- Today, we're going to revisit
00:00:00.86\00:00:02.36
one of the most influential
writers of the 20th century
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and ask
ourselves how in the world
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she could possibly claim
to know anything for sure.
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How do you know that
you know anything for sure?
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This is a question you're
going to want to ask yourself
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at some point in your life.
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So don't go away.
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We'll be right
back to explore it.
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[light stringy music]
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Over the last year or so,
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you've probably noticed
that I end up complaining
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at the end of the show
that I've run out of time.
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And sometimes I
promise I'll come back
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and revisit the subject.
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And most of the time
that never really happens.
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But today it does,
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because today we're going
back to the subject of Ayn Rand,
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the high priestess of
atheistic individualism.
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And I guess I'm
going to come back to her
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for a number of reasons.
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First of all, she
was a bit of an influence
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in my younger years,
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as she is for a
lot of college students
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who are trying to
discover who or what they are.
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And so I guess I need
to admit her influence
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and maybe talk about
where I might agree with her
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and where I absolutely do not.
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Secondly, she wrote
thousands and thousands of pages
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and to try and address
even a fraction of the issues
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in her philosophy
with only like 30 minutes
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is something
nobody can really do.
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Thirdly, and this is
probably the biggest reason.
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It's really hard to deny Ayn
Rand's considerable influence
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on modern Western culture.
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In fact, she's probably
the biggest unnamed influencer
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of the 20th century.
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I mean, you'd be surprised
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at the number of well-known
people who have admitted
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that she was a
formative influence for them.
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Jimmy Wales, for example,
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the co-founder of
Wikipedia had a real liking
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for Ayn Rand.
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In a 2005 interview on
CSPAN, here's what he said.
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"But I think for me,
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one of the core things
that is very applicable
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to my life today is
the virtue of independence,
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is the vision, you know,
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if you know the
idea of Howard Roark,
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who is the architect
in 'The Fountainhead'"
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now that's an Ayn Rand book,
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"who has a vision for
what he wants to accomplish
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and, you know,
there's some time in the book
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when he is
frustrated in his career
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because people don't want
to build the type of buildings
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he wants to build.
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And he's given a choice,
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a difficult choice to
compromise his integrity
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or to essentially
go out of business.
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And he has to go and take
a job working in a quarry.
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And for me, that model
has a lot of resonance.
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When I think
about what I'm doing,
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what I'm doing and the way
I'm doing is more important
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than any amount of money
because it's my artistic work."
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So there you have it,
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one of the biggest internet
innovators of the 21st century
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and there's Ayn Rand
right in the middle of it.
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And Jimmy Wales is
just the tip of the iceberg.
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Now this is
probably going to be obvious,
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but a lot of
conservative political pundits
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also lay claim to her
influence from Rush Limbaugh,
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to Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity.
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She also appears to
have influenced people
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like Penn Jillette, the
magician and well-known skeptic
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as well as a
number of prominent CEOs
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like John Mackey of Whole Foods
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and Mark Cuban, the
owner of the Dallas Mavericks,
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Alan Greenspan, the former
chairman of the Federal Reserve
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used to be one of Ayn
Rand's close acquaintances.
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And Ronald
Reagan's private letters
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also seemed to indicate
he'd been reading her books,
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even though Ayn
Rand openly professed
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a deep hatred for Ronald Reagan.
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Some of you might remember that
vice presidential candidate,
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Paul Ryan was a fan of Ayn Rand
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and apparently so
is Clarence Thomas
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that Supreme Court Justice.
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Her influence in
America runs deeper
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than most people suspect.
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And I will openly admit,
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as I already have
that some of her books
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were part of my own
ideological development
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before I became a
practicing Christian.
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And so today, because
of her broad influence,
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I want to take
the time to explore
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just a few more of her ideas
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and maybe compare them
to a biblical worldview.
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Honestly, from where I sit,
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I still think she might've
been right about some things,
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but I've come to the conclusion
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that she was
right about those things
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for all the wrong reasons,
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if that makes any sense to you.
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It's entirely possible to
come to the right conclusion
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without actually being
right about how you got there.
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I mean, just witness
the poor high school student
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who lands on the right answer
in math class by accident.
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Ayn Rand was a keen
student of human nature.
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And a lot of her observations
were really quite astute.
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There is no
question for example,
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that people are
deeply self-interested
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and people are motivated to
protect and advance themselves.
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She's right about that.
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She's also quite
right that a policy
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of non-violence and
voluntary mutual exchange
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are the best system
we've come up with so far
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to keep our
natural passions in check.
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But she gets to
those conclusions
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by taking some
rather unfortunate shortcuts
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and by leaving the
possibility of a God
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completely out of the picture.
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And that's what I
want to talk about.
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Ayn Rand was a little bit
like the English philosopher,
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John Locke,
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in that she advocated
something known as tabula rasa.
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Tabula rasa is an
idea that suggests
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that you and I
come into this world
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knowing absolutely nothing.
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There is no innate human
knowledge when you're born.
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It's almost like you've
got a dial tone in your head
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and our perceptions and
understanding of the world
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come entirely from the data
we collect through our senses.
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Here's the way that John Locke
puts it in his famous work,
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an essay concerning
human understanding.
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He writes, "All ideas come
from sensation or reflection."
