Participants: Chris Holland
Series Code: IIWC
Program Code: IIWC201501A
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00:00 PHILOSOPHYS ACHILLES HEEL THE QUESTION
00:09 PHILOSOPHYS ACHILLES HEEL THE QUESTION 00:16 PHILOSOPHYS ACHILLES HEEL THE QUESTION 00:23 PHILOSOPHYS ACHILLES HEEL THE QUESTION 00:30 PHILOSOPHYS ACHILLES HEEL THE QUESTION 00:38 PHILOSOPHYS ACHILLES HEEL THE QUESTION 00:44 PHILOSOPHYS ACHILLES HEEL THE QUESTION 01:31 >>Announcer: It has stood the test of time. 01:35 God's book, The Bible 01:38 Still relevant in today's complex world 01:43 It Is Written 01:45 Sharing messages of hope around the world! 02:01 >>Chris: The North American Moose, the largest species of the deer family. Strong, 02:07 majestic, yet mysterious animals. Growing up, I didn't live in an area where there 02:13 are moose. I wanted to see one, but never did. I went camping with my parents, and 02:18 often camped in areas where moose should have been, but I never saw one. Later in life, 02:25 when I married my wife, she shared stories of seeing moose. It increased my desire 02:31 to see this animal all the more. So I set out on a quest to see a moose in the wild. I 02:39 camped in one area that they said had moose. I went to places where there should have 02:43 been moose, but to no avail. I traveled another place with the guarantee that I would see 02:51 a moose, but nothing. Along the way, I saw statues, picture and even videos, but 02:58 never a moose in the wild. However, I even saw a statue of a moose with wings, but 03:07 never a moose in the wild. As I considered this situation, I began to doubt whether or not 03:13 moose even existed. I said in my mind, this is a fabricated story. The pictures have been 03:19 photoshopped, and the videos edited. Moose don't exist. I know, it sounds absurd, but 03:28 that is really what I thought. I wasn't able to see it, so it must not be real. People are 03:36 even distorting the picture with flying moose. The course of all of that changed in 2013 03:44 when I traveled to Algonquin Provincial Park - where I was virtually guaranteed a 03:50 sighting. We came into the park on the west entrance and drove east. The weather wasn't 03:57 perfect, it was raining. But would I see this animal that was continually escaping me. 04:05 Well, as we traveled we had almost arrived at the east entrance and hadn't seen 04:11 anything, but my wife said wait, turn around! I turned the car around and there it 04:17 was. It was a moose in real life. I shot some pictures and posted it on twitter. Even 04:25 though I had settled the question of the moose's existence in my mind, I had a 04:31 friend that said it was a tiny moose and therefore, barely a moose. Just one year later in 04:38 Newfoundland, I saw two bull moose that left no doubt that moose are real. 04:47 My own experience with moose, reminds me of the struggle that some people have in 04:52 knowing whether or not God exists. And maybe it is a good question for us to ask, does 04:58 God really exist? It is perhaps a strange question for It Is Written to ask, yet, a 05:06 recent Canadian census reveals that the percentage of those who claim no religious 05:11 affiliation grew from just 4% in 1971 to almost 25% in 2011 That is over a 600% increase 05:24 and that is a significant increase. Yet, at the same time, the percentages of those 05:30 who represent the largest religious groups in Canada, namely Roman Catholics and 05:35 Protestants, experienced significant decline. The Roman Catholic Church decreased from 05:42 47% to 39%. This most significant and greatest decline occurred among 05:50 Protestants who were in 1971 had 41% of the population but fell to 27% in 2011. And while 06:03 there may be a bit of variety of causes for these statistics, we cannot rule out 06:09 the possibility that for many Canadians, the question of God's existence constitutes 06:15 the underlying reason for these trends that are revealed by the census. There is no 06:21 doubt about it. The fact is that science, since the time of Charles Darwin, has led 06:27 many to believe that this world is not the result of a special creation by a divine 06:33 being, but rather is the result of a chance mixture of the right amino acids and 06:39 atmosphere, that eventually evolved through natural processes over millions if not 06:46 billions of years. Because of this, many scientists believe that random chance processes 06:53 completely rule out creation and design by a divine being as an explanation for the 07:00 origin of our world and universe. Thus, this approach has created an unbridgeable 07:08 chasm between science on one hand and religion on the other. And this has led many 07:14 to question the very existence of God. It is interesting to note that many of the pioneers 07:21 of modern science such as Kepler, Galileo, Boyle, Pascal, Linné, and Newton all 07:30 included the concept of God in their scientific outlook Author Ariel Roth points this 07:37 out in his book Science Discovers God, 08:01 And so for those pioneers of science, the existence of God and scientific methods were 08:09 not mutually exclusive of one another, but rather, complimentary. 