The Marijuana Question | Next Week | Episode 5

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00:03

All right, guys, welcome back. Welcome back, everybody. Thank you guys so very, very much. You know what time it is.

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It's time for the Blend of the Week. You guys ready? This Blend of the

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Week is called the House Blend. Popular blend. It's actually coffee that has a lot in common with the

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House of Representatives. Can't decide on anything. Nobody seems to like it, and it's as shrewd as Nancy Pelosi.

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Otherwise known as Grandma Goo Goo. Okay. Oh, here we go.

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We're gonna get in trouble. Here at Next Week, we like to engage with cultural issues from a biblical, honest, and logical standpoint.

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In other words, the way Americans used to debate before the existence of CNN. Now, sure, this gets us in trouble with atheists, social justice warriors, and the pussyhat -wearing, socialist,

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Marxist Bernie Sanders hype men. But what else would they do if they didn't have us?

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I mean, just how many episodes of Bill Maher can someone really watch? Right, guys? Now, sometimes, our approach gets us in trouble with the fundy

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Baptists that like to kick pulpits and correct what everyone else is doing, except they never seem to correct what you think they would.

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It always is something you'd never see coming. We got pastors who pee sitting down. We got the president of the

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United States probably pee sitting down. We got a bunch of preachers. We got a bunch of leaders who don't stand up and piss against the wall.

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That's the famous pisseth -against -the -wall sermon. His argument is so obscure that he assumed the president of the

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United States probably pees sitting down. You can't just make a crazy assumption about someone unless, well, maybe you're the president of the

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United States. You see, basically, I've learned that a show like this is hard to please anyone.

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Unless you're a gun. Guns seem to appreciate our defense of the Second Amendment. They love us. Now, I say all of that because of the subject

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I'm going to talk about today. Marijuana. That's right, marijuana. See, Christians don't know whether they should cheer for that or not.

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Quiet. Now, I know as soon as I said that, some of you guys are quickly writing an argument in the comment section.

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And some of you are writing a comment in favor of the subject, but you're writing it real slow.

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Now, what made us want to talk about marijuana? Maybe it's because we're apparently gluttons for punishments.

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Maybe it's because we haven't seen too many Christians address the subject. But it's also because we are constantly asked the question.

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Well, that and Chad, the local bro, won't stop bothering us about it. Hey, Jeff, is that a pipe on your desk right there?

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Can I hit that? Is that? Yeah, yeah, it's a pipe. Can I hit that, man?

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Puff, puff, puff. Thanks, Chad.

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Now, Chad, I hope you're happy because we're not going to ignore this subject any longer. We're going to talk about marijuana, otherwise known as the devil's lettuce, cripple, dank, doobie, dope, earwax, fatty, ganja, grass, hay, herb,

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Jefferson Airplane, Krippies, kryptonite, Magic Dragon, Mary Jane, sticky -icky, cornstalker,

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Daddy Durbs, and my favorite, Jeff Sessions' magical hobby horse. Now, before we start this discussion, it's important to remind you of who

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I am. Hi, I'm Jeff Durbin. I'm the pastor of Apologia Church, which is known worldwide for our rigorous fight against drug and alcohol addiction.

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As a matter of fact, our church began while I was the head chaplain at a drug and alcohol recovery hospital.

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I've written on the subject, led thousands of counseling and group sessions. I've seen countless people freed from addiction, and I've spoken in several nations against substance abuse, and I was interviewed on the

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History Channel by Dean Norris, who was actually in Breaking Bad, Hank Schrader in Breaking Bad, which was amazing.

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The series was called The Stoned Ages, and I was interviewed as an expert on fighting addiction from the Christian perspective.

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At Calvary, the people aren't fighting a war on drugs. They're fighting addiction. And their biggest weapon is faith.

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But why can't drugs and faith coexist? There's no communication with God through the means of a substance.

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The only way, the Bible speaks, to get reconciled to God and have communication with Him, Jesus says,

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I am the way and the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me. There I am.

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There I am. Back when my hair was apparently trying to destroy a ring to rule them all.

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Thanks, Chris. Now, I tell you about my resume in order to frustrate and utterly refute any attempt by the

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Krusty Fundies that would misrepresent our position on substance abuse and make any attempt to misrepresent us obvious to everyone.

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Well, it's a bummer, man. Like, a real bummer. Like, misrepresentation without taxation?

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It's like a bummer. Yeah, I don't think that's what we're talking about, Chad. You need to catch up.

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Let's start this discussion by dealing with my fellow believing Christians. Now, solid Christians, we want to have a faithful answer to this question that is both glorifying to God and helps people.

