Hello, friends. It's time for the second hour of Open Line with Doctor Michael Ray Moody Radio's Bible Study Across America. And we're talking about your questions about the Bible, God and the spiritual life. My name is Michael Ray. I'm the academic dean and professor of Jewish studies and Bible at Moody Bible Institute. And we're sitting around the radio kitchen table talking about your questions. So why not give me a call? The phone number (877) 548-3675. Let me give
you that again. (877) 548-3675. If you can't call, you can just go to our website, Online radio.org and click on the link that says Ask Michael a question. You can post your question there and Trish will put it in the mailbag. I hope you have your Bibles open still. Now you have a second cup of coffee, because we're going to talk about the scriptures and we're going to talk to Tony in Cleveland, Ohio listening on WC rf welcome to Open Line. Tony. How can I help you today?
Yes. Thank you Michael, thanks for taking my call. Sure. Um, I just wanted to, uh, I got Matthew 2530 when Jesus spoke about out of darkness. I want to know about out of darkness. It's out of darkness. It's the same as hell or out of darkness. Another dimension from hell, you know?
Uh, well, I think it's pretty clear. I mean, technically, what is hell? I believe when we talk about hell, it's talking about eternal separation from God. Right. Uh, and so there may be different aspects to it. So, uh, for example, there's the, uh, the Lake of Fire, which is the ultimate experience of separation from God.
Yeah.
But but this is saying that the the worthless slave was cast into outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. So, yeah, I think that would be a good description of whenever we're separated from God, that's a place of outer darkness and weeping and gnashing of teeth. And that would be hell, right? Yeah.
Okay, okay. Okay, okay, okay. Listen, let me.
Just say, you know, sometimes people don't want to believe that there really is a hell. We all want to believe in heaven.
Right? Right. Yeah.
Hell, you know.
But a lot of.
People, a lot of people take life for granted because of his love and kindness. But don't they forget that God is a God of judgment, too? You know?
Okay. Yeah.
He loves, he loves, he loves us, but he hates the sin. So he got a judge if he's, you know. So a lot of people you write about, a lot of people don't want to accept there's a hell, a literal hell. God don't want to go to hell because of his son. You know what his son did?
I was I was talking with someone who said they didn't think there was such a thing as hell, and but they did believe in an afterlife. And I said, well, what about Hitler? Do you think Hitler gets to go to heaven then? Well, no, Hitler would go to hell. I said, okay, so now we've got one. And then I started mentioning some other people from history, uh, Stalin, Attila the Hun, uh, all these, uh, violent, awful people. Uh, no.
They're going to hell. And so I said, okay, so now what we have to do is demarcate how much sin separates us from God. And, uh, and now here's the most important thing. If you're listening. I know, Tony, you know this, uh, that God is going to judge sin. And the way he judged it is the Lord Jesus took the punishment that we deserve. The Lord Jesus died
for us, and then he rose again to life. And all we have to do is trust that he paid our penalty and that he's alive to give us new life and put our trust in trust in him and in that sacrifice for us, and our sins are forgiven. The punishment has been paid for us. We never have to be fearful of hell. That's the thing we need to remember that. That nothing we can do to earn heaven, but we can trust in the Lord Jesus. So if you're listening, that's what I want to encourage you to do.
Trust the Lord Jesus so you don't have to ever fear hell. Thanks for the great reminder. Call, Tony. Appreciate it. Uh, we're going to talk next with Marie in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, listening to R&;B. Welcome to Open Line, Marie. How can I help you?
Hi. Good morning. How are you today?
I'm doing great. Thanks for asking. How can I help you?
Yes. Um, I'm thinking about when Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Mhm.
And he was praying and, um, he said, not my will be done, but thy will be done. In my Christian walk. I remember the verse in Psalm that said, delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Mhm.
So, um, it's hard for me to get to. Thy will be done because I may suffer. And then I want to delight myself in him. So he can give me the desires of my heart. Um, I think, is there a fine line? Um. Man, maybe I need to do, like, merge from delighting myself in him, and I can put the desires of my heart, and then his will be done.
