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Hi again, everyone. 
Thanks so much for your support 

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of the Logical Bible Study 
Ministry. 

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This is going to be another 
bonus episode where we take a 

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look at some questions and try 
and provide some responses to 

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those questions that have come 
in from you guys as the 

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listeners. 
Thank you so much for sending in

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your questions. 
I can't always get to all of 

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them straight away, but I do try
and respond to as many of them 

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as possible. 
And one of the main ways I do 

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that is through these bonus 
episodes that we try and do 

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occasionally. 
So thank you again so much for 

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your support of the ministry. 
I'm so glad to hear from many of

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you about how God is using these
episodes to deepen your 

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understanding of scripture and 
to bring him into a deeper 

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relationship with him. 
So let's have a look at this 

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question here from Georgette. 
The Sermon on the Mount says the

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Kingdom of heaven will begin 
with Jesus being on the earth, 

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right? 
Then in other places it's clear 

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that the only way to enter the 
Kingdom of heaven is through 

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Jesus. 
So what happens to people who 

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lived and died before Jesus came
or didn't hear from Jesus? 

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Now I'll stop there. 
The church actually has fairly 

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clear teaching on this since the
time of Vatican 2, and you can 

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find this in the Catechism of 
the Catholic Church as well. 

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It's, it's quite a common 
question what how can someone 

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enter the Kingdom of heaven if 
they don't have some sort of 

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knowledge of or relationship 
with Christ? 

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And the way you frame it, 
Georgette is a really 

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interesting way, which is Jesus 
himself is so clear that he 

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himself is the manifestation of 
the Kingdom of heaven, as he 

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says in the Sermon on the Mount.
So how does that work for people

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who don't know Jesus or, or 
lived and died before Jesus 

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came, so they didn't have an 
opportunity to hear from Jesus? 

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The basic answer the church 
gives us is that it is possible 

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for non Christians to make it 
into heaven. 

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And the way that would work is 
God would judge people based on 

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what they did know or and what 
they did with that knowledge. 

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Or sometimes it's phrased as how
did they respond to the life 

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that they did have. 
Certainly people prior to the 

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time of Christ had information 
about God that they could 

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respond to. 
And indeed, people after the 

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time of Christ have information 
about God in working in their 

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hearts that they can respond to,
whether or not they know Jesus. 

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And Vatican 2 did make this 
fairly clear, so I'll read some 

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paragraphs from the catechism 
and you can go a bit deeper on 

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this if you'd like to. 
Paragraph 847. 

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Those who, through no fault of 
their own, do not know Christ in

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his Church, but who nevertheless
seek God with a sincere heart 

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and moved by grace, try in their
actions to do His will as they 

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know it. 
Through the dictates of their 

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conscience, these two may 
achieve eternal salvation. 

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The next paragraph, 848, goes on
to talk about how we don't know 

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exactly how God would bring 
these people to salvation, given

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that the primary way salvation 
happens is through faith in 

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Jesus and the sacraments. 
So we don't know exactly how it 

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will work outside those things. 
But the Catechism does affirm 

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that God can absolutely do that 
because he's not bound to the 

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sacraments. 
Now Georgette goes on. 

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She says, My hypothesis is God 
has a mysterious effect on the 

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nature of time. 
So perhaps during the strange 

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moment between the end of life 
as we know it and the beginning 

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of the Kingdom and or the 
beginning of heaven, God 

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stretches that second out to 
accommodate all the 

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conversations, ponderings and 
questions necessary and then 

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allows them to make up their 
mind. 

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Now that's an interesting 
hypothesis, Georgia, this idea 

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that straight after the moment 
of death, God is able to do some

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things with time and then sort 
of give them some more 

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information to then make a 
decision at that point. 

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That would not be compatible 
with church teaching. 

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That the church's teaching is 
basically that you don't get a 

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second chance after your death. 
The state that your soul was in 

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at the time of your death, that 
state is permanently fixed 

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straight after death. 
So there's no, you can't change 

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your mind after death, even in 
the second, as you describe it 

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here, the second or the 
microsecond in between someone's

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death and their judgement there 
is it's not possible for them to

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make a new decision. 
It's what this decisions the 

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person made prior to their 
death, that's what determines 

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their judgement. 
So although your hypothesis is 

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really good in the sense that 
God can do some interesting 

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things with time, probably he 
can make the effects of prayer 

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transcend into the past and the 
future and all sorts of things 

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like that. 
So I hope that brings clarity to

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your question, Georgette. 
It is a great question and one 

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that a lot of people ask. 
So the next question is from 

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Rebecca. 
It's about the sacrament of 

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confession. 
As a recent Catholic, my 

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transforming Protestant mind 
can't help but ask the question.

