Hello, I'm Shelley Quinn and welcome again 00:00:31.24\00:00:33.40 to Issues And Answers. You now this is a 00:00:33.41\00:00:35.67 program where we recognize we all 00:00:35.68\00:00:38.41 have issues and we want to try to find 00:00:38.42\00:00:41.10 some answers and today we have with 00:00:41.11\00:00:42.96 us again Dr. Subodh Pandit, I knew the last name, 00:00:42.97\00:00:48.94 I was trying to say that first name right, 00:00:48.95\00:00:50.47 you did. Doctor, we are so glad that 00:00:50.48\00:00:53.19 you've come to join us again all the way from 00:00:53.20\00:00:54.99 Hendersonville, North Carolina and 00:00:56.45\00:00:59.56 you are an ER doctor, born in India, you 00:00:59.57\00:01:03.82 grew up in a culture that was multifaceted 00:01:03.83\00:01:07.53 and very diverse religious groups in India. 00:01:07.54\00:01:11.94 Right. So, I would like to just kind of 00:01:11.95\00:01:15.17 recap what we've talked about in our 00:01:15.18\00:01:17.02 previous programs. You being brought 00:01:17.03\00:01:20.13 up in a Christian home got to that 00:01:20.14\00:01:22.25 place where you didn't want to 00:01:22.26\00:01:24.51 accept just what your parents had 00:01:24.52\00:01:26.50 taught you, you really got to that 00:01:26.51\00:01:29.21 point of seeking and saying what 00:01:29.22\00:01:32.23 religion is right and then even is there 00:01:32.24\00:01:35.84 really a God. So, tell us very briefly 00:01:35.85\00:01:38.56 about that experience. In the beginning it 00:01:39.23\00:01:42.77 was a question of is your religion 00:01:42.78\00:01:45.53 correct and true, and then I realized 00:01:45.54\00:01:48.45 that there were others who were 00:01:48.46\00:01:49.81 saying that maybe there is no God at all, 00:01:49.82\00:01:52.42 that really struck me and I said well 00:01:53.37\00:01:56.75 if I have to say something like that 00:01:56.76\00:01:58.80 I had to have some evidence, 00:01:58.81\00:02:00.72 something that would satisfy my 00:02:01.15\00:02:03.07 own mind and heart and so we began 00:02:03.08\00:02:06.30 the search of looking for any 00:02:06.31\00:02:09.17 kind of evidence that would establish or destroy it. 00:02:09.18\00:02:13.12 We looked at those what we call circumstantial 00:02:14.67\00:02:17.48 and logical analysis and statistical analysis. 00:02:18.01\00:02:20.59 When it was all done I realized that 00:02:21.31\00:02:23.20 anybody, that's what I thought 00:02:23.79\00:02:25.48 anyone with an inquiring, fair, 00:02:25.75\00:02:27.98 honest, open mind would find that the 00:02:27.99\00:02:30.50 evidences are too strong in favor of 00:02:30.51\00:02:33.32 there being somebody out there. 00:02:33.33\00:02:35.28 Absolutely, particularly the science of probability, 00:02:35.29\00:02:40.40 when we were examining that in 00:02:40.61\00:02:42.16 our last program I thought that was 00:02:42.17\00:02:43.83 very compelling evidence, it makes 00:02:43.84\00:02:46.30 me wonder how anyone who is 00:02:46.31\00:02:49.10 being fair could say that there wasn't a God. 00:02:49.11\00:02:52.11 So, we've also examined what is 00:02:52.64\00:02:54.57 truth and we talked about three 00:02:54.58\00:02:56.56 different types of truth, the traditional 00:02:56.57\00:02:58.37 truth, we talked about the modernism 00:02:58.38\00:03:02.83 and post modernism and you showed us 00:03:02.84\00:03:05.72 very distinctly why we should we look 00:03:05.73\00:03:08.48 at the traditional and why you 00:03:08.49\00:03:10.10 choose that, would you like to share that? 00:03:10.11\00:03:11.83 Yes, there was a point when I was 00:03:12.20\00:03:14.52 looking at these three that actually 00:03:14.53\00:03:16.45 I have discarded all three, because 00:03:16.46\00:03:19.60 when I looked at the traditional it 00:03:19.61\00:03:20.93 was so uninviting with all the treachery 00:03:20.94\00:03:24.57 and deceit and corruption, then we 00:03:24.58\00:03:26.92 went to modernism and found that would not really 00:03:26.93\00:03:30.28 answer my questions, post modernism would 00:03:30.29\00:03:33.16 not stand to just reasonable scrutiny, 00:03:33.17\00:03:35.12 that's impractical. At that point I was 00:03:35.36\00:03:38.68 a little disconcerted because if I had 00:03:38.69\00:03:40.92 discarded all three what would I have, 00:03:40.93\00:03:42.90 I reviewed what I have done and 00:03:43.85\00:03:46.62 I realized I've made one unfair 00:03:46.63\00:03:49.16 judgment on traditional theism. 