Cliffe Classics #9 - Give Me an Answer

if you chose to go a separate Road that's your decision not if you chose to go a separate road that it's my decision that you're going to burn in hell there must be some other option than Heaven that's my my this is my definition of degree you can't say what if you don't want heaven and you don't want help because you don't want to follow this person who who doesn't even show themselves to us who went through a bunch of prophets who says are older than the rest of us to write down a book that

is centuries old that probably has a lot of mistakes in it through translation anyways we're supposed to follow this person and if we don't we go to hell he hasn't given us much to follow on and if he wants us to be skeptical I mean he should I mean he couldn't have done a better job for us to be skeptical he doesn't show himself he doesn't show anybody he it will accept the profits that are better than us who have the gods touch or whatever who wrote the Bible how do we know they weren't crazy

people you know them if if we're supposed to look around and be skeptical how do I know how can I trust you how can I trust the pastors how can I trust the people who wrote the Bible how can I trust the people who translated the Bible how do I know there are not Bible texts missing how do I know that there weren't protects putting into the Bible how am I supposed to know that and God doesn't say oh he doesn't come down when it was translated and say oh this was wrong you better fix

that and we're supposed to trust this person and say if we don't live your life we're going to burn in hell that's free we're not even given a clear choice we're given Catholicism who tells us that that you're supposed to pray to Mary but then on the other hand you're given Seventh-Day adventism that says that you're supposed to pray to Jesus because Jesus is our intercessory prayer then there are other religions who say we should play Pray directly to God and then there are people that I know who think that there are people in Africa

who have never heard about God but are going to go to hell because they were given the opportunity some point in their lives to know God is that a God is that religion what is religion I mean what is free if you don't have direct guidelines to follow by thank you [Music] if you discredit part of the Bible how can I look at the gospels and say okay since there's no other text in history that says that this is absolutely 100 that he died on the cross for our sins how am I supposed to look

at it and say oh I'll have faith in this part how the question is an historical one did Jesus really die on a cross and did he really rise from the dead that's an historical question and where is it based in history besides the Bible [Music] Josephus the Jewish historian refers very clearly to Christ as being an historical person that he died on a cross and that he has supposedly risen from the dead supposedly the Gnostic Gospels many other gospels many other writings talk about Jesus the Epistle of Barnabas The Shepherd of Hermes and we're

all these Gospel of Thomas there are many different sources that talk about Jesus as a real person that are not in the Bible he claimed that he died on the cross for our sins that was his claim now why should we trust him because the evidence of the way he treated people with such compassion and integrity the evidence of the content of his ethical teaching the evidence of the way he died forgiving people at the moment of his most excruciating pain mailed to wooden crossbeam but most importantly the historical evidence of his resurrection from the

dead that's why we should trust him when he says I died on the cross for your sins I mean ma'am I promise you if you die and rise from the dead I'll listen very closely to everything you have to say all right it's that simple so if the historical evidence points to Jesus really rising from the dead that's why we better trust him when he says the reason that I died on the cross was to pay the penalty for your sin that's why I trust him see I don't I understand that there are other texts

supporting that Jesus lived but I don't see any I mean I could be wrong but the Jewish text that says that he lived says he supposedly grows from the dead is there any evidence of that yes the evidence is Crystal Clear in Matthew Mark Luke John James Peter ma'am other than the Quran would you please explain to me what Muhammad taught that is intellectually dishonest man but other than the teachings of Buddha the Quran himself would you please tell me [Music] oh man don't you see the basic intellectual dishonesty of your point no I'm saying

that Muhammad taught a point he taught philosophy he did not say this grass is green in a Matthew Mark and Luke Luke and John they say Jesus died he rose from the dead he died for our sins they are saying it is a fact and that if we do not follow what he says we are going to we are going to burn in hell that is not a philosophy that is a fact yeah I'm going to hell [Music] all right so that's what Muhammad says in the Quran but for me to say to a Muslim

