Today's False Teachings

Recently, I have received from people in the church videos on TikTok or other platforms of people speaking of Scripture. Those who sent these to me wanted to know if what was being said was true. I am going to share with you one of these and reveal the deception. This person has been in the news quite a bit which is why I think his videos have been watched millions of times and why someone sent this to me.

In our day and age, we must be very careful about all that we hear and see when it comes to Scripture.

I am going to share with you an interaction where my main point is how someone who makes known his seminary education then misrepresents Scripture. I realize he is a politician. That is not my concern. He may turn out to be a great politician and do great things in whatever office he wins.

My only point is that we must be careful about how we use Scripture and we must test the spirit when we hear others use the Scriptures.

James Talarico

Recently, during the Joe Rogan podcast, James Talarico brought up Scripture in reference to abortion. You can watch the clip below, but here are some areas where he is misrepresenting Scripture.

When Joe Rogan asks Talarico where the Christian view on homosexuality comes from, Talarico says that homosexuality is something “Jesus never talks about even though gay people existed in the ancient world.”

This is false.

It is true that Jesus never uses the word “homosexual.” However, Jesus says this in regard to the question about marriage posed to Him from religious hypocrites:

Matthew 19:3–5

3 And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” 4 He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, 5 and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?” (ESV)

Jesus is quoting and affirming the Old Testament stance on human sexuality.

Some may say that this is not about homosexuality, but this can only be suggested if the Old Testament is skewed as if homosexuality was acceptable to God. It was not. It was so understood that it was never a matter of debate. They debated the nature of divorce, but homosexuality was, to them, so clearly forbidden that they never would have asked about homosexuality.

But Jesus’ response still affirms male and female marriage.

Many want to read into the fact that Jesus never uses the word “homosexual.” However, what is forgotten is that He does use the phrase “sexual immorality.”

In Jewish teaching, this phrase included any sexual activity outside the marriage between male and female.

This is supported in the Old Testament, but also in the New Testament.

1 Corinthians 6:9–10

9 Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. (NIV)

1 Timothy 1:9–11

9 We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, 10 for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine 11 that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me. (NIV)

Homosexuality was never a sin more grievous than others. We see it in lists with many other behaviors that drag us away from the Lord.

And same-sex attraction is not a sin. That is a temptation. The act is a sin against the Lord’s commands.

We also know the Lord is compassionate toward all sinners, and we are all sinners. We are not to judge others, especially those who do not claim to be Christians following the Bible.

We must love everyone, but love does not mean condoning behavior forbidden by God as if it is acceptable to God. God loves every homosexual as much as He loves anyone and everyone else. Nevertheless, because He loves us, He has prescribed to us a way of living that leads to abundant life. The behaviors and attitudes we call sin lead us away from this life. God showed His love by sending Christ to suffer the consequence of all our sins to help us know that His love for us drives Him to help us find a better life through the Way taught in Scriptures.

Misrepresenting the Law

Talarico attempts to justify his position by suggesting these are ancient languages that can be confusing. It could be; however, we cannot miss the fact that the Bible was written over a 1,500-year period, and those laws written in the Old Testament are understood centuries later to be homosexual activity. This is another attempt at deception.

He also attempts to skew the issue by bringing up ceremonial law and laws about food.

He says:

“I think in most of these violations of the law, you know, the punishment, if it’s, you know, called an abomination, this punishment can sometimes be death. And this is true of eating certain food, of planting two crops, different crops next to each other, wearing two different types of cloth.”

This is false.

Here is the passage he is attempting to reference:

Leviticus 19:19

19 “‘Keep my decrees. “‘Do not mate different kinds of animals. “‘Do not plant your field with two kinds of seed. “‘Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material.’” (NIV)

However, the issue is that nowhere in Scripture does it say these are punishable by death.

This was a false statement said to conflate different things to suggest that homosexuality was not a violation of moral law.

The Word “Homosexuality”

He goes on to say that “the word ‘homosexuality’ wasn’t even invented until the 19th century.”

This is true, but he has already said himself that there were homosexuals in ancient times, so what is the point of the word used?

The English language did not come about until the 5th century. Just because there was not an English word for something does not mean it did not exist.

However, those scholars who know the ancient languages the best translate the Greek word “malakos” into the English phrase “men who practice homosexuality.”

The Greek dictionary has definitions for the word that include:

• pedophilia between a man and boy

• men who are sexually active with other men

• 
  

This is another attempt at skewing things to make the Scripture say what he wants it to say.

The Southern Baptist Convention

On the subject of abortion, he starts by saying:

“…the Southern Baptist Convention was pro-choice until the late 1970s.”

This is false.

Before 1971, the Southern Baptist Convention had no official stance on abortion. It had not yet become the hot potato issue that it is now.

