Participants:
Series Code: AU
Program Code: AU000037S
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00:01 - Today we're gonna explore one of the most influential
00:03 and easily one of the most controversial thinkers 00:06 in modern American history. 00:08 This is a huge influence in the West 00:11 and I'm guessing that most of you 00:13 have probably heard of her. 00:15 [bright music] 00:36 When I was about 18 years old, 00:37 somebody invited me to a meeting of the Objectivist Club 00:40 on the campus of the university I was attending, 00:43 and for the most part the meeting was pretty interesting. 00:47 Ayn Rand, after all, 00:48 regardless of how you might personally feel about her, 00:51 was a pretty bright individual. 00:53 And like countless young adults before me 00:56 I had already read two of her best-selling novels, 00:58 "The Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged," 01:01 and I think at that point I might have also read 01:03 her other short little dystopian novel "Anthem." 01:07 So I got into the meeting and it was mostly featuring 01:09 an old black and white video 01:11 where Ayn Rand was chain smoking and expounding on her ideas 01:14 in front of a very affirming audience. 01:17 I mean the people that were in that audience loved her. 01:20 And when the video was over, the lights came back on, 01:23 there was this short discussion 01:25 and then they served some refreshments. 01:27 And that was also the last Objectivist meeting 01:30 I ever went to. 01:31 Not because I didn't find Ayn Rand appealing, 01:33 I kind of did, 01:35 or at least I found some of her core ideas appealing. 01:38 I mean, she had escaped a brutal past in Russia 01:41 where the communists seized their house 01:43 and her father's business, 01:45 and she had firsthand knowledge 01:47 of what it's like to live under a totalitarian regime. 01:51 My own family had been through something similar 01:53 in the not-too-distant past. 01:55 My father was born under Nazi occupation 01:58 which devastated his country, 02:00 and years later when he was 18 02:02 he emigrated to Canada 02:04 where he made a very nice life for himself. 02:07 So in some ways I kinda felt some empathy for Ayn Rand 02:10 because, well, our families in the past 02:12 both knew what it was like to experience 02:15 the rule of a collectivist dictatorship 02:17 and both of us understood the life of an immigrant. 02:21 But you know she still lost me that night 02:23 because of her rabid atheism. 02:25 She didn't just state that she didn't believe in God, 02:28 she virtually spit God's name in disgust, 02:31 and for some reason I found that to be a huge turn off. 02:35 Now to be clear back then I was not a practicing Christian 02:38 even though I was raised in a church-going home. 02:41 I was going through what you might call my heathen phase, 02:44 or maybe more accurately my hedonist phase, 02:47 so you could hardly describe me as a religious person. 02:51 But still, the way she hated God was a turn off 02:55 and somehow the way she was speaking 02:57 also gave me the impression 02:59 that her ego might be out of control. 03:01 Now, to be fair, lots of people have inflated egos 03:05 and that doesn't mean their ideas are wrong. 03:07 And because she insisted that she dealt in ideas 03:10 rather than emotions, 03:11 we should probably judge her 03:13 by the content of her philosophy 03:15 maybe instead of the content of her character, 03:17 although I'm not convinced the two things aren't related. 03:21 But for now let's just stick to her ideas. 03:25 And in the appendix you find 03:26 in some editions of "Atlas Shrugged" 03:29 there's a simple definition of Objectivism, 03:32 that's the name for her philosophy, 03:33 and this definition comes from Ayn Rand herself. 03:36 She says, "My philosophy, in essence, 03:39 "is the concept of man as a heroic being, 03:43 "with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, 03:46 "with productive achievement as his noblest activity, 03:50 "and reason as his only absolute." 03:54 It's a system of thinking not entirely unlike 03:56 some of the 19th and 20th century philosophers 03:59 we've discussed on other shows, 04:02 and honestly the influence 04:03 of Friedrich Nietzsche in particular 04:05 really does seem to show up in Ayn Rand's work. 04:09 Now what's interesting 04:10 is that you won't find Ayn Rand's name 04:12 in the table of contents 04:14 of most of the philosophy textbooks at colleges 04:17 even though her influence on Western culture is undeniable 04:21 and there's little question that she should be considered 04:24 a bona fide philosopher. 