Participants: Chris Holland
Series Code: IIWC
Program Code: IIWC201504A
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00:01 Philosophy's Achilles Heel Answers from Babylon
00:07 Philosophy's Achilles Heel Answers from Babylon 00:14 Philosophy's Achilles Heel Answers from Babylon 00:21 Philosophy's Achilles Heel Answers from Babylon 00:28 Philosophy's Achilles Heel Answers from Babylon 00:35 Philosophy's Achilles Heel Answers from Babylon 00:39 Philosophy's Achilles Heel Answers from Babylon 00:46 Philosophy's Achilles Heel Answers from Babylon 01:29 >>ANNOUNCER: IT HAS STOOD THE TEST OF TIME... 01:32 GOD'S BOOK, THE BIBLE. 01:36 STILL RELEVANT IN TODAY'S COMPLEX WORLD. 01:41 IT IS WRITTEN . . . 01:44 SHARING MESSAGES OF HOPE AROUND THE WORLD. 01:57 >>Chris: We began the series, Philosophy's Achilles Heel asking the question of the 02:02 ages, "Does God Exist?" In our quest to answer that all-important question we 02:09 discovered two essential principles. The first is this.we must adopt the 02:15 attitude of the inquirer, rather than the attitude of the skeptic or the believer. 02:22 You see, skeptics and believers both allow their assumptions to skew the data 02:27 and their interpretation of the data. An thus, this leads skeptics to disbelieve in the 02:34 face of reasonable evidence, and on the opposite side of things, assumptions lead 02:39 believers to believe even though big questions remain However an honest inquirer 02:45 will accept reasonable evidence even if some questions remain. 02:52 Consequently, inquirers base their decisions on the weight of the evidence. Now, the 03:00 second essential principle we discovered and talked about is that the most objective 03:06 definition of certainty is based on statistical probability. Practically 03:13 speaking, this means that the lower the probability the greater the certainty is if 03:20 that thing actually comes to be. Unfortunately knowledge alone that is derived through 03:28 reason, sensory perception, intuition, feelings, experience, history and the 03:39 experts is not sufficient enough to ground the question of God's existence. It is this 03:43 second principle of probability in combination with that knowledge that 03:50 becomes key. Now, when we applied these two principles to the question of God's 03:57 existence, we concluded that the weight of evidence decidedly points to the 04:04 reality of His existence. Thus, in spite of questions that may still remain, we 04:11 conclude that the difficulties of belief are great, but the absurdities of unbelief are 04:19 even greater. In addition to asking the grand question of God's existence, we also noted 04:26 that the reality of God's existence doesn't solve all of the contradictory things that 04:33 are said about Him. Those contradictory things are said by philosophers, theologians 04:39 and books and voices of the world's great religions and worldviews. It is important 04:46 then for us to apply the principle of probability theory to the various claims 04:51 advanced by philosophers, theologians and the books and voices of the world's great 04:57 religions and worldviews so that we can settle the question of authority and 05:03 inspiration. What we found through the use of probability theory is that only the Old 05:12 and New Testament Scriptures of the Bible invite the inquirer to test those 05:23 writings through what is called, predictive prophecy. 05:30 In today's program, and in the weeks to come, we will analyze the Bible and it's predictive 05:36 prophecy. We will apply the principles of probability to study the Bible, most 05:42 particularly the book of Daniel. In fact, Daniel is so filled with predictive 05:49 prophecy, we will study each of the chapters. As we do this, we will draw attention 05:56 to the relevant themes within this small but powerful book by connecting them with the 06:03 certainty that we have discovered through probability. The book of 06:09 Daniel itself begins with two improbable events of probability that can be 06:16 tested. The first is the empire of Babylon rising to power. The second is an age 06:25 old 70 year prophecy that is connected with the Babylonian rise to supremacy and its 06:34 subsequent demise. First let's look at Babylon's rise to power. Another writer by 06:41 the name of Jeremiah wrote some amazing things concerning Babylon. He was a contemporary 06:48 of Daniel and served in Jerusalem. In approximately the year 605 BC, the prophet 06:55 Jeremiah in chapter 25:1-11 of the book that bears his name, successfully predicted that 07:06 Babylon would come against Jerusalem and against all the nations around Jerusalem and 07:13 destroy them. Here's what Jeremiah records in Jeremiah 25:8-11 08:24 And in amazing turn of historical events the Bible records direct fulfillment of 08:33 Jeremiah's prophecy, Daniel records Babylon's conquest of Jerusalem in Daniel 1:1-2, 08:46 which took place in 605 BC. Here is what the Bible says, 09:21 So let's look at this closely, Jeremiah predicted that Babylon would not only conquer 09:28 Jerusalem, but that it would also conquer the surrounding nations. In order for this to 09:31 take place Babylon would have to displace two very powerful nations who were military 09:39 superpowers for centuries. Those two super powers that I'm referring to here are 09:45 Assyria and Egypt. 