Bible Thinker

Some times we have been so indoctrinated into unbiblical ideas about faith, healing and prayer that we don't notice when the Bible is trying to correct us. As we study this passage I'm going to try and point out specifically how Jesus is not giving us the hyper-charismatic or new age views on prayer, healing and faith. But there is a risk that in refuting these false ideas we will miss out on the wonderful things God is trying to communicate. The Bible isn't just telling us what NOT to believe but also what TO believe. So, we are going to embrace what it says about faith, healing and prayer... all of it. Unlike the new age and hyper-charismatic tendency to ignore context and distort things to fit their movement and the "vibe" they are trying to create in their communities. Are you interested in the supposed contradiction regarding the healing of the blind man? Here's what I've got on that https://youtu.be/OA-4eQN16n0?t=791 See the WHOLE Gospel of Mark playlist here https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ

I honestly think that most pastoral abuse would stop if we would take seriously Jesus' teaching in this passage. We sometimes miss the forest through the trees when it comes to studying verse by verse. So, I'm going to start this study with a survey of how the Gospel of Mark repeatedly is contrasting the true mission of the Messiah with the false expectations of the disciples and the Jews of Jesus' day (and modern day Judaism as well). Then we will see how big of a deal it is when Jesus tries to correct our thinking on the topic of servanthood as greatness and leadership as servants. Do you want to go through the whole book of Mark with me vs by vs, covering theology and apologetics in detail? https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ3iRMLYFlHuGenHwUdeiQ5M-uj5XW4sF

Question Time Stamps for Quick Reference: 0:00 Introduction and a bit about the American Gospel movie 1. 5:15 Did Old Testament saints believe in "faith + works" for salvation? 2. 11:34 How familiar are you with Steven Furtick and Elevation Church? Is it wrong of me to be wary of mainstream churches that seem to be too "seeker-friendly"? 3. 15:22 How do you respond to Richard Carrier's argument that Jesus was in outer space and the Apostles where schizophrenic or schizotypal? 4. 18:33 In Romans 5: 12-21, does our nature inherit the guilt of Adam's sin, or are we only guilty of our own sin? In Hebrews 2: 17 and 4: 15, did Christ's human nature inherit Adam's sin, or just desire sin like us? 5. 27:19 How do you interpret the Beatitudes at the beginning of Matthew 5? 6. 30:57 What are your thoughts on the 2 trees in the Garden of Eden representing both the law and the Gospel in Genesis 3 (The Tree of Knowledge representing the law, and the Tree of life representing Christ)? 7. 32:13 Does it say in the Old Testa

Here are 5 historical arguments for and responses to 3 arguments against Jesus actually predicting His own death and resurrection along. After that apologetic section, which will take a big chunk of today's teaching, I'll share some theological and pastoral insights from this passage in Mark 10:32-34. Do you want to go through the whole book of Mark with me vs by vs, covering theology and apologetics in detail? https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ3iRMLYFlHuGenHwUdeiQ5M-uj5XW4sF My website https://BibleThinker.org If you like podcasts you can get this content in that form. Search for "BibleThinker" podcast or for my name, which is Mike, not Mark :)

Question Time Stamps for Quick Reference: 0:00 Introduction and Announcements 1. 12:15 How do you go about doing a systematic theology on any given subject, such as soteriology? 2. 14:46 I was taught that Christians don't sin. 1 John 3:9 says, "Whoever has been born of God does not sin", and Romans is littered with talk of us being "free from sin". So why is this teaching wrong? 3. 22:55 What are your thoughts on "corporate responsibility" for pas sins, and "individual responsibility"? Can both be true? I see both in the Bible. 4. 25:24 Can you explain the Parable of the Talents? In Matthew 25: 14, what are our "talents", and why do the two servants get different rewards, when they both increased the amount by 100%? 5. 33:55 What does God say about men who abuse their wives emotionally, physically, etc.? 6. 35:49 What are the biblical definitions of sin, transgression, and iniquity? How can I be certain that the sins I've committed, while knowing they were wrong, are forgiven? 7. 38:49 What are your thoughts

Jesus' interaction with the rich, young ruler has been used by some to promote socialism and others have approached it looking for an explanation of justification like what we find in Romans. After spending some time on this passage and in the Gospel of Mark as a whole I think both of these approaches are wrong. This will be a careful, vs by vs study of Jesus' interaction with the rich man in Mark 10. We'll look at some controversy about this passage but our main concern will be to hear Jesus' radical call to come to Him for salvation, which is impossible for us to obtain without Him, and to come fully invested in His kingdom. What Jesus teaches through this encounter gives us not only an offer of salvation but a call to discipleship, where Jesus is not only a source of forgiveness, He is the very purpose of our live's and choosing Him means choosing His kingdom over our own or the kingdom of this age. It's that last part that I think people overlook when teaching on the rich man and I hope that this study he

