Transcription
All right, Joe Rogan has finally admitted what many of us have known. Okay, this is the first time he's admitted it. He's talked about it a couple times. Uh, the idea that Joe Rogan seems to have been consistently going to church. And let me just say, let me just say, we called it. We called it. We've been talking about Joe Rogan's journey to faith as the biggest podcast in the world, platforming other guys like Wes Huff and uh, Dr. Steven Meyer. And so this is really cool.
So he had the guys on from Trigonomics. Uh, I think that's the name of the channel. I've been watching them lately. It's obviously really weird how YouTube's been working their stuff up to me. And I've been enjoying it a lot. And they start in this conversation by generally talking about the net positive of faith in general, but then more specifically uh of church. Okay.
So, shout out to uh, Francis Foster and Constantine Kissing, who by the way had a conversation with my buddy Glenn Scriber uh several years ago that and was seemed very turned off to faith. And now these guys who again I think run the trigonometry YouTube channel uh are openly and seemingly embracing faith. So check, let's check this out. This is at the 2-hour and 46-minute mark.
>> And it makes me realize and understand that what I'm going through is part of his plan. It's part of his plan.
>> Yeah. If you really do believe that it definitely will help you.
>> I haven't got there but I have started going to church every now and again.
>> Yeah. Do you enjoy it?
>> I love it.
>> Yeah.
So, he said, "Going to church every now and again." So, that's awesome. And again, that's Constantine. Shout out to these guys. Uh, heads up if you're watching this live.
>> Might be a little bit of profanity on this. We'll try to keep it uh clean.
>> Expitive.
>> So, he says he's been going to church and he enjoys it. It's a I do too. It's a bunch of people that are going to try to make their lives better. They're trying to be a better person.
>> And they're trying to I mean, for me at least, the place that I go to, they, you know, they read and um analyze passages in the Bible. I'm really interested in what these people were trying to say.
Okay. So Joe says they're reading and trying to analyze passages of the Bible. Why is this significant? What he's describing is what we call exegesis. Exegesis. It's it's going through the scriptures verse by verse and attempting to contextualize it in the proper sense of what the writers were trying to get across. So all this like, hey, three talk, you know, three-point sermons and this sort of stuff like that stuff is awesome. And I and I love the topical messages, but what's intriguing is to hear someone who's curious like Joe talk about expository Bible teaching, trying to exposit what the scriptures teach.
So, let's get back to this conversation. So, Joe says he enjoys expository Bible teaching. I love this. Um, analyze passages in the Bible. I'm really interested in what these people were trying to say.
>> Because I don't think it's nothing. There's a lot of like atheists and secular people that just like to dismiss Christianity as being foolish. You know, it's just fairy tales. I hear that amongst, you know, self-professed intelligent people. Like it's it's a fair.
>> I like how you say self-professed intelligent people.
>> Fairy tale. Like.
>> I don't know that's true. Um, I I think I think there's more to it. I think it's history, but I think it's a confusing history. It's a confusing history because it was a long time ago and it's people telling things in an oral tradition and writing things down in a language that you don't understand in the context of a culture that you don't understand. And I think there's something to what they're saying.
>> I think there's a reason why they all have a flood myth.
I think. Okay, so he's getting into flood myths and all that sort of stuff, but this is one of I want to point out, Joe, and this is one of my favorite uh Bible verses. I've been writing this down. Anyone that's gotten a copy of uh godly ambition and met me in person at one of the book lock event, book launch, book launch events is I usually sign it and I'll put this verse, Matthew 7:7. Uh, one of my favorite verses, a great verse to memorize too. You know, this, the 77. I'm not like a numerology guy, but um, ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be open to you. For everyone who asks receives. The one who seeks finds. And the one who knocks, the door will be open.
