WEBVTT 00:00:02.479 --> 00:00:06.700 Greetings. Welcome to the Church of Biblical 00:00:06.700 --> 00:00:13.640 Sanity. I'm Andy Johnson. January 27th, 2026. 00:00:14.099 --> 00:00:17.519 Now, I have nothing to say today that should 00:00:17.519 --> 00:00:20.620 be offensive to any of those in the Christian 00:00:20.620 --> 00:00:25.399 community. I'm not using hate language, and I 00:00:25.399 --> 00:00:30.260 am not demeaning individual people. I honor your 00:00:30.260 --> 00:00:33.140 spiritual path. whatever that may be. I honor 00:00:33.140 --> 00:00:36.179 your beliefs. And you may disagree with what 00:00:36.179 --> 00:00:41.539 I say. You may think I'm totally wrong in my 00:00:41.539 --> 00:00:44.799 interpretation of Scripture, but that's okay. 00:00:45.359 --> 00:00:48.799 I'm doing my best not to be offensive, but to 00:00:48.799 --> 00:00:53.700 be biblical. So I will put the Bible verses from 00:00:53.700 --> 00:01:00.090 which today's talk is from in the a YouTube thing 00:01:00.090 --> 00:01:02.649 below so you'll be able to see that. So part 00:01:02.649 --> 00:01:07.750 one is quick to listen. Now if you disagree with 00:01:07.750 --> 00:01:11.870 what I have to say, let's talk about it. Let's 00:01:11.870 --> 00:01:17.349 talk. And listening is an important part of talking. 00:01:18.209 --> 00:01:24.090 St. James tells us about this and James First 00:01:24.090 --> 00:01:27.250 verse, or first chapter 19, he says, my dear 00:01:27.250 --> 00:01:31.989 brothers, take note of this. Everyone should 00:01:31.989 --> 00:01:36.230 be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to 00:01:36.230 --> 00:01:40.709 become angry. For a man's anger does not bring 00:01:40.709 --> 00:01:44.230 about the righteous life that God desires. And 00:01:44.230 --> 00:01:46.829 think about how many times anger gets in the 00:01:46.829 --> 00:01:51.489 way. Anger is not good. So we are to be quick 00:01:51.489 --> 00:01:58.790 to listen. Slow to speak. When we disagree, we 00:01:58.790 --> 00:02:03.329 must be quick to listen. Be quick to listen. 00:02:04.569 --> 00:02:08.530 Not listen to find a quiet space to jump in with 00:02:08.530 --> 00:02:13.849 your talk. Quick to listen means one seeks to 00:02:13.849 --> 00:02:19.129 understand. Quick to listen does not mean quick 00:02:19.129 --> 00:02:23.199 to correct people or quick to convince people, 00:02:23.539 --> 00:02:27.939 or quick to talk over people, or quick to silence 00:02:27.939 --> 00:02:33.139 people. Neither does quick to listen mean that 00:02:33.139 --> 00:02:36.879 you need to agree. You don't need to agree with 00:02:36.879 --> 00:02:41.159 me. That would be a horrible thing. Quick to 00:02:41.159 --> 00:02:44.159 listen does not mean you must convince others 00:02:44.159 --> 00:02:48.099 of the rightness of your ideas and the wrongness 00:02:48.099 --> 00:02:52.900 of theirs. You can embrace what is precious to 00:02:52.900 --> 00:02:57.500 you, knowing that others are also embracing what 00:02:57.500 --> 00:03:01.580 is precious to them, and our embracings are different, 00:03:01.819 --> 00:03:08.039 and that's okay. Listening and talking with those 00:03:08.039 --> 00:03:12.939 who disagree is how we evolve our thinking and 00:03:12.939 --> 00:03:18.259 grow in our faith. And I'll be defining faith 00:03:18.259 --> 00:03:22.479 in a minute too. But hearing the ideas of others 00:03:22.479 --> 00:03:26.979 invites us to revisit our ideas, our thinking, 00:03:27.340 --> 00:03:30.599 our beliefs, then either reify or strengthen 00:03:30.599 --> 00:03:36.800 and revise our thinking. When we close ourselves 00:03:36.800 --> 00:03:41.840 off from those who think differently, when we 00:03:41.840 --> 00:03:45.860 surround ourselves in like -think and happy talk, 00:03:46.270 --> 00:03:52.310 We cease to grow in this bubble. We become stuck 00:03:52.310 --> 00:03:56.889 in time. This leads to cognitive inbreeding, 00:03:57.169 --> 00:04:03.789 deleterious mutations. To grow is to change. 