Welcome to the Liberty Insider. 00:00:26.49\00:00:28.12 This is a program bringing you news, 00:00:28.16\00:00:30.23 views, insights, discussion, and up-to-date information 00:00:30.26\00:00:34.06 on religious liberty in the US and around the world. 00:00:34.10\00:00:37.20 My name is Lincoln Steed, editor of Liberty Magazine, 00:00:37.23\00:00:41.10 and my guest on the program, Elijah Mvundura. 00:00:41.14\00:00:44.51 From Zimbabwe. From Zimbabwe. 00:00:44.54\00:00:46.51 But Canada, at the moment. 00:00:46.54\00:00:48.44 Yes, yes, I'm half Canadian now. 00:00:48.48\00:00:50.78 Yeah, and lived in the US for some time 00:00:50.81\00:00:52.95 and I think like me, 00:00:52.98\00:00:54.32 when I'm originally from Australia, 00:00:54.35\00:00:55.68 we become world citizens, right? 00:00:55.72\00:00:58.85 Yes, yes, yes. 00:00:58.89\00:01:00.49 So let's go far afield 00:01:00.52\00:01:02.76 and start our discussion on this program with... 00:01:02.79\00:01:06.13 In England and link some views that we might hold today 00:01:06.16\00:01:11.57 with what happened during the English Civil War 00:01:11.60\00:01:15.07 and the English Republic that followed. 00:01:15.10\00:01:17.04 Yes, one of the issues with the Reformation 00:01:17.07\00:01:20.58 that would like me to come back to is that 00:01:20.61\00:01:24.25 with the Reformation, before the Reformation, 00:01:24.28\00:01:26.68 Catholic was the institution... 00:01:26.72\00:01:30.59 It was the main game in town, wasn't it? 00:01:30.62\00:01:32.09 It was the main game in town and it was the authority, 00:01:32.12\00:01:36.12 you know, if you wanted 00:01:36.16\00:01:38.36 to know about life and everything, 00:01:38.39\00:01:40.86 it determined everything. 00:01:40.90\00:01:42.23 Now let me interject something because it's important I think 00:01:42.26\00:01:44.83 as we talk about not just this program, 00:01:44.87\00:01:47.34 what we've spoken about. 00:01:47.37\00:01:48.74 I believe that the Reformation... 00:01:48.77\00:01:53.01 While it had some theological aspects 00:01:53.04\00:01:55.68 and one very important, the righteousness by faith 00:01:55.71\00:01:58.68 that Luther picked on, 00:01:58.71\00:02:00.88 at root, it was a challenge 00:02:00.92\00:02:03.49 to the wrongly used authority of the dominant church, 00:02:03.52\00:02:07.49 the Roman Catholic Church. 00:02:07.52\00:02:09.92 But even saying that, it's worth remembering 00:02:09.96\00:02:13.56 that the Catholic Church had an incredible ability 00:02:13.60\00:02:17.57 to absorb or to... 00:02:17.60\00:02:20.10 Not even absorb, to cover disparate views 00:02:20.14\00:02:23.41 before... 00:02:23.44\00:02:24.77 It was a cult. 00:02:24.81\00:02:26.14 Even now, it... 00:02:26.17\00:02:28.08 Some of the orders within the Catholic Church 00:02:28.11\00:02:30.15 are at odds with what the others hold. 00:02:30.18\00:02:32.48 As long as they accept the authority of the pope, 00:02:32.51\00:02:34.95 they will be countenanced and only really... 00:02:34.98\00:02:37.85 Remember there was a time that the church 00:02:37.89\00:02:39.35 even moved against the Jesuits? 00:02:39.39\00:02:41.16 Yes. They were too far out of line. 00:02:41.19\00:02:42.86 But generally speaking, 00:02:42.89\00:02:44.23 if they accept the central authority, 00:02:44.26\00:02:46.06 it can allow radical differences. 