WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:03.919 Hello, and welcome to my podcast. This is an audio 2 00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:06.719 version of my videos available to make listening to my 3 00:00:06.759 --> 00:00:10.000 stuff in the background easier than YouTube makes it. But 4 00:00:10.119 --> 00:00:13.599 since my videos are primarily made for YouTube, there may 5 00:00:13.679 --> 00:00:16.920 be occasional references to visual materials. If you'd like this 6 00:00:16.960 --> 00:00:19.960 podcast ad free, you can join us on Patreon Apppatreon 7 00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:22.839 dot com, slash Vice Rhino, Please enjoy. 8 00:00:23.960 --> 00:00:28.519 Hello and welcome to my channel, Vice Rhino. Here am 9 00:00:28.559 --> 00:00:31.199 I wearing this shirt so I can say happy Pride? 10 00:00:31.679 --> 00:00:34.479 Or is it just insufferably hot in my office? I'll 11 00:00:34.520 --> 00:00:37.399 never tell. Today we're looking at a video from Gavin 12 00:00:37.479 --> 00:00:41.200 Ortland's channel called Christian a five minute Case. My temptation 13 00:00:41.320 --> 00:00:43.039 here is to play the clip of Mike Winger making 14 00:00:43.079 --> 00:00:45.479 fun of rationality rules for having a five minute video, 15 00:00:45.520 --> 00:00:47.640 responding to the cosmological argument on the grounds that it's 16 00:00:47.679 --> 00:00:50.320 only five minutes, and then just end the video there. 17 00:00:50.719 --> 00:00:53.679 But unlike Mike, I'm not overly obsessed with length. We 18 00:00:53.719 --> 00:00:55.759 all know it's what you'd do with it that really counts. 19 00:00:56.039 --> 00:00:58.079 So let's see what Gavin can do with it in 20 00:00:58.159 --> 00:00:58.840 five minutes. 21 00:01:05.760 --> 00:01:08.159 What are we doing in this world? And what happens 22 00:01:08.159 --> 00:01:09.040 when life is over? 23 00:01:09.480 --> 00:01:13.519 Currently I'm masturbating just below the camera line, and when 24 00:01:13.519 --> 00:01:15.319 this life is over, we become warm food. 25 00:01:16.200 --> 00:01:20.159 These questions meaning and death are the most important questions 26 00:01:20.200 --> 00:01:20.760 we can ask. 27 00:01:21.239 --> 00:01:24.000 Meaning sure flippant answer that I'm sure acted as a 28 00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:26.760 de facto barrier to Christians watching this video aside, the 29 00:01:26.840 --> 00:01:28.840 question of what you want to do with your life 30 00:01:29.040 --> 00:01:31.560 is a very important one, but it is one that 31 00:01:31.799 --> 00:01:34.959 you have to answer for yourself. The Christian answer of 32 00:01:35.200 --> 00:01:39.120 worship God is insufficient. Even if God exists and your 33 00:01:39.159 --> 00:01:42.040 primary purpose is to worship him, There's still a lot 34 00:01:42.079 --> 00:01:44.599 more to life than just that one action, and you 35 00:01:44.719 --> 00:01:46.680 need to figure out what you're going to do with it. 36 00:01:47.079 --> 00:01:50.599 But what happens after death is impossible to determine given 37 00:01:50.599 --> 00:01:53.159 the rather permanent nature of death, so there's not really 38 00:01:53.239 --> 00:01:54.439 much point in worrying about that. 39 00:01:55.359 --> 00:01:58.519 Yet many people are too busy or distracted or overwhelmed 40 00:01:58.599 --> 00:01:59.640 to search for answers. 41 00:02:00.159 --> 00:02:03.319 True, most people are so busy just struggling to survive 42 00:02:03.480 --> 00:02:05.879 that they don't have the time or capacity to do 43 00:02:06.120 --> 00:02:08.719 much of significance with their lives. And I don't mean 44 00:02:08.759 --> 00:02:11.599 that as a jab. If you haven't accomplished much because 45 00:02:11.599 --> 00:02:13.960 your mental energy mostly goes into worrying about how you're 46 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:17.120 going to afford groceries or something similar to that, Then 47 00:02:17.199 --> 00:02:20.960 that is entirely understandable and probably isn't your fault. To 48 00:02:21.039 --> 00:02:23.840 quote funky frog bait, how many Einstein's have spent their 49 00:02:23.840 --> 00:02:26.759 lives washing dishes? How many Mozart spent over stoves instead 50 00:02:26.759 --> 00:02:29.120 of pianos. They were saying that with reference to women 51 00:02:29.159 --> 00:02:31.599 being born in a patriarchal society. But I believe that 52 00:02:31.719 --> 00:02:34.240 was itself a paraphrase of Stephen J. Gould talking about 53 00:02:34.240 --> 00:02:36.960 Einstein's brain, where he said that he is somehow less 54 00:02:36.960 --> 00:02:39.479 interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than 55 00:02:39.479 --> 00:02:41.879 in the near certainty that people of equal talent have 56 00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:44.879 lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops. The idea 57 00:02:44.919 --> 00:02:47.280 here being that it doesn't matter if you are the 58 00:02:47.479 --> 00:02:50.840 most intelligent or talented individual who have ever been born. 59 00:02:51.159 --> 00:02:54.439 If you aren't born into circumstances that will nurture your abilities, 60 00:02:54.759 --> 00:02:56.960 then through no fault of your own, they are likely 61 00:02:56.960 --> 00:02:57.879 to go unnoticed. 62 00:02:58.719 --> 00:03:02.159 If you're curious about these ultimate questions, here are three 63 00:03:02.240 --> 00:03:06.960 reasons to consider Christianity. First, the idea of God makes 64 00:03:06.960 --> 00:03:07.360 a lot. 65 00:03:07.199 --> 00:03:10.280 Of sense counterpoint, No, it doesn't. 66 00:03:10.360 --> 00:03:14.199 The world that we live in doesn't seem self explanatory. 67 00:03:13.800 --> 00:03:16.439 Which the way I see it, suggests that God does 68 00:03:16.479 --> 00:03:18.759 not exist. Why would we expect the world to be 69 00:03:18.800 --> 00:03:22.319 self explanatory unless it were specifically designed with our cognitive 70 00:03:22.319 --> 00:03:23.199 abilities in mind. 71 00:03:23.879 --> 00:03:28.560 In the twentieth century, scientists even discovered that, amazingly, it 72 00:03:28.599 --> 00:03:30.120 seems to have begun. 73 00:03:30.840 --> 00:03:33.759 Why is that amazing? On the question of did the 74 00:03:33.879 --> 00:03:38.319 universe begin? There are literally two answers, and only two answers, 75 00:03:38.680 --> 00:03:41.199 yes or no. I fail to see why one of 76 00:03:41.240 --> 00:03:42.919 those would be more amazing than the other. 77 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:47.199 Furthermore, the initial conditions and laws and constants of the 78 00:03:47.280 --> 00:03:51.639 universe seem to be precisely adjusted such that life can 79 00:03:51.680 --> 00:03:52.159 come about. 80 00:03:52.680 --> 00:03:55.960 Life as we know it, life as we do not 81 00:03:56.159 --> 00:03:59.400 know it may be possible in universes with different parameters. 82 00:03:59.560 --> 00:04:01.840 But also so life as we know it may also 83 00:04:01.879 --> 00:04:05.000 be possible in universes with different parameters. To quote Professor 84 00:04:05.000 --> 00:04:08.319 Fred Adams, professor of physics at the University of Michigan quote, 85 00:04:08.560 --> 00:04:10.840 the parameters of our universe could have varied by large 86 00:04:10.840 --> 00:04:14.360 factors and still allowed for working stars and potentially habitable planets. 87 00:04:14.560 --> 00:04:16.439 The force of gravity could have been a thousand times 88 00:04:16.439 --> 00:04:19.399 stronger or a billion times weaker, and stars would still 89 00:04:19.439 --> 00:04:23.240 function as long live to nuclear burning engines. The electromagnetic 90 00:04:23.279 --> 00:04:25.319 force could have been stronger or weaker by factors of 91 00:04:25.319 --> 00:04:28.000 one hundred. Nuclear reaction rates could have varied over many 92 00:04:28.120 --> 00:04:31.360 orders of magnitude. Alternative stellar physics could have produced heavy 93 00:04:31.399 --> 00:04:33.839 elements that make up the basic raw materials for planets 94 00:04:33.839 --> 00:04:36.879 and people. Clearly, the parameters that determine stellar structure and 95 00:04:36.879 --> 00:04:40.639 evolution are not overly fine tuned, and this is without 96 00:04:40.639 --> 00:04:43.319 even getting into the idea of a multiverse. That is, 97 00:04:43.560 --> 00:04:47.360 the cosmos contains many universes and each has different parameters, 98 00:04:47.519 --> 00:04:50.079 so we'd only expect to find life in those universes 99 00:04:50.079 --> 00:04:53.199 where life is possible. But this brings me to another point. 