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If our standard of truth is God's Word, then our answer to the marijuana question has to be consistent with the

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Bible and the Christian worldview. A significant problem that we all face when answering this question within the

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Christian church is that we all have baggage when it comes to this issue. Now, maybe we've abused this substance or we've seen someone abuse it in the past.

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Maybe we've never investigated the positive medicinal benefits or maybe we've stumbled into a bad experience like this guy.

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And they say I need to smoke marijuana and I need to lighten up. Well, you let me tell... Let me tell you something right now.

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I don't need to lighten up. This isn't funny. This is not funny at all. You see this?

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This is what I think of your products right here. You see this? I don't want any of your f***ing pot.

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I don't put poison in my system. I don't believe he needs pot either.

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But anytime somebody screams the words I don't need to lighten up, they're already on the wrong side of the argument, guys.

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Now, he really does need to calm down. The only time people are supposed to say that phrase is when you're on the phone with customer service from a cable company.

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That's reserved for then only. Now, listen guys to Todd Friel ask this question with some of the most respected and godly men in our day.

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Is smoking pot a sin? Yes or no?

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Now, hopefully we can all see the problem with asking the question in this way. Let's try it guys without the cultural and traditional baggage that is associated with marijuana.

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Let's try it this way. Is drinking alcohol a sin? Yes or no?

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You see the problem? We can't ask the question in that way because God speaks glowingly about wine in the

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Bible. He calls it a blessing, promises to bless His people with the choices of wines.

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Jesus turned gallons upon gallons of water into wine with strong fermentation. Jesus drank wine and Jesus put wine on the table as a central part of regular

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Christian worship. Paul also told Timothy to use wine for medicinal purposes. And yet, on the other hand, the

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Bible absolutely condemns drunkenness, says that people who are practicing drunks will never enter into the kingdom of God, and even puts drunkenness next to murder in its list of sin.

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So the answer to Todd's question is it depends on the context. Let's try it another way.

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Is the narcotic called Percocet a sin? Yes or no? Is the narcotic called

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Oxycontin a sin? Yes or no? You see the problem?

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Now, if any one of us have ever been in a car accident, broken an arm on a trampoline, had any serious surgery, or done this, or this, or even this, then you know that in situations with serious pain, narcotic opiates like Percocet and Oxycontin are miracles from God.

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Can I get an amen? They help people with broken hips do stuff like this.

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They do.

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They really do. So narcotics can be a blessing or a curse.

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It depends on the motive and the purpose. If someone is a junkie stealing from Grandpa's leftover

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Percocets from his hip replacement surgery in order to chase yet another bus, buzz, a bus, buzz, it happens, guys, on Percocet, then it's a curse and a sin.

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But if you are this guy, it is a huge blessing. Hardcore parkour!

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Hardcore parkour! Another amen! It's true.

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Now, listen to one of my favorite Christian teachers, Truly. John MacArthur, respond to the question that Todd asked.

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So the question is, you know, people say, well, it's no different than drinking alcohol. You can drink alcohol and not have your mind altered.

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You can't smoke a joint without having your mind altered. That's the purpose of it. You've yielded up control to an external force that's been taken internal.

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It has the sole purpose to alter your consciousness, to diminish your responsibility, to diminish your accountability, to diminish you at every level of thinking, which then diminishes you at every level of function.

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Now, with all due respect to the man who helped me to get free from drug and alcohol addiction, that is patently false.

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The fact is, before the prohibition era, cannabis was used very effectively, historically, for medicinal purposes.

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The queen, she used it for relief during her monthly menstrual cycle. Talk about a royal high.

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It used to be used in cough medicines and for pain relief due to the fact that cannabis has cannabinoids, which is what

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God created within our own bodies to manage pain relief. There are, in fact, good and scientific medical reasons for inhaling the medication versus simply ingesting it.

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The onset of action from oral administration is less rapid compared to the inhaled route.

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When exogenous cannabinoids are inhaled, they travel through the respiratory tract to the alveoli of the lung, where they diffuse rapidly into the circulatory system.

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They then travel through the bloodstream towards the CNS, where they diffuse across the blood -brain barrier and into the surrounding tissues of the brain and spinal cord.

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Exogenous cannabinoids exert their modulatory effects upon the abundant cannabinoid receptors distributed throughout the

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CNS. The effects of cannabinoids may be illustrated by comparing three neuronal synapses showing normal pain transmission, the influence of endogenous cannabinoids, and the influence of exogenous cannabinoid administration.

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Now, there is also the problem of saying that marijuana can only alter one's consciousness.

