Point of View April 15, 2025 – Hour 1 : Fun with Biblical Words

[00:00:05] Live, this is Point of View, Kirby Anderson. You know one of the things we want to always do here on Point of View is to help you know how to interpret the Bible correctly. And one of the keys to that is knowing the languages.

[00:00:31] Now I understand that most of you will never go to a Bible college or seminary to learn about Greek and Hebrew. We are fortunate that we have so many great computer programs that allow you to get an insight into that. But it has been amazing to me and I suspect probably to you as well that when an individual, maybe your pastor, Sunday school teacher or somebody else who is really gifted, talks about a particular word.

[00:00:58] It, because of the context, maybe gives you a better understanding or maybe even a new understanding of the implications of that particular word. And so today we're going to be talking about this book Fun with Biblical Words. And I think you'll find that maybe you'll get a better insight to, for example, the crime that the two individuals who were crucified with Christ was engaged in.

[00:01:24] Maybe a little bit of an understanding of what it meant to be no room in the inn and a variety of others. About 60 different Greek and Hebrew words we'll talk about, but I'm going to focus on about nine that I thought might be of interest. And this book is written by Tom Hobson. Dr. Hobson is an individual that served as a Presbyterian minister. He also, for many years, was a professor of biblical studies in languages at Morthlin College.

[00:01:52] Also had a radio program for a short period of time, Biblical Words and World. And is an individual that holds a master's degree from Gordon Conwell and a doctorate from Concordia Seminary. And Dr. Hobson, thank you for being with us today here on Point of View. Well, thank you for inviting me, Kirby. Excited to be here this afternoon. We're going to work our way through this. You don't have to know Greek and Hebrew. That's why we have you.

[00:02:17] But as I said, I've identified at least nine out of your 60 that I thought were interesting. And if we run out of those, there are many others. But let's start with the very first one. And that is Paul in Philippians 3.8. You know, he talks about his credentials and everything. But then he counts it all as sometimes we see it as garbage, as dung, as rubbish. And so what about that? Take us back to what that might have meant and the time in which Paul wrote that.

[00:02:47] Well, the first thing I'd like to say about skubalan, the word there, is that it is a proper word. It is not an obscene or unprintable word. I talk about those words in Chapter 4 of my book, as of course you know. Yes. It's the only book I know of that has a list of the words that Paul probably was thinking about. But, no, so this was a proper word, a kind of word that a doctor would use.

[00:03:16] But like the King James term dung, it did have a range of meaning, not just simply the contents of the large intestine, but also it could mean garbage, it could mean rubbish or the like, whatever. It was strong language for Paul to say that compared to Christ, everything else was dung, garbage, or whatever.

[00:03:42] But what I try and do in that short three pages is to dig deeper than I could find any other source, to be able to give the reader enough data as to how the word was used so that they could make up their own minds. And that's the philosophy of fun with biblical words. I try to give folks just enough inside information on these key biblical words so that they can decide for themselves what these words mean

[00:04:10] without being dependent on their translation. Let me just mention, too, that we have information about the book on our website, pointofview.net. You can get it in hardcover. I've got it in paperback. I found it to be fascinating and very helpful. And again, we also, of course, have a link to biblicalethic.org. We'll talk more about that in just a minute, some resources that you will find there. But I thought to start us off, that's a pretty simple one.

[00:04:36] But for the next couple of minutes, I thought I'd camp out in Genesis for a couple of reasons, because certainly in chapter six, you get us into a whole question about Elohim, Jehovah, and Pantheon, because there has always been this debate, and it's one that I run into now that we, of course, have published little booklets on Hinduism and Buddhism, and we talk about polytheism and the rest.

[00:05:04] There is, I think, some questions about what those names of God mean in Genesis. Can you help us out? Yeah. Well, I must say one thing. This particular chapter was written in response to our friends, the Latter-day Saints, the Mormons, because they claim that Elohim and Jehovah are two different deities.

[00:05:31] And in fact, then they'll also double back and say that Elohim, you know, since it's a plural noun, they say that this is simply a reference to the gods, i.e., the Pantheon. And my chapter is meant to prove that Elohim and Jehovah are the same god. There is only one true god.

