In this live‑stream, Arthur Ayotte (Speaker B) leads a theological discussion on the nature of suffering, humility, and purpose from a Christian perspective, interspersed with excerpts from Jordan Peterson. Ayotte explains that suffering is inevitable for all humans, including Christ, and that how one responds to it determines spiritual growth. He cites 1 Peter 1:6 to illustrate that trials refine faith like fire refines gold, urging listeners to embrace suffering rather than avoid it. The conversation contrasts the modern hedonistic view that humans are built for pleasure with Peterson’s claim that humans are built for "maximum challenge," arguing that true meaning arises from confronting difficulty. Ayotte also delves into Trinitarian doctrine, distinguishing between the divine essence (being) and the relational personhood of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, using biblical passages (Genesis 1, John 1:14, etc.) to defend the co‑equality of the three persons. Throughout, he stresses humility as the starting point for honest self‑assessment, the necessity of work (reaping what you sow), and the transformative potential of suffering when aligned with Christ’s example. Technical interruptions and audience interaction are noted but do not affect the core theological arguments.
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For safety or for, for maybe for egotistical self-aggrandizement and fame.
Those are Look, many—
all of those things are better than their absence, let's say. What are we built for? I think we're built for maximum challenge. Well, humility is starting where you are. That's what humility is. And it's annoying because, you know, like, if your life is a mess, then you have to see that you're the person in that mess. Then you have to understand that your first attempt to redress the mess might not be something you're particularly proud of. You know, I mean, I saw this lots in my clinical practice where people would the first steps they had.
All right, already, already, already, already. Oh yeah, turn that off. Hold on. First person in the chat, is my audio good? Because I can change audio output and input, but I want to make sure the audio is fine. I wish I could check it. That's what I'm gonna do. Hopefully the feedback isn't too bad. Never mind, I can't do that. I can't do that. Um, one individual, can you please tell me if the audio is okay? Maybe you can't hear me, that's why I'm not being told anything, because the audio is so bad. Assuming that's not the case. Um, so I'm going to be talking about suffering and really what that means. What is suffering? And well, as Christians, that takes on a whole different image, especially if you're a believer in Jesus Christ or if you're a believer in a different belief system or religion. And so suffering is, well, inevitable, right? We will all go through some suffering. And it is how we face the suffering that transforms us either as better individuals or the opposite. It's your—
Hello.
Hello. Hello. It's your interaction with that suffering that changes you. And so as people, of course, we're going to go through that. And it's hard, right? Because suffering is usually out of nowhere. It hits you like a train, right? You're not even paying attention. Then boom, you realize, oh, look at the calamities in my life and the things that have gone wrong. How's my audio? How's my audio? And the things that have gone wrong. And so I just want to make it clear that suffering is not something you're facing alone. Everyone who's ever existed has suffered. The perfect being, Jesus Christ, who lived on this earth, he suffered. And if he suffered and he's perfect and he's gone through, what, everything we're going through and more, He got tempted by Satan himself, right? 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness, starving, thirsting. And then the image of evil came to him and he still didn't fall. So suffering is inevitable. Um, but again, it's how you handle that suffering and how Christ handled that suffering. He was, he was starving, thirsty, dealing with all these things, and yet he handled it so perfectly, so perfectly, because he didn't try to destroy or beat suffering, but instead he embraced suffering and also dealt with it with scripture and a spirit of goodness. And that's what it takes, because suffering can easily make you bitter, right? It can easily embitter, embitter you When you're suffering, and so suffering is almost like a it's a it's an obstacle, but it's also something that can transform you or well it does transform you either transforms you toward growth or transform you toward a demise or transforms you towards a demise. There's two directions it can go, and so I want to read in. Peter in the scriptures. Um, now I guess I'll give a little background on Peter just in case not everyone knows who Peter is. Well, so Peter is one of the 12 disciples that the Lord Jesus, um, called in the beginning of— how's my audio? How's my audio, Connor? Um, in the beginning, Jesus, he called the 12 disciples and Peter was one of them. And he said, come become fishers of men and we will go and we will save the world. And so after Jesus Christ died on the cross for the sins of those around him, he also rose from the dead. And so when he rose from the dead, the Lord took on a— well, he didn't take