Q+A Sunday: Praying to Mary, Separation of Church and State, and Teaching the Bible in Public School

This video is from another Q & A Sunday. Thanks to those who submitted questions!

First, we’re talking about why the Roman Catholic Church believes in praying to Mary. Are they right or wrong? Are there any passages in the Bible that refer to Mary as our intercessor before God? Who is Mary anyway? And what is an intercessor before God? There are numerous places in the New Testament we will visit to attempt to answer these questions.

Then we have a question that relates to the intersection of religion and government. Jesus only rarely dabbled into political speech. My (Joel's) opinion is that Jesus’ life and ministry deeply relates to politics, and on many levels. But he almost never talked about politics. If you read Matthew 22:15–22, however, he comments on taxation. In this familiar passage Jesus says, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and give to God what is God’s.” With that, is Jesus teaching the separation of church and state?

The third and final question is related to the second: What should Christians think about the Oklahoma State School Superintendent mandating the teaching of the Bible in all Oklahoma public schools? This summer (2024) the mandate was published, and this fall all public schools across Oklahoma were to begin teaching the Bible in all classrooms, grades 5–12. Even math classes? Gym? Music? Is there a curriculum? Which version of the Bible are they using? How do teachers who are not trained biblical exegetes feel about this? Why was this mandate created in the first place? Most importantly of all, is there any teaching in the Bible that suggests what God might think about mandating the teaching of his Word?

How can we Christians think about these issues? They are all hot topics to be sure, with varying viewpoints. I’m going to try to bring biblical theology to bear on these issues. I’m excited for this one, and bit nervous too, as I always am for these Current Events/Q & A sermons. So go ahead and watch the video, and watch me sweat.

Sections:
00:00 - Praying to Mary
18:18 - Separation of Church and State
34:35 - Oklahoma Forced to Teach the Bible in Public School