 I I can drive out to Cade's Cove not too far from 01:23:24.000 --> 01:23:27.680 me, and there are grave markers out there with headstones with family 01:23:27.680 --> 01:23:28.640 names on them. 01:23:28.640 --> 01:23:31.680 Not Mahler, but other family names. 01:23:32.320 --> 01:23:36.160 the German line from which I have my last name moved mostly 01:23:36.160 --> 01:23:39.200 to other parts of the country, unsurprisingly. 01:23:39.200 --> 01:23:41.840 Michigan and some in Iowa. 01:23:41.840 --> 01:23:42.000 But 01:23:50.880 --> 01:23:54.000 And yes, obviously part of it was just getting out of California. 01:23:57.680 --> 01:24:02.880 Hopefully the mic is not picking up my stomach rumbling. 01:24:02.880 --> 01:24:08.160 Are the self-identified Jews in Israel in 2026 actually Canaanites, those warned 01:24:08.160 --> 01:24:11.120 of in Revelation that claim to be Jews but are not? 01:24:12.480 --> 01:24:17.280 They are genetically, ethnically related to the Old Testament Jews. 01:24:17.280 --> 01:24:19.920 And also they behave exactly like them. 01:24:19.920 --> 01:24:21.600 It's the same people. 01:24:21.600 --> 01:24:24.720 Do they have admixture from the Canaanites? 01:24:24.720 --> 01:24:26.080 Of course they do. 01:24:26.080 --> 01:24:29.600 But they were also related to the Canaanites in the first place. 01:24:29.600 --> 01:24:33.200 In many cases they were killing distant cousins. 01:24:33.200 --> 01:24:36.880 Yes, there was a d some admixture there because obviously Canaan is 01:24:36.880 --> 01:24:40.000 a descendant of Ham, and so there's admixture between Ham and Shem 01:24:40.000 --> 01:24:41.040 in that part of the world. 01:24:41.040 --> 01:24:44.800 Unsurprising, it's sort of the the nexus of all of that. 01:24:44.800 --> 01:24:48.240 But are they related to the Old Testament Israelites? 01:24:48.240 --> 01:24:50.000 Yes. They are. 01:24:50.000 --> 01:24:54.800 But again, there's some admixture because miscegenation is one of the ways 01:24:54.800 --> 01:24:59.040 that the empires that conquered them, particularly the Assyrians, of course, in 01:24:59.040 --> 01:25:02.240 case of the ten northern tribes, they just erased them. 01:25:02.240 --> 01:25:05.520 That was one of the things they used to conquer and control 01:25:05.840 --> 01:25:11.280 people. Because if you destroy the identity of a people, they are 01:25:11.280 --> 01:25:13.680 much easier to control. 01:25:13.680 --> 01:25:17.280 So are they pure Israelite? 01:25:17.280 --> 01:25:19.280 No. But are they related? 01:25:19.280 --> 01:25:25.040 Yes, they are descended from them. 01:25:25.040 --> 01:25:29.040 If Christ died for all the sins of all the world, then 01:25:29.040 --> 01:25:32.000 his atonement covers the sin of unbelief as well. 01:25:32.000 --> 01:25:35.760 How does the Lutheran view of the atonement not contradict its premise 01:25:35.760 --> 01:25:38.240 of universal atonement? 01:25:38.880 --> 01:25:42.800 I addressed this one in a previous episode, I can't remember which 01:25:42.800 --> 01:25:45.760 one in particular, but obviously we also did it in Stone Choir 01:25:45.760 --> 01:25:48.560 episode dealing with justification. 01:25:48.560 --> 01:25:54.640 There's a difference between the objective justification and the subjective justification. 01:25:54.640 --> 01:25:55.760 The objective justification 01:25:56.720 --> 01:26:02.800 was Christ's redemption of all things in his perfect obedience, death, resurrection. 01:26:02.800 --> 01:26:05.440 So that's the redemption of all of creation. 01:26:05.440 --> 01:26:08.080 Creation is groaning, waiting for the redemption, right? 01:26:08.080 --> 01:26:12.400 All of these passages speaking about Ton Cosman, the totality of all 01:26:12.400 --> 01:26:16.960 things, that is what is redeemed objectively. 