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In other words,
everything you know
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comes through your senses.
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"Let us suppose the mind to
be, as we say, white paper,"
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tabula rasa, "void of all
characters without any ideas,
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how comes it to be furnished?
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Whence comes at
by that vast store,
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which the busy and boundless
fancy of man has painted on it
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with an almost endless variety?
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Whence has it all the materials
of reason and knowledge?
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To this I answer, in
one word, from experience:
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in that all our
knowledge is founded;
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and from that it
ultimately derives itself."
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So in other
words, in plain English,
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John Locke said
that we enter this world
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knowing absolutely nothing.
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And then our senses begin
to gather data about the world
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and that data
gets clumped together
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in categories in your
brain so that you and I
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can start telling
different things apart.
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So from that perspective,
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the world is nothing but a
big blur of colors and noise
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until your brain starts
putting your perceptions
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of the world into
organized categories.
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So that for example,
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you could tell your mother
apart from an alarm clock,
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then you can start reflecting
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on what you've seen
and develop theories
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about the nature of the world.
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Now, back in the 17th century,
when John Locke wrote this,
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it was such a novel concept
that it was almost scandalous.
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Most people in his day assumed
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that human beings come
into the world with inborn
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or innate knowledge,
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things you know
the moment you're born.
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Not the least of
which they would say
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was a rudimentary knowledge
of the existence of God.
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To suggest that your brain
was completely empty at birth
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was a new idea that
really upset the status quo.
00:07:55.94\00:07:59.81
Of course, today
that's hardly a novel concept
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and the idea has been
largely debunked since,
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but Ayn Rand
persisted in using it.
00:08:05.38\00:08:08.52
Here's what she
said on the same subject.
00:08:08.52\00:08:10.19
She wrote, "Chronologically,
man's consciousness
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develops in three stages:
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the stage of sensations,
the perceptual, the conceptual,
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epistemologically, the
base of all man's knowledge
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is the perceptual stage.
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As far as can be ascertained,
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an infant's sensory experience
is undifferentiated chaos.
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Discriminated awareness begins
on the level of precepts."
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Now let me see if
I can translate that.
00:08:34.98\00:08:37.45
What she's saying
is that human beings
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acquire knowledge in
three distinct steps.
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First, you sense
things with your senses,
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which is how your
brain gathers data.
00:08:45.15\00:08:47.39
Then your brain goes
through the perceptual step
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where it perceives what
it's looking at or listening to.
00:08:49.69\00:08:53.56
Then it takes that information
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and sorts it into
different categories
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so you can think
about those things.
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That's the conceptual stage.
00:08:58.90\00:09:01.44
And it seems to
make some good sense,
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at least when
you first look at it,
00:09:02.94\00:09:05.61
but it does have a
few serious problems
00:09:05.61\00:09:07.78
and I'll be right
back to talk about those.
00:09:07.78\00:09:10.21
- [Narrator] Dragons,
beasts, cryptic statues.
00:09:11.88\00:09:16.18
Bible prophecy can be
incredibly vivid and confusing.
00:09:16.18\00:09:20.79
If you've ever read
Daniel or Revelation
00:09:20.79\00:09:22.96
and come away scratching
your head, you're not alone.
00:09:22.96\00:09:25.99
Our free Focus
on Prophecy Guides
00:09:25.99\00:09:28.36
are designed to help you unlock
the mysteries of the Bible
00:09:28.36\00:09:31.13
and deepen your understanding
of God's plan for you
00:09:31.13\00:09:34.14
and our world.
00:09:34.14\00:09:35.34
Study online or
request them by mail
00:09:35.34\00:09:37.67
and start bringing
prophecy into focus today.
00:09:37.67\00:09:40.58
- Epistemology is a $10 word
for the philosophy of knowing,
00:09:42.01\00:09:45.45
and it's really the
basis of all other philosophy.
00:09:45.45\00:09:48.42
How can you know that
you know things for sure?
00:09:48.42\00:09:51.95
How can we be sure that
our perception of the world
00:09:53.36\00:09:55.59
is accurate?
00:09:55.59\00:09:56.56
If you can't solve that problem,
00:09:56.56\00:09:58.09
you run the risk of
having everything else
00:09:58.09\00:10:00.16
you think about
being completely wrong.
00:10:00.16\00:10:02.70
For example, if you
try to describe a moral
00:10:02.70\00:10:05.83
and ethical lifestyle,
00:10:05.83\00:10:07.10
you're going to
get it completely wrong
00:10:07.10\00:10:08.57
if you can't actually
know anything for sure.
00:10:08.57\00:10:11.34
For most people,
murder appears to be wrong.
00:10:11.34\00:10:14.01
We all seem to know that it is.
00:10:14.01\00:10:16.08
How do you know that?
00:10:16.08\00:10:17.75
How do you know that
life is actually valuable?
00:10:17.75\00:10:19.75
That there's
something sacred about it?
00:10:19.75\00:10:21.88
How can you know that violating
someone else's right to life
00:10:21.88\00:10:25.19
is actually wrong?
00:10:25.19\00:10:27.09
What standard are
you going to apply?
00:10:27.09\00:10:29.19
And how do you know
it's the right standard?
00:10:29.19\00:10:31.33
This is a really sticky problem.