Well, here's here's the thing to that.
Okay. Marie. Marie. Marie, here's the thing. I think you're overthinking this. Okay. Generally speaking, when we delight in the Lord, he gives us the desires of our heart. But what he does is he might. Even if we're delighting in him, he might even change the desires of our heart. My desire of my heart right now might be that I never suffer. That might be the desire of my heart. But if I delight myself in the Lord, he might
change my heart. That I would say, Lord, the desire of my heart is to do your will, and that I would suffer. If your will means suffering, that I would do it faithfully and bring honor to you. So when we delight ourselves in the Lord, he changes our hearts to be whatever it is that we can say, your will be done. Uh, and so I wouldn't worry as much as it sounds to me like you're anxious about this. Just seek the Lord. Delight yourself in him.
Allow him to change your heart as needed. Uh, you know, the Lord Jesus is not that he didn't want to do God's will. He said he always does the father's will. He just knew that this would be hard. Not. Nevertheless, my will, but your will be done. He wanted to do the father's will. And, uh, what he did was he said. No one takes my life, but I lay it down willingly. Why? Even though it was hard. Because he was delighting in God, and he wanted to do the father's will. Okay, Mary.
Yeah.
Thank you so much. Yeah, it really, really helped. And I'll continue to walk with him and have him change my heart so that I can do his will.
Yep. That's what it is. Yeah. We make his will, our will, and it turns our lives around. Thanks a lot for your call, Marie. Uh, we will, uh, talk next with Carol in Peoria, Illinois, listening on Wbai online. Welcome to Open Line. How can I help you? Carol.
Thank you. And thank you for taking my call. So, you know, in Sunday school last week, a guy just realized for the first time that it says Rose again and the Apostle's Creed. And he says he only rose once. So one more thing I would like to add that I just thought of is it kind of bothers me that I like the Apostle's Creed so much because I had a speaker come to our church, and I'm sure
you know him. His name was Doctor Moskowitz with Jews for Jesus, and he says the Jewish people don't have creeds. So it kind of bothers me that I like it.
Well, Jewish people don't are not it's not a creedal, uh, faith. Uh, Judaism is a religion of deed, not creed. Uh, as, uh, it's what you do that matters more than what you believe, that's why. But there there's Maimonides, the great medieval scholar, uh, had 13 articles of faith. It's basically a creed. They start with the phrase I believe with perfect faith and it has all these things. So there is some sort
of creed in Judaism. Uh, and uh, by the way, uh, Jan, with the Lord now for about ten years, uh, who you heard say that was one of my dear friends for many, many, many years since 1972. Uh, but anyway, uh, the the question you're asking is about why he rose again when he only rose once. Is that. Do I understand your question? Right? Okay. Yes. Well, when it says that he rose again, it doesn't mean that he rose multiple times. What it means is he died and rose
again to life. They again refers to him living again. That's what it means. He was alive.
Poor choice of words. Uh, I don't know what I would substitute with your understanding, but I don't like Rose again. To me, it's a little confusing.
It's it's. Well, okay, but here's what it is. This is it's elliptical. Here's what it means. The Lord Jesus died for us, and he rose to life again.
Yeah.
