1 00:00:04,880 --> 00:00:08,280 Speaker 1: On this episode of Newts World. Is the Bible the 2 00:00:08,320 --> 00:00:12,559 Speaker 1: most influential book in world history still relevant today? My 3 00:00:12,640 --> 00:00:15,960 Speaker 1: guest today believes it remains profoundly relevant both to the 4 00:00:16,040 --> 00:00:19,360 Speaker 1: great issues of our day and to each individual life. 5 00:00:20,320 --> 00:00:24,000 Speaker 1: Dennis Prager is the author of the Rational Bible series, 6 00:00:24,520 --> 00:00:28,280 Speaker 1: and his latest edition explains the Book of Deuteronomy, the 7 00:00:28,280 --> 00:00:31,319 Speaker 1: fifth book of the Bible. He's joining me today to 8 00:00:31,440 --> 00:00:34,159 Speaker 1: explain how the text relates the contemporary world. And I 9 00:00:34,240 --> 00:00:37,400 Speaker 1: must say, every time I have a conversation with Dennis, 10 00:00:37,600 --> 00:00:39,680 Speaker 1: I feel like I'm learning so much. He is such 11 00:00:39,720 --> 00:00:44,000 Speaker 1: a remarkably knowledgeable person. He is the founder of Prager University, 12 00:00:44,360 --> 00:00:47,440 Speaker 1: the author of nine best selling books on politics, religion, 13 00:00:47,479 --> 00:00:51,000 Speaker 1: and happiness. Tens of millions of people watch his videos, 14 00:00:51,440 --> 00:00:55,520 Speaker 1: and millions more listened daily to his nationally broadcast radio show, 15 00:00:55,920 --> 00:00:58,800 Speaker 1: and with his knowledge of Biblical Hebrew, he has taught 16 00:00:58,840 --> 00:01:11,840 Speaker 1: the Bible to people of free background for forty years. Dennis, 17 00:01:11,880 --> 00:01:15,119 Speaker 1: welcome and thank you for joining me again on news World. 18 00:01:15,400 --> 00:01:17,039 Speaker 1: It's an honor to be with you, and it's a 19 00:01:17,080 --> 00:01:20,160 Speaker 1: delight thank you for that. This year mark your fortieth 20 00:01:20,240 --> 00:01:22,959 Speaker 1: year as a talk show host. What have you learned 21 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:25,560 Speaker 1: over the last forty years. It's a great question, and 22 00:01:25,640 --> 00:01:30,319 Speaker 1: I'll tell you why. I regard my talk show as 23 00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:36,040 Speaker 1: my laboratory of humanity. I truly believe, and I'm totally 24 00:01:36,080 --> 00:01:39,040 Speaker 1: prepared to be wrong, but I believe that I have 25 00:01:39,160 --> 00:01:42,319 Speaker 1: spoken with more people than any living human being, not 26 00:01:42,480 --> 00:01:46,360 Speaker 1: two more people. Clearly, in one address, the Pope speaks 27 00:01:46,360 --> 00:01:49,480 Speaker 1: to more people than I ever have. But I have 28 00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:54,200 Speaker 1: talked with more people than probably anyone because for forty 29 00:01:54,280 --> 00:01:58,240 Speaker 1: years I've been doing a talk show, and I don't 30 00:01:58,240 --> 00:02:03,000 Speaker 1: only talk politics like this. Last ten years has been 31 00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:07,120 Speaker 1: devoted to commentaries on books of the Bible. I care 32 00:02:07,160 --> 00:02:10,320 Speaker 1: about almost every subject. I have a male female hour 33 00:02:10,360 --> 00:02:12,960 Speaker 1: every week, a happiness hour of a book on happiness. 34 00:02:13,320 --> 00:02:16,799 Speaker 1: So I bounce ideas off people, and I learn what 35 00:02:16,919 --> 00:02:22,680 Speaker 1: people think and I test out ideas. So forty years 36 00:02:22,880 --> 00:02:26,359 Speaker 1: has given me the ability to speak to men and 37 00:02:26,400 --> 00:02:32,560 Speaker 1: women of every faith, of every nationality, ethnicity, race, background, culture, 38 00:02:33,240 --> 00:02:37,880 Speaker 1: and mister speaker, it is impossible to overstate how much 39 00:02:37,919 --> 00:02:39,880 Speaker 1: I have learned from them. I'll give you one example, 40 00:02:39,919 --> 00:02:42,680 Speaker 1: since we have a little time here. I have learned 41 00:02:43,480 --> 00:02:47,080 Speaker 1: a lot from my listeners. And that sounds sort of 42 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:50,200 Speaker 1: like a sweet line. So I'll tell you how I 43 00:02:50,400 --> 00:02:53,520 Speaker 1: relate to it. One of my dearest friends is a psychiatrist, 44 00:02:54,120 --> 00:02:57,600 Speaker 1: and he constantly speaks to me and my wife and 45 00:02:57,680 --> 00:03:00,880 Speaker 1: others at our weekly lunch about how much he has 46 00:03:00,960 --> 00:03:04,480 Speaker 1: learned from patience. And you don't normally think that way, 47 00:03:04,480 --> 00:03:07,640 Speaker 1: that the psychiatrist is learning from the patient rather than 48 00:03:07,760 --> 00:03:12,000 Speaker 1: vice versa. And I now take him completely seriously. So 49 00:03:12,120 --> 00:03:15,440 Speaker 1: here's a great one. On one of my happiness hours, 50 00:03:15,520 --> 00:03:19,839 Speaker 1: I raised the subject of can you be happier than 51 00:03:19,880 --> 00:03:24,480 Speaker 1: your least happy child? It is a common phrase, you 52 00:03:24,560 --> 00:03:28,079 Speaker 1: can't be happier than your least happy child. I am 53 00:03:28,120 --> 00:03:32,240 Speaker 1: completely opposed to that idea. I do not believe children 54 00:03:32,240 --> 00:03:36,360 Speaker 1: should hold your happiness hostage, and I am adamant about that. 55 00:03:36,720 --> 00:03:39,120 Speaker 1: You live your life, you do not allow your child 56 00:03:39,200 --> 00:03:42,920 Speaker 1: to ruin it. A woman called me up Southern accent 57 00:03:43,080 --> 00:03:46,040 Speaker 1: is all I remembers. Is about ten years ago, said Dennis, 58 00:03:46,560 --> 00:03:51,560 Speaker 1: I have a miserable daughter in her thirties, just constantly miserable. 