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This is City Post Church, we're 
about three things, build 

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equipped and send all under the 
lordship of Jesus Christ, a 

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small Church Plant in Fort Worth
Texas, who decided to do things 

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a little differently. 
I would almost I had to Crystal,

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I love City Post because of the 
people. 

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It's where I belong, we truly 
preach the word. 

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I love City Post because of the 
community. 

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We've been able to build to do 
ministry. 

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Like Jesus perlite to push back 
Darkness. 

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This is City, Post podcast. 
Men, thank you for that 

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Applause. 
I'll wait till it dies down, 

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before it begin here. 
I'm already feeling the love 

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this morning. 
Thank you, guys. 

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My name is Erick Hernandez. 
I'm the Apologetics lead for the

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Baptist General Convention of 
Texas and I want to go ahead and

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jump in as we get started. 
If you want to know more about 

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me, you can go my YouTube 
channel type my name Erick 

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Hernandez. 
Just don't read the comments 

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section. 
If there's kids around, you 

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know, how that works. 
But, I want to get into this. 

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I when I stand behind the 
pulpit, I first want to say 

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thank you, too. 
Thank you for having me. 

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I appreciate his hard. 
Got to talk to him. 

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I love what he's doing here. 
I see God doing a great thing 

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here and I think there needs to 
be more churches like this who 

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dive into God's word and care 
about bringing people who are 

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going to expand on God's word. 
So you have you are blessed to 

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have a pastor like this. 
When I step behind the pulpit, I

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like to start with the Bible 
verse and we're going to start 

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with the verse but not 
necessarily from the Bible, but 

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from like an atheist Bible, if 
you will Richard Dawkins and 

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we'll get the slides up in a 
second, he's known as one of the

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four horsemen of the new 
atheists. 

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It's the name they give 
themselves. 

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It's not the Four Horsemen of 
the Apocalypse, but essentially,

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he has a book called The God 
Delusion. 

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And in this he has a famous 
quote that we're going to get to

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in a second. 
So just talk awkwardly amongst 

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ourselves while we handle the 
technical difficulties and And I

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believe at the end we're going 
to have some, have some 

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questions that we're going to 
get into. 

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And in fact, I don't know if we 
want to maybe, do some do a 

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question or two while they're 
setting up the slides. 

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For the psyche. 
What do you guys think? 

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Should we Sure. 
Yeah. 

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Yeah. 
Yeah, so good question. 

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So a few things to consider one,
the question assumes. 

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So every time you you're 
answering questions, especially 

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if you're out there talking with
people you're not just answering

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the question. 
You're answering the question 

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are right? 
There's a person behind this 

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question and there's usually 
hidden assumptions within these 

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questions. 
So for example, if God is all 

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loving, why would he allow evil?
The question assumes that an 

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all-loving God in the existence 
of evil are somehow incompatible

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but that's simply not the case. 
So, there's lots of ways ahead 

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at this. 
I had an eight, this once want 

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to tell me this and In your 
prayers. 

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Next year, I'll be coming out 
with a book on engaging with 

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non-believers and I had one one 
person. 

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One time. 
You said kind of same thing if 

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God is all loving wise are evil.
I said, well, are you saying 

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that if God exists and is all 
loving that there? 

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Shouldn't be evil. 
He said, yes. 

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I said why he said? 
Well because he's all loving, I 

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said, right? 
And he said, but evil exists. 

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Yes. 
Go on. 

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It was kind of it was kind of 
awkward for a little bit and he 

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goes well, there shouldn't be 
evil, why not? 

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Because it's a loving, correct, 
but evil exists. 

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Yes, go on. 
In other words, there's no 

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explicit contradiction in it. 
Now to try and get to what he 

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was getting at a civil. 
Let me put it this way. 

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Are you saying that if God is 
all loving, then he went to 

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allow some kind of any Carm to 
come to his children. 

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He said, yes. 
I said, okay. 

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Well, let me ask you this 
suppose. 

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I take my children to the 
dentist which includes painful 

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shots, right? 
That that are going to hurt in 

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my soul. 
All loving father, and he said, 

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Yeah, because you're only doing 
it for a greater good. 

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I said, ah, so if I as an 
Earthly father can still allow 

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pain and suffering and lives of 
my children and yet still love 

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them. 
In fact, it's because I love 

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them. 
Then how can that not apply it 

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to a god whose Farm worker than 
I am? 

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Now, what about evil like mass 
shootings and things like that? 

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Again, a few things put it this 
way, so I have a daughter who's 

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right now 13, she'll be 14 when 
she eventually gets her license 

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to drive, which scary thought, 
right? 

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I'll give her the keys to the 
car, she loaned, the car, it'll 

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be her car, but if she wrecks, 
it whose whose fault is it. 

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Well, hers, not mine, although I
bought it for her. 

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In other words, there is a level
of responsibility and Dominion, 

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God has given us on this Earth. 
So when he gives us the keys to 

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the car, if you will, then when 
it gets wrecked, it's not his 

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fault on top of that, where the 
hand of God here on Earth. 

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So it's not God's job to 
Eradicator, remove evil. 

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Now we'll God one day, remove 
evil. 

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That's another implicit 
assumption within the question, 

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is to assume that because God 
not has not gotten rid of evil 

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now that he never will, but if 
you read the end of the book we 

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went right Godwin's. 
So to say that there is All 

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right. 
Now assumes one that there 

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shouldn't be evil if God is all 
loving. 

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We see how that's not what the 
Bible teaches. 

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In fact, he said you should 
expect persecution. 

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You should expect a trials and 
tribulations on top of that, 

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he's given us a level of Free 
Will and II like a Norman 

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Geisler. 
Once put it, he said that God is

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responsible for the fact of 
freedom, but human beings are 

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responsible for the acts of 
Freedom. 

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So while God has given us free 
will, if we want to get rid of 

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evil, we should start by looking
in the mirror and if he did 

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start to get rid of evil, well 
then maybe you should start with

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us. 
Right? 

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We don't consider that do it. 
There's a lot more to hit and 

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touch on. 
I don't know if we should do 

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another question. 
I'm sorry. 

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Oh, zero 202. 
Don't tell anybody. 

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Which is my birthday is nothing 
important on there. 

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Oh, thank you. 
Oh yeah. 

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That's right. 
Just past go figure. 

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Okay, let's jump into this, 
Richard Dawkins wrote a book. 

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I said called the light 
illusion. 

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Here's one of his famous quotes 
from his book. 

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He says the following He says, 
the god of the Old Testament is 

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arguably the most unpleasant 
character in all of fiction. 

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He is jealous and proud of it. 
He is an unjust unforgiving 

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control-freak, a vindictive, 
bloodthirsty, ethnic cleanser a 

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misogynistic homophobic, racist 
infanticidal Phyllis Idol, 

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pestilential megalomaniacal 
sadomasochistic, capriciously 

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malevolent bully, What do you 
think? 

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Suffice it to say that he just 
said a lot of really nasty 

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things about the God that you 
and I worship. 

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How does that make you feel? 
Mmm. 

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Now, the more important question
though is, how would you 

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respond? 
You want to talk to him? 

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Okay. 
Now we don't have time to go 

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into responses. 
A great book, I would recommend 

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is by Paul. 
Copan is got a moral monster 

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where he goes through. 
A lot of accusations. 

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In fact, came out with a part 
two to this book called as got a

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vindictive bully. but I'm 
reminded of something Christ 

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said in Matthew, 5:13, You said 
you were the salt of the earth 

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but if the salt loses its 
purpose, its function, it is no 

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longer good for anything but to 
be thrown out and walked on by 

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people. 
Now I find that because are such

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a wide technological Gap from 
the time. 

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This was written and now we 
often miss the point of some of 

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these ancient biblical 
illustrations. 

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So to understand the context of 
what Christ is getting that with

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this analogy, you have to first 
understand the purpose of salt 

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and Biblical times because you 
see back then they didn't have 

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refrigerators where they could 
just buy me at. 

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The store and then you know put 
in the fridge to store it for 

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long periods of time. 
So instead they use salt and in 

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these ancient times Salt acted 
as a preservative to prolong the

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shelf life of meat salt was a 
way to keep meat from spoiling a

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rotting So, with this in mind 
who is the salt of the earth? 

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Us you meet we are the salt of 
the earth. 

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Now, given the illustration, the
next question becomes. 

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Well, if we represent the salt, 
what would be representative of 

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the meat? 
The world, our culture society. 

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And so here's my first question 
for you, this morning, is the 

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meat going bad. 
Turn on the news, right? 

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Look at social media but now get
at the deeper underlying Point 

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that he's making with the 
illustration suppose, you live 

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in ancient times, and you go to 
the local market, you buy a bag 

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of salt and you come home and 
you begin to add the salt to 

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various pieces of meat. 
But you notice something strange

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happening, you know, you notice 
that, no matter how much salt 

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you add, or what type of meat it
is, it continues to spoil and 

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perish and rotten just as it 
normally would, as if there were

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no salt to begin with. 
And if this continues to happen,

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well, then at some point you're 
going to have to step back and 

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stop asking what's wrong with 
the meek? 

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And at some point you have to 
step back and ask yourself what 

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is wrong with thee? 
Because you are the salt of the 

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earth. 
And you said something 

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interesting, he says, if it 
loses its function, the only 

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thing it's good for us to be 
walked on by people as a church 

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being walked on today. 
But you are the salt of the 

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earth. 
I have a couple questions when 

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people ask me, what is 
apologetics I like to. 

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I like to do this because we're 
going to go into some versus 

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shortly but the best way I know 
how to explain it is to do this.

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I say, let me ask you two 
questions and allow me to 

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respond to the skeptic or an 
atheist. 

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Here's the first question. 
Are you a Christian? 

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Just think about that for a 
second and the second question 

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is why should somebody else be a
Christian? 

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Now, it's two questions for a 
reason because what I often find

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is that a person's answer to the
first question, does not 

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necessarily apply to S and I've 
gotten a lot of answers, but 

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here's one example in particular
where this person implicitly 

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answered this question, some 
years ago, I was speaking at a 

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men's conference this was years 
before I was with Texas Baptist 

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and this gentleman approached me
who was actually the keynote 

200
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speaker for this conference and 
I was one of the speakers and 

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we're backstage and he 
approached approaches me in a 

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kind of condescending tone and 
says. 

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So you do apologetics I said, 
yeah. 

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And he said, well, you know 
what, they say A man was an 

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experience is never at the mercy
of a man with an argument I 

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said, what do you mean? 
He says, well, I have my 

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testimony of how God changed my 
life and that's my personal 

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experience that no one can argue
against. 

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So, I don't need apologetics to 
defend my faith because of my 

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testimony and no one can argue 
against my testimony said, okay,

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Now, I remember an apologist. 
Once said, if someone tells you,

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they don't need apologetics. 
It shows how little evangelism 

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they actually do. 
So I asked him. 

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I said you ever do any 
evangelism. 

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He said, yeah, I said what do 
you do? 

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He said once a month, my church.
We go to these apartments near 

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our church and we set up this 
area the station and we cook hot

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dogs and hamburgers and we 
interact with the community. 

