Kirk Cameron is joined by apologist Greg Koukl clarifying and defending what Christianity is – an accurate description of reality from the beginning of time through its end.
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Takeaways with Kirk Cameron | Greg Koukl: Explaining the Christian Worldview | Takeaways with Kirk Cameron | November 10, 2025
- Kirk: a lot of stories start with once upon a time, and
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- Usually end with and they lived happily ever after.
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- One very popular movie saga back in the '70s started its story
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- With an opening line that said a long, long time ago in a galaxy
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- Far away.
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- But this story that we're gonna talk about today starts with in
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- The beginning, god created.
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- And it's a story that can change your life.
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- We're gonna talk more about this with our guest greg koukl on the
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- Greatest story ever told.
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- Greg koukl: when i asked the question early on, what
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- Is christianity?
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- Well, you might say it's a religion or a way of living your
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- Life, et cetera, et cetera.
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- I said but at the core of it, christianity is a picture
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- Of reality.
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- Kirk: so don't miss it right now on "takeaways."
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- [music]
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- Kirk: i'm so excited to have back with us my friend and
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- Bestselling author and speaker greg koukl.
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- He's hosted his own radio talk show for over 30 years, and he's
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- An adjunct professor in christian apologetics at
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- Biola university.
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- He's written many, many books over the years, including the
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- One we're gonna discuss today.
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- It's called "the story of reality: how the world began,
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- How it ends, and everything important that happens
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- In between."
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- Greg, thanks so much for coming back.
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- Greg: kirk, yes, it's a pleasure.
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- Kirk: you're really one of my favorite guests and friends,
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- Because you're just-- first of all, you're the real deal.
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- You're not one of these fake, phony christians, and i just
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- Love the way we can dive into difficult and important subjects
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- With such calm and clarity.
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- It helps me better know what i believe and why i believe it.
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- Greg: that's great, i'm glad to hear kirk: that.
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- Well, you've got this book, "the story of reality," and i thought
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- To myself, what what's the big idea writing a book like this?
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- But that was actually it.
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- It's the big idea of what we believe that makes all the
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- Little devotional verses make sense.
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- Greg: yeah, you know, i think of it like a puzzle, and you-- if
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- You have a puzzle, you want to put a puzzle together, you gotta
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- Have all the right pieces, right?
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- And the way the puzzle looks for many christians, as the puzzle
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- Is dumped on the floor, and if it's dumped on the floor, and
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- You never put the pieces together, first of all you don't
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- Know if you have all the right pieces for the big picture.
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- You may have pieces from other people's puzzle in there, too,
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- You know?
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- And you may not realize that.
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- I've actually talked to people who said they're christian but
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- They believe in reincarnation, and they don't realize that that
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- Puzzle piece is part of a different puzzle.
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- Kirk: that's not a christian puzzle.
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- Greg: it's kind of like trying to put a carburetor on
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- A computer.
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- You know, it doesn't work for us, and so by putting together
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- The story of reality, i was trying to give the big picture
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- From the beginning to the end, how the world began, how it
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- Ends, and everything important that happens in between so that
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- People would get that big picture and never get lost to
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- The pieces again.
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- Kirk: that's so important.
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- I've tried to put puzzles together without looking at the
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- Box cover, and it feels impossible.
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- But once i see the picture, i say, oh, okay, i get it.
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- All the red is gonna go around the outside, and the straight
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- Edges are over here, and i know what i'm trying to put together.
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- And when it comes to christian worldview, how does the creation
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- Of the world, the new creation in christ, how does the
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- Resurrection and the virgin birth and sin and the devil in
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- Hell and heaven all fit together?
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- And this is what your book is about.
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- And greg, let me ask you this.
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- You organize the book around five words, god, man, jesus, the
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- Cross, and the resurrection.
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- Why did you do that?
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- Greg: well, initially the whole project started because i felt
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- That christians did not have a solid grasp of the big picture,
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- Major areas of theology that hold it together.
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- It isn't just academics, kirk, it's knowledge of god and his
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- Purposes and his plan, and you can't organize your life well as
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- A follower of christ unless you really have a robust
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- Understanding of that.
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- When i say robust, you don't have to be a theologian, you
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- Just have to see how it fits together.
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- And so i started many, many years with this particular
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- Project, trying to find what might be called the sine qua
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- Nons, the absolute necessary parts of christianity, and i
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- Started with god, because that's like the beginning, in the
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- Beginning god, and then i moved from there, the major themes,
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- God, man, jesus, cross, resurrection.
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- And by going through each of those things, i could give some
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- Very, very fundamental notions of what the scripture teaches
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- About those areas and not just as isolated theological
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- Principles, but as they were interconnected.
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- If you think about that order, that's also the order of the
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- Story, it's the backbone of the plot line, that's why it's
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- Called the story of reality.
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- There's a narrative here, there's an account of god
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- Working in history in a very particular way.
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- And this is what lent itself to kind of a narrative style which
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- Is much more relaxed for me to write and much more easy for
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- People to read.
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- Those five things represent that backbone of the the plot line
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- And also the major points of the story.
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- Kirk: and you titled it "the story of reality."
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- I think that's significant, too, because in a way you've helped
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- Us to see our faith is not just a set of beliefs and
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- Convictions, but the fact that we are part of a grand
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- Narrative, and it's going somewhere.
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- Talk about that.
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- Greg: i'm so glad you brought that up, kirk, because there are
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- Too many christians, and it's just absorbing these ideas from
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- Our culture who, for lack of a better word, relativize their
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- Own convictions.
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- In other words, i believe in jesus, he's my faith, but he
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- Doesn't necessarily have to be yours.
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- You have your truth, i have mine.
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- Most of the viewers are probably not thinking this way directly,
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- But a lot of times this creeps into their view and
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- Their approach.
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- And so when i asked the question early on, what is christianity?
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- You might say it's a religion or a way of living your life, et
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- Cetera, et cetera.
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- I said, but at the core of it, christianity is a picture
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- Of reality.
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- It's an account of the way things actually are.
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- The events in the story really happened or are going to happen,
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- The people really lived, and so we have an accounting of reality
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- Here and not just a once upon the time kind of story of
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- Mythology or something.
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- Because that doesn't explain anything, you know?
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- But if god is reaching down to help us to understand him and
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- Ourselves and what went wrong and how it gets fixed, that's
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- The story, what went wrong and how it gets fixed, then if it
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- Doesn't tie to reality, then it's just a story.
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- It just might make us feel good.
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- And the key here is i help people to understand exactly
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- What i mean when i say i mean that the story is true in the
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- Way that gravity is true.
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- If you didn't believe in gravity, you're not gonna float
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- Away, you know?
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- And then the same way, if you don't believe in god or jesus or
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- Any of the details there, if they are true in that sense,
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- They're still gonna be true whether you believe in them or
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- Not, exactly.
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- Kirk: how does christianity uniquely explain the world
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- Compared to other worldviews and philosophies such as hinduism,
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- Buddhism, atheism, materialism?
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- Greg: yeah, when my daughter, annabeth, who you know, was
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- About six or seven years old, she said, "papa, how do we know
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- That god is true?"
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- Is the way she put it.
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- She's asking for reasons now about the convictions that we've
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- Been training her with.
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- And i paused for a moment thinking how i had answer that
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- To my six or seven year old at the time, and finally it just
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- Came to me, this phrase, the reason that we believe god is
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- True is because he's the best explanation for the way
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- Things are.
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- Let me run that by again, because it's really important,
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- And it goes to the heart of your question.
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- The reason that we believe god is true is because he's the best
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- Explanation for the way things are.
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- So we're talking about reality.
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- When we look at reality, we look at the nature of the world and
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- Not just the physical world, but the things that we reflect on
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- That are not physical, the issues of meaning and purpose
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- And morality, rights and love, all those other things.
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- We realize that the world is a certain way.
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- Now the question is which take on reality best explains the way
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- The world really is.
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- When you take buddhism or hinduism or atheism, for
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- Example, or any of the other -isms, it turns out none of them
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- Capture reality and explaining it as a worldview the way
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- Christianity does.
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- Another way i put it is our convictions about god and christ
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- And morality and meaning and all the other things resonate with
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- The deepest intuitions in our heart.
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- They fit the physical world, we see the origin of the universe,
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- We see the design in the world, but god's fingerprints
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- Are everywhere.
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- But on a more existential level, on the inside, all the things
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- That we struggle with that are really, really important, this
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- Makes sense of those as well.
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- Kirk: "the story of reality" touches on one of the biggest
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- Problems that anybody has in trying to explain the way the
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- World is, and that is we know something's broken, something's
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- Wrong, and the question why does god let evil things happen in
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- The world?
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- When we see people dying, children dying, people getting
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- Captured or tortured or trafficked things like this, and
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- I know that you've answered this question many times, but what
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- Was interesting to me is to discover that the atheist has a
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- Real problem with that question too.
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- He likes to say, well, you christians think this god is all
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- Loving and powerful and knowing, and so then why does he let
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- These bad things happen?
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- Well, the question that the atheist must answer is the same,
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- Is that why do you even have a problem with people getting
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- Kidnapped and tortured when you don't believe that there is a
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- Moral standard that says that that's even a bad thing?
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- So he can't answer it at all.
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- Greg: on his worldview he can't do anything with that, because
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- There's no place to go.
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- Kirk: how does "the story of reality" answer the question?
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- Greg: okay, i'm glad you brought this up, because it's such an
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- Integral part of the story.
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- When you think about it, the problem of evil is not a
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- Christian problem, it's not a theist problem, it's a
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- Human problem.
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- And every single-- and this is what you're getting at-- every
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- Single philosophy or religion has to deal with one of the most
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- Salient details of the world, something's wrong with
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- The world.
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- It doesn't matter where you live or when you live, everyone knows
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- The world is broken, okay?
- 00:10:25.915 --> 00:10:27.817
- Now, what's interesting about the story of reality, and i'm
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- Not referring to the book here, though i'm pointing, i'm talking
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- About the story of reality, which is captured in the book,
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- Is that evil is part of our story.
- 00:10:38.060 --> 00:10:43.165
- In fact, our whole story is about the problem of evil.
- 00:10:43.165 --> 00:10:45.534
- It starts in the third chapter, it doesn't end for 66 books,
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- You know?
