Theology Unfiltered: Q&A for the Thinking Believer

Direct Responses to Your Most Challenging Theological Questions

In this exclusive Theology Talk round-up, I tackle eleven of the most provocative questions believers are asking today. From the nature of the Holy Spirit across testaments to whether Jesus turned water into real wine, I do my best to offer concise, thoughtful perspectives while being firmly rooted in Scripture. Let’s move beyond tired and typical answers as we explore the territorial gods of ancient pantheons, decode the true meaning of speaking in tongues and unravel whether the biblical flood truly covered the entire earth. The best part is that these have theological substance but are easily accessible in bite-sized responses. Let’s go!

Question 1: Is the Holy Spirit of the Old Testament different than the Spirit of Today?

Response: No. God The Son, God the Spirit, and God the Father are distinct in person and one in essence. They are all co-eternal and pre-existent. The Spirit is the same Spirit that hovers over the waters in Genesis 1 that is the Spirit that falls on believers and dwells in them in Acts 2.

Pretty amazing actually!

Question 2: What do you think of the "big bang" theory? Does it connect with the Word of God?

Response: My basic premise is that all things come into creation exclusively through Yahweh. He is the uncreated Creator.

How He chose to bring all things into creation is totally His prerogative. I've heard views that subsume a big bang theory under the umbrella of God's sovereign creation. Could be. Not sure I'm convinced of it personally. I prefer a literal and mythological reading of Genesis that has God creating through speaking a series of sequential orders.

The time span in between each spoken creation? I don't know. But in general, I don't think it's a literal 24 hours.

Question 3: Someone suggested fasting a sin during lent. Am I wrong to feel uncomfortable about this?

Response: No. It makes you smart.

Fasting a "sin" during lent is nonsensical. You should be killing sin all the time or it will be killing you (Owen).

Question 4: Arguments against the veneration of the saints?

Response: The Bible is clear about idols and leveraging images as a means of prayer and communion.

Also, when Jesus teaches us how to pray, He doesn't teach us to venerate past patriarchs of the Old Testament.

We have the indwelling Holy Spirit. Direct communion with the Father. No need to venerate or honor saints.

Question 5: Are gods from different pantheons the same/different entities but with similar characteristics?

Response: Great question. One I've thought a lot about. Most of what I think on this subject is speculation based on the mythologies of ancient Near Eastern pantheons.

My view is that there are limited sons of God who went into rebellion. Therefore, there must be some overlap in the pantheon structure. Also, territorial deities I believe changed masks in a sense and just have different names but are the same spiritual beings. For instance, it's fascinating that Baal is the storm god with iconography of a lightning bolt riding on a bull. Zeus is the storm god with iconography of a lightning bolt riding on clouds. Also, in some stories Zeus transforms into a bull!

So, I think these dark forces specialize in various things and elicit worship from humanity to draw them away from Yahweh.

Question 6: Theology on tongues?

Response: At some point, I'll have to write a full theology essay on my Substack about this. But basically, I believe tongues are a gift that the Spirit gives. I believe that we should pursue all the gifts of the Spirit, including the gift of tongues.

However, I personally do not hold the belief that speaking in tongues is the evidence of the full indwelling of the Holy Spirit. I believe that when we confess Jesus and give our allegiance to Christ, we receive the full indwelling of the Holy Spirit. In the New Testament, specifically in the book of Acts, whenever tongues is being mentioned, it's being mentioned as a known language and has a missional impact and perspective to it. In other words, it was a known language that other people would have known and heard, but the original speaker themselves did not know. It was used to communicate the power and the presence of the gospel in the community and in the society of the time.

There is one instance in the New Testament with Paul in Corinthians, where he refers to something called ecstatic utterance.

Typically, the Pentecostal/charismatic position holds that this is evidence of something referred to as a prayer language.

I am non-committed to this idea one way or the other. If it is for personal edification, then I think it's all good. However, I do believe that Paul's command to pursue order within the local church should also be observed. So tongues should not take away from the service or cause a distraction or hindrance.

Question 7: My best friend and I are on different paths. I feel we are unequally yoked. What do I do?

Response: I think you have to assess what the different paths are. And also try to use discernment to determine if the relationship can stay intact even though you are on different paths.