[00:05:54] And that we can see the vast majority of the time when Elohim is meant to be translated as the sum total of deity and not as the gods, plural. And again, one of the things I appreciate is that you have so many references. So if somebody says, wait a minute, I want to read it for myself. I mean, you take us from Genesis 5 all the way to Psalm 86.

[00:06:16] You take a whole section here from Deuteronomy all the way down to 2 Kings and Isaiah and other passages. So we really have an opportunity in many cases to look at those verses and to check them out. And even if you don't have an understanding of Hebrew, because we're kind of focusing on Hebrew at the moment here, you still can get a pretty good understanding by just looking at the cross-references.

[00:06:42] And I think that's key because one of the things, Tom, that I think we might agree with is probably the best way to interpret the Bible is to use the Bible to interpret the Bible. And oftentimes we're lazy and we don't look up those cross-references. And oftentimes when somebody has a confusion about a particular passage, I say, well, if you look down on the bottom of your Bible there, there are probably some cross-references. Let's look at those, too.

[00:07:08] And maybe that will clear up some of your misconceptions or maybe your misunderstanding. And in some respects, that's what you're trying to do in each one of these chapters, isn't it? That's true, Kirby. I really try to – most words are used enough times in the Bible that you can just simply look at the other times that it's used and then just figure out if you know what the parameters are, which meaning fits the verse that you're in.

[00:07:38] Only a couple chapters like the one on Skubalan that I really have to go way outside of the Bible because it was used so few times. Okay, so we're going to take a break. When we come back, let me, if I can, maybe focus on Chapter 10 for the reason that that is sometimes used as an excuse, even a criticism of Christianity from people in the environmental movement because you have this idea of being able to subdue the creation, and that gave you a license to rate the resources.

[00:08:07] I want to come back and look at that. And then we'll get into some of those in the New Testament because when you hear that there was no room in the inn, what did that really mean in the birth of Jesus? What about the two individuals, one crucified on his left, one on his right? What was their crime? I think we can learn a little bit more about that by getting into some of these particular words. The moment we'll spend some time on Hebrew words, but soon we'll get into some of those Greek words.

[00:08:37] And I think you'll find out some of that is key to having a more accurate interpretation of God's Word. We'll take a break and come back with more right after this. This is Viewpoints with Kirby Anderson. Today is tax day, but I would suggest that a more important date is tax freedom day.

[00:09:06] That is the date when your tax burden is lifted. It is calculated by dividing the official government tally of all taxes collected in each year by the amount of all income earned in each year. Put another way, it's when you are no longer working for the government, but are now working for yourself and your family. This year, tax freedom day occurs on April 12th. And remember, this is an average. Citizens in states like Louisiana already have had their tax freedom day. Citizens in New York must wait until the middle of May for their tax freedom day.

[00:09:36] Some estimate that Americans will pay more in taxes than they will spend on food, clothing and housing combined. Another estimates we pay more in taxes than we spend on food, education and health care combined. There is one more date worth mentioning. It's called the cost of government day. This is the date in which the average American has paid his share of the financial burden imposed by the spending and regulation that occurs on the federal, state and local levels. This date occurs sometime in July.

[00:10:03] This date is a little less precise since it is difficult to calculate all the cost of government regulations. Even so, the cost of government day really puts things in perspective. It takes a little more than half of the year to finally get government off your back so that you can begin to earn a living for you and your family. Both dates help us realize what is happening around us. There is a cost, but often we don't see it. Our taxes are withheld from each paycheck, so we often don't think about what we're paying.

[00:10:29] And since the cost of most regulations is hidden, we don't see those costs either. Imagine if we had to pay all our taxes in one lump sum. You can bet there would be an outcry from taxpayers that year. I'm Kirby Anderson, and that's my point of view. For a free booklet on biblical reliability, go to viewpoints.info slash biblical reliability. Viewpoints.info slash biblical reliability.

[00:10:58] You're listening to Point of View, your listener-supported source for truth. Back once again, privileged to have with us today Dr. Tom Hobson, and he is the author of the book Fun with Biblical Words. More than 60 Greek and Hebrew words to revolutionize your study of God's Word. And Tom, for just a minute, I wanted to focus on Genesis 1 and 2 because this has become a big issue.