09:48 During the early days of Jeremiah's ministry the two great powers of Assyria and 09:52 Egypt were struggling for supremacy with Babylon emerging as a strong 09:58 contender. The empire of Assyria had reached its peak but was now on the decline 10:05 under Ashurbanipal around 627 BC. However, the fate of Assyria wasn't sealed until 10:13 the fall of Nineveh in 612 BC to the Babylonians under the leadership of Nabopolassar. 10:21 Egypt, meanwhile, under the leadership of Pharaoh Necho II wouldn't let Babylon's rise go 10:28 un-challenged. Although Babylon experienced an almost meteoric rise in power, Egypt 10:36 would stand in her way. Egypt had thrown off the Assyrian yoke and they were endeavoring 10:44 to regain their former glory and dominance in Near Eastern affairs. Egypt first 10:51 experienced victory over king Josiah of Judah, around 609 BC. Then Egypt came into 10:58 possession of Judea and they also occupied Syria and parts of northern Mesopotamia. 11:07 Unlike Assyria, however, which was definitely on the decline, Egypt was far from defeated. 11:14 In fact, one might conclude that they were strengthening. It is, in fact, the decline of 11:23 Assyria that provided Pharaoh Nechoand Egypt with the opportunity to assert their 11:29 independence from Assyria and to establish the Twenty-sixth dynasty. The result of this 11:35 amazing twist of events was a revived sense of national pride and continued political 11:42 power that had continued for over a century. And now the political vacuum left after 11:49 the fall of Nineveh gave Egypt the opportunity to reestablish its dominance as an empire in 11:57 Western Asia. On his way through Palestine toward Haran, Pharaoh Necho defeated 12:05 the troops of Judah and killed king Josiah in the battle of Megiddo. This event is 12:12 recorded in 2 Kings 23:29-30 and also 2 Chronicles 35:20-27. After defeating 12:23 Judah, PharoahNecho then went north to go against the Babylonians. The battle would 12:30 take place in Syria and PharoahNecho sought out to strengthen the empire with his 12:36 headquarters at Carchemish on the Euphrates river. However, as we read in Jeremiah 12:44 25:8-11, the prophet Jeremiah pointed out that it would be Babylon who would be 12:51 conqueror. And this challenge by the Egyptians was met by Nebuchadnezzar, general and 12:59 eventual king of Babylon. There at Carchemish, the Babylonians decisively 13:06 defeated the Egyptians at what is called, The Battle of Carchemish. That battle took 13:12 place in 605 BC. As crown prince of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar was about to 13:19 capitalize on his victory by going down into Egypt to destroy it. However, he 13:26 received word that his father Nabopolassar had died. So, as a result, Nebuchadnezzar 13:33 swiftly took the desert route, the far more difficult route, to Babylon. There, he secured 13:43 the throne and was named king. 13:51 The amazing thing friends is this, the defeat of Assyria and later of Egypt 13:57 successfully fulfills Jeremiah's prophecy that Babylon would not just conquer 14:04 Jerusalem, but that it would also conquer the two superpowers on its rise to 14:09 supremacy.God asks that His Word be tested and this prophecy was fulfilled in 14:19 detail. This prophecy then forms the background for the Babylonian invasion of 14:26 Jerusalem in 605 where Daniel and his friends were taken captive and brought back to 14:33 Babylon. Along with the rise of Babylonian supremacy, Jeremiah also predicted 14:39 something that is even more improbable than Babylonian supremacy during his and 14:47 Daniel's time. On account of the sins of Jerusalem, God, speaking through Jeremiah 14:54 foretold that His people would be captives in Babylon for seventy years. Earlier, we 15:02 quoted Jeremiah 25:8-12 with such a prediction, however, this prophecy is also recorded 15:10 in Jeremiah 29:10. It is very interesting to note, several years after Jeremiah had 15:17 spoken these words, there were false prophets in Babylon declaring that the Jewish 15:24 captives would speedily return back to their homes in Judah. In response to this, Jeremiah 15:30 pronounces these words found in Jeremiah 29:5-9, 16:28 He concludes in Jeremiah 29:10 with these words, 16:51 So, let's look at the events that surround this time period. What we find is that 16:58 they reveal the highly improbable nature of the things that are connected with 17:04 this 70 year prophecy. 