04:26 After all, she spent most of her life pontificating 04:29 on the various disciplines of philosophical pursuit, 04:32 ranging from metaphysics and epistemology 04:35 to ethics and aesthetics. 04:37 And her following is big enough 04:39 that even if you don't happen to like her, 04:41 you'd still have to conceive 04:43 that she's definitely earned the title of philosopher. 04:47 Personally, I believe part of the reason 04:48 she's usually excluded 04:50 is because of her politics. 04:51 She leaned very heavily to the right 04:54 and most liberal arts colleges, 04:56 well, they tend to lean the other way. 04:58 Now let's get to Objectivism. 05:00 Ayn Rand believed, like most people do, 05:02 that your life belongs to you. 05:04 Nobody has the right to appropriate it 05:07 or to force you into servitude. 05:09 You get to live your life. 05:12 And what Ayn Rand really admired 05:14 was a person who used their lifetime 05:16 to achieve great things. 05:18 We all benefit, she argued, 05:19 when people are allowed to pursue their personal ambition 05:23 and engage in mutually beneficial exchange. 05:26 So, when somebody has a vision to build something grand 05:29 or to start a large company, 05:31 everybody, she said, benefits. 05:33 Take, for example, a company like Amazon. 05:36 Even though Jeff Bezos made his mark 05:38 well after Ayn Rand was dead, 05:40 I'm guessing she would have loved this guy 05:42 because his vision for a huge online distribution company 05:46 has created hundreds of thousands of jobs 05:48 and made everybody's life, well, a lot more convenient. 05:52 The successful entrepreneur 05:54 is the hero of Ayn Rand's philosophy. 05:58 So on the surface Objectivism looks pretty good 06:00 and it seems to align with the so-called American dream. 06:04 It's rugged individualism driven by ambition 06:07 and it's a model that fits the way Western civilization 06:09 has managed to secure a level of widespread prosperity 06:13 that has never before happened in the history of the world. 06:17 And to a large degree Ayn Rand's vision harmonizes 06:20 with the Protestant work ethic, 06:22 even though her reason for valuing hard work and ambition 06:25 is quite different from that of the Reformers. 06:29 To the Protestants of yesterday, work was an act of worship. 06:33 They believed that we are condemned 06:35 to live in a fallen world 06:36 and we have to earn our living by the sweat of our brow, 06:39 but we will do it to the best our ability 06:43 as a tribute to the Creator. 06:45 Working in a fallen world to the Reformers 06:47 was something to be thankful for 06:49 and you could use your labor 06:51 to further the cause of God's kingdom. 06:54 Your personal morality, your attention to detail, 06:57 your willingness to invest yourself, 06:59 your charity toward those in need, 07:02 well, it all helps the world see the character of God. 07:06 But for Ayn Rand there was no God. 07:09 The point of working and excelling at something is you, 07:13 which is what she meant when she talked about 07:15 the virtue of selfishness. 07:17 Being true to yourself, she taught, 07:19 produces an ethical lifestyle, 07:21 and the requirement, 07:22 now that's an important word, 07:24 the requirement to spend yourself for the sake of others, 07:28 well, Ayn Rand said that was unethical. 07:31 Altruism as a public value, she said, 07:33 is completely unethical 07:36 and it creates a collectivist mentality 07:38 where the mob believes 07:40 it has a right to the product of your labor 07:42 and so the mob appropriates your life by force. 07:46 The Soviet Union, obviously, 07:47 was a really good example of what she was driving at. 07:50 It was the logical conclusion of state collectivism 07:54 where the state became more important than the individual. 07:59 So, as far as I'm concerned, 08:00 there's a lot in Ayn Rand's philosophy that I can admire 08:04 because, well, she's not wrong 08:06 about the dangers of statism and collectivism. 08:09 I mean, just think about this. 08:10 Christians have never ever fared well 08:13 under collectivist experiments 08:14 because in order for collectivism to function at all 08:19 you really can't have freedom of conscience. 