00:10:31.33\00:10:34.66
Here's another question.
00:10:34.66\00:10:36.16
How do you know you're
not alone in the universe?
00:10:36.16\00:10:38.27
I mean, you think
you see other people,
00:10:38.27\00:10:40.54
you think you're
interacting with real people,
00:10:40.54\00:10:42.77
just like you, but
how do you know that?
00:10:42.77\00:10:45.01
How do you know
that other people feel
00:10:45.01\00:10:46.68
and experience the universe
the same way that you do?
00:10:46.68\00:10:49.64
This is a really
important question.
00:10:50.81\00:10:52.48
And if you can't solve
the problem of knowing,
00:10:52.48\00:10:54.42
there's nothing
else you can study,
00:10:54.42\00:10:56.08
at least not with certainty.
00:10:56.08\00:10:58.19
This is perhaps the
biggest problem in philosophy.
00:10:58.19\00:11:01.36
And like any
self-proclaimed philosopher,
00:11:01.36\00:11:04.56
Ayn Rand took a
stab at this question.
00:11:04.56\00:11:07.10
She agreed with John Locke
00:11:07.10\00:11:08.50
and she said
that you know nothing
00:11:08.50\00:11:10.77
the day you're
born and your senses
00:11:10.77\00:11:12.20
begin to gather
information about the world.
00:11:12.20\00:11:14.70
Then your brain starts to
sort through the information
00:11:14.70\00:11:17.54
and it gives you the
ability to contemplate it,
00:11:17.54\00:11:20.38
think about it.
00:11:20.38\00:11:21.88
It also gives you the ability
00:11:21.88\00:11:23.28
to think about your
own place in the universe
00:11:23.28\00:11:25.28
and even
contemplate the meaning of life.
00:11:25.28\00:11:28.22
But there's a huge
gap in her thinking.
00:11:28.22\00:11:30.95
I mean, who in the world told
your brain to do these things
00:11:30.95\00:11:34.42
and why does it do it?
00:11:34.42\00:11:36.09
And how do you know your
brain's doing a good job?
00:11:36.09\00:11:38.79
We all know that our senses
are notoriously unreliable.
00:11:38.79\00:11:42.36
I mean, ask any lawyer or judge
00:11:42.36\00:11:44.67
what happens during a
trial and you'll see it.
00:11:44.67\00:11:47.14
No two witnesses
ever see the same thing
00:11:47.14\00:11:50.21
exactly the same way.
00:11:50.21\00:11:51.61
And how many times have
you thought you saw something,
00:11:53.07\00:11:55.18
maybe off in
your peripheral vision
00:11:55.18\00:11:56.98
only to find out
later you were wrong?
00:11:56.98\00:11:59.95
Most of us are
prone to seeing things
00:11:59.95\00:12:01.88
that aren't really there
00:12:01.88\00:12:03.52
and we're especially prone
to missing stuff that is there.
00:12:03.52\00:12:07.19
I mean, think about all the
time somebody suddenly says,
00:12:07.19\00:12:10.39
Hey, did you hear that?
00:12:10.39\00:12:11.86
And you didn't, everybody
else heard it, but you didn't.
00:12:11.86\00:12:15.86
In his rather
detailed critique of Ayn Rand,
00:12:15.86\00:12:18.27
author John Robbins
points out some of the flaws
00:12:18.27\00:12:21.20
in her epistemology, the
study of how you know things.
00:12:21.20\00:12:24.47
And I'm going to admit,
00:12:24.47\00:12:25.87
I'm pretty
indebted to Mr. Robbins
00:12:25.87\00:12:27.58
for a few of the things
we're going to explore today.
00:12:27.58\00:12:30.31
Here's what he says.
00:12:30.31\00:12:32.65
"Unfortunately for this schema,"
00:12:32.65\00:12:34.45
that's Ayn
Rand's way of thinking,
00:12:34.45\00:12:36.35
"Rand failed to explain any
of these stages satisfactorily.
00:12:36.35\00:12:40.26
She claimed that at
the conceptual level,
00:12:40.26\00:12:42.42
the unit is not an arbitrary
creation of consciousness,
00:12:42.42\00:12:46.63
but she did not make the same
assertion about the identity.
00:12:46.63\00:12:50.07
She did not offer a solution
00:12:50.07\00:12:51.40
to the problem of individuation,
00:12:51.40\00:12:53.17
which is a problem
of the first importance
00:12:53.17\00:12:55.07
to the empiricist.
00:12:55.07\00:12:57.27
By what data furnished
by undifferentiated chaos
00:12:57.27\00:13:01.44
does the mind
identify individuals?"
00:13:01.44\00:13:03.45
What he's pointing
out really is this,
00:13:04.61\00:13:06.55
there are a lot of assumptions
00:13:06.55\00:13:08.55
in Ayn Rand's way of thinking.
00:13:08.55\00:13:11.39
If the mind is a blank slate
00:13:11.39\00:13:12.95
the day you're born
and there's nothing in it,
00:13:12.95\00:13:15.06
how does it know how to start
sorting out the information
00:13:15.06\00:13:18.63
your eyes and ears receive?