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The two primary chemicals within this naturally growing plant are classified as CBD and THC.

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To explain it to the 80 -year -olds who know nothing about this subject, THC is not the

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History Channel. THC is the chemical that has the well -known psychoactive effects that are most commonly associated with this kind of behavior.

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Love! Now! Create! Inspire! Hands down, that's the best video on the internet, guys.

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I'm convinced of it. Now, CBD, however, is a chemical that has scientifically proven medicinal benefits that simply cannot be ignored if we want to properly love our neighbor.

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Try telling this man, seriously, try telling this man suffering from Parkinson's that marijuana's only purpose is for sin.

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How are you feeling? It's been a rough week. Really? And the best way to take it is to put it under your tongue and rub it in your cheek.

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Don't do too much, you're going to be asleep all afternoon. You know what you should do? No. Don't try to communicate, just relax.

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See what happens. I think you're calmed down.

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So quickly. Isn't it amazing? He used just a single drop and his hands afterwards were rock steady and the dyskinesia left.

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It works a little better. It works most of the time.

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In fact, it's... Did you guys eat lunch?

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Are you filming me now? Funny I am, yeah. Yes. That is truly, that's truly a gift, a gift from God to that man.

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Now you can also talk to people suffering from HIV and AIDS, cancer, arthritis, and seizure disorders.

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Now it's worth noting that there are good medicinal strains that are now CBD dominant without the psychoactive feeling and effects of THC.

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Now I had a member of our church who was suffering with HIV. It was awful. When it would flare up and get bad for him when he was having difficulties, he had a choice between strongly addictive narcotic medication and physically damaging medicine or he could take small doses of marijuana medication with accountability and the marijuana had absolutely no chemically addictive issues with toxicity unlike the narcotics.

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And he could testify to the fact that the marijuana was the only thing that helped him to keep food down.

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The other medications didn't help and actually made him physically ill and uninterested in food. Now the medical industry is well aware of the fact that marijuana has tremendous and life -altering benefits for children with certain seizure disorders.

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It has literally changed their lives. I challenge you to look it up. Now marijuana is also used to worldwide to help people get off of narcotic pain medication and other opiates.

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Now while I was a chaplain at the Drug and Alcohol Recovery Hospital, it was common knowledge that there was no detoxification protocol for marijuana.

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Now that means that when someone came into the door that was abusing marijuana, there was no medical detoxification that was administered because marijuana doesn't have the same chemically addictive problems as opiates.

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The procedure to end that is just watching the Bob Newhart video. That's pretty much it.

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However, businessmen and soccer moms who had become addicted to the commonly prescribed narcotic pain medication were put through a medical detox because of how painful the detox was.

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And they were even put on lower doses of chemically addictive medications just to wean them off.

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Now let me be absolutely clear. This needs to be said. Abuse of any substance is sin and wrong from a

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Christian perspective. Ultimately, it's idolatry. That's it. However, Dr.

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MacArthur's position is not only inconsistent, it is simply not true from a scriptural, factual, or scientific perspective.

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I just want to say this with respect. It's the very ill -informed opinion of a very great man.

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That's just your opinion, man. That's like your opinion though, right? Thanks, Chad. Now, we need to talk about marijuana and the government.

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Marijuana has been legalized in nine states and Washington, D .C. It's also been allowed to be used in more states for medicinal purposes.

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In Colorado, marijuana legalization led to a financial surplus of $66 million due to the taxes imposed on marijuana sales.

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Now, some might argue this. If you legalize marijuana, then it will be abused.

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My friends, that's true with sinners about alcohol, guns, narcotic pain relievers,

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NyQuil, hot dogs, donuts, and, if you're the president, fast food and Twitter.

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Now, we can't solve the problem of the human heart and free people from addiction by legislation and punishment.

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Here's an important question. When marijuana is illegal, does it stop people from using it?

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No, it doesn't. As a matter of fact, it creates a very dangerous criminal underworld led by organizations like the cartel.

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For more on the downfalls of illegal marijuana, check out the documentary Pineapple Express. Further, our prison and jail system has been filled with people who did not engage in any violence and yet were put into a cage like animals for the mere possession of marijuana.

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What's the problem with that? Well, besides the very profitable criminal enterprises created, the communities have been punished through coercive taxation to fund this war on drugs and to pay for the prisons, security, electricity, food, and medical, including maybe sex changes for all the people incarcerated for these crimes.

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If we think about this like Christians, biblically, then we have to recognize that the problem of addiction and abuse isn't solved by putting an image bearer of God into a cage.

