WEBVTT 00:00:09.449 --> 00:00:14.289 Welcome to ECB's weekly sermon podcast. ECB is 00:00:14.289 --> 00:00:16.589 an international church in Bangkok, Thailand, 00:00:16.750 --> 00:00:19.809 with dozens of nationalities worshiping together. 00:00:20.109 --> 00:00:22.989 We invite you to connect with us from wherever 00:00:22.989 --> 00:00:27.210 you are through our website ecb .asia or our 00:00:27.210 --> 00:00:31.070 mobile app. And now we pray that you are blessed 00:00:31.070 --> 00:00:34.789 by this week's sermon. This series of walking 00:00:34.789 --> 00:00:38.929 with God was a reflection. on different topics 00:00:38.929 --> 00:00:44.590 from our apologetics trip to England. And as 00:00:44.590 --> 00:00:46.429 you know, in the previous studies, we have talked 00:00:46.429 --> 00:00:49.130 about several of the things that we did. And 00:00:49.130 --> 00:00:51.549 we have reflected in lots of different topics. 00:00:51.869 --> 00:00:54.509 Some of you wanted to go to the trip. You couldn't 00:00:54.509 --> 00:00:57.149 do it. And some of you have asked me, can you 00:00:57.149 --> 00:01:00.310 please teach us about it? I want to learn. Can 00:01:00.310 --> 00:01:02.909 you show me pictures? I want to see. So that's 00:01:02.909 --> 00:01:05.370 why we have spent this month going through some 00:01:05.370 --> 00:01:08.349 of the key elements of what we learned. So the 00:01:08.349 --> 00:01:12.489 idea is an environment in which we are reflecting 00:01:12.489 --> 00:01:15.549 together. Almost as if we were drinking some 00:01:15.549 --> 00:01:18.189 coffee together and talking, reflecting. And 00:01:18.189 --> 00:01:20.370 in that sense, this series is a little bit different 00:01:20.370 --> 00:01:23.489 from others. And what I want you to get from 00:01:23.489 --> 00:01:29.379 this study is to beware of myths. Myths, as the 00:01:29.379 --> 00:01:32.579 Bible talks about myths, is the idea of false 00:01:32.579 --> 00:01:37.579 beliefs. I remember that when I was a kid, I 00:01:37.579 --> 00:01:41.739 heard a joke that I find so funny. And it was 00:01:41.739 --> 00:01:44.400 about this scientist that was studying fleas. 00:01:45.980 --> 00:01:49.659 So he decides to study fleas' behavior, and he 00:01:49.659 --> 00:01:53.180 places this little flea on a little glass container, 00:01:53.439 --> 00:01:58.609 and he says to the little flea, Flea, jump! And 00:01:58.609 --> 00:02:01.849 the flea jumps, boing. So he writes in his notebook, 00:02:02.269 --> 00:02:08.270 when the flea is told to jump, it jumps. And 00:02:08.270 --> 00:02:11.550 then he decides to remove two legs, ping, ping. 00:02:12.430 --> 00:02:15.870 And now he says to the flea, flea, jump. And 00:02:15.870 --> 00:02:19.710 the flea goes, boing. So he's surprised and he 00:02:19.710 --> 00:02:22.750 writes, you know, when the flea has only four 00:02:22.750 --> 00:02:26.590 legs and is told to jump, it jumps. And then 00:02:26.590 --> 00:02:29.770 he decides, to try again and goes, ping, ping. 00:02:30.930 --> 00:02:35.969 And now he says, flea, jump. And the flea, very 00:02:35.969 --> 00:02:39.909 weakly goes, ping. Just a little jump. He's surprised. 00:02:40.650 --> 00:02:43.389 So he writes, when the flea has only two legs 00:02:43.389 --> 00:02:47.750 and is told to jump, it jumps. And then he gets 00:02:47.750 --> 00:02:51.590 curious. So he decides to do it one more time. 00:02:51.650 --> 00:02:55.849 It goes, ping, ping. And says, little flea, jump. 00:02:57.159 --> 00:03:00.819 And nothing happens. And now he's more curious. 00:03:01.219 --> 00:03:03.879 So he says a little bit louder, little flea, 00:03:03.919 --> 00:03:08.520 jump! And nothing happens. It doesn't move. So 00:03:08.520 --> 00:03:11.080 he decides to say one more time, but very loud, 00:03:11.280 --> 00:03:15.680 little flea, jump! And nothing happens. So he 00:03:15.680 --> 00:03:21.180 writes conclusion. When the flea has no legs, 00:03:21.300 --> 00:03:31.560 it becomes deaf. Told you it was funny. That's 00:03:31.560 --> 00:03:37.699 a myth. It sounds like it's true, but it's not. 00:03:39.039 --> 00:03:42.039 It could be based on good observations, but wrong 00:03:42.039 --> 00:03:46.580 conclusions. And it's funny when it's a joke, 00:03:46.639 --> 00:03:48.840 but it's not funny when we build our lives on 00:03:48.840 --> 00:03:54.620 a myth, cultures on a myth. And what is interesting 00:03:54.620 --> 00:03:56.960 is that the Apostle Paul talks about this very 00:03:56.960 --> 00:04:01.419 clearly to us, followers of Jesus. He says to 00:04:01.419 --> 00:04:04.960 Timothy, very specifically about this topic. 00:04:05.520 --> 00:04:09.099 Now, Timothy was his apprentice. We met him a 00:04:09.099 --> 00:04:13.659 couple of studies ago. Timothy was a young believer 00:04:13.659 --> 00:04:16.379 that worked with the Apostle Paul. He went into 00:04:16.379 --> 00:04:19.139 his third missionary trip together. And then 00:04:19.139 --> 00:04:21.279 the Apostle Paul, when he returns to Jerusalem, 00:04:22.670 --> 00:04:25.189 enters the last stage of his ministry. He's going 00:04:25.189 --> 00:04:27.550 to go from Jerusalem now. He's going to go in 00:04:27.550 --> 00:04:30.209 prison. Eventually, he's going to end up in Rome. 00:04:30.470 --> 00:04:33.490 And when he is in prison, the Apostle Paul will 00:04:33.490 --> 00:04:37.069 write two letters to Timothy. That's how close 00:04:37.069 --> 00:04:39.670 they were. And we have those two letters in our 00:04:39.670 --> 00:04:44.029 Bible, New Testament, 1 and 2 Timothy. And if 00:04:44.029 --> 00:04:47.810 you go to chapter 4 of both letters, what is 00:04:47.810 --> 00:04:50.470 interesting is that the same chapters, chapter 00:04:50.470 --> 00:04:55.230 4, has the same warning. In 1 Timothy chapter 00:04:55.230 --> 00:05:00.990 4, he tells Paul, he tells Timothy, the Spirit 00:05:00.990 --> 00:05:05.449 clearly says that in later times, some will abandon 00:05:05.449 --> 00:05:10.230 the faith. Why? Some followers of Jesus will 00:05:10.230 --> 00:05:13.629 abandon the faith. Why? Well, they will follow 00:05:13.629 --> 00:05:17.850 deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 00:05:19.079 --> 00:05:22.019 Oh, he says, there's going to be spiritual oppression 00:05:22.019 --> 00:05:25.899 against the Christian faith because there's going 00:05:25.899 --> 00:05:29.319 to be false teaching that is going to originate 00:05:29.319 --> 00:05:34.199 in darkness. And that false teaching is going 00:05:34.199 --> 00:05:37.920 to deceive some followers of Jesus. Such teachings 00:05:37.920 --> 00:05:41.839 come through hypocritical liars whose consciences 00:05:41.839 --> 00:05:46.459 have been seared as with a hot iron. There's 00:05:46.459 --> 00:05:50.060 going to be people Who are going to be used, 00:05:50.339 --> 00:05:54.819 not by God, but by the enemy to introduce deceptions. 00:05:55.100 --> 00:05:59.139 And those deceptions are going to cause some 00:05:59.139 --> 00:06:02.379 people to abandon the faith. That's the warning 00:06:02.379 --> 00:06:07.839 in the first letter. Very clear. False beliefs 00:06:07.839 --> 00:06:11.220 will infiltrate and you have to be aware of it. 00:06:11.579 --> 00:06:15.220 But in the second letter to Timothy, also chapter 00:06:15.220 --> 00:06:18.899 4. He says it a little bit more extensively, 00:06:18.980 --> 00:06:23.319 and this is what he says. In the presence of 00:06:23.319 --> 00:06:26.639 God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living 00:06:26.639 --> 00:06:30.639 and the dead, and in view of his appearing and 00:06:30.639 --> 00:06:34.300 his kingdom, I give you this charge. Oh, wow, 00:06:34.439 --> 00:06:37.319 that sounds pretty heavy. It's like you open 00:06:37.319 --> 00:06:39.120 the letter, you know, it's the last letter he 00:06:39.120 --> 00:06:42.620 will ever write. And now you open it and it says, 00:06:42.680 --> 00:06:46.339 Timothy, this is not a greeting of. Hey, Timothy, 00:06:46.480 --> 00:06:48.639 how are you doing? It's like, Timothy, in the 00:06:48.639 --> 00:06:51.199 presence of God and Christ Jesus, who will judge 00:06:51.199 --> 00:06:54.100 the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing 00:06:54.100 --> 00:06:56.500 and his kingdom, I'm going to give you this charge. 00:06:56.779 --> 00:07:00.079 It's like, oh, I better sit down and start reading 00:07:00.079 --> 00:07:02.680 this thing, because this is not just a funny, 00:07:02.759 --> 00:07:07.839 how are you doing text. What is it? Timothy, 00:07:08.120 --> 00:07:17.930 preach the word. Be prepared in season and out 00:07:17.930 --> 00:07:25.250 of season. Correct, rebuke, encourage, but do 00:07:25.250 --> 00:07:28.990 it with great patience and very careful instruction. 