Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas
Jeremy approaches Bible teaching with a passion for getting the basic doctrines explained so that the individual can understand them and then apply them to circumstances in their life. These basic and important lessons are nestled in a framework of history and progression of revelation from the Bible so the whole of Scripture can be applied to your physical and spiritual life.
Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas
NT Framework - Individual/Group Rights in Balance
Which is more important, the individual or the group the individual is in? Is it even possible to determine which is more important? Are these even the right questions?
More information about Beyond the Walls, including additional resources can be found at www.beyondthewalls-ministry.com
This series included graphics to illustrate what is being taught, if you would like to watch the teachings you can do so on Rumble (https://rumble.com/user/SpokaneBibleChurch) or on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtV_KhFVZ_waBcnuywiRKIyEcDkiujRqP).
Jeremy Thomas is the pastor at Spokane Bible Church in Spokane, Washington and a professor at Chafer Theological Seminary. He has been teaching the Bible for over 20 years, always seeking to present its truths in a clear and understandable manner.
Welcome to Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas and our series on the New Testament Framework. Today a smaller, bite-sized piece from the larger lesson. We hope you enjoy it.
Speaker 2:First of all, which is more important, right, You've got the one, that's the group, and then you've got the many, that's an individual or a particular let's use some examples Nation, particular, let's use some examples Nation the world is heading toward one world government. Right, they want to do away with individual national sovereignty in favor of one world government. So, which is being emphasized in that example? Right, the one world government. The nations will be sacrificed, Individual nations will be sacrificed for the one world government. The nations will be sacrificed. Individual nations will be sacrificed for the one world government which will take priority.
Speaker 2:Um, does the bible have anything to say about this? I mean, is there a story in the bible about this? Um, yeah, we, we know that the world is heading toward a one-world government, one-world religion, one-world economy and, by default, then it's moving away from the many, the concept that we need individual nations to maintain their distinctness and function under their own rules of law. Right, we're rejecting that. But these are the two ways. You can swing, right, you can swing toward a one-world government in which a nation's rights will be given over to elitists, either monarchy one elitist or an oligarchy, a few elitists who rule the world with their set of laws. I'm sure you've seen about this, or. Oh, what's the end of that? What's the end of that? If that's the presupposition and we're going to emphasize the one over the many, where is that going to end? It's going to end at absolute totalitarianism. That's the end of that and that's what the Bible says. Actually, that's the way the world's going to go. They're dealing with the problem of the one and the many and they're going to choose in favor of the one and they're going to sacrifice the many nations and get rid of them. So the other option is to allow each nation to govern themselves autonomously, more like it is now.
Speaker 2:But let's go back a couple hundred years and it would be even more representative, right, and where we have nations, separate nations, and they war against one another as they vie for supremacy in the world, and the end of that is anarchy. The end of that is anarchy. And people struggle over these, they have a tension over which way we should go, Because we do realize, right, there basically has not been a year where there wasn't war since Daniel wrote his book. I did a research on that one time. I was like I don't think there is any years when there was not war going on somewhere in the world for the last 2,600 years. So you know, I think people are tired of that right in the world right now and they're thinking well, maybe if we all just come together and we get an elite oligarchy or an elite ruler, then all the world's wars will go away. That's the reasoning process that is taking place. Of course, you have to give up all your rights as an independent nation to be a part of this right. So that's an example.
Speaker 2:Politics, Politics. This is similar but a little different. Here we have the state versus the individual. Is it better to have a unified society where we sacrifice individual rights to the state and the state decides what is right and wrong? Or that's an all-powerful state right? Or is it better to give everybody their individual rights and sacrifice the unity in society so everyone kind of breaks up in their own little gangs and clubs and races and so forth and fights one another, fights for their rights.
Speaker 2:What happened? Here's an example what happened with COVID, Not just in America but all over in other nations of the world, which was an attempt toward global unity and globalism. But what happened? Well, we were basically told you need to take this shot. You need to stay at home. You need to socially distance. In other words, you need to take this shot. You need to stay at home. You need to socially distance. In other words, you need to forfeit your individual rights. Let's just put it that way you need to forfeit your individual rights. For the sake of what? For the sake of one, for the sake of society, for the sake of the state. Why should we do it? Because the government tells us to do it. Sacrifice your individual rights, rights and we will give you security.
Speaker 2:And a lot of people didn't like that and they said well, I don't want to take the shot and I don't want to stay home, and I don't want to stay four feet away, six feet away from whoever you know. I want to just be able to function here Instead of, like I'm always, like you know, tiptoeing around everybody. The lines are six miles long now because I got to be, you know, six feet apart from everybody. See how this is a problem. See how that decision, that decision was made in favor, once again, of which one of the many did individuals get favored, their rights or the one? The society as a whole? Society as a whole and people who tried to stand up for their freedoms lost their jobs. And now these companies don't have good people to do those jobs, and so they can't keep up with the supply chains. And here we are right supply and demand price is doing what soaring, inflation doing what soaring.
Speaker 2:Okay, this is too hard to see that at the root of this issue was a determination that we are going to lean toward an answer for the one rather than the many. I read some of the Supreme Court cases that came out of this. One of the judges actually appealed to a case from, I believe, the late 40s, where an individual was deprived of her rights and the courts later came back and realized you know, we shouldn't have done that and he cited that in reference to cases that were going on during COVID that what we're doing is running roughshod over individuals' rights and all that does is move us toward the state being more totalitarian, doesn't it Controlling every aspect of our lives? So, yes, the one in the many is a problem right here in politics.
Speaker 2:How about in marriage? Should we emphasize the unity of the marriage of two individuals? If you do, then each individual in the marriage loses their individuality, their own personal expressions. They all get wrapped up in the concept of the marriage. Now, that would be an emphasis on the one, the marriage being taken priority over the individuals in the marriage. But the other side of it would be emphasizing the individual's rights in the marriage, and that goes. If you do that, the end of that is divorce, Because you've got two individuals. They're viewing themselves as having their own specific rights, and if this person infringes on my rights, then I'll just divorce you.
Speaker 2:Which way has society tended on this Individual? They've gone individual. In fact, the whole legal system is set up around individual rights, not around marital rights. Okay, so the whole legal system is built on this. It's an answer of the problem of the one of many in the favor of the many. Here's the problem. See, I'm just starting to touch on the problem. Okay, they can't get the balance. They're always swinging from one side to the other side on these issues and they can never strike the balance. And I think what Christianity and the Trinity is doing is giving us an answer for the balance.
Speaker 1:Thank you for joining us on Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas. If you would like to see the visuals that went along with today's sermon, you can find those on Rumble and on YouTube under Spokane Bible Church. That is where Jeremy is the pastor and teacher. We hope you found today's lesson productive and useful in growing closer to God and walking more obediently with Him. If you found this podcast to be useful and helpful, then please consider rating us in your favorite podcast app and until next time, we hope you have a blessed and wonderful day.