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And by the way, it's I can 
totally relate to that. 

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I, I myself had a, a time when I
was Protestant and then as when 

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I was considering coming back to
the Catholic Church, I had a lot

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of questions. 
And sometimes you still kind of 

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operate out of this particular 
way of thinking. 

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That's like a Protestant mindset
where you you want definitive 

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answers to everything. 
And I totally get all that. 

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So she asks, did did Jesus mean 
the disciples, just the 

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disciples? 
Or was the phrase the power to 

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forgive sins meant for all 
Christians? 

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So this is at the end of towards
the end of John's Gospel when 

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Jesus breathes on the apostles 
and says receive the Holy 

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Spirit. 
Whatever sins you forgive are 

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forgiven and whatever sins you 
retain are retained. 

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So she's asking what could this 
be meant for all Christians? 

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The basic answer to that would 
be no. 

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And by the way, the website 
Catholic Answers has some really

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good information about the word,
the Greek words that are used 

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here and how this relates to 
Sacramento theology. 

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A couple of things point us in 
the direction of thinking that 

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this was just for the apostles 
and their successes. 

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Key thing there would be Jesus 
breathes on them. 

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This is a very direct 
supernatural thing where he's 

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almost imparting a a special 
power to them. 

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We know that the apostles 
appointed successes, and that 

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these successes to the apostles 
were the bishops who had 

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particular authority and 
particular abilities to do 

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things in the Church that other 
Christians didn't have. 

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It's reasonable to think that 
the power to forgive sins is one

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of those things that was given 
just to the apostles, just to be

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passed on to their successors. 
Unlike something in the Sermon 

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on the Mount where Jesus chooses
it to be quite a public 

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instructions to all of those who
are present. 

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This is one of these private 
things where, and he does this a

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lot after his death. 
These are private things he just

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wants to give to his apostles 
for them to use as leaders of 

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the church. 
So it's not that the it's not 

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the case that the power to 
forgive sins is given to all 

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Christians. 
It's actually given to a select 

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group, which is then passed on 
to the bishops, and then the 

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bishops can then choose to share
that power with other ordained 

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people, which is what they'd we 
do in the Catholic Church with 

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priests, the power to forgive 
sins is primarily held by the 

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Bishop, and that is then shared 
with the priests. 

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So I know that's only half an 
answer, but I hope it sort of 

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points you in that or gives you 
some hints as to how we get to 

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that answer just by studying the
text itself. 

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But again, I want to reinforce, 
have a look at Catholic answers 

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because that might answer your 
question in a more direct, 

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specific way. 
She goes on to say I'm so 

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grateful to this ministry as it 
has helped me understand the 

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reading of the Bible from a 
Catholic lens, one I was never 

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taught even after attending a 
Christian college and taking 

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Bible courses. 
Thank you so much for those kind

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comments, Rebecca, and I pray 
that this ministry will continue

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to be helpful to you. 
Another question here from 

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Georgette. 
Again, thank you for sending in 

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your questions. 
They're always very thoughtful. 

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She is commenting on the words 
of Jesus, where Jesus says some 

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of you will not taste death 
until all of these things take 

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place. 
And I did mention in in the 

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resources associated with that 
verse, and it does appear across

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the synoptic gospels. 
I did say that there's multiple 

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ways of interpreting what's 
Jesus referring to. 

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And he says some of you here 
will not taste death. 

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I said that a good case can be 
made that that's referring to 

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the middle coming in 70 AD 
because some of Jesus disciples 

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will still be alive at 70 AD. 
And it certainly fits with the 

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context of what Jesus is saying 
there. 