- 00:10:48.938 --> 00:10:50.272
- If there were no problem of evil, there would be no story.
- 00:10:50.272 --> 00:10:53.409
- So what we're doing, what the christian account of reality
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- Does is it takes reality seriously.
- 00:10:56.879 --> 00:10:59.882
- It can not only explain why there's evil in the world,
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- Because there's a true moral standard that's been broken, and
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- We're responsible for that and that god is involved in fixing
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- That by fixing us first and then fixing the rest of the world,
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- And that takes us to the end of the story.
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- Greg: and so the story of reality as given to us in the
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- Bible in the form of the christian worldview does not
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- Ignore suffering and evil, it actually accounts for it and
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- Solves the problem.
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- I can't wait to get into this in more detail when we come back,
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- Because we're gonna talk with greg about one of the greatest
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- Lines in the bible and what it means for us today,
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- So stay with us.
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- [music]
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- [music]
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- [music]
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- Kirk: welcome back.
- 00:11:52.536 --> 00:11:53.904
- We're talking about "the story of reality," a book written by
- 00:11:53.904 --> 00:11:56.406
- Bestselling author greg koukl.
- 00:11:56.406 --> 00:11:58.542
- Greg, we're talking about the problem of evil and how god's
- 00:11:58.542 --> 00:12:01.845
- Story in the bible really does explain it the best of any
- 00:12:01.845 --> 00:12:06.616
- Other worldview.
- 00:12:06.616 --> 00:12:08.318
- It accounts for evil, it solves the problem of evil through
- 00:12:08.318 --> 00:12:11.388
- Jesus christ and the resurrection.
- 00:12:11.388 --> 00:12:14.591
- It's interesting you also say in the book that the second best
- 00:12:14.591 --> 00:12:17.661
- Line in the whole book may be, "in the beginning, god created
- 00:12:17.661 --> 00:12:21.598
- The heavens and the earth."
- 00:12:21.598 --> 00:12:22.933
- I don't know about that, but what do you think is the first
- 00:12:22.933 --> 00:12:25.302
- Best line?
- 00:12:25.302 --> 00:12:26.670
- Greg: well, it actually comes later out of the story in john
- 00:12:26.670 --> 00:12:29.272
- Chapter 1, and it's verse 14.
- 00:12:29.272 --> 00:12:33.143
- It says, "the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we
- 00:12:33.143 --> 00:12:37.948
- Beheld his glory as of the only begotten of the father."
- 00:12:37.948 --> 00:12:40.884
- Now, just to put these together, the story starts, "in the
- 00:12:40.884 --> 00:12:44.321
- Beginning, god created heavens and the earth."
- 00:12:44.321 --> 00:12:48.625
- Jesus's story starts "in the beginning was the word, and the
- 00:12:48.625 --> 00:12:52.395
- Word was with god, and the word was god.
- 00:12:52.395 --> 00:12:54.164
- All things came into being through him, and apart from him,
- 00:12:54.164 --> 00:12:57.367
- Nothing came into being that has come into being."
- 00:12:57.367 --> 00:12:59.703
- So what this does is it takes jesus's story, and it lays it
- 00:12:59.703 --> 00:13:03.106
- Over the beginning of the story.
- 00:13:03.106 --> 00:13:04.841
- What it's saying is that the person being characterized as
- 00:13:04.841 --> 00:13:07.844
- The word is the very same one that started the whole story,
- 00:13:07.844 --> 00:13:12.349
- And the sublime element here is that same one who made
- 00:13:12.349 --> 00:13:16.219
- Everything came down, he got small, emmanuel, god with us.
- 00:13:16.219 --> 00:13:22.626
- The word became flesh, and to me, the first one is
- 00:13:22.626 --> 00:13:26.162
- Awesome, right?
- 00:13:26.162 --> 00:13:27.497
- Genesis 1:1.
- 00:13:27.497 --> 00:13:28.865
- Oh, wow, pow, god makes everything, but the second one
- 00:13:28.865 --> 00:13:33.503
- Is sublime, because it takes humility, it takes humility
- 00:13:33.503 --> 00:13:38.642
- To step down from heaven and dwell among us.
- 00:13:38.642 --> 00:13:41.645
- And that's exactly the way paul describes it in philippians
- 00:13:41.645 --> 00:13:44.948
- Chapter 2, you know?
- 00:13:44.948 --> 00:13:46.316
- The way he didn't regard equality with god a thing to be
- 00:13:46.316 --> 00:13:48.985
- Held on to, but he let go of the privileges and came down to be
- 00:13:48.985 --> 00:13:53.590
- With us to save us.
- 00:13:53.590 --> 00:13:55.191
- Kirk: in your book, you're starting at the beginning, "in
- 00:13:55.191 --> 00:13:57.961
- The beginning, god made the heavens and the earth," what
- 00:13:57.961 --> 00:14:01.564
- Connections do you see between the scientific theories about
- 00:14:01.564 --> 00:14:06.636
- The origins of the universe and the biblical account of how it
- 00:14:06.636 --> 00:14:10.941
- All began?
- 00:14:10.941 --> 00:14:12.275
- Greg: well, i think it's kind of remarkable that the scientific
- 00:14:12.275 --> 00:14:16.813
- Community believes exactly the same thing as we believe in a
- 00:14:16.813 --> 00:14:21.284
- Certain sense, because the story starts in the beginning,
- 00:14:21.284 --> 00:14:25.922
- God created.
- 00:14:25.922 --> 00:14:27.257
- In other words, there was nothing in the physical realm,
- 00:14:27.257 --> 00:14:29.392
- The cosmos didn't exist, and then if you pardon the term
- 00:14:29.392 --> 00:14:33.897
- Bang, there it was.
- 00:14:33.897 --> 00:14:36.466
- Now, i joke a little bit about that because i think there are
- 00:14:36.466 --> 00:14:39.169
- Christians understandably that are uncomfortable with the big
- 00:14:39.169 --> 00:14:42.105
- Bang, fine, but what they don't always realize is that the
- 00:14:42.105 --> 00:14:46.209
- Scientific characterization of the big bang matches at least in
- 00:14:46.209 --> 00:14:52.115
- The type of event what genesis 1:1.
- 00:14:52.115 --> 00:14:55.552
- We both believe that the physical universe had an
- 00:14:55.552 --> 00:14:58.989
- Absolute beginning.
- 00:14:58.989 --> 00:15:00.323
- Kirk: out of nothing.
- 00:15:00.323 --> 00:15:01.658
- Greg: out of nothing, it has an age, in other words.
- 00:15:01.658 --> 00:15:04.194
- How old it is is a matter of debate, but i want people to
- 00:15:04.194 --> 00:15:07.063
- Overlook that for the moment, because the important thing is
- 00:15:07.063 --> 00:15:09.332
- That the scientific community and the christian community
- 00:15:09.332 --> 00:15:12.068
- Believe the same thing.
- 00:15:12.068 --> 00:15:13.636
- And the work that's been done by stephen meyer, for example, and
- 00:15:13.636 --> 00:15:17.273
- Others at the discovery institute to show that this
- 00:15:17.273 --> 00:15:21.878
- Discovery of the origin of the universe over the last hundred
- 00:15:21.878 --> 00:15:24.547
- Years, unmistakable in a scientific perspective, does
- 00:15:24.547 --> 00:15:28.218
- Match genesis, and a lot of them wanted to avoid the scientific
- 00:15:28.218 --> 00:15:31.488
- Conclusion, because it sounded too much like genesis,
- 00:15:31.488 --> 00:15:34.157
- Even einstein.
- 00:15:34.157 --> 00:15:35.859
- And they had to give in because the evidence was so powerful.
- 00:15:35.859 --> 00:15:39.796
- That's the connection that i want to make here, and i
- 00:15:39.796 --> 00:15:41.664
- Actually don't make any more assessment of the science,
- 00:15:41.664 --> 00:15:44.534
- Except for that one in "the story of reality."
- 00:15:44.534 --> 00:15:47.003
- We both believe in a kind of a magical beginning, don't we?
- 00:15:47.003 --> 00:15:50.840
- Kirk: yeah.
- 00:15:50.840 --> 00:15:52.208
- Greg: in the beginning, god, or in the beginning, nothing and
- 00:15:52.208 --> 00:15:53.877
- Makes the particles, and that's not natural, right?
- 00:15:53.877 --> 00:15:57.647
- Kirk: right, i think it's even more magical when the atheists
- 00:15:57.647 --> 00:16:02.052
- Believe that the universe popped out of nothing as a result of
- 00:16:02.052 --> 00:16:06.256
- Nobody doing it.
- 00:16:06.256 --> 00:16:07.690
- At least we believe that there is a god behind all of this who
- 00:16:07.690 --> 00:16:11.194
- Is eternal and created time-space.
- 00:16:11.194 --> 00:16:13.163
- Greg: let me correct your language here,
- 00:16:13.163 --> 00:16:14.798
- If you don't mind.
- 00:16:14.798 --> 00:16:16.466
- I wouldn't say we believe, i would say god did it, and i know
- 00:16:16.466 --> 00:16:20.270
- You, that's your conviction.
- 00:16:20.270 --> 00:16:22.272
- I wanna avoid words that sound like they're just relativizing,
- 00:16:22.272 --> 00:16:26.142
- Our belief is this, and your belief is that.
- 00:16:26.142 --> 00:16:28.845
- We have a conviction about something because all of the
- 00:16:28.845 --> 00:16:32.015
- Science supports it.
- 00:16:32.015 --> 00:16:33.983
- All the evidence supports the origin, plus common thinking.
- 00:16:33.983 --> 00:16:37.921
- If you-- i mean the idea that the universe popped into
- 00:16:37.921 --> 00:16:40.990
- Existence out of nothing for no reason with no cause, by the
- 00:16:40.990 --> 00:16:44.694
- Way, those are connected.
- 00:16:44.694 --> 00:16:46.029
- If there's no reason, there's no purpose or value, well, that's
- 00:16:46.029 --> 00:16:49.032
- Worse than magic, because magic you got a, you know, a magician
- 00:16:49.032 --> 00:16:52.702
- Pulling a rabbit out of a hat.
- 00:16:52.702 --> 00:16:54.070
- Kirk: that's right.
