- Today, we're
gonna take a bit of a look
00:00:01.10\00:00:02.33
at one of
America's greatest thinkers.
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And because the
guy was so prolific,
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I'm gonna pick and
choose from thousands of pages
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because I think he was
getting really, really close
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to solving one of
the biggest questions
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human beings have ever asked.
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[gentle country music]
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The biggest
problem in the universe
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is the question of who we are.
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Now, admittedly, there seemed
to be more urgent problems,
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like solving world
hunger or achieving world peace.
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And if you happen to be starving
or living in a war zone,
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well, obviously,
those kinds of problems
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would become your priority.
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But let's take a page
from Abraham Maslow for just a
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moment, and assume that
your basic physiological needs
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are already being met.
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You're properly nourished
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and your physical
safety is guaranteed.
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What becomes your next priority?
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Well, according to Maslow,
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you need to be loved
and feel like you belong,
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and then you need a
degree of self-esteem,
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and then you need something
called self-actualization.
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You need to find meaning
and purpose for your existence,
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but you're not gonna find that
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unless you answer
the one big question
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that everybody has to
deal with sooner or later,
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and that's, who am I?
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I mean here you are, a
self-aware, contemplative
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person, an individual who
has a sense of personal identity
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that somehow stays constant
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all the way
through your entire life.
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But how does that happen?
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Back in the 19th century,
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the practice of
science and philosophy
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suddenly threw up a
little bit of a roadblock.
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Up to that time, we
managed to convince ourselves
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that human beings can understand
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the essential
nature of the universe
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simply by using our
capacity for reason.
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We used to think that our
reasoning had to be informed
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by some kind of
reliable external checkpoint.
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And once upon a
time, that was God.
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But then sometime
after Thomas Aquinas,
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who tried to use raw
logic to prove God's existence,
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we started to think that
our reason was perfectly good
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without God's help.
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We could just apply
it completely unaided.
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So, what we did was
start to think of the universe
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as a machine, and it was a
model that worked pretty well
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because there does
appear to be a logic and order
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behind the cosmos.
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Mathematical equations
can make reliable predictions,
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like when the orbit of
a planet will be complete
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or when the next
eclipse is gonna take place.
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We started to think of
the universe as a clock.
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And in our scientific thinking,
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we kind of left out
some very human phenomena,
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things like love or
passion or personality
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because the universe
was now just a matter
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of mechanical cause and effect.
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And, of course, cause and
effect is a very useful concept.
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If you wanna understand
why something happened,
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go back and study
what came before that
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and then look at what
came before that and so on.
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If you go back far enough,
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the thinking goes you can
pretty much explain anything
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as long as you can
get to the very beginning,
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but where that
suddenly fell apart
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was when it came to the
existence of human beings.
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Trying to explain
who or what we are
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in terms of mere
physical cause and effect
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let us to some
pretty empty conclusions.
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If you and I really are just
the product of time and chance,
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then our lives
don't mean anything.
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And if there's one thing
all of us crave as human beings,
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it's meaning.
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Then, we got Charles Darwin,
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bolstered by
people like Thomas Huxley,
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who popularized this notion
of survival of the fittest.
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The wonder of
life was now explained
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as just another science.
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They said organisms
mutate, they change.
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And if they happen
to develop a new trait
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that makes survival easier,
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then that trait
begins to dominate.
00:04:04.81\00:04:07.14
Not to make it
seem too simplistic,
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but if your fins mutate and
they become wings, you can fly.
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And now your flightless cousins
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are more likely to
get eaten by the predator,
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which means it's far more likely
that you are going to live
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and produce a bunch of offspring
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who have the
same advantage as you.
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They've got wings.
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Now, in reality, it's
more complicated than that,
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but that's the basic idea.
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The rise of Darwin meant
that life could be understood
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without the need for a creator,
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but it also
created a big problem
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because the ideas
that bolster Darwinism
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actually seem to run contrary
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to the way that
human beings function.
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For centuries, we
convinced ourselves
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that human beings have agency.
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We have the ability to
make meaningful choices.
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And by making choices,
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you can alter the
course of your life.
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But if everything is really
just a case of cause and effect
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and you and I are the
product of a mindless,
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mechanistic universe,
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then everything we do is
just the mindless product
00:05:04.70\00:05:07.54
of something that
happened in the past.
00:05:07.54\00:05:10.01
Do you think you actually
decided to go to the beach
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today? No, no, you didn't.
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Everything that
happened in the distant past
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brought the whole
world to this moment
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and predetermined your actions,
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and it just
conspired to make you think
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you actually made a decision.
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This is a philosophy that
some people call determinism,
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or even fatalism,
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and it's basically the idea
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that nobody has a choice
about absolutely anything.
