Dennis Prager and Alistair Begg Clarifying the Only Two Religious Options

Today's program was previously aired.

While the content is relevant, some of the announcements may be dated. For current ministry news and offers, go to thechristianworldview.org. Thanks for joining us today on the program as we talk about a very interesting, compelling, actually fascinating conversation that radio host Dennis Prager and Pastor Alistair Begg recently had on theology and salvation and who Christ is around Easter time. Now, it's been said that there are really only two kinds of religions. The first are the ones based on earned favor or works where man tries to earn favor with a deity or God, and the other one, just the one, based on unearned favor or grace.

So all religions, including many Christian traditions, you can take Islam or Buddhism and many denominations of Christianity, Roman Catholicism, Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, they fall into the former category of earned favor, works-based religions. While only biblical Christianity is based on unearned favor, where God does something for us and man doesn't earn salvation or earn standing with God. In other words, you can put it this way, there's lots of ways of looking at it, try to keep it simple, one either puts their trust in their own work or one puts their trust in Christ's work on their behalf. One either puts their trust in their own self-righteousness or one puts their trust in Christ's righteousness on their behalf.

In mixing the two, a little bit of my own belief in Christ, I have faith there, but I believe you've got to do a few things as well, that still keeps one in the first category of works-righteousness because again, you're still trusting some in your own self-righteousness. Now this distinction between the only two religious options was made abundantly clear when two of the sharpest minds, one a Jew, radio host Dennis Prager, and the other a Christian, Pastor Alistair Begg, engaged in a public forum on theological matters. The event was called Ask a Jew, Ask a Gentile, and Salem Radio Network hosts this event every year, or at least recently. They've had Prager and then several other Christians that have participated in it as his counterpoint. And we have a link, by the way, on our website, thechristianworldview.org, if you'd like to watch the entire discussion.

It is really, really good. It's really helpful in understanding the difference between a Jewish worldview and a Christian worldview. And so this weekend on the program, we're going to air portions, plenty of portions actually, of Prager and Begg's discussion in an attempt to understand what a biblical worldview is, not just a Christian worldview that might be based just on the New Testament, some might say that, or a Jewish worldview just on the Old Testament, what a biblical, overarching biblical worldview is, and how the person and work of Jesus Christ fits into that.

So again, this event was between Alistair Begg and Dennis Prager. The moderator was actually radio host Hugh Hewitt, so you'll hear him a little bit as well asking some of the questions. Now, this is an incredibly stimulating conversation about important issues. And really, they're talking about theology, the study of God, who God is, what is he like, how did he set the world in order, how can we approach God, how can we be right with God, and these are incredibly important issues. So I think if you're interested in those kinds of things, and you really should be, you think about all the things that we get distracted with and attract our attention in life, you know, the NFL draft or the latest in politics, but what they're talking about in this conversation on today's program, there's really nothing more important than this. It's been said that the most important thing about a person is their view of God and whether that view is accurate. And so as they talk about who God is, and whether God has a son named Jesus, and how we approach him, these are incredibly important issues.

And they really clarify, you're going to see that both sides, the earned favor, the work side is clarified by Dennis Prager, and the unearned favor, the grace side, is clarified by Alistair Begg. Now, everyone heard about the Muslim terrorist attack on the Christians and probably non-Christians over in Sri Lanka over on Easter on Resurrection Sunday, I believe it was Resurrection Sunday of last week, where over 360 people were killed. And of course, President Obama and Hillary Clinton talked about, they didn't mention anything about Muslims, they said it was an attack on Easter worshipers, neither mentioning Christians or Muslims, but that goes with what they typically do. But of course, in New Zealand, when all the Muslims were killed there by a white nationalist, they made very clear who was the attack and who was the attacker.

So the inconsistency is pretty apparent. But that attack in Sri Lanka was all about theology. If you think about it, it was a theological attack.

These were not poor, disenfranchised attackers, reports are coming out now, they were well-educated, they were well-to-do people, Muslims. But their theology, their theology is that their false god Allah wants them to kill the infidels. Their false god Allah wants them to take over the world and Christians are getting in the way and Christians are the enemy, so we kill them.

We take over the world by force and force people to become Muslim or subservient to it. Now, that is a theology, that's a view, a study of their god put into practice. Just as we're going to be discussing theology today, that's not to do with the theology of that kind of theology, which is only a religion, only a Satan-inspired ideology could get to that point that would think that I must kill those who don't believe as I do.

