Class 2 from this series was used in GCT Episode 272.<\/p>\n
2
\n00:00:04,920 –> 00:00:07,320
\nsome of the fundamental things
\nthat we believe. <\/p>\n
3
\n00:00:07,320 –> 00:00:12,680
\nWe’ve looked in the sciences and
\nin mathematics for proof for the<\/p>\n
4
\n00:00:12,680 –> 00:00:16,200
\nexistence of God.
\nWe’ve looked in the Bible and in<\/p>\n
5
\n00:00:16,200 –> 00:00:19,680
\nancient history for proof that
\nJesus at a point in history <\/p>\n
6
\n00:00:19,680 –> 00:00:21,920
\nreally was resurrected from the
\ndead. <\/p>\n
7
\n00:00:23,160 –> 00:00:28,600
\nWe’ve looked at proof that the
\nBible that we have in front of <\/p>\n
8
\n00:00:28,600 –> 00:00:31,560
\nus really is the inspired word
\nof God, that it’s special and <\/p>\n
9
\n00:00:31,560 –> 00:00:34,480
\nunique, and that it proves that
\nto us. <\/p>\n
10
\n00:00:36,560 –> 00:00:41,640
\nOnce you eliminate the
\nimpossible, whatever remains, no<\/p>\n
11
\n00:00:41,640 –> 00:00:44,360
\nmatter how improbable, must be
\nthe truth. <\/p>\n
12
\n00:00:46,120 –> 00:00:47,680
\nCan anybody tell me who said
\nthat? <\/p>\n
13
\n00:00:50,080 –> 00:00:52,040
\nSherlock Holmes?
\nThat’s right, Sherlock Holmes. <\/p>\n
14
\n00:00:52,040 –> 00:00:55,040
\nOf course he’s not real
\nfictional character, so maybe <\/p>\n
15
\n00:00:55,040 –> 00:00:57,880
\nthe author who wrote the books,
\nSir Arthur Conan Doyle. <\/p>\n
16
\n00:00:58,440 –> 00:01:01,240
\nAnd what he meant was, if you’re
\nlooking at a situation, you <\/p>\n
17
\n00:01:01,240 –> 00:01:03,160
\ncan’t explain it.
\nAnd you come up with some <\/p>\n
18
\n00:01:03,160 –> 00:01:06,720
\ntheories as to as to how this
\nmight have happened. <\/p>\n
19
\n00:01:07,120 –> 00:01:10,760
\nIf you can eliminate all of the
\ntheories but one, even if the <\/p>\n
20
\n00:01:10,760 –> 00:01:15,160
\none that’s left seems really
\nimprobable, if it’s the only <\/p>\n
21
\n00:01:15,160 –> 00:01:18,000
\noption left, it must be the
\ntruth. <\/p>\n
22
\n00:01:19,600 –> 00:01:23,280
\nAnd the title of this class this
\nmorning, and the last class in <\/p>\n
23
\n00:01:23,280 –> 00:01:26,600
\nour series for this weekend, is
\nthe rapid spread of <\/p>\n
24
\n00:01:26,600 –> 00:01:30,400
\nChristianity.
\nSo I want to start by defining <\/p>\n
25
\n00:01:30,400 –> 00:01:33,520
\nwhat we mean by that.
\nAnd maybe a good place to start <\/p>\n
26
\n00:01:33,520 –> 00:01:35,360
\nis telling you what I don’t mean
\nby this. <\/p>\n
27
\n00:01:35,520 –> 00:01:37,840
\nI wouldn’t want you to want you
\nto come away from this class <\/p>\n
28
\n00:01:38,040 –> 00:01:40,120
\nthinking that this is the point
\nthat we made. <\/p>\n
29
\n00:01:40,880 –> 00:01:43,160
\nI wouldn’t want you to think
\nthat that we’re trying to say <\/p>\n
30
\n00:01:43,160 –> 00:01:47,240
\nthis morning that simply because
\nChristianity is the largest <\/p>\n
31
\n00:01:47,240 –> 00:01:51,040
\nreligion in the world today,
\nthat it must be the one true <\/p>\n
32
\n00:01:51,200 –> 00:01:55,640
\nreligion.
\nBecause truth isn’t always on <\/p>\n
33
\n00:01:55,640 –> 00:01:59,760
\nthe side of numbers.
\nAnd if you did think that if if <\/p>\n
34
\n00:01:59,760 –> 00:02:01,880
\nthat was a reason why you
\nthought, well, the Christian <\/p>\n
35
\n00:02:01,880 –> 00:02:04,880
\nfaith must be the correct one
\nbecause the most people in the <\/p>\n
36
\n00:02:04,880 –> 00:02:07,760
\nworld believe that, you’d
\nactually run into a problem. <\/p>\n
37
\n00:02:08,639 –> 00:02:11,600
\nHere’s a chart.
\nThis was based on a census taken<\/p>\n
38
\n00:02:11,600 –> 00:02:15,880
\nin 2009 of the entire world
\npopulation broken up by <\/p>\n
39
\n00:02:15,880 –> 00:02:17,680
\nreligious belief or lack
\nthereof. <\/p>\n
40
\n00:02:17,680 –> 00:02:20,880
\nBecause you’ll see agnosticism
\nright on there, which is not a <\/p>\n
41
\n00:02:20,880 –> 00:02:24,840
\nreligious faith.
\nAnd roughly 1\/3 of the world’s <\/p>\n
42
\n00:02:24,840 –> 00:02:28,640
\npopulation subscribe to some
\nform of Christianity. <\/p>\n
43
\n00:02:29,280 –> 00:02:31,400
\nSo yes, it is the largest
\nreligion in the world. <\/p>\n
44
\n00:02:31,400 –> 00:02:34,640
\nBut if that was the reason why
\nyou thought, well, it must be <\/p>\n
45
\n00:02:34,640 –> 00:02:37,840
\nthe truth, well then sooner or
\nlater you’d have a problem. <\/p>\n
46
\n00:02:37,840 –> 00:02:41,000
\nIf you were to narrow it down to
\njust the two largest religions <\/p>\n
47
\n00:02:41,000 –> 00:02:45,640
\nin the world, you’d have
\nChristianity and Islam and <\/p>\n
48
\n00:02:45,720 –> 00:02:49,240
\nanother census taken three years
\nlater in 2012. <\/p>\n
49
\n00:02:49,240 –> 00:02:51,760
\nHere were the numbers.
\nSo you can see both of those <\/p>\n
50
\n00:02:51,760 –> 00:02:55,440
\nreligions had grown in terms of
\nworldwide population. <\/p>\n
51
\n00:02:56,360 –> 00:03:01,320
\nBut if you look at Christianity,
\nit only grew by .07% whereas <\/p>\n
52
\n00:03:01,320 –> 00:03:07,880
\nIslam grew by .73%.
\nSo Islam was and continues to <\/p>\n
53
\n00:03:07,880 –> 00:03:09,680
\ngrow a lot quicker than
\nChristianity. <\/p>\n
54
\n00:03:09,680 –> 00:03:13,840
\nSo if this trend continues a few
\ndecades down the road, it may be<\/p>\n
55
\n00:03:13,840 –> 00:03:16,240
\nthat Islam overtakes
\nChristianity. <\/p>\n
56
\n00:03:16,400 –> 00:03:19,240
\nAnd if your belief was this must
\nbe the truth because the most <\/p>\n
57
\n00:03:19,240 –> 00:03:25,720
\npeople believe it, you have a
\nproblem because, well, truth <\/p>\n
58
\n00:03:25,720 –> 00:03:29,360
\noften is not on the side of the
\nnumbers when it comes to the <\/p>\n
59
\n00:03:29,360 –> 00:03:33,520
\nnumber of people who believe or
\ndon’t believe a certain thing. <\/p>\n
60
\n00:03:36,480 –> 00:03:41,000
\nWhat we are interested in this
\nmorning is the growth of the <\/p>\n
61
\n00:03:41,000 –> 00:03:45,560
\nChristian religion and its
\ninfancy right after the time of <\/p>\n
62
\n00:03:45,560 –> 00:03:49,320
\nthe Lord Jesus Christ and those
\nfirst few 100 years of Christian<\/p>\n
63
\n00:03:49,320 –> 00:03:53,360
\nhistory.
\nThe Christian religion was <\/p>\n
64
\n00:03:53,360 –> 00:03:57,400
\nspreading through the world like
\nwildfire by leaps and bounds, <\/p>\n
65
\n00:03:58,640 –> 00:04:04,440
\nand it defied all odds because
\nin this time, when it was <\/p>\n
66
\n00:04:04,440 –> 00:04:07,920
\nspreading throughout the world,
\neverything was stacked against <\/p>\n
67
\n00:04:07,920 –> 00:04:10,800
\nit.
\nIf God was not on the side of <\/p>\n
68
\n00:04:10,800 –> 00:04:15,120
\nthis religion, if Jesus wasn’t
\ntruly resurrected from the dead,<\/p>\n
69
\n00:04:15,600 –> 00:04:18,320
\nif the apostles weren’t really
\nout there performing real <\/p>\n
70
\n00:04:18,320 –> 00:04:21,160
\nmiracles with the power of God,
\nand people didn’t actually have <\/p>\n
71
\n00:04:21,160 –> 00:04:24,040
\nthe Holy Spirit gifts, then at
\nthe end of this class, the point<\/p>\n
72
\n00:04:24,040 –> 00:04:28,000
\nis going to be that there is no
\nexplanation for how Christianity<\/p>\n
73
\n00:04:28,000 –> 00:04:30,400
\nsucceeded the way that it did.
\nIt should have died. <\/p>\n
74
\n00:04:31,000 –> 00:04:32,840
\nIt shouldn’t have gotten very
\nfar at all. <\/p>\n
75
\n00:04:34,240 –> 00:04:37,960
\nAnd yet nobody could stop it.
\nDespite the best efforts of some<\/p>\n
76
\n00:04:37,960 –> 00:04:41,480
\nof the most powerful people in
\nthe world for several 100 years,<\/p>\n
77
\n00:04:41,760 –> 00:04:46,680
\nnobody could stop it.
\nAnd we know that it spread <\/p>\n
78
\n00:04:46,680 –> 00:04:49,640
\nquickly because of of evidence
\noutside of the Bible. <\/p>\n
79
\n00:04:49,840 –> 00:04:52,680
\nEven if we don’t want to accept
\nthe biblical record, ancient <\/p>\n
80
\n00:04:52,680 –> 00:04:55,480
\nhistory, the verdict is
\nunanimous that Christianity was <\/p>\n
81
\n00:04:55,480 –> 00:04:59,240
\nspreading faster than anything
\nanybody had ever seen before <\/p>\n
82
\n00:04:59,360 –> 00:05:02,280
\nbecause of historians like
\nSuetonius, a Roman historian, <\/p>\n
83
\n00:05:02,280 –> 00:05:05,160
\ncertainly not a Christian.
\nIt’s because of Suetonius that <\/p>\n
84
\n00:05:05,160 –> 00:05:08,000
\nwe know as much as we do about
\nmany of the Roman emperors. <\/p>\n
85
\n00:05:08,280 –> 00:05:10,960
\nBecause of his work, The Lives
\nof the 12 Caesars. <\/p>\n
86
\n00:05:11,720 –> 00:05:16,520
\nAnd sometime around the year 49
\nAD he he published this, this <\/p>\n
87
\n00:05:16,840 –> 00:05:20,080
\ndocument, this historical work
\nthat that historians now use <\/p>\n
88
\n00:05:20,080 –> 00:05:23,840
\ntoday.
\nAnd in this chapter on Claudius,<\/p>\n
89
\n00:05:25,040 –> 00:05:28,240
\nthe Emperor Claudius, he
\nmentions this that since the <\/p>\n
90
\n00:05:28,240 –> 00:05:31,440
\nJews constantly made
\ndisturbances, disturbances at <\/p>\n
91
\n00:05:31,440 –> 00:05:34,080
\nthe instigation of Christus,
\nwhich is their word for for <\/p>\n
92
\n00:05:34,200 –> 00:05:38,600
\nJesus or Christ, Claudius
\nexpelled all the Jews from Rome <\/p>\n
93
\n00:05:39,160 –> 00:05:41,680
\nis because of the trouble that
\nthe Christians were making. <\/p>\n
94
\n00:05:41,680 –> 00:05:45,680
\nAnd this is as early as 49 AD
\nwhen the apostles would have <\/p>\n
95
\n00:05:45,680 –> 00:05:50,720
\nbeen alive, all the Jews were
\nkicked out of Rome. <\/p>\n
96
\n00:05:50,840 –> 00:05:53,080
\nThis is an interesting one
\nbecause there’s actually it <\/p>\n
97
\n00:05:53,080 –> 00:05:55,880
\nactually coincides really nicely
\nwith the Bible passage. <\/p>\n
98
\n00:05:56,320 –> 00:05:57,600
\nYou can turn there with me if
\nyou want. <\/p>\n
99
\n00:05:57,600 –> 00:05:59,840
\nIt’s Acts chapter 18.
