@@WhoDeyFan123 It definitely could've been better! 😅

No problem! I really hope the tips make it easier for you! There are additional tips that I forgot to say in the video, but I added them to the description, so make sure you read them as well. All the best! 🙏🏼😊

You're very welcome! You've got this 👊🏼. All the best to you! 🙂

You guys should come with us next time! We had a BLAST! I'm working on a video reel that I'll hopefully have up soon 😁. Thank you, David! 👊🏼

I'm so glad to hear, my friend! Appreciate the comment!

Hi, and thank you so much for your thoughtful comment. I appreciate the way you think because as I mentioned in my video, there are variations to the question on why God allows suffering, and you focused on what is perhaps the most difficult aspect of the question: natural evil and the suffering of children under the age of accountability. I can tell you’ve thought a lot about this issue and that it bothers you because you have a heart that genuinely cares for others and finds value in human life - as you and I rightly should feel/believe. In response, I would first point out (as I did in my video) that the general reason this situation can exist in the first place is because we live in a world that has been broken by our own (mankind’s) sin. The example you give is not a perfect 1:1 analogy of God and humans by virtue of God’s character and mankind’s nature: In the example, only humans are involved (ie, the man did not create the child running towards traffic, nor did he give free will to the mother or car driver) - but the dynamic changes when you bring God into the picture. God’s attitude towards death and suffering is very different from the man in your example. Though mankind abused God’s good gift of free will, causing death as a result of sin, God still provided a way for us to endure suffering and eventually overcome even death (through the Gospel/faith in Jesus). So why doesn’t God intervene? You pointed out the suffering of a child, and there is also unspeakable suffering being endured by people of all ages. If God intervenes with the free will of that man in your example for instance, then should He not intervene with the free will of everyone who does evil? If yes, then understand that this would include you and me, and we would then live in a world where either no one is left, or in a world with no free will and, therefore, no morality, no rationality, no purpose, no joy, no love, etc. - a very different existence! Another thing to keep in mind is God’s decretive will (again, as mentioned in the video). In God’s sovereignty and power, He works all things out to bring about a greater good. In our finite minds (compared to God’s all-wise infinite mind outside of time), we can’t fathom the ripple effects of one seemingly tiny event; we cannot grasp the extent of the butterfly effect (eg, what happens as a result of tragedy can still produce a greater good that we don’t presently see [in the lives of those directly involved, and further down the line in time]). I also need to remind you that this question of why God allows suffering presupposes that objective morality exists and that free will exists, both of which can only exist if God exists, because objective morality requires a transcendent standard for right and wrong to be grounded in, and that standard can only be found in the Creator/God, and free will can only come from a rational mind. Once again, without free will, there is no morality, accountability, rationality, and purpose - the question itself would be ultimately meaningless (as would our arguments for or against any position). I acknowledge that this is one of the hardest questions to wrestle with when it comes to Christianity, but remember that EVERY worldview will need to contend with this same question about suffering, and the answer for any worldview will still have its difficulties, like the difficulties I just pointed out with atheism. In other words, it’s not just hard for Christianity, but note that the intellectual reasons are sound for Christianity, though they may be difficult emotionally. When comparing different worldviews, it’s important for us to consider the CUMULATIVE case of a worldview/religion, and not just a single difficult issue. My last point is this: By His very nature, God is perfect love and perfect justice, so we can find comfort in knowing that even for the things we can’t fully comprehend, at the end of the day, we can trust that God will never do anything that is unloving or unjust. Your outrage over suffering is a good thing, but I hope that this sense of injustice, coupled with an open and humble heart, will only lead you closer to the Truth. Peace and blessings to you, my friend.

@@RoForTheKingdom I really appreciate your thoughtful reply. I will try to find time to go over it more thoroughly. I do have 2 questions for you. 1. What is the good evidence you have that can demonstrate that God allows evil for the greater end result? 2. Is murder wrong because it is according to you objectively wrong? Or is murder wrong because God says that it is wrong?