[00:11:22] And back in the 1960s, there was a professor at UCLA, Lynn White, who wrote an article in Science in which he argued that the reason we have pollution and the reason we have environmental degradation is due to the Christians.

[00:11:37] And that Christians have misinterpreted or actually implied that we actually have within the Bible, Genesis 1.28, this idea of subdue the earth, although you could also come to the word dominion. We'll get to that in just a minute. That that essentially gave everyone within the Western world, from a Judeo-Christian point of view, a license to rate the resources.

[00:12:04] First of all, I say that's not an accurate rendition at all, as we'll talk about in just a minute. But it was used as an excuse against Christians getting involved in the environmental movement, which lasted for many years. It was one of the particular articles that appeared in the environmental handbook when Earth Day developed in 1970.

[00:12:24] And so there's always been this criticism from those people in the environmental movement that you Christians are actually the reason we have pollution and problems in the environment because of something written in Genesis 1.28. Can you help us out? Well, I would agree with you, Kirby, that the author you were citing, the voice you were citing, is definitely a distortion.

[00:12:52] You know, speaking for myself, as I say, because I am a conservative, I want to conserve God's masterpiece. And so as I read the verses about having dominion and ruling over the creation, I take them in a different spirit than what was put upon us there.

[00:13:17] As I said in the book, we are not to let nature tyrannize us. We must exercise faithful management of the creation for the good of humankind. You know, God doesn't give us a license to squash whatever threatens our comfort or convenience. But it does teach us that we must subdue threats to human life because we care for those who are created in God's image.

[00:13:41] I just mentioned, too, that we do have a booklet that gets into, you know, what does it mean to actually be a steward of creation? I know you wrote about conserving God's masterpiece. And so that is, I think, one of those issues. And the sad reality is, is that very quickly when the environmental movement kind of got taken over by kind of a new age pantheistic worldview, a lot of Christians tended to stay away. But at the very beginning, there was a criticism. Well, you Christians are the problem.

[00:14:11] And I just think one of the particular chapters you have there, I think, is very helpful just in terms of some of the political issues we deal with. Let me jump ahead because we talked about no room in the inn. That's chapter 15th. And it wasn't until a couple of years ago, Tom, that I had some people talk about what that meant. And when we see inn, we think of, you know, the days in or something like that.

[00:14:37] But we're really talking about something that was more like a guest room. Can you help us out with that? Definitely. Thankfully, the word is used three times. You know, you have the in Luke chapter two where Jesus is born. There is no room for him in the kataluma.

[00:15:00] But that word is used for where Jesus, on the night that he holds the Last Supper, he books the same kind of place to eat the Last Supper. Guest room does seem to be the best way to translate that term. We want inn. There's another word, pandokeon.

[00:15:21] And as I get to describing in that brief chapter, the pandokeon type of place to stay was so bad. You know, the barn starts to look better and better the more we read about how things were in those. So, yes, our Lord had a manger for a crib. At least he wasn't born in a pandokeon. That would have been the bottom of the barrel. Something else to point out, and let's just do a little bit of biblical education.

[00:15:49] You have the Old Testament, but then was translated into the Greek, which is called the Septuagint. And that same word shows up, if I'm correct, in the book of Exodus, because it says that's where God meets Moses, I guess as you would call it in that case, a lodging place. So that very same word that you see in the New Testament Greek, you also see it in the Septuagint, which was, of course, a translation from the Hebrew into the Greek.

[00:16:17] And, again, you're not talking about God meeting Moses in a barn or a stable necessarily. You're talking about, I guess the best translation, there's a lodging place, right? Yeah, like a campground or the like. Well, so, again, these are some very insightful words that might be helpful. And, again, I will certainly say that as Christmastime, if you want to put out the nativity scene and you want to put the cattle out there and the hay and everything else,

[00:16:46] no doubt that they were around some of those animals. But this idea is a little different than this idea of there being a public inn. And in some respects, that comes out later on, doesn't it? Because we really didn't have Motel 6 back in the first century, did we? Well, we had these.

[00:17:09] We had something like it, but they were the place of absolutely last resort to stay. And, yeah, the description I've made in the book there kind of helps say, you know, thank goodness he wasn't born in one of those. Yes, for sure. Well, let me move on because, again, I know there's 60, but we won't try to cover all of them. But one that I found kind of intriguing is this.