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We play basketball with the kids
and then I stand up and share my

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testimony. 
That no one can argue against 

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because. 
See, I was, I was addicted to 

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drugs. 
I was in gangs I was Violent. 

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I was going through a divorce. 
I was an alcoholic, but the one 

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true, God saved my life and 
because of my experience, my 

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testimony, no one can argue 
against that. 

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And I do this all without 
apologetics. 

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It's okay. 
And my first thought was, I 

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don't know why this guy's trying
to argue with me prior to 

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friction on stage with me. 
And I said, well, you do realize

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that you're essentially give me 
an argument as to why we 

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shouldn't use arguments. 
But setting that point aside, 

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let me ask you a hypothetical. 
So let's say, you go for lunch 

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and you go to these apartments 
but let's say five hours later, 

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a different religious group 
comes and let's say they're 

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Muslim. 
And they come to the same area. 

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Same Apartments they set up 
their station. 

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You cook hot dogs and hamburgers
interact with the community play

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basketball at the kids. 
But then, their leader stands up

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whom I do as Muslim and he 
shares his testimony and let's 

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suppose for the sake of argument
that his testimony was like, I 

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don't know, 10 times better than
your testimony, right? 

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Let's say he was in 10, 
different gangs addicted, to 10 

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different types of drugs, had 10
bottles of alcohol from to 10 

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different types of violence 
going through, 10 divorces at 

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once. 
Because, you know, in Islam you 

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can have more than one wife, 
right? 

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but then he stands up and he 
grabs a microphone and he leans 

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in and says but the one true God
Allah Changed my life. 

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Now earlier you told me that a 
man with an experience is never 

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at the mercy of a man with an 
argument. 

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So, based on this personal man's
testimony, which according to 

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you, you cannot argue against, 
would you drop to your knees and

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become a Muslim? 
They said, no, of course not. 

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I said right that's that's kind 
of my point. 

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Now don't hear me saying what 
I'm not saying here, but let's 

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put it. 
Biblically scripture says that 

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the preaching of the Cross is 
power to those who believe that 

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it's you and I but it is 
foolishness to those who don't 

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which means that our job as 
Believers is, how do we take? 

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What the world deems us 
foolishness and how can we 

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translate that to demonstrate 
its power? 

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I submit to you that is in part,
the discipline task of 

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apologetics So if a personal 
testimony won't do anything for 

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a non-believer because I work 
with this group called Maven and

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every year we take a few trips, 
we take students on essentially 

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what our apologetic mission 
trips. 

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One of those trips is we go to 
Utah and I guarantee you in 

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terms of niceness and how kind 
and testimonies you're not going

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to be a Mormon in that. 
I guarantee you. 

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But does their testimony convert
me to Mormonism or in indulgent 

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do that? 
No. 

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So if that wouldn't do what 
would be the appropriate 

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response to these questions? 
And because I like you guys, 

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I'll give you my answer, I have 
one answer for both questions 

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and it's really profound. 
You might want to write this 

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00:13:49,900 --> 00:13:53,000
down. 
Why are you a Christian or find 

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my Christian watching? 
Someone else be a Christian. 

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My answer is because it's true. 
What are no idea, right? 

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Imagine that. 
Imagine if we preach the gospel 

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00:14:03,800 --> 00:14:06,300
not just because we believe it, 
that's good because we get great

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feelings about it, but because 
we are convincing convicted that

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it is actually true. 
We put it to you this way, 

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00:14:13,300 --> 00:14:16,400
suppose you ask me, Eric, why do
you think water is H2O? 

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00:14:16,800 --> 00:14:18,100
And I said, oh, let me tell you 
why. 

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Because ever, since I started to
believe water is H2O, I've 

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00:14:21,900 --> 00:14:24,000
become a much better husband to 
my wife. 

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00:14:24,500 --> 00:14:26,100
A much better father, to my 
children. 

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00:14:26,500 --> 00:14:30,400
I'm so much happier now and in 
fact I meet with some friends of

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00:14:30,400 --> 00:14:32,900
mine and we get together once a 
week and we sing these great 

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00:14:32,900 --> 00:14:36,600
songs about how water is H2O. 
And tears, just just roll down 

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00:14:36,600 --> 00:14:38,800
my face and then we read these, 
we have these great book. 

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00:14:38,800 --> 00:14:41,300
Studies of how water is H2O 66 
books to be. 

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00:14:41,500 --> 00:14:44,900
Fact. 
And recently this the secular 

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00:14:44,900 --> 00:14:47,100
rapper came out and said he 
believes water is H2O so it's 

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00:14:47,100 --> 00:14:52,500
got to be now. 
It's funny but if we reflect on 

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00:14:52,508 --> 00:14:55,500
this for a second how much 
different of an answer is that 

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00:14:55,500 --> 00:14:57,100
when you ask your average 
Christian, who are you a 

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Christian? 
Because you are the salt of the 

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00:15:02,100 --> 00:15:06,800
earth. 
First Peter 3:15 is one of the 

300
00:15:06,800 --> 00:15:09,600
go-to versus for apologetics and
it says to set Christ apart in 

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00:15:09,600 --> 00:15:13,100
your heart as Lord be ready to 
give an answer some 

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00:15:13,100 --> 00:15:15,400
translations, say defense and 
that were defense from this. 

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00:15:15,400 --> 00:15:19,300
Verse actually, comes from the 
Greek word apologia, which is 

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00:15:19,300 --> 00:15:22,700
where we get translate the word 
apologetics, which means that 

305
00:15:22,700 --> 00:15:27,200
biblically speaking apologetics 
can simply be defined as giving 

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00:15:27,200 --> 00:15:30,800
a defense for what we believe 
and why we believe it. 

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00:15:32,500 --> 00:15:34,500
Now, let me put this in context 
because I don't want you to miss

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00:15:34,500 --> 00:15:36,300
this. 
This is a new testament 

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00:15:36,300 --> 00:15:39,000
commandment to every new 
testament believer, which means 

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00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:42,300
if you're a Christian here, this
morning and you are not engaging

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00:15:42,300 --> 00:15:45,000
in the discipline and task of 
apologetics, then you are in 

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00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:47,100
biblical Rebellion Disobedience,
to the word of God. 

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00:15:48,400 --> 00:15:52,900
Biblically speaking. 
And if you take issue with that,

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00:15:52,900 --> 00:15:54,000
you can take it up with the 
author. 

315
00:15:54,000 --> 00:15:55,400
I didn't write the book. 
I just read it. 

316
00:15:56,400 --> 00:15:58,000
But this is what the Bible 
commands us to do. 

317
00:16:00,300 --> 00:16:02,400
If you're taking notes, you can 
write down the word stronghold. 

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00:16:02,900 --> 00:16:06,100
And just a fair warning. 
We're going to get into some of 

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00:16:06,108 --> 00:16:10,000
the strongholds but I am 
Hispanic and I have ADHD so that

320
00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:12,200
makes me talk fast. 
Sometimes naturally when that 

321
00:16:12,200 --> 00:16:14,300
comes out, thanks for laughing, 
I'm a mental disorder. 

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00:16:15,400 --> 00:16:17,900
But at the, at the end of this, 
I'll give you a link where you 

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00:16:17,900 --> 00:16:20,200
can download my slides for free.
If I'm going too fast for you 

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00:16:20,500 --> 00:16:22,200
and I brought some material I 
touch on later. 

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00:16:23,600 --> 00:16:27,500
Sankranthi ins chapter 10, 
verses 4 to 5 Paul says that the

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00:16:27,500 --> 00:16:30,800
weapons of our Warfare are not 
carnal but then in the context 

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00:16:30,800 --> 00:16:33,300
he says that the purpose of 
spiritual warfare is to tear 

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00:16:33,300 --> 00:16:35,100
down. 
Demolish destroy strongholds. 

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00:16:35,800 --> 00:16:37,600
Now the next question is what's 
a stronghold? 

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00:16:38,200 --> 00:16:40,400
Well, he actually defines it for
us in verse 5. 

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00:16:41,500 --> 00:16:43,700
And he says, in as much as a 
refute teardown. 

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00:16:45,200 --> 00:16:48,100
He says arguments reasonings and
every high and proud thing that 

333
00:16:48,100 --> 00:16:50,500
sets itself up against the 
knowledge of God, which means 

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00:16:50,500 --> 00:16:53,200
biblically speaking. 
A stronghold can be defined as 

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00:16:53,200 --> 00:16:55,100
thoughts. 
Ideologies beliefs are set of 

336
00:16:55,108 --> 00:16:57,800
beliefs reasonings philosophies 
arguments presuppositions. 

337
00:16:58,000 --> 00:17:00,600
Anything that goes against the 
knowledge of God, these are 

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00:17:00,600 --> 00:17:02,800
strongholds. 
And according to Paul, this is 

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00:17:02,800 --> 00:17:05,000
quite literally part of the 
spiritual warfare within our 

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00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:08,200
culture. 
Which means a person cannot come

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00:17:08,200 --> 00:17:11,599
to a knowledge of God or even a 
deeper knowledge of God with 

342
00:17:11,599 --> 00:17:14,900
such strongholds. 
So we've already seen, you're 

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00:17:14,900 --> 00:17:18,500
the salt of the earth. 
We've already seen that, you are

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00:17:18,500 --> 00:17:20,000
to be ready to give an answer a 
defense. 

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00:17:20,000 --> 00:17:22,500
You are commanded to be able to 
do this and then on top of this,

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00:17:22,500 --> 00:17:24,900
now we are commanded to when it 
comes to spiritual warfare, 

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00:17:24,900 --> 00:17:28,300
engage in the culture and 
recognize identify and respond 

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00:17:28,300 --> 00:17:30,400
to the strongholds that we find 
in our culture. 

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00:17:32,300 --> 00:17:34,800
So we can put it this way if you
want to be effective in 

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00:17:34,800 --> 00:17:37,000
evangelism, if you want to be 
effective in discipleship, if 

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00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:39,200
you want to be effective in 
spiritual warfare then, 

352
00:17:39,200 --> 00:17:41,300
biblically speaking. 
You cannot do it without the 

353
00:17:41,300 --> 00:17:45,200
discipline and task of 
apologetics again biblically 

354
00:17:45,200 --> 00:17:50,400
speaking. there are three 
dominant strongholds within our 

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00:17:50,400 --> 00:17:54,000
culture, and I want to go 
through these briefly and before

356
00:17:54,000 --> 00:17:58,500
I do, I want to Inform you, why?
This is so important in our day 

357
00:17:58,500 --> 00:18:05,100
and age especially these days. 
Some years ago again, before I 

358
00:18:05,108 --> 00:18:08,300
should Texas Baptist. 
I was invited to speak at this 

359
00:18:08,300 --> 00:18:12,600
church at this for this youth 
group and I won't mention the 

360
00:18:12,600 --> 00:18:14,700
name of the church, but meet me 
in the lobby. 

