PHILOSPHYS ACHILLES
HEEL AN INVITAITON TO INQUIRE
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PHILOSPHYS ACHILLES
HEEL AN INVITAITON TO INQUIRE
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PHILOSPHYS ACHILLES
HEEL AN INVITAITON TO INQUIRE
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PHILOSPHYS ACHILLES
HEEL AN INVITAITON TO INQUIRE
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PHILOSPHYS ACHILLES
HEEL AN INVITAITON TO INQUIRE
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PHILOSPHYS ACHILLES
HEEL AN INVITAITON TO INQUIRE
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PHILOSPHYS ACHILLES
HEEL AN INVITAITON TO INQUIRE
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>>Announcer: It has
stood the test of time.
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God's book, The Bible
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Still relevant in
today's complex world
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It Is Written
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Sharing messages of
hope around the world!
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>>Chris: The purpose of our last
2 shows was to make a
determination on whether God
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exists. If God does not exist,
then a whole range of questions
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related to His existence can
simply disappear. Also, we might
as well eat, drink and be merry
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for tomorrow we die without any
judgment or accountability. Yet,
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knowing that God does indeed
exist, how then are we to
reconcile His existence with the
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seemingly contradictory opinions
about Him provided by
philosophers and the world's
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major religions? For instance:
We have already made at least
two assumptions through how we
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phrased the question: The first
is should we refer to God in
masculine terms such as
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Father, or as divine mother more
appropriate? Or should we refer
to God through something
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a little more ambiguous, such as
our heavenly parent Second, is
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it possible that what may seem
to us as contradictory
expressions about God by the
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major philosophies and religions
of the world are only apparently
contradictory? On the other
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hand, perhaps they are
contradictory expressions that
are ultimately reconciled into
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the One God? In other words,
perhaps these are just different
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paths to the same place? Is God
a personal Being or is He an
impersonal force? Does God exist
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in some timeless and spaceless
realm as some early Christian
church fathers taught, thereby
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making it impossible for Him to
be acted upon and to enter into
a relationship with us, or is
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God freely able about to
providentially step into our
world and enter into a
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relationship with us without at
the same time compromising His
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divinity? Is God essentially
distinct from the "stuff" that
makes up the universe, or is he
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through the process of evolution
coming to an awareness of
himself as was taught by the
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19th century philosopher Hegel
and popularized by films today
such as the Matrix and Lucy?
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Furthermore, in our search for
answers, are we doomed to
subjective explanations that
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arise from our own particular
faith communities, or can we
apply an objective standard to
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these questions regardless of
whether we belong to any faith
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community at all? Our purpose in
this presentation is much
broader than providing an answer
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to all of the specific questions
that we just recently raised
Instead, our purpose is first
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of all to seek for an objective
standard that we can apply to
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the major philosophies and
religions of the world so that
we can evaluate whether their
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claims to authoritatively reveal
God are in fact true. Before we
begin to tackle this daunting
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task, let's take a few moments
to review the methods we
analyzed in our previous shows
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on the existence of God. Now if
you missed any of those shows,
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you can go to
www.youtube.com/iiwcanada and
watch any of our archived
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programs. As we studied over the
past two weeks, we discovered
that although the founders of
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modern science such as Kepler,
Galileo, Boyle, Pascal, Linné,
and Newton all believed in God,
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many scientists after Darwin
abandoned the notion that the
Creator God is the cause of
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the Universe. We also learned
that knowledge that is derived
from the senses, reason,
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intuition, feeling, experience,
history and from the experts,
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constitutes an interpretation of
truth and nature. We can then
draw two conclusions from this:
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First, since knowledge from
these sources constitutes an
interpretation of the facts,
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then it's obvious that these
sources of knowledge have a high
probability of error
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regarding the question of God's
existence. Since that is the
case, then they are
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unreliable in making a solid
determination regarding the
existence of God. The second
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conclusion that we can draw from
the reality that knowledge is
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interpretation, is that we must
look for a method whose
probability of error is so
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incredibly minute that it will
decidedly place the problem of
God's existence beyond question.
