WEBVTT
00:00:20.879 --> 00:00:26.800
Right now we are living in a world where you can ask AI anything, and it'll give you the answer in seconds.
00:00:26.960 --> 00:00:36.640
Believe me, I know I use it every day, but almost every time you do, it reminds you this little, this little, you know, asterisk at the bottom says this may not be accurate.
00:00:36.799 --> 00:00:40.159
And what's interesting is that we're totally comfortable with that.
00:00:40.399 --> 00:00:42.560
We're comfortable with information updates.
00:00:42.640 --> 00:00:45.200
We're comfortable with truth being refined.
00:00:45.520 --> 00:00:52.000
But when we open the Bible, the Bible doesn't say this might be wrong or this will be updated.
00:00:52.240 --> 00:00:54.799
It speaks as if it were already established.
00:00:54.960 --> 00:00:55.359
Right.
00:00:55.600 --> 00:00:57.439
So here's what we're talking about today.
00:00:57.600 --> 00:01:03.039
How do you evaluate something that admits it could be wrong versus something that claims it never is?
00:01:03.920 --> 00:01:06.560
Eric, have you experienced that contrast in your life?
00:01:06.959 --> 00:01:07.840
I I have.
00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:22.719
You're taking me back to college days when we would uh be informed by science teachers, physical chemistry teacher, uh, about something that seemed very truthful and accurate.
00:01:22.959 --> 00:01:31.840
Come back four weeks later, and he would say, We're gonna need to revise our notes from a few weeks back because there's been some new discoveries.
00:01:32.159 --> 00:01:32.400
Right.
00:01:32.640 --> 00:01:36.319
And you'd think, well, isn't that contradictory and untrustworthy?
00:01:36.480 --> 00:01:47.599
And say, no, it's uh it's actually part of the culture that science was constantly updating, uh, and we were we were being given new truth.
00:01:47.920 --> 00:01:59.040
So it was uh it was exciting actually to be uh to be knowing to know that you were on the cusp and and cutting edge of of new discoveries.
00:01:59.439 --> 00:02:01.200
So that was just part of the culture.
00:02:01.359 --> 00:02:06.239
So and then along comes, as you just said, this thing called the Bible.
00:02:06.879 --> 00:02:24.960
And I was introduced to that, and it seemed at first ridiculous because, as you say, there was there was these deep assertions that um the here's Jesus claiming to not only know the truth, but to be the truth, to be the author.
00:02:25.199 --> 00:02:33.919
And it's like, wait a minute, if you're gonna do that, you're either a lunatic or you need to be somewhere summarily discarded, or you are who you say you are.
00:02:34.159 --> 00:02:36.159
And you can't just leave that alone.
00:02:36.479 --> 00:02:38.960
Not with the kind of training that I had.
00:02:39.199 --> 00:02:47.520
You've gotta either you've got to investigate it and either discard it and show why, or go, you know what, I have to capitulate.
00:02:47.759 --> 00:02:49.199
I need to agree with this.
00:02:49.439 --> 00:02:52.080
So that was a quite a moment for me.
00:02:52.400 --> 00:02:54.159
So, yes, I have been through that.
00:02:54.719 --> 00:02:58.159
So yeah, so we built this whole world based on knowledge.
00:02:58.240 --> 00:03:05.439
We're constantly searching for knowledge, science updates constantly, culture shifts constantly, opinions evolve.
00:03:05.599 --> 00:03:10.479
So, what really happens is that we kind of end up building our life on something that keeps moving.
00:03:10.639 --> 00:03:16.000
And if truth changes, that's scary because that means that it was never truth to begin with.
00:03:16.560 --> 00:03:21.599
So, you know, Eric, it seems like to me that we have a generation that's more informed than ever.
00:03:21.759 --> 00:03:25.039
We have so much knowledge, but we're now more confused than ever.
00:03:25.199 --> 00:03:26.560
Does that seem true to you?
00:03:27.120 --> 00:03:46.560
Well, we're more reliant uh on on because you know, I've I've been hearing that in in in colleges, uh a student will be asked something by a professor, and the student will quickly type it into AI and get an answer and just provide that answer back.
00:03:46.800 --> 00:03:49.520
There's no real critical thinking being done.
00:03:49.759 --> 00:03:55.280
And that's just astounding to me to know that that's creeping into our culture.
00:03:55.520 --> 00:04:00.400
Uh I it would it's just uh I can't believe that the professors allow it.
00:04:00.639 --> 00:04:03.360
But nevertheless, it seems to be going on.
00:04:03.680 --> 00:04:15.039
So uh I I want to train people to be, I would want to train people to be critical thinkers to be able to develop a thought pattern on their own.
00:04:15.280 --> 00:04:26.079
So anyway, there's a here's AI, as you started off saying, uh becoming a uh a golden calf of sorts that we were just rely on.
00:04:26.399 --> 00:04:28.800
And it just doesn't have to be this way.
00:04:29.040 --> 00:04:38.000
We have a we have a God of the Bible who who claims to have been present at the very birth of the universe.
00:04:38.240 --> 00:04:46.399
And by the way, the the Judeo-Christian belief system, the cosmogeny, which is a fancy word.
00:04:46.480 --> 00:04:47.839
I know you love my fancy words.
00:04:48.160 --> 00:04:49.519
I do love your fancy words.
00:04:49.600 --> 00:04:50.399
What does that one mean?
00:04:50.800 --> 00:04:53.680
That one means a a a theory of origins.
00:04:54.639 --> 00:05:04.800
It speaks to the to the very um uh the very concept of of uh the claim of how things were originated.
00:05:05.360 --> 00:05:16.720
And the that belief system, the Judeo-Christian system, is the only the theology is the only one that dares to assert an absolute beginning to the universe.
00:05:17.199 --> 00:05:26.079
And so everything else starts with some primordial swamp, and you know, the uh the the DNA came up out of that.
00:05:26.240 --> 00:05:27.680
Just it's just illogical.
00:05:28.720 --> 00:05:32.240
Mathematically, it's illogical to believe that.
00:05:32.800 --> 00:05:42.319
So, but there's this in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth, and that's Genesis 1-1, and it tells a lot.
00:05:42.480 --> 00:05:44.399
We can get into that in a second.
00:05:44.720 --> 00:05:45.920
Yeah, absolutely.
00:05:46.160 --> 00:05:54.480
So it seems like today we're kind of talking about the claims that the Bible makes versus the intellectual trap that the world has you in.
00:05:54.720 --> 00:05:59.279
You know, I know for me personally, this just popped in my head, so we're gonna go there for a moment.
00:05:59.519 --> 00:06:04.959
Me personally, the world has always told me that what is important is knowledge, information.
00:06:05.040 --> 00:06:06.399
It's the degrees on your wall.
00:06:06.560 --> 00:06:11.519
It's if you don't have that, then you can't be smart, that you're not qualified, that you're not this, that you're not that.
00:06:11.759 --> 00:06:14.639
And for the longest time, I had a kid when I was young.
00:06:14.800 --> 00:06:16.079
It kind of threw me out of college.
00:06:16.160 --> 00:06:17.759
I had three classes to graduate.
00:06:17.920 --> 00:06:20.720
Then I ended up deciding, okay, I'm I'm gonna do this.
00:06:20.800 --> 00:06:24.079
And several years ago, I went back to college because I just wanted to finish.
00:06:24.160 --> 00:06:26.560
I wanted to feel like I was smart.
00:06:26.800 --> 00:06:29.680
And I ended up retaking a class that I had already taken.
00:06:29.839 --> 00:06:33.120
And so I still have one class left to graduate.
00:06:33.360 --> 00:06:44.800
And for the longest time, I thought I will never be anything, I'll never do anything, I'll never get a good job, I'll never love what I do because nobody's gonna find any value in me because I don't have these credentials.
00:06:45.439 --> 00:06:57.279
And when I started working with you and realizing that it has nothing to do with the credentials, but everything that's within you that you're not using, it really shifted my perspective.
00:06:57.360 --> 00:07:01.680
And I was stuck in this intellectual trap that the world tells you.
00:07:01.920 --> 00:07:06.560
Always research, always question, always analyze, always have to learn more so you can be smart.
00:07:06.879 --> 00:07:09.920
But we don't have that absolute truth.
00:07:10.319 --> 00:07:14.879
And it does say in John 14, 6, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
00:07:15.040 --> 00:07:17.439
No one comes to the Father but through me.