- 00:16:54.070 --> 00:16:55.405
- Greg: now you got no magician, and you got no hat, you just got
- 00:16:55.405 --> 00:16:58.074
- The rabbit kind of thing.
- 00:16:58.074 --> 00:16:59.742
- And so what i'm leaning towards here as an apologist, as a
- 00:16:59.742 --> 00:17:03.780
- Thoughtful christian is our point of view, our answer to the
- 00:17:03.780 --> 00:17:07.050
- Origins makes common sense.
- 00:17:07.050 --> 00:17:10.887
- It's the smart money is on ours, not on theirs.
- 00:17:10.887 --> 00:17:13.823
- I don't even have to call it a proof.
- 00:17:13.823 --> 00:17:15.492
- I'm just saying what makes more sense, something from something
- 00:17:15.492 --> 00:17:18.528
- Or something from nothing?
- 00:17:18.528 --> 00:17:20.463
- Kirk: greg, in light of "the story of reality," the biblical
- 00:17:20.463 --> 00:17:23.266
- Worldview, what is the problem with those who believe that the
- 00:17:23.266 --> 00:17:27.270
- Universe is strictly material, that matter is all there is?
- 00:17:27.270 --> 00:17:33.176
- Why is that not a tenable position?
- 00:17:33.176 --> 00:17:36.012
- Greg: because we all know better.
- 00:17:36.012 --> 00:17:37.647
- Every single one of us knows better.
- 00:17:37.647 --> 00:17:39.516
- Now, let's just say they have a belief that matter is all there
- 00:17:39.516 --> 00:17:42.886
- Is, okay?
- 00:17:42.886 --> 00:17:44.254
- The belief is something.
- 00:17:44.254 --> 00:17:45.588
- I'm focusing in and not the content, but the belief
- 00:17:45.588 --> 00:17:47.924
- They're having.
- 00:17:47.924 --> 00:17:49.259
- That belief is something, okay?
- 00:17:49.259 --> 00:17:51.060
- I'll tell you what the belief is not.
- 00:17:51.060 --> 00:17:52.428
- It's not chemical reactions in your brain, because the belief
- 00:17:52.428 --> 00:17:55.265
- Has content, propositional content, chemical reactions
- 00:17:55.265 --> 00:17:58.535
- Don't have content, they don't have propositional content.
- 00:17:58.535 --> 00:18:01.371
- So my question is, if you have a belief that there is nothing but
- 00:18:01.371 --> 00:18:05.375
- The material world, what is the nature of the belief itself?
- 00:18:05.375 --> 00:18:08.778
- Kirk: yeah, you can't hold it in a cup.
- 00:18:08.778 --> 00:18:10.146
- It's not something you can weigh on a scale.
- 00:18:10.146 --> 00:18:11.648
- Greg: it doesn't extend in space, right?
- 00:18:11.648 --> 00:18:13.016
- Kirk: it's just an idea.
- 00:18:13.016 --> 00:18:15.051
- Greg: it's a real thing that's not material, and it doesn't
- 00:18:15.051 --> 00:18:19.622
- Respond to the laws of physics and chemistry, that kind of
- 00:18:19.622 --> 00:18:22.058
- Thing, but i just use that as a simple illustration.
- 00:18:22.058 --> 00:18:25.161
- Our lives are absolutely filled, completely filled with realities
- 00:18:25.161 --> 00:18:32.202
- That are not physical, and all we need to do is reflect on it
- 00:18:32.202 --> 00:18:35.738
- Just a little bit for us to see that.
- 00:18:35.738 --> 00:18:37.807
- I do a little thing with audiences sometimes.
- 00:18:37.807 --> 00:18:40.610
- I say imagine your mother working at the computer, okay?
- 00:18:40.610 --> 00:18:43.613
- Get the picture, close your eyes.
- 00:18:43.613 --> 00:18:45.148
- Okay, what color shirt does she have on?
- 00:18:45.148 --> 00:18:46.983
- And then they tell me afterwards, yellow, red,
- 00:18:46.983 --> 00:18:49.452
- White, whatever.
- 00:18:49.452 --> 00:18:50.820
- I said where was she, that woman that you saw?
- 00:18:50.820 --> 00:18:54.490
- Well, she wasn't in your brain, 'cause if you cracked open your
- 00:18:54.490 --> 00:18:57.093
- Brain, you wouldn't be able to see a woman in there with a red
- 00:18:57.093 --> 00:18:59.329
- Shirt typing away.
- 00:18:59.329 --> 00:19:01.130
- She was somewhere so real to your perception that you could
- 00:19:01.130 --> 00:19:06.636
- See her and describe the color of her shirt, but it wasn't in a
- 00:19:06.636 --> 00:19:12.041
- Physical place.
- 00:19:12.041 --> 00:19:13.376
- It's a simple exercise to demonstrate that there is an
- 00:19:13.376 --> 00:19:16.779
- Immaterial realm that we are constantly and directly
- 00:19:16.779 --> 00:19:21.084
- Connected to, and you can describe, and that's the
- 00:19:21.084 --> 00:19:24.520
- Immaterial realm.
- 00:19:24.520 --> 00:19:25.855
- To me, that's such an obvious defeat of physicalism, but you
- 00:19:25.855 --> 00:19:29.125
- Know, some people aren't taken by that, but that i think is
- 00:19:29.125 --> 00:19:31.327
- A good point.
- 00:19:31.327 --> 00:19:32.662
- Kirk: as well as the laws of mathematics, is that
- 00:19:32.662 --> 00:19:37.233
- A physical thing?
- 00:19:37.233 --> 00:19:38.601
- It's real, we all know it.
- 00:19:38.601 --> 00:19:39.936
- I'd be a fool to say it's not.
- 00:19:39.936 --> 00:19:41.304
- Or just the-- what is love?
- 00:19:41.304 --> 00:19:44.340
- The love that i have for my grandchild or that i have for my
- 00:19:44.340 --> 00:19:46.909
- Wife, can i see it, touch it, feel it?
- 00:19:46.909 --> 00:19:49.579
- Can i smell it?
- 00:19:49.579 --> 00:19:50.947
- Can i weigh it in a scale?
- 00:19:50.947 --> 00:19:52.348
- No, these are immaterial things that no one would deny the
- 00:19:52.348 --> 00:19:56.619
- Existence of.
- 00:19:56.619 --> 00:19:57.987
- Greg: if you ask somebody what's the most important-- what are
- 00:19:57.987 --> 00:20:00.189
- The most important things in life?
- 00:20:00.189 --> 00:20:01.524
- Just a casual question, they're not gonna say porsche, you
- 00:20:01.524 --> 00:20:06.062
- Know, probably.
- 00:20:06.062 --> 00:20:07.397
- Kirk: or gold.
- 00:20:07.397 --> 00:20:08.765
- Greg: yeah, well they're gonna say, well, relationship,
- 00:20:08.765 --> 00:20:10.667
- Love, family.
- 00:20:10.667 --> 00:20:12.001
- Universally they will say this, okay?
- 00:20:12.001 --> 00:20:14.237
- Notice there's nothing that's gonna be on the list that
- 00:20:14.237 --> 00:20:16.939
- Science has any access to at all.
- 00:20:16.939 --> 00:20:19.709
- These are real features of the world that the five senses
- 00:20:19.709 --> 00:20:24.681
- Doesn't have access to, so science can't tell us anything
- 00:20:24.681 --> 00:20:28.084
- About the most important things are the things that are
- 00:20:28.084 --> 00:20:30.386
- Not physical.
- 00:20:30.386 --> 00:20:31.754
- Kirk: people are always upset when someone gets cancer and
- 00:20:31.754 --> 00:20:35.158
- Dies or people are suffering.
- 00:20:35.158 --> 00:20:36.492
- We all seem to acknowledge that the world is not the way that it
- 00:20:36.492 --> 00:20:41.764
- Ought to be, unless of course, this is just the way bacteria
- 00:20:41.764 --> 00:20:45.935
- Reacts at these temperatures and in these environments, but
- 00:20:45.935 --> 00:20:48.771
- Nobody wants to live in that kind of a world.
- 00:20:48.771 --> 00:20:51.007
- Greg: don't cut in line in front of me.
- 00:20:51.007 --> 00:20:52.342
- You shouldn't do that.
- 00:20:52.342 --> 00:20:53.710
- Kirk: that's right, that wasn't-- you weren't being nice.
- 00:20:53.710 --> 00:20:55.812
- You know, you betrayed my confidence.
- 00:20:55.812 --> 00:20:58.448
- Why is that important?
- 00:20:58.448 --> 00:21:00.216
- Greg: it's because human beings are obviously moral beings, and
- 00:21:00.216 --> 00:21:05.121
- What that means two things.
- 00:21:05.121 --> 00:21:06.823
- It means we have the capability to perceive moral concepts.
- 00:21:06.823 --> 00:21:10.827
- Francis schaeffer talked about this, called it moral motions,
- 00:21:10.827 --> 00:21:14.163
- But also there's content to this capability.
- 00:21:14.163 --> 00:21:17.734
- In other words, we know when something is wicked, we can
- 00:21:17.734 --> 00:21:21.270
- See it.
- 00:21:21.270 --> 00:21:22.638
- Now, sometimes there's a debate on what's wrong and what isn't
- 00:21:22.638 --> 00:21:24.407
- Wrong, et cetera, i get that, but there's so obvious
- 00:21:24.407 --> 00:21:26.843
- Clear-case examples.
- 00:21:26.843 --> 00:21:28.344
- And so, for example, in the recent discussion about alleged
- 00:21:28.344 --> 00:21:32.215
- Genocide by israel and gaza.
- 00:21:32.215 --> 00:21:34.417
- Well, the presumption there is that genocide is wrong, it's
- 00:21:34.417 --> 00:21:38.221
- Wicked, and whether it's happening or not is
- 00:21:38.221 --> 00:21:40.823
- Another issue.
- 00:21:40.823 --> 00:21:42.191
- The fact that people would impulsively make the--.
- 00:21:42.191 --> 00:21:45.027
- Kirk: or the claim against racism or anything like that.
- 00:21:45.027 --> 00:21:47.296
- Greg: or social justice, the whole range of things, where is
- 00:21:47.296 --> 00:21:50.666
- That all coming from?
