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Now let's get into today's episode and see what
God has for us. Hey everyone, my name is Austin
and welcome back to another episode of the Unfiltered
Faith Podcast. If this is your first time tuning
in, I'm so glad you're here. And if you've been
here before, welcome back. Today we're going
to be talking about how to spot false theology.
So if you're someone that likes to take notes,
I encourage it. And while you're at it, have
your Bibles out because we're going to be looking
through several passages of scripture that will
help us with our discussion today. And I've also
invited a special guest with us. So I'm going
to let him introduce himself and we're going
to get started. I'm Dustin Wright. I do a podcast
called the raising the wild ones podcast. We
call ourselves the redneck theologians, which
is Exactly the way it sounds we're just a couple
of country boy and we talk about theology I was
in youth ministry for like eight years and then
now I'm in camp ministry for sometime later.
See, I didn't think about all that stuff, man.
And I have a bachelor's degree in youth ministry
and a master's degree in theology and ministry
that I'm just shy of finishing up. Hopefully
this semester we'll see if I finish that bad
boy up. And I'm happy to be here. I'm stoked.
This is always, it's a fun topic to talk about
because it's one that you've got to be prepared
for, but one that not very many people... are
prepared for. It's like, everybody thinks, you
know, why would God let false theology just run
rampant? And it's not necessarily that God would
let that, it's that Satan wants to deceive people.
I kind of ramble some, so my bad. No, you're
all good, man. And thank you for taking time
out of your busy schedule to do this episode
with me. Have you ever listened to someone talk
about the gospel, theology, or even Jesus and
thoughts yourself? Is that really in the Bible?
We live in a world where some theologies everywhere
you can scroll through tik -tok Instagram YouTube
and even Twitter and find someone with a mic
talking about God some of it sounds really good
but some of it sounds almost right and That's
exactly the problem because almost right is still
wrong. So Dustin first of all what even is theology
and Second of all, why should it matter? Can't
we all just say we love Jesus and call it a day?
I mean you ask the question, what is theology?
And simply put, the theology is just the study
of God and His, you know, nature, His religious
beliefs, those sorts of things. That's boiled
down to what theology is. But when you get into
the idea of other people throwing out different
ideas and different theologies, it's like, yes,
we can love God. I mean, that's one of the main
things was the chief end of man is to love God
and serve Him forever. I think I should have
had that memorized, should have remembered that.
And so that's a big part of what we do as Christians.
But It's not just the brass tacks of, we love
God, but we've got a, I don't want to say love
God correctly because that's a really bad way
to say it. I don't know what a better way to
say it, but it's like. We have to be leery of,
I mean, you said it, you say to yourself, there's
everybody's got a mic out there and everybody
can say what they want. And it's just kind of,
you start talking about the different kind of
like bad theologies as you can easily slip into
something like the prosperity gospel or even
like salvation through works. I mean, that's
a really big one. It's like, well, if I try hard
enough and I do hard enough and I love God the
best I ever can, then I'm going to be saved.
And it's like, well, And so what the Bible says,
you know, that's not what scripture says. That's
not what Jesus talks about. And so we get in
this idea of like different kinds of theology
and false theology. And I don't want to be mistaken
because like, yeah, we've got different, I won't
say religions, but denominations. You got like
Baptist, you got Methodists, you got like non
-denominational, but there's, I guess there's
a good way to put it. There's like top tier.
beliefs that if you're wrong on your top tier
beliefs, then that's false theology. If you're
wrong on your second tier beliefs, then There
may be some of those things where you're like,
yeah, okay, I don't really agree with that. You
know, it's kind of like a top tier belief for
me was like, it's like the virgin birth, right?
That Jesus came through Mary, virgin birth, that
God, you know, came down and talked to Mary.
A top tier is that Jesus is both fully divine
and fully man. Like he has to be both of those
things for the whole sacrifice to work. But a
second tier belief is like, even it's the hotly
debated second tier belief, I'll say this, but
it's like, was Noah's flood? fully world or was
it just geographical and it maybe was a different
type of flood around the rest of the world? I'll
tell you where I believe I think it's the full
world. But if that changes, does that change
the whole story? Did God still destroy sin with
a flood? Well, yes, He did. Did He destroy what
He needed? Well, yes, He did what He did. But
it's kind of a thing where we can disagree on
this and maybe it doesn't necessarily affect
the fact that Jesus is still fully God and fully
human. And so it's like a lot of people can get
into the idea of is total false theology, like
the separation of denominations, which different
denominations are going to believe different
things. But then there's some things that like,
well, if you believe into these top tier beliefs,
well, then you're getting into false theology.
So, um, I'm going to share something with you
that's probably going to blow your mind, whether
you're aware of it or not. Everyone. is a theologian.
Everyone has an opinion of God. In some capacity
or another, everyone has an opinion of God. Whether
you're Christian, Mormon, Catholic, Buddhist,
I don't know, agnostic, atheist, Jesus is in
every part of that story. And so, if we were
to look at an even broader perspective of theology,
we have something called world view. So, While
theology is a component of worldview, a worldview
is more comprehensive, encompassing a wider range
of beliefs and assumptions about reality. Worldview
is a topic for another episode. So the real question
isn't if you're a theologian. The question is,
are you a good one or a bad one? Are your beliefs
grounded in truth or in assumptions, emotions,
or culture? Because here's the deal. Saying,
I love Jesus is a great start, but it can't stop
there. Which Jesus are you loving? Is it the
Jesus in the Bible? The one who came in grace
and truth, who calls us to repent and believe?
Who is both Savior and Lord? Or is it the cultural
Jesus? The one who just wants you to be happy
and never confronts sin and always validates
your truth. So we've covered what theology is
and why it's important, but let's flip the script
for a moment. What is false theology and why
is it spread so easily? That's a fun one. I mean,
at its core, false theology is bad theology.
