Participants:
Series Code: AU
Program Code: AU000090S
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00:00 - How much would you estimate
00:02 that you and I actually owe to future generations? 00:05 Do you think it's possible that we're morally responsible 00:08 for building the world of tomorrow, 00:10 the one our descendants are going to have to live in? 00:13 And just how capable would we be of doing that, 00:16 especially when we can't seem to fix our own problems? 00:20 [upbeat music] 00:30 [upbeat music continues] 00:40 Just the other day I was flying home 00:41 from a speaking appointment 00:43 and I pulled out this book by William MacAskill, 00:45 a contemporary Scottish philosopher. 00:48 And I've got to admit, 00:50 he really gave me some stuff to think about. 00:52 Now, the name of the book is "What We Owe the Future". 00:55 And as you can probably guess, he's making the case 00:58 that you and I have a moral obligation 01:00 to future generations. 01:02 An obligation to leave the world better than we found it. 01:06 It's not just the nice thing to do, 01:08 he says it's the right thing, a moral responsibility. 01:12 And of course, at first blush, 01:14 nobody's gonna argue with that. 01:15 Most parents already instinctively 01:18 try to give their kids better opportunities. 01:21 They make sure they get a decent education 01:23 and grow up to be confident and independent adults. 01:27 Throughout the history of parenthood, 01:28 parents have, generally speaking, 01:30 put their own desires and their own wellbeing 01:33 on the back burner, if they think 01:36 it means their children will prosper. 01:38 I mean, over the years, how many times 01:40 haven't you been inspired by the story of a single mother 01:43 who worked two or three jobs and did without sleep 01:46 and skipped meals so that her children 01:49 would have the chance to rise above poverty? 01:52 But that's not really what this book is driving at, 01:54 at least not in the opening chapters. 01:57 The author is driving it much bigger things, 02:00 cleaning up the environment, changing the moral landscape, 02:03 and establishing a more just society. 02:06 And again, who's really gonna argue with that, 02:09 except that I can't help but notice 02:11 that historically speaking, our very best efforts 02:14 to deliberately engineer a better future 02:17 have almost always ended in moral disaster, 02:20 which makes me really suspicious 02:22 about people who claim they have a blueprint 02:25 to a better almost utopian tomorrow. 02:28 I mean, let's just think about our recent history. 02:31 The most carefully engineered societies 02:33 that emerged in the 20th century 02:36 are now remembered as some of the most brutal. 02:40 And of course, Mr. MacAskill isn't naive 02:42 and he isn't promising utopia. 02:44 I'm just telling you that I have some grave reservations 02:48 about our ability to engineer a so-called 02:51 more just society for ourselves, 02:55 let alone people who live way down in the future. 02:58 Because what often happens when we do that 03:01 is that people become less important than policies. 03:05 And we usually find ourselves willing to get rid of people 03:08 who stand in the way of ideological objectives. 03:12 I mean, the death toll for the communist experiment 03:14 of the 20th century exceeded 100 million people, 03:19 and it produced several butchers like Joseph Stalin, 03:22 who didn't mind starving millions of his own subjects, 03:25 if it meant accumulating more power. 03:28 And I find it fascinating that the Bible talks about 03:32 a fatal flaw in our human character. 03:34 A flaw that we find ourselves incapable of fixing. 03:38 It says we're inherently selfish, 03:41 which is hard to argue with, 03:42 because generally speaking, it seems like 03:45 when many of the people who cry for more justice, 03:48 actually achieve a modicum of political power, 03:51 they somehow change and become part of the problem. 03:56 And so, I find myself kind of torn 03:58 when I see a book like MacAskill's, 04:00 because well, of course, we have a moral obligation 04:02 to our fellow human beings. 04:04 And of course, if the kingdom of God doesn't come first, 04:08 we want to leave the planet better than we found it. 04:11 So, generally speaking, obviously I'm in agreement, 04:15 but at the same time, I'm offering a giant word of caution, 04:18 because how many times over the course of recorded history 04:22 have we ever actually fixed something? 04:25 For example, I've brought this up before, 04:27 but countless generations have boldly proclaimed 04:31 the end of human war, 04:32 most famously, toward the end of the 19th century 04:36 and into the 20th. 04:38 But then by 1914, we had our first world war 04:41 followed very quickly by the second one, 04:44 and we witnessed a level of carnage 04:46 the world had never seen before. 