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Not all of us are meant to be David Blaine. Now, as a matter of fact, out of all the thousands of addicts

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I've ministered to in the recovery industry, I can tell you with full confidence and unequivocally that not one of them, not one, was ever delivered from their addiction to drugs and alcohol through arrest and incarceration.

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What saved them? Well, Jesus for starters. And what was used to help open their eyes and to give them support?

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One thing, their community. The answer to addiction is

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Christ. And the means of support and transformation is the community around the person struggling.

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Steel bars in isolation don't purify the human heart. Never. Wars on drugs don't solve the problem of people who are seeking peace wholeness, joy, goodness, satisfaction.

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Only God can do that. You see, if we think about this as Christians and we think about the marijuana question, we have to recognize that the

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Bible does address this. God's law is perfect and good, right? And if you didn't know it already, in God's law there were people abusing drugs and alcohol.

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The Bible doesn't call it alcoholism. It calls it drunkenness. And in the

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Bible there's a difference between a sin and a crime. So, for example, some things are sins and crimes, like murder.

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That's a sin and a crime. Theft? It's a sin and a crime. Coveting? Sin. Not a crime.

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Drunkenness? Sin. But there isn't punishment in God's law from the civil magistrate for drunkenness, for addiction.

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It's considered a very serious sin. It's condemned outrightly, but it is not penalized by the justice system because that's not how you solve the problem of coveting or drunkenness or drug addiction.

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It's a problem of the heart. If we think about this like Christians, we have to all acknowledge that any addiction, whether it's to pornography, whether it's to drug addiction, whether it's alcohol, whatever it is, it's idolatry.

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It's seeking satisfaction. It's seeking goodness, wholeness, peace, forgiveness, something in a substance in exchange for God.

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It's switching God for an idol. And if we're going to address the problem from a Christian perspective, we have to recognize that you can't save the human heart through steel bars and cages.

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It is only through the gospel and the condemnation that goes towards addiction needs to come with the recognition that there is hope to get free from addiction and a recognition that you don't solve the problem by legislation and cages.

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You solve it through the gospel and a loving community around the person who's struggling.

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This really is a problem, yes. Final word here is

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I'm not telling anybody, and make sure that you hear this loud and clear, to now go out and roll a fatty and smoke it.

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That's not what I'm saying. I condemn drug abuse, whatever the drug, whether it's

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Tylenol, NyQuil, Oxycontin, marijuana, whatever it is, I condemn it.

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I condemn it, and I know there's hope in Christ. But this truly, this issue of marijuana, if we will let our traditions go, we will see that there are real people, neighbors, that we're commanded to love where this substance is actually better for them.

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It's something that can solve their problems and give them help that doesn't damage them chemically like a lot of these harsh narcotics.

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I guarantee you of all those godly men on that stage that day that were answering this question, the men that I adore and I love and I respect,

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I guarantee you some of those men have had surgeries. I guarantee you some of those men have had injuries. And I guarantee you some of them were prescribed hard, very harsh, and damaging, chemically addicting narcotics.

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And they took them because it was right to do so. In some cases, with some people's struggles, the right thing for the long term is something else.

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You happy now, Chad? It seems legit to me, bro. All right, guys. Thank you, Chad. And thank you guys all for watching next week.

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Be sure to like and share the episode. We have Side 10 Bruggen Gate next. Stay with us, guys.

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Wait, is that... Am I reading that right? A cup of coffee? There's no way that script is right. Who buys coffee for $9 .99?

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Who's buying a $10 cup of coffee? This cup of coffee, I stole from a man. There's a way that you can get around life without $10 for a cup of coffee.

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That doesn't make any... If you are spending $10 for your cup of coffee, you are spending the wrong amount of money in your life.

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25:19

Welcome back, guys.

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Thank you to our live studio audience, guys. You're amazing today. And thank you, guys, to everybody who's watching across social media and the internets.

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I want to encourage you all to like and share the episode. Let everybody know about next week, the show with the unpopular opinion, guys.

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Well, we have a great opportunity right now to talk to one of my favorite people in the world.

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He's a good friend of ours. Actually done a public debate with this man, not against him, but on the same team against some atheists in California.

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He has just an awesome movie. It's called How to Answer the Fool. And before, you had to pay for it and download it.

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And it was worth every penny. But now, Sai has released it now on YouTube for the world to see for free.

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So please welcome Sai Tin Bruggencake, guys. Hey, brother.

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How's it going? What's up, Sai? Hey, man. You look great, man. How are things in Canada, eh? Well, it's actually raining pretty good now.

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I was in Kansas for quite a while, and the weather was a lot nicer down there than it is up here. But I'm back home for a bit, and the weather's pretty miserable, but hopefully it'll clear up soon.

