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Series Code: GFF
Program Code: GFF000012S
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00:01 ♪ ♪ Subodh K. Pandit, M.D.
00:55 Now we are back together again. This time for Session 11. We are 01:01 going to make a little change in the gears another time. 01:05 And that is because when I looked over what we have done 01:08 so far it seemed like every factor was being pushed to one 01:13 direction. Now whenever that happens a good neutral inquirer 01:20 will always question that and he will say, Mmm, is it going in 01:23 that direction, only in that direction? Well then it has to 01:27 be reviewed and so that's what I did. I reviewed what we have 01:31 done so far and then I made a decision to look for something 01:36 else. Now I would not be just a neutral inquirer. I decided I 01:41 would look for some other factors. In fact this is what I 01:45 wanted to do. Since one person and one founder was always in 01:51 front I decided to look at that founder and his story and look 01:56 for factors in which he would not come out in front. So that's 02:01 what I did. That's what we will do in this session. 02:03 Look for factors in which this founder who was always coming 02:09 out in front is now no longer in front. Let's give the others 02:13 also a chance. Now I looked for three and found three and if he 02:20 does not come out in front do you know where he comes out? 02:24 Last. So let's look at all three Number one: The story of the 02:30 birth and parentage. In Hinduism multiple authors, no specific 02:38 founder. And when you look at their stories all the authors 02:41 were revered individuals born to honorable, well-liked, well 02:48 known parents in the community. So that birth story, good. How 02:54 about Buddhism? Gautama Buddha whose name was Siddhartha was a 03:00 prince. His father, Suddhodana, was a king, and his mother, Maya 03:04 a queen. And he was born in Lumbini Grove a delightful grove 03:09 of wonderful trees and a nice place. You know, as soon as he 03:13 was born the whole clan, the nation rejoiced because an heir 03:18 had been born, a prince. So even that story, very likable and 03:25 honorable. How about Judaism? "A man of the house of Levi went 03:29 and took as wife a daughter of Levi...[she]bore a son and she 03:35 saw that he was a beautiful child and her became her 03:39 (Pharaoh's daughter's) son." That is the story of Moses. 03:43 Again look at the pedigree. The tribe of Levi later on became 03:51 the tribe that would take care of their most prized possession, 03:55 the tabernacle. So his pedigree was good. Tribe of Levi. 04:00 Further, he became Pharaoh's daughter's son, into the royal 04:05 palace. So the story that starts him out is grand and big in this 04:10 case. How about Islam? Muhammad was the posthumous son of 04:16 Abdullah and his mother, Amina, they were of the 04:20 tribe of Quraysh 04:21 the clan of Hashim. One once again the tribe of Quraysh was 04:27 not the biggest and the strongest but it was one of the 04:30 most important because it was in charge of the Ka'aba, the place 04:34 where all the Muslims go to worship and pay their respects. 04:39 The Ka'aba is even today the place where Hajj is taken. Hajj 04:45 is pilgrimage where Muslims go to perform their pilgrimage, the 04:51 most sacred site of the Muslim and the tribe of Quraysh was in 04:55 in charge of that. And Muhammad was born into the tribe of 04:59 Quraysh. Pedigree again, good. Story honorable and enjoyable. 05:05 Christianity: Look at this. At his birth he was wrapped in 05:11 swaddling cloths and laid in a manger. Swaddling cloths is 05:17 not what we usually talk about today. What is swaddling cloth? 05:22 It's not soft and pretty. It is really rough and coarse cloth. 05:28 Swaddling cloth was not hung up as a curtain or put on the bed 05:32 as a sheet. It was used to wipe tables and chairs and dust 05:37 things. And another place where it was used was when you're on 05:42 a journey if you had to roll out your mattress you would put 05:46 swaddling cloth at the bottom on the ground. That is where it 05:49 was and then on top of that you would place your mattress and 05:53 then you'd sleep. The third place where it was used was in 05:58 strips to wind around dead bodies. It was used as grave 06:04 cloth. So could you imagine swaddling cloth. It was not a 06:08 very honorable, it was not a very good picture; a baby child 06:16 wrapped in swaddling cloth? And where was this baby born? 06:19 Most of humans today are born in a hospital or at home. He was 06:25 born in a stable, a place where cattle are kept, animals. That 06:31 is where he was born. Why was he born there? Because there was no 06:35 place that they found in the hotel in the city that they had 06:39 gone to. Furthermore, when we read the story the parents were 06:44 very poor. So the birth story of Jesus is a picture of abject 06:50 poverty and low life, a life that was not really honorable in 06:58 the sight of the community. And worse: "After his mother was 07:04 betrothed [or engaged] to Joseph before they came together she 07:09 was found with child." That was stunning. Today it doesn't 07:17 matter where you're born out of wedlock or in