Hi, Cliff Goldstein here
and I want to welcome you
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to Contending for the Faith.
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You know, the 17th century began
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which called the
scientific revolution
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or the modern age.
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A time when slowly but surely
many ridiculous superstitions
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were being replaced by
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scientific
thought and reasoning.
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Here's where the work
of some of the great names
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in philosophy
and science arouse.
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Francis Bacon, Rene
Descartes, John Locke,
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Thomas Hobbes, Galilei Galileo
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or Galileo
Galilei, Johannes Kepler
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and of course,
Isaac Newton the great.
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And this is the amazing thing.
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It wasn't just what
people knew that had changed,
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what had changed was
what was really revolutionary,
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what was the major shift was
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what it meant to know something
that changed this well.
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You know, as I said
on some other programs
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I can say that I know
that Jesus died for my sins.
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I could say that I know
that I'm in Illinois right now,
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I know that two
plus two equals four,
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I know that I have a headache.
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In each case I have
used the verb to know
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but in very different ways
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I knew each of these
things in different ways.
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Now but the point is
people were developing
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in the 1600s and the
1700s all new concepts about
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what it meant to know something.
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Now many traits of these work
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the beginning of
this to an English
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man named Francis Bacon
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but you know, it's so
funny just coming out here
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on the plane I
was reading a book
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about somebody who
challenged this whole idea
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that had began
with Francis Bacon.
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So with everything,
history, science, whatever
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there always a lot of questions.
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But anyway, the
common belief is this
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all began with Francis Bacon.
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Many consider him the
world's first scientist.
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So again I think that is wrong
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but anyway they would say
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the modern age is for
scientist I should say.
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But anyway,
Bacon had been raised
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and educated in
the school system
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of the 15th-16th or
1600s and what was fascinating
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he challenged
the whole foundation
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of everything that
he had been taught.
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He challenged the
whole intellectual
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foundation of the time.
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And with the fascinating line,
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a famous line that even gives me
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goosebumps now when I read it.
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When he was getting in trouble,
imagine a student in class
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and the teacher speaking to him
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and the student
just gets up and say no,
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everything you
are saying is wrong.
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It's all wrong and I
don't buy any of it and so on.
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Well, I don't
know that exactly what
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freak Francis Bacon
did but that was the idea.
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Well, he gets in trouble
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and then listen to
this line that he says.
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"I cannot be called to abide
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by the sentence of a tribunal
which is itself on trial."
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Oh, I love that.
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Bacon challenged
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the entire intellectual
foundation of his time.
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Hence he refused to be condemned
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by the very system that
he himself was challenging
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which had its
roots and foundation
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in the writings of Aristotle.
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See, up till this point
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much of the western
intellectual tradition
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at least the
past few hundred years
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including and
especially the Roman church
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was in the thrall of
the writings of Aristotle
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and the effect
was I believe terrible
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as much as Aristotle was like,
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it's hard to imagine
how smart this guy was
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and how much knowledge he had.
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His influence was powerful
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and in many
ways it was very bad.
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You know, we all know
some of the story of Galileo
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and the church
fighting over cosmology
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and Galileo's contention
that Copernicus was right,
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that the earth wasn't at
the center of the universe.
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That was his contention.
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The church
believing that it was,
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that it was the center
and believed that was biblical
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when and for against him.
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Now I mentioned this on
the earlier program too.
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Galileo gets in
trouble for teaching this.
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Supposedly it's
against the Bible.
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But I ask somebody
where does the Bible teach
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that the earth sits stationary
in the center of the universe
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and all the
planets circle around it.
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I mean, it's not in the Bible.
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The Bible never
talks about that.
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It's not a biblical teaching.
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But then why did
Galileo get in trouble?
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Why was he accused of heresy?
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Well, the answer was easy.
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It was deemed heresy
but it wasn't in the Bible,
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it was in the
teachings of Aristotle
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and his cosmology which he wrote
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hundreds of years before Christ,
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the earth sat in the
center of the universe
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and all the
other planets and stars
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and so forth circled in
this crystal spheres around it
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and everything below the moon
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was made of one substance
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on the earth or
different substance,
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kind of substances on the earth
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and above it there was a special
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immutable perfect substance
called the quintessence
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and everything below
it was sub-lunar world
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with the world we live
in with things changing
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and mutable and so forth.
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But the point is that's
Aristotle a pagan Greek.