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Isn't that what everyone says about Canada all the time? The weather's bad, but everything else is fine. No, no. A lot of times it's beautiful, but currently it's a little bit rainy.

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I never pray for weather, though, because there's always somebody on the other side praying for the exact opposite weather. That's true. That's true.

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Sai, you have really been a blessing in a lot of ways to many Christians who are really trying to discover how do

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I actually engage with people today with the gospel. And so you have created a film, and it's called

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How to Answer the Fool, available now on YouTube completely for free. And the basis of that film is to try to expose people to a biblical apologetic.

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And apologetics, of course, is the art and the science of the defense of the faith. And so you try to expose people to what the

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Bible would say about how you actually defend the Christian faith. Can you introduce people to that? How to Answer the

27:30

Fool, what's it about, the Christian apologetic? Well, sure. Most of my life, I mean, I had a passion for defending my faith, but most of my life

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I was doing it wrong. I was using all the traditional arguments, and I was getting shut down. I was, you know, speaking until I was blue in the face and not getting any reaction at all.

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And it wasn't until I saw the debate with Greg Bonson against, what's his name?

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Gordon Stein. Gordon Stein, yeah. Yeah, the great debate. And I think, you know, you've seen that as well. That started a lot of people on the road to this biblical apologetic.

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And, you know, I saw that really we should all be able to defend our faith. And if we do it wrong, you have to be brilliant.

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But thankfully, by the grace of God, I was introduced to this apologetic. And Greg Bonson, he did this in the university setting.

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He did this in debate setting. But you don't really see a lot of this on the street. So I think, you know, myself and yourself and people like my friend

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Dustin Seegers are actually really the first group of people to take this on the street. And I met up with Marcus, you know, who's a good friend of yours.

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I'm associated with the studio there. And, of course, David Shannon, who worked tirelessly on this film. And they were introduced to this apologetic, very excited about it.

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And from that birth, the idea to make a film with this apologetic. And it was actually supposed to be initially just an instructional type of video explaining the apologetic.

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But then they actually flew them up to Philadelphia, New Jersey, where we were doing a conference. And they actually recorded some of my interactions out on the street.

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And they said, well, this is going to be the movie. And you can see in the film that the majority of it is the street interactions.

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And also, we were really blessed by having a debate down in Pensacola, Florida, which made a big portion of the film as well.

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All right. We're going to go ahead and show a clip of that film right now. The other day,

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I felt my heart beating in my chest. And I thought to myself, I have a pump in my chest about the size of my fist made of meat.

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It pumps 700 ,000 gallons of blood per year and runs for 90 years on donuts.

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And I got to prove that God exists? Evidence for God? Look around. I don't have to give you evidence for God.

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You know that God exists. That's the God we have to talk about when we defend our faith. I'm saying that this is the perfect time to open their life to give it a chance.

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I'd say give them a 60 -day trial. Give them a 60 -day trial. Give them a 60 -day trial.

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It's like the book of a month long. See if you'll change your life. I dare you. Are you kidding me? Who in Scripture tried

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Jesus? Pontius Pilate. And he only tried him for a few hours. If Pontius Pilate didn't repent, he's in hell.

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Try the Lord of Glory? We've got to get on our knees and submit to him. So, Cy, let's introduce people.

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When we talk about like defending the Christian faith in a wrong way, what do we mean by that in terms of like there's actually a way that's not ultimately consistent philosophically or biblically.

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What does that mean to defend the faith in the wrong way? Well, I have a talk. It's also available on YouTube.

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I believe it's on Marcus' channel. Apologetics is easy. Believe your Bible. And we're all commanded to give a reasoned defense of our faith, but the thing is we're doing it in a way that the world wants us to do it.

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We end up arguing for a probability. We're saying that all of this evidence points to a most likely being out there, but that's not the

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God that we worship in church. In church, we say nothing can separate us from the love of the Father. We don't worship. We don't pray to a probability, but that's what the world is trying to get us to defend, to defend our faith and our belief in something that might exist, that we hope exists, but that's not the

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God that we believe in in church. So what this is, it's a biblical apologetic. And the more that I do this apologetic, the more that I realize it's not about the argumentation.

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It's about reaching lost sheep. So when I go out and confront people now, I start off preaching the gospel to them because that's what saves people.

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It's the gospel. But when you get the objections to the gospel, when you get your objections to Scripture, then I believe that this is a biblical way to defeat those objections.

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And you can see in the film that really, unless you start with God, there is no basis for any argument against what you're saying.

