 Welcome to Hard Questions, where we gather pastors together to take on your tough questions and answer them right from the Word of God, the Bible. I'm Tom Hollis, the moderator, and today our panelists include Dr. William R. Glaze, Bethany Baptist Church in Pittsburgh, Ray Hypo Providence Presbyterian Church in Robinson Township, Pete Giacalone, South Hills Assembly guy church, Bethel Park, PA, J. Anthony Gilbert, pastor of another level in the North Hills area. Well, pastors, thank you for making the time to be here. I know you weren't doing anything anyway, but no, these guys are busy. They're busy, but they come together to answer our questions. I love it. Well, today on Hard Questions, we're taking on your questions from our hotline, and let's start with this one. When we get to heaven, when we have time, we're going to talk with Jesus, just you and Him. And there's all the, you know, billions of people that are going to be there, and I know we have eternity, but I was just wondering if there'll be times where you can talk with Jesus, just you and Him. And also, would you be able to communicate with the Holy Ghost up in heaven as well? Thank you. All right. Well, this is interesting because it has a lot to it. Go ahead. Yeah. Well, I'll stick with the first part there. One of the things, I believe, if you think about it now, you can sit in a church, a preacher can preach one message, but it feels like it's hitting everybody individually. God is a personal God, and Jesus is a personal Jesus. And so I believe that, you know, I think we're looking at like we're going to be like just me and you here talking. We're spiritual beings at that point, too. So you got to remember that God is able to be everywhere at all times. I know I'm speaking just of Jesus here, but I do believe that even if it's not one-on-one, we don't definitely know this, the Bible, but I'm just going in my own as Jay sees it. So don't make it a theology, but I believe just how he makes it personal now, he'll be personal there. I don't think it's going to be like you're going to have to, he's going to be speaking in front of a crowd and you know, he's more anointed than I am, so you're going to get a front row with Jesus and I'm not going to be able to ever talk to him. He died for every single one of us. But if you notice something, think about it, I'm sure all of us here have preached. People come to say, you are talking right to me. How is it that he takes us and makes it personal? But when we get to heaven, it wouldn't be. So I believe that he will keep it personal. We will, it says we will be loved even as we are loved, we'll be known even as he will know him, even as he knows us. So I believe that you'll still have that feeling and knowing that it's just you and him, even though everybody else might be in heaven, he's still going to keep that personal relationship with you. Yeah, I completely agree. Whatever fellowship you have with Christ now, and we have a personal fellowship with him now one to one, it's going to be so much more in heaven. I mean, you know, now we see dimly as in a mirror, then we shall see face to face. So, you know, the closest you've ever been to Christ, the closest you've ever felt to the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit's living in us now, you're going to be that much, I mean, infinitely more close to him and more, I mean, the fellowship's going to be greater. So I think that you don't have to worry about the billions, as Jay said, I mean, you're going to be in his presence and he's going to be in yours. You're going to know him. You know, I think I like your point. If we can all talk to him now at the same time, well, certainly we'd be able to that. Well, we will know. And then again, I hear these people say that, oh, I have specific questions I'm going to ask God or I'm going to ask Jesus when I get to heaven. The point is we shall know as he is known. So in other words, all those questions are going to be erased the moment we're in the presence of Almighty God. And I think like the guys have said that that the same way that he can answer all of our prayers now, some time, some way, supernaturally, we're all going to be able to still have his ear in heaven. Yeah, that's good. That's great. Yeah, I often think like on a Sunday morning, but you could take this to any time of the week. But on a Sunday morning, when you're wearing church and, you know, somebody's in China and somebody's in Africa and somebody's in Australia and everybody's praying, you know, I mean, I can't fathom in my mind. How does God hear all those people? You know, I mean, like, how does he hear everybody? You know, but he does. And so, you know, when we get to heaven, you know, it's going. But I know that when I pray that God and I have a special relationship. And I think that it's going to be the same way when we get to heaven, that, you know, we'll know that we have that special relationship with him and communicate. I mean, it's going to be so different than how we think. I mean, your question, in a lot of ways, it feels like we're at a convention and we're just a whole bunch of people. And are we going to get there? But it's different. It'll be different. It'll be even sweeter than it is right now. But thank you so much. Good question. Let's go to the next one. This question is what if we have a medical person that is either lesbian or gay, would