00:03:49.17\00:03:51.13 The other two I had looked at the 00:03:52.01\00:03:53.50 substance of what they were saying. 00:03:53.51\00:03:55.50 Right, for traditional theism I had looked 00:03:55.71\00:03:58.23 at people's behavior, the jihads. 00:03:58.24\00:04:01.28 Very interesting, yes. The crusades, inquisition. 00:04:01.29\00:04:05.03 The fact was once you turn your eyes away 00:04:05.04\00:04:08.44 from that and look at others I found some 00:04:08.45\00:04:11.40 very lovable, beautiful people who said that 00:04:11.41\00:04:16.36 religion was what motivated them to be that way. 00:04:16.37\00:04:19.37 So, here was bad behavior and here's 00:04:19.67\00:04:22.25 wonderful behavior. So in my mind I questioned 00:04:22.26\00:04:25.37 can't a same family have one of them grow 00:04:25.80\00:04:29.75 up to be a real hero in society and another 00:04:29.76\00:04:33.19 maybe a criminal, the same family, 00:04:33.20\00:04:36.58 I could not fault the family. 00:04:37.02\00:04:38.72 So instead of now looking at the people's 00:04:39.51\00:04:41.46 behavior I said let me scrutinize the actual 00:04:41.47\00:04:44.73 substance of what they were talking about, 00:04:44.74\00:04:46.77 that is why I chose to go the way to look at 00:04:47.17\00:04:50.67 traditional theism. But if we're gonna 00:04:50.68\00:04:53.32 looking at traditional truth then we have to 00:04:53.33\00:04:58.14 go back to the books of antiquity, that's right, 00:04:58.15\00:05:02.50 because otherwise there is so much that's 00:05:02.99\00:05:05.04 been kind of brought into we call truth, 00:05:05.05\00:05:08.99 you know, yes, after you've gone through 00:05:09.00\00:05:10.67 modernism and post modernism. 00:05:10.68\00:05:12.31 So how did you approach this? 00:05:12.64\00:05:15.03 Well, first is to ask what is this thing 00:05:15.48\00:05:17.68 called literature of antiquity. 00:05:17.69\00:05:19.27 The word antiquity is just means ancient. 00:05:19.28\00:05:21.36 Whatever that was religious, 00:05:22.19\00:05:23.61 that was ancient, which had come down 00:05:23.62\00:05:25.86 to us in whatever form that was what I would 00:05:25.87\00:05:28.80 look at and when I looked at that I was 00:05:28.81\00:05:31.65 amazed and here is one of the slides I would 00:05:31.66\00:05:34.10 like to put up which shows us that it is not 00:05:34.11\00:05:37.04 just one or two, it's a huge spectrum out there. 00:05:37.05\00:05:40.89 Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, 00:05:41.71\00:05:45.11 Confucianism and the rest, I was overwhelmed 00:05:45.12\00:05:48.64 at that point. And which of these 00:05:48.65\00:05:51.56 when you're looking at these old writings, 00:05:51.57\00:05:54.01 which is the oldest? I think we would have 00:05:54.02\00:05:57.76 to agree that it is probably the 00:05:57.77\00:06:01.29 Zoroastrian and the Hindu is the 00:06:01.30\00:06:04.81 oldest ones, even older than the Bible. 00:06:04.82\00:06:07.21 Yes, even older than the Bible. 00:06:07.22\00:06:08.91 Well, I would say it's arguably older, okay. 00:06:09.98\00:06:14.73 And then when you're looking at these, 00:06:15.71\00:06:19.44 which, how do you choose from all of these. 00:06:19.45\00:06:22.80 How do you choose which one that you're 00:06:22.81\00:06:25.71 going to start studying? Like I said you're first 00:06:25.72\00:06:29.15 overwhelmed and the next thing is can I go 00:06:29.16\00:06:32.97 and look at this or look at that, and I realized if 00:06:32.98\00:06:36.33 I started out that way. I wouldn't get completely 00:06:36.34\00:06:40.00 overwhelmed even further because there's 00:06:40.99\00:06:42.96 a huge list out there, so what I did was begin 00:06:42.97\00:06:46.96 to ask people around me, what their opinion 00:06:46.97\00:06:51.05 was of this huge list; and that's when I 00:06:51.06\00:06:53.91 found there were two distinct approaches to 00:06:53.92\00:06:57.80 this literature and one was you would find a 00:06:57.81\00:07:01.57 person saying there is only one way and that 00:07:01.58\00:07:04.60 way is mine. It's called exclusivism, 00:07:04.61\00:07:08.33 in other words everything is wrong 00:07:08.34\00:07:11.06 expect mine, exclusively mine. 00:07:11.07\00:07:13.01 There was a distinct other claim from a 00:07:13.96\00:07:17.01 group who were saying, no way can 00:07:17.02\00:07:19.54 you say only one way, it has to be that all of 00:07:19.55\00:07:23.47 these religions they are different paths but will 00:07:23.48\00:07:27.00 end up in the same final destination or 00:07:27.01\00:07:29.51 goal, pluralism, that's called pluralism, 00:07:29.52\00:07:32.02 so here is exclusivism and pluralism. 