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All of us are just
being carried along
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by the mindless universe
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and the physical
principles that drive it.
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Your emotions, those are
nothing but chemical reactions.
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Your sense of pleasure
or pain, more chemicals.
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Your sense of identity,
well, that's an illusion
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because in a
fatalistic universe,
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there's no such
thing as free will.
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And I know it seems like
only philosophical eggheads
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living in ivory
towers would think this way,
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but you can actually see
this kind of belief system
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starting to play out in the
world of 21st century morality.
00:06:06.80\00:06:10.67
Let's consider what happens
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when somebody does
something really, really awful.
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Most of us are convinced
there must be some kind
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of underlying
reason for that behavior.
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And, of course,
some sometimes there is.
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I mean, sometimes
antisocial criminals
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develop their evil personalities
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because of the
way they were raised.
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But if you follow
that train of thought
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all the way to its
logical conclusion,
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you suddenly end up in a place
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where nobody is
actually responsible
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for just about anything.
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Everybody's just performing a
mindless role in the universe,
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like every other
meaningless object.
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The whole concept of
morality and moral choice,
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that becomes meaningless.
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This was a thought that drove
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a lot of later existential
philosophers completely nuts.
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People like Nietzsche or Camus.
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If you look at their writings,
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you'll find an awful lot of
despair, tortured questions,
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asking, what's
the purpose of living
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if I don't have any choice?
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If I'm just being
involuntarily carried along
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by this mindless
stream of cause and effect,
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then what's the
point of even trying
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to exist in a meaningful way?
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I mean, there's
nothing you could do
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to make your life
any better than is there.
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There's nothing you can
do to improve your character
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or change who you are.
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There's absolutely no point
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to being either
pessimistic or optimistic
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because nothing you do
is going to change anything.
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The script has already
been written by the universe
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with no edits allowed.
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This is the reason that
some of these famous thinkers
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actually toyed with
the concept of suicide.
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I mean, what's
the point of living
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if you can't actually
make choices and live?
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It's a philosophy that most
people find, well, depressing,
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and with good reason.
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It feels like it
runs completely contrary
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to essential human nature.
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If these determinists,
these fatalists are correct,
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then why do we seem to be wired
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to believe in something better?
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Why do we have passions
and hopes and desires and goals
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and relationships?
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What would be the
point to those things?
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It's a materialistic
view of the universe,
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and it's one that
atheists kinda like.
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But what they've discovered
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is that what
they're trying to sell to us
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isn't selling well.
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They insist that there's no God.
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I mean, they're with Nietzsche,
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who said, "God is dead,
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and there's only this cold
uncaring universe out there
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for us to live in."
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That's a pretty tough sell
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because there's
something in our makeup
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that fights against that idea.
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Which brings me to the
famous American philosopher,
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William James,
who really struggled
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with what these
fatalists were saying.
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He realized that a
purely material universe
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does not line up
with human experience.
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And, of course, it
probably didn't help
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that in his early childhood,
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his father was a
strict Calvinist,
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which is kind of a
Christian determinism,
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at least when it
comes to salvation.
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I was raised among Calvinists,
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and one of their key ideas
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is that God has
already determined your fate
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before you're born.
00:09:06.57\00:09:07.71
Some of us are going to heaven,
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some of us are going to hell.
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There's nothing
you can do about it.
00:09:11.18\00:09:12.91
Of course, you don't really
know which group you're in,
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which can lead to a
little bit of anxiety
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if you're prone to overthinking.
00:09:17.62\00:09:19.72
So, eventually, William
James' father rejected the ideas
00:09:19.72\00:09:23.53
that human beings
don't have free will,
00:09:23.53\00:09:25.16
and he dropped his
commitment to Calvinism
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in favor of a rather obscure,
esoteric Christian sect.
00:09:27.50\00:09:31.60
He actually
turned to the teachings
00:09:31.60\00:09:32.83
of the mystic Swedenborg,
00:09:32.83\00:09:34.44
which made him feel a lot better
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about his ability to
make meaningful decisions.
00:09:36.27\00:09:39.81
But right now, I've gotta
make a meaningful decision
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about the way I'm
gonna use my time.
00:09:41.91\00:09:43.71
So, I'm gonna take a quick break
00:09:43.71\00:09:45.81
and I'll be
right back after this.
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[gentle music]
00:09:47.25\00:09:50.62
- [Narrator 1] Here
at the Voice of Prophecy,
00:09:50.62\00:09:52.69
we're committed to
creating top-quality programming
00:09:52.69\00:09:55.26
for the whole family,
00:09:55.26\00:09:56.69
like our audio adventure
series, "Discovery Mountain."