01:26:16.960 --> 01:26:22.480 The subjective justification is by faith. 01:26:22.480 --> 01:26:26.880 That is applied to you via the means of grace, which is 01:26:26.880 --> 01:26:29.120 to say the Word and the Sacraments. 01:26:29.120 --> 01:26:32.160 So whether you receive faith in baptism or you receive it when 01:26:32.160 --> 01:26:35.120 you hear or read the Word, whatever it happens to be, the 01:26:35.120 --> 01:26:37.920 Spirit acts through those means to give you the free gift of 01:26:37.920 --> 01:26:42.400 faith, and then you are justified by that faith, that is the 01:26:42.400 --> 01:26:45.360 subjective justification. 01:26:45.360 --> 01:26:49.520 It is worth mentioning every single person in hell has had his 01:26:49.920 --> 01:26:53.840 sins forgiven, but he rejected it. 01:26:53.840 --> 01:26:57.200 They are paying an infinite debt that was already paid. 01:26:57.200 --> 01:27:01.200 That's sort of the it's almost not o an irony, but I 01:27:01.200 --> 01:27:03.760 guess it is to some degree in some sense. 01:27:03.920 --> 01:27:08.000 They are paying a debt that Christ already paid, but they rejected 01:27:08.000 --> 01:27:11.280 it. The objective justification covers them. 01:27:11.280 --> 01:27:14.640 The subjective justification does not because they do not They do not 01:27:14.640 --> 01:27:15.840 have faith. 01:27:15.840 --> 01:27:22.400 And so it is that unbelief that damns because it is rejecting 01:27:22.400 --> 01:27:32.880 the justification, it is rejecting the free gift of salvation. 01:27:32.960 --> 01:27:34.720 We'll now scroll past about 01:27:36.320 --> 01:27:39.360 forty messages from Kick with bots. 01:27:39.360 --> 01:27:50.400 Apparently their bot control is not particularly good. 01:27:50.400 --> 01:27:53.440 And yes, Gizmo was one of the dogs barking earlier. 01:27:53.440 --> 01:27:55.360 I saw someone mention gizmo. 01:27:55.360 --> 01:28:04.880 I have two golden retrievers as well as gizmo. 01:28:04.880 --> 01:28:07.280 Someone asked about abortion. 01:28:07.280 --> 01:28:09.760 Is all abortion sin? 01:28:09.760 --> 01:28:12.480 If the abortion is protecting the life of the mother or if 01:28:12.480 --> 01:28:15.520 the child is severely disabled, could abortion be a wisdom case? 01:28:15.520 --> 01:28:18.320 I sort of touched on that with regard to the euthanasia question. 01:28:18.320 --> 01:28:22.960 We do not get to abort children simply because they're severely disabled. 01:28:22.960 --> 01:28:26.960 And with regard to saving the life of the mother, if there 01:28:26.960 --> 01:28:30.320 is a case where the mother is endangered by the pregnancy, then 01:28:30.320 --> 01:28:34.000 we do absolutely all that we can to save both lives. 01:28:34.000 --> 01:28:37.440 We do not terminate one life to save the other. 01:28:37.440 --> 01:28:41.200 God has not given us that particular option. 01:28:41.200 --> 01:28:45.680 So abortion is not an option 01:28:46.800 --> 01:28:50.480 in the sense of abortion we mean here because obviously the medical 01:28:50.480 --> 01:28:52.960 procedure abortion is 01:28:53.840 --> 01:28:56.400 broader, right? 01:28:56.640 --> 01:29:01.200 So for instance, if you have an ectopic pregnancy or you have 01:29:01.200 --> 01:29:06.720 some other non viable pregnancy, the procedure to terminate that is still 01:29:06.720 --> 01:29:10.720 called abortion, but that is not abortion as we mean it here. 01:29:10.720 --> 01:29:14.000 And I'm pointing this out because sometimes leftists and others like to 01:29:14.000 --> 01:29:15.360 play little games like this. 01:29:15.360 --> 01:29:22.720 They'll say, well, technically speaking, right, a miscarriage is an involuntary abortion. 01:29:22.720 --> 01:29:24.400 Okay, but that's not we're talking about. 01:29:24.400 --> 01:29:26.400 We're talking about the one that has intent. 