The Bible w/ Mom

Welcome my charismatic congregation! This is Reverend Alonso and we are gathered here today to take a gander at The Good Book, The Word of the Lord, The Gospel, the sacred Scriptures. Call it what you will, my cheerful churchgoers. I can feel your faith as it flows through every inch of your being, brothers and sisters. Praise God! Can I get a HALLELUJAH? Can I get an AMEN? Knock it off, Alberto. That's blasphemous. Oooops! My bad, mom. Join us as we find out all about the bible on this week’s episode of FYI! 

Transcript

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welcome my charismatic congregation this is Reverend Alonzo and we are gathered here today to take a gander at the good book the word of the Lord the gospel the Sacred Scriptures call it what you will my cheerful churchgoers I can feel your Faith as it flows through every inch of your being brothers and sisters can I get a hallelujah praise God can I get an amen knock it off Alberto that's blasphemous oops my bad mom join us as we find out all about the Bible on this week's episode of FY I welcome to for your info English you got it you got it hello hello hello and welcome to this another exciting edition of FYI and today is a very special show extremely special it doesn't get more special than this folks we've got an amazing guest with me from the other side of the pond please welcome the one and only only my mom Linda Alonso what's up Mom hi Alberto welcome I I should say welcome back thank you so much it's great to be here well I've got to say I got to pass on the feedback that I get and every time you've been on it whether we were talking about family or mental health right mhm it was I mean it was a hit you knocked it out of the park so congratulations thank you and there's no doubt in my mind that you're going to do the same thing again today why because I know you and I know that this is something you're passionate about that's correct first I guess let's start where we always start I mean you're my mom I know a lot about you but let's say I didn't know you which maybe some of our listeners in Argentina or even in Spain don't know you tell us a little bit about yourself well I'm um Alberto's mom and also Mom to my daughter Natalya shout out to Natalya what up although I'm a senior citizen I still work uh I work for a hospital and I work with people who have mental illness and addiction as um as a counselor with them so I enjoy my job and um would like to keep working as long as I can so that that's where most of my days are going to work and then free time being with family and friends yeah well that's what I was I said forget the work stuff who no when okay you're a social worker you help people like think it's very honorable but what do you like to do I mean I know this again what do you what kind of person are you what do you do in your spare time you just started getting into that so well in in my spare time I don't live too far away from Manhattan and I enjoy going to Broadway shows so I've seen a number of Broadway shows um most of them I like some of them I'm why did they ever make that into a show so I Eno enjoy doing that I enjoy um so we could say you're a theater goer yes I am yes mhm you are a theatergoer which is interesting cuz we can link that with today's show a churchgoer is somebody who goes to church a festival goer is obviously somebody who goes to a festival there you go see English isn't that difficult not at all and so you're a show goer a Broadway goer but you're also a church goer you go to church every Sunday tell us a little bit about your faith I know you have a relationship with God you're what is called a born- again Christian yes a number of years ago over 40 years ago Alberta was a baby I really had the realization that I couldn't save myself uh nothing I could do would make me acceptable to God and I came to the realization that only by trusting in Jesus Christ who is the Son of God in my belief that um my sins could be forgiven so I made that Declaration of Faith many many years ago and um at that time was going to a small small Church in my town and was very active in those days as a Sunday school teacher all the activities and really have been um the people in my current church I consider part of my church family I have my biological family like Alberto and then I have my church family people that I see on a regular basis and in the end it's a support I mean you're all supporting each other support each other yes you know it's a it's a kind of family as well you know that you choose that you choose one of the Ministries that we have that I'm part of at my current church is we visit a AIDs nursing home and this is a nursing home in a town maybe about a half an hour from the church where the residents can be all ages but they have AIDS and um many of them contracted age through uh needles and um never took care of themselves so we go there on a weekly basis we do a Bible study we visit we develop relationships and um I look forward to doing that every Thursday night yeah you're definitely a Christian woman I mean you you don't just talk the talk you walk the walk as they say and your faith has changed I mean you've always had your faith in God because Grandma and Grandpa right were catholic you however are not Catholic so first I want to talk about how you went from Catholic to what you are now you what is your denomination now well I'm not the church I go to is Hawthorne Gospel Church it's a large Church they have a school from kindergarten to high school but it's not part of any particular Protestant denomination so we're really an independent you can say Bible