you let them treat you? And if you do, is it condoning what they are? And if you don't, is that not loving to God? Wow, it's an interesting question, interesting situation. Pete. Yeah. And I let I want all the viewers to know everybody else backed out on this question. Hey, I'm sorry. I got this. Nobody done questions around here. We don't talk things. So I got this by you remember the old three Stooges, you know, I take a step forward. Everyone took a step backward and left curly there. All right, you answer this question. Yeah, yeah, he just called us Stooges. All right. I think just because a person may have an alternative lifestyle doesn't doesn't eliminate them from having medical knowledge. So so the flat outs say because they live, then we'd have to take the step the other way that anyone who's not a born again believer, sin is sin. So if you're if your doctor is an alcoholic or if you're so are we going to examine their life? In other words, if they are proficient in their field, then I have no problem receiving for them the the advice that they have to give. Now, again, Psalms one says, blesses is a man that walk if not in the counseling and godly nor standard in the way of sinners. So if we were to take that hard and fast, then we would take no advice of any non-believer. So I think that's a personal call on that one. Yeah, I really don't know. Doctors and alcohol, like I don't want them operating on me. That's a different thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm with you. Yeah, none of these uncontrolled. So any other thoughts? Any other thoughts on that? Yeah, I mean, I would add that. I mean, this is it is a sin. It's a sin against nature. I mean, it's a vile sin. And but like Pete said, I mean, I'm not going to ask my carpenter. Is he a believer? I want to know if he's a good carpenter, right? I mean, let me talk about that. Can I preach for a second? I used to have people call me up in my office and say, I want a Christian plumber. Can you give me a Christian plumber? How about a Christian lawyer? And I'm thinking, if I don't need a plumber, I just want to know they come along. I don't care what they are at that point. Can you plong? But there's one other side to this, Tom. And that is, you know, a doctor is very personal. So I would encourage the person, you don't need a reason to like, I'm not, you know, I don't really care for this doctor. You should have a doctor that you're comfortable with. That's important too. So even apart from the sin question, if you know, this doctor makes me feel uncomfortable, then you should probably get another doctor. No matter what the issue is, because a doctor is a very intimate thing. So, you know, is the person able to be a good doctor to you? If they're homosexual, if they claim to be that, I don't believe there is such a thing. But if they live in sexual sin, sure they can be a good doctor and maybe you'll keep them. But if they make you uncomfortable because they wear, you know, funny ties, maybe you should get another doctor. By the way, I do care for my plumbers of Christian. But when you say on top of that, though, if you feel uncomfortable because of the nature of who they're saying they are, that that, yeah. Yeah, that would be illegitimate. Right, I mean, it's not that, you know, you're being condemning or homophobic or judgmental. You're just, I mean, you know, there may be conversations that you want to have and, you know, and that you would be limited in your conversations. So, you know, I would just say that there would be that comfortability too. You know, but I'm kind of like you guys. I mean, I'd rather have, you know, somebody that knows what they're doing than deal with somebody that don't know what they're doing. Christian practices medicine in the garage once in a while. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, I just wrote a book. There's a scripture you can kind of use for that. Maybe even the one, for example, how is it okay to eat meat offered to idols and how Paul separates the worship from the service they were offering? They went to a meat, they were using that meat to offer to idols when they were serving it in the deli. He was like, well, the deli buying the meat isn't the problem, the problem is the worship. So, you're not condoning that lifestyle because you have, matter of fact, there was a dentist when I first came here that was a phenomenal dentist, but he was gay. And he was one of the best dentists in Pittsburgh. And the reason why I say this is because he was outstanding and then he passed it on to another person. That person jacked up my mouth. Now they weren't gay, but I had a better mouth with the gay person. So, go where the rivers flow. Where what? And just about any service, we want competency first. To let you know how to do what you're supposed to do. So, but thank you so much for a good question, good discussion. We're gonna take a break and in 60 seconds, we're gonna come back and ask, is it a sin to play a game with a deck of cards? Put away your cards, Jay. Welcome back to the show. We're taking your calls from our hard question hotline. Listen, we'd love for you to call and leave us your question. We encourage you to call 412-349-4326. We wanna hear your question. Well, you can leave it on the voicemail. We'll use it on the air. Let's go to the next one. I was recently told that playing games with cards