Participants:
Series Code: AU
Program Code: AU000039S
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00:00 - There's a group of authors
00:02 who've been called the four horseman of atheism. 00:03 Today we're gonna talk about one of them, 00:05 and I'm gonna show you some stuff that apparently 00:08 all of his fans have failed to notice. 00:11 [uplifting music] 00:32 Going back a few years now, atheist Christopher Hitchens 00:35 put out a provocative new book called "God Is Not Great". 00:40 And just in case a title doesn't make you aware 00:43 of his position on God, the designers made the cover on 00:46 some additions feature a lowercase G for God, 00:49 and an uppercase G for the word great, 00:52 which is the pattern you find 00:53 all the way through the rest of the book, 00:55 the word God is never capitalized. 00:58 Hitchens was making it plain as day 01:00 that he thought very of the God of the Bible 01:03 even though most people tend to use capitalization 01:06 as a simple gesture of respect 01:08 when referring to the deities of other people's religions. 01:11 And I know, the word God 01:13 is not really a proper noun in the traditional sense, 01:16 but it is one of the shorthand names we use 01:19 for the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 01:23 And I should probably admit that I'm a little bit late 01:25 to the game with today's show because 01:27 the author has been dead for roughly a decade already, 01:29 but well, this show didn't exist at the time, 01:32 and the book he wrote is still in circulation. 01:34 So I guess in a sense he made sure that his 01:38 rather stringent ideas about faith would survive him 01:41 and his influence does continue after his death. 01:44 So I thought maybe we should still talk about it 01:47 because I happen to have a much different opinion 01:50 and I do think that God is great. 01:53 Mr. Hitchens was a journalist 01:55 and a lover of literature who frankly hated religion, 01:58 and not just any particular religion, but all religion. 02:02 He described it as poison even though he was raised with it. 02:06 And I suspect that's where the real problem actually lies, 02:09 how this man was raised with religion, 02:11 because that can often make all the difference in the world. 02:15 Not that his descriptions of early childhood 02:17 reveal any serious problems because they don't, 02:19 and often people from example religious homes 02:22 still go on to reject the faith of their parents. 02:26 Hitchens book starts with a description 02:28 of a kindly school teacher named Jean Watts, 02:31 who used to teach Hitchens and his schoolmates 02:33 lessons about Scripture and nature. 02:36 She would take the kids outdoors 02:38 and help them identify birds, trees, and plants, 02:41 and she would openly marvel 02:42 about the goodness of the Creator. 02:45 And according to Hitchens, she once made a statement 02:48 that started him down the path toward unbelief. 02:51 Here's how he describes it. 02:53 He says, 02:54 "However, there came a day 02:55 "when poor dear Mrs. Watts overreached herself. 02:59 "Seeking ambitiously to fuse her two roles 03:01 "as nature instructor and Bible teacher, she said, 03:05 "'So you see children, how powerful and generous God is. 03:09 "'He has made all the trees and grass to be green, 03:12 "'which is exactly the color 03:13 "'that is most restful to our eyes. 03:16 "'Imagine if instead the vegetation was all purple, 03:18 "'or orange, how awful that would be.'" 03:22 Now that statement seems innocent enough, 03:24 and while it might be an expression 03:26 of somebody's simple faith and a personal opinion, 03:30 Hitchens said that her insistence that colors were made 03:32 for human benefit seemed ludicrous to him. 03:36 Now I could probably comment on that for a bit 03:38 because unfortunately for Mr. Hitchens science seems 03:41 to slowly be moving in the direction of suggesting 03:44 that Mrs. Watts was at least partially right, 03:47 but let's just keep forging ahead. 03:49 Hitchens continues, and I want you to pay attention 03:52 to this rather caustic language 03:54 because that kinda language 03:56 is a major feature of this book. 03:57 He says. 03:59 "And now behold, what this pious old trout hath wrought." 