on— well, he was no longer a man of sorrow, right? Before that, we called him a man of sorrow because he was going through the— he was going through what was called hell. He was literally going to face hell itself and take on all the sins of earth. And so after Jesus Christ died and he rose from the dead and the disciples saw him, right, 40 eyewitnesses or 500 eyewitnesses or so saw him and claimed that he was alive. And once they claimed that, many of them died for that belief system. And then thousands of Christians after that did as well. And so Peter denied Christ before he was dead, denied Christ before he was put on the cross. And here in 1 Peter, this is writings years after the death and resurrection of Jesus. Peter is speaking on one thing that we all face, and that is suffering. And so Peter doesn't soften it, right? He understands the difficulty. Because Peter himself has suffered and he has dealt with tons of calamity, especially in this season, because the very nation he lives in, Rome, is against people of his belief system. So he's facing suffering all the time. And Peter writes this in 1 Peter 1:6. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials. So that the proof of your faith be more precious than gold, which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor in the revelation of Jesus Christ. So what's he saying here? He's saying even though right now you suffer and you face all these things in your life, you face trials, right? Even though right now for a little while you're dealing with all these issues, even though He says that these trials will prove your faith. There will be proof of your faith because like fire that goes through, or like metals or gold that goes through a furnace, it is being molded and shaped into something useful, right? It is this pressure, this idea like pressure makes diamonds. It's this very pressure this fire, this flame that transforms us as individuals. Um, and so yes, embrace the suffering, and not in some sort of weird way where it's like, yes, I suffer. No, understand that it's painful and it hurts. What's up, guys? Um, understand that it's painful and it hurts and it sucks and it's not fun, but also understand that because of this suffering, you are being transformed into a being That can, one, withstand the presence of God, but also a being that can withstand the present world. And so while you walk in this earth and you're being refined, like he says, you're being refined like gold, like precious jewelry. As we're being refined, we need to look at it with an awe that, one, we get to share in the similar suffering of Christ. The more we suffer, the more we can relate with the man Who suffered for us. So the further we go into this journey of suffering, the more we can relate with the one who suffered all things. And this at the moment might not make the suffering easier, because in my life, I know I can remind myself this and we're still like, yeah, but the moment sucks. And that's understandable. And there's no point of denying that. But also, you have to remember not to lose hope and not to let the suffering embitter you. Because suffering, when you let it, when you just sit with it and chew with it and don't, one, find creative ways to kind of release some of that pressure, but also when you don't know who can pick up that burden, who is Christ, then it's so easy to let it make you into somebody, one, you never thought you would become. Because the world is full of suffering and sin nature has caused corruption. And so a lot of the world has seemed to almost collapse into this. And there's this— what is this? No, don't start this Q&A. They're trying to get me to start a Q&A by karaoke. I'm not singing. Um, and, uh, yes, God and Jesus is King. That's right, Connor. Um, And so, yeah, so, so understand that suffering is going to happen, but also understand how to walk in light of that. And now something Jordan Peterson talks about— this is a— so let me tell you, Jordan Peterson is a psychologist who lived in Canada. He got kicked out of being— of going into psychology. Yes, I remember you. Um, who got kicked out of his psychology school basically because Of what he was teaching, and it went against the modern time and the school and what they were wanting to represent. And then he's gone through so much suffering in his life as well, and he speaks on it. He says that he has this idea where if you stare into suffering long enough and you allow it to embrace it, it will actually make you a more powerful person. And this is similar to what scripture tells us. And I think this is what we need to lock in on, is that suffering doesn't have to be something that destroys you, right? It can be something that actually helps you and brings you closer to the presence of God, but also makes you the type of person who other people would want to be closer to as well. Because if you can understand your suffering and why you suffer, then you can help people around you. Um, so I'm gonna play Audio. I wish I could— I didn't find a way to get the image to like go on to here. I've seen people do that. I just don't want— I don't have the setup. I just started doing this. Um, but this is a little bit of a video of him talking about it.
I don't even know if that's what we want. So what are we built for? We're built for maximal challenge.