\nYou don’t need to because I’m <\/p>\n
100
\n00:05:59,840 –> 00:06:01,720
\nonly going to read 2 verses for
\nyou. <\/p>\n
101
\n00:06:02,160 –> 00:06:05,960
\nBut have a look at this Acts
\nchapter 18 verses one and two. <\/p>\n
102
\n00:06:08,840 –> 00:06:13,120
\nAfter this Paul left Athens and
\nwent to Corinth and he found a <\/p>\n
103
\n00:06:13,120 –> 00:06:17,560
\nJew named Aquila.
\nA native of Pontus recently come<\/p>\n
104
\n00:06:17,560 –> 00:06:22,720
\nfrom Italy with his wife
\nPriscilla, because Claudius had <\/p>\n
105
\n00:06:22,720 –> 00:06:26,160
\ncommanded all the Jews to leave
\nRome. <\/p>\n
106
\n00:06:27,120 –> 00:06:29,640
\nIsn’t that interesting?
\nIt lines right up with what <\/p>\n
107
\n00:06:29,640 –> 00:06:32,160
\nSuetonius had said.
\nBut Suetonius gives us the <\/p>\n
108
\n00:06:32,160 –> 00:06:33,720
\nreason why.
\nIt’s because of all the <\/p>\n
109
\n00:06:33,720 –> 00:06:37,440
\ndisturbances caused by the
\nChristians that the Jews were <\/p>\n
110
\n00:06:37,440 –> 00:06:39,960
\nkicked out of Rome, and that’s
\nwhy Aquila and Priscilla had to <\/p>\n
111
\n00:06:39,960 –> 00:06:41,200
\nleave.
\nThat’s where they were living, <\/p>\n
112
\n00:06:41,200 –> 00:06:43,600
\nbut they were Jews and and had
\nto leave Rome. <\/p>\n
113
\n00:06:44,120 –> 00:06:47,920
\nNow, a little bit later on, we
\nhad another Roman historian, <\/p>\n
114
\n00:06:47,920 –> 00:06:53,080
\nTacitus, reading it around 64
\nAD, so a little over a decade <\/p>\n
115
\n00:06:53,080 –> 00:06:58,400
\nlater.
\nAnd the context of this report <\/p>\n
116
\n00:06:58,400 –> 00:07:00,800
\nis, this is, this is during the
\nlife of the Emperor Nero. <\/p>\n
117
\n00:07:01,000 –> 00:07:03,440
\nAnd if you know anything about
\nthe Roman Emperor Nero, you know<\/p>\n
118
\n00:07:03,440 –> 00:07:07,440
\nhe was completely crazy and that
\nprobably he burned down the city<\/p>\n
119
\n00:07:07,440 –> 00:07:11,520
\nof Rome, and so he was looking
\nfor a scapegoat to blame that <\/p>\n
120
\n00:07:11,520 –> 00:07:15,920
\nburning of the city of Rome.
\nNo, not the entire city burned <\/p>\n
121
\n00:07:15,920 –> 00:07:19,720
\ndown, but it was a massive fire,
\nand this is what it’s talking <\/p>\n
122
\n00:07:19,720 –> 00:07:21,440
\nabout.
\nNero’s looking for a scapegoat <\/p>\n
123
\n00:07:21,640 –> 00:07:24,760
\nfor that fire in Rome, and it
\nsays consequently to get rid of <\/p>\n
124
\n00:07:24,760 –> 00:07:27,800
\nthe report, Nero fastened the
\nguilt and inflicted the most <\/p>\n
125
\n00:07:27,800 –> 00:07:30,920
\nexquisite tortures on a class
\nhated for their abominations, <\/p>\n
126
\n00:07:31,160 –> 00:07:35,400
\ncalled Christians by the
\npopulace Christus, or Christ, <\/p>\n
127
\n00:07:35,640 –> 00:07:39,280
\nfrom whom the name had its
\norigin, suffered the extreme <\/p>\n
128
\n00:07:39,280 –> 00:07:42,800
\npenalty during the reign of
\nTiberius at the hands of one of <\/p>\n
129
\n00:07:42,800 –> 00:07:46,160
\nour procurators, Pontius Pilate.
\nAnd a most mischievous <\/p>\n
130
\n00:07:46,160 –> 00:07:48,480
\nsuperstition.
\nThus checked for the moment <\/p>\n
131
\n00:07:48,480 –> 00:07:52,080
\nagain broke out not only in
\nJudea, the first source of the <\/p>\n
132
\n00:07:52,080 –> 00:07:55,680
\nevil, but even in Rome, where
\nall things hideous and shameful <\/p>\n
133
\n00:07:55,760 –> 00:07:58,480
\nfrom every part of the world
\nfind their center and become <\/p>\n
134
\n00:07:58,480 –> 00:08:00,920
\npopular.
\nFantastist tells us that <\/p>\n
135
\n00:08:00,920 –> 00:08:04,120
\nChristianity had spread outside
\nof the region of Judea and had <\/p>\n
136
\n00:08:04,120 –> 00:08:08,320
\ngone as far as the the center of
\nthe modern world to the city of <\/p>\n
137
\n00:08:08,320 –> 00:08:11,720
\nRome.
\nAnd you get a sense too of how <\/p>\n
138
\n00:08:11,720 –> 00:08:14,200
\nthe Romans felt about the
\nChristians at this time. <\/p>\n
139
\n00:08:15,120 –> 00:08:22,000
\nThey hated them.
\nAnd about 50 years after that, <\/p>\n
140
\n00:08:22,440 –> 00:08:26,400
\nwe have Pliny the Younger, a
\ngovernor in Asia. <\/p>\n
141
\n00:08:27,160 –> 00:08:30,120
\nAnd he’s got a problem.
\nHis problem is Christianity. <\/p>\n
142
\n00:08:31,160 –> 00:08:33,080
\nIt’s all over the place.
\nHe can’t stop it. <\/p>\n
143
\n00:08:33,080 –> 00:08:36,000
\nHe’s been trying to stop it.
\nHe’s been he’s been capturing <\/p>\n
144
\n00:08:36,000 –> 00:08:38,760
\nthe Christian leaders, as many
\nas he can get his hands on and <\/p>\n
145
\n00:08:39,000 –> 00:08:41,520
\nand trying to make them refute
\ntheir beliefs. <\/p>\n
146
\n00:08:41,760 –> 00:08:44,840
\nAnd many of them won’t.
\nAnd he doesn’t know what to do. <\/p>\n
147
\n00:08:44,840 –> 00:08:47,480
\nSo he sends a letter to the
\nRoman emperor at the time asking<\/p>\n
148
\n00:08:47,480 –> 00:08:51,480
\nfor advice.
\nAnd in that letter he wrote, I <\/p>\n
149
\n00:08:51,480 –> 00:08:54,280
\ntherefore postponed this
\ninvestigation, and hasten to <\/p>\n
150
\n00:08:54,280 –> 00:08:57,000
\nconsult you, for the matter
\nseemed to me to weren’t <\/p>\n
151
\n00:08:57,000 –> 00:08:59,880
\nconsulting you, especially
\nbecause of the number involved. <\/p>\n
152
\n00:09:00,360 –> 00:09:03,480
\nFor many persons of every age,
\nevery rank, and also of both <\/p>\n
153
\n00:09:03,480 –> 00:09:07,200
\nsexes, are and will be
\nendangered, For the contagion of<\/p>\n
154
\n00:09:07,200 –> 00:09:11,280
\nthis superstition has spread not
\nonly to the cities, but also to <\/p>\n
155
\n00:09:11,280 –> 00:09:16,200
\nthe villages and farms.
\nBut it seems possible to check <\/p>\n
156
\n00:09:16,440 –> 00:09:19,040
\nand cure it.
\nAnd he writes about Christianity<\/p>\n
157
\n00:09:19,040 –> 00:09:21,760
\nlike it’s a disease.
\nIt’s a contagion, he says. <\/p>\n
158
\n00:09:21,760 –> 00:09:24,400
\nI can’t stop the spread.
\nIt’s everywhere. <\/p>\n
159
\n00:09:24,400 –> 00:09:27,080
\nAnd it’s not just in the major
\ncities now it’s in the outlying <\/p>\n
160
\n00:09:27,080 –> 00:09:31,360
\nrural countryside and the farms.
\nI think we can still stop it, he<\/p>\n
161
\n00:09:31,360 –> 00:09:32,760
\nsays.
\nBut I’d like your advice. <\/p>\n
162
\n00:09:32,760 –> 00:09:36,200
\nI’d like your help now.
\nThis is now 112 AD. <\/p>\n
163
\n00:09:36,200 –> 00:09:41,160
\nChristianity has continued to
\nspread and here’s a map of that <\/p>\n
164
\n00:09:41,160 –> 00:09:44,000
\nsame year.
\nThis map is showing based on <\/p>\n
165
\n00:09:44,000 –> 00:09:48,680
\narchaeological discoveries and
\nancient manuscripts to date, how<\/p>\n
166
\n00:09:48,680 –> 00:09:52,280
\nmuch we know about how far the
\nChristian religion had spread by<\/p>\n
167
\n00:09:52,280 –> 00:09:56,160
\nthis time just a generation
\nafter the apostles. <\/p>\n
168
\n00:09:57,240 –> 00:10:01,000
\nAnd you can see the the major
\ncities are listed by name. <\/p>\n
169
\n00:10:01,000 –> 00:10:04,240
\nThere you see Rome and Ephesus
\nand Alexandria and Jerusalem and<\/p>\n
170
\n00:10:04,240 –> 00:10:08,240
\nAntioch and Edessa.
\nAnd then you see those, those <\/p>\n
171
\n00:10:08,240 –> 00:10:11,200
\npurple squares, those are not
\nmajor cities, but cities <\/p>\n
172
\n00:10:11,200 –> 00:10:14,160
\nnonetheless, where Christianity
\nalso had communities. <\/p>\n
173
\n00:10:14,600 –> 00:10:18,360
\nAnd then you can see especially
\nin Asia, but but also in the in <\/p>\n
174
\n00:10:18,360 –> 00:10:20,320
\nthe Middle East around
\nJerusalem. <\/p>\n
175
\n00:10:20,520 –> 00:10:24,200
\nThe yellow is areas where we see
\nthat Christianity had spread <\/p>\n
176
\n00:10:24,200 –> 00:10:27,400
\noutside of the major cultural
\ncenters and into the surrounding<\/p>\n
177
\n00:10:27,400 –> 00:10:32,040
\ncountryside.
\nIt had spread and nobody could <\/p>\n
178
\n00:10:32,040 –> 00:10:34,320
\nstop it.
\nAnd a lot of people wanted to <\/p>\n
179
\n00:10:34,320 –> 00:10:36,480
\nstop it.
\nAnd you know what’s interesting?<\/p>\n
180
\n00:10:36,480 –> 00:10:39,440
\nI wouldn’t normally quote
\nWikipedia to you as any kind of <\/p>\n
181
\n00:10:39,960 –> 00:10:42,480
\na reliable source.
\nWe know that anybody can <\/p>\n
182
\n00:10:42,480 –> 00:10:46,040
\ncontribute to Wikipedia.
\nIt has editors that that go <\/p>\n
183
\n00:10:46,040 –> 00:10:48,320
\nthrough and and are constantly
\nvetting the content. <\/p>\n
184
\n00:10:48,320 –> 00:10:50,840
\nBut I thought it was interesting
\nthat whoever wrote the article <\/p>\n
185
\n00:10:51,000 –> 00:10:54,560
\non in Wikipedia on the history
\nof Christianity, there was this <\/p>\n
186
\n00:10:54,560 –> 00:10:58,040
\nsection within it entitled Why
\ndid Christianity succeed? <\/p>\n
187
\n00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:59,680
\nDon’t worry, I don’t expect you
\nto read this. <\/p>\n
188
\n00:10:59,680 –> 00:11:03,400
\nIt’s too small, but I wanted to
\nhighlight this for you. <\/p>\n
189
\n00:11:03,560 –> 00:11:06,360
\nWhoever wrote it, having looked
\nat many historical sources, <\/p>\n
190
\n00:11:06,520 –> 00:11:09,840
\nconcluded there is no agreement
\non an explanation of how <\/p>\n
191
\n00:11:09,840 –> 00:11:13,280
\nChristianity managed to spread
\nso successfully prior to the <\/p>\n
192
\n00:11:13,280 –> 00:11:17,120
\nEdict of Milan and the
\nestablishment of Christianity as<\/p>\n
193
\n00:11:17,120 –> 00:11:19,680
\nthe state religion of the Roman
\nEmpire. <\/p>\n
194
\n00:11:20,040 –> 00:11:24,120
\nAnd that’s true.
\nHistorians don’t have a good <\/p>\n
195
\n00:11:24,120 –> 00:11:27,560
\nreason for how Christianity
\ncould have spread so <\/p>\n
196
\n00:11:27,560 –> 00:11:30,400
\nsuccessfully.