08:17 And in light of the chasm that has been created between modern science and religion, 08:21 it's even more interesting to note the percentage of scientists who believe in God, 08:26 not only as a supreme being that creates and sustains nature, but also a personal 08:33 God to whom one may pray. In the prestigious journal, Nature, a survey was conducted 08:40 and they picked 1,000 individuals from the listing of scientists in the American 08:45 Men and Women of Science. The results revealed that about 40% of these scientists said 08:52 they believed in the type of God that answers their prayers and 45% did not. Interestingly 09:00 enough, this survey, which was conducted in 1996 was principally the same survey as 09:06 one done 80 years earlier with essentially the same results. Yet, for many Canadians, and 09:14 for many people around the world, for that matter, they are still asking that 09:20 question, Does God really exist? So for the next weeks and months I would like to 09:27 explore with you, what some say is the ultimate questionof life, that is,"Does God Really 09:36 Exist?" 09:39 How can we be sure that God does in fact exist? Do many who believe just operate under 09:44 assumption of God's existence? Furthermore, does the evidence only lend itself to those who 09:51 belong to some religion or is there some criteria that one can apply regardless of 09:58 whether one ascribes to religion or not? In order to try to find an answer to these 10:03 questions and the big question of God's existence, we need to construct a test. A test that 10:11 only God, himself could pass. It must be a test that anyone can administer regardless of 10:18 whether one is religious or not. Now, before we begin, we need to establish one 10:25 important ground rule, and that is the importance of maintaining a proper attitude 10:32 in answering this question. According to Dr. SubodhPandit, a scholar and reasearcher of 10:40 world religions, each of us has a blend of three attitudes in us that we can switch to at 10:47 any given moment. Each of us are inherently either believers, skeptics, or 10:54 inquirers. And here is the major difference between them. A skeptic decides against a 11:01 claim prior to thorough investigation; a believer, on the other hand, decides to 11:07 accept a claim prior to thorough investigation; and an inquirer holds verdict until 11:13 the investigation is done. In addition a skeptic focuses on the question to the exclusion 11:21 of the evidence; whereas a believer focuses on the evidence to the exclusion of 11:27 the question; while an inquirer focuses on the weight of evidence. All the while, a 11:35 skeptic disbelieves in the face of reasonable evidence; however a believer believes 11:41 while big questions remain; and an inquirer accepts reasonable evidence even if 11:48 some questions remain. And so I must ask, which of these attitudes is the most critical 11:54 to demonstrate in any given investigation. Of course the answer is that of an inquirer. 12:01 Beginning with the attitude of the skeptic will lead to skewed results and 12:06 understandings. Yet in the same way, if I start with the premise of a believer, I will 12:12 undoubtedly make flawed decisions of naivety. By founding my attitude as an 12:18 inquirer, it will lead to the best possible results of a decision based on the evidence 12:26 establishing a well balanced and grounded belief system. 12:34 With that understanding of how important it is of having the attitude of an inquirer, we 12:39 now need to describe the method we are going to use in order to analyze the question 12:46 of God's existence. In other words, we need to construct a test that only God Himself 12:51 could pass. The method we are going to construct must be able to examine two things: 12:57 first, what is knowledge, and second, how can we determine whether our knowledge is 13:04 certain? From these two questions, we will construct the test and then apply it to 13:10 the question of God's existence. So, what then is knowledge? This is yet another 13:21 question for the ages. It is one that philosophers have analyzed and scientists have 13:27 assumed in their hypotheses. And so, let's first evaluate several sources of knowledge 13:33 in order to determine whether or not we can use any of these sources in order to construct 13:40 our method. The first source of knowledge is that which is derived from our senses. It's 13:47 true that we can learn a lot by simply observing how things work. Yet, there are two 13:53 problems with knowledge derived from our senses. The first is that our knowledge of 13:59 what there is to observe is limited. Take for instance our knowledge of the stars. 14:05 Recently, scientists pointed the Hubble telescope in the direction of a tiny dark spot 14:10 in the constellation Fornax. A dark spot, which for years has been assumed to be empty 14:19 space. This tiny spot is so small, it's like starring at a dime 75 feet away. The camera 14:28 of the Hubble telescope took 800 shots between Sept 23, 2003 and Jan 16, 2004 giving a 14:38 total exposure time of 11.3 days. The picture of this dark, supposed empty spot, 14:47 revealed 10,000 galaxies that we didn't even know existed. This dark spot, which seemed 14:56 to reveal a spot of nothingness, revealed vast expanses of discovery not 15:03 known before. This discovery also demonstrates our limited ability to obtain knowledge 15:11 only through our senses. By the way, with just that understanding alone, we 15:17 discover that our limited ability to observe reality demonstrates a real lack for 15:24 the basis of arguments that state as a fact that God is non-existent. 