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We discovered that when we
analyzed the wonders of nature
and the universe, the
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incredibly small probabilities
of random chancecry out for an
explanation, of which there
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are only two; chance and blind
natural processes on the one
hand and design that points to
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God on the other. However, what
seems like an unavoidable
conclusion is that both sides
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believe in miracles. In light of
probabilities such as 10 to the
40th power, 10 to the 60th
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power, 10 to the 120th power, 10
to the 123rd power, 10 to the
190th power, the huge
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number of 10 to the 40,000th
power and finally 10 to the
5,000,000,000th power
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demonstrate that any one who
still believes in random chance
as an explanation for
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the universe still believes in
miracles. The difference between
the two sides resides
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in the fact that one believes
that God is responsible for the
miracle and the other
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believes that nature is
responsible; but either way, a
miracle has indeed taken
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place. I happen to agree with
scientist Fred Hoyle who, by the
way, rejects the idea of a
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God, -- now that I don't agree
with him, but I agree with his
statement when he states that,
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"a common sense interpretation
of the facts suggests that a
superintellect has monkeyed
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with the laws of nature and that
there are no blind forces worth
speaking about." This is
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why I believe that it is
reasonable to say that God
exists and that He is the
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Creator of all things Now it is
important to note that there is
a source of knowledge
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that we did not discuss in our
previous 2 shows, that is
knowledge that comes to us
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from sources that claim to be
authoritative and inspired How
shall we test their
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claims? Furthermore, do we
believe our particular religion
or philosophy because
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it is true, or is it
true because we believe it?
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Before we answer these
questions, I believe it's also
important that we consider
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various standards of test that
will not work. For instance,
shall we decide these
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questionsof authority on the
basis of:Miracles and answered
prayers? Wise sayings? What
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about literary style and beauty?
The problem with these kinds of
criteria is that you
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are going to have people from
all the major religions claiming
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that since God answered my
prayers or did something
miraculous for me, this
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therefore means that their
philosophy, religion or sacred
writings that they adhere to
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must indeed be supernatural and
thus authoritative. Each
religious or philosophical group
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will also claim that their own
wise sayings, and their literary
style and beauty of their
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writings is superior to the
rest. It's also pointless to
base our analysis on how long
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a particular idea, religion, or
sacred writing has existed, or
even on the number of
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people that subscribe to it.
These are all subjective
criteria that will not work.
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In other words, anyone who sets
up these criteria to settle the
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issue comes very close to saying
that my religion is true because
I believe it. What we need to do
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is construct a test that only
God can pass and that we can
easily apply to any who claim
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that their religious and
philosophical writings
constitute the one and only
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standard. Then all claims must
be measured by that standard.
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When we applied probability
theory to some of the laws of
nature, we discovered that the
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most reasonable explanation for
the incredibly small
probabilities is that the
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universe is designed by an
incredibly powerful Creator It's
almost as if the universe
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has invited us to test and
examine it. This means that
probability constitutes an
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objective standard that
inquirers can easily apply to
the question of God's
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existence. What I would propose
is that we first examine some of
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the major philosophies and
religions of the world in order
evaluate two things: first is
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whether they invite an inquirer
to evaluate their claims to
authority or inspiration or do
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they just force us to blindly
accept their claims? Second, if
they invite inquirer's to
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examine and test their claims
then can we apply probability
theory to their claim to
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inspiration? The logic goes like
this: if probability clearly
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points to the existence of God,
then let's see if probability
also settles the issue of
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authority and inspiration.
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Just before we examine what the
founders of the major religions
taught, let's draw a
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little sketch of the major
religious groups in the world.
According to a 2010
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demographic study that was based
on more than 2,500 censuses,
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surveys and population
registers, the size of the major
religious groups in the world
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are as follows: 31.5% are
Christians, 23.2% Muslim, 16.3%
are unaffiliated, 15% are
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Hindus, 7.1% are Buddhists, 5.9%
are classified as Folk
Religionists that include
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African traditional religions,
Chinese folk religions, Native
American religions and
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Australian aboriginal religions.
0.8% are made up of other
religions such as the
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Bahai faith, Jainism, Sikhism,
Shintoism, Taoism, Tenrikyo,
Wicca and Zoroastrianism to
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name a few. Also 0.2% of the
global population are Jews. In
Canada, according to the 2011
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national household survey, 39%
identified themselves as Roman
Catholic, 27% as Protestant,
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24% as claiming no religious
affiliation, and the remaining
11% include Islam, Hinduism,
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Sikhism, Buddhism, Judaism and
Eastern Orthodox Christianity.
Some have recently asserted
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that all of these religious and
philosophical ideas not only
lead to the One true God,
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but also that they are all of
equal value. However, there are
two major problems with
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this: The first is related to
probability. When we investigate
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the laws of physics, there is
virtually no room for error,
which essentially means that
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there is only one way in which
the laws of physics are brought
together to provide for and
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sustain life. Thus, there are
not many ways when it comes to
sustaining life in the
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universe, there is only one way.