00:07:17.680 --> 00:07:21.120
Jesus didn't say I teach truth or I point to truth.
00:07:21.360 --> 00:07:23.519
He said, I am truth.
00:07:23.759 --> 00:07:25.920
And that kind of shifted everything for me.
00:07:26.079 --> 00:07:29.040
You don't really have to wonder.
00:07:29.199 --> 00:07:30.879
You can know what the truth is.
00:07:31.040 --> 00:07:33.759
You don't have to rely on your your mind or your talent there.
00:07:33.920 --> 00:07:35.600
God can use anyone in anything.
00:07:37.279 --> 00:07:37.920
Keep talking.
00:07:38.079 --> 00:07:40.160
I mean, I'm I'm just listening.
00:07:40.319 --> 00:07:45.279
It's captivating to hear you to hear you tell that story and and gosh.
00:07:45.519 --> 00:07:59.680
Um but to you you you've you not only have a fine intellect, but you also have a framework of God's wisdom that is both in you and continuing to grow and mature in you.
00:07:59.920 --> 00:08:22.240
And so that um that that that's the that's what Jesus told Pornos to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things, including a job, including you know the uh the financial uh growth that you are seeking, all these things will be added unto you.
00:08:22.879 --> 00:08:29.839
So I it is just there's just no reason to have self-doubt, like you mentioned earlier.
00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:37.279
It's as long as you're also seeking uh these these other the wisdom that that uh that the Lord offers.
00:08:37.519 --> 00:08:47.120
But going back to the original uh thinking, it's like can we believe, can we trust this assertion that's made in Genesis 1.1.
00:08:47.600 --> 00:08:50.080
In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.
00:08:50.159 --> 00:08:51.120
So what what is that?
00:08:51.279 --> 00:08:54.000
In the beginning means that there's a stopwatch.
00:08:54.159 --> 00:08:57.919
It started, time started at that moment.
00:08:58.080 --> 00:09:05.279
Okay, the the clocks, there's no clocks in heaven, but the clock of of uh the universe began at that time.
00:09:05.440 --> 00:09:14.960
In the beginning, God created the heaven, and that's not heaven where angels live, but that's that means space, the difference between here and there.
00:09:15.360 --> 00:09:31.759
So so in the beginning starts the idea of between now and then, and then in it it created the heaven, difference between here and there, and the earth, which is not planet Earth, third planet from the sun, but it is it is matter.
00:09:32.080 --> 00:09:34.559
So it's a difference between this and that.
00:09:34.799 --> 00:09:37.679
So now and then, here and there, this and that.
00:09:37.919 --> 00:09:46.799
And all three things were created in the first micro moment of time, of of of the uh universe.
00:09:47.120 --> 00:09:50.799
And then then he began to form it and shape it and take it from there.
00:09:51.039 --> 00:09:54.960
But that's quite an assertion, very different from what I had been taught.
00:09:55.200 --> 00:10:01.759
But when I heard it and looked into it, it made so much better sense and it held up to scrutiny.
00:10:02.080 --> 00:10:05.120
So I'm uh I'm fascinated by it.
00:10:05.200 --> 00:10:10.080
So it it it it means that thermodynamics was birthed at that moment.
00:10:10.480 --> 00:10:22.960
Uh it uh it it it uh makes it better sense than to think that the DNA molecule could come out of out of nothingness, out of random chance.
00:10:23.279 --> 00:10:30.320
It just the odds against it mathematically, probability are just are just beyond belief.
00:10:30.559 --> 00:10:42.320
So uh I just when I've looked at that, I had to admit this is a better uh story about the beginnings of of uh the universe than than the ones I'd been taught.
00:10:42.879 --> 00:10:47.360
I vividly remember uh when we first started talking about this topic.
00:10:47.519 --> 00:10:53.039
Now, we've talked about Genesis one many, many, many times uh during the two years that I've worked here.
00:10:53.200 --> 00:10:58.960
And I vividly remember the first time you pulled up Genesis and were like, just pull it up and you're like, uh read this.
00:10:59.200 --> 00:11:02.080
And I started in the beginning, God created, and you're like, what are you doing?
00:11:02.240 --> 00:11:02.480
Stop.
00:11:02.639 --> 00:11:04.480
And I was like, What?
00:11:04.639 --> 00:11:06.080
Like, what do you mean stop?
00:11:06.320 --> 00:11:12.159
I just read like four words, and you're like, Yeah, don't you understand that that is where thermodynamics was created, Brittany?
00:11:12.320 --> 00:11:13.840
That was where time started.
00:11:14.320 --> 00:11:20.080
My mind was absolutely blown because I was just taught to read in the beginning.
00:11:20.240 --> 00:11:27.039
Okay, this is where the story starts, move on, but you don't realize in the beginning how pivotal that moment is.
00:11:27.200 --> 00:11:30.000
This is the beginning of time, this is the beginning of everything.
00:11:30.559 --> 00:11:30.960
That's right.
00:11:31.200 --> 00:11:33.679
I found that to be absolutely mind-blowing.
00:11:33.840 --> 00:11:38.720
So to know that God created everything is to know that He defined everything.
00:11:39.039 --> 00:11:44.720
So we really shouldn't be asking a question like we do nowadays of, you know, what feels true?
00:11:44.879 --> 00:11:47.519
What information can I find to back up my source?
00:11:47.840 --> 00:11:50.720
But it's what did the creator say is true?
00:11:50.960 --> 00:11:54.879
And we kind of have to have filters to figure this out, wouldn't you say?
00:11:55.840 --> 00:11:56.960
Filters to do what?
00:11:57.919 --> 00:12:01.679
Filters to kind of figure out what is actually true in this world.
00:12:01.919 --> 00:12:12.559
Because we kind of define, we filter life through culture, we filter life through our emotions, our experiences, but rarely, I feel, do we filter through the word of God.
00:12:13.039 --> 00:12:14.399
Well, that's that's well said.
00:12:14.559 --> 00:12:25.759
I mean, Paul wrote some astounding uh sentences and and to to uh to back up this in Romans 120.
00:12:26.240 --> 00:12:33.039
For since the creation of the world, his God's invisible attributes are clearly seen.
00:12:33.360 --> 00:12:36.080
Oh, they're clearly seen, okay.
00:12:36.559 --> 00:12:39.440
Being understood by the things that are made.
00:12:39.600 --> 00:12:45.200
So I can understood understand the attributes of God by looking at his creation.
00:12:45.279 --> 00:12:46.960
That's what that says so far.
00:12:47.440 --> 00:12:51.200
So that they, people, are without excuse.
00:12:51.919 --> 00:13:01.039
So he's he's stripping away every excuse we have by saying, look at the attributes of God in his creation.
00:13:01.759 --> 00:13:31.600
Wow, that means if I if I would do away with the filter of assuming and and accepting evolutionary theory and and uh big bang theory, instead, if I would if I would realize that wait a minute, that there is a there's a of an absolute start time to this universe, if I could accept that, then then then my gosh, then we would be fulfilling what Paul has asserted in Romans 120.
00:13:31.919 --> 00:14:05.039
He says something else, it's in Ephesians 3, 8 and 9, to me, this grace was given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see, all people, see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages, that's Genesis 1-1, has been hidden in God, who created all things through Jesus Christ.
00:14:05.200 --> 00:14:08.080
Now there's 49 words in one sentence, okay?
00:14:08.320 --> 00:14:12.960
I counted them, and and says only Paul could write like this, okay?
00:14:13.039 --> 00:14:23.279
But but he's crafting a way of thinking and and leading us to say who created all things through Jesus Christ.
00:14:23.440 --> 00:14:24.559
Jesus is the word.
00:14:25.440 --> 00:15:07.519
God thinks it up, the the Lord Father thinks it up, Jesus speaks the word, and the Holy Spirit is the energizer bunny of the Trinity, and He gets it, He gets it done, He brings the power, He brings the uh and the and the um the and it was the the the creation was formless and void and and uh and so God Jesus said Let there be light And there was light and and all the Holy Spirit is is it's infusing that um that matter with all of the um the energy that's needed, the the thermonuclear energy, etc.
00:15:07.759 --> 00:15:19.279
Every other kind that's needed, gravitational energy that's needed in order to get um all of the planets and all of the um gravitational forces and everything else in in place.
00:15:19.440 --> 00:15:21.600
It's just amazing when you think about it.
