1 00:00:12,240 --> 00:00:15,880 Hi everyone, welcome to this bonus episode of Daily Gospel 2 00:00:15,880 --> 00:00:18,920 Exegesis. This is going to be a question 3 00:00:18,920 --> 00:00:22,240 and answer episode where I'll do my best to answer some of the 4 00:00:22,240 --> 00:00:25,320 listener questions that have come in recently. 5 00:00:25,920 --> 00:00:29,000 We try and do these Q&A episodes every now and then. 6 00:00:29,160 --> 00:00:32,040 And thank you so much to those who are writing into the 7 00:00:32,040 --> 00:00:34,200 ministry with your questions and comments. 8 00:00:34,600 --> 00:00:38,280 Often this is the best way for us to learn about the Bible and 9 00:00:38,280 --> 00:00:40,960 theology is by engaging specific questions. 10 00:00:41,560 --> 00:00:44,800 So let's start with a question from Carol who emailed in. 11 00:00:45,520 --> 00:00:49,240 My relative who is a believer says that we should only use the 12 00:00:49,240 --> 00:00:53,200 term brothers and sisters for those who are believers, not non 13 00:00:53,200 --> 00:00:55,400 believers. Can you give more clarification 14 00:00:55,400 --> 00:00:58,520 on this? So this is an interesting idea. 15 00:00:58,520 --> 00:01:01,360 Who do we have the right to call brothers and sisters? 16 00:01:01,360 --> 00:01:04,800 It does depend on how you use the term, and it's probably, you 17 00:01:04,800 --> 00:01:07,320 know, the meaning of the term brother and sister is different 18 00:01:07,320 --> 00:01:09,640 in different cultures and in different time periods. 19 00:01:10,120 --> 00:01:13,120 Biblically speaking, roughly that is accurate. 20 00:01:13,120 --> 00:01:16,640 We should refer particularly to other Christians as our brothers 21 00:01:16,760 --> 00:01:20,000 and sisters. There is a sense in which all 22 00:01:20,240 --> 00:01:24,160 people are brothers in terms of like a broad brotherhood of man 23 00:01:24,160 --> 00:01:26,480 kind of view, but that's not really the biblical view. 24 00:01:26,480 --> 00:01:29,720 The biblical view is we have a preferential treatment for those 25 00:01:29,720 --> 00:01:33,160 who are in the family of God and who is in the family of God. 26 00:01:33,520 --> 00:01:36,400 In Catholic theology, when you become a Christian, you become 27 00:01:36,400 --> 00:01:39,120 an adopted member of God's family, which means that all 28 00:01:39,120 --> 00:01:42,160 Christians, brothers and sisters of each other. 29 00:01:42,160 --> 00:01:45,320 And that is the way the church documents, recent church 30 00:01:45,320 --> 00:01:48,680 documents have used the term rather than saying that all 31 00:01:48,680 --> 00:01:50,880 people are our brothers and sisters. 32 00:01:50,880 --> 00:01:54,640 So it's probably one of those ones where it's acceptable both 33 00:01:54,640 --> 00:01:58,160 ways. But in a specific denotative 34 00:01:58,160 --> 00:02:01,640 sense, if we want to be specific, brothers and sisters 35 00:02:01,640 --> 00:02:03,960 should really be reserved for other Christians. 36 00:02:04,480 --> 00:02:07,480 So I hope that helps you give get a bit of insight on that 37 00:02:07,480 --> 00:02:09,680 particular question. Thank you for writing in Carol. 38 00:02:10,199 --> 00:02:13,280 The next question is another really good one from Harrison. 39 00:02:13,760 --> 00:02:16,160 You often speak about God's will in the podcast. 40 00:02:16,320 --> 00:02:19,680 In your opinion, what does God's will mean in the Gospels or 41 00:02:19,680 --> 00:02:21,160 other sources like the Catechism? 42 00:02:21,880 --> 00:02:24,040 Thanks. I love the show from Harrison. 43 00:02:24,680 --> 00:02:26,920 Thanks for writing in Harrison. This is a really good question. 44 00:02:26,920 --> 00:02:29,280 I do mention this idea of following God's will, 45 00:02:29,280 --> 00:02:34,200 particularly in reference to the Gospel of Matthew because it's 46 00:02:34,200 --> 00:02:37,400 the terms, it's one of the key terms that Jesus himself uses in 47 00:02:37,400 --> 00:02:40,400 the Gospel where he says you need to follow the will of my 48 00:02:40,400 --> 00:02:42,520 Father if you want to enter the Kingdom of God. 49 00:02:42,520 --> 00:02:46,560 He says that in quite a few of the parables and remember it's, 50 00:02:46,560 --> 00:02:49,520 he goes on to say not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord will 51 00:02:49,520 --> 00:02:52,080 enter the Kingdom of heaven, but those who do the will of the 52 00:02:52,080 --> 00:02:53,840 Father. So what is the will of the 53 00:02:53,840 --> 00:02:56,640 Father in the context of the Gospel of Matthew? 54 00:02:56,640 --> 00:03:00,200 The will of the Father is following particularly the 2 55 00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:03,160 love commandments, love God and love neighbor. 