 Welcome to Hard Questions. This is where we gather pastors together and take on your tough questions and answer them right from the Bible, the Word of God. I'm Tom Hollis, the moderator, and today our panelists include. Dr. Weymar Glaze, Bethany Baptist Church in Pittsburgh. Pastor Buck Schaefer, Grace Life Church, Monroeville and North Hills. Pete Jackaloney, lead pastor, South Hills Assembly Guide Church, Bethel Park, PA. Janethan Gilbert, pastor of another level in Mount Washington. Well, pastors, thank you for being with us today. Thank you for taking time from your busy schedule to answer some of these tough questions. And today we're gonna talk about is God in hell? But first, let's start with this one. What does it mean that God is a spirit? Pastor Jay. Well, you know, I believe he's talking about just the essence of his being, who he is as a person. You know, I always like to look at it too. You look in Genesis chapter one, which says, let us create man in our image and in our likeness. And what's amazing though, he doesn't use anything. In Genesis chapter, that's in chapter one, 26. In Genesis chapter two, he said, then he formed man out of the dust of the ground. Then a little bit further, then he breathed into his nostrils, the breath of life and man became a living soul. So we see, there's three different distinctions there. And I believe that when he created, he created the essence of who we are. That's why when our spirit and our soul leaves, the body is dead. The Bible talks about even in James, how as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead. So when we break all that down, what does it mean that he's a spirit? It's the essence of who he really is. This is not us. This is not who we are. Who we are is that inner part, that eternal being that we're all created. That's why when we all die here, whether heaven or hell, we're all created eternally. We are, no matter where we go, hopefully it's redeemed. But God has let us know in this passage here in Genesis one, by creating man that he was showing us that we're spirit beings and that that's the essence of who we are. Real quick, the let us. Who's he talking to? Let us. Elohim, actually. Elohim. Elohim, which is the plurality named for God. So he's talking about all three, which is kind of unique when he created him. He said he created male and female in that moment as well. So we see that there's even the three there. And if you add God in the middle, when you get married, you have the father, the son, holy spirit. And then you have the oneness of God. Then you have man and woman, which gives us that three-fold cord that's not easily broken, all created in there. So. Teaching here. That's good. And the thing is, if God isn't spirit, then it would limit him in his omnipresence. He has to be spirit. And then it would take away the full attributes of God, the all-knowing God, the all-powerful God, the omnipresent God. So he is spirit. And I'm sure it's hard. We struggle with that, the fact that because we are in flesh. That whole spiritual realm. I mean, you know, Buck, what's your take on this? Well, the things that we're seeing are made of things that do not appear. So we are spirit beings created in his image and likeness. And as John 424 says, God is a spirit and those who worship him must worship him in spirit. I agree with Jay. We're all spirit beings, but God is everywhere. He is a spirit. The reality is we're limited to a body. He's not. That's right. Well, you know, an interesting take that I have on it is when we get to heaven, I tell people, you won't see God. You'll see a manifestation of God, but you won't see God because God is a spirit. God is invisible. You know, you can't see something that's invisible. Now you may see his Shekinah presence. You know, you may see light. You may see glory, but you're not going to see God. And you know, people look at me kind of strange when I say that. Yeah, look at it. I'm just saying, if he's a spirit, you can't see a spirit, right? Right, right, right. How can you see God? Well, we'll see the fullness of God into the spirit to realm. You'll see a manifestation of God. You know what I'm saying? He takes on bodily form or physical tangible. Right, exactly, exactly. We'll see the fullness of the God had bodily in Christ. You know, as I saw the Lord, he was high and lifted up and his train filled the temple. I mean, you still got to do something with that too, you know? Would that be a theophany, though? Just, just, yeah. And then in revelations, you got, you know, I was in the spirit on the Lord's day, and you know, this is what he looked like, you know? Well, a manifestation, there was a manifestation. Well, because when you talk about that too, you're talking about seeing Jesus in revelation who took on bodily form. Right, now you will see Jesus, yeah. And if you've seen me, you've seen the Father too. I remember when he said, when one of our professors at Bible College said that, these girls that were raised in the church, you know, PKs, they were crying and they were going to leave Bible College over this because, yeah, I heard that taught years and years