00:02:46.09\00:02:48.96 So the only game in town was not, 00:02:49.00\00:02:51.73 even though I said it facetiously, 00:02:51.77\00:02:53.10 it wasn't always really true, wasn't it the Franciscans 00:02:53.13\00:02:56.44 that were seen as evil by the population at one time? 00:02:56.47\00:02:58.67 Yes, yes, the Dominicans and they're like... 00:02:58.71\00:03:00.18 Yes. 00:03:00.21\00:03:01.54 In fact, you are very right, there were many orders 00:03:01.58\00:03:02.91 within the Catholic Church during the Middle Ages. 00:03:02.94\00:03:05.91 Not only orders, the universities too. 00:03:05.95\00:03:08.72 The invest of Paris and... 00:03:08.75\00:03:11.09 Right, there was some divergence 00:03:11.12\00:03:12.75 but that could only be countenanced 00:03:12.79\00:03:14.69 if they accepted the central authority of Rome. 00:03:14.72\00:03:17.49 And the difference with Luther is he challenged 00:03:17.53\00:03:19.93 not just Rome's authority, the source of their authority, 00:03:19.96\00:03:23.63 the claim of authority that they made. 00:03:23.67\00:03:25.00 Yes, even the same thing with Copernicus. 00:03:25.03\00:03:28.50 The reason why he ran afoul with the church 00:03:28.54\00:03:31.57 is because ultimately his physics 00:03:31.61\00:03:35.31 challenged the authority of the church. 00:03:35.34\00:03:37.05 But to going back that, 00:03:37.08\00:03:38.41 so with the collapse of the whole Middle Ages, 00:03:38.45\00:03:40.75 the Christian authority became... 00:03:40.78\00:03:42.55 People became very skeptical, 00:03:42.58\00:03:44.32 they didn't know what to follow, 00:03:44.35\00:03:45.82 how can they guide their lives. 00:03:45.85\00:03:48.39 So that was a crisis, really a crisis in Europe. 00:03:48.42\00:03:51.83 And so you find that if you read the discussions 00:03:51.86\00:03:54.66 around that time, people were trying to say if... 00:03:54.70\00:03:57.83 Because Luther had challenged all these things, 00:03:57.87\00:03:59.53 this church is false, then they're saying, 00:03:59.57\00:04:01.40 "Okay, if this whole thing is false, 00:04:01.44\00:04:04.61 what we base our beliefs on?" 00:04:04.64\00:04:07.18 And remember his challenge overshot the mark a bit 00:04:07.21\00:04:10.58 because it eventually came to include 00:04:10.61\00:04:14.12 legitimate civil authority, 00:04:14.15\00:04:15.48 the peasants rebellion was in throughout Europe. 00:04:15.52\00:04:16.85 Yes, yes, yes 00:04:16.89\00:04:18.22 because it challenged everything. 00:04:18.25\00:04:19.59 Because once you destroyed that authority, 00:04:19.62\00:04:21.99 because church and state were together, were united, 00:04:22.02\00:04:25.86 so you are having the very social foundations 00:04:25.89\00:04:28.43 were challenged. 00:04:28.46\00:04:29.80 And there is historians, they speak about the skepticism 00:04:29.83\00:04:33.94 in that, and actually, modern philosophy, 00:04:33.97\00:04:36.60 modern philosophy begins with Descartes. 00:04:36.64\00:04:39.07 Descartes whole attempt 00:04:39.11\00:04:40.44 was to try and establish authority on mathematics, 00:04:40.48\00:04:43.98 that if you study science and have everything. 00:04:44.01\00:04:46.45 So actually with Descartes, 00:04:46.48\00:04:47.82 you have this whole trend today where people 00:04:47.85\00:04:50.95 have such a high respect for mathematics, 00:04:50.99\00:04:53.49 it starts with Descartes. 00:04:53.52\00:04:54.89 Descartes actually wanted to establish 00:04:54.92\00:04:56.76 a universal science that would settle all doubts. 00:04:56.79\00:05:00.06 But he begins all that 00:05:00.10\00:05:01.70 before he formulated his theory, 00:05:01.73\00:05:04.77 he's all founded on I think, therefore I am, 00:05:04.80\00:05:07.70 he believed I can doubt everything 00:05:07.74\00:05:09.54 but I cannot doubt myself. 