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It could also refer to the 
events associated with his death

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and resurrection because 
certainly some theological, a 

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lot of theological significance 
and eschatological significance 

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is attached to that. 
But her question is, I had 

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initially interpreted that 
portion as if it meant something

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like this. 
Some of these people here will 

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not taste death before entering 
the Kingdom means some will 

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ascend to heaven in their 
earthly bodies like Moses and 

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Elijah. 
You listeners, you'll probably 

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know that Moses and Elijah, or 
we'll take Elijah as an example,

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Elijah did not die and he went 
straight to heaven in his 

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earthly body. 
So Georgette's wondering, could 

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that be what Jesus is saying? 
Well, I don't think it's what 

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Jesus is saying because, well, 
let's look again at what Jesus 

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says here, specifically Matthew 
chapter 16, verses 27 to 28. 

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The Son of Man is going to come 
with his angels in the glory of 

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his Father, and then he'll repay
each person according to what he

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has done. 
Truly, I say to you, there are 

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some standing here who will not 
taste death until they see the 

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Son of Man coming in his 
Kingdom. 

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So the key elements here, 
there's some people that Jesus 

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is speaking to in his crowd who 
will not die before they see the

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Son of Man coming in his 
Kingdom. 

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That could certainly apply to 
Jesus. 

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Death or resurrection could 
apply to some who is still alive

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at 70 AD. 
But Georgette's wondering, could

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that refer to some people there 
who simply didn't die and just 

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were ascended straight to 
heaven? 

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We don't have any record of that
happening. 

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That's the key problem with this
hypothesis. 

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We don't have any record from 
the Bible or church tradition 

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that even the apostles were 
taken straight up to heaven 

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without tasting death. 
They did, in fact, all die 

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before ascending into heaven, as
far as we know. 

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So that would not be a good way 
of explaining what he meant 

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there. 
But Georgette is doing really 

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well to wrestle with this verse 
and to think about different 

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ways of understanding it. 
And that's exactly what we 

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should do as Catholics. 
She goes on to ask some other 

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questions about how can we get 
more information about 70 AD in 

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the middle coming. 
And this is a very common 

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question that I receive because 
there are quite a few places in 

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the Gospels where Jesus talks 
about events that seem to be 

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fulfilled in AD 70 with the 
destruction of the temple after 

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the first Jewish Roman War. 
And a lot of people have never 

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heard this information before. 
So once again, the key resource 

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that I use from a theological 
perspective, from a biblical 

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studies perspective in 
particular, that helps give you 

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some information about AD 70, a 
good book by a Catholic scholar 

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would be Rapture, End Times 
Error That leaves the Bible 

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behind. 
That's what it's called by David

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Currie. 
It goes into what was this 

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Jewish Roman war that we're 
fairly ignorant of and how are 

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various parts of the New 
Testament, including Revelation,

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including Daniel as well in the 
Old Testament and including the 

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Gospels, how are they all 
fulfilled quite specifically in 

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AD 70? 
So I would encourage you to look

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at that book once again, you 
don't have to accept all of the 

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conclusions there because there 
is no official Catholic teaching

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on how exactly Jesus prophecies,
particularly in the Olivet 

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Discourse, are fulfilled. 
But I do think a good case is 

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made there in that book, if you 
want to take a look at it. 

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I've got a question here from 
Robert, who's asking about a 

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bonus episode. 
And these bonus episodes are 

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parts of the gospels that are 
never read at Mass. 

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These are released to Patreon 
supporters of the ministry. 

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So if you've ever wanted to hear
parts of the gospels that you 

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don't get to hear as part of the
regular podcast because they're 

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not covered in Mass, and that is
about 20 or maybe even 25% of 

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the gospels that fits into that 
category. 

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So he's asking about the Luke 
Chapter 9, verses 37 to 43, a 

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bonus episode which is where 
Jesus casts the demon out of the

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boy. 
It's the one where the dad asks 

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on behalf of his son, to help 
cast the demon out of the boy. 

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Now, we do cover Matthew and 
Mark's versions of this as part 

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of the regular podcast, but 
Luke's version of that story is 

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never included in The 
Lectionary. 

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So Robert's question is simply, 
why doesn't the Catholic Church 

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include Luke's version of this 
story? 

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The basic reason is when the 
Lectionary publishes sat down to

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work out what Gospel readings 
are we going to include across 

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the liturgical year, they only 
have a certain number of 

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weekdays to work with, and they 
can't quite fit all of all the 

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sections of all four Gospels in 
reasonable chunks across the 

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entire weekday cycle. 
So there are some parts that 

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have to leave out when it comes 
to Luke's Gospel. 