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Not Moses, not
David, not Daniel,
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not Paul, not John, not Peter,
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so what do you have here
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but a prime
example of how the church,
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the catholic church
though let's not fool ourselves.
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The Protestants
weren't a whole lot better.
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You have an
example of how the church
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at this time was
getting caught up
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in the latest
and greatest signs.
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In this case Aristotle
and trying to incorporate
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that into their
biblical teachings.
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And may I humbly suggest
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that those who think
that they can do this today
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that is incorporate the
latest and greatest signs
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into the Bible
that is evolution.
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They might think there Galileo
standing for truth and so on
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but they really just playing
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the role of what the church did.
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And only in this case
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the teaching is not as
completely anti-biblical.
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But I'm digressing
here, my main point is this,
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my main point is
this as the understanding
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of what it meant
to know something.
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Change radically during
the scientific revolution.
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They began to look at the world
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more quantitatively as
opposed to qualitatively.
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Now what is that mean?
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When in the Aristotelian
system rocks fell to the earth
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because it was their
nature to fall to the earth.
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Fire rose because
it was the essence,
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it was the
nature of fire to go up.
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But what the new thinking,
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what science did
was start to move away
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from these essences
and perfections and natures
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all Aristotelian terms instead
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they started to
study things like ratios,
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quantitative relationships
between force and matter.
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How heavy is this
thing? How fast does it fall?
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What changes in the ratios
between them and so forth?
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Now the climatic
historical example
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of this new way of understanding
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was Isaac Newton
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Philosophiae
Naturalis Principia Mathematica,
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1687 often called the principia
and this was the famous book
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where Newton worked
out the law of gravity.
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But if you look at it sometime
you will notice something.
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It's almost all numbers.
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Numbers were Galileo
said the language of nature.
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And the following few
years have proved him right.
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I mean, after all, what science
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or what technology
doesn't employ mathematics.
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I remember I had a
roommate in college
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and he was an engineer.
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And I'd come home
and he'd be in his room
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and he'd be
always doing his math,
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always be doing
these math equations.
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I still remember him talking
about him saying one time,
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I'll never forget this,
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he said it takes a
lot of math to fly a jet.
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And again you look at
physics, you look at astronomy,
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it's all numbers that
all the, all use numbers.
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Now this itself leads to
a whole host of questions.
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Numbers are important.
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We couldn't fly
jets without them,
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we couldn't build
bridges without numbers,
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we can't do
computers without numbers.
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And yet people don't
even know what they are.
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I mean one of the
century's greatest
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mathematicians Bertrand Russell
00:10:09.46\00:10:12.01
once said about
mathematics this.
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He said, "Mathematics
be defined as the subject
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in which we never know
what we are talking about,
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nor whether what
we are saying is true.
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That's incredible."
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And never the less
mathematics is here to stay
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and it's a crucial
tool in the work of science.
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Now if that's
true, if that's true
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I want to ask you a question.
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What about what has been called
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the science of salvation.
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We've all heard that for
phrase before, haven't we?
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The science of salvation.
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If salvation is a
science and science uses numbers
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then can numbers help
us understand science?
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Well, you know,
that's what I want to,
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that's what I want to look at
because I believe that numbers
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can teach us a
very important truth
00:11:17.20\00:11:21.17
about salvation, the
science of salvation.
00:11:21.20\00:11:25.79
In the book Steps
to Christ, page, 62 "
00:11:25.82\00:11:30.24
Listen to what was written
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"The condition of
eternal life is now
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just what it always had been,
just what it was in Paradise
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before the fall
of our first parents,
00:11:41.89\00:11:45.25
-perfect
obedience to the law of God,
00:11:45.28\00:11:49.19
perfect righteousness."
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Let me read that again
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because that's pretty
heavy, think about this.
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"The condition of
eternal life is now
00:11:56.23\00:11:59.86
just what it has always been,
--just what it was in Paradise
00:11:59.89\00:12:04.19
before the fall
of our first parents,
00:12:04.22\00:12:07.93
--perfect
obedience to the law of God,
00:12:07.96\00:12:12.27
perfect righteousness."
00:12:12.30\00:12:15.89
Now that's
pretty heavy, is it not?
00:12:15.92\00:12:18.41
I mean, that's
heavy perfect obedience
00:12:18.44\00:12:21.27
to the law of God,
prefect righteousness.