01:29:26.400 --> 01:29:28.640 We're talking about the moral issue. 01:29:28.640 --> 01:29:29.520 So no. 01:29:29.520 --> 01:29:32.960 Abortion is not a permissible thing to do in either of those 01:29:32.960 --> 01:29:35.440 cases. You try to save both lives. 01:29:35.440 --> 01:29:42.880 And with regard to severely disabled children, if that happens again, referencing 01:29:42.880 --> 01:29:47.280 back to the question about eugenics and things like that, if that 01:29:47.280 --> 01:29:51.120 happens, if that child is born And you should not terminate that 01:29:51.120 --> 01:29:53.360 pregnancy simply because the child is disabled. 01:29:53.360 --> 01:29:55.600 We care for that child as best we can. 01:29:55.600 --> 01:29:59.440 We just try not to continue on that problem to future generations. 01:30:04.320 --> 01:30:10.400 Another question also related to euthanasia about Aktion Tefia, Action T four 01:30:10.560 --> 01:30:12.320 from the Third Reich. 01:30:12.320 --> 01:30:15.360 I read your article about Hitler being a Christian, but what are 01:30:15.360 --> 01:30:19.600 your thoughts on him signing to have the mentally ill euthanized? 01:30:19.600 --> 01:30:21.840 Would he not be responsible for that? 01:30:21.840 --> 01:30:27.520 Yes, insofar as he permitted that, he is responsible, but he is 01:30:27.520 --> 01:30:31.600 notably the one who personally ended that program. 01:30:31.600 --> 01:30:35.200 And we also, I don't want to say too much about it, 01:30:35.200 --> 01:30:39.280 not because I'm, you know, hesitant or anything like that. 01:30:39.280 --> 01:30:42.480 The records are still sealed. 01:30:42.480 --> 01:30:45.840 We actually don't know the extent of the program, we don't know 01:30:45.840 --> 01:30:50.480 a lot of the specifics of the program, so I can't speak 01:30:50.480 --> 01:30:54.240 to it because I don't know, and neither does anyone else. 01:30:54.240 --> 01:30:57.440 It's curious that those records are still sealed. 01:30:57.440 --> 01:31:02.400 You would think if they had gone wildly overboard and done horrible 01:31:02.400 --> 01:31:07.280 things with regard to euthanizing the infirm, that the Allies would have 01:31:07.280 --> 01:31:09.280 used that as a great propaganda piece. 01:31:10.480 --> 01:31:12.800 But as it turns out, all we have is a little bit 01:31:12.800 --> 01:31:17.600 of testimony from the doctor trials, and everything else has been sealed. 01:31:17.600 --> 01:31:19.600 I find that highly suspicious. 01:31:19.600 --> 01:31:23.280 What we do know is that he personally ended the program after 01:31:23.280 --> 01:31:26.400 some members of the church came to him and discussed it with 01:31:26.400 --> 01:31:31.280 him. That's the Christian choice under those circumstances to end it. 01:31:31.280 --> 01:31:35.280 I don't know enough about the program specifics again because the records 01:31:35.280 --> 01:31:40.640 are sealed to say what sort of wrongs were done or were 01:31:40.640 --> 01:31:43.040 not done and what his culpability would be. 01:31:43.040 --> 01:31:47.440 As the leader, he's absolutely culpable for whatever happened. 01:31:47.440 --> 01:31:56.320 But we don't know what happened because the records are sealed. 01:31:56.560 --> 01:31:59.360 I am interested in whether or not you could explain the history 01:31:59.360 --> 01:32:03.440 or the meaning of the Hakkenkreuz, this symbol was used by the 01:32:03.440 --> 01:32:05.760 sons of Japheth spanning much of our history. 01:32:05.760 --> 01:32:11.040 It's the big dipper orbiting around in the course of the four 01:32:11.040 --> 01:32:14.720 seasons. It's a symbol from the sky. 01:32:15.200 --> 01:32:18.480 And scripture is very clear that 01:32:19.440 --> 01:32:23.200 the celestial bodies were for signs and seasons. 