He was alive. He was dead. And he rose to life again. That's all it means. And it's idiomatic. It's what we. Most people understand it. Maybe they're not as technical as you are in terms of wanting to understand the words precisely, but it's elliptical, meaning that it presumes he rose to life and now he's living again. That's what it means. So anyway, thanks for your call, Carol. I really appreciate it. Let me let me tell everyone
about our current resource. It's the survey of the New Testament by Paul Benware, Doctor Paul Benware, a dear friend of mine and wonderful, wonderful Bible teacher and, uh, Doctor Benware put together this book, it was based on a course he taught for many, many moons at various schools, including Moody Bible Institute called survey of the New Testament. And it gives you a roadmap. Here's one of the
things that people have. We're good at individual books or individual passages, but sometimes it's hard to put the whole New Testament together. And so survey of the New Testament gives you a roadmap showing how the whole New Testament points forward to Jesus, or looks backward at the effect of Jesus in our lives. It puts the whole book together. I think you're going to really love survey of the New Testament, and it's yours. If you give a gift
of any size to open line. I just want to say thanks by sending you a copy of Doctor Ben book survey of the New Testament. And, uh, whatever size gift you want to give, that's how we'll say thank you. If you'd like to give, all you have to do is call (888) 644-7122 or go to open line radio.org. That's (888) 644-7122 or open line radio.org. And we're going to take a break here. When we come back we'll take more of your calls. The phone number (877) 548-3675. And we'll talk
about the Bible, God and the spiritual life with me. Michael. Stay with us. We're coming back with more questions straight ahead. Welcome back to Open Line. I'm Michael Wright. I'm so glad to be taking your questions today about the Bible, God and the spiritual life. We're going to talk to Wendy in Cleveland, Ohio, listening on CRF. WCF. Welcome to Open Line, Wendy. How can I help you today?
Hi. I really enjoy your show and thank you for taking my call. I have a question. Um, I currently have a 95 year old brother in law who is suffering from dementia. And, um, I'm trying to explain the plan of salvation to him, but he doesn't seem to be able to comprehend it or get it. So a person in that state of mind, um, will they or could they accept the Lord as their personal savior or. I mean, and this is part of it is I feel like I probably should have shared the gospel with him before.
He.
Got to this.
State.
And Wendy, I agree with you. I think we shouldn't wait for the right people. Yeah, so but here's the thing. I don't, uh, I don't think that I could tell you if this person can understand the gospel or not. I don't know what they understand. You don't even know what they understand. So I would keep talking about it. Uh, the the second thing is, uh, I have found, you know, I dealt with people, uh, loved ones who were going through dementia at the end of life. And I found
that they had good days and bad days. Uh, and some days they, they were very had very clear thoughts. And some days they just couldn't understand anything. Uh, and so I have a friend whose dad was suffering with dementia and was really close to dying. And this friend began to pray for a window of opportunity, of clarity, of thought for his dad. And sure enough, one day he was in there with his dad and his dad. He felt like his dad was clear as a bell.
Not at all like the dementia that he had been experiencing. And he shared the gospel with him, and his dad trusted the Lord. And then he went back to being almost unintelligible afterwards. But that little window of opportunity came. So that's what I would do. I would pray for a moment of clarity, so that you can be encouraged and assured that he at least understands what you're saying. Uh, you know, because people dealing with dementia, sometimes they have
greater moments of clarity than other times. I think you've noticed that, haven't you?
Yes, exactly. And that's exactly what I have been praying for, that the Lord will give me that opportunity.
Yeah, yeah.
You pray about that and the Lord will open the door. I'm pretty sure, uh, you know, I don't know. Uh, and also, when you're talking with him, even in, in a seemingly confused state that he doesn't understand, you're not sure what he's grasping and what he isn't. So you just keep talking and keep loving. Okay.
Okay. Okay. Thank you so much.
Thank you for your.
Call, Wendy. Appreciate it. We're going to talk with, uh, Abigail. Uh, listening in Cleveland on CRF. Welcome to Open Line. Abigail. How can I help you?
I wanted to know how you became a Christian.
Wow. Abigail, how old are you? Nine. You're nine years old. And what grade are you in? Third. Third grade. And have you become a follower of Jesus? Do you love the Lord Jesus? Yes. That's good. Well, the way I became a follower of Jesus was this, uh. I got into a big argument with my mom who believed in Jesus, and then I argued about whether or not the Old
Testament foretold the Messiah. And because I was ultimately convinced that the Old Testament did predict that Jesus was the Messiah and I needed someone to forgive my sin, I finally one day surprised myself and trusted in Jesus. But it was through reading messianic passages in the Old Testament that I became a follower of Yeshua of Jesus. Okay, Abigail. Thanks. Thank you. Oh thank you. Thanks for calling. I appreciate
you listening. Okay. You have a good day. Okay. Bye bye. Uh, we're going to talk with Molly in Spokane, Washington, listening on Kmbi. Welcome to Open Line. Molly. How can I help you today?
