0:00:00 - 0:00:27 I wanna share some thoughts on the idea that some people have that there's no rational reason to believe uh in religion or specifically in Jesus. Um This could be a really long video and it, it's not going to be, I just want to talk about this idea that people say this um as if rationality and religion 0:00:26 - 0:00:56 are incompatible or science and religion. Um I once asked, well, I once asked God uh about people who I've met or I know of who are super smart. And I said, Lord, these people are clearly way smarter than me and yet they haven't figured out some what I think are really simple things about you. Why is 0:00:56 - 0:01:24 it that there are so many really smart people who don't believe in you when there are so many reasons, any subset of which are sufficient to do? So, he said they're not honest. He said they intentionally avoid applying the same strategies for finding truth to the areas that would help them see what they 0:01:24 - 0:01:47 don't want to see. And sure enough. So, so just to be clear, I'm not saying that anyone who doesn't believe in God is dishonest, that's not what I'm saying, just bear with me. Um But sure enough in the life of these people, there are these glaring pockets where they obviously have not invested their 0:01:46 - 0:02:10 same rational capacity uh that they with which they have learned much in really complicated things often way more complicated than the thing that they have not been able to figure out. I mean, you know, somebody could give you this huge extrapolation on astrophysics and not be able to figure out how 0:02:09 - 0:02:35 to fix the screen door. And that people say like, well, they make excuses in this particular case, maybe the, the guy is not handy or whatever um or some brilliant woman who's um you know, able to give this, this lec this amazing lecture on the um how language affects how we think or whatever limits 0:02:34 - 0:02:56 how we think and enables how we think. And she's a terrible mom just atrociously bad. She does things that she should see are really harming her kid. Um And we go on and on, these are just arbitrary examples. We go on and on the reason they don't apply their knowledge to those things. It's, it all comes 0:02:55 - 0:03:17 down to, they want to feel good about how they already are. You know, I was just talking to my wife last night about this idea that its conception. People have that folks that have been successful at something. Um You know, they got really good at playing piano or they made this beautiful landscape design 0:03:16 - 0:03:45 in their yard or, you know, they paid off their house or any, any, any achievement doesn't matter. Um We think that that success begets success and in a way it does, but it, it's not to say that it gets easier. In fact, the truth is quite the opposite. It gets harder, every step forward is harder than 0:03:44 - 0:04:09 the ones before and it aggregates, it's harder than a collection of the hardest ones before. So it turns out that when you advance in some understanding of something, it seems like the easiest thing in the world to turn that light towards the things that you lack understanding in. But it's really hard 0:04:08 - 0:04:31 to go back to square one. And it's something that's contrary to human nature. It's very rare to find someone who's willing to do this. In fact, it's so rare that it is a glaring sign of holiness. If you see someone who is obviously exceptionally expert at something or they've accomplished some amazing 0:04:30 - 0:04:55 thing in some facet and they're willing to freely go down to the level of a complete beginner in some other sing. It's a glaring sign of holiness. I met a colonel once a full colonel in the army. He was an old geezer. He had been doing this for a really long time and making massive amounts of money doing 0:04:55 - 0:05:11 it. He had maxed out the time you could be a colonel for, he had done it a couple of other times because the officers, a lot of times in the army, at least they'll slow down their, their promotions because the higher you go, the harder it is to get promoted again and you have limited opportunity, they'll 0:05:10 - 0:05:28 kick you out if you don't get it in a certain amount of time or tries or whatever, he had planned this whole thing out because he wanted to do it till the end. He loved it so much and he was getting ready to get booted because his time was up, you know what he did, he found a way to become a warrant 0:05:28 - 0:05:47 officer so he could stay in because he loved it that much. He didn't want to leave until he had to because of his age. And that really hit me hard and I wasn't the only one who saw this. I didn't know the guy personally, but I think all of us were impressed with that level of dedication where he went 0:05:47 - 0:06:10 from. Basically, everyone being the boss of everybody down to someone who, you know, didn't have much say about anything and, and was just sort of over there. And uh that was amazing to see. So it's a, it's a sign of real holiness