\nUnless, of course, they’re <\/p>\n
197
\n00:11:30,400 –> 00:11:33,760
\nChristian historians, because
\nthere’s really only one <\/p>\n
198
\n00:11:33,760 –> 00:11:37,480
\nexplanation for it, and I want
\nto talk now about why that is. <\/p>\n
199
\n00:11:37,600 –> 00:11:40,840
\nWhy is it that Christianity
\nreally should not have <\/p>\n
200
\n00:11:40,920 –> 00:11:44,000
\nsucceeded?
\nAnd there are a lot of reasons. <\/p>\n
201
\n00:11:45,160 –> 00:11:51,520
\nAnd the first one is this, that
\nthe Romans had a lot of respect <\/p>\n
202
\n00:11:51,520 –> 00:11:53,880
\nfor ancient things, for
\nantiquity. <\/p>\n
203
\n00:11:54,680 –> 00:11:57,080
\nAnd the Romans would conquer the
\nknown world. <\/p>\n
204
\n00:11:58,120 –> 00:12:01,120
\nThey had to develop a procedure
\nfor how they would handle a <\/p>\n
205
\n00:12:01,120 –> 00:12:04,040
\npeople when they conquered them.
\nHow much freedom are we going to<\/p>\n
206
\n00:12:04,040 –> 00:12:05,640
\ngive them?
\nAre we going to let them <\/p>\n
207
\n00:12:05,640 –> 00:12:09,160
\ncontinue to practice their,
\ntheir native religion? <\/p>\n
208
\n00:12:09,160 –> 00:12:11,520
\nAre we going to let them govern
\nthemselves? <\/p>\n
209
\n00:12:12,280 –> 00:12:14,760
\nAnd so they developed this
\nprocess by which they would <\/p>\n
210
\n00:12:15,000 –> 00:12:18,960
\ninvestigate and examine any any
\nculture which they had conquered<\/p>\n
211
\n00:12:19,120 –> 00:12:21,080
\nto determine how much freedom
\nthey would give them. <\/p>\n
212
\n00:12:21,200 –> 00:12:27,200
\nAnd the primary test was this.
\nCan the culture demonstrate that<\/p>\n
213
\n00:12:27,200 –> 00:12:31,360
\nit goes back well into the
\nhistory books? <\/p>\n
214
\n00:12:31,360 –> 00:12:33,680
\nHave they been doing these
\nthings for a long time? <\/p>\n
215
\n00:12:34,040 –> 00:12:36,880
\nIf they had, the Romans would
\nhave respect for their customs <\/p>\n
216
\n00:12:36,880 –> 00:12:38,840
\nand traditions.
\nIf it was a relatively new <\/p>\n
217
\n00:12:38,840 –> 00:12:42,120
\nculture, than the Romans would
\njust assimilate them and and and<\/p>\n
218
\n00:12:42,240 –> 00:12:45,280
\nbasically try to convert them to
\ntheir own practices and wouldn’t<\/p>\n
219
\n00:12:45,280 –> 00:12:47,560
\nlet them have the kind of
\nfreedoms that they would let. <\/p>\n
220
\n00:12:47,560 –> 00:12:49,320
\nFor example, the Jewish people
\nhave. <\/p>\n
221
\n00:12:50,280 –> 00:12:53,200
\nBecause the Jewish people who
\nthey had also conquered the <\/p>\n
222
\n00:12:53,200 –> 00:12:57,040
\nnation of Israel, or perhaps the
\nmost ancient of peoples at this <\/p>\n
223
\n00:12:57,040 –> 00:12:58,960
\ntime, they had been around for
\nso long. <\/p>\n
224
\n00:12:59,440 –> 00:13:02,280
\nAnd their practices, their
\nworship practices and their <\/p>\n
225
\n00:13:02,280 –> 00:13:05,200
\ncultural practices, they could
\ndemonstrate very easily because <\/p>\n
226
\n00:13:05,200 –> 00:13:07,360
\nof their, their very strict
\nrecord keeping that they’ve been<\/p>\n
227
\n00:13:07,360 –> 00:13:09,640
\ndoing these things for hundreds
\nand hundreds of years. <\/p>\n
228
\n00:13:09,960 –> 00:13:14,400
\nSo when the Romans conquered the
\nJews, they’ve of course had a <\/p>\n
229
\n00:13:14,400 –> 00:13:17,760
\nlot of respect for their
\npractices and let them continue <\/p>\n
230
\n00:13:17,760 –> 00:13:20,640
\nto govern themselves, let them
\ncontinue to work, worship as <\/p>\n
231
\n00:13:20,640 –> 00:13:24,640
\nthey pleased.
\nOne ancient or one modern <\/p>\n
232
\n00:13:24,640 –> 00:13:27,960
\nhistorian of ancient history,
\nRobert Louis Wilkin, in his book<\/p>\n
233
\n00:13:27,960 –> 00:13:30,600
\nThe Christians As the Romans Saw
\nThem, he said the primary test <\/p>\n
234
\n00:13:30,600 –> 00:13:33,920
\nof truth and religious matters
\nwas custom and tradition. <\/p>\n
235
\n00:13:34,160 –> 00:13:38,520
\nThe practices of the ancients
\nand the Romans had a saying in <\/p>\n
236
\n00:13:38,520 –> 00:13:41,160
\nLatin.
\nIt was quad semper, quad ubeque,<\/p>\n
237
\n00:13:41,680 –> 00:13:45,040
\nquad AB, omnibus, which means
\nwhat has been held always, <\/p>\n
238
\n00:13:45,200 –> 00:13:49,560
\neverywhere, by everybody.
\nThat was what was important to <\/p>\n
239
\n00:13:49,560 –> 00:13:51,640
\nthem.
\nAnd this was true within Judaism<\/p>\n
240
\n00:13:51,640 –> 00:13:54,320
\nas well.
\nThe the Jewish people and those <\/p>\n
241
\n00:13:54,320 –> 00:13:57,880
\nof the Jewish faith, they, they
\nwere very proud of the fact that<\/p>\n
242
\n00:13:57,880 –> 00:13:59,240
\nthey could demonstrate that they
\nhad. <\/p>\n
243
\n00:13:59,240 –> 00:14:01,520
\nTheir religion had not changed.
\nFor hundreds of years. <\/p>\n
244
\n00:14:01,520 –> 00:14:03,840
\nThey’ve been, they’ve been going
\nabout these practices. <\/p>\n
245
\n00:14:05,280 –> 00:14:08,920
\nBut now came this upstart
\nreligion of Christianity, and <\/p>\n
246
\n00:14:08,920 –> 00:14:11,600
\nthis was brand new.
\nAnd you weren’t going to pull <\/p>\n
247
\n00:14:11,600 –> 00:14:13,920
\nthe wool over anybody’s eyes and
\ntry to convince them that it had<\/p>\n
248
\n00:14:13,920 –> 00:14:16,560
\nbeen around for any longer than
\nJesus, because that was the <\/p>\n
249
\n00:14:16,560 –> 00:14:20,160
\nbeginning of Christianity, as at
\nleast as far as the Romans saw <\/p>\n
250
\n00:14:20,160 –> 00:14:22,600
\nit.
\nThey crucified this man. <\/p>\n
251
\n00:14:22,720 –> 00:14:27,400
\nHe was just here on this earth.
\nChristianity was a brand new <\/p>\n
252
\n00:14:27,400 –> 00:14:30,000
\nreligion.
\nIt had no antiquity at all going<\/p>\n
253
\n00:14:30,000 –> 00:14:33,720
\nfor it, and so the Romans would
\nhave no respect for it. <\/p>\n
254
\n00:14:33,720 –> 00:14:37,280
\nAnd while they’d have respect
\nfor the Jewish faith, they would<\/p>\n
255
\n00:14:37,280 –> 00:14:39,800
\neventually, of course, come down
\nhard on the Jews as well and <\/p>\n
256
\n00:14:39,800 –> 00:14:41,800
\ntake away their worship
\nservices. <\/p>\n
257
\n00:14:41,800 –> 00:14:46,720
\nBut when the Christians came on
\nthe scene, they had no time for <\/p>\n
258
\n00:14:46,720 –> 00:14:49,160
\nit.
\nAnd along with that was the fact<\/p>\n
259
\n00:14:49,160 –> 00:14:52,360
\nthat the man who the Romans, the
\nRomans perceived it as, the the <\/p>\n
260
\n00:14:52,360 –> 00:14:55,320
\nearly Christians were actually
\nworshipping Jesus. <\/p>\n
261
\n00:14:56,160 –> 00:14:58,960
\nAnd Jesus was a man who had been
\ncrucified. <\/p>\n
262
\n00:15:00,120 –> 00:15:03,840
\nWhich to anybody else outside of
\nChristianity at this time would <\/p>\n
263
\n00:15:03,840 –> 00:15:09,360
\nhave seemed ridiculous, because
\naside from the fact that <\/p>\n
264
\n00:15:09,360 –> 00:15:13,560
\ncrucifixion was was a horrible
\nway to die, it was also designed<\/p>\n
265
\n00:15:13,560 –> 00:15:16,840
\nto be humiliating.
\nIt was meant to make an example <\/p>\n
266
\n00:15:17,000 –> 00:15:21,680
\nof the person who was crucified.
\nIt was reserved for the what <\/p>\n
267
\n00:15:21,680 –> 00:15:25,280
\nwere considered to be the very
\nworst crimes, so that everybody <\/p>\n
268
\n00:15:25,280 –> 00:15:28,840
\nwould see the person who was
\ncrucified and it would never <\/p>\n
269
\n00:15:28,840 –> 00:15:31,680
\nwant to be in that position.
\nSo they would never, you know, <\/p>\n
270
\n00:15:31,680 –> 00:15:35,560
\nnever commit that crime.
\nAnother historian, Martin <\/p>\n
271
\n00:15:35,560 –> 00:15:39,160
\nHengel, wrote that crucifixion
\nwas an utterly offensive affair,<\/p>\n
272
\n00:15:39,160 –> 00:15:42,000
\nobscene, and the the original
\nsense of the word. <\/p>\n
273
\n00:15:42,160 –> 00:15:46,280
\nIt was a status degradation
\nritual designed to humiliate in <\/p>\n
274
\n00:15:46,280 –> 00:15:50,000
\nevery way, including the
\nsymbolic pinioning, pinioning of<\/p>\n
275
\n00:15:50,000 –> 00:15:53,840
\nthe hands and legs, signifying a
\nloss of power and loss of <\/p>\n
276
\n00:15:53,840 –> 00:15:57,080
\nability to control the body in
\nvarious ways, including <\/p>\n
277
\n00:15:57,080 –> 00:16:00,120
\nbefouling oneself with
\nexcrement. <\/p>\n
278
\n00:16:03,480 –> 00:16:07,680
\nWhen somebody was crucified.
\nThe point was not to just to <\/p>\n
279
\n00:16:07,680 –> 00:16:11,280
\ndestroy their body, it was to
\ndestroy their reputation. <\/p>\n
280
\n00:16:12,440 –> 00:16:16,600
\nAnd here was a man, essentially
\nthe founder of the Christian <\/p>\n
281
\n00:16:16,600 –> 00:16:19,680
\nreligion, and he had been
\ncrucified. <\/p>\n
282
\n00:16:21,720 –> 00:16:26,000
\nThe very earliest depiction that
\nwe have of Jesus and of <\/p>\n
283
\n00:16:26,000 –> 00:16:30,080
\nChristian worship dates back
\nsome time to the year 200 AD, <\/p>\n
284
\n00:16:30,080 –> 00:16:33,040
\nbut it wasn’t actually
\ndiscovered until the year 1857. <\/p>\n
285
\n00:16:33,960 –> 00:16:37,520
\nAnd an area of Rome that hadn’t
\nbeen walled off, the building <\/p>\n
286
\n00:16:37,520 –> 00:16:42,440
\nwas called the Domus Galatania
\non Palatine Hill in Rome, and it<\/p>\n
287
\n00:16:42,440 –> 00:16:45,480
\nwas in a section underneath the
\nbuildings that had been walled <\/p>\n
288
\n00:16:45,480 –> 00:16:49,040
\noff for centuries because it was
\nused to support some of the <\/p>\n
289
\n00:16:49,040 –> 00:16:52,640
\nstructures above.
\nAnd it’s actually an an work of <\/p>\n
290
\n00:16:52,640 –> 00:16:54,800
\ngraffiti.
\nIt looks like this. <\/p>\n
291
\n00:16:56,200 –> 00:16:59,040
\nAnd you can see here is a
\ndepiction of a man worshipping <\/p>\n
292
\n00:16:59,040 –> 00:17:01,360
\nsomebody who’s being crucified.
\nBut it looks like a human with <\/p>\n
293
\n00:17:01,360 –> 00:17:05,000
\nthe head of a donkey.
\nBecause for some reason at this <\/p>\n
294
\n00:17:05,000 –> 00:17:08,160
\ntime in history, one of the
\nslanders against Christians was <\/p>\n
295
\n00:17:08,160 –> 00:17:10,720
\nthat for some reason people,
\npeople had started the rumor <\/p>\n
296
\n00:17:10,720 –> 00:17:15,400
\nthat they worshipped donkeys.