Thank you.
Um. Thank you. Uh, you are such a blessing.
To help.
Us understand. Um, okay. I, uh, would like to know in Galatians um, 211 through, um. Oh, where is it?
It's 212 I think you're asking about.
Yes, I am. I am. Uh, when Peter. Um, uh.
Let me let me.
Read it. Okay.
When, when.
When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned. For he regularly ate with the Gentiles before certain men came from James. However, when they came, he withdrew and separated himself because he feared those from the circumcision party. What's your question about that?
Well, is that the same when when Peter led the people, even, uh, Barnabas. Is that the same? And I can't find it, um, in Matthew 24 or in revelation somewhere. Is that the same when the elect are deceived?
No no no no no. And it says the elect. Uh, the genuine elect won't be deceived. Uh, but but this is talking about Peter giving in to, uh, sort of social pressure. Uh, and and, uh, he's. Paul corrected him and he received it. And that happens to, you know, to all of us. Sometimes we we give in to social pressure about who we want to be more when we're in junior high. But, uh, about who we're going to be friends with, who we're going to stand with. Uh,
that's what Peter did. It was foolish of him. Paul corrected him. Peter received it. They stayed close. So, uh.
Okay. We're okay.
We're okay. Uh, we have to be careful not to give in give in to social pressure. Molly. That's what that's a reminder to us of. Okay. Yeah.
Thanks.
Okay.
Thank you. Thanks for.
Your call. Appreciate it. Uh, we're going to speak with Jim in Peoria, Illinois. Welcome to Open Line. Jim. How can I help you?
Yes. And, uh, Hebrews chapter six and Hebrews chapter ten, about the middle of the chapter. It, uh, the way I read it, it basically says that you can lose your salvation. Uh, Hebrews ten basically states that if we continue sinning, like if we have this one sin that we can't seem to stop, uh, that we, uh, the only thing we have to look forward to is this hell. Am I correct?
So you think you think someone can lose their salvation?
Yeah.
Yeah. Okay. Well, let me just say, uh, here's what the Lord Jesus said. Okay. Uh, in John chapter six, verse 37 through 40, here's what he said. He said, I have I'm going to pick it up right here. Uh, John six and verse 37, everyone the father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me, I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will, but the will of him who sent me. So does the Lord Jesus always do the father's will? I think that verse would
say yes. Don't you agree.
Jim? I agree, but, uh.
Wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait.
Verse 39. This is the will of him who sent me that I should lose none of those he's given me, but should raise them up on the last day. So what? The Lord Jesus always does the father's will. And what is the father's will. Never to lose anyone who has really come to know the Lord Jesus. Uh, so, uh, I have to make that very clear word of the Lord Jesus. And then when I come to Hebrews ten, which is what you're talking about, I have to remember that a person who knows the Lord can't be lost
by him. He guarantees that. So what does Hebrews 1026 mean? If we deliberately sin after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins. What is the sin that we may commit that he's talking about, that he's talking deliberately about the sin of deliberate apostasy, of saying, I don't believe. I don't believe in Jesus. What that proves is a person never really came to know the Lord. If they commit apostasy. They never knew
the Lord. If we deliberately sin after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins but a terrifying expectation of judgment. He is warning them this mixed multitude among the Hebrews. Some were thinking, you know, when the persecution passes, I'll, I'll, I'll. We're being persecuted now. I'm going to abandon the faith. But when the persecution passes, then I'll come back. He says, no, we do that. Uh, no. We're demonstrating that we never
knew the Lord and that we're lost. That's what I think.
Hebrews 1026.
Who is Hebrews six talking about, then?
I think he's talking about the same mixed multitude. And, uh, I don't I really I encourage you go back and listen to the first hour because someone called up about Hebrews six four in the first hour. Uh, and we talked about that earlier, but it's talking about that mixed multitude, people who are being challenged to go on from an Old Testament faith to a full New Testament faith in Jesus. That's what that's talking about. Okay, Jim.
Okay.