Okay, so that was quick. I don't know if y'all can even hear this, but basically Jordan Peterson asks this question. He says, what are we built for? And then he makes this claim, we're built for maximum challenge. So what does this mean? Well, there's multiple worldviews that, that are in the world. And one of those worldviews is something we call hedonism or hedonistic gratifications, right? And it's this idea that we are built for pleasure. And the reason we are here is simply to gain and Except what we want, right? And so pleasure is the reason we exist, and that's wrong, right? Hedonism is wrong because if all we were supposed to do is go for pleasure, then a society couldn't function because you always have to do things that make you either uncomfortable or difficult. You have to do difficult tasks in your life. That's inevitable. And if you just simply try to go for the pleasures of your life, that's how you quickly ruin your life. Because in order for you to even gain pleasures of the world, you have to at least work, right? Unless you're just an absolute liar and cheat. But most individuals have to work, and most good moral people ought to work in order to gain the pleasures of life. So if you want money in order to spoil it on everything you want, what do you need to do? Well, you need to work to get that money, right? You should reap what you sow is what the scripture tells us. So what you put into your work, what you put into your life, that's what you're going to get out of it. And so you should reap what you sow. And so if we think life is simply built for our pleasures, then well, this whole thing is out of whack because in order to reap anything, we have to sow. And sow is work. It's difficult. It's a task, right? It's a challenge. And so what Peterson is saying here is that we're built for maximum pleasure. I mean maximum challenge, not pleasure. We're built for maximum challenge. So what this means is you actually gain meaning. Pursuing something difficult and hard, you know. And you can see this in psychology, actually. People who, you know, he talks about cleaning your room, right? People who put on different little challenges and build those challenges up actually slowly build themselves up mentally. Your mental health improves with you slowly building up challenges in your life. It's not when you have everything you want. This is false. And it's easy to think that's the case because it's like, well, why not? But people who have everything they want, and we think about this like rich people, we're like, oh, rich people are so spoiled, right? Why do we say this? It's because they've always got what they want. You know, people who are born into money, not necessarily all rich people, but like people who didn't earn their money and just get whatever they want. It's like, well, they're so spoiled. Well, why do we call them spoiled? It's because they've only gotten what they wanted and only seeked after pleasure. And so, well, that's, that's an issue. What's up, Chance? Well, that's an issue. Can y'all hear me? Can y'all hear me? I'll make sure my audio is fine. Um, Jesus got on his knees and prayed to God in the Bible. Okay, yes, he prayed to God the Father. He did. Um, and I'll talk about that in a minute. Um, so one thing that, uh, yeah, yeah, one thing I want to talk about is a maximum challenge. Yeah, we're built for maximum challenge. And to live a life contrary to that is false belief. And so, yeah. Okay, so I'll explain, I'll explain this question asked by— who's this? Hams. So this idea of the Trinity is really what you're challenging here. And the Trinity has always been a complicated concept, but really it is quite simple. So in Scripture, we have this idea called personhood, versus being. So personhood is more about the relation to one another. Being is the essence, meaning it's what it is. Personhood is how they interact with each other. And so Jesus Christ putting on flesh is what the scripture tells us, meaning when he became a man, when he was birthed, when he put on flesh, became a human being, he would— he subordinated himself to the Father. So what's this mean? Meaning he made himself less than God the Father, but he's still God in essence. But he chose to suborn himself to the Father. And so in essence, he's the same, meaning he's the same being, but in personhood he is different, right? Or distinct, not different. In personhood, he's distinct. This is how he can worship God the Father, or at least pray to God the Father in this way, right? He's praying to him as Father is to Son. But in being, he's still the same. No, Jesus Christ is the Son of God, so he's not the Father in personhood, but they're both God. Well, there's only one interpretation, multiple applications, so people may try to explain it differently, but it's the same idea. So let me give you an example. A lot of people think, well, this is a new concept started by early Christians, and it's nowhere in the Bible. So in Genesis 1, it actually says, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. So the word God there, I believe it's in Hebrew. Yeah, the word God there in Hebrew is Elohim. Okay, so El means God. Elohim is God plural, but because it's relating