[00:17:35] In Chapter 21, you talk about the word desire in English, the word lust in English, and the word covenant, and it's all the same word. And in some respects, that's where, again, you have to recognize that we're blessed in Greek, that we have multiple words for different kinds of love. But in some cases, we have the same Greek noun and verb for all those kind of particular feelings. Can you explain that for us?

[00:18:06] Yeah. Well, that's one reason why particularly my book was aiming at giving the options in a case like this to the readers so that they know all the options, to realize that when the word, like especially the King James will say lust, and where we'll find out really it was more of a neutral desire being talked about.

[00:18:31] And to realize that the word, like in Romans 7, Paul didn't know what it meant to lust. If the law hadn't said, thou shalt not lust. Well, okay, it's the word covet there. So basically, but to realize that there are good desires. Like say, it's the same word being used where Jesus says,

[00:18:58] I earnestly desire to eat this Passover with you at the Last Supper. That obviously wasn't lust. That was a good desire. And, you know, so you have the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes in 1 John. One of the lusts of the flesh would be for pleasure. The lust of the eyes would be the desire for things. And, again, there's not necessarily bad desires, but it's, you know, like even the desire,

[00:19:25] God wants us to channel our desires for a spouse to one person. But it's not a bad desire, only when it's pursued in a bad way. Well said. We're going to take a break, but I might just mention, for those of you that do support Point of View, we send out various booklets each month, and the booklet that will be coming out in the future, it's just been written but hasn't even been printed yet, on Buddhism.

[00:19:49] If you think about this, one of the arguments that is made by the Buddha is that you should get rid of all desire. Now, is that a biblical term? No, because, actually, Jesus says, even in the Sermon on the Mount, the things that we should desire. So, again, this difference between a good desire and a bad desire. Desire itself is not the problem, which is, of course, the argument which is made in Buddhism.

[00:20:15] It is whether that desire is a godly desire, a genuinely honorable desire, or whether it's a negative one. It's just one of the chapters in the book that I think you will find very interesting, because you will learn that sometimes, in our English, we use different words, but in the Greek, it's the same. And I thought when we come back, let's get into the one that certainly a lot of people wonder about,

[00:20:43] because we're told in Matthew 27 that Jesus was crucified between two thieves. Let's go back and talk about what that particular word meant at the time. I think you'll learn a little bit more about that. Then we'll get into some many other issues that I think will be helpful to you as well. Some of those are just kind of interesting and give you a little more insight into the Scriptures. Others maybe cause you to think a little bit more about how you would apply that particular verse to your Christian life.

[00:21:13] And so it's all part of this book, Fund with Biblical Words. It is written by Dr. Tom Hobson, and we will continue our conversation with him right after this. It was not that long ago that censorship appeared to be almost inevitable. Free speech was being attacked and strangled in many places.

[00:21:41] And some of us wondered if this was the end. But now, many feel a new sense of hope, a chance for a fresh dawn. Let me caution you. Now is not the time to relax. It's a time to press forward, to use this fresh opportunity to proclaim and learn how to apply truth to current issues.

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[00:23:02] The opinions expressed on Point of View do not necessarily reflect the views of the management or staff of this station. And now, here again, is Kirby Anderson. Back once again with Tom Hobson as we talk about his book, Fun with Biblical Words. This particular chapter is, I think, one that is very helpful because, again, we have to look at the words that were used.

[00:23:26] Now, if you pull out your Bible right now, you'll see that in Matthew 27, verse 38, it tells us that Jesus was crucified between two thieves. And you even sometimes have, in John 18, the idea that Barabbas was a thief or a robber. That's how we render it in English.

[00:23:45] But, Tom, I thought it would be good to get into what the particular word is and also to recognize that it's quite possible that Barabbas was part of that group. In other words, there were maybe three that were going to be crucified. And instead, they put Jesus in the place of Barabbas.

[00:24:06] If you go back to John 18 and Luke 23, it talks about Barabbas being held for insurrection and murder. So, in some respects, it appears that we're talking about these two individuals crucified, one on the left and one on the right of Jesus, were more than just thieves. Is that fair? That is more than fair. That is the way it is.