00:07:30.149 --> 00:07:33.370 And I'm going to tell you why. For the time will 00:07:33.370 --> 00:07:36.810 come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. 00:07:38.430 --> 00:07:42.449 Instead, to suit their own desires, They will 00:07:42.449 --> 00:07:45.850 gather around them a great number of teachers 00:07:45.850 --> 00:07:49.970 to say what their itching ears want to hear. 00:07:53.290 --> 00:07:58.129 Let me read that section again. Timothy, you 00:07:58.129 --> 00:08:01.029 have to teach the word and do it carefully because 00:08:01.029 --> 00:08:04.290 there's going to be a time. And the time is coming. 00:08:05.259 --> 00:08:08.240 When people will not put up with sound doctrine, 00:08:08.339 --> 00:08:11.720 instead to suit their own desires, they will 00:08:11.720 --> 00:08:15.259 gather around them a great number of teachers 00:08:15.259 --> 00:08:19.180 to say what their itching ears want to hear. 00:08:20.060 --> 00:08:23.600 And they will turn their ears away from truth 00:08:23.600 --> 00:08:35.649 and turn aside to what? Myths. The time is coming 00:08:35.649 --> 00:08:42.809 when myths, not truth, are going to become so 00:08:42.809 --> 00:08:48.090 popular because lots of people are going to believe 00:08:48.090 --> 00:08:50.289 it and lots of teachers are going to be teaching 00:08:50.289 --> 00:08:55.570 it. And not only will it be popular, but it will 00:08:55.570 --> 00:08:59.970 be persuasive because all these teachers and 00:08:59.970 --> 00:09:03.500 all these people believe it, so it must be. True, 00:09:03.500 --> 00:09:12.039 maybe the flea is deaf. And because it's popular, 00:09:12.200 --> 00:09:17.559 persuasive, people will start feeling the pressure 00:09:17.559 --> 00:09:22.100 to believe it. Because if I'm surrounded by people 00:09:22.100 --> 00:09:24.960 who believe it and I'm the only one that doesn't, 00:09:25.000 --> 00:09:33.649 that's hard. But Timothy, Beware of myths. The 00:09:33.649 --> 00:09:36.029 time is going to come where people won't care 00:09:36.029 --> 00:09:39.169 about truth anymore. But you, you be different, 00:09:39.470 --> 00:09:43.750 Timothy. You keep your head in all situations. 00:09:44.470 --> 00:09:47.070 Just because it's popular doesn't make it true. 00:09:47.730 --> 00:09:50.730 You keep your head in all situations. And if 00:09:50.730 --> 00:09:53.029 it becomes hard because you feel like a fish 00:09:53.029 --> 00:09:55.950 swimming against the current, endure hardship. 00:09:57.269 --> 00:10:01.190 Do the work of an evangelist. Discharge all the 00:10:01.190 --> 00:10:04.549 duties of your ministry. Timothy, you stand for 00:10:04.549 --> 00:10:11.210 truth. And sometimes it's going to be hard. But 00:10:11.210 --> 00:10:20.710 truth matters. As for me, I'm already being poured 00:10:20.710 --> 00:10:25.389 out like a drink offering. I'm at the end. You're 00:10:25.389 --> 00:10:30.919 at the beginning. The time for my departure is 00:10:30.919 --> 00:10:34.840 near. I can feel it. I have fought the good fight. 00:10:37.019 --> 00:10:40.580 I have finished the race and I have kept the 00:10:40.580 --> 00:10:44.980 faith. But remember, some won't keep it because 00:10:44.980 --> 00:10:51.139 of the myths. Now there's in store for me the 00:10:51.139 --> 00:10:54.759 crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous 00:10:54.759 --> 00:10:57.659 judge, will award to me on that day and only 00:10:57.659 --> 00:11:01.509 to me. but also to all who have longed for his 00:11:01.509 --> 00:11:07.649 appearing. And this is the section where the 00:11:07.649 --> 00:11:11.250 Apostle Paul repeats the concern and the warning, 00:11:11.429 --> 00:11:16.870 beware of myths. Myths in this context is this 00:11:16.870 --> 00:11:20.309 Greek word mythoi, which is a false belief. It's 00:11:20.309 --> 00:11:25.549 a false worldview. It's a false structure of 00:11:25.549 --> 00:11:31.360 belief system that is faulty. And we followers 00:11:31.360 --> 00:11:34.820 of Jesus are called by the apostle himself to 00:11:34.820 --> 00:11:39.139 be aware of that because at some moments you 00:11:39.139 --> 00:11:42.840 will be in that journey of discerning truth from 00:11:42.840 --> 00:11:47.139 myth. And that journey is not always clear and 00:11:47.139 --> 00:11:53.039 sometimes it is wrestling. And the sad thing 00:11:53.039 --> 00:11:56.379 is that it will cause many people to be deceived. 00:11:57.039 --> 00:12:00.039 Many people to walk away from the faith and many 00:12:00.039 --> 00:12:04.679 people will be then harmed because of it. And 00:12:04.679 --> 00:12:09.120 I have gotten to meet some of those people that 00:12:09.120 --> 00:12:12.620 walked away from the faith only to come back 00:12:12.620 --> 00:12:16.379 later to the Lord saying, I was duped. I was 00:12:16.379 --> 00:12:21.970 deceived. Now I really know the truth. And it's 00:12:21.970 --> 00:12:25.750 hard because that time of being away from the 00:12:25.750 --> 00:12:29.809 Lord, away from the faith, could be years. Could 00:12:29.809 --> 00:12:38.710 be decades. Beware of myths. And just to give 00:12:38.710 --> 00:12:42.169 you a glimpse of some of this, see the contrast 00:12:42.169 --> 00:12:44.110 that the Apostle Paul talked about to Timothy. 00:12:44.590 --> 00:12:48.350 Truth is... Given by the Holy Spirit because 00:12:48.350 --> 00:12:50.350 the Holy Spirit is the spirit of truth. And he's 00:12:50.350 --> 00:12:53.070 the one that inspired the scriptures. So if you're 00:12:53.070 --> 00:12:56.769 walking with God, you're walking in close intimacy 00:12:56.769 --> 00:12:58.990 with the Holy Spirit. Therefore, truth will matter 00:12:58.990 --> 00:13:04.429 to you. And sound doctrine will matter. The teaching 00:13:04.429 --> 00:13:06.789 has to be biblical. It has to be right. I'm not 00:13:06.789 --> 00:13:09.450 just going to give it away because it sounds 00:13:09.450 --> 00:13:12.149 right. It's a biblical. Sound doctrine matters. 00:13:13.799 --> 00:13:16.799 And that will have the effect of setting you 00:13:16.799 --> 00:13:20.139 free because truth sets us free. And it will 00:13:20.139 --> 00:13:22.799 strengthen your walk of faith, your walk with 00:13:22.799 --> 00:13:26.080 God. But myth, on the other hand, it does not 00:13:26.080 --> 00:13:28.200 come from the Holy Spirit. It comes from deceiving 00:13:28.200 --> 00:13:32.840 spirits, says Paul. It's a false narrative. It's 00:13:32.840 --> 00:13:35.279 a myth. It's not really true. It may sound true, 00:13:35.340 --> 00:13:39.200 but it's not. And it's going to deceive people. 00:13:39.299 --> 00:13:42.100 And you will know the outcome. It's not from 00:13:42.100 --> 00:13:44.879 God because he will take you away from the Lord, 00:13:45.039 --> 00:13:52.919 not closer to him. Beware of myths. And from 00:13:52.919 --> 00:13:54.879 the beginning, from the time of the Apostle Paul, 00:13:54.940 --> 00:13:59.100 even to the time of our time, two areas that 00:13:59.100 --> 00:14:05.399 are constantly under this space of different 00:14:05.399 --> 00:14:09.279 ideologies trying to compete with biblical narrative. 00:14:10.039 --> 00:14:12.220 It's the idea of origins and the idea of identity. 00:14:12.940 --> 00:14:15.600 It was true for the Apostle Paul as it is for 00:14:15.600 --> 00:14:19.820 us. Let me give you just a glimpse of this in 00:14:19.820 --> 00:14:24.360 three passages as I read them. The first one 00:14:24.360 --> 00:14:27.559 is the beginning of the Gospel of John. If you 00:14:27.559 --> 00:14:30.259 are reading John, if you are a follower of Jesus, 00:14:30.399 --> 00:14:34.139 this is what John starts saying. Let me read 00:14:34.139 --> 00:14:38.220 it two times. First time now. In the beginning 00:14:38.220 --> 00:14:43.889 was the Word. And the word was with God. And 00:14:43.889 --> 00:14:49.350 the word was God. He was with God in the beginning. 00:14:50.049 --> 00:14:54.210 Through him all things were made. Without him 00:14:54.210 --> 00:14:58.730 nothing was made that has been made. In him was 00:14:58.730 --> 00:15:02.210 life. And that life was the light of all mankind. 00:15:02.370 --> 00:15:05.490 And the light shines in the darkness. And the 00:15:05.490 --> 00:15:11.970 darkness has not overcome it. You continue reading 00:15:11.970 --> 00:15:15.149 chapter one of John and you will realize, oh, 00:15:15.190 --> 00:15:21.629 he's talking about Jesus. The word became flesh 00:15:21.629 --> 00:15:24.590 and lived among us and we have seen his glory. 