00:09:56.69\00:09:59.79
"Discovery Mountain"
is a bible-based program
00:09:59.79\00:10:02.30
for kids of all
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Your family will enjoy
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With 24 seasonal
episodes every year
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and fresh content every week,
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there's always a new
adventure just on the horizon.
00:10:14.94\00:10:18.18
- The American
philosopher William James
00:10:20.95\00:10:23.02
became really
discouraged with the idea
00:10:23.02\00:10:25.05
that you and I
don't have the ability
00:10:25.05\00:10:26.69
to make actual choices.
00:10:26.69\00:10:28.72
The idea that the
universe is just a machine
00:10:28.72\00:10:31.13
and we're just part of that.
00:10:31.13\00:10:32.49
He originally trained
to be a medical doctor,
00:10:32.49\00:10:34.93
which eventually led him
00:10:34.93\00:10:36.20
into the field of
psychology at Harvard.
00:10:36.20\00:10:38.73
From there,
00:10:38.73\00:10:40.14
he became obsessed with
the study of metaphysics,
00:10:40.14\00:10:42.24
that branch of philosophy
00:10:42.24\00:10:43.94
that deals with the
nature of existence.
00:10:43.94\00:10:46.14
It's basically the study of
why is there something out there
00:10:46.14\00:10:49.38
instead of nothing.
00:10:49.38\00:10:51.61
So, James decided that maybe
the existentialist philosophers
00:10:51.61\00:10:55.02
in Europe were wrong.
00:10:55.02\00:10:56.89
Instead of getting
lost in the dismal swamp
00:10:56.89\00:10:59.02
of trying to prove
your own existence,
00:10:59.02\00:11:00.62
or the problematic question
of how you can know for sure
00:11:00.62\00:11:03.36
that your mind can be trusted,
00:11:03.36\00:11:05.56
"Maybe," he said,
00:11:05.56\00:11:06.96
"we should take a far
more pragmatic approach."
00:11:06.96\00:11:09.76
Maybe we should look at
the consequences of our ideas
00:11:09.76\00:11:11.77
when we act on them to
see if they match reality.
00:11:11.77\00:11:15.74
It's a little like
the scientific method.
00:11:15.74\00:11:17.64
He said, "You should go and
try your ideas in the real world
00:11:17.64\00:11:20.54
to see if they
still make sense."
00:11:20.54\00:11:23.55
That makes sense to me.
00:11:23.55\00:11:24.98
You see, at this point,
00:11:25.91\00:11:27.12
most philosophers
had been operating
00:11:27.12\00:11:29.12
under the assumption
that we're just machines
00:11:29.12\00:11:31.09
and that the human
psyche could be understood
00:11:31.09\00:11:33.22
through scientific experiment.
00:11:33.22\00:11:35.42
David Hume had suggested,
00:11:35.42\00:11:36.99
"There's actually no such
thing as cause and effect."
00:11:36.99\00:11:39.46
And what looks
like human consciousness
00:11:39.46\00:11:42.00
is really just the
product of your senses
00:11:42.00\00:11:43.70
picking up data,
00:11:43.70\00:11:45.23
like a slideshow being projected
on the back of your brain.
00:11:45.23\00:11:48.70
But William James
started talking about something
00:11:48.70\00:11:51.07
I promise you've heard
before, stream of consciousness.
00:11:51.07\00:11:54.91
It's a phrase we still use
00:11:54.91\00:11:56.68
when we're
writing or talking about
00:11:56.68\00:11:58.18
whatever pops into
our head at the moment.
00:11:58.18\00:12:00.72
But for Mr. James,
thoughts were very personal.
00:12:00.72\00:12:04.72
Take everything
else away from me,
00:12:04.72\00:12:06.82
I still have my thoughts
and they define who I am.
00:12:06.82\00:12:10.96
You can never get inside my
head and share all my thoughts,
00:12:10.96\00:12:14.00
and I can't do
that with you either.
00:12:14.00\00:12:16.43
Here's how he put it.
00:12:16.43\00:12:17.80
"Each mind keeps its
own thoughts to itself.
00:12:18.97\00:12:21.50
There is no giving or
bartering between them.
00:12:21.50\00:12:23.81
No thought ever comes
into direct sight of a thought
00:12:23.81\00:12:26.14
in another personal
consciousness than its own.
00:12:26.14\00:12:29.01
Absolute insulation, irreducible
pluralism, is the law."
00:12:29.01\00:12:33.88
Essentially, he's saying
that you are your thoughts,
00:12:33.88\00:12:36.25
and the moment you
stop having thoughts,
00:12:36.25\00:12:38.39
that probably means you're dead.
00:12:38.39\00:12:40.42
And in that regard,
00:12:40.42\00:12:41.82
he kind of agrees with
something the Bible says.