Okay. I we talked about it last hour, so that's why I'm not going to go into it again this hour. But thanks for your call. I appreciate it, Jim. Uh, we're going to talk to Carol in, uh, Pine Grove, Illinois, listening on WNBA. Welcome to Open Line, Carol. How can I help you?
Hi, doctor. Thanks for taking my call. We were talking about this in Bible study the other day. Talking about, um, the the Romans Road, and, um, we're saved. If we call on the name of the Lord and believe in what Jesus has done. And then someone asked the question, well, what if someone hasn't heard about Jesus, but they've lived a fairly good life, then what happens to them?
Mhm.
Would they be, do you think, judged based on works.
Um I mean I don't know. I said, you know, we don't know how the Lord's going to judge them, but, um, I wanted to get your input.
Okay.
Well, here's what Romans one says. Okay. This is very important. Uh, it says in Romans 120 for his God's invisible attributes, that is, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has made. As a result, people are without excuse. For though they knew God, they did not
glorify Him as God and show gratitude. So basically what it's saying is that the general revelation, the the creation, uh, the general revelation of the creation of the world, just looking at the world reveals that there is a God of power and might, and that is sufficient to condemn. Not sufficient to save, but sufficient to sufficient to condemn what it is, though if people will respond to that general revelation, then God will send the more direct message
of the good news to them. But they it starts with the general revelation out there that God has provided. That's sort of a quick answer, but, uh, I hope that helps. Carol, we'll be right back with more of your questions right here on Open Line. Stay with us. Welcome back to Open Line. I'm so glad to be with you this morning talking about your questions about the Bible, God and the spiritual life we're about to start the
Febc mailbag. Trish McMillan is bringing it in. So grateful for Far Eastern Broadcasting Company because they partner with us in bringing you Open Line bringing they partner with Moody Radio. And it's a really marvelous organization that uses media to bring the good news to people around the world. The radio is significant and they have live people. If you want to know more about Febc, I think it'd be a great organization to get to know, just go to febc.
Org and when you're there you can see their podcast. You can click on that and listen to Until All have Heard. That's a really marvelous thing. Well joining me now, Tricia McMillan, who is the queen of the questions. She's the one that put the mailbag together. And here you are. Tricia. Hey, Tricia.
Yes.
Uh, I thought it was interesting that someone called earlier and wanted and mentioned that they were kitchen table partners. And, uh, now, kitchen table partners are really important to us. I mean, I like working with everyone in the studio there. There's a bunch of people, and we're all. Kitchen table partners in that sense. But kitchen table partners are special. What they are are people who have, uh, committed to giving
monthly to open line. And, uh, as a result, they're saying, you know, we want to give monthly so you guys can be on weekly. Now, what does it take to become a kitchen table partner, Tricia.
Well, um, it just takes, um, supporting us financially for. It's a commitment. That's it. Any gift?
Yeah. That's. It doesn't. There's no minimum. Uh, it's it's something that we really appreciate. It's just a matter of if you really believe in this program and you think that this will be, uh, something that would benefit you, uh, we'd also like to do is send you an audio Bible study every other week. It's a prepared prepared exclusively for our kitchen table partners. But I think the best thing about being a kitchen table partner is that if you give $30 a month, then you get everything in
the Moody Publishers catalog at 50% off. That's just a great deal. So if you're interested in becoming a kitchen table partner, call 88864471228886447122. Or you can go to open line radio.org. Well Trisha let's see what we've got here in the mailbag.
All right let's see. Um, Deidre emailed us from Indiana and we have had this question before, but New Year, new time to ask it. Um, when we see verses that sometimes will be in brackets, that will say sometimes these verses are not in, um, certain manuscripts or they're missing like they're bracketed. And so they will be in some Bibles, won't be in some Bibles. Sometimes there's larger passages in a footnote when what's happening there? Why? Why is that indicator there?
So I just.