59 00:03:52,160 --> 00:03:56,600 Speaker 1: And you know what, Dennis, One day I decided as follows, 60 00:03:56,920 --> 00:04:01,240 Speaker 1: I didn't break her, I can't fix her. And I 61 00:04:01,400 --> 00:04:06,400 Speaker 1: have cited that line all over the country in speeches 62 00:04:06,560 --> 00:04:10,080 Speaker 1: on happiness, on children, and so on. That's a great 63 00:04:10,160 --> 00:04:13,560 Speaker 1: example of what I have learned from a listener. So 64 00:04:13,960 --> 00:04:17,120 Speaker 1: I'm curious, in the forty years you've been listening, how 65 00:04:17,160 --> 00:04:20,839 Speaker 1: has the country changed. Well, that's a depressing question, because 66 00:04:20,880 --> 00:04:24,520 Speaker 1: it's changed almost only for the worse. Well, this is 67 00:04:24,560 --> 00:04:26,960 Speaker 1: not really a reflection of what I've learned on the 68 00:04:27,040 --> 00:04:30,720 Speaker 1: radio show. It's a reflection of America. The greatest freedom 69 00:04:30,760 --> 00:04:34,240 Speaker 1: of all, freedom of speech, has never been threatened, never 70 00:04:34,320 --> 00:04:38,520 Speaker 1: been seriously threatened, in American history. It is now. It 71 00:04:38,680 --> 00:04:42,800 Speaker 1: is not possible to overstate how frightening that is. We 72 00:04:42,880 --> 00:04:45,920 Speaker 1: have people, and I've never talked like this in my life, 73 00:04:46,720 --> 00:04:50,559 Speaker 1: but we have people in the Democratic Party who would 74 00:04:50,560 --> 00:04:53,880 Speaker 1: have fit in in a fascist or communist regime perfectly, 75 00:04:54,920 --> 00:04:59,599 Speaker 1: perfectly in their belief that you've suppressed as sent This 76 00:05:00,279 --> 00:05:02,520 Speaker 1: is one of the new ways. I'll tell you another way. 77 00:05:02,720 --> 00:05:05,359 Speaker 1: This is actually from my late father. I used to 78 00:05:05,400 --> 00:05:08,960 Speaker 1: have him on every July eighteenth, on his birthday. He 79 00:05:09,040 --> 00:05:12,839 Speaker 1: was a very articulate man. He's an accountant, but very articulate. 80 00:05:13,760 --> 00:05:16,320 Speaker 1: So I would ask him exactly what you asked me, Dad. 81 00:05:16,360 --> 00:05:20,200 Speaker 1: So how's the country changed since you grew up. He 82 00:05:20,240 --> 00:05:23,960 Speaker 1: was born in nineteen eighteen, and every time I asked it, 83 00:05:24,080 --> 00:05:28,520 Speaker 1: he had the same answer. And it's fascinating, he said, Dennis. 84 00:05:29,160 --> 00:05:33,960 Speaker 1: The biggest change is that in today's America, the children 85 00:05:34,040 --> 00:05:38,560 Speaker 1: run the house, not the parents. He was right, he 86 00:05:38,640 --> 00:05:42,279 Speaker 1: was right. I have a very big analysis of the 87 00:05:42,320 --> 00:05:45,320 Speaker 1: fifth Commandment in the Deuteronomy book that just came out, 88 00:05:45,320 --> 00:05:49,120 Speaker 1: because the Ten Commandments are twice in the Toro Tour 89 00:05:49,160 --> 00:05:53,120 Speaker 1: of the first five books, in Exodus and Deuteronomy. Moses 90 00:05:53,200 --> 00:05:57,480 Speaker 1: recounts them. God gives them an Exodus, Moses recites them 91 00:05:57,920 --> 00:06:02,880 Speaker 1: in Deuteronomy with two interesting little changes. But they're the 92 00:06:02,920 --> 00:06:07,080 Speaker 1: same commandments, of course. So I explain the commandments and 93 00:06:07,200 --> 00:06:12,080 Speaker 1: how everything is basically rooted in honor your father and mother. 94 00:06:12,839 --> 00:06:16,359 Speaker 1: That is the beginning of your understanding that there is 95 00:06:16,400 --> 00:06:20,840 Speaker 1: a moral hierarchy in life. The parent is above the child. 96 00:06:21,120 --> 00:06:24,200 Speaker 1: God is above the parent. If the parent is not 97 00:06:24,279 --> 00:06:28,080 Speaker 1: above the child, you could say bye bye to God 98 00:06:28,200 --> 00:06:31,839 Speaker 1: being above anybody. So you think the whole breakdown of 99 00:06:31,880 --> 00:06:35,240 Speaker 1: a sense of hierarchy. That's exactly right. Look at how 100 00:06:35,240 --> 00:06:39,000 Speaker 1: police are regarded with contempt. You can curse and spit 101 00:06:39,520 --> 00:06:41,800 Speaker 1: and do anything you want because you don't fear them. 102 00:06:42,400 --> 00:06:44,880 Speaker 1: It's interesting in that regard. We're told to fear God 103 00:06:44,920 --> 00:06:47,880 Speaker 1: and to fear our parents. People hate the idea that 104 00:06:47,920 --> 00:06:49,919 Speaker 1: the Bible would say fear your mother and father. And 105 00:06:49,960 --> 00:06:52,280 Speaker 1: by the way it puts the mother first with fear, 106 00:06:52,360 --> 00:06:55,600 Speaker 1: it puts the father first with honor. It's so profound. 107 00:06:55,640 --> 00:06:58,000 Speaker 1: I believe God is the ultimate author because it's just 108 00:06:58,080 --> 00:07:01,000 Speaker 1: so profound. That's an example of a little fundity. You're 109 00:07:01,040 --> 00:07:03,640 Speaker 1: more likely to fear your father, so mother is put 110 00:07:03,680 --> 00:07:07,920 Speaker 1: first with regard to fear. So again my radio show 111 00:07:08,960 --> 00:07:11,840 Speaker 1: years ago, I said, call me up, let's devote the 112 00:07:11,880 --> 00:07:14,680 Speaker 1: hour to this subject. Why didn't you take drugs when 113 00:07:14,680 --> 00:07:18,840 Speaker 1: you were in high school? And virtually every single person 114 00:07:18,920 --> 00:07:21,480 Speaker 1: calling up said, I didn't take drugs in high school 115 00:07:21,600 --> 00:07:26,640 Speaker 1: because my mother would have killed me. They feared their mother. Fascinating. 116 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:30,320 Speaker 1: But now in your recent column you talk about liberty, 117 00:07:30,400 --> 00:07:33,480 Speaker 1: which you call the most important conservative value. How does 118 00:07:33,560 --> 00:07:37,440 Speaker 1: liberty relate back to your sense of hierarchy. It's fascinating, 119 00:07:37,520 --> 00:07:41,120 Speaker 1: isn't it, because you would think that liberty, if you 120 00:07:41,280 --> 00:07:43,200 Speaker 1: think about it just for a second, you think, oh, 121 00:07:43,240 --> 00:07:46,080 Speaker 1: I'm free. Why would there be any hierarchy. I don't 122 00:07:46,120 --> 00:07:50,800 Speaker 1: need authority. Well, the Founders understood that God and liberty 123 00:07:50,840 --> 00:07:54,720 Speaker 1: were tied together. This was the great genius of the Founders. 