00:12:41.82\00:12:43.43
"Put not your trust in
princes," the Bible says,
00:12:43.43\00:12:46.80
"in a son of man in
whom there is no salvation.
00:12:46.80\00:12:49.96
When his breath departs,
he returns to the earth,
00:12:49.96\00:12:52.60
on that day his
very plans perish."
00:12:52.60\00:12:55.64
In other words, the
moment you stop thinking
00:12:55.64\00:12:58.47
is the moment your
conscious existence
00:12:58.47\00:13:00.14
actually comes to an end.
00:13:00.14\00:13:01.48
"And that conscious existence,
00:13:02.34\00:13:04.01
that conscious
mind," Mr. James said,
00:13:04.01\00:13:06.01
"is allowed to make choices."
00:13:06.01\00:13:08.02
The world around
you is very real,
00:13:08.02\00:13:09.98
and you can
ignore all the nonsense
00:13:09.98\00:13:12.15
coming from those
French existentialists.
00:13:12.15\00:13:14.79
You have the
ability to make real choices
00:13:14.79\00:13:17.93
about how you
interact with the world.
00:13:17.93\00:13:19.89
The way he put it, he said,
"You have the will to believe."
00:13:19.89\00:13:24.20
And I know that
sounds like common sense,
00:13:24.20\00:13:25.97
and it's hard to believe
00:13:25.97\00:13:27.30
that somebody
made a name for himself
00:13:27.30\00:13:28.97
by teaching
people you get to choose,
00:13:28.97\00:13:31.34
because for most of us, doesn't
that seem kind of obvious.
00:13:31.34\00:13:34.78
For William James though,
00:13:34.78\00:13:36.34
who was one of the founding
fathers of modern psychology,
00:13:36.34\00:13:39.41
that idea was kinda liberating.
00:13:39.41\00:13:41.38
The course of his
life he discovered was not
00:13:41.38\00:13:44.39
predetermined.
I mean, of course,
00:13:44.39\00:13:45.62
there's always
something we can't control,
00:13:45.62\00:13:47.26
and there are circumstances
that happen against our will,
00:13:47.26\00:13:50.49
but even then,
00:13:50.49\00:13:51.79
inside the confines of
what you can't control,
00:13:51.79\00:13:55.23
you can still control yourself.
00:13:55.23\00:13:57.23
And this is where
it gets interesting.
00:13:57.23\00:13:59.27
William James was convinced
00:13:59.27\00:14:00.70
there's got to be
something more to our existence
00:14:00.70\00:14:02.84
than just a
cold, empty universe.
00:14:02.84\00:14:05.34
He looked at the work of
some European psychologists,
00:14:05.34\00:14:08.28
and he said that
they were, I quote,
00:14:08.28\00:14:10.18
"Bent on studying the
elements of mental life,
00:14:10.18\00:14:13.11
dissecting them out
from the gross results
00:14:13.11\00:14:15.22
from which they are embedded,
00:14:15.22\00:14:16.79
as far as possible reducing
them to quantitative scales."
00:14:16.79\00:14:21.16
What's he saying?
00:14:21.16\00:14:22.52
Well, they were trying
to be strictly scientific.
00:14:22.52\00:14:24.23
about human nature.
00:14:24.23\00:14:25.43
"And that," said
James, "is ridiculous."
00:14:25.43\00:14:27.93
You can't reduce
what it means to be human
00:14:27.93\00:14:30.20
so that it fits in a spreadsheet
full of facts and figures.
00:14:30.20\00:14:34.04
I mean, yes, the
brain has chemistry,
00:14:34.04\00:14:36.47
and, yes, we are kind of
prisoners of our biology,
00:14:36.47\00:14:40.48
but to say that human
existence is just a machine,
00:14:40.48\00:14:43.78
it runs completely contrary
00:14:43.78\00:14:45.28
to the way we
actually experience this world.
00:14:45.28\00:14:47.82
It ignores our subjective
sense of being conscious.
00:14:47.82\00:14:51.25
Again, here's how
James described it.
00:14:51.25\00:14:53.79
"The continuous flow of
the mental stream is sacrificed
00:14:53.79\00:14:57.03
and in its place an atomism,
00:14:57.03\00:14:59.39
a brickbat plan of
construction is preached
00:14:59.39\00:15:02.30
for the existence of which
no good introspective grounds
00:15:02.30\00:15:04.83
can be brought forward,
00:15:04.83\00:15:06.07
and out of which presently grow
00:15:06.07\00:15:07.40
all sorts of
paradoxes and contradictions,
00:15:07.40\00:15:10.24
the heritage of woe
of students of the mind."
00:15:10.24\00:15:14.01
Okay, to put that simply,
00:15:14.01\00:15:15.54
a purely material
universe doesn't match reality.