Turned in my Bible to Mark 16 nine, and there's a bracket at the beginning, and it goes all the way to the end of the book. Uh, Mark 1620 and it has a little note there that you can pick up. Uh, there's always a footnote with it. And what it says with the bracket, uh, is, uh, that, uh, it says, uh, other manuscripts omit bracketed text. In other words, there are many manuscripts that don't have those verses. That's
the ancient manuscripts. And you know what the question I usually get is why do new translations either bracket or leave out verses from the Bible like they're bad, they're getting rid of stuff. Well, in truth, what earlier versions of the Bible did is it included verses of the Bible that really weren't in there, that were like added by scribes or monks who were copying the Bible to
clarify things or something like that. And so what what most modern versions are trying to do is use the earliest and the best manuscripts and making decisions based on that, and that's what those brackets are there for. So to let us know that they weren't part of the original Bible, as best we can tell. Okay, so.
So is it still okay to glean stuff from those, or would you just avoid those for a personal devotional type of thing?
Uh, you know. I don't know. Uh, you know, it depends, uh, on the person, I think. I don't know what the what the best answer is. I tend to be. I studied it a little bit more about this, and I'm aware of passages that are questionable, and I don't think they're necessarily part of the scriptures, but other people might think they are, so it doesn't hurt to read them. It's not going to be bad. There's nothing terrible in those verses that would hurt you. So.
Okay. All right. Thank you for that question. Our next question is from Margaret in Illinois. She listens to WNBA. Thank you to your crew and you for taking the time to answer our questions regarding God's promises. How do I know which promises are directed to Israel and those that can be, um, extrapolated to followers of Jesus?
Well, that's that's not an easy I mean, it's there are verses that you just have to read them in context. That's the most famous being Jeremiah 2911. Right. That's that's a good one to let's to talk about a particular verse. Uh, Jeremiah 2911 I know the plans I have for you. This is the Lord's declaration, plans for your welfare, not
for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. Now, obviously, that's a wonderful verse, but if you read the verse before it, reading it in context, it says, this is what the Lord says. When 70 years for Babylon are complete, I will attend to you and will confirm my promise concerning you to restore you to this place. Clearly, he is saying that Israel is going to go into captivity for 70 years, and then they're going to come back. And, uh, and so he's obviously the I know the plans I
have for you are the plans for Israel. So, I mean, clearly that's what the verse is about. That's what its meaning is. But then, isn't everything applicable? And I think it is. Why does Israel go into captivity? Because God is going to discipline them. And the principle is that God is disciplining them, but he's going to restore them. And when he restores them, it's with a good plan.
And I think that similarly, when we experience spiritual discipline from God, we can be assured that God still has a good plan for us in in our lives, that he has a good plan to give us a future and a hope. So if we put it in context and take a principle from that and apply the principle to our lives, then it's for us as well. But the meaning is about Israel. But the principle can be applied to us as well. Does that make sense?
Yeah, yeah it does.
Yeah. So I think one of the things that we need to learn is to Is to read if we're going to be good Bible readers. First of all, we need to read things in context and understand what they mean. But then secondly, not only understand what they mean, but see how they can be applied by finding the the governing principle, the the the the true principle of the passage. And then we can apply it. So that's what I think we need to do. Okay.
All right. Thank you. Uh, next question is from Kristen wants to know concerning the book of Job, how is Satan able to speak to God? I thought that God couldn't be in the presence of evil.
Well, then I could never set foot in his presence, right? It seems like to me, uh, you know, the idea that God is immanent. He's everywhere. There's evil everywhere. He's he's transcendent and immanent at the same time, which is hard for us to grasp. Uh, immanent, not meaning about to come, but imminent with an A I'm m a that means present everywhere. Uh, so, uh, I just don't think. I think this is this is the the easy answer. How did he say it? I thought God couldn't be
in the presence of evil, right? Well, apparently wrong. Uh, that's not what the Bible says. Uh, God is not stained by our evil. Uh, and he's everywhere. So he he's in my. I'm in his presence. And I certainly don't deserve to be there. So, so so how was.
I mean, did Satan just have free access to God? Does he still. Do we know? Well, he.