100 00:04:53.399 --> 00:04:57.639 The cosmos is all that is, or ever was, or 101 00:04:57.680 --> 00:05:02.079 ever will be. Our universe is contained within the cosmos. 102 00:05:02.240 --> 00:05:05.000 So while our universe did have a beginning, it was 103 00:05:05.000 --> 00:05:08.360 not necessarily the beginning of everything. Even if there is 104 00:05:08.480 --> 00:05:11.079 only ever one universe at a time, there is no 105 00:05:11.240 --> 00:05:13.800 reason to believe that we are living in the first universe. 106 00:05:14.079 --> 00:05:15.560 It could be that we're in the middle of a 107 00:05:15.600 --> 00:05:18.839 series of universes, each with slightly different laws and constants. 108 00:05:19.160 --> 00:05:22.560 So given all of these possibilities, what is the actual 109 00:05:22.639 --> 00:05:25.519 reason why we exist in a somewhat fine tuned universe? 110 00:05:25.839 --> 00:05:29.199 In short, we don't know, and probably the cosmological models 111 00:05:29.199 --> 00:05:32.040 that we've developed thus far aren't even the correct ones yet. 112 00:05:32.399 --> 00:05:35.480 I suppose God could be the reason why. But the 113 00:05:35.519 --> 00:05:38.879 folks putting forward non god explanations all support their ideas 114 00:05:38.879 --> 00:05:41.680 with appeals to things like math and physics, while the 115 00:05:41.720 --> 00:05:44.879 folks putting forward God as an explanation seem content with 116 00:05:45.000 --> 00:05:48.399 appealing to our intuition, Given how shit intuition can be, 117 00:05:48.879 --> 00:05:51.480 I'm aside with the math and physics folks on this one. Though. 118 00:05:51.519 --> 00:05:54.079 Worth pointing out is that the math and physics explanations 119 00:05:54.120 --> 00:05:57.040 do not necessarily preclude a God. They just render God 120 00:05:57.079 --> 00:05:58.600 an unnecessary part of the equation. 121 00:05:59.759 --> 00:06:04.240 The features of the universe, its non necessity and fine tuning, 122 00:06:04.680 --> 00:06:07.759 make the old idea of a creator sound not so crazy. 123 00:06:08.360 --> 00:06:12.199 A contingent, calibrated world seems like the kind of thing 124 00:06:12.240 --> 00:06:14.439 that would be constructed or designed. 125 00:06:14.959 --> 00:06:17.959 An argument that relies on something seeming like it was 126 00:06:18.000 --> 00:06:21.360 designed seems like an appeal to intuition. 127 00:06:22.319 --> 00:06:24.519 Just like a piece of art or a novel has 128 00:06:24.560 --> 00:06:28.519 an author. So the natural world seems to suggest some 129 00:06:28.639 --> 00:06:31.360 kind of supernatural antecedent cause. 130 00:06:32.120 --> 00:06:37.600 Cause, yes, antecedent, maybe supernatural, not indicated at this time. 131 00:06:38.240 --> 00:06:40.839 It's kind of exciting when you think about it. Now, 132 00:06:40.839 --> 00:06:43.319 if there is something out there that put the world here, 133 00:06:43.800 --> 00:06:46.720 this could explain some other mysteries as well, for example, 134 00:06:46.720 --> 00:06:48.079 the rise of consciousness. 135 00:06:48.600 --> 00:06:52.319 Consciousness is a complex and poorly understood phenomenon, but I 136 00:06:52.360 --> 00:06:56.240 fail to see how something caused the universe automatically leads 137 00:06:56.240 --> 00:06:58.560 to and that something is exactly what accounts for the 138 00:06:58.560 --> 00:07:02.040 phenomenon of consciousness. This is reminiscent of ads I've seen 139 00:07:02.079 --> 00:07:05.240 for scam health products, got joint pain try or supplement. 140 00:07:05.319 --> 00:07:08.160 It's also great for sleep quality, baldness, erect tideless function, 141 00:07:08.279 --> 00:07:11.800 and so much more. If there is one answer to 142 00:07:12.000 --> 00:07:15.839 every question, and those questions are varying and unrelated, then 143 00:07:15.959 --> 00:07:17.879 that answer is probably boll. 144 00:07:18.800 --> 00:07:21.959 It would enable you to say that mind didn't somehow 145 00:07:22.040 --> 00:07:27.519 spring up from matter. Rather mind is original mind produced matter. 