56 00:03:03,560 --> 00:03:06,080 That is how Jesus summarizes the will of God. 57 00:03:06,080 --> 00:03:08,400 Now that's not the only way to express the will of God. 58 00:03:08,800 --> 00:03:11,720 That's how Jesus summarizes it. And particularly in the Gospel 59 00:03:11,720 --> 00:03:14,880 of Matthew, he keeps coming back to that to say that is how 60 00:03:14,880 --> 00:03:17,240 you'll be judged based on whether you followed the love 61 00:03:17,240 --> 00:03:21,560 commandments. Now also in Scripture, Paul says 62 00:03:21,560 --> 00:03:23,320 he has a really simple way of saying this. 63 00:03:23,320 --> 00:03:26,720 He says this is the will of God, your sanctification. 64 00:03:27,080 --> 00:03:30,240 That's in First Thessalonians chapter 4, verse 3. 65 00:03:30,680 --> 00:03:33,680 So that's also a good way of expressing what's God's will. 66 00:03:33,680 --> 00:03:37,400 It's for us to be sanctified. It's a big question. 67 00:03:37,400 --> 00:03:39,560 I don't think the Catechism addresses this question 68 00:03:39,560 --> 00:03:42,800 specifically because the question what does God want is 69 00:03:42,800 --> 00:03:46,080 another way of rephrasing what's God will, what's God's will? 70 00:03:46,080 --> 00:03:49,160 And God wants lots of things. He wants our sanctification, He 71 00:03:49,160 --> 00:03:51,120 wants us to follow the commandments, He wants his 72 00:03:51,120 --> 00:03:53,800 Kingdom to be spread on earth. So there's different ways of 73 00:03:53,800 --> 00:03:56,360 expressing that, but I hope that gives you a bit of an insight 74 00:03:56,800 --> 00:03:59,760 into the basics of how it's used in the New Testament. 75 00:04:00,560 --> 00:04:03,480 Next question is from Chris, who's a fellow Australian. 76 00:04:03,480 --> 00:04:06,400 He says, firstly, thanks so much for this ministry. 77 00:04:06,400 --> 00:04:10,040 I first found it on Hello and it has helped me a lot in 78 00:04:10,040 --> 00:04:12,640 understanding scripture. It is so well researched. 79 00:04:13,520 --> 00:04:16,480 I have a question about one of the podcasts you mentioned that 80 00:04:16,480 --> 00:04:21,480 Samaritans are basically Jews who had interbred but but in 81 00:04:21,519 --> 00:04:26,240 Second Kings 24 to 28 it talks about how after the Israelites 82 00:04:26,240 --> 00:04:30,440 were all exiled, Assyrians are sent to settle in their place, 83 00:04:30,720 --> 00:04:33,600 but then an Israeli priest was sent back to teach them how to 84 00:04:33,600 --> 00:04:36,640 worship the Lord. So the Samaritans in Jesus time 85 00:04:36,640 --> 00:04:39,040 were not Jews even if they had the Torah. 86 00:04:39,160 --> 00:04:41,760 Is that correct? So Chris, you've got to 87 00:04:41,760 --> 00:04:44,440 basically write the history of the Samaritans is a little bit 88 00:04:44,440 --> 00:04:47,040 complex, but basically that's correct. 89 00:04:47,040 --> 00:04:50,560 After the Jews were forced to leave the northern Kingdom, the 90 00:04:50,560 --> 00:04:54,240 Assyrians then settled the northern Kingdom and various 91 00:04:54,240 --> 00:04:56,480 other cultures and races also settled that. 92 00:04:57,160 --> 00:05:01,000 Eventually the Jews were allowed back into that part of the world 93 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:04,440 and they interbred with the Assyrians and some of the other 94 00:05:04,440 --> 00:05:08,240 gentiles in there. So what eventually happened was 95 00:05:08,240 --> 00:05:11,560 there was sort of a hybrid religion that was formed as a 96 00:05:11,560 --> 00:05:14,760 result. They did believe in, it appears 97 00:05:14,760 --> 00:05:17,840 they believed in the Torah, but they didn't accept a lot of the 98 00:05:17,880 --> 00:05:22,600 other Old Testament writings. So they had their kind of own 99 00:05:23,320 --> 00:05:26,200 Samaritan Canon and they had their own kind of Samaritan 100 00:05:26,200 --> 00:05:30,080 traditions as well. The Jews in the Southern Kingdom 101 00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:34,200 or Judea eventually came to see them as not really true Jews 102 00:05:34,200 --> 00:05:38,000 because they were essentially in their view, half breeds. 103 00:05:38,240 --> 00:05:41,760 And also because they didn't accept some of the standard 104 00:05:42,280 --> 00:05:46,760 Judean teachings, for example, that Jerusalem is the main place 105 00:05:46,760 --> 00:05:48,440 to worship. Samaritans didn't believe that 106 00:05:48,440 --> 00:05:50,200 they had their own main place of worship. 107 00:05:50,640 --> 00:05:53,400 So because the Samaritans sort of had their own rival 108 00:05:53,400 --> 00:05:59,040 traditions compared to the standard Judean traditions, they 109 00:05:59,040 --> 00:06:02,040 were considered to be never fully Jews, even though they did 110 00:06:02,040 --> 00:06:04,680 accept many of the basic Jewish teachings that also had their 111 00:06:04,800 --> 00:06:07,480 own ones that put them outside that. 112 00:06:07,720 --> 00:06:11,840 It's it's not a perfect analogy, but it's a little bit like the 113 00:06:11,840 --> 00:06:18,080 relationship between Mormons and standard mainline Christianity. 