00:13:18.63\00:13:20.73
What standard is
your brain going to apply
00:13:20.73\00:13:23.16
when it differentiates
between light and dark
00:13:23.16\00:13:25.90
or red and yellow,
00:13:25.90\00:13:27.50
and how in the world
does your brain even know
00:13:27.50\00:13:29.54
how to do these things?
00:13:29.54\00:13:31.74
This is really a
problem of consciousness,
00:13:31.74\00:13:33.78
which is still one
of the biggest problems
00:13:33.78\00:13:36.31
that scientists
and philosophers face.
00:13:36.31\00:13:39.21
How did human beings become
self-aware and self-reflective?
00:13:39.21\00:13:43.12
How do our brains know how
the world should be perceived?
00:13:43.12\00:13:46.65
And what criteria
are you going to use
00:13:46.65\00:13:49.29
to interpret the data
that your senses feed you?
00:13:49.29\00:13:52.93
Ayn Rand talked a lot
about using pure reason
00:13:52.93\00:13:56.00
to understand the world,
00:13:56.00\00:13:57.50
which is why her system of
belief is called objectivism.
00:13:57.50\00:14:01.47
And to a small extent, I
can probably agree with her.
00:14:01.47\00:14:05.24
I do think you can
objectively assess the world
00:14:05.24\00:14:09.01
and apply reason to it,
00:14:09.01\00:14:10.98
but then how do you assess
your own reasoning skills?
00:14:10.98\00:14:13.55
How do you know
you're any good at this?
00:14:13.55\00:14:16.02
If human reason was a
purely objective thing,
00:14:16.02\00:14:18.69
then why do
talented reasoning people
00:14:18.69\00:14:21.19
come to such wildly
different conclusions
00:14:21.19\00:14:23.39
from each other?
00:14:23.39\00:14:24.49
On the one hand,
00:14:24.49\00:14:25.93
you've got Soviet
planners in the 20th century
00:14:25.93\00:14:28.43
who attempted to
build a rational society
00:14:28.43\00:14:30.80
based on empirical
data and central planning.
00:14:30.80\00:14:33.77
Then on the other hand,
00:14:33.77\00:14:35.27
you've got philosophers
of liberty like John Locke,
00:14:35.27\00:14:37.67
who pointed the Western
world in a different direction.
00:14:37.67\00:14:41.51
Which one of them's right?
00:14:41.51\00:14:42.98
Whose rationality do you use?
00:14:42.98\00:14:45.58
Pick up any two books
written by any two philosophers
00:14:45.58\00:14:48.32
and you get
different conclusions,
00:14:48.32\00:14:50.62
but everybody used their reason
to get to those conclusions.
00:14:50.62\00:14:55.16
So obviously, unaided
human reason has some limits.
00:14:55.16\00:14:58.66
And if you want to use
your reasoning skills perfectly,
00:14:58.66\00:15:02.26
you'd have to be on mission.
00:15:02.26\00:15:03.87
You literally
have to know everything
00:15:03.87\00:15:06.30
and anticipate
every possible outcome
00:15:06.30\00:15:09.00
and no human being can do this.
00:15:09.00\00:15:11.87
And the fact that two
different reasonable people
00:15:11.87\00:15:14.14
can look at the same
object or incident or subject
00:15:14.14\00:15:17.61
and see two different things,
00:15:17.61\00:15:19.98
that should tell us something
00:15:19.98\00:15:21.48
about the limits of
human perception and reason.
00:15:21.48\00:15:25.12
Personally, I think
your senses and your capacity
00:15:26.32\00:15:28.79
for reason are mostly reliable.
00:15:28.79\00:15:31.29
They're not perfect,
00:15:31.29\00:15:32.56
but you can mostly
count on it most of the time.
00:15:32.56\00:15:35.50
And the only way you
can know this for sure
00:15:35.50\00:15:38.13
is to have some
kind of external standard
00:15:38.13\00:15:41.74
by which you can
judge your conclusions.
00:15:41.74\00:15:44.07
For example, I can't tell
you that my vision is accurate
00:15:44.07\00:15:47.21
just because I think it is.
00:15:47.21\00:15:48.94
That's like a
drunk man insisting
00:15:48.94\00:15:50.55
that he's fine to drive,
00:15:50.55\00:15:51.68
something that
happens all the time,
00:15:51.68\00:15:54.02
but it happens because
his senses are impaired
00:15:54.02\00:15:57.35
and he doesn't
know he's impaired.
00:15:57.35\00:15:59.62
So how do I know I'm
not impaired all the time?
00:15:59.62\00:16:02.99
To figure that out,
00:16:02.99\00:16:04.23
I need a perfect
external standard.
00:16:04.23\00:16:07.60
And the biblical worldview
puts that objective standard
00:16:07.60\00:16:11.30
outside of me and
places it with God.
00:16:11.30\00:16:14.87
I mean, I can sense
that murder is wrong
00:16:14.87\00:16:17.21
and I can develop a
deep hatred for murder.
00:16:17.21\00:16:19.87
But the only way I can know
for sure that murder is wrong
00:16:19.87\00:16:22.38
is to have an
external objective standard
00:16:22.38\00:16:24.85
that I can
compare my thinking to.
00:16:24.85\00:16:27.55
The reason I trust my senses
00:16:27.55\00:16:30.39
is because the one who
gave me the gift of vision
00:16:30.39\00:16:33.15
and the gift of hearing tells me
00:16:33.15\00:16:35.19
I can use my senses
to gather actual wisdom.