00:04:04.169 --> 00:04:07.930 To stay the same is to wither and die. We must 00:04:07.930 --> 00:04:14.740 be quick to listen. Part two, Pharisees. Now, 00:04:14.740 --> 00:04:18.879 I bring this up because some have been extremely 00:04:18.879 --> 00:04:24.180 slow to listen. In fact, they're not listening 00:04:24.180 --> 00:04:28.879 at all. Now, last week I posted some Bible verses 00:04:28.879 --> 00:04:33.600 to illustrate what I see as the hypocrisy of 00:04:33.600 --> 00:04:37.540 some in the Christian community, primarily those 00:04:37.540 --> 00:04:42.709 on the religious right. And I had some rather 00:04:42.709 --> 00:04:46.870 harsh words, yes I did, but we have a license 00:04:46.870 --> 00:04:50.790 to be harsh and a responsibility to use harsh 00:04:50.790 --> 00:04:55.649 words when the situations warrant. Jimmy Swigert 00:04:55.649 --> 00:04:58.769 certainly didn't hesitate to use harsh words. 00:04:59.490 --> 00:05:05.430 So here are my harsh words, my biblically based 00:05:05.430 --> 00:05:10.160 harsh words. With some in the Christian community, 00:05:10.439 --> 00:05:15.800 there is a glaring juxtaposition between the 00:05:15.800 --> 00:05:18.480 biblical text upon which their belief system 00:05:18.480 --> 00:05:24.220 is based and their actions upon which their values 00:05:24.220 --> 00:05:30.079 are based. Not all of Christendom, mind you. 00:05:30.860 --> 00:05:36.689 Some. And It seems to glare most brightly from 00:05:36.689 --> 00:05:40.250 the ones who constantly tell us how Christian 00:05:40.250 --> 00:05:46.389 they are. So, one day I was reading the Bible, 00:05:46.850 --> 00:05:52.110 and I happened upon Matthew 23 verses 27, and 00:05:52.110 --> 00:05:56.990 it says, and this is from Jesus, quote, Woe to 00:05:56.990 --> 00:06:01.550 you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! 00:06:02.480 --> 00:06:06.800 You are like whitewashed tombs which look beautiful 00:06:06.800 --> 00:06:10.980 on the outside, but on the inside are full of 00:06:10.980 --> 00:06:16.439 bones of the dead and everything unclean." Unquote. 00:06:17.779 --> 00:06:21.279 There I go reading the Bible again. And some 00:06:21.279 --> 00:06:24.680 are apparently offended that I would do such 00:06:24.680 --> 00:06:30.480 a thing. How dare I read the Bible? Some of my 00:06:30.480 --> 00:06:33.300 conservative, Jesus -loving Christian friends 00:06:33.300 --> 00:06:39.100 have become modern -day Pharisees. They let us 00:06:39.100 --> 00:06:43.139 know at every opportunity just how much they 00:06:43.139 --> 00:06:47.579 love Jesus, but they're silent, sympathetic, 00:06:48.079 --> 00:06:52.360 and compliant to a government that lies, abuses, 00:06:53.199 --> 00:06:58.079 intimidates, bullies, steals, hoards, imprisons, 00:06:58.139 --> 00:07:02.459 and now kills people. And I'm talking about the 00:07:02.459 --> 00:07:08.639 Ice Gestapo. Now when I read biblical scriptures, 00:07:09.740 --> 00:07:12.579 this seems to be the sort of stuff that's looked 00:07:12.579 --> 00:07:18.220 down upon. When I read biblical scriptures, it 00:07:18.220 --> 00:07:22.680 seems instead to promote responsibility, kindness, 00:07:23.259 --> 00:07:29.110 compassion, and care. These seem to be rather 00:07:29.110 --> 00:07:32.149 dominant themes. When I read the Bible, maybe 00:07:32.149 --> 00:07:36.589 I'm getting it wrong. Now some of my conservative, 00:07:36.730 --> 00:07:39.350 Jesus -loving Christian friends are somehow able 00:07:39.350 --> 00:07:44.290 to justify what Donald Trump and his mass Gestapo 00:07:44.290 --> 00:07:49.230 agents are doing. They support a president who 00:07:49.230 --> 00:07:55.259 lies, abuses women, breaks the law, covers up 00:07:55.259 --> 00:07:58.139 the Epstein files, ignores the Constitution, 00:07:58.899 --> 