- 00:21:50.666 --> 00:21:52.368
- I'll tell you one thing it's not coming from, it's not coming
- 00:21:52.368 --> 00:21:54.504
- From darwinian evolution, though this is the way oftentimes
- 00:21:54.504 --> 00:21:57.507
- People will try to describe it.
- 00:21:57.507 --> 00:21:59.275
- Because if darwinian evolution is responsible for our feelings
- 00:21:59.275 --> 00:22:03.813
- About justice, then all they are are our subjective feelings or
- 00:22:03.813 --> 00:22:09.318
- Our feelings about the wrongness of rape, but biology can't make
- 00:22:09.318 --> 00:22:13.523
- Rape wrong, it can maybe make us feel that it's wrong, that's
- 00:22:13.523 --> 00:22:17.160
- Relativism, but it can't make it wrong in itself, and we are
- 00:22:17.160 --> 00:22:22.532
- Responding to the world in a very particular way.
- 00:22:22.532 --> 00:22:25.234
- We're not just expressing our feelings, we think that the
- 00:22:25.234 --> 00:22:29.405
- Behavior that we're seeing is itself wrong, wicked, bad,
- 00:22:29.405 --> 00:22:34.343
- And evil.
- 00:22:34.343 --> 00:22:35.678
- That means it's objective, and that has ramifications for the
- 00:22:35.678 --> 00:22:38.247
- Way we understand the big picture.
- 00:22:38.247 --> 00:22:39.849
- Kirk: and christianity and christianity alone, according to
- 00:22:39.849 --> 00:22:42.785
- You, and laid out in this book, explains all of that,
- 00:22:42.785 --> 00:22:46.689
- Justifies it.
- 00:22:46.689 --> 00:22:48.057
- Greg: it's the best explanation.
- 00:22:48.057 --> 00:22:49.392
- Some other worldviews have some parts, but they're not gonna do
- 00:22:49.392 --> 00:22:52.261
- The job like christianity does.
- 00:22:52.261 --> 00:22:54.263
- Kirk: after the break we're gonna continue our conversation
- 00:22:54.263 --> 00:22:56.365
- With greg and the explanation of why our world is broken, so
- 00:22:56.365 --> 00:22:59.969
- Don't go away.
- 00:22:59.969 --> 00:23:02.004
- Kirk: if you'll give me just a few minutes of your time, i want
- 00:23:04.373 --> 00:23:06.642
- To show you how you can grow your family's faith and plant
- 00:23:06.642 --> 00:23:10.813
- Seeds of truth in the hearts of the children in your life
- 00:23:10.813 --> 00:23:14.183
- This christmas.
- 00:23:14.183 --> 00:23:15.551
- Did you know that 75% of children raised in christian
- 00:23:15.551 --> 00:23:18.754
- Homes will walk away from their faith by the time they leave
- 00:23:18.754 --> 00:23:22.291
- High school?
- 00:23:22.291 --> 00:23:23.626
- But the problem actually starts long before then.
- 00:23:23.626 --> 00:23:26.529
- A child's moral compass is largely formed by the age of
- 00:23:26.529 --> 00:23:30.233
- Ten, and every day young children are bombarded with
- 00:23:30.233 --> 00:23:34.470
- Messages that say there is no absolute truth, that feelings
- 00:23:34.470 --> 00:23:39.108
- Matter more than facts, and that biblical values are outdated or
- 00:23:39.108 --> 00:23:43.846
- Even hateful.
- 00:23:43.846 --> 00:23:45.515
- The question is by whom?
- 00:23:45.515 --> 00:23:47.917
- By you, or by a world that wants to distort truth and
- 00:23:47.917 --> 00:23:51.921
- Corrupt innocence?
- 00:23:51.921 --> 00:23:53.956
- Don't make a mistake.
- 00:23:53.956 --> 00:23:55.892
- This is a very real battle, and more than ever we need to
- 00:23:55.892 --> 00:23:59.795
- Prepare children with the moral courage to stand strong in a
- 00:23:59.795 --> 00:24:03.633
- Confusing world.
- 00:24:03.633 --> 00:24:05.434
- That's the mission of a company called brave books.
- 00:24:05.434 --> 00:24:09.372
- Every story that they create teaches a timeless faith-based
- 00:24:09.372 --> 00:24:13.809
- Value like humility or identity or respecting authority, and
- 00:24:13.809 --> 00:24:19.148
- Each one equips parents and grandparents to have meaningful
- 00:24:19.148 --> 00:24:23.519
- Faith-filled conversations with their families.
- 00:24:23.519 --> 00:24:26.789
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- A world called freedom island, and they follow the adventures
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- The same time teaching them timeless truths.
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- And then at the back of every book you'll even find hands-on
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- With the christmas season upon us, you won't want to miss out
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- Just imagine sitting around your kitchen table with hot cocoa
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- This christmas, pulling out the conversation cards and having
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- The fireplace and seeing your child or grandchild actually
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- Apply these lessons in their lives.
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- Jessica robertson: partnering with braid books was a no
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- Brainer for us.
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- They are such a blessing in our household.
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- Riley gaines: we see scholastic, which has been a long
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- Kirk: just like these authors and their families, more than a
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- Now, think about this.
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- Tickets, but ask yourself how much of that actually builds
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- That's why choosing intentional entertainment matters so much.
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- Become tomorrow.
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- [music]
- 00:28:08.477 --> 00:28:12.181
- Kirk: we are back with my guest today greg koukl, and we're
- 00:28:14.784 --> 00:28:17.620
- Discussing some of the most important questions every person
- 00:28:17.620 --> 00:28:20.356
- Must ask about life, death, evil in the world, and why
- 00:28:20.356 --> 00:28:25.161
- We're here.
- 00:28:25.161 --> 00:28:26.529
- Greg, in chapter 11 of your book, you talk about man being
- 00:28:26.529 --> 00:28:32.802
- Wonderful, mankind, beautiful, amazing, intricately designed.
- 00:28:32.802 --> 00:28:38.641
- What conclusions, what implications about human beings
- 00:28:38.641 --> 00:28:43.512
- Specifically impress you and stand out?
- 00:28:43.512 --> 00:28:47.850
- Greg: well, the materialist view is the cosmos is all there is
- 00:28:47.850 --> 00:28:50.653
- And all there was and all there ever will be, carl sagan's
- 00:28:50.653 --> 00:28:53.722
- Famous statement.
- 00:28:53.722 --> 00:28:55.991
- In scripture, though, it says human beings are made in the
- 00:28:55.991 --> 00:28:58.627
- Image of god.
- 00:28:58.627 --> 00:28:59.995
- By the way, the cosmos thing would be molecules in motion,
- 00:28:59.995 --> 00:29:02.464
- And that's all you are.
- 00:29:02.464 --> 00:29:03.833
- You're just a package of molecules on that view, okay?
- 00:29:03.833 --> 00:29:07.169
- We know better.
- 00:29:07.169 --> 00:29:08.771
- We know something is special about human beings.
- 00:29:08.771 --> 00:29:12.074
- In fact, you're in the film industry for a long time, still
- 00:29:12.074 --> 00:29:14.243
- Are i guess in some measure, but it's interesting how often they
- 00:29:14.243 --> 00:29:17.546
- Make a film, and the way they describe the story unfolding is
- 00:29:17.546 --> 00:29:21.550
- That it's the triumph of the human spirit.
- 00:29:21.550 --> 00:29:25.020
- Kirk: yeah.
- 00:29:25.020 --> 00:29:26.355
- Greg: how many times have you heard that in a film?
- 00:29:26.355 --> 00:29:27.823
- Why did they say that kind of stuff, you know?
- 00:29:27.823 --> 00:29:29.725
- They don't say that about lassie, you know, the triumph of
- 00:29:29.725 --> 00:29:31.927
- The dog spirit, you know, whatever.
- 00:29:31.927 --> 00:29:33.562
- There seems to be something absolutely unique and special
- 00:29:33.562 --> 00:29:37.099
- About human being that's manifest in lots of ways, and
- 00:29:37.099 --> 00:29:39.935
- One of them is the beauty.
- 00:29:39.935 --> 00:29:41.270
- All of the wonderful things that human beings have produced, even
- 00:29:41.270 --> 00:29:45.007
- Great film, even fabulous film.
- 00:29:45.007 --> 00:29:47.910
- I was watching "darkest hour" last night on the airplane, you
- 00:29:47.910 --> 00:29:50.279
- Know, about churchill, and i'm weeping because some of the
- 00:29:50.279 --> 00:29:55.050
- Points are so powerful.
- 00:29:55.050 --> 00:29:56.819
- Why is that happening, you know?
- 00:29:56.819 --> 00:29:58.454
- It's because human beings are unique in themselves, and they
- 00:29:58.454 --> 00:30:01.924
- Are more than just molecules in the universe.
- 00:30:01.924 --> 00:30:04.126
- And so we have unique personalities, and that we have
- 00:30:04.126 --> 00:30:07.496
- Unique gifts and capabilities.
- 00:30:07.496 --> 00:30:09.431
- But all of these operate within a moral framework.
- 00:30:09.431 --> 00:30:12.334
- Some people might say, well, my dog's different than his dog,
- 00:30:12.334 --> 00:30:14.436
- Blah, blah, blah.
- 00:30:14.436 --> 00:30:15.838
- There are differences in everything, but there's a moral
- 00:30:15.838 --> 00:30:18.540
- Quality to this, and this is why we blame people for certain
- 00:30:18.540 --> 00:30:21.844
- Behaviors, and we praise them for other behaviors, because
- 00:30:21.844 --> 00:30:25.180
- They are blameworthy or praiseworthy.
- 00:30:25.180 --> 00:30:28.317
- So you have this element about human beings that they're in a
- 00:30:28.317 --> 00:30:31.820
- Different category than everything else.
- 00:30:31.820 --> 00:30:35.457
- So i say man is beautiful, but then there's another side, he's
- 00:30:35.457 --> 00:30:39.228
- Beautiful, but he's broken.
- 00:30:39.228 --> 00:30:40.863
- And by the way, the brokenness is also something doesn't fit
- 00:30:40.863 --> 00:30:43.632
- Into a naturalistic worldview, you know?
- 00:30:43.632 --> 00:30:47.102
- And i think it was richard dawkins who says, on his view,
- 00:30:47.102 --> 00:30:49.638
- It's nothing but-- there's no evil, there's no good, there's
- 00:30:49.638 --> 00:30:53.442
- Nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.