124 00:07:54,760 --> 00:07:58,200 Speaker 1: They tied religion and liberty together on the liberty bell. 125 00:07:58,800 --> 00:08:01,600 Speaker 1: Only one thing isn't scribe other than the company that 126 00:08:01,680 --> 00:08:05,120 Speaker 1: made the bell. And it's a verse again from the Torah, 127 00:08:05,160 --> 00:08:09,240 Speaker 1: from Leviticus. You shall proclaim liberty throughout the land unto 128 00:08:09,360 --> 00:08:14,440 Speaker 1: all its inhabitants. God wants us to be free, which 129 00:08:14,480 --> 00:08:18,240 Speaker 1: is a perfect read of Biblical theology. In my opinion, 130 00:08:18,760 --> 00:08:22,640 Speaker 1: God wants us to be free, but you can't have anarchy. 131 00:08:22,760 --> 00:08:26,520 Speaker 1: The more obedient the individual is to God, the less 132 00:08:26,600 --> 00:08:30,360 Speaker 1: you need the state. There's an inverse relationship between the 133 00:08:30,400 --> 00:08:33,520 Speaker 1: size of God and the size of the state, except 134 00:08:33,559 --> 00:08:37,000 Speaker 1: of course, in a theocracy like Iran, but that's different, 135 00:08:37,080 --> 00:08:41,080 Speaker 1: and of course that's not the Judeo Christian But again, 136 00:08:41,400 --> 00:08:44,200 Speaker 1: the bigger the state, the smaller the God. The bigger 137 00:08:44,240 --> 00:08:46,880 Speaker 1: the God, the smaller the state. That is why the 138 00:08:47,000 --> 00:08:51,360 Speaker 1: left hates Christianity. And I'm a Jew saying this. They 139 00:08:51,400 --> 00:08:57,520 Speaker 1: hate Christianity because it is a rival authority to their 140 00:08:57,600 --> 00:09:02,520 Speaker 1: state authority. And they're right, it's one or the other. 141 00:09:02,600 --> 00:09:04,959 Speaker 1: Either people will feel that they have to answer to 142 00:09:05,040 --> 00:09:08,440 Speaker 1: God or answer to man, and the left wants you 143 00:09:08,480 --> 00:09:21,400 Speaker 1: to answer to man. 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Here's a special offer for my podcast listeners. 151 00:09:49,480 --> 00:09:51,839 Speaker 1: You can order an autograph copy of my new book 152 00:09:52,160 --> 00:09:56,200 Speaker 1: Defeating Big Government Socialism right now at gingwishtree sixty dot 153 00:09:56,240 --> 00:09:58,960 Speaker 1: com slash book and we'll ship it directly to you. 154 00:09:59,480 --> 00:10:02,360 Speaker 1: Don't miss out on the special offer. It's only available 155 00:10:02,400 --> 00:10:05,520 Speaker 1: for a limited time. Go to gingwishte sixty dot com 156 00:10:05,559 --> 00:10:08,960 Speaker 1: slash book to order your copy now. Order it today 157 00:10:09,280 --> 00:10:19,680 Speaker 1: at gingwishtree sixty dot com slash book. Happened to be 158 00:10:19,720 --> 00:10:23,000 Speaker 1: talking just this day or two after Tulsi Gabbert left 159 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:26,400 Speaker 1: the Democratic Party and really had in a sense of 160 00:10:26,520 --> 00:10:30,720 Speaker 1: cultural critique of why she left. That's exactly right. Every 161 00:10:30,720 --> 00:10:33,160 Speaker 1: one of the cultural critiques was right on what we 162 00:10:33,280 --> 00:10:37,080 Speaker 1: call woke, which is boards on the not boards on. 163 00:10:37,200 --> 00:10:40,960 Speaker 1: I actually think crosses the line over to pathology, the 164 00:10:41,480 --> 00:10:45,960 Speaker 1: attack on children's innocence. I wrote a piece which I 165 00:10:46,080 --> 00:10:48,640 Speaker 1: never thought i'd write, like so many other things that 166 00:10:48,679 --> 00:10:51,560 Speaker 1: I've come to write or say in the recent past, 167 00:10:52,120 --> 00:10:56,319 Speaker 1: that women are disproportionately hurting this country. And my data 168 00:10:56,320 --> 00:11:01,839 Speaker 1: are very simple. Kindergarten teachers are female, and seventy five 169 00:11:01,880 --> 00:11:05,000 Speaker 1: percent of all teachers are female, and the ruining of 170 00:11:05,080 --> 00:11:10,040 Speaker 1: kids is happening in elementary schools and high schools. I 171 00:11:10,240 --> 00:11:13,640 Speaker 1: always associated with women. This is the still hard for 172 00:11:13,679 --> 00:11:18,880 Speaker 1: me to digest. I've always associated with women as instinctively 173 00:11:19,040 --> 00:11:22,480 Speaker 1: protecting the innocence of children, and they are in the 174 00:11:22,600 --> 00:11:26,839 Speaker 1: vanguard of robbing children of their innocence. They're the ones 175 00:11:26,920 --> 00:11:31,040 Speaker 1: bringing kids to drag Queen's Story Hours as an example. 176 00:11:31,120 --> 00:11:33,920 Speaker 1: They're the ones who are telling them they're not boys 177 00:11:33,920 --> 00:11:36,160 Speaker 1: and girls. They'll decide whether they're a boy or a 178 00:11:36,200 --> 00:11:40,080 Speaker 1: girl or neither. Non binary is their term. She mentioned 179 00:11:40,080 --> 00:11:43,760 Speaker 1: this Tulsi Gabbert, and it is truly a sign of 180 00:11:43,760 --> 00:11:48,800 Speaker 1: our pathologic times that you teach kids that they'll choose. 181 00:11:48,800 --> 00:11:53,439 Speaker 1: The American Medical Association says that the American Medical Association, 182 00:11:53,480 --> 00:11:56,680 Speaker 1: which has been completely corrupted by the left. Because my motto, 183 00:11:56,760 --> 00:12:00,959 Speaker 1: the ruins everything it touches, there's no exception. They've ruined 184 00:12:00,960 --> 00:12:04,760 Speaker 1: the American Medical Association. They're ruining American medicine. If the 185 00:12:04,880 --> 00:12:08,840 Speaker 1: AMA announced two years ago they're opposed to listing the 186 00:12:08,880 --> 00:12:13,520 Speaker 1: sex of a child when it's born, the American Medical Association, 187 00:12:14,000 --> 00:12:17,679 Speaker 1: I have concluded the Democratic Party is breaking into two wings. 