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Remember that across the 
liturgical year. 

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Across the weekday cycle of the 
liturgical year, Mark's Gospel 

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is read first, then Matthew, and
then Luke. 

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So the idea seems to be from the
perspective of the lectionary 

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publishers, by the time they get
to Luke, they only really want 

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to include hard hitting ones 
that are not that haven't 

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already been included from Mark 
and Matthew's Gospel earlier in 

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the in the liturgical year, 
particularly stories that are 

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included across all three 
gospels. 

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The lectionary publishers felt 
that it's not necessary to to 

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have those, to have that story 
read three times in a liturgical

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cycle. 
So often you'll find there's 

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parts of Luke's Gospel that are 
doubled up in Matthew and Mark 

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that the that the lectionary 
publishers have said it's not 

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necessary to include this and 
instead just focus on the parts 

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of Luke that haven't already 
been covered in Matthew and 

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Mark. 
I hope that makes sense. 

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And it's a very good question. 
There's a question here from Peg

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about an Old Testament passage, 
and I'll just answer this one 

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briefly. 
She says, thanks so much for 

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00:14:28,920 --> 00:14:31,360
this wonderful opportunity to 
learn more about Scripture. 

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00:14:31,720 --> 00:14:34,200
Who do you think the Scripture 
is referring to in Deuteronomy 

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00:14:34,200 --> 00:14:36,360
28 when it mentions the 
foreigners? 

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00:14:36,880 --> 00:14:40,120
So the passage that Peg Peg is 
mentioning here is Deuteronomy 

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28 verses 43 to 45, which says 
the foreigners who reside among 

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you will rise above you higher 
and higher, but you will sink 

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lower and lower and it goes on 
from there. 

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Now always think about the 
context. 

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This is in context where Moses 
is warning about these are 

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curses basically of what will 
happen to the Israelites in the 

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years following the wilderness 
wanderings if they are not 

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obedient to God. 
And one of the curses is the 

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foreigners will rise higher, 
higher than the Jews in their 

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status, and eventually they'll 
basically become slaves of these

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foreigners. 
The basic answer is, who are the

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foreigners? 
It's the nations surrounding 

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Israel. 
You'll know that for most of 

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Israel's history, they are 
surrounded by various different 

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people groups. 
The blessings, on the other 

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00:15:29,960 --> 00:15:33,160
hand, if you look at Deuteronomy
28, the blessings are that if 

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they're Jews of faith, what it 
called, they'll become basically

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the greatest of people and other
foreigners will serve them. 

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00:15:40,760 --> 00:15:42,240
But here it's flipped on its 
head. 

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I hope that gives you a good 
basic answer to that question 

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00:15:45,240 --> 00:15:48,000
from the Old Testament. 
And we do hope to do some 

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00:15:48,000 --> 00:15:51,040
resources on the Old Testament 
eventually as part of the 

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00:15:51,040 --> 00:15:53,240
ministry. 
We've got a good question here 

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00:15:53,240 --> 00:15:56,320
from Vivian who wants to know 
about the rich young ruler, 

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00:15:56,320 --> 00:15:57,600
particularly in Matthew's 
version. 

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00:15:57,600 --> 00:16:01,400
In Matthew chapter 19 she says 
thank you for this enlightening 

295
00:16:01,400 --> 00:16:04,080
exegesis. 
I find it hard to understand 

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00:16:04,080 --> 00:16:06,960
though, that there could be a 
person in the New Testament who 

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00:16:06,960 --> 00:16:10,000
has kept God's commandments 
since his youth. 

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00:16:10,680 --> 00:16:13,800
Does the verse mean that this 
young man has not violated or 

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00:16:13,800 --> 00:16:16,840
sinned against any of the 
commandments literally since his

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00:16:16,840 --> 00:16:19,120
youth? 
This is something we discussed 

301
00:16:19,120 --> 00:16:22,160
in the exegesis. 
Where is it really true that 

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00:16:22,160 --> 00:16:25,920
this man has kept all the 
commandments since his youth? 

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00:16:26,680 --> 00:16:29,560
In that episode I discussed that
it's possible that he's just 

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00:16:30,720 --> 00:16:33,200
deceiving himself where he 
thinks he's kept the 

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00:16:33,200 --> 00:16:35,760
commandments, but he hasn't. 
But that's not what Jesus says 

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00:16:35,760 --> 00:16:39,120
in response. 
Jesus seems to be it doesn't 

307
00:16:39,120 --> 00:16:40,920
seem to deny what the young man 
says. 

