Will I get canceled for saying this?

We have no notes on this table, we don't have anything here to look at, and we're going to walk through it as if we're hearing it real time. I have read some of these questions. Burn I was going to tell you we've been talking for like thirty minutes about our own stuff, which is just what we do. But I was going to tell you if we hadn't done that, I was going to tell you that these questions today are pretty intense. It's gonna be a pretty

intense episode. Awesome. And I was gonna I was going to break or rule and do something I've never done before. And I was going to show you some of these questions before we even started the podcast. Okay, but you didn't do I didn't do that. So we're sticking with the rule there is no preparation beforehand, so you're with that kind of introduction to you ready for this? Yeah, I mean I'm not ready, but you know, Okay, all right,

let me let me dive in. Well, I think we're gonna hit some things that we we might we might go deeper on episode one of three than we typically do. So buckle up your seat belts if you're commuting to work right now, if you're over the road, truck or whatever you're doing. However, you listen to this podcast on the Monday morning. Thank you for that. There's no there's no total easy way into this, but I'm gonna start

with me. Let me just say real quick for me, Angria is like, before we answer any of these questions, just know that we do it with the most humility possible. We understand that we are just two broken people trying to trying our best to abide in God's love and

accept what we did not earn. And some of these views and these answers really represent our experience and our understanding of life and of God's word at this moment in time, because there has definitely been even recently where I have dug deeper into God's word and realized, Wow, I thought it meant this, and it means that, and that would some in some way change and answer that

I may give to a podcast listener. So this, this is like this moment in time that this is kind of where we feel like God has brought us in what He's taught us through his word and through our experience, and so please we pray that you receive it with that same attitude. I think that was a really eloquent way of saying sometimes we're wrong. Yes, sometimes we're wrong, and it would never be our intention of what this podcast is answering your questions to a specific email, Grangersmith

podcast at gmail dot com. If you have anything, email that podcast and I read through them. Now the intensity of your questions has raised over the last few years. It started out how do you play guitar? And I think it's really gotten to a point where people are we're seeing the broken state of the world right now, and people have people are dealing with some serious issues, they're struggling, and they're fine they're trying to find answers however they can, and and I feel the way of that.

I feel the responsibility of that, although I know that I'm not the final answer. We're just burning and are going to walk through how how we would answer it or how we would deal with it if it was in our life. So I think Burne's saying the right He's saying all the right things that we're not. We're not always right, but we will we come with the most humble heart. The crazy thing about this is how this podcast has become one of the top podcasts and

all of music genres. And it's just blow my mind that with the intensity of the questions that have come in, it has raised the popularity of this podcast. So I also feel the way of that, and I feel the way to the listeners and we love you guys seriously, Yeah, y'all are awesome. I mean, the the amount of engagement that they have and the amount of questions and like how specific they are, and the eagerness to listen, and the you know, the comments back of how much they

enjoy it. You tell me the stories about at the meet and greets, how they reference the podcast asked that's awesome, man. Well let's start with this one. It says I would like to stay anonymous. That's how it starts. Well, one warning when you when you say this, they anonymous. We can't guarantee that Grandeur will not say your name. Just disclaimer. Just put that out there. I'm gonna work so hard on it has But it says, first of all, I love the podcast, keep doing great things. And then it

says I'm in my second trimester of pregnancy. My sister and her husband have been trying to get pregnant for over a year now, and they've been very angry at me and my fiance ever since we told them the news that we were pregnant. I've tried to be sensitive and sympathetic about their infertility, and they've made it very clear that it was important to them that they had the first grand beary bey baby in the family parentheses,

which I don't understand why it's so important. Each grand baby will be loved just as much as the first, and that's why they are so upset. They've also said some pretty nasty things about me and my fiance and have made it clear that they will not support us. I've been nothing but kind and apologetic to them, and I find their words hurtful. How do I go about saving this relationship with my sister while being sensitive about

their infertility? Or do I push their toxic behavior away and do its best for my baby and my fiance. I told my twin sister, who was married, that had they been the first ones to get pregnant first, they wouldn't be as angry because they didn't have a baby outside of marriage. Like me, I feel that the problem isn't that my fiance and I got pregnant outside of marriage, but something deeper that they won't say. Sorry for the long email, Thanks for in advance. I don't have a

reference to where they were they where Anonymous lives. But we have a twin sister married, trying to get pregnant, struggling with infertility, and then the other twin is now pregnant. Where do we go with the spurns? Where do we start with this? Anonymous here does she have a specific question that you could read again? That question is twofold. How do I go about saving this relationship with my

sister while being sensitive about their infertility? Or do I push their toxic behavior away and do its best for my baby and my fiance. M hm, Anonymous, This one hits pretty close to home, Grangeuron, I just spent about an hour talking about something very similar. Yeah, when do you when do you continue to expose yourself to potential you know, manipulation or toxic relationship? When do you know, preserve and when do you sacker vice for the sake

of reconciliation. It's a great question. Yeah, infertility is is no joke, and it it hurts, It hurts, It hurts families. There is a there's a certain level when infertility, whether they admit it or not, makes the woman feel lesser of a woman. There is a there is a innate desire and a woman to to to pro create and to be useful her make her body useful in the in the way that it's it's created to be used.