114 00:06:18,720 --> 00:06:22,040 Mormons have a lot in common with Christians, and on face 115 00:06:22,040 --> 00:06:24,200 value they can seem to be Christian, but some of their 116 00:06:24,200 --> 00:06:27,680 specific teachings and traditions are in conflict with 117 00:06:28,520 --> 00:06:31,520 standard Orthodox Christianity. So it's almost a little bit like 118 00:06:31,520 --> 00:06:34,840 a cult if you want to use that language, although that even 119 00:06:34,840 --> 00:06:37,040 using that language is an anachronism. 120 00:06:37,880 --> 00:06:41,560 So yes, they had the Torah. In a sense they're Jewish, but 121 00:06:41,560 --> 00:06:44,720 they're not fool Jews, and they have particularly some 122 00:06:44,720 --> 00:06:47,680 theologically, some theological views that are particularly 123 00:06:47,680 --> 00:06:50,800 different that seems to put them outside traditional Judean 124 00:06:50,800 --> 00:06:52,920 Orthodoxy. I hope that helps answer the 125 00:06:52,920 --> 00:06:55,200 question. Some good study Bibles can go 126 00:06:55,200 --> 00:06:59,640 into more of the geographical history of the Samaritan area as 127 00:06:59,640 --> 00:07:01,600 well. We have a couple of questions 128 00:07:01,600 --> 00:07:04,280 here from Mary, who is a Patreon supporter. 129 00:07:04,280 --> 00:07:06,240 Mary, thank you so much for your support. 130 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:10,360 She says I need your understanding that Jesus told 131 00:07:10,360 --> 00:07:13,520 the crucified thief that today he would be with him in heaven. 132 00:07:14,160 --> 00:07:17,640 However, Christ remained in the tomb for three days and didn't 133 00:07:17,640 --> 00:07:21,080 ascend for some time after. How is this reconciled? 134 00:07:21,520 --> 00:07:22,800 Yeah, this is a really good question. 135 00:07:22,800 --> 00:07:26,040 This is something that we have mentioned in our exegesis of 136 00:07:26,040 --> 00:07:30,480 that passage in Luke, when Jesus in Luke chapter 23 says to the 137 00:07:30,720 --> 00:07:33,400 good thief, today you'll be with me in paradise. 138 00:07:34,080 --> 00:07:36,000 Mary's right. If you think about it, Jesus 139 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:39,200 didn't really go to heaven when he died. 140 00:07:39,200 --> 00:07:43,640 He actually went to heaven a little bit later on after his 141 00:07:43,640 --> 00:07:46,360 ascension, which is 40 days after his resurrection. 142 00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:51,440 So how can Jesus say today you'll be with me in paradise? 143 00:07:51,440 --> 00:07:54,080 Now the actual term there is paradise and there's a lot of 144 00:07:54,080 --> 00:07:56,920 discussion amongst scholars about what exactly does paradise 145 00:07:56,920 --> 00:08:00,920 refer to. 1 interpretation would be that paradise just refers to 146 00:08:00,920 --> 00:08:05,680 the abode of the dead. The belief was that when people 147 00:08:05,680 --> 00:08:09,200 die, they go to the abode of the dead and the righteous dead go 148 00:08:09,200 --> 00:08:12,240 to a place called paradise. Perhaps that's equivalent to 149 00:08:12,240 --> 00:08:15,520 Abraham's bosom. So on that view, yes, Jesus and 150 00:08:15,520 --> 00:08:18,520 the good thief upon their deaths would have both gone immediately 151 00:08:18,520 --> 00:08:22,080 to this temporary place called paradise, which is where their 152 00:08:22,080 --> 00:08:24,440 souls, the souls of the righteous, dwell. 153 00:08:24,800 --> 00:08:27,400 That seems to be a reasonable reading of that. 154 00:08:27,720 --> 00:08:32,159 However, if you think about it, when Jesus says today you'll be 155 00:08:32,159 --> 00:08:34,720 with me in paradise, there's no punctuation in that in the 156 00:08:34,720 --> 00:08:37,240 original. So although we tend to read it 157 00:08:37,240 --> 00:08:41,600 as today, comma, you will be with me in paradise, It may just 158 00:08:41,600 --> 00:08:45,080 be I tell you today you'll be with me in paradise. 159 00:08:45,200 --> 00:08:46,840 Both of those are legitimate readings. 160 00:08:47,560 --> 00:08:50,440 If you interpret it the second way, then one way of thinking 161 00:08:50,440 --> 00:08:54,120 about this is Jesus is not promising the good thief that 162 00:08:54,840 --> 00:08:58,040 today he will see him in the next 24 hours, he'll be in 163 00:08:58,040 --> 00:09:00,600 paradise. He's not saying that, he is 164 00:09:00,600 --> 00:09:03,760 saying I'm telling you for certain that you will be in 165 00:09:03,760 --> 00:09:07,480 paradise, which could mean one day he'll be in the new heavens 166 00:09:07,480 --> 00:09:10,880 and new earth depending on the correct interpretation of the 167 00:09:10,880 --> 00:09:13,520 word paradise. I hope that gives you a couple 168 00:09:13,520 --> 00:09:17,360 of solutions to work with there. She also asks, do you suppose 169 00:09:17,360 --> 00:09:21,800 that Jesus 12 apostles were men because women during Menzies 170 00:09:21,800 --> 00:09:24,480 were considered unclean and would not be allowed on the 171 00:09:24,480 --> 00:09:29,200 altar since there is so much discussion on women ordination 172 00:09:30,440 --> 00:09:33,280 and she goes on from there. There's an interesting question. 