146 00:07:28.000 --> 00:07:30.160 That's actually one of the reasons why I'm skeptical of 147 00:07:30.160 --> 00:07:33.439 the god claim. You see, well, we don't really understand 148 00:07:33.480 --> 00:07:36.720 what consciousness is. At this point, we have no evidence 149 00:07:36.759 --> 00:07:39.959 that minds can exist without brains, and when we make 150 00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:43.720 physical changes to our physical brains, those changes result in 151 00:07:43.800 --> 00:07:46.759 often predictable changes to the mind. If the mind were 152 00:07:46.800 --> 00:07:49.800 independent of the brain, then this would not be the case. 153 00:07:50.120 --> 00:07:53.120 So the idea that some brainless mind was just sitting 154 00:07:53.199 --> 00:07:56.959 there existing when nothing else existed just strikes me as 155 00:07:57.040 --> 00:08:00.560 extremely implausible. But then we add a bunch of magical 156 00:08:00.600 --> 00:08:02.639 powers to this mind, giving it the ability to create 157 00:08:02.720 --> 00:08:05.120 universes x nilo and the ability to mess with the 158 00:08:05.160 --> 00:08:08.079 laws of physics within its created universes. And now we're 159 00:08:08.120 --> 00:08:11.959 compounding the extreme implausibility into an infinite implausibility. 160 00:08:12.920 --> 00:08:15.920 The possibility of some kind of god or creator could 161 00:08:15.959 --> 00:08:19.040 potentially shed a lot of light on our humanity as well. 162 00:08:19.560 --> 00:08:19.759 Well. 163 00:08:19.759 --> 00:08:21.319 It depends on the god I suppose. 164 00:08:22.240 --> 00:08:25.519 For example, it provides a possible basis for trusting our 165 00:08:25.600 --> 00:08:31.480 deep intuition that goodness and love have transcendent, lasting value. 166 00:08:32.080 --> 00:08:35.879 You know that different people have different intuitions, right Like 167 00:08:36.120 --> 00:08:40.000 I don't have an intuition that goodness and love are transcendent, 168 00:08:40.399 --> 00:08:41.879 at least not in the sense that you seem to 169 00:08:41.879 --> 00:08:44.919 mean it. Goodness can be transcendent in that one act 170 00:08:44.960 --> 00:08:47.720 of goodness often inspires further acts of goodness, so it 171 00:08:47.759 --> 00:08:50.120 can snowball into an effect that was greater than the 172 00:08:50.159 --> 00:08:52.759 initial good act was capable of on its own. So 173 00:08:52.919 --> 00:08:56.480 it has transcended its own limitations through influence in that sense, 174 00:08:57.000 --> 00:08:59.320 and the same with love. Love is a feeling that 175 00:08:59.399 --> 00:09:01.120 I have for some of the people in my life. 176 00:09:01.240 --> 00:09:03.600 It is only transcendent in the sense that even after 177 00:09:03.639 --> 00:09:05.879 I'm gone, they will still be able to remember that 178 00:09:05.960 --> 00:09:09.679 I love them, But it's not transcendent in some supernatural sense. 179 00:09:10.720 --> 00:09:14.159 It also allows for a less elitist view of human history. 180 00:09:14.759 --> 00:09:17.080 If you're an atheist, you have to think that people 181 00:09:17.080 --> 00:09:20.559 were basically wrong on the most important question until the 182 00:09:20.600 --> 00:09:23.519 modern West. But if there's a god you can be 183 00:09:23.600 --> 00:09:26.840 more open to spiritual experiences and perceptions. 184 00:09:27.519 --> 00:09:30.000 Call it elitist if you like, but most people in 185 00:09:30.120 --> 00:09:33.559 history have been wrong about most things regarding how the 186 00:09:33.600 --> 00:09:35.759 world works. It wasn't all that long ago that if 187 00:09:35.759 --> 00:09:37.639 you went to a doctor, he would bleed you in 188 00:09:37.720 --> 00:09:40.279 order to balance your humors, a practice that goes back 189 00:09:40.320 --> 00:09:43.320 at least three thousand years. Today, it is understood that 190 00:09:43.360 --> 00:09:45.919 there are only a handful of extremely rare conditions for 191 00:09:45.960 --> 00:09:48.919 which blood letting is the appropriate treatment. Turns out, the 192 00:09:48.960 --> 00:09:52.080 main medical practice of most cultures throughout the whole world 193 00:09:52.399 --> 00:09:55.080 was simply one huge mistake. To paraphrase the C. S. 194 00:09:55.159 --> 00:09:58.240 Lewis quote, you've got up there. Yes, there are things 195 00:09:58.240 --> 00:10:01.000 that pretty much everyone in history has been wrong about. 196 00:10:01.279 --> 00:10:03.080 It is not elite us to point that out. It 197 00:10:03.159 --> 00:10:05.080 is merely acknowledging a fact about reality. 198 00:10:05.879 --> 00:10:09.600 But which spiritual experiences and perceptions. 