Latest / Brandon Fogal Evolution / #101 - Was Jesus Crucified on Passover or the Day Before?

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#101 - Was Jesus Crucified on Passover or the Day Before? · Brandon Fogal Evolution

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  So, is there a discrepancy between the Synoptic Gospels and the Gospel of John
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  on when Jesus was crucified?
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  The Gospel of John portrays Jesus as being crucified on the day of Passover,
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  whereas Matthew, Mark, and Luke have him being crucified the day before.
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  How do we reconcile this seemingly discrepant recording of what happened?
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  My name is Brandon Fogel. This is Evolution. We're going to try to break this down.
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  It might get a little technical, but I'm going to do my best to do it for you.
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  All right. So it is Passion Week.
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  This is the week that we are gearing up for Easter on Sunday.
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  So it was very fitting for me to talk about this because this is something that
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  it can cause some people to stumble when they don't know all the facts and they
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  don't know all that goes into the Bible and the different interpretations of it.
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  Because there were different calendars, a lot of different calendars.
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  We think today we just have one calendar.
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  You know, it's 2025, you know, 2025.
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  Whereas back in the day, there were many calendars, a lot of calendars.
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  And when we talk about the Bible and how to rightly understand where the people
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  of Israel and how they calculated the Passover date, there was a difference.
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  Not everybody was lockstep in what they believed.
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  There were different sects of people
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  Judaism. There was what was called the Sadducees, and there was what was called
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  the Pharisees, and there were other ones as well.
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  But those are the ones that we're going to focus on this morning because it
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  all had to do with how do we calculate the Passover, and I'm going to read the
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  difference for you just so you have it in front of you.
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  The main difference between how the Sadducees and Pharisees calculated Passover
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  revolved around their interpretation of the Torah and how they viewed the day's beginning.
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  Sadducees used a sunset to sunset reckoning while Pharisees used a sunrise to sunrise reckoning.
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  This difference resulted in different calculations of the Passover meal and
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  when it would be observed.
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  So the Pharisees interpretation, the Pharisees followed a calendar that interpreted
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  the start of certain festivals based on the sunset to sunset reckoning of days.
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  They generally observed the Passover meal at the beginning of the 15th of Nisan
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  after sunset on the 14th.
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  They used a lunisolar calendar, which was more in line with the broader Jewish community's practice.
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  Sadducees' interpretation, the Sadducees, who were closely associated with the
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  temple priesthood, followed a different interpretation of when to begin counting
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  the Omer, which influenced their festival dates.
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  According to the Sadducees, the Passover lamb was sacrificed on the afternoon
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  of the 14th of Nisan, and the festival of unleavened bread started that evening.
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  So the difference in calendar interpretation led to variations in exact timing
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  of Passover observances.
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  For instance, the Sadducee's timing would align more closely with the chronology
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  that John's gospel suggests, whereas Jesus, where Jesus is crucified on the
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  day of preparation before the Passover meal would be eaten.
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  So all that to say is we can't just say, oh, it all makes sense.
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  It's easily understandable because a lot of people that disagree with the Bible, they say.
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  Matthew, Mark, and Luke, they have Jesus being crucified the day before Passover,
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  and John has him being crucified on the day of Passover.
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  And we're going to look at two examples exactly of when it says that.
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  Matthew, Mark, and Luke, which is known as the synoptic gospels because they
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  agree with one another, from synoptic, meaning they agree with one another.
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  So it's whether they, there's the difference between Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
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  Are they using the same source in putting together their gospel?
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  Well, a lot of people understand that Mark came first and then Luke and Matthew
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  are both using Mark as a source to compile their account of Jesus's life.
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  In Matthew chapter 26, Jesus chapter 26, verse 18, Jesus says,
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  he said, go into the city to a certain man and say to him.
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  No, sorry, Matthew 26, 17 says, now on the first day of unleavened bread,
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  the disciples came to Jesus saying, where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover?
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  And then he said, go into a city to a certain man and say to him,
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  the teacher says, my time is at hand.
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  I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.
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  So what is happening there, that is the day that is, it sounds like Jesus is
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  eating the Passover on the day of preparation, on the day of the Passover itself.
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  The lambs are being sacrificed and the disciples are going to the upper room
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  and they're having the Passover meal.
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  But then fast forward or flip over to the gospel of John versus chapter 19, and it was verse 14.
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  So Jesus, this is the next day, and Jesus has stood before Pilate.
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  He's going to be crucified.
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  And in John's account, it says, chapter 19, verse 14, now it was the day of
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  preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour.
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  He said to the Jews, behold your king. So how do we align? and how do we make sense of this?
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  One says one thing, or three say one thing, and one say another.
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  Well, like I said, it has to do with the different interpretation of the calendar.
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  So the Sadducees, they were the ones that were really the ones in authority.
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  They had the priesthood, they were the ones controlling it, and the Pharisees,
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  they thought that we should count the calculating of the Passover on a certain day based on the Torah,
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  and the Pharisees, or sorry, the Sadducees thought it was something different. But who was correct?
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  Really, it doesn't matter, but they did have a different interpretation of how we should do it.
