Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:06] Speaker B: Welcome to the Truth Exchange Podcast. This is a weekly program with Dr. Jeffrey J. Ventrella where he answers questions from subscribers around the globe, answering questions about worldview, cultural apologetics and other miscellaneous items. I'm your host, Joshua Gilo, and this is another edition of the Director's Bag.
A few social media posts and requests to clarify on the last portion of the dicta that went out this past week on the subtitle of Paul's Apostolic Authority, the question is, was this last section of the dicta related to the notion that the Apostle Paul had others write the epistles for him, or that they were to be read by others in him to to the congregation as compared to President Biden's use of the auto pen?
[00:00:59] Speaker A: Yes, well, I appreciate the question. I think that in the interest of time, I constricted a full blown exposition of that. I had it in a footnote. The point being is that if one were to argue that the use of the auto pen somehow lacked presidential authority, one would also have to argue that Paul's use of a manu essence, which is a great trivia question. By the way, who actually wrote the book of Romans? Well, Paul's the author, but the person who wrote it is Tertius. Romans 16:22. And so the point would be that because Paul used Tertius to write down the words, all of a sudden, can we say the epistle lacks apostolic authority? No, that'd be absurd. And the same way in this case, a ministerial event like being a scrivener does not in any way undermine the actual authority nor the Arthurial intent of what's going on there. And so that was the real point there, that Paul's apostolic authority was in no way diminished by the fact that he used the available cultural tools like an Imanuensis or a scrivener to convey what the Spirit had revealed to him.
[00:02:16] Speaker B: Indeed. Blake from USC writes. Dr. Ventrella, I'm a sophomore at USC and I have begun to take classes on psychology. Some of them I can see right away the stark contrast of the pagan worldview, which I thankfully learned to discern from you and the writings of Dr. Peter Jones. I recently joined a Christian college ministry on campus and I'm a bit let down by the number of students who, while profess the same faith, have also been in support of LGBTQ as well as other abortion issues. I would appreciate your prayers and thoughts about how I can confront these issues in a Christian way.
[00:02:55] Speaker A: So that's a very important question. And thank you for writing. Thank you for understanding the background of that Blake, I'm not sure if he's talking about South Carolina or Southern California or. Or Southern Colorado, but I have been on all those campuses.
[00:03:13] Speaker B: I think USC is the official USC being in South Carolina.
[00:03:18] Speaker A: Oh wow, the Gamecocks. Well, here's the sad, the sad reality is that many Christian groups are nominally Christian in their Christian ethics. They have an overemphasis on so called personal evangelism and which tends to diminish the lordship of Christ as applies to every square inch of reality. And that's unfortunate, is a truncated gospel at that point. So how, excuse me, how can you engage with these people? Well, if they are professing believers, as you say they are, then you need to address them with kind of an open Bible and be patient with them. Take, take them to these issues. When they make an assertion. You want to ask questions with a spirit of inquiry as opposed to a spirit of accusation. But one of the things you can do. You mentioned two particular issues, LGBTQ as well as abortion. I would encourage you to look at perhaps the most ancient non inspired Christian document that we have called the Didache. It's spelled D I D A, C H E. It looks like Didachi, but it's pronounced the Didache.
That was composed perhaps as early as 70 or 72 AD. And in there it collects the apostles teaching as what governed the church.
And interestingly, it talks about the way of life and the way of death. And part of the way of death it specifically calls out not only infanticide but, but abortion as well as homosexual behavior. These are not new issues. They didn't arise with the sexual revolution. The sinfulness of man stems from idolatry. And as Paul tells us that idolatry issues itself in unrighteous practices. And chief among those unrighteous practices includes sexual misbehavior. And so the early church recognized this and really allowed us to have clarity as to where the ditches are, not only in what we believe, how we practice sacramentally, when we gather together and the ethics that we conduct. And so I think it's very important to recognize that. And then there's also evidence, there's a letter to Diogenus that he talks about a number of sorts of things, the author there, and he speaks of the distinction that Christians have in their community. We share everything, but we don't share our marital beds. You know, there's a great line like that. And so this sexual ethic issue is as old as Christianity itself. In fact, it's as old as creation itself because it stems from the creational norms, which is what Paul articulates in Romans, chapter one. I hope that helps. You know, we've got some. Maybe we can put those links, because this stuff is available online and you can pull that up and begin sharing it with some of your friends. But at some point, you'll probably have to talk to the leaders of this group and just get there and get their understanding of it, because oftentimes what happens in these campus groups, and now I've got my lawyer hat on, they will, they will say that the leaders have to agree with these Christian ethics, but that anyone can come. That's not a bad idea because they can hear then a presentation of the. Of the truth. So I would ask that, is it the leaders that are saying these things? Are they the one tolerating these things? Or on the other side of it, do we have just inquirers who claim to be Christian that are just very uninformed and not well formed spiritually? If it's the latter case, and we want to bear with them and help them along, however, if your leaders are in a compromised position or are willing to be silent, that's a very separate issue and a very serious issue. Like at Truth Exchange, we hope to be scholarly, serious and scriptural. And you ought to expect the campus leaders to have that same vibe. So, Blake, let us know how it's going and let us know how we can help you.