00:05:09.57\00:05:11.57 It's kind of esoteric 00:05:11.61\00:05:13.74 but what is very important in there is that 00:05:13.78\00:05:16.91 the English philosophers unlike Descartes, 00:05:16.95\00:05:18.91 Descartes wanted to establish wisdom and methodical science, 00:05:18.95\00:05:23.99 of course, he was influenced by firmest theology, 00:05:24.02\00:05:28.16 Thomas Aquinas. 00:05:28.19\00:05:29.52 Thomas Aquinas believed that the human mind 00:05:29.56\00:05:32.53 can be able to reach the truth, you only... 00:05:32.56\00:05:33.93 You're jumping back 00:05:33.96\00:05:35.30 in time a long way, doesn't it, with Aquinas? 00:05:35.33\00:05:36.67 Yes, yes. 00:05:36.70\00:05:38.03 Yes, but he was educated with in firmest theology. 00:05:38.07\00:05:39.87 Yeah. 00:05:39.90\00:05:41.24 So the difference between 00:05:41.27\00:05:42.60 Descartes and the English philosophers 00:05:42.64\00:05:44.24 is that the English philosophers 00:05:44.27\00:05:45.61 still referred to God as the ultimate authority. 00:05:45.64\00:05:49.71 In fact... 00:05:49.74\00:05:51.08 They didn't make a full break with the biblical 00:05:51.11\00:05:53.72 or transcendent truth. 00:05:53.75\00:05:55.92 They didn't. 00:05:55.95\00:05:57.29 In fact, you know, 00:05:57.32\00:05:58.65 I think that we had that conversation before, 00:05:58.69\00:06:00.59 Newton and John Locke believed that you can find 00:06:00.62\00:06:03.66 certainty in biblical prophecy, that Bible prophecy 00:06:03.69\00:06:06.93 approves the authenticity of the Bible. 00:06:06.96\00:06:08.96 So you now have actually two competing strands 00:06:09.00\00:06:11.83 in Western thought. 00:06:11.87\00:06:13.27 You have Descartes who is based in truth on mathematics, 00:06:13.30\00:06:16.47 and then you have Newton and Locke, this is important, 00:06:16.50\00:06:19.71 I've been repeating this, 00:06:19.74\00:06:21.14 they actually based their certainty 00:06:21.18\00:06:23.45 on biblical prophecy. 00:06:23.48\00:06:25.25 In fact, I think I... 00:06:25.28\00:06:27.82 We were talking privately... 00:06:27.85\00:06:29.18 Yeah, you're like me, you start to confuse 00:06:29.22\00:06:30.72 our public discussions and our private discussions. 00:06:30.75\00:06:32.72 Yes, I'm sorry about that, I'm sorry about that. 00:06:32.75\00:06:35.59 But Descartes had actually an encounter. 00:06:35.62\00:06:38.09 Descartes is the founder of modern philosophy. 00:06:38.13\00:06:40.20 He had an encounter with some of the English Puritans 00:06:40.23\00:06:43.16 who actually told him, "If you want to find eternity, 00:06:43.20\00:06:46.50 built it on prophecy," 00:06:46.53\00:06:47.87 just as Peter said, 00:06:47.90\00:06:49.24 we have the sure weight of what? 00:06:49.27\00:06:50.67 Of prophecy. Prophecy. 00:06:50.71\00:06:52.04 That's why Newton spent most of his time 00:06:52.07\00:06:55.11 studying biblical prophecy 00:06:55.14\00:06:56.78 and they actually told Descartes 00:06:56.81\00:06:58.38 that the train of thought that you're beginning 00:06:58.41\00:07:01.15 is going to lead to atheism. 00:07:01.18\00:07:02.92 And incidentally, so something just come to me, 00:07:02.95\00:07:05.42 Descartes actually, 00:07:05.45\00:07:07.09 before he started this philosophy, 00:07:07.12\00:07:08.46 he had a dream. 00:07:08.49\00:07:11.29 And I don't know for me... 00:07:11.33\00:07:13.50 You think it was a divine dream? 00:07:13.53\00:07:15.10 No, I don't think it was a divine dream. 00:07:15.13\00:07:16.87 I don't think it was a divine dream. 