08:22 Under collectivist experiments, 08:24 people who think differently are considered dangerous. 08:28 Christians, after all, 08:29 were originally considered a threat to the Roman Empire. 08:32 A Christian's first allegiance is to Christ, 08:35 not to some deified emperor, 08:37 and so the disciples of Christ were considered by the Romans 08:40 to be a destabilizing force and a danger to the common good. 08:46 And the same thing happened under the former Soviet Union, 08:48 and those of you who happen to be of my age 08:50 will remember the horrific stories of Christians 08:53 and how they had to go underground 08:55 in order to keep the faith. 08:57 They were sent to labor camps in Siberia. 09:00 They were generally disenfranchised, 09:01 they were treated brutally and even killed for their faith. 09:05 In the city of Budapest, 09:06 you can still visit the House of Terror, 09:08 a building were countless Christians 09:10 were taken in the middle of the night 09:12 and most of them never seen again, 09:14 and I've actually talked to some of the people 09:16 who lost family members in that place. 09:20 We have even more recent examples 09:22 coming from the largest Communist experiment 09:24 on the planet today, 09:25 and that's China. 09:26 Home churches established by Christians are bulldozed, 09:30 preachers are not free to say what they want, 09:32 and tens of millions of Christians have to live in fear 09:34 of what the state might do to them. 09:36 And it's not just Christians 09:38 by any stretch of the imagination. 09:39 Members of Falun Gong and the largely Muslim Uyghurs 09:43 give us even more proof that religious liberty 09:46 never seems to go hand in hand with collectivism. 09:49 In fact, over the course of the 20th century, 09:52 collectivist ideology effectively turned half the world 09:56 into a prison camp. 09:58 Now, it looks like I've gotta take a quick break, 10:00 but don't you go away because when we come back 10:02 we're gonna take a look 10:04 at how Ayn Rand's Objectivist philosophy 10:05 doesn't do any favors for Christianity either. 10:10 - [Announcer] Life can throw a lot at us. 10:12 Sometimes we don't have all the answers. 10:16 But that's where the Bible comes in. 10:18 It's our guide to a more fulfilling life. 10:21 Here at the Voice of Prophecy 10:23 we've created the "Discover" Bible guides 10:25 to be your guide to the Bible. 10:26 They're designed to be simple, easy to use, 10:29 and provide answers to many of life's toughest questions, 10:32 and they're absolutely free. 10:34 So jump online now or give us a call 10:36 and start your journey of discovery. 10:40 - Ayn Rand was certainly quotable 10:42 and I don't know if it's her Russian heritage or not 10:44 but you can tell a lot of her novels were really thick 10:47 like other Russian authors. 10:50 But even though they're long, 10:51 they're pregnant with quotable moments 10:53 like this one from "Atlas Shrugged." 10:56 This is an inscription on a building 10:57 owned by the free-thinker John Galt. 11:00 It says, "I swear by my life and my love of it 11:03 "that I will never live for the sake of another man 11:06 "nor ask another man to live for mine." 11:09 Now that right there is a pretty good summary 11:11 of her Objectivist philosophy. 11:13 Now it doesn't rule out things 11:15 like voluntary free exchange or generosity, 11:17 but it does rule out things like coercion or groupthink. 11:21 In this novel, 11:23 this is an oath that people have to take, 11:25 voluntarily, of course, 11:26 if they want to live in a free world 11:28 created by this character, John Galt, 11:30 the man who ditched the oppression of the collectivists 11:33 to go out there and go at it alone. 11:35 Here's another quotable moment 11:37 from her book "Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal." 11:40 She says, "The smallest minority on Earth is the individual. 11:44 "Those who deny individual rights 11:46 "cannot claim to be defenders of minorities." 11:49 Now, to some extent, 11:50 that does kind of match the ethics of the Bible 11:53 where people are treated as individuals 11:56 instead of just groups. 11:58 Of course, the Bible also has clear group identities 12:00 like the children of Israel. 12:02 But within the group, individuals are valued highly 12:06 and find themselves accountable directly to God. 12:10 The Bible really does value the worth of the person, 12:13 and the influence of the Protestant Reformers 12:15 and the English Dissenters 12:17 can still be felt in the American Bill of Rights. 