I'm sorry take away the Quran now tell me what Muhammad said I mean that's intellectually dishonest no the Quran is very carefully preserved we find out about this pardon I want 100 evidence that Jesus raised from the dead because if you cannot give me that then that makes the Bible incredible okay let me show you why you're intellectually dishonest give me 100 evidence that your mom is not just fighting you up to drop arsenic in your tea when you go home for Christmas vacation it is possible you can't 100 prove that because I don't live

with my mother of course I can't I'm sorry okay you're not going to see your mother for Christmas obviously she won't be able to drop arsenic in your tea but if you happen to see your mom for Christmas can you give me a hundred percent proof that she's not gonna drop arsenic in your tea no all right here's another one give me 100 proof that the University of Illinois is going to give you a diploma on your day of graduation give me 100 proof that they didn't after I got it two thousand years I don't

base my life on 100 true I'm sorry he died if you're talking about something in the future yes you can't give me 100 2 000 years ago I'm pretty sure that by now we would figure out if he rose from the dead or not man I can't I don't base my life on 100 Proof well maybe that's your problem oh you do you base your life on 100 Proof yes oh really that's why I'm skeptical of everything really so that means you take a chemistry kit to the pharmacy and when the pharmacist hands you that

bottle of medicine you chemically analyze it to make sure there's no poison in there right that's why because unless you have 100 Proof you would never dare take that pill and put it in your mouth because maybe the pharmacist put poison in there yes I don't base it on 100 thank you so don't tell me you base your life 100 Proof nine of us do that's not it's not possible you can't you can't do that all right you can't do that man I'm sorry that's why I go to the pharmacy and I research it I

go to my doctor and I ask what is this person giving me and why should I take it that's what I do I'm sorry I misstated yes I do take my life in 100 skepticism I do not go around and say hey I'm going to open my book at the University of Illinois and just take everything they say and and take it as a truth of course that has questions of course 100 skeptic you've got your back right now turn to a lot of people maybe they got a knife in their pocket they're gonna stick

you in the back and if I die I die you cannot be 100 skeptic if I die you got to learn to trust you've got to learn to trust if you don't trust you're gonna be a very lonely person now you got to make reasonable decisions but you can't be 100 skeptic you can't be 100 proven didn't you just tell [Music] but then you've got to be reasonable when it comes to your skepticism oh so now there's a reasonable that you you're going to draw the line for my reasonability I'm not I'm asking you to

be reasonable you're obviously reasonable you've not checked all these people to see if they've got knives in their back pockets you say no I'm here at the University of Illinois the University of Illinois does not accept murderers in the student body here usually no I understand therefore I'm not going to kill me examine everyone's pockets I can't prove Christ but the evidence is that Christ is reliable no proof evidence what's the evidence an amazing life don't you respect Mother Teresa why do you respect Mother Teresa could she lived a life that was so christ-like why

do you respect Dr Martin Luther King because he lived a life in so many ways it was christ-like in the way he peacefully fought evil we respect that so look at Christ's life he lived a life of amazing Integrity incredible compassion so that's one reason to trust him secondly read his teachings do unto others as you would have them do unto you if someone strikes you on the right cheek turns it in the other also tremendous teachings demand respect thirdly watch the way he dies the word nailed to an crossbeam instead of cursing his enemies

he prays father forgive them for they know not what they do but fourthly and most importantly three days after he dies he physically bodily rises from the dead and over a period of 40 days he appears to over 500 people at different times in different places risen from the dead it's that evidence not proof not 100 Proof no way there's always room for doubt I've got doubts we all have doubts but the overwhelming evidence is you can trust the man he's not out to rip you off he loves you you can trust him [Music] respect

people people's Faith right but I can't stand there and tell someone else that they're wrong for their beliefs because I could never do that personally man I don't think you've heard you said you have no respect I said I have this much intellectual respect for an atheist who talks about hope study atheism study Camus surgery all the great atheistic Nietzsche if you believe there is no God man there's no basis for a bright future be I have hope for all the children in the world have a bright future I have hope that there will be

no war I hope that we will all live a happy existence that's our hope that's this Essence of Hope I don't have hope for the afterlife but I still have hope okay then I'm sorry we've got to Define hope hope is not just wishful thinking you're right regardless of whether atheist or theist we can wish a happy future for our children okay when I use the word hope I'm talking about a confident expectation of good in the end and see if you're an atheist but you've got to acknowledge is the end the end is the

end the end is we're all fertilizer you see there's no confident expectation oh good [Music] does that make sense I completely disagree with that because okay you've lived a good life and you're true to yourself yes isn't that the Essence of Hope what you're talking about is fake no ma'am hope has to do with the Future Hope is a confident expectation to begin with pardon are you talking about millions of years down the road or tomorrow the future's vague you're not being specific if I have hope for tomorrow that still hope what you're talking about

is Faith you're talking about faith for the future that's completely different than hope all right you're right there is a connection between fate and hope my faith is that there is no God my faith is that there is no God that I I can't be an intellectual hypocrine and talk about wow there's a bright future out there I don't know that despair is The Logical conclusion of atheism I'm not in despair though I don't I don't understand how this is despair when I don't have to spare okay and ma'am you see I'm all I'm trying