00:15:25.250 --> 00:15:29.149 And he starts introducing who Jesus is in the 00:15:29.149 --> 00:15:33.169 gospel of John. So let me read it again, but 00:15:33.169 --> 00:15:36.789 I'm going to replace the word, the word by the 00:15:36.789 --> 00:15:39.620 word Jesus. So that the meaning becomes a little 00:15:39.620 --> 00:15:43.600 bit clearer as you're reading it. In the beginning 00:15:43.600 --> 00:15:49.860 was Jesus. And Jesus was with God. And Jesus 00:15:49.860 --> 00:15:55.919 was God. And Jesus was with God in the beginning. 00:15:56.259 --> 00:15:58.620 By the way, this is one of the reasons why we 00:15:58.620 --> 00:16:02.340 believe in the Trinity. Jesus is God. God is 00:16:02.340 --> 00:16:05.399 not Jesus. God is Father, Son, Holy Spirit. But 00:16:05.399 --> 00:16:09.039 Jesus is God. The Father is God. The Holy Spirit 00:16:09.039 --> 00:16:12.639 is God. Jesus was with God at the beginning. 00:16:13.559 --> 00:16:18.080 And he himself was God. Jesus was with God in 00:16:18.080 --> 00:16:21.259 the beginning. And through Jesus, all things 00:16:21.259 --> 00:16:26.360 were made. Without Jesus, nothing was made that 00:16:26.360 --> 00:16:32.580 has been made. In Jesus was life. And that life 00:16:32.580 --> 00:16:35.639 was the light of all mankind. The light shines 00:16:35.639 --> 00:16:38.059 in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome 00:16:38.059 --> 00:16:54.460 it. Truth or myth? Was there a beginning? And 00:16:54.460 --> 00:17:00.580 did Jesus create? And Jesus is God? And he came 00:17:00.580 --> 00:17:04.720 therefore to the world he created to save us 00:17:04.720 --> 00:17:12.240 and redeem us to himself. Truth or myth? You 00:17:12.240 --> 00:17:13.980 see, if you're a follower of Jesus, you say, 00:17:14.000 --> 00:17:17.579 well, this is true. Some people will look at 00:17:17.579 --> 00:17:23.319 you and say, you're believing in a myth. If I'm 00:17:23.319 --> 00:17:25.420 a follower of Jesus, I have to realize that the 00:17:25.420 --> 00:17:29.230 Bible says Jesus is creator. Therefore I was 00:17:29.230 --> 00:17:33.410 created. We humans were created by God. And Jesus 00:17:33.410 --> 00:17:36.289 is God. And through him everything was created. 00:17:36.349 --> 00:17:42.089 Nothing would exist without him. That was created. 00:17:45.789 --> 00:17:53.690 I believe that. Because it's there. And I believe 00:17:53.690 --> 00:17:56.049 in Jesus. And I want to agree with everything 00:17:56.049 --> 00:17:59.039 that Jesus says. And in the gospel, Jesus speaks. 00:17:59.220 --> 00:18:02.099 And one day, Jesus is approached by the religious 00:18:02.099 --> 00:18:04.880 leaders and they ask him a question about divorce. 00:18:05.240 --> 00:18:08.660 And Jesus answers to them using the scriptures, 00:18:08.900 --> 00:18:11.599 the various scriptures that Paul is telling Timothy 00:18:11.599 --> 00:18:16.519 that he has to teach well. And Jesus answers 00:18:16.519 --> 00:18:22.700 that question with this answer. He tells the 00:18:22.700 --> 00:18:27.089 people at the beginning of creation, God, Made 00:18:27.089 --> 00:18:34.369 them. What? Male and. Female. At the very beginning 00:18:34.369 --> 00:18:39.210 of creation. Haven't you read this? God made 00:18:39.210 --> 00:18:42.029 them male and female. And for this reason. A 00:18:42.029 --> 00:18:45.809 man. Will leave his father. And mother. And be 00:18:45.809 --> 00:18:49.390 united to his wife. Not to his partner. But to 00:18:49.390 --> 00:18:55.950 his. Wife. His. Wife. And the two will become. 00:18:56.920 --> 00:18:59.859 One flesh. So there are no longer two, but one 00:18:59.859 --> 00:19:05.859 flesh. Marriage is a change of identity. From 00:19:05.859 --> 00:19:12.559 two, now we are one. And this means that there 00:19:12.559 --> 00:19:16.119 was a beginning, wasn't it? And in that beginning, 00:19:16.240 --> 00:19:19.599 God created, didn't he? And at the beginning 00:19:19.599 --> 00:19:22.059 of that creation, he created humans, didn't he? 00:19:22.500 --> 00:19:27.339 And he created us. Male and female, didn't he? 00:19:29.099 --> 00:19:33.460 And he is the one that designed the idea of marriage 00:19:33.460 --> 00:19:38.319 to be the union for life between a male and a 00:19:38.319 --> 00:19:40.980 female coming together and becoming one flesh. 00:19:42.400 --> 00:19:45.299 That is our understanding of marriage and that 00:19:45.299 --> 00:19:49.259 is our understanding of gender. Why? Because 00:19:49.259 --> 00:19:54.609 Jesus said it. And he's quoting Genesis. Hmm. 00:19:56.230 --> 00:20:02.950 True or myth? Ah, now you're getting a little 00:20:02.950 --> 00:20:11.089 bit uncomfortable. Beware of myths. They will 00:20:11.089 --> 00:20:14.009 sound popular. Lots of people will believe it. 00:20:14.789 --> 00:20:17.150 But I can tell you something, the flea is not 00:20:17.150 --> 00:20:25.099 deaf. And the Apostle Paul, It's warning us that 00:20:25.099 --> 00:20:27.779 we're going to be hearing myths and we have to 00:20:27.779 --> 00:20:30.220 be careful that we really pay attention to the 00:20:30.220 --> 00:20:34.200 scriptures. Not only I want to agree with what 00:20:34.200 --> 00:20:37.339 Jesus says, but I also want to agree with what 00:20:37.339 --> 00:20:41.559 the apostles taught. If the apostles taught it, 00:20:41.579 --> 00:20:45.700 I want to agree with them. And I'm not trying 00:20:45.700 --> 00:20:48.519 to simplify hermeneutics. I know that biblical 00:20:48.519 --> 00:20:50.740 interpretation sometimes is complex. There's 00:20:50.740 --> 00:20:53.480 the Greek, the Hebrew, the translation, the nuances, 00:20:53.579 --> 00:20:57.059 etc., etc. I understand that. But within that 00:20:57.059 --> 00:21:00.440 context, I want to agree with Jesus and with 00:21:00.440 --> 00:21:05.079 the apostles. And there's a moment in which the 00:21:05.079 --> 00:21:07.740 apostle Peter is warning us about false teaching. 00:21:08.019 --> 00:21:12.240 And he says, look, there will be people that 00:21:12.240 --> 00:21:16.799 will deliberately forget. That happened a long 00:21:16.799 --> 00:21:20.599 time ago. What? Well, they will deliberately 00:21:20.599 --> 00:21:25.940 forget that long ago, by God's word, the heavens 00:21:25.940 --> 00:21:31.059 came into being and the earth was formed out 00:21:31.059 --> 00:21:36.440 of water and by water. And by these waters also 00:21:36.440 --> 00:21:39.500 the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. 00:21:41.380 --> 00:21:45.880 Wait. Did God speak? And things were created 00:21:45.880 --> 00:21:52.799 by him just speaking? Yes. And at the beginning, 00:21:52.799 --> 00:21:58.980 the earth was covered with water? Yes. And the 00:21:58.980 --> 00:22:04.079 ancient world was destroyed, deluged by water. 00:22:08.839 --> 00:22:12.220 And just as it happened then, Is going to happen 00:22:12.220 --> 00:22:15.279 in the future. By the same word. That created 00:22:15.279 --> 00:22:18.200 the heavens and the earth. The same word. That 00:22:18.200 --> 00:22:20.119 destroyed that ancient world with the water. 00:22:20.299 --> 00:22:24.680 The same word. The present heavens and earth. 00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:31.819 Are reserved. For fire. Being kept for the day 00:22:31.819 --> 00:22:34.299 of judgment. And destruction of the ungodly. 00:22:39.789 --> 00:22:42.349 There's a future judgment coming and the earth 00:22:42.349 --> 00:22:45.829 will be destroyed by fire? Yes, just as it was 00:22:45.829 --> 00:22:51.109 destroyed by water before. By the very word that 00:22:51.109 --> 00:23:00.910 God spoke. Wow. True or myth? Did God really 00:23:00.910 --> 00:23:05.970 speak and things came into being? Just like that? 00:23:10.629 --> 00:23:16.130 Ah, you see what I mean? There are things the 00:23:16.130 --> 00:23:21.829 Bible teaches that sometimes we are struggling 00:23:21.829 --> 00:23:26.069 with because now we have an abundance of teachers 00:23:26.069 --> 00:23:32.069 teaching us things that we want to hear. And 00:23:32.069 --> 00:23:35.589 without realizing it, we can turn into myths. 