- 00:30:53.442 --> 00:30:56.045
- Well, that's what you get on that view, but that isn't what
- 00:30:56.045 --> 00:30:59.248
- Reality is actually like.
- 00:30:59.248 --> 00:31:01.083
- We know there's something more and that human beings play a
- 00:31:01.083 --> 00:31:04.520
- Critically important part of it.
- 00:31:04.520 --> 00:31:06.789
- The arts are examples of that, evidences.
- 00:31:06.789 --> 00:31:10.592
- Not just the arts and all of their forms, though, but also
- 00:31:10.592 --> 00:31:14.530
- Acts of charity and goodness and kindness and nobility and all of
- 00:31:14.530 --> 00:31:18.834
- This, yet at the same time there's this break, there's
- 00:31:18.834 --> 00:31:23.472
- This brokenness.
- 00:31:23.472 --> 00:31:24.974
- This wonderful stuff about human beings is marred, it's corrupted
- 00:31:24.974 --> 00:31:30.612
- In some sense.
- 00:31:30.612 --> 00:31:31.981
- And again, you don't need a bible to know this.
- 00:31:31.981 --> 00:31:34.249
- You can see it all around you, and this is why people complain
- 00:31:34.249 --> 00:31:37.086
- About the problem of evil, and they're not usually talking
- 00:31:37.086 --> 00:31:39.421
- About tsunamis, they're talking about other things that other
- 00:31:39.421 --> 00:31:42.758
- People did either in grand scale, we can read in the
- 00:31:42.758 --> 00:31:46.228
- Newspapers, or in personal.
- 00:31:46.228 --> 00:31:49.565
- Kirk: that's exactly right.
- 00:31:49.565 --> 00:31:50.899
- So every time i see somebody just, you know, they're just
- 00:31:50.899 --> 00:31:55.037
- Hair on fire, screaming and yelling about politics, and yet
- 00:31:55.037 --> 00:31:58.640
- They're an atheist, i say you're contradicting your own
- 00:31:58.640 --> 00:32:02.911
- Worldview here.
- 00:32:02.911 --> 00:32:04.279
- You've got these moral problems with this politician or this
- 00:32:04.279 --> 00:32:07.249
- Thing, and i say and yet you don't believe in any sort of
- 00:32:07.249 --> 00:32:10.552
- Objective moral standard that really means anything other than
- 00:32:10.552 --> 00:32:13.756
- Perhaps to you.
- 00:32:13.756 --> 00:32:15.090
- And so they're giving evidence of the god who is simply by
- 00:32:15.090 --> 00:32:21.497
- Going on and on about all the political moral things they
- 00:32:21.497 --> 00:32:24.133
- Don't like.
- 00:32:24.133 --> 00:32:25.467
- Greg: exactly, no, they might be-- there's two
- 00:32:25.467 --> 00:32:28.170
- Categories here.
- 00:32:28.170 --> 00:32:29.505
- They might be just emoting.
- 00:32:29.505 --> 00:32:31.040
- If they were consistent with their view they would say, oh,
- 00:32:31.040 --> 00:32:33.575
- This is just my emotions.
- 00:32:33.575 --> 00:32:34.910
- This is just my moral view, it doesn't have any application
- 00:32:34.910 --> 00:32:38.981
- To you.
- 00:32:38.981 --> 00:32:40.315
- That would be consistent with the view, nothing but blind,
- 00:32:40.315 --> 00:32:42.151
- Pitiless indifference, that kind of thing.
- 00:32:42.151 --> 00:32:44.753
- So, but the fact is that is not how they're engaging it.
- 00:32:44.753 --> 00:32:49.291
- They are engaging it as a human being made in the image of god,
- 00:32:49.291 --> 00:32:52.394
- And they're using moral categories that are native to
- 00:32:52.394 --> 00:32:56.165
- The way they're made in the image of god.
- 00:32:56.165 --> 00:32:58.367
- They can't get away from it.
- 00:32:58.367 --> 00:32:59.968
- They can get away from god, they can run from god, but they can't
- 00:32:59.968 --> 00:33:02.604
- Run from themselves the way god made them, and that's why you're
- 00:33:02.604 --> 00:33:06.008
- Gonna see this kind of thing.
- 00:33:06.008 --> 00:33:07.376
- Now, in that circumstance, kirk, and we've talked about this in
- 00:33:07.376 --> 00:33:09.978
- Other shows, i'm gonna try to use a question.
- 00:33:09.978 --> 00:33:12.781
- So i'm gonna say after they go on this rant and rave and me
- 00:33:12.781 --> 00:33:16.085
- Knowing that they're an atheist, i would say, wait, i'm confused,
- 00:33:16.085 --> 00:33:18.987
- I'm confused.
- 00:33:18.987 --> 00:33:20.322
- What do you mean?
- 00:33:20.322 --> 00:33:21.690
- Well, you're an atheist.
- 00:33:21.690 --> 00:33:23.025
- Yeah?
- 00:33:23.025 --> 00:33:24.393
- Well, where are you getting all these objectable categories that
- 00:33:24.393 --> 00:33:26.795
- You're invoking in this rant that you just offered here?
- 00:33:26.795 --> 00:33:31.533
- You think that guys-- these guys are wrong, right?
- 00:33:31.533 --> 00:33:34.069
- They shouldn't be doing that.
- 00:33:34.069 --> 00:33:35.571
- Is that you're just-- is that just your personal moral view?
- 00:33:35.571 --> 00:33:39.074
- And others may have different moral views, or are you saying
- 00:33:39.074 --> 00:33:42.144
- That that behavior is actually wrong?
- 00:33:42.144 --> 00:33:44.346
- Now, there's a question he's gonna tell me.
- 00:33:44.346 --> 00:33:45.948
- Now, if it's just his personal moral view, and that's all that
- 00:33:45.948 --> 00:33:48.383
- Fits with his atheism--.
- 00:33:48.383 --> 00:33:50.385
- Kirk: then he should have no problem with my personal
- 00:33:50.385 --> 00:33:51.920
- Moral view.
- 00:33:51.920 --> 00:33:53.288
- Greg: yes, of course, and he should be-- you can complain all
- 00:33:53.288 --> 00:33:55.324
- You want, but it has nothing to do with the rest of the world.
- 00:33:55.324 --> 00:33:57.993
- Kirk: because it's not really wrong.
- 00:33:57.993 --> 00:33:59.361
- Greg: yeah, yeah, it's not really wrong, but this is
- 00:33:59.361 --> 00:34:01.497
- Where-- what the atheists can't say, because he knows too much,
- 00:34:01.497 --> 00:34:05.134
- He knows too much, because he actually is made the image
- 00:34:05.134 --> 00:34:07.536
- Of god.
- 00:34:07.536 --> 00:34:08.871
- Kirk: greg, you also say in the book that the brokenness in the
- 00:34:08.871 --> 00:34:11.306
- World starts with the brokenness in us, explain.
- 00:34:11.306 --> 00:34:14.543
- Greg: yeah, well, when i mentioned earlier that it
- 00:34:14.543 --> 00:34:17.880
- Doesn't matter where you live or when you lived, everybody knows
- 00:34:17.880 --> 00:34:20.949
- Something's wrong with the world, you could add to that as
- 00:34:20.949 --> 00:34:23.418
- A subscript, if everybody knows what's wrong to the world,
- 00:34:23.418 --> 00:34:26.421
- There's something that's wrong with them.
- 00:34:26.421 --> 00:34:28.390
- There is a moral standard that we're aware of that others don't
- 00:34:28.390 --> 00:34:31.927
- Keep, and we're also aware that we don't keep it either.
- 00:34:31.927 --> 00:34:37.166
- You know, i gave a lecture a number of years ago at berkeley,
- 00:34:37.166 --> 00:34:41.603
- Some people call it berserkley.
- 00:34:41.603 --> 00:34:43.172
- And i was talking about this very thing, and i asked about
- 00:34:43.172 --> 00:34:46.942
- The feelings people have about their own moral brokenness, and
- 00:34:46.942 --> 00:34:50.579
- The word they used to describe it.
- 00:34:50.579 --> 00:34:52.781
- And i waited while the answer came from the
- 00:34:52.781 --> 00:34:54.716
- Audience essentially.
- 00:34:54.716 --> 00:34:56.718
- I just was quiet and then all of a sudden people said guilt,
- 00:34:56.718 --> 00:34:59.288
- Guilt, guilt, guilt.
- 00:34:59.288 --> 00:35:01.156
- Yeah, we feel guilty, why?
- 00:35:01.156 --> 00:35:03.125
- Why do we feel guilty?
- 00:35:03.125 --> 00:35:04.493
- I asked the audience.
- 00:35:04.493 --> 00:35:05.827
- I don't know, maybe it's culture that causes guilt.
- 00:35:05.827 --> 00:35:07.729
- How about this?
- 00:35:07.729 --> 00:35:09.064
- Maybe we feel guilty because we are guilty.
- 00:35:09.064 --> 00:35:12.634
- Is that in the running?
- 00:35:12.634 --> 00:35:14.336
- And i said this, the answer to guilt is not denial,
- 00:35:14.336 --> 00:35:18.440
- That's relativism.
- 00:35:18.440 --> 00:35:19.775
- The answer to guilt is forgiveness, and this, i said,
- 00:35:19.775 --> 00:35:23.712
- Is where jesus comes in.
- 00:35:23.712 --> 00:35:25.480
- So what i've done in that situation, i did actually all
- 00:35:25.480 --> 00:35:28.317
- The whole hour, i hadn't talked about god or jesus or anything.
- 00:35:28.317 --> 00:35:31.153
- I was talking about relativism.
- 00:35:31.153 --> 00:35:32.888
- But i had prepared a way to go right to the heart now to this
- 00:35:32.888 --> 00:35:38.126
- Sense that we all have of our moral brokenness and our need
- 00:35:38.126 --> 00:35:41.263
- For rescue.
- 00:35:41.263 --> 00:35:42.631
- Oh, by the way, that reminds me, kirk, we have a gift for
- 00:35:42.631 --> 00:35:44.733
- Your listeners.