361
00:18:14,700 --> 00:18:18,800
So let me a 5 maybe we can talk.
And this pastor wanted to have 

362
00:18:18,800 --> 00:18:21,300
lunch with me. 
So, as we're having lunch, she 

363
00:18:21,300 --> 00:18:25,000
says, I know you do apologetics 
and all but, you know, I just 

364
00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:26,700
don't think it has a place 
behind the pulpit. 

365
00:18:28,300 --> 00:18:31,200
Maybe Bible study maybe a small 
group, but certainly not a 

366
00:18:31,200 --> 00:18:33,100
Sunday morning service like 
we're doing here tonight. 

367
00:18:34,800 --> 00:18:37,200
And well, because I'm about to 
preach for his youth group later

368
00:18:37,200 --> 00:18:38,200
that night. 
I don't want to argue with the 

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00:18:38,208 --> 00:18:40,300
Pastor said us. 
Okay, we can agree to disagree 

370
00:18:40,500 --> 00:18:42,900
and thankfully, my sermon that 
night wasn't on apologetics 

371
00:18:44,600 --> 00:18:48,100
Nevertheless, as a service 
starts and I'm about to preach. 

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00:18:48,100 --> 00:18:50,000
The youth. 
Pastor asked me to come up and 

373
00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:51,900
says, just take a few minutes to
introduce yourself. 

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00:18:52,300 --> 00:18:55,700
So I briefly mention my role as 
an apologist and out of respect 

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00:18:55,700 --> 00:18:57,200
for the past reading, go deeply 
into it. 

376
00:18:57,200 --> 00:18:59,400
But I said, if you want to know 
more, come see me after the 

377
00:18:59,400 --> 00:19:01,700
service and you can ask me 
questions, whatever question you

378
00:19:01,700 --> 00:19:05,800
like As I step off stage, and 
I'm gathering my things out of 

379
00:19:05,808 --> 00:19:07,700
the corner of my eye. 
I see this young man and his 

380
00:19:07,700 --> 00:19:11,000
mother and they start marching 
straight towards me, like really

381
00:19:11,000 --> 00:19:12,600
fast. 
They stopped right in front of 

382
00:19:12,600 --> 00:19:16,400
me. 
And the the youth says, he looks

383
00:19:16,400 --> 00:19:19,200
at his mom and says, tell her, 
and he points at me, tell her, 

384
00:19:19,200 --> 00:19:20,900
you said we could ask you 
questions, right? 

385
00:19:22,100 --> 00:19:23,700
And I thought my goodness is 
everything. 

386
00:19:23,700 --> 00:19:27,200
Okay I'm thinking did I say 
something wrong and I said yeah,

387
00:19:27,200 --> 00:19:31,800
is everything all right? 
And then his mom looks at me and

388
00:19:31,800 --> 00:19:34,400
then she looks at him and she 
kind of hesitates and says, well

389
00:19:34,600 --> 00:19:37,200
as long as you're okay with it, 
I'll let y'all talk and she 

390
00:19:37,200 --> 00:19:41,400
walked off. 
I said, what was that about? 

391
00:19:43,300 --> 00:19:45,800
And what he said. 
Next broke my heart. 

392
00:19:47,900 --> 00:19:51,400
He said, well, I'm an atheist. 
I don't want to come to church 

393
00:19:51,400 --> 00:19:54,500
but my mom forces me to come so 
I come but I've always had 

394
00:19:54,500 --> 00:19:57,700
questions. 
And as you begin to ask these 

395
00:19:57,700 --> 00:20:00,000
questions to those in my youth 
group, they can answer them. 

396
00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:02,500
So, they sent me to the youth 
pastor, and when he couldn't 

397
00:20:02,500 --> 00:20:04,700
answer them, they sent me to the
pasture, but it's now gotten to 

398
00:20:04,700 --> 00:20:07,300
the point where they had a 
meeting and they sent me down to

399
00:20:07,308 --> 00:20:09,500
this meeting and they said, if 
you're going to come to church 

400
00:20:09,600 --> 00:20:12,800
sit down, shut up and stop 
bothering people with your 

401
00:20:12,800 --> 00:20:22,100
questions. 
But then you looked at me with a

402
00:20:22,108 --> 00:20:26,000
glimmer of hope and said, but 
because you don't come here, the

403
00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:30,300
rule doesn't apply to you. 
You're an exception and you said

404
00:20:30,300 --> 00:20:33,800
we could ask you questions. 
So if you don't mind, can I ask 

405
00:20:33,800 --> 00:20:39,400
you some questions? 
We talked for at least an hour. 

406
00:20:40,600 --> 00:20:42,500
So much. 
So that the person with the keys

407
00:20:42,500 --> 00:20:45,400
of the church said you have to 
leave, I have to go home and as 

408
00:20:45,400 --> 00:20:47,900
I'm walking to the car I 
remember thinking to myself, 

409
00:20:48,100 --> 00:20:49,200
what books have you been 
reading? 

410
00:20:49,200 --> 00:20:51,100
Sure, kid, smart kid and sure 
enough. 

411
00:20:51,100 --> 00:20:53,100
Richard Dawkins was one of them 
a few other atheist. 

412
00:20:54,300 --> 00:20:55,800
And I said, why are you 
satisfied with the answers? 

413
00:20:55,800 --> 00:20:57,100
I'm giving you that. 
Like, yeah, I've never heard 

414
00:20:57,100 --> 00:20:59,700
this before and I had to leave 
his one. 

415
00:20:59,700 --> 00:21:01,400
I said, look, I'm going to, I'm 
going to have breakfast with a 

416
00:21:01,400 --> 00:21:04,600
pastor tomorrow before I leave. 
I said if you'd like I can ask 

417
00:21:04,600 --> 00:21:07,300
him if we can continue this 
conversation over the phone or 

418
00:21:07,308 --> 00:21:09,000
through email, he said that 
would be so great, I would 

419
00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:12,900
appreciate that. 
Next morning, I'm having 

420
00:21:12,900 --> 00:21:15,700
breakfast at the pastor and I 
didn't waste any time. 

421
00:21:15,700 --> 00:21:17,900
I said pastor, I know what you 
said about apologetics 

422
00:21:17,900 --> 00:21:20,500
yesterday, but you realize you 
have an atheist in your youth 

423
00:21:20,500 --> 00:21:23,600
group, right? 
And he said yeah that's so and 

424
00:21:23,600 --> 00:21:26,000
so we're praying for him and he 
kind of said that nervously and 

425
00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:28,700
kind of chuckled, I said, you 
know, it's going to take more 

426
00:21:28,700 --> 00:21:33,500
than that. 
He's such a bright kid, you only

427
00:21:33,500 --> 00:21:35,500
have one high school in the 
small town in Texas. 

428
00:21:35,600 --> 00:21:38,500
If you lose this young man, I 
guarantee you he's going to take

429
00:21:38,500 --> 00:21:40,100
at least half that youth group 
with him. 

430
00:21:42,700 --> 00:21:44,600
I have respect for you. 
I didn't want to give him my 

431
00:21:44,600 --> 00:21:48,000
contact information. 
I said, but and I pulled out my 

432
00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:49,600
card. 
I said here's my personal cell. 

433
00:21:49,600 --> 00:21:51,500
An email, would you give this to
him? 

434
00:21:51,500 --> 00:21:54,000
Because he said that he'd be 
he'd want to continue the 

435
00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:56,300
conversation and if you're okay 
with it would you hand this to 

436
00:21:56,300 --> 00:22:08,400
him so we can continue talking. 
That was almost 10 years ago. 

437
00:22:09,700 --> 00:22:11,700
And I doubt the kid ever got it 
cuz I never heard from him 

438
00:22:11,700 --> 00:22:19,100
again. 
But you are the salt of the 

439
00:22:19,100 --> 00:22:23,200
earth. 
There are three dominant 

440
00:22:23,200 --> 00:22:25,900
strongholds within our culture 
that the church needs to be able

441
00:22:25,900 --> 00:22:28,800
to learn how to recognize and 
how to understand and how to 

442
00:22:28,800 --> 00:22:31,200
respond to. 
I'm going to briefly, go through

443
00:22:31,200 --> 00:22:33,300
the three first and then with 
the time that we have left will 

444
00:22:33,300 --> 00:22:36,100
give some responses to them. 
First one is known as 

445
00:22:36,300 --> 00:22:40,200
post-modernism or relativism and
it essentially The View that 

446
00:22:40,200 --> 00:22:42,000
truth is relative. 
There is no right or wrong. 

447
00:22:42,000 --> 00:22:46,500
There is no absolute truth. 
So say, for example, suppose 

448
00:22:46,500 --> 00:22:48,400
there's a dog to the right of 
this Podium. 

449
00:22:48,400 --> 00:22:50,700
And I could say there's a dog to
the right of this Podium. 

450
00:22:50,900 --> 00:22:53,400
But someone in the front row can
say, no, no, actually, there's a

451
00:22:53,408 --> 00:22:56,300
dog to the left of the podium. 
Well, who's right? 

452
00:22:56,300 --> 00:22:58,700
And who's wrong? 
What we're both, right? 

453
00:22:59,400 --> 00:23:01,100
And in the same way says a 
postmodernist. 

454
00:23:01,200 --> 00:23:04,300
It doesn't matter what God you 
worship, what religion you would

455
00:23:04,300 --> 00:23:07,100
here, too, because there is no 
absolute truth there. 

456
00:23:07,100 --> 00:23:09,900
In truth is not objective as a 
relative to each person and each

457
00:23:09,900 --> 00:23:12,400
person's perspective. 
So if you don't agree with 

458
00:23:12,400 --> 00:23:13,900
same-sex marriage, says a 
postmodern. 

459
00:23:14,100 --> 00:23:16,000
Yes that's fine but don't tell 
someone else they can't marry 

460
00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:17,800
who they love because that's 
your truth. 

461
00:23:17,800 --> 00:23:20,300
Not theirs. 
And you don't agree with 

462
00:23:20,300 --> 00:23:21,900
abortion. 
That's fine too. 

463
00:23:21,900 --> 00:23:24,800
But don't tell this young lady 
who got molested a rate that she

464
00:23:24,800 --> 00:23:27,400
can have an abortion because 
that's your religious morality 

465
00:23:27,400 --> 00:23:29,900
and you cannot impose your 
religious morality on to someone

466
00:23:29,900 --> 00:23:33,100
else because it's true for you, 
not for them stronghold. 

467
00:23:35,900 --> 00:23:39,600
The second one is known as 
scientism note, the ism and this

468
00:23:39,600 --> 00:23:41,900
is far more than an appreciation
of science. 

469
00:23:42,200 --> 00:23:45,200
It is, if you want the big word,
it is an epistemic view within 

470
00:23:45,200 --> 00:23:47,000
philosophy a way of knowing 
things. 

471
00:23:47,400 --> 00:23:49,900
And it is essentially The View 
that the only way or the best 

472
00:23:49,900 --> 00:23:51,700
way to gain knowledge is through
science. 

