How did you come to Christ?
We’ve got a lot of new Ask Dr. E’s listeners around these parts and we thought we’d give Michael 10 minutes to tell you a little bit more about himself and how He came to know the Lord.
Since I heard you teach on Moody Radio as President of Moody Bible, I have been studying mostly from NASB. I preferred it to all other versions before I heard you, but when I heard your reasons for preferring it over others I was even more convinced it was the best. Even when the ESV seemed to be the “chosen” one by our beloved Dr. Lutzer I stuck with my NASB. The past few weeks I have been studying Romans 7:14 thru chapter 8. I like how the ESV Is written for these verses.
Do you still think the NASB is the closest to the original text?
The NASB and the King James are called Formal Equivalency
Then there are Dynamic Equivalency translations.
There’s no such thing as a “word for word” translation, it would be impossible. It wouldn’t make any sense. English is one of the most complicated languages, and translations are complex.
In my view, NASB and KJV are the best at the attempt of a formal, literal rendering in translation.
The ESV was a complete revamp of the RSV. it’s a very good rendering. The reason I don’t prefer it is that they make some “interpretive glosses;” they aren’t horrible, I just think they’re a little less accurate than some of the NASB renderings.
Tip: Read the preface of your translation, don’t skip past those front pages in your Bible.
I do think the NASB is more faithful to a grammatical, literal rendering.
My husband and a trusted spiritual advisor had arrived at different view of the trinity – instead of three separate persons as one God, they believed there are three aspects of the one God. I was not taught that growing up and I can’t understand how they arrived at this conclusion. My husband died in 2019 and I asked the spiritual advisor, who is a very intelligent man, who Jesus was praying to in the Garden before being crucified and he replied, “Himself.” I can’t wrap my head around this. Could you explain?
The idea of 3 aspects of 1 God is called “Modalism”
Resource quoted in the episode: “That’s Modalism!” video:
Mentioned: Recent interview with Dr. Burer
The Trinity is three distinct persons. Matthew 26:38-39, Matthew 26:42
In both prayers, Jesus talks to the Father, not Himself or the Holy Spirit.
Also referenced: Matthew 3:13-17, Genesis 2:25, 1 Corinthians 12, Colossians 1.
What are Michael’s thoughts regarding Old Earth vs. New Earth? This is a question I’ve had for some time, being someone who has traveled and seen the Grand Canyon and other places that are supposed to be millions or billions of years old, and yet Scripture seams to teach the earth is more like thousands of years old.
I am a young Earth proponent. I think the Earth could be as young as 10-12,000 years old.
The appearance of age: when the garden is made, there’s no indication that God planted seeds or seedlings and waited for those things to produce fruit for the man and woman to eat. The garden is created mature.
Resource: The Waters Above, Joseph Dillow
When we talk about a young Earth I’m going to go to the text, not science’s observation of what appears to be old.
Genesis 1:1: if God is not a God of miracles, we’re in bigger trouble than whether the earth is old or young. I believe the text is reliable. I believe God’s Word is true.
When we look at something and can’t explain it, consider any one of the miracles Jesus performed.
I’m going to trust what God said He did.
Consider the stars that are billions of lightyears away, and we’re just seeing them now: God can suspend laws of physics in the time light travels with the same miraculous power that He can turn water into wine, or He’s not God.
I think God is bigger than the way man looks at Him.
Now, about dinosaur bones:
Resource: The Creation Museum, Ken Ham—Answers in Genesis
Submit your question Here, email us at question@michaelincontext.com, or call 615-281-9694 and leave a voicemail with your question.
We’ve got a lot of new Ask Dr. E’s listeners around these parts and we thought we’d give Michael 10 minutes to tell you a little bit more about himself and how He came to know the Lord.
In light of last week’s decision, Janet Parshall generously returns to inContext to help us think biblically and critically about what this decision really means and where we go from here.
As you know, Michael is not shy about discussing the Biblical perspective on the LGBTQAI+ lifestyle. A frequent follow-up question we get is, “But what are those 6 passages that are commonly used to discuss this topic?” Find them here!