ago, yeah. Interesting take on that. I do want to ask a follow up question on this. So when we're made in the image of God, so what does that mean? You brought that up, Buck, you brought that up. What does it mean to be made in the image of God? Well, image, likeness, dominion. I love what it says over there in Psalms. He says, what is man? The psalmist says that you are mindful of him and the Son of man that you visit as him. Yet you have made him a little lower than Elohim. The same word, God himself. That's the original translation. And then you crowned him with glory, honor, dignity and worth. So I think we're God-like. Now I didn't say we're gods, we are God-like. We're like his children. We were made in his image to take what? To be fruitful, to multiply, to take dominion. So God created earth and the fullness thereof and put his prized possession in it. Us made in his image and his likeness for dominion to take authority and dominion. Of course, sin came, we know the story, but I think we're gonna be a lot more like God than we think God-like. Well, the Bible says that as he is now, so are we in this area. Come on, bro. So yeah, just to give you a quick amen right there. All right, so we just love that. I make teams here, bro. Let's move right along here so see if we can all agree on something else here or disagree as the case may be. Second question, if God is everywhere, we all agree with that, is God in hell, fuck? Wow. Well, you know, you got your opinions, but we always like to go with the word of God. So let's go to Psalms 139 and... Yeah, that's where I went. I just, you know, where can you go from a presence of, if I make my bed in hell, you are there. So, you know, she-whole, we can look at the different meanings. So God is everywhere, omniscience, omnipresence. He's everywhere. And I believe he knows what's going on in hell. And, but you know, is he, again, that goes back to the spirit being that's everywhere because your fallen nature would go to hell. I think God has awareness that people are in hell, but that means this scripture saying in Psalms 139, he's everywhere and understands that. Wow, that, any other takes on that? That's just an unusual question, but yeah. If I could quote Dr. Glaze here, I believe because he's spirit, we can't say he's not in hell, but is his manifested presence in hell? There's why I would say no, his manifested presence. No, definitely not in hell. Well, he is omnipresent, right? Right, means he's all present in all places. Because again, Solomon, when he dedicated the temple, said the heavens and the heavens cannot continue. Everywhere cannot even help. But that brings up a good question because just thinking about it, where can I go from your presence? Right. So, and again, his presence is not in hell. That's void of God, right? Correct? Well, there's two words for that too. As I did some research on it, I should have wrote them down, but there's two words for presence too. There's a presence where there's like an intimate, I'm here with you, and then there's the presence of him as far as that he's everywhere. So what's like the manifest presence? That's what I'm saying. Yeah, for example, like God is with us here. Like that's why there can be a people in church and God can be there. One person can have an experience, another person can't. He's there, but they feel nothing. The other person has this thing that is so intimate with him. And so he has that ability because he's spirit to be able to do both. He can be everywhere, but not be intimate with everyone. He's got to be. We can't talk about this like all like this. He's everywhere, but it's true. Pastor Clay's. To me, I think the key is relationship. That his presence is in she all or hell, but the people there don't have a relationship with him. Whereas we do, and so I would say that that would be the big difference as far as his presence is concerned. That there's, like for us, we have a relationship and he comforts us in the relationship. He speaks peace to us in the relationship, but in hell, his presence is not going to comfort anybody. It's not going to speak peace. He's still God of that. He still reigns the prince. No, just one quick thing. When you said that, something came to my mind in Genesis. God was everywhere, but he asked Adam, where are you? So why would God ask him that question because something that relationship was broken? So God can be everywhere in spirit. That doesn't mean you have access to him. That's right. I mean, it's all back to that relationship thing, isn't it that we are relating to God and that when that's broken or when that's cut off, like in hell, there's no manifest presence again of God? Interesting stuff. We're going to find out more when we get to heaven, but we're going to find out if we can see him or not. Oh my goodness. I got to think about that one. All right. Well, coming back in just 60 seconds when we ask what makes Christianity unique from other religions, we'll be right back. Christ. Yes, Christ model. I'll tell you what, you should be here when the commercial comes on because we have some really good conversations in the