Certainly the Bible never, ever advocates for that and that's why you basically don't see any really true followers of Jesus killing people for not believing as we do. So realize that theology or worldview, the name of this show, worldview or theology is what drives the world. One's view of God determines, their worldview determines how you think and how you live. And so that's why these are important discussions to take place and even just listening to these two men talk about their various positions, there's a sharpening of your worldview just listening to it. So the issues that they're going to discuss is who is Jesus, heaven and hell, works versus great, they get into all these things and it's very interesting.

By the way, I respect both of these men tremendously. I mean, it's really hard to do what they do, to be in front of an audience and be able to be fielding these questions and answering them with precision and accuracy, especially for Alistair Begg according to what the Bible says. Prager, he's not really a biblicist. I mean, he believes in the Old Testament, but you'll see him say, I believe this, I believe this, my thought is this. So there's a lot of his own human reasoning involved in there.

For Alistair Begg, it's even more difficult. He has to be incredibly consistent theologically because he's not basing this on his own opinion, he's basing things on what the Word of God says. Again, not putting down Dennis Prager, by the way, either, because I don't agree with him.

I think my understanding of Scripture is that he is incorrect with his works righteousness system. But that being said, he's a man that I've actually learned quite a bit from, not necessarily theologically, but maybe theologically in the wrong sense. But in other ways, he's been a very tireless and strong advocate for Christians, as he'll talk about, and also for conservatism against the onslaught of leftist, secular, humanistic, unbiblical ideology that's coming to our country. So I've learned a lot from him. I think you're going to learn a lot from hearing the conversation today.

So let's get to the first soundbite. And the first soundbite has to do, I think, right into one of the most important issues that I think a lot of Christians wonder about Jews. Why don't Jews believe that Jesus is the Messiah? I mean, Jesus was Jewish. All his disciples were Jewish. He claimed to be the Messiah.

What does Dennis Prager say about that question? When people ask me, how come you don't believe in Jesus the Messiah? The primary answer is that what is supposed to happen according to Judaism hasn't happened.

But I should add, this is the important part to me. I don't have an issue with people who believe Jesus the Messiah. The Jewish issue has never been the messianic issue. Jews have believed that various Jews at different times have been the Messiah. They have never created or been ostracized.

They've never created a different movement or a different religion or been ostracized. The issue for Jews was the divinity claim that Christianity made, not the messianic claim. If the only claim people made about Jesus was he's the Jewish Messiah, then they would have been Jews for Jesus, literally. Jews who believed in Jesus as the Messiah. It's the Trinitarian and divinity claims that caused the creation of a second religion.

Okay, so there's something I didn't know. There's something I learned that the Jews don't have a problem with Christ's claim to be the Messiah, even though they rejected him, the vast majority do, as their Messiah. But it's the divinity claim that they really struggle with. It's the Trinitarian claim that there's Father and there's Son, Jesus the Son, and there's a Holy Spirit. Of course, if you think about what he's actually saying here is that Jesus isn't divine. You're really calling Jesus a liar is what you're doing because Jesus repeatedly claimed divinity. He repeatedly, over and over again, claimed equality with God.

I and the Father are one. I mean, it can't be any more clear than that. So by saying what he's saying, he's saying that Jesus is a liar.

He's saying it in a nicer way, but that's really what he's saying. Now, the Trinity, by the way, appears in the very opening chapters of the Bible. Let us make man in our image. Who is God talking about there? Who is us and who is our? Well, I understand the Bible teaches he's just talking about the Trinity.

They're us. There's a relationship there within the Trinity. It's one God and three persons.

Very difficult. No human mind can perfectly grasp that, but that's what the Bible says. And that's really what we see, the manifestations even at the baptism of Christ. You have Jesus the Son in the water being baptized by John the Baptist.

You have the voice from heaven saying, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And you have the Holy Spirit descending in the form of a dove right there, the three persons of the one God. So there's not three gods, as Muslims often think, that we're polytheistic.

No, we're not. It's one God and three persons. So how is Alistair Begg going to respond to that?

Here's how he responded. Well, you know, when you read the gospel records and you see the reaction of the Jew to the claims of Jesus, and the disappointment that they felt the clearer he became, it would seem that they anticipated that when the Messiah came, everything, as Dennis says, would be put to rights. So the oppression, for example, of the Roman authorities would be taken care of. They would be established in their own land, if you like.