wedlock. But in 07:20 first century, ultraconservative Palestine being conceived out of 07:26 wedlock was not an honorable thing at all. In fact, it dogged 07:30 his days. His stain, the moral culture of his life, was stained 07:38 as was that of his parents. In fact it stayed with him the 07:42 whole life. When he was an adult going to the temple the people 07:48 in the temple, the priests and the rabbis looked at him and 07:51 said you? Are you going to come and teach the people morals and 07:55 ethics? You? We were not born of fornication, that means out of 08:01 wedlock. Illegitimate. We were not that. Get out of here! We 08:06 are the clean and the favored of God. Not like you. How's that 08:11 for a start in life. So Jesus is the only founder to be born in 08:16 abject poverty where animals are born and quartered and worse, 08:20 he's the only founder to be conceived out of wedlock. You 08:24 know, in Jewish genealogy what they called him? The B-word. Yes 08:29 you are B. We were not born of fornication. His was the worst 08:34 start in life. How about the length of ministry? In Hinduism 08:41 it was many generations. At the end it was a highly organized 08:46 society. Everyone knew their place, their jobs. And today the 08:51 population of Hinduism is nearly one billion. 08:54 In Buddhism: Gautama Buddha began his ministry at the age of 09:02 35 and he went on preaching and scouring the landscape going 09:07 from one town to another, one province to another for a period 09:11 of 45 years. He died at the age of 80. Forty-five years of 09:17 ministry, of teaching, of preaching and then he was laid 09:22 to rest. How about Judaism? Moses led the children of Israel 09:28 for 40 years from the age of 80 to the age of 120. That's a long 09:35 time. And he changed that ragtag group of slaves coming out of 09:40 Egypt into a well organized nation with armies, well-armed 09:47 and well trained armies. And today the population is tens of 09:52 millions. Islam: Muhammad began his ministry about 610 A.D. or 10:01 C.E. (common era) and he met his demise in 622. So that's a 10:07 period of about 23 years during which he gathered his people 10:11 together, expounded on his message and even got an army 10:16 trained up so that he could destroy the other tribes and get 10:20 them together, form a combined army that afterwards would form 10:25 the mighty Ottoman Empire. But the Ottoman Empire which came 10:31 much later had its roots back there in the 23 years of 10:38 Muhammad's own life and effort. When you come to Christianity 10:44 three-and-a-half years. That's a huge difference. So the 10:52 question is why only three-and- a- half years. Look at the 10:55 difference. The Hindus had generations. Buddhism 45 years. 11:02 Moses 40 years. Muhammad 23 years. And Jesus, just 11:09 three-and-a-half years. That prompts a question. Why 11:14 three-and-a-half years? Did he have a debilitating illness, a 11:21 sudden acute illness that knocked him up, did he get into an 11:24 accident. No what is the reason for three-and-a-half years? 11:27 The answer to that leads to a very pathetic picture. It was 11:34 only three-and-a-half years because he was hated with a 11:39 passion by his own community and sentenced to death. That is why 11:43 it was only three-and-a-half years. So the picture of the 11:47 length of ministry is not just that it is short. It was short 11:52 because of a horrible, a horrible report. Hated by his 11:57 own community. So here is a man born in poverty and now has the 12:03 shortest ministry of all the founders. How is that for a 12:08 start? To get a real movement a movement that's moral in 12:15 nature going. Hard. So that placed him at the end of the 12:21 tail of all the other founders. Last by a long mile. And then 12:27 circumstances at death. In Hinduism the sages were honored 12:35 and today they are held in high respect. In fact, whenever one 12:40 of the sages died, the whole community would get together 12:44 mourn the loss. Talk to each other about how his life was so 12:49 great and what contributions he had made to the community and 12:53 boy he is gone now. The feeling of loss. Why? Because he was a 12:58 respected member of the community. And now when he is 13:02 gone they would mourn, respect him. More than even sometimes in 13:08 his life. So at his death the Hindu sages were honored. How 13:14 Buddhism? Gautama Buddha took his last journey to a place 13:19 called Kusinara where he died. On the journey, he fell ill. 13:24 We're not sure why what caused the illness but it might have 13:30 probably mushroom poisoning. At any rate he complained of 13:34 abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting and since he was 80 13:40 years old he felt weak and he told his disciples probably this 13:44 is the end. Immediately all his disciples gathered around him 13:48 at his bed. They knew he was ebbing away, his life was moving 13:53 on and so they gathered round trying to catch the last words 13:58 of the beloved master. Then he was gone, surrounded by his 14:04 doting disciples. What the disciples did was, again, show 14:10 respect and honor. They wrapped that body in 1000 layers of 14:17 silk from a certain town. In those days it was called 14:20 