or dice is a sin. Is this true? Well, I'm gonna ask Ray to find out if we have to cancel our Yahtzee game afterwards here. It depends on what they mean. I mean, a lot of people are plagued by this. There have been movements in, unfortunately in the church through the centuries where certain things were said to be sinful. I mean, the short answer is no. There's nothing wrong with playing game of cards or dice or going golfing or, any kind of sports, recreation, whatever, you know. But it can be a sin. It can be a sin if it becomes an idol in your life. You're supposed to be home helping your wife and you're golfing five days a week. You're neglecting your duties or it can become an idol. Even good things like your children. Well, then suddenly you put your children where they're more important than worship. They're more important than God. Now they've replaced God in your life. That's an idol. So anything in a sense, even good things can become a sin, can become an idol. But whatever you do is what Paul says, whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus. You're giving thanks to God. So if I'm out in the golf course, I should be doing it for the glory of God, being thankful for the beautiful creation that I can enjoy this wonderful time. In the same thing I would say for a game of cards. But if you're using it to again as an idol or obviously gambling would be part of it, I think gambling is sinful. So if you're trying to make money or rip somebody else off through cards or dice, yes, I think then it's sinful. But for fun, having a strategy, playing monopoly, trying to beat one another. Yeah, that's fun. We do that kind of stuff. I think it is fun. We can have our Yahtzee game then. Pete, what you see the sad thing is, people get into this where they, well, this is what the Jack represents. This is what the Queen represents. And so they want to take this deeper. And I say to those people, for those who want to dwell there, get rid of your calendar. Because if you can't paint with a small brush, because you can't call Monday, Monday anymore, if you really discover that, you got to get rid of the months of the year. So how much bigger does that really become? And guys, let's face it, there are, can I use this expression? I hope it will come across wrong. Super spirituals, that you can't use certain words. You can't, there you go, thank you. It existed in Paul's day with the Judaizers and it exists amongst us today. When people want to bring people into a box, that legalistic approach, stay away from them. But you know, I remember, even my grandfather, you know, he was like, well, you know, I don't really want to teach you how to play cards, you know, because it can lead to other things and different things like that. Because that was in some of the generations past, Pastor Glaze, there was a frown on. Right, and I think that going back to what Ray said, I think there was the association of those things with gambling. And so, you know, like the big thing was, well, you know, we want to do certain things on Sunday. Right, because if we did that on Sunday, well then, you know, the rest of the week, they're using these cards to gamble or something like that. Can I ask you that though, is gambling a sin? Is gambling a sin? I think as you define what gambling is, if I'm risking money by chance to gain money, I think that's a sin. Because we're called to trust God. And gambling encourages you to put your faith in luck. You know, and luck is often deified. So, you know, I believe that gambling is a sin. If we're putting money out, you know, risking money to gain money. You know, I think that's wrong. Yeah. But then someone even take that to the stock market, too. Yeah, well, is there a difference? I think there's a difference. Yeah, I think so. Yeah, I agree. I agree, but you know, I don't know if I would go that far. I don't know if I would say definitely that if anybody ever again, somebody bought a lottery ticket, they need to go repent for a book. You know, I don't know, in my opinion. I mean, I think the Bible warns about it. I think it falls into the same places like alcohol and things like that. I think you have to be careful. I don't think people should be spending a lot of time in there, but you know, I mean, if somebody said, hey, you know, like I've seen Penny, like for example, if it's a sin to pay the lottery and somebody became a billionaire in your church, would you take the tithe? Yeah, I would take it. You sure would. And then you'd bring them up in front of the church. And you'd be like, so-and-so, it blessed us to build a ministry. I wouldn't do that now. I wouldn't do that. No, no, I wouldn't do that. You would have to, because everybody would know because they'd be showing up in the family. But I would, I wouldn't bring them up to say, you know, that they gambled and now. You're hard to play the lottery congregation. No, no, no, no. But I'm saying, I mean, we can't be religious about like that type of stuff. Say, oh, that's a sin, because I guarantee if somebody hit that and they want to take you out on their yacht, you'd go too. And the proceeds would be a sin too. Well, that's the thing, is there's not a clear scripture. I agree. To say that gambling is a sin. The church has always treated it that way because of what Pastor Glaze said, where you're taking your money out of your kid's miles and you're using it. And