- 00:35:44.733 --> 00:35:46.868
- It's actually a chapter of the book on the rescue itself, and i
- 00:35:46.868 --> 00:35:50.973
- Think we've titled the chapter "for the sake of the gift, how
- 00:35:50.973 --> 00:35:54.343
- God heals a broken world."
- 00:35:54.343 --> 00:35:55.711
- So if they go to str.org, that's the stand to reason website,
- 00:35:55.711 --> 00:35:59.848
- Str.org/takeaways, there'll be a letter from me and a welcome and
- 00:35:59.848 --> 00:36:05.053
- Opportunity to get, download the pdf of that particular chapter,
- 00:36:05.053 --> 00:36:08.457
- So they can get rolling on something in the book at
- 00:36:08.457 --> 00:36:10.859
- No charge.
- 00:36:10.859 --> 00:36:12.194
- Kirk: terrific, i love it.
- 00:36:12.194 --> 00:36:13.695
- Greg, how do you answer the claim that all religions are
- 00:36:13.695 --> 00:36:18.634
- Basically telling the same story of reality just in
- 00:36:18.634 --> 00:36:21.970
- Different ways?
- 00:36:21.970 --> 00:36:23.305
- Is that true?
- 00:36:23.305 --> 00:36:25.040
- Greg: it would be like me-- it would be if i were saying, you
- 00:36:25.040 --> 00:36:27.576
- Know, kirk, you and i have basically the same details in
- 00:36:27.576 --> 00:36:31.113
- Our past life.
- 00:36:31.113 --> 00:36:32.814
- I mean, we're both human beings, right?
- 00:36:32.814 --> 00:36:34.216
- We're so we're both, so we all have the same history.
- 00:36:34.216 --> 00:36:36.451
- Well, this is silly, you've got an entirely different history
- 00:36:36.451 --> 00:36:39.087
- Than i have.
- 00:36:39.087 --> 00:36:40.422
- People make this statement all the time, and i might ask 'em,
- 00:36:40.422 --> 00:36:44.426
- Tell me more.
- 00:36:44.426 --> 00:36:45.794
- How are they all basically the same?
- 00:36:45.794 --> 00:36:47.162
- Because they're not basically the same, which is why they're
- 00:36:47.162 --> 00:36:49.531
- Different religions, right?
- 00:36:49.531 --> 00:36:51.133
- They have totally different ideas about-- they're different
- 00:36:51.133 --> 00:36:55.003
- Stories of reality.
- 00:36:55.003 --> 00:36:56.471
- So look at christians and jews and muslims believe that god is
- 00:36:56.471 --> 00:37:00.642
- Personal, right?
- 00:37:00.642 --> 00:37:02.144
- But hindus believe that he's not personal.
- 00:37:02.144 --> 00:37:04.913
- Now, he either-- if he exists, he either is personal or not,
- 00:37:04.913 --> 00:37:09.184
- And if he's personal, then the jews, christians, muslims are
- 00:37:09.184 --> 00:37:11.820
- Correct on that point, and the hindus are wrong.
- 00:37:11.820 --> 00:37:14.556
- If he's not personal, the hindus are right, at least on that
- 00:37:14.556 --> 00:37:17.092
- Point, and the jews, christians, and muslims are wrong, but they
- 00:37:17.092 --> 00:37:21.163
- Can't be both the same.
- 00:37:21.163 --> 00:37:22.564
- They can't both be right, because they believe
- 00:37:22.564 --> 00:37:25.267
- Contradictory things, you know?
- 00:37:25.267 --> 00:37:29.004
- Either jesus is the messiah, or he's not.
- 00:37:29.004 --> 00:37:31.440
- Either the jews are wrong, or the christians are wrong, but
- 00:37:31.440 --> 00:37:34.142
- They both can't be right.
- 00:37:34.142 --> 00:37:35.510
- They're not basically the same.
- 00:37:35.510 --> 00:37:37.212
- When you die, maybe you go to heaven or hell, maybe you get
- 00:37:37.212 --> 00:37:39.414
- Reincarnated, maybe you're lying in the grave, but you can't do
- 00:37:39.414 --> 00:37:41.883
- Them all, right?
- 00:37:41.883 --> 00:37:44.453
- There are competing views from these religions, which is why
- 00:37:44.453 --> 00:37:47.789
- There are different religions, because they have different
- 00:37:47.789 --> 00:37:50.926
- Pictures of reality, entirely different pictures.
- 00:37:50.926 --> 00:37:54.563
- Sometimes there's overlap, but taken as a whole, they're
- 00:37:54.563 --> 00:37:57.733
- Very different.
- 00:37:57.733 --> 00:37:59.101
- So that's just a factual claim that's false when say all
- 00:37:59.101 --> 00:38:03.205
- Religions are basically the same.
- 00:38:03.205 --> 00:38:05.140
- And my tactical approach is just gonna-- it's going to be to ask
- 00:38:05.140 --> 00:38:08.443
- Them how.
- 00:38:08.443 --> 00:38:10.278
- How are they basically the same?
- 00:38:10.278 --> 00:38:11.680
- Kirk: yeah, you're putting the ball back in their court, asking
- 00:38:11.680 --> 00:38:13.382
- Them the question and put the burden of proof upon the person
- 00:38:13.382 --> 00:38:16.451
- Making that claim.
- 00:38:16.451 --> 00:38:17.786
- Greg: exactly, because this is obviously false.
- 00:38:17.786 --> 00:38:19.154
- All you have to do is think about it for a while.
- 00:38:19.154 --> 00:38:20.756
- Kirk: yeah, yeah, oh, this is so good.
- 00:38:20.756 --> 00:38:22.657
- I wanna double click on this and the resurrection.
- 00:38:22.657 --> 00:38:26.928
- I really wanna get into that right after the break.
- 00:38:26.928 --> 00:38:29.398
- We're gonna be right back with greg, sharing more about the
- 00:38:29.398 --> 00:38:32.000
- Story of reality and how it can change your life forever.
- 00:38:32.000 --> 00:38:35.203
- Stay with us.
- 00:38:35.203 --> 00:38:37.239
- [music]
- 00:38:37.305 --> 00:38:41.999
- [music]
- 00:38:41.999 --> 00:38:43.402
- [music]
- 00:38:43.735 --> 00:38:47.439
- Kirk: we're back with greg koukl.
- 00:38:50.175 --> 00:38:51.576
- He's our guest today, and we're talking about the story of the
- 00:38:51.576 --> 00:38:54.079
- Bible summed up through five simple words, god, man, jesus,
- 00:38:54.079 --> 00:38:59.518
- Cross, and resurrection.
- 00:38:59.518 --> 00:39:02.354
- Greg, we've talked about maybe three of these, and now let's
- 00:39:02.354 --> 00:39:06.658
- Really get into jesus and the resurrection.
- 00:39:06.658 --> 00:39:09.628
- What is the best way for us to communicate who jesus is and
- 00:39:09.628 --> 00:39:14.032
- What he did and why that's important?
- 00:39:14.032 --> 00:39:16.835
- Greg: well, i guess the simplest way to solve this, because
- 00:39:16.835 --> 00:39:20.105
- There's so many ideas about who jesus is and what he came to do,
- 00:39:20.105 --> 00:39:24.309
- Is to let him talk.
- 00:39:24.309 --> 00:39:27.712
- I know that sounds funny, but it's so true, because there are
- 00:39:27.712 --> 00:39:31.149
- These people who have this idea that jesus came to be a social
- 00:39:31.149 --> 00:39:35.554
- Justice warrior, you know?
- 00:39:35.554 --> 00:39:37.422
- I actually started in in matthew 1:1 and went all the way to the
- 00:39:37.422 --> 00:39:41.259
- End of john.
- 00:39:41.259 --> 00:39:42.627
- Everything that was recorded about jesus in the accounts of
- 00:39:42.627 --> 00:39:45.197
- His life, and it turns out that there's nothing like
- 00:39:45.197 --> 00:39:48.233
- This anywhere.
- 00:39:48.233 --> 00:39:49.568
- I wrote a piece called "the legend of the social
- 00:39:49.568 --> 00:39:51.803
- Justice jesus."
- 00:39:51.803 --> 00:39:53.205
- It's on str.org if people want to read it, it doesn't cost
- 00:39:53.205 --> 00:39:56.274
- Anything, just go read it, and it'll show you what jesus
- 00:39:56.274 --> 00:39:59.244
- Actually said about himself.
- 00:39:59.244 --> 00:40:01.213
- And when you look at those words and also those people all around
- 00:40:01.213 --> 00:40:05.150
- Him from the time he was born on through, behold the lamb of god,
- 00:40:05.150 --> 00:40:08.787
- You know, john the baptist, et cetera, "i came to seek and to
- 00:40:08.787 --> 00:40:13.391
- Save that which was lost.
- 00:40:13.391 --> 00:40:15.360
- I came to give my life a ransom for many."
- 00:40:15.360 --> 00:40:18.163
- So, what is a ransom?
- 00:40:18.163 --> 00:40:19.498
- It's a payment, right?
- 00:40:19.498 --> 00:40:21.066
- To rescue somebody, maybe as somebody who's been captive or a
- 00:40:21.066 --> 00:40:23.869
- Slave or kidnapped or something, and what's the payment that
- 00:40:23.869 --> 00:40:27.873
- He makes?
- 00:40:27.873 --> 00:40:29.241
- The payment that he makes is his own body.
- 00:40:29.241 --> 00:40:32.077
- Now that may sound weird to some people who are not associated
- 00:40:32.077 --> 00:40:34.513
- With this, but the fact is we are in slavery to sin, and
- 00:40:34.513 --> 00:40:41.019
- Because we are rebels against god, we're in trouble with
- 00:40:41.019 --> 00:40:45.090
- God, okay?
- 00:40:45.090 --> 00:40:46.791
- And jesus said in matthew 10, he said, "do not fear man who can
- 00:40:46.791 --> 00:40:51.363
- Kill the body and not the soul, fear him who can throw both body
- 00:40:51.363 --> 00:40:55.367
- And soul in hell."
- 00:40:55.367 --> 00:40:57.502
- Now what?
- 00:40:57.502 --> 00:40:58.837
- Now we have all these crimes against us.
- 00:40:58.837 --> 00:41:00.705
- Now we're guilty before holy god, now what?