17:09 The first is the prediction that Babylon would rise to power against powerful foes 17:15 like Egypt. Second, Jerusalem would be defeated leading to the deportation of many Jews 17:24 including Daniel and his friends. Third, contrary to the opinion of many, Jeremiah 17:31 counseled the Jews in Babylon to build houses and marry because they would remain in 17:38 captivity for 70 years. Fourth, the release of the Jews from their captivity was 17:45 also connected with the destruction of Babylon. In addition, notice what Jeremiah 17:51 25:12-13 says, 18:26 Not only does the Lord through Jeremiah predict the Babylonian rise to power, but 18:34 here God also predicts the time that Babylon will fall, which coincides with the time 18:42 that God will bring his people back home. Think about this, it's one thing to predict the 18:49 rise of Babylon amidst unlikely circumstances, yet the probability of guessing 18:56 its demise 70 years later is another thing altogether, especially since many 19:03 considered the city of Babylon to be impregnable. Much more could be said about Babylon's 19:09 fall, but we will save that for a future time. 19:16 The first chapter of Daniel is but the start of a remarkable book that is written for the 19:21 mind that is crying out for certainty. It is written with the honest inquirer in mind 19:27 who is seeking for something they can hold onto to in a world that has lost its very 19:34 foundations. The principles of this book which outlines true success in life, have been 19:42 rejected by many nations and civilizations, including Babylon. However, we are 19:49 seeing over and over again that we can trust the principles of this book 19:55 because they have for a foundation the highly improbable events foretold by 20:01 God Himself that come true and demonstrate it's certainty And this was the foundation that 20:12 Daniel had as he was taken captive in Babylon. Just imagine being taken from your 20:18 home, forced to live in a foreign place, having your name changed, being sent to a 20:24 foreign school, having your ability to reproduce and carry on your name taken away and 20:31 then an attempt to change the simplicity of what you eat. There is no need to imagine, 20:39 because this is exactly what happened to Daniel and his three friends. They are named 20:47 in Daniel 1:6 as Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Each of their names 20:56 chosen because of their faithfulness to God as followers of God. However, as 21:04 a part of the brainwashing procedure of Babylon, there names were changed to 21:09 Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego respectively. Those names 21:15 acknowledging the foreign gods of the Babylonians. Daniel and his friends however were at 21:24 peace with all these changes, except for one. Daniel and his three friends were not at 21:35 peace with a change in diet. The Bible says in Daniel 1:8, 22:00 Now why would they not want to change something as simple as food? I want you to notice 22:07 that word.defile. They did not want to defile themselves. In the original language this 22:11 word literally means to pollute or desecrate or stain You see, Daniel and his 22:16 friends had spent their lives as inquirers of God. They had experienced God and now they 22:21 would once again put Him to the test. Daniel and his three friends would have had several 22:26 problems with the king's food: 1, the food was likely comprised of unclean animals, 22:33 forbidden by God to eat, 2, the animals were likely not humanely killed as prescribed 22:42 by God, 3, the serving of alcohol and feasting of the king's table would not have 22:50 been in line with the principle of temperance that these young gentlemen had been 22:55 brought up with. So they asked for a test. They asked to be prescribed a meal plan of only 23:03 vegetables or pulse as the Bible puts it and water. This was no accident as Daniel was 23:11 asking to be returned to God's original Garden of Eden diet. The guard didn't know if that 23:19 was a great idea, but Daniel asked for only ten days and then a test could be 23:26 administered. And in what the New England Journal of Medicine calls the first ever 23:34 clinical trial, Daniel and his three friends are found to healthier on their vegetable 23:43 diet. They continued that plan. Then when final exams came. The Bible states in 23:56 Daniel 1:19-20, 24:29 Let me ask you a question, how probable is it that four