04:49 In fact, if I'm remembering this correctly, 04:52 more than 200 million people died 04:55 across all the wars of the 20th century. 04:59 And of course, one of the key problems 05:00 we had in the middle of the 20th century 05:03 was the fact that Hitler's idea of a better tomorrow 05:05 clashed with the rest of the worlds, 05:08 and so did Stalins. 05:10 So, if we're going to start planning for a better tomorrow, 05:13 I mean, really make an effort to engineer a better world, 05:17 who gets to cast that vision? 05:19 Who gets to be in charge of it? 05:21 The hard reality of living on this planet 05:24 is that we have a huge proportion of the human population 05:27 who simply don't agree on what that utopia should look like. 05:33 Of course, again, I'm now going places 05:36 that the author doesn't actually go. 05:38 And so, I don't want you to think 05:39 he's pushing for a completely re-engineered society. 05:42 I mean, honestly, I haven't even finished 05:44 reading the book yet, 05:45 and maybe he does do that, I don't know. 05:48 But based on what I've read so far, I kind of doubt it. 05:52 I'm just considering what historically happens 05:54 when we begin to think we can somehow just apply human logic 05:59 and reason our way out of our very worst character traits. 06:05 But of course, that doesn't mean 06:06 I'm saying we shouldn't try. 06:08 Of course we should try. 06:10 I just think that treating society as if it's 06:12 some kind of scientific lab experiment is dangerous, 06:16 because it has never succeeded. 06:18 Not even once, why? 06:21 It's because there are too many variables, 06:24 too much potential for unintended consequences. 06:26 And of course, there's also the nagging problem 06:29 of our essentially selfish nature. 06:33 I mean, let's think about this. 06:35 When most people have to make a choice 06:37 between what's good for everybody else 06:40 and what's good for them, 06:42 well, what does our natural instinct drive us to do? 06:47 I think you know the answer, 06:48 because the people who instinctively do 06:50 what's good for somebody else are so rare 06:54 they actually surprise us. 06:56 We make heroes out of these people, 06:57 we name streets after them, we raise statues to their honor. 07:02 That's how rare, genuinely altruistic people really are. 07:08 So, for just a few minutes, 07:10 let's consider the moral implications 07:12 of trying to frame a world 07:14 that somebody else is gonna have to live in. 07:16 Of course, to some extent, we do that already every day. 07:20 All of the big decisions we make on this planet 07:23 are likely gonna change the way 07:24 that future generations are going to have to live. 07:28 That much is obvious. 07:30 And I think because we're building the future anyway, 07:33 we should be thinking about 07:34 negative consequences to the best of our ability, 07:38 and we should do what we can to avoid those. 07:41 And of course, as we do that, 07:43 we're going to get a lot of things wrong, 07:45 because there's no way we can accurately 07:48 anticipate the world of the future 07:50 any more than a group of Greek philosophers 07:53 living 600 years before Christ 07:56 could ever anticipate this world. 07:58 Where for example, I can talk to people face-to-face 08:01 in real time, anywhere on the planet, anytime I want. 08:08 Under those circumstances, I wouldn't necessarily 08:10 wanna live by the rules set way back then. 08:14 But just because we can't really imagine the future, 08:17 does that mean we shouldn't try to improve it? 08:20 Again, of course not. 08:23 But it's that whole problem 08:24 with our imperfect fallen natures that makes me 08:27 suspicious of people who claim to have all the answers, 08:30 because, well, that's never been the case. 08:34 Yet, still there's something in our hearts 08:36 that makes us want to follow people 08:38 who promise to make utopia happen, 08:40 and almost every single time we get sharply disappointed. 08:45 I mean, if you wanna see it on a smaller scale, 08:47 watch the election cycle every time it rolls out 08:50 here in the United States of America. 08:53 During the primary season, all kinds of promises are made 08:56 and somebody's poll numbers rise 08:58 as voters choose to believe them 09:01 and they start to lean in that candidate's direction. 09:04 In spite of our past experience, 09:06 people continue to get their hopes up. 09:08 And then when the candidates we believed in 09:10 are actually elected about two years into their term, 09:14 we usually, not always, 09:16 but we usually send their party 09:18 a disciplinary message in the midterms. 09:20 The poll numbers start to drop, 09:22 because yet again, another political candidate 09:25 didn't fix our worst problems. 09:29 Now, expand that idea across the entire planet 09:32 and ask yourself, 09:34 who exactly is going to be in charge of building utopia? 