00:07:32.03\00:07:34.83 So instead of going directly to the 00:07:34.84\00:07:36.38 literature, I have to now decide which one 00:07:36.39\00:07:38.91 was more relevant then the other or which 00:07:38.92\00:07:41.74 made more sense. So, how did you go 00:07:41.75\00:07:43.72 about deciding that? Well, I had decided 00:07:43.73\00:07:48.26 that we were going to look at the literature, 00:07:48.27\00:07:50.03 right, and here was a group stating 00:07:50.41\00:07:53.33 something, I wanted to see whether this idea 00:07:53.34\00:07:56.85 of pluralism would be found in the writings. 00:07:56.86\00:07:59.98 So I asked this question of the writing 00:08:00.87\00:08:03.79 themselves what is the writing claiming to be 00:08:03.80\00:08:07.60 and we have here on this slide, some of 00:08:08.61\00:08:11.92 their statements. Number one from the 00:08:11.93\00:08:15.90 Bhagavad Gita, here is the introduction to the 00:08:15.91\00:08:19.66 Bhagavad Gita page 33 in which it says 00:08:19.67\00:08:23.09 very clearly, let there be one scripture for the 00:08:23.10\00:08:25.91 whole world Bhagavad Gita. Let there be one God 00:08:25.92\00:08:29.14 for the whole world Sri Krishna and one hymn, 00:08:29.15\00:08:32.16 one mantra, one prayer the chanting of his name. 00:08:32.17\00:08:35.79 So this is from the Hindu religion. 00:08:36.08\00:08:38.64 Bhagavad Gita which is thought by many to 00:08:39.72\00:08:42.60 be the core of Hindu thought. 00:08:42.61\00:08:44.31 Here is another statement and another 00:08:44.74\00:08:46.39 slide from Zoroastrianism. Okay. Isaiah 45:23 00:08:46.40\00:08:51.03 says "For thus saith the Lord who created the 00:08:51.04\00:08:54.45 Heavens who is God, who formed the Earth 00:08:54.46\00:08:57.14 I am the Lord and there is no other." 00:08:57.48\00:09:00.99 I would like to mention also one more 00:09:01.90\00:09:03.64 slide here from the Islamic tradition, 00:09:03.65\00:09:06.63 they have a verse which is chapter 22 00:09:07.21\00:09:11.26 and verse 255 of the Quran. It is called coronations 00:09:11.27\00:09:15.90 verse of the Quran I would like to read it 00:09:15.91\00:09:18.13 out and here it is on the screen. Yes. 00:09:18.14\00:09:19.57 Allah! There is no God but he, the living, 00:09:21.74\00:09:24.87 the self subsisting supporter of all, 00:09:24.88\00:09:27.20 his are all things in the heavens and on earth, 00:09:27.69\00:09:30.42 his throne doth extend over the Earth. 00:09:30.85\00:09:32.97 He is the most high, the Supreme. 00:09:33.26\00:09:35.92 When you come to New Testament for 00:09:36.91\00:09:38.63 instance also Jesus, the words regarding Jesus 00:09:38.64\00:09:42.76 say there is no other name under Heaven, 00:09:42.77\00:09:47.99 Exodus 12. Amen. So, you know, its 00:09:48.00\00:09:51.02 so amazing the coronation verse from 00:09:51.03\00:09:53.99 the Quran, if you look at First Chronicles 00:09:54.34\00:09:57.54 chapter 29 and before the program you read 00:09:57.55\00:10:00.32 that to me and it was so amazing because 00:10:00.33\00:10:01.81 my Bible happened to be open right here to 00:10:01.82\00:10:03.73 First Chronicles 29 and verse 11 and the 00:10:03.74\00:10:06.92 Bible says "Yours, O Lord is the greatness 00:10:06.93\00:10:09.57 and the power and the glory in the victory 00:10:09.58\00:10:11.53 and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens 00:10:11.54\00:10:14.16 and the earth is yours, yours is the Kingdom, 00:10:14.17\00:10:16.74 O Lord, and yours it is to be exalted head over all." 00:10:16.75\00:10:21.64 Which almost the Quran sounds like, 00:10:22.03\00:10:25.21 that verse sounds almost exactly like this 00:10:25.22\00:10:28.19 verse and the Bible was written and when 00:10:28.20\00:10:31.85 was the Quran written? It was put together 00:10:31.86\00:10:34.29 about 652 what is called CE, 00:10:34.30\00:10:37.41 Common Era which is