04:04 Now just in case old trout 04:06 is a moniker you've never heard before, 04:08 it's used to describe an annoying old woman 04:11 or even a bad tempered old person, 04:14 which completely contradicts his next paragraph, 04:17 or he describes what a lovely person she was, 04:19 and how much he liked her. 04:21 That's what we would call an ad hominem attack. 04:24 It's a classical logical fallacy 04:27 where you attack the holder of an idea 04:29 instead of dealing with the idea itself. 04:32 He's setting the table for you to dislike Mrs. Watts 04:35 before you even know what she said. 04:39 And the reason I'm pausing to point this out is because 04:42 this is an unfortunate pattern 04:44 you find all the way through the book, 04:46 Mr. Hitchens seems utterly incapable 04:48 of dealing strictly with ideas. 04:50 It seems like he can't help himself, 04:52 he applies angry insults to everybody 04:54 and everything he doesn't like over and over and over again. 04:59 And honestly you think that someone like Hitchens, 05:01 an accomplished writer, a journalist 05:04 would know that he's contradicting himself 05:06 when he describes this kindly old teacher 05:08 with such a demeaning insult, but there you have it. 05:12 And so I guess I'm a little disappointed 05:15 that someone with Hitchens considerable credentials 05:17 prove to be such a careless writer 05:20 to the point where he gets a lot of simple details, 05:23 well, just wrong. 05:26 I mean, take for example, the brief paragraph 05:28 where he goes after Mr. William Miller, 05:31 a retired army officer who converted from deism 05:34 and became a Baptist preacher, 05:36 and almost single handedly launched a nationwide revival 05:40 in the middle of the 19th century. 05:42 Here's how Hitchens describes this man, 05:45 and remember his real name is William Miller. 05:48 He writes, 05:50 "In 1844, one of the greatest 05:52 "American religious revivals occurred, 05:54 "led by a semiliterate lunatic named George Miller. 05:59 "Mr. Miller managed to crowd the mountain tops of America 06:02 "with credulous fools who having sold their belongings cheap 06:05 "became persuaded that the world would end 06:07 "on October 22 that year." 06:11 Well, first of all Mr. Hitchens, his name was William, 06:15 and he was anything but semiliterate. 06:17 Now it's true that he set a date for the return of Christ, 06:21 and you've probably noticed by now 06:22 that he was wrong about that, but wouldn't you know it, 06:26 I've actually taken the time to read William Miller's books, 06:29 and I can tell you he was anything but semiliterate. 06:32 In fact, I would say that Miller's work 06:36 is far less sloppy than Hitchens work. 06:39 And while he was clearly wrong 06:40 about giving a date to the return of Christ, 06:43 a date by the way that he easily found 06:46 in the text of Daniel 8, 06:48 I mean, William Miller was hardly the only person 06:50 on this planet to notice that date, 06:53 but assigning the date to the Second Coming 06:55 was a basic mistake simply took Miller down the wrong road. 07:00 Anybody who was actually bothered to read Miller's work 07:03 can see that he wasn't raving lunatic, 07:05 it's well researched, well argued, and well presented. 07:09 There is no comparing what Miller wrote 07:11 to the likes of Jim Jones, or Marshall Applewhite, 07:14 or all of these other apocalyptic cult leaders 07:17 we've heard about. 07:18 Miller's work is calm and reasonable, 07:21 and obviously written by someone 07:22 who had a decent grasp of history. 07:25 But Mr. Hitchens clearly didn't know that 07:28 because he didn't even know the man's name, 07:31 he just threw an ill-informed and salacious story 07:33 into his manuscript condensing 07:35 a major American Christian revival movement 07:38 into four short sentences. 07:40 And I guess he just assumed that his readers 07:43 would never take the time to look it up, 07:45 and obviously his editors didn't think so either, 07:48 but unfortunately for them, I have read it. 07:52 And so it goes with the rest of Hitchens book, 07:55 it reads more like an angry screen 07:58 than a work of history, psychology, or philosophy. 