And I mean, it can be as easy as, you know, taking
a good theology, flipping something within it
and making it sound terrible. I mean, you got
like the prosperity gospel. You've even got the
idea of the worship of oneself, you know, trying
to figure stuff out and where you really deal
with false gospel. It's where. you could take
a scripture and then you just twist it just slightly
or the idea where you could pull one scripture
out completely out of the Bible and then just
talk about that one. My favorite one to talk
about is the whole idea of don't judge others,
only God can judge you, right? You hear that
all the time and it's like even to the point
where it's like, you can't judge me, only God
could judge me. I was like, well, yes, but have
you looked at the passage where that actually
came from. Have you looked at the context of
what that means and what Paul was talking about
when he wrote that? And it's like, it all makes
sense and it all boils down together and false
gospel spreads so easily just simply because
of Satan. His whole point is to try to deceive
us, even if it's just a little bit. And even
if it's like a big one where it's all of a sudden
like where it's like hey stop worshipping Jesus
And maybe maybe you are the one who needs to
be a god and you should worship yourself You
know and that's where you get into a lot of like
Not I'm not gonna name you the big name like
preachers But there are some of the big name
preachers out there who will just be like if
you pray hard enough Then God will heal you if
you do this hard enough and God's gonna give
you money. I'm gonna be honest I've prayed for
money a lot and you know, I'm still sitting here
drinking cheap coffee, you know, and it's like
it's this idea where it's like well What's the
problem? Was it me? Was I the one that didn't
pray hard enough? I'm the one who's the problem.
I'm the issue. And it's like, well, no, I'm not
the issue. God's the issue. It's like, no, that's
not it. It's the fact that you started putting
your hope and your faith in something really
other than Jesus Christ. And you've stopped listening
to where he wants to take you in your life. And
you've started listening where I want to go into
your life, right? You hear the idea everywhere.
Now it's like, just send good vibes, right? Or
what's it manifest? Like I'm trying to manifest
my life. I'm just going to think about it good
enough until it happens. It's like, I'll tell
you right now, it's not going to happen unless
God wants it to happen. And you have to really
let go of yourself. and focus and follow Jesus
is kind of the idea of being a slave to Jesus.
We were under him and under what he wants for
us. And so we will encounter false theology everywhere.
And how that looks may vary, but we have to be
ready. And then that's where the scriptures come
into play. Like that's where it talks about hiding
the gospel in your heart, hiding God's word in
your heart is that's where we have to lean towards,
because that's our defense against these false
gospels. You know, and sometimes it's hard because
you sit there and you think about, well, that
sounds weird. That sounds different. Why is that
different? You know, it's like dig into the scriptures
and figure out why, because you may encounter
it. I mean, I was looking on like a tick to our
Instagram. I think it was Instagram this morning
and I ended up grabbing the guy just had a little
quote and I was looking at the quote and I was
like, Oh, that's off. And I'm like, why is that
off? And I sat there and thought about it. I'm
like, Oh, Cause he's trying to get it like prosperity
gospel here. And it's like, interesting. And
it was just a little, small little quote and
whether he intended it or not. It was like, made
me stop and think, why is that off? Paul also
talks about if like an angel preaches a gospel
that's contrary to the gospel that Paul preaches,
let that angel be cursed. And it's like, that's
an angel. And I'm like, no, we can, we talk about,
you know, Satan being a fallen angel too. I mean,
you go all the way back into Genesis. You can
see that through the serpents. It's like. If
that angel says a false gospel that's contrary
to this, let that angel be cursed. It's like,
this is important and it's, it's serious. Now
we may get it wrong. I'm pretty sure I'm just
going to go ahead and record to say Dustin has
probably said some false theology throughout
his life. Oh, and I've probably screwed up somewhere
because if it was my job to save people, it's
not going to go well. I'll just say that I'm
not going to win that fight. It's like, At some
point, like even when we do mess up, it's the
other side to say, Hey guys, I messed up on that.
I misspoke. I should have said this way. I should
have done this. It's, it's going back and trying
to correct or just asking for repentance because
that even comes in the point of sometimes false
gospel doesn't always come through like false
prophets. Sometimes it comes through because
I was thinking wrong or, you know, we just have
to be aware of what we're saying just as much
as what others saying and, and how we dig in
and look at all that. Absolutely, absolutely.
And I'm sure as a pastor you've encountered people
who have just spoken just bad theology. Do you
have any stories of those encounters? I was thinking
about some of these things and one of the things
that really stands out to me is there's called
fields of faith. Have you ever heard of that?
And one of the big things of fields of faith
is it's just a clear presentation of the gospel.
And so with a clear presentation of the gospel,
people, you know, normally respond, especially
teens, because this was a teen event. And I remember
it wasn't the presentation of the gospel. It
wasn't the guy that was on the field, but with
people on the field and some of the people that
were talking to students were like Jehovah witness,
nobody kind of like checked them and make sure
about their theology. They just kind of like,
oh, you want to tell people about Jesus, come
on and talk to people about Jesus. And I remember
just kind of milling around the field that day
and I heard out of the corner of my ear, whatever,
like, like this person was telling somebody about
Jesus. And it was, it was straight up just, oh,
Jesus was just man. He was just a man. And I
stopped and I like turned real quick and look,
and I'm like, wait a minute. You're telling these
kids that... And I stopped and kind of like entered
into the group because, you know, I was like,
well, can you explain a little further? And they're
like, well, no, no, no, the scriptures didn't
go on. And I'm like, well, no, the scripture
clearly, I mean, go back to John chapter one,
that, you know, the word became flesh, you know,
the word was with God and the word is God, you
know, kind of right there in the first bit of
John, it's like very clear of Jesus is fully
God and Jesus is fully man. He has to be both
of these things for the sacrifice to work. And
so I remember that one just being as a real big
one of sitting there thinking about Well, this
was a little group of about four kids and I'd
caught that and we'd kind of worked through that.
But then it came out that there were like eight
or nine people who were kind of preaching the
same idea to these kids who had just heard the
gospel. These kids had just like been told that
Jesus is the savior. And then all of a sudden,
now they're sitting in a small group with somebody
going, Jesus was just a man. He was just a prophet.
You know, I remember if they said something,
I think what I actually heard was Jesus was just
a prophet, just like Isaiah. And I'm like, wait
a minute. That's wrong. You know, that's on a
large scale, just kind of a real blatant, like
red flag, big one where it's like, you know,
the guy's like waving the flag and it's like
massive, you know, it's like, that's an issue.