\nSo here you have this man <\/p>\n
297
\n00:17:15,400 –> 00:17:17,720
\nworshipping somebody who not
\nonly is being crucified, but <\/p>\n
298
\n00:17:17,720 –> 00:17:20,000
\nalso is has the head of a
\ndonkey. <\/p>\n
299
\n00:17:20,359 –> 00:17:23,920
\nAnd you see some writing here in
\nthe translation of that is Alexa<\/p>\n
300
\n00:17:23,920 –> 00:17:29,080
\nMinas Worships God.
\nYou see, this was intended to <\/p>\n
301
\n00:17:29,080 –> 00:17:31,360
\nhumiliate this Christian Alexa
\nMinas. <\/p>\n
302
\n00:17:31,880 –> 00:17:34,000
\nI found it comforting that
\nsomewhere else nearby in a wall,<\/p>\n
303
\n00:17:34,000 –> 00:17:37,480
\nsomebody else wrote Alexa Minos
\nis faithful, so he had some <\/p>\n
304
\n00:17:37,480 –> 00:17:41,280
\nfriends as well.
\nIt would seem this is one of the<\/p>\n
305
\n00:17:41,280 –> 00:17:46,680
\nearliest depictions we have
\nvisually of Christian worship <\/p>\n
306
\n00:17:46,840 –> 00:17:51,080
\nand of Jesus, although of course
\nnot a very accurate depiction <\/p>\n
307
\n00:17:52,160 –> 00:17:54,800
\nand to slander the religion.
\nIt’s a depiction of somebody on <\/p>\n
308
\n00:17:54,800 –> 00:17:57,800
\na cross because that was
\nridiculous to everybody else. <\/p>\n
309
\n00:17:58,040 –> 00:18:00,560
\nThat’s why the Apostle Paul
\nwould write in First Corinthians<\/p>\n
310
\n00:18:00,560 –> 00:18:04,600
\nchapter one and verse 18, that
\nthe preaching of the cross is to<\/p>\n
311
\n00:18:04,600 –> 00:18:09,760
\nthem that perish foolishness but
\nunto us which are saved. <\/p>\n
312
\n00:18:10,120 –> 00:18:12,920
\nIt is the power of God.
\nAnd that’s why the writer of <\/p>\n
313
\n00:18:12,920 –> 00:18:15,280
\nHebrews wrote this Hebrews
\nchapter 12 and verse two. <\/p>\n
314
\n00:18:15,280 –> 00:18:19,560
\nWe look to Jesus, the author and
\nfinisher of our faith, who for <\/p>\n
315
\n00:18:19,560 –> 00:18:25,040
\nthe joy that was set before him,
\nhe endured the cross, despising <\/p>\n
316
\n00:18:25,720 –> 00:18:30,240
\nthe shame, and to sit down at
\nthe right hand of the throne of <\/p>\n
317
\n00:18:30,240 –> 00:18:33,960
\nGod.
\nHave you ever really focused on <\/p>\n
318
\n00:18:33,960 –> 00:18:37,760
\nthe shame in that verse?
\nI never really had before, but <\/p>\n
319
\n00:18:37,800 –> 00:18:40,240
\nit was there in the verse
\nbecause of the shame that went <\/p>\n
320
\n00:18:40,240 –> 00:18:43,920
\nalong with crucifixion.
\nAnd early Christians would be <\/p>\n
321
\n00:18:43,920 –> 00:18:48,760
\nridiculed for their belief
\nbecause of this for following a <\/p>\n
322
\n00:18:48,760 –> 00:18:53,800
\nman who had participated or had
\nendured the shame of <\/p>\n
323
\n00:18:53,800 –> 00:18:56,600
\ncrucifixion.
\nNow, over and above that, there <\/p>\n
324
\n00:18:56,600 –> 00:18:59,960
\nwas more shame associated with
\nJesus from both the Roman and a <\/p>\n
325
\n00:18:59,960 –> 00:19:05,160
\nJewish perspective, because the
\nsociety that that people lived <\/p>\n
326
\n00:19:05,160 –> 00:19:08,640
\nin at this time in the Roman
\nEmpire was very much unlike the <\/p>\n
327
\n00:19:08,640 –> 00:19:12,440
\nsociety we live in today.
\nWe’re very much societies very <\/p>\n
328
\n00:19:12,440 –> 00:19:15,240
\nmuch against any kind of
\nprejudice or bias, but that was <\/p>\n
329
\n00:19:15,240 –> 00:19:17,720
\nrampant in the world at this
\ntime. <\/p>\n
330
\n00:19:17,720 –> 00:19:21,200
\nIn the modern world, prejudice
\nand stereotyping were a way of <\/p>\n
331
\n00:19:21,200 –> 00:19:23,880
\nlife in the Roman Empire at this
\npoint in history. <\/p>\n
332
\n00:19:25,520 –> 00:19:31,800
\nAnd Jesus was a Jew, and around
\nthe world Gentiles were <\/p>\n
333
\n00:19:31,800 –> 00:19:37,880
\nconverting to Christianity and
\ntheir savior was a Jew. <\/p>\n
334
\n00:19:39,560 –> 00:19:43,560
\nHere’s another quote from the
\nRoman historian Tacitus, which <\/p>\n
335
\n00:19:43,560 –> 00:19:47,960
\ngives us some insight into how
\nthe Romans thought about the <\/p>\n
336
\n00:19:47,960 –> 00:19:52,400
\nJews.
\nHe’s describing their history, <\/p>\n
337
\n00:19:52,800 –> 00:19:55,440
\nwhere they came from.
\nHe says in order to secure the <\/p>\n
338
\n00:19:55,440 –> 00:19:58,760
\nallegiance of his people in the
\nfuture, Moses prescribed for <\/p>\n
339
\n00:19:58,760 –> 00:20:02,120
\nthem a novel religion, quite
\ndifferent from those of the rest<\/p>\n
340
\n00:20:02,120 –> 00:20:04,920
\nof mankind.
\nAmong the Jews, all things are <\/p>\n
341
\n00:20:04,920 –> 00:20:08,440
\nprofane that we hold sacred.
\nOn the other hand, they regard <\/p>\n
342
\n00:20:08,440 –> 00:20:11,280
\nas permissible what seems to us
\nimmoral. <\/p>\n
343
\n00:20:12,880 –> 00:20:15,560
\nWhatever their origin, these
\nobservances are sanctioned by <\/p>\n
344
\n00:20:15,560 –> 00:20:17,480
\ntheir antiquity.
\nNow that’s interesting, That <\/p>\n
345
\n00:20:17,480 –> 00:20:19,000
\ngoes back to the previous point,
\nhe says. <\/p>\n
346
\n00:20:19,240 –> 00:20:22,880
\nDespite how revolting their
\npractices are, at the very least<\/p>\n
347
\n00:20:22,880 –> 00:20:25,360
\nthey’ve got antiquity going for
\nthem, which is why we’ve let <\/p>\n
348
\n00:20:25,360 –> 00:20:28,440
\nthem continue, or had let them
\ncontinue to worship as they <\/p>\n
349
\n00:20:28,440 –> 00:20:30,560
\nchose.
\nBut he goes on to say, the other<\/p>\n
350
\n00:20:30,560 –> 00:20:33,720
\npractices of the Jews are
\nsinister and revolting, and have<\/p>\n
351
\n00:20:33,720 –> 00:20:36,480
\nentrenched themselves by their
\nvery wickedness among <\/p>\n
352
\n00:20:36,480 –> 00:20:37,920
\nthemselves.
\nNothing is barred. <\/p>\n
353
\n00:20:38,120 –> 00:20:40,960
\nThey have introduced the
\npractice of circumcision to show<\/p>\n
354
\n00:20:40,960 –> 00:20:42,320
\nthat they are different from
\nothers. <\/p>\n
355
\n00:20:42,840 –> 00:20:45,800
\nProselytes to Jewry adopt the
\nsame practices, and the very <\/p>\n
356
\n00:20:45,800 –> 00:20:49,520
\nfirst lesson they learn is to
\ndespise the gods, shed all <\/p>\n
357
\n00:20:49,520 –> 00:20:53,480
\nfeelings of patriotism, and
\nconsider parents, children and <\/p>\n
358
\n00:20:53,480 –> 00:21:00,720
\nbrothers as readily expendable.
\nThis is how the Romans felt <\/p>\n
359
\n00:21:00,720 –> 00:21:04,960
\nabout the Jews.
\nThis was the society in which <\/p>\n
360
\n00:21:04,960 –> 00:21:10,760
\nChristianity was spreading,
\nseemingly unchecked, despite the<\/p>\n
361
\n00:21:10,760 –> 00:21:12,680
\nbest efforts of the Romans to
\nstop it. <\/p>\n
362
\n00:21:14,040 –> 00:21:16,800
\nBut even from a Jewish
\nperspective, the origins of <\/p>\n
363
\n00:21:16,800 –> 00:21:20,320
\nJesus were shameful because he
\ncame, they believed, from the <\/p>\n
364
\n00:21:20,320 –> 00:21:25,120
\nregion of Galilee, a land of
\nignorant farmers, of uneducated <\/p>\n
365
\n00:21:25,120 –> 00:21:28,280
\npeople in a Jewish society where
\neducation was everything. <\/p>\n
366
\n00:21:30,080 –> 00:21:33,440
\nAnd that’s why you remember the
\ndisciple Nathanael. <\/p>\n
367
\n00:21:33,440 –> 00:21:38,400
\nWhen he’s told we found the
\nMessiah, he said, can there any <\/p>\n
368
\n00:21:38,400 –> 00:21:41,080
\ngood thing come out of Nazareth
\nbefore he’d ever met Jesus? <\/p>\n
369
\n00:21:41,080 –> 00:21:43,240
\nHe’s like, are you serious?
\nHe comes from the region of <\/p>\n
370
\n00:21:43,240 –> 00:21:45,840
\nGalilee.
\nHard to believe. <\/p>\n
371
\n00:21:46,680 –> 00:21:50,120
\nEven within Jewish society, the
\norigins of Jesus were very <\/p>\n
372
\n00:21:50,120 –> 00:21:51,960
\nshameful.
\nThere was a lot of shame <\/p>\n
373
\n00:21:51,960 –> 00:21:55,680
\nassociated just with Jesus
\nhimself from a human perspective<\/p>\n
374
\n00:21:55,680 –> 00:22:03,320
\nat this time in history.
\nNow, if you were writing the <\/p>\n
375
\n00:22:03,320 –> 00:22:06,480
\nActs of the Apostles, those
\naccounts of what happened when <\/p>\n
376
\n00:22:06,480 –> 00:22:09,280
\nthe apostles went out into all
\nthe world to preach the gospel, <\/p>\n
377
\n00:22:10,120 –> 00:22:12,600
\nand you’re writing all the
\nstories of the miracles that <\/p>\n
378
\n00:22:12,600 –> 00:22:16,560
\nhappened and the people who were
\nconverted, but you were making <\/p>\n
379
\n00:22:16,560 –> 00:22:20,040
\nit all up and it was all a
\nfarce, It was all fake, but you <\/p>\n
380
\n00:22:20,040 –> 00:22:21,320
\nwere trying to create a
\nreligion. <\/p>\n
381
\n00:22:21,320 –> 00:22:23,480
\nSo you were you wanted to write
\nsomething that people would <\/p>\n
382
\n00:22:23,480 –> 00:22:27,320
\nbelieve what you were going to
\nwrite was going to be <\/p>\n
383
\n00:22:27,320 –> 00:22:29,640
\ndistributed within modern
\nsociety. <\/p>\n
384
\n00:22:29,640 –> 00:22:33,040
\nSo you’d want to make sure that
\nit it could be fact checked and <\/p>\n
385
\n00:22:33,040 –> 00:22:34,640
\npeople wouldn’t be able to
\ndebunk it. <\/p>\n
386
\n00:22:35,080 –> 00:22:39,680
\nThe very last thing you would do
\nis associate these miracles and <\/p>\n
387
\n00:22:39,680 –> 00:22:42,600
\nstories with people who were
\nwell known. <\/p>\n
388
\n00:22:42,600 –> 00:22:46,680
\nWith famous people you’d want to
\nassociate the especially the <\/p>\n
389
\n00:22:46,680 –> 00:22:49,920
\nmiraculous parts with nameless
\nor obscure people who nobody <\/p>\n
390
\n00:22:49,920 –> 00:22:52,040
\nknew that nobody could go to
\nFact Check. <\/p>\n
391
\n00:22:53,240 –> 00:22:56,520
\nAnd that’s the exact opposite of
\nwhat happens. <\/p>\n
392
\n00:22:56,760 –> 00:23:00,800
\nAnd the Acts of the Apostles.