This is a common and terrible tactic in trying to get away from an interpretation you don't like. I'm not surprised to see this come up in the comments section of my video but I am surprised to see respectful and thoughtful men like Gordon Wenham using this sort of nonsense in print. The objection goes as follows; "When you say that adultery is justification for divorce you actually encourage people to go out and commit adultery so they can have a justified divorce". Here's the playlist with all my divorce and remarriage content https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ3iRMLYFlHtBvJzugPJp9P5X1T-hA91j My web site https://BibleThinker.org

Teaching that all babies who die go to heaven immediately brings up a number of important theological questions. Question Time Stamps for Quick Reference: 0:00 Introduction 1. 5:10 How do we determine when a person is accountable? 2. 11:52 What role does sin nature have? 3. 19:00 What role does Jesus have in their salvation? 4. 20:53 What about free will? 5. 43:53 Does this give people an excuse to commit abortion? All this and more in today's follow-up study looking at the theological implications of saying that babies or anyone who is similarly handicapped in mental capacities are saved. Do you want to go through the whole book of Mark with me? Here's the playlist where we go verse by verse and tackle issues of theology, apologetics and the Christian life! https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ3iRMLYFlHuGenHwUdeiQ5M-uj5XW4sF My website https://BibleThinker.org New videos every week, helping you learn how to think biblically about everything.

Any correct interpretation of Jesus' teaching on divorce needs to account for the fact that the disciples were so shocked by Jesus that they said it was better to just stay single. In this video I try to explain how I account for the shock of the disciples with my view of Jesus' teaching on divorce and remarriage. Here's the playlist of all my videos on the topic of divorce and remarriage. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ3iRMLYFlHtBvJzugPJp9P5X1T-hA91j My web site https://BibleThinker.org

This is a heavy issue and while many people think the Bible doesn't give us much to go on, I disagree. In this study I am going to examine a number of passages people use when trying to explain what the eternal fate of those who die in infancy is. It starts with a survey of Bible passages which don't seem to help us answer our question and then a survey of passages which do. This is part of the "Mark Series" where I am going vs by vs through the Gospel of Mark, covering theology, apologetics and the Christian life. Here's the whole series playlist - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ3iRMLYFlHuGenHwUdeiQ5M-uj5XW4sF My web site https://BibleThinker.org

Some tough situations have us asking whether a divorce can be justified for things not clearly mentioned in scripture. Not only do I give my best answer to the question of divorce for a spouse habitually draining the bank account, I hope that this answer will help you work through other tough questions like this one. I think the principles here apply very broadly. Here's my playlist with ALL my teaching on divorce and remarriage. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ3iRMLYFlHtBvJzugPJp9P5X1T-hA91j My web site https://BibleThinker.org

People in Jesus' time had a bad attitude about marriage, just like today. They seemed to think it was a person's right to divorce whenever they decided they wanted to, just like today. But Jesus corrected this by pointing them toward the nature of marriage and showing that marriage it a holy and wonderful union that God Himself has created. Jesus takes away their excuses and calls them to get back to the heart of marriage rather than seeking excuses to divorce. It was a message people desperately needed to hear at the time, just like today. Here's my big video on divorce and remarriage and everything the Bible says about it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2pC6ZikbYo&list=PLZ3iRMLYFlHtBvJzugPJp9P5X1T-hA91j&index=2 Here's the entire Mark playlist where we are working through the whole book of Mark verse by verse. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ3iRMLYFlHuGenHwUdeiQ5M-uj5XW4sF

I went down a rabbit hole of research to find out how some people have taken Jesus' teaching on divorce to mean the opposite of what it seems like He was saying. The issue is whether there is a special definition of "put away" as compared to "writ of divorce". On this peculiar view "put away" is taken to mean "send away a spouse without a divorce certificate", which means that if you are "put away" you are still married. On the other hand, "writ of divorce" (or certificate of divorce) is taken to refer to an actual divorce with a divorce paper. Here's why this view is wrong. Here is the playlist to all my videos on divorce and remarriage. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ3iRMLYFlHtBvJzugPJp9P5X1T-hA91j My web site https://BibleThinker.org

What did Jesus mean by "because of your hardness of hearts Moses permitted you to divorce your wives"? Does this mean you can get a divorce if your heart is hard? Does it mean you can get a divorce if your spouse has a hard heart? Does it mean that divorce was regulated with protections for human rights because people's hearts are so hard they are going to divorce anyways? Yeah, it's the third one. If you have a bunch more questions on divorce and remarriage then you should start with my big and thorough teaching on the topic, linked here. https://youtu.be/N2pC6ZikbYo Here is a playlist of all my videos on Marriage, Divorce and Remarriage. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ3iRMLYFlHtBvJzugPJp9P5X1T-hA91j My website: https://BibleThinker.org