But there's even like little things just in conversations
you have with people. I'm currently in a Baptist
church right now with the Baptists. We're great
people. We like to eat a lot of food. That's
just what Baptists do. But it's like, I remember
sitting in a meeting with a whole bunch of deacons
and they were talking about the idea of they
were wanting to have a dance at the church for
a wedding. And they're like, well, we can't dance
in the Baptist church. And I'm like, why not?
Well, and I remember the guy says, well, it's
against God's regulations. And I'm like, where?
You know, and it was even just little things
of this gentleman. Man, I love him to death.
I mean, he's a great guy. If I were to ask him
right now, hey man, could you help me move some
sound equipment with your pickup truck and serve
God for the next eight hours straight? He'd be
like, yeah, I'll be there. But yet one little
thing that he was taught years and years ago
that was bad theology has just stuck with him.
And it's like, it kind of, as teachers, it makes
us think of what are we teaching? What little
things are we? And it's, so it can be big things.
It can be little things. You know, it can be
like, hey, let's examine this. And it's kind
of the idea of lifelong learning through theology
and just listening to, well, that doesn't sound
right. And the Holy Spirit is really great at
this as if you hear something and while somebody's
preaching and you're like, that's weird. Don't
just throw that away in the back of your mind.
Maybe jot it down, write it, look at it and think,
why is that weird? Where's that scripture from?
Is that really what that scripture says? What's
the context of the scripture? You know, and so
it's just, Holy Spirit's the best marker of that
might be wrong. So speaking of times that I've
encountered bad theology. So I go to a rather
interesting college and I'm just going to leave
it at that. And you hear some pretty interesting
ideologies through the grapevine. There's some
real head scratchers out there. And there was
one of them. Have you ever heard of this idea?
Have you ever heard of this religion called God
as a woman a couple years ago a group of my friends
were approached by someone who belonged to this
religion and I remember them talking about it
and I remember just scratching my head and I'm
like What and so I don't know if you ever heard
of that before or not There are some people out
there even that say that Jesus was white That's
all I think about when you say like that one
is like that old It's the picture of Obi -Wan
Kenobi and it's like, oh, hey, look, it's Jesus
like no, that's that's Obi -Wan Kenobi. That's
not Jesus I mean, I got a whole bunch of books
back here one of my favorite things to do because
I'm probably a weird person is I like to find
books written in like the 60s 70s and 80s because
you want to find some bad deal my favorite one
This book right? It's called Satanism the seduction
of America's youth. It was written in 1972. And
you think that would be a cool read, right? It's
pretty neat. There's some, actually some decent
theology and the decent digging, but it's not
actually digging into occult practices at all.
And like telling you like why these things are
bad. You know, you think a book like this is
like, well, okay, it's going to dig into like
witchcraft and it's going to be like, why is
witchcraft a bad, why is this bad? And no, it's
just saying like, Oh, Hey, by the way, Dungeons
and Dragons is bad. It's evil. But that doesn't
say anything else on it. So it's just saying
all these things are bad without even like digging
into like why or issues and stuff like that.
And so people write books and this is what they
believe in. This is what they thought. So we're
going to write a book on it. Well, what, what
does it come back to? You know, the scripture
or the ultimate guide that we have to what theology
is known. So it kind of even makes you think
like, what are you studying when you're studying
about God? Are you studying a random book on
your shelf or you studying God himself through
scripture? Another example I just thought of,
I don't know if you've ever seen those people
with the mics and the giant speakers in the street
corner with the big sign, the hitters screaming
at people like, you're going to hell and the
end times are coming or whatever. And I'm just
like, that's not an effective way to communicate.
I remember last year, I think there was two guys,
there was one guy that held up the sign and then
there was another guy with the Bible talking.
with the mic preaching and The sign said take
this short online test to find out if you're
going to heaven or not And I'm just infuriated
because who are you to tell us if we're going
to heaven or not It says in revelations 5 1 through
5 then I saw in the right hand of him who sat
on the throne a scroll with writing of both sides
and sealed with seven seals and I saw a mighty
angel proclaiming in a loud voice who was worthy
to break the seals and open the scroll. But no
one in heaven or on earth or under the earth
could open the scroll or even look inside it.
I wept and wept because no one was found who
was worthy to open the scroll or look inside.
Then one of the elders said to me, Do not weep,
see the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root
of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the
scroll. and it's seven seals. So who was able
to open the book of life? How can it be open?
And how can you get your name written in it?
We talked about it a little earlier that Jesus
in first John, it talks about that he's fully
God and fully human. If Jesus was fully God,
he would not relate to us at all. If Jesus was
fully human, he would not relate to God at all.
So for Jesus to be the perfect sacrifice. He
had to be fully God and fully human so he could
both relate to us and relate to God. And so then
you get into Jesus where it talks about the temptation.
And so then Jesus was tempted by Satan, you know,
through different means. And so he went through
the same exact process that we did. I mean, Dustin
falls to temptation on a daily basis, but Jesus
did not. And he was the perfect sacrifice, the
only one that was righteous, the only one that
was holy and pleasing to God ultimately. And
through that and his death on the cross, he took
our sins upon himself. But the best part about
that whole story, we always talk about that,
and it's like, don't forget. Jesus didn't stay
dead. I mean, he overcame death. Dustin, when
he dies, yeah, I'm going to die. I'm just going
to be dead. There's not going to be any overcoming
there. But Jesus overcame that. And so like you
talk about like, how do we get to that level?
It's a simple faith and trust in Jesus Christ
that he will overcome sins and we can seek after
him and we can seek after God because we know
what he's done. But there's so many different
things kind of under this idea of digging into
God's word that you mess that up and all of a
sudden if you think that Jesus is messed up somewhere
you think well I need to do this to get to heaven
or I need to do this to get to heaven you know
even if it's just a little thing of Satan like
even though you talk about the loss of salvation
you know it's the idea of there are multiple
scriptures you know the New Testament that says
once you are saved you are fully safe you can't
sin bad enough after your salvation where God's
like hey you're no longer safe anymore sorry
you screwed that up because that Once again,
put salvation on us. We are now in control of
our salvation. If we can send bad enough to lose
our salvation, which I'm going to tell you right
now, if Dustin was in control of his salvation,
I'm going to screw it up. That's why God is in
control of our salvation and Jesus is in control
of our salvation And so it's like even like little
small things if if can be kind of like planted
That's a bad theology or just a small seed of
bad theology then 15 and 20 years down the road.