let's face it, people can get addicted to gambling in a horrible way and destroy their family in so many ways. So really good, if you want to play Monopoly though, it's okay. All right. That's good to get into the same people. The thing about the carts and the dice though, I also think to be careful what games you're playing. There are dice and carts that have demonic influences, truly. Not like regular poker games and that, but I'm talking about like, if you deal with tarot cards and things like that, those type of games and dice, you don't want to be messing with. Any kind of superstition as well. All right. Well, let's move right on here. Let's go to our next one. My question is, are there more than 66 books in the Bible? And if so, how come they're not written in the Bible? All right. Very good question. Yeah. Pastor Glaze. Well, you know, at the time when the church fathers canonized the scriptures, there were all type of writings floating around. You know, some said that Paul wrote this or Barnabas or Gospel of Thomas. You know, so there were all these writings floating around that claimed divine inspiration. But you know, God brought the church fathers together and they came together and they discovered the books that were inspired. You know, they, they didn't determine. Some people think that, well, you know, they determine which books should get in there. No, they didn't determine which books. You know, they had a set of criteria that they looked at and then they discovered which ones had been anointed by God and those were the ones that got in. And the rest of them, the reason they're not in there is because they don't have, they don't show divine inspiration. You know, they are man-inspired, you know. Now there may be some good books like you look at the Apocrypha, you know, good historical books. You'll give us a good history of the inter-testamental period, but they're not divinely inspired by God. So that's why there's only 66 because those are the ones that were discovered to be divinely inspired. Yeah, good points there. I have, I did one quote on this and let me give this thought. They did have, as you said, specific criteria that they looked at and was the book written by someone who was an eyewitness of Jesus Christ? Did the book pass the truth test? Did it concur with other already agreed upon scripture? The New Testament books, they accepted back then, have endured the test of time. Yeah, yeah, good. It's grounded in history, Ray. Yeah, I agree. And interestingly, the New Testament canon, you know, we have the 39 books of the Old Testament and Protestantism. The Jews count 22, but they're the exact same books. They just, you know, have one book for Samuel. They don't count the Apocrypha. They don't count the Apocrypha. And the Apocrypha would be the inter-testamental books that, and the way I said that, the New Testament, Greek Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, we all agree only those 27 books of the New Testament. It's on the inter-testamental period, the Apocrypha that Rome and Greek Orthodox have other books that come in. But it wasn't until, and this is really important, wasn't until the Council of Trent, which took place after the Reformation, that Rome officially made only a portion of the Apocrypha canonical. And I like what Dr. Glaze said, you know, the historic Christian position is, we don't make the books canonical. We don't, you know, determine them. We receive them. The godly receive the canon. They recognized it was either from an apostle or from someone that the apostle authorized, like Peter authorizes Mark and so forth, that it agreed with the rest of scripture, and that it was also universally received, that it wasn't just in this little town or here. And that's true for all the books. And there was never a book, and you read this online all the time, it makes me nuts, but you know, oh, what about the missing gospels? There was never a time when any real group of Christians ever thought the gospel of Thomas, which is absolutely garbage if you ever read it. Jesus turning clay into birds and then making them fly away as a child, like amusing himself with miraculous powers, like some kind of myth or something. But never did serious Christians receive these Gnostic gospels. They're obvious forgeries. There was never a debate. There was a debate on things like, the letters of Clement or the epistles of Barnabas or the didache, you know, very godly written material. Like, you know, you might get a book from the J.I. Packer or something. Why, I learn a lot, but it's not the word of God. You know, so there was a debate on some things, but never on these obvious forgeries. Yeah, that's really good. Good question and good answers. Well, coming up in 60 seconds, we will ask, do all those with special needs go to heaven? Welcome back. Let's go straight to our last hotline question of this show. My question is, my daughter had down syndrome. Do special needs children call go to heaven? And when I go to heaven, will she have down syndrome there? Well, very sensitive and heartfelt question. Thank you for calling in with that. Pastor Glace. Yeah, definitely we want to pray and just ask God to continue to give you strength and wisdom as you deal with your daughter. And you know, definitely our prayers are with you. And as we, you know, look at a person with down syndrome, you know, I realized that