473
00:23:53,000 --> 00:23:55,700
So a person who holds to the 
stronghold may say something 

474
00:23:55,700 --> 00:23:57,600
like. 
Well, if it cannot be 

475
00:23:57,600 --> 00:24:00,600
scientifically proven then 
either cannot be an owner, 

476
00:24:00,600 --> 00:24:03,500
cannot be true. 
So you want me to believe in God

477
00:24:03,500 --> 00:24:07,200
show me the scientific evidence 
or show me a scientist if you 

478
00:24:07,200 --> 00:24:08,800
want me to believe in the 
afterlife that has gone to 

479
00:24:08,800 --> 00:24:12,500
heaven with lab equipment and 
been able to empirically test 

480
00:24:12,500 --> 00:24:15,300
verifiable data that can be 
reproduced in a lab and shown 

481
00:24:15,300 --> 00:24:17,500
the evidence of this. 
Because if you cannot prove it 

482
00:24:17,500 --> 00:24:19,400
scientifically, then why should 
I believe it? 

483
00:24:19,800 --> 00:24:22,400
Because it's either not true or 
it cannot be known stronghold. 

484
00:24:22,500 --> 00:24:25,400
Okay. 
And the second one is known as 

485
00:24:25,400 --> 00:24:28,100
naturalism. 
This one really hits home for 

486
00:24:28,100 --> 00:24:30,000
me. 
It is a view that the physical 

487
00:24:30,000 --> 00:24:31,500
world is all that exists. 
Nothing more. 

488
00:24:31,500 --> 00:24:36,000
Nothing less. 
And this is very rampant in our 

489
00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:40,300
culture. 
Freshman year of college, I 

490
00:24:40,308 --> 00:24:42,000
decided to take my first 
philosophy class. 

491
00:24:42,600 --> 00:24:44,800
Later found out my professor was
an atheist but I enjoyed it 

492
00:24:47,100 --> 00:24:50,800
because he allowed us ask 
questions which was not like the

493
00:24:50,800 --> 00:24:52,000
church that I was attending at 
the time. 

494
00:24:53,700 --> 00:24:56,500
And eager to learn more. 
I want to take another class in 

495
00:24:56,500 --> 00:24:58,500
philosophy, but everybody warned
me. 

496
00:24:58,500 --> 00:25:00,800
If you're going to take another 
class, whatever you do, do not 

497
00:25:00,800 --> 00:25:03,100
take Professor Pena's class 
because if you take his class, 

498
00:25:03,300 --> 00:25:04,800
he's going to try to make you 
lose your faith. 

499
00:25:04,800 --> 00:25:06,800
He's antagonistic. 
And his goal is going to be 

500
00:25:06,800 --> 00:25:11,300
converted from Christianity. 
And my thought was before, can I

501
00:25:11,300 --> 00:25:14,400
sign up? 
Not because I wanted to Lose My 

502
00:25:14,400 --> 00:25:16,900
Faith because I had questions 
and call me crazy, but I knew 

503
00:25:16,900 --> 00:25:19,400
that if something is true and 
I'll truth is grounded in God, 

504
00:25:19,400 --> 00:25:22,300
then I shouldn't be afraid to 
learn or be educated. 

505
00:25:23,200 --> 00:25:25,500
And I knew that if Christianity 
were true, I should know. 

506
00:25:25,900 --> 00:25:27,900
I need to know why. 
But I also understood that if 

507
00:25:27,900 --> 00:25:30,000
Christianity were false, I'd 
still like to know why. 

508
00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:31,700
And perhaps this is the guy for 
the job. 

509
00:25:33,500 --> 00:25:37,100
And here is the pivotal moment 
in my day in life and Ministry. 

510
00:25:38,200 --> 00:25:41,200
One day he walks into class and 
he reaches into his pocket and 

511
00:25:41,200 --> 00:25:42,900
he pulls out this antidepressant
pill. 

512
00:25:44,400 --> 00:25:46,900
And he says, now, religion wants
us to believe in something like 

513
00:25:46,900 --> 00:25:50,600
a soul, which is supposed to be 
immaterial, and it's because of 

514
00:25:50,600 --> 00:25:53,500
this soul that we can have hope 
in an afterlife and seeing our 

515
00:25:53,500 --> 00:25:57,100
family and friends that have 
gone before us. but the problem 

516
00:25:57,100 --> 00:26:00,700
is according to Christianity, 
your emotions, your Sensations, 

517
00:26:00,700 --> 00:26:03,500
your beliefs are also allegedly 
supposed to be in this 

518
00:26:03,500 --> 00:26:06,900
immaterial soul, but here's a 
problem. 

519
00:26:07,500 --> 00:26:10,500
If I were to take this 
antidepressant pill, it actually

520
00:26:10,500 --> 00:26:13,900
has the power to change and 
affect the alleged immaterial 

521
00:26:13,900 --> 00:26:17,100
states of my soul, like my 
emotions and my Sensations. 

522
00:26:17,800 --> 00:26:21,000
But how can that be? 
How can something tiny and 

523
00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:23,600
physical have the power to 
affect the material? 

524
00:26:25,200 --> 00:26:27,000
Because every time we look at 
the brain, always see, our 

525
00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:28,600
neurons firing. 
That's all scientists ever 

526
00:26:28,600 --> 00:26:31,100
discover. 
And every time a scientist looks

527
00:26:31,100 --> 00:26:33,300
at the body and our microscope, 
all we find are the base 

528
00:26:33,300 --> 00:26:37,300
elements of carbon hydrogen and 
oxygen, but no scientist has 

529
00:26:37,300 --> 00:26:39,900
ever found anything. 
Even remotely close to something

530
00:26:39,900 --> 00:26:41,700
like a soul. 
How can that be? 

531
00:26:43,600 --> 00:26:46,400
Well, the answer is simple. 
He said I'll explain it to you. 

532
00:26:46,400 --> 00:26:50,100
It's really easy. 
The answer is that there is no 

533
00:26:50,100 --> 00:26:51,600
salt. 
There is no Heaven. 

534
00:26:51,700 --> 00:26:53,400
There is no hell. 
There is no God. 

535
00:26:53,400 --> 00:26:56,100
There is no afterlife. 
You are just a physical meat 

536
00:26:56,100 --> 00:26:58,800
machine, a brain and body and we
need to learn to live with this 

537
00:26:58,800 --> 00:27:00,600
fact. 
Get on with our lives and stop. 

538
00:27:00,600 --> 00:27:03,900
Believing in these fanciful. 
Foolish fairy, tales class, 

539
00:27:03,900 --> 00:27:07,700
dismissed stronghold. 
How would you respond to 

540
00:27:07,700 --> 00:27:10,600
something like that? 
Because as a freshman in 

541
00:27:10,600 --> 00:27:13,900
college, this was the first time
I met someone that didn't 

542
00:27:13,900 --> 00:27:16,800
believe in the soul and gave an 
argument against it but 

543
00:27:16,800 --> 00:27:20,100
something even more troubling. 
Cross my mind because to 

544
00:27:20,100 --> 00:27:22,700
paraphrase Paul in First 
Corinthians 15, he essentially 

545
00:27:22,700 --> 00:27:24,800
says, if there is no 
resurrection of the Dead, if 

546
00:27:24,800 --> 00:27:27,500
there is no Resurrection, 
Christianity is false and people

547
00:27:27,500 --> 00:27:29,600
should actually feel sorry for 
us because of how dumb we are. 

548
00:27:32,100 --> 00:27:34,400
Well, by the same token. 
I would argue if there is no 

549
00:27:34,400 --> 00:27:36,400
soul that I'm principal. 
How can there be a resurrection 

550
00:27:36,400 --> 00:27:40,100
of me if I'm a soul and body? 
And if there is no soul in 

551
00:27:40,100 --> 00:27:42,200
there, can be no resurrection. 
And by the same token, if 

552
00:27:42,200 --> 00:27:44,300
there's no Resurrection in 
Christianity, would be false 

553
00:27:44,500 --> 00:27:47,600
stronghold. 
How would you respond to 

554
00:27:47,600 --> 00:27:52,200
something like this? 
Well, we're at a time. 

555
00:27:52,200 --> 00:27:53,900
So if you want the answer you 
get my DVD back there. 

556
00:27:53,900 --> 00:27:57,100
A case for the sold for only 
$20. 

557
00:27:57,100 --> 00:28:01,500
It's a whole hour into this. 
I'm joking. 

558
00:28:01,600 --> 00:28:05,200
Well, we'll go through some 
responses but while I'm on the 

559
00:28:05,200 --> 00:28:07,700
topic, I would like to mention. 
We do have some ensure that we 

560
00:28:07,700 --> 00:28:10,800
brought that I brought with me. 
This is one of the newest is my 

561
00:28:10,800 --> 00:28:14,800
favorite. 
This has become my area of 

562
00:28:14,800 --> 00:28:18,200
specialization, if you will, I 
also did a debate. 

563
00:28:18,200 --> 00:28:19,700
Well, I've done it quite a few 
debates at this point of the 

564
00:28:19,700 --> 00:28:21,500
Soul. 
This is a to our debate on the 

565
00:28:21,500 --> 00:28:23,400
soul with some, with some 
interviews afterwards. 

566
00:28:23,500 --> 00:28:26,100
What we're talking about today 
is spiritual warfare of our 

567
00:28:26,100 --> 00:28:27,600
culture. 
This is what were mainly 

568
00:28:27,600 --> 00:28:29,200
touching on. 
I have that DVD back there as 

569
00:28:29,200 --> 00:28:30,200
well. 
For $15. 

570
00:28:31,400 --> 00:28:33,700
I'm going to briefly touch on 
some evidence of God towards the

571
00:28:33,700 --> 00:28:35,600
end if you want to go really 
deep. 

572
00:28:36,300 --> 00:28:39,600
We have a course, it's an eight.
Plus our audio course on 

573
00:28:39,600 --> 00:28:42,500
apologetics is the most 
expensive thing we have is $50. 

574
00:28:42,700 --> 00:28:45,700
We also have download cars if 
you'd like there's a few other 

575
00:28:45,700 --> 00:28:48,300
debates I have up there and 
people usually ask do you have 

576
00:28:48,300 --> 00:28:51,100
like a package deal and what I 
often say is if To give it a 

577
00:28:51,100 --> 00:28:53,800
nation of $100, you can take 
everything on the table, that's 

578
00:28:53,800 --> 00:28:58,300
22 plus hours including notes 
and if you get the package, 

579
00:28:58,300 --> 00:29:01,300
you'll get my download card for 
free of my very first debate. 

580
00:29:02,300 --> 00:29:04,300
The professor I'm just talking 
about. 

581
00:29:04,500 --> 00:29:06,100
Has anyone seen the movie? 
God's Not Dead. 

582
00:29:06,900 --> 00:29:10,200
Yeah, the movie stop watching. 
It's a horror movie. 

583
00:29:10,200 --> 00:29:15,300
I hate that movie, but it was a 
it was a similar situation 

584
00:29:15,900 --> 00:29:18,200
because five years after I 
graduated from this Community 

585
00:29:18,200 --> 00:29:20,600
College, he was actually my 
first public debate on God's. 