08:01 And while I'm clearly not an atheist, 08:04 I do respect the work of thoughtful atheists 08:07 because at least they aren't shooting from the hip 08:09 and dumping out all their personal frustrations in a book. 08:12 But back to Mrs. Jean Watts now, the teacher 08:16 because Hitchens claims that she was the starting point 08:19 for his journey into disbelief when she suggested 08:22 that colors somehow benefit the human race. 08:25 Here's what he says. 08:26 He writes, 08:28 "I was frankly appalled by what she said. 08:31 "My little ankle-strap sandals 08:33 "curled with embarrassment for her. 08:35 "At the age of nine I had not even a conception 08:38 "of the argument from design, 08:39 "or of Darwinian evolution as its rival, 08:42 "or of the relationship between photosynthesis 08:45 "and chlorophyll. 08:46 "The secrets of the genome were as hidden from me 08:49 "as they were at that time to everyone else. 08:52 "I had not then visited the scenes of nature 08:54 "where almost everything was hideously indifferent, 08:57 "or hostile to human life, if not life itself. 09:00 "I simply knew almost as if I had privileged access 09:04 "to a higher authority, that my teacher had managed 09:06 "to get everything wrong in just two sentences. 09:10 "The eyes were adjusted to nature, 09:12 "and not the other way about." 09:15 And honestly, that's it. 09:17 As a young boy, he took exception to the idea 09:19 that the world was somehow designed for our enjoyment. 09:23 That's what turned this sweet old teacher 09:25 into and I quote, "a pious old trout". 09:29 I'll be right back after this. 09:32 [light music] 09:34 - [Announcer] Life can throw a lot of at us. 09:36 Sometimes we don't have all the answers, 09:39 but that's where the Bible comes in, 09:42 it's our guide to a more fulfilling life. 09:45 Here at the Voice of Prophecy, 09:46 we've created the Discover Bible Guides 09:48 to be your guide to the Bible. 09:50 They're designed to be simple, easy to use, 09:53 and provide answers to many of life's toughest questions, 09:56 and they're absolutely free. 09:58 So jump online now, or give us a call, 10:00 and start your journey of discovery. 10:04 - One of the claims that Christopher Hitchens makes 10:06 is that he was very biblically literate, 10:08 and he says that religious objectors to his ideas 10:12 were always confounded by his supposedly 10:14 broad biblical knowledge. 10:16 Here's how he puts it. 10:18 "I frequently passed 'top' in my Scripture class. 10:21 "It was my first introduction to practical 10:23 "and textual criticism. 10:25 "I would read all the chapters that led up to the verse, 10:28 "and all the ones that followed it, 10:30 "to be sure that I had got the point of the original clue. 10:34 "I can still do this, 10:35 "greatly to the annoyance of some of my enemies." 10:38 Now I gotta say, I don't know who was handing out grades 10:41 in that particular Scripture class, 10:42 but I can assure you, 10:44 I've taught more than one Scripture class over my lifetime, 10:47 and the stuff I find in this book 10:48 would hardly put Mr. Hitchens at the top of the class. 10:51 I mean, maybe he was able to recite 10:53 a few Bible versus from memory, 10:55 but his overall grasp of the subject 10:57 was even worse than his grasp of religious history. 11:01 And honestly, it's hard to know 11:02 where I should start with this because 11:04 there is so much bad information in Hitchens book 11:08 that I could probably put together a mini series. 11:11 He seems to take tired old caricatures of religion 11:13 and knock them down like straw men 11:15 instead of actually dealing with the very real eye ideas 11:18 that have carried Christianity forward 11:20 over the last 2,000 years. 11:23 But if I'm gonna zero in 11:25 on just one area for a few minutes, 11:27 maybe let's talk about his assessment 11:29 of the Old and New Testaments 11:31 to which he devotes one chapter a piece. 11:35 And with the time we've got I think it might be beneficial 11:37 to look at his complaints about Moses, 11:40 and then if we have more time, 11:42 we can always go on from there. 11:44 As Hitchens is getting ready to assassinate 11:46 the credibility of the Old Testament, here's what he writes. 11:49 He says, 11:50 "A further difficulty is the apparent tendency 11:53 of the Almighty to reveal himself 11:54 "only to unlettered in quasi-historical individuals, 11:58 "in regions of Middle Eastern wasteland 12:01 "that were long the home of idle worship and superstition." 12:06 Well, wrong again Mr. Hitchens. 12:08 The Old Testament is centered on the notion 12:10 of breaking away from idle worship and superstition. 