This is actually one of the verses that as I was coming to faith in Jesus, I just said, man, I'm going to continue seeking God at his word, applying it to the best of my ability. And the wild part is faith. Faith, a simple way to describe it is a confidence spectrum. It's a trust, right? That as you're placing your faith in Jesus, you are moving along from reason, which is initially what got me going to church, apologetics, reading the new evidence that demands a verdict, moving along from reason to faith. And then every single person has to make that jump from reason to faith. And any worldview, like any worldview, there is a jumping off point from reason to faith. And the beautiful part about Jesus is that Jesus is not afraid of our hard questions. Jesus is not afraid of flood myths. He's not afraid of any of this stuff. Jesus unapologetically says, "Hey, ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be open to you. For everyone who who asks receives. The one who seeks finds. And the one who knocks, the door will be open."
As a Joe Rogan, uh, as a Constantine, as these folks are seeking and leaning into what do the scriptures teach, as they're doing these things, they are moving, in my opinion, closer to an encounter with God that removes you from reason to faith. And faith is not just blind faith. There's good reasons to believe what we believe. But I do think that in my life, what I've discovered is the more I've walked out in faith, starting from reason, walking into faith, the certainty comes on the hindsight of faith, meaning that the more I apply God's ways, the more I live out God's ways and God's principles, the more certain I become in hindsight.
This is interesting because he brings up the Great Isaiah Scroll and Qumran here. Okay, this is pretty fire. Watch this.
>> Like, I hope somebody finds this someday. And then thousands of years later, someone does. They find these ancient scrolls and they pull them out and they're they're versions of stories from the Bible. So these people have been telling these same stories for thousands of years. Like, well, okay, what were they trying to say? That's what's interesting to me.
>> I don't think it's nothing.
>> No.
>> I think there's something to it. And there's a reason why it resonates with people. And Christianity in particular is the most fascinating to me because.
>> There's this one person that everybody agrees existed that somehow or another had the best plan for how human beings should interact with each other and behave.
And by the way, by by everyone existing, he means history acknowledges Jesus. Non-Christian religions like Islam and Judaism acknowledge Jesus. He holds very high positions in Islam, oddly enough, even though they don't believe he's the son of God, and they don't believe that he died on the cross. They don't believe he rose, but they do believe he's returning. So that's interesting. The Jews are expecting a political kingdom Messiah to come at some point. Generally speaking, you're right. Some Jews that are like, "Oh, it's a generation. The Messiah is a generation." But they do they are also expecting a Messiah. I think they missed the first one, you know, and so they're expecting a Messiah. Jesus is that Messiah in my opinion, clear as day in the scriptures, all the prophecies fulfilled.
So, so, so Joe is kind of cooking here, guys.
>> Was the best example of it and even died in a nonviolent way. Didn't even protest. Died on the cross supposedly for our sins. Like, it's a fascinating story.
>> What does it represent though? That's the real thing. What was that? Like, what happened? Who was Jesus Christ if it was a human being? What was that? That's wild.
>> Well, Jordan's idea, as I understand it, is that the point of the of the story, if you like, is it's about voluntary self-sacrifice. It's about the fact that to have a good society, people have to be willing to sacrifice something of themselves.
>> For.
>> Yeah.
So, he's pointing out Jordan Peterson's idea and and and I would say this, that it's it's actually better than that. If we look at 1 John 3:16, this is how we know what love is. Jesus Christ laid Jesus Christ laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need and has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? So yes, that is a application of that. Sure. But it's bigger than that. It's it's it's even greater than just that. Uh, who is Jesus? I think Jesus tells you who he is repeatedly, right? He tells you um who he is in John 14:6. Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." That's an exclusive claim that Jesus is making here. If you really knew me, if you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do not uh from now on you do know him and have seen him.
So, when we look at these words, the way, this is why I love our our trusty Logos Bible software. Um, they give a free 60-day uh trial for all you guys. But one of the favorite things I love being able to do is look at the original word, right?
>> Hos, the way, the highway, the way, the trip, the journey, the path, right? To walk on the roads.
So, when Jesus says he is the way, he is the road, he is the direction. Okay? And you could also see the other times that word way is used uh in the scripture. Sometimes it's used as walk. And then if we go back here, we can look up the word truth. Now, this is the trippy one, right? Watch this. When you look up the word truth, you see that it is.
>> Alētheia.
>> Alētheia, truthfulness, dependability, uprightness, truth, reality.