586
00:29:20,700 --> 00:29:22,600
Distance. 
So actually debated my former 

587
00:29:22,600 --> 00:29:26,200
professor and what's interesting
about that is that the church 

588
00:29:26,200 --> 00:29:27,600
lunatics. 
It wasn't even my church. 

589
00:29:27,600 --> 00:29:31,400
It was it's a long story, but I 
know the church and expect a lot

590
00:29:31,400 --> 00:29:33,100
of people to show up. 
So instead of putting us in the 

591
00:29:33,100 --> 00:29:36,000
sanctuary, they put us in the 
gym and long story short 

592
00:29:36,900 --> 00:29:39,300
including online. 
There are about 600 people that 

593
00:29:39,300 --> 00:29:43,900
watched that debate, and that 
night there are more atheist 

594
00:29:43,900 --> 00:29:46,600
when Christians at church 
because I out influential, this 

595
00:29:46,600 --> 00:29:51,900
professor was If you get the 
packaging get that for free, 

596
00:29:52,000 --> 00:29:54,600
another thing I want to mention 
this, in a few weeks actually 

597
00:29:54,600 --> 00:29:57,700
will be in San Marcos. 
One of my jobs, in Texas 

598
00:29:57,700 --> 00:30:00,100
Baptist, we organize three 
Unapologetic, evangelism 

599
00:30:00,100 --> 00:30:03,400
conferences, every year, the 
next one's February 25th, if you

600
00:30:03,408 --> 00:30:05,000
like to come, you can grab one 
of the Flyers. 

601
00:30:05,000 --> 00:30:07,600
You can scan that and find more 
information on that. 

602
00:30:08,800 --> 00:30:11,100
And I want to, I want to be 
perfectly transparent her this 

603
00:30:11,100 --> 00:30:15,000
morning, anything that you 
purchase here this morning, all 

604
00:30:15,000 --> 00:30:18,000
proceeds, 100% of the proceeds 
will go directly to feed a 

605
00:30:18,000 --> 00:30:21,800
hungry family. 
Yeah, my hungry family. 

606
00:30:23,400 --> 00:30:26,800
I've got two kids who are like, 
outgrowing their clothes and 

607
00:30:26,800 --> 00:30:29,300
eating everything and I will 
take all the help I can get. 

608
00:30:29,300 --> 00:30:33,900
I have no shame in saying that. 
So, let's get into this. 

609
00:30:36,300 --> 00:30:38,700
At a score of once worked at, I 
have this lady come up to me and

610
00:30:38,700 --> 00:30:40,900
she said, Eric, you cannot say 
Christianity is true because 

611
00:30:40,900 --> 00:30:43,900
there is no truth. 
I said, really. 

612
00:30:45,700 --> 00:30:47,800
I said, okay I said, well then I
just have one question. 

613
00:30:48,400 --> 00:30:55,000
I said is that true? 
Because if you're telling me, 

614
00:30:55,000 --> 00:30:56,800
there is no truth. 
And yet you say that. 

615
00:30:56,800 --> 00:30:59,500
As, if it's true, then by your 
own standards, what you just 

616
00:30:59,500 --> 00:31:02,400
said, cannot be true. 
It's what we call in philosophy.

617
00:31:02,500 --> 00:31:05,700
Self-defeating, it's a statement
that defeats itself. 

618
00:31:07,900 --> 00:31:10,900
I was once invited on a secular 
left wing liberal, radio 

619
00:31:10,900 --> 00:31:13,300
station. 
And the reason I mention that is

620
00:31:13,300 --> 00:31:15,300
because there were very atheist 
leaning. 

621
00:31:15,500 --> 00:31:18,400
But as a way to show their 
tolerance towards other views 

622
00:31:18,600 --> 00:31:20,200
every other month, it would 
invite someone from the 

623
00:31:20,200 --> 00:31:22,600
community to come on and talk on
their show and they said, would 

624
00:31:22,600 --> 00:31:24,700
you like to come on and talk 
about Christianity and why your 

625
00:31:24,700 --> 00:31:28,600
question I said I'd love to and 
as my boxing you know we're 

626
00:31:28,600 --> 00:31:30,000
about to walk into the live 
studio. 

627
00:31:30,000 --> 00:31:32,400
He stops me and says oh by the 
way though we also take 

628
00:31:32,400 --> 00:31:33,700
questions. 
Are you okay with that? 

629
00:31:34,200 --> 00:31:36,500
You know, people will call in if
they think it's interesting, if 

630
00:31:36,500 --> 00:31:39,300
they want to challenge you. 
We get calls sometimes we don't.

631
00:31:39,400 --> 00:31:41,600
Last time, we had a pastor on 
the show, he got like one or two

632
00:31:41,600 --> 00:31:43,600
calls, so you might get some 
calls, this is sure that's fine.

633
00:31:45,500 --> 00:31:47,800
By the first commercial break, 
I'm barely on my second Point. 

634
00:31:47,800 --> 00:31:50,200
I've only been talking for like,
10 minutes and at the commercial

635
00:31:50,200 --> 00:31:52,400
break, he looks at me and says, 
I know you got a lot more, you 

636
00:31:52,408 --> 00:31:54,500
want to share, but all the phone
lines are ringing. 

637
00:31:54,800 --> 00:31:55,900
So, would you want to start 
taking calls? 

638
00:31:55,900 --> 00:31:56,700
I said sure. 
Why not. 

639
00:31:57,700 --> 00:32:00,400
First caller calls in and says, 
who are you to tell people? 

640
00:32:00,400 --> 00:32:03,800
They're wrong. 
I said, excuse me, he says, who 

641
00:32:03,800 --> 00:32:06,700
are you to tell people the 
wrong, I'm okay. 

642
00:32:06,700 --> 00:32:09,000
Because, so you start talking 
about God, and I don't care, 

643
00:32:09,000 --> 00:32:11,200
everybody believes in something,
but then you started mentioning 

644
00:32:11,200 --> 00:32:15,800
Christianity, are you telling me
that if I'm not a Christian, I'm

645
00:32:15,800 --> 00:32:19,700
wrong, I said, yeah, that's kind
of how it works. 

646
00:32:19,700 --> 00:32:20,600
If it's not true. 
It's false. 

647
00:32:20,600 --> 00:32:23,600
That's so basic logic Works. 
He says, you can't do that. 

648
00:32:23,700 --> 00:32:25,300
Who are you to tell people? 
They're wrong. 

649
00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:29,900
I said calm down. 
Let me let me see if I just 

650
00:32:29,900 --> 00:32:32,100
understand you first. 
Before I answer your question, 

651
00:32:32,300 --> 00:32:36,100
are you telling me that it is 
somehow inappropriate or perhaps

652
00:32:36,100 --> 00:32:37,500
immoral to tell people they're 
wrong? 

653
00:32:37,500 --> 00:32:39,800
He said, yes, you can't do that.
You cannot tell people they're 

654
00:32:39,800 --> 00:32:42,600
wrong. 
I said okay. 

655
00:32:43,000 --> 00:32:44,700
Well then I just have one final 
question. 

656
00:32:45,400 --> 00:32:47,600
I said then can you please 
explain to me why you're calling

657
00:32:47,600 --> 00:32:49,900
me on a live public radio to 
tell me that I'm wrong. 

658
00:32:50,600 --> 00:32:53,500
If it's wrong to tell people 
that they're wrong. 

659
00:32:55,000 --> 00:32:57,700
Now it is funny when you get the
answer, there's a lot more we 

660
00:32:57,708 --> 00:32:59,900
can go into but don't raise your
hand. 

661
00:33:01,000 --> 00:33:03,300
But who here could have given a 
response prior to my answer? 

662
00:33:05,500 --> 00:33:08,300
Because you are the salt of the 
earth. 

663
00:33:09,700 --> 00:33:13,000
Scientism science is the only 
way to gain knowledge about 

664
00:33:13,000 --> 00:33:15,700
reality. 
There's lots of say here in the 

665
00:33:15,700 --> 00:33:17,400
DVD we go much more deeper into 
it. 

666
00:33:17,400 --> 00:33:20,400
In fact, I recently updated it 
on our download cars and it has 

667
00:33:20,400 --> 00:33:22,300
more content, I would recommend 
the download cards more than 

668
00:33:22,300 --> 00:33:25,400
anything. 
And suffice to say, this is 

669
00:33:25,400 --> 00:33:27,300
false for many reasons, I'll 
just give you one example 

670
00:33:27,800 --> 00:33:32,300
because I could take hours on 
each point often have sometimes 

671
00:33:32,300 --> 00:33:34,100
atheist. 
So say Eric give me scientific 

672
00:33:34,100 --> 00:33:37,600
evidence for God and my response
was typically and why would I 

673
00:33:37,608 --> 00:33:38,900
want to do a silly thing like 
that? 

674
00:33:40,000 --> 00:33:42,600
And because they look at me, 
kind of confused by that, I have

675
00:33:42,600 --> 00:33:45,300
to offer an explanation and I'll
put it this way in a nutshell. 

676
00:33:46,500 --> 00:33:50,100
See, science is a wonderful tool
for studying the physical world,

677
00:33:50,300 --> 00:33:53,100
but it is a tool that is limited
to only study the physical 

678
00:33:53,100 --> 00:33:55,500
world. 
And God, if he exists is by 

679
00:33:55,500 --> 00:33:59,000
definition a non-physical 
entity, which means you cannot 

680
00:33:59,000 --> 00:34:01,400
use something like science, 
which is limited to the physical

681
00:34:01,500 --> 00:34:04,400
to try and investigate something
non-physical is what we call a 

682
00:34:04,400 --> 00:34:07,800
philosophy, a category fallacy, 
what's a category fallacy? 

683
00:34:08,000 --> 00:34:10,000
It's like saying how much does 
the number two way? 

684
00:34:10,000 --> 00:34:11,699
What does it smell like? 
And how many can you put in your

685
00:34:11,707 --> 00:34:14,000
pocket? 
These questions are applied to 

686
00:34:14,000 --> 00:34:15,400
numbers because numbers have 
neither. 

687
00:34:15,400 --> 00:34:18,900
Wait, no shape, no colors. 
I can put it this way. 

688
00:34:18,900 --> 00:34:21,900
Suppose you go with your friend 
to the beach, and you separate 

689
00:34:21,900 --> 00:34:23,400
for two hours. 
And two hours later, he comes 

690
00:34:23,400 --> 00:34:26,100
back with this metal detector 
and he says, I just made a 

691
00:34:26,100 --> 00:34:29,400
remarkable Discovery. 
I just discovered there was no 

692
00:34:29,400 --> 00:34:32,600
plastic on this beach. 
And confused by this. 

693
00:34:32,600 --> 00:34:34,300
You kind of look over his 
shoulder and you see the beach 

694
00:34:34,300 --> 00:34:36,600
is littered with plastic? 
He said, what are you talking 

695
00:34:36,600 --> 00:34:37,600
about? 
Of course, there is he goes no? 