199 00:10:09.159 --> 00:10:11.960 Probably the ones that result from psilocybin, because you know, 200 00:10:12.080 --> 00:10:14.279 minds are a spiritual thing, not a physical one, So 201 00:10:14.320 --> 00:10:16.399 if there's a chemical that alters the mind, it must 202 00:10:16.440 --> 00:10:18.600 be working spiritually rather than physically. 203 00:10:19.399 --> 00:10:21.919 There's a lot of different religions out there. They can't 204 00:10:21.960 --> 00:10:24.720 all be true because they contradict each other for. 205 00:10:24.759 --> 00:10:28.120 Some completely inexplicable reason. He doesn't say it, so I'll 206 00:10:28.200 --> 00:10:30.720 jump in now to finish that thought. They can't all 207 00:10:30.759 --> 00:10:33.320 be true, but they can all be false. 208 00:10:34.399 --> 00:10:36.639 And we shouldn't just pull out the bits of various 209 00:10:36.639 --> 00:10:39.320 religions that we like, because then we're really creating our 210 00:10:39.360 --> 00:10:40.000 own religion. 211 00:10:40.399 --> 00:10:43.000 Hey, you don't even need to leave Christianity for that. 212 00:10:43.480 --> 00:10:45.879 There are Christians who think that Christians of a slightly 213 00:10:45.879 --> 00:10:48.799 different persuasion are evil and doomed to hell. Most of 214 00:10:48.840 --> 00:10:51.840 the New Testament is Paul fighting against other first century 215 00:10:51.919 --> 00:10:54.440 Christians who are preaching a message that he didn't agree with. 216 00:10:54.679 --> 00:10:56.679 There are Christians who say you have to follow all 217 00:10:56.759 --> 00:10:59.360 the Jewish dietary laws and Christians who don't. There are 218 00:10:59.399 --> 00:11:01.679 Christians who think it's a sin to be LGBTQ and 219 00:11:01.799 --> 00:11:04.519 Christians who don't. There are Christians who think rock music 220 00:11:04.600 --> 00:11:07.000 is satanic, even when it's Christian rock, and there are 221 00:11:07.080 --> 00:11:10.399 Christians who don't. What Christian church you go to is 222 00:11:10.399 --> 00:11:13.320 a reflection of your choices at the buffet that is Christianity, 223 00:11:13.399 --> 00:11:15.159 where you take the aspects of it that you like 224 00:11:15.399 --> 00:11:17.960 and leave behind the ones you don't. So don't pretend 225 00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:20.519 like you've actually got the one true religion locked down. 226 00:11:21.720 --> 00:11:26.039 That leads to a second consideration. Jesus is compelling. 227 00:11:26.159 --> 00:11:28.879 About of diarrhea is compelling. That doesn't mean I want 228 00:11:28.879 --> 00:11:29.440 to worship it. 229 00:11:30.360 --> 00:11:33.759 At the start of humanity's largest and most diverse religion, 230 00:11:34.000 --> 00:11:37.720 Christianity stands a unique phenomenon in world history. 231 00:11:38.240 --> 00:11:41.440 Jesus of Nazareth, so there you go by his own admission. 232 00:11:41.519 --> 00:11:44.840 Christianity is the world's most diverse religion. You'd expect that 233 00:11:44.840 --> 00:11:47.360 if any religion were true, we'd see something like what 234 00:11:47.399 --> 00:11:51.519 happens in science, many competing hypotheses or religious sex for 235 00:11:51.519 --> 00:11:54.360 the sake of the analogy to begin with, but over time, 236 00:11:54.480 --> 00:11:57.559 as we learn more about how it works, a consensus develops. 237 00:11:57.879 --> 00:12:00.519 But with religion, we actually see the opp of that. 238 00:12:00.879 --> 00:12:04.399 Religions frequently start as one particular set of teachings and practices, 239 00:12:04.639 --> 00:12:06.919 but evolve over time as that religion is spread and 240 00:12:06.919 --> 00:12:11.480 adopted by different communities. Christianity's diversity is an argument against it. 241 00:12:12.639 --> 00:12:16.279 Lots of religious leaders made claims about the pathway to 242 00:12:16.360 --> 00:12:21.120 God and Salvation. But Jesus claimed to be God and Salvation. 243 00:12:21.720 --> 00:12:23.919 That is certainly a claim that sprung up about him 244 00:12:23.960 --> 00:12:27.000 several decades after his death. Yeah, but even if I 245 00:12:27.000 --> 00:12:29.639 grant that he himself made that claim, I don't see 246 00:12:29.679 --> 00:12:32.360 why that matters. It is easy for someone to say 247 00:12:32.399 --> 00:12:36.639 that they are God and Salvation. I am God and Salvation. 