Latest / Brandon Fogal Evolution / #53 - My Most Convincing Argument to Cosmic Skeptic Alex O'Connor

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#53 - My Most Convincing Argument to Cosmic Skeptic Alex O'Connor · Brandon Fogal Evolution

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  This is my argument, my most convincing argument that I would give to Cosmic
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  Skeptic. I don't know if you've heard of him, Alex O'Connor.
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  He's pretty well known, but I did not stumble upon him until just a few weeks
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  back when I watched his video. He went on Jubilee.
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  And if you've ever watched Jubilee, the first show I watched ever of theirs
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  was Ben Shapiro going on there.
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  And then just a bunch of people that argued against Christianity,
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  or actually not Christianity, just God in general, because Ben Shapiro is not
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  Christian, but they would come would they run to the center to get in front
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  of Ben and they give their most compelling argument for whatever topic it is.
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  And they until they go until they're voted out. So you should check out Jubilee.
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  And most recently, I've watched Alex O'Connor go on there.
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  And I am so glad I I'm so glad YouTube put him in front of me because I've been
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  watching his videos nonstop.
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  He has he goes by the he He doesn't actually go by this anymore,
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  but it's still his handle on YouTube at Cosmic Skeptic.
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  And his name is Alex O'Connor. He's from the UK.
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  And I don't know his whole history. I've just been watching him the last few weeks.
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  But and I believe he went to Oxford. Very smart, very smart person.
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  But this is going to be if I because I've been watching so many of his videos.
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  I want to give what, if I was standing before Alex O'Connor and I was able to
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  present my argument for God, the God of the Bible and Christianity, what would I say to him?
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  Like, say we did a podcast, say we did a video together. What would I say to Alex O'Connor?
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  Okay. And I'm going to give that to you in this video. Before we go any further,
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  Okay. So let's dive in. I'm going to do something a little bit different.
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  I'm going to throw the, if I can figure out
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  the switches and the gears you know the henchman pulling switches
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  in the back if they can get it right come on arbitrarily doing something
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  back there come on let's go all right let's see if i can do it on the
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  on the fly i've been wanting to do this who knows what i'll throw up there okay
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  i know there it is okay let me just rearrange rearrange you know it's it's all
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  good i'm really okay so anybody that's just listening i'm going to throw hopefully and let's do it
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  Okay, hopefully my voice is still coming through there.
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  I've switched the screen, so I got the video from Jubilee and Alex O'Connor on there.
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  So say I run up to the chair and I get up there, you know, because they're like
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  fighting, they're clawing to get up there.
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  Who can stand in front of whoever's the person on whatever topic it is. Say I get up there.
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  What am I going to say to Alex O'Connor? And really, this is probably a bad
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  setting of what I'm even going to deliver.
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  Because if I did this, because I'm not going on Jubilee and I'm not standing
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  before him and just in that setting, I'm thinking of it more as we do just a
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  video or a podcast together and I'm just talking to him. This is what I would say.
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  All right, Alex. So let's remove all cameras.
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  Let's remove all microphones. Let's remove everyone else. I mean,
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  we know that everybody's still recording. Everybody could possibly be watching.
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  Let's remove all that. Let's just think about,
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  me and you one-on-one, what, and just let's talk this out.
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  Is God real? Is Jesus Christ, how the Bible presents him? Is the Bible something
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  trustworthy to put our faith in?
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  All right, let's remove everything out and let's just have a just down to earth
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  conversation about this. And that's how I would begin.
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  That's how I would begin. All right, Alex.
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  So I'm not going to be able to convince you. I'm going to say it up front.
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  I'm not going to be able to convince you by amazing reasoning and amazing just
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  evidence, as in historical evidence or whatever, whatever you have,
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  because there's nothing new I'm going to bring to you and present to you that
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  you haven't heard before.
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  You've been doing this for years and you are settled in your position.
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  But I do, watching your videos, I have realized that you are as much as you
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  possibly can be open-minded that if the Bible is true, you would believe it.
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  If Jesus Christ is a worthy person to put your faith in and how the Bible presents
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  him, you would believe it.
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  You're not just staunching your belief that you're like, there's no way I'm
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  changing my mind. You're open. You're open.
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  And as much as you can be, and I say that kind of for myself as well,
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  like since I became a Christian, I try to still think about how a person that
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  doesn't believe in Christ, how they would hear this, what I'm saying,
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  what I'm saying, because, and we can only do that so much.