09:39 You want me to do it? 09:40 Because I don't want you to do it. 09:43 And I'll be right back after this. 09:48 - [Promoter] Here at The Voice of Prophecy, 09:50 we're committed to creating top quality programming 09:52 for the whole family. 09:54 Like our audio adventure series "Discovery Mountain". 09:57 "Discovery Mountain" is a bible-based program 09:59 for kids of all ages and backgrounds. 10:02 Your family will enjoy the faith building stories 10:04 from this small mountain summer camp and town 10:07 with 24 seasonal episodes every year 10:10 and fresh content every week. 10:12 There's always a new adventure just on the horizon. 10:18 - Okay, we're back. 10:19 So, let me raise some ethical questions 10:22 that popped into my mind when I started to think about 10:25 what kind of moral obligation we might have to the future. 10:29 The author of this book, 10:30 basically takes the position that 10:32 humanity as we recognize it now 10:35 emerged from the evolutionary process 10:37 about 300,000 years ago. 10:39 Then he suggests that the average lifespan 10:42 for a species of mammals is about a million years. 10:45 At which point he says, 10:47 "We turn into something else or we just go extinct." 10:50 Now, that's not the way that I look at things, 10:52 because it's not the biblical point of view. 10:55 But what he does with that idea 10:57 is propose that most of the human beings 10:59 who will ever live still don't exist. 11:02 Our biggest population he says, by a long shot, 11:05 will live in the very distant future. 11:08 And so because of that, we have a moral obligation 11:11 to those people because well, he thinks 11:14 they're going to outnumber us. 11:16 But where exactly does he get that idea? 11:19 Why does he assume that greater numbers of people 11:21 are worth more than fewer numbers of people? 11:24 Why would he assign moral worth to the size of a population? 11:28 I mean, I get it. 11:30 When you live in a Western democracy, 11:32 you're raised in the idea that the majority must rule. 11:35 And so, more people will always seem like 11:38 they carry more value than less people. 11:40 But why, and how are we supposed to know that? 11:44 Now, again, I don't believe this, 11:47 but suppose that we really did emerge 11:49 as a unique species 300,000 years ago, 11:51 just for the sake of argument. 11:54 How exactly did that happen? 11:55 Was it an accident? 11:57 Did incredibly vast amounts of time coupled with chance 12:00 somehow accidentally produce the human race, 12:03 self-conscious, self-aware, rational people? 12:07 And if we really got here by accident, 12:09 why is there any moral worth to preserving anything? 12:13 I mean, it's just an accident, right? 12:15 And at some point it's all going to disappear. 12:17 And then 100 million years after that, the theory says, 12:20 nobody's ever gonna know that we even existed. 12:24 So, who's to say that our presence in this galaxy 12:27 has any moral worth? 12:28 And why should we assume that the needs 12:30 of some future majority are more important than my needs? 12:34 Where does that idea come from? 12:36 I mean, you and I are going to be dead 12:37 when that distant future arrives. 12:39 So, why in the world should we care about it? 12:42 Now, don't get me wrong, 12:44 I'm not arguing that future people don't matter. 12:46 I'm just asking why. 12:48 Where exactly do these moral values, 12:51 these moral price tags, actually come from? 12:54 Somebody might argue that it's a matter of self-preservation 12:57 for the human race that we need to keep humanity going, 13:00 and that makes it a moral issue. 13:02 But why? 13:04 I mean, we all understand that we're going to die anyway. 13:06 And after the passage of this much human history, 13:09 we should understand that suffering 13:11 is probably gonna be a part of every generation anyway. 13:14 So, who's to say that the future happiness of people 13:18 we will never meet is more important than ours? 13:21 Why should I sacrifice for people who don't even exist yet? 13:26 And again, just in case somebody's tuning in right now, 13:28 let me emphasize, this isn't the way I actually think. 13:32 I come to the world from a Christian perspective, 13:34 which absolutely requires that we esteem 13:37 other people as more important than ourselves. 13:40 After all notice what it says in Philippians chapter two, 13:44 "Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, 13:47 but in humility count others 13:49 more significant than yourselves." 13:52 Biblical Christians believe in selflessness, 13:55 because that's the example of Christ 13:57 who sacrificed everything for our future happiness. 14:01 And the very reason that I'm free 14:02 to own a copy of the Bible at all, 14:05 is because so many Christians living in the past 14:07 were willing to make absolutely massive sacrifices 14:11 to make sure of it. 14:13 What we have from the biblical perspective 14:15 is the belief that there is such a thing 14:18 as an authentic human life. 14:19 A right way to live with authentic human values 14:23 provided by the Creator. 