When Jesus is saying I am the way and the truth, he is saying I am reality. I am what makes sense of the world. And this is why the Christian worldview is being acknowledged right now even by non-Christians that are saying, "Hey, there's something to this Jesus character. I don't know what it is, but the story, the story that is fact, right?" C.S. Lewis says that that the Christian story is the myth, and by myth, he means story, the myth that's fact, the myth that's true, that this story actually makes the most sense of reality. It makes the most sense of our experience here and now as humans. It makes the most sense of what it is that we're going through. Because if you have nothing to anchor your epistemic knowledge of epistemic, just mean like how do you know what you know? How do you know anything? How do you know this isn't a simulation right now? How do you know that we're not in a video game? You don't really know anything. But if you anchor your epistemic reality in Jesus, all of a sudden everything clicks. All of a sudden everything makes sense.
And Jordan Peterson, yeah, like we get it. Jesus is the ultimate sacrifice and therefore the application point is we are to sacrifice ourselves. Okay. Yes, that's great. One sacrifice for the greater good community. We can we can extract that. But it's even better than that. That Jesus comes, lives the life we should we we couldn't live, dies the death that we should have died on the cross in our place for our sins, rises on the third day, conquering death, demons, destructions, and then reorienting us, replacing us in a stand where we are now reconciled back to God. We're now in a right standing with God because of what he did on the cross. That that that's the that's the point of it all. It's not just to say, "Man, there's there's a beautiful avatar for courage in, you know, uh, what Jesus did. There's a great avatar for virtue." Like, there is. Yeah. Self-sacrificing. All of that is true. But it's even better than that. It's even better than that. It's not just a man, a guy lived a perfect life and died. No, no, he lived. But then there's something transcendent to that. That the that the God-man steps into human history. That this would be the equivalent of Shakespeare writing himself into Hamlet, right? Like this is this is pretty wild that that he's breaking the fourth wall, if you will, stepping into human existence, living the life that we all live, probably dealing with similar temptations, right? I think is it Hebrews that says that he he's also experienced temptation and yet shows us that this life could be lived in a virtuous way. But it doesn't just stop there. It also goes on to a sacrificial display of his life for our sins and then rising on a third day. And that rising on a third day, that is where the defeat of death happens. That is where the substitution um and the dying for our sins happens, right? To be justified, to be in a legal uh place rightly positioned with God. And then to be filled with the Holy Spirit, have new desires, new hearts, and the power to obey God. That's the beautiful part about all of this that I think so many people uh, you know, they're looking for a practical solution to life, missing that sometimes the practical is the downstream effects of the supernatural. The practical is the downstream effects of having a new heart transformed from the inside out. And once you have a new heart, then your behavior is adjusted. Right?
Let me let me put it to you guys this way. And again, if you're just tuning in, let me know where you guys are watching this uh from. I'd love to hear from you. Shout out to my man Apologia Center. Uh, this is Philippians chapter 2:12. It says, "Dear friends, you always follow my instructions when I was with you. And now that I'm away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear." All my Catholic brothers and sisters and my Orthodox are like, "Yeah, work out your salvation. Work hard to show the results of your salvation." The next verse says, though, "For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him." We work out what God has worked in. God has worked in our hearts, given us new hearts, given us new desires. Now, where does that come from? Well, I thought you'd never ask. Let me help you guys out. This is one of my uh favorite verses as well from the Old Testament. This is an apocalyptic piece of literature. Ezekiel 36:26 says, "I will give you a new heart." Not not the organ, but I'll give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh and I will put my spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws." This is a foreshadowing of what happens in salvation. For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him. Isn't it good how it all connects, right? That that it's all connected, that it's not compartmentalized. And so God is giving us a new heart. What does that word heart mean? Well, it doesn't mean your organ. Let's look it up in the original Hebrew. We see this word heart. It is.
>> Lev, one's inner self, inclination, disposition, your inner man, your mind, right? It it is it is what is ultimately driving you. Uh, sometimes it's used as courage, right? That's that's interesting.