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And instead of getting bogged down in all these evidential type arguments, you know, this is, I think, more of a biblical approach.

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And the example that I use in the film and I've used with you a number of times as well is where do you hear evidence out in the world? You hear evidence in the court of law.

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Somebody comes up to you and says, I don't believe in God, and you give them evidence, you're doing it like a court of law. But in court, who do you give evidence to?

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You give evidence to the judge and to the jury. So if somebody comes up to you and says, I don't believe in God, and you give them evidence, you're saying that they're the judge and jury and that God's on trial.

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And this apologetic turns that on its head and exposes the fact, like it says in Scripture, throughout

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Scripture, that everyone knows the God that exists. And they have sufficient knowledge of Him for their condemnation.

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So this apologetic exposes that they know Him and that they need to repent and put their trust in Jesus Christ. Right, and I think that one thing that needs to be clear and understood by everybody, when we talk about the issue of evidence, what we actually are saying is that philosophically speaking, you can't actually provide a coherent argument for why evidence matters at all apart from the

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Christian worldview. There is no logic. There is no science. There are no ethical responsibilities of integrity in argumentation or even not getting physically violent in an argument or debate.

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Without the Christian God, you need the biblical worldview as a framework to launch any of those things.

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And I think that is in contrast, I think in terms of what you're saying, it's in contrast to many solid men of God who are capable, intellectual, strong -minded men and women who have memorized tons and tons of data that clearly does refute the skeptic, the atheist.

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We can refute people on the transmission of the text of the Bible. Has God preserved His Word? Is there evidence for a global flood?

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But I think, Cy, what you're saying, and you can maybe expatiate on this, is that the evidence is not the problem.

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It's not a problem of whether the unbeliever has enough light or evidence or reason to believe in God. God actually says in Romans 1 that they're unapologetus.

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They're without a defense before God. What we're saying is it's not a problem of evidence. It's a problem of the heart.

33:45

It's a problem of sinful rebellion, right? One of the things that I'll say to an unbeliever, a professed unbeliever, is if I could give you sufficient evidence to believe in God, you know, the

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Bible says you already do, but I'll take your position for a while. If I could give you sufficient evidence to believe in God, would you worship

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Him? And you'll see time and time again, we did that in the film as well, time and time again, they said no, they wouldn't worship Him.

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And there was one particular podcast that I was on, and they said that very thing. They would not worship God even if we provided sufficient evidence for His existence.

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And the interesting thing about that is they would not let me back on their podcast unless I did what? Argued evidence with them.

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I said, you know, what a colossal waste of time to give them evidence when they say even if they had sufficient evidence that they wouldn't worship

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God. But this is the question that I ask on the street, and I did it in the debate that we had on California as well. I say, what evidence would convince you of the

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God who says you already have enough evidence? And if they answer that question, it shows that they didn't understand the question because God says they already have enough evidence.

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So logically, no evidence could convince them of the God that says they already have enough evidence. It's not an evidential problem.

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It's a spiritual problem. They need to bow the knee to Jesus Christ because we get Christians, and I have well -meaning

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Christians, I used to do that as well, try and prove miracles to unbelievers. You know, we're trying to get them to see the truth so that they repent and put their trust in Jesus Christ, but that's not what

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Scripture says. 2 Timothy 2, 24, 25 says, in the hope that God will grant them repentance, leading to a knowledge of the truth, they need to repent of their sin against the

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God they know exists for any of that to make sense. I'm not going to try and prove a miracle to an unbeliever because really, without God, miracles are nuts.

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I mean, let's face it. Without God, an axe head floating is crazy. You know, a man in a fish for three days, without God is nuts, but God could do that.

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I say, your problem is not with miracles. Your problem is with the God of miracles, and if you have a problem with the God of miracles, you have no objection to what my

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Bible says. You have no objection to miracles because you can't make sense of the reasoning which would forbid them. You know, it's interesting.

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You'll see, everybody, if you go check it out right now, How to Answer the Fool, the whole film is up.

35:47

By the way, Cy, real fast, where can they go? What channel on YouTube is that now? Did you change the name of the channel? I made a new channel called

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Answer Anyone, and as you said, it's available at the Dutch price. Free. That's right, free.

35:59

At the Dutch price. I mean, Dutch heritage, so I can use that kind of humor, but yes, it's at the

36:04

Dutch price. That's right. You have to be careful in today's climate. Any racial jokes. So the film does illustrate a lot of what you're talking about in terms of how does this come into conflict with the world, and I think it's really amazing you challenge a lot of college students on how can they know anything at all, and it's just, you have to see it.