14:26 We may not do it perfectly, in fact, we seldom do, 14:29 but when it comes to considering others, 14:31 including people who might live way off in the future, 14:34 there's a solid reason for doing this. 14:36 We're living in harmony with a pattern that God established. 14:41 And by no means do I believe that you have to be a Christian 14:45 to be a decent or moral person. 14:47 And I say that because I've heard a lot of Christians 14:50 suggest that atheists do not have the capacity to be moral, 14:54 which is silly. 14:56 Most of the atheists I've met are good and decent people, 14:59 at least to the extent that anybody can be. 15:02 What I'm really questioning is where our values come from. 15:07 If our morality is just a matter of social convention, 15:10 if it's just an arbitrary social contract, 15:13 is that really a moral reason 15:15 to behave well and consider others? 15:18 And here's another question 15:19 for atheists and believers alike. 15:21 Is the biblical maxim, 15:22 "Whatever you wish that others would do to you, 15:25 do also to them." 15:27 Well, is that really enough to make your actions moral? 15:30 Because if you're treating others well 15:32 just because that's what you would like for yourself, 15:35 have you really overcome that basic instinct 15:38 that puts self first? 15:41 You know, in that same passage, 15:43 Jesus taught that we're supposed to treat others 15:45 as we would like to be treated, 15:46 because that's the essence of the law and the prophets. 15:51 When somebody asks Jesus, 15:52 "Which of the moral commandments was the greatest?" 15:55 Jesus answered by saying this, 15:57 and you'll find it in Matthew 22, 16:00 "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart 16:03 and with all your soul and with all your mind. 16:06 This is the great and first commandment. 16:08 And a second is like it: 16:09 You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 16:12 On these two commandments 16:13 depend all the Law and the Prophets." 16:17 In other words, the very essence of God's moral law 16:20 is love and selflessness, 16:22 and that's because God's moral law 16:24 is a transcript of who He is. 16:26 It's a picture of His character. 16:28 The Book of Genesis says that you and I were made, 16:31 at least originally, in the image of God. 16:34 As a perfect reflection of His loving character. 16:37 And then we twisted that terribly 16:39 putting our own wants ahead of absolutely everything else. 16:45 And that's the reason that utopian experiments always fail. 16:48 It's because we're tragically flawed. 16:51 And when those experiments fail, 16:52 we have no problem blaming the people who ruined it 16:56 While assuring ourselves that we 16:57 would never, ever cause those kinds of problems. 17:01 I mean, if I was in charge, 17:03 I could pretty much fix everything, right? 17:05 Except you and I both know that's not true. 17:09 Let's suppose for the sake of argument 17:11 that I really, really want to make the world a better place 17:14 1,000 years into the future. 17:16 How exactly am I supposed to guess 17:18 what's going to be beneficial 1,000 years from now? 17:22 And how am I supposed to guess what culture will look like 17:25 and what kinds of things people are going to value? 17:28 I mean, let's suppose that our ancestors 17:30 did the same thing 1,000 years ago. 17:32 They hatched a plan to improve our lives. 17:36 Would you really want a medieval doctor 17:38 planning your healthcare, 17:39 or a medieval anybody planning anything? 17:42 It's a ridiculous proposition. 17:45 And yet, because of the perpetual arrogance 17:47 of every generation, we like to think 17:49 that we're a lot smarter than the people who came before us. 17:54 But what if our choices actually end up promoting suffering 17:57 the way they almost always do? 18:00 Wouldn't our tinkering then become a moral transgression? 18:03 Again, I'm not arguing that we shouldn't try. 18:06 Please don't misunderstand. 18:08 But I am thinking we should be very careful 18:11 before we assume that we actually know what we're doing. 18:14 I mean, how many times 18:16 have our very best efforts resulted in disaster? 18:19 How many times haven't we pointed a finger at our ancestors 18:22 blaming them for the condition of our world? 18:26 I'll be right back. 18:28 [upbeat music] 18:31 - [Promoter] Dragons, beasts, cryptic statues. 18:35 Bible prophecy can be incredibly vivid and confusing. 18:39 If you've ever read "Daniel, a Revelation" 18:42 and come away scratching your head, you're not alone. 18:45 Our free focus on prophecy guides 18:47 are designed to help you unlock the mysteries of the Bible 18:50 and deepen your understanding 18:51 of God's plan for you and our world. 