to the being the Lord God, it is In a singular form, so this is this is kind of how the Trinity is. So the Word, so God is a singular being, but within His personhood He is a plural. So within His within His person within the essence of God there is a triune. And and if you can look this up in Genesis it actually starts with that. So when we're first introduced to God we're already introduced to this idea of A multitude or Trinity, even though it's in personhood. No, Jesus is God. That's what you're getting confused. Jesus is God, but they're distinct in personhood, meaning Jesus is the Son of God, God is the Father, and the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God. But in essence, they're all God. So when you say, I pray to Jesus, you're also praying to God the Father and the Spirit of God because they can't be separated in essence. Yes, he's also the Son of God. That's the personhood. So I'm using 2 languages here, right? So the ontology of God, so what God is, is the same, right? They're the same what. I don't know. I don't know really how to best wrap because I can't really use any other sort of because then you do get into blasphemy. Like it's not like water, because when the Son of God became flesh, meaning he became a mortal man, he chose right. He chose to subordinate himself from the or. Or subordinate himself under the Father. He chose to make God superior. Let me pull out scripture. So forgot where the verse is. I think it's in Romans. I didn't expect this to be a Trinity conversation, but so yes, John 1:14. So in John, it kind of explains this. John, it says he came to his own, and those who were his own— hold on, is that the right one? Is it 1 John? Okay. Who were born not of blood received him. He gave the right to become children of God even to those Who believe in his name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word— So the Word here is talking about Jesus. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. So the Son is begotten of the Father. Right? That's what separates them. Um, John testified about him and cried out, saying, this was he of whom I said, he who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for he existed before me. For of his fullness we have all received in grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten God who is the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father. He has explained him. This is the testimony of John. And so what he's talking about here when he says, as they ask him, "Who are you?" And he confessed and did not deny, but confessed, "I." John confessed, "I am not the Christ." And they said that there was one who will come after who will. Who will be greater than I, and I, John, simply make his path straight. And so what the gospel is saying here is Jesus Christ became the flesh. He was the Word. He was God. He created all things, and nothing that wasn't created wasn't created through him. So all things were created through Christ, and therefore he is God. But when he became flesh, he also showed the begottenness of him, which is the personhood to God. That's the best way I can explain it. I would definitely recommend, if you're still confused about it, um, to dig into scripture and what it talks about. Oh my goodness, the brother sent a lot. You just said he's the Son, then why did he kill his 2 so superior? No, Jesus was subordinate to the Father. Jesus is not an idol if he's God. All right, uh, so an idol is— an idol is that which is worshiped that is not God. So Jesus is God, so it's not an idol. Anyway, so what I was going to talk about originally, which was this idea of challenge, right? Um, so we're built for maximum challenge, and in a world that pushes for pleasure and pushes for hedonism, which is the desire to have pleasure, We need to understand that we cannot find our worth, self-worth, and meaning simply in the things that we— simply in the things that we desire, because our impulses and desires are actually built on what we call our sin nature. Hello, Jonathan Forsten. And so our sin nature Is well, the scripture tells us about our sin nature. So in Genesis, in Genesis one, right? God created the heavens and the earth, and throughout the scripture, he kind of explains how we existed. Jesus is well, that's an issue if Jesus is a prophet. Are you? I'm guessing you're Islamic, if I had to guess. Because that's really only an Islamic claim. If that's— if the, uh, Hazma 599, are you Islamic? Hello, Jonathan Forrest 15. Oh, maybe he left. No, I don't know if he's Islamic. Oh, you're a Jehovah's Witness? Um, the issue with— well, the issue with saying that Jesus is simply a prophet, there's two— well, okay, so fine, let's do this. Jesus is one of three things. He's either a maniac and a crazy person, immoral and a liar, or he is God. Now, why do I say these three things? Because there's three major things we must notice about scripture. One, you should not accept worship unless you're God. Who accepts worship? Who accepts worship in the scripture? Jesus accepts worship. He does not deny worship. If you're simply a man, you wouldn't have worship, especially from a disciple. As a disciple, prophet, and the Messiah. Well, if you understand the