188 00:12:17,720 --> 00:12:21,240 Speaker 1: One is weird and the others insane. That's a happy thought. 189 00:12:22,559 --> 00:12:25,920 Speaker 1: There's actually not a political problem. This is not about ideology. 190 00:12:26,480 --> 00:12:29,559 Speaker 1: It's a mental health problem. These are people who are 191 00:12:29,600 --> 00:12:33,280 Speaker 1: literally out of touch with how the world works. That's right. Well, 192 00:12:33,320 --> 00:12:35,240 Speaker 1: if you're in touch with the way the world works, 193 00:12:35,240 --> 00:12:38,200 Speaker 1: you're not a leftist. You could be a liberal, you 194 00:12:38,200 --> 00:12:42,280 Speaker 1: could be a conservative, you cannot be a leftist leftism. 195 00:12:42,320 --> 00:12:45,280 Speaker 1: I read this about thirty years ago. I don't remember 196 00:12:45,280 --> 00:12:47,120 Speaker 1: the writer kills me. He was a woman, that's all 197 00:12:47,160 --> 00:12:52,160 Speaker 1: I remember. She said the left reject the lefet de 198 00:12:52,320 --> 00:12:54,920 Speaker 1: la vie. She wrote that line in French the facts 199 00:12:54,960 --> 00:12:59,679 Speaker 1: of life. That's exactly right, Like male female difference. They 200 00:13:00,240 --> 00:13:03,559 Speaker 1: it's a fact of life, but if it's uncomfortable, they 201 00:13:03,640 --> 00:13:07,400 Speaker 1: reject it. Well, and in a sense, that's sort of 202 00:13:07,440 --> 00:13:11,200 Speaker 1: the narrative of the Old Testament, is the continuing struggle 203 00:13:11,240 --> 00:13:14,320 Speaker 1: between God and the people of God on the one hand, 204 00:13:14,880 --> 00:13:18,360 Speaker 1: and paganism on the other hand. Well, that's right. We 205 00:13:18,440 --> 00:13:22,640 Speaker 1: are not in a post Judeo Christian or post biblical age. 206 00:13:22,679 --> 00:13:27,920 Speaker 1: We're in a pre biblical age. That's exactly right. We 207 00:13:28,040 --> 00:13:31,760 Speaker 1: have reverted to pagan beliefs, for example, the belief in 208 00:13:31,800 --> 00:13:35,640 Speaker 1: Mother Earth. This is a pre Christian, pre Jewish belief, 209 00:13:36,200 --> 00:13:40,400 Speaker 1: and they do believe that there is no basic Biblical principle, 210 00:13:40,600 --> 00:13:43,839 Speaker 1: hardly any that they affirm. So in that sense, your 211 00:13:43,880 --> 00:13:48,840 Speaker 1: books are in a way a radical repudiation of the 212 00:13:48,920 --> 00:13:53,400 Speaker 1: dominant ethos of our time. That is exactly right. But 213 00:13:53,520 --> 00:13:57,160 Speaker 1: I don't write it in a political way. You're absolutely right. 214 00:13:57,679 --> 00:14:00,760 Speaker 1: The words left and right don't appear, or a democrat 215 00:14:00,840 --> 00:14:04,320 Speaker 1: or republican or anything like that. This is written in 216 00:14:04,360 --> 00:14:06,360 Speaker 1: the hope that people will read it a hundred years 217 00:14:06,400 --> 00:14:11,040 Speaker 1: from now. But there's no question. Look, the Torah is 218 00:14:11,200 --> 00:14:15,920 Speaker 1: a refutation of the contemporary era, not Dennis Praeger. I'll 219 00:14:15,920 --> 00:14:18,720 Speaker 1: give you an example from Deuteronomy. By the way, Deuteronomy, 220 00:14:19,840 --> 00:14:21,920 Speaker 1: this blew my mind. I wish I knew it when 221 00:14:21,920 --> 00:14:23,880 Speaker 1: I wrote it, and it just came out. But I 222 00:14:24,000 --> 00:14:27,520 Speaker 1: learned it just a month ago. And an American university 223 00:14:27,600 --> 00:14:31,880 Speaker 1: historian that an analysis of what books were cited the 224 00:14:31,960 --> 00:14:37,800 Speaker 1: most by the founders secular or religious. Number two was Montesquie, 225 00:14:37,920 --> 00:14:42,040 Speaker 1: the French Enlightenment thinker. Number one was Deuteronomy. And here's 226 00:14:42,080 --> 00:14:46,880 Speaker 1: another one. Jesus cites Deuteronomy the most, except for Psalms. 227 00:14:47,440 --> 00:14:49,920 Speaker 1: That's the book he cites the most in the New Testament. 228 00:14:50,280 --> 00:14:52,680 Speaker 1: This is a mind boggling book. But i'll give you 229 00:14:52,800 --> 00:14:56,560 Speaker 1: an example. You asked a refutation of the contemporary ethos. 230 00:14:57,760 --> 00:15:00,880 Speaker 1: So there's a law, very simple. See people when they 231 00:15:00,880 --> 00:15:03,320 Speaker 1: read it, their eyes glaze over. They don't realize what 232 00:15:03,400 --> 00:15:07,600 Speaker 1: a revolution that one verses. You shall not favor the 233 00:15:07,720 --> 00:15:11,080 Speaker 1: poor in judgment. You cannot favor the rich or the poor. 234 00:15:11,680 --> 00:15:17,120 Speaker 1: Not favoring either is justice. Favoring the poor is social justice. 235 00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:21,240 Speaker 1: Social justice is the opposite of justice. That's the reason 236 00:15:21,280 --> 00:15:24,800 Speaker 1: they add an adjective cult social social justice has nothing 237 00:15:24,800 --> 00:15:28,160 Speaker 1: to do with justice. Social justice you favor the poor man. 238 00:15:28,480 --> 00:15:31,000 Speaker 1: If Bill Gates is in the courtroom and a poor 239 00:15:31,080 --> 00:15:34,120 Speaker 1: homeless guy and you give the poor homeless guy the 240 00:15:34,200 --> 00:15:37,920 Speaker 1: money because he's poor and homeless, and Gates is a multibillionaire, 241 00:15:38,640 --> 00:15:41,880 Speaker 1: then you have performed social justice, but you have committed 242 00:15:41,880 --> 00:15:45,760 Speaker 1: an injustice. And the Bible is preoccupied with justice, not 243 00:15:45,920 --> 00:15:48,560 Speaker 1: social justice. Talk to me a little bit about the 244 00:15:48,560 --> 00:15:53,480 Speaker 1: origins of Deuteronomy, the context in which it emerges. It's 245 00:15:53,520 --> 00:15:58,840 Speaker 1: the only book that it says Moses himself wrote, and 246 00:15:59,240 --> 00:16:05,840 Speaker 1: Deuteronomy is Greek for second law, Deutero and Nomos's law. 247 00:16:06,680 --> 00:16:09,640 Speaker 1: It is his repetition. It has more laws than any 248 00:16:09,680 --> 00:16:12,560 Speaker 1: other book of the Torah. There were six hundred thirteen 249 00:16:12,640 --> 00:16:16,520 Speaker 1: laws in the two hundred forty appear in Deuteronomy alone. 