[00:24:32] And so, it makes me cringe when I hear all the lessons drawn from Jesus being crucified between two thieves and, you know, Jesus is the one who stole everyone's hearts away, et cetera, et cetera. No, no, no. As our daughter says, I like this when she was learning about the three Greek terms for thief. They are, as I mentioned in the book, sneaky, grabby, and stabby.

[00:25:01] You know, sneaky being the clepteys, the burglar, the grabby being harpax, the armed robber or mugger. Then, basically, the leisties is the one that Jesus was crucified between two leisties. These are violent revolutionaries. And so, yeah, obviously, what's his name?

[00:25:27] Barabbas fits the picture entirely. You know, we accept what John tells us, that he was one of these leisties. And so, it's very believable that he could be the third one who was going to be crucified and that Jesus dies in his place, which, you know, again, helps us realize, you know, Jesus was crucified between the lowest of the low.

[00:25:52] And we have to stress, once again, folks, there was neither the Jews nor the Romans executed anyone for theft. Right. That's why this makes much more sense that, you know, terrorists would be a good way to translate the word. And, again, that, I think, gives a new meaning to, of course, what we call Good Friday or the crucifixion, whatever you want to say, because it's bad enough to be crucified between two thieves.

[00:26:21] It's even worse to recognize you're being crucified next to two very dangerous, violent men who were trying to bring about, if you will, an insurrection of the Roman Empire. And so, again, kleptus kind of reminds us of kleptomaniac. Well, that's very different than listies, which is very different.

[00:26:44] And, again, we recognize sometimes Rome would sometimes crucify people for very frivolous reasons. But it doesn't sort of fit the kind of just the straight face test to say that, indeed, those individuals were crucified for stealing something. And I think we have to remind ourselves as we get closer to, of course, any time we talk about the crucifixion.

[00:27:13] We sort of modernized it. But one of the things I appreciate that you point out is both in Gnosticism, a heresy of Christianity, and in Islam, and you see this in my booklet on Islam, they try as hard as they can to, if you will, as you say, wiggle out of the scandal of claiming that God allowed Jesus to die on one of the most horrific ways in which a person could be put to death.

[00:27:40] And so, in some respects, you can see why this was, if anything, just one greater judgment. It's bad enough, as I said, to be crucified in the presence of two thieves, but you're really being crucified, really, between two violent, dangerous men, one of whom actually turns to Jesus, and as far as we can determine from what he says, repents,

[00:28:06] which, of course, gets us into the next chapter that I wanted to talk about, because I thought it would be helpful to maybe tie those two together. Chapter 32 talks about this idea of repentance, and, of course, we can go back to the other one, but sometimes we hear about God changing his mind, and does that mean repent? So, we've really got a few things to dig through here. First of all, what does repent mean? What is repentance?

[00:28:34] And then how do we deal with some of those passages that seem to suggest that God was changing his mind, or that, in one way or another, God was sorry to have made the human race? There's quite a bit to dig out. Can you help us there? Oh, yeah. Well, Kirby, we got the Greek term for repentance simply means a total change of mind, a flip-flop, a 180-degree turn.

[00:29:06] Let's put that to the side. In the Old Testament, you have a word, nikam, which both means to be sorry and also to change one's mind and or repent in the Greek sense. The problem is that you have verses, like even in 1 Samuel, almost within the same breath,

[00:29:31] you have it being said that God was sorry that he had made Saul king, and then you have Samuel, just a few verses onward, saying that God does not change his mind. Yes. Well, it's the same word, but two different meanings. I see. Basically, you have God was sorry. It grieved him, and yet he did this.

[00:30:00] It's kind of like if you believe that God is pulling a whole lot of the strings out there, then it's almost as if God puts Saul out there as plan A. Even though it grieves his soul, they have to sit through plan A to where it doesn't work out, and everyone sees that it doesn't work out.

[00:30:22] And then God brings in plan B, which is to bring in David to be Saul's replacement. So to me, that's how the two work in harmony. Now, come back to me on what more can we talk about on repent? Well, a couple things. First of all, did God change his mind? I think you helped there, but let's look at the broader than just the words.