when maybe it's better to say light when someone's fully willing to walk 0:06:10 - 0:06:38 into that. Um So, um it turns out that if you apply reason evenly and honestly, which includes many challenges, only some of which I mentioned, um maybe it's worth just briefly mentioning like you're going to see things about you that aren't so great that maybe you haven't seen before. And if you reread 0:06:38 - 0:07:00 John chapter three, somewhere in the middle Jesus talks about how it's contrary to human nature, for people to be OK with seeing their dark side, but that you have to see it in order to fix it and become brighter. So um it turns out though that if you apply this, apply reason evenly and honestly, it's 0:06:59 - 0:07:23 absolutely going to take you closer to God. This is a shock to most religious people to hear as well as most secular people. Because both camps think that these are separate things. It's not that they're separate, they're actually the same exact things that in both cases, those camps arbitrarily separate 0:07:23 - 0:07:45 a bunch of other stuff out of it that actually belongs in there and in doing so they cut themselves off from the fullness. So if you approach all things in life with completely honest reason, you do your best to try to learn how to, how to think about things better than you do, you're going to find in 0:07:44 - 0:08:08 every case that no matter what you're focusing on, it's going to lead you closer to God. So with that comes everything else. If you focus on God in that search, it's going to teach you, you're going to learn tons about all other sorts of things that you didn't know, had anything to do with God. Did I 0:08:08 - 0:08:33 start about? Uh I think I mentioned at the beginning of this, something about astrophysics or whatever he's gonna take you there. He's gonna take you anywhere. He needs to as the conduit to and vocabulary of what he needs to teach you about. So if you search for truth above all else, nothing withheld 0:08:32 - 0:08:56 , you will always proceed up the path that leads all the way to God. It doesn't matter what you start in and how seemingly unreligious it seems. And frankly people who do it that way, I mean, they're rare because you have to ask why you'd ever bother. It's a very safe place to be, to be able to just 0:08:55 - 0:09:15 throw away a whole bunch of stuff and ignore it or never even look and just be really comfortable in, in your salary in your house or whatever your normal life and just be comfortable with that. And hey, I'm an expert at this and I'm proud of it and that's all I need. But if you can somehow find the 0:09:15 - 0:00:00 motive to push forward, which I don't think that you'll ever get not in going very far without God. So there's a chicken egg there. But anyway, if you do push through, you're actually gonna draw way closer to God than most of the people that go the direct religious route. This is why it's a shocker. 0:00:00 - 0:09:57 It's a shocker. Just how many atheists are going to believe in God in our day in the end times. Uh, because in their right, it's like Jesus said, the Children of light are wiser in many ways. I'm sorry, the chil, the Children of Mammon are wiser in many ways than the Children of light religious people 0:09:56 - 0:10:24 are the best at willful delusion. Typically, they're really good at ignoring things that are true and obvious and good and they're really good at being comfortable with having very poor ability to reason. So there's a reason that the reputation exists that that only stupid people are religious and it's 0:10:23 - 0:10:46 not true, but there are an awful lot of stupid people who make it seem true. Right? And I should say for the sake of saying there's nothing wrong with being dumb per se. There's a big problem with thinking you're a lot smarter than you are. That's a very dangerous person. So, um anyway, the Mink shall 0:10:46 - 0:11:13 inherit the earth. That means a lot of things. But the, you know, stupidity, you can't be saved in ignorance, but stupidity will not damn you pride will anyway. So as far as reasons to believe, go, I personally, I don't believe that there's a lack of evidence for belief in God. And I think I can make 0:11:12 - 0:11:38 a really strong argument that there is no lack of evidence. However, I acknowledge and um commiserate with people uh who complain about the abundance of negative examples. I mentioned a little bit about that. I'll say a lot more about that at some other time. Um The evidence as it stands, it takes an 0:11:38 - 0:12:08 exceptionally good critical thinking filter to be able to find and test the iterative examples required to come closer to God. And those exist in a sea of bad examples. And there's so much nonsense out there and, and the signal is so weak for what's good and true and right and better that I think right 0:12:08 - 0:12:41 now, only the pure in heart will ever find that path or push into it in my experience in my own life and in seeing what I can see of others uh ratifies