\nRemember Herod Agrippa the 2nd? <\/p>\n
393
\n00:23:01,480 –> 00:23:04,800
\nRemember when Paul was was
\nimprisoned and he waited for an <\/p>\n
394
\n00:23:04,800 –> 00:23:07,280
\naudience and he got an audience
\nwith Heritage Grip of the 2nd? <\/p>\n
395
\n00:23:08,160 –> 00:23:11,000
\nAnd this is what it says.
\nI’ll read it for you. <\/p>\n
396
\n00:23:11,520 –> 00:23:14,480
\nYou can turn there if you like,
\nin Acts chapter 26 verses 24 to <\/p>\n
397
\n00:23:14,480 –> 00:23:20,240
\n28, as Paul thus spake for
\nhimself, Festus said with a loud<\/p>\n
398
\n00:23:20,240 –> 00:23:24,360
\nvoice.
\nPaul, thou art beside thyself. <\/p>\n
399
\n00:23:24,720 –> 00:23:26,760
\nMuch learning does make thee
\nmad. <\/p>\n
400
\n00:23:27,560 –> 00:23:31,720
\nBut he said, I am not mad, most
\nnoble Festus, but speak forth <\/p>\n
401
\n00:23:31,720 –> 00:23:33,400
\nthe words of truth and
\nsoberness. <\/p>\n
402
\n00:23:33,680 –> 00:23:36,440
\nFor the king knoweth of these
\nthings before whom also I speak <\/p>\n
403
\n00:23:36,440 –> 00:23:39,160
\nfreely.
\nFor I am persuaded that none of <\/p>\n
404
\n00:23:39,160 –> 00:23:42,680
\nthese things are hidden from
\nhim, for this thing was not done<\/p>\n
405
\n00:23:42,680 –> 00:23:44,920
\nin a corner.
\nKing Agrippa, believeth thou the<\/p>\n
406
\n00:23:44,920 –> 00:23:47,320
\nprophets?
\nI know that thou believest. <\/p>\n
407
\n00:23:47,920 –> 00:23:51,240
\nAnd then Agrippa said unto Paul,
\nAlmost thou persuadest me to be <\/p>\n
408
\n00:23:51,240 –> 00:23:54,120
\na Christian.
\nNow that last part in the past, <\/p>\n
409
\n00:23:54,120 –> 00:23:57,160
\nyou know, I found it convincing
\nthat maybe Agrippa was almost <\/p>\n
410
\n00:23:57,160 –> 00:23:59,200
\nconverted.
\nBut I think a better translation<\/p>\n
411
\n00:23:59,200 –> 00:24:01,880
\nof that last part is Agrippa
\nsaid, You really think you’re <\/p>\n
412
\n00:24:01,880 –> 00:24:03,400
\ngoing to convert me to be a
\nChristian? <\/p>\n
413
\n00:24:05,920 –> 00:24:11,240
\nBut earlier And verse 26, Paul
\nsays, I know that you know about<\/p>\n
414
\n00:24:11,240 –> 00:24:13,720
\nall of these things, these
\nmiracles and the resurrection of<\/p>\n
415
\n00:24:13,800 –> 00:24:17,280
\nJesus, because none of this
\nhappened in a corner in our <\/p>\n
416
\n00:24:17,280 –> 00:24:20,000
\nsecond class, which was the
\nfirst class yesterday, we talked<\/p>\n
417
\n00:24:20,000 –> 00:24:22,400
\nabout the empty tomb and the
\nproof for the resurrection of <\/p>\n
418
\n00:24:22,520 –> 00:24:25,120
\nJesus.
\nAnd Christianity is unique among<\/p>\n
419
\n00:24:25,120 –> 00:24:27,760
\nall of the religions in the
\nworld, and that it claims <\/p>\n
420
\n00:24:27,760 –> 00:24:30,960
\nsomething that seems impossible,
\nsomething outside of our frame <\/p>\n
421
\n00:24:30,960 –> 00:24:33,320
\nof reference that we’ve never
\nseen before, that at a point in <\/p>\n
422
\n00:24:33,320 –> 00:24:35,600
\nhistory a man was raised from
\nthe dead. <\/p>\n
423
\n00:24:38,440 –> 00:24:42,160
\nAnd it hangs it out there for us
\nto check and see if that really <\/p>\n
424
\n00:24:42,160 –> 00:24:48,040
\nis true, to look at the facts.
\nIt doesn’t couch it in obscurity<\/p>\n
425
\n00:24:48,040 –> 00:24:52,320
\nso that we can never verify.
\nIt gives us the historical <\/p>\n
426
\n00:24:52,320 –> 00:24:54,400
\nrecords to look into for
\nourselves. <\/p>\n
427
\n00:24:54,880 –> 00:24:57,360
\nAnd that’s why Paul is able to
\nsay to Agrippa, none of these <\/p>\n
428
\n00:24:57,360 –> 00:25:00,600
\nthings were done in secret.
\nEverybody knows, and Agrippa <\/p>\n
429
\n00:25:00,600 –> 00:25:03,560
\ndoesn’t say to him, no, that’s
\nnot true. <\/p>\n
430
\n00:25:04,640 –> 00:25:06,880
\nHe doesn’t refute that because
\nhe can’t refute that. <\/p>\n
431
\n00:25:07,040 –> 00:25:09,920
\nConsider that the the writings
\nthis, this record, the Acts of <\/p>\n
432
\n00:25:09,920 –> 00:25:12,800
\nthe Apostles which Luke wrote
\nwould have been distributed. <\/p>\n
433
\n00:25:12,800 –> 00:25:16,600
\nIn the same time people could
\nhave checked with somebody like <\/p>\n
434
\n00:25:16,600 –> 00:25:19,040
\nHerod of Gripper the 2nd to see
\nif this is the way that it went <\/p>\n
435
\n00:25:19,040 –> 00:25:21,040
\ndown, or many of the other
\npeople that were there. <\/p>\n
436
\n00:25:21,480 –> 00:25:24,720
\nHe was a very famous, prominent
\nfigure, let alone people like <\/p>\n
437
\n00:25:24,720 –> 00:25:28,040
\nPontius Pilate or Annus and
\nCaiaphas, the high priests or <\/p>\n
438
\n00:25:28,040 –> 00:25:30,480
\nJoseph of Arimathea and
\nNicodemus, those secret <\/p>\n
439
\n00:25:30,480 –> 00:25:33,680
\nfollowers of Jesus who were
\namong the leading Sanhedrin <\/p>\n
440
\n00:25:33,680 –> 00:25:37,400
\ncouncil of the Jews.
\nIf this was all fake, you would <\/p>\n
441
\n00:25:37,400 –> 00:25:40,640
\nassociate it with nameless,
\nobscure people, not the leaders <\/p>\n
442
\n00:25:40,640 –> 00:25:46,960
\nof your time.
\nBut that’s what we see in the <\/p>\n
443
\n00:25:46,960 –> 00:25:52,840
\nActs of the Apostles.
\nAnd if you were to convert to <\/p>\n
444
\n00:25:52,840 –> 00:25:57,400
\nChristianity in this time, and
\nthousands of people around the <\/p>\n
445
\n00:25:57,400 –> 00:26:00,840
\nworld were doing it from all
\nstations of life, of different <\/p>\n
446
\n00:26:00,840 –> 00:26:04,840
\nethnic backgrounds, Jews and
\nGentiles all over the world, <\/p>\n
447
\n00:26:05,080 –> 00:26:12,320
\nrich and poor, slaves and free,
\nthen you were signing up for <\/p>\n
448
\n00:26:12,320 –> 00:26:17,040
\nsomething very difficult because
\nthe Jews would dislike you, the <\/p>\n
449
\n00:26:17,040 –> 00:26:21,240
\nRomans would dislike you, your
\nfamily would disown you, and <\/p>\n
450
\n00:26:21,240 –> 00:26:23,920
\neverybody else that wasn’t a
\nChristian would avoid you and <\/p>\n
451
\n00:26:23,920 –> 00:26:27,640
\nridicule you.
\nHebrews chapter 10, verses 32 <\/p>\n
452
\n00:26:27,640 –> 00:26:32,560
\nand 33 called remembrance the
\nformer days in which ye after ye<\/p>\n
453
\n00:26:32,560 –> 00:26:34,840
\nwere illuminated.
\nYe endured a great fight of <\/p>\n
454
\n00:26:34,840 –> 00:26:38,160
\nafflictions, partly whilst ye
\nwere made a gazing stock, both <\/p>\n
455
\n00:26:38,160 –> 00:26:40,960
\nby reproaches and afflictions,
\nand partly while she became <\/p>\n
456
\n00:26:41,080 –> 00:26:43,880
\ncompanions of them that were so
\nused. <\/p>\n
457
\n00:26:44,480 –> 00:26:47,160
\nThe writer of the Hebrews
\nreminds them of how difficult it<\/p>\n
458
\n00:26:47,160 –> 00:26:49,960
\nwas when they became a
\nChristian, ridiculed by <\/p>\n
459
\n00:26:49,960 –> 00:26:53,640
\neverybody else losing their
\nstation if they had a station in<\/p>\n
460
\n00:26:53,640 –> 00:26:55,760
\nsociety.
\nAnd in First Peter, chapter 3, <\/p>\n
461
\n00:26:55,760 –> 00:26:59,400
\nverse 16, Peter says that you
\nhave a good conscience, that <\/p>\n
462
\n00:26:59,400 –> 00:27:03,400
\nwhereas they speak evil of you
\nas of evil doers, they may be <\/p>\n
463
\n00:27:03,400 –> 00:27:09,600
\nashamed that falsely accuse your
\ngood conversation in Christ. <\/p>\n
464
\n00:27:11,040 –> 00:27:13,720
\nIt wasn’t an easy thing to
\nbecome a Christian at this time.<\/p>\n
465
\n00:27:14,800 –> 00:27:18,400
\nYou were making a difficult
\ndecision to walk away sometimes <\/p>\n
466
\n00:27:18,400 –> 00:27:23,120
\nfrom your family, from your job,
\nfrom everything that that gave <\/p>\n
467
\n00:27:23,120 –> 00:27:26,080
\nyou safety and security.
\nWhy? <\/p>\n
468
\n00:27:26,520 –> 00:27:29,640
\nWhy would you do it if the
\nmiracles weren’t really <\/p>\n
469
\n00:27:29,640 –> 00:27:34,080
\nhappening, If Jesus wasn’t
\nreally resurrected from the <\/p>\n
470
\n00:27:34,080 –> 00:27:36,320
\ndead, then what could convince
\nyou to do this? <\/p>\n
471
\n00:27:36,480 –> 00:27:39,120
\nBut around the world, thousands
\nof people were doing it. <\/p>\n
472
\n00:27:43,000 –> 00:27:46,720
\nThe historian Bruce Molina wrote
\nthat given the sharp social <\/p>\n
473
\n00:27:46,720 –> 00:27:50,520
\nstratification, prevalence, and
\nantiquity, persons engaging in <\/p>\n
474
\n00:27:50,520 –> 00:27:54,000
\ninappropriate social relations
\nrisked being cut off from <\/p>\n
475
\n00:27:54,000 –> 00:27:56,080
\nnetworks on which their
\npositions depended. <\/p>\n
476
\n00:27:56,680 –> 00:27:59,320
\nIn traditional societies, this
\nwas taken with deadly <\/p>\n
477
\n00:27:59,320 –> 00:28:02,600
\nseriousness.
\nAlienation from family or clan <\/p>\n
478
\n00:28:02,800 –> 00:28:05,960
\ncould literally be a matter of
\nlife and death, especially for <\/p>\n
479
\n00:28:05,960 –> 00:28:08,840
\nthe elite, who would risk
\neverything by the wrong kind of <\/p>\n
480
\n00:28:08,840 –> 00:28:11,880
\nassociation with the wrong kind
\nof people. <\/p>\n
481
\n00:28:13,280 –> 00:28:15,360
\nThis was the nature of society
\nat this time. <\/p>\n
482
\n00:28:16,240 –> 00:28:20,960
\nIf you had wealth, if you had a
\nname for yourself, you had to be<\/p>\n
483
\n00:28:20,960 –> 00:28:24,560
\nvery careful about how you
\npreserved that name and one slip<\/p>\n
484
\n00:28:24,560 –> 00:28:27,840
\nup and you could lose it all.
\nYour life may even be at stake. <\/p>\n
485
\n00:28:28,080 –> 00:28:31,000
\nFamilies would sometimes
\nassassinate their own members if<\/p>\n
486
\n00:28:31,000 –> 00:28:33,080
\nthey were elite, wealthy
\nfamilies and they thought that <\/p>\n
487
\n00:28:33,080 –> 00:28:36,520
\nsomebody in their family was
\nendangering the the livelihood <\/p>\n
488
\n00:28:36,520 –> 00:28:40,560
\nof the family.