Old Testament, if you understand the old— what the Old Testament was saying about the Messiah, then you understand that the Messiah was God. So, um, well, so first of all, Jesus said before Abraham was, I am. Well, what does that mean? Well, he's obviously distinguishing himself from simply being, uh, or simply being a rabbi or teacher, because if he was before Abraham and he uses the same— it's the same language that God used in the burning bush, then he's relating himself to God. He says before Abraham was, I am. So this is him relating himself to God. Well, you wouldn't really see any teachers doing that. It's kind of crazy. Then he says that it is through the power or let me read the scripture. Do do do do. Then oh yes, then he forgives sin. So only he— so the, the, uh, Pharisees basically tell Jesus, he's like, um, I want to quote the verse because it would look really bad if I misquoted the verse, and I ain't trying to do that. Um, so I believe it's in Matthew though. Yeah, so So in Matthew 9, Jesus got into a boat, crossed the sea, and came to his own city. And here in his own city, when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, cheer up, friend, your sins are forgiven. So some people brought him a paralyzed man on a stretcher. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the man, cheer up, friend, your sins are forgiven. Only God forgives sin. Only Jesus forgives sin, or hear Jesus forgives sin. We know that historically it was seen as that only God could forgive sins, right? We as man didn't have the power to forgive another man's sin. How would that even make sense? And so Jesus forgives their sin, then some of the experts in Moses' teachings thought he's dishonoring God, right? So this is the connection between teachings, or this is the connection between the Mosaic teachings that the Israelites knew and what God was doing, right? So they too thought Jesus is blaspheming God. That's the very reason they put him on the cross, right? Pharisees and Sadducees, the people who knew the book, also said Jesus was blaspheming God. Why would they say that unless he was making the claim to be so? They put him on the cross because he claimed to be God. That was the very reason he was put on the cross. So it was very clear to the Pharisees and Sadducees and the religious leaders at the time that Jesus was claiming to be God. It is only now after the death of Christ That we're like, did Jesus claim to be God? Well, if the reason we question is because we don't understand the Israel— or we don't understand the language, the language customs used within that time. There were certain things you simply didn't say or claim to do unless you were claiming to be God. And you never have to say, I am God, and you could do those things and the people around you would know, oh, this is the identity he's claiming due to his actions. Or the way he is choosing to speak. And similar to— well, that's kind of similar to our language, right? There's certain things I could do or say without saying— so I could say— I don't have to say I am a player in the NBA. But if I showed you an NBA ring and I showed you me dunking and wearing the jersey on a court, you wouldn't have to say, oh, he didn't say he's an NBA player though. That doesn't mean he's not one. Well, Jesus made it very clear. He did actions only God did, and he said certain, uh, certain words. And the way he said those words made it clear to the Sadducees and Pharisees that he was claiming to be God, um, that he was claiming to be God. Then some of the experts in Moses' teachings thought, he's dishonoring God. Jesus knew what they were thinking. He asked them, Why are you thinking evil things? Is it easier to say your sins are forgiven or to say get up and walk? So he's saying, why are you thinking these things, right? So now he's like going to prove it. He says, why are you thinking evil things? Is it easier to say your sins are forgiven, which is just crazy, or to say get up and walk? So here he's showing authority above normal human actions. I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. Then he said to the paralyzed man, get up, pick up your stretcher, and go home. So the man got up and went home. When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe and praised God for giving such authority to him. Jesus called his 12 disciples and gave them authority to force evil spirits out of people and to cure every disease and sickness. These are the names of the 12 apostles, right? So not only does he have authority over all things, But then he also gave authority, had the authority to give authority to other people. I think this is very clear representation of Christ being at least more than human. And even in the Quran, I believe it speaks about these incredible things, right? The Quran tells us that Jesus was a virgin, or not a virgin. Jesus was born of a virgin Mary. It tells us that Jesus was able to What I believe make a clay bird fly or alive. So a lot of these things were the case. Can you read my chat or no? Yes, I can read your chat, but I'm also trying to speak. Why do Muslims pray to God like Jesus did on their knees? Why do Muslims pray to God like Jesus did on their knees?
Why do you?