12:13 But then from that point, Hitchens goes on 12:16 to start discussing the person of Moses 12:18 whose writings undergird 12:19 the three big monotheistic religions, 12:22 Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. 12:25 Moses is easily one of the most revered religious figures 12:28 in world history. 12:30 And what Hitchens does is try to turn you against Moses 12:33 by suggesting that he was probably unlettered 12:37 and not even real. 12:39 Now I can see all kinds of people cheering for that notion, 12:42 particularly if they don't wanna read the Old Testament 12:44 or recognize that it might have any kind of credibility 12:48 or authority. 12:49 That would make sense for people to feel that way, 12:52 but if you're going to oppose something, 12:54 at least make sure you're opposing the real thing 12:57 instead of a straw man constructed by somebody 13:00 with an ax to grind. 13:02 To describe Moses as illiterate or unlettered 13:05 is frankly being dishonest with the story itself. 13:08 Moses was a Hebrew child adopted by the Pharaoh's daughter 13:12 and raised in the palaces of Egypt 13:13 where he got a first rate education 13:16 by the most advanced civilization of his day. 13:19 Egypt frankly was the same place 13:21 that people like Plato or Pythagoras went to get educated. 13:25 Plato studied in Egypt for 13 years, 13:27 and Pythagoras studied in Memphis because 13:30 the Egyptian priests had superior knowledge 13:33 of things like medicine and astronomy. 13:35 Egypt was the most literate place on earth. 13:39 But what Hitchens does is place people like Moses in, 13:43 and I quote "Middle East wasteland". 13:46 That's just dishonest. 13:48 I mean, our very word alphabet 13:49 has roots in Semitic languages. 13:51 The Greeks got their alpha beta from the Hebrew aleph-bet, 13:58 and that's because the Hebrews are one 13:59 of the earliest literate societies on the planet. 14:02 But where Mr Hitchens really begins to flounder 14:05 is in his assessment of perhaps 14:07 one of the greatest moral contributions 14:10 of the Hebrew people to modern civilization, 14:12 and that's the Decalogue or the Ten Commandment. 14:16 Now honestly, in my experience, 14:19 the only people who really have a problem 14:21 with the moral principles found in the Ten Commandments 14:24 are people who do not wish to live by them, 14:26 but that's probably another subject for another day. 14:29 Here's how Hitchens starts in on the Big 10. 14:32 He writes, 14:33 "The first three," commandments he says, 14:35 "are all variations of the same one, 14:38 "in which God insists on his own primacy and exclusivity, 14:42 "forbids the making of graven image, 14:44 "and prohibits the taking of his own name in vain." 14:48 In the next sentence, in typical Hitchens style, 14:51 he calls these first three commandments and I quote, 14:53 "prolonged throat clearing" on God's part 14:57 as if that's some kinda serious argument. 15:01 Hitchens is making a ridiculous caricature 15:03 out of the God of the Old Testament, 15:05 suggesting that the people who actually believe the Bible 15:08 are some kind of mindless idiots 15:09 who just accept what they're told 15:11 and never do any real kind of thinking. 15:14 This is a childish dismissive approach. 15:17 And one of the big problems with this 15:19 is that it conveniently ignores thousands of pages 15:23 of supplemental material in the Bible 15:25 designed to help you understand 15:27 what those moral commandments might mean 15:29 for your personal life. 15:31 The God that Hitchens describes 15:33 is some kind of schoolyard bully who says, 15:35 look, you do things my way or else. 15:39 But the thoughtful people who have actually studied 15:41 the Bible for thousands of years now 15:43 don't seem to come to that same conclusion. 15:45 What they find is that the Ten Commandments 15:48 and the moral principles they describe 15:51 make absolute perfect sense. 15:54 Now, I understand that some of you don't believe the Bible 15:57 as anything more than another ancient document 16:00 full of fairy tales, kind of like Hitchens did, 16:03 but at least if you're gonna refute it, 16:05 be honest about it, and deal with the entire text. 16:09 Either Mr. Hitchens had serious lapses in memory 16:12 or he wasn't entirely honest. 16:16 Lemme give you an example of his dishonesty. 