308
00:16:40,920 --> 00:16:44,040
He seems to think it's OK for 
the man to think that he's kept 

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00:16:44,040 --> 00:16:46,160
all the commandments. 
So I think the best way to 

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00:16:46,160 --> 00:16:49,920
interpret this is, yes, the man 
has probably, through very good 

311
00:16:49,920 --> 00:16:52,840
teaching, very good raising from
his parents, taken the 

312
00:16:52,840 --> 00:16:55,080
commandments of God seriously 
and has followed them. 

313
00:16:56,120 --> 00:17:00,400
Now, from the perspective of 
Catholic theology, generally, 

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00:17:00,400 --> 00:17:04,720
theologians would say it is 
possible to avoid mortal sin 

315
00:17:06,160 --> 00:17:11,560
through faithful obedience to 
God's law, even if one isn't a 

316
00:17:11,560 --> 00:17:13,680
Christian. 
However, it's not possible to 

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00:17:13,680 --> 00:17:18,599
avoid venial sin unless there's 
a very special grace given from 

318
00:17:18,599 --> 00:17:21,040
God. 
So generally we could, and this 

319
00:17:21,040 --> 00:17:24,480
is just hypothesizing, but we 
could say it's possible for some

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00:17:24,480 --> 00:17:27,880
people to genuinely try and 
follow God as best they can, 

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00:17:27,880 --> 00:17:30,520
even if they don't have the 
fullest revelation of Jesus, and

322
00:17:30,520 --> 00:17:32,840
it's possible for them to avoid 
mortal sin. 

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00:17:33,160 --> 00:17:35,520
This man seems to be an example 
of that. 

324
00:17:36,280 --> 00:17:37,600
That will be my interpretation 
of it. 

325
00:17:37,600 --> 00:17:40,920
This man has kept all of the 
commandments since his youth. 

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00:17:41,360 --> 00:17:45,280
Now, of course, Jesus goes on to
say, well, you've met the basic 

327
00:17:45,280 --> 00:17:47,880
commandments, basic requirements
of the commandments, but there 

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00:17:47,880 --> 00:17:50,320
is more. 
You need to come and follow me. 

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00:17:50,320 --> 00:17:52,680
And in Catholic moral theology, 
that's called the sequela 

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00:17:52,680 --> 00:17:56,000
Christi. 
True perfection means following 

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00:17:56,000 --> 00:17:59,400
Christ, not just doing the bare 
minimum of the commandments. 

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00:17:59,720 --> 00:18:02,680
I hope that gives you an answer 
to, Yeah, a really interesting 

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00:18:02,680 --> 00:18:06,520
question in moral theology. 
So Kathy has submitted a 

334
00:18:06,920 --> 00:18:09,680
question on Patreon. 
And Kathy, thank you so much for

335
00:18:09,680 --> 00:18:12,880
your support of the ministry. 
She says, I've heard your 

336
00:18:12,880 --> 00:18:16,600
exegesis about the Old Testament
text concerning divorce and 

337
00:18:16,600 --> 00:18:19,920
Jesus words in relation to that.
And you would know that that's 

338
00:18:19,920 --> 00:18:23,320
in Matthew 19. 
It's also in Mark's Gospel as 

339
00:18:23,320 --> 00:18:28,000
well, where Jesus basically 
talks about how divorce is not 

340
00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:31,040
part of God's plan. 
So Kathy says, where does 

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00:18:31,040 --> 00:18:32,880
Catholic annulment fit into 
this? 

342
00:18:34,200 --> 00:18:39,400
So annulment or declaration of 
nullity is the correct 

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00:18:39,400 --> 00:18:44,080
terminology in Catholic theology
is a recognition that a marriage

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00:18:44,080 --> 00:18:46,280
never really existed in the 1st 
place. 

345
00:18:46,640 --> 00:18:49,680
So it's not just what some 
people call a Catholic version 

346
00:18:49,680 --> 00:18:52,000
of divorce. 
Catholics don't believe that 

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00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:57,400
divorce is ever at least a real 
divorce is never really 

348
00:18:57,400 --> 00:19:01,000
possible. 
Civil divorce in terms of legal 

349
00:19:02,320 --> 00:19:05,160
government divorce is certainly 
possible, but from a Catholic 

350
00:19:05,160 --> 00:19:09,160
perspective, actual divorce is 
totally contrary to God's will. 