believing Church inter denominational maybe all people are welcome everyone is welcome and it's a great thing to see people of different uh ethnic groups and nationalities come to worship together all walks of life all walks of life yes sure with one thing in common their love for with their faith in common yes and and I'm going to back track for a minute here Jesus Christ Lord the father father son Holy Ghost is there three people when you say I I love God the Father Christians um Christians believe in the Trinity which is God the Father God the son Jesus Christ who um believe we believe that came down to earth as a baby right being born in Bethlehem lived a perfect life and then was crucified and died on the cross and then God the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost and that Easter uh no Pentecost was the beginning of the church oh gotcha got um and uh people heard people speaking in different languages and that's how the church began with many of the Apostles just simple men fishermen Tax Collectors right ordinary people who spread the word that Jesus came as Messiah so the church has been around obviously about 2,000 years wow so let's I want to go back now to the different denominations is that what they're called sure mhm uh obviously in Spain there's one that trumps them all that's Catholicism right uh in in Italy as well in many European countries many Western um and also in the United States there are many people who are Catholic Believers um their views are somewhat different than mine but there are some things that we do have in common because that that's um again your original Faith was Catholic now you've switched what would be the one of the reasons you switched or you know some of the differences as you were about to highlight well again I haven't been Catholic for many years so um but I I as I understand it uh in the Catholic faith you are saved by doing the sacraments by doing things you know getting baptized confir communion confirmation and all of that and in the Evangelical Christian faith although it is um said to get baptized right it is important to be baptized in the Bible the baptism comes after the person believes so if you check the baptisms in the Bible it's after the person believed and then was baptized and in my faith we don't believe baptism saves anybody uh it's a profession an outward profession of their faith in Jesus as Savior so the two ordinances that we have we do have baptism but no infant bap AP ISM okay and we have in our church as some Churches have like a a big tub a big pool okay that the minister goes jacuzzi right kind of that size yeah the the minister goes in and um with the person being baptized and asks them about their faith and then baptizes them in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit so they make a conscious the difference they a they make a a conscious decision but in to accept Jesus that they've done it already so this is like the they've made the decision maybe a month before two months before whatever this is the confirmation the confirmation before the congregation so in the end it's it's the same it's just a different way of going about it but there are different uh you know steps that one takes to get closer to God well yeah it's it's a like you wouldn't find like infant baptism now in some Protestant churches um babies are baptized so it's it's so different right the other difference is the communion in my particular church we have the Lord's Supper it's called on the first Sunday of the month and um the passage just read read from the Bible about you know the Last Supper when Jesus said this is my body this is my blood do this in remembrance of me but in my church it's actually a little piece of um uh matah bread it's like a cracker a little part of a cracker and a little tiny tiny cup of grape juice and we don't believe that it it's the actual body and blood of Jesus Christ the representation representation and the Catholic faith as as far as I remember and I have read there's the belief that there is the actual body and blood of Jesus so there are some differences and then we didn't even talk about Orthodox or Protestant I mean what are some of the different well there's so many different Protestant denominations um so um Martin Luther many many years ago he was a monk and he was trying to I guess get close to God and then it kind of hit him one day that a person is saved by grace which is like unmar favor and really he started the so-called Protestant uh reformation and from there many many Protestant churches have uh began and continue to this day and they've sprouted up yes mhm all right well interesting interesting and I imagine just like each religion has their own thing each person has their personal relationship with Jesus Christ too so even if you go to to the same church your relationship might be different than Joann's or whoever well you have people in a large uh service you know you might have people walking in there who that weekend made a decision that hey you know they want to accept the Lord to be in their heart and you might have sitting next to somebody who has been a Believer for 20 years right so that's the difference and all different age groups as I said and the way people meet you know the way God comes into their lives some through their parents mhm some maybe they go down the wrong path in life and then they you know they decide to turn their life around through faith right well I think it's again the belief is the holy spirit which is a God the the Trinity God calls people and put circumstances in their life for them to realize that you know they're up a creek without