00:15:15.54\00:15:18.21
It doesn't
account for our existence.
00:15:18.21\00:15:21.05
I mean, we really still don't
know what consciousness is.
00:15:21.05\00:15:24.82
I've seen attempts by atheists
00:15:24.82\00:15:26.35
to explain it in purely
rational physical terms,
00:15:26.35\00:15:29.76
but I promise you, not one
of these so-called explanations
00:15:29.76\00:15:33.40
actually matches
human experience.
00:15:33.40\00:15:35.66
Some things cannot
be explained in a lab.
00:15:35.66\00:15:39.20
To this day,
00:15:39.20\00:15:40.57
consciousness remains
one of the biggest problems
00:15:40.57\00:15:42.90
that skeptics face.
00:15:42.90\00:15:44.24
They have to explain this split
00:15:44.24\00:15:46.34
between the mind and the body.
00:15:46.34\00:15:48.08
In fact, some
people actually call that
00:15:48.08\00:15:49.71
the mind-body problem.
00:15:49.71\00:15:52.08
How in the world did
self-aware contemplative beings
00:15:52.08\00:15:55.22
like you and me
00:15:55.22\00:15:56.58
just emerge from a
purely mechanical universe?
00:15:56.58\00:16:00.19
It doesn't seem possible.
00:16:00.19\00:16:03.46
Back in James' day,
people were convinced
00:16:03.46\00:16:04.89
there's got to be a
mechanistic explanation
00:16:04.89\00:16:07.03
for just about everything.
00:16:07.03\00:16:09.50
But if you think about it,
00:16:09.50\00:16:11.07
if you're gonna lean on reason
to figure out the universe,
00:16:11.07\00:16:13.44
that actually puts our brains
00:16:13.44\00:16:15.00
at the very
apex of the universe,
00:16:15.00\00:16:17.81
and that left
William James unconvinced.
00:16:17.81\00:16:19.84
In fact, in 1910, he wrote,
00:16:19.84\00:16:22.24
"I firmly disbelieve
myself that our human experience
00:16:22.24\00:16:25.48
is the highest form of
experience extant in the
00:16:25.48\00:16:28.92
universe. I believe rather
that we stand in much the same
00:16:28.92\00:16:31.72
relation to the
whole of the universe
00:16:31.72\00:16:33.32
as our canine and feline pets
do to the whole of human life.
00:16:33.32\00:16:37.26
They inhabit our
drawing rooms and libraries.
00:16:37.26\00:16:39.79
They take part in
scenes of whose significance
00:16:39.79\00:16:42.20
they have no inkling.
00:16:42.20\00:16:43.83
They are merely tangent
to the curves of history,
00:16:43.83\00:16:46.67
the beginnings
and ends and forms
00:16:46.67\00:16:48.14
of which pass
wholly beyond their kin.
00:16:48.14\00:16:50.61
So we are tangents to
the wider life of things."
00:16:50.61\00:16:54.41
He's saying, "We just aren't
capable of knowing everything,"
00:16:54.41\00:16:57.81
which of course brings
us to the subject of God.
00:16:57.81\00:17:00.48
And I think one of the reasons
00:17:00.48\00:17:01.88
I'm attracted to the
philosophy of William James,
00:17:01.88\00:17:04.02
at least in part,
00:17:04.02\00:17:05.25
is because he kind
of threw the brakes
00:17:05.25\00:17:06.79
on the raw atheism that was
taking over Europe at the time.
00:17:06.79\00:17:10.23
"Hang on," he said.
00:17:10.23\00:17:11.39
"There has got to be a God.
00:17:11.39\00:17:13.29
There's got to be something
00:17:13.29\00:17:14.56
that explains why
we're wired the way we are."
00:17:14.56\00:17:17.67
So, of course, I
resonate with that.
00:17:17.67\00:17:20.40
But the nature of God
00:17:20.40\00:17:21.67
is where I part
company with William James,
00:17:21.67\00:17:23.57
even though I think
he was onto something.
00:17:23.57\00:17:26.01
Let me see if I can explain.
00:17:26.01\00:17:27.81
Philosophers in James' time
00:17:27.81\00:17:29.71
were addicted to
something called monism.
00:17:29.71\00:17:32.31
They were looking for an idea
00:17:32.31\00:17:33.85
that would harmonize everything
in the observable universe.
00:17:33.85\00:17:36.95
Since the very beginning
of classical philosophy,
00:17:36.95\00:17:40.09
people have been
trying to boil the universe
00:17:40.09\00:17:41.69
down to just one
easy-to-understand concept,
00:17:41.69\00:17:44.89
what explains everything.
00:17:44.89\00:17:47.76
Well, James didn't like,
00:17:47.76\00:17:49.20
and I'll be right back
after this to tell you why.