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  You can only do that hypothetical gymnastics in your mind so much because my,
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  my position is it's impossible to believe in God if you don't believe in them.
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  And it's not, it's not possible to believe in God if you don't believe in them.
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  If I say that right, I'm basically saying, and I saw this in a video that you did.
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  I wish I would have known the person's podcast that he you said like you,
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  you, you gave that remark to him.
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  You said, all right, you want to try to believe in God, just give it a go.
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  And you were like, just talking to him. He doesn't, he's agnostic as well,
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  but you just say, just give it a go.
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  Just try because we cannot just flip the switch and just say,
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  okay, I believe there's a God or I don't believe there's a God.
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  I think it's already settled.
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  We don't have a choosing of that.
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  And I think something, so I don't think there's an argument,
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  a compelling argument that I could say in the reliability of the Bible or give
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  historical facts that would convince you.
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  And I would say even from the biblical perspective that the most strong promoter
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  of Christianity, the apostle Paul.
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  When he went up and encountered people that were very philosophical,
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  very smart, the smartest people on the planet in his day and age,
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  he did not try to give them amazing reasoning and amazing just history and articulation
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  of the facts of what happened.
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  Because, I mean, they're going to be settled in their position,
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  whatever it is. He came to them with a simple message of Jesus Christ and him crucified.
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  That's all he said. and he stumbled and he bumbled over his words and he didn't
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  have a good presence and people mocked him.
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  Go to 1 Corinthians and this is what he gave and we can find this in the book
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  of Acts as well of that encounter, what happened.
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  He made it clear that this message, you know, and that's why I want to step back.
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  Like, I don't want to be like, I'm just like, I'm going to get my Bible and
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  I'm just going to hit you over the head with it.
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  Believe, believe, believe. No, no, no. we can't do that either.
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  I understand we have to give good arguments and there is apologetics for the God of the Bible.
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  But if we were just like, God has to change our hearts and God has to make us
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  in a position so that we can believe.
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  So I would start it off with that because there's nothing I'm going to say that
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  you haven't heard before.
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  And the message of the Bible is so simple that it is supernatural.
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  God made this message so simple. He made it this way.
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  He made it this way and he made it so that a little child can understand it.
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  He didn't make it overly complicated and he made it so that it would just break
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  down the wisdom, what we would put in quotation, the wisdom of this world,
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  the most smartest, brilliant people.
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  And he turns it upside down on its head. And it says that he came for the people
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  that are the lowest of the low.
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  He's making the meek of the earth that are going to be the kings of the next age.
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  And so it does look foolish. That's why it's called the foolishness of the cross.
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  It looks stupid. In our vernacular, it's stupidity.
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  And that's why Paul said to the Jews, they seek a sign, you know,
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  and it's fool. he says it's for the Gentiles, it's foolishness for the Gentiles
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  and the prime, most people in our day and age and most people that Paul encountered were Gentiles.
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  And he understood well that this message, it's, it's stupidity. It's dumb.
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  You know, I remember hearing like way back when, when I was just out of college
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  and going to a revival or something with high school students.
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  And then this kid just came to me and he's like, why don't I just go get crucified
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  and make a book about it and have everybody else in the world believe it.
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  And I was an early Christian at that point. I'm like, yeah, I guess I get what
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  you're saying. I actually get what you're saying.
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  I do understand what you're saying because I just came from that because I used
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  to think the Bible was fairy tales and stupid and dumb and not something to
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  even pay a second glance to.
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  So I could see where he was coming from.
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  But there are solid arguments for Christianity. There are solid arguments for
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  the Bible. and I could go into all day about, you know, but you've heard every argument.
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  You've heard everyone you've, you've, and, but I hope you still have an open mind.
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  And I, to anyone that's out there, I think if we, if we humble our hearts and
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  we genuinely, genuinely, that's why I say it's impossible. I think God has to do it.
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  Like we, he has to change our hearts and our minds to actually be willing to
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  do this, you know, but if we do genuinely come to him, he will, he will open our eyes.
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  He will let us see the beauty of Christ.
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  He, he, because Jesus Christ, that's why I, I, I, I, I'm hesitant about going
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  down really any argument because I don't think there's anything I could just
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  reason to you and say, this is because of this happened X, Y, Z,
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  you know, because Jesus Christ lived at that exact time, that exact pinnacle
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  of history, because of the evidence of the resurrection.
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  Why would the apostles die for a knowing lie? Because there are people,
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  many people sincerely have died for things, but they don't, these guys would have known it was a lie.
