Mark and Rex follow up on their conversation with theologian Kelly Kapic by discussing the shocking truth that God not only loves us but God really likes us as well. TRANSCRIPT 0:01 Welcome to Jessup Think. I'm your host Mark Moore and your co-host Rex Gurney. And Rex show today. We're actually just you and me, issue me now special guests. And we're going to do a follow up actually to one of our most recent podcasts we had with Kelly Capek. 0:17 Yeah, so just you and me, that's actually the title to a Chicago song before they jump the shark. And they definitely did jump the shark. And I'm old enough to know when that 0:27 happened. That's true. suggest you and me looking at it was from his book, you're only human and he had a chapter on? Does God like you? Right? Or does God love you? But he talks about that. So on the show, we're gonna we're gonna look at that question. Does God like you? 0:45 Yeah. Or does? You know, God liked me, actually. And there's all kinds of ways we can go with this. And I think it's a really, it's it's not just an interesting question. It's an important question. 0:56 It is. So hope you enjoy the show. Well, it is an important, you know, an important question, Rex. And, and there's a lot to it, right? This idea of, does God, I think we can start at the beginning, right? Does God love me? And then that maybe spills us into this god like me, 1:23 and the connection between words that we use, like, like, and love and what that even means when we're talking theologically. I actually was thinking about that when I was just thinking about the end of the topic today. Can we even use these words in describing God? I know we can use love. Right? That's Biblical. But yeah, like is that even? You know, is that even something that that we can talk about? I think it is, actually. Yeah. And I think it's important that it is but you know, I was wondering how you got into a category problem here. 2:00 Right? Yeah. Because it's. And I think, because when we use those terms, we think of them in human terms. Right, right. human sense. And we value 2:11 them like love is like better than like, right, in some way for some reason. And there's kind of a disconnect with that. Right? 2:19 Which is really interesting. Because it is right? Like if someone was significant other you say I love you do them. And they say I like you too, we'd be like, alright, but this is kind of the opposite. Right? God has said he loves us. And now we're asking, yeah, but does he really like us? 2:39 So I was actually reading an article by a very popular Christian author who remain nameless. And he was finding I liked the ministry. He was he was responding exactly to that. That question somebody had, I guess he has, like, you know, asked the experts sort of column. Yeah. And somebody was asking about, you know, does God like us? And basically, this author came down on the side of, well, it depends. So before the fall, God liked us. But after the fall, God doesn't like us. But then, because of His love, He sent His Son Jesus Christ. So I guess if we, you know, accept Christ as our Savior, then he likes us again. But he still doesn't like other people. He got really, really interesting. Yeah. And so I guess at the end of the article, it was like, well, well, yes. And no, and it sort of depends on, you know, your theological position, which is interesting. 3:36 That is that is because it's, it seems to make this separation, right. I mean, in there is a separation and how we experience ourselves as humans right? Pre fall, right. 3:47 And I understood, I mean, knowing his theological position, you know, God hates sin. And so if we're fallen than, you know, we're fallen creatures. So if you hate sin, and we're sinful, then I guess, you know, you've got a problem with God liking you. 4:01 Yeah. But that also, I think conflates your personal identity, right with sin. Ri