00:15:21.840 --> 00:15:24.559
It makes, frankly, for me, it makes a whole lot of sense.
00:15:24.720 --> 00:15:28.240
And Paul is writing about it uh centuries later.
00:15:28.879 --> 00:15:31.279
So anyway, I get excited about it.
00:15:31.840 --> 00:15:38.320
It is exciting because these are bold claims, and with such bold claims, Jesus really leaves no middle ground.
00:15:38.480 --> 00:15:41.120
We have to make a decision, really, when we hear this.
00:15:41.279 --> 00:15:42.879
Do we decide that he's a liar?
00:15:43.039 --> 00:15:45.840
Do we decide that he's delusional that this couldn't have happened?
00:15:46.080 --> 00:15:47.440
Or is this the truth?
00:15:47.600 --> 00:15:51.200
We really don't get to admire Jesus casually.
00:15:51.360 --> 00:15:54.320
We have to kind of decide what to do with him, right?
00:15:54.960 --> 00:15:55.600
Yes.
00:15:56.159 --> 00:15:56.799
Yes.
00:15:57.519 --> 00:16:01.679
It's um we go we go back to even to Colossians.
00:16:01.840 --> 00:16:10.240
Again, Paul is just laying down a framework for all of that backs up what took place back in in Genesis.
00:16:10.720 --> 00:16:19.200
He says, For it was in him, Jesus, that all things were created in heaven and on earth.
00:16:19.600 --> 00:16:41.519
All things, seen and unseen, whether thrones, dominions, rulers, or authorities, all things were created and exist through him by his service, inner which is by his service or invention, and in and for him, and he himself existed before all things.
00:16:41.919 --> 00:16:42.480
Watch that.
00:16:42.639 --> 00:16:49.440
He existed before all things, so before the clock started, and in him all things consist.
00:16:51.600 --> 00:16:57.440
Okay, so he is he is the the energy that holds the chemical bonds together.
00:16:57.679 --> 00:17:00.879
This this is a this is a very powerful assertion.
00:17:01.200 --> 00:17:27.680
And so anyway, it's it's uh Paul Paul goes into these things and and uh it's not just theology, but it's it's uh it's the concept of of s of science that uh Paul is asserting that Jesus was the founder, he was the creator, he was um he's he's the one that spoke the worlds into existence, and he holds everything together even now by his by his power.
00:17:28.160 --> 00:17:28.799
Fabulous.
00:17:29.920 --> 00:17:39.680
So why do you think it's so important to realize what the world values as truth versus what God values as truth?
00:17:40.640 --> 00:17:46.240
Well, in my case, I was seeking authentic truth.
00:17:46.400 --> 00:18:01.119
And I think we live in a day and a culture now where people really want authenticity, and they keep drilling down there like I was back in the day, and they are drilling down to find what is authentic, what is real.
00:18:01.680 --> 00:18:14.640
And when the world and the culture keeps shifting in terms of telling you what's true and what what's available and what's uh what's the right thing to do, that just shifts.
00:18:14.799 --> 00:18:19.279
We just the ground beneath our feet just keeps keeps it keeps moving.
00:18:19.599 --> 00:18:23.680
And that can create some uncertainty and some anxiety, frankly.
00:18:24.000 --> 00:18:32.960
And then that's uh that does not contribute to our mental health and to our stability and the sense of community.
00:18:33.279 --> 00:18:43.200
But when we've got something firm that we can uh the the Bible even says my f my feet are planted, David wrote in an even place.
00:18:47.279 --> 00:18:49.599
Uh firm ground, unshakable.
00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:54.960
And that's what I think people yearn for is something that is just unshakable.
00:18:55.440 --> 00:19:00.319
And it is found in in the Lord, not just in Genesis, but throughout the Bible.
00:19:00.480 --> 00:19:03.279
There's this strategic plan of heaven.
00:19:03.519 --> 00:19:12.079
It was uh to to build this three-dimensional universe to have mankind to populate it and to govern it.
00:19:12.400 --> 00:19:22.160
Unfortunately, the first man blew it when he ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and he introduced sin and death into the world.
00:19:22.480 --> 00:19:23.599
Very unfortunate.
00:19:23.759 --> 00:19:36.799
And the whole story of the Old Testament is how the Lord started to redeem that process, create a uh a government and the the children of Israel, and Moses led them out of Egypt.
00:19:36.960 --> 00:19:38.640
It's a fascinating story.
00:19:38.799 --> 00:19:46.000
Uh, but unfortunately they kept blowing it, they kept resorting back to their own um selfish uh desires.
00:19:46.079 --> 00:20:01.359
Uh and eventually the the Lord introduced um the ultimate um s salvation with in Jesus to get us uh restored back to him in a in a in a permanent relationship that was unshakable.
00:20:02.079 --> 00:20:30.960
So it's all again, it's you can just see this the storyline that uh that the Lord started this he he he um uh initiated this universe on it in at the very beginning, and then it um and then later on it we kind of as to say the we kind of blew it into not before for very long, and then everything has been a s a s story of restoration since then.
00:20:31.279 --> 00:20:35.519
So it's um I th so I think it's important.
00:20:35.599 --> 00:20:42.319
I don't know if that exactly answers your story, you answers your question, but that's um that's an important part of the story.
00:20:42.880 --> 00:20:44.240
I think it is very important.
00:20:44.319 --> 00:20:45.759
Yes, it does answer my question.
00:20:45.839 --> 00:20:56.319
But you know, as I'm processing this through, so today we're talking about essentially intellectual knowledge being constantly moving, never any truth, versus the Bible that is truth.
00:20:56.799 --> 00:21:09.680
I think that we need to talk about how we can't comprehend the Bible or what God is telling us to do or anything without faith.
00:21:10.079 --> 00:21:17.599
Faith is essentially, you know, like your admission into this wealth of knowledge, essentially, right?
00:21:17.680 --> 00:21:19.839
Like this wealth of wisdom, knowledge, understanding.
00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:24.559
And without that faith, you can read the Bible all day long, but it's not going to come alive for you.
00:21:24.720 --> 00:21:25.839
Is that fair to say?
00:21:26.400 --> 00:21:27.680
Sure, I think that is.
00:21:27.839 --> 00:21:33.119
And with that without faith, it is impossible to please God, the book of Hebrews says.
00:21:33.279 --> 00:21:36.880
Uh, so faith is the currency of heaven.
00:21:37.119 --> 00:21:39.359
So, sure, your point is well taken.
00:21:39.519 --> 00:21:49.519
And and it's only by faith that we can come to even apprehend and and and agree with the uh opening passage of Genesis.
00:21:49.759 --> 00:21:51.680
Uh I love what um what's written here.
00:21:51.920 --> 00:22:03.519
We we think Paul might have wrote written in the book of Hebrews, but in the opening chapter, uh chapter one, he says, You Lord, in In the beginning, laid the foundation of the earth.
00:22:03.759 --> 00:22:04.960
Here we go again.
00:22:05.599 --> 00:22:08.640
And the heavens are the work of your hands.
00:22:09.440 --> 00:22:12.799
They will perish, but you remain.
00:22:13.839 --> 00:22:14.240
Wow.
00:22:14.480 --> 00:22:16.640
Okay, just poetic language.
00:22:16.880 --> 00:22:34.480
And then in uh Hebrews 1 2, God in these last days spoken to us by his son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds.
00:22:35.680 --> 00:22:43.680
So the Father made the worlds, the entire universe, through his son.
00:22:44.559 --> 00:22:52.240
It's like it's it's ingenious and it's massive and it explains everything.
00:22:52.720 --> 00:23:00.079
It's an assertion that I just love and it's worthy of investigation, and it holds up under scrutiny.
00:23:00.160 --> 00:23:07.759
And there's plenty of scientists that have done massive research in this to um who can speak to it a lot better than I can.
00:23:08.000 --> 00:23:14.319
But at some point uh we just want to accept this, as you say, by faith.
00:23:14.559 --> 00:23:18.000
The Bible holds up under intense scrutiny.
00:23:18.960 --> 00:23:31.519
Yeah, I think the importance of the podcast today is to understand that that every thought we have, every idea, every here or there, every what should I do, it's gonna come down to us evaluating it through a filter.
00:23:31.759 --> 00:23:36.079
We're either going to go, this is our situation, what does the world say?