01:32:23.200 --> 01:32:26.400 We seem to have lost the signs knowledge. 01:32:26.960 --> 01:32:29.760 W we don't know at what point that was lost. 01:32:29.760 --> 01:32:33.680 Adam clearly knew n more about that than we do. 01:32:33.680 --> 01:32:37.840 The three wise men who visited Christ knew more about it than 01:32:37.840 --> 01:32:38.960 we do. 01:32:38.960 --> 01:32:42.960 So does that mean you should try to find esoteric knowledge in 01:32:42.960 --> 01:32:43.520 the stars? 01:32:43.520 --> 01:32:44.240 I don't think so. 01:32:44.240 --> 01:32:46.880 I think you're going to be wasting your time at best. 01:32:46.880 --> 01:32:48.720 But there is something there. 01:32:48.720 --> 01:32:51.920 And it's one of the symbols related to the stars that we've 01:32:51.920 --> 01:32:54.080 used for a very long time. 01:32:54.080 --> 01:32:56.720 I have no objection to it, it's just a cross. 01:32:56.720 --> 01:33:03.680 It's a stylized cross. 01:33:03.680 --> 01:33:04.640 I think 01:33:05.600 --> 01:33:10.320 I will end with this next question since I think we're right 01:33:10.320 --> 01:33:15.840 at about the two-hour total mark, including the the intro. 01:33:15.840 --> 01:33:21.200 Is lying to preserve the innocent as permissible as killing to preserve 01:33:21.200 --> 01:33:22.960 the innocent? 01:33:22.960 --> 01:33:24.720 Hard to think no. 01:33:24.720 --> 01:33:30.400 I do not agree with the I would say uncharitable, perhaps even 01:33:31.440 --> 01:33:35.760 incorrect interpretation of conscient ethics and some things like that, where they 01:33:35.760 --> 01:33:37.520 say, no, you always have to tell the truth. 01:33:37.520 --> 01:33:40.240 I don't agree with their interpretation where they try to say that, 01:33:40.240 --> 01:33:42.960 oh, you have to tell the truth if a murderer comes to 01:33:42.960 --> 01:33:45.120 your door and says, Is your wife home? 01:33:45.120 --> 01:33:47.040 You're allowed to lie. 01:33:47.040 --> 01:33:51.360 Lying is not always morally impermissible. 01:33:51.360 --> 01:33:56.560 There's a difference in lying to preserve life and lying to cause 01:33:56.560 --> 01:33:57.680 harm, right? 01:33:57.680 --> 01:34:00.400 You're not allowed to lie to cause harm. 01:34:00.400 --> 01:34:04.000 All sorts of lies like that God hates. 01:34:04.000 --> 01:34:08.880 God is not going to condemn you because you told the axe 01:34:08.880 --> 01:34:12.720 murderer your children are not home. 01:34:12.720 --> 01:34:17.120 I think any ethics that tries to draw that conclusion is just 01:34:17.120 --> 01:34:18.960 completely absurd. 01:34:18.960 --> 01:34:22.240 So no lying under certain circumstances is 01:34:23.360 --> 01:34:25.680 morally permissible is fine. 01:34:25.680 --> 01:34:28.080 It's the intent here, really that we're looking at. 01:34:28.080 --> 01:34:32.000 The intent and to some degree the consequences of the action do 01:34:32.000 --> 01:34:36.000 matter. So not all lying is the same, right? 01:34:36.000 --> 01:34:40.960 Lying to preserve life versus lying to destroy life. 01:34:40.960 --> 01:34:44.560 And also we all tell little white lies all the time, right? 01:34:45.040 --> 01:34:46.720 Those aren't necessarily always bad. 01:34:46.720 --> 01:34:50.000 Sometimes those are just to maintain peace in the home. 01:34:50.000 --> 01:34:53.760 You don't speak the full truth on every topic at all times 01:34:53.920 --> 01:34:55.120 to all people. 01:34:55.120 --> 01:34:58.640 That's how you wind up alone and hated. 01:34:58.640 --> 01:35:01.520 It's just a reality of living in this world. 01:35:05.440 --> 01:35:06.240 Let's see. 01:35:06.240 --> 01:35:11.200 Can you go into depth on how the swastika and national socialism 01:35:11.200 --> 01:35:12.880 is Christian? 