00:23:36.190 --> 00:23:40.859 And myths are popular. They're persuasive, but 00:23:40.859 --> 00:23:46.279 they're not true. And therefore, my job as a 00:23:46.279 --> 00:23:49.079 follower of Jesus, and so is your job as a follower 00:23:49.079 --> 00:23:51.940 of Jesus, is to make sure that we create environments 00:23:51.940 --> 00:23:55.500 where we can engage with truth and discern it 00:23:55.500 --> 00:23:58.740 and wrestle with it. Because whatever we end 00:23:58.740 --> 00:24:01.779 up concluding, we want to make sure that it is 00:24:01.779 --> 00:24:09.559 biblical and true. And because I believe these 00:24:09.559 --> 00:24:12.579 things, all these passages that I read today, 00:24:12.680 --> 00:24:17.859 I believe them because they are clear. And for 00:24:17.859 --> 00:24:21.859 me to try to dissect them and reorganize the 00:24:21.859 --> 00:24:23.799 words and give them a whole different meaning, 00:24:23.880 --> 00:24:26.920 it makes me uncomfortable because it feels like 00:24:26.920 --> 00:24:30.539 I'm trying to manipulate the scriptures to make 00:24:30.539 --> 00:24:37.119 them say what I want to hear them say. And that's 00:24:37.119 --> 00:24:42.819 the wrestling that we find ourselves in. Have 00:24:42.819 --> 00:24:45.920 you been there? Have you questioned in moments, 00:24:46.119 --> 00:24:48.660 I wonder if that's really true. Am I being deceived 00:24:48.660 --> 00:24:51.039 or is that really true? I sit in the Bible, but 00:24:51.039 --> 00:24:54.599 did that really happen? And now in that space 00:24:54.599 --> 00:24:58.180 of tension is a reality of the walk with God. 00:24:58.420 --> 00:25:01.160 The walk with God at moments will require that 00:25:01.160 --> 00:25:03.980 we discern truth from myth. And sometimes that 00:25:03.980 --> 00:25:11.660 space is going to be Disorienting. And because 00:25:11.660 --> 00:25:14.160 I believe these things, I remember that since 00:25:14.160 --> 00:25:18.920 my kids were little, we would spend time reading 00:25:18.920 --> 00:25:21.279 the scriptures and then there are people that 00:25:21.279 --> 00:25:25.079 have published books with beautiful illustrations 00:25:25.079 --> 00:25:28.500 and stories about the Bible. And this was one 00:25:28.500 --> 00:25:32.319 of them, Jesus Storybook Bible. And we read it 00:25:32.319 --> 00:25:35.390 to all of our kids. nighttime, and we'll go one 00:25:35.390 --> 00:25:38.569 by one, chapter by chapter, retelling the story 00:25:38.569 --> 00:25:41.609 from Genesis all the way to the life of Jesus. 00:25:42.630 --> 00:25:46.170 Creation, the fall, the history of salvation, 00:25:46.430 --> 00:25:50.049 Jesus coming, and then Jesus redeeming his people. 00:25:50.630 --> 00:25:54.849 So it's, of course, with creative license. It's 00:25:54.849 --> 00:26:00.490 not word by word, but it's summarizing the story 00:26:00.490 --> 00:26:04.559 of the Bible. with beautiful illustrations and 00:26:04.559 --> 00:26:08.680 very poetic writing. So our kids grew up hearing 00:26:08.680 --> 00:26:14.680 the word through this. Now that we were in England, 00:26:14.720 --> 00:26:18.680 we went to the British Museum, British Library, 00:26:18.799 --> 00:26:21.519 engaged with biblical archaeology, with textual 00:26:21.519 --> 00:26:24.940 criticism. And then we also went to Charles Darwin's 00:26:24.940 --> 00:26:28.930 home to engage with his life. I had a couple 00:26:28.930 --> 00:26:32.769 of science sessions with a scientist who is the 00:26:32.769 --> 00:26:37.029 president and CEO of Creation Ministries International. 00:26:37.690 --> 00:26:41.589 And we engaged in a little bit of this space. 00:26:42.289 --> 00:26:45.269 So when we went to Charles Darwin's home, I bought 00:26:45.269 --> 00:26:47.450 a couple of books, but one of them was a children's 00:26:47.450 --> 00:26:50.990 book. And I started reading it, and I thought, 00:26:51.029 --> 00:26:54.710 oh, wow, this reminds me of the book I was reading 00:26:54.710 --> 00:26:57.849 my kids. Not because it's the same content. but 00:26:57.849 --> 00:27:01.930 because it's targeting children. Would I buy 00:27:01.930 --> 00:27:05.049 this book and then start telling my children 00:27:05.049 --> 00:27:08.930 this story? And it starts with volcanoes, that 00:27:08.930 --> 00:27:12.210 there's gases, there's nothing that exists, there's 00:27:12.210 --> 00:27:14.690 no life on earth. It doesn't start with the world 00:27:14.690 --> 00:27:17.670 covered by water. No, no. There are volcanoes 00:27:17.670 --> 00:27:21.650 and gases and no life. And from the very beginning, 00:27:21.650 --> 00:27:24.849 you realize, okay, these two stories are not 00:27:24.849 --> 00:27:31.799 compatible. And I remember reading when I was 00:27:31.799 --> 00:27:35.339 doing my doctorate, the book Sapiens, History 00:27:35.339 --> 00:27:39.579 of Humankind. And from the very first page, it's 00:27:39.579 --> 00:27:43.460 like, wait, this version of history is not compatible 00:27:43.460 --> 00:27:48.359 with what I believe. The framework, at least, 00:27:48.359 --> 00:27:51.859 of it. And that's when you start realizing that 00:27:51.859 --> 00:27:56.940 there's a narrative that is different from the 00:27:56.940 --> 00:28:00.740 scripture's narrative. About origins, about where 00:28:00.740 --> 00:28:02.980 we come from, about where the universe comes 00:28:02.980 --> 00:28:06.220 from. And therefore, as I'm engaging in those 00:28:06.220 --> 00:28:10.319 spaces, I have to start asking, truth or myth? 00:28:11.200 --> 00:28:14.920 Am I believing a myth, and maybe that's the truth, 00:28:15.180 --> 00:28:18.559 and I'm being deceived and ignorant? Or, this 00:28:18.559 --> 00:28:22.220 is the truth, and that's the myth. How do I know? 00:28:23.480 --> 00:28:29.960 How about origins, for instance? One of the most 00:28:29.960 --> 00:28:34.299 dominant frameworks of origins that we know today 00:28:34.299 --> 00:28:39.200 is known as Darwinian evolution, the origin of 00:28:39.200 --> 00:28:45.000 the species. And that's why we did this part 00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:46.859 of the trip, to really understand it better. 00:28:47.160 --> 00:28:51.980 And if you are a parent that has children who 00:28:51.980 --> 00:28:54.359 are wrestling with some of these questions, then 00:28:54.359 --> 00:28:56.980 this study is for you. If you're on a journey 00:28:56.980 --> 00:28:58.700 in which you're wrestling with some of these 00:28:58.700 --> 00:29:02.019 things, and you want to be an educated Christian, 00:29:02.119 --> 00:29:04.440 not an ignorant, just Bible -thumper, you know, 00:29:04.519 --> 00:29:09.980 then this study is for you. It's a space to engage 00:29:09.980 --> 00:29:14.079 with important questions. So when we went to 00:29:14.079 --> 00:29:17.640 Charles Darwin's home, this is the home from 00:29:17.640 --> 00:29:21.319 the backyard, beautiful place, amazing area, 00:29:21.619 --> 00:29:28.029 very intelligent guy, lots of good studies. But 00:29:28.029 --> 00:29:31.589 several of the things that he taught, which have 00:29:31.589 --> 00:29:36.049 become popular and mainstream beliefs today, 00:29:36.329 --> 00:29:40.869 they originated in his writings. And this is 00:29:40.869 --> 00:29:45.329 the statue that is right there at the main stairwell 00:29:45.329 --> 00:29:52.009 of the Museum of Natural History. And what we 00:29:52.009 --> 00:29:56.289 know from Darwin is that he had a worldview on 00:29:56.289 --> 00:29:59.470 things that he asserted. So one of them is that 00:29:59.470 --> 00:30:03.609 he lived in a time in which the scientific establishment 00:30:03.609 --> 00:30:08.670 believed that the universe was eternal. No beginning, 00:30:08.890 --> 00:30:11.950 no end, no big bang, nothing like that. For about 00:30:11.950 --> 00:30:15.349 300 years, the scientific establishment believed 00:30:15.349 --> 00:30:19.390 and taught that the universe was eternal. Because 00:30:19.390 --> 00:30:21.609 the idea that it would have a beginning sounded 00:30:21.609 --> 00:30:27.700 too much like... Yeah, the Bible. So the idea 00:30:27.700 --> 00:30:30.220 that the universe would have a beginning was 00:30:30.220 --> 00:30:34.220 not something that people will entertain. So 00:30:34.220 --> 00:30:37.839 he believed that during that time. And actually 00:30:37.839 --> 00:30:40.339 that belief continued until the time of Einstein. 00:30:40.859 --> 00:30:44.059 Einstein believed the universe was eternal until 00:30:44.059 --> 00:30:46.619 the evidence showed him something different and 00:30:46.619 --> 00:30:49.299 he changed his belief. But that's how recent 00:30:49.299 --> 00:30:53.460 that belief was. He believed that the Bible was 00:30:53.460 --> 00:30:56.460 a myth, that salvation by faith in Jesus is what 00:30:56.460 --> 00:30:59.319 he called a damnable doctrine, that Christianity 00:30:59.319 --> 00:31:03.380 is a myth. He did not know biochemistry. He did 00:31:03.380 --> 00:31:05.619 not know about DNA. It had not been discovered 00:31:05.619 --> 00:31:09.119 yet. He did not understand mutations. He didn't 00:31:09.119 --> 00:31:11.700 understand how they worked. And he did not know 00:31:11.700 --> 00:31:16.740 about epigenetics, how the genes turn on and 00:31:16.740 --> 00:31:19.440 off different functions and traits that we know 00:31:19.440 --> 00:31:24.130 just from recent. Scientific studies. This was 00:31:24.130 --> 00:31:27.170 the framework that he came from. And he wrote 00:31:27.170 --> 00:31:29.410 many of these things. I have mentioned some of 00:31:29.410 --> 00:31:31.329 those in the previous studies, but I want to 00:31:31.329 --> 00:31:33.089 show them to you in case you were not in those. 