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The question must then be asked,
why would God make only one way
for things to work in
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the natural world but then use
many contradictory ways that
somehow ultimately resolve and
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lead to the One God in the
spiritual life? It is much more
reasonable to assert that
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the consistency in the laws of
physics that point to only one
answer must be reflected in
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spiritual laws, which should do
the same. Also, in order to
claim that all religious
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statements are of equal value,
we must have some objective
standard to measure whether
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they are indeed equal or not.
Thus, it's problematic to state
that all religions are
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of equal value without providing
a way to test if that is true.
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The second problem refers to
what the religious writings
claim. When we examine the major
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religions of the world, we do
not find them saying that their
particular brand of religion
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is just one of many ways in
which inquirers might receive
the truth. Let's take
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Hinduism for example. In the
introduction to the
Bhagavad-gita, it states,
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The Quran states,
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The Buddhist Scriptures declare,
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Judaism states,
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Christianity speaks of
Jesus in the following way,
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Jesus also stated,
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Thus, it is difficult to escape
the conclusion that the writings
of the world's major
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religions claim that they
constitute the one standard by
which all others must be
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judged.
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Since that is the case, then
let's see if their writings
invite inquirers to analyze
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their claims. Let's also see if
we can use probability theory in
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order to evaluate whether their
claims have any objective
authority. In the preface to the
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Bhagavad-gita, it states,
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Moreover, as Dr. Subodh Pandit
points out, "It was lost and
then repeated at the Battle of
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Kurukshetra about 50 centuries
ago." This certainly makes it
impossible for an inquirer to
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try to verify. As a result,
the Bhagavad-gita itself states,
00:19:50.82\00:19:57.09
The Buddhist
writings declare that
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If absolute truth is
undeterminate and beyond thought
and word, then just
00:20:21.25\00:20:27.99
like Hinduism, its claims are
beyond inquiry and verification.
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The Quran claims to be unique
among all classifications of
literature, it declares,
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In other places the challenge is
to produce either one chapter or
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ten chapters like the Quran.
Here indeed is a challenge, yet,
as DrPandit has perceptively
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noted, there are serious
problems with this challenge.
First, the challenge did not
00:21:07.46\00:21:14.57
state what feature was to be
equaled - whether it was prose
or poetry or rhythm or diction
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of philosophy or beliefs about
God. Second, it did not define
the method of comparison. How
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then would the inquirer decide
whether the Quran was better,
equal, or worse? Third, who
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would be the final judge
regarding the comparison, Would
it be an Imam, a Muslim
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council, a neutral body, an
international committee, or the
individual? Fourth, to the
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Orthodox Muslim, Arabic is the
divine language of
communication, and the Quran
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is considered authentic only in
that language. Hence to equal
the Quran, the writing
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should be only in the Arabic
language. If millions of Muslims
00:22:06.86\00:22:14.36
who don't know one sentence of
literary Arabic are not able
test to accept the challenge,
00:22:14.46\00:22:22.54
then how can the rest of the
world accept the challenge? Dr.
Pandit concludes, "A subjective,
00:22:22.64\00:22:32.91
nebulous challenge, applicable
to only a narrow segment of the
world's population is not
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a real challenge."
00:22:40.79\00:22:43.66
We now turn to the
Judeo-Christian Scriptures, the
Old and New Testaments to
00:22:44.86\00:22:50.93
see if they invite the inquirer
to test their claim to
inspiration and to see if
00:22:51.03\00:22:57.44
we can apply what we have
learned from probability theory.
In the Old Testament
00:22:57.54\00:23:02.64
Scriptures, the prophet Isaiah
declares in Isaiah 41:21-23,
00:23:02.74\00:23:12.79
Here we find Isaiah stating that
the test of divinity is the
ability to successfully
00:23:43.92\00:23:49.26
predict what is to come. This is
the test that only God can pass.
Therefore, if extremely
00:23:49.36\00:23:56.93
small probabilities point to
God's existence, then on the
same basis the ability to
00:23:57.03\00:24:04.01
foretell specific events points
decisively to the Old and New
Testament Scriptures
00:24:04.11\00:24:11.21
as the standard that all other
writings must be measured
against. Let's notice what
00:24:11.31\00:24:17.59
Jesus Himself states:
In John 13:19, He declares,
00:24:17.69\00:24:24.96
Jesus makes it clear that He
does not expect His followers to
simply accept His claims.
00:24:33.50\00:24:39.41
Instead, He realizes that claims
can only be genuine if they can
00:24:39.51\00:24:45.65
pass the test of fulfilling the
smallest of probabilities. There
seems to be nothing in the
00:24:45.75\00:24:50.65
Hindu, Buddhist or Islamic
Scriptures to which we can apply
probability as we did with the
00:24:50.75\00:24:56.93
existence of God.