173 00:09:33,280 --> 00:09:38,840 Is this one of the reasons why in the Christian age women can't 174 00:09:38,840 --> 00:09:42,200 be priests? The Catholic Church has had a 175 00:09:42,200 --> 00:09:44,840 few documents where it actually talks about the various reasons 176 00:09:44,840 --> 00:09:49,120 why women can't be priests. That particular 1 isn't used. 177 00:09:49,280 --> 00:09:53,680 That particular reason that women are ritually unclean is 178 00:09:53,680 --> 00:09:55,360 not one of the reasons it's given. 179 00:09:55,360 --> 00:09:58,160 And that's probably because in the Jewish, sorry, in the 180 00:09:58,160 --> 00:10:02,240 Christian age, ritual uncleanness is not really a 181 00:10:02,240 --> 00:10:05,240 thing anymore in Christianity. It was in Judaism. 182 00:10:05,640 --> 00:10:08,760 And maybe that factors in into the Old Testament as to why 183 00:10:09,480 --> 00:10:13,120 Jewish women could not serve as priests, because they're more 184 00:10:13,120 --> 00:10:16,040 likely to be ritually unclean. And indeed, there are 185 00:10:16,040 --> 00:10:20,160 prescriptions for men who are priests that if they become 186 00:10:20,320 --> 00:10:22,800 ritually unclean due to body fluids, they had to wash 187 00:10:22,800 --> 00:10:25,640 themselves. So that that's a reasonable 188 00:10:25,640 --> 00:10:29,280 answer for perhaps one of the major reasons why women couldn't 189 00:10:29,280 --> 00:10:32,480 be Jewish priests. However, in the Christian age, 190 00:10:32,520 --> 00:10:36,320 Jesus and the apostles were not bound by those ritual purity 191 00:10:36,320 --> 00:10:39,920 laws as they come, as they came to understand what God's 192 00:10:39,920 --> 00:10:42,720 requirements are for holiness. In fact, Jesus starts to reveal 193 00:10:42,720 --> 00:10:46,000 these in the Gospels, and it's revealed particularly to Peter 194 00:10:47,520 --> 00:10:51,520 in the vision of the great sheet coming down where God basically 195 00:10:51,520 --> 00:10:54,040 says there's no distinction between the clean and unclean 196 00:10:54,040 --> 00:10:56,880 animals. The early Christians did develop 197 00:10:56,880 --> 00:10:59,880 an understanding that God in the new covenant age is not 198 00:10:59,880 --> 00:11:01,760 particularly concerned with ritual purity. 199 00:11:01,760 --> 00:11:06,160 So that doesn't seem to be one of the major reasons why women 200 00:11:06,160 --> 00:11:08,320 were excluded from being Christian priests. 201 00:11:09,200 --> 00:11:11,400 I hope that answers your question, and it's a really good 202 00:11:11,400 --> 00:11:12,560 one. It's a really good one to 203 00:11:12,920 --> 00:11:15,000 interrogate. I would encourage you to read 204 00:11:15,000 --> 00:11:17,200 some of the more recent documents about this from the 205 00:11:17,200 --> 00:11:20,880 church such as Inter Insignioris which is a document from the 206 00:11:20,880 --> 00:11:23,440 Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith which goes into quite 207 00:11:23,440 --> 00:11:28,720 a bit of detail about why priestly ordination is reserved 208 00:11:28,720 --> 00:11:32,840 to men in the Catholic Church. And Pope John Paul the Second 209 00:11:32,840 --> 00:11:36,240 also had a follow up very short document called Ordinacio 210 00:11:36,520 --> 00:11:39,480 Saccadotalis where he goes into that same topic. 211 00:11:40,240 --> 00:11:44,200 She also asks about the tears of heaven as in T i.e. 212 00:11:44,200 --> 00:11:47,120 Rs. Now it depends what you mean by 213 00:11:47,120 --> 00:11:48,480 that. If you mean tears of heaven in 214 00:11:48,480 --> 00:11:52,080 terms of for humans, are humans on different tiers when once 215 00:11:52,080 --> 00:11:53,960 they reach heaven? This is an interesting question. 216 00:11:54,600 --> 00:11:58,000 Jesus does seem to hint at the fact that people will have 217 00:11:58,000 --> 00:12:01,280 different rewards in heaven based on the things they do on 218 00:12:01,280 --> 00:12:05,120 earth, and Catholic theology has discussed this a bit in terms of 219 00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:09,040 the way we use grace in this life, and maybe in some way 220 00:12:09,040 --> 00:12:11,160 proportionate to our reward in the next life. 221 00:12:11,920 --> 00:12:15,280 There's no definitive Church teaching as far as I'm aware, in 222 00:12:15,280 --> 00:12:18,400 terms of how the levels in heaven work or whether we should 223 00:12:18,400 --> 00:12:22,240 even conceive of them as levels. There's also a Catholic 224 00:12:22,240 --> 00:12:25,760 tradition about the choirs of angels, which is like the levels 225 00:12:25,960 --> 00:12:30,200 or hierarchy of angels. That's based on some scripture 226 00:12:30,200 --> 00:12:33,040 references which talk about powers and principalities, 227 00:12:33,440 --> 00:12:36,400 angels and archangels, and the cherubim and the seraphim. 