16:19 At one point in his book he goes after 16:21 the famous media personality, Dennis Prager, 16:24 a practicing Jew who apparently consented 16:26 to join Hitchens in a debate just before 9/11. 16:30 And at one point in their discussion, 16:32 Mr. Prager asked Hitchens a really interesting question. 16:35 He said, 16:36 "Imagine that you're in a strange city 16:37 "and it's getting dark outside, 16:39 "and you see a large group of men approaching you." 16:42 The question Prager asked is, 16:44 "Would you feel safer or less safe 16:47 "to learn that they were coming from a Bible study?" 16:50 Now that was a decent question because of course 16:53 most of us would probably relax a bit knowing that 16:56 we were facing a Bible study group in a dark alley. 17:00 And the reason this is an important question is because 17:03 the effect that belief has on people 17:06 and society is important. 17:09 It's one thing to call religion poison 17:11 and condemn it like Hitchens did suggesting 17:13 that the Bible has done nothing but make society worse, 17:17 but it's quite another thing to realize 17:19 that most of us instinctively realize 17:21 that the opposite is true. 17:23 Of course, it's good news to find out 17:25 that a menacing mob is actually a Bible study group. 17:29 But what Hitchens did when he wrote his book 17:33 was either forgetful or dishonest. 17:35 He said, the question he was asked was, 17:37 would you feel safer or less safe if you were to learn 17:40 that they were just coming from a prayer meeting? 17:43 That was not the question. 17:45 The question was Bible study. 17:47 And of course by changing it into something else, 17:49 Hitchens managed to dodge the question because, 17:51 of course, there are people who pray to all kinds of gods 17:54 and then go out and perform horrible deeds. 17:57 I mean, the group in the alley could have been 17:59 a terrorist cell who had just prayed to their vengeful 18:02 and violent god which would be bad news. 18:06 Honestly, you find so much of that kind of disingenuity 18:10 in Hitchens book that it becomes hard 18:12 to take any of his argument seriously. 18:15 But would you look at that, the clock is running out on me, 18:17 and I gotta take a break right now. 18:19 So hang in there because in a moment 18:21 I'm gonna show you why Christopher Hitchens 18:22 really, really doesn't understand the subject. 18:27 [light music] 18:28 - [Announcer] Here at the Voice of Prophecy, 18:30 we're committed to creating top quality programming 18:31 for the whole family, 18:33 like our audio adventure series "Discovery Mountain". 18:36 "Discovery Mountain" is a Bible based program 18:39 for kids of all ages and backgrounds. 18:41 Your family will enjoy the faith building stories 18:44 from this small mountain summer camp and town 18:47 with 24 seasonal episodes every year 18:49 and fresh content every week. 18:51 There's always a new adventure just on the horizon. 18:58 - So let's go back to the Ten Commandments again 19:00 and see if they don't make really good sense. 19:03 Remember George Hitchens, 19:05 oh, Christopher Hitchens, not that names matter 19:08 referred to the first three commandments 19:10 as prolonged throat clearing by God 19:12 in order to make His audience skip over them quickly. 19:15 It's not unlike what a magician does 19:18 when he is trying to keep you 19:19 from seeing how he does his trick. 19:21 He shows you something shiny with one hand 19:23 while the other hand is quietly making stuff disappear. 19:26 It's distraction. 19:28 So let's suppose for a moment 19:30 that the Creator God of the Bible is real. 19:33 Now in the interest of full disclosure I do believe that. 19:36 I think He's real, 19:38 which should be pretty obvious to all of you. 19:40 And if you aren't a believer 19:41 just work with me here for a moment 19:42 and let's suppose that it's true. 19:45 The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is real, 19:47 and there is only one God. 19:50 Now let's suppose that that Creator 19:52 is the source of all life, 19:53 the one who made the universe in the first place 19:55 and the one who continues to sustain it, 19:58 which is the teaching of the Bible. 20:01 Now let's read those first three commandments 20:04 from that perspective, assuming those things. 20:07 You'll find them in Exodus 20, where it says, 20:09 "And God spoke all these words, saying, 20:12 "'I am the Lord you God, 20:13 "'who brought you out of the land of Egypt, 20:15 "'out of the house of bondage. 