And when it doesn't work that way, then that I think they feel, Like I said, whether they admitted or not, there is a there's an idea that that an evil idea that creeps into their head that they are lesser of a woman. I first want to say, Anonymous, I do Burnie and I both agree that it's very, very important that you do get married that that. I don't think that's the issue with this question. I don't think that's the issue with your twin sister. I think you

would know that. I think that would be very clear. She would say you should be married. So, although I don't think that's part of your problem, on the outside of your question, I do think it's very important that you hustle this marriage along, that you don't did the wedding, and that you don't sit on this engagement for a long time and make some big, extravagant, expensive many multiple guests make a big deal out of it. I think

that will also hurt the relationship with their sister. But for many other reasons, I think you rush this process along. I personally believe, and I've said it before on here, that I think in this culture we kind of idolize the wedding ceremony more than it should be, when what it represents is far greater than how you present it in one day, and the dress and the flowers and the band and the guests and the food and the

venue and the preacher and everything. We just kind of idolize that, and I think it has become blown way out of proportion. I think it's important. It's important to celebrate that. Yeah, it's important. But the wedding day industry blowing up the way that it has versus the statistics of divorce and marriage is kind of not in line with where it needs to be. Like we need to focus on like our marriages and not just the wedding.

I think that's what you're getting at. Yeah, absolutely, so I would lean in hard to your fiance and wrap this up pretty quick. Go to the justice of the peace, get your license, have a small if it's if it's about if you're prolonging because of a venue that's booked till October of twenty twenty three or whatever, just make that a fun reception, plan a big tenure anniversary party, and put a lot of eggs in that basket. But don't prolong this. I would say, get this done pretty quick.

But I don't think that's the underlying issue of why her sister's matt. I think this is an infertility thing. So I think anonymous, I think you lean into your sister with nothing but grace and humbleness and kindness, which you say that you're doing. I would say, lean harder, lean into that harder, now I'm listening to your answer because like I'm processing it and something that's happened in my own life, Like, how do we so I'm with you, anonymous,

how do we lean in harder? What does that look like? I mean, maybe it means meeting her where she is and truly trying to empathize and show her that your heart is broken with her broken heart if she really is broken with this inability to have a baby, and like she's struggling with this, like going to her and be like cis like I am just devastated with you, Like I really I hate that this is how this

is going. I do wish it was different. I wish it could be like this and talk about it and you know, maybe talk to her about like, you know, if there's anything else going on that is keeping her

from accepting what reality is. Yeah, I think that that can be sometimes very destructive in every kind of relationship, whether it's your marriage, with your kids, with your friends, is when we are unable to control something and then we respond in a way that is not accepting of the reality that God has put in front of us. I'm kind of thinking now that maybe I misinterpreted one part of this, she said in this last paragraph, they also told my twin sister, who is married, that they

should have been the ones to get pregnant. So so that's not the twin. So there's it's another sister. It's another sister. And then you have the older sister. Maybe that's probably the older sister, which is the hierarchy of they should have had the baby first. Okay, okay, that makes sense. I'm pulling this together. You could use your twin sister as an asset to this problem. I think this this might be a three sister conversation. And and I think the one the one thing you don't do

is push her away. That was your one of your questions. Do I push push their toxic behavior away? You could, you could push their toxic behavior away, but you don't push her away because she's your sister. And I just think you just overwhelm her with grace and you take

the hit, you take the blows. Yeah. I feel like you said this on the last podcast with Parker or maybe the one before where everything that you all this toxic behavior or whatever she's saying to you, if you just come back to her immediately with humility, No, I know You're absolutely right. It's like she can't keep going like, yes, that's where that you know, like approaching it with humility even though anonymous. We know that's not an easy thing to do. It's not gonna be easy for her to do.