people that haven't come to that and I know there may be some disagreement about this, the age of accountability. I think that there's an age where a person, you know, becomes responsible, you know, for their sin. They have an awareness of God, have an awareness that he's going to hold them accountable. And you know, when that person comes to that point, then I think that, you know, God does hold them accountable. But a lot of people with, you know, down syndrome, you know, you ask the question, you know, do they, you know, do they come to that point? And if they don't come to that point, you know, I truly believe that the Lord has a special place in heaven for them, that I believe the blood of Christ covers, you know, all sin. And so even a person that has down syndrome, that maybe haven't made a profession in Christ, but they haven't come to that point, you know, of acknowledging, you know, their failures and shortcomings before God. And when you're, when she gets to heaven, will she be healed? Absolutely, absolutely. There's no question about that. You know, and, and again, don't stop even though they're in that state, sharing the word with them. You know, if you're going to read stories to them, then read to them the Bible also, you know, and, and just, you know, bring them along as far as you can possibly bring them along. And then we trust an infinite, almighty, amazing, comforting Father. He's the God of all comfort. I love that word Father. That really applies here. I worked in that field for a few years and I personally, there will be some and some that will not. And this is the only reason why, not to take away from Dr. Lee's point, I totally agree about that in each accountability, but there are some that have disabilities, but they openly reject Christ. And the reason why is I've talked to them, they knew I was a pastor and there were some of them that would say, I don't believe in Jesus and they would like go off. And I'm like, if you can be that vocal about him, then you can be in a place of accountability where you can receive them or not. But there are many. Matter of fact, there was one guy that I used to talk with on the job and he would say, do you think their tickets punched or not? We would talk about it at that time because he would want to know my opinion. And I'd say, no, they're not, they're not in a place of where they can make a decision. But there were some that would openly reject him and really hated the Lord. And then there were others that would carry their Bible around and believed in Jesus. All of them went to church every single week. So I think it just depends on each case. And a great ability to show love in many cases, right? Yeah, without a doubt. Without a doubt. Wonderful ability. Oh my God. Yeah, right. And I would say, to the simple question of, will she be in heaven? Everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved. And so I would teach her to believe in Christ. One of the, we have some people with severe brain limiting issues. I don't even know how to say it nowadays, but there's clearly, and they're in homes, they're in group homes, they can't live alone. And they come to our worship all the time. And I always pray with them and for them and talk to them about believing in Jesus and being saved. And I always pray that for them. And they're always, yes and amen. And I've found that sometimes the very simple in mind because of brain damage or birth defects or whatever are just very, almost like young children. Yes, I believe in Jesus. And I think you thank God for that. And so you read the scripture to them for them, you pray for them. And as Jay said, even if they're unconscious, your prayers can still save them. Even if they're completely, their brain can't even understand English, God's spirit can still give them a new heart. So you still read scripture, you still pray. God can reach them when no man can. And I think that's the comfort that we have. And as you've all said, will she have any kind of affliction in heaven? No, Revelation 21.4. God will wipe away every tear from their eyes and there shall be no more death, no more sorrow, no more crying. There shall be no more pain for the former things have passed away. No one will have any kind of illness, brain limitation or anything in heaven. They will be in the fullness of their humanness that should be without sin. And so will your daughter. Isn't that wonderful? I mean, it is a wonderful thing to think about that when we get to heaven, all that, all the sorrows, all the sickness, all the pain will fade away. So my question to you today is, do you have that relationship with Jesus? I know that our caller certainly did. As you're watching this program and you're hearing us talk about the scriptures, do you have that? Do you have, have you opened the door of your life and asked Christ to be your Lord and Savior and to come in, have you fallen at His feet and say, Lord, I can't do this. I need you. I need you to make me your son and daughter and take Lordship of my life. Do that today if you haven't. Well, we like to end the program with a scripture and I want to read this one for everything that was written in the past was written to teach us so that through the endurance taught in the scriptures and the encouragement they provide, we might have hope. That's Romans 15-4. We hope you enjoyed this episode. God bless you. He loves you.