Well, because— well, there's lots of ways. Kind of depends on what that question is asking. I don't believe Muslims pray to God. That's the first thing. Secondly, I don't believe that Jesus was praying to God the same way the Muslims do. And Jesus was praying to God the Father because they're in communion with one another. They're in a relationship. Jesus is Jesus, within the, um, within the triune God, is the Son of God. And so he was talking or praying to God the Father, the Godhead. And while he had on flesh, he chose to subordinate himself to the Father. And so he treated in such a manner. Plus, he was praying in representation how we should pray whenever we're praying to the Father. So yeah, Jesus sent these 12 disciples. And so here Christ is not— does only does he represent or show us how he has divinity, but through his capability of casting out demons, praying, or forgiving sins. But all these sort of things he does, I think, makes it very clear that he is who he claims to be. The image of the invisible God. And if you've seen him, then you have seen the Father. All right. Um, okay. Well, I kind of wanted to talk about suffering. It's been a little difficult to do just because of the questions, but I'm listening to a little bit of this and see.
And that isn't the way we view ourselves in the modern world. We view ourselves as built for pleasure. We view ourselves as built for consumption or for safety or for— maybe for egotistical self-aggrandizement, fame. Those are— look, many— all of those things are better than their absence, let's say. What are we built for? I think we're built for maximal joy. That's what humility is. And it's annoying because, you know, like, if your life is a mess, then you—
Um, and so I also want to talk on this. If your life— if you— so everyone's life is in different situations, obviously, but if your life is a mess and is, is a mess and it's out of whack, then there's lots of things you can do to try to fix it. Um, but the best thing is to be on Be honest with where you're at. So be honest about how far you are from your ideal self, because we all want to be somewhere, and it's easy to brush off that side and say, oh no, I am exactly where I want to be, when in reality we aren't. And this helps us not go and fix the situation. So seek to be— so the place you seek to be, um, you need to be honest with it, and you need to be humble enough to understand that you're far from it, right? And that takes humility. And it is the spirit of humility that actually gives you the capability of becoming that which you can be. And God himself tells us in scripture that it is those who are humble, right, those who are humble in heart who he will elevate. It is those who are humble in heart. And everyone who tries to act as if they are in the place they wanted to be in, Right? Those who are unhumble, I guess is the word. Well, they can never reach their full potential because they already think they made it and they're unwilling to accept the fact of where they're at.
No.
I have asthma. Ah, I can't even talk about what I'm talking about. Muslims pray to the same God of Abraham, and Jews of the Old Testament agree Muslims do. First of all, Islam says to go to the people of the book if you're confused about what's in their book, and at least the Quran tells us that. And if you go to the book, which is talking about the people of the book, which are Christians, um, become— because Islam didn't come until what, 600, maybe Yeah, years later, before Christ was dead, and then they are claiming contradictory views to what the Bible says. That cannot be the same God. It just can't, because the God they're praying to, one, denies that Jesus is the Son of God and that Jesus is God, and they say he didn't die, and Islam says he didn't die on a cross. Well, The Christian instance is very clear that he did, and historically it's clear they did. Like, Islam loses historical accuracy in that aspect because, well, it's very clear that Jesus Christ died on the cross. It's within the Roman— Romans writings, right? Um, I don't know who it was. I think it might have been Josephus, right? It's very clear that Jesus died. It's a different God. Um, so No. And also the Islamic God— or sorry, I don't even know if the Jewish God was the same God as the Christian God until they denied Christ. Because Christ claims to be the image of the invisible God. And he says, if you have seen me, you have seen the Father. And so if you deny the Father, if you deny who Christ is, then you're denying the Father. He even says that. He says, If you deny me before man, I would deny you before the Father. Right? And I don't see how they can be the same. It doesn't make any sense. So yeah, I don't even know. I don't even know. I don't know how you would even rationalize that. I mean, it's clear that they are. There's no way if. The Jewish God is not the same God as the Islamic God. Allah is not the same. I mean, they might try to use the same language. Well, that is what they did. Islam tried to use the same language or a similar— well, they have a different language, but they try to use a similar representation because they are trying to signal to the God or to the Jewish God. That's what, that's what they are doing. So if there is similarity in there, it's like, well, yeah, that's, that's who they're trying to talk about. But I believe it's a false religion. Um, so yeah, well, most people say that, but those are people who haven't looked into the scripture. I would say