They would be secure and so on. And so that expectation, which I don't think was the right expectation, was not met in Jesus. Not because he didn't declare himself, but because what he declared about himself did not meet their expectations. For example, the beginning of Mark's gospel begins, Jesus says, The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe the good news. When John the Baptist steps forward, he says of this man, this Galilean carpenter, this is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

So that the expectation of Judaism into the very heart of the Pentateuch is that in this sacrificial system, there will eventually be a sacrifice that outsacrifices all the previous sacrifices. And Jesus steps forward, and he says, I actually am that one. The reaction, of course, on the part of those who heard him speak, was to crucify him. So Begg is saying that basically the Jews weren't seeing that there's two advents of Christ. They expect him to come as the conqueror. That wasn't his purpose the first time around. It was to save humanity, to die for our sin. In the future, he will come back as king.

More coming up after this. It is a pain to know that there are people who do not know Jesus. It is a greater pain to know that oftentimes Jesus and Christianity is being distorted. Your destiny is calling out.

It's time to start living large. I don't think God killed Jesus. That's a sick God and a sick story. This is the doctrine of Christianity. This is the doctrine that separates Christianity from every other religion in the world. The American gospel films contrast the false teaching so prevalent today to true biblical Christianity. For a limited time, we are offering both films for a donation of $30 or more to The Christian Worldview.

Regular retail is $17.99 each. To order, go to thechristianworldview.org or call 1-888-646-2233 or write to Box 401 Excelsior, Minnesota 55331. Be sure to take advantage of two free resources that will keep you informed and sharpen your worldview. The first is The Christian Worldview Weekly Email which comes to your inbox each Friday. It contains a preview of the upcoming radio program along with need-to-read articles, featured resources, special events, and audio of the previous program. The second is The Christian Worldview Annual Print Letter which is delivered to your mailbox in November. It contains a year-end letter from host David Wheaton and a listing of our store items including DVDs, books, children's materials, and more. You can sign up for the weekly email and annual print letter by visiting thechristianworldview.org or calling 1-888-646-2233.

Your email and mailing address will never be shared and you can unsubscribe at any time. Call 1-888-646-2233 or visit thechristianworldview.org. Today's broadcast of The Christian Worldview was previously aired. Just a reminder that The Christian Worldview Speaker Series event is coming up very quickly now on Friday, May 10th, 2019, 7 p.m. Central Time at University of Northwestern St. Paul. Our featured speaker is going to be Curtis Bowers, the producer of the Agenda films and how socialism is impacting the country and the church. We're just praying for a really good event and hope you are too, and we're looking forward to that. Hope you can come to that. You're invited, no cost, no registration.

If you don't live in the area, don't live in the Twin Cities, you can watch it live on Facebook. So it should be a really good event and you can find out more at our website thechristianworldview.org. Today in the program we're talking about a very interesting, I wouldn't say it was a debate, I guess it was a bit of a debate, but it wasn't a contentious discussion between Dennis Prager, Jewish radio host, and Christian pastor Alistair Begg, talking about a range of issues, of theological issues, and we're playing some sound bites from that today. The whole thing, by the way, and I really highly encourage you to watch it.

When I saw it, I was like, this is just really interesting, just learning a lot and really impressed with both of them. But particularly with Alistair Begg, because he really, really articulated the biblical worldview very, very well. And that's tough to do, you know, just on your feet, don't know what's coming, and to be able to really precisely articulate the finer points of theology and be accurate, accurately handle the word of truth, as 1 Timothy says, that is a hard thing to do. So let's get now to the second part of the conversation, we have plenty of sound bites here today, where they got more into the big difference, as we talked in the title today, clarifying the only two religious options, works-based versus grace-based. All religions are based on works, only biblical Christianity is based on God doing something for us, man not being able to do anything to earn God favor. That doesn't mean we don't do good works, but they have nothing to do with or being reconciled to being made right with God.

Okay, here's Dennis Prager. The second volume of my rational Bible, which, by the way, I'm very honored and delighted, and not surprised, to be honest, the Christian reception of my Bible commentary has been extraordinary, and you can see that on Amazon, over 500 reviews, mostly from Christians, who have actually had their faith strengthened. By the way, I just want to say, for the record, there are very few, I'm very proud of this fact, and it's a strange life, if you will, very few pastors are as responsible for the number of people who have come back to church as this Jew is. I just want to say that for the record.