00:24:57.03\00:24:59.19
Of all the writings of the major
world religions, it is only the
Old and New Testament
00:25:00.96\00:25:06.40
Scriptures lay down what is the
ultimate challenge in the form
of predictive prophecy,
00:25:06.50\00:25:13.58
which can be analyzed by
probability. Therefore, if the
Old and New Testament
00:25:13.68\00:25:18.85
Scriptures not only lay down the
challenge but also provide
evidence to substantiate the
00:25:18.95\00:25:24.99
challenge, then the issue of
authority is settled. Is the
Bible reliable, can it be
00:25:25.09\00:25:31.66
trusted, will it pass the test.
I invite you to not miss one
show on this journey of
00:25:31.76\00:25:39.20
inquiry and discovery.
00:25:39.30\00:25:43.87
Lord help us on this journey of
inquiry to discover the truth,
we pray in Jesus name,
00:25:44.64\00:25:50.31
Amen
00:25:50.41\00:25:53.15
>>Bev: Hi, everyone. You know
that saying "sweets for the
sweet"? Well, I've got a
00:26:15.67\00:26:17.87
fabulously easy, totally
delicious, low-calorie, and of
course, highly nutritious
00:26:17.97\00:26:23.14
dessert to show you. It's a
Better Than Ice Cream Frozen
Banana Ice Dream. It's so
00:26:23.24\00:26:29.38
good. If you're an ice cream
lover, you must try this. Simply
peel some ripe bananas,
00:26:29.48\00:26:36.19
and they should have spots on
them, because they're sweeter
then. Cut the bananas into
00:26:36.29\00:26:39.89
chunks. Freeze them overnight.
Then blend them in your blender
00:26:40.00\00:26:45.57
or food processor until they're
smooth and creamy. It's that
simple. Let me show you. I've
00:26:45.67\00:26:50.74
got some frozen banana in here
already. I'm just going to add a
little bit more. Put the cover
00:26:50.84\00:26:59.18
on my Vitamix blender here. And
let's give this a whirl. It's
looking good. I didn't get the
00:26:59.28\00:27:20.37
whole thing, but I'm going to
leave it at that for now. And
it's really easy to jazz it up
00:27:20.47\00:27:24.84
a little bit if you want to. You
can blend in some nut butter to
00:27:24.94\00:27:28.41
give it a richer taste, a little
nut milk. And I had to do that
for this one 'cause it wasn't
00:27:28.51\00:27:32.41
doing it so well, so I just put
a little bit of nut milk so it'd
move. You could add some vanilla
00:27:32.51\00:27:37.19
extract, some carob chips, or
other frozen or fresh fruits.
And then the consistency of it
00:27:37.29\00:27:43.39
is just like ice cream. Look at
that. It stays just like ice
cream, and so you could
00:27:43.49\00:27:50.13
just put some in your bowl. In
fact, let me just dish this out.
It is so good and it's so
00:27:50.23\00:27:56.81
good for you. Totally delicious.
Instead of all the fat and
00:27:56.91\00:28:02.54
processed sugar in regular ice
cream, you're going to get all
the goodness of the banana.
00:28:02.64\00:28:08.22
It'll be a low-fat, low-calorie,
naturally sweet, deliciously
healthy dessert that's got
00:28:08.32\00:28:12.95
great potassium, some vitamin C,
fibre, vitamin B6, and some
magnesium. You're not going to
00:28:13.05\00:28:19.96
get any of that in regular ice
cream. Now, you'll want to use a
powerful blender for this
00:28:20.06\00:28:24.30
recipe. As you saw, it might be
difficult sometimes to get it
nice and creamy. But the
00:28:24.40\00:28:28.60
Vitamix blender will do that.
And you see the consistency of
it. It's just like ice cream
00:28:28.70\00:28:33.84
and it is so delicious. To find
out more about Vitamix blenders,
00:28:33.94\00:28:40.02
you can go to Vitamix.com. Enjoy
this natural goodness, and I'll
00:28:40.12\00:28:46.35
see you next time. >> Chris:
Friend, on this journey of
inquiry I want offer you the
00:28:55.13\00:28:58.93
"Discover Bible Guides" that
will help you discover about God
and his existance. Here is the
00:28:59.03\00:29:04.04
information you need.
00:29:04.14\00:29:06.37
>>Chris: Thank you so much for
watching. Join us again next
week. Until then remember - It
00:29:44.01\00:29:49.02
Is Written, man shall not live
by bread alone, but by every
word that proceeds from the
00:29:49.12\00:29:54.29
mouth of God.
00:29:54.39\00:29:56.02
$$$$$$$
00:29:58.19\00:29:59.79