And maybe just like take like you're saying, just take the blow and like and also understanding that this is family, this is a sister, this is a lifetime and maybe this is something that's going to take four or five years. Are you Are you willing to kind of like take the small little steps, hey, you know, in the next month, I hope to just like have coffee with her and listen and ask some questions and then maybe by the end of the year we can get to the point

where it's not the main focus. And yeah, totally. I think the last thing I might say here is that I probably wouldn't glorify this baby to your sister very often. Like I wouldn't be texting her pictures of the sonogram and saying, you know, third, try master, here we come. You know, so excited about October fifth, you know, or whatever. You might lay off that kind of stuff. You might

might just downplay this a little bit more. Maybe maybe you're on Instagram posting tons of pictures of the new nursery that you just made and the new crib you just bought, and maybe maybe for your sister's sake, you pumped the brakes on that a little bit out of respect for her pain. This baby is going to be a huge blessing to you, and you're you're very very very soon to be husband. We hope this is going to be a huge blessing. And so that you don't

need to glorified anymore externally to convince anyone else of that. No, I completely agree. You also do have to understand that you cannot change anyone's heart. So all you can do, all you can control is the way that you respond. You can control the amount of grace and patience and

humility that you come with. If your sister is still harboring and it may not be against you, it may have nothing to do with you, it may just be probably a lot of jealousy, a lot of insecurity, and so just continue to you know that, that would just be My advice is like, continue to pursue with humility, and when you're not with her, just continue to intercede

and pray for her. Heart, that God would restore what's broken and what she feels like is lost and missing, that God would be what fills that, and then hopefully that relationship can start to kind of bond again around that. Yeah, I think this is going to get the situation is going to get worse before it gets better. Prepared for that,

you're only in the second trimester. I will also say that one year of infertility is not that long in terms of people dealing with infertility, right, Yeah, thank you so much for this email, and we wish the best for you. Yeah, keep us posted too. I'd love for you to email back in because a lot of times we hear these questions and we give advice and kind of send you off and hope for the best. But we really do would love to hear like how things progress and what we could learn maybe from you know,

like if we gave terrible advice. It's like, hey, y'all should never tell anybody that. Absolutely, it'd be great. Next question, says Granger. First, let me say thank you for your music and yegee Nation, and thank you for allowing God to work in your life. It's inspiring and helps me each day to be a better husband and a man, Thank you, buddy. Recently, my wife and I started the

process to adopt a nineteen year old young man. We have known him for years and when we worked at the children's home as his house parents, we stayed in touch with him and he has had a very special place in our hearts. But he's always lacked that sense of family. His dad isn't really in his life, and

neither is his mom. But in a recent phone call, I had a conversation with him that started and we started talking about family, and by the time it was over, we invited him to be a part of our family, and then he revealed to us in tears, that that is what he has always wanted. It's we have an amazing lawyer who has helped us and that's been such a blessing, and we could be that family that he has never had. We said that we're the only one. He said that we're the only ones that love him,

care about him, or even call him. And this morning he texted me to say, hi, dad, how are you. My heart melted and yes, I've always loved him like a son. We have no other kids of our own, and because my wife has struggled with infertility and the chances of pregnancy is low, so this is different for us, even as former parents foster parents. He has a good heart and just a good old country boy, but he does need a good to get his ged or diploma, and he is in a relationship with a girl who

is not good for him. I need advice on how to encourage this young man to do the right thing. I want to be the best man he can, not only for himself, but for the Lord as well. We look forward to sharing life with this young man. The lights just flickered for some reason. Why I was reading this. This comes from Brian. I'm not sure where Brian's from. Thank you for the email, and thank you for your

heavy heart, you and your wife. And this is a great follow up to the infertility question, you know, following it up with an adoption, a really really unique adoption situation of a nineteen year old. But go ahead, Burns. Yeah, I was just gonna say it sounds like the question is not should we move forward with adopting him, or should we move forward with or or how do we make him a part of our family? It sounds like they've had that conviction, They've moved forward with it. Everybody's

in agreeance. It's more like, how do we transition to being parent leader figures for him? And now as we're taking on a new role in this in this boy's life. Yeah, this young man's life at nineteen. That is tough. That is tough. I personally have never come across this kind of situation. I know that you have an adopted child, but you adopted her as a baby, as an infant, right, she was foster care for the first year of her life. Okay, yeah, so she came at seven weeks to us, but okay,

a little different than nineteen for sure. My first thought is is WHOA. I don't think I would immediately start implementing a father figure in his relationship with a girl and getting his g and ged or diploma. Did you think that? It's like we came right out of adoption and tears and melted hearts and we're right into, hey,

we need them to break up with his girlfriend. Yeah, there's there's a few things that jumped out that I feel like both sides maybe jumping the gun a little bit, and and I could be wrong here, we're hearing this first time and you're not, you know, around the campfire,

So I can't ask you a bunch of questions. But for the boy, and I don't know how long they said that they were in, you know, some kind of foster care situation maybe with him before, but for him to like start texting this guy good morning, dad and calling him dad, like I don't know how soon it is, but it feels like this they had this conversation and then it was like, I'm gonna just start doing this.

I feel like there may be some kind of like longing for that in the boy that I would I don't know if I would necessarily tell him not to do that, but that this is the same people that he's known for a long time, and I feel like there should just be like a natural progression of like as it was, we're just continuing to go deeper together.