00:23:36.240 --> 00:23:41.680
Chat GPT, tell me what's the best way to handle this, you know, asking your friends for advice, this or that.
00:23:42.000 --> 00:23:44.640
But there is a basic foundational truth.
00:23:44.799 --> 00:23:54.000
And the Bible has all these truths that we can go to, and you can know, you know, uh, this happened to me recently and it's really annoying, but it's it's true.
00:23:54.319 --> 00:24:13.039
And I had this uh request from someone in my life that I needed to do, and I had a time frame on it to where I could wait to the last minute and you know, fix it then and be fine with it, and kind of just have that over them, you know, just kind of hold that and be like, you know, I'm gonna wait to the last minute.
00:24:13.119 --> 00:24:15.200
I have all this time frame, I can do this, right?
00:24:15.440 --> 00:24:22.400
And as soon as that thought came into my head, it was another thought that said, Blessed are the peacemakers.
00:24:22.559 --> 00:24:24.720
And I was like, uh me.
00:24:26.319 --> 00:24:29.920
And immediately I sent over what they were requesting.
00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:30.319
Yeah.
00:24:30.559 --> 00:24:37.200
Because I knew in that moment, okay, I can live with my truth of the world says I have this much time to pay it.
00:24:37.759 --> 00:24:39.200
I don't have to do this.
00:24:39.359 --> 00:24:41.200
I'm not held to any standard.
00:24:41.359 --> 00:24:43.039
But I knew the truth of the Bible.
00:24:43.279 --> 00:24:47.039
And the truth of the Bible was don't put off something if you can have peace in this moment.
00:24:47.519 --> 00:24:48.960
Blessed are the peacemakers.
00:24:49.119 --> 00:24:49.519
Yes.
00:24:49.680 --> 00:24:51.200
And so I made that move.
00:24:51.279 --> 00:24:55.839
And it seems like when you don't when you live, well, let me rephrase that.
00:24:56.000 --> 00:24:58.240
We don't live without a truth system.
00:24:58.559 --> 00:25:01.920
We live under whatever we've chosen as our highest authority.
00:25:02.160 --> 00:25:02.720
There you go.
00:25:02.960 --> 00:25:14.960
So if that's our knowledge and information and how we feel about situations and our past experiences that are going to define how we're going to react, we're going to be in a lot of trouble because we're not going to be reacting from the right spot.
00:25:15.359 --> 00:25:15.839
Wonderful.
00:25:16.000 --> 00:25:16.480
Great.
00:25:16.799 --> 00:25:32.799
So, really, what you've said is not only believing in this theory of origins and this is the foundation of truth, but then that truth extends all the way through the generations through today, so that it can affect you.
00:25:32.880 --> 00:25:38.799
It can it can give you something to rest your decision making on.
00:25:39.039 --> 00:25:48.720
And then there was a a benefit and an outcome where you had a spirit of peace that came over you from doing things God's way.
00:25:49.039 --> 00:25:53.440
Jesus said, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.
00:25:53.759 --> 00:25:54.400
I like that.
00:25:54.559 --> 00:25:56.480
I want to be called a child of God.
00:25:56.880 --> 00:25:57.039
Right.
00:25:57.359 --> 00:25:59.599
I like that title, I like that identity.
00:25:59.920 --> 00:26:10.319
And so when we just agree with uh what this this one beatitude that came from the Sermon on the Mount, my gosh, what a benefit it is.
00:26:10.480 --> 00:26:13.839
Just joyful to hear your testimony about that.
00:26:14.400 --> 00:26:31.839
So I had this hunger for truth back in the day, and somebody brings me the word of God, the Bible, and I thought, well, this could be maybe it's just a book of moral guidance, Middle Eastern history, ancient poetry.
00:26:32.559 --> 00:26:40.319
Is is that what it is, or does it truly inform us on the ideal structure of family, church, government?
00:26:40.640 --> 00:26:42.480
Are we just doing fine in those areas?
00:26:42.559 --> 00:26:43.039
What do you think?
00:26:43.440 --> 00:26:44.480
Are we just doing fine?
00:26:45.039 --> 00:26:46.559
Doesn't seem like we're doing fine.
00:26:46.799 --> 00:26:49.200
I can check that out on the internet, and that looks bad.
00:26:49.599 --> 00:26:54.880
Half the families are blowing up a lot of uh fatherlessness in homes.
00:26:55.279 --> 00:26:55.599
Yes.
00:26:55.920 --> 00:27:01.599
My by a nonprofit that uh been running for years.
00:27:01.759 --> 00:27:11.519
We a few years ago we were really working diligently to get uh fathers back in the home, certain parts of our of our area.
00:27:11.920 --> 00:27:23.599
So so does this Bible provide uh economic and judicial guidance, or does it simply entertain us with a number of mystical tales of a of a bygone era?
00:27:24.240 --> 00:27:51.599
You know, so we've we've gotta know is it uh there's no in-between with this Bible because it it asserts uh that is it has uh a substantive theory of origins, and it has a uh structure of government, it has a structure for family, it has advice on on all these different areas of life, and it's fascinating.
00:27:51.839 --> 00:28:16.000
And even the uh Mosaic law that that was developed by the the uh Ten Commandments and the laws of Moses, um Jesus comes along later and says, Well, you've heard what Moses had to say, but I say unto you, whenever you hear, but I say unto you, you're in trouble because he's he's lifting the bar into a into an area of motive.
00:28:16.079 --> 00:28:18.000
He's getting beyond just behavior.
00:28:18.240 --> 00:28:20.400
And he's saying, Check your motives.
00:28:20.640 --> 00:28:20.960
Yeah.
00:28:22.319 --> 00:28:24.880
When you do that, say, Oh, I'd like to hide my motives.
00:28:25.119 --> 00:28:31.519
I'll just give you all kinds of pretty behavior on the outside, but you don't know how much rage I'm feeling on the inside.
00:28:32.000 --> 00:28:38.079
And so uh but he he was he was shrewd in how he he handled that.
00:28:38.640 --> 00:28:45.119
Uh and so I I'm just um I'm fascinated by by that.
00:28:45.200 --> 00:28:58.319
And again, the people were astonished at his doctrine because he spoke as one having authority and not just like the scribes, the lawyers and the religious leaders of the day.
00:28:58.559 --> 00:29:07.680
So again, it's got integrity, Brittany, from beginning to end, from the very opening words, we can rely on this Bible.
00:29:07.839 --> 00:29:10.960
The opening passage can count on it.
00:29:11.680 --> 00:29:12.400
Absolutely.
00:29:12.640 --> 00:29:23.519
So I think this episode is, you know, just mainly diving into what is your truth when you make decisions, when you have thoughts, when you have ideas, when you're doing all these things in your life, where is your truth system?
00:29:23.599 --> 00:29:24.799
What does it rely on?
00:29:25.119 --> 00:29:27.599
Do you do you rely on your knowledge?
00:29:27.759 --> 00:29:29.680
What are you using as your source of truth?
00:29:29.839 --> 00:29:31.279
Where are you unstable right now?
00:29:31.440 --> 00:29:33.440
What keeps changing in your life?
00:29:33.680 --> 00:29:37.680
We need to start replacing and shifting these truths with the unchanging truth.
00:29:37.759 --> 00:29:42.559
And it says in Hebrews 13 8, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
00:29:42.720 --> 00:29:44.400
That is an unchanging truth.
00:29:45.200 --> 00:29:53.440
So while the world wants to keep updating its versions of truth, many versions of truth, God will never update because he is truth.
00:29:53.680 --> 00:29:54.240
That's beautiful.
00:29:54.480 --> 00:29:55.759
So, what do you believe today?
00:29:55.920 --> 00:29:57.920
What are you what are you building your life on?
00:29:58.079 --> 00:30:00.000
I think that's where we'll leave everyone today.
00:30:00.240 --> 00:30:00.960
That's excellent.
00:30:01.039 --> 00:30:04.559
I don't have to hit update in the app store.
00:30:07.359 --> 00:30:10.720
Oh, that's just beautiful the way you into your way you ended it.
00:30:10.880 --> 00:30:11.359
I love it.
00:30:11.680 --> 00:30:12.160
We love it.
00:30:12.319 --> 00:30:12.559
Yep.
00:30:12.799 --> 00:30:13.039
All right.
00:30:13.119 --> 00:30:14.400
Well till next time, guys.
00:30:14.799 --> 00:30:16.160
All right, bye-bye now.