Was cast out. There's various times where he's cast out of heaven. And, uh, but this was a gathering in in Jobe where the where the angels were gathered before him. I don't know for what reason, what time, but, uh, he was a fallen angel, and he was there in the presence of God. Part of that and he taunted God as well. So but the presumption we have always is that God can't be in the presence of Satan.
Satan can't be in the presence of God. And I'm not sure why we presume that it's God is completely sinless. He's not affected by our evil. So he's pure and righteous. So, yeah. Anyway, uh, anyway, we're going to we're going to break here. All right. Uh, when we, uh, when we come back, we'll take more of your calls. (877) 548-3675. You're listening to Open Line. And thank you for the Febc mailbag for writing in. And Tricia,
thanks for putting that together. That was Tricia McMillan. I'm Michael, and I'll be right back with more of your questions straight ahead. Welcome back to Open Line. I'm so glad to be with you today. Having a great time. Thank you so much for listening. Monday is a serious day. It's the International Holocaust Remembrance Day. It's significant because it's the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. And my family,
both my parents were Holocaust survivors. I'm glad that we are reminded because there are people who actually don't believe that the Holocaust happened. But it did. And it's important that we remember one of the things that Chosen People Ministries has done is they've put together a book called Never Again The Holocaust Remembered. It's a collection of stories from the Chosen People archives, about the people who found grace and faith in the midst of this terrible, terrible
time of suffering. Uh, it's a it's a really helpful book. In the difficult days that we're facing today with the return of anti-Semitism being so bold. I really want to encourage you to get this book called Never Again. All you have to do is go to our web page Open Line radio.org. Scroll down. You'll see a link that says a free gift from Chosen People Ministries, and you'll be able to sign up for your very own copy
of Never Again. Also, I wanted to let you know that when you go to our web page, Open Line radio.org, if you scroll down all the way, you'll see that there's a link to my personal web page. And if you got to go there, you'll see that I'll be doing some, uh, events that people might be interested in some traveling. And if you'd like to join me for a Bible study on a boat and different things like that, uh, check. Click on that link at the bottom of the open
line page. We're going to talk to Ron in Moline, Illinois, listening on Wwdm. Welcome to Open Line, Ron.
How can I help you?
Good morning. Good morning sir. Thank you for taking my call. Um, I enjoy reading literature outside of the Bible when it relates to, you know, Christianity. ET cetera, et cetera. And I've been watching this series called So Be It. It's a YouTube series about a young Jewish man that turned, uh, to Christianity. Uh, he goes to Israel in the Middle East and talks to Jews who do not believe. Yeah.
I'm sorry. Just just go ahead with.
Your question, because we're at the end of the program.
So.
Oh, sorry. Okay. So is there any reason why I should not read the Jewish Bible? I think they referred to it as the Tanach because it talks about. Go ahead. I'm sorry.
The Tanakh is just, uh, it's an acronym, uh, for its three words Torah Nevi'im Ketuvim. Torah is the law of Moses, the first five books of the Bible. Nevi'im are the prophets that goes from Joshua to the end of the prophets. Uh, the 12 prophets. And then, uh, then it's got the ketuvim, it's the writings, and it's just a word that takes the three sections of the Hebrew Bible and makes them into one. And that's what the Tanakh is. It's just the Old Testament, basically.
Oh, okay. So it's okay to read it.
Correct. Yeah.
It's it's great to read. Yeah, that's what it is. It's just a just a word that's been put together from the three sections of the Old Testament. The Torah, Nevi'im, Ketuvim law, prophets, writings. Thanks for your call, Ron. Keep reading.
That's great. Okay, thanks.
Uh, we're going to talk to Al in Lakeland, Florida, listening on Wcas. How can I help you, al?
Hey. Thank you doctor. I've been trying to get in for years.
Oh, great.
I have a question. Uh, Jesus died, and he rose again. So did Lazarus. He rose again. So did, uh, the prophet. I can't in the New Testament. Other people rose again. Why? It's such a great significance. Some people don't get saved because I believe Jesus rose again. I mean, I'm glad he died for our sins. I'm not speaking in a negative term. Why? Why they don't put emphasis on other people that rose again. I mean, Jesus, I know you.
There's there's something.