12:20 So on some levels there is a little bit of harmony 12:23 between the ethics of the Bible and the ethics of Ayn Rand, 12:26 and maybe that's the reason 12:28 Ayn Rand seems to have a following among American Christians 12:31 even though she was clearly an atheist. 12:34 But then if you keep reading Ayn Rand and the Bible 12:37 you discover she clearly diverges 12:39 from the actual ethics of Jesus. 12:42 Now in the time that we have today 12:43 there's no way I can do justice to this topic, 12:45 and I know the disciples of Ayn Rand 12:48 are gonna be upset by what I say 12:49 because if Ayn Rand insisted on one thing 12:52 it was linguistic precision. 12:55 Whether or not she actually achieved that for herself 12:57 is another story 12:59 because her epistemology kind of fails the test, 13:01 specially when you try to pin down 13:03 her definition of the word reason. 13:06 But maybe we'll come back to that some other day. 13:08 Ayn Rand was so particular about her philosophy 13:11 that she didn't even allow most of her students 13:13 to call themselves Objectivists 13:14 because that would imply 13:16 they had something intelligent to say 13:18 and she didn't think they did. 13:20 So she called them students of Objectivism 13:23 because only she got to speak for the philosophy. 13:26 Now there were a few exceptions like Nathaniel Branden 13:29 who was allowed to speak for this system of thought, 13:31 but those people were exceptionally rare. 13:34 Ayn Rand explained this way back in 1968 when she said, 13:38 "Since Objectivism is not a loose body of ideas 13:42 "but a philosophical system originated by me 13:45 "and publicly associated with my name, 13:47 "it is my right and my responsibility 13:50 "to protect its intellectual integrity." 13:53 And I guess that's probably one of the first red flags 13:56 you find in the writings of Ayn Rand. 13:58 I mean, it was certainly her right 13:59 to make sure that people didn't misrepresent her, 14:02 but at the same time she spoke about Objectivism 14:06 like it was a hard science. 14:08 She wasn't inventing truth, she insisted, 14:10 but discovering it, like a scientist would, 14:12 because as far as she was concerned 14:14 that's what philosophy is, 14:16 a hard science that uses nothing but impartial reason. 14:21 Now here's the big problem with this. 14:22 Nobody owns a scientific discovery. 14:25 The law of gravity, for example, just exists. 14:28 Even though Isaac Newton defined it, he doesn't own it. 14:32 And if Objectivism is really a hard science 14:35 the way Ayn Rand said, 14:36 then it should be open to peer review 14:38 and there's no way she could own it. 14:41 Author Ronald Merrill makes this point quite nicely 14:43 when he says, "She," speaking of Ayn Rand, 14:46 "seems to have forgotten 14:47 "that no one can own a scientific theory 14:49 "since it is not a creation but a discovery, 14:52 "an identification of reality." 14:55 So, if her philosophy is really objective science, 14:58 if this is really just the product of pure reason, 15:00 then she should have been open to debate. 15:02 And she wasn't. 15:04 In fact, she refused to answer most people's questions 15:06 and she refused to debate 15:08 because she always believed herself 15:10 the smartest person in the room. 15:13 If you saw holes in the ways she thought 15:15 that's only because you're too dumb to understand her system 15:18 the way that she did. 15:19 Ayn Rand delivered monologues 15:22 where students sat at her feet 15:23 and dared not ask questions. 15:26 And this was specially true in her later years 15:28 when she became visibly impatient with people 15:31 and often appeared angry when someone asked a question. 15:36 Of course, the fact that she had an ego 15:38 doesn't by itself make her thinking necessarily untrue, 15:41 but the closure of debate 15:43 and the insistence that there's only one expert in the room 15:45 is often a red flag 15:46 that you're dealing with a cult-like mentality 15:49 instead of legitimate philosophy. 15:51 And honestly, cult-like is a pretty good description 15:54 of the Objectivists I've interacted with over the years, 15:57 even though a lot of them are obviously smart people. 16:00 I just find it hard to escape this feeling 16:02 that Ayn Rand is taking the place of God 16:04 or revealed scripture 16:06 in some people's lives. 