to do is intellectually challenge you because I don't think you're being honest with yourself read Camus Regional Pulsar to read any of the great atheist philosophers and what they point out is searing honesty is because there is no God when you die you rock when I die I rot but I will have left something on this planet for others to remember me by that's where the Hope comes in I hope in future Generations I wanna I Wanna Be In Theater I want to write plays okay I hope future Generations pick up my play like they

pick up Shakespeare and say oh I totally understand what this I understand this time this place that's hope okay now I'm not trying to offend you but what are the possibilities of your plays being read like Shakespeare's plays a bit right flims none but I still can hold that hope can I like you can hold the hold that you will get to heaven good and there's the difference you see when a follower of Christ talks about hope he's not talking about something as Slim as I hope my plays will be read like Shakespeare's plays have

been read rather hope for a follower of Christ is a confident expectation of good based on the Promises of Christ the evidence is Christ doesn't lie the evidence is he's reliable he has promised us eternal life when we put our faith in him I don't need a promise to go for what I believe in though okay fine but then ma'am would you please face reality and reality is no offense to you but reality is that your place will probably not be read with the same frequency that Shakespeare's plays have been read even if they are

if there is no God when that thing Burns Out curtains we're all freezing and to tell you the truth before that burns out something else is probably going to happen we're either going to blow ourselves to bit with a nuclear bomb or something else is going to bring this thing we call life on planet Earth to a screeching halt if there is no God man we're all headed towards a fertilizer pick now think about that I have well if you think about that honestly you can't talk to me about a confident expectation of good out

there you've got to be honest and you've got to say it's the fertilizer pit guys that's where we're headed and that's why kamu and Ichi and Sartor say you know you guys in Western Europe and United States who call yourselves atheists you better start being honest with yourselves and you better stop talking about hope for the future you better realize there is no hope for the future we're all become fertilizer which means that morality is relative which means if you want to be Mother Teresa go right ahead but if you want to be Adolf Hitler

go right ahead you see it really ultimately doesn't matter it's just simply what you choose to do so if you want to be Hitler the second go ahead if you want to be Mother Teresa the second go ahead but it's all relative see now you're getting completely away from hope now you're getting into Free Will no ma'am I'm not completely different come on it's free will if you have choice either be good or evil that's free will man don't you realize what you told me your Hope was based on you stood there and told me

correct me if I'm wrong I'm a playwright I'm gonna write plays and people are going to enjoy those plays like they enjoy Shakespeare's play but if they don't it's not going to stop me from trying to get to that hope that dream but if you take your atheism seriously what you've got to realize is I can go and make those plays or I can go out and poison people to death it's ultimately meaningless which means despair is the only logical conclusion of atheism it doesn't matter whether you feed the starving or whether you slaughtered a

starving it's all relative it's all meaningless it all ends in the same place the fertilizer picked [Music] foreign I am convinced to the root of my being that if I believe the Earth is flat that doesn't make the earth flat I am convinced of the root of my being that if I think that he is inferior because he's of A different race than I am I am convinced I'm totally wrong I don't think belief determines reality I don't think because the KKK can articulate very clearly with great Passion that he's inferior to me I don't

think that belief determines reality I think in reality this man is just as valuable as I am because he's a human being creating the image of God within innate value and dignity that does not depend upon other people affirming him and saying oh yeah you're equally valuable has nothing to do with that it has nothing to do with my belief or anybody else's belief it has to do with the fact that we come from God we're created in His image That's the basis of our value so you see the same thing with a conscience I

can sear my conscience I can get to the point where I say you know something this man is inferior to me and my conscience won't go off my conscience will affirm that I can rationalize evil sad but it's something I can do you see it happening all around you speaking at the University of Arizona a couple years ago very intelligent University of Arizona student raises his hand and says you're right Cliff I believe there's no God and because there is no God morality is relative I said fine give me an example when date rape is

possibly good hey so that one easy I have a very high testosterone level when I participate in date rape it's good it's very natural I looked him in the face and said I'm sorry sir because I believe there's a God I know that a woman is valuable I don't care what you believe and you date raping is absolutely evil you see ma'am it's a lie When anybody tells you oh man your belief determines reality no it doesn't if I walk to the top of the Sears Tower and honestly believe when I step off I Can