00:12:21.30\00:12:27.72
Now here though is where
00:12:27.75\00:12:29.96
I think numbers can
be especially helpful.
00:12:29.99\00:12:34.02
See we are talking about
absolute perfection here,
00:12:34.05\00:12:38.08
not shades of
gray, not shades of gray,
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not something
partial, nothing like that.
00:12:41.59\00:12:44.28
Perfect
righteousness, perfect holiness,
00:12:44.31\00:12:47.96
perfect obedience
to the law of God.
00:12:47.99\00:12:52.98
So, here's where
00:12:53.01\00:12:54.56
I think as I said
numbers can be helpful.
00:12:54.59\00:12:56.88
Let's use an example of
perfection from mathematics
00:12:56.91\00:13:02.20
and I think most
of us could relate to.
00:13:02.23\00:13:06.69
When you were at
school and you took a test
00:13:06.72\00:13:10.55
what percentage
symbolize perfection,
00:13:10.58\00:13:14.64
what was a perfect
score, a flawless score?
00:13:14.67\00:13:20.36
Of course, a hundred percent.
00:13:20.39\00:13:23.81
Ever did a test back
that said a hundred percent,
00:13:23.84\00:13:28.25
you got a hundred percent on it.
00:13:28.28\00:13:30.50
Oh, it must have been nice.
I don't think I really know.
00:13:30.53\00:13:34.54
Okay, so let's
use this as an analogy
00:13:34.57\00:13:38.67
for perfect righteousness.
00:13:38.70\00:13:41.80
Okay, let's parallel
it to a hundred percent
00:13:41.83\00:13:44.58
such as you get in a school room
00:13:44.61\00:13:46.85
or a class room.
00:13:46.88\00:13:48.56
So to meet the
condition of eternal life,
00:13:48.59\00:13:52.14
okay, which is
perfect righteousness
00:13:52.17\00:13:54.53
you need a score
of a hundred percent.
00:13:54.56\00:13:57.38
Remember perfect
obedience to the law of God,
00:13:57.41\00:14:00.80
perfect righteousness
that's a hundred percent.
00:14:00.83\00:14:05.52
Now remember think
about this a 99.7 percent
00:14:05.55\00:14:12.75
would fall just as
short as would a 9.97 percent.
00:14:12.78\00:14:19.01
Only a hundred
percent perfect righteousness
00:14:19.04\00:14:22.62
meets the condition
of the eternal life.
00:14:22.65\00:14:25.01
Any other grade,
any other percentage
00:14:25.04\00:14:28.27
isn't gonna cut it.
00:14:28.30\00:14:29.88
You know, I was once in a school
00:14:29.91\00:14:31.69
and you know, like
an graduate school,
00:14:31.72\00:14:33.60
well, I was in graduate school.
00:14:33.63\00:14:34.79
You either got two
grades, you got pass or fail.
00:14:34.82\00:14:37.30
You either pass the class
or you fail the class period.
00:14:37.33\00:14:41.15
Now supposedly
you are in a school
00:14:41.18\00:14:44.36
and there are only two grades,
00:14:44.39\00:14:46.45
okay, pass or fail
00:14:46.48\00:14:48.21
but the only way
to get a passing grade
00:14:48.24\00:14:50.84
is you have to have
the hundred percent.
00:14:50.87\00:14:53.23
A 99.7 percent will give
you the same grade big fat "F"
00:14:53.26\00:14:58.78
as a 9.97 percent,
okay. It's useless.
00:14:58.81\00:15:04.52
Either you get a 100
percent or you fail the class.
00:15:04.55\00:15:09.43
Okay, now, let's say
someone is born again
00:15:09.46\00:15:14.62
and say they lived
in a world whatever say
00:15:14.65\00:15:16.86
their average righteousness
comes out to 68 percent
00:15:16.89\00:15:21.16
because a
scripture says we all sinned
00:15:21.19\00:15:23.86
and fall short
of the glory of God.
00:15:23.89\00:15:27.00
We are not
worrying about what age you
00:15:27.03\00:15:28.66
became born again or whatever,
00:15:28.69\00:15:30.04
we are just starting
you at arbitrary 68 percent.
00:15:30.07\00:15:33.97
Well, let's say that first year
00:15:34.00\00:15:36.61
you are in the
fire of your new love,
00:15:36.64\00:15:38.54
you are in the
fire of your new faith
00:15:38.57\00:15:40.83
and claiming you are
walking in the newness of life
00:15:40.86\00:15:44.03
that Paul talks
about in Roman 6:4
00:15:44.06\00:15:46.90
and claiming the
promises of victory over sin.