\nBut around the world, wealthy <\/p>\n
489
\n00:28:40,560 –> 00:28:45,280
\npeople, famous people, were
\nconverting to Christianity, and <\/p>\n
490
\n00:28:45,280 –> 00:28:47,520
\nJesus had predicted that this
\nwould happen. <\/p>\n
491
\n00:28:47,800 –> 00:28:50,800
\nIn Matthew chapter 19, verse 29,
\nhe said everyone that has <\/p>\n
492
\n00:28:50,800 –> 00:28:53,800
\nforsaken houses or brethren or
\nsisters or father or mother or <\/p>\n
493
\n00:28:53,800 –> 00:28:58,480
\nwife or children or lands for my
\nname’s sake shall receive an <\/p>\n
494
\n00:28:58,480 –> 00:29:02,120
\nhundredfold and shall inherit
\neverlasting life. <\/p>\n
495
\n00:29:02,360 –> 00:29:05,920
\nI’d suggest to you that today we
\nknow nothing about sacrifice <\/p>\n
496
\n00:29:06,280 –> 00:29:09,040
\ncompared to these earliest
\nChristians. <\/p>\n
497
\n00:29:09,880 –> 00:29:12,560
\nTo become a Christian, they
\noften had to walk away from all <\/p>\n
498
\n00:29:12,560 –> 00:29:15,680
\nof these things, and Jesus had
\npredicted that it would be this <\/p>\n
499
\n00:29:15,680 –> 00:29:21,080
\nway and they were choosing to do
\nit anyway. <\/p>\n
500
\n00:29:23,120 –> 00:29:26,920
\nNow you may wonder at this point
\nif, if this is the case, what is<\/p>\n
501
\n00:29:27,200 –> 00:29:29,360
\nif?
\nIf somebody’s a critic, if <\/p>\n
502
\n00:29:29,360 –> 00:29:32,880
\nsomebody’s cynical about this
\nand their historian, how would <\/p>\n
503
\n00:29:32,880 –> 00:29:37,040
\nthey come back against this,
\nthis argument about the rapid <\/p>\n
504
\n00:29:37,040 –> 00:29:39,400
\nspread of Christianity in a
\nworld where it should not have <\/p>\n
505
\n00:29:39,400 –> 00:29:41,600
\nsucceeded?
\nThere’s no real good rational <\/p>\n
506
\n00:29:41,600 –> 00:29:45,520
\nexplanation of how it should
\nhave succeeded if the miracles <\/p>\n
507
\n00:29:45,520 –> 00:29:48,920
\nweren’t really happening, if
\nJesus wasn’t really resurrected <\/p>\n
508
\n00:29:48,920 –> 00:29:52,360
\nfrom the dead.
\nAnd there’s one response that we<\/p>\n
509
\n00:29:52,360 –> 00:29:55,800
\nget time and time again to this,
\nto this particular train of <\/p>\n
510
\n00:29:55,800 –> 00:29:58,680
\nthought.
\nAnd it’s this that, yes, it <\/p>\n
511
\n00:29:58,680 –> 00:30:03,240
\nseems remarkable, The the rate
\nat which Christianity grew at <\/p>\n
512
\n00:30:03,240 –> 00:30:06,240
\nthis time, the explosion of the
\nChristian religion in the 1st <\/p>\n
513
\n00:30:06,240 –> 00:30:09,080
\nand the 2nd centuries.
\nIt seems remarkable, but it’s <\/p>\n
514
\n00:30:09,080 –> 00:30:13,600
\nnot unprecedented.
\nWe’ve seen even faster growth of<\/p>\n
515
\n00:30:13,600 –> 00:30:17,080
\nother religions, and the two
\nreligions that are usually cited<\/p>\n
516
\n00:30:17,080 –> 00:30:25,240
\nare Mormonism and Islam.
\nSo I want to take a second to <\/p>\n
517
\n00:30:25,320 –> 00:30:27,920
\ntalk about those religions with
\nyou and how they’re different <\/p>\n
518
\n00:30:27,920 –> 00:30:29,720
\nfrom Christianity.
\nAnd in fact, it’s a very <\/p>\n
519
\n00:30:29,720 –> 00:30:33,560
\ndifferent story with those two
\nreligions than it is with <\/p>\n
520
\n00:30:33,560 –> 00:30:36,280
\nChristianity itself.
\nOf course, Mormonism is is a <\/p>\n
521
\n00:30:36,280 –> 00:30:39,280
\nbranch of Christianity.
\nThey, they believe in the Bible <\/p>\n
522
\n00:30:39,280 –> 00:30:42,680
\nand then Jesus, because it’s a
\nlittle bit of a strange one. <\/p>\n
523
\n00:30:43,800 –> 00:30:45,640
\nAnd they had their own book, the
\nBook of Mormon. <\/p>\n
524
\n00:30:47,040 –> 00:30:50,960
\nMormonism was started by a man
\nnamed Joseph Smith, and he <\/p>\n
525
\n00:30:50,960 –> 00:30:56,040
\nclaimed to have continually
\nreceived revelations from God. <\/p>\n
526
\n00:30:57,240 –> 00:31:01,520
\nAnd these revelations would, for
\nMormons, expand upon the message<\/p>\n
527
\n00:31:01,520 –> 00:31:04,760
\nof the Bible.
\nOnly he saw them. <\/p>\n
528
\n00:31:05,480 –> 00:31:08,520
\nThey came only in his mind
\nvisions just to Joseph Smith. <\/p>\n
529
\n00:31:09,120 –> 00:31:13,120
\nAnd much of the Book of
\nMormonism came from the sayings <\/p>\n
530
\n00:31:13,120 –> 00:31:14,920
\nof Joseph Smith.
\nBased on the supposed <\/p>\n
531
\n00:31:14,920 –> 00:31:18,400
\nrevelations that he had, there
\nwas no way to put that out there<\/p>\n
532
\n00:31:18,400 –> 00:31:20,920
\nfor anybody to verify.
\nYou either trusted Joseph Smith <\/p>\n
533
\n00:31:20,920 –> 00:31:23,080
\nor you didn’t.
\nSo you’d have to ask the <\/p>\n
534
\n00:31:23,080 –> 00:31:26,800
\nquestion, did Joseph Smith have
\nanything to gain if he were to <\/p>\n
535
\n00:31:26,800 –> 00:31:31,000
\nmake these things up?
\nAnd you look at the facts, <\/p>\n
536
\n00:31:31,880 –> 00:31:35,440
\nJoseph Smith founded a community
\nand became its leader. <\/p>\n
537
\n00:31:36,040 –> 00:31:40,440
\nIt’s a rags to riches story.
\nHe was able to successfully <\/p>\n
538
\n00:31:40,440 –> 00:31:44,440
\npractice polygamy and a society
\nwhere that wasn’t really <\/p>\n
539
\n00:31:44,440 –> 00:31:48,960
\naccepted, but he made it
\naccepted in his community and he<\/p>\n
540
\n00:31:48,960 –> 00:31:52,160
\nhad himself appointed the
\nprophet, priest, and king of the<\/p>\n
541
\n00:31:52,160 –> 00:31:55,800
\nmillennial monarchy.
\nHe gave himself that title. <\/p>\n
542
\n00:31:56,400 –> 00:32:01,240
\nHe became extremely wealthy, and
\na little known fact is that at <\/p>\n
543
\n00:32:01,240 –> 00:32:04,000
\none point he even ran for
\npresident of the United States. <\/p>\n
544
\n00:32:05,200 –> 00:32:07,400
\nAnd he asked the question, did
\nhe have anything to gain by <\/p>\n
545
\n00:32:07,400 –> 00:32:10,640
\nmaking up a religion?
\nAnd the answer is he absolutely <\/p>\n
546
\n00:32:10,640 –> 00:32:12,440
\ndid.
\nAnd he asked the question, Could<\/p>\n
547
\n00:32:12,440 –> 00:32:14,280
\nyou verify any of the things
\nthat he said? <\/p>\n
548
\n00:32:14,280 –> 00:32:18,000
\nAnd the answer is no.
\nIt could easily have all come <\/p>\n
549
\n00:32:18,000 –> 00:32:22,640
\nfrom the mind of Joseph Smith.
\nAnd so, despite the fact that <\/p>\n
550
\n00:32:22,640 –> 00:32:25,800
\nMormonism grew by leaps and
\nbounds, it was not at a time in <\/p>\n
551
\n00:32:25,800 –> 00:32:29,360
\nhistory where Mormons were
\npersecuted the way the original <\/p>\n
552
\n00:32:29,360 –> 00:32:33,040
\nChristians were, and it was not
\na religion that exposed itself <\/p>\n
553
\n00:32:33,040 –> 00:32:36,040
\nto to fact checking the way that
\nChristianity did. <\/p>\n
554
\n00:32:36,200 –> 00:32:38,720
\nAnd so, no, the story is not the
\nsame at all. <\/p>\n
555
\n00:32:39,800 –> 00:32:43,520
\nNow let’s talk about Islam,
\nwhich started with Muhammad, <\/p>\n
556
\n00:32:43,520 –> 00:32:47,560
\nknown as the Prophet Muhammad.
\nMuhammad was born into a <\/p>\n
557
\n00:32:47,560 –> 00:32:51,880
\npolytheistic society.
\nThey believed in many gods, and <\/p>\n
558
\n00:32:51,880 –> 00:32:55,160
\nhe was born into a a prominent
\nplan in the city of Mecca, but <\/p>\n
559
\n00:32:55,160 –> 00:32:58,160
\nhis family had been in decline
\nfor several generations now. <\/p>\n
560
\n00:32:58,440 –> 00:33:01,840
\nThey used to be wealthy and and
\npowerful, and they’d lost most <\/p>\n
561
\n00:33:01,840 –> 00:33:03,880
\nof their most of their prestige
\nand wealth. <\/p>\n
562
\n00:33:06,840 –> 00:33:09,320
\nAnd so he set about to change
\nthings for himself. <\/p>\n
563
\n00:33:10,640 –> 00:33:16,000
\nAnd he claimed, sort of like
\nJoseph Smith, to also receive <\/p>\n
564
\n00:33:16,200 –> 00:33:20,160
\nrevelations from God, during
\nwhich he said the Angel Gabriel <\/p>\n
565
\n00:33:20,160 –> 00:33:24,400
\ncame and spoke to him.
\nAnd it’s upon those revelations <\/p>\n
566
\n00:33:24,400 –> 00:33:30,480
\nthat the the holy book for the
\nMuslims, the Quran, is based, he<\/p>\n
567
\n00:33:30,480 –> 00:33:33,760
\nwould often break into what we
\nwould call today an epileptic <\/p>\n
568
\n00:33:33,760 –> 00:33:36,920
\nfit or seizure, falling on the
\nground and shaking and foaming <\/p>\n
569
\n00:33:36,920 –> 00:33:38,280
\nat the mouth.
\nAnd when he would come out of <\/p>\n
570
\n00:33:38,280 –> 00:33:41,160
\nit, he’d say, God has been
\nspeaking to me. <\/p>\n
571
\n00:33:41,160 –> 00:33:43,960
\nAnd there’d be a scribe nearby
\nto record the things that he <\/p>\n
572
\n00:33:43,960 –> 00:33:45,920
\nwould now say that he had just
\nseen. <\/p>\n
573
\n00:33:47,320 –> 00:33:51,720
\nBut just like Joseph Smith, you
\nhad to trust Muhammad that he <\/p>\n
574
\n00:33:51,720 –> 00:33:54,360
\nreally had seen a vision because
\nnobody else had seen it. <\/p>\n
575
\n00:33:56,880 –> 00:34:03,040
\nAnd through military prowess and
\npolitical prowess, he conquered <\/p>\n
576
\n00:34:03,040 –> 00:34:05,320
\nand united all the nomadic
\ntribes. <\/p>\n
577
\n00:34:05,920 –> 00:34:08,480
\nHis home city, Mecca, rejected
\nhim because they were <\/p>\n
578
\n00:34:08,480 –> 00:34:11,920
\npolytheistic and and he was
\npreaching A monotheistic <\/p>\n
579
\n00:34:11,920 –> 00:34:14,159
\nreligion.
\nThere’s only one God, and that <\/p>\n
580
\n00:34:14,159 –> 00:34:16,880
\nway it’s very similar to
\nChristianity. <\/p>\n
581
\n00:34:18,520 –> 00:34:21,400
\nSo he went to another city,
\nMedina, where he convinced them <\/p>\n
582
\n00:34:21,840 –> 00:34:26,480
\nby by his charisma, with his
\ncharisma that he truly was a <\/p>\n
583
\n00:34:26,480 –> 00:34:29,520
\nprophet of God.
\nAnd he won over the city and he <\/p>\n
584
\n00:34:29,520 –> 00:34:32,360
\ntook control of the military of
\nthat city and went out and <\/p>\n
585
\n00:34:32,360 –> 00:34:35,040
\nconquered 1 by 1 all of the
\nsmall nomadic tribes. <\/p>\n
586
\n00:34:35,159 –> 00:34:37,440
\nAnd every tribe that he
\nconquered, he forced them to <\/p>\n
587
\n00:34:37,440 –> 00:34:43,480
\nconvert to his religion and
\nbrought them in to the fold so <\/p>\n
588
\n00:34:43,480 –> 00:34:47,239
\nthat their army was now his army
\nuntil he had a massive army. <\/p>\n
589
\n00:34:48,639 –> 00:34:51,239
\nAnd then that army knocked on
\nthe doors of his home city, <\/p>\n
590
\n00:34:51,239 –> 00:34:54,360
\nMecca.