18:54 Study online or request them by mail 18:56 and start bringing prophecy into focus today. 19:00 - Okay, here's what I find really interesting. 19:02 It's the fact that there's an entire book of the Bible 19:05 dedicated to these kinds of questions. 19:08 Of course, the whole Bible deals with these questions, 19:11 but there's one book in particular that makes a solid case 19:15 that all the human planning in the world 19:17 is never going to end with paradise. 19:20 And that's the book of Daniel. 19:22 Here's the basic premise. 19:23 A young Jewish noble named Daniel 19:25 is taken captive to Babylon along with everybody else. 19:29 God allowed the Babylonians to conquer the city of Jerusalem 19:32 and burn down the temple, 19:34 because His people had to abandon their mission 19:37 and tried very hard to become like their neighbors 19:41 to the point where they actually 19:42 adopted their religious beliefs. 19:45 So, at the end of the day, there was no point 19:47 to keeping the temple in Jerusalem, 19:49 because it didn't mean anything anymore. 19:53 What we get in the Book of Daniel 19:54 is an exploration of what it means 19:56 to live under the thumb of other nations 19:58 instead of the government of God. 20:01 In Daniel chapter two, we see the rise and fall 20:04 of successive world empires 20:06 depicted as a statue made of different metals. 20:09 And as history progresses, 20:11 the metals become more and more brittle 20:13 and less and less valuable. 20:15 Then in chapter seven, we see those same kingdoms 20:18 portrayed as animals rising from the sea 20:21 walking onto the shore. 20:23 The Jews believed that their nation was a protected island 20:26 in the midst of gentile nations, 20:28 a kind of oasis of covenant grace. 20:32 But in Daniel seven, the nation of Israel 20:34 is being dominated by one gentile nation after the other, 20:39 and that's why they're seen coming up on the shore. 20:41 And the thing that drives it all, nonstop warfare. 20:45 The Book of Daniels shows us an ocean of humanity 20:48 being whipped up by the wind. 20:50 And as the turmoil continues, 20:52 one human kingdom after another fights for power 20:55 and replaces the one that came before it. 20:58 It's really a very accurate description 21:00 of the world's history. 21:03 And you can be sure as each new empire 21:05 took its place on the world stage, 21:07 it was brimming with promise. 21:09 I mean, get out of our way Babylonians, 21:11 the Persians are here 21:12 and they're gonna show you how it's done. 21:15 Until of course, the Greeks appear on the horizon 21:17 and take their turn. 21:19 This progression of failed empires 21:21 continues until we get to the heavenly judgment 21:24 when everybody gets called on the carpet. 21:27 And that results in this scene found in Daniel 7:17. 21:32 It says, "I saw in the night visions 21:35 and behold, with the clouds of heaven 21:36 there came one like a son of man, 21:38 and he came to the Ancient of Days 21:40 and was presented before him. 21:42 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, 21:45 that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; 21:49 his dominion is an everlasting dominion, 21:52 which shall not pass away, 21:54 and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed." 21:58 You know what it's telling us? 22:01 You and I are not gonna fix this place. 22:03 It's not gonna happen. 22:04 And again, that doesn't mean 22:06 we don't have a moral obligation to help people, 22:08 because we do. 22:10 In fact, every Christian should take very careful note 22:13 of Jesus' words over in Matthew chapter 25, 22:16 where he says, "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, 22:20 and all the angels with him, 22:22 then he will sit on his glorious throne. 22:24 Before him will be gathered all the nations, 22:27 and he will separate people one from another 22:29 as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 22:32 And he will place the sheep on his right, 22:34 but the goats on the left. 22:36 Then the king will say to those on his right, 22:39 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, 22:41 inherit the kingdom prepared for you 22:44 from the foundation of the world. 22:46 For I was hungry and you gave me food, 22:48 I was thirsty and you gave me drink, 22:50 I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 22:53 I was naked and you clothed me, 22:54 I was sick and you visited me, 22:56 I was in prison and you came to me." 23:00 So yeah, we do have a duty to help our fellow human beings. 23:04 The very character of God demands that. 23:08 You can trust your instinct to help people. 23:11 But when it comes to manmade utopian experiments, 23:14 well, I think the Book of Daniel 23:15 has proven to be absolutely right. 