00:15:46.93\00:15:50.07
You rack up a perfect
hundred percent the first year.
00:15:50.10\00:15:55.41
I mean, you are cooking, okay.
00:15:55.44\00:15:58.80
So let's do the math,
00:15:58.83\00:16:00.71
let's suspire the
vigor's of mathematics to this
00:16:00.74\00:16:03.85
because remember we are looking
at the science of salvation.
00:16:03.88\00:16:07.90
So if you average 68 percent
00:16:07.93\00:16:11.17
with a hundred
percent what do you get?
00:16:11.20\00:16:14.01
Well, you get 84 percent.
00:16:14.04\00:16:17.30
You know, follow
well with the calculator
00:16:17.33\00:16:19.17
if you like a
hundred percent average
00:16:19.20\00:16:21.50
with 68 percent
give you 84 percent.
00:16:21.53\00:16:24.92
Not bad, not a bad jump
00:16:24.95\00:16:27.38
but nowhere near the
conditions of eternal life.
00:16:27.41\00:16:32.12
Well, suppose you
taking up your cross daily
00:16:32.15\00:16:35.39
you get a hundred
percent the next year too.
00:16:35.42\00:16:38.26
You do the math, you're
now at 92 percent not bad
00:16:38.29\00:16:43.40
but still not the requisite
hundred percent that you need.
00:16:43.43\00:16:47.81
The next year
you struggle a bit,
00:16:47.84\00:16:49.82
you repent,
whatever your score is 84,
00:16:49.85\00:16:53.17
you average that with 92 percent
00:16:53.20\00:16:55.81
and your scores now 88 percent
00:16:55.84\00:16:58.70
that's nice and that's fine
00:16:58.73\00:17:00.49
but nowhere near
what's needed for salvation.
00:17:00.52\00:17:06.60
Well, maybe however
00:17:06.63\00:17:08.91
you attain to
sinless perfection,
00:17:08.94\00:17:12.27
we've all met some of the folks
00:17:12.30\00:17:13.75
that we the first to tell you,
00:17:13.78\00:17:14.91
you meet them at
camp meeting sometime,
00:17:14.94\00:17:16.68
didn't sinned in 20 years.
00:17:16.71\00:17:18.63
Okay.
00:17:18.66\00:17:19.72
Well, let's say you reached that
00:17:19.75\00:17:21.81
and let's say
for the next 50 years
00:17:21.84\00:17:24.96
you rack up a score of a
hundred percent every year
00:17:24.99\00:17:30.24
for the next 50
years until your death.
00:17:30.27\00:17:33.60
I mean, you claim
promises, you died a self,
00:17:33.63\00:17:36.94
you live a life
of sinless perfection
00:17:36.97\00:17:39.54
all through God's grace
00:17:39.57\00:17:40.87
the only way any of
us could ever do it.
00:17:40.90\00:17:43.68
Well, let's do
the math here, okay.
00:17:43.71\00:17:46.75
Fifty hundreds is 5,000
00:17:46.78\00:17:49.66
add to that 88
your previous score
00:17:49.69\00:17:52.75
you then divide that by 51
00:17:52.78\00:17:57.88
thus you get a
whopping 99.7647059 percent.
00:17:57.91\00:18:04.23
Impressive, you're
a pretty holy person
00:18:04.26\00:18:07.10
I have to admit that.
00:18:07.13\00:18:08.20
I would know what
that would be like
00:18:08.23\00:18:10.30
but that number
is still as useless
00:18:10.33\00:18:13.56
as if you had a
0.97 percent, okay.
00:18:13.59\00:18:17.19
In fact if I were
trained mathematician,
00:18:17.22\00:18:20.03
if we got a
trained mathematician here
00:18:20.06\00:18:22.30
he could stand up
here and in five minutes
00:18:22.33\00:18:24.56
and two minutes he
could show you that
00:18:24.59\00:18:26.88
even if you live forever,
00:18:26.91\00:18:30.00
if you live forever it's
mathematically impossible
00:18:30.03\00:18:33.65
for you to reach
a hundred percent.
00:18:33.68\00:18:36.96
Once you have one
time, once you have one time
00:18:36.99\00:18:40.33
gotten below a hundred percent
00:18:40.36\00:18:42.57
then it's
mathematically impossible
00:18:42.60\00:18:45.29
for you to have to
reach that hundred percent.