a paddle Great Expression you should be an English teacher if you ever get out of the social work business well I think I'm a little too old to to change careers at my age Alber well hey you're never and listen my mom you guys just heard her nickname for me since uh her family Sicilian and napolitan uh it's Albero but the the O they they don't say it my grandmother my father's name was Alberto so she called my father Alber so that's the nickname I gave to him so it was passed down to me there you go folks we're revealing deep biblical oh no well this has nothing do with the Bible let's talk a bit about the Bible right now okay Bible 101 okay Bible basics the brass tax tell us about it well in the Protestant Bible again Catholic Bibles are a bit different uh there are 66 books there are 39 books in what they call the Old Testament the Old Testament was written before Jesus came to be born in Bethlehem and really talks about the the coming of the Messiah one day there were many many scriptures is the coming or the second coming no no the first coming there's the second coming too the the Bible talks about the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem and Jesus naturally was born in Bethlehem that he would be um ratted out by a friend that was Judas es scarus somebody was going to betray him that he would be you know um betrayed with for 30 pieces of silver specifically in the Old Testament and then that actually happened so there were prophecies oh yeah there there are over 334 I believe prophecies just about Jesus Christ that have been fulfilled so far mom you really know your stuff thank you Google Now King James Bible talk to I mean the gide Bible the the first um Bible that was print printed printed was by Gutenberg yeah I remember hearing and that was the printing press and before that imagine it had to be copied by hand right um transcribed transcribed by hand imagine the painstaking process of writing it by hand but with the printing press Gutenberg was able to print the Bible and um to this day it is the number one bestselling book in the world that's amazing I mean because there are so many books out there uh Classics donkey H you know let's staying right here in Spain donot de la Mancha right right but the Bible still takes the top spot that is a just such a powerful thing and I'm just looking here uh Gutenberg printed it first in 1454 so that's quite a long time right now there are about 2018 over 2,000 translations of the Bible it was written again from the Old Testament from about 1450 BC that was before Christ up until about 100 AD and that was after Christ and written WR over many many different places most of the New Testament was written by the Apostle Paul uh Moses wrote a number of books of the Old Testament it's interesting because in Spanish do you know how they pronounce Moses no actually I don't Moes Moes uh-huh and Noah and the Ark Noe oh I didn't know that so you might be talking to somebody about you know the same person and not know it I I wouldn't have known that because obviously the Bible is a universal thing these days you know it's been translated into every language correct well there's still um there's a group called White Cliff Bible translators and they are still going there're still believe it or not in the 21st century remote parts of the world that have distinct languages that are not even written yet and these people go there and learn the language and uh translate part of the Bible so yeah it's still being translated today in very um limited languages that without that people would not have it it's amazing sure sure I mean it's crazy too because I think everybody in you know their bookshelf they've got a Bible you know you might have a dictionary and a Bible those are like two you know but sadly many people don't read it they don't feel it's re relevant for today so that that's the sad part but it it it is it again even just looking at I think I think that was part of what led me the Bible Pro prophecies about Jesus and then the Bible prophecies about his second coming sometime in the future those are the ones that have not yet been fulfilled it's uh it's incredible no it's I mean obviously people have dedicated their lives whether they're religious or not to studying you know the these works right right and they were written they were stories now let me get this straight God spoke to directly to Matt and and you know the how did that work how did they pass the mage was written across so many years different people and again if you like when you wrote your books right you had your thoughts you organized your thoughts you put it there they came from you but the Bible was inspired by God himself and so kind of it was almost like dictated right gotcha you know um and the words were write this basically as a as a boss is dictating to his secretary right will scribes right right right so and and again the the F fantastic part about it is the prophecies that were written so many years ago that they could have never known came to pass already and that to me when you read something that was written 700 years before Jesus died on the cross and it describes Jesus dying on the cross that blows my mind sure sure I mean it can't be there can't be to that many coincidences no you specific absolutely so other words for the Bible the good book yes MH the good book the word of the Lord the word the gospel MH also the scriptures the scriptures yeah it's interesting it's got several names there as well well the gospel is a little bit different the gospel would be within the Bible right the gospel is that like the Psalms and no the gospel would be and it's my