36:22

It's tremendous. One more thing I wanted to address here, Cy, in terms of how this can be helpful to Christians, not just in the area of debating with the agnostic or the atheist or the typical sort of like liberal skeptic in some way, but this apologetic how you're approaching this problem, this issue from a

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Christian biblical perspective does also make its way over into cultural issues, issues of legislation, and how you will address them.

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So for example, you're well aware, brother of our ministry, the heartbeat of this show is End Abortion Now, endabortionnow .com.

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It's to equip Christians around the world, literally now around the world, to go out and to minister in the area of abortion with the biblical worldview with the scriptures.

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It's interesting. If you look at the perspective of many pro -lifers, really

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I think internationally, but specifically in my own country, Cy, many pro -lifers will say things like, no, we need to take a neutral approach.

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We need to try to take a backdoor approach. Let's not make this explicitly Christian in terms of our fight against abortion, the culture of death.

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And so I think it leads to many, many, many failed attempts to end abortion, very inconsistent legislatively, philosophically.

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It collapses and falls apart because they're pretending neutrality. Our perspective with End Abortion Now is that we actually need to fight against the culture of death with consistency, philosophically, legislatively, and as Christians.

37:50

And that's the only way we can ultimately end this culture of death. Can you talk about that issue of neutrality for a moment,

37:55

Cy? Yeah, for sure. Well, Jesus said there is no neutrality. Now, the thing about this issue is that you'll see that a lot of people that argue,

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I was on the way, I just visited my mother and I was on the way home here, and on the radio was a discussion about two people in their 90s who had been married for 75 years who had agreed to a pact to have each other euthanized.

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And I would just discuss it. I was appalled by it, but I was even more appalled by the people calling in who were even opposed to it.

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Because none of them were opposed to it based on biblical standards, based on the sanctity of life. And people will make all sorts of other kind of medical arguments, you know, kind of arguments from reasoning, from their mentality and stuff like that.

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But none of them would go to the source. And that's what this apologetic does. It brings people back to the authority of Scripture.

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Because without Scripture there is no authority. Without Scripture we're just another clanging gong out there. We're just giving our arbitrary opinion.

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We have to get back to arguing from the authority of God's Word. Whether they accept it or not, that's not up to us.

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Because when I stand before my maker, I don't want to say that I was using some other argument because I didn't think that you were powerful enough. I didn't think that your word was sufficient.

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We should not be embarrassed arguing from the authority of Scripture. And if people see the film, they'll see that I did not stray from the authority of Scripture.

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And I had people that were way smarter than I am discuss it with me. And you'll see that if you go to my YouTube channel as well or to my website.

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There's people a lot smarter than I am who are held without excuse because I argue from the truth of Scripture. And it closes mouths.

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And that's what we need to get back to, is get back to God's Word and the authority of His Word. And that's what will empower Christians.

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And you say what it does to people, it gives people, it allows people to have a sigh of relief.

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Because they have all this weight upon them. I can't go out and defend my faith because I'm not smart enough. I might get an answer, an objection that I don't understand.

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If you know the Word of God, if you know your Bible, you can defend your faith. You can engage the culture on all of these topics and say well this is what

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God says about it. And say well I don't believe in God. Well actually that's not what the Bible says. And then you can get into that kind of apologetic as well as you can be taught in this film.

39:45

Very good. Cy. Brother. I love you man. I love you too man. Thanks for being on the show.

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I hope to see you soon man. So everybody, how to answer the full. My good friend and brother Cy Ten Bruggenkamp.

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Make sure you guys go check it out. And just Cy also, your website right now. Tell everyone your website. ProofthatGodexists .org

40:04

And you can see hundreds of hours of me talking with people. I believe even there's a link to the debate that we did. And I recommend that you don't read the comments

40:12

Jeff because the people hated you and I. And I know we can get a little passionate in those debates but that debate they did really not like our behavior.

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And we both will admit that we can improve our behavior but these are people that were blaspheming God in a church and we do get a little bit riled up.

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But there's also links to that debate and all sorts of other discussions so that people can come to understand the biblical apologetic.

40:32

Very good. Cy Ten Bruggenkamp everybody. Thank you guys so much for watching. We'll be right back guys. Stay with us. Very important words on the other side of this break.

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See you in a minute. The fool has said in his heart there is no

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God. Now imagine somebody came up to you and said I don't believe in words. You'd think that he was a fool. You wouldn't pull out a dictionary and give him evidence and you wouldn't believe him.

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Somebody comes up to you and says I don't believe in God. We don't think they're a fool. We give them evidence and we believe them.