[00:30:51] Did the law of Moses, and then you have Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, say that he came to fulfill the law. So a lot of people have trouble figuring out, how do I put the law of Moses, the Pentateuch, within the New Testament? And it seems to me that that's, again, one of those questions. I know it's a little bit of an intermural question for some people in various denominations,

[00:31:17] but I think you can get a pretty good idea as well about this idea of repent or change your mind, even when we begin to look at that in the broader context, can't we? Well, yes. Basically, God, there are some principles in God's law that are timeless and universal. God does not change his mind about them. There are other principles. There are other laws which are just for Israel.

[00:31:46] That's what I wrote my first book about, What's on God's Sin List for Today. How can we discern the difference between laws that are intended to be timeless and universal in which God does not change his mind versus the ones that were not intended to be for all time and for all people? Well, and again, some of that is whether you have continuity or discontinuity. In the Old Testament, you had, of course, the kosher food laws, and those applied to Jewish people.

[00:32:15] When we've taken people to Israel, they recognized how different some of that was when they looked at the buffet that might have been there during especially the Sabbath. And so those laws, which were specifically for the Old Testament theocracy, do not continue on into the New Testament. There's discontinuity in that regard.

[00:32:39] And so you can see that in everything from the book of Mark as well as, of course, even the revelation to Peter in Caesarea Maritima and all of that. But at the other extreme, you have was murder wrong in the Old Testament? Is murder wrong in the New Testament? Is stealing wrong in the Old Testament? Stealing wrong in the New Testament? There's continuity there in the moral issues.

[00:33:05] And again, that gets back to your book, What's on God's Sin List for Today? Sometimes we can have a little bit of difficulty sorting that out, but I think that's pretty simple. And again, if you find yourself saying, okay, I need to read that. That's why I would recommend this book. This particular chapter goes on for quite a number of pages because it is very relevant to try to apply all of those principles. But if you've ever struggled with, well, does God really change his mind? And how does that relate to repentance? One of the chapters in the book, Fun with Biblical Words.

[00:33:35] We'll come back and pick out just a few others right after these important messages. You're listening to Point of View, your listener-supported source for truth. Back for a few more minutes, talking again about the book, Fun with Biblical Words.

[00:34:05] Dr. Tom Hobson with us. We also have a link to his website. We'll talk more about that in just a minute. BiblicalEthic.org. But, Tom, I thought we might talk about this idea of koinonia. And then we just had to spend some time in your chapter on words almost never heard in the Bible. But, first of all, this idea of fellowship, koinonia, is that socializing? What does it involve? Of course, we get into that sometimes when we talk about an economic koinonia. What about capitalism, socialism, and all the rest?

[00:34:35] But, again, this word koinonia had some very specific meanings, and I think it would be helpful for us to dig into that for a few minutes. Basically, I wanted to find out more about it myself. So, as I did some digging, I saw really what this word has as the theme throughout all the various uses of it is what we share, what we hold in common.

[00:35:04] And so that's where we get all the meanings, whether it be social sharing, sharing of our burdens and things of that nature. We think of fellowship, meaning Christian companionship. But then it also refers to the willingness to share our resources.

[00:35:28] And it even goes into, as I mentioned, there is some of the related words related to koinonia refer to common or even unclean, which is kind of strange going back to what was it they even Paul agreed with Jesus in Mark 7 versus Romans 14,

[00:35:53] that nothing is common or unclean, meaning food in itself, but it's inside the kosher food laws and the like. Yeah, what interests you on koinonia? Well, again, you have one of these phrases here about, I'm thinking of Philippians 3, that we share in the fellowship of Christ's sufferings. You know, if you think of fellowship as like socializing or something like that, that doesn't fit.

[00:36:21] But what we have in common, I think what that would mean there is that we do, how Paul certainly shared in the suffering of Jesus because he was nearly stoned to death and he was involved in all sorts of persecution. We have, of course, the New Testament disciples who became martyrs. So in some respects, when we talk about the fellowship of Christ's suffering,

[00:36:49] that makes a little bit more sense because it's talking about what we have in common, just as Christ suffered so many disciples and even believers today suffer as well. Does that make sense? Yeah, well, Paul says in Philippians 3.10, he means he wants to share, actually share in what Jesus suffered on behalf of us all. And I suppose he was already doing so and hadn't really put two and two together. Yeah.