And then the same thing with the parents, Like it's it feels like they're both they were kind of at a certain level together of relationship and care for each other, and then they just kind of had this conversation. It was like, well, let's just go jump into the deep end now instead of like, well, no, just keep waiting out into the water together. Yeah, yeah, don't just like, take the list, just one step at a time. Just keep waiting out in the water. Okay, okay. So here's

what I hear. What I hear you saying wading out into the water. I think this is what this might mean. You say, he's a good country boy. I think that means you say, hey, he doesn't have to say have his name here, but hey, son, I booked us a trip in October to Montana, and we're going to go out, me and you. We're gonna go trout fishing in this lake. We're gonna spend seven days, me and you, and we're

gonna go out. We're gonna camp, We're gonna fish, we're gonna hike, we're gonna take in this incredible the incredible mountains of Montana or wherever. And during that trip, you start instilling. First of all, you're there for him forever. Now you will start encouraging. You said, how do I need to encourage him? How to do the right thing? You show him? And and in this camping trip, when you're out there in the mountains and you hear this beautiful stream rolling by, and you say, tell me about

your girlfriend, what's she like? Like, I said, how do you feel about her, and how does she make you feel good about yourself? And just walk through it. And then as he brings up the red flags, you make him answer those red red flags for himself. So instead of just becoming right in with this iron fist, he's like, yeah, she's great, Well she does you know, she does get on me a lot about my bad this habit, and then you just go, well, how does that? How does

that make you feel? No, man, I think you just nailed it. This is the answer to his question. Because whether it's in you know, parenting, marriage, business, wherever you are, I feel like the best leaders know how to ask these profound, impact amazing questions. Yeah, that just draw the truth out of people instead of you trying to force it into him. Yeah, so you're absolutely right. Take him

on this trip. Me and Grangel will go to if y'all love to fish up there, but and just go ask him a bunch of questions in a way that's like I genuinely want to know these things, because I guarantee you this kid is nineteen now, so he's not a kid, he's an adult. And knowing kids that have been through a lot in their life, whether it's foster care or otherwise. He's resilient. He's stronger than you think, and he doesn't need you to tell him what to do.

He just needs you to help guide him and process with him. There's a good chance you come back from this camping trip and the first thing he does is break up with his girlfriend and start pursuing a ged Yeah, without you even saying it. Yep, it's a great question. Brother. Let's take a break and we'll be right back. Podcast

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I'm brave enough. I still don't know if I'm brave enough to click on a couple of these topics. Okay, let me start with Let me start with an easy This is super easy. We can make this quick. The subject is, Bernie, what is Bernie's educational background. Has he studied religion, theology or psychology. Well, I am a college dropout, and I'm only a college dropout because I went to one community college class and I left before it actually started.

So am I technically a college dropout? Or I mean I registered, but I never went to the one class and then I never went back ever again. So it's just naturally smart, that's the answer to her question. My education is on the streets. Okay, yeah, okay, So no, no, I have not studied formally studied theology. I have not formally studied psychology, but on my own I have studied both of those things. I think far more intensely than I would have if I would have gone when I

was nineteen. Yeah, I totally get that. So I've heard it couple people every once in a while. If you're watching on YouTube, I've seen some kind of comment that says, why is Granger looking at his phone while the other person's talking, Because I'm not just sitting here scrolling through Twitter. I'm literally I'm looking at either the my phone's on airplane mode. I'm either looking at the question or seeing how to tie in another question to what he's saying, Okay,

calmed down, guys. This title is this is a tough one. It's called My Decimation of Faith. It says, Hey, Granger, my name is Thomas. I'm twenty years old. I'm a college student twenty one in December. From ages thirteen to eighteen, I was extremely strong in the church I attended. I believed youth groups, retreats, anything else you can imagine, I did it. At age eighteen, my faith was shaken when I started asking questions that the consensus that I received

from every conversation was to just have faith. And everyone knows it's pretty difficult to have faith in someone you've never met. What really has twisted me away from Christianity is this. When you get to heaven, God either tells you well done, my good and faithful servant, or he turns you away. You're let into heaven by developing a

relationship with him. But if the only way to get into heaven is to have a relationship with Christ, this accounts for roughly thirty one percent of the world's population. The other sixty nine percent never makes it, and that's the only logical explanation that they would just have to go to hell without a relationship with Christ, I find it extremely hard to believe that an almighty God who loves the entire world sends the other sixty nine percent

of all the population to help. This, amongst other similar reasons, is why I believe that this has driven me from the church and I don't even consider myself religious at all anymore. The kicker is that I'm going through a really tough time and I remember being able to pray and feel some sort of relief, which I have a desire to have back. So who do I too when there isn't anyone there? Thanks Thomas. PS. I'm a huge fan of you in your role model for everyone in

the advice you provide with or without religion involved. I told you I was turning out the heat on you turns Thomas, don't see where you're from. Brother, Thank you, thank you. That's a man. That is a great question, and I think there's a lot of people on all sides of the fences that go, yeah, that's a great question. Absolutely. I think it's awesome that you're writing in the question. First of all, there's something so I'm gonna keep this

really civil. Granger will probably jump in a little deeper and then I'm gonna I can come in as well, but I might just answer it and I'll go. Actually, I actually tattooed this on my body that I believe this so much. There's the word seek. I really believe Eve.