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  So I would say legitimately, the Sadducees were the ones who were calculating
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  it correct because they had the authority to do so.
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  They were declaring, this is the day that we're doing the Passover.
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  This is the day we're sacrificing the lambs. And this is the day that we're
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  having the Passover meal.
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  The Pharisees, based on a different interpretation of the Torah,
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  were doing it the day before.
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  So Jesus, when he's eating the Passover meal, he's not necessarily eating it
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  really on Passover, but he's following, which Jesus was, in a sense,
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  he aligned more with the Pharisees than the Sadducees.
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  So he took this opportunity to have the Passover meal with his disciples,
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  and he used it to institute the Lord's Supper, which we have now,
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  but he wasn't really eating it on the legitimate Passover day.
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  And John's gospel makes it clear because Jesus is the Lamb of God.
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  When he is being sacrificed, it is literally the day of Passover based on the
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  Sadducees' interpretation because they had the authority.
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  When somebody has the authority to declare something in the Bible,
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  when they say it, it is done.
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  That's like in the Old Testament when the priest had the authority to go into a house and look it over.
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  And if they pronounced a house clean based on their investigation of whatever,
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  if they had leprosy and all the diseases and all that, and they went in and
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  they pronounced something clean, it was clean based on they had that authority to do so.
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  So the Pharisees might have actually been following the Bible closer in what,
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  when the Passover should have been, but they were not the ones in charge and given that authority.
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  So they were not the ones that could pronounce what is the actual day of Passover.
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  It's kind of technical and a little bit confusing, but it's a way that I at
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  least can reconcile and make sense of how three gospels say one thing and one
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  gospel says another thing.
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  So Jesus and the disciples, they're eating the Passover based on the Pharisaical
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  tradition and following that, and he's using that as an opportunity.
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  And I think in God's perfect timing, how that happened,
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  he was able to have that final meal with his disciples and then institute the
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  Lord's Supper that we carry on today, but that he wasn't really truly doing
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  it on the actual Passover day.
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  He was being crucified on the legitimate, true, historical Passover day because
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  that was the day the Sadducees, the one who were in charge, had determined and
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  declared the Passover day was.
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  So there's a lot there. There's a lot to unpack.
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  But I know a lot of people don't, and most people are, this isn't top of mind,
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  but I just know this is a criticism that a lot of people that disagree with
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  the Bible and say there's contradiction in it,
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  they'll point, this is a very well-known because it's right in front of us.
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  And Matthew doesn't explain this. Luke and Mark don't explain this.
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  And John doesn't explain this.
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  They're all creating their account of Jesus's life and giving it from their point of view.
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  And they're just saying it how it is. But when we think about it, there was a lot more that.
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  If we don't know the technicalities of the Old Testament and how calendars were
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  put together and how they calculated everything, 2,000 years removed,
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  Christians, we aren't thinking about the festival days like they were back then.
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  And they were very strongly in disagreement in some things because they were
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  trying to be as close as possible to interpreting how the law was given and
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  how they should be calculating these things.
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  So there was, I just think in God's perfect timing, he made it almost perfect.
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  So you could say there's disagreement, but he made it perfect because Jesus
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  could celebrate that last supper meal,
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  that Passover meal, but he is also truly the Lamb of God that was being crucified
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  and slaughtered, the innocent Lamb of God for our sins on the actual day.
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  Because the whole Old Testament, God creating the whole Passover meal,
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  it was to take an unblemished lamb that has no broken bones, nothing,
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  and it had to be in a pristine, perfect position and go up to and be slaughtered
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  to cover the nation's sins temporarily.
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  Whereas Jesus, all that was just a shadow of what actually happened when Jesus
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  went to the cross and him dying for the world's sins.
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  But he did it on the actual day, but he also got to celebrate that Passover
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  meal and institute the Lord's Supper through how God put all of human history
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  together and put everything intact. So it just worked out perfectly.
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  So this is food for thought. Just let you think about this because as we go
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  into the Passover weekend or Easter weekend and we start, you might see something
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  come across the Discovery Channel.
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  You might see something on National Geographic or anything.
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  I don't know. They always make something. but this everything in
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  the Bible there it always through the time through time
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  it always is proven right I found that
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  it's always proven right so I will side on the the
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  writing the writers of the New Testament and the writers of the Old Testament
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  that they were putting together what is actual historical fact but it doesn't
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  need to be a blind faith but I've just the more I've looked into it the more
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  I've tried to find where is there contradiction?
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  Is there something in the Bible that just doesn't smell right?
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  And I've just found the more I've researched it, the more I've looked into it,
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  it always comes out right. So I would lean more towards that and at least giving
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  it the benefit of the doubt.
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  But all right. So if you've enjoyed this video, make sure you smash that like
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  button and subscribe to this channel.
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  And I'm doing this every day, 7 a.m. Central time.
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  We're your comments in. I would love to hear from you what you think on this,
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  if you've even thought about this type of stuff that is in the New Testament.
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  And if this ever has caused you to stumble, because it can cause some people to stumble.
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  So we'll leave it at that. Have a good day, everyone.