Josh Allen: Bible Central

I was actually looking for something else online. A few random clicks later, I came across a video that caught my eye. Donna Lewis and I were in the process of planning her Life Streams study about the validity and authority of the Bible. Maybe that’s why this video, that discussed the book of Job and how it relates to modern astronomy, caught my attention.

As I watched this video, not only did I realize that the message was intriguing but that the young man who hosted the videos, was worth investigating.

Josh Allen is a young man with a mission to tell others about the Lord and to challenge some of the worlds’ views of the Bible and Christians. Allen delivers his well-researched message professionally, but saturated in charm and humor. This approach appeals to believers and non-believers alike, making his Bible Central YouTube channel a smart destination for anyone seeking to know about God or anyone who wants to learn to apply Scripture to some hot modern issues.

Please take the time to get to know my new friend, Josh Allen, and how these powerful videos were born.

Stephanie Kelley: Give us a summary on your journey with Christ and who has influenced your spiritual growth the most?
Josh Allen: Since 1996, my family has traveled the country in Gospel music ministry and evangelism. Because of this I have grown-up going to church my entire life. That life has made me comfortable and familiar with public speaking and singing. 

As I became an adult I began to manage the Social Media and Videography for The Allens, producing our music videos and online content. Eventually I began using those skills for other ministries as well. 

Good grounded Bible teaching has been a big part of my upbringing. My parents homeschooled all their children and they placed a special emphasis on knowing what and why we believe. My strongest spiritual influence is my dad. As a child I would marvel that I could bring him any question I had about a passage of Scripture, and no matter how obscure it was he was familiar with it. As I got older I aspired to have that kind of relationship with the Word

SK: What is your earliest memory of church?
JA: Hard to say. Since I grew up in ministry no matter how far back my memory goes there is a church service in it. I can remember being a small child and sitting in revival meetings for hours on end. I couldn’t understand what was being preached, but I learned to sit still in church, (a dying art). Then when I was old enough to comprehend the messages, I was already used to being attentive.

SK: What prompted you to start the Bible Central YouTube channel?
JA: For several years I’ve wanted to start a Bible themed YouTube channel. And not just a place for one kind of video but a platform for multiple shows. Often I would encourage pastors to start a video series with the knowledge they had of the Scripture. Nobody took my advice so one day I thought to myself, “I’ll just do it then”. So in the summer of last year, Bible Central was born. 

SK: How do you choose your topics and how long do you research a topic before creating the video?
JA: As is apparent to people who watch my videos, the topics can often be pretty random. I guess I can attribute that to the fact that I as a person find random topics to be fascinating. But not everything comes from my strange mind. Often I’ll hear something in a sermon or my personal studies that jumps out at me and an idea starts to form. 

Depending on how familiar I am with the topic I might spend a week or more collecting information. My recent video on “The Astronomy of Job” took much longer to write not only because it was a very long video, but also because I researched almost every fact to make sure it could be backed up. 

SK: Has this research ever contradicted your belief system and if so, how do you reconcile that in your mind?
JA: Beliefs must be built on the right foundation. The first video I put on my channel explains to the viewer how I view the Scripture, and thus how I view the world. When my beliefs are challenged, they are not shaken if they are founded in God’s Word. I have resolved to believe the Bible is always true and without error as the Bible itself tells us. Sometimes I find that I hold beliefs that are not supported by the Word. It can be a painful process as I humble myself and what I thought I knew in submission to God. When the Apostle Paul said in Romans 3, “let God be true, but every man a liar;” that includes me.     

Mankind is a fallen creature that continually makes mistakes. As such, I am likely to make many. Only God is completely trustworthy one hundred percent of the time. This is why I end every video with, “Don’t trust what I say, trust what He said”. It’s an admonition that everything the viewer just heard has at least a slight possibility of being wrong, except for the Word. 

SK: What do you think is the single biggest “evidence” of the existence of God?
JA: It’s cliche nowadays, but for me it is creation itself. Even those who believe the earth formed by naturalistic means have to admit that something instigated it. The old phrase “Something doesn’t come from nothing” really is true. Even the world’s foremost atheist Richard Dawkins has said he believes life might have been seeded on earth by an alien civilization. This of course begs the question, where did the aliens come from? Keep asking questions to people like this and you inevitably arrive at the point where there was nothing, and then there was something. How? 

Jesus didn’t say, “Before Abraham was, I was” He said, “Before Abraham was, I AM”. He is the Word in the beginning with God and is God. Jehovah exists outside of the things He has created. In the first verse of the Bible, He created time, space and matter simultaneously. 

“In the beginning (time) God created the heaven (space) and the earth (matter).”

Before there was anything, there was God. And out of nothing He made everything.

SK: What do you say to the skeptics (those who don’t believe in God)?
JA: If I choose not to believe in gravity, that does not mean I can plunge from a mountain summit with no consequences. Strongly held belief is worthless if it is not in the right thing. You can believe with all your heart that God does not exist, but you will face Him one day nonetheless. 

SK: Have you seen an increase in the reach of your content during the past few months (with the world being mostly virtual)?
JA: There has been a rise in online viewership, but most of that has been for things like movies and TV shows. I think people were already used to watching videos on YouTube on a fairly constant basis.

SK: If there was one thing you could change about life (yours or globally) today, what would it be?
JA: In my life, I wish I could grow a beard. Globally, I would make McDonalds stop putting diced onions on their hamburgers because that’s gross. 

SK: If you could sit down to dinner with anyone (deceased or alive; other than Jesus) who would it be and where would you dine?
JA: No Jesus? Then I’ll choose the next best thing and eat with the Apostle John. I could ask him all about what Jesus was like and settle some long standing arguments about the Scripture. 

We’d eat at a Japanese steakhouse because I love those and I don’t go often enough. I wouldn’t consult with him first because his knowledge of the restaurant scene would be a touch old fashioned. 

SK: Contact information and anything you’d like to add.
JA: You can like my official page on Facebook to see the various projects including Bible Central that I work on.

Thank you, Josh, for sharing your talent, humor and most importantly, your faith with our readers.

https://www.facebook.com/joshallenofficial

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https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHF5MKLu3Pob_Ylrj41NogQ