young Hebrew slaves would rise to 24:36 the top of their class at in Babylon, at the time,the world's most renown 24:42 university? Is true success a matter of chance or are there enduring principles that one 24:48 must understand and put into practice? Where the do the principles of success come 24:54 from and what are they based on? Is it essential for one have all of the advantages 24:59 that wealth and genius can offer in order to be truly successful? No, there simply 25:06 must be a willingness to be obedient to God's plans God's ways vs. society's ways, God's 25:17 ways vs. the king's ways. Dear friend, an honest inquirer must begin to conclude, God 25:27 does exist and His ways are best. 25:34 Heavenly Father, thank you that you have given us the evidence that we might 25:38 believe. We pray in Jesus name, Amen. 26:04 >>Bev: He everyone. Today physiotherapist Andrew Conroy is here to show us a few ways 26:08 to to keep our bodies limber. Andrew, welcome. >>Andrew: Hi Bev. >>Bev: Hi. Often the 26:14 aches and pains that we experience are because our muscles are tight, but I've 26:19 read that stretching is a wonderful way to keep our muscles and our joints nice 26:24 and flexible. Can you comment a little bit about that >>Andrew: Sure. When we are 26:29 walking, our legs are the main generator of the force - the exercise. So after a good 26:34 walk, when we feel refreshed and we worked a little, we need to stretch those out to 26:38 prevent any joint soreness. >>Bev: OK, can you show is a few exercises? >>Andrew: I 26:42 certainly can. We can use something as simple as a chair to do the exercises and 26:47 stretching. And I'm first going to show you the quadricep stretch. So Bev I 26:51 just want you to face forward, put your right hand on the chair here. And what we are 26:55 going to do Bev, you are going to lift your left foot, place it behind and grab the ankle 26:59 with your hand. Before we do anything else Bev, we are just going to draw the core in 27:04 gently and we should start to feel a nice stretch through here. We are now going to 27:08 begin to pull that knee towards the back, and as you do so, I don't want to see any 27:12 movement up here. To common errors with this are to arch the back and over-compress the 27:17 spine at the back or to allow the knee to drift out. We're not going to allow that to 27:23 happen, instead we're going to allow a 30 second nice stretch. And that gives time 27:27 for the tissues to elongate. Once the 30 seconds is up, we can gently lower the foot back 27:32 down. >>Bev: Alright, that was a good stretch. >>Andrew: You felt that? >>Bev: I did! 27:35 >>Andres: Good, good. The next stretch we are going to do - Bev, I'm going to get you into 27:39 this position and we're going to stretch the left calf - we'll show you how to do that. 27:43 These are familiar to us but there are common mistakes we can make. We want to make sure 27:48 that the foot is nicely pointed forwards, the other important thing here is that 27:53 the knee remains fully locked back and that the heel does not begin to ride off the 27:58 floor. We need that heel fully down. Once that is there you should have an nice gentle 28:02 stretch through there - and again our 20 to 30 second rule is going to apply with a slow 28:07 gentle release at the end. The final stretch Bev, is really for the muscles at the 28:13 back of the thigh and these are called the hamstring muscles. So I'm going to ask 28:17 you to just step sideways. Place your left heel on the chair here. Your going to just 28:23 gently lean forward at the waist - that's fine, and you're going to keep the foot 28:27 gently pulled up, until you feel that stretch coming on Again our gentle 30 second 28:33 rule applies. Don't be to over aggressive with this, it should be that first gentle 28:38 stretch that you feel -- don't bounce, that's the common mistake I see - don't bounce. 28:43 Give the tissues time to elongate. You are going to feel fine after exercise when 28:47 you run through these gentle stretches. >>Bev: Fantastic, I can feel the stretch 28:51 already. Andrew, thank you so much for showing us those exercises. And you at home, I 28:56 hope you stay limber, Andrew says it's important. I'll see you next time! 29:09 >>Chris: Friend, I would like to offer you a DVD of today's program "Philosophy's achilles 29:14 - Answers from Babylon". Here is the information you need for today's offer. 29:45 >> Chris: Friend thank you so much for watching. Join us again next week for the 29:50 continuation of this series. Until then remember, It Is Written, man shall not live by 29:56 bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. 30:03 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$ |
Revised 2015-10-30