You're like, oh man I really I really host it
there not just some sin not just most sin Jesus
overcame all sin and that's why our salvation
is held within him and not within ourselves and
so it's It's like when you start really digging
into bad theology, it doesn't have to be a full
-on horrible theology. It could just be one small
little bit that cocks it askew just a little
bit that makes you think, well, this may be the
case over here. And that's why I always say,
just bring back to scripture. I mean, what does
the Bible say? about these things. Because if
there's one thing that the Bible's very clear
about, like I get on my podcast, we talk about
some weird stuff, I'll be honest. We talk about
some of the weird things in the Bible, like we
talk about giants and stuff like that. But if
there's one thing that scripture is very clear
on, it's salvation through Jesus Christ. So you
mentioned earlier the whole concept of one saved,
always saved. Do you believe in the concept of
one saved, always saved? And is it? impossible
to lose your salvation because I've heard stories
of people though denounce their Christianity.
And I'm just like, how do you denounce your Christianity?
Because to me, if you denounce your Christianity,
because to me, if you denounce your Christianity,
you weren't really a Christian in the first place.
Deconstruction movement. Is that what you're
talking about? Oh, that's a That's a fun one.
I mean, I've been thinking into that for a couple
of years now, because I mean, you even got like
some big name people who were Christians in the
past and like, well, I've deconstructed now.
And, and I'll go ahead and say this, like, here's
one of the things is there a problem with looking
at what you were taught when you were a kid and
trying to see if it's biblical and what you were
taught now. No, not at all. There's not a problem
with studying scripture. There's not a problem
of asking questions. I mean, you could, you could
go really, really far back and the dude, Martin
Luther, who used to be a Catholic and he got
really mad at the Catholics. And so he wrote
99 things about how the Catholic screwed it up.
And then he poses it to a wall. I mean, it's
kind of talking about the reformation was Martin
Luther wrong for deconstructing. I air quoted
there since you know, it says audio. deconstructing,
you know, the Catholics? No, because he pointed
out things that they were doing wrong, right?
He pointed out different stuff, but did he pull
back and go, I'm not a Christian anymore because
I clearly can't believe all this is true. It's
like the idea of you talk about once saved, always
saved. And it's interesting for us to think about,
it's like, how do we know if someone else is
saved? The plain fact of the matter is the Bible
talks about, you will know them by their fruit.
You will know them by their actions. You will
know them by how they act. But at the same time,
it's not our place to judge if someone else has
saved. It's just our place to tell people about
Jesus. And so you have this whole like deconstruction
movement and there are people who are like, well,
I'm not saved anymore. You know, I was saved,
but I'm not saved anymore because I've deconstructed
out of that. You kind of have to sit there. And
I think just a lot like you of, well, were they
ever fully saved? in the first place. It's like,
like the parable of the man who built his house
on the sand, you know, all that kind of stuff.
And, you know, build your house on a rock. It's
like, what did they build their faith on? And
being in youth ministry. One of my favorite things
to see and what was sad about it is you didn't
quite see it. And every student is my favorite
thing to see was probably anywhere between like
16 through 20, 21, 22, like back in there, you
see a student who grew up in a Christian house.
Cause this is, this is primarily when this happens.
You have a student who grew up in a Christian
house, all of a sudden at some point they realize.
Maybe I gave my life to Christ when I was six
or seven, but my faith was always tied to my
parents. And it's like, I always just kind of
believed what they believed and thought what
they thought. And it's like, at some point they
click and it's like, all of a sudden they start
taking their own faith and making it their own.
You know, they take their parents' faith and
make it their own. Does that mean that they weren't
saved when they were eight and nine when they
gave their life to Christ? No, that doesn't mean
that. What that means is that they've decided
at that point to not just take everything at
face value. They decided to dig into the scriptures
and see what it is. And so you really sit there
and think about those ideas of like kind of deconstruction
movement of those people never take it as face
value. And then all of a sudden when they start
to dig in on their own, it's like, oh, this is
all wrong. This is terrible. The world doesn't
want me to teach this, which Right there is the
problem. You stopped focusing on the savior and
you started focusing on the world because one
of the big things with the whole deconstruction
movement is it's a complete and total shift of
what they're looking at. They stopped looking
at the savior and they started looking at the
world. And I'll be the first one to tell you
that especially like growing, I grew up in the
nineties. You know, and there were some things
in that movement in the 90s that was just like
absolutely trash. And I could go on and on about
stuff like the True Love Weights movement and
stuff like that, where it wasn't even the basics
of, hey, you know, make sure that you're sanctified
for marriage. It's like, oh no, if you screw
up, God doesn't love you. And it's like, whoa,
that's a big one, right? And so like, I've worked
through that. Does that mean I'm not saved? No,
it means I've studied the scripture and I've
found out for myself, okay, this is maybe what
God's talking about here. And so it's like, when
you get into that, instead of the, especially
the deconstruction movement, people aren't allowing
God and the scripture to guide them. They're
allowing the world to guide them. And so it's
not my place to judge whether someone is saved
or not. I mean, that's kind of where I stand
on that. But as far as salvation, I feel the
scriptures are very clear of once you are saved,
you are in the hands of God and who is man to
try to pull yourself out of the hands of God.
Oh, and it's like. Once God holds us, nothing
else can pull us out of that. And so what does
that mean in that movement? That means, you know,
just live a life of Christ and tell everybody
about Jesus. And if you know somebody that's
kind of working through this, which there's been
quite a few people that I've met along the ways,
walk with them, talk with them, you know, tell
them like, Hey, it's okay. to question. Like,
I even remember a time in my life, I was 15,
I think, and I remember asking my dad, I was
like, dad, how do I know that Christianity is
the true religion? I mean, because we've got
Islam, right? We've got Mormonism, we've got
Hinduism, we've got all these different isms
out there, all of these different religions.
It's like, and how do I know that Christianity
is the one? And my dad, instead of going, because
Christianity is the one, my dad was like, well,
hey, let's look at Islam. Let's dig into Islam
and let's see. what you think on that. And through
digging into the even like studying of these
other religions, I was like, well, yeah, that
one's totally messed up. Well, that one's totally
messed up. Well, that one's weird. What's Nirvana?