- 00:41:00.705 --> 00:41:04.743
- And jesus says, and this is a strange passage, it's in the
- 00:41:04.743 --> 00:41:07.846
- Book of hebrews, it's not in the birth narratives, but it is
- 00:41:07.846 --> 00:41:11.550
- About his birth.
- 00:41:11.550 --> 00:41:12.884
- When he comes into the world, he says, behold, "i have come, a
- 00:41:12.884 --> 00:41:17.556
- Body you have prepared for me to do your will, o god.
- 00:41:17.556 --> 00:41:23.361
- And in the scroll of the book it's written of me."
- 00:41:23.361 --> 00:41:25.864
- So somehow when the word became flesh in the person of baby
- 00:41:25.864 --> 00:41:31.703
- Jesus, he's saying to the father, "i have a body that is
- 00:41:31.703 --> 00:41:36.041
- Given to be sacrificed on behalf of sinful people, so i can take
- 00:41:36.041 --> 00:41:41.446
- The punishment that they deserve."
- 00:41:41.446 --> 00:41:45.317
- He came down from heaven, took on a human form, and looked to
- 00:41:45.317 --> 00:41:49.754
- The father and said, "take me instead."
- 00:41:49.754 --> 00:41:52.891
- That's the trade, and that's the trade that happened on a small
- 00:41:52.891 --> 00:41:56.094
- Outcropping of hill that the locals called golgotha, the
- 00:41:56.094 --> 00:41:59.431
- Place of the skull.
- 00:41:59.431 --> 00:42:00.799
- We know it as calvary, the place of the cross.
- 00:42:00.799 --> 00:42:04.102
- That's where that trade took place, so jesus could take our
- 00:42:04.102 --> 00:42:07.872
- Punishment so we could get his goodness.
- 00:42:07.872 --> 00:42:12.210
- And theologians call that justification, you know, or
- 00:42:12.210 --> 00:42:18.083
- Substitutionary atonement, but it can be understood in a very
- 00:42:18.083 --> 00:42:20.952
- Simple way.
- 00:42:20.952 --> 00:42:22.320
- That is the turning point of the story for the rescue
- 00:42:22.320 --> 00:42:26.691
- Of humanity.
- 00:42:26.691 --> 00:42:28.026
- Kirk: and no other story has something even close to
- 00:42:28.026 --> 00:42:30.996
- Something like that.
- 00:42:30.996 --> 00:42:32.330
- It's either all justice, and you work your way up to heaven by
- 00:42:32.330 --> 00:42:36.067
- Being good, or you get reincarnated, but here you have
- 00:42:36.067 --> 00:42:38.670
- The judge taking off his robes and coming down and saying take
- 00:42:38.670 --> 00:42:44.075
- Me instead, and he pays the price for us.
- 00:42:44.075 --> 00:42:46.945
- Greg: yeah, that's the magnificent thing about the
- 00:42:46.945 --> 00:42:50.749
- Trade, because i mentioned in the beginning of the book that
- 00:42:50.749 --> 00:42:53.585
- God initiates, because man gets himself into a whole heap
- 00:42:53.585 --> 00:42:56.755
- Of trouble.
- 00:42:56.755 --> 00:42:58.123
- He's made to be in friendship with god, but he gets himself in
- 00:42:58.123 --> 00:43:00.325
- A lot of trouble, and so god initiates a rescue plan, and in
- 00:43:00.325 --> 00:43:04.829
- This story, man does not rescue himself.
- 00:43:04.829 --> 00:43:07.799
- This is the distinction you're talking about here, kirk.
- 00:43:07.799 --> 00:43:10.969
- Man does not rescue himself.
- 00:43:10.969 --> 00:43:13.271
- Man can't rescue himself.
- 00:43:13.271 --> 00:43:16.107
- God must rescue him, and that's how he does it by coming down,
- 00:43:16.107 --> 00:43:20.912
- Jesus, emmanuel, god with us.
- 00:43:20.912 --> 00:43:24.082
- Kirk: you know, this is at the very heart of every great movie.
- 00:43:24.082 --> 00:43:26.985
- When we watch a movie, whether it's superman, or whether it's
- 00:43:26.985 --> 00:43:30.255
- The avengers or it's any great epic story, and you have that
- 00:43:30.255 --> 00:43:34.426
- Archetypal hero, it's the one who lays down his life for
- 00:43:34.426 --> 00:43:38.329
- Others, it's that self-sacrificing love.
- 00:43:38.329 --> 00:43:41.332
- It's the story "in the chronicles of narnia."
- 00:43:41.332 --> 00:43:43.201
- It's the story in all of these stories.
- 00:43:43.201 --> 00:43:45.270
- Greg: in harry potter.
- 00:43:45.270 --> 00:43:46.604
- Kirk: yeah, so we see it in "lord of the rings," we see it
- 00:43:46.604 --> 00:43:48.473
- Everywhere, and it all has to do with dying in order to
- 00:43:48.473 --> 00:43:55.480
- Overcome death.
- 00:43:55.480 --> 00:43:57.215
- What are the four facts about jesus's death that nearly all
- 00:43:57.215 --> 00:44:02.754
- Scholars tend to agree upon, and why is it significant?
- 00:44:02.754 --> 00:44:05.523
- Greg: well, this is a new development in historical
- 00:44:05.523 --> 00:44:08.159
- Studies of the gospels, matthew, mark, luke, and john, which you
- 00:44:08.159 --> 00:44:11.396
- Are the primary source historical documents that
- 00:44:11.396 --> 00:44:14.432
- Historians use, and they all agree-- actually there's more
- 00:44:14.432 --> 00:44:17.602
- Than four, but i've summed up four in the book-- that jesus
- 00:44:17.602 --> 00:44:22.674
- Died on a roman cross, that he was buried in a tomb, that the
- 00:44:22.674 --> 00:44:26.578
- Tomb was empty, and then there was a transformation in lives,
- 00:44:26.578 --> 00:44:31.382
- Transformation in the lives of people who were previously
- 00:44:31.382 --> 00:44:35.653
- Gutless like his disciples behind the doors, lights out,
- 00:44:35.653 --> 00:44:38.857
- Knees knocking, doors locked, all that, and then all of a
- 00:44:38.857 --> 00:44:42.460
- Sudden they're transformed into these vibrant witnesses for
- 00:44:42.460 --> 00:44:45.663
- Christ, and not just them, but also people who are skeptics
- 00:44:45.663 --> 00:44:49.300
- Like james, jesus's half brother, and saul of tarsus, who
- 00:44:49.300 --> 00:44:53.271
- Is a persecutor.
- 00:44:53.271 --> 00:44:54.639
- And so they acknowledged-- by the way, there was nothing
- 00:44:54.639 --> 00:44:57.008
- Miraculous about the fact that jesus died, was an empty tomb, i
- 00:44:57.008 --> 00:45:01.212
- Mean in the tomb, then the tomb was empty, and then these
- 00:45:01.212 --> 00:45:04.582
- Different people had these experiences that they thought
- 00:45:04.582 --> 00:45:09.154
- Were experiences of christ.
- 00:45:09.154 --> 00:45:11.156
- But then the question becomes given those four facts that
- 00:45:11.156 --> 00:45:14.159
- Everybody agrees on, pretty much almost universally, few
- 00:45:14.159 --> 00:45:17.162
- Naysayers, but these are really solid things for good reasons,
- 00:45:17.162 --> 00:45:20.765
- And what are the-- what best explains that?
- 00:45:20.765 --> 00:45:24.002
- Now we're back to the best explanation for the way
- 00:45:24.002 --> 00:45:26.638
- Things are.
- 00:45:26.638 --> 00:45:28.006
- Well, the disciples stole the body.
- 00:45:28.006 --> 00:45:29.374
- Well, if the disciples stole the body, that means they were lying
- 00:45:29.374 --> 00:45:32.877
- When they said he was risen.
- 00:45:32.877 --> 00:45:34.412
- Now, here's the deal about lying, and every schoolboy
- 00:45:34.412 --> 00:45:36.548
- Knows this.
- 00:45:36.548 --> 00:45:37.882
- You always tell a lie that gets you something good, right?
- 00:45:37.882 --> 00:45:40.718
- You don't tell a lie that gets you whipped, beaten, stoned,
- 00:45:40.718 --> 00:45:45.723
- Crucified upside down, or your head cut off.
- 00:45:45.723 --> 00:45:47.959
- I mean, this is not a good lie.
- 00:45:47.959 --> 00:45:49.694
- Kirk: right.
- 00:45:49.694 --> 00:45:51.062
- Greg: but these are the kinds of things that the disciples
- 00:45:51.062 --> 00:45:52.931
- Experience for maintaining their testimony about jesus.
- 00:45:52.931 --> 00:45:56.000
- And by the way, what about saul?
- 00:45:56.000 --> 00:45:59.938
- What about james?
- 00:45:59.938 --> 00:46:01.272
- They had no inclination to believe.
- 00:46:01.272 --> 00:46:03.374
- So you can look at all kinds of different options, and i explore
- 00:46:03.374 --> 00:46:06.044
- Some of the ones that people have suggested, or
- 00:46:06.044 --> 00:46:07.812
- It's hallucination.
- 00:46:07.812 --> 00:46:09.414
- Wait, hallucinations are in your head.
- 00:46:09.414 --> 00:46:11.749
- You can't share a hallucination.
- 00:46:11.749 --> 00:46:14.319
- You know, you wake up in the middle of the night, you have a
- 00:46:14.319 --> 00:46:17.121
- Great dream, say, hey chelsea, hold my hand, we're gonna go
- 00:46:17.121 --> 00:46:19.424
- Back to sleep, and we're all gonna have the same dream.
- 00:46:19.424 --> 00:46:21.559
- It doesn't work like that.
- 00:46:21.559 --> 00:46:22.894
- I know leonardo dicaprio got away with that in hollywood, in
- 00:46:22.894 --> 00:46:26.865
- Real life that doesn't work that way.
- 00:46:26.865 --> 00:46:28.433
- So you're not gonna share a hallucination that happens many
- 00:46:28.433 --> 00:46:31.302
- Times over in many different locations in a room, on the
- 00:46:31.302 --> 00:46:35.440
- Road, by the seaside, while they're having dinner, while
- 00:46:35.440 --> 00:46:37.976
- They're having a snack, while they're chit-chatting here and
- 00:46:37.976 --> 00:46:39.744
- There, that's not a good explanation.