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When the Bible calls them fools something has gone wrong. The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness.

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Since what may be known about God is plain to them because God has made it plain to them. Since the creation of the world

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God's invisible quality is eternal power and divine nature which have been clearly seen being understood from what has been made so that men are without excuses.

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For although they knew God they neither glorified him as God nor did he thank him but their thinking became fused now and their foolish hearts were darkened.

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Although they claimed to be wise they became fools. Now according to that verse nobody is a fool.

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Opposing the folly of denying God. Okay, so you're judging people is what you're saying. Is it wrong to judge, sir? Yeah, 100%.

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Is it wrong to judge? Only God. God is the final judge not you. So it's wrong to judge? Of course it is. So what I'm doing is wrong? Yes, 100%.

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Stop judging me, sir. Okay. How do you know your reasoning is valid?

42:14

I don't. That's right. So if you don't know your reasoning is valid would it not follow that you can't know anything to be true?

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Yes. Okay, so that's the problem. You could be wrong about everything you claim to know it follows that you know nothing.

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Yes. But the problem is you do know things. I don't think so. The only thing I do know is that I know nothing.

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Do you know that? Yeah. That's two. I am always open to everything.

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Are you open to the fact that child molestation might be right? Yeah. You're open to that? Yeah, sure. So child molestation could be right?

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It could be. Do you want to get that on camera, guys? Anybody at home never hire him as a babysitter.

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I live in the world of I don't know. That's right. You know that you live in that world. I know for a fact that I live in that world.

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See, now that's not a world of I don't know. I know I live in that world. See, that's contradictory. It is contradictory.

43:15

That's pretty obvious. Good. All right. That's a good point. Thanks, guys.

43:35

Thanks for watching, guys. Appreciate you guys watching next week, guys. Make sure you guys like and share the episode.

43:41

Let everybody know about the show with The Unpopular Opinion. As always, guys, I want to direct you to the very heart of what this show is all about.

43:48

It's about engaging the culture of death from the biblical worldview. And you go there at endabortionnow .com

43:55

to get equipped. You get free resources. You get free training. Your local church can be about and involved in the same work that Apologia Church is, and that is rescuing lives, bringing the gospel to the abortion mills, taking care of the needs of mothers and fathers.

44:09

As a matter of fact, just last week in Tempe, we were able to witness God saving yet another child at our local abortion mill.

44:18

And I just want to give a big shout out to Zach Conover and Taryn Conover. Zach, our director of communications, just had their new baby this morning.

44:27

So that's right. If you have not seen it yet, I really want to encourage you to go to Apologia Studios on YouTube.

44:36

Check out that channel. We just recently dropped an interview, a very important interview with Ohio Representative Ron Hood.

44:44

Ron Hood is one of the men behind the bill that is working to ban, to end, and to criminalize abortion completely in the state of Ohio.

44:53

Just consider this. We often pray, pro -lifers, Christians, we often pray for that moment when

44:59

God would raise up somebody courageous to do the right thing, to do away with abortion once and for all, for that consistent legislation that would finally end it.

45:08

Here's another moment of it. We've had it in Oklahoma. We've had it in Idaho. We've had it in Texas. It has come up.

45:14

Oftentimes, it's actually been put down by the pro -life movement, surprisingly. But in Ohio right now, we have a

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Christian, a man who is consistent, who loves God, loves his neighbor. He started a bill in Ohio to once and for all do away with abortion in the state of Ohio.

45:31

You guys can... That's right. It's a big applause, guys. Definitely. We can all get involved in this by making sure that we're a part of that grassroots

45:40

Christian movement that notifies the world about it. So go and get that episode.

45:46

We had that interview. Share it across your social media. Bang the ground. Make lots of noise.

45:51

And if you're in Ohio right now, go to endabortionnow .com. Go to the legislator tab.

45:57

Click on that. It sends an immediate letter to people in your area, the legislators, demanding an immediate end to abortion.

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They will know that they have your support when you do that. And for the rest of us, let's pray, and let's make a heck of a lot of noise, guys.

46:11

So you can do that by capturing that interview. Apologia Studios on YouTube. Share it across your social media, guys.

46:17

Make sure you sign up at endabortionnow .com. And one final word here, guys. We're just a bit away from our funding goal for the year.

46:25

We have lots of stuff happening this year, lots of churches to equip, to help, lots of content to flood the world with to once and for all end abortion.

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We need your help to do it. You guys can go help us get to the end of our goal by giving at endabortionnow .com.

46:39

That's it for this week, guys. Thank you guys so much for watching us. Thank you for blessing us. We'll catch you next time on Next Week, guys.