00:18:45.32\00:18:49.85
What then does math teach us
about the science of salvation?
00:18:49.88\00:18:54.18
Teaches us what John said.
00:18:54.21\00:18:56.47
If we say that
we have not sinned
00:18:56.50\00:18:58.85
we make him a liar
and his word is not in us.
00:18:58.88\00:19:04.15
That's pretty heavy.
That's pretty heavy, okay.
00:19:04.18\00:19:07.83
So now the only
way you're gonna get,
00:19:07.86\00:19:12.01
you could get a hundred
percent there's only one way
00:19:12.04\00:19:15.43
is just to have scored a hundred
00:19:15.46\00:19:17.23
on your first test
and every other test
00:19:17.26\00:19:20.67
you got a perfect
hundred percent, okay.
00:19:20.70\00:19:24.38
That's the only way to do it.
00:19:24.41\00:19:28.32
Well, then we are
in a pretty bad shape,
00:19:28.35\00:19:30.03
aren't we.
00:19:30.06\00:19:31.10
What's gonna happen?
00:19:31.13\00:19:32.83
How do we get the righteousness
00:19:32.86\00:19:34.72
that we need?
00:19:34.75\00:19:36.81
Well, in that same
book Steps to Christ
00:19:36.84\00:19:41.69
the author talked about Jesus
00:19:41.72\00:19:45.46
and he said that Christ
lived a perfect sinless life.
00:19:45.49\00:19:50.60
In essence you could say
that Jesus got the needed
00:19:50.63\00:19:54.76
one hundred percent
and the great provision
00:19:54.79\00:19:58.33
of the gospel is
that His perfect score,
00:19:58.36\00:20:01.71
His hundred
percent is credited to us.
00:20:01.74\00:20:06.07
Listen to these words.
00:20:06.10\00:20:08.97
He died for us
00:20:09.00\00:20:10.42
and now He
offers to take our sins
00:20:10.45\00:20:12.53
and give us His righteousness.
00:20:12.56\00:20:15.02
What would Jesus if
you are gonna put a number
00:20:15.05\00:20:17.82
on Jesus righteousness
what percent would it be?
00:20:17.85\00:20:20.58
It would be a hundred percent.
00:20:20.61\00:20:22.63
If you give yourself to Him
and accept Him as your Savior
00:20:22.66\00:20:26.55
then it's simple as
your life may have been
00:20:26.58\00:20:29.64
for His sake you are
accounted righteousness.
00:20:29.67\00:20:33.02
Christ character,
Christ hundred percent
00:20:33.05\00:20:35.75
stands in place
of your character
00:20:35.78\00:20:38.27
and you are accepted before God
00:20:38.30\00:20:40.20
just as you have not sinned.
00:20:40.23\00:20:42.99
Did you catch that?
00:20:43.02\00:20:44.63
This is basically what
Paul is saying in Romans.
00:20:44.66\00:20:49.47
"But now the
righteousness of God
00:20:49.50\00:20:51.65
apart from the law is revealed,
00:20:51.68\00:20:54.61
being witnessed by
the Law and the Prophets,
00:20:54.64\00:20:57.60
even the righteousness of God,
through faith in Jesus Christ,
00:20:57.63\00:21:01.57
to all and on all
and on all who believe."
00:21:01.60\00:21:05.60
That hundred percent score,
00:21:05.63\00:21:08.18
that
righteousness of God himself,
00:21:08.21\00:21:11.29
the righteousness of Jesus
00:21:11.32\00:21:12.96
that's the only way
we as sinner can have it.
00:21:12.99\00:21:16.80
It has to be
credited to us as a gift.
00:21:16.83\00:21:20.84
Now, you know, I
use the school analogy.
00:21:20.87\00:21:24.00
Imagine you are in school
and you all take the grades
00:21:24.03\00:21:28.37
and you take your tests
00:21:28.40\00:21:30.80
and everybody needs a
hundred percent to pass
00:21:30.83\00:21:34.75
and none of you have it, okay.
00:21:34.78\00:21:37.92
Well, some kid comes by
00:21:37.95\00:21:40.41
and some kid gets
the hundred percent,
00:21:40.44\00:21:43.15
the only kid in the class
to get the hundred percent.