the same as AD. 00:10:37.65\00:10:39.55 So this was written centuries and centuries 00:10:40.02\00:10:42.98 before the Quran was written, 00:10:42.99\00:10:44.98 that's interesting. So, when you've got 00:10:45.28\00:10:48.00 all these verses I mean all of these various 00:10:48.87\00:10:52.00 religions and they're all claiming ours is the 00:10:52.01\00:10:56.29 only way and I have a dear friend in London, 00:10:56.30\00:11:00.78 England and she embraces all religions, 00:11:00.79\00:11:04.85 I mean she practices pluralism and she has a 00:11:04.86\00:11:07.18 very difficult time with me because I believe 00:11:07.19\00:11:11.17 the Bible and Bible only and so we go 00:11:11.18\00:11:14.62 back and forth and I have given her some 00:11:14.63\00:11:16.41 persuasive arguments but she hasn't accepted yet. 00:11:16.42\00:11:19.22 When each religion is saying, yeah, ours is 00:11:20.94\00:11:24.48 the right way what you do? 00:11:24.49\00:11:27.30 One of the ways really of looking at that is 00:11:28.17\00:11:30.98 also to ask and look for other statements 00:11:30.99\00:11:34.39 and we do find them in their scriptures. 00:11:34.40\00:11:36.56 Not only are they saying that they are the 00:11:36.98\00:11:39.38 only way, they also very clearly sometimes 00:11:39.39\00:11:42.91 point to the others and say they're not the way, 00:11:42.92\00:11:46.78 let me give you an example. Gautama Buddha, the 00:11:47.37\00:11:50.96 founder of Buddhism he clearly stated in his 00:11:51.66\00:11:56.35 writings that the idea of the immortal soul, 00:11:56.36\00:12:00.03 or the self that will finally merge with 00:12:00.04\00:12:02.57 Brahman was the most delusional idea ever 00:12:02.58\00:12:07.56 brought to humanity and that idea is the 00:12:07.57\00:12:10.97 heart of Hinduism and he's the founder of 00:12:10.98\00:12:14.85 Buddhism and talking about Hinduism saying 00:12:14.86\00:12:17.84 that it really does not, is not true and not only 00:12:17.85\00:12:22.08 it's not true it's a delusion, and that is 00:12:22.09\00:12:24.56 the heart of Hinduism. Another example is 00:12:24.57\00:12:27.65 from say the Quran itself, very clearly 00:12:27.66\00:12:31.36 the Quran states that there was a burden of the 00:12:31.37\00:12:34.26 Torah, meaning the Old Testament, 00:12:34.27\00:12:36.05 given to a certain group of people and 00:12:36.45\00:12:39.45 they rejected it, they are like a donkey laid 00:12:39.46\00:12:42.41 in with books, they are wretched. 00:12:42.42\00:12:44.17 In other words, and this is reference to 00:12:44.73\00:12:46.61 clearly to the Jews and the Christians who 00:12:47.06\00:12:49.21 were given that revelation. Right, so not only are 00:12:49.22\00:12:52.66 these religions stating that they are 00:12:52.67\00:12:54.68 themselves true, they also clearly stating that 00:12:54.69\00:12:57.79 the others are not. Jehovah in the Old 00:12:57.80\00:13:00.52 Testament said there is no God before me, 00:13:00.53\00:13:04.34 nor will there ever be after me. Right. 00:13:04.80\00:13:07.66 So their statements are very, very clear that 00:13:07.89\00:13:11.66 they claimed to be exclusive. 00:13:11.67\00:13:13.61 Here's another statement from 00:13:14.26\00:13:15.43 somebody else who has looked into this and 00:13:15.44\00:13:17.67 his name is Ravi Zacharias, 00:13:17.68\00:13:19.66 quite an eloquent sharp thinker, Christian 00:13:20.62\00:13:24.30 philosopher and author, that's right. 00:13:24.31\00:13:26.43 I am gonna read it out and it's on the board. 00:13:27.55\00:13:29.62 At the heart of every religion is an 00:13:30.68\00:13:33.35 uncompromising commitment to a particular way of 00:13:33.36\00:13:37.14 defining who God is or is not and accordingly 00:13:37.15\00:13:40.98 of defining life's purpose. Every religion at its 00:13:40.99\00:13:44.97 core is exclusive, so when I read these 00:13:44.98\00:13:49.44 which he simply saying that every 00:13:49.75\00:13:52.17 religion believes that they are the only right 00:13:52.18\00:13:54.80 way which Christianity believes, all of them so 00:13:54.81\00:13:58.87 when you compare that with what 00:13:59.58\00:14:01.75 Pluralism is saying, it really does not stand 00:14:01.76\00:14:06.09 to a scrutiny of the written scriptures. 00:14:06.10\00:14:08.85 So I had to call it a somebody's opinion. 