00:17:49.20\00:17:52.53
[gentle music]
00:17:52.53\00:17:55.50
- [Narrator 2] Life
can throw a lot at us.
00:17:55.50\00:17:58.51
Sometimes we don't
have all the answers,
00:17:58.51\00:18:01.88
but that's where
the Bible comes in.
00:18:01.88\00:18:04.31
It's our guide to a
more fulfilling life.
00:18:04.31\00:18:07.42
Here at the Voice of Prophecy,
00:18:07.42\00:18:08.92
we've created the
Discover Bible guides
00:18:08.92\00:18:11.09
to be your guide to the Bible.
00:18:11.09\00:18:12.69
They're designed to
be simple, easy-to-use,
00:18:12.69\00:18:15.22
and provide answers to many
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00:18:15.22\00:18:18.23
and they're absolutely free.
00:18:18.23\00:18:20.26
So, jump online
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00:18:20.26\00:18:22.53
and start your
journey of discovery.
00:18:22.53\00:18:25.40
- William James mentioned
00:18:25.40\00:18:26.94
that philosophers are addicted
to the idea of absolutes.
00:18:26.94\00:18:29.84
The idea that there
must be an absolute hole,
00:18:29.84\00:18:32.77
a singularity that explains
00:18:32.77\00:18:34.21
absolutely
everything in the universe.
00:18:34.21\00:18:37.81
But then he asked this question,
00:18:37.81\00:18:39.51
why are we so
addicted to the number one?
00:18:39.51\00:18:41.92
Why do we think
everything has to harmonize?
00:18:41.92\00:18:44.72
And this is
really where Mr. James
00:18:44.72\00:18:46.65
leaves behind a
biblical understanding of God.
00:18:46.65\00:18:49.72
He taught that
if God is absolute,
00:18:49.72\00:18:52.03
if he's all
powerful and all knowing,
00:18:52.03\00:18:53.90
that would mean that none
of us has the power of choice.
00:18:53.90\00:18:57.20
So, instead, William James said
00:18:57.20\00:18:58.70
that God must be rather limited
00:18:58.70\00:19:00.70
because while he
can clearly see evidence
00:19:00.70\00:19:02.94
for God's
existence in this universe,
00:19:02.94\00:19:05.27
he can't possibly be in
charge of everything, right?
00:19:05.27\00:19:08.44
Otherwise, why would
we have pain and chaos.
00:19:08.44\00:19:11.61
Instead of a universe, why
can't there be a multiverse,
00:19:11.61\00:19:14.38
where part of the
universe is run by God,
00:19:14.38\00:19:16.65
but another part
is dominated by chaos?
00:19:16.65\00:19:19.82
James said that maybe the
universe is not just one thing.
00:19:19.82\00:19:24.09
And to be honest, Mr. James
was skating really, really close
00:19:24.09\00:19:27.60
to the edge of
biblical theology.
00:19:27.60\00:19:29.50
He got it wrong,
but he was close.
00:19:29.50\00:19:32.00
He missed the
truth by a millimeter.
00:19:32.00\00:19:34.10
One of the biggest issues
00:19:34.10\00:19:35.67
the writers of the Bible deal
with is the problem of evil.
00:19:35.67\00:19:38.67
How can God be
loving in all powerful
00:19:38.67\00:19:40.88
but we still have a
world that looks like this?
00:19:40.88\00:19:43.81
It's the number one
objection raised by skeptics
00:19:43.81\00:19:46.31
who love to poke
fun at believers.
00:19:46.31\00:19:48.12
If God is real, then why
did so and so get cancer?
00:19:48.12\00:19:51.25
If God is real, then why is
there war in the Middle East?
00:19:51.25\00:19:54.79
William James was
attempting to deal
00:19:54.79\00:19:57.16
with a very real
question when he said,
00:19:57.16\00:19:59.09
"God must be limited."
00:19:59.09\00:20:00.73
It was his way of
answering the problem of evil.
00:20:00.73\00:20:03.53
And, of course, according to
the Bible, God is not limited,
00:20:03.53\00:20:07.37
but there does appear to
be more than one force at work
00:20:07.37\00:20:09.94
in this universe.
00:20:09.94\00:20:11.31
Look at what you
find in Revelation 12,
00:20:11.31\00:20:14.04
where it says, "Now
war arose in heaven.
00:20:14.04\00:20:17.18
Michael and his angels
fighting against the dragon,
00:20:17.18\00:20:19.75
and the dragon and
his angels fought back,
00:20:19.75\00:20:21.62
but he was defeated
00:20:21.62\00:20:23.12
and there was no longer
any place for them in heaven."
00:20:23.12\00:20:26.25
Oh, wait, wait, wait a minute.