00:00:20.879 --> 00:00:26.800
Right now we are living in a world where you can ask AI anything, and it'll give you the answer in seconds.
00:00:26.960 --> 00:00:36.640
Believe me, I know I use it every day, but almost every time you do, it reminds you this little, this little, you know, asterisk at the bottom says this may not be accurate.
00:00:36.799 --> 00:00:40.159
And what's interesting is that we're totally comfortable with that.
00:00:40.399 --> 00:00:42.560
We're comfortable with information updates.
00:00:42.640 --> 00:00:45.200
We're comfortable with truth being refined.
00:00:45.520 --> 00:00:52.000
But when we open the Bible, the Bible doesn't say this might be wrong or this will be updated.
00:00:52.240 --> 00:00:54.799
It speaks as if it were already established.
00:00:54.960 --> 00:00:55.359
Right.
00:00:55.600 --> 00:00:57.439
So here's what we're talking about today.
00:00:57.600 --> 00:01:03.039
How do you evaluate something that admits it could be wrong versus something that claims it never is?
00:01:03.920 --> 00:01:06.560
Eric, have you experienced that contrast in your life?
00:01:06.959 --> 00:01:07.840
I I have.
00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:22.719
You're taking me back to college days when we would uh be informed by science teachers, physical chemistry teacher, uh, about something that seemed very truthful and accurate.
00:01:22.959 --> 00:01:31.840
Come back four weeks later, and he would say, We're gonna need to revise our notes from a few weeks back because there's been some new discoveries.
00:01:32.159 --> 00:01:32.400
Right.
00:01:32.640 --> 00:01:36.319
And you'd think, well, isn't that contradictory and untrustworthy?
00:01:36.480 --> 00:01:47.599
And say, no, it's uh it's actually part of the culture that science was constantly updating, uh, and we were we were being given new truth.
00:01:47.920 --> 00:01:59.040
So it was uh it was exciting actually to be uh to be knowing to know that you were on the cusp and and cutting edge of of new discoveries.
00:01:59.439 --> 00:02:01.200
So that was just part of the culture.
00:02:01.359 --> 00:02:06.239
So and then along comes, as you just said, this thing called the Bible.
00:02:06.879 --> 00:02:24.960
And I was introduced to that, and it seemed at first ridiculous because, as you say, there was there was these deep assertions that um the here's Jesus claiming to not only know the truth, but to be the truth, to be the author.
00:02:25.199 --> 00:02:33.919
And it's like, wait a minute, if you're gonna do that, you're either a lunatic or you need to be somewhere summarily discarded, or you are who you say you are.
00:02:34.159 --> 00:02:36.159
And you can't just leave that alone.
00:02:36.479 --> 00:02:38.960
Not with the kind of training that I had.
00:02:39.199 --> 00:02:47.520
You've gotta either you've got to investigate it and either discard it and show why, or go, you know what, I have to capitulate.
00:02:47.759 --> 00:02:49.199
I need to agree with this.
00:02:49.439 --> 00:02:52.080
So that was a quite a moment for me.
00:02:52.400 --> 00:02:54.159
So, yes, I have been through that.
00:02:54.719 --> 00:02:58.159
So yeah, so we built this whole world based on knowledge.
00:02:58.240 --> 00:03:05.439
We're constantly searching for knowledge, science updates constantly, culture shifts constantly, opinions evolve.
00:03:05.599 --> 00:03:10.479
So, what really happens is that we kind of end up building our life on something that keeps moving.
00:03:10.639 --> 00:03:16.000
And if truth changes, that's scary because that means that it was never truth to begin with.
00:03:16.560 --> 00:03:21.599
So, you know, Eric, it seems like to me that we have a generation that's more informed than ever.
00:03:21.759 --> 00:03:25.039
We have so much knowledge, but we're now more confused than ever.
00:03:25.199 --> 00:03:26.560
Does that seem true to you?
00:03:27.120 --> 00:03:46.560
Well, we're more reliant uh on on because you know, I've I've been hearing that in in in colleges, uh a student will be asked something by a professor, and the student will quickly type it into AI and get an answer and just provide that answer back.
00:03:46.800 --> 00:03:49.520
There's no real critical thinking being done.
00:03:49.759 --> 00:03:55.280
And that's just astounding to me to know that that's creeping into our culture.
00:03:55.520 --> 00:04:00.400
Uh I it would it's just uh I can't believe that the professors allow it.
00:04:00.639 --> 00:04:03.360
But nevertheless, it seems to be going on.
00:04:03.680 --> 00:04:15.039
So uh I I want to train people to be, I would want to train people to be critical thinkers to be able to develop a thought pattern on their own.
00:04:15.280 --> 00:04:26.079
So anyway, there's a here's AI, as you started off saying, uh becoming a uh a golden calf of sorts that we were just rely on.
00:04:26.399 --> 00:04:28.800
And it just doesn't have to be this way.
00:04:29.040 --> 00:04:38.000
We have a we have a God of the Bible who who claims to have been present at the very birth of the universe.
00:04:38.240 --> 00:04:46.399
And by the way, the the Judeo-Christian belief system, the cosmogeny, which is a fancy word.
00:04:46.480 --> 00:04:47.839
I know you love my fancy words.
00:04:48.160 --> 00:04:49.519
I do love your fancy words.
00:04:49.600 --> 00:04:50.399
What does that one mean?
00:04:50.800 --> 00:04:53.680
That one means a a a theory of origins.
00:04:54.639 --> 00:05:04.800
It speaks to the to the very um uh the very concept of of uh the claim of how things were originated.
00:05:05.360 --> 00:05:16.720
And the that belief system, the Judeo-Christian system, is the only the theology is the only one that dares to assert an absolute beginning to the universe.
00:05:17.199 --> 00:05:26.079
And so everything else starts with some primordial swamp, and you know, the uh the the DNA came up out of that.
00:05:26.240 --> 00:05:27.680
Just it's just illogical.
00:05:28.720 --> 00:05:32.240
Mathematically, it's illogical to believe that.
00:05:32.800 --> 00:05:42.319
So, but there's this in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth, and that's Genesis 1-1, and it tells a lot.
00:05:42.480 --> 00:05:44.399
We can get into that in a second.
00:05:44.720 --> 00:05:45.920
Yeah, absolutely.
00:05:46.160 --> 00:05:54.480
So it seems like today we're kind of talking about the claims that the Bible makes versus the intellectual trap that the world has you in.
00:05:54.720 --> 00:05:59.279
You know, I know for me personally, this just popped in my head, so we're gonna go there for a moment.
00:05:59.519 --> 00:06:04.959
Me personally, the world has always told me that what is important is knowledge, information.
00:06:05.040 --> 00:06:06.399
It's the degrees on your wall.
00:06:06.560 --> 00:06:11.519
It's if you don't have that, then you can't be smart, that you're not qualified, that you're not this, that you're not that.
00:06:11.759 --> 00:06:14.639
And for the longest time, I had a kid when I was young.
00:06:14.800 --> 00:06:16.079
It kind of threw me out of college.
00:06:16.160 --> 00:06:17.759
I had three classes to graduate.
00:06:17.920 --> 00:06:20.720
Then I ended up deciding, okay, I'm I'm gonna do this.
00:06:20.800 --> 00:06:24.079
And several years ago, I went back to college because I just wanted to finish.
00:06:24.160 --> 00:06:26.560
I wanted to feel like I was smart.
00:06:26.800 --> 00:06:29.680
And I ended up retaking a class that I had already taken.
00:06:29.839 --> 00:06:33.120
And so I still have one class left to graduate.
00:06:33.360 --> 00:06:44.800
And for the longest time, I thought I will never be anything, I'll never do anything, I'll never get a good job, I'll never love what I do because nobody's gonna find any value in me because I don't have these credentials.
00:06:45.439 --> 00:06:57.279
And when I started working with you and realizing that it has nothing to do with the credentials, but everything that's within you that you're not using, it really shifted my perspective.
00:06:57.360 --> 00:07:01.680
And I was stuck in this intellectual trap that the world tells you.
00:07:01.920 --> 00:07:06.560
Always research, always question, always analyze, always have to learn more so you can be smart.
00:07:06.879 --> 00:07:09.920
But we don't have that absolute truth.
00:07:10.319 --> 00:07:14.879
And it does say in John 14, 6, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
00:07:15.040 --> 00:07:17.439
No one comes to the Father but through me.