228 00:12:36,400 --> 00:12:40,120 So there are different names used for which what are 229 00:12:40,120 --> 00:12:43,920 apparently different types or perhaps different functions of 230 00:12:43,920 --> 00:12:46,640 angels. But again, this is a Catholic 231 00:12:46,640 --> 00:12:49,680 tradition that has never been formally defined by the Church, 232 00:12:49,680 --> 00:12:53,880 but it is a commonly held belief and it's worth looking into. 233 00:12:54,840 --> 00:12:58,080 The Catechism itself doesn't talk about the choirs of angels 234 00:12:58,080 --> 00:13:01,080 in the traditional sense, but you will find it on many 235 00:13:01,760 --> 00:13:04,960 Catholic theology websites as a commonly held Catholic belief. 236 00:13:05,640 --> 00:13:08,280 Next, we'll look at a question here from Scott and he shares a 237 00:13:08,280 --> 00:13:10,160 bit of himself and his journey here. 238 00:13:10,160 --> 00:13:13,760 At the start, my wife and I are on a journey from being raised 239 00:13:13,760 --> 00:13:18,280 Catholic, then spending time in a non denominational church and 240 00:13:18,280 --> 00:13:20,600 now feeling called back to the Catholic Church. 241 00:13:20,680 --> 00:13:23,680 Not sure what this means or where it will lead us, but we 242 00:13:23,680 --> 00:13:26,600 are spending more time in Catholic groups and naturally 243 00:13:26,600 --> 00:13:30,600 some questions are coming up. Scott, my story is very, very 244 00:13:30,600 --> 00:13:32,240 similar to that. So I just want to encourage you 245 00:13:32,240 --> 00:13:36,200 to keep going, keep asking questions, and eventually you'll 246 00:13:36,200 --> 00:13:39,280 find that most of your questions are answered in your journey 247 00:13:39,280 --> 00:13:41,520 back to Catholicism. He says. 248 00:13:41,520 --> 00:13:44,080 I listen to your Daily Show. Fantastic work. 249 00:13:44,320 --> 00:13:46,880 I have deepened my understanding of the scriptures and have been 250 00:13:46,880 --> 00:13:48,760 able to share so much because of it. 251 00:13:49,840 --> 00:13:52,960 Recently my wife was at a Bible study and the topic of mortal 252 00:13:52,960 --> 00:13:55,240 sin and salvation came out came up. 253 00:13:55,880 --> 00:13:58,080 I'm having a hard time understanding clearly what 254 00:13:58,080 --> 00:14:01,600 Catholic theology teaches here. I know the Church would never 255 00:14:01,600 --> 00:14:04,680 say with certainty that anyone has been sent to hell. 256 00:14:04,680 --> 00:14:08,480 Correct me if that's wrong. Now, that is correct, Scott. 257 00:14:08,720 --> 00:14:12,600 The Church doesn't define with certainty if someone is in hell. 258 00:14:14,240 --> 00:14:16,240 Yeah, the Church can define if someone is in heaven. 259 00:14:16,240 --> 00:14:20,160 And that's because there are signs that point strongly in the 260 00:14:20,160 --> 00:14:22,080 direction that someone is indeed in heaven. 261 00:14:22,080 --> 00:14:25,000 And many of you would know the criteria for someone to become a 262 00:14:25,000 --> 00:14:27,760 St. But presumably those in hell are 263 00:14:27,760 --> 00:14:30,440 not able to produce similar signs on earth to tell us that 264 00:14:30,440 --> 00:14:33,200 they're in hell. So the Church doesn't define 265 00:14:33,200 --> 00:14:36,640 that he goes on. Yet at the same time, if you die 266 00:14:36,640 --> 00:14:39,720 in a state of mortal sin, you are separated from God, which 267 00:14:39,760 --> 00:14:42,640 means you're going to hell. How can these teachings be 268 00:14:42,640 --> 00:14:45,440 understood together? So it's a good question. 269 00:14:45,440 --> 00:14:48,480 The Church does teach that if you commit a mortal sin and you 270 00:14:48,480 --> 00:14:52,640 don't repent of it, then it would seem that that person is 271 00:14:52,640 --> 00:14:55,240 going to hell, all things considered. 272 00:14:55,680 --> 00:15:00,120 Now, the way to resolve this is we can never be sure if someone 273 00:15:00,120 --> 00:15:03,440 has committed a mortal sin. Remember, there's three criteria 274 00:15:03,440 --> 00:15:06,840 for a mortal sin, which is grave matter, full knowledge, and full 275 00:15:06,840 --> 00:15:10,320 consent. We can often have a certainty 276 00:15:10,360 --> 00:15:14,240 that a particular action violates commandments in a way 277 00:15:14,240 --> 00:15:17,000 that would make it grave matter. We can have some certainty of 278 00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:20,040 that if we dig into it a bit. But the full knowledge and full 279 00:15:20,040 --> 00:15:23,400 consent is a subjective criteria, meaning that it's just 280 00:15:23,400 --> 00:15:26,720 between the person and God. Only God knows their heart. 