20:17 "'You shall have no other gods before me. 20:19 "'You shall not make for yourself a carved image, 20:22 "'any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, 20:24 "'or that is in the earth beneath, 20:26 "'or that is in the water under the earth; 20:28 "'you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. 20:31 "'For I, the Lord your God, 20:33 "'am a jealous God visiting the inequity of the fathers 20:36 "'upon the children to the third and fourth generations 20:40 "'of those who hate me, but showing mercy to thousands, 20:43 "'to those who love me and keep my commandments. 20:47 "'You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, 20:49 "'for the Lord will not hold him guiltless 20:52 "'who takes His name in vain.'" 20:55 Well, there you have them, the first three commandments. 20:57 Number one, you shall have no other gods before me. 21:01 Number two, you shall not make for yourself a graven image. 21:05 And number three, 21:06 you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. 21:09 The question is this, 21:11 are those the rantings of a petty deity 21:13 from Mount Olympus who has to have things His own way, 21:17 or do they make good sense 21:18 when you place them in the context of the entire Bible? 21:22 I mean, think about this, 21:24 let's suppose there really is only one God 21:27 the way the Bible says, 21:28 that would mean there are no other gods 21:31 and you're completely wasting your time 21:32 by worshiping something else. 21:35 Nothing else in the universe 21:36 is the origin of your existence, 21:38 and you're going to be causing yourself irreparable harm 21:40 by placing your affections elsewhere. 21:43 The prophet Jeremiah expanded on that thought by saying, 21:46 "The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth 21:49 "shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens." 21:52 If there is a loving God, 21:54 and He sees you placing your hopes in all the wrong places, 21:57 what kind of God would He be 21:59 to not steer you back to your best and highest good? 22:03 What kind of God would let you harm yourself 22:06 and not say anything about it? 22:09 Let's take a look at what the Bible actually says 22:10 about this one true creator God and what He's like. 22:14 When Solomon dedicated the second temple, he said, 22:17 "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? 22:20 "Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens 22:22 "cannot contain you. 22:24 "How much less this temple which I have built?" 22:27 In other words, God is bigger than 22:29 we can possibly comprehend with our finite human brains. 22:33 "For as the heavens are higher than the earth," 22:35 the Bible says, 22:36 "so are my ways higher than your ways, 22:38 "and my thoughts than your thoughts." 22:41 The Book of Genesis states 22:43 that you and I were made in God's image, 22:45 but when we worship mere idols, we remake in our own image. 22:50 We make God what we want Him to be, 22:53 and we reduce Him to something much smaller 22:56 than He really is, which to be honest 22:58 is something else I find all the way through Hitchens book. 23:01 He's forever setting up what he thinks God should be like, 23:04 and then he condemns God for not being that way. 23:08 If God is real and He's as big as the Bible suggests, 23:12 it only makes sense that we don't lose sight of that 23:15 and start boiling Him down 23:16 to some kind of ridiculous caricature. 23:20 So the second commandment makes sense too. 23:22 What about this idea 23:24 that we shouldn't be taking God's name in vain? 23:26 Some people say this refers 23:28 to rough language you're cussing, 23:30 and I guess in some ways they might be right, 23:32 but the concept runs a whole lot deeper than that. 23:35 In the biblical world your name was significant, 23:38 it stood for your character, 23:40 and when it talks about God's name, 23:42 it's talking about His essence, His essential character. 23:46 What God does in the biblical narrative is invite people 23:49 to take His name, to enter into a covenant with Him, 23:52 almost like a bride taking her husband's name. 23:56 But it's not just an empty label, 23:58 what God is doing in this covenant relationship 24:01 is asking us to reflect His perfect character to the world. 