248 00:12:36.919 --> 00:12:40.720 See no problem, easy as pie Someone claiming that means 249 00:12:40.840 --> 00:12:41.759 literally nothing. 250 00:12:43.120 --> 00:12:47.320 These claims of divine identity and divine authority can be 251 00:12:47.360 --> 00:12:51.279 found in the earliest gospel narratives that nearly all critical 252 00:12:51.320 --> 00:12:54.080 scholars acknowledge go back to the historical Jesus. 253 00:12:54.919 --> 00:12:58.679 You got some slippery wording there, buddy. The earliest gospel 254 00:12:58.840 --> 00:13:02.600 mark was written third years after jesus death at the earliest. 255 00:13:02.759 --> 00:13:04.840 And when you say scholars agree that it goes back 256 00:13:04.879 --> 00:13:07.480 to the historical Jesus, I can't help but wonder if 257 00:13:07.480 --> 00:13:10.759 you're being vague on purpose there, because while scholars generally 258 00:13:10.759 --> 00:13:13.720 do agree that the Gospels contain at least some genuine 259 00:13:13.720 --> 00:13:16.639 details about the life of Jesus, there is very little 260 00:13:16.639 --> 00:13:20.039 consensus about what those details actually are. Add on to 261 00:13:20.159 --> 00:13:22.320 this the fact that most scholars that actually specialize in 262 00:13:22.360 --> 00:13:25.240 New Testament studies work for institutions that require them to 263 00:13:25.279 --> 00:13:28.000 sign a statement of faith affirming their belief in Jesus 264 00:13:28.080 --> 00:13:31.519 as God, and the consensus, such as it is, starts 265 00:13:31.519 --> 00:13:33.120 looking extremely flimsy. 266 00:13:33.840 --> 00:13:36.759 Now, if these claims are false, then Jesus was either 267 00:13:37.039 --> 00:13:40.679 himself deceived or deceiving others. 268 00:13:41.080 --> 00:13:43.320 Or that was a legend that grew up about him 269 00:13:43.360 --> 00:13:44.039 after he died. 270 00:13:44.840 --> 00:13:48.440 It seems strange that either delusion or malice is what 271 00:13:48.600 --> 00:13:50.080 sparked this huge religion. 272 00:13:50.799 --> 00:13:54.279 Why plenty of delusional and malicious people have sparked large 273 00:13:54.320 --> 00:13:57.720 movements throughout history. Piper, definitely don't put a picture of 274 00:13:57.720 --> 00:14:00.279 Trump up here. That comparison is just way too obvious. 275 00:14:00.679 --> 00:14:03.279 I would never make that one. 276 00:14:03.559 --> 00:14:06.240 Plus, his disciples came to the conviction that he rose 277 00:14:06.279 --> 00:14:09.440 from the dead, and they proclaimed this message often at 278 00:14:09.480 --> 00:14:10.519 the cost of their lives. 279 00:14:11.279 --> 00:14:14.240 Often at the cost of their lives, according to texts 280 00:14:14.240 --> 00:14:16.440 that were written centuries later and contain all sorts of 281 00:14:16.440 --> 00:14:19.240 details that you don't accept as true, like that Jesus 282 00:14:19.279 --> 00:14:22.639 after his resurrection, sold Thomas into slavery in India because 283 00:14:22.679 --> 00:14:25.159 Thomas wouldn't go there to preach willingly. Why would you 284 00:14:25.200 --> 00:14:27.480 trust the acts of Thomas to be an accurate account 285 00:14:27.480 --> 00:14:30.399 of his martyrdom but not trust it to accurately record 286 00:14:30.440 --> 00:14:32.440 the details about slave trader Jesus. 287 00:14:33.840 --> 00:14:36.960 If Jesus wasn't raised from the dead, they also were 288 00:14:37.000 --> 00:14:39.639 either deceived or deceivers yep. 289 00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:42.399 Seems to me that people being wrong about a thing 290 00:14:42.799 --> 00:14:45.399 is way more likely than an actual resurrection. 291 00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:49.840 Both of which possibilities are problematic. It's actually difficult to 292 00:14:49.879 --> 00:14:52.759 explain what it was that launched this huge religion which 293 00:14:52.799 --> 00:14:55.600 has founded so many universities and hospitals and done so 294 00:14:55.679 --> 00:14:57.159 much good in history and. 295 00:14:57.120 --> 00:14:59.559 Per Constantine had a vision before a battle, which was 296 00:14:59.600 --> 00:15:02.000 the style at the time, and after winning that battle 297 00:15:02.120 --> 00:15:04.679 he converted to the religion associated with the vision. It 298 00:15:04.720 --> 00:15:06.200 happened to be of a cross in the sky, so 299 00:15:06.279 --> 00:15:09.200 he became