Fly that doesn't change the fact that when I step off of the Sears Tower I'm going to fall and I'm going to have a very very painful landing on the cement below my belief does not determine reality reality exists separate from my belief and the challenge for me as a thinking human being with a conscience is to get in touch with reality now I pray that's why you guys are here at the University of Illinois a whole liberal arts education used to be based on the idea truth we are in Pursuit Of Truth in biology

in physics in Psychology in history we're after truth and I'm standing here saying Jesus Christ made the clear claim in John chapter 8. you will know the truth and the truth will set you free and then in John 14 6 Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life no one comes to the father except through me now you have to decide as a thinking person the dude's either a liar blowing smoke or else he's speaking the truth you got to decide it's what I got to say so we all have to decide

[Music] well if you firmly believe in something you can be considered a writer then every person is not committing suicide is a radical because every person who's not committing suicide is living for something all right you're bringing something else into this discussion I don't think really relates to what I'm talking about I'm saying you're a radicalist because you stand by your beliefs and you strongly by strongly speak by your conviction okay and let's say I'm an atheist in your eyes okay now your religion preaches acceptance and like forgiveness and especially acceptance of everybody acceptance of

all people no matter like what their ideas are no matter what like they believe in whether they are like a Buddhist monk or like a radicalist Islamic person or you know like they live in Timbuktu it doesn't matter okay you're coming out here and you're telling everyone no we do not accept your beliefs you should believe what I believe and I do not accept you you're saying you're gonna go to hell or you're gonna have like some terrible fate you know come to you or you don't believe in fate or you're saying something but it's

not acceptance so I'm asking I'm challenging your beliefs okay burn up have you ever had a professor mark an answer on one of your exams wrong uh maybe I don't know I'd have to ask them all right sure if we can't be more honest with each other I'm gonna go on to somebody else all right I asked you a very simple I really don't know come on what do you mean you don't know all right yes thank you come on good sure come on dude all right when that Professor marked the answer on your exam

wrong right was he rejecting you as a person uh no thank you no way your professor was making a truth claim your professor was saying sir when you answered that question that's exactly what we're talking about we're talking about truth however your truth differs from my truth my reality is different from your reality even where I stand right now I'm sitting here and my view my perception of everything that's going on is different from your perception you're standing over there and you're looking out at me okay so your truth your perspective on things is different

than mine so really like what they do what they test on in schools and Academia we test on facts like is there a sky above us is there does gravity exist and I answer the questions either yes or no and I get them right we're talking about facts your set of beliefs are questionable as are my set of beliefs in not believing in God let's say I don't believe a God I actually do believe in a God but uh let's say I don't believe in a God that's my reality and that's questionable also but so

so are your beliefs I'm saying so who's to say whether I'm right or wrong and who's to say whether you're right or wrong what I'm saying is that your religion focuses on acceptance and by coming out here and challenging people's beliefs and saying to them you're wrong is wrong when the professor marks an answer on your exam as being wrong he does not have to be arrogant he does not have to have a superiority complex okay rather he understands the difference between truth and error in this particular example right when I read the Quran Muhammad

is making truth claims right if he is right then those are facts if he's wrong it's just opinion it happens to be wrong right if what Muhammad said is true and I reject what he says I am wrong is what Muhammad says is wrong and I reject what he says wise decision on my part okay for me to haul back and accuse Muhammad of being narrow-minded and bigoted is incredibly judgmental on my part Muhammad is making a truth play okay the same way a professor who says two plus two equals four is excluding the option

that two plus two equals five he's not being arrogant he's making a truth play so Muhammad is making a claim that God has revealed himself most clearly through Muhammad to the Quran right I'm an intellectual nitwit I'm a judgmental fool if I say oh man that's just arrogance on Muhammad's part no it's an issue of Truth was Muhammad speaking the truth or was he not was he or was he not well you better answer that question by studying the Quran and you better not not trust me to do your homework for you you better read

the Quran I'm standing out here saying Jesus Christ made truth claims all right he said I'm the truth all right Jesus Christ is either true or he's false you're saying and I'm not standing out here saying I'm better than any of you I'm saying Christ doesn't give me an option whether I want to or not I have to love you I have to respect you but I can promise you Christ calls me to be a mailman and deliver his mail and I'm delivering his mail as straight and as quick and as honestly as respectfully as