00:31:34.109 --> 00:31:37.109 He writes in his autobiography, I have gradually 00:31:37.109 --> 00:31:40.250 come by this time to see that the Old Testament 00:31:40.250 --> 00:31:43.309 from its false history of the world was no more 00:31:43.309 --> 00:31:45.809 to be trusted than the sacred books of the Hindus 00:31:45.809 --> 00:31:49.359 or the beliefs of any barbarian. The Bible is 00:31:49.359 --> 00:31:51.839 not true. The Old Testament is not true. Jesus 00:31:51.839 --> 00:31:54.519 is not true. You cannot trust the Bible. It's 00:31:54.519 --> 00:31:58.220 a myth. And not only that, he says, I can indeed 00:31:58.220 --> 00:32:01.420 hardly see how anyone ought to wish Christianity 00:32:01.420 --> 00:32:05.500 to be true. It is a damnable doctrine. For him, 00:32:05.519 --> 00:32:08.720 the idea of Jesus being the word at the beginning 00:32:08.720 --> 00:32:14.359 and becoming flesh and having to believe in him 00:32:14.359 --> 00:32:19.000 to be saved from your sins. was nonsense, something 00:32:19.000 --> 00:32:26.559 that needed to be condemned. And then he writes 00:32:26.559 --> 00:32:32.259 in a letter to a friend who was a famous botanist 00:32:32.259 --> 00:32:36.359 during that time, and he was the head of the 00:32:36.359 --> 00:32:40.700 Kew Gardens, beautiful botanical garden. Have 00:32:40.700 --> 00:32:43.619 you never been there before? Take a trip, if 00:32:43.619 --> 00:32:46.319 you are in England, go to the Kew Gardens. Beautiful 00:32:46.319 --> 00:32:51.920 place. But it is in this letter that he starts 00:32:51.920 --> 00:32:55.339 writing about his ideas about origin. And you 00:32:55.339 --> 00:32:59.180 know, something funny happened because I was 00:32:59.180 --> 00:33:02.599 doing some of my research and reading this letter 00:33:02.599 --> 00:33:05.339 in a moment when I was sitting next to my wife 00:33:05.339 --> 00:33:08.740 and I'm using my phone to start reading the letter 00:33:08.740 --> 00:33:12.160 and she looks over and she says, What is that 00:33:12.160 --> 00:33:17.859 dear hooker? So I had a little bit of explanation 00:33:17.859 --> 00:33:24.099 to do. And because that's the last name. J .D. 00:33:24.119 --> 00:33:28.920 Hooker. And that was also an English lesson for 00:33:28.920 --> 00:33:32.680 me on that day. But this is what he writes to 00:33:32.680 --> 00:33:40.019 him. He says. As his friend. But if. and I know 00:33:40.019 --> 00:33:43.480 this is a big if, but what if we could conceive 00:33:43.480 --> 00:33:48.180 in some warm little pond with all sorts of ammonia 00:33:48.180 --> 00:33:53.599 and phosphoric salts, light, heat, electricity, 00:33:53.980 --> 00:33:59.180 et cetera, all these things present, that a protein 00:33:59.180 --> 00:34:05.099 compound was chemically formed, ready to undergo 00:34:05.099 --> 00:34:08.849 still more complex changes. At the present day, 00:34:08.869 --> 00:34:11.929 such matter would be instantly devoured, but 00:34:11.929 --> 00:34:16.349 at the beginning, right? Or absorbed, which would 00:34:16.349 --> 00:34:18.889 not have been the case before living creatures 00:34:18.889 --> 00:34:21.769 were formed. If that happened at the very beginning, 00:34:21.969 --> 00:34:25.230 a warm little pond somewhere, and all these things 00:34:25.230 --> 00:34:29.090 happening, maybe the first protein that became 00:34:29.090 --> 00:34:32.170 the first cell, just like that, by accident, 00:34:32.269 --> 00:34:38.030 maybe. And I know that's a big what if. And this 00:34:38.030 --> 00:34:41.469 is where that idea came from. And that reminded 00:34:41.469 --> 00:34:44.969 me of the book, the children's book that I told 00:34:44.969 --> 00:34:47.530 you about. Because that's how it starts at the 00:34:47.530 --> 00:34:49.090 beginning. Let me read it from the screen here 00:34:49.090 --> 00:34:51.070 because I cannot read it from there. But it says, 00:34:51.250 --> 00:34:54.510 then in the deep dark ocean, you are the kids 00:34:54.510 --> 00:34:59.809 now, okay? Then in the deep dark ocean, something 00:34:59.809 --> 00:35:05.590 amazing happened. In warm water, near underwater 00:35:05.590 --> 00:35:09.690 volcanoes called black smokers, some tiny, tiny 00:35:09.690 --> 00:35:17.829 floating bits came together. And these bits were 00:35:17.829 --> 00:35:20.829 so small that you couldn't possibly see them. 00:35:21.190 --> 00:35:24.429 They could have dropped from space or bubbled 00:35:24.429 --> 00:35:28.610 up from under the seabed, and they form the beginning 00:35:28.610 --> 00:35:36.760 of life on earth. That's how life started. Not 00:35:36.760 --> 00:35:39.260 because there's someone that is life in himself 00:35:39.260 --> 00:35:46.539 called Jesus. No. Just somewhere in the ocean, 00:35:46.679 --> 00:35:55.920 tiny things. And these tiny things, then the 00:35:55.920 --> 00:36:00.159 first life was just an incredibly small, shapeless 00:36:00.159 --> 00:36:04.769 blob. And we call that shapeless blob a cell. 00:36:07.949 --> 00:36:11.849 And as time passed, cells lived together making 00:36:11.849 --> 00:36:16.389 sticky, slimy mats that grew into mounds as big 00:36:16.389 --> 00:36:22.190 as pillows. Lots of cells together now. Some 00:36:22.190 --> 00:36:27.889 cells started using sunlight, water, and gas 00:36:27.889 --> 00:36:32.230 in the air to help them grow. Cells multiplied 00:36:32.230 --> 00:36:36.809 into billions. And so the seas clouded with lots 00:36:36.809 --> 00:36:42.250 of new kinds of life. Some cells puffed out an 00:36:42.250 --> 00:36:46.630 invisible gas called oxygen. And that's where 00:36:46.630 --> 00:36:51.269 oxygen comes from. Miraculously filling the air. 00:36:52.300 --> 00:36:54.820 which completely changed the air and even the 00:36:54.820 --> 00:36:57.460 color of the planet, and circling the globe, 00:36:57.539 --> 00:37:00.679 the oxygen turned black rock shades of yellow, 00:37:00.880 --> 00:37:08.139 red, and brown. Even so slowly, over millions 00:37:08.139 --> 00:37:13.599 of years, cells got more complicated, and they 00:37:13.599 --> 00:37:16.280 filled with special parts that helped them do 00:37:16.280 --> 00:37:20.059 new things. Some began to live together, even 00:37:20.059 --> 00:37:24.460 inside each other. As the air filled with oxygen, 00:37:24.739 --> 00:37:28.739 some cells began to use it to grow and grow. 00:37:29.440 --> 00:37:33.500 So this new gas changed living things forever. 00:37:34.440 --> 00:37:37.579 Cells grew into all kinds of weird and wonderful 00:37:37.579 --> 00:37:41.099 shapes and sizes. And some of these became the 00:37:41.099 --> 00:37:46.159 first animals alive on earth really began to 00:37:46.159 --> 00:37:49.219 get going. It just took a few million years to 00:37:49.219 --> 00:37:57.619 get to this point. I'm a theologian. I studied 00:37:57.619 --> 00:38:00.260 biology and chemistry in high school. That was 00:38:00.260 --> 00:38:05.400 my major. So I'm not really a scientist. So maybe 00:38:05.400 --> 00:38:09.639 there's something I don't understand. Maybe Darwin 00:38:09.639 --> 00:38:12.320 was right and this book is telling the truth. 00:38:14.500 --> 00:38:17.420 And I have to reinterpret it how I read John 00:38:17.420 --> 00:38:26.159 1 and Genesis. Or, It's something I do not know? 00:38:26.260 --> 00:38:30.699 What is it? I want to know truth. Well, so I 00:38:30.699 --> 00:38:39.920 remember that one of the most loud and vocal 00:38:39.920 --> 00:38:45.760 scientists who was promoting this worldview is 00:38:45.760 --> 00:38:50.039 Richard Dawkins. He wrote the book, The God Delusion. 00:38:53.550 --> 00:38:55.730 And actually he was interviewed in a documentary 00:38:55.730 --> 00:38:59.369 called Expelled, No Intelligence Allowed by a 00:38:59.369 --> 00:39:01.809 Jewish -American guy, famous, his name is Ben 00:39:01.809 --> 00:39:07.690 Stein. And he goes and he does this documentary 00:39:07.690 --> 00:39:10.949 to understand this idea of intelligent design 00:39:10.949 --> 00:39:14.050 and evolution and everything. So I went back 00:39:14.050 --> 00:39:17.989 to that documentary to maybe, maybe Dawkins could 00:39:17.989 --> 00:39:21.429 give me some insight on this. Because I want 00:39:21.429 --> 00:39:25.809 to know true. So listen to the interview with 00:39:25.809 --> 00:39:31.670 me for a second and see what we learn from the 00:39:31.670 --> 00:39:39.409 experts on this topic. Hello, Professor Dawkins. 