250 00:16:17,080 --> 00:16:19,640 Speaker 1: I try to explain everyone, as you noted, I know 251 00:16:19,760 --> 00:16:23,800 Speaker 1: biblical Hebrew, thank God, very well, and so that's a 252 00:16:23,840 --> 00:16:27,200 Speaker 1: big help, needless to say, but I explained them. Some 253 00:16:27,360 --> 00:16:31,720 Speaker 1: seem very obscure, and that is what Moses is doing. 254 00:16:32,000 --> 00:16:36,600 Speaker 1: Here's how you have to live, oh Israel, and from 255 00:16:36,640 --> 00:16:41,720 Speaker 1: my perspective, oh mankind. And that is his summary of it. 256 00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:44,240 Speaker 1: So is it your assumption he wrote this late in 257 00:16:44,320 --> 00:16:47,600 Speaker 1: his life. Yes, I think there's no question that's correct. 258 00:16:47,880 --> 00:16:49,920 Speaker 1: And so people ask, well, how did he write that 259 00:16:50,040 --> 00:16:53,600 Speaker 1: he died? Well, I don't find that particularly troubling. Maybe 260 00:16:53,680 --> 00:16:56,080 Speaker 1: Joshua wrote it, and maybe he knew he would die, 261 00:16:56,200 --> 00:16:58,880 Speaker 1: and he wrote what God told him to say. The 262 00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:02,920 Speaker 1: things that trouble people who reject the Bible, I don't 263 00:17:02,920 --> 00:17:05,919 Speaker 1: find them particularly deep. I mean, in a sense, it 264 00:17:05,960 --> 00:17:11,320 Speaker 1: puts Moses in the prophetic tradition, although we normally think 265 00:17:11,359 --> 00:17:14,880 Speaker 1: of him as a man of action, that's right, an 266 00:17:14,880 --> 00:17:19,760 Speaker 1: even military leader. Yeah, you're entirely right. Actually, he is considered, 267 00:17:19,840 --> 00:17:22,360 Speaker 1: certainly in the Jewish tradition, the greatest of the prophets. 268 00:17:23,080 --> 00:17:25,280 Speaker 1: It even says in the Bible, no one spoke to 269 00:17:25,400 --> 00:17:28,680 Speaker 1: God face to face. It's a euphemism, of course, as 270 00:17:28,720 --> 00:17:35,960 Speaker 1: did Moses. So in that context, he's trying to communicate 271 00:17:36,040 --> 00:17:41,280 Speaker 1: to us the essence of the way in which God 272 00:17:42,359 --> 00:17:46,520 Speaker 1: wants us to live. That's exactly correct. But that then 273 00:17:46,560 --> 00:17:52,560 Speaker 1: directly challenges and threatens, whether it's the French Revolution or 274 00:17:53,119 --> 00:17:58,959 Speaker 1: the Nazis, Leninism, or the modern American left, because it 275 00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:04,159 Speaker 1: creates a frame of reference in which humans are limited 276 00:18:04,160 --> 00:18:08,480 Speaker 1: by their subordination to God. Well, we're freed actually by 277 00:18:08,520 --> 00:18:11,000 Speaker 1: our subordination to God. That's why I said earlier. The 278 00:18:11,040 --> 00:18:16,280 Speaker 1: founders got it right. They understood that the freest person 279 00:18:17,320 --> 00:18:20,320 Speaker 1: is the person who is not controlled by other men. 280 00:18:21,480 --> 00:18:25,640 Speaker 1: If you're controlled by a morally demanding God, you will 281 00:18:25,720 --> 00:18:27,359 Speaker 1: be a free human being and you will have a 282 00:18:27,400 --> 00:18:31,280 Speaker 1: free society. Otherwise you will be controlled by the state. 283 00:18:31,920 --> 00:18:34,480 Speaker 1: And if people didn't see that in the last three years, 284 00:18:34,840 --> 00:18:53,879 Speaker 1: they are willfully blind. It's fascinated. I happened to the 285 00:18:53,960 --> 00:18:57,560 Speaker 1: night to watch a movie called Mister Jones, which is 286 00:18:57,880 --> 00:19:02,920 Speaker 1: about the Welsh report who ended up going to Ukraine 287 00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:09,640 Speaker 1: in nineteen thirty two and discovering the Holocaust of Ukrainians. 288 00:19:10,119 --> 00:19:15,280 Speaker 1: I think it's called the Holokon Holoka more, in which 289 00:19:15,640 --> 00:19:19,919 Speaker 1: at least three million people starved it literally starved it 290 00:19:20,080 --> 00:19:24,240 Speaker 1: probably five million. Yeah, by the way, not just starved 291 00:19:24,240 --> 00:19:29,200 Speaker 1: to death, forgive me, deliberately starved to death. That's very important. 292 00:19:29,800 --> 00:19:32,080 Speaker 1: The movie starts with him trying to figure out where 293 00:19:32,080 --> 00:19:36,680 Speaker 1: Stalin is getting the money to industrialize because he doesn't 294 00:19:36,680 --> 00:19:39,080 Speaker 1: have the cash, and it turns out basically he is 295 00:19:39,119 --> 00:19:43,240 Speaker 1: stealing the food from Ukraine and whether that was an 296 00:19:43,280 --> 00:19:46,639 Speaker 1: ideological desire to destroy the Kolochs who were the middle 297 00:19:46,640 --> 00:19:51,000 Speaker 1: class farmers, or an anti Ukrainian independence effort, or just 298 00:19:51,160 --> 00:19:53,040 Speaker 1: he needed the money and he didn't care what the 299 00:19:53,119 --> 00:19:57,359 Speaker 1: human cost was. But the movie has two fascinating components. 