00:20:26.25\00:20:27.39
I thought heaven was a place
00:20:27.39\00:20:29.46
completely free of
pain and suffering?
00:20:29.46\00:20:31.13
Well, actually not
yet, according to the Bible.
00:20:31.13\00:20:34.83
The Bible says there was
war in the kingdom of God.
00:20:34.83\00:20:38.47
So, how can that be?
00:20:38.47\00:20:40.24
Well, it's for the same reason
00:20:40.24\00:20:41.47
that William
James was obsessed with,
00:20:41.47\00:20:44.17
and that's the
concept of free will.
00:20:44.17\00:20:46.91
The God of the Bible does
not predetermine your life
00:20:46.91\00:20:49.58
because he values liberty.
00:20:49.58\00:20:51.25
He values the ability to choose.
00:20:51.25\00:20:54.08
And why would God allow that?
00:20:54.08\00:20:55.55
It's because His
nature is defined as love.
00:20:55.55\00:20:58.85
Remember what the
Apostle John said in 1 John 4:8,
00:20:58.85\00:21:02.82
"Anyone who does not
love does not know God
00:21:02.82\00:21:06.26
because God is love."
00:21:06.26\00:21:09.40
You see, if you aren't
free to choose against God,
00:21:09.40\00:21:12.80
then loving God is
kind of meaningless.
00:21:12.80\00:21:15.10
You're nothing but a puppet
in a deterministic universe.
00:21:15.10\00:21:18.51
But because God prizes
meaningful relationships,
00:21:18.51\00:21:21.84
he also prizes
freedom of conscience.
00:21:21.84\00:21:24.48
What we did was
exercise the wrong option.
00:21:25.58\00:21:28.12
We became evil,
00:21:28.12\00:21:29.65
which means that God was now
faced with a choice of His own.
00:21:29.65\00:21:32.29
He could either
destroy us instantly
00:21:32.29\00:21:34.76
or he could allow our
choices to run their full course
00:21:34.76\00:21:37.46
and offer to redeem us.
00:21:37.46\00:21:39.79
It's a brilliant
solution, really.
00:21:39.79\00:21:41.43
I mean, once you've
lived in this painful world
00:21:41.43\00:21:43.93
and you get redeemed from it,
00:21:43.93\00:21:45.53
are you ever gonna
choose this place again?
00:21:45.53\00:21:48.30
No.
00:21:48.30\00:21:49.70
William James was convinced
00:21:49.70\00:21:51.31
that you and I have freedom
of choice, freedom of the will,
00:21:51.31\00:21:54.24
and the Bible
agrees with him on that.
00:21:54.24\00:21:57.08
This is the reason
that chaos sometimes appears
00:21:57.08\00:21:59.65
to reign over our existence.
00:21:59.65\00:22:01.72
It's not because God is
limited, it's because He's love,
00:22:01.72\00:22:04.52
and He's letting us experience
exactly what we asked for.
00:22:04.52\00:22:08.06
And, of course, the next
question we've got to ask
00:22:08.06\00:22:09.76
is how in the
world a God of love
00:22:09.76\00:22:11.56
could let us live in
this condition forever?
00:22:11.56\00:22:14.13
And this is the part
that William James missed.
00:22:14.13\00:22:17.67
God doesn't do that.
00:22:17.67\00:22:18.90
Just listen to
the words of Jesus.
00:22:19.87\00:22:21.30
And I want you to notice
how realistic the Bible is
00:22:21.30\00:22:23.94
about the painful
nature of living in this world.
00:22:23.94\00:22:27.11
"Truly, truly, I
say to you," Jesus said,
00:22:27.11\00:22:29.48
"you will weep and lament,
but the world will rejoice."
00:22:29.48\00:22:32.35
So, He's addressing this idea
00:22:32.35\00:22:34.25
that the world we live
in seems to reward evil.
00:22:34.25\00:22:37.22
Good people suffer, bad
people get away with everything.
00:22:37.22\00:22:40.92
Now, here comes the rest of
the story from Jesus Himself.
00:22:40.92\00:22:44.19
"You will be sorrowful, but
your sorrow will turn to joy.
00:22:44.19\00:22:48.00
When a woman is giving birth,
00:22:48.00\00:22:49.36
she has sorrow
because her hour has come.
00:22:49.36\00:22:51.77
But when she has
delivered the baby,
00:22:51.77\00:22:53.17
she no longer
remembers the anguish,
00:22:53.17\00:22:54.90
for joy that a human being
has been born into the world.
00:22:54.90\00:22:58.67
So, also, you have sorrow
now, but I will see you again,
00:22:58.67\00:23:02.04
and your hearts will rejoice
00:23:02.04\00:23:03.31
and no one will
take your joy from you."