00:14:09.12\00:14:13.21 Okay, so let me see then because what 00:14:13.75\00:14:15.63 we've just done is we have two options, yes, 00:14:15.64\00:14:18.09 either we were saying that the religion, 00:14:18.10\00:14:21.42 there is a one way right religion or all 00:14:21.43\00:14:24.94 religions will lead to the same places. 00:14:24.95\00:14:27.08 So in examining the books of Antiquity and 00:14:27.42\00:14:30.86 the writings of Antiquity you found 00:14:30.87\00:14:33.08 that all of the religions, the major religions are 00:14:33.09\00:14:36.26 saying there is only one way and so this 00:14:36.27\00:14:39.11 then since we're going in the process here of 00:14:39.12\00:14:43.01 elimination, now you've eliminated the 00:14:43.02\00:14:45.21 idea of Pluralism and now what you have is 00:14:45.22\00:14:49.28 multiple claims that these major religions 00:14:50.24\00:14:54.76 are the only one way, now what you do? 00:14:54.77\00:14:56.79 That's right, now that's the natural next 00:14:57.06\00:14:59.42 question because we not answered it 00:14:59.43\00:15:01.43 the final question. If there are so many 00:15:02.63\00:15:05.44 then which one, just look out they said 00:15:06.02\00:15:08.63 there is one does not mean we have come to 00:15:08.64\00:15:10.54 any conclusion because there is 00:15:10.55\00:15:11.74 more than one like you said. 00:15:11.75\00:15:13.07 So when I looked at that, I decided to just 00:15:13.59\00:15:17.10 put simple common sense and logic and 00:15:17.11\00:15:21.31 reasoning into play here. When there is two or 00:15:21.32\00:15:25.02 three or four persons claiming to be champions, 00:15:25.03\00:15:28.36 how would I look at it, in other words what 00:15:29.25\00:15:32.56 are the options there are in this approach. 00:15:32.57\00:15:35.69 I thought hard and long and I will confess 00:15:37.53\00:15:40.50 that this was one of the toughest aspects of my 00:15:40.91\00:15:46.53 entire search of all these years, to try to 00:15:46.54\00:15:50.64 come to some kind of an idea after months 00:15:50.65\00:15:55.14 and years of looking at it from every 00:15:55.15\00:15:57.37 conceivable angle I could I found there 00:15:57.38\00:16:00.18 were only three options and not more 00:16:00.19\00:16:02.13 than three. Number one, all of them were 00:16:02.14\00:16:05.13 correct, which is the most unreasonable, 00:16:05.14\00:16:08.97 illogical, number two, all of them were 00:16:09.39\00:16:12.82 wrong, that was not jarring to my 00:16:12.83\00:16:16.90 reasoning or my sense of common sense, 00:16:17.26\00:16:20.98 but when I looked at that there were two 00:16:22.05\00:16:24.56 things that really became obstacles for 00:16:24.57\00:16:26.95 me to accept that. Number one, how 00:16:26.96\00:16:29.21 would I call any of them wrong when I did 00:16:29.22\00:16:31.62 not have what was right in my hands. 00:16:31.63\00:16:33.44 Okay, so there is no reference point for me 00:16:33.66\00:16:36.06 to get them to compare themselves to say that 00:16:36.07\00:16:39.62 they were right or wrong. I had no way of 00:16:39.63\00:16:41.70 calling them wrong and number two, 00:16:41.71\00:16:44.16 if I call them all wrong, well that's the 00:16:44.73\00:16:48.04 place I got the idea of God. 00:16:48.05\00:16:50.34 So if they're all wrong there wouldn't be a God. 00:16:50.66\00:16:53.23 So you can basically then eliminate 00:16:54.03\00:16:56.19 that first option. No, I had to eliminate 00:16:56.20\00:16:57.73 the second option, leaving me with only 00:16:57.74\00:17:01.92 one which is the third and that is that there 00:17:01.93\00:17:05.45 is only one of those claims that are being 00:17:05.46\00:17:09.34 made out there that is true, that is legitimate. 00:17:09.35\00:17:13.53 In other words there is only one religion that 00:17:13.82\00:17:17.57 can lay claim to be the only way. 00:17:17.58\00:17:20.90 When you were reading and studying 00:17:21.81\00:17:23.45 and researching this, did you start with a 00:17:23.46\00:17:26.45 particular religion like the Muslim or 00:17:26.46\00:17:30.22 Hinduism or Christianity or the 00:17:31.31\00:17:34.23 Judaism, where did you begin? 00:17:34.24\00:17:37.43 I really had to start with being a person 00:17:39.42\00:17:41.93 on the street with no religious loyalty at all 00:17:41.94\00:17:46.30 and so when I came to this I continued 00:17:46.99\00:17:49.72 maintaining the idea and the mind of an 00:17:49.73\00:17:54.60 inquirer, no loyalties, I'm just looking. 