a Christian. This happened just a few years 300 00:15:09.240 --> 00:15:11.639 after he had a similar vision before battle, but that 301 00:15:11.679 --> 00:15:14.440 time of the god Apollo. To quote historian Catherine Nixy 302 00:15:14.440 --> 00:15:17.399 about this event, quote, look at the vision of Constantine 303 00:15:17.399 --> 00:15:20.399 not within Christian history, but instead within Roman history, and 304 00:15:20.440 --> 00:15:23.360 it starts to look even less remarkable. In a religiously 305 00:15:23.399 --> 00:15:26.799 malleable empire, religions rose and fell, gained imperial support and 306 00:15:26.840 --> 00:15:29.840 lost it, and visions appeared and faded before one emperor 307 00:15:29.879 --> 00:15:34.480 after another. Christianity's success can largely be traced to Constantine's longevity. 308 00:15:34.759 --> 00:15:38.240 Roman emperors would commonly meddle with religion, promoting single favorite 309 00:15:38.240 --> 00:15:41.600 gods or entire pantheons, often with disregard for religion as 310 00:15:41.679 --> 00:15:45.279 established by previous emperors, but these emperors also tended to 311 00:15:45.320 --> 00:15:48.639 die young in the time surrounding Constantine's reign. Most were 312 00:15:48.639 --> 00:15:52.320 assassinated or died in war within five years of assuming office, 313 00:15:52.440 --> 00:15:56.200 but Constantine had ruled for over thirty years. His promotion 314 00:15:56.240 --> 00:15:58.840 of Christianity during that time gave it the momentum it 315 00:15:58.919 --> 00:16:01.039 needed to survive Emperor j Jullians attempt to revive the 316 00:16:01.080 --> 00:16:02.279 pagan religions. 317 00:16:03.039 --> 00:16:05.600 One reasonable possibility is that it's simply true. 318 00:16:06.000 --> 00:16:08.039 Another is that it had the weight of the most 319 00:16:08.039 --> 00:16:10.120 powerful empire on the planet backing it up. 320 00:16:10.840 --> 00:16:13.559 But if those arguments leave you with uncertainty, that's okay. 321 00:16:13.600 --> 00:16:16.360 There's a third consideration. Prayer works. 322 00:16:16.960 --> 00:16:19.840 Yeah, it makes you more likely to have complications after surgery, 323 00:16:19.919 --> 00:16:22.039 according to a large study on the efficacy of prayer 324 00:16:22.080 --> 00:16:25.120 by the Templeton Foundation, Basically, when patients did not know 325 00:16:25.159 --> 00:16:26.919 whether or not they were being prayed for, the rate 326 00:16:26.960 --> 00:16:29.759 of complications was normal, But if they knew that someone 327 00:16:29.840 --> 00:16:32.120 was praying for them, they were slightly more likely to 328 00:16:32.159 --> 00:16:34.639 experience a complication. And the best part is that that 329 00:16:34.679 --> 00:16:37.720 study was funded by the Templeton Foundation, an organization that 330 00:16:37.799 --> 00:16:40.480 is motivated to find that prayer does work. So, no, 331 00:16:40.759 --> 00:16:41.639 prayer doesn't work. 332 00:16:42.679 --> 00:16:44.840 You don't have to be smart enough to figure out 333 00:16:44.879 --> 00:16:45.399 all these. 334 00:16:45.320 --> 00:16:48.399 Questions unless you want to doubt the truth of Christianity, 335 00:16:48.720 --> 00:16:51.120 then you'd better have a PhD in both theoretical physics 336 00:16:51.200 --> 00:16:53.399 and biblical studies at a minimum. 337 00:16:53.840 --> 00:16:56.960 Christianity claims that God isn't just working in big and 338 00:16:57.039 --> 00:17:01.360 general ways in creation and history, but also in personal 339 00:17:01.399 --> 00:17:02.399 and intimate ways. 340 00:17:03.159 --> 00:17:05.599 He is not far from each of us, which makes 341 00:17:05.599 --> 00:17:07.519 it weird that, according to the Bible, he is only 342 00:17:07.559 --> 00:17:10.079 there when two or three gather in his name. Isn't 343 00:17:10.119 --> 00:17:12.880 he omnipresent? If he is omnipresent, does that not mean 344 00:17:12.920 --> 00:17:15.119 that He is always there, whether you gather in his 345 00:17:15.200 --> 00:17:15.839 name or not. 346 00:17:16.720 --> 00:17:20.160 And he's responsive to faith, rewarding those who seek him. 347 00:17:20.799 --> 00:17:25.240 Jesus himself promised that those who seek God shall find him. 348 00:17:25.319 --> 00:17:27.799 So you don't need one hundred percent certainty, but you 349 00:17:27.960 --> 00:17:31.480 just need enough faith to come sincerely before God in 350 00:17:31.559 --> 00:17:34.680 prayer and say, Jesus, if you are real, teach me 351 00:17:34.759 --> 00:17:35.200 how to know. 352 00:17:35.319 --> 00:17:39.640 You supposedly got to say. I know a lot of atheists, 353 00:17:39.680 --> 00:17:43.160 myself included, who did not want to end up as atheists. 