John MacArthur's Questions and Answers

*Subject*	*Questions*
Races [01]	All of us started with Adam and we are all descendants of Adam, and yet there are many different races around the world. My question has to do with the origin of different races and also language. I think language was at the Tower of Babel, that God dispersed into different languages. Did everybody speak the same language up to that time? And is that true with races also?
Races [02]	If Adam and Eve were the first two people, how did we get so many races?
Rapture [01]	Knowing that all children belong to God--during the Rapture, what's going to happen to all the children?
Rapture [02]	I’ve always found the teaching of Harold Camping to be confusing. And, I was wondering, where does he go wrong, and especially with the Rapture?
Rapture [03]	I understand all of the Old Testament feasts have had a New Testament fulfillment, except for the Feast of Trumpets. Aside from the caution against date setting, could that be the Rapture?
Rapture [04]	Is the rapture before or after the seven-year tribulation?
Rapture [05]	Is there a time, before the rapture when the spirit ceases to deal with a man?
Rapture [06]	Will there be an opportunity for salvation after the rapture?
Rapture [07]	Will babies be raptured? In the rapture what happens to babies?
Rapture [08]	What happens to children during and after the rapture?
Rapture [09]	Why raise the dead at the Rapture if they are already with the Lord?
Rapture [10]	In Luke 21:34-36, the Lord is saying “Take heed to yourselves, lest at anytime your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, drunkenness, cares of this life and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.” Now two questions, is this referring to the translation of the church, and if so does this speak of a partial rapture? Because what I don’t understand, is if it’s speaking of Christians, why would we have to pray that we be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come on the earth when we are in Christ and we’re worthy in Him?
Rapture [11]	Does 2 Thessalonians 1 and 2 prove a pre-tribulation rapture?
Rapture [12]	In 2 Thessalonians 2 Paul is speaking to the believers, is he not? If he’s talking to the believers and he says “...and the lawless man will be revealed,” this is in verse 2:8 “...and then the lawless man will be revealed whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of His mouth and destroy by the splendor of His coming.” And Christ Himself in His own Olivet discourse...now this is His coming...speaks in Matthew 24, "...that at that time...," this is verse 30, “At that time the Son of Man will appear in the sky and all of the nations of the earth will mourn, they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a loud trumpet call and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.” And I believe in Mark it says the heavens and the earth, so what I’m trying to figure out is: he says at the end of the tribulation (King James says after this tribulation). How do they get Christ’s own Second Coming like as if he goofed it up? I mean a lot of things spoken of the rapture seem to be maybe well a lot of supposition where as this is absolute scripture. May I ask that?
Rapture [13]	Do you have any thoughts as to how the Rapture will be explained after we’re gone?
Rapture [14]	I was just wondering, in regards to your series, “The Anatomy of the Church.” Just from your own personal gut feeling, just how much time do you really think that we have before we are called home?
Rapture [15]	I want to know if the world is going to know when Jesus returns for the saints, if the world’s going to see this, and if there’s a scripture saying they will or won’t?
Reformed Theology	As a Jewish believer I would like to know, according to the reformed view of scripture, the nation Israel is no longer important in this New Testament age. Now my question is, exactly what is Reformed theology? How do they base their position biblically? And where in the Bible does it support that God is through with the nation Israel?
Regeneration [01]	Is there any difference between the Reformers and the Puritans views on Regeneration?
Regeneration [02] 1/14/06	It speaks in Romans 6:6, “The believer does not have two competing natures, the old and the new, but one new nature that is still incarcerated in unredeemed flesh.” And over in 1 John 3:4, there’s a note there that says, “Although genuine Christians have a sin nature...” My question is, does the old man indeed die at Regeneration or does every blood-bought, delivered one, are they a spiritual schizophrenic?
Reincarnation	How did reincarnation get mixed in with the scriptural teachings of the Old Testament and all the other writings that have been around like the Kabala, and the Talmud, and all this other extra-scriptural writing Do they contain references to reincarnation?
Religion	We hear in our church, and I hear it from you, where we tie Christianity as a religion. And as far as I am concerned Christianity was created by Christ, where religion is created by Satan. And I hear ministers tie them both together and we get the idea that Christianity is a religion, where Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” And I look at Christianity as a way of life--Not a religion.
Remarriage [01]	I was browsing in the bookstore and found a book called Jesus and Divorce by Gordon Wenham and William Heth. It’s very new and they make what appears to me to be--I can’t say I really like this--but it seems that they’re really canvassed all the material on the previous books that have been written and have done some hard exegetical work, and their conclusion is that remarriage is just plain not permitted in any case. And, I’m wondering if anybody here is sort of looking over that material, and if any conclusions are being drawn?
Remarriage [02]	My question has to do with Deuteronomy 24:1-4, which speaks of divorce, and if I may paraphrase that. It says there that, "If a man divorces his wife and if that wife remarries, and then, subsequently is divorced from the second husband or is widowed that the first husband cannot take her back as his wife." Does that law still apply to this day and age?
Repentance [01]	What happens to a person when he or she believes on Jesus but doesn't repent and doesn't ever turn from sin?
Repentance [02]	What is repentance and how does it relate to salvation?
Restitution	Does the Bible teach that restitution is necessary? For example, does money need to be repaid that has been taken dishonestly? I know Zacchaeus told Jesus he would repay four times (and that’s Luke 19, you'll recall), but Zacchaeus was not commanded to do so. Does Jesus expect this of us or is asking forgiveness of God enough in God’s sight?