Varanasi. Now Varanasi was known for the weaving of silk. 14:25 Today you see Indian ladies who wear their sarees, it's about 14:31 six or seven yards long. The people in Varanasi, the 14:36 weavers could weave such fine silk that you could fold that 14:42 whole six or seven yards of cloth and put it into a small 14:45 matchbox. The silk was that fine and when you take that fine silk 14:52 and wrap a body with 1000 layers of that it means that you have 14:58 shown that body the highest respect and honor that you 15:02 possibly could give. That is the meaning of wrapping the body 15:07 with 1000 layers of the Benares or Varanasi silk. And then they 15:13 would cremate the body. Again a show of respect. When it comes 15:17 to Islam Muhammad died suddenly. It was not a big prolonged 15:23 illness. But as soon as the word got out that he died then the 15:29 community immediately rushed over and in fact the record says 15:34 that, Umar who was one of the leaders, he said: "I was 15:37 dumbfounded...I fell to the ground" at the news of 15:40 Muhammad's death. And the people when they heard they "hurried 15:44 ashen-faced [in] to the mosque." Why? Because their 15:48 great leader had 15:50 gone and they wanted to show their respect, their admiration. 15:54 Everywhere in that town could be heard the women wailing. That 15:59 was how they did it. They would wail out and slap their cheeks 16:03 and slap their bodies in a time honored method of mourning. 16:08 And the mourning was because a great leader had gone. And 16:14 that's the way all of these leaders met their end. Honor. 16:20 well respected and given to a lot of talk after that. They got 16:27 in how they had benefitted the whole community. They were 16:30 honored at their death. In Judaism Moses was 120 years old 16:36 when he died and the children of Israel wept for Moses in the 16:40 plains of Moab for 30 days. You know today when presidents or 16:46 leaders die in office the whole nation mourns. We fly the flag 16:52 at half-mast and we close all the government offices, all 16:56 schools. Businesses close. Sometimes it's three days, five 17:00 days, seven days. Again, a show of respect. Here the children of 17:07 Israel stayed put, everything at a standstill for 30 days. Why 30 17:13 days. Again, they wanted to show their highest respect for Moses 17:19 their beloved leader who was now gone. So the picture is very 17:25 clear. All the founders died what we would call an honorable 17:31 death. When we come to the last, Jesus, and Christianity look at 17:37 this picture. Here are the words "With him were also crucified 17:41 two robbers, one on His right and the other on His left...and 17:48 He was numbered with the transgressors..." The other word 17:50 is numbered with the criminals. Now it's very clear as to who 17:56 was in the center there. If one was crucified to his right and 17:59 one was crucified to his left. Now in Roman tradition, whenever 18:04 there there was an odd number of criminals crucified then the one 18:08 in the center was the worst criminal. So that's how he died. 18:14 And crucified! If you look at the picture you will find that 18:19 the artist has painted a picture of the crucifixion and he has 18:24 placed a loincloth around his middle. That is just because the 18:31 artist wants to be decent. Those who were crucified in the days 18:36 of the Roman Empire were crucified stark naked and that 18:42 was because they were supposed to be put to shame, the maximum 18:48 shame should be thrust upon this individual. And so they would 18:52 strip him of every bit of clothes he had and put him up on 18:55 the cross for everyone to see his shame. They were going to 19:00 take away the last vestige of dignity in this individual and 19:05 that is why they would strip them naked. So Jesus actually 19:09 because of the Roman time that we would see he was on the cross 19:15 naked. Shamed in his death. In fact, the story or the record in 19:22 the Old Testament describes a certain thing that they were 19:26 supposed to do with anyone who was hanged. By the way, he was 19:31 convicted in the Sanhedrin of the Jews of blasphemy. Now this 19:38 punishment for blasphemy is stoning to death. But when the 19:43 Jewish priests and rabbis and rulers came to Pilot to demand 19:49 his death, they did not ask for stoning. They very specifically 19:54 asked for crucifixion because crucifixion is a form of hanging 19:59 and in their own books of the law, the Torah, the five books 20:04 of Moses it clearly states that when capital punishment is meted 20:12 out to an individual and it is to be in the form of hanging, 20:16 then it was very significant because anyone who is hanged 20:21 is cursed of God. These are the words in the Torah: "You shall 20:27 surely bury him that day, so that you do not defile the land 20:33 ...for he who is hanged is accursed of God." You should not 20:39 even leave the body above the ground. It is so vile, so 20:44 corrupt, this person is such a horrible criminal that you should 20:48 not leave the body above the ground. You should bury it 20:51 because if you leave it above the ground the whole land is 20:53 defiled. That is the extent of the way people looked at anyone 20:58 who was crucified or