281 00:15:26,720 --> 00:15:30,560 Only God knows whether they really had full knowledge and 282 00:15:30,560 --> 00:15:34,080 full consent. This is developed a bit more in 283 00:15:34,080 --> 00:15:36,160 the Catechism, so I do want to point you in the direction of 284 00:15:36,160 --> 00:15:39,960 the Catechism, but I hope this gives you a basic answer that 285 00:15:39,960 --> 00:15:42,320 helps resolve that. Yes, the Church says that if 286 00:15:42,320 --> 00:15:45,360 someone dies in a state of genuine mortal sin, they will go 287 00:15:45,360 --> 00:15:48,000 to hell. However, we can never be sure if 288 00:15:48,000 --> 00:15:51,400 someone has genuinely died in a state of mortal sin. 289 00:15:52,800 --> 00:15:54,840 So this is a really good question to ask. 290 00:15:54,840 --> 00:15:57,720 And this is where distinctions are really helpful. 291 00:15:58,600 --> 00:16:01,880 Thanks so much for writing in with that question, Scott, Next, 292 00:16:01,880 --> 00:16:04,360 we've got a question here from Richard and this is another 293 00:16:04,360 --> 00:16:08,320 really good question. He firstly wants to know, are 294 00:16:08,320 --> 00:16:10,320 you doing the rest of the Bible as well? 295 00:16:10,520 --> 00:16:12,080 And indeed, that is part of the plan. 296 00:16:12,080 --> 00:16:14,600 It's part of the long term plan is to do some verse by verse 297 00:16:14,600 --> 00:16:19,320 exegesis of all of the Bible if we can, starting with a few 298 00:16:19,320 --> 00:16:20,800 particular books of the New Testament. 299 00:16:21,480 --> 00:16:25,400 And it's the generous support of Patreon supporters that make 300 00:16:25,680 --> 00:16:28,320 projects like that possible. And that would determine whether 301 00:16:28,320 --> 00:16:30,640 we can keep doing this approach to Scripture. 302 00:16:30,640 --> 00:16:34,640 But all going well, I'd love to keep working through other books 303 00:16:34,720 --> 00:16:37,000 of Scripture. Work has started for that on the 304 00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:39,360 book of Acts. So I hope to be able to give you 305 00:16:39,360 --> 00:16:42,800 some more information about that as the book of Acts exegesis 306 00:16:42,800 --> 00:16:45,080 gets ready to be published. He says. 307 00:16:45,080 --> 00:16:47,160 I'm, I was wondering if you could help me. 308 00:16:47,160 --> 00:16:49,920 I have a Protestant friend who is constantly peppering me with 309 00:16:49,920 --> 00:16:52,200 questions. I'm not sure whether he's 310 00:16:52,200 --> 00:16:56,040 genuinely curious or more in a gotcha frame of mind with these. 311 00:16:56,360 --> 00:16:58,880 And indeed, it's good that you raise that because you're right. 312 00:16:58,880 --> 00:17:01,920 Some people that constantly give you questions from a Protestant 313 00:17:01,920 --> 00:17:05,119 perspective might be trying to trap you, or they might 314 00:17:05,119 --> 00:17:07,319 genuinely want to know what a Catholic perspective is. 315 00:17:08,400 --> 00:17:11,400 His question is, what do Catholics think of John chapter 316 00:17:11,400 --> 00:17:14,920 3, verse 3. Now what that verse says, and 317 00:17:14,920 --> 00:17:17,960 I'll read this out from the Jerusalem Bible, which is the 318 00:17:18,040 --> 00:17:21,400 lectionary translation. Jesus said, I tell you most 319 00:17:21,400 --> 00:17:25,680 solemnly, unless a man is born from above, he cannot see the 320 00:17:25,680 --> 00:17:29,200 Kingdom of God. So you would know that from a 321 00:17:29,200 --> 00:17:32,480 Protestant perspective, born from above, By the way, that can 322 00:17:32,480 --> 00:17:36,800 also be translated born again, which it's the same same Greek 323 00:17:36,800 --> 00:17:38,960 words, it's just differences in translation. 324 00:17:39,640 --> 00:17:42,960 Protestants see born again as an experience that you have where 325 00:17:42,960 --> 00:17:47,400 you emotionally or spiritually fuel the presence of God, and 326 00:17:47,400 --> 00:17:52,040 that is perhaps the the time you really become a true Christian. 327 00:17:52,280 --> 00:17:54,480 They would say you're a born again Christian if you've had 328 00:17:54,480 --> 00:17:56,400 that. So it's fair to ask how the 329 00:17:56,400 --> 00:17:59,800 Catholics understand that because born again is in fact a 330 00:17:59,800 --> 00:18:02,800 phrase that's here in the chapter in the Gospel of John. 331 00:18:03,200 --> 00:18:06,520 And Jesus says you have to be born again in order to truly 332 00:18:06,520 --> 00:18:10,040 experience God's divine life. So it's fair to ask, what's a 333 00:18:10,040 --> 00:18:11,720 Catholic perspective on born again? 334 00:18:12,720 --> 00:18:15,760 Now, we do go through this in our exegesis of this text on 335 00:18:15,760 --> 00:18:19,600 Monday of Week 2 of Easter Tide, which you may have heard 336 00:18:19,600 --> 00:18:23,240 recently. But just to go over it again, if 337 00:18:23,240 --> 00:18:26,160 you go through the rest of that text, Jesus clarifies that 338 00:18:26,160 --> 00:18:29,280 another way of thinking about being born again is being born 339 00:18:29,280 --> 00:18:33,160 of water and the Spirit. So a question, another way of 340 00:18:33,160 --> 00:18:36,560 asking the question is what do Catholics think Jesus meant by 341 00:18:36,880 --> 00:18:38,840 being born of water and the Spirit? 