00:07:17.680 --> 00:07:21.120
Jesus didn't say I teach truth or I point to truth.
00:07:21.360 --> 00:07:23.519
He said, I am truth.
00:07:23.759 --> 00:07:25.920
And that kind of shifted everything for me.
00:07:26.079 --> 00:07:29.040
You don't really have to wonder.
00:07:29.199 --> 00:07:30.879
You can know what the truth is.
00:07:31.040 --> 00:07:33.759
You don't have to rely on your your mind or your talent there.
00:07:33.920 --> 00:07:35.600
God can use anyone in anything.
00:07:37.279 --> 00:07:37.920
Keep talking.
00:07:38.079 --> 00:07:40.160
I mean, I'm I'm just listening.
00:07:40.319 --> 00:07:45.279
It's captivating to hear you to hear you tell that story and and gosh.
00:07:45.519 --> 00:07:59.680
Um but to you you you've you not only have a fine intellect, but you also have a framework of God's wisdom that is both in you and continuing to grow and mature in you.
00:07:59.920 --> 00:08:22.240
And so that um that that that's the that's what Jesus told Pornos to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things, including a job, including you know the uh the financial uh growth that you are seeking, all these things will be added unto you.
00:08:22.879 --> 00:08:29.839
So I it is just there's just no reason to have self-doubt, like you mentioned earlier.
00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:37.279
It's as long as you're also seeking uh these these other the wisdom that that uh that the Lord offers.
00:08:37.519 --> 00:08:47.120
But going back to the original uh thinking, it's like can we believe, can we trust this assertion that's made in Genesis 1.1.
00:08:47.600 --> 00:08:50.080
In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.
00:08:50.159 --> 00:08:51.120
So what what is that?
00:08:51.279 --> 00:08:54.000
In the beginning means that there's a stopwatch.
00:08:54.159 --> 00:08:57.919
It started, time started at that moment.
00:08:58.080 --> 00:09:05.279
Okay, the the clocks, there's no clocks in heaven, but the clock of of uh the universe began at that time.
00:09:05.440 --> 00:09:14.960
In the beginning, God created the heaven, and that's not heaven where angels live, but that's that means space, the difference between here and there.
00:09:15.360 --> 00:09:31.759
So so in the beginning starts the idea of between now and then, and then in it it created the heaven, difference between here and there, and the earth, which is not planet Earth, third planet from the sun, but it is it is matter.
00:09:32.080 --> 00:09:34.559
So it's a difference between this and that.
00:09:34.799 --> 00:09:37.679
So now and then, here and there, this and that.
00:09:37.919 --> 00:09:46.799
And all three things were created in the first micro moment of time, of of of the uh universe.
00:09:47.120 --> 00:09:50.799
And then then he began to form it and shape it and take it from there.
00:09:51.039 --> 00:09:54.960
But that's quite an assertion, very different from what I had been taught.
00:09:55.200 --> 00:10:01.759
But when I heard it and looked into it, it made so much better sense and it held up to scrutiny.
00:10:02.080 --> 00:10:05.120
So I'm uh I'm fascinated by it.
00:10:05.200 --> 00:10:10.080
So it it it it means that thermodynamics was birthed at that moment.
00:10:10.480 --> 00:10:22.960
Uh it uh it it it uh makes it better sense than to think that the DNA molecule could come out of out of nothingness, out of random chance.
00:10:23.279 --> 00:10:30.320
It just the odds against it mathematically, probability are just are just beyond belief.
00:10:30.559 --> 00:10:42.320
So uh I just when I've looked at that, I had to admit this is a better uh story about the beginnings of of uh the universe than than the ones I'd been taught.
00:10:42.879 --> 00:10:47.360
I vividly remember uh when we first started talking about this topic.
00:10:47.519 --> 00:10:53.039
Now, we've talked about Genesis one many, many, many times uh during the two years that I've worked here.
00:10:53.200 --> 00:10:58.960
And I vividly remember the first time you pulled up Genesis and were like, just pull it up and you're like, uh read this.
00:10:59.200 --> 00:11:02.080
And I started in the beginning, God created, and you're like, what are you doing?
00:11:02.240 --> 00:11:02.480
Stop.
00:11:02.639 --> 00:11:04.480
And I was like, What?
00:11:04.639 --> 00:11:06.080
Like, what do you mean stop?
00:11:06.320 --> 00:11:12.159
I just read like four words, and you're like, Yeah, don't you understand that that is where thermodynamics was created, Brittany?
00:11:12.320 --> 00:11:13.840
That was where time started.
00:11:14.320 --> 00:11:20.080
My mind was absolutely blown because I was just taught to read in the beginning.
00:11:20.240 --> 00:11:27.039
Okay, this is where the story starts, move on, but you don't realize in the beginning how pivotal that moment is.
00:11:27.200 --> 00:11:30.000
This is the beginning of time, this is the beginning of everything.
00:11:30.559 --> 00:11:30.960
That's right.
00:11:31.200 --> 00:11:33.679
I found that to be absolutely mind-blowing.
00:11:33.840 --> 00:11:38.720
So to know that God created everything is to know that He defined everything.
00:11:39.039 --> 00:11:44.720
So we really shouldn't be asking a question like we do nowadays of, you know, what feels true?
00:11:44.879 --> 00:11:47.519
What information can I find to back up my source?
00:11:47.840 --> 00:11:50.720
But it's what did the creator say is true?
00:11:50.960 --> 00:11:54.879
And we kind of have to have filters to figure this out, wouldn't you say?
00:11:55.840 --> 00:11:56.960
Filters to do what?
00:11:57.919 --> 00:12:01.679
Filters to kind of figure out what is actually true in this world.
00:12:01.919 --> 00:12:12.559
Because we kind of define, we filter life through culture, we filter life through our emotions, our experiences, but rarely, I feel, do we filter through the word of God.
00:12:13.039 --> 00:12:14.399
Well, that's that's well said.
00:12:14.559 --> 00:12:25.759
I mean, Paul wrote some astounding uh sentences and and to to uh to back up this in Romans 120.
00:12:26.240 --> 00:12:33.039
For since the creation of the world, his God's invisible attributes are clearly seen.
00:12:33.360 --> 00:12:36.080
Oh, they're clearly seen, okay.
00:12:36.559 --> 00:12:39.440
Being understood by the things that are made.
00:12:39.600 --> 00:12:45.200
So I can understood understand the attributes of God by looking at his creation.
00:12:45.279 --> 00:12:46.960
That's what that says so far.
00:12:47.440 --> 00:12:51.200
So that they, people, are without excuse.
00:12:51.919 --> 00:13:01.039
So he's he's stripping away every excuse we have by saying, look at the attributes of God in his creation.
00:13:01.759 --> 00:13:31.600
Wow, that means if I if I would do away with the filter of assuming and and accepting evolutionary theory and and uh big bang theory, instead, if I would if I would realize that wait a minute, that there is a there's a of an absolute start time to this universe, if I could accept that, then then then my gosh, then we would be fulfilling what Paul has asserted in Romans 120.
00:13:31.919 --> 00:14:05.039
He says something else, it's in Ephesians 3, 8 and 9, to me, this grace was given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see, all people, see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages, that's Genesis 1-1, has been hidden in God, who created all things through Jesus Christ.
00:14:05.200 --> 00:14:08.080
Now there's 49 words in one sentence, okay?
00:14:08.320 --> 00:14:12.960
I counted them, and and says only Paul could write like this, okay?
00:14:13.039 --> 00:14:23.279
But but he's crafting a way of thinking and and leading us to say who created all things through Jesus Christ.
00:14:23.440 --> 00:14:24.559
Jesus is the word.
00:14:25.440 --> 00:15:07.519
God thinks it up, the the Lord Father thinks it up, Jesus speaks the word, and the Holy Spirit is the energizer bunny of the Trinity, and He gets it, He gets it done, He brings the power, He brings the uh and the and the um the and it was the the the creation was formless and void and and uh and so God Jesus said Let there be light And there was light and and all the Holy Spirit is is it's infusing that um that matter with all of the um the energy that's needed, the the thermonuclear energy, etc.
00:15:07.759 --> 00:15:19.279
Every other kind that's needed, gravitational energy that's needed in order to get um all of the planets and all of the um gravitational forces and everything else in in place.
00:15:19.440 --> 00:15:21.600
It's just amazing when you think about it.