You know what I mean? It's like, it's almost
the idea and the process that needs to take place,
which is so many times you hear a lot of people
just being like, no, no, if you look into Islam,
you're going to become a Muslim. It's okay to
study what other people think. There's nothing
wrong with studying what other people think.
It helps us better understand them. I mean, I've
got a good friend of mine that's currently in
Tanzania. He's in Tanzania and he's ministering
to Muslims. And he's told me, he's like, Dustin,
I've read the Quran two or three times. Is he
a Christian? Yes, he's a Christian. Absolutely.
I believe that. And he talks to people and he's
like, I read it so I can understand where they're
coming from. So I can better say, Hey, this is
the true Jesus. So it's just, there's, there's
nothing wrong with digging into. But the problem
is, is what you let guide you when you dig into
these things. Because if you let TikTok, if you
let the world, if you let Instagram guide you
and you let, you know, random influencers be
like, oh, I deconstruct it. If you let those
people guide you, you're going to be led astray
because it's not God, it's not scripture. And
even though the Bible talks about like, test
these things, you know, it says like, test the
scriptures, right? I mean, even if you're listening
something to the day and you're like, man, doesn't
screw it up on that, man, test it. I may have.
You know what I mean? This is just a really stupid
example. And I don't even know why I'm bringing
this up, but have you seen the show Young Sheldon?
A little bit, yes. So there's this episode where
Sheldon is going through all the different religions
and he's testing all them out and his mom kind
of chimes in and she's like, nope, you're Baptist.
And that's the only true religion. And so what
you were just talking about just now, that specific
scene just popped in my head out of nowhere.
Baptists are real bad with fire and brimstone
gospel. If you don't repent today, you're going
to go to hell. That's something that was preached
so much on them. One of the, there's a ton of
other different stuff. So I mean, like this is
getting really into the old nitty gritty. I don't
know if you've ever, do you ever watch, was it
Nacho Libre? Oh yeah, I did. My, I love that
movie. One of my favorite things you say is like,
it's time to get into the nitty gritty. One of
the big things that's happening right now and
like theological seminaries, especially like
Baptist theological seminaries is this big giant
debate of like Calvinism and reformed theology.
And there are, there's merits to that. There's
also demerits to that just with anything, but
it's like, this is one of the things that's today.
It's like, we're having to wade through this
stuff of, well, what's the deal about Calvinism
and why is Calvinism being taught so prevalent
in like Baptist theological seminaries? And it's
like. Well, maybe because there's a couple little
things that are skewed now that don't seem big
now, but in like 60 years, you could be looking
at this theology where, where ultimately it's
grown and grown and elevated and gotten different.
And you're like, man, that one's kind of messed
up because one of the, one of the things with
Calvinism has always gotten me is the idea of,
you know, God only died for the elect. So Jesus
only died for those who are going to be saved.
It says that for God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten son. It doesn't say
that for God so loved the people that are going
to be saved. No, Jesus died for all of us. Not
just those who were going to accept his salvation,
but Jesus died for everybody. And so it's like
a small little, is that a big issue today? No,
not necessarily. Could that be a big issue in
a hundred years? Absolutely. And so it's. It's
just little stuff like that, trying to think
of and trying to look at and trying to discuss.
And I know if, you know, I were talking to a
Reformed theologian, they would rebuttal me on
some of that stuff, which is fine. I love having
conversations with people about theology. But
there's so many just little things that maybe
aren't necessarily bad theology today, but causes
us to pause and go, well, what does that mean?
When you take it all the way out to where it
should go, ultimately, how does that look? And
that's like where you get, especially, I mean,
I'm dogging Baptists because I'm Baptist. I can
do that. Right. In some ways we need to stop
looking at the denomination and being like, why,
why are we dog in the Methodist church or why
do we dog like the church of God for speaking
in tongues? It's like, maybe we should stop looking
at those things. We start looking at their theological
things. We're all those who follow Christ. And
so if these top tier things are the same, then
we're where we need to be. If our second tier
things are a little different or our third tier,
cause I'm gonna even go down to third tier, which
is like the really like off the wall things is
like, why did Paul tell women to cover their
heads? I was like, that's definitely a third
tier thing. We can debate about that all day
long. And does it really matter if a woman wears
a hat or not in the sanctuary? Absolutely not.
Does it have anything bearing on salvation? No.
But it's like we can kind of come down these
rungs and we need to remember that we need to
make sure these first tier things are the important
and not worry about the rest. Here's a hot take.
I don't think when Jesus died on the cross, he
had any intentions of different. denominations
he just said go and make disciples so the different
denominations was our own understanding of his
teachings and somewhere in history along the
line that got skewed so the core belief the bottom
line of Christianity the important thing that
you need to know is that Jesus died on the cross
rose from the dead three days later and that
should be at the center of what you believe and
let that shape your theology Let that truth anchor
every moment in every decision from here on out
Because there's nothing more important than knowing
your name is written in the book of life So moving
on from that, what would you say are some red
flags that you've seen that signal false theology?
Oh, I mean there's a ton especially if if the
sentence begins with I and that's one of like
if the sentence starts with I especially like
I feel that God was doing like this because really
in a lot of ways we can have a lot of different
feelings on scripture. We have a lot of different
feelings that can interpret different things.
Like even like I mentioned earlier the idea of
women wearing hats in church, right? It's I feel
that women should wear hats in church. How does
that feeling have anything to do with what the
scripture says or the context of the scripture?
You know, and so that's like one of the first
things that starts out with I, which there's
absolutely nothing wrong with saying like, well,
I think this, but then it's almost like the rebuttal.
You know, it's like, you know, Austin, I think
that, yada, yada, yada. What do you think on
that scripture? Because then it opens up a conversation.
And then all of a sudden, instead of me going
Austin, I think you should believe this. It's
what we're all of a sudden having a conversation
here. Cause there are so many of those little
things. Like you're absolutely right. Like, I
mean. like not wearing hats in the sanctuary.
I mean, that's definitely a rule today. But what's
really interesting is my pastor preaches in a
hat on Wednesday nights, like almost all the
time. And then it's just kind of like, okay,
so it's like, where, where did that come from?