00:07:16.90\00:07:18.23 I don't know the dream, so... 00:07:18.27\00:07:19.60 Yeah, he actually had a dream, today it's suppressed, 00:07:19.63\00:07:21.67 actually, he had a dream one night 00:07:21.70\00:07:24.31 and everything became very clear to me. 00:07:24.34\00:07:26.51 But the type of dream that he had, 00:07:26.54\00:07:28.61 I don't have time to go on it, I think it was a demonic dream. 00:07:28.64\00:07:31.91 Actually, I wrote an article that I tried to submit 00:07:31.95\00:07:34.45 to the Journal of Ideas, 00:07:34.48\00:07:35.92 the demonic origins of Descartes' philosophy. 00:07:35.95\00:07:42.69 And there is actually an American, Gilsby, 00:07:42.72\00:07:45.49 who writes actually nihilism before Nietzsche 00:07:45.53\00:07:48.06 and he traces the whole problem that we have today, 00:07:48.10\00:07:51.47 a straight line from Descartes to Nietzsche, 00:07:51.50\00:07:53.94 who finally said that God is dead. 00:07:53.97\00:07:56.10 Yeah. 00:07:56.14\00:07:57.47 And this is the philosophy 00:07:57.51\00:07:59.37 that is prominent in American Universities. 00:07:59.41\00:08:01.98 So you can trace that... 00:08:02.01\00:08:03.38 That to be, at least the way I see it 00:08:03.41\00:08:05.51 to be accurate about he was saying when God is dead, 00:08:05.55\00:08:08.38 I don't think they meant that God has now died, 00:08:08.42\00:08:10.65 they mean the idea of God has died out in man, right? 00:08:10.69\00:08:13.52 Yes, yes, yes... 00:08:13.56\00:08:14.89 We no longer need such a crutch. 00:08:14.92\00:08:16.42 Yes, but in his book Gay Science, 00:08:16.46\00:08:19.23 Gay Science, of course is the madman who speaks, 00:08:19.26\00:08:23.77 Nietzsche literally says that we have killed God 00:08:23.80\00:08:27.34 and we is the philosophers. 00:08:27.37\00:08:29.47 In a way, of course, God cannot be killed. 00:08:29.50\00:08:31.44 Yeah. But philosophically. 00:08:31.47\00:08:33.34 Yeah, well, that's what I'm saying, 00:08:33.38\00:08:34.71 philosophically they meant the idea is dying out 00:08:34.74\00:08:36.68 in human thinking. 00:08:36.71\00:08:38.05 Yes, it's the human thinking. 00:08:38.08\00:08:39.58 Although, it's interesting, you know, in the recent years, 00:08:39.61\00:08:42.35 they've been articles in Time and Newsweek about 00:08:42.38\00:08:45.25 what they've described as almost the God shaped 00:08:45.29\00:08:48.49 either void or thinking in because of the brain structure. 00:08:48.52\00:08:52.79 It's like, it's sort of 00:08:52.83\00:08:56.26 a fail-safe built into human beings. 00:08:56.30\00:08:58.00 So it's hard philosophically to get past it when every... 00:08:58.03\00:09:01.97 yearning of the soul is for God, isn't it? 00:09:04.71\00:09:07.41 I mean, that's why the pagans and the animist... 00:09:07.44\00:09:08.94 You know, you have to find God. Yes. 00:09:08.98\00:09:12.98 But for me as an Adventist, 00:09:13.01\00:09:14.82 one of the things that really fascinates me 00:09:14.85\00:09:17.89 is that the time when the Western philosophers 00:09:17.92\00:09:21.22 say that God is dead. 00:09:21.26\00:09:22.59 It's in the 19th century. 00:09:22.62\00:09:23.96 Actually, though Nietzsche is the one 00:09:23.99\00:09:25.56 who says we have killed God, 00:09:25.59\00:09:26.93 it's Hegel, Marx's godfather who first says 00:09:26.96\00:09:31.53 that God is dead in the 19th century, 00:09:31.57\00:09:34.20 at the very time when the Adventists 00:09:34.24\00:09:36.00 were preaching the Three Angels' Message. 00:09:36.04\00:09:38.47 And to me, I believe 00:09:38.51\00:09:39.84 that the Three Angels' Message... 00:09:39.87\00:09:41.21 They just countered the truth. 