00:16:35.19\00:16:38.86
Here's how the book
of Proverbs puts it.
00:16:38.86\00:16:41.50
It says, "My son,
00:16:41.50\00:16:43.87
if you receive my words,
00:16:43.87\00:16:45.10
and treasure my
commands within you,
00:16:45.10\00:16:46.77
so that you
incline your ear to wisdom,
00:16:46.77\00:16:49.24
and apply your
heart to understanding,"
00:16:49.24\00:16:52.47
you see it, the Bible insists
you really can know things.
00:16:52.47\00:16:55.64
And it tells us
that we can reliably
00:16:55.64\00:16:57.65
use our sense of
hearing to accumulate wisdom
00:16:57.65\00:17:01.68
and understanding.
00:17:01.68\00:17:03.22
Proverbs 18 says it again.
00:17:03.22\00:17:06.49
"The heart of the
prudent acquires knowledge
00:17:06.49\00:17:09.19
and the ear of the
wise seeks knowledge."
00:17:09.19\00:17:12.96
Now, of course,
00:17:12.96\00:17:14.56
you still have to practice
the art of discrimination
00:17:14.56\00:17:17.10
because not everything
you perceive with your senses
00:17:17.10\00:17:19.83
is going to be true.
00:17:19.83\00:17:21.40
There are people who lie to you
00:17:21.40\00:17:23.51
and systems of belief
out there that make no sense.
00:17:23.51\00:17:26.88
So just the fact that
you absorb some information
00:17:26.88\00:17:29.28
doesn't mean you really
know something valuable.
00:17:29.28\00:17:31.61
You can't actually call
it wisdom, not by yourself.
00:17:31.61\00:17:35.65
All right, I got to
take another short break
00:17:35.65\00:17:37.35
and then I'll be right back
00:17:37.35\00:17:38.52
to share one
really vivid example
00:17:38.52\00:17:40.66
where Ayn Rand's faith
in her own reason and senses
00:17:40.66\00:17:44.06
really fell apart one day.
00:17:44.06\00:17:45.83
- [Narrator] Here at
the Voice of Prophecy,
00:17:47.40\00:17:48.83
we're committed to
creating top quality programming
00:17:48.83\00:17:51.33
for the whole family,
00:17:51.33\00:17:52.80
like our audio adventure
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00:17:52.80\00:17:55.97
Discovery Mountain
is a Bible-based program
00:17:55.97\00:17:58.44
for kids of all
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00:17:58.44\00:18:00.81
Your family will enjoy
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00:18:00.81\00:18:03.55
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With 24 seasonal
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and fresh content every week,
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00:18:11.05\00:18:14.26
- Barbara Brandon
had a lot of reasons
00:18:17.43\00:18:19.73
to really hate Ayn Rand,
00:18:19.73\00:18:21.53
not the least of
which was the fact
00:18:21.53\00:18:23.37
that Ayn Rand and
her husband Nathaniel
00:18:23.37\00:18:24.97
were openly having an
affair with each other.
00:18:24.97\00:18:28.67
In fact, Ayn Rand and Nathaniel
openly told their spouses
00:18:28.67\00:18:32.14
they intended to cheat.
00:18:32.14\00:18:33.17
So I guess you've got to take
00:18:33.17\00:18:35.14
what Barbara wrote about
Ayn Rand with a grain of salt,
00:18:35.14\00:18:37.51
because she
definitely had an ax to grind,
00:18:37.51\00:18:40.62
but still there's
one incident she reports
00:18:40.62\00:18:43.25
that blows apart
Ayn Rand's belief
00:18:43.25\00:18:45.45
that her reason
coupled with her senses
00:18:45.45\00:18:47.62
was all she needed to
accurately perceive the world.
00:18:47.62\00:18:51.23
She talks about a
surgical procedure
00:18:51.23\00:18:53.29
that Ayn Rand had to endure.
00:18:53.29\00:18:56.26
And when Ayn Rand woke up,
00:18:56.26\00:18:57.73
she found herself
in excruciating pain.
00:18:57.73\00:19:00.07
Here's the way Barbara
describes what happened.
00:19:00.07\00:19:02.37
"One day, after Ayn had received
00:19:03.37\00:19:05.24
a heavy dose of pain medication,
00:19:05.24\00:19:06.74
she said that she could
see the branches of a tree
00:19:06.74\00:19:09.61
waving across the window pane.
00:19:09.61\00:19:12.38
'How could it reach so high
00:19:12.38\00:19:13.62
when she was on the
ninth floor,' she asked,
00:19:13.62\00:19:15.68
disturbed by this mystery.
00:19:15.68\00:19:17.82
Joan realized she
was seeing a reflection
00:19:17.82\00:19:19.89
of the pole holding
her intravenous equipment.
00:19:19.89\00:19:23.06
She explained it to Ayn,
adding that it was not uncommon
00:19:23.06\00:19:25.86
to have mild
hallucinatory experiences
00:19:25.86\00:19:28.30
under heavy medication.
00:19:28.30\00:19:30.13
Ayn Rand refused to believe it.
00:19:30.13\00:19:32.03
She continued to
insist that it was a tree.