24:05 So taking God's name in vain 24:07 means treating that responsibility very lightly, 24:10 something that Hitchens also complains about 24:13 when he points out that Christians have behaved 24:15 abysmally over the centuries. 24:18 And he's right about that, 24:19 Christians have been guilty of violence. 24:21 We have run torture chambers, 24:23 we've been involved in countless financial 24:25 and sexual scandals and the list goes on and on and on. 24:29 All of those would be examples of taking God's name in vain. 24:33 We say we represent God, 24:34 and then we betray God through our behavior. 24:37 And I guess what's ironic about Hitchens complaining 24:40 about Christian bad behavior 24:42 is that he's proving there's such a thing 24:43 as a violation of the third commandment, 24:45 people who make a train wreck out of God's reputation. 24:51 If God is a God of love and He's perfectly just 24:54 and perfectly merciful the way the Bible describes, 24:57 then it's important for His followers 24:59 to show that to the world. 25:01 This commandment makes absolute sense. 25:06 All right, I gotta take one last break 25:08 and then I'll be right back after this. 25:13 [light music] 25:14 - [Announcer] Are you searching for answers 25:15 to life's toughest questions like, 25:17 where is God when we suffer? 25:19 Can I find real happiness? 25:21 Or is there any hope for our chaotic world? 25:24 The Discover Bible Guides will help you 25:26 find the answers you are looking for. 25:28 Visit us at biblestudies.com, 25:31 or give us a call at 888-456-7933 25:36 for your free Discover Bible Guides. 25:38 Study online on our secure website, 25:42 or have the free guides mailed right to your home. 25:44 There is never a cost or obligation. 25:47 The Discover Bible Guides are our or free gift to you. 25:50 Find answers and guides like, 25:51 "Does My Life Really Matter to God?" 25:54 and "A Second Chance at Life". 25:56 You'll find answers to the things that matter most to you 25:58 in each of the 26 Discover Bible Guides. 26:01 Visit Biblestudies.com and begin your journey today 26:05 to discover answers to life deepest questions. 26:08 [light music] 26:13 - Well, I'm out of time again, 26:14 but lemme just say this one last thing, 26:16 because Hitchens attacks the idea that sin can be visited 26:20 on the third and fourth generation, 26:21 which is what the Bible says. 26:23 Hitchens rightfully says that the idea 26:26 that I can be held accountable for my father sins is wrong, 26:29 but what he never meant is that the Bible agrees with him. 26:32 He just attacks the statement in the Ten Commandments 26:35 and leaves you there, 26:36 but the Book of Ezekiel plainly states, 26:38 "The son shall not bear the guilt of the father." 26:43 So maybe Mr. Hitchens, maybe context matters. 26:46 I think that most of us can recognize 26:48 that our own bad choices, 26:49 even though we're responsible for them 26:51 can have an impact on our children. 26:54 I can see firsthand how my own weaknesses 26:57 have added unnecessary burdens to my children's lives. 27:02 I mean, look at the train wreck of humanity 27:04 and tell me it isn't true. 27:05 If someone has a temper 27:06 or a substance abuse problem, or an abusive home, 27:09 tell me that doesn't ripple down 27:11 through several generations. 27:13 Tell me that the children of alcoholics 27:15 don't suffer because of somebody else's choices. 27:17 Tell me that people who were sexually abused 27:20 don't sometimes develop a propensity 27:22 for doing it to somebody else. 27:23 You know, it's too bad that Mr. Hitchens is gone because 27:27 I'd love to give him the benefit of the doubt, 27:29 but from where I sit right now, 27:31 I'm giving him an F for honesty, 27:34 or I'd have to assume given his claim 27:35 that he was some great student of the Scriptures 27:38 that he was willfully blind. 27:41 So maybe another day we'll look 27:42 at the rest of the Ten Commandments because honestly, 27:45 if God exists, then they really do make perfect sense. 27:49 Meanwhile, I'd like you to read the Bible for yourself 27:51 instead of going to sloppy books that seem 27:53 to ignore absolutely everything. 27:56 This is where you'll find out what the book really says. 27:59 Thanks for joining me again this week. 28:01 I'm Shawn Boonstra and this has been Authentic. 28:04 [uplifting music] |
Revised 2022-02-09