15:32 Here's what I mean, in order for that statement, of God not existing, to be true, one must 15:37 know every part of the universe and the knowledge that is available in it at the 15:44 same time, which is of course impossible. After all, if God does exist, then He must be 15:52 somewhere and He must have ability to move from one place to another. Now the second 15:57 problem with knowledge derived from our senses is that our senses can mislead us. For 16:04 instance, for many years many of the inhabitants of this earth believed in an earth 16:09 centered universe. They based that belief on their everyday observations. However, that 16:17 all changed when Copernicus finally settled the issue through investigation and 16:23 substantial evidence then concluding that the earth, in fact, revolves around the sun 16:30 and not the other way around. Therefore, we cannot use knowledge derived from our 16:37 senses in order to construct our test. The second source of knowledge is reason. The 16:45 ancient Greek philosophers Socrates and Plato used reason in order to establish truth 16:51 and certainty in their debates with the Sophists, who did not believe that truth was 16:57 absolute. They also understood, as we just discovered, that knowledge 17:02 derived from the senses produces opinion and not truth. In other words, 17:08 according to Socrates, a beautiful woman is not beautiful because of 17:13 information that comes from our senses. She is beautiful because she partakes of the 17:20 concept of Beauty. What he meant was that the concept of Beauty has an existence that 17:27 is separate from the woman. Thus, the woman is beautiful because she is a copy of the 17:34 concept of Beauty. Now don't be confused by that. 17:40 Here is a simpler example. Take this piece of paper for instance. It is not white 17:46 because of what our senses are telling us. It is white because the paper is a 17:52 duplication of the concept of whiteness that has an existence in a world where 17:58 there is no time or space. And if that is confusing, here's what I mean. A white piece of 18:05 paper was white before I ever saw it and it will continue to be white even after I see it. 18:11 It is white because it is white, I don't need to sense it, in order for it to be 18:19 white. Yet it is also possible to use reason in such a way that appears logically, yet we 18:29 know that it's false. Someone might say that lots of people are buying this movie or music 18:35 album, so therefore it is good. Of course this is false reasoning. Therefore, the use 18:40 of reason, which has its basis in things for which there is no empirical evidence cannot 18:50 be used to construct the test. Another source of knowledge is intuition and feeling. These 18:58 are known to be very personal and ever changing. They certainly can be true, yet it 19:06 is almost impossible to establish them as objective criteria for God's existence. 19:10 The fourth source of knowledge is experience. One can learn many things through the 19:18 experiences of life, whether one's own or someone else's experience. However, like 19:23 intuition and feeling, the experience of one person can be diametrically opposed to 19:30 another thereby making experience an insufficient source of knowledge for our 19:36 question. In that same way a similar problem exists when it comes to history. Notice Louis 19:45 Gottschalk's perceptive observation: He states, 20:27 Experience may be true, but it can also be easily mistaken. Another source of knowledge is 20:35 knowledge that comes to us from the experts. This may come in the form of 20:40 philosophers, scientists, technicians, doctors, lawyers, or teachers, just to name a 20:47 few. Although we have gained a lot through the experts, there is one major problem: 20:53 knowledge is increasing at an alarming rate. For example, the small and exciting field 21:00 of nanotechnology is doubling every 2 years and clinical knowledge is doubling every 18 21:08 months. Another example is the world wide web. In 1991 there was 1 website, today over 1 21:20 billion websites. The growth of knowledge is staggering Thus, what an expert claims to 21:29 know about any given subject is surely going to change very soon. In some cases this new 21:36 knowledge is simply adding more details, but in many other cases what we thought we 21:42 knew needs to be completely revised. For example, in the late 1800s, doctors would 21:49 prescribe the smoking of cigarettes to cure bronchitis, arsenic as a health 21:56 supplement, and mercury as a cure for many diseases. Yet in the 20th century all of them 22:04 were found to be poisonous and toxic to individuals. Knowledge changes constantly. 22:12 Although all of these sources from which we can gain knowledge have their place, 22:18 there is a high probability of error when using them as tools to determine whether Godreally 22:26 exists. 