00:17:54.61\00:17:57.99 So at this point when I came to, there is only 00:17:58.00\00:18:00.40 one, it was a little frightening, because 00:18:00.41\00:18:03.95 if there is only one I better find it and I am 00:18:04.29\00:18:06.56 I in that one, right, so it became quite 00:18:06.57\00:18:11.11 an intense search at that point because this 00:18:11.12\00:18:14.47 was not somebody telling me, this was the 00:18:14.48\00:18:17.62 force of information and the force of 00:18:17.63\00:18:20.52 reasoning and logic that brought me to that 00:18:20.53\00:18:22.35 point that there is just one. 00:18:22.36\00:18:24.72 So did you study these different books in a 00:18:25.82\00:18:29.98 parallel fashion or did you study one and 00:18:29.99\00:18:32.53 study another, how did you go about this? 00:18:32.54\00:18:35.28 Once we came up to that I had to first make 00:18:36.58\00:18:39.05 up my mind how would I approach them. 00:18:39.06\00:18:41.01 One is to look for all the mistakes that they 00:18:41.84\00:18:45.51 made or something that was wrong or 00:18:45.52\00:18:47.42 something I did not like and one that had 00:18:47.43\00:18:50.57 the most number of unacceptable features, 00:18:50.58\00:18:53.98 I put them aside and then go that way, 00:18:53.99\00:18:56.15 but I realized I couldn't do that because 00:18:56.52\00:18:59.22 I myself was not a standard, I approached 00:18:59.23\00:19:02.22 them as if they were all champions stating 00:19:02.23\00:19:05.31 the truth. I would take their claims face value 00:19:05.32\00:19:08.91 and just read out what they would reply to a 00:19:09.55\00:19:14.80 set of questions that I would pose all of them 00:19:14.81\00:19:18.20 and I chose just five world religions, 00:19:18.61\00:19:21.79 which were? Which were Hinduism, Buddhism, 00:19:22.41\00:19:25.65 the Islamic faith, Judaism and Christianity. 00:19:26.36\00:19:29.62 The reason I choose those and not 00:19:30.29\00:19:32.52 something else like say Confucianism or 00:19:32.53\00:19:34.94 Taoism, because it was an intense search for 00:19:34.95\00:19:38.10 me and I'd like to maybe give an 00:19:38.11\00:19:40.05 example of how you will do it. 00:19:40.06\00:19:41.76 If I lost my child and I went to a group of 00:19:42.02\00:19:45.41 people, I said had you seen my child and 00:19:45.42\00:19:48.67 three people raised their hands and only 00:19:48.91\00:19:52.48 three out of the ten but one said they saw 00:19:52.49\00:19:55.22 my child in Los Angles, somebody else said 00:19:56.22\00:19:58.02 New York and somebody else said London. 00:19:58.03\00:19:59.69 Who would I begin asking, would I began 00:20:01.19\00:20:05.07 asking those who never raised their 00:20:05.08\00:20:06.65 hands, see I'm intensively in search, 00:20:06.66\00:20:09.37 I will ask those who replied to my answer, 00:20:09.38\00:20:12.16 right, similarly here I wanted somebody to 00:20:12.17\00:20:16.05 tell me that they had information that was 00:20:16.06\00:20:19.01 superior than anything else beyond a human 00:20:19.61\00:20:24.99 manufacturing, nobody did it in their own 00:20:27.13\00:20:29.95 minds and so with that idea I eliminated 00:20:29.96\00:20:33.98 Confucianism and Taoism, Communism because 00:20:33.99\00:20:38.25 these are mainly philosophies which 00:20:38.26\00:20:40.24 you and I also can have. Right. 00:20:40.25\00:20:41.97 So I wanted to look at those that are claiming 00:20:41.98\00:20:45.59 to have got information from the other worlds, 00:20:45.60\00:20:48.85 supernatural, from supernatural world. 00:20:48.86\00:20:50.59 That is why I chose these five. 00:20:50.99\00:20:52.43 Okay, and in your studies as you were 00:20:52.44\00:20:55.47 doing this, coming as a true inquirer, one who 00:20:55.48\00:20:59.91 is not going to set up, establish a belief 00:20:59.92\00:21:03.91 without some true evidence and this, 00:21:03.92\00:21:06.62 were there times that you felt like you were 00:21:07.99\00:21:09.95 swaying between or among these five. 00:21:09.96\00:21:13.83 It was a common thing, for one thing we 00:21:14.97\00:21:19.14 had mentioned earlier that one o f the factors 00:21:19.15\00:21:21.93 that would help us maintain the 00:21:21.94\00:21:24.76 atmosphere of an inquirer is the 00:21:24.77\00:21:26.82 atmosphere of humility. One of the Hallmarks 00:21:26.83\00:21:31.53 of humility is that you really don't know 00:21:31.54\00:21:34.28 everything and so even after you've come to a 00:21:34.29\00:21:39.52 particular conclusion you still have 00:21:39.53\00:21:43.14 questions remaining and here I would like 00:21:43.15\00:21:45.40 to really quote an author and I read many 00:21:45.41\00:21:48.51 authors on this too, she is I think arguably the 00:21:48.52\00:21:53.10 most prolific woman writer in history. 