favorite Bible verse which is John 3: 19:23

16 for God God so loved the world that He Sent His only begotten son whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life that is one of the most popular on that is probably the most popular because it sums up everything trust me so that little John

3: 19:46

16 is the gospel those are the words of wisdom there that uh interesting very very interesting stuff because again even people who are not religious or familiar with the Bible it's text the the disciples before you were talking about the last supper and in the bonus part we're going to talk about the Bible in pop culture I mean look at how many works of art just walk around the Vatican oh yeah you know anywhere anywhere you go Rome it it's obviously inspired so many movies as well movies that are now you know legendary status and we'll talk about that in the bonus part and since God is a generous God and you're a generous Mom okay what do you say if we make the bonus episode available to everyone for free this week I think that's a great idea Alberto wonderful all right well I'll tell you what though we've got to give a shout out to all my patrons including my mom who was one of my patrons as well so a shout out to all of you who are in my Curious Community thank you so much there's over 160 of us and we're growing every day so join us if you haven't just go to patreon.com Alberto Alonso it's totally worth it you get extra content every week you can get a bonus episode PDFs and even classes with me there's so much and it's such a great deal again it's patreon.com Alberto Alonso and I'd like to get you to give me a hand over here Mom okay because right now is when I send a shout out to all my patrons especially my super duper students and here's where you're going to have to read these names you you don't have to say their last names just the first name okay shout out to Marta Javier Paco Roberto Maya Mia Mila oh Mila sorry and my Interstellar students Carmen Catalina Isabel Taco David Jose Maria and I can't see that far Patricio and Edgar there you go a special shout out to all of you keep up the great work and if you want to join my Curious community and learn English with us every week while we laugh go to patreon.com Alberto Alonso and Mom we're going to give them in the bonus part I didn't tell you this there's a surprise for everybody here some of the outakes when we were working on our intro oh no hey I figured it would be fun so you'll be able to hear the outakes hey it doesn't always come out perfectly I got to say a nice round of applause for my mom she's doing a wonderful job thank you all right so let's take a look at the intro speaking of mhm I started out by saying welcome my charismatic congregation only I didn't use my own voice mhm I used what you would say would would be a a black man's voice the The Voice he used sounded like a black and African-American preacher from the south oh thank you well that's what is not a preacher and he's not African-American and he's not from the South but I like doing accents he does Accents very well so now I'm racist is that what you're telling me because I make fun of preachers I mean it's it's a stereotype for a reason don't shoot the messenger right so I said welcome my charismatic congregation this is Reverend Alonzo and we are gathered here to take a gander at the good book The the word of the Lord the gospel the Sacred Scriptures mom tell them about the first imitation I ever did in my life when Alberto was a toddler he pretended he was John the Baptist and John the Baptist as you may know was Jesus's cousin when he was a man told about the foretelling of the the Messiah and that people had to repent so Alberto I wish I could have recorded it there were no cell phones back in those days but he would go around to tell people to repent and it really looked adorable of a little three or four-year-old maybe Lara's age going around telling people to repent but I was screaming it he was screaming it yeah but I I think it was because I saw those those TV preachers it could be and I was just imitating they were like the Lord said God will go forth you've always been a mimic so I think probably from that but yeah he used to pretend he was John the Baptist but don't you think that's important in languages being able to imitate you've got to be able to imitate and and um understand what the person is saying absolutely yeah all right so we already talked about the word faith before also I said the word praise God it's a good word praise we also use the adjective praiseworthy so let me give give you a good example my mother's doing a praiseworthy job you're doing a great job Mom very praiseworthy also how do you pronounce it Hallelujah Halu Hal I Hallelujah I've heard it without the AG hallel hallelujah hallelujah Halle now I can't say hallelujah hallelu hallelujah hallelujah this one the next one amen or amen well both would be correct I I say amen I say tomato you say tomato tomato tomato let's call the whole thing off I say either you say either I say neither I say neither either either neither neither let's call the whole thing off there you go folks a little impromptu that's a shout out to Grandpa by the way a man who is a God-fearing man as we say who who would break out into song all the time he yes he did yes he did and speaking of I want to stop now and look at that too as well what about saying grace because praying is something you do in church but saying grace is specifically when you eat correct you say grace usually before a meal it's not a specific prayer in I guess the Evangelical Christian Church it's usually thanking the people or person who prepared the meal blessing the conversation around the table people who are going to be partaking the meal and then blessing the food the nourishment right that the food gives us for our bodies so those are usually the the three things about the grace before the meal now what would be an example the simplest one like our father thank you for these Foods simple Grace just to teach it as an English thank you uh father for the the person who has prepared this meal we ask that you bless it to our bodies in our nourishment we bless this time around the table bless our conversations and give us um a good afternoon around this meal and I ask this in the name of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ amen amen or amen as we say well I say Amen both are correct that's right that's right so that's Grace and then we've got other prayers we got the Our Father Who Art in Heaven well that's again there's the prayer I there's the prayer it was that was like the format that God gave us to pray but again we don't really pray a specific for prayer it's more you're praying based on the situation the people you're not like it's in in the Evangelical Church it's not saying pre-written prayers it's using a prayer like uh praying for somebody who's sick often if I'm praying for somebody sick I pray for wisdom for the doctors and the nurses taking care of that person that they get the right medications to help them praying for help for the family yeah interesting interesting and what about Blasphemous which we'll hear in the in the bonus part that was a tough one to say that was a little hard Blasphemous well you can say blasphemy is the noun and blasphemous is the the adjective a lot of syllables there I made her do a couple different takes and she was like BL but the funniest part in the takes is you got my name wrong I'm your son that's the easiest part I didn't remember that you said I I oh my god do it again do it again I have to say I'm a demanding producer yes he is but I want the best I'm on vacation and here I am working I put her to work guys but it's all for a good cause over here as we're having fun with my mom talking about the good book well we're going to take a break and then we're going to come back in our bonus episode which if you guys are listening right now this is coming out on a Friday well it'll be available the following day that's Saturday so just wait for it and you'll be able to get it wherever you listen to your podcasts and in the bonus part we're going to take a look at the Bible in pop culture we're also going to look at those televangelists that are very American I must say it's an American institution we'll also take a look at some controversies we'll look at some things that detractors say about the Bible the biggest bad guys mhm some of my mom's favorite hymns which are songs The Ten Commandments and so much more so I think you guys are definitely going to want to join us in the bonus episode now Mom I need your help again okay can you say and I want you to imitate me since we're talking about imitation here okay I want you to imitate me in that radio voice I put on and say join us in the bonus episode of today's FYI join us in the bonus episode episode of take two join us in the bonus episode of today's f y i a