00:39:39.469 --> 00:39:42.389 How are you? I'm Ben Stein. I'm just sorry to 00:39:42.389 --> 00:39:44.369 keep you waiting. How are you? Fine, thank you. 00:39:46.550 --> 00:39:51.469 You have written that God is a psychotic delinquent 00:39:51.469 --> 00:39:54.960 invented by mad, deluded people. No, I didn't 00:39:54.960 --> 00:39:57.139 say quite that. I said something rather better 00:39:57.139 --> 00:39:58.639 than that. Oh, well, please tell us what you 00:39:58.639 --> 00:40:00.900 said. Please tell us what you said. Well, I would 00:40:00.900 --> 00:40:04.260 have to read it from the book. No, please. The 00:40:04.260 --> 00:40:06.659 God of the Old Testament is arguably the most 00:40:06.659 --> 00:40:09.500 unpleasant character in all fiction. Jealous 00:40:09.500 --> 00:40:12.369 and proud of it. a petty, unjust, unforgiving 00:40:12.369 --> 00:40:15.449 control freak, a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic 00:40:15.449 --> 00:40:18.590 cleanser, a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, 00:40:18.750 --> 00:40:22.329 infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, 00:40:22.489 --> 00:40:25.909 megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously 00:40:25.909 --> 00:40:28.130 malevolent bully. So that's what you think of 00:40:28.130 --> 00:40:30.949 God? Yeah. How about if people believed in a 00:40:30.949 --> 00:40:34.650 God of infinite lovingness and kindness and forgiveness 00:40:34.650 --> 00:40:37.409 and generosity, sort of like the modern -day 00:40:37.409 --> 00:40:43.510 God? Why spoil it for them? Why not just let 00:40:43.510 --> 00:40:45.750 them have their fun and enjoy it? I mean, I don't 00:40:45.750 --> 00:40:48.050 want to spoil anything for anybody. I write a 00:40:48.050 --> 00:40:51.090 book. People can read it if they want to. I believe 00:40:51.090 --> 00:40:55.130 that it is a liberating thing to free yourself 00:40:55.130 --> 00:40:58.920 from primitive... So religion is a primitive 00:40:58.920 --> 00:41:02.099 superstition? Oh, I think it is, yes. So you 00:41:02.099 --> 00:41:05.079 believe it's liberating to tell people that there 00:41:05.079 --> 00:41:07.280 is no God? I think a lot of people, when they 00:41:07.280 --> 00:41:12.589 give up God, feel a great sense of release. And 00:41:12.589 --> 00:41:14.489 freedom. Why do you think that? I mean, what's 00:41:14.489 --> 00:41:16.090 your dad? What's your scientist? What's your 00:41:16.090 --> 00:41:18.690 dad? I think, well, I've had a lot of letters 00:41:18.690 --> 00:41:21.150 saying that. There are 8 billion people in the 00:41:21.150 --> 00:41:23.050 world, Dr. Dawkins. How many letters have you 00:41:23.050 --> 00:41:25.409 had? No, I haven't done that. That's quite true. 00:41:25.909 --> 00:41:28.809 Professor Dawkins seemed so convinced that God 00:41:28.809 --> 00:41:31.340 doesn't exist. that I wondered if you would be 00:41:31.340 --> 00:41:34.260 willing to put a number on it. Well, it's hard 00:41:34.260 --> 00:41:36.980 to put a figure on it, but I mean, I'd put it 00:41:36.980 --> 00:41:39.860 as something like, you know, 99 % against or 00:41:39.860 --> 00:41:41.900 something. Well, how do you know it's 99 %? I 00:41:41.900 --> 00:41:44.480 don't. You're saying not 97%. No, you asked me 00:41:44.480 --> 00:41:46.800 to put a figure on it, and I'm not comfortable 00:41:46.800 --> 00:41:49.780 putting a figure on it. I think it's, I just 00:41:49.780 --> 00:41:52.920 think it's very unlikely. What? But you couldn't 00:41:52.920 --> 00:41:54.960 put a number on it? No, of course not. So it 00:41:54.960 --> 00:41:58.460 could be 49%. Well, it would be, I mean, I think 00:41:58.460 --> 00:42:03.559 it's... It's unlikely, and it's quite far from 00:42:03.559 --> 00:42:06.820 50%. How do you know? I don't know. I mean, I 00:42:06.820 --> 00:42:09.699 put an argument in the book. Well, then who did 00:42:09.699 --> 00:42:11.519 create the heavens and the earth? Why do you 00:42:11.519 --> 00:42:13.639 use the word who? You see, you immediately beg 00:42:13.639 --> 00:42:15.880 the question by using the word who. Well, then 00:42:15.880 --> 00:42:21.280 how did it get created? Well, by a very slow 00:42:21.280 --> 00:42:24.000 process. Well, how did it start? Nobody knows 00:42:24.000 --> 00:42:26.840 how it started. We know the kind of event that 00:42:26.840 --> 00:42:28.559 it must have been. We know the sort of event 00:42:28.559 --> 00:42:30.800 that must have happened for the origin of life. 00:42:30.940 --> 00:42:33.280 What was that? It was the origin of the first 00:42:33.280 --> 00:42:36.820 self -replicating molecule. Right. How did that 00:42:36.820 --> 00:42:40.909 happen? I told you we don't know. So you have 00:42:40.909 --> 00:42:43.750 no idea how it started? No, no, nor has anybody. 00:42:43.869 --> 00:42:45.630 Nor has anyone else. What do you think is the 00:42:45.630 --> 00:42:49.030 possibility that intelligent design might turn 00:42:49.030 --> 00:42:52.449 out to be the answer to some issues in genetics 00:42:52.449 --> 00:42:56.510 or in evolution? It could come about in the following 00:42:56.510 --> 00:43:01.409 way. It could be that at some earlier time, somewhere 00:43:01.409 --> 00:43:06.590 in the universe, a civilization evolved by probably 00:43:06.590 --> 00:43:08.550 some kind of Darwinian means to a very, very 00:43:08.550 --> 00:43:12.329 high level of technology and designed a form 00:43:12.329 --> 00:43:15.710 of life that they seeded onto perhaps this planet. 00:43:16.510 --> 00:43:20.090 Now, that is a possibility and an intriguing 00:43:20.090 --> 00:43:23.070 possibility. And I suppose it's possible that 00:43:23.070 --> 00:43:24.909 you might find evidence for that if you look 00:43:24.909 --> 00:43:30.469 at the details of biochemistry, molecular biology, 00:43:30.510 --> 00:43:33.409 you might find a signature of some sort of designer. 00:43:34.199 --> 00:43:37.400 Wait a second. Richard Dawkins thought intelligent 00:43:37.400 --> 00:43:40.880 design might be a legitimate pursuit? And that 00:43:40.880 --> 00:43:43.699 designer could well be a higher intelligence 00:43:43.699 --> 00:43:47.760 from elsewhere in the universe. But that higher 00:43:47.760 --> 00:43:49.980 intelligence would itself have had to have come 00:43:49.980 --> 00:43:54.360 about by some explicable or ultimately explicable 00:43:54.360 --> 00:43:56.739 process. It couldn't have just jumped into existence 00:43:56.739 --> 00:43:59.760 spontaneously. That's the point. So Professor 00:43:59.760 --> 00:44:03.789 Dawkins was not against intelligent design. Just 00:44:03.789 --> 00:44:08.570 certain types of designers, such as God, said 00:44:08.570 --> 00:44:11.909 that they... I'm going to pause there. If you 00:44:11.909 --> 00:44:13.829 haven't watched the documentary, I highly encourage 00:44:13.829 --> 00:44:18.730 you to expel no intelligence allowed. But, okay, 00:44:18.789 --> 00:44:29.190 I get it then. So nobody knows? But maybe aliens 00:44:29.190 --> 00:44:38.360 planted the first... And on the other hand, I 00:44:38.360 --> 00:44:43.480 have God who says, I was there. I'm your savior. 00:44:43.559 --> 00:44:47.179 I created you. I was with God at the beginning. 00:44:51.059 --> 00:44:58.880 Which one? True or myth? You see, as we are walking 00:44:58.880 --> 00:45:00.840 in this journey of discerning things, we have 00:45:00.840 --> 00:45:03.900 to ask these questions. Because once you realize 00:45:03.900 --> 00:45:06.059 that it comes from a worldview, an assumption, 00:45:06.159 --> 00:45:09.980 that the God of the Bible is all these words 00:45:09.980 --> 00:45:16.820 that are so offensive, and yet, I know the truth, 00:45:17.000 --> 00:45:20.820 and I'm going to tell you. It makes me uneasy 00:45:20.820 --> 00:45:24.300 to try to take that worldview to start interpreting 00:45:24.300 --> 00:45:30.239 the Bible through those eyes. Beware of myths. 00:45:31.949 --> 00:45:36.409 There's one more section that it was part of 00:45:36.409 --> 00:45:39.989 the intriguing experience of being in England, 00:45:40.030 --> 00:45:43.250 which was going to the Museum of Natural History 00:45:43.250 --> 00:45:46.510 because we are there. And we're going to this 00:45:46.510 --> 00:45:50.369 area that there's a huge blue whale. You can 00:45:50.369 --> 00:45:54.309 see the skeleton. Huge room. As big as this room, 00:45:54.369 --> 00:45:58.369 perhaps. And you can see the skeleton and everything. 