Different about the resurrection of Jesus. Uh, number one, uh, the Lord Jesus died as a substitution. All the other people that you're talking about did not die as as a substitutionary death. He didn't. There was no vicarious substitutionary death. And then secondly, uh, he he said that he would be raised from the dead. No one else ever predicted that after three days, he would be raised from the dead. Only the Lord Jesus kept saying that he was God in the flesh, that he would die and would be
raised from the dead after three days. And so he predicted it. That's something that's different as well. And then thirdly, his resurrection was different. Everyone else that was raised was raised, uh, and would have to die again because they were not raised to glory. But the Lord Jesus was raised into his immortal immortal state. He was given his glorified body. Uh, and that's why he is the first fruit of the resurrection for us. That's that's what makes his resurrection so
distinctively different. Okay. Uh, thanks for your call. Al. Appreciate it. We're going to talk to Christine in Fort Myers, Florida. Uh, listening, uh, on maybe the on the web. How can I help you? Christine?
Um, thank you for your program. I really like it, and I enjoy it. If someone divorced and remarried, would you go to hell?
What? Say again. Please.
Okay. Um. Matthew 18. Talk about divorce. If someone divorced and remarried, should they go to hell for that?
If someone divorces and remarries, should they go to hell? The reason we go to hell is we're separated from God because of our sin. If a person trusts in Jesus, whatever their sins, if they believe that Jesus died for those sins and rose again, if they put their trust in him, we're forgiven of our sins and we won't go to hell. There is no one particular sin that will cause us to go to hell.
Okay.
Okay.
Thank you. Okay.
Okay. Thanks for your call. Uh, we're going to talk to Jean in Lamont, Illinois. Hello, Jean. Jean, are you there?
Hi.
Hi. Are you there?
Yeah. How can I help you?
Um, what do you say to scholar biblical scholars who maintain that the New Testament was not necessarily written by the people who the books are attributed to.
That would include the Gospels.
You know, maybe that's one of the reasons why I don't like being called a scholar by some people because, uh, you know, there's there's always critical people who will say that, you know, scholars say, and, and, uh, so, you know, I think the best evidence, there are also scholars who disagree with those scholars. So there you go. Uh, the.
Uh.
The New Testament introduction. There are evangelical authors who have given great defenses for the accuracy and truthfulness of those, uh, authorship and things like that. And so, uh, you know, it's just some people say yay! And some people say, no. I know I see in your question that you mentioned Bart Ehrman, who's a famous scholar from North Carolina who has denied those things. Uh, well, he debated Dan Wallace. And you can find those debates on YouTube and you'll
see how another scholar would respond to that. I mean, there are good answers in response. Dan Wallace was a great New Testament professor at Dallas, just retired. Great New Testament scholar, has a good enough answer for that.
So I presume that you disagree with Bart Ehrman's positions, then?
Yeah, we went to Moody at the same time, believe it or not. But he kind of wandered away from what we were teaching at at Moody. Uh, we were students at the same time. Uh, but, uh, Donald Guthrie, there's a great big fat book called New Testament Introduction by Donald Guthrie that gives the evidence. And it's it's an academic book. It's really it'd be a challenge for someone to read, uh, you know, stuff we read when
I was. Yeah, when I was in graduate school. It's a book I read for a course in New Testament introduction, but it gives the case for the, uh, the scholarly Basis for believing the traditional views of the books. So anyway, I you know, I appreciate it. I wouldn't worry too much about what the critics say. Just keep reading the Bible. You're going to really benefit from it.
Okay, Gene, your.
Opinion on if you thought that the authors were those of the Bible.
Yeah, I do think they're the right authors. Yep, I do, I'm very traditional. Thanks for your call. That's the program for the week. We'll be back next week with more of your calls and questions about the Bible, God and the spiritual, uh, spiritual life. Uh, we're going to check out our web page, Open Line radio.org. You'll see what's going on. See all the things that are there. Keep reading the Bible and we'll talk about it next week. Open line with Doctor Michael Melnick is a production of
Moody Radio, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute. And we'll see you next week.