​@@SalemK-ty4ti I am grateful to be having this conversation with you! And it means more than I can say that you are willing to take time to listen and think through what I share - and please trust that I am likewise doing the same for everything you share. Every day I am learning, and being confronted with challenges only serves to strengthen faith or bring about correction to get us closer to the truth (which is the most important thing). You ask 2 very good questions. In response to your first question (about evidence that God allows evil for a greater end result), I want to first clarify that I don’t believe God needs evil in order to bring about a greater good. Instead, it’s that God, in His care and love for us - He is still able to bring about a greater good in spite of the evil that exists in the world as a result of mankind’s free will and subsequent sin. It’s well said in Genesis 50:20 when Joseph tells his brothers: “You meant evil against me, but God turned it into good.” Next, we can know this by virtue of what we can learn and know about God from both nature (general revelation) and the Bible (divine revelation), namely, that perfect love, justice, and wisdom is found in the nature of God. We also know that as the creator of the universe (we can discuss evidence for this if you’d like), God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and exists outside of time, meaning He can see the end from the beginning. We also know that every human life has intrinsic worth, meaning people are not valuable because someone else or a society made a decision that they are, but rather, it means that every human life has innate value regardless of the feelings and opinions of others, and that value comes from being made in the image of God. Due to all of these things that we can know about God, we can also know that He won’t do anything unloving, unjust, and immoral, because He Himself defines morality based on His nature (more on this when we get to your second question). In addition, because God is sovereign, all-powerful, and perfectly wise, we can know that all suffering is seen by God and that it is not in vain. In the very least, suffering should show us just how serious sin/evil is both inside us and all around us. At best, God wants us to respond to the Gospel of Jesus, which tells us that God loves us so much that He Himself took on human flesh (Jesus, as the Son of God/second person of the triune God - a whole other conversation we can have!), suffered, gave His life as an atoning sacrifice for mankind’s sins, but then resurrected to defeat sin, suffering, and death, proving that He is who He claimed to be. Responding to this means turning away from sin (repentance) and turning towards God (complete yielding/surrender). It doesn’t mean we will be perfect or that we will stop suffering, but it means that God transforms our hearts, and as we seek to align our hearts with His, we grow and mature every day to love God more and love people more, the way we’re supposed to. Then one day, God promises to fully redeem and restore ALL of creation, and part of that is an end to all suffering and pain (heaven and hell are separate topics, but we can also go into that as well if it will honestly help you). We can also cite specific examples as evidence for how God works things out for a greater good. There are many examples in the Bible (like Joseph’s story, which I mentioned earlier), but one of the most powerful examples I have heard was from a man who shared that his mother was raped, got pregnant, and decided that she would not punish her child for the sins of the father - instead of an abortion, she gave birth to the man, who is now a pastor. As a follower of Jesus, that man was able to help his Mom heal from the trauma she experienced, and as a pastor, he has shared the life-giving Gospel of Jesus to countless people. The pastor said, “If my Mom can bring good from evil, how much more can God bring good from evil?” To address your second question, I would like to go back to my earlier point about how morality is defined by God’s very nature. Objective morality means that there is a standard for right and wrong APART from each individual person’s opinion or feelings (which would be called “relative morality”). This also means that morality can’t come from societal norms (for who adjudicates between societies?) and even survival of the fittest (eg, murdering the diseased and disabled is morally wrong). Morality must come from something that transcends mankind because though everyone is born with a sense of right and wrong, we are all calibrated differently. It must also transcend mankind because our intrinsic value/worth as human beings don’t come from other people’s opinions, etc. - it comes from being made in the image of God, unique creations in how we exist and function compared to the rest of the universe. So in your second question, it’s not either/or - it’s BOTH: In other words, murder is wrong because God says it’s wrong, and because God is the objective standard of right and wrong, murder is also objectively wrong. I hope this makes sense. For what it’s worth, I don’t care about winning any argument. I do care about you as a person, and having wrestled with these kinds of things as well, I can say that the struggle is worth it because it will hopefully bring you closer to the truth, and help you understand that faith is required of every worldview, including atheism - the question is what are we placing our faith in, and what evidence do have to ensure that our faith is based on justified belief and not just comfortable and wishful thinking. I am praying for you, and I don’t mean that in a condescending way - just that I am asking God to give you true answers and genuine peace.