[00:07:39] Speaker B: Indeed, and we will continue to pray for you, Blake, as well, Catherine from San Diego, California. She writes. Dear txc, this question is for the director's bag, and thank you for your ministry. My son was asked to participate in his drama class as a woman character, and I wondered what a Christian worldview like this would be. In the past, it was not uncommon for men to play the role of women. And maybe it was not as sexualized as it is today. If it is wrong, how can I encourage him to stand up and respectfully decline, knowing this will probably out him, out him in some way?
[00:08:18] Speaker A: I. I am assuming, and I thank you for the question, that this is a public school of some sort. And it depends, I think, on a lot of issues. Ultimately, it depends on one's conscience as to whether you're going to be comfortable doing that. The beauty of drama or being in a play is that everyone knows it's a male playing female. And that may be part of the gag or part of the story that's going on there. Someone's in disguise. I think, of, you know, man of La Mancha, the musical has some Things like that. People are disguised and sometimes they're disguised sex with their sexualities disguised as well. And so I think it depends upon, you know, the nature of the drama. Is it a romantic piece? Would it require romantic engagement with someone of the same sex while playing in opposite sex? I think that would be a line you'd want to go, no, I'm not really comfortable with that. Touching or perhaps doing a stage kiss with a same sex person that's not, you know, familial. You know, two Italian guys hugging and kissing each other on the cheek is a very different thing. Or even on the lips. It's a very different cultural thing than a romantic thing that goes on. So you have to situate it in what's going on there culturally as well.
I think also there's a age propriety here. If your son is 10, that's very different than if they're 17.
I think you want to be very careful with the formation and the mixed messages. Can you really explain to your son what's going on here? That being said, playing pretend is actually a very good thing for one's moral imagination. If it's not a sexualized role, for example, oftentimes in putting together Tinkerbell, there's usually a. A male playing Tinkerbell. That's happened a lot. Peter Pan the same way.
That's for a lot of different reasons. But I think you have to look at it and say, okay, does this have, you know, sexual overtones or that sort of thing? Or is it just part of the comedic vibe that they're trying to establish? And then I'd ask, probably I'd ask the teacher, why, why my son has this role, not some other role, is because someone's using sexual stereotypes? Is someone trying to groom or quote, affirm them into a different thing? So I think if it's a public school situation, you need to be alert to that. So I would not give it a, oh, yeah, it doesn't really matter. I think you have to ask some very probing questions, again in a spirit of inquiry, but not in a spirit of accusation as of this point. But the parents control that. The parents control the upbringing and care of their children. And they have a right to opt out of certain. If this is part of the curricula or whatever. So I think that's kind of the spectrum there. What do you think, Joshua?
[00:11:12] Speaker B: You've heard the text in Deuteronomy where it says a man shall not put on women's clothing. And you know, in American films or plays, you're familiar with the trope where the good guy is trying to get away from the bad guys and he's dressing up as a woman, and there's usually a bit of comic hilarity that ensues where the bad guy falls for him and he's trying to get away from the bad guy kind of thing. Espionage.
And I've often thought about that text and it's like, well, it's good trying to overthrow evil. And so in that text I don't think that would apply per se too. Whereas I think what the heart of the matter, like the Deuteronomy passage is more dealing with sexual perversion versus kind of that trope of espionage or escape or trying to confuse the enemy, as it were.
[00:12:08] Speaker A: I think that's exactly right.
That verse is very different than playing a different role by using a wardrobe. That's a very different thing. And I think that we ought not to shoehorn that verse into this particular context. So I think that we're on the same page with respect to that.
[00:12:32] Speaker B: This concludes a recording of the Director's Bag. For more resources from Truth Exchange, please visit us online at www.truthexchange.com. you can follow us on X as well as Facebook for more updates, updates and content related to Truth Exchange. Be sure to join us next week for more questions from the Director's Bag. I'm your host Joshua Gilo, and this is the Truth Exchange Podcast.