351
00:19:09,520 --> 00:19:12,080
So Catholic annulment is not a 
divorce, it's actually a 

352
00:19:12,080 --> 00:19:15,560
recognition that there never was
a marriage existing in the 1st 

353
00:19:15,560 --> 00:19:17,920
place. 
You can dive into some resources

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00:19:17,920 --> 00:19:20,760
on Canon law to get more 
specifics about that, but I hope

355
00:19:20,760 --> 00:19:22,880
that gives you a basic answer to
the question. 

356
00:19:23,200 --> 00:19:26,480
The Catechism in its section on 
the sacrament of marriage also 

357
00:19:26,480 --> 00:19:28,520
goes into this in a bit of 
detail too. 

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00:19:29,280 --> 00:19:31,080
Lisa has a really good question 
here. 

359
00:19:31,080 --> 00:19:34,040
She says thank you for all 
you're doing, but I'm confused 

360
00:19:34,040 --> 00:19:36,640
by something. 
Jesus was dead for three days 

361
00:19:36,640 --> 00:19:39,160
and three nights. 
He was crucified on Friday and 

362
00:19:39,160 --> 00:19:42,160
rose again on Sunday, fulfilling
the prophecy he spoke about 

363
00:19:42,160 --> 00:19:44,920
himself. 
For as Jonah was three days and 

364
00:19:44,920 --> 00:19:48,400
three nights in the belly of a 
huge fish, so the Son of Man 

365
00:19:48,400 --> 00:19:50,920
will be 3 days and three nights 
in the heart of the earth. 

366
00:19:51,360 --> 00:19:53,560
And that's from Matthew chapter 
12, verse 40. 

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00:19:54,560 --> 00:19:57,880
But if you if he was crucified 
on Friday and rose on Sunday, 

368
00:19:57,880 --> 00:20:01,360
that's only two nights. 
So that's a really good question

369
00:20:01,360 --> 00:20:03,440
from Lisa. 
This is something we actually do

370
00:20:03,440 --> 00:20:06,520
address in that episode from 
Matthew chapter 12, verse 40. 

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00:20:07,480 --> 00:20:11,160
Because if you read this from a 
Western lens, 3 days and three 

372
00:20:11,160 --> 00:20:14,920
nights means essentially 4 days.
That's that's how we count days 

373
00:20:14,920 --> 00:20:17,760
from a Western perspective. 
But from a 1st century Jewish 

374
00:20:17,760 --> 00:20:21,520
perspective, they considered 
parts of days to count as a day 

375
00:20:22,600 --> 00:20:25,960
so you can actually fit. 
Three days and three nights 

376
00:20:26,640 --> 00:20:32,120
across Good Friday and Easter 
Sunday to Easter Sunday in the 

377
00:20:32,120 --> 00:20:34,760
Jewish way of thinking about 
things in terms of parts of 

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00:20:34,760 --> 00:20:37,880
days, particularly when you're 
also factor in that for the 

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00:20:37,880 --> 00:20:41,520
Jewish perspective, their day 
started at sundown. 

380
00:20:41,800 --> 00:20:45,480
So all of that. 
Catholic biblical scholars have 

381
00:20:45,480 --> 00:20:50,160
shown this quite clearly that it
does still meet the requirement 

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00:20:50,160 --> 00:20:54,280
of three days and three nights. 
So Catholic Answers has a quick 

383
00:20:54,280 --> 00:20:58,080
page called How to Count 3 days.
There's some other websites that

384
00:20:58,080 --> 00:21:01,640
go into this as well. 
The biblical scholar RT France 

385
00:21:01,640 --> 00:21:05,720
says this three days and three 
nights was a Jewish idiom to a 

386
00:21:05,720 --> 00:21:09,640
period covering only two nights.
And that's in his commentary on 

387
00:21:09,640 --> 00:21:12,360
the Gospel of Matthew. 
So this has been fairly well 

388
00:21:12,360 --> 00:21:15,440
answered and I hope that gives 
you a good answer to that 

389
00:21:15,440 --> 00:21:17,000
question. 
Lisa, thank you for sending it 

390
00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:19,600
in. 
Quick question here from Nikki. 