00:45:59.099 --> 00:46:02.539 And that's when soon you realize that the belief 00:46:02.539 --> 00:46:06.460 is that these whales actually evolved through 00:46:06.460 --> 00:46:09.239 millions of years from actually land animals, 00:46:09.519 --> 00:46:14.099 mammals. And where did the idea come from? Well, 00:46:14.159 --> 00:46:16.860 the idea comes from Darwin himself in his book 00:46:16.860 --> 00:46:20.639 on the origin of species. He had a friend that 00:46:20.639 --> 00:46:24.699 was describing how he saw a bear swimming with 00:46:24.699 --> 00:46:30.400 the mouth open trying to eat insects. And so 00:46:30.400 --> 00:46:32.320 he starts thinking, you know, millions of years, 00:46:32.360 --> 00:46:35.920 low process, natural selection, mutations, all 00:46:35.920 --> 00:46:39.360 this stuff. And he says, I can see no difficulty 00:46:39.360 --> 00:46:43.900 in a race of bears being rendered by natural 00:46:43.900 --> 00:46:47.579 selection more and more aquatic in their structure 00:46:47.579 --> 00:46:53.619 and habits. With larger and larger mouths, till 00:46:53.619 --> 00:46:56.960 a creature was produced as monstrous as a whale. 00:46:58.670 --> 00:47:01.829 So he starts imagining, maybe whales evolved 00:47:01.829 --> 00:47:07.349 from bears. Because I can see the bears swimming, 00:47:07.429 --> 00:47:10.389 so maybe after millions of years, develop a little 00:47:10.389 --> 00:47:12.269 bit something more, then a little something more, 00:47:12.309 --> 00:47:14.309 and a little something more, until it became 00:47:14.309 --> 00:47:17.869 that. And that is something that he was ridiculed 00:47:17.869 --> 00:47:22.690 at the beginning in the first edition of his 00:47:22.690 --> 00:47:24.650 book, so he removed that completely from the 00:47:24.650 --> 00:47:28.570 second edition of the book. But that took off, 00:47:28.670 --> 00:47:32.190 and that's why they show in museums today that 00:47:32.190 --> 00:47:37.389 whales evolved from these animals. And actually, 00:47:37.510 --> 00:47:41.690 it's a specific kind of dog type of animal that 00:47:41.690 --> 00:47:45.289 they say. So among all of these supposed transition 00:47:45.289 --> 00:47:48.090 forms, there's one particular one that is very 00:47:48.090 --> 00:47:51.769 interesting. It's called the Rhodocytus. And 00:47:51.769 --> 00:47:54.369 the Rhodocytus is the first one that's supposed 00:47:54.369 --> 00:47:56.889 to be the link between the... a land animal, 00:47:57.010 --> 00:48:01.909 and the tail of the whale because it's the first 00:48:01.909 --> 00:48:08.590 one that developed a tail. But I discovered something 00:48:08.590 --> 00:48:13.030 that is like, it leaves you speechless. This 00:48:13.030 --> 00:48:16.690 is a short video. It's an interview with a guy 00:48:16.690 --> 00:48:22.130 who actually discovered this fossil and presented 00:48:22.130 --> 00:48:26.800 it and published it. And look at what he says. 00:48:28.480 --> 00:48:32.260 Modern whale -type structures in Rhodocetus. 00:48:32.500 --> 00:48:36.679 There are not many modifications from Rhodocetus 00:48:36.679 --> 00:48:39.199 to the modern whale other than changes in size 00:48:39.199 --> 00:48:43.059 of the structures. When this video series was 00:48:43.059 --> 00:48:45.320 being filmed on location at the University of 00:48:45.320 --> 00:48:48.500 Michigan in Ann Arbor, the executive producer 00:48:48.500 --> 00:48:50.980 noticed a discrepancy between museum drawings 00:48:50.980 --> 00:48:54.619 of Rhodocetus and the fossils. The reconstruction 00:48:54.619 --> 00:48:58.340 of Rhodocetus had a whale fluke, but there were 00:48:58.340 --> 00:49:02.619 no fossils of the tail to confirm this. Dr. Phil 00:49:02.619 --> 00:49:05.340 Gingrich, the scientist responsible for the discovery 00:49:05.340 --> 00:49:08.219 and reconstruction of Rhodocetus, was questioned 00:49:08.219 --> 00:49:11.119 how he knew there was a whale fluke on Rhodocetus, 00:49:11.159 --> 00:49:14.019 since that part of the fossil was missing. What 00:49:14.019 --> 00:49:18.699 was the reasoning that the scientists think there 00:49:18.699 --> 00:49:24.800 was a fluke on Rhodocetus? based on the other 00:49:24.800 --> 00:49:29.159 pieces of anatomy? Well, I told you we don't 00:49:29.159 --> 00:49:32.199 have the tail in Rhodocetus, so we don't know 00:49:32.199 --> 00:49:34.599 for sure whether it had a ball vertebra indicating 00:49:34.599 --> 00:49:37.639 a fluke or not. So I speculated it might have 00:49:37.639 --> 00:49:42.340 had a fluke. Scientist Gingrich also acknowledged 00:49:42.340 --> 00:49:44.739 that the flippers were drawn on the diagram without 00:49:44.739 --> 00:49:48.619 these fossils. Now, he does not believe this 00:49:48.619 --> 00:49:52.630 animal had flippers. Again, his answer was surprising, 00:49:52.710 --> 00:49:55.969 since the museum diagrams had flippers on Rhodocetus. 00:49:56.250 --> 00:50:00.289 Now, since then, we've found the forelimbs, the 00:50:00.289 --> 00:50:03.550 hands, and the front arm, the arms, in other 00:50:03.550 --> 00:50:07.590 words, of Rhodocetus. And we understand that 00:50:07.590 --> 00:50:10.909 it doesn't have the kind of arms that can be 00:50:10.909 --> 00:50:14.130 spread out like flippers are on a whale. And 00:50:14.130 --> 00:50:16.409 if you don't have flippers, I don't think you 00:50:16.409 --> 00:50:18.730 can have a fluke tail and really powered swimming. 00:50:19.389 --> 00:50:22.269 And so I now doubt that Rhodocetus would have 00:50:22.269 --> 00:50:26.030 had a flint tail. Many experts consider whales 00:50:26.030 --> 00:50:28.210 to be the best fossil evidence for evolution, 00:50:28.489 --> 00:50:32.190 but are unaware of these discrepancies. Opponents 00:50:32.190 --> 00:50:34.929 of evolution contend that whale evolution is 00:50:34.929 --> 00:50:38.210 nothing more than hopeful supposition. If museum 00:50:38.210 --> 00:50:40.730 diagrams are redrawn and corrected for various 00:50:40.730 --> 00:50:44.170 discrepancies, opponents argue that whale evolution 00:50:44.170 --> 00:50:50.750 is non -existent. So you made up the tale because 00:50:50.750 --> 00:50:52.489 you assumed it had to be there even though it 00:50:52.489 --> 00:50:57.269 wasn't? Yeah. And then you forgot to tell the 00:50:57.269 --> 00:51:06.829 museum? They will accumulate teachers to tell 00:51:06.829 --> 00:51:11.230 them exactly what they want to hear. That is 00:51:11.230 --> 00:51:14.869 a sign of myth that the Apostle Paul wrote about. 00:51:18.090 --> 00:51:21.469 I'm not trying to persuade you because I know 00:51:21.469 --> 00:51:23.889 that within Christian circles there are so many 00:51:23.889 --> 00:51:26.829 different views on these things. But what I'm 00:51:26.829 --> 00:51:30.570 trying to do is to remind you of the warning 00:51:30.570 --> 00:51:34.809 that the Apostle Paul gave us. There's going 00:51:34.809 --> 00:51:37.849 to be myths that are going to replace truth. 00:51:38.800 --> 00:51:41.880 And when a scientist comes to her career and 00:51:41.880 --> 00:51:44.659 she has to take a walk because she has to feel 00:51:44.659 --> 00:51:47.940 that now I have to choose between religion or 00:51:47.940 --> 00:51:53.000 science, they cannot go together. That is the 00:51:53.000 --> 00:51:57.099 crisis that the myth has created. Because science, 00:51:57.219 --> 00:52:01.800 from its inception, was compatible with Christian 00:52:01.800 --> 00:52:04.860 worldview. It was not incompatible, but it has 00:52:04.860 --> 00:52:11.250 become because of some of these ideologies. So 00:52:11.250 --> 00:52:15.170 a person can feel very alone in this journey 00:52:15.170 --> 00:52:17.989 because whether the person is a scientist, like 00:52:17.989 --> 00:52:20.769 many of them have started questioning some of 00:52:20.769 --> 00:52:22.710 these assumptions of materialism that they grew 00:52:22.710 --> 00:52:25.510 up with or went to college and learned from, 00:52:25.710 --> 00:52:30.130 the experience can be very lonely because am 00:52:30.130 --> 00:52:33.110 I the only one that is doubting these things? 00:52:33.250 --> 00:52:35.289 Am I the only one that is struggling with these 00:52:35.289 --> 00:52:40.250 things? What about dissent? And what I have discovered 00:52:40.250 --> 00:52:45.070 is that there's a whole growing sector of scientists 00:52:45.070 --> 00:52:49.909 that have walked away from this ideology, Darwinian 00:52:49.909 --> 00:52:53.409 evolution, as an explanation of the origin of 00:52:53.409 --> 00:52:56.610 species. Some of them, not all of them, but some 00:52:56.610 --> 00:52:58.929 of them have become Christians, Bible -believing. 00:52:59.429 --> 00:53:06.869 Others have just become open agnostics. There's 00:53:06.869 --> 00:53:10.530 a whole growing group of scientists that are 00:53:10.530 --> 00:53:14.329 saying this does not match what we know to be 00:53:14.329 --> 00:53:17.070 true today from the science that we have today. 