00:15:21.840 --> 00:15:24.559
It makes, frankly, for me, it makes a whole lot of sense.
00:15:24.720 --> 00:15:28.240
And Paul is writing about it uh centuries later.
00:15:28.879 --> 00:15:31.279
So anyway, I get excited about it.
00:15:31.840 --> 00:15:38.320
It is exciting because these are bold claims, and with such bold claims, Jesus really leaves no middle ground.
00:15:38.480 --> 00:15:41.120
We have to make a decision, really, when we hear this.
00:15:41.279 --> 00:15:42.879
Do we decide that he's a liar?
00:15:43.039 --> 00:15:45.840
Do we decide that he's delusional that this couldn't have happened?
00:15:46.080 --> 00:15:47.440
Or is this the truth?
00:15:47.600 --> 00:15:51.200
We really don't get to admire Jesus casually.
00:15:51.360 --> 00:15:54.320
We have to kind of decide what to do with him, right?
00:15:54.960 --> 00:15:55.600
Yes.
00:15:56.159 --> 00:15:56.799
Yes.
00:15:57.519 --> 00:16:01.679
It's um we go we go back to even to Colossians.
00:16:01.840 --> 00:16:10.240
Again, Paul is just laying down a framework for all of that backs up what took place back in in Genesis.
00:16:10.720 --> 00:16:19.200
He says, For it was in him, Jesus, that all things were created in heaven and on earth.
00:16:19.600 --> 00:16:41.519
All things, seen and unseen, whether thrones, dominions, rulers, or authorities, all things were created and exist through him by his service, inner which is by his service or invention, and in and for him, and he himself existed before all things.
00:16:41.919 --> 00:16:42.480
Watch that.
00:16:42.639 --> 00:16:49.440
He existed before all things, so before the clock started, and in him all things consist.
00:16:51.600 --> 00:16:57.440
Okay, so he is he is the the energy that holds the chemical bonds together.
00:16:57.679 --> 00:17:00.879
This this is a this is a very powerful assertion.
00:17:01.200 --> 00:17:27.680
And so anyway, it's it's uh Paul Paul goes into these things and and uh it's not just theology, but it's it's uh it's the concept of of s of science that uh Paul is asserting that Jesus was the founder, he was the creator, he was um he's he's the one that spoke the worlds into existence, and he holds everything together even now by his by his power.
00:17:28.160 --> 00:17:28.799
Fabulous.
00:17:29.920 --> 00:17:39.680
So why do you think it's so important to realize what the world values as truth versus what God values as truth?
00:17:40.640 --> 00:17:46.240
Well, in my case, I was seeking authentic truth.
00:17:46.400 --> 00:18:01.119
And I think we live in a day and a culture now where people really want authenticity, and they keep drilling down there like I was back in the day, and they are drilling down to find what is authentic, what is real.
00:18:01.680 --> 00:18:14.640
And when the world and the culture keeps shifting in terms of telling you what's true and what what's available and what's uh what's the right thing to do, that just shifts.
00:18:14.799 --> 00:18:19.279
We just the ground beneath our feet just keeps keeps it keeps moving.
00:18:19.599 --> 00:18:23.680
And that can create some uncertainty and some anxiety, frankly.
00:18:24.000 --> 00:18:32.960
And then that's uh that does not contribute to our mental health and to our stability and the sense of community.
00:18:33.279 --> 00:18:43.200
But when we've got something firm that we can uh the the Bible even says my f my feet are planted, David wrote in an even place.
00:18:47.279 --> 00:18:49.599
Uh firm ground, unshakable.
00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:54.960
And that's what I think people yearn for is something that is just unshakable.
00:18:55.440 --> 00:19:00.319
And it is found in in the Lord, not just in Genesis, but throughout the Bible.
00:19:00.480 --> 00:19:03.279
There's this strategic plan of heaven.
00:19:03.519 --> 00:19:12.079
It was uh to to build this three-dimensional universe to have mankind to populate it and to govern it.
00:19:12.400 --> 00:19:22.160
Unfortunately, the first man blew it when he ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and he introduced sin and death into the world.
00:19:22.480 --> 00:19:23.599
Very unfortunate.
00:19:23.759 --> 00:19:36.799
And the whole story of the Old Testament is how the Lord started to redeem that process, create a uh a government and the the children of Israel, and Moses led them out of Egypt.
00:19:36.960 --> 00:19:38.640
It's a fascinating story.
00:19:38.799 --> 00:19:46.000
Uh, but unfortunately they kept blowing it, they kept resorting back to their own um selfish uh desires.
00:19:46.079 --> 00:20:01.359
Uh and eventually the the Lord introduced um the ultimate um s salvation with in Jesus to get us uh restored back to him in a in a in a permanent relationship that was unshakable.
00:20:02.079 --> 00:20:30.960
So it's all again, it's you can just see this the storyline that uh that the Lord started this he he he um uh initiated this universe on it in at the very beginning, and then it um and then later on it we kind of as to say the we kind of blew it into not before for very long, and then everything has been a s a s story of restoration since then.
00:20:31.279 --> 00:20:35.519
So it's um I th so I think it's important.
00:20:35.599 --> 00:20:42.319
I don't know if that exactly answers your story, you answers your question, but that's um that's an important part of the story.
00:20:42.880 --> 00:20:44.240
I think it is very important.
00:20:44.319 --> 00:20:45.759
Yes, it does answer my question.
00:20:45.839 --> 00:20:56.319
But you know, as I'm processing this through, so today we're talking about essentially intellectual knowledge being constantly moving, never any truth, versus the Bible that is truth.
00:20:56.799 --> 00:21:09.680
I think that we need to talk about how we can't comprehend the Bible or what God is telling us to do or anything without faith.
00:21:10.079 --> 00:21:17.599
Faith is essentially, you know, like your admission into this wealth of knowledge, essentially, right?
00:21:17.680 --> 00:21:19.839
Like this wealth of wisdom, knowledge, understanding.
00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:24.559
And without that faith, you can read the Bible all day long, but it's not going to come alive for you.
00:21:24.720 --> 00:21:25.839
Is that fair to say?
00:21:26.400 --> 00:21:27.680
Sure, I think that is.
00:21:27.839 --> 00:21:33.119
And with that without faith, it is impossible to please God, the book of Hebrews says.
00:21:33.279 --> 00:21:36.880
Uh, so faith is the currency of heaven.
00:21:37.119 --> 00:21:39.359
So, sure, your point is well taken.
00:21:39.519 --> 00:21:49.519
And and it's only by faith that we can come to even apprehend and and and agree with the uh opening passage of Genesis.
00:21:49.759 --> 00:21:51.680
Uh I love what um what's written here.
00:21:51.920 --> 00:22:03.519
We we think Paul might have wrote written in the book of Hebrews, but in the opening chapter, uh chapter one, he says, You Lord, in In the beginning, laid the foundation of the earth.
00:22:03.759 --> 00:22:04.960
Here we go again.
00:22:05.599 --> 00:22:08.640
And the heavens are the work of your hands.
00:22:09.440 --> 00:22:12.799
They will perish, but you remain.
00:22:13.839 --> 00:22:14.240
Wow.
00:22:14.480 --> 00:22:16.640
Okay, just poetic language.
00:22:16.880 --> 00:22:34.480
And then in uh Hebrews 1 2, God in these last days spoken to us by his son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds.
00:22:35.680 --> 00:22:43.680
So the Father made the worlds, the entire universe, through his son.
00:22:44.559 --> 00:22:52.240
It's like it's it's ingenious and it's massive and it explains everything.
00:22:52.720 --> 00:23:00.079
It's an assertion that I just love and it's worthy of investigation, and it holds up under scrutiny.
00:23:00.160 --> 00:23:07.759
And there's plenty of scientists that have done massive research in this to um who can speak to it a lot better than I can.
00:23:08.000 --> 00:23:14.319
But at some point uh we just want to accept this, as you say, by faith.
00:23:14.559 --> 00:23:18.000
The Bible holds up under intense scrutiny.
00:23:18.960 --> 00:23:31.519
Yeah, I think the importance of the podcast today is to understand that that every thought we have, every idea, every here or there, every what should I do, it's gonna come down to us evaluating it through a filter.
00:23:31.759 --> 00:23:36.079
We're either going to go, this is our situation, what does the world say?