Where did that start? But then you kind of start
the conversation. And one of my favorite things
to do in all honesty is, and I don't think any
of these guys listen to my podcast at all, but
it's a men's breakfast that I go to every Tuesday
morning. I'm 35 and I clearly am younger by like
20 years than the youngest guy in this breakfast.
It's a whole bunch of retired men, but you get
around and they talk about the weather and farming
and just stuff. But then we talk about theology
from time to time. And it's, and one of my favorite
things to ask is I asked like six, seven months
ago, this is this one gentleman was going on.
I was like, why can't we dance in a Baptist church?
Like, what's the issue there? And then he goes,
well, you know, my parents and I'm like, You
see, instead of basing it on scripture, when
you ask these questions that are kind of pushbacks
against maybe what they just said, you know,
cause I think that's exactly how that started.
He goes, well, I believe that we shouldn't dance
in the Baptist church. You know, it's like, well,
why is that? And then if his or her first response
isn't. Well, the Bible talks about this passage
because even at that point, you're like, okay,
well, let's take a look at that passage. And
I mean, even being open to maybe Dustin's interpreted
it wrong this whole time or so and so, or, you
know, it's even kind of the idea of Most of these
red flags, especially with false theology now
It's gonna have you're gonna have like some people
that are blatantly gonna sit there and they're
gonna preach false theology And they're just
gonna not be able to open that discussion But
so many times especially within the church or
then people we know false theology is spread
through I don't say ignorance, but you know different
thoughts of the past and so it's like opening
that conversation up with these people just to
be like Why is this issue? What's the issue there?
What is it? He's like, what does the Greek say?
Now that translation of that word's weird. Let's
look at that in the Greek. Most of the red flags
you're going to encounter aren't going to be
that screaming person on the sidewalk saying
that Jesus didn't die for anybody's sins. Jesus
was just a prophet. I don't know the last time
you went to San Antonio, Austin, but... You go
to San Antonio and you go to my favorite thing
to do. So just listen, because I'm a weird person,
but I would just sit out right outside the Alamo
and San Antonio. There's always a street preacher
there. There's always one. And most of them are
heavy fire and brimstone. And sometimes it's
like horrible bad. And me and my dad, because
I won't lie, I make snide remarks a lot. And
my dad does too. We would just sit there and
then I would turn to my dad and be like, you
know, dad. I didn't know I wasn't saved until
today. And it's like, but it's the same kind
of idea is most of the red flags you're going
to see start with simple conversations that,
that start with like I, or I feel, and it's like
the quick rebuttal to that isn't a you're wrong.
It's let's ask questions. Let's see why that
is. And then let's start a discussion and it
may not happen today. It may be. five years from
now, they're like, you know, that was a weird,
I don't know why I really thought that, you know,
and it's, it's all through relationships with
people. So we've talked about what theology is,
why it matters and how to spot what's false,
but let's not talk about what we do when we recognize
something false being Todd, because calling something
out is one thing, but how do we actually defend
the faith in a way that's truthful and loving?
And kind of talking about here hitting on a thing
called apologetics, which is a big church word,
which we talked earlier, do this thing on our,
on my podcast called hillbilly hermeneutics,
which I think is really funny because a hillbilly
is not going to know anything about big fancy
church words. Apologetics is just basically mean
the defense of one's faith. And so And it looks
different between different things. And so an
apologetic, except against somebody who clearly
and fully believes with all their heart that
God was just a man or Jesus was just a man or
Christianity is just a construct. I mean, one
of my favorite big ones that they talk about
the whole idea that Jesus dying on the cross
and raising again was a mass hallucination brought
on by drugs. It was somebody burning an opium
field near Jerusalem that day. Like, is that
what happened? But it's like people believe and
think this and the way you go about fighting
and defending your faith against somebody with
that hard core of a belief is totally different
than the way you go about defending your faith.
Because like with them, it really comes down
to the idea of, well, this is what the scripture
says. This is what I believe. You may not believe
what I believe, but at some point when you'd
either walk away and go, we're not going to get
mad and frustrated and irritated with each other.
But at the same time, if you encounter somebody
who's just got a little bit of a different, to
me, apologetics comes back to asking questions.
seeing why they believe. But then also one of
the big things with apologetics for me is a lot
of people are like, I've seen it where they carry
like some scriptures and stuff in their wallet,
which I think is a good idea. But I also think
memorizing scripture, which I'm terrible at.
And I know I say this all the time, like, Hey,
we should memorize scripture. And the worst one
for me is like, I have a ton of scripture memorized,
but I have no idea where it's at. I may say a
quote or something like that. But it's like,
I remember even having a conversation with a
guy. I was probably three or four weeks ago now.
And it started off talking about camp. I mean,
he was asking me what I did for a living. And
I was like, well, I'm in camp ministry. Other
than that, I work as a carpenter. You know, I
was like, what's camp ministry? And so I started
talking to him. Well, I mean, it's just, it's
sending kids and he goes, I don't think kids
need to be indoctrinated into, you know, the
Christian. They should be able to have a free
choice. And I'm like, Well, they do. That's what
we're doing. And I remember at that point, God
put this scripture on my mind. I had no idea
what it was. I said, well, hey, you know, it's
the idea of when we memorize these things, in
these moments, instead of going like, hold on,
buddy, let me grab my wallet and let me pull
out my Bible and let me tell you the scripture.
Then it's like, as they're locked away in here
somewhere, the Holy Spirit does an excellent
job of going, hey, remember that thing you memorized
six years ago that you haven't thought about
at all? You're going to think about it today
because you need it today. It's allowing the
Holy Spirit to help you through these conversations.
But then we always need to realize that we do
these things in a loving way because our ultimate
goal as Christians is to know Jesus, serve him
and spread the gospel. And so how are we going
to spread the gospel? If that guy is just mad
at me for telling kids about Jesus and he's going
to walk away and he goes, that guy is just a
hypocrite. I remember talking to him in the coffee
shop. We just still discuss and it's like one
of my favorite things is I've got a friend that
I talked to in the coffee show we have that thing
on Tuesday mornings and I always stay a little
after and I talked to this guy he is like a philosophy
major and so it's like He can slam Christianity
all day long, but I still talk to him. I still
discuss things I still rebuttal some of his points,
but it's like I don't go you are wrong. This
is right. It's like apologetics When we think
of defense of the faith is we think of many throw
up the shield and when you throw up the shield
when you're defending your faith, are you going
to take some hits? Yes, that's what the shield
is for. The shield is to block the sword, the
arrows, all that kind of stuff. But at the same
time, does that mean our sword is just to like
cut him down? At some point we would like to
hand him the shield of faith and the sword of
the spirit, right? And say like, Hey buddy, this
is what Christianity is. And so it means like
when we defend our faith, Our ultimate goal also
needs to be to help them understand our faith.