if you ask most Christians that actually understood what Islam is claiming It wouldn't say that. Then also, I don't, I don't know about the evidence of that, but if you actually, if you actually read the two books and read the two texts, which I've read a little bit about, I need to read more of the Quran, but I understand their fundamental claims. They are denying each other on basic levels, right? Um, I know so many Islamic people who tell me that Paul isn't even a prophet that should be listened to while he writes a majority of the New Testament. I mean, that brother writes like What, 7, 8 books in there talking to different churches? Yeah, I don't, I don't, I don't get that. And also, if the Christian Bible— Jews totally deny Jesus and Mary, don't be dumb. Yes, it does. Yes, Jesus do deny Jesus as the Son of God, as the Messiah. They don't deny him dying on a cross, but the Quran does. Does the Jews deny that God is the Father like Muslims? Peter, I think Peter is underrated. I would like to hear more from him. Yes, let's talk about Peter more. I like Peter. Um, again, Peter is the rock, is what he's called. Um, it is through Peter that the church was built within Acts. Um, Peter is the one who gives that awesome— he gives that a really good, um, what, sermon, um, after Pentecost. And so Peter, Peter talks about this idea of, of the flames that is in our lives actually refining us as pure as gold, and it is through the refinement that we become Um, that which we should be. And it is through the pressures of life that we actually learn to praise God and give glory to the Lord. And it's like, well, that's kind of contradicting. I feel like most people, when they start to suffer, they're like, uh-uh, I'm out. Get me out of this. God, how dare you? I'm suffering. You wouldn't do this if you truly were a good God. But it's actually the suffering that builds us into the type of person who can praise God. Because if we can praise God in the midst of the suffering, then we're truly praising God. If we only praise God when things are going good, then are we praising God or the good thing? And so we have to understand that it is through the suffering we actually learn where our faith even is. And so Paul continues to yap and he talks about, though you have not seen him, you love him. And though you do not see him now, but believe in him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your soul. The outcome of your faith, you obtain the salvation of your soul. And so your soul is secured through the refinement and the sufferings, um, or your salvation secured through the refinement and the suffering you endure. And then you see where you're actually at faith-wise. And then it says, as to this salvation, the prophet who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful search and inquiry. So now here, this is kind of deep, and I'm— it used to— it kind of confused me sometimes. But basically, it's talking about this idea that the same spirit that now dwells in believers who put faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior—that same spirit, right? That Spirit of God was actually present and clearly, but was present when inspiring the past writings in the Old Testament. The past writings in the Old Testament. And so, these people ain't drunk. In the Old Testament, and so the past writings actually were inspired by the presence of God. And so the things that were written in it were to actually help those who were to come. And so the Spirit can see the future. And so here it says, as to this, the salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful search and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as he predicted the suffering of Christ. and the glories to follow. The glories to follow. And so it was predicted by the Spirit of Christ what was to come. And so it already knew. The Spirit of God already knew. The Spirit of God was transcendent beyond our capacity, one, to understand him. And that's one thing I want to talk about. The ability to comprehend God is a lot more difficult than we think. And I know a lot of people say, oh, God is incomprehensible, but then we make judgments about who God is Without full understanding of who he is. So we say God is not good because suffering. Well, do you even know who God really is? Yes, God is a good God, and he tells us through the scriptures, but you don't even understand what's going to happen tomorrow, and you expect to understand all who, who he is. So I think we also need to have the humility to know that we don't know, the humility to know that we know very little, right? And we just have to have faith to that which he revealed to us already. It is through the faith that we have the security of our souls. And so, yes, yes, yes, yes. And then he continues to talk and he says here in 1 Peter 1:13, therefore prepare your minds for action. Keep sober in spirit, sober in spirit. Fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. And so here the gospel is telling, or here Peter is telling us, About the fact that Christ is going to come back to get his people. That's right, he's gonna come back, get his people, and take us out of here, which is gonna be awesome. I'm actually really, really looking forward to that day, but I'm also doing what I can here as the Lord has called me to do. But Jesus is going to come back and he's going to secure those who have believed in him. And it's those who have the Holy Spirit that should be saved from eternal damnation. And this