The reason I put this on my body is one because I don't if I ever get to a place where I feel like I have found everything, I need to be reminded that in this life I need to continue and continue to seek more and more of Jesus, more and more of Truth, more and more of Him. Never get to a place where I'm oh, I got it. And the other part of that is to get to a place where I tell people this is what you need, because I think that's going to probably for you. What

was his name, Thomas, Thomas. I think that may go in one ear and out the other. But brother, I would just beg you to continue to seek, and I have complete faith that you are going to find what you are looking for. Yeah, seeking you will find. Knocking, the door will be opened. You say here, you kind of answered a little bit yourself when you say I remember being able to pray and feeling some sort of relief, and I have a desire, a desire. It's an interesting

word to say to have that back. But who do I pray to when there isn't anyone there? The answer to that is, you don't. You don't pray to anyone that's not there. Why would you pray? Why would you do that? That's a that's a ridiculous idea. You're not ridiculous, that's a but that's a ridiculous idea. That is as a Bible would say, that's a foolish idea. Yeah, or you'd just be praying to yourself because you're living in a self centered, self controlled world. That really is we're

just floating here. Yeah, we're we are a cosmic startust that happened by accident. If you believe in that worldview, the atheistic worldview is that we we really are an accident. I heard it put this way, like, in the atheistic worldview, we're we're a total cosmic accident. So in that case, nothing else matters. You're offering Thomas doesn't matter. Your your desire to get to have relief doesn't matter. It's like looking at as you look at a sunset on the

beach and you go, this is an incredible sunset. That's the image of God, saying, that's the image of God within you thinking that, But an atheist wouldn't think that that's that'd be the equivalent of you open up the fridge and you spill milk on the ground, and milk goes boom, hits the ground and it just spills on your kitchen floor. You don't look at the spilled milk and go, that's so beautiful, look at the shapes and colors. No, you don't. You just go, that's a mess. Yeah, incident.

And that's what a sunset is in that kind of worldview. It's an It's just a mess. It's there's no order, it's just a random, just explosion. And so, Thomas, you don't I have a reason to empathize with your suffering. I have a reason to cry with you when you're in pain. I have a reason to celebrate during when you have a great achievement. That's the Christian worldview is we have a basis for that. I reject the idea that just have faith. Hey, Thomas, I'm with you on that.

You say, the best consistency you could consensus you can get is just have faith. Dude, I agree I think that's terrible. If you're driving in a car blindfolded and you have four ball tires and you're going down a windy mountain road, I don't say, hey, Thomas, just have faith man, that car is going to get there. You're gonna go. That's ridiculous. You need a basis of your faith. Now, in the Christian worldview, our basis is the Bible. Our

basis is God's word. That there is a million reasons, and that's a different conversation of why we could believe that the Bible comes from God, and why the Bible is true, and why the way that it was written and over the course of how many years and by how many people, and the reason that it's still alive and well today. There's many reasons why we believe that the Bible is true. And so we base our faith on those words, the word of God, not on a

blindfold on a mountain road. So that the thought within you that says something's wrong, I don't feel right. I need to correct this through some kind of prayer. That is the image of God inside you. That is what Bernie's saying about. Seek that seek that thought. Yeah, I'm really go ahead, No, no no, go ahead. I was just gonna say, I'm realizing now that you said this guy's twenty. Was that right, Thomas said? Twenty years old? Thomas is twenty Thomas, I I can relate to this more than

you probably know. Whenever I was twenty, I remember being in Nashville, was a room with Kevy keV and I remember talking with Melody one time, and I just kind of had this these things in the Bible that I was just like, I just can't get my head around that.

Twenty This age that he is is a very formative time in our belief system, in everything, and I just remember growing up the way I did, and the kind of some events that had happened in my life brought me to a place whenever I was like, you know, twenty twenty one, that I was reading the Bible, I was just like, well, why is this true? I don't know if this is true? Why? You know, You're just kind of in that place of questioning why is any

other religion true? Which is great, Like I think that we can be told like you don't need a question anything. Oh God wants us to like to dig in and wrestle with him, and so what I did, and this would Thomas, this would be my advice, just practical advice. And this is what I did. And Kevy keV can attest to this. I took my Bible and I took some music. And back then, back in the day, it was like the disc play, the CD portable disc player.