16:07 I mean, she sits at the top of this philosophical system 16:10 not so much like a teacher 16:12 but more like an omniscient leader who cannot be questioned. 16:16 You know, a cult leader. 16:18 And no, I don't really believe 16:19 that Objectivism is a bona fide cult 16:21 and I know her followers would hate that description 16:24 because they prize free thinking, 16:26 but they also know I'm not the only one 16:28 who's walked away with that impression 16:30 because a lot of time and effort has been devoted 16:32 to the question of whether or not 16:34 Objectivism is actually a religious cult, 16:37 because in a lot of ways it behaves like one. 16:40 Ayn Rand was known to scream at people who disagreed, 16:42 and to be considered an Objectivist 16:44 meant passing an ideological purity test, 16:47 and she was the only one who could decide who was worthy. 16:52 But maybe with the time we have left 16:53 we should explore one or two of the many ways 16:56 her system of thinking diverges from biblical Christianity. 16:59 Now there's a lot of things we could cover, 17:01 like the fact that she insisted, like John Locke, 17:04 that human beings are born with nothing in their brains 17:07 and they build their identities and knowledge 17:09 using nothing but pure reason. 17:12 But for today what I think I wanna do 17:14 is explore maybe just one important way 17:17 that her perception of the value of the individual 17:20 actually differs from the way 17:22 the Bible presents the same subject. 17:25 But before we do that I do have to take another break, 17:28 so you sit tight and I'll be right back. 17:32 - [Announcer] Here at the Voice of Prophecy 17:34 we're committed to creating top quality programming 17:36 for the whole family, 17:38 like our audio adventure series "Discovery Mountain." 17:41 "Discovery Mountain" is a Bible-based program 17:43 for kids of all ages and backgrounds. 17:46 Your family will enjoy the faith-building stories 17:48 from this small mountain summer camp and town. 17:51 With 24 seasonal episodes every year 17:54 and fresh content every week, 17:56 there's always a new adventure just on the horizon. 18:02 - If there's one thing Ayn Rand made perfectly clear 18:05 it's that she had no patience for Christians. 18:08 Altruism, the act of living for others, was anathema to her, 18:11 so she absolutely deplored the idea that somebody 18:14 would ever sacrifice himself for others, like Christ. 18:18 Of course, from her perspective, 18:19 she was talking about coercion 18:21 where somebody is compelled to live 18:23 for the sake of other people, 18:25 and I have to admit I probably have some sympathy there. 18:27 I mean, if you're pressured into sacrificing yourself 18:30 or you're compelled to do it by law, 18:32 I'm not convinced there's actually any moral value 18:35 to what you're doing. 18:36 But what the Bible discusses is voluntary altruism, 18:40 a voluntary willingness to put others ahead of yourself. 18:44 For example, take that really famous admonition from Paul 18:47 that I bring up just about every other week. 18:49 It's from the Book of Philippians and it says, 18:51 "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 18:55 "who, being in the form of God, 18:57 "did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 19:00 "but made himself of no reputation, 19:02 "taking the form of a bondservant 19:04 "and coming in the likeness of men. 19:05 "And being found in appearance as a man, 19:07 "he humbled himself 19:09 "and became obedient to the point of death, 19:11 "even the death of the cross." 19:14 Now you notice this is completely voluntary. 19:17 Nobody made Christ leave the glory of heaven 19:19 to come and save us, 19:20 it was his idea, 19:21 and that's what makes it so incredibly touching. 19:25 And Paul's advice to live like Christ 19:27 starts with the word let. 19:29 In other words, 19:30 it implies self-motivation and the freedom to choose. 19:34 What Ayn Rand really railed against, 19:36 and I can understand why, 19:37 is the way that worldly governments 19:39 will force you to sacrifice for something 19:41 they call the common good, 19:42 which of course is really hard to define. 