And to me that always comes through like relationships
and questions. And I won't lie because this one
guy, I've had to read some philosophy so I could
like kind of really figure out like, why does
he think that way? And it's worked really well
cause he'll say something and I'll quote something.
I remember talking to him when I was like six,
seven months ago and I quoted something and he
goes, That's Aristotle. I'm like, yeah, I read
it a couple of weeks ago, but it was like a quote
that led into a biblical point. And it's like,
so my defense of my faith right there, it started
with relating to him and where he was. And then
it moved into, but this is why I believe what
I believe. Yeah, for sure. And here's the thing.
False theology often sneaks through confusion,
emotion, and cultural pressure. And when we can
lovingly, clearly say, here's what the Bible
actually teaches. It helps others step out of
the deception and into truth. Now what would
you say to the person who feels unequipped? Like
maybe they want to defend their faith, but maybe
they don't quite feel smart enough, or they're
afraid they'll say the wrong thing. Join the
club, buddy. You always hear these little tropes
and stuff like that, but to me, a simple quiet
time in the morning where maybe you read a couple
of passages and you just pray intentional prayers,
being intentional with God. It's being intentional
with what we ask for. That's being intentional
with our time. And it doesn't have to be a ton.
And I'll be the first one to say mornings are
not the best time for my quiet time, but I've
heard people say, I think it was Martin Luther
King was like, I always start out the first hour
of my day focusing on God and like, good job,
man. That's awesome. Because man, sometimes I
wake up and I'm like, I ought to be at work in
eight minutes. It doesn't necessarily have to
be first thing in the morning, you get out of
your bed, you open your Bible and you go sit
in your quiet space and you just read. Sometimes
your quiet time can be before you go to bed at
night. Sometimes your quiet time can be during
your lunch break, but it's making sure that you
focus on a time because if we don't study God's
word, then we don't know God's word. And if we
don't know God's word, when those times come,
It feels like we flounder. Now, the Holy Spirit
is an awesome thing. And there's been a ton of
times where I've talked to people and said things
and I've stepped back and gone, man, God, you
took it there because that was not Dustin at
all. You know, man. And I'm not even sure like
where that came from. And so it's even leaning
on the Holy Spirit in those moments. And sometimes
that same thing is silence. Sometimes it's just
admitting going, Hey, man, I don't know the answer
to that, but let me have your phone number. And
I'm going to do some digging in the next couple
of weeks and I'll show you a text message and
I'll tell you what I think. Or you know what?
I don't get that one, but hey man, what are you
doing next Tuesday? You want to go grab some
coffee and I'm going to dig into this and I'm
going to look into this. And when we get coffee,
we can discuss that because that kind of brings
in what I was saying earlier. When you start
to kind of think about these ideas, especially
discussing them with other people, it's making
sure that you focus on the relationships between
the people. Oh, and it's like when we defend
our faith, when we talk about these things, sometimes
we have to focus on other things. It's making
sure that the scripture is ultimately just buried
within our minds. One of the things I think I
was talking about a couple of minutes ago was
the idea of the Holy Spirit speaking through
us. I'll be honest, there's been times where
I've gotten up to preach a sermon and as I'm
preaching through the sermon, like a point will
come up that I didn't even prepare for. And those
moments, it's like, sometimes you got to lean
on that. And I'll be honest, some of those things
are scary, especially in conversation. I was
talking about my friend earlier, you know, that
I get coffee with every once in a while. I remember
having one of those moments with him where he
was going on about some kind of philosophy and
just like the nature of humans and stuff like
that. And I was like, Ooh, ooh, nature of humans.
Like this is a good one because the Bible talks
a lot about the sinful nature and kind of where
we are as human beings. In the midst of that
conversation, I remember like almost just like
this being light bulb come up where I was about
to take it and start talking about the sinful
nature. And then all of a sudden it was like,
no, Dustin, you're not going to talk about the
sinful nature here. You know, we're going to
talk about, you're going to talk about like the
fall of Satan. And I'm like, that's weird. Why
would I talk about that at this point? God, what
are you doing here, buddy? And I remember sitting
there, okay, okay, all right, God, I'm going
to follow this. I'm going to follow you here.
And I started talking about like in the garden
and what it talks about the serpent deceived
Eve. And then I started talking about just how
Satan tempted Jesus and like different ideas
of Satan. And he stops at one point. And I remember
him just looking straight at me and just going,
you know, that's just kind of the sinful of man.
And I'm like, wait a minute, that's what I was
going to talk about. But you got that through
me talking about this. It's relying on the Holy
Spirit to lead us even in everyday conversations.
Because we think of churchgoers, especially me
as a pastor, and the Holy Spirit is going to
speak for me when I teach about the Bible, which
is true. The Holy Spirit needs to speak when
you teach about the Bible. But man, the Holy
Spirit also needs to speak when you're having
a friendly conversation with somebody that, you
know, you're just trying to talk to them about
Jesus. You need to allow that opening for that.
And I know that's as a Baptist. People get weird
when you start talking about the Holy Spirit.
They're like, wait a minute, Dustin, you mean
I need to let that their Holy Spirit speak through
me? It's God. Yes. You know, I like how my Baptist
voice is always like a heavy Southern draw, just
this habit. You know, Dustin, you want to come
to my house? You go dove hunting? We could use
one of my eight shotguns. Yeah. All right. I'll
come. Okay. So we're not necessarily defending
the Bible because it's weak. We're defending
our hearts against deception. And that's what
we mean by apologetics is there's proof in the
Bible that everything happened. Everything exists.
There's even science that backs all that up.