And I went out in the woods for hours and hours and hours, and I took my journal, my journal, some music, and the Bible, and I would just go and sit and I would just wrestle, and I would pray, and I would look and I would read, and I would write, and I would just wrestle through all of this. And I feel like what came out on the other side, I really found something different than what I thought I was looking for, but something far better. And so I think,

you know, Thomas, that would be my advice. Man, go lose yourself in the woods. I actually still p that's awesome. I think that this is something we all need to do. And Jesus did it, said more often than not, he would retreat from the others to pray and be with the Father, like go lose yourself in the woods, take the word of God with you, pray, write in a journal, write all the stuff that you're thinking and then just kind of be still. So I want to dig into

the thirty one and sixty nine percent. Okay, here we go. All right, I'm gonna go I'm just going to jump in headdeep because, like I said, Thomas, it's a great question and take what Bernie said and wrestle with this. But I want to ask you a few questions, which is hard on this podcast because I don't get to hear your retort. I want to ask you a few questions. One, you say you consider yourself not religious anymore, So what does it matter if sixty nine percent aren't saved? What

does it matter to you? Doesn't matter if anybody's saved, nothing matters. We're a cosmic accident that in that kind of worldview. So then you go, well, well, maybe there is a god out there, but I just don't know if it's possible for us to know him. So then I would say this, if there is a god out there and a creator, and and he would say and I would ask you this, Thomas, so should he save everybody? Every single person, every single human that ever was or

ever will be. Should he save them all, regardless of their lives? And then you might say, well, like maybe not like the rapist murderers. Then so then I would say, okay, well, what's the level of rape and murder? Where where's the cutoff? Like, Oh, we're gonna work the rapers and the murderers are going to go to hell. But the ones that just rape maybe will just save them. No, we shouldn't. We shouldn't

save them either. Okay, well how about this, Thomas, how about just the like the the verbally abusive, we will will save them, but not the physically abusive. But my point is, where would the cutoff be to who is good? Because the Bible says none of us are. The Bible says we're all sinners, none of us are worthy of being saved. And that goes for you, Thomas, that goes from me and Bernie and everybody listening. The Bible says none of us are worthy of being in the presence

of the almighty Creator because we're wretched. Have you ever lied? Have you ever told a fib in your life? Then you're a liar. Have you ever stole anything, then you're a thief? Right. None of us could rebut that and go no, actually, pretty perfect. None of us could say that. So with that kind of mentality, and you realize that there is no cutoff of being between good and bad, between heaven and hell, then what if God said this, You're all bad, You've all messed up. So I'm going

to send you a savior. I'm gonna send you a savior to take on all of your pain, to take on all of your guilt and all of your sin and take all of that burden. Believe in him and you'll be saved. So you could look at it this way. God loved the world. He loved He so loved the entire world, like you said, enough to send his only begotten son, which means holy set apart son to Earth to take the replacement of that all that mess up.

But he doesn't. This is key to your question. He doesn't love the world enough for you to reject his son. He loves the world enough to send his son for those to believe, but not enough for you to reject him. So when you get down on your knee and you decide that you're going to say a prayer for relief and you don't know who to pray, to follow Bernie's advice and seek and say, God, I heard this message.

And what I told you guys was the gospel. There is an almighty, holy God Creator that became flesh, that came to this earth two thousand years ago to take on all that pain. He lived a perfect life and took on the burden of all your pain, Thomas, and all your mess ups and all mine and all Bernie's. He took that on himself, was killed, was crucified, and took it all on himself, and then was resurrected, proving

his identity in front of hundreds of people. And this happened on this earth, the same soil where we walk. This happened. And that is the message of the gospel if you choose to believe in him. So when you pray, ask that say God, I heard the story of this guy Jesus, and I just can't I wrestle with the fact that not everyone's going to go to heaven. But then, but then I heard on the podcast and Grangeer was talking that, you know, but maybe he's right that maybe

none of us deserve it. So if thirty one percent get in, like you said, I don't know where that number comes from, but if thirty one percent, how could that even be possible that you would allow thirty one percent when we're all bad. Let me know more about that. I believe this. I don't want to have blind faith. I don't want to drive on a mountain by myself with a blindfold on. That's ridiculous, that's foolish. I want to believe in you because this is what the Word says.

Seek and you will find knock and the door will be open. And if you have to tattoo it on your wrist like Burnie Good, I think that's great. So before Thomas, before you go out into the woods, listen back to everything Granger just said. Maybe write it down so that you can leave your phone at home and uh, but you can listen to those words, take the Word with you and go seek. Man. That's the power of what we're saying here. Is not in us convincing you.