00:09:41.24\00:09:42.58 Yes, the Three Angels' Message responds, 00:09:42.61\00:09:45.25 it's a direct response to some of the ideologies 00:09:45.28\00:09:48.15 in the 19th century because it points us again 00:09:48.18\00:09:51.02 back to the worship of the one and true God. 00:09:51.05\00:09:53.89 And when you look at the philosophies, 00:09:53.92\00:09:55.49 because the Three Angels' Message is very, very specific, 00:09:55.52\00:09:58.13 "Worship the Creator of the earth, the sea, 00:09:58.16\00:09:59.93 and the heavens." 00:09:59.96\00:10:01.40 And they treated nature is one thing. 00:10:01.43\00:10:04.30 So the very thing that they are trying to put together, 00:10:04.33\00:10:07.34 the Three Angels' Message is trying to emphasize 00:10:07.37\00:10:09.50 that God is the Creator. 00:10:09.54\00:10:11.51 So the whole problem that we have today, 00:10:11.54\00:10:14.21 this is a harvest of the 19th century. 00:10:14.24\00:10:16.44 There's no question, yeah. 00:10:16.48\00:10:17.81 So the Three Angels' Message is indeed a present truth. 00:10:17.85\00:10:24.25 Even talk about the issue of identity... 00:10:24.29\00:10:26.02 That's a terms that Ellen White, 00:10:26.05\00:10:27.76 the co-founder of Adventism constantly uses, 00:10:27.79\00:10:31.49 and I try to resurrect that all the time, present truth. 00:10:31.53\00:10:34.93 What she meant was something relevant 00:10:34.96\00:10:36.36 for these times. 00:10:36.40\00:10:37.73 Yes, it's the modern message. 00:10:37.77\00:10:39.10 And for me... 00:10:39.13\00:10:40.47 Or applied to these times. 00:10:40.50\00:10:41.84 Yes, one of the issues that is the problem today, 00:10:41.87\00:10:44.84 brings us again to the American situation, 00:10:44.87\00:10:46.64 the issues of identity, who am I, 00:10:46.68\00:10:48.81 we have now identity politics. 00:10:48.84\00:10:51.68 Every group wants to be included and multiculturalism 00:10:51.71\00:10:55.65 and all that. 00:10:55.68\00:10:57.02 I find again that 00:10:57.05\00:10:58.45 the Three Angels' Message addresses that 00:10:58.49\00:11:01.72 because it speaks for every nation, 00:11:01.76\00:11:04.16 kindred, tongue, and people. 00:11:04.19\00:11:06.06 It recognizes those identities, it doesn't... 00:11:06.09\00:11:08.83 It affirms the identity. 00:11:08.86\00:11:10.97 But thus we can be able to affirm our identity 00:11:11.00\00:11:14.07 in the worship of the one true God. 00:11:14.10\00:11:17.47 It may take us far 00:11:17.51\00:11:18.84 but I believe that the Three Angels' Message 00:11:18.87\00:11:20.51 is so relevant, so present, so present. 00:11:20.54\00:11:24.25 We need to put it this way, you've been talking 00:11:24.28\00:11:27.42 about the history of philosophy 00:11:27.45\00:11:29.02 and how it's worked out in the modern world, 00:11:29.05\00:11:31.75 you know, that process hasn't finished 00:11:31.79\00:11:34.52 and I don't know 00:11:34.56\00:11:36.86 if you're aware of a fairly recent movie called The Matrix. 00:11:36.89\00:11:41.10 Yes. 00:11:41.13\00:11:43.10 At first, when I saw bits of that 00:11:43.13\00:11:45.57 and then I finally watched it, I figure what... 00:11:45.60\00:11:47.24 I need to see what they're talking about. 00:11:47.27\00:11:49.04 I thought well, this is just a fantastic extrapolation 00:11:49.07\00:11:51.77 of things and it's a good mind game 00:11:51.81\00:11:53.88 but it's not a serious proposition. 00:11:53.91\00:11:56.44 But I'm finding that the scientists are now 00:11:56.48\00:11:58.71 saying the same thing. 