00:19:32.03\00:19:34.37
She knew it was a tree.
00:19:34.37\00:19:36.47
A number of months
later, Joan recalled,
00:19:36.47\00:19:38.31
she called me in to
discuss what she said
00:19:38.31\00:19:40.58
was a serious matter.
00:19:40.58\00:19:41.71
When I arrived,
00:19:41.71\00:19:42.98
she shouted at me
over the issue of the tree.
00:19:42.98\00:19:45.91
'How could I have tried
to make her doubt her mind,'
00:19:45.91\00:19:47.48
she demanded.
00:19:47.48\00:19:48.42
'How could I have attempted
00:19:48.42\00:19:49.45
to undermine her rationality?'"
00:19:49.45\00:19:52.85
Ayn Rand was so
devoted to the idea
00:19:52.85\00:19:54.52
that you and I
are perfectly rational
00:19:54.52\00:19:56.12
with perfectly reliable brains
00:19:56.12\00:19:58.09
and perfectly reliable sentences
00:19:58.09\00:20:00.46
that she actually
refused to accept the fact
00:20:00.46\00:20:02.43
that she'd been hallucinating.
00:20:02.43\00:20:04.33
And from what I
can tell this episode
00:20:04.33\00:20:06.57
was part of her
descent into paranoia
00:20:06.57\00:20:09.24
and what I consider to
be at least partial madness.
00:20:09.24\00:20:13.31
But there you have it.
00:20:13.31\00:20:14.81
There clearly are cases where
your senses are not reliable
00:20:14.81\00:20:17.98
and your
interpretation of the world
00:20:17.98\00:20:19.85
also becomes unreliable.
00:20:19.85\00:20:22.02
And in that case, you
need an external witness,
00:20:22.02\00:20:24.65
an external baseline
to help you make sure
00:20:24.65\00:20:27.46
you've got things right.
00:20:27.46\00:20:29.76
In the Bible's book of Psalms,
00:20:29.76\00:20:31.59
there's an interesting passage
00:20:31.59\00:20:33.06
where the author
suggests that morally speaking,
00:20:33.06\00:20:35.40
human beings have a massive
tendency to get things wrong.
00:20:35.40\00:20:39.67
The author is complaining
about people who live wicked,
00:20:39.67\00:20:42.54
immoral lives,
00:20:42.54\00:20:43.94
and he suggests
that these people
00:20:43.94\00:20:45.47
are incapable of accurately
assessing their own morality.
00:20:45.47\00:20:49.68
Here's what he says
beginning in Psalm 94:4.
00:20:49.68\00:20:53.82
"They utter speech
and speak insolent things;
00:20:53.82\00:20:56.69
all the workers of
iniquity boast in themselves.
00:20:56.69\00:20:59.75
They break in
pieces your people, O Lord,
00:20:59.75\00:21:01.89
and afflict your heritage.
00:21:01.89\00:21:03.63
They slay the
widow and the stranger,
00:21:03.63\00:21:05.69
and murder the fatherless.
00:21:05.69\00:21:06.96
Yet they say,
'The Lord does not see,
00:21:06.96\00:21:09.96
nor does the God
of Jacob understand.'"
00:21:09.96\00:21:12.53
These people
probably know at some level
00:21:13.67\00:21:15.74
they're doing the wrong thing,
00:21:15.74\00:21:17.31
but they refuse to
believe that anybody's
00:21:17.31\00:21:19.51
ever going to
hold them accountable.
00:21:19.51\00:21:20.84
That's why they say
the Lord does not see.
00:21:20.84\00:21:24.05
It's because they're living
00:21:24.05\00:21:25.28
as if there is no God
and no external standard
00:21:25.28\00:21:28.02
to which they're going
to be held accountable.
00:21:28.02\00:21:30.49
Now listen to
the next few lines.
00:21:30.49\00:21:32.52
It continues.
00:21:32.52\00:21:34.19
"Understand, you
senseless among the people,
00:21:34.19\00:21:36.83
and you fools,
00:21:36.83\00:21:37.99
when will you be wise?
00:21:37.99\00:21:39.59
He who planted the
ear, shall he not hear?
00:21:39.59\00:21:42.53
He who formed the
eye, shall he not see?
00:21:42.53\00:21:45.27
He who instructs the
nations, shall he not correct,
00:21:45.27\00:21:47.94
he who teaches man knowledge?
00:21:47.94\00:21:50.17
The Lord knows
the thoughts of man,
00:21:50.17\00:21:52.64
that they are futile."
00:21:52.64\00:21:53.74
What the Psalmist is saying
00:21:55.04\00:21:56.68
is that the one who made
our senses in the first place
00:21:56.68\00:21:59.61
has a much better understanding
of the universe than we do.
00:21:59.61\00:22:03.59
By comparison to his thoughts,
00:22:03.59\00:22:06.29
our thoughts are futile.
00:22:06.29\00:22:08.02
Our senses lead us astray
00:22:08.02\00:22:09.99
and the fallen or
broken nature of humanity
00:22:09.99\00:22:12.49
leads us to
misinterpret the evidence
00:22:12.49\00:22:15.30
that our senses collect.