It's not in us convincing anyone listening to this podcast on how eloquent my words are, how accurate I speak them, or how how influenced Dike can be to you. I cannot convince you intellectually, or psychologically or physiologically, whatever any other ologies. I cannot convince you. But the power of that message the power of the gospel. Can I'll leave you with that. Yep? All right, all right, we're waiting

out in the water. We're in the water. Man. I struggle, guys, because some of these questions are let me go to this one. This is a good transition. It's called how do you know if you're saved? Let's go there. It might be a good transition of what we just We might be able to piggyback on that last message, but it says, Hey, Granger, my name is A J. Komer. I'm from Fort Worth, Texas. Shout out to tech. First off, I love what you're doing for all these people you

have pulled. You have pulled me and probably many others closer to God simply through this podcast. I pray that you're right, Aj. I have one question when it comes to all of this, how do you know that you're saved? I know this is a very vague question to ask, but what I mean is this, how do you know that Jesus has forgiven you of all your sins and will allow you to join Him in many others in heaven. That's a great piggyback from what we just said. Yeah, so, uh,

I'm gonna take I'm gonna take this one go. How do you know that? Can you read the question one more time? Because I want to make sure I'm answering it specifically. So it sounds like aj has listened to this podcast and he's curious. He's in the seeking mode. He's ready to tattoo seek on his on his wrist. He says, I have one question, how do you know that you're saved? How do you know that Jesus has forgave That's what he said, you of all your sins and will allow you to join him and many others

in heaven. Okay, I'm just going to pray that I communicate this correctly because I have been studying this in the Book of Luke, and I'm not the smartest. Some of you may think differently, but I'm not the smartest, and retaining this and reciting it is really tough. But there's a couple of things that I go back to a couple of stories that Jesus talked about, the story the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, and the parable of the children come the children entering the

Kingdom of God. So if we go back to how so question is, how do we know that we are forgiven? Okay, so let's look at this is this is Jesus right, He was there in the beginning, created all of this. This is all, you know, moving towards the glory of him.

He knows the beginning and the end. Okay, he's speaking this and he says, this is parable about this Pharisee, who in that culture was very revered and respected, and he kind of went up to the temple for this time of sacrifice and was really praying to himself, but he acknowledged God, and he was saying, I've done all of these things. I've kept your commandments. I give to

the poor. And then he says, I haven't done this, and I haven't done that, like the adulterers and prostitutes, and definitely like that tech, not like that tax collector. So he is separating himself and trying to work and show that, Hey, this is how I am worthy of atonement and this repentance that you're talking about, this this salvation that you're talking about. This is the way that he Jesus says this, This was what the Pharisee did.

But then a tax collector, which in that culture was like the lowest of loads of the earth, the scum of the earth. They had turned on their own people, and then we're taxing them and taking advantage of them. They were just outcasts that from far off, the tax collector saw what was happening, and he said, have mercy on me. This sinner not a sinner. He's saying, the sinner like I'm the worst. I recognize I am the worst. And not only that I have nothing, I haven't done anything.

I've actually done everything against what this is saying for my salvation. But then Jesus says, this is the one that went down just afy, and the other did not go down justified. He didn't go down saved the Pharisee although he was doing all this stuff. But the tax collector who had done nothing but wrong and then come

and just pleaded for mercy. And in the original text, this is like saying, hey, let this like, you be the propitiation for me, You be the sacrifice so that I can be here, so that I can be saved. He recognized this right. So what that tells us is that this kind of like anything that we can do to earn this salvation and to feel like we are saved,

there's nothing. But then the very next passage in Luke, he talks about the children coming to him, and the disciples actually rebuked and said, and you know, the parents were bringing even these infants Jesus and the disciples were like no, no, And Jesus said, let them come to me now in the text, now present, and don't ever hinder them from coming to me. Moving forward, he's teaching him saying, hey, because unless you receive the gospel, receive the kingdom as a child, you will not enter it.

So then it makes me think like, okay, what does a child have to offer? Can they take care of themselves? Can they provide for themselves? No? They are fully reliant on their parents. So how do you know that you are saved? How do you know that you will accompany that Jesus has saved you, and that you will accompany

many others. I have to believe one, that you have put your faith in Jesus, and that you have given him every square inch of your life, and that you go to him each morning and throughout the day saying, Jesus, have mercy, Please have mercy on me the sinner. I rely on you for everything, and I think that what the Gospel or what the Word continues to tell us in different places is there is a piece that surpasses understanding that will cover your heart in your mind. Yep.

I don't know if that's helpful. And maybe that's just something that I've personally been kind of digging into with, you know, a group of guys and has just opened my eyes. I was more in the camp of, well, I got to do these things, and I have to show people that I'm doing these things because then maybe I'll feel better about my own salvation. And the Word just kind of said, dude, you got it all wrong, man.