@@RoForTheKingdom Hi Rowancv. I’ll try and get around to answering your questions. But I have to ask why would anyone use faith(as in religious faith- believing without evidence Hebrews 11:1) if they care about the truth? Seriously, every religion uses faith for their beliefs and if faith was truly a reliable method for determining the truth then everyone using faith would come to the same conclusion and everyone using faith would believe in the same religion. In other words you can believe in anything using faith. Say someone tells us they believe in Leprechauns and they use faith to believe. Does that mean Leprechauns exist because people use faith to believe it? Of course not because faith is an unreliable method for finding the truth. That’s why atheists and science don’t use faith(believing without evidence). We use facts, good evidence, logic and reasoning when searching for truth.

@@SalemK-ty4ti Hey, man - my name is “Ro”! I appreciate the question you ask, but you seem to be making a distinction between what you’re calling “religious faith” and something else. I believe faith means the same thing for everyone, religious or not, namely: Faith is placing belief and trust in something that can’t be 100% proven or seen. Hebrews 11:1 does not say that God wants us to believe without evidence - in fact, it says the exact opposite. This verse defines faith as the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen. “Substance” means that our faith is not to be blind faith, but rather, it should be faith based on justified belief - ie, evidence! I like your point about caring about the truth, because truth matters, and truth should be the goal of every worldview and religion. What is true will be true whether we believe it or not. The question is, how does one go about determining what is true? Does believing in Santa Clause make him real by virtue of a child’s blind faith in him? Absolutely not. Similarly, a person’s faith in the Bible doesn’t make the Bible true - the Bible is true whether one has faith in it or not. You also seem to imply that Christianity uses faith to determine truth, when again, that is absolutely not the case. First of all, the Christian worldview affirms that we can trust our 5 senses (eg, we are not existing in a test tube while what we perceive as reality is actually just an illusion in our minds), and because we can trust our 5 senses, we can trust science and the evidence we gather from studying nature, and we can trust reason/philosophy and the evidence we gather from observing reality. I don’t believe God exists simply because someone told me to believe it - no, I believe in God because I believe the evidence shows that it takes more faith to be an atheist than a theist (this goes back to what I mentioned earlier regarding how the lack of God’s existence has many major implications, such as the lack of rationality, morality, free will, and meaning). I have a series of videos that discusses this evidence, but in summary: (1) the universe must have had an uncaused first cause, as the Big Bang Theory tells us that space, time, and matter began to exist at the same moment, and we also know that the universe cannot be past infinite, as that would be an infinite regress, which is impossible for time, (2) the universe is finely tuned for the existence of life, (3) biological complexity and information in our DNA strongly suggest a designer, (4) the existence of a soul, mind, consciousness, free will, and intentionality, and (5) the existence of objective morality. Again, a person’s faith that God is real is not what makes God real - He is real whether a person has faith in Him or not. Many people refuse to believe in God unless they have 100% certainty, but one cannot have 100% certainty that God does NOT exist. It’s a matter of looking at the evidence and following where the evidence leads. If people think about what they are living their lives for and what they place their faith in, most will realize very quickly that they do not have anywhere near 100% certainty in those things. Every single person lives with a measure of faith, even scientists. In order to do science, you must first presuppose certain truths that cannot be proven scientifically (or else it would be circular reasoning). These truths include: (1) logic and math, (2) metaphysical truths like the fact that there are other minds beyond just our own, (3) morality and ethics, especially since we expect scientists to tell the truth, and to use discoveries for good and not evil, and (4) science itself, as theories are permeated with unprovable assumptions, such as the assumption that the speed of life is constant in a 1-way direction between any 2 points (theory of relativity). Again, you need these aforementioned truths to do science, however, you cannot use science to prove them - we must accept them, and we are rational in doing so. Other metaphysical realities such as love and aesthetic judgments (concerning what is considered to be beautiful) can never be proven by science because they are abstract/immaterial and yet still metaphysically real. Once a person has examined the evidence for theism (ie, that God exists) and become convinced that God exists, the next question is: Of all the worldviews/religions in the world, which one best corresponds to the truths about God and existence/reality? Once you’ve tested every religion, I believe you will find that Christianity best corresponds to reality, best explains (and solves) the basic human problem (sin), and has the strongest evidences that verify its claims, particularly evidence that the Bible is historically reliable and is the divine Word of God, and evidence for the fact that Jesus literally rose from the dead. Each on these things can be separate conversations, but again, I will give you the summary points: To determine the historical reliability of any ancient text, the same tests must be applied: (1) Manuscript Authority, (2) Internal Consistency, and (3) External Corroboration. This is how we know that George Washington and Napoleon are real historical figures. The data show that there is no close second in terms of the historical reliability of the Bible (based on the number of manuscripts, the earliest manuscripts and how close they are to the originals, textual criticism, internal characteristics related to authorship, content, and background, and external corroboration from contemporary sources, as well as archeology). In addition, there are divine markings such as a unified metanarrative across multiple authors, genres, and time periods, as well as the Bible’s prophetic track record. Regarding Jesus’ resurrection, if the Bible is reliable, the accounts of Jesus’ resurrection are also historically reliable. In addition, you can also look up the “Minimal Facts Approach” regarding the historical resurrection of Jesus, which takes 5 facts which the majority of scholars agree to be true (Christian or not), and then shows how the bodily resurrection of Jesus is the best explanation of the accepted facts. I hope that this helps you to see that God really DOES want us to use our minds so that our faith in Him would be strong and not shallow. I hope you can also see that every person lives with faith, even scientists, but the questions are: What are we placing our faith in? And how certain are we based on the evidence? If we examined the evidence with intellectual honesty, where does the evidence lead?