00:22:15.30\00:22:17.37
Because of pride,
00:22:17.37\00:22:18.63
something that Ayn
Rand, frankly, had in spades,
00:22:18.63\00:22:21.74
our logic convinces us
that almost everything we do
00:22:21.74\00:22:25.34
is right or justified.
00:22:25.34\00:22:27.18
We might see the
suffering we cause other people,
00:22:27.18\00:22:29.84
we might see the damage we
cause to the world around us,
00:22:29.84\00:22:33.28
but our brains have this
way of reinterpreting it all
00:22:33.28\00:22:37.02
and giving us an entirely wrong,
00:22:37.02\00:22:39.12
entirely selfish perspective.
00:22:39.12\00:22:42.06
The Psalm continues like this.
00:22:42.06\00:22:43.63
Here comes the
important part down in verse 12.
00:22:43.63\00:22:47.10
"Blessed is the man
whom you instruct, O Lord,
00:22:47.10\00:22:50.43
and teach out of your law."
00:22:50.43\00:22:53.60
How does a rational
human being prevent sliding
00:22:53.60\00:22:56.24
into a foolish delusion?
00:22:56.24\00:22:58.41
By comparing his or her thoughts
00:22:58.41\00:23:00.31
against the thoughts of the one
00:23:00.31\00:23:01.54
who created the human
mind in the first place.
00:23:01.54\00:23:04.61
We do have the ability to
perceive the world accurately
00:23:04.61\00:23:08.18
and we do have the
ability to accumulate wisdom
00:23:08.18\00:23:11.42
and real understanding,
00:23:11.42\00:23:13.72
but only when we
cross reference our findings
00:23:13.72\00:23:17.43
with the ideas that come
00:23:17.43\00:23:18.83
from the only truly
objective mind in the universe.
00:23:18.83\00:23:22.00
Okay, time for
another short break
00:23:22.00\00:23:23.77
so I can go and
check my assumptions
00:23:23.77\00:23:25.57
against a more
enlightened standard
00:23:25.57\00:23:27.44
and then I'll be right back.
00:23:27.44\00:23:28.87
- [Narrator] Life
can throw a lot at us.
00:23:30.64\00:23:33.07
Sometimes we don't
have all the answers,
00:23:33.07\00:23:36.08
but that's where
the Bible comes in.
00:23:36.08\00:23:38.88
It's our guide to a
more fulfilling life.
00:23:38.88\00:23:41.98
Here at the Voice of Prophecy,
00:23:41.98\00:23:43.52
we've created the
Discover Bible Guides
00:23:43.52\00:23:45.65
to be your guide to the Bible.
00:23:45.65\00:23:47.29
They're designed to be simple,
00:23:47.29\00:23:48.79
easy to use and provide answers
00:23:48.79\00:23:50.76
to many of life's
toughest questions.
00:23:50.76\00:23:52.76
And they're absolutely free.
00:23:52.76\00:23:54.76
So jump online now,
00:23:54.76\00:23:56.30
or give us a call and
start your journey of discovery.
00:23:56.30\00:23:59.33
- Well, look at that,
I'm out of time again,
00:24:00.60\00:24:02.40
and again, I've
barely scratched the surface.
00:24:02.40\00:24:05.97
And I know that because
I'm saying these things here
00:24:05.97\00:24:08.74
in the United States,
00:24:08.74\00:24:10.18
a place that has been
heavily influenced by Ayn Rand,
00:24:10.18\00:24:12.85
I'm probably going
to get a few letters
00:24:12.85\00:24:14.65
telling me why I'm wrong.
00:24:14.65\00:24:15.92
And I'm okay with that.
00:24:15.92\00:24:17.42
Just as long as you
don't expect me to write back
00:24:17.42\00:24:19.15
because I just can't.
00:24:19.15\00:24:20.92
Personally, I do think she
was right about a few things,
00:24:20.92\00:24:24.16
but again, for
all the wrong reasons.
00:24:24.16\00:24:26.49
The Bible, for example,
does value individuality
00:24:26.49\00:24:29.70
and it does not
give other human beings
00:24:29.70\00:24:31.60
a license to
commandeer your life.
00:24:31.60\00:24:33.77
So in that regard,
00:24:33.77\00:24:34.97
she does agree with
the biblical worldview.
00:24:34.97\00:24:37.54
But I guess I need
to push back on the idea
00:24:37.54\00:24:39.44
that human beings can
be completely objective
00:24:39.44\00:24:41.98
and rational all by themselves.
00:24:41.98\00:24:44.58
If that was true,
00:24:44.58\00:24:46.08
I wouldn't have a
library with thousands of books
00:24:46.08\00:24:48.48
written by rational
well-educated people
00:24:48.48\00:24:50.45
who all
disagree with each other.
00:24:50.45\00:24:52.75
The more honest
philosophers openly admit
00:24:52.75\00:24:55.22
that real
knowledge is hard to find
00:24:55.22\00:24:56.99
when you are the standard
00:24:56.99\00:24:58.73
by which you judge reality.
00:24:58.73\00:25:00.70
And honest philosophers admit
00:25:00.70\00:25:02.36
that the question of how
we can know things for sure
00:25:02.36\00:25:04.73
has never really been solved.
00:25:04.73\00:25:08.07
For some philosophers, this
was a really torturous question
00:25:08.07\00:25:11.54
because not being able
to know things for sure
00:25:11.54\00:25:13.68
is an awful way to live,
00:25:13.68\00:25:15.74
especially if you're
prone to overthinking like I am.