01:35:12.880 --> 01:35:18.000 Would greatly appreciate an apologetic on this as men are being barred 01:35:18.000 --> 01:35:21.200 from the table over their political stance. 01:35:21.200 --> 01:35:23.760 I'm going to note this one down for next time because this 01:35:23.760 --> 01:35:27.840 one's obviously going to be a little bit more involved and I'm 01:35:27.840 --> 01:35:31.680 already a little over my intended one hour per week, but that's 01:35:31.680 --> 01:35:34.960 fine. I don't I don't mind running over a little bit. 01:35:34.960 --> 01:35:35.280 I 01:35:39.440 --> 01:35:41.920 I will save that one for next week. 01:35:42.160 --> 01:35:44.720 I'll make sure that I answer that one next week. 01:35:44.720 --> 01:35:46.560 I already answered a little bit of it, right? 01:35:46.560 --> 01:35:47.680 The symbol is a cross. 01:35:47.680 --> 01:35:48.960 It's a stylized cross. 01:35:48.960 --> 01:35:51.840 It's also linked to symbols in the heavens, which God says that 01:35:51.840 --> 01:35:55.920 these things are for signs and seasons, so that's not Christian it's 01:35:55.920 --> 01:35:59.280 not impermissible with regard to Christian morality. 01:35:59.280 --> 01:35:59.600 But 01:36:02.800 --> 01:36:06.720 the sort of practical issue is going to be that you have 01:36:06.800 --> 01:36:10.720 particularly the boomer generation are never going to change their views with 01:36:10.720 --> 01:36:13.600 regard to World War II and the Third Reich. 01:36:13.600 --> 01:36:17.440 So the best thing that you can do is hide your power 01:36:17.440 --> 01:36:23.360 level until you have a majority of the elders and then oust 01:36:23.680 --> 01:36:26.800 them. That's just the practical way to do it. 01:36:26.800 --> 01:36:31.200 But I'll get into the specifics of the question next week. 01:36:31.200 --> 01:36:34.960 I think that's going to be it for this week. 01:36:34.960 --> 01:36:37.600 As always, if you would like to submit a question, you can 01:36:37.600 --> 01:36:39.840 do that on omniphora.com. 01:36:39.840 --> 01:36:43.920 There is a request category for at any cost. 01:36:43.920 --> 01:36:47.040 If you can't find it, then submit wherever you can manage to 01:36:47.040 --> 01:36:47.440 do that. 01:36:47.680 --> 01:36:50.880 I don't mind moving them, it's fine. 01:36:50.880 --> 01:36:56.560 You can also contact me with regard to questions either the chat, 01:36:56.560 --> 01:36:58.080 on X, or Telegram. 01:36:58.080 --> 01:37:02.240 I try to collate all of those, collect them together, and I 01:37:02.240 --> 01:37:05.680 have an ongoing thread of those on the forum. 01:37:05.680 --> 01:37:09.680 So if you see your question in that thread, it means that 01:37:09.680 --> 01:37:12.080 I found it and I have put it there and I will 01:37:12.080 --> 01:37:13.280 answer it in the future. 01:37:13.280 --> 01:37:19.040 If you do not see it there, then go ahead and send 01:37:19.040 --> 01:37:20.800 it to me some way so that I can add it to 01:37:20.800 --> 01:37:23.520 that list because it means I probably didn't notice it or perhaps 01:37:23.520 --> 01:37:26.560 I wrote it down and just haven't transcribed it yet. 01:37:26.560 --> 01:37:31.120 Thank you for those who submitted questions and thank you for participating 01:37:31.120 --> 01:37:34.480 in the chat and spending some of your Friday evening with me. 01:37:34.480 --> 01:37:34.800 So 01:37:36.000 --> 01:37:39.200 it's always nice to be able to answer these questions, and I 01:37:39.200 --> 01:37:41.360 look forward to doing it next week as well. 01:37:41.360 --> 01:37:45.040 Make sure that you go to church on Sunday, and I hope 01:37:45.040 --> 01:37:48.960 all of you have a great weekend, and may God bless you 01:37:48.960 --> 01:37:50.880 all until I see you next week. 01:37:50.880 --> 01:37:52.560 Have a nice evening.