But if a separation has to take place, there are very good reasons to say goodbyes, even when those goodbyes may be painful in the moment. Remember that this is just a moment and doesn't necessarily have to be a forever situation. It may be, but it may not be. And so I think it is wise to initiate a goodbye early enough where there isn't any resentment or bitterness in the relationship.

Sometimes there's just a parting of ways and that is totally OK because God is calling people to two different things. I've experienced this in my own life and while it's painful in the moment, there is also a goodness in it where we learn to trust and have more dependence on God, as He is leading us to our path while wishing and praying for the very best for our friends as they go on the path the Lord has them on.

I actually think there is a strong example of this in the New Testament, where Paul and Barnabas get into a disagreement about who to take with them on a missionary journey. Paul goes one way with Silas and Barnabas goes another way with John Mark. They have a separation of ways, and that separation was actually good because it multiplied the gospel into different locations and allowed for two people to be discipled instead of just one.

Question 8: How to deal with being scared of the unknown of eternity?

Response: I think this is one of those places where we have to turn to the Psalms and learn from the witness of those that went before us like King David and King Solomon. There's so much of the Psalms that's just honest conversation with the Lord about fears and doubts and concerns and hopes and anticipations for the future.

I think being able to communicate these things is really important, and being honest with God is very, very important as well. Along the way, we will learn that while we can ask the Lord for clarity on these things, even when He is silent, or He doesn't give us the details that we want, we can still have confident assurance that He is holding all things together, and He'll continue to hold all things together. I always think of the passage in Romans that talks about how God is working all things together for the good for those that love Him and act according to His will.

And so there is the sense that while there may be some things that are unknown, and even some really hard and hurtful things that happen in our life, in some way they're all working together in the context of eternity to be an ultimate good for those that follow Jesus.

Question 9: How old do you think the earth is?

Response: Older than we think.

And younger than we think.

Question 10: Could Greek mythology be based on the gods that God placed in Deuteronomy 32?

Response: My view is that the biblical story is a polemic or an argument against the other religions of the world and their creation stories. Some may argue and suggest that the Bible is ripping off other creation stories, but the truth is those creation stories are counterfeit stories of the one true story.

And yes, absolutely I believe that the origin of all of these gods of the nations started somewhere. The question is where did they begin? My answer to that is simply Deuteronomy 32:8-9. In fact, my new book that comes out in early 2026 is all about the gods of the nations.

Question 11: Was the wine Jesus turned into water (John 2) actually fermented or unfermented?

Response: My view is that it was fermented. The head waiter makes a note about the quality of the wine that Jesus creates and notes that it was so good and wonders why the groom waited until the very end of the wedding feast to bring it out. All of this leads me to believe that this was excellent wine. It was fermented, and it was an acceptable practice in that cultural time.

On a practical note, how can somebody get drunk on non-alcoholic drinks?

"and told him, 'Everyone sets out the fine wine first, then, after people are drunk, the inferior. But you have kept the fine wine until now.'" (John 2:10)

Bonus: Do you think the flood and creation story are history or allegory?

Response: I think they are historical allegory!

OK, but seriously. I think that they are historically rooted and also have allegorical or mythic/poetic implications. For instance, I truly do believe the flood happened; however, I am not of the opinion that the flood was a universal flood. I believe it was a globalized flood, which means that there were very large sections of the human population that went under the water and were flooded instantly, and God did do this as a way of trying to bring about new creation and deal with the sin and evil that had spread as a result of the Genesis 6 situation with the Nephilim and the sons of God.

There are quite a few exegetical arguments for a localized (in my words, I like "globalized") flood, one of the arguments being the Hebrew phrase, kol eretz meaning "whole earth" is also used elsewhere to describe the whole earth in terms of what was known to the author at the time. So it's a phrase that has an idea of a large area that was known to the original audience, but does not demand that it has to be literally the entire earth.

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A Note from Dr. Joel:

Thank you so much for being a paid subscriber to the Humble Theology Substack. Your support means the world to me. It enables me to spend dedicated time in research and writing. It also funds additional ministry goals like growing and expanding the YouTube channel. What questions do you have? I’d love to try to tackle some of your specific questions next month! Leave them in the comments section!