300 00:19:57,800 --> 00:20:01,719 Speaker 1: One was the comparison with the New York Times reporter 301 00:20:01,720 --> 00:20:05,760 Speaker 1: who'd won a Pulletzer Prize for explicitly lying about Stalin 302 00:20:06,320 --> 00:20:10,760 Speaker 1: Walter Duranti, and Duranty is portrayed is about as disgusting 303 00:20:10,800 --> 00:20:13,359 Speaker 1: and despicable a person. This is not a film the 304 00:20:13,359 --> 00:20:15,720 Speaker 1: New York Times would be happy with if they paid 305 00:20:15,720 --> 00:20:18,000 Speaker 1: any attention to it, and of course they never gave 306 00:20:18,040 --> 00:20:21,239 Speaker 1: back the Pulletzer prize, even though it's quite clear that 307 00:20:21,320 --> 00:20:24,440 Speaker 1: Duranti and you talk about fake news, that he was 308 00:20:24,480 --> 00:20:26,680 Speaker 1: one of the people who led the New York Times 309 00:20:26,720 --> 00:20:30,880 Speaker 1: in totally Deceiving the West. But Jones is actually talking 310 00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:36,560 Speaker 1: with George Orwell about what he's experiencing. The movie actually 311 00:20:36,560 --> 00:20:40,280 Speaker 1: starts with Orwell typing in an old manual typewriter the 312 00:20:40,359 --> 00:20:43,840 Speaker 1: beginning of Animal Farm, which he does in nineteen forty six. 313 00:20:43,880 --> 00:20:47,680 Speaker 1: I think. But this whole notion of trying to communicate 314 00:20:47,680 --> 00:20:51,400 Speaker 1: through nineteen eighty four and through animal Farm, the nature 315 00:20:51,480 --> 00:20:55,320 Speaker 1: of a toutolitarian system, the depth to which it inherently 316 00:20:55,359 --> 00:21:00,520 Speaker 1: involves a lie, and then contrasting that with the degree 317 00:21:00,560 --> 00:21:04,639 Speaker 1: to which Moses is trying to take us to a 318 00:21:04,720 --> 00:21:09,280 Speaker 1: world in which you seek the truth and you obey 319 00:21:09,359 --> 00:21:14,600 Speaker 1: the truth, as opposed to seeking a lie and obeying 320 00:21:14,640 --> 00:21:16,760 Speaker 1: a lie. And I just thought it sort of fit 321 00:21:16,840 --> 00:21:21,080 Speaker 1: perfectly with what you're writing about and your description of 322 00:21:21,480 --> 00:21:24,800 Speaker 1: the challenge we have in dealing with people on the 323 00:21:24,880 --> 00:21:29,280 Speaker 1: left who have repudiated God. That's what it comes to 324 00:21:29,920 --> 00:21:33,080 Speaker 1: when people ask me they're a theme to your forty 325 00:21:33,160 --> 00:21:39,400 Speaker 1: years of broadcasting. I always have said, there's one overarching 326 00:21:39,520 --> 00:21:44,280 Speaker 1: theme to all my broadcasting, and that is the deleterious 327 00:21:44,359 --> 00:21:50,639 Speaker 1: consequences of secularism. The arrogance and stupidity of people to 328 00:21:50,840 --> 00:21:56,200 Speaker 1: think that they could shatter the roots of Western civilization 329 00:21:56,520 --> 00:21:59,960 Speaker 1: and still keep that civilization. It's an act of human 330 00:22:00,080 --> 00:22:06,760 Speaker 1: brus that transcends normal arrogance. I will destroy the soil 331 00:22:07,040 --> 00:22:11,719 Speaker 1: that nurtured these gorgeous trees, and I'll still have gorgeous trees. 332 00:22:13,160 --> 00:22:16,639 Speaker 1: How arrogant can you get? But that is what the 333 00:22:16,720 --> 00:22:22,240 Speaker 1: left believes. All these bases, the Judeo Christian and the 334 00:22:22,320 --> 00:22:26,000 Speaker 1: combination with the terrific American what I call the trinity 335 00:22:26,040 --> 00:22:29,520 Speaker 1: e pluribus Unum, Liberty and God we trust found on 336 00:22:29,560 --> 00:22:34,000 Speaker 1: every coin, made the best society for the most people 337 00:22:34,440 --> 00:22:38,919 Speaker 1: ever created. And they think you could shatter those foundations 338 00:22:38,960 --> 00:22:42,720 Speaker 1: and nothing will happen. That's so stupid. Only an intellectual 339 00:22:42,760 --> 00:22:45,280 Speaker 1: could believe it. Well, and I think that's the difference 340 00:22:45,280 --> 00:22:48,359 Speaker 1: at this point. You make the difference between being smart 341 00:22:48,400 --> 00:22:51,680 Speaker 1: and being wise, that there are a lot of people 342 00:22:51,720 --> 00:22:54,600 Speaker 1: at Harvard and Yale and Princeton and elsewhere who are 343 00:22:54,600 --> 00:22:58,160 Speaker 1: amazingly smart, but they have no wisdom. Well, you hit 344 00:22:58,280 --> 00:23:01,840 Speaker 1: another sensitive point in my life. About twenty years ago, 345 00:23:01,880 --> 00:23:04,040 Speaker 1: I wrote a piece. People could see it on the internet, 346 00:23:04,040 --> 00:23:07,120 Speaker 1: How I Found God at Columbia. I was a graduate 347 00:23:07,160 --> 00:23:09,280 Speaker 1: student of Columbia in the seventies at the School of 348 00:23:09,320 --> 00:23:13,359 Speaker 1: International Affairs, specifically the Russian and Middle East Institutes. I 349 00:23:13,440 --> 00:23:17,280 Speaker 1: studied Communism and the Middle East separately, so I learned 350 00:23:17,359 --> 00:23:19,360 Speaker 1: Russian and I went to the Soviet Union and Communist 351 00:23:19,400 --> 00:23:23,960 Speaker 1: countries a number of times. One day, walking around Columbia, 352 00:23:24,520 --> 00:23:28,720 Speaker 1: I was mystified at all these intelligent people teaching me nonsense, 353 00:23:28,800 --> 00:23:32,440 Speaker 1: like men and women are basically the same. And the 354 00:23:32,480 --> 00:23:34,879 Speaker 1: only time in my life I ever had an epiphany. 355 00:23:35,840 --> 00:23:38,359 Speaker 1: I never had a theophany. God has never appeared to me, 356 00:23:38,960 --> 00:23:43,560 Speaker 1: but I had an epiphany once, meaning that out of nowhere, 357 00:23:44,600 --> 00:23:48,639 Speaker 1: that this biblical phrase came into my brain. I last 358 00:23:48,680 --> 00:23:52,920 Speaker 1: said it in first grade at Yeshiva, should very religious 359 00:23:52,960 --> 00:23:55,160 Speaker 1: Jewish school, half the day in Hebrew, half the day 360 00:23:55,160 --> 00:24:00,160 Speaker 1: in English. And it was literally I'd last said at 361 00:24:00,200 --> 00:24:02,320 Speaker 1: it in first grade because we said it every day 362 00:24:02,320 --> 00:24:06,639 Speaker 1: in the morning rachid kochmayirat other night, wisdom begins the 363 00:24:06,680 --> 00:24:10,280 Speaker 1: fear of God from the Bible. And that was it. 364 00:24:10,280 --> 00:24:14,120 Speaker 1: It opened up my mind to everything. I realized there's 365 00:24:14,119 --> 00:24:17,560 Speaker 1: no wisdom at Columbia because there's no God at Columbia. 366 00:24:17,760 --> 00:24:22,080 Speaker 1: How rapidly or how decisively did they change your life? Oh? Completely? 