eternal damnation isn't something God forces you into. But simply, when you deny him, then why would he force you into his presence? He wouldn't. And so if you deny God, if you deny Christ, then the absence of God is what we call hell. And hell is where all the good— because God is the, the essence of good. He's the, he's the paramount of all that is good. And when that is taken away, what you're left with is Well, the opposite of all that which is good. And so that's why there's a place called hell, and it's a real place, and it's the absence of God. And so I would say those who are not believers, today is the day of salvation. Today is the day of salvation, and look into it. You know, there's no such thing as blind faith, but we live by faith and not by sight. But we say there's no such thing as blind faith, and that sounds like a contradiction as well, because it's like Well, how can it not be faith by sight, but also not blind faith? It's because the faith that we're asking you to grasp on is faith that actually lets you see beyond the physical sight. This is faith that shines light in the spiritual darkness, not necessarily the world, but it does shine light in the world because Christ is the light of the world. And so the faith itself is It is, it is what we should walk by. He said he was, he would be back before the witness of the resurrection died, and they died. He didn't come back. Jesus never claimed to be God. Oh my goodness, there then it's not faith according to the N.G.U. You just confirmed Jesus is God. Why would Jesus? I'm having a whole debate in the chat. That's so crazy. Um, anyways, ah, no. No, it's like, it's what? There's so many different religions coming in here. What's going on? Is he atheist? Um, anywho, so Peter is telling us, um, Peter is telling us about the fact that the revelation of Jesus Christ which is to come, and as obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance. Bam, boy! Do not be conformed to that which you were, but be transformed, right? And the scripture tells us this in Romans 12:2. He says, do not conform to the patterns of the world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so you may test the will of the Lord, which is perfect, which is good, and which is pleasing. Um, and so if you're even on the, on the brink of trying to figure out what's going on here, even if you're on the fence and you're trying to decide, is Jesus Christ Lord? Is God God? Is, is there a God? If you're on the brink, I would say do your research. Read the Bible, all right? There's too many people that already make a conclusion on what the Bible is telling us and what it says without reading it. What— why are we doing that? They're going based off what people tell them or what social media says. Read the Bible for yourself. Read the Bible for yourself, because it is—it is well—it's kind of detestable to judge something before you understand it. And if you actually want to get a grasp on Christianity, you need to at least read the book that better tells you what it's about than any other thing in this world. And then once you read the scriptures and you ask the Spirit of God to lead you in that. Oh, you're gonna see something new and it's going to transform, transform your sight, right? Right. All right. Why does it matter the way you pray? Does God not hear you whether you're praying upside down, whether you're praying on a tree, praying standing up, praying with your head on the ground, praying doing cartwheels? The way you pray is not the end-all be-all. It is to whom you pray, and it's also the source of your prayer. Why are you praying? So are you better than Jesus? No, I'm not better than Jesus, but in, in the scriptures, it doesn't tell us that Jesus only prayed with his forehead to the ground. How do you think he prayed when he was in the Garden of Gethsemane? Do you think his forehead was on the ground? Do you think he was sitting on a stump? Because people disagree on what happened when he was praying there. He simply tells us to go to— he simply tells us a way we should pray. But Jesus prayed in different ways. And we could also make this claim: every time he spoke to the people, he was in constant prayer with God because he tells us to continuously pray in the Spirit. So Jesus could have been praying while he was walking. He could have been praying. Well, he was probably praying while he was sleeping. So the prayer formation doesn't matter. There's no need to have a debate on how you pray. But I would recommend you to just look into your own faiths, um, and why do you believe it? Do you believe it because you— other people you know believe it? Do you believe it because you've been told, um, it's the truth? Or do you believe it because you've actually done your research on both belief systems, or as many belief systems as possible, and have come to the conclusion that it is Christ, or come to the conclusion that it is Islam, or come to the conclusion that it's Buddhism? Whatever religion you believe in, have you come to the conclusion that they are the truth? Well, guys, I'm about to end this live. Um, oh, about to end this live. I will probably hop back on here maybe tomorrow and, uh, talk a little bit more about the truth. But yeah, I just want y'all to understand Christ is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through him. Um, man, if this content has blessed you in any way, I just ask that you like, subscribe, And yeah, I'll see y'all next time. Peace be with you. Shalom. Shalom.