19:45 I mean, who gets to decide what you sacrifice if not you 19:49 and who gets to decide what the common good is 19:51 if it's not a bunch of powerful people who have, well, 19:54 the same weakness for serving self that you and I have. 19:57 Letting powerful people tell the rest of us how to live 20:00 almost always, always has unintended consequences 20:03 because mere human beings 20:05 cannot make perfectly informed decisions 20:08 and their decisions result in more misery 20:10 usually for somebody. 20:13 So I understand Ayn Rand's distaste 20:15 for compulsory sacrifice. 20:18 But the self-sacrifice described in the Bible is different. 20:21 Ayn Rand may still detested it, but it's different. 20:25 The Bible grants freedom of conscience. 20:27 You are allowed to live any way you want, 20:29 even if you're going to reject God. 20:32 I know some people will insist that's not true 20:34 because the nation of Israel had legally enforced morality 20:37 with penalties attached to it. 20:39 I mean, there was a penalty for adultery 20:41 and a penalty for blasphemy 20:43 and a penalty for all kinds of things 20:45 that our modern world would never want to penalize. 20:48 But again there's a difference. 20:50 The nation of Israel was founded on a voluntary contract 20:53 with the Creator. 20:55 They didn't have to be the chosen people but they wanted to, 20:57 and so they signed a covenant, 20:58 and a covenant always has terms and conditions. 21:03 What's hard to escape, however, 21:05 is the notion of freedom 21:06 that you find in the pages of the Bible. 21:08 Back in the Book of Genesis, 21:10 God allowed our first parents 21:12 the freedom to choose for him or against him. 21:15 They were placed in the garden 21:16 where they were perfectly free to eat 21:18 from all the trees but one. 21:20 "If you eat from that tree," God said, 21:22 "that will lead to death." 21:24 Now there wasn't anything magical or toxic about that tree. 21:28 It appears to have existed for just one reason. 21:31 To provide freedom of choice. 21:33 The Bible defines God as a God of relationships and love, 21:37 and in order to be able to love freely 21:39 there has to be the possibility of choice. 21:43 For example, the reason I really value 21:45 my relationship with my wife 21:47 is because it's voluntary. 21:48 When I get home from a long trip 21:50 and she's still there at my house, 21:51 I know it's because she wants to be 21:53 and that means something to me. 21:55 But if I get home and she's chained to the coffee table 21:58 and I say, "Hey, look at that, you're still here," 22:01 well, that doesn't make sense. 22:02 There's nothing meaningful about that. 22:04 So in order to live freely, 22:06 to be able to freely enter into a relationship with God, 22:09 the freedom to choose against God has to be there. 22:12 And that's what you have in Eden, 22:14 the ability to choose against God. 22:16 That way nobody can point to the relationship 22:18 and suggest that it's coercive, 22:21 because it's not. 22:23 Now that doesn't mean that God didn't warn our parents 22:25 about the consequences of walking away. 22:28 He is after all the only source of life in the universe 22:30 and to sever your connection to God 22:32 will always have tragic consequences, 22:34 so he told them what would happen 22:36 if they chose to go at it alone. 22:39 But he didn't make it impossible to leave. 22:42 There's another good example in the Old Testament 22:44 where Joshua encourages the Israelites 22:47 to remain faithful to God after they had been unfaithful 22:50 in a number of different ways. 22:53 Notice what Joshua actually says. 22:56 "And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, 22:58 "choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, 23:01 "whether the gods which your fathers served 23:04 "that were on the other side of the river, 23:06 "or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. 23:09 "But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." 23:14 Again, it's the freedom to choose, 23:15 and that's a really important concept in Christianity. 23:19 I know the Church behaved rather badly 23:21 during the Middle Ages 23:22 and we compelled people to worship a certain way. 23:25 But that was an aberration, 23:26 it was a departure from the principles 23:29 of our founding document. 23:31 God does not force, 23:32 and that means that Christians have an obligation 23:35 to respect the rights of others. 23:37 Forcing people to accept Christianity 23:40 is plainly out of bounds. 23:44 Of course, that doesn't mean that we can't support 23:46 good moral civic laws, 23:48 particularly those that are related 23:50 to the second table of commandments. 