break. Well, we want to get to some more good questions here, good conversation and good discussion about the word of God. And the third one is this. What is the immutability of God? And why is it important? That's the bill. Well, the immutability of God is the fact that he doesn't change. In Malachi, he said, I am God. I change not in Hebrews. This is Jesus Christ the same yesterday, the day and forever. So why is that important? The reason that it's important is because if God could change, that means that he's not perfect. So that, you know, if he could change for the better, then that means who he is right now is not, he's not the intimate, I mean the infinite ultimate being. If he could change for the worse, then, you know, that, you know, that takes away from who he is. So, you know, to me, I think the reason that it's important that God is immutable is because he is infinite in time. He is infinite in space. He is infinite in eternity from everlasting to everlasting, thou our God. And if he could change, then that means that either he, he's not all that he should be right now or that he could be better than what he is. So. It's not a word we use very much immutable, but that's what it means, Pete. He doesn't change. He even said, I change not. He declared that. That I am a God that does not change. And what else would I love about this is the fact that not only is he not immutable, but his word isn't. Every one of his promises, Jay, are guaranteed as long as we live. That's right. He's a God that changes not. He doesn't change. What's that mean to you, Buck? You know, James 1, every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father above, whom there isn't even a shadow of turning in him. He's the same yesterday, today and forever. He's a good God and he never changes. So we're on the right team. He's still good. It's a comfort to us, right? And also that means that to your point, that's why when they cried out, Holy, Holy, Holy, one of your things is that he never changes. When you're holy, it means no matter how much pressure is put on you, you don't shift. The problem with us, if enough pressure gets applied, what comes out of us is changes. With him, no matter how much pressure gets on him, around him, in him, through him, it doesn't matter what it is. He's still the same no matter what. And that's how you can always tell when you've become holier than you were or sanctified is that the same pressure that hits you once before, you don't shift in your character because now that holiness has been perfected within you. So the fact that he's immutable, it doesn't matter what comes on him, he remains the same, which is what we cannot do. And that's a comfort. As we draw close to him, we are changed. But he remains the same. Great question. Well, we'll probably have a lot of discussion on what makes Christianity unique from other religions? Pastor Pete. When I think of other religions, I think of other religions as far as that you're saved by the things that you do. What makes Christianity unique? All other religions, you're saved according to what you do. It's a fact that in Christianity, we are saved by his finished work on the cross. Ephesians chapter two, verses eight through 10, for by grace, and we don't understand this. I mean, we can wrestle this, we can talk about what grace is, but it says by grace, have you been saved through faith? Not of yourselves, it's the gift of God. And again, we live, our whole being deals with meriting. We merit this, we merit that, we earn this, we earn that. And then when it comes time for salvation, and I've had people challenge me, we say a simple prayer, be merciful to me, Lord, a sinner. And you're saved? Just on something like that? And we are, the moment that simplistic Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner. I believe immediately the grace and the mercies of God take place. Regardless of that person struggling with drugs, yada, yada, yada, yada, they're immediately saved. So that's what makes Christianity different. We're saved by grace. Our works now, we're saved to do good works as we are discipled. And, but that doesn't take place overnight. Okay, very good point. We're saved not by what we do, but by his grace. I agree 100% man by grace, we're saved. But I think the resurrection stands us apart from every other religion. And you know, for Paul to say, if the same spirit that rose Christ from the dead, quickens us, it quickens our mortal body. You don't hear that in Buddhism. If you go into those shrines over there, if you go into the mosques over there, it's a very somber. It's a very, it's a beating you down. It's heavy works. But you know, Paul tells us if the resurrection didn't happen, everything we preach is in vain. So the reality is I've heard no other religion that has a resurrected savior that's alive and well. He told us be filled with the Holy Ghost and go do what I asked you to do. He's risen. So I think that sets us apart from everything else. Absolutely. And I think every other religion is fear-based. ours is love-based. There's another one. It's the only religion that celebrates the death of its