that. However, as they do, as the ones with massive 50 megaton bombs of faith find that narrow path and push into it. Something will change and something 0:12:41 - 0:13:13 is changing, they will become a fountain of evidence that's much easier to see that God is real and that He is everything he purports to be and the way will be lit up like a Christmas tree and there will be no excuse for not seeing it, not believing it and not walking in it. And that is what will bring 0:13:12 - 0:13:46 the end. Miracles are a piece of all of this. And um they're a wonderful piece of this. They're a necessary piece of this. They will absolutely be a very noticeable, um There will be an absolutely noticeable surge in these. And I'm telling you, I've said this before I will continue to say this until 0:13:45 - 0:14:08 it happens. And then you're all gonna pretend I never said it or that someone else said it before me and that I wasn't the only one saying it for a very long time. Miracles are going to become so abundant. You're going to see the most elaborate schemes for people to explain them away because everyone 0:14:07 - 0:14:38 will know someone, they will have firsthand experience in seeing God's power work miracles in their lives or, or people very close to them. It's going to be a flood of miracles. All that said, that is not the point of the Gospel and those are not the greatest blessings. There are um greater things than 0:14:38 - 0:15:06 this miracles. They're a lesser blessing. They're designed uh for those unwilling to perceive evidences that require greater faith. And why are the evidences that require greater faith? A greater blessing? Because God works by faith. The greatest blessings require the greatest faith. If you find yourself 0:15:05 - 0:15:27 in a situation where you can obtain things with less faith, you can guarantee that what you're receiving is a lesser blessing. It's that simple, doesn't mean it's bad. Ok? If you are uh a gardener and your garden is all dried out and you don't have any water and someone gives you a five gallon bucket 0:15:26 - 0:15:53 of water, it's not a deluge of rain, but it's wonderful to have. It could make all the difference in the world. You see that's how it is. But we're in a time where you're still early enough that you have time to develop and exercise the great faith. There's always a pattern. Wisdom always precedes demonstration 0:15:52 - 0:16:17 of Godly wisdom and Godly character always precedes demonstration of Godly miracles. Now, I'm not saying Godly power because God's wisdom is an evidence of his power. God's character is an evidence of His power. It all goes together, but miracles come after all that and you'll see that pattern throughout 0:16:17 - 0:16:35 scripture. If you look for it, people don't think that they think it's all just the miracles. It's not all just the miracles consider that Jesus was alive for 30 years before. There were any miracles recorded in the scriptures. I know some people think he came out as like a little chubby baby with a 0:16:35 - 0:16:58 halo or something and worked all these miracles. Um It's not the way it went down, but whether it did or not, it certainly didn't in public, right? How do we know this when he went back to his hometown? They were all astonished at these reports. They had had of him being off in uh neighboring towns in 0:16:58 - 0:17:27 far flung cities doing these crazy miracles. And they're like, who is this guy? Right? Why don't you do that here? Why? Because he hadn't, he hadn't done it there. So wisdom, reason, truth, these things are the greater things. Here's the thing, obviously, look around this flood of miracles has not yet 0:17:26 - 0:17:57 occurred. Has the reason as the wisdom, as the truth. Would you see it if it did, what would it look like? How would it come? These things already exist in abundance? Far more is coming? But they already exist. And those who know where and how to find them can already benefit from all the power of God 0:17:56 - 0:18:21 that comes from learning more about Him and living what you learn, God is making them increasingly available daily. And so it's your choice, whether you will obtain these things, whether you'll perceive receive value and become them, whether you will have the greatest joy available by sharing them with 0:18:21 - 0:18:53 others, or whether you take them lightly, ignore them, dismiss them, disparage them. It's up to you. Many people will take these things lightly now and they will come back to it later. Maybe the catalyst for that will be miracles more likely the catalyst for that will be great suffering. Those who receive 0:18:52 - 0:19:33 these things early will have the strength from God to bear any suffering well, and that, that is a great miracle. Those who perceive and receive the wisdom of God will be those whose whose faculties for reason are best developed and who most honestly heed what that reasoning indicates. So you would do 0:19:33 - 0:19:39 well to develop and live according to your capabilities, to reason.