hanged. That was the ending of him. 21:03 Hanged, naked. Not only that "At the ninth hour Jesus cried 21:10 out with a loud voice saying - 'My God my God why have you 21:17 forsaken me?'" Now imagine that. Stripped naked, shamed, shown to 21:28 everyone that you are hanged. So according to the law you are 21:34 accursed of God and now from your own mouth comes the words 21:40 forsaken of God. Think of the ending of his life. He was 21:46 condemned and sentenced to death by: The highest religious 21:50 authority in his nation - the Sanhedrin, the highest civil and 21:55 judicial authority in the world - Rome and the highest authority 22:00 in the universe - God. How can an ending be more pathetic than 22:07 that. Forsaken of family, forsaken of community, forsaken 22:12 of nation, forsaken by every community around him, forsaken 22:17 by God himself. With that ending one would look around and like 22:24 we said we are going to be inquirers. So when you see the 22:30 story and look around today of what there is there would come 22:35 to your mind and mine the question how can anyone follow 22:40 a condemned criminal. And yet people followed him. If he 22:46 really was that kind of a criminal why do the great 22:50 artists of today choose themes from his stories, from his 22:56 parables and paint some of the most beautiful paintings and 23:02 hang them up in the most prestigous museums of the world? 23:07 Why do some top sculptors choose themes from him? And make out 23:16 their products. Place them in such places that everyone 23:21 admires them. Really? Was this criminal so attractive so that 23:28 these people would be attracted and catch ahold of his theory, 23:32 his teaching, his parables? Some of the greatest 23:37 institutions of learning in the middle ages were started out by 23:43 people who put his name onto the universities. Look if I give you 23:50 or if you gave me a hundred million dollars and said go and 23:56 establish a university would you honestly, would you put the name 24:01 of a criminal on the central buildings of your university? 24:04 I think not. I wouldn't. But there are universities 24:09 that started out 24:10 in his name. How come they chose his name? Put it onto the 24:15 central buildings of the university. But he was a 24:19 criminal. When you look at those who do work today, work for the 24:27 downtrodden, you know one of the groups that really does this 24:32 work well in all natural disasters and wars, there is one 24:37 group that always goes there first to help the needy. And 24:43 they stay there the longest. They are called by his name. 24:47 Isn't that amazing. How come they're going out for a criminal 24:52 There are people who go out from their land to another land to 24:58 talk about this criminal. I've seen them. Sometimes they do not 25:04 stay in good homes and good places where they can have all 25:09 the amenities of life. They go out into the boonies, into the 25:13 villages and they sit with the people who they talk, they eat 25:18 their food, drink their dirty water, contract those diarrheal 25:23 and awful diseases and die and are buried there with a little 25:28 mound of dirt over their bodies, not even a name tag nearby. 25:32 What makes them do that? And they point to this naked body on 25:37 the cross, that's the reason. There must be something more my 25:40 friends. Who put this criminal into the center of western 25:47 civilization's calendar and split it into two. B.C. - before 25:54 Christ, A.D. You know today if you write a check you have to 25:59 date it. Do you know what that date refers to? The date refers 26:04 to the birth of this criminal. Amazing. How can a criminal have 26:11 that much of an effect? So we have ask ourselves is there 26:16 something more to the story than just what we see? How can a 26:23 person who had the worst start in life, the shortest ministry, 26:28 and the worst ending in life have the following that has the 26:34 greatest number on planet earth today. Christians number more 26:38 than two billion. How shall we explain that? Is it easy to just 26:45 give an explanation and say these people are deluded? No it 26:49 is not. There must be something that we must look into to give 26:54 an explanation of why this discrepancy between this kind of 26:58 a life and this kind of a following today. And so I 27:05 stopped and looked over what we've done and then I realized 27:08 that we have to go to one more question and that question is 27:14 what happened after death? And that will be the one that we 27:20 will look at in our next session. 27:24 Don't go away. Join me for that. 27:25 If you have enjoyed this presentation with Dr. Subodh 27:31 Pandit and wish to watch more of this unique 13 part series for 27:35 free online visit the website GodFactOrFiction.com. That's 27:40 GodFactOrFiction.com. If you would like to order this 27:44 fascinating series on DVD it is now available from White Horse 27:48 media... 27:54 Dr. Subodh Pandit has written two eye-opening books entitled 27:59 Come Search With Me: Does God Really Exist? and Come Search 28:03 With Me: The Weight of Evidence which further explore the topics 28:07 of evolution, theism, atheism and religion. 28:11 ♪ ♪ |
Revised 2021-09-01