Again, this question of why God allows suffering presupposes that objective morality exists and that free will exists, both of which can only exist if God exists, because objective morality requires a transcendent standard for right and wrong to be grounded in, and that standard can only be found in the Creator/God, and free will can only come from a rational mind. Once again, without free will, there is no morality, accountability, rationality, and purpose - the question itself would be ultimately meaningless (as would our arguments for or against any position). Please refer to my reply to your other longer comment for my complete response. Thank you.

Thanks, bro!!! We already can't wait to go back with you all!!! Definitely had to capture the great food like Joffrey's, and you know Lana and the boys can dance for DAAAYSS 😅.

Thank you so much! It means a lot! Your videos are incredible - you make me want to buy a drone! Just subscribed 🙂. God bless you, my friend 🙏🏼.

Thanks so much, Dad! You were my very first Bible teacher role model, and you continue to be an excellent example to us! ❤📖😊

Absolutely! Thank you for checking it out, and I pray that it was a blessing to you. To God be all the glory 👆🏼🙌🏼😊.

Thank you so much, my friend! Your encouragement is so appreciated, and I definitely give the Lord all the glory and praise. I'll do my best to upload more of my teachings 😊.

We love you, Pops! God is good! 🙌🏼👆🏼🙏🏼❤🥰😊

Somehow I am just seeing this, Brennan, but I wanted to sincerely thank you for the incredibly kind words. You have a good, thoughtful heart. I pray for God's abundant blessings over you and that you'll pursue Him with all your heart - He promises to honor that (Jeremiah 29:11-13). I saw your dance video which you posted a few weeks ago - I genuinely loved it! You have indeed come a long way. I see so much talent and potential, so definitely keep it up! Keep doing it for the right reasons, stay true to the good and joyful things that you're passionate about, and you will grow and never regret it. Take care, my friend!

Hahha! Nah - never too late! Appreciate your comment a ton, little bro. I'm so glad you enjoyed this video and that it was able to inspire you. As you can see, dancing was/is such a huge part of our story, and yes, we are definitely still together - 10 years strong! With 2 kids now, too! God has always been faithful to us, and we are so grateful for that. I see that you have dancing in your blood as well - you've got some real talent (!) and I enjoyed your videos! Keep working hard at your craft, stay humble, love God, and love people! Blessings to you and your family, my dude!!!

Thank you! 🙏🏼🙂

Toda raba, my friend!

So appreciate that, my brother! And I hope that you guys will be able to go one day 🙏🏼. Always here if you have any questions! 🙂

Thank you, Jonas! That means so much to me!

Thank you so much! We had a blast doing this, and the love is very real among this group of friends. Greatly appreciate your comment, and truly, may God bless you as well, my friend!

Much appreciated!!! :-)

Awesome- that means a lot. Thanks!

+rowancv I'm sorry to ask again but what are the songs that were played

+Kj Allen No problem! Check out the bottom of the video description- it's all listed there. If you can't find it, let me know and I'll repost it.

+rowancv thanks man

We love you too! Glad you enjoyed that sister! In case you didn't see it, Alana says "Thank you!" :-)

rowancv yay! You're welcome Alana! Did you guys find out the soup you posted on FB? looked super YUM!

Thank you! It was tons of fun :-).