Resurrection [01]	In Daniel 12:2 and in Revelation 20:4-5 we have descriptions of how many who are asleep will hear the voice of our Lord and be raised from the grave to an immortal body. How do these statements harmonize with the statement of our Lord on the cross in Luke 23:43 when He says, "Truly, I will say to you, 'Today you shall be with Me in paradise.'" And also, with the parable in Luke 16, where the rich man and the poor man both died and one found himself in the bosom of Abraham, and the other one was buried and found himself in Hades in torment. Through the latter two statements one would be led to believe that you are risen immediately, whereas, in Daniel 12:2 and Revelation 20 we see "asleep" and then being risen for the first resurrection when our Lord calls?
Resurrection [02]	Can you discuss Matthew 27:52, when Jesus died and all the people came out of the graves?
Resurrection [03]	My question is in regard to Matthew 27:52 and 53. It’s actually a two-part question. First question is the resurrection referred to as all the Old Testament saints or just part of them? The context would seem to indicate just part of them.
Resurrection [04]	How do we know that Jesus arose from the dead? What is the evidence?
Revenge	In Matthew 5:39, Are the commandments given here applicable in this age, or only for the kingdom age?
Revival	What about all the revivals that we are reading about in the newspapers?
Rewards	The Bible teaches that as a Christian, when we die we receive different degrees of rewards in heaven. And, I’d like to know if you could expound on those different degrees, but also, if there are different degrees of suffering in Hell?
Righteousness [01]	Between Ephesians 2:8-9, and between those verses and verse10, something happens after salvation, and it’s denoted by the word “created.” “God creates us unto good works.” And in Ephesians 4:24 we are told to “put on the new man created in holiness and righteousness.” So, God creates righteousness in man, so couldn’t we say, that at times, when we’re walking in the Spirit, and not fulfilling the lust of the flesh, the Christian becomes innately righteous, not just inputted righteousness?
Righteousness [02] 1/15/06	I have a question on something that R. C. Sproul had mentioned last night. My understanding of the righteousness that was imputed to us from the cross was because of Christ’s lack of sin, that because He had no sin, He was righteous. R. C. Sproul had mentioned that the imputed righteousness was not because of Christ’s lack of sin, but it was because of his presence of the good works or the right works that was in his life. So, this is the first time I’ve heard of this. So, I was wondering if you could speak on that, and, to kind of go along with that, somebody had mentioned to me the concept of a works covenant that, I think, came from a complete reformed theology, and, again, I wasn’t very familiar with this.
Roman Catholicism [01]	I’d like to know how to respond to a Catholic who, when asked why they’re going to heaven, whether it’s their relationship or because of religion or good works, they say because of their relationship with Jesus Christ, yet they choose to participate in the sacraments. I’d like to know how to respond to that--if they’re in sin and what should I say?
Roman Catholicism [02]	Will people who accept Christ but remain Catholic be saved?
Roman Catholicism [03]	Where does the worship of Mary come from?
Roman Catholicism [04]	I’ve been passing out the tapes that you’ve preached on in Revelation...prostitution, religion, in the last days to a lot of Catholics and I recently passed one out to this Catholic, and this is what she wrote to me: She says, about the tape, we have been Catholics all of our lives and don’t intend to change now. We are content believing in our faith and have no desire to search elsewhere. What do I do?
Roman Catholicism [05]	The Roman Catholic Church claims the direct line of Popes beginning with Peter. Since many of the names are of men in the early church, how can they label them as Pope and also there might be some material available for us to research this?
Roman Catholicism [06]	In the Catholic Bible, there are several books between the Old and New Testament. And I’m wondering how Christian theological circles look on it and how do you feel about it?
Roman Catholicism [07]	I’d like to comment on your tape, I believe it’s “Prostitute in the Last Days.”Am I correct? It’s the apostates; you spoke about certain religions. But I have a question that I can’t answer being that I was raised a Catholic and my family are Catholic. You spoke that they [Catholics] "so call" themselves Christians. Do I take the position that you believe that they are not Christians?
Roman Catholicism [08]	My parents are Catholics and they’re always talking about the fact that they sort of balance salvation on a justice scale and if you have more good works than bad works then you will go to Heaven and if they’re sort of like even, then you go to purgatory for a while. I don’t have the verses in scripture but I was wondering if you had scripture, I know they use certain scripture for that?
Roman Catholicism [09]	Say you have older relatives that were illiterate and were raised in a church where they didn’t really encourage people to read the Bible, its just what they said--the gospel that they may read for about 15 minutes, and if they were illiterate and just followed the teachings of the church they went to, is it possible for them to be saved? Well, if they believe that being baptized as a baby, and making their first communion and going to confession, and receiving communion is receiving Christ and they believe this, but they were illiterate and they lived out away from a large town or something?
Roman Catholicism [10]	[Note: This question was asked in the context that the Pope had just been shot earlier in the day (year 1981)] Many of the Catholic priests were saying, all day long, "We have to keep communicating the Gospel of Love, and I was just wondering what they mean by that, is that the same gospel as ours or a different gospel? And if it is different, in what way?
Roman Catholicism [11]	My brother and his wife are both Christians, and they went to Biola University [Christian college], and my brother taught at Biola. In the last three years, he started teaching at a Catholic high school, and he feels that I’m really narrow-minded about Catholics. And, in particular, he feels that many of the priests that he knows at this high school actually have salvation. My question is, can a Catholic priest actually be saved and remain a Catholic Priest?
Roman Catholicism [12] 1/14/06	If we define the word “Catholic” to mean “all those who agree with and live according to the official writings and teachings of the Roman Catholic Church,” would you agree with the following statement: “All Catholics go to hell”?

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