So kind of what you're saying, Bernie, you're kind of answering it in the way that he asked it, because he asked, how do you know? And that's why you answered it that way, how do you know that you're saved? Because he didn't say how are you saved? How do you know? And so that's I love that. I love that and I want to dig into how are you? You answered how do you know? I'm gonna answer how are you? Because the Bible is very clear about how are you saved? You're saved by grace, meaning sheer love

of God, unmerited faith, unmerited favor. Great, you're saved by unmerited favor through faith. Believe. Believing is the only requirement. Believing in that message and the message I said in the last question. And you're saved by unmerited favor. That's it. And you could find this over and over. This is what's set, guys. This is what separates Christianity from every other religion. And I'll take the heat, I'll take the fire.

I'll jump in head first right now and just say this is what separates it from Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, LDS, Jehovah's witness, scientology, every other one is faith plus works. Typically works, something that you do, something you act on. But Christians don't believe. That's very very clear in the scriptures over and over and all that every time it's said. It harmonizes beautifully with all the scriptures. But it's very clear you're saved by faith, by grace, through faith, not

by works. Lest no man should boast you are not saved by anything that you do. You are a sinner, aj and I'm a sinner, and everybody else that's emailed and everyone that's listening. We do not deserve it. We deserve punishment for who we are, and that punishment is paid in full. It's see. And have you ever heard the analogy of the judge. It's like the analogy of this. This kid gets arrested and he goes to face the judge,

and the judge is his father, and he stands. He sits there on the stand, and the judge, who is a well established judge, looks at his own son, at the crime that he's done. The judge has to hit him with punishment. The judge can't say, well, you're my son, so I'm gonna let you free. Someone has to pay for this. So the judge does, well, your penalty is fifty thousand dollars, and the the kid goes, well, that's great, judge. Father.

Obviously the kid does not have fifty thousand dollars. So then the judge sentences him to the fifty thousand dollars fine. He steps away from the podium, take off his garment, He goes around the bench and he puts his arm around the kid and he goes, I'm gonna pay this for you. This is your penalty, but I'm gonna pay it for you. And that's that is the story of the Gospel. Your faith is the only requirement. There is no works. That now, no works is a reflection of

the faith. How do you know you have a living faith? How do you know you're saved because you're you're gonna work the way? How you live your life after the faith, after you're saved, after all that grace at how you live your life after that is a reflection. And that's why we see in James two he says that that faith without works is dead. The fruits of the spirit are fruth. You're you're gonna know, you're gonna you're gonna be overwhelmed by a conscience that goes I probably shouldn't

speak talk like that. I probably should clean up my filthy mouth. I probably shouldn't say that, I should probably shouldn't look at that girl in that way. You know, the list goes on and on. I probably shouldn't take this five dollars from this guy because he accidentally left on the counter. I should probably go run him down and give him his five bucks back. That's the overwhelming conviction that you'll have after faith. But Christianity, guys is

saved by grace through faith alone, not by works. It's not anything after that, and that's what separates us from LDS and Islam and Judaism and Buddhism and hindu I'm going to say it. I said this twice. I said the list twice, so there's absolutely no confusion on where my conviction is. And then anyone that listening, if anyone's any confused at all on the Christ that I follow, I follow the one of the scriptures solely, scripture Scripture US, I think is the Latin by the scriptures only, and

we believe that the God's word has maintained. The flowers will fade, but the word of God will never die, and we believe that we believe that it's it's the word of God. I kind of feel like I kind of like we're hitting these two questions hard. And I apologize to anyone that's like, I don't know, but but this really important stuff. Don't apologize. Man. Those guys that are out there that are listening to it that feel that way, hopefully they respect you enough to to at

least recognize. He's standing up for what he believes, and he's doing it in a way that not many other people with your kind of platform would do. There's definitely some, but they can believe different things and still have respect for you, so I wouldn't apologize. Man. Thank you man. And I think we started this podcast by saying, I'm going to answer these questions with you the best way that I know how. And here's the question subject, how do you know if you're saved? That's where I'm going

to go. Yeah, I'm going to tell you aj exactly what I believe, and I'm going to give you the best evidence that I can with that belief so that we're not on the mountain driving blindly Burn's run of time. Dude. All right, man, this is fun. Yeah, appreciate you so much. Love you guys. We'll see you soon. Yege, thank you thanks for joining me on the Grangersmith Podcast. I appreciate all of you guys. You could help me out by

rating this podcast on iTunes. If you're on YouTube, subscribe to this channel, hit that little like button and notification spell so that you never miss anytime I upload a video. If you have a question for me that you would like me to answer, email Grangersmith Podcast at gmail dot com. Ye