367 00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:26,520 Speaker 1: That's when I realized that the great problem is secularism, 368 00:24:26,520 --> 00:24:31,560 Speaker 1: not secular government, secular society, secular individuals. We won't survive. 369 00:24:31,680 --> 00:24:35,440 Speaker 1: And here is the key. People because they're foolish and 370 00:24:35,600 --> 00:24:40,280 Speaker 1: they're not wise. They think that goodness comes from good intentions. 371 00:24:40,880 --> 00:24:43,600 Speaker 1: That's nonsense. The amount of evil that comes from good 372 00:24:43,600 --> 00:24:46,960 Speaker 1: intentions is much greater than the amount of evil that 373 00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:52,840 Speaker 1: comes from bad intentions. Most people supported communism, certainly outside 374 00:24:52,840 --> 00:24:58,040 Speaker 1: of communist countries, because they had good intentions, the most 375 00:24:58,080 --> 00:25:03,320 Speaker 1: genocidal idea and in history, to each according to his needs, 376 00:25:03,400 --> 00:25:05,639 Speaker 1: from each according to his ability, I mean, all this 377 00:25:05,760 --> 00:25:11,680 Speaker 1: nice sounding stuff. So I realized very early on that 378 00:25:11,840 --> 00:25:14,480 Speaker 1: you don't get good from good intentions. You get it 379 00:25:14,520 --> 00:25:19,280 Speaker 1: from wisdom. And there is no wisdom at our universities, 380 00:25:19,400 --> 00:25:22,920 Speaker 1: or our high schools, or our elementary schools. I wrote 381 00:25:22,920 --> 00:25:26,320 Speaker 1: in Peace, I'm honored that you read my recent column. 382 00:25:26,480 --> 00:25:28,480 Speaker 1: So you know I wrote a column every week, and 383 00:25:28,560 --> 00:25:32,160 Speaker 1: I have for twenty years. So I had a column 384 00:25:32,200 --> 00:25:37,320 Speaker 1: recently that I believe. I am certain I had more wisdom, 385 00:25:37,400 --> 00:25:40,280 Speaker 1: and so did all my classmates at Yeshiva when we 386 00:25:40,280 --> 00:25:45,520 Speaker 1: were twelve than virtually all the professors at princetonille at Stanford. 387 00:25:46,960 --> 00:25:50,760 Speaker 1: And the reason is we were taught wisdom. We were 388 00:25:50,800 --> 00:25:56,960 Speaker 1: taught biblical wisdom. Secular schools don't teach wisdom. You have 389 00:25:57,040 --> 00:25:59,240 Speaker 1: to learn wisdom, just like you have to learn physics. 390 00:25:59,560 --> 00:26:03,160 Speaker 1: You don't wise just because you get older. We all 391 00:26:03,200 --> 00:26:06,960 Speaker 1: know how many old fools there are, So it's nonsense. 392 00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:11,320 Speaker 1: Some people get wiser, but you can teach wisdom. And 393 00:26:11,480 --> 00:26:15,640 Speaker 1: I was taught wisdom as kids in Christian schools, serious 394 00:26:15,720 --> 00:26:19,800 Speaker 1: Christian schools, not nominal and serious Jewish schools, not just 395 00:26:19,880 --> 00:26:24,560 Speaker 1: schools for Jews. They teach you wisdom, and that is 396 00:26:24,600 --> 00:26:28,120 Speaker 1: the only vehicle to a good world. So in that context, 397 00:26:28,160 --> 00:26:31,320 Speaker 1: as you're doing this book on Deuteronomy, in many ways 398 00:26:31,400 --> 00:26:35,000 Speaker 1: it centers around God, but it also centers around Moses. 399 00:26:36,200 --> 00:26:40,000 Speaker 1: The modern world. What do you think we should be 400 00:26:40,080 --> 00:26:46,960 Speaker 1: learning from Moses. Moses is a very complex character. Moses 401 00:26:48,119 --> 00:26:51,480 Speaker 1: had I think a love hate relationship with the Israelites, 402 00:26:53,119 --> 00:26:55,679 Speaker 1: and I now have a love hate relationship with my 403 00:26:55,720 --> 00:26:59,320 Speaker 1: fellow Americans. It was almost all love for all of 404 00:26:59,400 --> 00:27:04,760 Speaker 1: my life. But half this country has lost its American mind, 405 00:27:05,080 --> 00:27:10,080 Speaker 1: its rational mind, and it's very scary. It is truly scary. 406 00:27:11,040 --> 00:27:13,600 Speaker 1: The support for the freedom of speech forty five percent 407 00:27:13,680 --> 00:27:16,040 Speaker 1: of young Americans. I'll get back to Moses, but I'm 408 00:27:16,040 --> 00:27:20,199 Speaker 1: just noting forty five percent of young Americans believe in 409 00:27:20,240 --> 00:27:23,600 Speaker 1: free speech, but not for hate speech. So they don't 410 00:27:23,600 --> 00:27:26,199 Speaker 1: even realize that what they just said makes no sense. 411 00:27:26,440 --> 00:27:29,960 Speaker 1: Then you don't believe in free speech. You can't say 412 00:27:30,000 --> 00:27:32,680 Speaker 1: I believe in free speech except for hate speech. Free 413 00:27:32,720 --> 00:27:36,160 Speaker 1: speech must include hate speech, or it's not free speech anyway. 414 00:27:36,160 --> 00:27:39,560 Speaker 1: Who determines what's hate speech? If I say six year 415 00:27:39,600 --> 00:27:43,200 Speaker 1: olds shouldn't determine their sex or their gender, that's called 416 00:27:43,240 --> 00:27:47,359 Speaker 1: hate speech. I think it's hate speech. If you say 417 00:27:47,560 --> 00:27:49,680 Speaker 1: that girls should be allowed to cut their breasts off 418 00:27:49,720 --> 00:27:52,280 Speaker 1: when they're eighteen years of age. They can't smoke a cigarette, 419 00:27:52,280 --> 00:27:54,760 Speaker 1: but they could cut their breasts off, I think that's 420 00:27:54,800 --> 00:27:57,760 Speaker 1: hate speech. But I'm not for denying the right to 421 00:27:57,800 --> 00:28:00,719 Speaker 1: have it. I'm for free speech. Has had a love 422 00:28:00,760 --> 00:28:05,080 Speaker 1: hate relationship with the Israelites. They constantly complained, and he 423 00:28:05,160 --> 00:28:09,480 Speaker 1: was disgusted with them by the time of Deuteronomy. I 424 00:28:09,520 --> 00:28:12,120 Speaker 1: don't play this up a lot. I don't ignore anything, 425 00:28:12,840 --> 00:28:16,399 Speaker 1: but it's clear he has reached sort of the end 426 00:28:16,440 --> 00:28:21,359 Speaker 1: of his rope with regard to the