00:21:53.11\00:21:55.63 I really admire and respect her, her name 00:21:56.91\00:21:58.57 is Ellen White. She wrote and said 00:21:58.58\00:22:02.65 the truth will stand scrutiny, amen, 00:22:02.66\00:22:05.07 she wrote also and said, the closer you 00:22:05.77\00:22:07.25 examine it the brighter it will shine. Amen. 00:22:07.26\00:22:10.20 And she also said that if you want to really 00:22:10.72\00:22:13.49 rest your ideas and faith on anything 00:22:13.50\00:22:16.57 please rest it on evidence of whatever type, 00:22:17.08\00:22:21.13 make the evidence count for you, 00:22:22.33\00:22:24.16 so at that point when you're looking 00:22:24.89\00:22:27.04 for evidence, yes, evidence here and 00:22:27.05\00:22:29.90 evidence there, your mind can swing back 00:22:29.91\00:22:32.22 and forth but finally there is a way in which 00:22:32.23\00:22:36.84 the weight of evidence points to the real way. 00:22:37.37\00:22:41.49 Now, was your family at this time you were 00:22:42.94\00:22:45.10 married with three children, when you're 00:22:45.11\00:22:47.50 going through this search, were they also 00:22:47.51\00:22:52.00 of the Christian persuasion? 00:22:52.01\00:22:53.77 They were, and they were extremely 00:22:54.63\00:22:56.63 worried about what was happening to me, 00:22:56.64\00:22:58.68 in fact my children would come up to my 00:22:58.69\00:23:00.76 wife and say is dad doing the right thing, 00:23:00.77\00:23:04.32 going in such an intense manner, 00:23:04.33\00:23:06.88 what if he doesn't find anything, 00:23:07.24\00:23:09.14 you know upset his mental balance. 00:23:10.83\00:23:13.23 So it was a real thing in our home, 00:23:14.49\00:23:16.69 it was very intense and obviously it was 00:23:17.37\00:23:20.43 apparent to the rest of the family 00:23:20.64\00:23:23.27 that I was struggling. And so as you were 00:23:23.28\00:23:25.96 through this struggle, which I believe 00:23:25.97\00:23:27.96 personally that the Lord led you on to 00:23:28.51\00:23:30.74 knowing your personality He led you through 00:23:31.08\00:23:34.45 this just so that you can do what you're 00:23:34.46\00:23:36.85 doing today and Dr. Pandit has seminars 00:23:36.86\00:23:41.86 called come search with me. 00:23:42.14\00:23:43.74 Seminars where he presents this information about 00:23:44.23\00:23:47.21 his 20 plus years search for truth and 00:23:47.72\00:23:50.74 how he has come to that conclusion beyond 00:23:50.75\00:23:54.88 any reasonable doubt in his mind and you 00:23:55.51\00:23:57.95 are one who really has eliminated the 00:23:57.96\00:24:00.49 reasonable doubts that there is the God and 00:24:00.50\00:24:04.34 Jesus Christ is the son of God who died for our sins. 00:24:04.35\00:24:07.96 So when you finished with all of this 00:24:08.70\00:24:12.88 evidence and by the time you had read 00:24:12.89\00:24:15.18 through the antiquities and we're gonna take, 00:24:15.19\00:24:16.74 you're coming back, thank goodness, so that 00:24:16.75\00:24:19.60 we can examine some of what you went 00:24:19.61\00:24:22.37 through and how, I have never seen 00:24:22.38\00:24:24.84 anyone go through a more thorough search 00:24:24.85\00:24:27.40 for truth and it is exciting to me, what, 00:24:27.41\00:24:29.71 especially your conclusions are 00:24:29.72\00:24:31.33 exciting to me because it gives me greater 00:24:31.34\00:24:34.24 evidence that I've made the right choice. 00:24:34.25\00:24:35.97 But when you concluded this and you 00:24:36.73\00:24:40.11 presented the facts to your family, 00:24:40.12\00:24:42.03 then what was their reaction? 