I can head to head Jesus says he bled and died on a cross for your sin he backs It Up by rising from the dead he'd be very wise to put your faith in him don't take it from me go to the source documents the gospels read them for yourself and ask yourself does the evidence point to Christ being a liar if it does reject him or is the evidence point to Christ being the truth if it doesn't trust him that's the whole thing uh both Quran and both the Bible a certain truthful claims yeah

right right however whether or not you choose to accept those claims is by your own personal volition that's right right yes sir so if you're a religion asserts acceptance of other people and whether or not they believe this or that why do you feel the need to to question in uh what you're saying is that because I don't believe in if I don't uh assert the like supremacy of the Bible then I'm going to hell right no no you don't have to assert the supremacy of the Bible I'm saying that Jesus Christ made a truth

play he claimed to be the real God what if I don't believe that then you'll have to answer to Christ you don't answer to me I'm not your judge if Christ is God you'll have to answer to him I have one more question uh what about uh we're in a campus right now uh-huh everyone's studying physics biology everyone's studying you know and not only are we studying but professors are doing research in biology psychology philosophy and everything like that should we just stop all research that would be foolish because a lot of research goes contrary

to the Bible and if you're saying the Bible is truth then we should just quit physics I mean because a lot of a lot of facts they've gathered from these disciplines uh go against the Bible no just say okay that's the evolution forget evolution there is not one hard scientific fact that goes against the Bible not one well that's fair there's no Ranch no and there's no one single scientific fact that goes for the Bible either that's why it's Dogma that's not true at all that's what religion is that's not true at all listen that's

where religion is you have the Quran you have the Bible you have Buddhism okay you have many other religions the reason it's a religion is because you can't either prove it true or you can't prove it's false that's what Dogma is you're right you can't prove it but sure there has been no time in modern science when so much of science has been pointing to notice the words I used pointing to the existence of God example 1963 background noise in the universe Big Bang Theory what does the Big Bang Theory do it blows the naturalist

atheist opposition right out of the water the naturalist atheistic position was the universe is eternal never had a beginning okay The Big Bang Theory says uh-uh we're not talking about the atheist The Atheist Theory we're talking about whether the legitimacy of the Bible or not the Bible the legitimacy of the Quran or not the Quran or the legitimacy of any other doctrine that asserts truths without having other facts to prove it or disprove it you can't prove anything of course you can prove things that's what science is science is questioning reality questioning facts yeah and

using scientific methods like hypothesis like an explanation yeah and then you know formulating experiments to either prove or disprove your hypothesis religion stands aside from science actually before a certain period of time religion like was dominance okay and then uh from 150 years ago 100 years ago science came into view and religion less so because everyone was going to religion to answer all their problems answer all questions and now they had a scientific way of testing your ideas about we're going we're going completely off from what I originally asked is should everyone just stop studying

like uh should we stop studying physics because uh Big Bang Theory goes against what the Bible says too no it doesn't how does it not go against what the Bible he's paying Theory shows very clearly about Evolution the universe is not Eternal the universe has a beginning engineering everything that has a beginning has a Cause the universe has a beginning therefore the universe has a Cause that's what God is God is the creator first cause and uncaused cause that's good for Big Bang Theory now what about genetics what about DNA right what about DNA about

biology and evolution explain evolution Through the Bible study a single cell living cell right read a book by it biochemist named Michael B called Darwin's Black Box in that book Michael behe the biochemist in Lehigh is a Christian now no I don't know what he is he's not made that real clear he's a biochemist at Lehigh University I don't know what he believes about God or about Christ but his point is Darwin pointed out that if you can show that a living being is irreducibly complex that blows my theory of evolution right out of the

war and Michael Bee's point is a single cell living cell is irreducibly complex religion the Bible uh about a hundred years ago asserted that the world was 2 000 years old where does the bible say that uh it just it just is I don't know it doesn't say it anyway I haven't read the Bible but I've spoken to many people who are well knowledgeable about the Bible and they say nothing about and if you ask uh if you ask uh like Catholic priests okay how much money do you need right now would you like to

earn 20 bucks I'll give you a quick way to earn 20 bucks I'm gonna be out here again tomorrow all right just bring the Bible out and show me where the Bible says the world's 2000 years all right well I'll give you 20 bucks okay come on out tomorrow and show me where the Bible says and I didn't say Catholic priests I didn't say any group I said where does the bible say that the world is 2 000 years old it doesn't say that sir you see you've got to read the text for yourself yeah

you got to stop reacting to Catholic priests or popes or monks or televangelists or Protestant ministers be open-minded study the source document for yourself and don't dismiss Christ because of some narrow-minded Christian and don't believe in Jesus because I'm telling you to told any do your homework for you go back and read the gospel they won't bite you they won't hurt help it thank you