Israelites. However, having 427 00:28:21,400 --> 00:28:25,359 Speaker 1: said that God makes him an offer a few times. Listen, 428 00:28:25,400 --> 00:28:28,800 Speaker 1: I'm disgusted with them too. They complain so much. After 429 00:28:28,880 --> 00:28:31,280 Speaker 1: all I've done for them, Why don't I wipe them 430 00:28:31,280 --> 00:28:34,239 Speaker 1: out and start a new nation through you? And he 431 00:28:34,359 --> 00:28:38,880 Speaker 1: begs God not to forgive these people, forgive them forgive them, 432 00:28:38,920 --> 00:28:45,320 Speaker 1: forgive them. So he's a leader who does not romanticize 433 00:28:45,640 --> 00:28:49,600 Speaker 1: the people he leads, but who nevertheless is deeply committed 434 00:28:49,640 --> 00:28:52,840 Speaker 1: to them. There are cycles here where he kind of 435 00:28:52,880 --> 00:28:55,680 Speaker 1: gets them going in the right direction and then they backslide, 436 00:28:56,000 --> 00:28:57,440 Speaker 1: and then he kind of gets them going in the 437 00:28:57,480 --> 00:29:00,920 Speaker 1: right direction and they backslide. Is that just human condition? 438 00:29:02,200 --> 00:29:05,120 Speaker 1: That's part of the reason for the eternality of the 439 00:29:05,200 --> 00:29:09,600 Speaker 1: Torah in my opinion and the Bible generally. People think 440 00:29:09,640 --> 00:29:12,680 Speaker 1: it's dated because it's from three thousand years ago. They 441 00:29:12,680 --> 00:29:16,600 Speaker 1: don't understand its insights are rooted in the human condition. 442 00:29:17,200 --> 00:29:20,560 Speaker 1: The human condition doesn't change. Human nature is the same 443 00:29:20,640 --> 00:29:23,840 Speaker 1: today as it was three thousand years ago. So if 444 00:29:23,840 --> 00:29:27,720 Speaker 1: it was relevant, then it's relevant today. Human nature hasn't changed. 445 00:29:28,680 --> 00:29:32,400 Speaker 1: That is exactly what you said. It's the human condition. 446 00:29:32,920 --> 00:29:36,240 Speaker 1: And by the way, there's spectacular lessons from this. That's 447 00:29:36,240 --> 00:29:40,360 Speaker 1: the reason I'm writing the Rational Bible series. There are 448 00:29:40,600 --> 00:29:44,640 Speaker 1: huge lessons. One lesson is miracles don't make you faithful. 449 00:29:45,520 --> 00:29:48,080 Speaker 1: People think, oh, if only God did X or Y, 450 00:29:48,160 --> 00:29:50,640 Speaker 1: or is he some wild miracle, Oh, then I would 451 00:29:50,680 --> 00:29:54,720 Speaker 1: believe in him. It's not true. They saw more miracles 452 00:29:54,920 --> 00:29:58,000 Speaker 1: than any human beings have ever seen. It made no 453 00:29:58,080 --> 00:30:02,040 Speaker 1: effect on their faith. They built a golden calf a 454 00:30:02,080 --> 00:30:06,120 Speaker 1: few months after leaving Egypt, the smiling of the firstborn, 455 00:30:06,240 --> 00:30:09,760 Speaker 1: ten miraculous plagues, the splitting of the sea, the drowning 456 00:30:09,800 --> 00:30:13,080 Speaker 1: of the Egyptian army, and they build a golden calf. 457 00:30:15,960 --> 00:30:21,320 Speaker 1: That's why my faith is stronger than people who rely 458 00:30:21,480 --> 00:30:25,520 Speaker 1: on miracles. My faith is reason based. I come to 459 00:30:25,640 --> 00:30:29,200 Speaker 1: God through reason, so miracles haven't made it, and the 460 00:30:29,280 --> 00:30:32,400 Speaker 1: lack of miracles won't shake it. That's why I call 461 00:30:32,440 --> 00:30:35,360 Speaker 1: it the Rational Bible. I only use reason to explain 462 00:30:35,400 --> 00:30:38,560 Speaker 1: the text, so in that sense, you are explicitly not 463 00:30:38,680 --> 00:30:42,800 Speaker 1: part of a mystical approach to this. When God gave 464 00:30:42,840 --> 00:30:47,240 Speaker 1: out mystical instincts, I was in another line. Ah, that's 465 00:30:47,240 --> 00:30:50,840 Speaker 1: a great line, Dennis. I want to thank you for 466 00:30:50,960 --> 00:30:53,240 Speaker 1: joining me. I always find I learned so much from 467 00:30:53,280 --> 00:30:57,200 Speaker 1: talking with you. Your new book, The Rational Bible Deuteronomy 468 00:30:57,840 --> 00:31:00,520 Speaker 1: is essential reading for those who may have lost connection 469 00:31:00,560 --> 00:31:02,840 Speaker 1: to the Bible and to God. And I think the 470 00:31:02,960 --> 00:31:06,600 Speaker 1: Rational Bible series is helpful both to reengage people with 471 00:31:06,640 --> 00:31:09,680 Speaker 1: the Bible and teachings and frankly, to help save us 472 00:31:09,720 --> 00:31:13,800 Speaker 1: from the secular onslaught against our civilization. So I want 473 00:31:13,840 --> 00:31:15,840 Speaker 1: to thank you for joining me a newts World and 474 00:31:15,960 --> 00:31:21,520 Speaker 1: sharing this with all of us. I'm thank you to 475 00:31:21,600 --> 00:31:24,120 Speaker 1: my guest Dennis Prager. You can get a link to 476 00:31:24,160 --> 00:31:27,760 Speaker 1: buy his new book, The Rational Bible Deuteronomy on our 477 00:31:27,800 --> 00:31:31,480 Speaker 1: show page at newtsworld dot com. News World is produced 478 00:31:31,520 --> 00:31:36,640 Speaker 1: by gingwistreet sixty and iHeartMedia. Our executive producer is Garnsey Sloan, 479 00:31:37,120 --> 00:31:41,600 Speaker 1: our producer is Rebecca Howe, and our researcher is Rachel Peterson. 480 00:31:42,280 --> 00:31:46,000 Speaker 1: The artwork for the show was created by Steve Penley. 481 00:31:46,200 --> 00:31:49,200 Speaker 1: Special thanks to the team at Gingwish three sixty. If 482 00:31:49,200 --> 00:31:51,800 Speaker 1: you've been enjoying Newtsworld, I hope you'll go to Apple 483 00:31:51,880 --> 00:31:55,400 Speaker 1: Podcast and both rate us with five stars and give 484 00:31:55,480 --> 00:31:58,320 Speaker 1: us a review so others can learn what it's all about. 485 00:31:58,960 --> 00:32:01,520 Speaker 1: Right now, let's of Newtsworld can sign up for my 486 00:32:01,680 --> 00:32:06,120 Speaker 1: three free weekly columns at gangwidere sixty dot com slash 487 00:32:06,320 --> 00:32:09,600 Speaker 1: newsletter him newt Gangwig. This is news World