696
00:34:37,600 --> 00:34:38,800
No. 
In fact, I don't even think 

697
00:34:38,800 --> 00:34:43,199
plastic exist, why not? 
Because I just spent two hours 

698
00:34:43,199 --> 00:34:45,800
with this metal detector. 
Call me the beach and I found a 

699
00:34:45,800 --> 00:34:49,100
lot of metal but not once, did 
it ever detect an ounce of 

700
00:34:49,100 --> 00:34:52,100
plastic? 
Of course you see that his 

701
00:34:52,100 --> 00:34:53,900
problem is that he doesn't have 
that. 

702
00:34:53,900 --> 00:34:56,100
He has a metal detector, not a 
plastic detector. 

703
00:34:56,699 --> 00:35:00,000
And the same way to try and try 
and argue that you need 

704
00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:02,600
scientific evidence for God is 
trying to like, it's like trying

705
00:35:02,600 --> 00:35:04,200
to look for plastic with a metal
detector. 

706
00:35:04,200 --> 00:35:06,100
It's simply the wrong tool for 
the assessment. 

707
00:35:08,100 --> 00:35:14,400
What about naturalism? 
There's lots to say again but 

708
00:35:15,300 --> 00:35:17,100
before I go into this and we 
could have done this for each 

709
00:35:17,100 --> 00:35:19,800
stronghold but suffice to say 
that each of these strongholds 

710
00:35:19,800 --> 00:35:22,000
we've talked about have crept 
into the church and we haven't 

711
00:35:22,000 --> 00:35:25,700
realized it. 
I can prove it to you with this 

712
00:35:25,700 --> 00:35:28,200
one. 
So first, let's do this. 

713
00:35:28,300 --> 00:35:30,400
A little bit of audience 
participation if you don't mind.

714
00:35:31,700 --> 00:35:34,800
Can you please point for me? 
Can you point to what part of 

715
00:35:34,808 --> 00:35:37,400
your body thinks? 
Can you point to what part of 

716
00:35:37,408 --> 00:35:39,300
your body thinks? 
Okay, I see people doing this 

717
00:35:39,300 --> 00:35:40,400
brain. 
Is that what you're saying? 

718
00:35:40,600 --> 00:35:43,200
Right, does your brain think? 
Yeah. 

719
00:35:43,500 --> 00:35:46,300
Do you need a brain to think? 
Okay. 

720
00:35:47,800 --> 00:35:49,700
Here's my next question. 
Does God. 

721
00:35:49,700 --> 00:35:53,300
Have a brain? 
I didn't hear anything that 

722
00:35:53,300 --> 00:35:53,900
time. 
I'm sorry. 

723
00:35:57,100 --> 00:35:58,700
This is a Christian Church. 
I'm Mormon Church? 

724
00:35:59,500 --> 00:36:02,600
Christian church, right? 
Christians are now huh? 

725
00:36:03,200 --> 00:36:06,700
No God doesn't have a brain. 
In fact, the Bible says that God

726
00:36:06,700 --> 00:36:10,000
is spirit and those who worship 
Him must worship Him in spirit, 

727
00:36:10,400 --> 00:36:12,900
huh? 
Are you meant his image? 

728
00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:18,100
Hmm. 
Looks like we have a conundrum 

729
00:36:18,100 --> 00:36:21,700
here. 
Hey, do you need a Brenda sink? 

730
00:36:22,700 --> 00:36:24,400
Now if you say yes, we're going 
to do that all over again. 

731
00:36:24,500 --> 00:36:28,300
And I'm running out of time. 
But let me put it this way. 

732
00:36:29,500 --> 00:36:31,000
I'm gonna come clean because I 
like you guys. 

733
00:36:31,700 --> 00:36:34,800
That was a trick question. 
No, part of your body thinks and

734
00:36:34,800 --> 00:36:36,700
throughout the history of 
Christianity, there has always 

735
00:36:36,700 --> 00:36:39,500
been this doctrine of a self, a 
soul that, you are a soul made 

736
00:36:39,500 --> 00:36:41,900
in the image of God. 
And your soul is immaterial and 

737
00:36:41,900 --> 00:36:44,300
within your soul, you have the 
faculty of mine which is also a 

738
00:36:44,300 --> 00:36:46,900
material so it's not your brain.
That thinks it's your soul that 

739
00:36:46,900 --> 00:36:50,600
thinks using your brain while 
embodied as an instrument. 

740
00:36:50,600 --> 00:36:54,300
So for example, if if I can show
you that in order to play 

741
00:36:54,300 --> 00:36:56,500
certain keys, I need certain 
notes. 

742
00:36:56,500 --> 00:36:58,300
I need certain keys, does it 
follow that? 

743
00:36:58,300 --> 00:37:01,600
Therefore The notes of the music
are inside the piano. 

744
00:37:02,400 --> 00:37:03,400
No. 
Does it follow that? 

745
00:37:03,400 --> 00:37:05,400
If I broke open the piano, the 
notes that fall out. 

746
00:37:05,500 --> 00:37:09,000
No, however, if you were to 
detune the piano, you would 

747
00:37:09,000 --> 00:37:11,900
actually affect the way, the 
Muse play correct in the same 

748
00:37:11,900 --> 00:37:15,300
way, you are a soul with a body 
and if you mess with my body, 

749
00:37:15,300 --> 00:37:16,700
then sure you'll mess with the 
way my knees. 

750
00:37:16,700 --> 00:37:18,600
Music is played. 
Just like you would, if you did 

751
00:37:18,600 --> 00:37:20,400
tune, a guitar piano, but it 
doesn't follow that. 

752
00:37:20,400 --> 00:37:22,000
There is no. 
So it just follows his a cause 

753
00:37:22,000 --> 00:37:24,000
and effect relationship while 
I'm in Bodied. 

754
00:37:26,800 --> 00:37:29,200
And you are the salt of the 
earth. 

755
00:37:30,800 --> 00:37:33,600
Again if you want if you want to
go really deep in that you can 

756
00:37:33,600 --> 00:37:35,900
get the material we have back 
there but I want to leave you 

757
00:37:35,908 --> 00:37:37,500
with this. 
I want to end with an argument 

758
00:37:37,500 --> 00:37:40,200
for God's existence that would 
refute naturalism. 

759
00:37:40,600 --> 00:37:42,400
One of my favorite arguments 
does anybody know who this 

760
00:37:42,400 --> 00:37:45,800
gentleman is dr. 
William Lane Craig if you don't 

761
00:37:45,800 --> 00:37:48,500
know who he is not a big deal, 
just one of the greatest living 

762
00:37:48,500 --> 00:37:50,500
Christian philosophers and 
theologians of our time. 

763
00:37:50,800 --> 00:37:53,900
Other than that no biggie you 
know it's whatever he has an 

764
00:37:53,900 --> 00:37:56,100
argument known as the Kalam 
cosmological argument. 

765
00:37:56,100 --> 00:37:58,500
One of my favorite arguments and
it's really easy. 

766
00:37:58,500 --> 00:38:01,500
It's the name is a mouthful but 
it's only three sentences in 

767
00:38:01,500 --> 00:38:03,700
philosophy. 
We call these premises to 

768
00:38:03,700 --> 00:38:06,100
premises that lead to a 
conclusion and it's easier to 

769
00:38:06,100 --> 00:38:08,400
memorize and you can share this 
with someone in 30 seconds or 

770
00:38:08,400 --> 00:38:10,900
less. 
So if you're in a taxicab with 

771
00:38:10,900 --> 00:38:14,100
someone, if you're an elevator 
ride, if you follow someone to 

772
00:38:14,100 --> 00:38:16,500
the bathroom and they sit down, 
you've got at least 30 seconds 

773
00:38:16,500 --> 00:38:18,300
and you can, you know, get your 
witness in there. 

774
00:38:19,800 --> 00:38:22,700
In fact, a few weeks ago, I had 
an Uber driver. 

775
00:38:22,700 --> 00:38:24,300
That wasn't a Believer and I let
him to cry. 

776
00:38:24,300 --> 00:38:28,200
So this is one of the first 
arguments I led with Premise. 

777
00:38:28,200 --> 00:38:32,100
One, everything that begins to 
exist has a Cause Premise, two 

778
00:38:32,100 --> 00:38:35,200
the universe began to exist and 
based on one and two, you 

779
00:38:35,200 --> 00:38:38,500
conclude that therefore the 
universe has a cause now to 

780
00:38:38,500 --> 00:38:41,900
understand the argument, we have
to unpack a few things and we 

781
00:38:41,900 --> 00:38:44,300
can start with this. 
You have to understand that at 

782
00:38:44,300 --> 00:38:47,100
the Inception of the universe, 
three things came into existence

783
00:38:47,100 --> 00:38:51,000
that did not exist prior to the 
universe namely time space and 

784
00:38:51,000 --> 00:38:53,800
matter. 
So we can put it this way, if 

785
00:38:53,800 --> 00:38:56,900
there were no Universe, there 
would be no time, no space, and 

786
00:38:56,900 --> 00:39:00,000
no matter you with me now to 
people. 

787
00:39:00,000 --> 00:39:02,600
Thank you. 
So, We look back to the argument

788
00:39:02,600 --> 00:39:05,900
we can actually unpack further 
of this argument by looking at 

789
00:39:05,900 --> 00:39:09,700
the thing by understanding, the 
cause of these effects because C

790
00:39:09,700 --> 00:39:13,400
in philosophy, causes are 
logically prior to or greater 

791
00:39:13,400 --> 00:39:15,000
than an external to their 
effects. 

792
00:39:15,400 --> 00:39:18,600
In other words, the person that 
caused my phone to exist, does 

793
00:39:18,600 --> 00:39:21,700
not reside within my phone, 
making it run, because as a 

794
00:39:21,700 --> 00:39:25,600
cause of my phone's existence, 
his existence was external to 

795
00:39:25,700 --> 00:39:28,200
prior to, and greater than my 
phone you with me. 

796
00:39:28,700 --> 00:39:32,200
So, with this in mind, if A 
thing that begins to exist has a

797
00:39:32,200 --> 00:39:34,500
cause and time space and matter 
how to beginning. 

798
00:39:34,600 --> 00:39:37,700
Then we can actually logically 
deduce attributes of this caused

799
00:39:37,700 --> 00:39:40,300
by looking at the facts, which 
means that whatever caused time 

800
00:39:40,300 --> 00:39:44,300
space and matter must be prior 
to external to, in greater than 

801
00:39:44,400 --> 00:39:46,400
time space. 
And matter, which means a cause 

802
00:39:46,400 --> 00:39:50,100
of the universe must have been 
timeless spaceless immaterial. 

803
00:39:51,700 --> 00:39:56,200
Do you know someone like that? 
I hope so, so we can put it this

804
00:39:56,200 --> 00:39:58,000
way. 
If the universe began to exist, 

805
00:39:58,000 --> 00:40:01,100
we now know that there must 
exist, a Timeless spaceless 

806
00:40:01,100 --> 00:40:04,000
immaterial entity. 
Now, at this point, I had a 

807
00:40:04,008 --> 00:40:05,900
non-believer stopped me once, 
and he said, wait a minute. 