It may seem peculiar but I think that this solves a riddle about why scripture speaks the way it does on the topic of divorce. Jesus acknowledged divorce but taught that it didn't always free you from your moral obligation to your prior spouse. Paul, in 1 Cor 7, taught that a divorced couple was really divorced but still obliged to get back together or stay unmarried. In my view, this view comes naturally from taking the Bible at face value on it's teaching on divorce and remarriage. If you want to understand better what ends your moral obligation to a prior spouse then please watch the BIG video (the 1st one in the playlist below) which also has time stamps to help you find exactly what you are looking for. For all my videos on the topic of Divorce and Remarriage check out this playlist https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ3iRMLYFlHtBvJzugPJp9P5X1T-hA91j My web site https://BibleThinker.org

If sex doesn't equal marriage then what does? We will take a look at a number of biblical passages to find the answer to this question. The bottom line is that sex does join you to a person in a very intimate way, but that this alone does not constitute a marriage. Marriage is more than sex and it takes more to be truly married than to just start sleeping with someone. Here's the playlist for all the videos (as they come out) on marriage, divorce and remarriage. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZ3iRMLYFlHtBvJzugPJp9P5X1T-hA91j

I try to graciously, honestly and without misrepresentation, deal with a number of important issues related to Catholicism; the Pope, purgatory, Mary, the authority claims of Roman Catholicism, historical challenges to official teachings of the RC church, theological problems with the gospel as it is taught in the official councils of Catholicism (especially Trent) and the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The truth is that I wish I could say the disagreements I have with official Roman Catholic teaching were merely secondary issues. But, despite incredible agreement on many primary issues such as the inspiration and authority of scripture, the Trinity and the death and resurrection of Jesus, there remains the fact that Roman Catholicism teaches errors that seem to compromise the very gospel itself. I really wish I could affirm that the gospel is still in tact in the council of Trent or the Catechism of the Catholic Church, but I am honestly convinced it's not. So, with a heavy heart I think we need to talk

1. 0:00 Intro and explanation 2. 1:56 In Jeremiah, God divorced Israel but didn’t marry someone else - he offered them restoration! Doesn’t this undermine your case for remarriage? 3. 6:08 If a person who illegitimately divorced their spouse is unmarried and repentant and if their former spouse has remarried, may that person marry someone else? 4. 9:04 If the punishment for adultery was death under the law then how can adultery be a cause for divorce? 5. 19:49 Is addiction to porn considered sexual immorality and therefore, grounds for divorce? 6. 22:54 Does the requirement for leaders to be the “husband of one wife” mean that a divorced man can’t be a pastor? 7. 44:20 What do you do when a spouse wants to separate but not divorce, leaving you in limbo? 8. 50:33 What about domestic abuse such as verbal/spiritual abuses? 9. 55:42 If a person becomes a Christian after an invalid divorce, and reconciliation is not an option (former spouse is remarried), is that person free to remarry? 10. 57:42 Mike, you’re

Some say the Bible forbids interracial marriage. Here's WHY they say it and WHY they are wrong. I'm still in the middle of making a series of videos on marriage, divorce and remarriage and since this particular question didn't really fit well into one of those videos I thought I'd make a stand alone video on it. I actually did some research to find out what passages of scripture people used to try to support a ban on interracial marriage (also called anti-miscegenation) and I'm responding to those particular passages and talking points in this video. Here's my full and in-depth teaching on divorce and remarriage in the Bible. https://youtu.be/N2pC6ZikbYo This is my teaching on a biblical understanding of wive's submitting to their husbands https://youtu.be/H8PFVZgIQ2w This is my teaching on how to be a husband according to the Bible. https://youtu.be/65eMggo_xKQ Subscribe to get new videos every week and learn to think biblically about everything. Here's my web site https://BibleThinker.org

Question Time Stamps for Quick Reference: 0:00 Intro and announcements. 5:55 A Christian view of racism. 14:06 Is it biblical to believe that physical healing is equal to salvation in the atonement? 18:07 What is your advice for a new believer encountering militant anti-theists? 21:14 Is creation in Genesis 1 to be taken literally, as in 6 24-hour days, and why? 24:37 What is food offered to idols? In Acts 15: 20 and Revelation 2: 20, is there a law we have to keep? Is Halal food offered to idols? 31:14 Once someone is born again, can they lose their salvation due to bad behavior? 33:43 What does it mean to love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength? 36:25 How can a person be sanctified? 40:46 What is your advice for a new Christian who is having trouble getting into the routine of studying Scripture and praying? 44:11 Should new Christians avoid watching non-Christian movies? 47:20 Is there such a thing as a non-Trinitarian Christian? 48:25 How can I gently correct a friend who thinks w