00:21:43.18\00:21:46.84
He is the only
one that's gonna pass
00:21:46.87\00:21:49.02
and then the teacher says okay,
I'm gonna make a provision.
00:21:49.05\00:21:52.91
If you claim for
yourself his hundred percent,
00:21:52.94\00:21:56.87
his grade is given to
you instead of your grade
00:21:56.90\00:22:00.25
because your own grade
is guaranteed to fail you.
00:22:00.28\00:22:05.65
But you say hey, that's
not totally fair, is it?
00:22:05.68\00:22:09.28
No, it's not fair.
It's what called grace.
00:22:09.31\00:22:12.27
If you want complete
fairness, go find a religion
00:22:12.30\00:22:15.52
that teaches salvation by works.
00:22:15.55\00:22:17.87
If you want grace
instead of fairness
00:22:17.90\00:22:22.07
then you come to the
cross, you come to Jesus
00:22:22.10\00:22:25.97
and you claim His
righteousness for you.
00:22:26.00\00:22:29.17
Because once you
sinned, once you one time
00:22:29.20\00:22:32.43
got one question
wrong on one test
00:22:32.46\00:22:35.53
it's impossible for you
00:22:35.56\00:22:36.93
no matter how well you do
to ever get the grade you need.
00:22:36.96\00:22:42.34
You need that
hundred percent covering you.
00:22:42.37\00:22:46.60
It's mathematically
impossible otherwise.
00:22:46.63\00:22:52.18
Can you see
then? Can you see then?
00:22:52.21\00:22:55.40
Then how mathematics explains
the science of salvation?
00:22:55.43\00:23:00.54
The issue folks, isn't whether
00:23:00.57\00:23:02.78
we can overcome
sinful tendencies.
00:23:02.81\00:23:05.55
The Bible
promises us that we can.
00:23:05.58\00:23:08.39
The issue isn't
00:23:08.42\00:23:09.45
whether we can have
a new life in Jesus,
00:23:09.48\00:23:12.08
the Bible tells us we can.
00:23:12.11\00:23:14.36
The issue isn't whether or
not we could cleanse ourselves
00:23:14.39\00:23:17.47
from our filthiness
of flesh and spirit.
00:23:17.50\00:23:20.42
2 Corinthians 7:1 the
Bible tells us that we can.
00:23:20.45\00:23:26.31
The issue in the
end is how are we saved.
00:23:26.34\00:23:31.65
And we are saved by Christ
00:23:31.68\00:23:33.75
perfect obedience
to the law of God.
00:23:33.78\00:23:37.41
I mean, how else,
00:23:37.44\00:23:38.47
I mean, anybody there
listening anybody there
00:23:38.50\00:23:41.43
I want you to stop for a minute,
00:23:41.46\00:23:43.13
I want you to think
about your law keeping.
00:23:43.16\00:23:47.14
Who out there,
who among you thinks
00:23:47.17\00:23:49.16
you have kept God's law
00:23:49.19\00:23:51.51
well enough to be
saved by it, okay.
00:23:51.54\00:23:54.81
Raise your hand if you
can, I can't see you, okay.
00:23:54.84\00:23:58.13
Well, if you
haven't kept God's law
00:23:58.16\00:24:00.11
well enough to be saved by it
00:24:00.14\00:24:02.12
then how do you think
you are gonna be saved?
00:24:02.15\00:24:04.80
How do you think you
are gonna get to heaven?
00:24:04.83\00:24:06.74
Why do you think
God is gonna accept you.
00:24:06.77\00:24:09.28
I don't know what
your math score would be.
00:24:09.31\00:24:11.89
Maybe you are at 95 percent,
maybe you are at 85 percent,
00:24:11.92\00:24:15.64
maybe you are 22
percent all I know is one thing,
00:24:15.67\00:24:19.73
if you are not at
one hundred percent
00:24:19.76\00:24:22.92
you have not met the
conditions of eternal life.
00:24:22.95\00:24:27.10
You have to have
that hundred percent
00:24:27.13\00:24:30.19
in order to be saved.
00:24:30.22\00:24:34.49
He died for us and now
He offers to take our sins
00:24:34.52\00:24:38.28
and give us His righteousness,
His hundred percent.
00:24:38.31\00:24:43.10
If you give yourself to Him
00:24:43.13\00:24:45.10
and accept Him as your Savior
00:24:45.13\00:24:47.34
then sinful as
your life may have been
00:24:47.37\00:24:50.13
for His sake you are
accounted righteousness.