martyr and resurrection. There's no other religion that celebrates its death. We are like, good Friday. There's no, when Buddha died, no one's like, man, we celebrate because he did, he ain't coming back guys. You know, that's it. There's this, we celebrate the death of our founder and it's the only religion where the creator dies for a fallen creation. So there's so many different, and in all of that, it's encompassed in love. Every other one, like you mentioned, it's all beat down like, I've got to do right. I've got to do this. That's why those martyr or not, I want to call them martyrs, but suicide kamikaze flew into those buildings. They were thinking, this is the way I can get to heaven and appease the wrath of a God. And ours was done by his son. I mean, so there's so much that you can go into that makes us different. Everything about it is different from every other religion except for one thing. We all have a sin problem and we're all trying to figure out how to get it fixed. That's right, Pastor Glaze. Well, yeah, I mean, Jay just now said it. You know, we acknowledge the sinfulness of human beings, but we also note that an antidote has been provided for sin. And so people spend their lives trying to atone for their sin, whether it's standing on a corner, standing out, awake and watch tower magazines, whether it's standing on the corner, promoting the big lie, selling bean pies and wearing a bow tie. You know, the fact of the matter is, is that it's so easy, Christianity is so easy that a caveman can do it, right? I mean, you know, all the other religions leave me guessing if I've done enough. Christianity, you know, other religions say, do, do, do, Christianity says done, you know? And so when you look at it, it takes the guesswork out of it. You know, again, if you accept the grace of God by faith, you are saved. And so, you know, that's the part of it. I think that distinguishes Christianity from other religions. Really, it seems to me that the better way that this question could be phrased is what is the difference between Christianity and religion? Like, it's- And what else is there that has the blood of the lamb that doesn't just cover sins, but takes them away and then makes you righteous, makes you to look just like Jesus, the firstborn amongst many brethren? That's powerful. The blood just washes away. So the whole blood has that, the whole Bible has that blood flowing through everything. It's powerful. And that's what forgives us. Okay, yes, and that's the reason why years ago, evangelicals were known as a slaughterhouse religion because without the blood, we don't have it. Nothing but the blood. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me hold again? And what we've alluded to this here, but it bears saying again, every other religion is about what we can do to reach God. You know, you've seen that little thing where there's a cliff over here with a guy on it, God's over here, and how can he get over there? And he can try philosophy. He can try good works. He can try religion. He can try all manner of different things. And none of that will reach across there, but the cross of Christ reaches across there. The cross of Christ is the thing that we can, by no expertise of our own, but by his death, you alluded to it, which I think is really important. It's the death of our founder. The death, it's not, the life was wonderful, but it's the death and resurrection of our founder that by how we're made righteous. One of the things that's really unique too, and we do communion, it doesn't celebrate the resurrection, you do commemorate the Lord's death. It's the only religion that celebrates the death of its founder. Yeah, so, I mean, there are some unique things. And, you know, maybe it bears a take in a moment here that if you've never made that commitment, if you realize that there's sin, you know, everybody realizes there's sin separating them between what they should be and what they are. And, you know what? We can't get through that barrier of sin. We can't do that, but God himself came and broke through there for you, that you can know him and all you need to do is invite him into your life, open that door of your heart and say, you know, God be merciful to me as sinner, as Pete just said. In other words, God come into my life, be my savior and Lord, if you surrender to him today, you'll know what we're talking about about celebrating his life, death and resurrection. Well, coming up in just 60 seconds, the hotline question of the week. Welcome back to Hard Questions. You know, we love taking your questions on our Hard Questions hotline. So let's listen to this one. If you have pictures of Jesus around your house and you talk to that picture and prayer, pray, is that okay to do? Okay. All right. This is a little bit different for me. It seems a little strange at the praying to pictures of Jesus. Go ahead, Pete. Yeah, pick on the ex-Catholic boy. Hey. The Sicilian that, you know, I think God takes this very seriously when he talks about having no images and false idols and images. Again, guys, I grew up in a, and I'm not attacking, but I grew up in a