And when you're listening and wondering where
to start with apologetics and learning how to
defend your faith, here are a few great sources
I recommend. First of all, Mere Christianity
by C .S. Lewis. It's a fantastic book. Second,
The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel. I should
have that one somewhere back there. And finally,
honestly, just read the Bible. In context goes
further than most people think. I was listening
to Caleb on Hillbilly hermeneutics the other
day about Philippians 413. And for those that
don't know what Hillbilly hermeneutics is, would
you be able to... Tell them what it is. So he'll
belly hermeneutics. It's it's a fun thing. I
won't lie me and Caleb We're just sitting around
drinking coffee one morning and and we were talking
about different stuff for our podcast And so
we have like a main episode drops on Wednesdays
and that's normally where we interview somebody
or we talk about different theologies we talk
about some of our weirder stuff and then he's
like what if we did something different on like
Fridays? And then I'm like, dude, hillbilly hermeneutics.
I had this thought and it just sounds weird.
And he's like, what, what do you mean? Like hermeneutics
is basically the study of the Bible in context
from like the original language and just really
studying scripture to the way it relates to the
original audience. And I'm like, and do you think
hillbillies can do hermeneutics too? And then
he's like, I just got this image of this like
really old guy on like in a swamp somewhere,
like in a rocking chair, like. reading the Bible,
drinking some sweet tea. Why don't, why don't
we just do that and we just pick scriptures and
we just kind of break them down from original
context to today's context, but just do it in
a simple method because, you know, Austin, you've
grew up in church. I mean, there's so many words
out there that they're like sanctification and
like, what does sanctification mean? What does
exhortation mean? What does hermeneutics mean?
What's apologetics? And it's like the average
person, much as I heard these words all through
my schooling and growing up. but we can talk
about these scriptures and we can talk about
them the way people want to hear them. And it's
just simple, easy, but not shying away from the
heart. And it's not shying away from, but man,
that's something that we can all look at as well.
We can look at that and be like, well, why is
that word translated this way? One of my favorite
Greek words to talk about when you talk about
like hermeneutics is baptize. Baptize is literally
what they call a transliteration, which is just
a fancy word meaning they took the way it sounded
in Greek and they spelled it out in English.
In Greek, it's literally Baptismo. And I'm like,
okay, they took the mo off. Baptize instead of
the E's, but I baptize. So what does that word
really mean? Well, there's different translations
in the word. And so you get into like different
theologies, like some spots in the New Testament
talks about baptizing being more of a sprinkle.
Most of the time it talks about baptizing being
a full immersion. Hey, does that mean like you
can start talking about baptisms? Does that mean
if I'm not fully immersed, I'm not saved? No,
that means that there's been a conversation over
this throughout the years, and that's why Baptists
do full immersion, but that's why Methodists
sprinkle. But it all comes down to this idea
of this one word can be translated different
in different spots. So anyways, the reason I
brought up hillbilly hermeneutics is because
context is very important. And unfortunately
a lot of verses do get taken out of context and
that creates confusion and just some bad theology
to non -believers. Because when we rip verses
out of the context, we turn the gospel into something.
It was never meant to be like a motivational
slogan instead of a message of redemption and
surrender. And remember, the goal of apologetics
is never to be quote unquote righteous for the
sake of it. It's to help others encounter the
real Jesus rooted in truth and love. So Dustin,
if you could say one thing to someone who feels
like their faith is being challenged or confused.
by what they're seeing online. What would you
say? You said it perfectly a minute ago. You
said the Bible does not need to defend itself.
I think it's a way we approach it. If you feel
like your faith is being challenged, then maybe
stop, take a look at the person who's challenging
your faith, and maybe try to see where their
issues are. Because ultimately if somebody is
challenging your faith, they've most likely had
an encounter sometime in the past with that.
issue with that problem and Maybe they're challenging
your faith out of anger. Maybe they're challenging
your faith out of frustration Maybe they're challenging
your faith just on ignorance But one of the big
things when we talk about apologetics is sometimes
we forget the human element I mean, you're absolutely
right the Bible can fight for itself and it can
do it really good without you even saying a word
But most of the time the reason the Bible is
being challenged is because somebody else has
been hurt by a church, most likely they have
not been hurt by the Bible and by scripture itself.
But they've been hurt by the church, they've
been hurt by people in the church, they've been
hurt by a pastor, they've got some hurt somewhere.
And so for me at least, taking a second, looking
back at maybe where that hurt came from, seeing
them as a person and being like, you know what,
I see that pastor hurt you and I am sorry if
he never responds to you, I'm sorry that he hurt
you, but you know who didn't hurt you? Jesus.
You know what I mean? It's pulling back and looking
at what is the root cause of what they're saying
to you and how they're saying it. Because there's
so many Bible verses you could go to to talk
about, but maybe instead of going to a Bible
verse that talks about how Jesus is fully divine
and fully human, and that's why we need to focus
on Jesus as our savior, maybe the Bible verse
we need to talk to him about is how Jesus is
kind and loving and he understands your hurt.
It's a different approach. to the way a lot of
people think defending and fighting, because
when you think of defending your faith, I mean,
so I need to fight. You know what? You can fight,
but you can also fight by seeing the person and
stopping and going, you know what? God loves
you too, whether you like it or not. Right, because
at the end of the day, it all comes down to this.
Where are you yielding your foundation? Are you
yielding it on the rock, where it's sturdy and
won't break? or are you building your foundation
on sand where it'll crumble easily and not stand
but theology doesn't just stay in your head it
shapes your entire life it affects your understanding
of grace it affects your identity are you defined
by culture your past or what god says about you
and it affects your salvation are you truly christ
or are you a version of him that doesn't exist
and that's why sound doctrine matters Before
we wrap up, I just want to give a quick thank
you to Destin for joining us and sharing so much
wisdom and insight on such an important topic.
And he's agreed to do several more episodes down
the road in season two. Thank you for reminding
us that theology isn't just for scholars. It's
for every follower of Jesus who wants to know
him rightly. If this episode challenged you or
encouraged you, don't keep it to yourself. Share
it with a friend, a small group, or even the
one person who's been asking hard questions about
faith. You never know how God might use it to
stir up discernment and transformation. Be sure
to connect with us on the Unfiltered Faith Podcast.
If you haven't already, hit that follow or subscribe
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Until next time, keep seeking those fresh perspectives
and keep having those unfiltered conversations
with others to better understand the world around
us.