22:29 Therefore, if reason, sensory perception, intuition, feeling, experience, history 22:36 and the experts are not sufficient to construct the test to apply to the existence 22:43 of God, then what is it that will work? God makes a bold statement, as a matter of 22:52 fact, in the book of Isaiah 46:9-10, 23:16 God says, that He is God and there is no other. Then He states that He knows the end 23:22 from the beginning. He knows things that are not yet done.in other words.the 23:27 future. God has made Himself completely testable. This is why the Bibles says in 1 23:35 Thessalonians 5:21, "Test all things; hold fast what is good." God has opened Himself 23:45 to be tested. That is why we begun this journey. So then, how is it that we will test 23:52 Him to know with certainty whether He exists or not. Well, that's why you'll have 23:58 to tune in again next week. It is in that show, that we will continue to answer one of 24:05 life's greatest questions, does God really exist. 24:12 Let's pray. Heavenly Father we thank you that you have given us opportunity to test you, to 24:19 see if you really exist. As we continue our study, as we go about looking, we pray that 24:27 you will reveal to us the answers. And not only reveal those answers but help us to 24:32 understand the answers and then help us to make decisions based upon those answers. 24:39 Please encourage us along in this journey we pray in Jesus name, amen. 25:12 >>Bev: Hi, everyone! Wh you're traveling, do you find that it's difficult to eat as 25:16 healthy as you'd like? When you're on vacation, do you usually return home with five 25:20 extra pounds as a reminder of your trip? Let me share some tips with you for healthy 25:26 eating while you're traveling. First, whatever your mode of transportation, pack a meal so 25:32 you won't have to purchase less-than-nutritious food at the airport or at gas 25:36 stations. I like to take things like sandwiches, dried and fresh fruit, and nuts. 25:42 Next, plan where you're going to eat. There's a wonderful website called Happy Cow, 25:48 where you can search for healthy vegetarian, vegan, or raw food restaurants 25:52 practically anywhere in the world. You can also search forhealth food stores, and 25:57 they've got lots ofinformation on vegetarian nutrition. The website address is 26:02 happycow.net, and there's even an app for your smart phone. Here's another idea: when 26:08 you're on vacation, there are apartments and condos you can rent with fully equipped 26:13 kitchens. That way you can enjoy shopping for great local produce to cook your own 26:19 healthy, delicious, low-cost meals. Or, if you prefer staying in a hotel, get a room 26:25 with a fridge, and stock it with non-dairy milk, high fibre cereal, whole grain 26:31 bread, hummus, fruit, nuts, and bottled water from a local grocery store. I find when I'm 26:37 traveling, it's often difficult to get a good, healthy breakfast in a hotel, 26:42 sokeeping a stash of healthy food in your room is a great convenience. Also, eat where 26:48 the local people eat. You're likely to find little "hole in the wall" kinds of restaurants 26:53 with great local food at really affordable prices. At restaurants, if there are no 27:00 vegetarian choices, the chef is usually more than happy to prepare a lovely platter of 27:07 just vegetables for you. Whenever I've asked for that, everyone else always looks at 27:10 my plate with envy! Also, at a restaurant, order the entrees that are steamed, broiled or 27:17 baked. Avoid foods that are fried, deep fried, or swimming in creams or heavy sauces. Ask 27:23 for your pizza without cheese. A nice, wholegrain-crust pizza with just grilled vegetables 27:30 equals delicious! Restaurants are notorious for the amount of salt and sugar they use. 27:35 Stay away from the soy sauce and anything pickled. Salad is usually our friend, but not 27:42 when it comes smothered in cheese, lots of dressing, or bacon bits. Instead, ask for a 27:48 piece of lemon to spritz on your salad. In fact, don't be shy about asking your waiter 27:55 to substitute or delete ingredients from your order. Remember, when you're 28:01 traveling, be good to yourself. Of course, you can have a few treats along the 28:05 way but, overall, eat healthy, live healthy. I'll see you next time! 28:17 >>Chris: Dear friend, God has invited us to take a journey, to test him, to see if he is 28:23 real, to see if He really exists. I want to offer you this week the Discover Bible 28:28 Guides which will lead you on a journey of discovering who God is and how to have a 28:34 personal relationship with Him. Here is the information you need to get today's offer. 29:21 Does God really exist? One of the great questions of life. In fact it's one of the most 29:27 important questions that we could answer here on It Is Written. I'm glad that you 29:33 took the opportunity to join us on that journey today. You won't want to miss next week 29:38 as we continue to ask that question "Does God Really Exist?" Thank you again for 29:45 joining us today. Join us again next week. Until then remember, It Is Written, man 29:52 shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the 29:57 mouth of God. 30:01 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ |
Revised 2015-10-08