00:53:17.389 --> 00:53:19.949 And it's important that we know that. I'm not 00:53:19.949 --> 00:53:22.469 going to spend much time on this, but I want 00:53:22.469 --> 00:53:24.829 to mention it to you in case you are in that 00:53:24.829 --> 00:53:26.550 journey in which you want to learn more about 00:53:26.550 --> 00:53:30.949 these things. One of them is the book Darwin's 00:53:30.949 --> 00:53:33.809 Black Box, because that was the first attempt. 00:53:34.480 --> 00:53:37.719 That was clearly mentioned from Michael Behe. 00:53:38.300 --> 00:53:41.460 He's a scientist who talked about, look, the 00:53:41.460 --> 00:53:44.659 cell is a very complicated thing. And you have 00:53:44.659 --> 00:53:47.000 all these machines that are irreducible complexity. 00:53:47.139 --> 00:53:50.179 There's no way that they can be explained by 00:53:50.179 --> 00:53:53.219 natural processes that are completely random. 00:53:54.119 --> 00:53:56.780 There are machines at the cellular level. He 00:53:56.780 --> 00:54:00.579 has videos on YouTube called The Secrets of the 00:54:00.579 --> 00:54:02.980 Cell. Amazing videos. You can watch them with 00:54:02.980 --> 00:54:06.110 your kids. to really teach you about what the 00:54:06.110 --> 00:54:09.050 cell really is like and why people that are non 00:54:09.050 --> 00:54:10.989 -Christians talk about intelligent design because 00:54:10.989 --> 00:54:12.849 the idea of intelligence behind these designs 00:54:12.849 --> 00:54:18.369 is so loud. Also, there's Stephen Mayer. He's 00:54:18.369 --> 00:54:22.920 a very intellectual... guy that writes about 00:54:22.920 --> 00:54:25.119 these topics on intelligent design. He has written 00:54:25.119 --> 00:54:27.599 some very good books. If you are more like the 00:54:27.599 --> 00:54:30.780 intellectual type, I would highly recommend reading 00:54:30.780 --> 00:54:33.059 these books. They are not religious. They are 00:54:33.059 --> 00:54:37.239 purely scientist books. And he mentions the issues 00:54:37.239 --> 00:54:40.699 that now Darwinian evolution is facing and materialistic 00:54:40.699 --> 00:54:43.500 worldview is facing because there is a beginning. 00:54:43.539 --> 00:54:46.900 Now we know the universe is not eternal. The 00:54:46.900 --> 00:54:49.559 universe is finely tuned. There's biological 00:54:49.559 --> 00:54:52.260 information that precedes formation. So a cell 00:54:52.260 --> 00:54:55.039 being born out of electricity and smoke and all 00:54:55.039 --> 00:54:57.260 of these different things just doesn't fly. It 00:54:57.260 --> 00:54:59.840 doesn't happen that way. Information precedes 00:54:59.840 --> 00:55:02.849 formation. Also, he talks about the Cambrian 00:55:02.849 --> 00:55:07.010 explosion, how life appears in the geology all 00:55:07.010 --> 00:55:11.670 at once, not slowly through processes. And there's 00:55:11.670 --> 00:55:14.750 life fossils that have complex life in them. 00:55:15.090 --> 00:55:18.429 The eye appears immediately from early forms. 00:55:18.710 --> 00:55:21.090 How do you explain those things unless there's 00:55:21.090 --> 00:55:24.949 a designer? Today, we have the problem of dinosaur 00:55:24.949 --> 00:55:28.360 bones that have tissue and cells in them. which 00:55:28.360 --> 00:55:30.360 defies the idea that dinosaurs were actually 00:55:30.360 --> 00:55:33.780 millions of years old. Today we understand that 00:55:33.780 --> 00:55:36.440 mutations do not create new information, they 00:55:36.440 --> 00:55:39.699 destroy information. And we understand also that 00:55:39.699 --> 00:55:43.739 the changes of mechanisms that happen of creatures 00:55:43.739 --> 00:55:46.280 adapting to the environment is not because of 00:55:46.280 --> 00:55:48.579 the environment per se, but it's written in their 00:55:48.579 --> 00:55:52.179 DNA. The DNA has already built in the instructions 00:55:52.179 --> 00:55:55.179 to turn on and turn off different features depending 00:55:55.179 --> 00:55:59.900 on the environment. So a dog or a bear does not 00:55:59.900 --> 00:56:06.320 become a whale. It's written in their DNA. These 00:56:06.320 --> 00:56:08.760 are things that scientists are writing seriously 00:56:08.760 --> 00:56:11.860 about today. There's these great documentaries, 00:56:12.039 --> 00:56:16.960 universe design, produced by a former atheist 00:56:16.960 --> 00:56:19.559 that became a Christian. He was a filmmaker, 00:56:19.739 --> 00:56:22.179 and he realized people need to know these things, 00:56:22.179 --> 00:56:24.829 so he created this documentary. If you were to 00:56:24.829 --> 00:56:26.750 watch only one documentary, I would go to that 00:56:26.750 --> 00:56:28.670 one. But you have to pay for it because it's 00:56:28.670 --> 00:56:31.670 not for free right now. Darwin, The Voyage That 00:56:31.670 --> 00:56:33.510 Changed the World is an amazing documentary. 00:56:33.590 --> 00:56:36.530 It talks about actually what Darwin actually 00:56:36.530 --> 00:56:39.469 experienced on his trip. And then Evolution's 00:56:39.469 --> 00:56:43.409 Achilles Heel is a group of scientists that come 00:56:43.409 --> 00:56:45.329 and tell you the summary of what are the issues 00:56:45.329 --> 00:56:49.210 that scientists are experiencing today that defy 00:56:49.210 --> 00:56:52.389 the idea of evolution. And finally, there are 00:56:52.389 --> 00:56:55.329 ministries that have become established by groups 00:56:55.329 --> 00:56:57.809 of scientists from lots of different fields. 00:56:57.989 --> 00:57:00.389 One of them is the Institute of Christian Research, 00:57:00.570 --> 00:57:05.809 which is established in Dallas. They're a growing 00:57:05.809 --> 00:57:11.369 ministry. And also the ICM, the CMI Creation 00:57:11.369 --> 00:57:13.610 Ministry International, which is an international 00:57:13.610 --> 00:57:16.590 organization with scientists. They have websites, 00:57:16.789 --> 00:57:19.550 they have documentaries, they have articles written 00:57:19.550 --> 00:57:23.510 by scientists who do not believe what Darwin 00:57:23.510 --> 00:57:27.730 said, but do believe what the Bible says. It's 00:57:27.730 --> 00:57:29.469 amazing to see that there are serious scientists 00:57:29.469 --> 00:57:33.789 writing all of these things today. Beware of 00:57:33.789 --> 00:57:37.309 myths. And if you have not taken time to reason 00:57:37.309 --> 00:57:39.809 through these things, I'm here to simply invite 00:57:39.809 --> 00:57:43.070 you into that journey. Wrestle with these things. 00:57:44.980 --> 00:57:50.000 Because whatever happens, do not let myths take 00:57:50.000 --> 00:57:52.360 you away from the faith. You don't have to choose 00:57:52.360 --> 00:57:57.480 between God and science. Science will point you 00:57:57.480 --> 00:58:03.320 to God. So your journey is going to take you 00:58:03.320 --> 00:58:05.380 through different phases. Maybe you're ignorant. 00:58:05.460 --> 00:58:07.340 You don't understand these things. They don't 00:58:07.340 --> 00:58:10.079 matter to you. Fine. Maybe you're feeling the 00:58:10.079 --> 00:58:12.619 pressure of people. Everybody believes it and 00:58:12.619 --> 00:58:15.380 you feel the pressure to conform. Or it sounds 00:58:15.380 --> 00:58:19.099 so convincing that you are accepting things that 00:58:19.099 --> 00:58:22.820 you wouldn't have accepted before. Or you feel 00:58:22.820 --> 00:58:24.880 isolated because you're the only one that believes 00:58:24.880 --> 00:58:28.219 differently. Or you are in the science field, 00:58:28.280 --> 00:58:31.280 your career, and you feel that it can cost you 00:58:31.280 --> 00:58:34.659 your reputation or your career. No matter where 00:58:34.659 --> 00:58:39.500 you are in your journey, beware of myths. Do 00:58:39.500 --> 00:58:42.719 not let false teaching, as popular as they may 00:58:42.719 --> 00:58:51.480 be, to deceive you. The flea is not deaf. There's 00:58:51.480 --> 00:58:53.659 a different interpretation that is most likely 00:58:53.659 --> 00:59:02.880 to be the truth. Lord, lead us into truth. Lead 00:59:02.880 --> 00:59:08.840 our children into truth. Help us engage with 00:59:08.840 --> 00:59:12.989 things that point us to you. And if anyone is 00:59:12.989 --> 00:59:17.630 in wrestling, Holy Spirit, would you lead that 00:59:17.630 --> 00:59:22.230 person into all truth? We are here for you, Lord. 00:59:22.969 --> 00:59:26.989 And we hear the warning. We listen to it. We 00:59:26.989 --> 00:59:29.449 don't want to be ignorant. We don't want to be 00:59:29.449 --> 00:59:33.690 dogmatic. We do want to study and learn and know 00:59:33.690 --> 00:59:38.949 that what you say is true. In Jesus' name we 00:59:38.949 --> 01:00:04.769 pray. Amen. If God is calling you to support 01:00:04.769 --> 01:00:07.329 our ministries, you will find giving options 01:00:07.329 --> 01:00:11.190 on our website. And remember to join us next 01:00:11.190 --> 01:00:12.869 week. God bless you.