- 00:46:39.744 --> 00:46:42.113
- The only explanation that makes sense of all the details is the
- 00:46:42.113 --> 00:46:46.951
- One that they gave, the one who is dead is now alive, and we are
- 00:46:46.951 --> 00:46:51.222
- Witnesses to that thing.
- 00:46:51.222 --> 00:46:53.358
- Kirk: you say in your book, greg, that we are living right
- 00:46:53.358 --> 00:46:56.027
- Now between the beginning of god's story and the end, and
- 00:46:56.027 --> 00:47:01.032
- Those middle chapters are really dangerous.
- 00:47:01.032 --> 00:47:04.402
- What are you hoping will be the takeaway when people read
- 00:47:04.402 --> 00:47:08.673
- Your book?
- 00:47:08.673 --> 00:47:10.575
- Greg: well, there's two things that come to mind, kirk.
- 00:47:10.575 --> 00:47:13.044
- One is that followers of christ will have their eyes opened to
- 00:47:13.044 --> 00:47:18.917
- The breadth of the story and then see how a bunch of things
- 00:47:18.917 --> 00:47:23.421
- Fit together.
- 00:47:23.421 --> 00:47:24.789
- Why jesus is the only way.
- 00:47:24.789 --> 00:47:26.124
- What about the problem of evil?
- 00:47:26.124 --> 00:47:28.493
- Singular problems, problem of evil, often have singular
- 00:47:28.493 --> 00:47:32.163
- Solutions, jesus.
- 00:47:32.163 --> 00:47:33.932
- And those fit together.
- 00:47:33.932 --> 00:47:35.533
- It's not a problem when you understand the whole story, and
- 00:47:35.533 --> 00:47:38.169
- I hope that's going to happen to them.
- 00:47:38.169 --> 00:47:39.604
- They're going to be enriched in that way, and it's going to make
- 00:47:39.604 --> 00:47:42.340
- More sense to them than they ever have.
- 00:47:42.340 --> 00:47:44.776
- I also-- whenever i sat down to wordsmith in my chapters, i
- 00:47:44.776 --> 00:47:49.047
- Thought of the non-christian, and i wanted this thing to read
- 00:47:49.047 --> 00:47:52.116
- Like a narrative, like a easy read that's got a kind of a
- 00:47:52.116 --> 00:47:55.586
- Flavor of cs* lewis's "mere christianity," and i did that on
- 00:47:55.586 --> 00:47:59.023
- Purpose, because i think that was really accessible and this
- 00:47:59.023 --> 00:48:01.526
- Is for a new generation.
- 00:48:01.526 --> 00:48:03.127
- And i'm hoping non-christians are gonna pick this up, and
- 00:48:03.127 --> 00:48:05.964
- They're going to see in the totality of the christian
- 00:48:05.964 --> 00:48:08.666
- Worldview, they're going to see an elegance of that worldview
- 00:48:08.666 --> 00:48:13.471
- That they never saw before.
- 00:48:13.471 --> 00:48:14.906
- There's a little apologetics kind of mixed in in different
- 00:48:14.906 --> 00:48:17.108
- Places, as is appropriate, like lewis did with "mere
- 00:48:17.108 --> 00:48:19.877
- Christianity," but i think it's the big picture that you see
- 00:48:19.877 --> 00:48:23.481
- That it has a certain coherence and cohesiveness and elegance
- 00:48:23.481 --> 00:48:27.585
- And indeed beauty that is going to commend it to people, and i
- 00:48:27.585 --> 00:48:31.589
- Hope those are the kinds of things that take place when
- 00:48:31.589 --> 00:48:34.592
- People read it.
- 00:48:34.592 --> 00:48:35.960
- Kirk: well, i absolutely love it, and i think it's
- 00:48:35.960 --> 00:48:37.295
- So important.
- 00:48:37.295 --> 00:48:38.663
- Greg, thanks so much for joining us.
- 00:48:38.663 --> 00:48:39.998
- Greg: yeah, remember str.org, forward slash takeaways, and
- 00:48:39.998 --> 00:48:43.568
- People can get a complimentary copy of a chapter of the book
- 00:48:43.568 --> 00:48:47.038
- Called "the rescue," and love to have them visit.
- 00:48:47.038 --> 00:48:49.640
- Kirk: yep, check it out, don't miss it.
- 00:48:49.640 --> 00:48:51.175
- And after the break, we'll review today's takeaways.
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- [music]
- 00:48:54.379 --> 00:48:59.994
- [music]
- 00:48:59.994 --> 00:49:00.621
- [music]
- 00:49:00.955 --> 00:49:04.658
- Kirk: have you ever asked yourself what is reality, and
- 00:49:07.528 --> 00:49:10.664
- Why don't we see it all the same way?
- 00:49:10.664 --> 00:49:12.700
- I had an amazing conversation today with greg koukl as we
- 00:49:12.700 --> 00:49:15.736
- Explored how seeing the whole story of reality, god, man,
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- Jesus, the cross, and the resurrection, can completely
- 00:49:20.975 --> 00:49:24.678
- Change the way we live, the way we see the world, and the way we
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- Relate to others.
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- Here's a few of our takeaways.
- 00:49:30.017 --> 00:49:34.555
- Assemble the puzzle.
- 00:49:34.555 --> 00:49:36.557
- Greg described the story of reality like a puzzle.
- 00:49:36.557 --> 00:49:40.161
- We talked about this image of dumping a puzzle on the floor
- 00:49:40.161 --> 00:49:43.764
- And how we need to assemble it in order to see the
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- Bigger picture.
- 00:49:46.834 --> 00:49:48.169
- That's how faith works.
- 00:49:48.169 --> 00:49:49.537
- We need an understanding of how the key parts of christianity
- 00:49:49.537 --> 00:49:52.706
- Connect so that we can see god's story from the beginning to the
- 00:49:52.706 --> 00:49:57.711
- End and how we fit in between.
- 00:49:57.711 --> 00:50:00.714
- Jesus often used stories and parables to explain the kingdom
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- Of god in a way that could be understood and remembered.
- 00:50:04.952 --> 00:50:09.356
- When we remember that we're a part of his story, we find
- 00:50:09.356 --> 00:50:13.727
- Deeper meaning and purpose.
- 00:50:13.727 --> 00:50:15.796
- We see that christianity isn't just a belief, it's the true
- 00:50:15.796 --> 00:50:19.934
- Story of reality.
- 00:50:19.934 --> 00:50:23.104
- Confront secular science.
- 00:50:23.104 --> 00:50:25.673
- Another fascinating part of our conversation today was when we
- 00:50:25.673 --> 00:50:28.542
- Looked at secular science and creation and realized they
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- Actually agree on one thing, the universe had an
- 00:50:32.980 --> 00:50:36.083
- Absolute beginning.
- 00:50:36.083 --> 00:50:37.585
- The difference is secular science says something came
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- From nothing.
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- Faith says something came from someone, god.
- 00:50:42.823 --> 00:50:48.095
- Greg also reminded us that there are many realities of our world
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- That secular science cannot touch.
- 00:50:52.032 --> 00:50:54.935
- He used this example of gravity.
- 00:50:54.935 --> 00:50:57.171
- Whether we believe in it or not, it's still real.
- 00:50:57.171 --> 00:51:00.841
- And the same thing is true for things like math and the most
- 00:51:00.841 --> 00:51:04.211
- Meaningful parts of life, love and relationships.
- 00:51:04.211 --> 00:51:07.681
- Just because we can't touch them or measure them doesn't make
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- Them any less real.
- 00:51:11.652 --> 00:51:14.288
- And the bigger picture, there is a god behind it all, and when we
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- Look closely, true science points us toward the creator.
- 00:51:18.058 --> 00:51:24.331
- Acknowledge brokenness.
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- Greg said almost everyone agrees that the world is not the way it
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- Ought to be, and he's right.
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- We all can see the brokenness around us and within us.
- 00:51:33.207 --> 00:51:37.478
- In our conversation we acknowledged that brokenness is
- 00:51:37.478 --> 00:51:41.115
- Proof that everything is not right in the world.
- 00:51:41.115 --> 00:51:44.652
- There's a moral standard that others don't always keep, and
- 00:51:44.652 --> 00:51:48.589
- We're also aware that we don't always keep it.
- 00:51:48.589 --> 00:51:51.458
- So how do we confront the brokenness?
- 00:51:51.458 --> 00:51:55.296
- It starts with us.
- 00:51:55.296 --> 00:51:57.631
- We can examine our own heart, acknowledging our sin, and then
- 00:51:57.631 --> 00:52:01.368
- Choosing forgiveness over guilt.
- 00:52:01.368 --> 00:52:06.207
- Let jesus talk.
- 00:52:06.207 --> 00:52:08.075
- One of my favorite things greg said was this, let jesus do
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- The talking.
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- When we point people back to what jesus actually said about
- 00:52:13.180 --> 00:52:16.183
- Himself, we remind them that we can't save ourselves.
- 00:52:16.183 --> 00:52:20.554
- We need a rescuer.
- 00:52:20.554 --> 00:52:23.090
- Jesus came to seek and save the lost, to give his life as a
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- Payment for ours.
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- Doesn't that sound like the kind of hero in most books or
- 00:52:29.830 --> 00:52:33.367
- Hollywood movies?
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- He is the hero in the story everyone's searching for.
- 00:52:34.935 --> 00:52:39.440
- And when we share jesus's words, we help others discover that
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- Christianity and redemption is not fiction.
- 00:52:42.943 --> 00:52:47.047
- It's the truest story there ever was.
- 00:52:47.047 --> 00:52:51.151
- Well, that's it for this episode of "takeaways."
- 00:52:51.151 --> 00:52:53.520
- Thank you for watching and if you've enjoyed the show, don't
- 00:52:53.520 --> 00:52:56.223
- Forget to set your dvr so you never miss an episode.
- 00:52:56.223 --> 00:52:59.493
- And of course, you can always catch up on past episodes by
- 00:52:59.493 --> 00:53:02.263
- Searching for takeaways on tbn+ or just visit the kirk cameron
- 00:53:02.263 --> 00:53:06.967
- On tbn youtube channel.
- 00:53:06.967 --> 00:53:09.136
- We'll see you here next time for more great conversations.
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- [music]
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