342 00:18:39,760 --> 00:18:42,320 If you follow that conversation through, it seems to me that 343 00:18:42,320 --> 00:18:45,880 that is one event, being born of water and of the Spirit. 344 00:18:45,880 --> 00:18:49,320 And the Catholic understanding is people are born of water and 345 00:18:49,320 --> 00:18:52,480 of the Spirit at baptism. That is when people are born 346 00:18:52,480 --> 00:18:55,560 again. In our exegesis, we talk about 347 00:18:55,560 --> 00:18:58,760 some ways that we can support that interpretation. 348 00:18:59,320 --> 00:19:01,640 One of the key things is the very next thing that happens 349 00:19:01,640 --> 00:19:04,160 after this conversation, straight after Jesus finishes 350 00:19:04,160 --> 00:19:07,440 talking to Nicodemus, is Jesus and his apostles begin to 351 00:19:07,440 --> 00:19:10,040 baptize people. That's mentioned in chapter 3, 352 00:19:10,040 --> 00:19:13,120 verse 22. All through the Gospel of John, 353 00:19:13,120 --> 00:19:16,000 water is used as a metaphor for supernatural life. 354 00:19:16,280 --> 00:19:20,200 So in John's understanding, our water is connected to receiving 355 00:19:20,200 --> 00:19:23,800 supernatural life and there's various other points we make in 356 00:19:23,800 --> 00:19:26,960 that episode to support our understanding that born of water 357 00:19:26,960 --> 00:19:29,240 and the Spirit really does refer to baptism. 358 00:19:29,240 --> 00:19:32,160 So I'd encourage you to look at the episode from Monday of Week 359 00:19:32,160 --> 00:19:35,760 2 of Easter tide. So I hope that is helpful for 360 00:19:35,760 --> 00:19:38,520 you, Richard. We'll make this the last 361 00:19:38,520 --> 00:19:41,360 question for today from Louisa. And this is a really good, 362 00:19:41,400 --> 00:19:43,640 interesting question about salvation theology. 363 00:19:44,760 --> 00:19:48,880 She, she says, before I get into my question, I would like to 364 00:19:48,880 --> 00:19:51,440 thank you for this podcast because it has helped to 365 00:19:51,440 --> 00:19:54,680 understand God, Jesus, his life and his disciples better. 366 00:19:55,320 --> 00:19:59,360 So 1000 times, thank you and I hope God gives you many 367 00:19:59,360 --> 00:20:02,400 blessings and continues showering with the knowledge of 368 00:20:02,400 --> 00:20:04,400 his word. Thank you for that wonderful 369 00:20:04,400 --> 00:20:06,640 feedback Louisa. I'm so glad you're benefiting 370 00:20:06,640 --> 00:20:10,520 from the podcast, she says. I just finished listening to one 371 00:20:10,520 --> 00:20:13,920 of your exegesis episodes. Can you please further explain 372 00:20:13,920 --> 00:20:18,080 what you meant by God gives of himself to redeem his people 373 00:20:18,080 --> 00:20:21,120 from slavery? And this is a comment on the 374 00:20:21,120 --> 00:20:25,880 episode for Mark chapter 10 verses 35 to 45, which is where 375 00:20:26,080 --> 00:20:29,720 it says the Son of man gave himself as a or has come to give 376 00:20:29,720 --> 00:20:32,680 himself as a ransom for many. And in that episode we talked 377 00:20:32,680 --> 00:20:35,320 about different ways of understanding what that means. 378 00:20:35,320 --> 00:20:37,360 What does it mean to say Jesus is a ransom? 379 00:20:37,920 --> 00:20:40,840 So she has some good questions about this because what do we 380 00:20:40,840 --> 00:20:43,160 mean when we say God gives of himself? 381 00:20:43,760 --> 00:20:46,960 So she says, did God ransom a part of himself to free his 382 00:20:46,960 --> 00:20:48,240 people? Now we don't want to talk about 383 00:20:48,240 --> 00:20:50,320 God in terms of parts. That would not be correct. 384 00:20:50,600 --> 00:20:53,720 But we do want to say that there is a real sense in which God 385 00:20:53,720 --> 00:20:58,160 poured himself out through Jesus, poured himself out 386 00:20:58,160 --> 00:21:01,720 through his death of the cross. There was a genuine sacrifice on 387 00:21:01,720 --> 00:21:06,000 the part of God to free us from our sins. 388 00:21:06,600 --> 00:21:08,560 She says. I mean he can do anything but I 389 00:21:08,560 --> 00:21:13,200 wonder if that has implications or did God ransom Jesus even 390 00:21:13,200 --> 00:21:17,800 then, meaning he also added to Jesus suffering tab when he came 391 00:21:17,800 --> 00:21:20,320 to earth the ransom for the freedom of Egypt. 392 00:21:21,520 --> 00:21:24,600 So she's now sort of wondering when Jesus came to earth and 393 00:21:24,760 --> 00:21:30,160 when God came in human flesh in the person of Jesus, did the 394 00:21:30,160 --> 00:21:32,920 previous acts of salvation that God did in the Old Testament, 395 00:21:32,920 --> 00:21:36,760 like God rescuing his people from Egypt, was that also in a 396 00:21:36,760 --> 00:21:40,040 sense paid for or experienced by Jesus on the cross? 