808
00:40:05,900 --> 00:40:08,500
You're trying to talk about God 
and I said, I don't know, you 

809
00:40:08,500 --> 00:40:15,000
think so, maybe and he said, but
but why God, why couldn't 

810
00:40:15,000 --> 00:40:16,600
something natural? 
Have caused the universe? 

811
00:40:16,600 --> 00:40:20,800
Why do you have to point to God?
And I said, well, because nature

812
00:40:20,800 --> 00:40:23,100
had a beginning, and if 
everything that begins needs a 

813
00:40:23,107 --> 00:40:25,800
cause that The nature itself 
would need to cause, but to 

814
00:40:25,800 --> 00:40:28,600
argue that something natural 
cause all of nature is 

815
00:40:28,600 --> 00:40:31,700
essentially to argue that nature
had to exist prior to its 

816
00:40:31,700 --> 00:40:34,700
existence in order to bring 
itself into existence which is a

817
00:40:34,707 --> 00:40:37,400
logical contradiction. 
So of nature had a beginning, 

818
00:40:37,400 --> 00:40:39,200
you would need something beyond 
the natural. 

819
00:40:39,200 --> 00:40:42,900
Something Transcendent nature 
something like I wish there was 

820
00:40:42,900 --> 00:40:46,700
a word for that. 
There is Supernatural, literally

821
00:40:46,700 --> 00:40:50,100
beyond the natural and then you 
Anita being that is unimaginably

822
00:40:50,100 --> 00:40:51,400
powerful. 
Why? 

823
00:40:51,700 --> 00:40:52,800
What? 
To create something out of 

824
00:40:52,800 --> 00:40:55,200
nothing. 
I heard a joke once these 

825
00:40:55,200 --> 00:40:58,100
scientists went to God and said,
God, we don't need you to create

826
00:40:58,100 --> 00:41:00,700
life, we can do it without you 
and God said really miss it. 

827
00:41:00,700 --> 00:41:03,200
Yeah, he says, show me, show me 
how you do it and they said, 

828
00:41:03,200 --> 00:41:06,400
okay, no problem and they bend 
over to get some dirt. 

829
00:41:06,400 --> 00:41:07,700
And God says, what will come 
out? 

830
00:41:07,700 --> 00:41:11,500
Get your own dirt, you would 
need a bean. 

831
00:41:11,500 --> 00:41:15,300
That is also personal, why in a 
nutshell because Universe didn't

832
00:41:15,300 --> 00:41:18,200
have to exist, it was caused to 
exist, which means it was a 

833
00:41:18,207 --> 00:41:22,000
decision, made decisions, come 
from mines, which have wheels 

834
00:41:22,000 --> 00:41:23,600
and wheels are grounded in 
persons. 

835
00:41:24,100 --> 00:41:28,100
And so we could say, if the 
universe began to exist, and if 

836
00:41:28,100 --> 00:41:30,500
you present this, take a deep 
breath for dramatic effect. 

837
00:41:31,000 --> 00:41:33,100
If the universe began to exist 
there must exist. 

838
00:41:33,200 --> 00:41:37,000
A Timeless, spaceless 
immaterial, Supernatural, 

839
00:41:37,000 --> 00:41:39,300
unimaginably, powerful personal 
beam. 

840
00:41:40,000 --> 00:41:41,400
And I just call him God for 
short. 

841
00:41:42,600 --> 00:41:45,100
And I have the privilege of 
calling him a heavenly father 

842
00:41:46,100 --> 00:41:49,100
and I pray you too, as well. 
If you want to pull out your 

843
00:41:49,100 --> 00:41:52,700
phones, like I said you can find
more about me here on YouTube, 

844
00:41:52,700 --> 00:41:54,300
you can type my name in Erick 
Hernandez. 

845
00:41:55,300 --> 00:41:58,000
If you want a link to my notes 
or the slides from today, you 

846
00:41:58,000 --> 00:41:59,400
can go there. 
Use your phone, you can scan 

847
00:41:59,400 --> 00:42:01,200
that. 
But I want to leave you with 

848
00:42:01,200 --> 00:42:03,100
this. 
And if you want some more 

849
00:42:03,100 --> 00:42:05,000
information or the Flyers back 
there, I'll be back there as 

850
00:42:05,000 --> 00:42:08,600
well. 
Our next conference, let me put 

851
00:42:08,600 --> 00:42:11,600
this up to really quick or is 
that it? 

852
00:42:12,200 --> 00:42:14,700
There we go. 
That's the information for our 

853
00:42:14,707 --> 00:42:16,300
next conference. 
Lots of great speakers that I 

854
00:42:16,308 --> 00:42:17,800
don't want to get into and talk 
about because I want to leave 

855
00:42:17,800 --> 00:42:21,200
time for questions but you are 
the salt of the earth. 

856
00:42:22,100 --> 00:42:25,000
You are commanded to be ready to
give an answer to fence, and you

857
00:42:25,000 --> 00:42:27,900
are commanded to identify and 
respond to the strongholds in 

858
00:42:27,900 --> 00:42:31,300
our culture. 
Let us not just learn to present

859
00:42:31,300 --> 00:42:35,400
the gospel but let us learn to 
defend it in this day and age. 

860
00:42:36,600 --> 00:42:39,400
Because we live in a culture 
filled with doubting Thomases 

861
00:42:40,000 --> 00:42:42,100
and what did Jesus do when he 
encountered a friend that was 

862
00:42:42,100 --> 00:42:43,800
doubting? 
Of course, he hit him over the 

863
00:42:43,800 --> 00:42:45,600
head with the Bible, right? 
No. 

864
00:42:46,800 --> 00:42:50,200
His initial response was to 
approach Thomas where he was 

865
00:42:50,200 --> 00:42:53,400
doubting and said, if this is 
what you need, if this is what 

866
00:42:53,400 --> 00:42:56,600
you're asking me for. 
And he puts himself in a 

867
00:42:56,607 --> 00:43:01,200
vulnerable position and lift his
robe and says, touch, see, and 

868
00:43:01,200 --> 00:43:03,200
it culture filled with doubting 
Thomases. 

869
00:43:03,300 --> 00:43:05,400
Let us do one of the most loving
things you could do with an 

870
00:43:05,400 --> 00:43:08,400
unbeliever and be like Jesus and
say Here's what you're looking 

871
00:43:08,400 --> 00:43:09,700
for. 
His what you're asking for and 

872
00:43:09,700 --> 00:43:11,800
allow them to touch the evidence
for themselves. 

873
00:43:12,700 --> 00:43:14,200
But that requires that, you 
know, the word know how to 

874
00:43:14,200 --> 00:43:18,000
present it and know how to 
defend it because you are the 

875
00:43:18,000 --> 00:43:25,200
salt of the earth. 
Thank you. 

876
00:44:07,300 --> 00:44:08,500
Right? 
So a few things. 

877
00:44:08,900 --> 00:44:11,400
So, the first premise is based 
on what's called a metaphysical 

878
00:44:11,400 --> 00:44:14,700
principle, it's a principle. 
So, everything that has a shape 

879
00:44:14,700 --> 00:44:16,700
has a size, there are some 
things that we know what it's 

880
00:44:16,700 --> 00:44:18,900
called a priori without having 
to investigate. 

881
00:44:18,900 --> 00:44:21,400
For example, if I want to know, 
whether it's hot or cold, I have

882
00:44:21,400 --> 00:44:24,200
to leave my, I have to leave my 
chair to go look outside, but if

883
00:44:24,200 --> 00:44:26,400
I want to know whether the 
number two is even or odd. 

884
00:44:26,400 --> 00:44:27,900
Well, that's something I don't 
have to leave my chair do. 

885
00:44:27,900 --> 00:44:30,700
And something I can investigate 
just by simply looking at logic 

886
00:44:30,700 --> 00:44:32,700
and deducing attributes of 
whatever, I'm looking at. 

887
00:44:33,100 --> 00:44:35,700
And the same way everything that
begins has a cause because we 

888
00:44:35,700 --> 00:44:38,000
know that things don't come. 
To existence without a cause of 

889
00:44:38,000 --> 00:44:40,800
out of nothing. 
So, to the person who says well 

890
00:44:40,800 --> 00:44:43,700
thanks in fact in my evidence of
God I give a much longer 

891
00:44:43,700 --> 00:44:46,000
response. 
Lawrence Krauss is an atheist 

892
00:44:46,000 --> 00:44:48,000
scientist has no things can come
out of nothing. 

893
00:44:48,000 --> 00:44:50,700
They can come for no reason, but
he's appealing to his something 

894
00:44:50,700 --> 00:44:56,100
called quantum mechanics and 
specifically what's called a 

895
00:44:56,400 --> 00:44:59,600
Quantum fluctuation. 
Where he says that it's like a 

896
00:44:59,600 --> 00:45:02,800
sea of fluctuating energy, but 
here's the point. 

897
00:45:02,800 --> 00:45:04,900
When he says something can come 
out of nothing, he's actually 

898
00:45:04,900 --> 00:45:06,500
talking about this Quantum 
vacuum. 

899
00:45:06,900 --> 00:45:08,900
Well, that's not nothing. 
That's something right? 

900
00:45:09,100 --> 00:45:11,400
Even if we Grant, what he's 
saying is true but yet he'll 

901
00:45:11,400 --> 00:45:13,300
say, well, nothing has nothing 
has mass. 

902
00:45:13,300 --> 00:45:14,800
Nothing has weight. 
Nothing has Dimensions. 

903
00:45:14,800 --> 00:45:15,900
Like, wait a minute, that's not 
nothing. 

904
00:45:15,900 --> 00:45:18,200
You're talking about something 
because nothing is the absence 

905
00:45:18,200 --> 00:45:19,700
of everything. 
So nothing cannot cause 

906
00:45:19,800 --> 00:45:22,400
something. 
So spices that he's off on 

907
00:45:22,400 --> 00:45:24,700
there, it's a metaphysical 
principle and we have just no 

908
00:45:24,700 --> 00:45:26,500
evidence of anything coming from
nothing. 

909
00:45:26,600 --> 00:45:29,500
There's always causes to stop 
looking for causes in the 

910
00:45:29,500 --> 00:45:31,600
universe, is literally to stop 
doing science. 

911
00:45:32,200 --> 00:45:34,800
And when we look at causes and 
their effects, I like how 

912
00:45:35,600 --> 00:45:38,800
Johannes Kepler was One of the 
fathers of modern science and I 

913
00:45:38,800 --> 00:45:41,600
like the way he put it he says 
science is simply thinking God's

914
00:45:41,600 --> 00:45:43,900
thoughts after him. 
So when you look at the way 

915
00:45:43,900 --> 00:45:46,100
something is created or done, he
says, Ah, this is what God was 

916
00:45:46,100 --> 00:45:48,600
thinking, when you made this. 
So we know things have causes a 

917
00:45:48,600 --> 00:45:51,400
metaphysical principle. 
It's a, it's a, it's based on 

918
00:45:51,400 --> 00:45:54,200
two dudes from logic itself that
I think there's no way around 

919
00:45:54,200 --> 00:46:06,500
that. 
I think you had a question. 