391
00:21:20,600 --> 00:21:23,120
She wants to know is there a 
study Bible that I recommend? 

392
00:21:23,400 --> 00:21:25,680
This is something that I talk 
about in the behind the scenes 

393
00:21:25,680 --> 00:21:29,400
episode on Patreon. 
So if you are a supporter at any

394
00:21:29,400 --> 00:21:32,400
level on Patreon, there is a 
behind the scenes episode where 

395
00:21:32,400 --> 00:21:35,680
I talk about myself, the history
of the ministry, the way I go 

396
00:21:35,680 --> 00:21:40,920
about studying scripture and 
doing these exegesis episodes. 

397
00:21:41,400 --> 00:21:45,120
So the a good brief study Bible 
or a not in depth one is the 

398
00:21:45,120 --> 00:21:47,840
Ignatius Catholic Study Bible. 
You'll hear many Catholic 

399
00:21:47,840 --> 00:21:51,800
websites talking about this this
Bible, and it is very good. 

400
00:21:52,320 --> 00:21:56,160
It doesn't always give you notes
for every single verse, so it's 

401
00:21:56,160 --> 00:21:59,000
not quite at the level of detail
that we do in this podcast, but 

402
00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:02,040
it's a very good study Bible 
that gives you most of what you 

403
00:22:02,040 --> 00:22:04,840
need to know to understand the 
context of most parts of the 

404
00:22:04,840 --> 00:22:07,920
gospels and Scripture. 
And if you want to go a bit 

405
00:22:07,920 --> 00:22:11,200
further, the main verse by verse
commentary that I would 

406
00:22:11,200 --> 00:22:14,720
recommend is it's called the 
Catholic Commentary on on Sacred

407
00:22:14,720 --> 00:22:19,800
Scripture by Baker Academic 
Publishing, which has a volume, 

408
00:22:20,120 --> 00:22:23,440
a verse by verse commentary 
volume for every single book of 

409
00:22:23,440 --> 00:22:25,280
the New Testament. 
And I would definitely recommend

410
00:22:25,280 --> 00:22:26,440
that too. 
I hope that helps. 

411
00:22:26,440 --> 00:22:29,360
Nikki, We have a question here 
from Vanessa. 

412
00:22:29,360 --> 00:22:31,560
She says I'm Portuguese and 
Catholic. 

413
00:22:31,720 --> 00:22:34,000
I've been listening to your 
podcast and I love it. 

414
00:22:34,080 --> 00:22:36,520
Thank you so much for your 
initiative and dedication to 

415
00:22:36,520 --> 00:22:39,200
this project. 
It truly draws me closer to 

416
00:22:39,280 --> 00:22:41,240
Jesus. 
Thank you for that wonderful 

417
00:22:41,240 --> 00:22:44,920
feedback, Vanessa. 
She says I have one question or 

418
00:22:44,920 --> 00:22:47,240
doubt about the gifts given to 
the early church. 

419
00:22:47,240 --> 00:22:50,080
She's talking here about gifts 
of healing and speaking in 

420
00:22:50,080 --> 00:22:52,400
tongues. 
You mentioned in your exegesis 

421
00:22:52,400 --> 00:22:55,840
that scholars seem to agree that
some gifts, like the miracles 

422
00:22:56,080 --> 00:22:58,160
were given especially to the 
early church. 

423
00:22:59,080 --> 00:23:01,960
But whenever I have contact with
the charismatic movement, I can 

424
00:23:01,960 --> 00:23:04,840
witness the gifts that the book 
of Acts describes or the Gospel 

425
00:23:04,840 --> 00:23:08,880
of Mark. 
Mark chapter 16 verse 17 talks 

426
00:23:08,880 --> 00:23:12,240
about this. 
When it is written, these signs 

427
00:23:12,240 --> 00:23:13,760
will accompany those who 
believe. 