354 00:17:43.519 --> 00:17:46.000 I desperately held on to my faith, and I sought 355 00:17:46.039 --> 00:17:49.680 God with everything I had. I was rewarded with complete 356 00:17:49.759 --> 00:17:52.440 and utter silence. The sort of thing he's saying here 357 00:17:52.519 --> 00:17:55.839 is very obviously not directed at people like me. I mean, honestly, 358 00:17:55.839 --> 00:17:57.359 if I were more cynical, i'd say it looks like 359 00:17:57.359 --> 00:17:59.039 it's meant to count. For the straw man version of 360 00:17:59.039 --> 00:18:01.640 that I've seen apologist present, that of the atheist saying 361 00:18:01.720 --> 00:18:03.799 something like I'm an atheist. So I got on my 362 00:18:03.920 --> 00:18:07.279 knees and said, God, reveal yourself to me, and he didn't, 363 00:18:07.400 --> 00:18:11.079 So I'm still an atheist. Well, mister atheist, he'll only 364 00:18:11.079 --> 00:18:13.480 show up if you were sincere about asking. He won't 365 00:18:13.519 --> 00:18:15.680 perform for you on a whim like that. You have 366 00:18:15.759 --> 00:18:19.359 to actually be seeking a relationship with him. Except I 367 00:18:19.400 --> 00:18:21.799 know of very few atheists who have done something like that, 368 00:18:21.880 --> 00:18:24.119 except maybe as a bit. But to someone like me 369 00:18:24.319 --> 00:18:26.880 who started as a Christian and wanted to stay a Christian, 370 00:18:27.200 --> 00:18:28.519 this whole thing rings hollow. 371 00:18:29.599 --> 00:18:32.119 It's worth putting everything you are into that prayer, because 372 00:18:32.119 --> 00:18:35.480 if Christianity is true, it not only provides an answer 373 00:18:35.599 --> 00:18:39.000 to these ultimate questions of meaning and death, it provides 374 00:18:39.039 --> 00:18:41.519 the happiest imaginable answer. 375 00:18:41.839 --> 00:18:44.039 Well, I did put everything I had into such a 376 00:18:44.039 --> 00:18:47.039 prayer and I got nothing, which, given that God promises 377 00:18:47.079 --> 00:18:48.839 to show up to people who do that means that 378 00:18:48.920 --> 00:18:51.519 Christianity isn't true whether their answer is happy or not. 379 00:18:52.039 --> 00:18:54.240 But I'd also contend that their answer is not the 380 00:18:54.279 --> 00:18:58.359 happiest imaginable answer. Their answer has most people going to 381 00:18:58.559 --> 00:19:00.960 hell to be tortured for it to not just the 382 00:19:01.039 --> 00:19:03.799 Hitler's and Stalins of the world, but good people who 383 00:19:03.880 --> 00:19:06.599 happen to not be Christian when they died. Now, I 384 00:19:06.640 --> 00:19:09.519 know that Christian doctrine holds that there are no good people. 385 00:19:09.680 --> 00:19:12.440 Everyone deserves hell, so only a handful of people making 386 00:19:12.440 --> 00:19:15.359 it into Heaven is actually the best imaginable answer. But 387 00:19:15.440 --> 00:19:18.319 I fundamentally disagree with the idea that I am as 388 00:19:18.359 --> 00:19:20.640 bad as Hitler. I feel like he did a little 389 00:19:20.640 --> 00:19:21.839 bit more Holocausting than me. 390 00:19:22.920 --> 00:19:25.119 And best of all, to become a Christian, you don't 391 00:19:25.160 --> 00:19:27.599 need to earn God's attention or favor. 392 00:19:28.160 --> 00:19:30.960 And that's the other half of the equation. Not only 393 00:19:31.000 --> 00:19:32.880 do a bunch of good people go to Hell to 394 00:19:32.880 --> 00:19:35.480 be tortured for all eternity, but because entrance to Heaven 395 00:19:35.519 --> 00:19:37.440 is based solely on whether or not you accept Jesus 396 00:19:37.519 --> 00:19:40.119 as your Lord and savior, with no qualifications based on 397 00:19:40.200 --> 00:19:42.640 good works or at least a lack of evil works, 398 00:19:42.839 --> 00:19:45.079 you wind up with people like Jeffrey Dahmer in Heaven. 399 00:19:45.240 --> 00:19:47.559 Dude was a serial killer who murdered and ate a 400 00:19:47.559 --> 00:19:49.839 bunch of people. He repented while he was in prison 401 00:19:49.839 --> 00:19:52.799