\nAnd he conquered his home city <\/p>\n
591
\n00:34:54,840 –> 00:34:57,120
\nand took it.
\nHe conquered everybody in the <\/p>\n
592
\n00:34:57,120 –> 00:35:00,720
\nregion, and everybody that he
\nconquered he forced to convert <\/p>\n
593
\n00:35:00,720 –> 00:35:04,640
\nto Islam.
\nBut interestingly, his track <\/p>\n
594
\n00:35:04,640 –> 00:35:07,560
\nrecord was not perfect.
\nHe was clearly a gifted military<\/p>\n
595
\n00:35:07,560 –> 00:35:11,080
\ngeneral, but he was defeated
\nseveral times and during his <\/p>\n
596
\n00:35:11,080 –> 00:35:15,200
\nconquest the revelations that he
\nwould receive from God seemed to<\/p>\n
597
\n00:35:15,200 –> 00:35:18,560
\nnicely coincide with his
\npersonal or his military agenda.<\/p>\n
598
\n00:35:19,280 –> 00:35:22,040
\nIf he wanted to attack a certain
\ntribe, then he’d have a <\/p>\n
599
\n00:35:22,040 –> 00:35:25,160
\nrevelation that God says it’s
\ntime to attack that tribe. <\/p>\n
600
\n00:35:26,120 –> 00:35:29,680
\nAnd at one point desperately
\nhoping for the accommodation of <\/p>\n
601
\n00:35:29,680 –> 00:35:33,560
\nhis home family who had kind of
\nkicked him out because of of his<\/p>\n
602
\n00:35:33,560 –> 00:35:38,400
\nnew beliefs, either from fear of
\nhope or or from fear or from <\/p>\n
603
\n00:35:38,400 –> 00:35:41,080
\nhope of succeeding more readily
\nwith his family. <\/p>\n
604
\n00:35:41,320 –> 00:35:43,920
\nHe actually, even though to this
\npoint he’d been preaching <\/p>\n
605
\n00:35:43,920 –> 00:35:46,440
\nmonotheism that there is one
\nGod. <\/p>\n
606
\n00:35:47,680 –> 00:35:50,200
\nHe changed his tune.
\nHe said he’d he’d realized that <\/p>\n
607
\n00:35:50,200 –> 00:35:53,880
\nthey’re actually that God has
\nthree daughters, 3 goddesses <\/p>\n
608
\n00:35:53,880 –> 00:35:56,080
\nthat just happened to have the
\nsame names of those that were <\/p>\n
609
\n00:35:56,080 –> 00:35:58,440
\nalready worshipped by the people
\nin Mecca. <\/p>\n
610
\n00:35:59,880 –> 00:36:03,240
\nLater on, after he conquered
\neverybody, he retracted that <\/p>\n
611
\n00:36:03,240 –> 00:36:05,120
\nstatement, said that one was a
\ndeception. <\/p>\n
612
\n00:36:05,120 –> 00:36:06,480
\nThe devil deceived me on that
\none. <\/p>\n
613
\n00:36:06,480 –> 00:36:08,480
\nLet’s take that one out of the
\nrecord books. <\/p>\n
614
\n00:36:08,480 –> 00:36:12,080
\nThere there’s only one God, But
\nat a time it was convenient to <\/p>\n
615
\n00:36:12,320 –> 00:36:14,960
\nto tell the people that no,
\nthere’s actually more. <\/p>\n
616
\n00:36:15,160 –> 00:36:17,040
\nThis is a little bit more
\nsimilar to what you already <\/p>\n
617
\n00:36:17,040 –> 00:36:20,840
\nknow, and you have to ask the
\nquestion, did did Muhammad have <\/p>\n
618
\n00:36:21,360 –> 00:36:24,440
\nany incentive to make up the
\nthings that he did? <\/p>\n
619
\n00:36:24,440 –> 00:36:26,320
\nAnd the answer is absolutely he
\ndid. <\/p>\n
620
\n00:36:26,920 –> 00:36:29,040
\nThis is another rags to riches
\nstory. <\/p>\n
621
\n00:36:29,720 –> 00:36:33,880
\nHe went from a family in decline
\nto the leader of a powerful <\/p>\n
622
\n00:36:33,880 –> 00:36:37,760
\nnation.
\nHe gained wealth and prestige <\/p>\n
623
\n00:36:37,840 –> 00:36:41,400
\nand power, and he had every
\nreason to do it because he found<\/p>\n
624
\n00:36:41,400 –> 00:36:44,240
\nhimself at the bottom of the
\nbarrel and he climbed his way <\/p>\n
625
\n00:36:44,240 –> 00:36:47,480
\nout.
\nAnd everything that he said, <\/p>\n
626
\n00:36:47,480 –> 00:36:50,120
\nyou’d have to just trust him
\nbecause there were no facts to <\/p>\n
627
\n00:36:50,120 –> 00:36:52,640
\nhang out there to test if it
\nreally was true. <\/p>\n
628
\n00:36:52,640 –> 00:36:54,720
\nNothing like the resurrection of
\nJesus. <\/p>\n
629
\n00:36:55,960 –> 00:36:59,480
\nIt’s either true or it isn’t,
\nand we can look at the facts to <\/p>\n
630
\n00:36:59,480 –> 00:37:04,640
\nsee if we think it is.
\nAnd now we look at the apostles.<\/p>\n
631
\n00:37:06,600 –> 00:37:10,840
\nDid the apostles make it up?
\nBecause if you, if you don’t <\/p>\n
632
\n00:37:10,840 –> 00:37:14,440
\nbelieve in the message of the
\nBible and in the events that are<\/p>\n
633
\n00:37:14,440 –> 00:37:17,080
\nrecorded in the gospels and and
\nin the Acts of the Apostles, <\/p>\n
634
\n00:37:17,080 –> 00:37:19,680
\nthen you’d have to believe that
\nat the very least the apostles <\/p>\n
635
\n00:37:19,680 –> 00:37:23,040
\nwere making up the miracles and
\nthey were making up the story <\/p>\n
636
\n00:37:23,040 –> 00:37:27,120
\nabout the resurrection of Jesus.
\nAnd so you’d have to ask the <\/p>\n
637
\n00:37:27,120 –> 00:37:31,800
\nquestion, why would they do that
\nif they had followed this man? <\/p>\n
638
\n00:37:31,800 –> 00:37:32,880
\nRight.
\nBut right up until the point <\/p>\n
639
\n00:37:32,880 –> 00:37:34,760
\nwhere he was crucified and that
\nwas it. <\/p>\n
640
\n00:37:34,760 –> 00:37:39,000
\nAnd he never came back.
\nWhy would they make up the story<\/p>\n
641
\n00:37:39,000 –> 00:37:41,440
\nthat he’d come back, that he was
\nresurrected? <\/p>\n
642
\n00:37:41,880 –> 00:37:43,880
\nWhy would they make up the
\nmiracles? <\/p>\n
643
\n00:37:44,480 –> 00:37:46,800
\nWhat did they have to gain?
\nDid they gain wealth? <\/p>\n
644
\n00:37:46,840 –> 00:37:49,160
\nAnd the answer is no.
\nDid they gain power? <\/p>\n
645
\n00:37:49,160 –> 00:37:51,680
\nMaybe you could argue they
\ngained power because they they <\/p>\n
646
\n00:37:51,680 –> 00:37:53,680
\nnow became the leaders of a new
\ncommunity. <\/p>\n
647
\n00:37:55,040 –> 00:37:58,840
\nBut almost to a man, every
\nsingle one of these apostles <\/p>\n
648
\n00:37:58,840 –> 00:38:00,640
\nwould die for what they
\nbelieved. <\/p>\n
649
\n00:38:01,720 –> 00:38:05,640
\nSome of them would die horribly.
\nAnd you have to ask the <\/p>\n
650
\n00:38:05,640 –> 00:38:08,800
\nquestion, does it make sense
\nthat every single one of them <\/p>\n
651
\n00:38:09,000 –> 00:38:12,680
\nwould go out and die for what
\nthey believed if what they <\/p>\n
652
\n00:38:12,680 –> 00:38:17,800
\nbelieved they knew was a lie and
\nit just doesn’t make sense? <\/p>\n
653
\n00:38:18,680 –> 00:38:22,400
\nAnd there has come down to us no
\nevidence that suggests that the <\/p>\n
654
\n00:38:22,400 –> 00:38:26,080
\ntomb of Jesus was not empty or
\nthat these miracles didn’t <\/p>\n
655
\n00:38:26,080 –> 00:38:29,360
\nreally happen.
\nAnd there were people all over <\/p>\n
656
\n00:38:29,360 –> 00:38:34,040
\nthe world witnessing them.
\nThere were communities growing <\/p>\n
657
\n00:38:34,880 –> 00:38:37,480
\nthroughout the Gentile world,
\nnot just within the Jewish <\/p>\n
658
\n00:38:37,480 –> 00:38:39,400
\ncommunity, and nobody could stop
\nit. <\/p>\n
659
\n00:38:39,800 –> 00:38:43,320
\nAnd the Jews wanted to stop it
\nand the Romans wanted to stop it<\/p>\n
660
\n00:38:43,720 –> 00:38:47,200
\nand they could not.
\nSo I’d like you to turn with me <\/p>\n
661
\n00:38:47,200 –> 00:38:54,240
\nto Acts Chapter 5.
\nAnd I I love this particular <\/p>\n
662
\n00:38:54,240 –> 00:39:01,280
\nstory.
\nIn Acts chapter 5, when Peter <\/p>\n
663
\n00:39:01,280 –> 00:39:05,320
\nand some of the other apostles
\nare arrested by the Jewish <\/p>\n
664
\n00:39:05,320 –> 00:39:12,600
\nleaders and the Sanhedrin
\nCouncil is talking about killing<\/p>\n
665
\n00:39:12,600 –> 00:39:15,080
\nthem, what are we going to do
\nabout these people? <\/p>\n
666
\n00:39:15,080 –> 00:39:17,480
\nThey won’t listen to us.
\nWe’ve told them to stop teaching<\/p>\n
667
\n00:39:17,480 –> 00:39:19,600
\nthat this guy has been raised
\nfrom the dead and they won’t. <\/p>\n
668
\n00:39:19,600 –> 00:39:22,640
\nWhat should we do?
\nAnd many of them are whispering <\/p>\n
669
\n00:39:22,640 –> 00:39:26,840
\nthat let’s kill them, let’s just
\nkill them, be done with it like <\/p>\n
670
\n00:39:26,840 –> 00:39:30,080
\nwe did with Jesus.
\nAnd I’m going to start reading <\/p>\n
671
\n00:39:30,080 –> 00:39:35,560
\nat verse 33 of Acts chapter 5.
\nWhen they heard this, they were <\/p>\n
672
\n00:39:35,560 –> 00:39:39,720
\nenraged and wanted to kill them.
\nBut a Pharisee in the council <\/p>\n
673
\n00:39:40,080 –> 00:39:44,760
\nnamed Gamaliel, a teacher of the
\nlaw held in honor by all the <\/p>\n
674
\n00:39:44,760 –> 00:39:47,640
\npeople, stood up and gave orders
\nto put the men outside for a <\/p>\n
675
\n00:39:47,640 –> 00:39:52,200
\nlittle while.
\nAnd he said, men of Israel, take<\/p>\n
676
\n00:39:52,200 –> 00:39:54,560
\ncare what you were about to do
\nwith these men. <\/p>\n
677
\n00:39:55,120 –> 00:39:58,840
\nFor before these days Theodus
\nrose up claiming to be somebody,<\/p>\n
678
\n00:39:59,240 –> 00:40:01,520
\nand a number of men, about 400,
\njoined him. <\/p>\n
679
\n00:40:02,200 –> 00:40:05,520
\nHe was killed, and all who
\nfollowed him were dispersed, and<\/p>\n
680
\n00:40:05,520 –> 00:40:09,600
\ncame to nothing after him Judas
\nthe Galilee, and rose up in the <\/p>\n
681
\n00:40:09,600 –> 00:40:12,240
\ndays of the census, and drew
\naway some of the people after <\/p>\n
682
\n00:40:12,240 –> 00:40:15,720
\nhim.
\nHe too perished, and all who <\/p>\n
683
\n00:40:15,720 –> 00:40:20,160
\nfollowed him were scattered.
\nSo in the present case, I tell <\/p>\n
684
\n00:40:20,160 –> 00:40:22,800
\nyou, keep away from these men
\nand let them alone. <\/p>\n
685
\n00:40:22,960 –> 00:40:27,200
\nFor if this plan or this
\nundertaking is of man, it will <\/p>\n
686
\n00:40:27,200 –> 00:40:31,000
\nfail.