00:24:42.39\00:24:44.58 I remember the first time I made a 00:24:45.02\00:24:47.52 presentation, this was after I've done most of 00:24:48.35\00:24:50.63 the study I made the presentation and my 00:24:50.64\00:24:53.37 wife, I wish she was in the audience, as soon 00:24:53.38\00:24:57.21 as it was over, she walked up from where 00:24:57.22\00:24:59.94 she was, walked down the island just hugged 00:24:59.95\00:25:02.58 me right there and said this is something that 00:25:02.59\00:25:05.94 is so reasonable and it is so solid. 00:25:05.95\00:25:09.81 And you know sometimes people 00:25:10.83\00:25:12.17 there are people of "faith" and they have 00:25:12.56\00:25:17.07 faith because they have been told 00:25:17.48\00:25:19.18 something I am a seeker like you and not 00:25:19.19\00:25:22.23 that, I don't think I could claim to have 00:25:22.24\00:25:24.46 gone to the decree that you've done, 00:25:24.47\00:25:26.29 but I want evidence and I want to study 00:25:26.94\00:25:29.51 scientific evidence and I confess even through 00:25:29.52\00:25:32.07 the times of my younger years, 00:25:32.08\00:25:33.56 when as, because I was so interested 00:25:34.00\00:25:35.97 in sciences that there were times that I would 00:25:35.98\00:25:38.47 get to the point of feeling maybe they're 00:25:38.48\00:25:42.45 right and I recall even just a few years ago, 00:25:42.46\00:25:46.10 I was, I became an Adventist on June 8th 00:25:46.33\00:25:49.80 of 2002. And I have been a Christian for 00:25:49.81\00:25:53.50 many years but I was watching a program on 00:25:53.51\00:25:55.56 National Geographic and I think it was 00:25:55.57\00:25:57.50 probably one of the most exciting 00:25:57.51\00:26:00.43 programs I had ever seen on the idea of the 00:26:00.44\00:26:04.52 Big Bang theory and it was so incredibly 00:26:04.53\00:26:09.03 "well documented" with all of these 00:26:09.42\00:26:12.14 scientific statements and if I can use the 00:26:12.15\00:26:15.48 word bamboozle that would be the word 00:26:15.49\00:26:17.55 I would use, that I was almost bamboozled. 00:26:17.56\00:26:19.96 I was almost persuaded and I sat for a moment 00:26:19.97\00:26:23.40 and I thought what if they're right and I'm 00:26:23.41\00:26:26.09 wrong and for me the clincher is knowing 00:26:26.10\00:26:28.99 the truth about Daniel and the time lines of 00:26:29.00\00:26:31.15 Daniel and how the very revival of Christ 00:26:31.16\00:26:34.50 was predicted the year was predicted and 00:26:34.51\00:26:36.94 I thought, you know when you look into the 00:26:36.95\00:26:39.32 archeology records, when we look into all 00:26:39.33\00:26:41.86 the different sciences like you, I've gone 00:26:41.87\00:26:44.52 through some search then I'm absolutely 00:26:44.53\00:26:47.35 totally convinced the Bible is correct. 00:26:47.73\00:26:49.64 We have a minute or two more? 00:26:50.36\00:26:51.75 We've got about 40 seconds. 00:26:51.76\00:26:53.73 When you look at the Big Bang and ask what 00:26:54.66\00:26:57.31 preceded the Big Bang, there is a 00:26:57.32\00:26:58.94 concept called singularity, yes, and within the 00:26:58.95\00:27:01.82 singularity they agree that no laws of physics exist. 00:27:01.83\00:27:06.41 If there are no laws of physics existing there 00:27:06.99\00:27:09.52 then it means there is no scientific law, that 00:27:09.53\00:27:11.67 means it is non-scientific. So their all claims are 00:27:11.68\00:27:15.30 stating that itself is not a scientific theory. 00:27:15.31\00:27:18.13 Oh! And we find that on carbon dating, 00:27:18.41\00:27:20.22 we find that on all of the scientific theories 00:27:20.23\00:27:22.64 that you'll see that they continually are 00:27:22.65\00:27:24.89 disproving themselves. So that's one of the 00:27:24.90\00:27:27.82 reasons that I am so excited you're here and 00:27:27.83\00:27:30.09 I'm excited that you're coming back again. 00:27:30.10\00:27:32.09 Next time we're gonna be going into 00:27:33.06\00:27:35.01 some greater information, showing 00:27:35.49\00:27:37.60 and sharing what Dr. Pandit has studied 00:27:37.61\00:27:40.55 and I hope that you will have the 00:27:40.93\00:27:42.46 opportunity to tune in again and join us for 00:27:42.47\00:27:46.34 this exciting program and until then may the 00:27:46.35\00:27:48.65 Lord multiply His mercy, His love and 00:27:48.66\00:27:52.13 His grace to you for always. 00:27:52.14\00:27:54.71 Thank you, for joining us, and thank you. 00:27:54.72\00:27:56.69