Talarico goes on to present the Southern Baptists as being “pro-choice” as if it was equivalent to today’s pro-choice stance.

But here is the actual wording of the resolution passed:

“Be it therefore RESOLVED, That we call upon Southern Baptists to work for legislation that will allow the possibility of abortion under such conditions as rape, incest, clear evidence of severe fetal deformity, and carefully ascertained evidence of the likelihood of damage to the emotional, mental, and physical health of the mother.” (Southern Baptist Convention Resolution Archive)

Pro-choice today means for any reason.

That is not what the Southern Baptists decided on.

In 1976, the Southern Baptist Convention expanded the issue to include:

“carefully ascertained evidence of the likelihood of damage to the emotional, mental, and physical health of the mother.”

This is closer to the modern idea of pro-choice, but still a long way from it.

Pro-choice today is not limited to any harmful effect but simply if the baby is not wanted. The focus is on bodily autonomy and personal freedom.

Talarico again makes a misleading comparison to suggest the Bible says something it does not say.

He also ignores that the Southern Baptist Convention for the last 45 years has been against abortion “except to save the life of the mother.”

When Does Life Begin?

Joe Rogan then asks:

“What do you think is the Biblical evidence to support the opinion of being pro-abortion?”

Talarico answers:

“So one, you know, uh in Genesis, God creates life by breathing life into the first human being, which we later call Adam, that life starts when you take your first breath and that is actually the mainline position in Judaism is that’s when life starts.”

It is true that Judaism does teach that life begins at birth, but as Christians we are not called to follow Judaism. Judaism teaches that Christ was not the Messiah.

We are called to follow the Scriptures.

Talarico again is conflating Judaistic beliefs with Scripture as if Scripture teaches the same thing.

But this is false.

Scripture teaches that life, not necessarily the body, is in the womb.

Life in the Womb

In the book of Luke, we see how John the Baptist, still in the womb, knew he was in the presence of Jesus, though He too was still in the womb.

The baby in the womb of Elizabeth, who was the preborn John the Baptist, leaped for joy when Mary walked into the house with Jesus in her womb.

This passage is telling us that those babies were alive and spiritually able to recognize one another.

Luke 1:39–45

³⁹ In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, ⁴⁰ and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. ⁴¹ And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, ⁴² and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! ⁴³ And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? ⁴⁴ For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. ⁴⁵ And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.” (ESV)

Still, we can also point to Old Testament Scriptures that suggest the very same:

Jeremiah 1:4–5

⁴ Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

 ⁵ “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,

and before you were born I consecrated you;

I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” (ESV)

Psalms 139:13–16

¹³ For you formed my inward parts;

you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.

 ¹⁴ I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are your works;

my soul knows it very well.

 ¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you,

when I was being made in secret,

intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

 ¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed substance;

in your book were written, every one of them,

the days that were formed for me,

when as yet there was none of them. (ESV)

Isaiah 49:1

¹ Listen to me, O coastlands,

and give attention, you peoples from afar.

The LORD called me from the womb,

from the body of my mother he named my name. (ESV)

Mary and “Consent”

But Talarico goes further in his misrepresentation of Scripture.

He says that God asked Mary for consent before the incarnation.

Talarico tells us to go back and read it, so let’s do that.

Luke 1:30–33

30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” (ESV)

There is no version of Scripture anywhere that says, “And the angel asked…”

To suggest that God is asking for consent is ludicrous.

Mary did later say:

“Let it be to me according to your word.”

This is Mary submitting, not consenting.

To twist this interaction to make the statement later that creation “has to be done with consent. It has to be done with freedom,” is absurd.

It must also be said that God is compassionate and heartbroken for those women who have an abortion. Our sin doesn’t anger Him toward people. His anger is directed at our sin and He desperately wants to move us away from sin because His way leads to greater fulfillment, joy, peace, and love. The church has no right to judge people to Hell for any sin, including abortion. But that does not mean that abortion is something God approves of or accepts. From the Biblical perspective, it is the death of innocent life. But just as He is not angry with those who have an abortion, nor should the church condemn. We are called to love and administer forgiveness, never judgment.

Final Thought

My point in this article is not to argue the aspects of homosexuality nor abortion.

My point is to expose the misuse of Scripture by someone who publicly claims to be a theologian and expert on Scripture.

We must be careful to check the Scriptures ourselves and ensure that we are not being led astray to believe the Bible forbids or accepts something it does not.

As I said, James Talarico, may be a great politician and do great things. I am not trying to tell anyone to not vote for him because I am sure we can find examples of Scriptural misrepresentations on both sides of the political aisle. However, this clip was sent to me with questioning if there was any truth to the Scriptural claims he makes.

If anyone has the same question or suspicion about a Republican, feel free to send that to me as well. I am more concerned that we do not get led astray than any particular party or politician get elected.

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