397 00:21:40,280 --> 00:21:43,800 She says, I mean, Jesus came to redeem all past, present and 398 00:21:43,800 --> 00:21:45,880 future. I think there is a sense in 399 00:21:45,880 --> 00:21:49,040 which we can say yes, through the grace that Jesus merited on 400 00:21:49,040 --> 00:21:51,760 the cross. There is a sense in which that 401 00:21:51,760 --> 00:21:56,560 grace made possible some of the acts that God did in the Old 402 00:21:56,560 --> 00:21:58,640 Testament. But we need to be careful there 403 00:21:58,640 --> 00:22:03,040 because God the Father certainly did acts in the Old Testament 404 00:22:03,960 --> 00:22:09,680 which may not be connected specifically to Jesus ultimate 405 00:22:09,840 --> 00:22:12,360 definitive new covenant act, but perhaps they are in some 406 00:22:12,360 --> 00:22:15,440 mysterious spiritual way. Remember our Catholic teaching 407 00:22:15,440 --> 00:22:20,280 is Mary was free from sin, she was redeemed from contracting 408 00:22:20,280 --> 00:22:24,440 any sin because of Jesus death on the cross. 409 00:22:24,440 --> 00:22:27,160 But Jesus death on the cross was a future event from the 410 00:22:27,160 --> 00:22:28,880 perspective of Mary's conception. 411 00:22:28,880 --> 00:22:31,840 So it is actually part of Catholic teaching that there is 412 00:22:31,840 --> 00:22:36,600 a retroactive sense of grace. What Jesus merited on the cross 413 00:22:36,840 --> 00:22:38,600 can be applied backwards in time. 414 00:22:38,600 --> 00:22:40,680 It certainly was applied backwards in time to Mary. 415 00:22:40,880 --> 00:22:42,760 So your speculation here is interesting. 416 00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:47,720 Maybe what Jesus did on the cross is in some way involved in 417 00:22:47,760 --> 00:22:51,800 all of God's acts of liberation even before the time of Jesus. 418 00:22:52,040 --> 00:22:54,520 And then it gets to the heart of her question, which is or was 419 00:22:54,520 --> 00:22:57,200 both times the ransom paid to Satan. 420 00:22:57,200 --> 00:23:00,000 So she's wondering, is the ransom paid to God the Father or 421 00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:02,640 is it paid to Satan? This is an area of debate, and 422 00:23:02,640 --> 00:23:04,320 we did go into that in that episode. 423 00:23:04,680 --> 00:23:08,280 Some people have a real problem with saying that Jesus paid a 424 00:23:08,280 --> 00:23:11,440 debt to Satan. I do think that makes the most 425 00:23:11,440 --> 00:23:13,080 sense of the text, but we're not. 426 00:23:13,080 --> 00:23:17,040 We shouldn't think of it as Jesus bowing to Satan or 427 00:23:17,040 --> 00:23:19,440 something like that, but there is a sense in which a certain 428 00:23:19,440 --> 00:23:23,520 act was needed to free people from the dominion of Satan and 429 00:23:23,520 --> 00:23:24,840 bring them into the Kingdom of God. 430 00:23:25,160 --> 00:23:27,280 But of course, it's not the only way to understand that. 431 00:23:27,280 --> 00:23:30,760 The Church Fathers, some of them thought about the ransom as a 432 00:23:30,760 --> 00:23:32,720 little different. Some of them did think about it 433 00:23:32,800 --> 00:23:35,320 in terms of being a ransom to Satan. 434 00:23:35,640 --> 00:23:38,760 There is room for disagreement on this question and it's not an 435 00:23:38,760 --> 00:23:42,360 area that has been particularly developed in Catholic teaching, 436 00:23:42,360 --> 00:23:45,160 but we do believe that through Jesus death on the cross, it was 437 00:23:45,160 --> 00:23:48,040 a real ransom to free people from sin. 438 00:23:49,200 --> 00:23:51,280 That may not be a fully satisfying answer, but I hope 439 00:23:51,280 --> 00:23:54,600 that starts to give you some things or some clarifications at 440 00:23:54,600 --> 00:23:56,080 least to help you work through the issue. 441 00:23:56,640 --> 00:23:59,120 Thank you so much, Louisa, for the question and thank you to 442 00:23:59,120 --> 00:24:01,360 all those who are writing in questions. 443 00:24:01,640 --> 00:24:05,120 Please keep sending them in. I try and do these Q&A episodes 444 00:24:05,120 --> 00:24:07,600 occasionally. Thank you so much to those of 445 00:24:07,600 --> 00:24:09,040 you who are supporting the ministry. 446 00:24:09,040 --> 00:24:10,600 Please keep telling people about it. 447 00:24:10,640 --> 00:24:13,840 Next time you're prompted by your podcast provider to leave a 448 00:24:13,840 --> 00:24:16,720 positive review and rating, please make sure you do that 449 00:24:16,720 --> 00:24:18,080 because it does make a difference. 450 00:24:18,680 --> 00:24:21,320 If you're interested in seeing the kind of things you can get 451 00:24:21,320 --> 00:24:24,520 access to by becoming a Patreon supporter, check out the link in 452 00:24:24,520 --> 00:24:26,160 the show notes. Thanks. 453 00:24:26,160 --> 00:24:27,040 We'll see you next time.