920
00:46:24,200 --> 00:46:30,700
Yeah. 
Yeah, I understand question. 

921
00:46:30,700 --> 00:46:32,900
So there's let me answer it 
indirectly. 

922
00:46:34,000 --> 00:46:37,100
One of the, in my opinion, one 
of the better argument for 

923
00:46:37,100 --> 00:46:38,200
atheism. 
I don't think any of them are 

924
00:46:38,200 --> 00:46:40,200
good but there's something 
that's like, well, that's a good

925
00:46:40,200 --> 00:46:42,400
try. 
It's not as the argument from 

926
00:46:42,400 --> 00:46:45,200
what's called Divine hiddenness.
It is the idea that if God is 

927
00:46:45,200 --> 00:46:47,900
exist in is all loving, he would
reveal himself to everyone who's

928
00:46:47,900 --> 00:46:49,800
seeking him, but the atheists 
argue. 

929
00:46:49,800 --> 00:46:52,100
Well I'm speaking. 
I'm not finding him or or then 

930
00:46:52,100 --> 00:46:54,300
that means they're either. 
He must not exist so must not 

931
00:46:54,300 --> 00:46:56,500
love me. 
Well, they conclude you just 

932
00:46:56,500 --> 00:47:00,300
must not exist in a nutshell. 
I I think so, the Bible does say

933
00:47:00,300 --> 00:47:03,000
that God hides, and this is, 
this is why I'm saying 

934
00:47:03,000 --> 00:47:06,400
indirectly I disagree with the 
atheist argument from Divine 

935
00:47:06,400 --> 00:47:07,600
hiddenness. 
I don't think there are people 

936
00:47:07,600 --> 00:47:10,300
who are genuinely seeking God 
and he's not revealing himself 

937
00:47:10,300 --> 00:47:11,900
to them. 
So the question is, are you 

938
00:47:11,900 --> 00:47:14,800
generally speaking now? 
Let's Suppose there are because 

939
00:47:14,800 --> 00:47:16,700
I think there can be some 
instances where people are 

940
00:47:16,700 --> 00:47:18,000
seeking, but God's not 
revealing. 

941
00:47:18,100 --> 00:47:20,400
Well, if they're still alive and
breathing will then you still 

942
00:47:20,400 --> 00:47:22,200
got a chance, right? 
Like, don't give up just yet. 

943
00:47:22,400 --> 00:47:25,600
We even see in Scripture that 
Jesus spoke in Parables to hide 

944
00:47:25,600 --> 00:47:27,400
himself, his deity from other 
people. 

945
00:47:27,400 --> 00:47:29,200
So we know that God often does 
at times. 

946
00:47:29,300 --> 00:47:30,600
To do this. 
On top of that. 

947
00:47:30,600 --> 00:47:35,500
Now, to answer your question, I 
To give you the nutshell here, 

948
00:47:35,900 --> 00:47:38,900
scripture seems to imply that 
the more revelation of God that 

949
00:47:38,900 --> 00:47:41,800
you have the more responsibility
you incur upon yourself. 

950
00:47:42,100 --> 00:47:45,000
So if you knew right now, there 
was a little girl, you know, I 

951
00:47:45,008 --> 00:47:47,300
don't know being hurt in the 
bathroom, you would have an 

952
00:47:47,300 --> 00:47:50,400
obligation to stop it because 
more knowledge requires more 

953
00:47:50,400 --> 00:47:53,800
obligation. 
I think God hides himself from 

954
00:47:53,800 --> 00:47:56,500
some people because he knows no 
matter what he revealed to them,

955
00:47:56,500 --> 00:47:58,200
they're going to continue to 
reject him. 

956
00:47:58,200 --> 00:48:02,100
So counter-intuitively and 
ironically, it then becomes a 

957
00:48:02,100 --> 00:48:05,000
sign of God's grace and mercy to
not reveal himself to some 

958
00:48:05,000 --> 00:48:07,400
people knowing he's going to 
reject them and the more 

959
00:48:07,400 --> 00:48:10,000
Revelation you reject, I would 
argue the more condemnation you 

960
00:48:10,000 --> 00:48:13,200
have in the afterlife. 
So ironically while people are 

961
00:48:13,200 --> 00:48:17,300
rejecting God in his love and 
mercy he hides from them to not 

962
00:48:17,300 --> 00:48:20,100
incur further punishment in the 
afterlife because no matter what

963
00:48:20,100 --> 00:48:21,300
he reveals are going to reject 
him. 

964
00:48:25,300 --> 00:48:41,900
I sure am. 
Yeah. 

965
00:48:44,200 --> 00:48:46,500
Yes. 
So I'm glad these are written 

966
00:48:46,500 --> 00:48:48,200
because I don't want to call 
people out. 

967
00:48:48,300 --> 00:48:50,100
So this is helps me kind of be a
little more Stern with the 

968
00:48:50,100 --> 00:48:52,700
question. 
It's not his job to. 

969
00:48:54,200 --> 00:48:56,000
I don't know. 
Why do you know why? 

970
00:48:56,000 --> 00:48:59,400
Unfortunately there's lots of 
touch on, but I think the way 

971
00:48:59,400 --> 00:49:01,800
the church has presented God to 
the world has been really 

972
00:49:02,200 --> 00:49:05,800
harmful because we present God 
to the world as if it's some 

973
00:49:05,800 --> 00:49:07,200
magical genie that you make a 
wish. 

974
00:49:07,200 --> 00:49:09,200
And he asked, you know, he'll 
Grant you three wishes. 

975
00:49:09,500 --> 00:49:12,300
When in reality, that's not 
often times I see people convert

976
00:49:12,300 --> 00:49:15,500
not so that they can serve God, 
but so that God can serve them. 

977
00:49:15,500 --> 00:49:17,400
So in their mind will God, why 
aren't you doing this? 

978
00:49:17,400 --> 00:49:19,100
And guys, like, it's not my job 
to, it's yours. 

979
00:49:20,000 --> 00:49:21,500
You're the salt, you have 
dominion. 

980
00:49:21,700 --> 00:49:23,100
So first of all, it's not God's 
job to do it. 

981
00:49:23,100 --> 00:49:26,900
On top of that. 
He, if you read scripture, If 

982
00:49:26,900 --> 00:49:29,900
you go on the website, look up 
Romans 7 and I have an article 

983
00:49:29,900 --> 00:49:32,200
in there about spiritual 
formation in essence. 

984
00:49:32,200 --> 00:49:35,200
What Paul is saying is that we 
have to present our bodies as 

985
00:49:35,200 --> 00:49:36,800
living sacrifices. 
What does that mean? 

986
00:49:37,200 --> 00:49:40,300
If I want to learn how to play 
piano, then I present my fingers

987
00:49:40,300 --> 00:49:43,500
and my wrist as instruments of 
righteousness, if you will to my

988
00:49:43,500 --> 00:49:45,700
piano instructor. 
So he shows me how to play the 

989
00:49:45,700 --> 00:49:48,400
piano and he's going to make me 
do drills over and over and 

990
00:49:48,400 --> 00:49:50,300
over. 
And the point is not to get good

991
00:49:50,300 --> 00:49:52,200
at the drills. 
It's to get muscle memory and 

992
00:49:52,200 --> 00:49:54,600
teach my body. 
How to play the piano in the 

993
00:49:54,600 --> 00:49:56,100
same way. 
This works in the Spiritual 

994
00:49:56,100 --> 00:49:57,400
round. 
This is spiritual formation. 

995
00:49:57,400 --> 00:50:00,000
So why do you fast not? 
So you can get good at not 

996
00:50:00,000 --> 00:50:02,100
eating or lose weight. 
It's so that you teach the 

997
00:50:02,100 --> 00:50:04,200
principle to your body that I'm 
in control. 

998
00:50:04,200 --> 00:50:05,900
Not you. 
I tell you when to eat, you 

999
00:50:05,908 --> 00:50:08,700
don't tell me when to eat and I 
beat my flush into submission. 

1000
00:50:09,600 --> 00:50:11,800
So, here's here's a, here's a 
prescription. 

1001
00:50:11,800 --> 00:50:15,500
If you want to, if you want to 
get better at this so to speak, 

1002
00:50:15,500 --> 00:50:18,400
if you want to get better at 
your life and and and have a 

1003
00:50:18,408 --> 00:50:20,700
stronger will to overcome, your 
sinful, lustful desires, 

1004
00:50:20,700 --> 00:50:23,800
whatever the case is, next time 
you go to the grocery store and 

1005
00:50:23,800 --> 00:50:26,700
let's say you're online and you 
your looking at your basket and 

1006
00:50:26,700 --> 00:50:28,300
you say, you know what, I 
shouldn't take those bag of 

1007
00:50:28,300 --> 00:50:32,000
chips do this, don't grab the 
chips and make sure no one's 

1008
00:50:32,000 --> 00:50:34,000
looking and put it in the candy 
aisle, don't do that. 

1009
00:50:34,200 --> 00:50:37,500
Get out of line, and go put it 
back where you got it from, why?

1010
00:50:37,900 --> 00:50:40,900
Because essentially you want to 
be able to control the things 

1011
00:50:40,900 --> 00:50:43,200
you cannot currently control. 
That's what Romans 7 is talking 

1012
00:50:43,200 --> 00:50:44,000
about. 
What I want to do. 

1013
00:50:44,000 --> 00:50:45,600
I don't do. 
And what I don't want to do end 

1014
00:50:45,600 --> 00:50:47,600
up doing. 
So what you do is you take 

1015
00:50:47,600 --> 00:50:50,700
control of the things you can 
control to strengthen your will 

1016
00:50:50,700 --> 00:50:53,200
to eventually get to the point 
where you cannot do what you 

1017
00:50:53,200 --> 00:50:55,700
currently cannot do. 
So, if you want to do what you 

1018
00:50:55,700 --> 00:50:57,800
can't do, you have to start 
living differently and do what 

1019
00:50:57,800 --> 00:51:01,300
you haven't done before, take 
control of what you can control 

1020
00:51:01,600 --> 00:51:03,700
and strengthen and build 
yourself every time. 

1021
00:51:03,700 --> 00:51:05,900
You look at scripture before. 
Jesus had Miracle time. 

1022
00:51:05,900 --> 00:51:08,300
I like to say, he had mountain 
time, right? 

1023
00:51:08,300 --> 00:51:10,100
If you want to perform like 
Jesus, you have to live like 

1024
00:51:10,100 --> 00:51:23,500
Jesus. 
Sure. 

1025
00:51:40,200 --> 00:51:42,800
I drive a Kia Soul because when 
I teach on the soul it makes for

1026
00:51:42,800 --> 00:51:49,200
funny jokes. 
Thank you. 

1027
00:51:49,300 --> 00:51:50,400
I'll be back there. 
If anybody wants to. 

1028
00:51:40,200 --> 00:51:42,800
I drive a Kia Soul because when 
I teach on the soul it makes for

1029
00:51:42,800 --> 00:51:49,200
funny jokes. 
Thank you. 

1030
00:51:49,300 --> 00:51:50,400
I'll be back there. 
If anybody wants to.