And so God is giving us a new heart. I'll give you a new heart. This is prophetically speaking. I'll give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will remove from your your heart of stone and will give you a heart of flesh and I will put my spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my commands. Now again, if we jump over to Ephesians chapter 2, we also see this idea that we are spiritually dead. You used to live in sin just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil and the commander of uh, the powers in the unseen realm. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of people who will uh, who who refuse to obey God. All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires, inclinations um of our sinful nature. By our very nature, we were uh subject to God's anger, just like everyone else. But God, rich in his mercy, loved us so much that even though we were dead, dead hearts, dead spirits, even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. It is only by God's grace that you have been saved. For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ. That it is his kindness that takes the spiritually dead, that gives us restoration, gives us a new heart, gives us a new spirit, gives us a new trajectory, gives us a new inner man. Right? This is in this is incredibly good news. This is incredibly good news. And so you see how this connects with this passage, right? New heart, new spirit, and the power to obey him. You see how that connects to what we saw in Philippians. And then here's here's a big punch line. This is like I love Jordan Peterson, but if we're missing this, if we're missing this, we're missing the forest for the trees. We're missing the fruit of Christianity while ignoring the root of Christianity, right? Excuse me. We're loving the fruit of Christianity while while ignoring the root of Christianity. The root of Christianity is this. God saved you by his grace when you believed and you can't take credit for this. It is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done. So none of us can boast about it. For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us a new in Christ Jesus so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
Right? God saves us by grace. Grace is a gift. It is not something we did to deser to to earn it. Um, we can't take credit for it. It is from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done. Um, so we shouldn't be boasting about our Christianity and how how good we are because we're Christians, right? Um, but here's here's the punch line. For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us a new, new hearts, new desires, new trajectory, created us a new in Christ Jesus so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Let me tell you something. If you're watching this video, I'm going to hit you with the everyone under the sound of my voice. If you're if you're with me right now, listen to me. God created good things for you to do that he planned long ago. God created good things for you and me to do that he planned long ago. And that's not works-based salvation. We don't work for grace. We work from grace. And when you work from grace, when you work from acceptance, when you work from his kindness, from his mercy, that the fact that you are already welcomed into the family of God, when you work from that, from a place of gratitude, from a place of man, I can't believe he laid it all down to reconcile me. When we do that, when we do that, I believe that's that that's that sweet spot that many of us are trying to discover. Whether that's your calling or your purpose in life or what are you supposed to be doing? It's actually doing the good work that God has planned for you long ago. Long ago. And that's that's the beauty of all this is it's not just, hey, I'm just going to say yes or no, true or false, to these claims about Jesus dying for my sins and rising on the third day. No, no, no. That that that that it that's just the beginning. That if I believe these things, I place my trust in these things and I start working out what God has worked in. Then I get aligned with his ways and I can walk out this verse that he has created us a new in Christ Jesus so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. He planned for us long ago. And the and the idea in terms of hey avoiding the guilt of not doing enough. This is this is not about doing. This is not about performing. This is not about striving. It is actually about abiding. Abiding in Jesus, abiding and producing good fruit when we're a part of his vine. And so like like I'm trying to it's hard to even articulate this with words, but what I'm basically getting at is this. My son doesn't have to perform or feel guilty that he's not doing enough for me. My son is my son and from the overflow of my relationship with him, he's a good son because he has a good father and therefore he's obedient. Therefore, when it's time to go take a shower and and and cleanse your body from the filth that you've gotten yourself into, he listens and he goes takes a shower. When it's when it's time to brush your teeth, he brushes his teeth. When it's time to go to bed and get refreshed, he goes to bed and gets prep. So, so he's not performing and doing these things. So, so there shouldn't be any guilt or shame. And when he falls short or when he doesn't perform to the degree that man, I I wish he would have performed because he's still my son. He's still my son. He's still my own. And that's the that's the beautiful part in all this conversation, man, is that um if you place your faith in Jesus, you're God's kid. And if you're God's kid, um there's nothing you could do to make God love you anymore. And there's nothing you can do to make God love you any less. And in that, from the overflow of that, from the kindness of that, you can work out what God has worked in. And that, friends, that's the good news. So it's even better. It's even better than uh the brothers from trigonometry and Joe Rogan can imagine that it's even better than.