situation where all of these images were throughout our house. I think if we go back to a question that was asked a little while ago, God is spirit. And I think if we limit or even begin to see these pictures as our relationship with God, I think we'll be limiting ourselves. I think we'll be limiting the power and the presence of God. And I think that we'll say that the presence of God will eventually come to places only when I'm at home looking at these pictures that we don't have as presence with us in the car, when we're in an airplane, when we're in the mall. And I think there's danger to that. I really believe there's danger to that. And that's the reason why I would highly encourage you, ma'am, please take the pictures down because it seems like if you're talking to them now, they've got some rule. There's not something wrong with the picture so much as they praying to it. There you go. Substituting it for that relationship with God. But, you know, as you travel the different nations, I've done a lot of work in Russia and it just caught me weird at the Russian Orthodox Church and they would, you know, in Rome, they'd kiss those icons and they'd kiss. If you go back to the history of that, you find out that when Martin Luther nailed those 95 theses to the door of that chapel, it was the just shall live by faith. And you found out the day after, they piled relics and pictures and all kinds of stacks of stuff up there because that's what people were doing. And the root of that was kind of like, you know, like modern day people would do here, get this, God's in this. And I think what they do is they take out of the New Testament where, hey, a handkerchief or a cloth that Paul had said, go let's lay this on someone. It was their faith that brought God's healing power, not a relic, not a this or that. The other, and I think what people have done is they actually tried to profit from selling stuff in Rome that really if you look at the Roman Catholic Church and it was go do this, go do this. And all of a sudden that became into a form of godliness with no power. And now people want this and they still do it all over the world. It's a form rather than the substance of it. With no power. One of the things I take a look at as we're talking is if I'm sitting here with you right now, right? And we're talking, I believe you're alive and well. And you're right there, right? And I'm talking to your picture. You're alive, you're in the room with me. You know what I mean? And I'm talking to a physical picture of you and it limits the spiritual relationship and revelatory power that the believer has. I think sometimes we underestimate the power of revelation. The revelation of God. God's like, no, no, don't put me in that little picture right there. That ain't me. I'm right here and I can be anything you need. And you can be limiting the revelation of God that he wants to give to you by limiting it to a picture here saying, this is him. And I couldn't imagine talking to my wife saying, oh, you look so beautiful, babe. And she's like, wait, I'm right here. Yeah, but I'm looking at the picture. He's with you in the room. He's with you wherever you are. You don't need all of those things. He wants to be more alive to you than that picture is that you're holding in your hand. Is there any different from a golden calf? Not much. You know, that gets to it. I mean, the whole, the serpent that Moses had lifted up into wilderness had to be destroyed because people were praying to it. Now again, I don't want to be too hard on the lady here. She's praying to Jesus. She just happened to be looking at the picture, but don't separate, you know. Well, you know, I have a different take. You guys probably throw tomatoes at me when I say this. No way, no way. No, but I deal with a lot of brothers in the hood. And one of the reasons that they reject Christianity is because they say, how can you worship a white Jesus? And so what they're condemning is the fact that in America, Jesus has been born. And Jay, you probably run into this. He's been portrayed as a blue-eyed blonde hair. So, you know, even to have an image of Jesus, you know, that's going to be how you see him. And that's not how he really is. Now, I'm agreeing with everything else that's been said, that, you know, as far as the worshiping part, but I'm just saying, even as far as your conceptualization of Jesus, that, you know, in Africa, he's going to be conceptualized different, right? He's going to have an afro and, you know, he's going to be holding the blue. Well, that's really a good point. It's a powerful point. Yeah, we need to remember, what we need to see God as he is in the scripture, in the revelation of his presence in us, not necessarily in a picture. So that's a very good question. Well, we'd like to end the program with scripture. And today, we are going to go to Isaiah 44.6, where it says, this is what the Lord says, Israel's king and redeemer, the Lord Almighty, I am the first and the last. Apart from me, there is no God. We hope you enjoyed today's program. We want to hear from you. Please email us your questions at hardquestionsatvn.org.