\nBut if it is of God, you will <\/p>\n
687
\n00:40:31,000 –> 00:40:34,760
\nnot be able to overthrow them.
\nYou might even be found opposing<\/p>\n
688
\n00:40:34,760 –> 00:40:39,960
\nGod.
\nSo they took his advice, he <\/p>\n
689
\n00:40:39,960 –> 00:40:41,400
\nsaid.
\nWe’ve seen this before. <\/p>\n
690
\n00:40:42,240 –> 00:40:48,400
\nWe’ve seen rebel leaders rise up
\nwith the following and wage war <\/p>\n
691
\n00:40:48,560 –> 00:40:50,720
\nagainst the Romans, and the
\nRomans every single time have <\/p>\n
692
\n00:40:50,720 –> 00:40:55,040
\ncome down and crushed them.
\nWe know the position in which <\/p>\n
693
\n00:40:55,040 –> 00:40:56,800
\nwe’re in.
\nWe know that we cannot hope to <\/p>\n
694
\n00:40:56,800 –> 00:40:59,600
\novercome the Roman Empire.
\nWe can only hope to appease them<\/p>\n
695
\n00:41:00,160 –> 00:41:04,080
\nand stay on their good side.
\nAnd so they’re in an impossible <\/p>\n
696
\n00:41:04,080 –> 00:41:06,560
\nsituation.
\nWhat these men are teaching will<\/p>\n
697
\n00:41:06,560 –> 00:41:08,520
\nnot succeed.
\nLook at the society in which we <\/p>\n
698
\n00:41:08,520 –> 00:41:09,840
\nlive.
\nThey can’t succeed. <\/p>\n
699
\n00:41:10,080 –> 00:41:12,280
\nThis won’t get far.
\nIt doesn’t have legs. <\/p>\n
700
\n00:41:12,880 –> 00:41:15,440
\nJust wait.
\nYou don’t need to murder them. <\/p>\n
701
\n00:41:17,520 –> 00:41:20,160
\nThey’ll take care of themselves.
\nIf they keep preaching this way,<\/p>\n
702
\n00:41:20,840 –> 00:41:25,920
\nthey won’t last long unless God
\nis on their side. <\/p>\n
703
\n00:41:27,200 –> 00:41:29,640
\nAnd if God is on their side,
\nthen nobody’s going to be able <\/p>\n
704
\n00:41:29,640 –> 00:41:35,400
\nto stop them.
\nAnd the words of Gamaliel echo <\/p>\n
705
\n00:41:35,400 –> 00:41:40,560
\nthroughout 2000 years of history
\nto us because nobody was able to<\/p>\n
706
\n00:41:40,560 –> 00:41:43,720
\nstop them.
\nA common sense interpretation of<\/p>\n
707
\n00:41:43,720 –> 00:41:48,600
\nthe situation said this will not
\ngo far, it won’t succeed, And it<\/p>\n
708
\n00:41:48,600 –> 00:41:53,200
\ndid, and it did in an incredible
\nway that proves to us that God <\/p>\n
709
\n00:41:53,200 –> 00:41:56,440
\nwas behind it all.
\nThat could be the only <\/p>\n
710
\n00:41:56,440 –> 00:42:01,320
\nexplanation, because once you
\neliminate the impossible, <\/p>\n
711
\n00:42:01,960 –> 00:42:05,800
\nwhatever remains, no matter how
\nimprobable, must be the truth. <\/p>\n
712
\n00:42:05,960 –> 00:42:09,520
\nAnd the truth must be that Jesus
\nwas resurrected from the dead, <\/p>\n
713
\n00:42:10,280 –> 00:42:12,880
\nthat the apostles really were
\nperforming miracles. <\/p>\n
714
\n00:42:12,880 –> 00:42:16,520
\nBecause that’s the only way that
\nthese early Christians around <\/p>\n
715
\n00:42:16,520 –> 00:42:19,120
\nthe world, thousands of them,
\nwould be willing to walk away <\/p>\n
716
\n00:42:19,120 –> 00:42:22,280
\nfrom everything that they knew
\nfor something that was brand new<\/p>\n
717
\n00:42:22,280 –> 00:42:26,560
\nthat they’d only just heard.
\nAnd it’s the only explanation <\/p>\n
718
\n00:42:26,560 –> 00:42:28,840
\nthat makes sense.
\nAs improbable as many people <\/p>\n
719
\n00:42:28,840 –> 00:42:32,000
\nmight think, it’s the only
\nexplanation left. <\/p>\n
720
\n00:42:32,920 –> 00:42:40,680
\nAnd in our first class yesterday
\nabout the empty tomb, we talked <\/p>\n
721
\n00:42:40,680 –> 00:42:42,840
\nabout a man named Albert Henry
\nRoss. <\/p>\n
722
\n00:42:44,000 –> 00:42:47,320
\nAnd Albert Henry Ross lived at
\nthe beginning of the 20th <\/p>\n
723
\n00:42:47,320 –> 00:42:52,720
\ncentury, and he was a journalist
\nwith some legal training, and he<\/p>\n
724
\n00:42:52,720 –> 00:42:54,480
\nhad grown up going to a
\nChristian Church. <\/p>\n
725
\n00:42:54,480 –> 00:42:56,200
\nBut as an adult, he’d stopped
\ndoing that. <\/p>\n
726
\n00:42:56,200 –> 00:43:00,880
\nHe was a skeptic, and he set out
\nto write a book that was going <\/p>\n
727
\n00:43:00,880 –> 00:43:02,840
\nto be a critique of the gospel
\naccounts. <\/p>\n
728
\n00:43:03,920 –> 00:43:07,880
\nHe was going to tear it apart.
\nAnd by the time he wrote his <\/p>\n
729
\n00:43:07,880 –> 00:43:10,840
\nbook, he had looked at all of
\nthe evidence he could find <\/p>\n
730
\n00:43:11,200 –> 00:43:14,480
\nancient history from the time
\nabout the way Jewish society <\/p>\n
731
\n00:43:14,480 –> 00:43:19,400
\nworked and functions.
\nAnd he compared the gospel <\/p>\n
732
\n00:43:19,400 –> 00:43:21,960
\naccounts to each other to look
\nfor inaccuracies. <\/p>\n
733
\n00:43:23,640 –> 00:43:26,680
\nAnd he had changed his mind.
\nHe wrote a book called Who Moved<\/p>\n
734
\n00:43:26,680 –> 00:43:29,840
\nthe Stone?
\nWhich was the opposite of the <\/p>\n
735
\n00:43:29,840 –> 00:43:33,560
\nbook he intended to write.
\nIt’s become a powerful Christian<\/p>\n
736
\n00:43:33,560 –> 00:43:36,400
\napologetic work, published in
\n1930. <\/p>\n
737
\n00:43:37,400 –> 00:43:39,360
\nHe wrote under the pen name
\nFrank Morrison. <\/p>\n
738
\n00:43:39,360 –> 00:43:42,920
\nAnd towards the end of that
\nbook, which we quoted in that <\/p>\n
739
\n00:43:42,920 –> 00:43:45,600
\nclass yesterday, and we quote a
\ndifferent part here today, <\/p>\n
740
\n00:43:46,920 –> 00:43:50,480
\nhere’s what he had to write,
\ntalking about the apostles <\/p>\n
741
\n00:43:50,480 –> 00:43:53,120
\nthemselves going out into the
\nworld to preach the gospel <\/p>\n
742
\n00:43:53,120 –> 00:43:55,920
\nmessage.
\nHe says the terrors and the <\/p>\n
743
\n00:43:55,920 –> 00:43:58,960
\npersecutions these men
\nultimately had to face and did <\/p>\n
744
\n00:43:58,960 –> 00:44:03,720
\nface unflinchingly, do not admit
\nof 1\/2 hearted adhesion secretly<\/p>\n
745
\n00:44:03,720 –> 00:44:06,440
\nhoneycombed with doubt.
\nThe belief has to be <\/p>\n
746
\n00:44:06,440 –> 00:44:10,240
\nunconditional and of
\nAdamantine’s strength to satisfy<\/p>\n
747
\n00:44:10,240 –> 00:44:13,600
\nthe conditions.
\nSooner or later too, if the <\/p>\n
748
\n00:44:13,600 –> 00:44:16,400
\nbelief was to spread, it had to
\nbite its way into the corporate <\/p>\n
749
\n00:44:16,400 –> 00:44:19,960
\nconsciousness by convincing
\nargument and attempted proof. <\/p>\n
750
\n00:44:21,080 –> 00:44:23,960
\nNow the peculiar thing about
\nthis phenomenon is that not only<\/p>\n
751
\n00:44:23,960 –> 00:44:27,160
\ndid it spread to every single
\nmember of the party of Jesus of <\/p>\n
752
\n00:44:27,160 –> 00:44:32,400
\nwhom we have any trace, but they
\nbrought it to Jerusalem and <\/p>\n
753
\n00:44:32,400 –> 00:44:36,160
\ncarried it with inconceivable
\naudacity into the most keenly <\/p>\n
754
\n00:44:36,160 –> 00:44:39,800
\nintellectual center of Judea
\nagainst the ablest dialecticians<\/p>\n
755
\n00:44:39,800 –> 00:44:43,840
\nof the day, and in the face of
\nevery impediment of brilliant <\/p>\n
756
\n00:44:43,840 –> 00:44:48,120
\nand highly organized Camaria
\ncould devise, And they won. <\/p>\n
757
\n00:44:50,000 –> 00:44:52,640
\nWithin 20 years the claim of
\nthese Galilean peasants had <\/p>\n
758
\n00:44:52,640 –> 00:44:56,600
\ndisrupted the Jewish church and
\nimpressed itself upon every town<\/p>\n
759
\n00:44:56,600 –> 00:44:59,400
\non the eastern literal of the
\nMediterranean from Caesarea to <\/p>\n
760
\n00:44:59,400 –> 00:45:03,040
\nTroas.
\nIn less than 50 years, it had <\/p>\n
761
\n00:45:03,040 –> 00:45:05,480
\nbegun to threaten the peace of
\nthe Roman Empire. <\/p>\n
762
\n00:45:07,600 –> 00:45:09,880
\nWhen we have said everything
\nthat can be said about the <\/p>\n
763
\n00:45:09,880 –> 00:45:12,560
\nwillingness of certain types of
\npeople to believe what they want<\/p>\n
764
\n00:45:12,560 –> 00:45:15,880
\nto believe, to be carried away
\nby their emotions, and to assert<\/p>\n
765
\n00:45:15,880 –> 00:45:19,960
\nas fact what has originally
\nreached them as hearsay, we <\/p>\n
766
\n00:45:19,960 –> 00:45:24,080
\nstand confronted with the
\ngreatest mystery of all. <\/p>\n
767
\n00:45:24,920 –> 00:45:29,680
\nWhy did it win?
\nAnd there can be only one answer<\/p>\n
768
\n00:45:30,640 –> 00:45:35,320
\nthat God truly was behind it.
\nAs Gamaliel had said, if God is <\/p>\n
769
\n00:45:35,320 –> 00:45:38,520
\nbehind this, then nobody will be
\nable to stop it. <\/p>\n
770
\n00:45:41,760 –> 00:45:44,480
\nAnd so we believe that
\nChristianity and its early <\/p>\n
771
\n00:45:44,480 –> 00:45:50,000
\noriginal pure form is the one
\ntrue religion and that Yahweh, <\/p>\n
772
\n00:45:50,000 –> 00:45:51,960
\nthe God of Israel, is the one
\ntrue God. <\/p>\n
773
\n00:45:53,160 –> 00:45:55,200
\nAnd as we’ve said on multiple
\noccasions throughout this <\/p>\n
774
\n00:45:55,200 –> 00:45:58,520
\nseries, if that is true, then
\nthat means that everything <\/p>\n
775
\n00:45:58,520 –> 00:46:03,840
\nwritten in this book is so
\nimportant that it would be worth<\/p>\n
776
\n00:46:04,160 –> 00:46:09,640
\ndedicating our lives to learning
\nit and applying it to everything<\/p>\n
777
\n00:46:09,720 –> 00:46:11,520
\nthat we do.
\nSo that we can be in that <\/p>\n
778
\n00:46:11,520 –> 00:46:15,400
\nKingdom that is promised here.
\nThat we can be resurrected just <\/p>\n
779
\n00:46:15,400 –> 00:46:19,040
\nlike Jesus did, or just like
\nJesus was, and given immortality<\/p>\n
780
\n00:46:19,200 –> 00:46:21,360
\nand that Kingdom that God has
\npromised to us.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Class 2 from this series was used in GCT Episode 272. 1 00:00:00,040 –> 00:00:04,360 This…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":786,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"https:\/\/anchor.fm\/s\/8765608\/podcast\/play\/79137748\/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2023-10-26%2Fbf85bca9-5a81-2734-89f3-eb8287c1aa2d.mp3","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"00:46:21","filesize":"26.53M","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":""},"tags":[26],"series":[18],"class_list":["post-1048","podcast","type-podcast","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-season-6","series-gct-ext"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t