23:52 Moral principles like you shall not kill 23:54 or you shall not steal 23:56 respect the rights of the individual 23:58 and they place a distinct value on other people. 24:01 Those are good laws. 24:02 Common sense moral values that benefit everybody. 24:06 Where Christians run into trouble, though, 24:08 is when they try to enforce the first table of commandments 24:11 through civil laws, 24:13 the commandments that describe our personal duty to God. 24:17 You cannot force other people 24:18 not to take the Lord's name in vain 24:20 or to observe the Sabbath and so on. 24:23 Now I've got to take one last quick break 24:26 and then we'll come back to summarize 24:28 what it is that I'm really driving at. 24:34 - [Announcer] Are you searching for answers 24:35 to life's toughest questions like, 24:37 where is God when we suffer? 24:39 Can I find real happiness? 24:41 Or is there any hope for our chaotic world? 24:44 The "Discover" Bible guides will help you 24:45 find the answers you're looking for. 24:48 Visit us at BibleStudies.com 24:50 or give us a call at 888-456-7933 24:56 for your free "Discover" Bible guides. 24:58 Study online on our secure website 25:01 or have the free guides mailed right to your home. 25:04 There is never a cost or obligation. 25:06 The "Discover" Bible guides are our free gift to you. 25:09 Find answers and guides like 25:11 "Does My Life Really Matter to God?" 25:13 and "A Second Chance at Life." 25:15 You'll find answers to the things that matter most to you 25:18 in each of the 26 "Discover" Bible guides. 25:20 Visit BibleStudies.com and begin your journey today 25:24 to discover answers to life's deepest questions. 25:33 - Ayn Rand appeared to believe, 25:34 like Nietzsche or Schopenhauer, 25:36 that the universe somehow answers to us. 25:39 Now that's a little simplistic 25:40 because neither of those philosophers really believed 25:43 the universe had any real meaning attached to it anyway. 25:47 But they did suggest that the best path in life 25:50 is to just accumulate power and use it to carve out 25:52 a better existence for yourself. 25:55 Ayn Rand essentially taught the same thing, 25:58 and it's no surprise because she was 25:59 a huge fan of Nietzsche. 26:01 Her highest ideal was the noble hero, 26:05 the one who beats the odds 26:06 and really makes something of himself. 26:09 And I say himself on purpose 26:11 because for some strange reason 26:14 Ayn Rand actually put limits on the ambitions of women, 26:17 even stating publicly that they should never, ever, 26:20 be president of the United States. 26:22 The individualism of Ayn Rand's Objectivism 26:26 was completely self-serving 26:28 and it assumed that the universe is here to serve us. 26:32 Christianity, on the other hand, 26:34 believes that the universe answers to a Creator 26:37 and the universe was made as a reflection 26:40 of who that Creator is. 26:42 We understand that we've been given free moral agency 26:45 and that God invites us to answer to him. 26:49 What Christianity teaches essentially 26:52 is that you really are your own person 26:53 and that you don't need some kind of middle man 26:56 that stands between you and God. 26:58 You are free to choose. 27:00 But what happens if you understand that the universe 27:03 does not exist for you 27:05 and you voluntarily submit to the God who made it, 27:08 well, in that case you discover 27:11 that the universe absolutely bends in God's direction, 27:14 and that's a feature he's willing to share with you 27:17 because it turns out God also voluntarily lives for you. 27:23 Listen, like Ayn Rand, 27:25 I do not recognize any right on your part 27:28 to call the shots in my life. 27:30 But quite unlike her, 27:32 I readily acknowledge God's right 27:34 to call the shots in my life. 27:36 And I'm quite happy to submit to that arrangement 27:38 because I've come to realize I can't lose 27:42 when I'm in the hands of a loving and merciful God. 27:46 Well, that's it for this week, 27:48 I've talked too long and I've completely run out of time 27:50 and I guess that quick summary 27:51 of one of the most influential writers in American culture 27:55 is just gonna have to do for now. 27:57 Maybe we'll come back to it on another week. 27:59 Thanks for joining me, until next time. 28:01 I'm Shawn Boonstra 28:03 and this has been another edition of "Authentic." 28:07 [bright music] |
Revised 2022-01-25