23:18 Not one of those experiments so far 23:20 has done anything to make us happier, 23:23 because not one of them can fix our fundamental flaw. 23:27 We're sinners trapped by a selfish perspective 23:30 that is never going to change through anything we do. 23:34 Anybody putting absolute faith in people to fix this world, 23:38 is going to be bitterly disappointed. 23:40 I mean, we've never pulled it off in the past, 23:43 and I don't believe for a moment 23:45 we're going to pull it off in the future. 23:47 So, why trust mere people with the future of the planet? 23:51 Again, that doesn't mean it doesn't need fixing, 23:54 it just means that fixing it 23:56 is going to take something more than what we have to offer. 24:01 So, who do you want to trust with the future? 24:03 Self-interested people who always seem to use others 24:06 to accomplish their aims, 24:08 or would you rather have a God who sacrificed everything 24:11 to secure a future for you? 24:14 Historically speaking, there was only one person 24:17 who perfectly reflected the image of God, 24:20 one person who lived a completely selfless life, 24:23 one person who was willing to lose everything, 24:25 if it meant your utter and complete restoration. 24:29 And I would like to suggest that 24:30 before you believe any more promises 24:32 from well-meaning politicians or social engineers, 24:36 that you consider the claims of Christ, 24:38 because maybe just maybe he really does have the ability 24:42 to give you the peace of God, 24:45 which surpasses all understanding. 24:47 I'll be right back after this. 24:50 [upbeat music] 24:54 - [Promoter] Life can throw a lot at us. 24:56 Sometimes we don't have all the answers, 24:59 but that's where the Bible comes in. 25:02 It's our guide to a more fulfilling life. 25:05 Here at The Voice of Prophecy, 25:06 we've created the "Discover Bible" guides 25:08 to be your guide to the Bible. 25:10 They're designed to be simple, easy to use, 25:13 and provide answers to many of life's toughest questions, 25:16 and they're absolutely free. 25:18 So, jump online now, or give us a call, 25:20 and start your journey of discovery. 25:23 - Here's one of the problems with trying to engineer 25:25 a better future for your grandkids, 25:27 and that's our skewed understanding 25:29 of what makes people happy. 25:31 I mean, just think back to the world's fairs 25:33 of the 18 and 1900s 25:35 or some of the articles that appeared 25:37 in "Popular Science" journals back in the 1950s. 25:40 Everybody was optimistic, 25:42 because technology promised more leisure time and less work. 25:47 But when we actually made life more convenient, 25:49 we weren't any happier. 25:50 In fact, I think it's the opposite. 25:54 Our generation has more comfort, more security, 25:56 more disposable income 25:58 than almost any generation that came before it, 26:01 but we're not happier than our ancestors. 26:04 We're just a little more comfortable. 26:07 I mean, just ask yourself, why are we dealing 26:10 with unusually high levels of depression and anxiety? 26:13 Why has the political world become more divided, 26:16 more polarized, and more hostile? 26:19 Apparently, all the technology in the world 26:22 hasn't fixed our worst problems. 26:25 Again, let's think about that experiment 26:27 that was the former Soviet Union. 26:29 All those five-year economic plans, 26:30 all those carefully thought out government initiatives, 26:34 none of them did anything to help. 26:36 In fact, apart from a handful of party elites, 26:40 those decisions made people more miserable. 26:43 So, are we really smart enough 26:45 to figure out what's gonna make the human race happy? 26:49 Again, God absolutely expects us to alleviate suffering. 26:54 He expects us to feed the hungry and clothe the poor. 26:57 He expects us to care for the planet, 26:59 and yes, leave it better than we found it. 27:02 But at the same time, I think we should remember 27:04 a couple of important realities. 27:07 One, trying to tinker with the future 27:09 in ways we think is appropriate, 27:11 that's probably a losing game. 27:14 Two, speaking from a biblical perspective, 27:17 we know we're not gonna fix it. 27:19 The Bible indicates quite clearly 27:22 that you're not gonna solve what's wrong with this place. 27:25 Our existence is a little bit 27:26 like an old-fashioned Greek tragedy. 27:29 It doesn't matter how well you plan, 27:31 if you can't get rid of your fatal flaw, 27:34 it's going to destroy you. 27:36 From the Bible's perspective, the problem only gets solved 27:40 after the judgment when the Son of Man receives His kingdom 27:44 and He restores this world to what it's supposed to be. 27:47 And I don't know about you, 27:49 but if God is real, and I know He is, 27:52 then I think you'd rather have Him plan the future 27:54 than somebody like me. 27:56 Thanks for joining me. 27:58 I'm Shawn Boonstra, and you've been watching "Authentic". 28:02 [upbeat music] 28:12 [upbeat music continues] 28:23 [upbeat music continues] |
Revised 2023-12-06