00:11:58.75\00:12:00.15 Like there was an article recently 00:12:00.18\00:12:01.52 in a major national paper, 00:12:01.55\00:12:03.12 it says, "Are we really just in a giant video game?" 00:12:03.15\00:12:07.72 Yes. 00:12:07.76\00:12:09.12 And the scientists that deal with, 00:12:09.16\00:12:13.36 like, Hawking and so on 00:12:13.40\00:12:14.73 that really try to imagine the universe, 00:12:14.76\00:12:17.23 they're questioning whether there's a physicality 00:12:17.27\00:12:20.17 to what we're living through. 00:12:20.20\00:12:22.97 And no, I don't believe so, the Bible says, 00:12:23.00\00:12:25.14 "God made heaven and earth." 00:12:25.17\00:12:26.51 He made a reality but we're drifting again to... 00:12:26.54\00:12:29.68 I think disassociating ourselves 00:12:29.71\00:12:31.41 from God's creation, it's man sort of free-floating. 00:12:31.45\00:12:35.02 Yes, but... 00:12:35.05\00:12:36.52 And there's a little substance to it. 00:12:36.55\00:12:38.52 We've been talking privately 00:12:38.55\00:12:39.89 about my predecessor Clifford Goldstein. 00:12:39.92\00:12:41.96 Yes. 00:12:41.99\00:12:43.32 Like, until recently, when I moved office, 00:12:43.36\00:12:45.59 you know, he'd come and we'd discuss 00:12:45.63\00:12:46.96 these philosophical things. 00:12:47.00\00:12:48.33 I remember one of our biggest discussions 00:12:48.36\00:12:50.37 is that "Are we real?" 00:12:50.40\00:12:51.80 Yes. 00:12:51.83\00:12:53.17 You know, the philosophers, it's a very interesting thing, 00:12:53.20\00:12:54.80 I can only deduce that you think like me. 00:12:54.84\00:12:57.34 Yes. 00:12:57.37\00:12:58.71 Because it's all happening in here. 00:12:58.74\00:13:00.08 Yeah, but people, they think that philosophy is up there, 00:13:00.11\00:13:02.34 maybe some of a discussion that we've been having here 00:13:02.38\00:13:04.88 seems so high. 00:13:04.91\00:13:06.25 But the things that people are digesting in the movies 00:13:06.28\00:13:08.65 that they're actually getting in the movies, 00:13:08.68\00:13:10.22 in the popular culture, they first begin... 00:13:10.25\00:13:12.89 These guys are educated in the universities. 00:13:12.92\00:13:14.42 Absolutely. 00:13:14.46\00:13:15.79 So if we want to have a Christian worldview, 00:13:15.82\00:13:18.23 we must know where these things 00:13:18.26\00:13:19.79 are coming from. 00:13:19.83\00:13:21.73 And it's really revival of paganism. 00:13:21.76\00:13:26.03 What we're hearing here is a revival of paganism, 00:13:26.07\00:13:28.40 and Nietzsche himself. 00:13:28.44\00:13:29.77 We talk about Nietzsche, 00:13:29.80\00:13:31.14 why am I referring to Nietzsche? 00:13:31.17\00:13:32.51 Nietzsche is the godfather of post-modernism. 00:13:32.54\00:13:35.31 Because God is not there, 00:13:35.34\00:13:36.91 we can create our own identities, 00:13:36.95\00:13:38.98 we can create our own morals, 00:13:39.01\00:13:40.98 we can be gods, we can be supermen. 00:13:41.02\00:13:43.05 And that's what I was about to say, 00:13:43.08\00:13:44.42 in many ways, he was the godfather of Nazism. 00:13:44.45\00:13:46.76 Yes, he was the godfather of Nazism, 00:13:46.79\00:13:48.72 but Nazism too is human beings taking upon themselves 00:13:48.76\00:13:53.46 to try and shape the world. 00:13:53.50\00:13:55.86 And we know that 00:13:55.90\00:13:57.23 if any human beings try to shape the world, 00:13:57.27\00:14:00.30 we make a mess of it. 00:14:00.34\00:14:01.70 That's true. 00:14:01.74\00:14:03.07 We'd better take a break now. 00:14:03.10\00:14:04.44 So stay with us on this discussion. 00:14:04.47\00:14:05.91 We'll be back to continue this philosophy 101, 00:14:05.94\00:14:09.54 religious liberty 101. 00:14:09.58\00:14:11.25 Yes. 00:14:11.28\00:14:12.61