00:08:02.160 and uses the power of the office he has been 00:08:02.160 --> 00:08:06.660 given to take Greenland because, quote, we need 00:08:06.660 --> 00:08:11.620 it, unquote. And in doing so, my conservative, 00:08:11.759 --> 00:08:14.560 Jesus -loving Christian friends are doing the 00:08:14.560 --> 00:08:21.000 same by proxy. How is it possible not to see 00:08:21.000 --> 00:08:25.560 you as whitewashed tombs dead bones. Everything 00:08:25.560 --> 00:08:30.720 is unclean. There's no love and compassion inside 00:08:30.720 --> 00:08:36.919 you. Part three, lies and the people of the lies. 00:08:38.279 --> 00:08:41.100 Last week, some of my conservative, Jesus -loving 00:08:41.100 --> 00:08:45.500 Christian friends took umbrage with my Bible 00:08:45.500 --> 00:08:50.820 -based conclusions. They were offended. So what 00:08:50.820 --> 00:08:54.450 did they do with their offenses? They contacted 00:08:54.450 --> 00:08:58.889 the Facebook gods and said I was posting offensive 00:08:58.889 --> 00:09:04.250 things. How dare I use biblical scripture to 00:09:04.250 --> 00:09:07.850 make a point? Apparently their belief system 00:09:07.850 --> 00:09:12.710 is so fragile that it offends by my selection 00:09:12.710 --> 00:09:17.730 of biblical verses. Imagine that. So you silenced 00:09:17.730 --> 00:09:21.289 me for a week by claiming my post to be offensive. 00:09:21.909 --> 00:09:24.990 I cannot respond to those who respond to my posts. 00:09:25.029 --> 00:09:29.690 I can still post. And I call you frauds and hypocrites, 00:09:30.289 --> 00:09:34.409 people of the lie. There was nothing offensive 00:09:34.409 --> 00:09:40.230 here. And as long as you don't use hate language 00:09:40.230 --> 00:09:44.070 or engaged in unwarranted personal attacks, I 00:09:44.070 --> 00:09:48.259 will not block or delete any of your posts. Tell 00:09:48.259 --> 00:09:51.100 me what I should think in differently. I will 00:09:51.100 --> 00:09:55.200 be quick to listen. Please tell me what I got 00:09:55.200 --> 00:09:59.460 wrong. Make a case for your point. This is how 00:09:59.460 --> 00:10:07.299 one is quick to listen. So part four, not people 00:10:07.299 --> 00:10:14.620 of belief. Are you people of faith? The scriptures 00:10:14.919 --> 00:10:18.879 have much to say about faith. Hebrews 11 .1, 00:10:19.019 --> 00:10:21.919 quote, now faith is confidence in what we hope 00:10:21.919 --> 00:10:25.960 for and assurance about what we do not see, unquote. 00:10:27.240 --> 00:10:31.279 Faith is different from belief. We often get 00:10:31.279 --> 00:10:35.879 those two mixed up. Belief is being certain that 00:10:35.879 --> 00:10:40.620 a thing is so. You are certain that a bridge 00:10:40.620 --> 00:10:43.600 will hold you up. You believe it will hold you 00:10:43.600 --> 00:10:49.639 up. That's Belief. Faith is stepping out on the 00:10:49.639 --> 00:10:53.440 bridge. Faith is stepping out on your biblical 00:10:53.440 --> 00:10:58.759 principles. Faith is living your values. Not 00:10:58.759 --> 00:11:01.980 just believing your values, but living them. 00:11:03.460 --> 00:11:06.840 And some of my conservative, Jesus -loving Christian 00:11:06.840 --> 00:11:11.679 friends are people of belief, not people of faith. 00:11:13.000 --> 00:11:18.379 Am I judging you? No. I'm simply applying scriptures 00:11:18.379 --> 00:11:23.360 to you. Now, if you're basically a bad person, 00:11:23.539 --> 00:11:27.200 a selfish person, an evil person, or a narcissistic 00:11:27.200 --> 00:11:30.639 person, and you support Trump and his ICE policies, 00:11:31.080 --> 00:11:35.259 I have nothing against you. You're living your 00:11:35.259 --> 00:11:40.399 values. That's what you do. But if you're claim 00:11:40.399 --> 00:11:44.980 to be a quote Bible -believing Christian, I would 00:11:44.980 --> 00:11:48.980 say to you a little less belief and a little 00:11:48.980 --> 00:11:49.639 more faith.