00:24:50.16\00:24:53.56
You are
accounted. Christ character,
00:24:53.59\00:24:56.30
Christ hundred percent stands
in place of your 98 percent,
00:24:56.33\00:25:01.12
8.9 percent, 0.09
percent whatever it is
00:25:01.15\00:25:06.14
Christ righteousness stands
in place of your character
00:25:06.17\00:25:09.85
and you are accepted before God
00:25:09.88\00:25:12.35
just as if you had not sinned.
00:25:12.38\00:25:16.99
Just as if you had not
gotten one question wrong.
00:25:17.02\00:25:21.79
Just as if every
text, I mean, every test,
00:25:21.82\00:25:26.04
every grade, every exam
00:25:26.07\00:25:28.96
because see the
way it would work
00:25:28.99\00:25:31.89
if you go back to the school
now with Jesus you take a test.
00:25:31.92\00:25:36.04
You get the first question wrong
00:25:36.07\00:25:38.85
then you get all the
other questions right
00:25:38.88\00:25:41.71
and then the next test you get
all the other questions right
00:25:41.74\00:25:45.47
and the next test you get
00:25:45.50\00:25:46.73
all the other questions right
00:25:46.76\00:25:49.04
and you get them all
right you average it up
00:25:49.07\00:25:52.44
you don't have
a hundred percent.
00:25:52.47\00:25:54.72
Or you can do all-- you
get all the questions right,
00:25:54.75\00:25:58.92
you get down to
the last question
00:25:58.95\00:26:00.96
on the last test you
get it wrong you still fail.
00:26:00.99\00:26:07.66
You have to have that
hundred percent covering up.
00:26:07.69\00:26:12.92
You know, I
didn't believe a 34 years
00:26:12.95\00:26:18.31
and if there's anything
my experience has taught me
00:26:18.34\00:26:21.91
and experience
buttress by the word of God
00:26:21.94\00:26:25.64
because we get all
sorts of experiences
00:26:25.67\00:26:28.06
but you got to interpret
them through the word of God.
00:26:28.09\00:26:30.98
Jesus has changed my life.
00:26:31.01\00:26:34.10
I don't know what my
score would have been
00:26:34.13\00:26:36.24
before I knew
Jesus but I promise you
00:26:36.27\00:26:39.75
if you could put a
quantitative numbers to it,
00:26:39.78\00:26:43.51
you could add the numbers
00:26:43.54\00:26:44.96
my score would be so much higher
00:26:44.99\00:26:48.77
than it was before
I knew the Lord, okay.
00:26:48.80\00:26:52.18
So much higher but
one thing I do know though
00:26:52.21\00:26:56.95
is that whatever that score was
00:26:56.98\00:27:00.15
it would never what
was and whatever it is now
00:27:00.18\00:27:04.27
it's not the
requisite one hundred percent.
00:27:04.30\00:27:08.29
That's why there is not a day
in my life that doesn't go by
00:27:08.32\00:27:13.17
where I don't have to lean
00:27:13.20\00:27:15.67
on Jesus one
hundred percent for me.
00:27:15.70\00:27:19.40
Folks, that's
not an excuse to sin.
00:27:19.43\00:27:22.41
This hope, this promise,
Christ righteousness for me
00:27:22.44\00:27:26.01
that is the only
thing that after 34 years
00:27:26.04\00:27:30.20
has kept me from throwing
it all out when I do sin,
00:27:30.23\00:27:34.69
when I do fall short,
00:27:34.72\00:27:36.36
when I do feel I'm
just not good enough.
00:27:36.39\00:27:38.88
I don't feel that I'm
good enough to be saved.
00:27:38.91\00:27:41.95
That I know I'm not
good enough to be saved.
00:27:41.98\00:27:45.33
That's why I have to claim
Jesus hundred percent for me.
00:27:45.36\00:27:52.01
We have a life in Jesus.
00:27:52.04\00:27:54.67
Jesus will take our
score from wherever it was
00:27:54.70\00:27:58.58
and He will move us
upward and upward and upward.
00:27:58.61\00:28:02.42
But in the end the math shows us
00:28:02.45\00:28:06.10
we need Christ
righteousness for salvation.
00:28:06.13\00:28:09.48
Hey, don't take my word for it,
00:28:09.51\00:28:13.02
do the math.
00:28:13.05\00:28:16.92