00:25:15.74\00:25:18.38
This state of uncertainty
is something that Paul
00:25:19.78\00:25:21.58
actually described in a letter
to Timothy 2000 years ago,
00:25:21.58\00:25:25.69
he described
the way human beings
00:25:25.69\00:25:27.22
were going to be living
in the very distant future.
00:25:27.22\00:25:29.52
And he gets it remarkably right.
00:25:29.52\00:25:31.69
He says, "But know
this, that in the last days,
00:25:31.69\00:25:34.86
perilous times will come.
00:25:34.86\00:25:36.63
For men will be lovers of
themselves, lovers of money.
00:25:36.63\00:25:39.17
Boasters, proud, blasphemers,
disobedient to parents,
00:25:39.17\00:25:42.74
unthankful, unholy, unloving,
unforgiving, slanderers,
00:25:42.74\00:25:46.57
without self-control,
00:25:46.57\00:25:48.14
brutal, despisers of good,
00:25:48.14\00:25:49.61
traitors, headstrong,
haughty, lovers of pleasure,
00:25:49.61\00:25:52.55
rather than lovers of God,
having a form of godliness,
00:25:52.55\00:25:55.48
but denying its power.
00:25:55.48\00:25:56.65
From such people turn away."
00:25:56.65\00:25:59.25
This what he's
describing is a generation
00:26:00.62\00:26:03.53
that lives completely for self,
00:26:03.53\00:26:05.23
they're essentially
hedonists living for pleasure,
00:26:05.23\00:26:08.86
which is where some of
the disciples of Ayn Rand
00:26:08.86\00:26:11.30
seem to end up.
00:26:11.30\00:26:13.54
Then Paul says
this in verse seven,
00:26:13.54\00:26:15.37
which I find really interesting.
00:26:15.37\00:26:16.60
He says, "These
people are always learning
00:26:16.60\00:26:19.94
and never able to come to
the knowledge of the truth."
00:26:19.94\00:26:24.51
That's a pretty good description
of unaided human reason.
00:26:24.51\00:26:27.92
Over the last
couple of centuries,
00:26:27.92\00:26:29.88
philosophers seem to
have come to the conclusion
00:26:29.88\00:26:32.42
that there is very
little in this universe
00:26:32.42\00:26:35.16
that you and I
can know for sure.
00:26:35.16\00:26:37.39
And these are very intelligent
well-educated people,
00:26:37.39\00:26:42.33
but they're always
learning and never able
00:26:42.33\00:26:45.03
to come to a
knowledge of the truth.
00:26:45.03\00:26:48.17
But what if there is truth?
00:26:48.17\00:26:50.41
What if there is
somewhere solid to stand?
00:26:50.41\00:26:52.91
What if the claims of this
book, the Bible really are true?
00:26:52.91\00:26:57.88
What if there is an
external objective standard
00:26:57.88\00:27:00.85
by which you can
compare your own observations
00:27:00.85\00:27:03.25
and know whether or not you're
even close to being right?
00:27:03.25\00:27:07.26
What if you could
know things for sure?
00:27:07.26\00:27:10.93
The Bible is a book
00:27:10.93\00:27:12.13
that most of you
have easy access to it,
00:27:12.13\00:27:14.00
yet it's probably the most
neglected book in the world.
00:27:14.00\00:27:17.70
I mean, you might
still disagree with me
00:27:17.70\00:27:19.67
when you read the Bible,
00:27:19.67\00:27:20.90
but at least you ought
to be giving it a chance
00:27:20.90\00:27:23.34
because I'm guessing
that when you read it,
00:27:23.34\00:27:26.44
you're going to get the sense
00:27:26.44\00:27:27.54
that there is
something real out there
00:27:27.54\00:27:29.51
and there's
something real in here.
00:27:29.51\00:27:31.58
I mean, yes, when you read it,
00:27:31.58\00:27:33.52
some of the claims in here
are going to make you squirm,
00:27:33.52\00:27:36.05
but then you should
probably ask yourself
00:27:36.05\00:27:37.59
why you're squirming.
00:27:37.59\00:27:39.62
And if you want,
00:27:39.62\00:27:40.86
we'll help you get
free study materials
00:27:40.86\00:27:42.29
to get you started
in reading this book,
00:27:42.29\00:27:44.49
just go to Biblestudies.com.
00:27:44.49\00:27:47.20
Look, I've read
the lights of Ayn Rand,
00:27:47.20\00:27:49.30
and I could admit
where she's right.
00:27:49.30\00:27:50.77
Even though it's
a school of thought,
00:27:50.77\00:27:52.00
I can no longer accept.
00:27:52.00\00:27:53.87
And I guess today I'm
daring you to do the same thing
00:27:53.87\00:27:56.47
with the Bible.
00:27:56.47\00:27:57.64
Read it.
00:27:57.64\00:27:58.84
You might just
find an authentic way
00:27:58.84\00:28:00.68
to experience
the world around you.
00:28:00.68\00:28:02.98
I'm Shawn Boonstra,
thanks for watching.
00:28:02.98\00:28:05.38
[light stringy music]
00:28:06.25\00:28:09.42