428
00:23:13,760 --> 00:23:16,960
Couldn't it also be about us? 
This is something that I do 

429
00:23:16,960 --> 00:23:20,360
address in these exegesis 
episodes and we'll go into more 

430
00:23:20,360 --> 00:23:23,240
detail in the book of Acts. 
When we look at our exegesis on 

431
00:23:23,240 --> 00:23:28,080
Acts, basically you're right. 
The the middle ground position 

432
00:23:28,080 --> 00:23:32,760
that I would propose here is 
that God gave the charismatic 

433
00:23:33,120 --> 00:23:36,600
gifts for the Apostolic period 
in a very concentrated specific 

434
00:23:36,920 --> 00:23:42,520
way where quite a lot of 
Christians were able to use 

435
00:23:42,520 --> 00:23:45,560
these gifts as a way of getting 
the church movement off the 

436
00:23:45,560 --> 00:23:47,080
ground. 
This is what God wanted. 

437
00:23:47,080 --> 00:23:51,080
He wanted to have very strong 
presence of these spiritual 

438
00:23:51,080 --> 00:23:53,680
gifts in the early church. 
The spiritual gifts continue 

439
00:23:53,680 --> 00:23:57,200
today in the church, but perhaps
not at the same intensity. 

440
00:23:57,480 --> 00:24:00,960
So that would be the way that I 
would describe that where the 

441
00:24:00,960 --> 00:24:03,840
spiritual gifts are indeed 
available to the church today. 

442
00:24:03,840 --> 00:24:06,440
And that's what you would, you 
seem to be encountering in the 

443
00:24:06,440 --> 00:24:09,560
charismatic movement, but 
perhaps with a different focus, 

444
00:24:09,560 --> 00:24:13,400
maybe with a different purpose. 
A lot more has been written 

445
00:24:13,400 --> 00:24:15,320
about this. 
You'll hear Catholic scholars 

446
00:24:15,360 --> 00:24:17,000
having different opinions about 
this. 

447
00:24:17,600 --> 00:24:20,280
But I hope that that sort of 
middle ground position helps you

448
00:24:20,280 --> 00:24:24,040
make sense of the biblical 
texts, keeping in mind that they

449
00:24:24,040 --> 00:24:27,200
were written, particularly that 
phrase from Matthew, chapter 16,

450
00:24:27,200 --> 00:24:32,040
verse 17 was written primarily 
for the apostles and those in 

451
00:24:32,040 --> 00:24:36,280
the early generations. 
But it also, as you say, does 

452
00:24:36,280 --> 00:24:39,840
apply to all Christians as well.
So I hope that gives you a good 

453
00:24:39,840 --> 00:24:42,160
answer, Vanessa. 
So we'll leave it there for 

454
00:24:42,160 --> 00:24:46,040
today for our Q&A episode. 
We've got quite a few more 

455
00:24:46,040 --> 00:24:49,320
questions to get through and 
we'll do more of these bonus Q&A

456
00:24:49,400 --> 00:24:51,800
episodes. 
I love hearing from you. 

457
00:24:51,800 --> 00:24:54,360
Please keep sending your 
questions in and I'll get to 

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00:24:54,360 --> 00:24:56,200
them. 
It may not be straight away, but

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00:24:56,200 --> 00:24:57,920
we will. 
I will respond to them. 

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00:24:58,440 --> 00:25:01,040
Keep an ear out for other bonus 
episodes in the future. 

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00:25:01,960 --> 00:25:04,320
And we're going to talk about 
some other projects that the 

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ministry is going to work on as 
well. 

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00:25:07,040 --> 00:25:10,040
There's more good things coming 
from Logical Bible Study. 

464
00:25:10,040 --> 00:25:13,520
And thank you so much for those 
of you who listen to this 

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00:25:13,520 --> 00:25:15,400
ministry and tell other people 
about it. 

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00:25:15,760 --> 00:25:17,440
That does make a massive 
difference. 

467
00:25:17,760 --> 00:25:20,480
I want to keep encouraging you 
to leave reviews on Apple 

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00:25:20,480 --> 00:25:23,080
Podcasts and other platforms 
that you can use to leave 

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00:25:23,080 --> 00:25:26,640
reviews and if you can support 
the ministry as well. 

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00:25:26,640 --> 00:25:29,600
And there'll be a link to that 
in the episode description. 

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00:25:30,360 --> 00:25:32,520
Thanks once again. 
I hope these audio resources 

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continue to help you in your 
journey drawing closer to God. 

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00:25:36,040 --> 00:25:38,520
And we'll continue with the 
regular podcast episodes 

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00:25:38,520 --> 00:25:39,080
tomorrow.