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  They would have known it. They would have went to their death.
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  They would have suffered with no benefit to themselves.
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  And to be like all together in on it is impossible. It's unfathomable.
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  So there are so many arguments for the Bible and for, I mean,
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  I've seen so many of your videos.
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  I know you that you like about Christians that you, you, you seem the early
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  ones of your videos, you were a little more hostile to Christianity,
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  but it does seem like you are a lot different in your approach and even your
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  own view that you, you enjoy Christians.
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  You enjoy Christians in a sense, like, in a sense, like, as opposed to some
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  other religions that would be a lot more hostile towards you.
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  But I just hope that you keep your, an open mind and what, and what you're saying.
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  And I could definitely go into arguments and what I, but I don't even want to
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  bring it down to that level.
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  But I, cause I just wanted to just, man, like your worldview.
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  And I know I've heard videos you saying, like, just thinking about death,
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  thinking about, you know, that we would, after this, you know,
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  cease to exist, you know, it was almost terrifying.
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  You said you hadn't really kind of done that analysis for years,
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  you know, since you were young and it was terrifying.
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  For me, I, there is still, I mean, any, even any Christian out there, there is still some.
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  Like, there's always fear of the unknown, you know,
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  like, because we can say we, we, we know and what we believe,
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  we know that God is there, but I don't think God has made it possible so that
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  we can absolutely 100% scientifically know that God is there.
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  Otherwise, everyone would believe it.
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  And otherwise, because he's made it so there has to be that element of faith.
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  You have to be able to and willing to jump in.
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  And until you actually do that, you count the costs because Jesus said,
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  count the costs, But then you have to just completely dive in.
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  And that's what happened to me.
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  I dove in and then figured out all these things.
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  The apologetics and the understanding of the Bible supported my beliefs and gave me confidence.
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  But it wasn't what convinced me and drove me into the kingdom.
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  I was completely put off by Christianity.
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  It seems ridiculous. The dinosaurs always got me.
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  The dinosaurs always got me. And I, there is solid, strong arguments for everything,
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  you know, everything, the Bible, that's why it stood the test of time.
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  If you just look at the Bible, it's written over 1500 years,
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  over 40 different authors, authors from all walks of life, and they have a consistent theme.
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  And because it's not one book, we say the Bible, but it's obviously not one book.
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  It's a library of books from kings to peasants, to farmers, to all,
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  like to everybody from all walks of life, but it all came from one people group,
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  which is insane in itself.
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  It came from the Jewish people, full stop, completely.
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  And you could say Luke, the physician who wrote Luke, the gospel of Luke and
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  wrote Acts is a little bit different. You know, he might've been a Gentile.
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  I think of it whenever I, he might've been a Gentile. I look at him.
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  He was a proselyte to, to Judaism, but it doesn't really matter,
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  you know, but either way, if you say Luke is the only Gentile that wrote it. He's.
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  Every other book is written by it, which isn't that to me, when you really step
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  back and think of it is crazy, is really crazy.
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  So I, I, I know I haven't given, like, I didn't want to go into and just dive
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  into like natural logic and natural reason and evidence, because I, you've heard all that.
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  You've heard all that, you know, God, he gives us his kindness towards us is
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  he gives us time to look at him and, but he's not going to just unveil everything.
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  Everything's not coming out yet. And it's like, when it does,
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  it will be so strong that we'll be like, it won't even be a question anymore.
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  It's this brief time, this moment in history. When we think about how brief
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  everything is, the cosmos is so brief.
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  I mean, our window in time is so brief. And I mean,
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  that's i'll i'll leave it at that i'll let you just think
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  about that and just if there's anything at all sparked anything
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  and may makes you actually want
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  to ask me anything further definitely hit me up i would actually love to do
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  this formally but i wanted to put that out there and i i hope you take that
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  what it is let me switch back so anyone else that listens in on this you know
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  there's not going to be ever going to be enough reason and argument to convince you.
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  You got to jump in. And I mean, you got to jump in and be just full in and then
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  you can actually test it out.
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  Until you do that, I don't think you're going to be able to fully understand who Christ is.
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  You can see him from afar, but at the end of the day, that's going to be the
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  biggest question that we are ever asked and that we ever answer.
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  And what our answer is matters of eternal significance.
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  Who do you say that I am? That was Jesus's question to his apostles.
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  And Peter said, you are the Christ, the son of the living God.
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  So I'll leave it at that. Have a wonderful day, everyone. Peace.