00:23:03.31\00:23:06.78
All right, time for
another quick break,
00:23:06.78\00:23:09.22
but I'll be
right back after this.
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[gentle music]
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- [Narrator 3] Dragons,
beasts, cryptic statues,
00:23:14.26\00:23:19.33
Bible prophecy can be
incredibly vivid and confusing.
00:23:20.63\00:23:24.17
If you've ever
read Daniel a Revelation
00:23:24.17\00:23:26.33
and come away scratching
your head, you are not alone.
00:23:26.33\00:23:29.37
Our free Focus
On Prophecy guides
00:23:29.37\00:23:31.77
are designed to help you unlock
the mysteries of the Bible
00:23:31.77\00:23:34.54
and deepen your
understanding of God's plan
00:23:34.54\00:23:37.01
for you and our world.
00:23:37.01\00:23:38.61
Study online, or
request them by mail,
00:23:38.61\00:23:41.08
and start bringing
prophecy into focus today.
00:23:41.08\00:23:44.59
- On more than one occasion,
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the Bible compares the
difficulty of living in this
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world to labor pain.
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In Matthew 24,
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the Greek word used to describe
things like war, famine,
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and pestilence is odin.
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Most English Bibles
render that word as sorrow,
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which is a
pretty good translation,
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but odin literally means
contractions or birth pangs.
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It's reminding us that our
current existence is painful.
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And right before the break,
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we looked at that
promise from Jesus in John 16,
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which told us that, yes,
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we have a lot of
reasons to be distressed,
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a lot of reasons to
shed tears and feel anxiety.
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But eventually,
that's going to end.
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And the joy that
God promises to give us
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will make that pain
just a distant memory.
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It's like that moment at
the end of a painful delivery
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when the baby gets
placed in mom's arms
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and suddenly it's, "What pain?
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What are you talking about?
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Look at this beautiful child."
00:24:42.08\00:24:44.08
Look, there's a reason we
find it deeply unsatisfying
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when atheists tell us there's
nothing more to our existence
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than a cold, empty,
mechanical universe.
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The reason it bothers us
is because it's not true.
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If it was true, it would
leave us with no choices,
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no meaning, no hope.
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And there's something in
the heart of every human being
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that really pushes back
against that kind of existence.
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It's why William
James tried so hard
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to push back on the
nihilism and fatalism
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that were pouring out
of the classrooms of Europe
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and starting to
show up here in America.
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One famous historian
pictured James like a doctor,
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quarantining the
dangerous ideas from Europe
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so they wouldn't
infect the United States.
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And, of course, for the
moment, it looks like he failed
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because the levels of
anxiety here in the West
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are rising steadily.
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People are dealing
with things like depression
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and suicidal
thoughts in record numbers.
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And we are now
suffering the consequences
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of choosing to
believe that human existence
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doesn't actually mean anything.
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It's just the blind result
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of cause and effect
over billions of years.
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This is why the
question of who you are
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is the most important
question in the world.
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Over the centuries, we
tried to reduce ourselves
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to numbers and measurements,
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but now it's
killing our mental health.
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It's robbing us of
something essential.
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It's robbing us of
what it actually means
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to live an authentic human life.
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We feel like we're trapped,
that the course of our lives
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has already been
written in advance
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and we're powerless to
make any meaningful choices
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about who we are and
how we choose to live.
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And as a result of that, a lot
of people are just giving up.
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But the Bible says
that, first of all,
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your suffering is real.
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God has seen it and
he's promised to solve it.
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In fact, Psalm 56 suggests
that God has been keeping track
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of every single
tear you have ever shed.
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And then secondly, it tells
me that you are also very real.
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Your life is not meaningless.
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"Are not two sparrows sold
for a penny?" Jesus taught.
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"And not one of them
will fall to the ground
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apart from your Father,
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but even the hairs of
your head are all numbered.
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Fear not therefore,
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you are of more
value than many sparrows."
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The moment we tried
to decouple our gift
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for rational thought
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from the God who gave us
that gift in the first place
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is the moment when everything
started to go off the rails.
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And today, I fear we're
reaping a very bitter harvest.
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I know, again, some of you think
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this is just a
book of fairy tales.
00:27:28.08\00:27:29.71
Some mythology written by
ignorant and superstitious
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people who just didn't know any
better and didn't have science.
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But maybe it's time to
give this book another look.
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Because what if you found
exactly what you're looking for?
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What if you found exactly
what was missing in these pages?
00:27:44.16\00:27:48.16
What if this
really is a communication
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from the one who made you?
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I'm Shawn Boonstra.
Thanks for joining me.
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This has been another
episode of "Authentic."
00:27:54.40\00:27:57.81
[gentle country music]
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[gentle country music continues]
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