00:23:36.240 --> 00:23:41.680
Chat GPT, tell me what's the best way to handle this, you know, asking your friends for advice, this or that.
00:23:42.000 --> 00:23:44.640
But there is a basic foundational truth.
00:23:44.799 --> 00:23:54.000
And the Bible has all these truths that we can go to, and you can know, you know, uh, this happened to me recently and it's really annoying, but it's it's true.
00:23:54.319 --> 00:24:13.039
And I had this uh request from someone in my life that I needed to do, and I had a time frame on it to where I could wait to the last minute and you know, fix it then and be fine with it, and kind of just have that over them, you know, just kind of hold that and be like, you know, I'm gonna wait to the last minute.
00:24:13.119 --> 00:24:15.200
I have all this time frame, I can do this, right?
00:24:15.440 --> 00:24:22.400
And as soon as that thought came into my head, it was another thought that said, Blessed are the peacemakers.
00:24:22.559 --> 00:24:24.720
And I was like, uh me.
00:24:26.319 --> 00:24:29.920
And immediately I sent over what they were requesting.
00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:30.319
Yeah.
00:24:30.559 --> 00:24:37.200
Because I knew in that moment, okay, I can live with my truth of the world says I have this much time to pay it.
00:24:37.759 --> 00:24:39.200
I don't have to do this.
00:24:39.359 --> 00:24:41.200
I'm not held to any standard.
00:24:41.359 --> 00:24:43.039
But I knew the truth of the Bible.
00:24:43.279 --> 00:24:47.039
And the truth of the Bible was don't put off something if you can have peace in this moment.
00:24:47.519 --> 00:24:48.960
Blessed are the peacemakers.
00:24:49.119 --> 00:24:49.519
Yes.
00:24:49.680 --> 00:24:51.200
And so I made that move.
00:24:51.279 --> 00:24:55.839
And it seems like when you don't when you live, well, let me rephrase that.
00:24:56.000 --> 00:24:58.240
We don't live without a truth system.
00:24:58.559 --> 00:25:01.920
We live under whatever we've chosen as our highest authority.
00:25:02.160 --> 00:25:02.720
There you go.
00:25:02.960 --> 00:25:14.960
So if that's our knowledge and information and how we feel about situations and our past experiences that are going to define how we're going to react, we're going to be in a lot of trouble because we're not going to be reacting from the right spot.
00:25:15.359 --> 00:25:15.839
Wonderful.
00:25:16.000 --> 00:25:16.480
Great.
00:25:16.799 --> 00:25:32.799
So, really, what you've said is not only believing in this theory of origins and this is the foundation of truth, but then that truth extends all the way through the generations through today, so that it can affect you.
00:25:32.880 --> 00:25:38.799
It can it can give you something to rest your decision making on.
00:25:39.039 --> 00:25:48.720
And then there was a a benefit and an outcome where you had a spirit of peace that came over you from doing things God's way.
00:25:49.039 --> 00:25:53.440
Jesus said, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.
00:25:53.759 --> 00:25:54.400
I like that.
00:25:54.559 --> 00:25:56.480
I want to be called a child of God.
00:25:56.880 --> 00:25:57.039
Right.
00:25:57.359 --> 00:25:59.599
I like that title, I like that identity.
00:25:59.920 --> 00:26:10.319
And so when we just agree with uh what this this one beatitude that came from the Sermon on the Mount, my gosh, what a benefit it is.
00:26:10.480 --> 00:26:13.839
Just joyful to hear your testimony about that.
00:26:14.400 --> 00:26:31.839
So I had this hunger for truth back in the day, and somebody brings me the word of God, the Bible, and I thought, well, this could be maybe it's just a book of moral guidance, Middle Eastern history, ancient poetry.
00:26:32.559 --> 00:26:40.319
Is is that what it is, or does it truly inform us on the ideal structure of family, church, government?
00:26:40.640 --> 00:26:42.480
Are we just doing fine in those areas?
00:26:42.559 --> 00:26:43.039
What do you think?
00:26:43.440 --> 00:26:44.480
Are we just doing fine?
00:26:45.039 --> 00:26:46.559
Doesn't seem like we're doing fine.
00:26:46.799 --> 00:26:49.200
I can check that out on the internet, and that looks bad.
00:26:49.599 --> 00:26:54.880
Half the families are blowing up a lot of uh fatherlessness in homes.
00:26:55.279 --> 00:26:55.599
Yes.
00:26:55.920 --> 00:27:01.599
My by a nonprofit that uh been running for years.
00:27:01.759 --> 00:27:11.519
We a few years ago we were really working diligently to get uh fathers back in the home, certain parts of our of our area.
00:27:11.920 --> 00:27:23.599
So so does this Bible provide uh economic and judicial guidance, or does it simply entertain us with a number of mystical tales of a of a bygone era?
00:27:24.240 --> 00:27:51.599
You know, so we've we've gotta know is it uh there's no in-between with this Bible because it it asserts uh that is it has uh a substantive theory of origins, and it has a uh structure of government, it has a structure for family, it has advice on on all these different areas of life, and it's fascinating.
00:27:51.839 --> 00:28:16.000
And even the uh Mosaic law that that was developed by the the uh Ten Commandments and the laws of Moses, um Jesus comes along later and says, Well, you've heard what Moses had to say, but I say unto you, whenever you hear, but I say unto you, you're in trouble because he's he's lifting the bar into a into an area of motive.
00:28:16.079 --> 00:28:18.000
He's getting beyond just behavior.
00:28:18.240 --> 00:28:20.400
And he's saying, Check your motives.
00:28:20.640 --> 00:28:20.960
Yeah.
00:28:22.319 --> 00:28:24.880
When you do that, say, Oh, I'd like to hide my motives.
00:28:25.119 --> 00:28:31.519
I'll just give you all kinds of pretty behavior on the outside, but you don't know how much rage I'm feeling on the inside.
00:28:32.000 --> 00:28:38.079
And so uh but he he was he was shrewd in how he he handled that.
00:28:38.640 --> 00:28:45.119
Uh and so I I'm just um I'm fascinated by by that.
00:28:45.200 --> 00:28:58.319
And again, the people were astonished at his doctrine because he spoke as one having authority and not just like the scribes, the lawyers and the religious leaders of the day.
00:28:58.559 --> 00:29:07.680
So again, it's got integrity, Brittany, from beginning to end, from the very opening words, we can rely on this Bible.
00:29:07.839 --> 00:29:10.960
The opening passage can count on it.
00:29:11.680 --> 00:29:12.400
Absolutely.
00:29:12.640 --> 00:29:23.519
So I think this episode is, you know, just mainly diving into what is your truth when you make decisions, when you have thoughts, when you have ideas, when you're doing all these things in your life, where is your truth system?
00:29:23.599 --> 00:29:24.799
What does it rely on?
00:29:25.119 --> 00:29:27.599
Do you do you rely on your knowledge?
00:29:27.759 --> 00:29:29.680
What are you using as your source of truth?
00:29:29.839 --> 00:29:31.279
Where are you unstable right now?
00:29:31.440 --> 00:29:33.440
What keeps changing in your life?
00:29:33.680 --> 00:29:37.680
We need to start replacing and shifting these truths with the unchanging truth.
00:29:37.759 --> 00:29:42.559
And it says in Hebrews 13 8, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
00:29:42.720 --> 00:29:44.400
That is an unchanging truth.
00:29:45.200 --> 00:29:53.440
So while the world wants to keep updating its versions of truth, many versions of truth, God will never update because he is truth.
00:29:53.680 --> 00:29:54.240
That's beautiful.
00:29:54.480 --> 00:29:55.759
So, what do you believe today?
00:29:55.920 --> 00:29:57.920
What are you what are you building your life on?
00:29:58.079 --> 00:30:00.000
I think that's where we'll leave everyone today.
00:30:00.240 --> 00:30:00.960
That's excellent.
00:30:01.039 --> 00:30:04.559
I don't have to hit update in the app store.
00:30:07.359 --> 00:30:10.720
Oh, that's just beautiful the way you into your way you ended it.
00:30:10.880 --> 00:30:11.359
I love it.
00:30:11.680 --> 00:30:12.160
We love it.
00:30:12.319 --> 00:30:12.559
Yep.
00:30:12.799 --> 00:30:13.039
All right.
00:30:13.119 --> 00:30:14.400
Well till next time, guys.
00:30:14.799 --> 00:30:16.160
All right, bye-bye now.