[00:37:17] And again, also the idea that you have in 2 Peter where partakers and shares of the divine nature, there's a sense in which that comes up as well. So I just thought it was an interesting passage. And again, I would encourage people if they're interested to read that. But I thought we might spend just a little bit of time in one of your last chapters, words almost never heard in the Bible. And if I can quote from, I'm doing this for the benefit of the people on the other side of the glass,

[00:37:45] Simon and Garfunkel, I hear words I never heard in the Bible. And if nothing else, there are, as you point out, some words that we use today that aren't in the Bible or are rarely heard in the Bible. Can you kind of maybe discover some of those? It's funny. Even the word fun is kind of, well, you have to look really hard for it.

[00:38:08] You find it perhaps going back to a previous chapter where I talked about laughing play and beyond child's play. If you're going to find fun, you'd find it in a passage like there where the wise person understands, you know, what fun is all about. But, yeah, you have words like depression, which are really hard to find.

[00:38:36] It's there, but you have to hunt for it. Tolerance is pretty rare. I have the examples there. What is it? For fun, yeah, Proverbs 10.23, doing wickedness, a word that normally means sex crime in Hebrew, is sport to a fuel, but wisdom is sport to a person of understanding.

[00:39:06] So there we have that. We have enjoyment. First Timothy 6.17, it's a one-time use of that word. God actually does give us some wealth for personal enjoyment as long as it doesn't become an addiction or an idolatrous priority. Then you have hedone, from which we get hedonism. That's there, but you really have to hunt for it. You can't find the classic Greek word for happiness, el daimonia.

[00:39:36] But Jesus does teach us what it means to be blessed, which is a different tip on it. What I mentioned is retirement. You said Billy Graham insists it's not in the Bible. He said, well, it's in my Bible because it tells us seven times in Numbers 4 that the priests were forced to retire at age 50. But I know what he was getting at, that we're involved in ministry. And even though technically you're retired, I think you're still doing ministry as well,

[00:40:01] which is why I wanted to maybe end by having people go to your website. We have that linked up there. It's called biblicalethic.com. First of all, they can find out about this book, also the previous one that we talked about, What's on God's Sin List for today. But there's a blog. They're the radio archives. And frankly, if some people are digging through God's word and they say, well, I'm wondering about that.

[00:40:27] Maybe you could be helpful or maybe you'd like to have a back and forth or maybe even suggest other words that could be in a future book. That is at the website. But talk about what's available there because if people would like to interact with you or have you come and speak or something of that nature, they can go to biblicalethic.org, right? Correct. Yeah, biblicalethic.org.

[00:40:49] You would have information on all three of my books there as well as to particular articles like that article that became Chapter 18 in my book on my evidence for how Jesus actually did use one term for homosexual behavior in Mark 7.22.

[00:41:14] Well, if you get the book, you already will have the layperson's version in your hand, or you can click on the link on the front of the website, or you can go to the scholar's version if you like. And, yeah, links to 109 blog posts that I had when I blogged for patayos.com and several other articles you might find of interest.

[00:41:43] And, again, you mentioned that one in Chapter 18, which we've talked about before, but I might just mention real quickly that you oftentimes hear people say, Jesus never spoke on homosexual behavior. I think you can kind of make the case that he did, and your chapter there is very helpful. So, if nothing else, it illustrates that if you're really going to understand God's Word, you can really begin to plumb the depths. And this is a book that might help you understand a little bit more about some of those biblical words.

[00:42:12] And once you get past maybe the English translation into the Hebrew or Greek, you can learn some things and find that in context. So, Dr. Tom Hobson, first of all, thank you for writing the book, and thank you for giving us an hour today to dig more deeply into some of those key biblical words so we can understand God's Word in a more effective way. Well, thank you for inviting me, Kirby. This has been a wonderful time. Again, yes, that's BiblicalEpic.org.

[00:42:40] And find out more about the books and various other resources that we didn't have time for today. Well, again, we only talked about 9 out of 60, so you can see there's a lot more that you can cover very easily if you get the book. We do have information about the book. You can get in paperback or hardcover, as well as, of course, a link to his website, which I would highly recommend, BiblicalEpic.org. And you've been listening to Point of View.

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