I also want to add, because this is really important, I'm delighted by that fact. If Christianity fails in the West, the West is over. If Christianity fails in the West, the West is over. I am as committed to the success of Christianity in the West as the most fervent evangelical Christian or Catholic in this auditorium, because I know what will happen. The breakdown that is happening because Christianity is breaking down, churches are closing at some regular rate, weekly, monthly.

So please understand where I come from. Now back to the theology. I believe that God wants the world to come to Mount Sinai. Mount Sinai is where the Ten Commandments were given to Moses.

I believe that that is for the whole world. Any religion that brings the world to the God of Sinai and the Ten Commandments of Sinai is my ally. At its best, Christianity didn't always do this. But at its best, like American Christianity, that is what it does. So to me, I have long ago believed that Jesus was the vehicle of my God, the God of Sinai, to bring the world to Sinai. The Jews, as it were, needed help. We haven't done a great job bringing the world to Sinai. We did a great job introducing this world into the world, and then because of a whole host of reasons, both internal and external anti-Semitism, we didn't do the job that was, I believe, incumbent upon Jews to bring the world to God and Sinai. Christians have taken that up, and the greatest Jewish philosopher who ever lived, Maimonides, in the 12th century wrote, Christianity has brought the world to the Torah.

So this is a traditional Jewish view. We, in my view, are allies in God's work in this world. Okay, there's a lot in that particular statement by Dennis Prager in this event, probably too much to go over in just a few minutes here, but I don't know what the rational Bible is.

I know that he's written, I don't know whether it contains a New Testament. He said the Christian reception has been extraordinary. I'm not sure why that would be for a man who does not believe in and who teaches against the divinity of Christ. What kind of a Bible is a Bible without the divinity of Christ? But anyway, that's beside the point for the purposes of what he said next, that he's an ally of Christians, and that is telling because his priority, he said he's committed to the success of Christianity in this world.

Why does he say that? Because the biggest thing for Dennis Prager is the earthly kingdom, this earthly kingdom on earth. It's the continuation of the Jewish people. It's the continuation of freedom in the West. It's the continuation of America. And you know what? Those are all really important things.

Those are all really good things. I think every single Christian wants to see those things continue. We don't want to live in an oppressive state like China or the former Soviet Union or Russia or places like that.

We don't even want to live in a socialistic state where there's a heavy-handed government intrusion into our lives. We want religious freedom. That's why this country was founded. So Christians can say, yes, that's a priority to us, but it's not the top priority to us as it is to Dennis Prager. The top priority for Christians, according to the Word of God, is the Great Commission.

Go into all the world and preach the gospel, make disciples, teaching them all I commanded you. That is the heavenly kingdom. God's kingdom is the top priority.

So that's very important to understand. Dennis Prager's top priority is earthly kingdom. Christians' top priority is the God's kingdom. And then, oh, by the way, yes, there is a priority there of the earthly kingdom as well. And he also talked about Jesus being the vehicle of my God to bring the world to Sinai.

There's a very direct commentary on, again, his works-based religion. You know, if we can get people to keep the law, that will make people better, and the world would be a better place. Of course, James 2 says, whoever keeps the whole law stumbles in one point and has become guilty of all.

You can keep the law great. Keep nine of the Ten Commandments. You can just do a great thing, but you're still not right before God.

You need—and Dennis Prager should know this because of the sacrificial system. You're still a sinner, and you need a sacrifice. You need to have that sin forgiven. He probably does know that, but I'm sure he has some explanation for why his sin is forgiven. I think it's probably, my good outweighs my bad.

That's what I'm thinking. That's really the only position, if Christ is not the sacrifice for sin. It's just, I have to do more good than bad, and who's the good according to?

Is it just according to my opinion, or whose opinion? Problem is, we're all condemned under sin. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. So he talked about Christians and Jews being allies, but they're allies on the second most important issue, the kingdom of man. But they're not allies on the most important issue, which is the kingdom of God, which entails the salvation of souls.

So let's see what Alistair Begg now, how'd he respond to what Dennis Prager just said. I'm happy to be an ally with Dennis for a number of reasons, but I would actually challenge what he has just said, that the purpose of the Bible as it unfolds is clearly not for the world to be brought to Sinai, but for the world to be brought to Christ, and that the temple in Jerusalem, which represented both the presence of God and the ongoing plans of God, is no longer the place to which men and women are coming. Because Jesus infuriated the Jewish people of his day by announcing to them, you know, you could tear down this temple, and in three days it will be built again. And they said, it's taken so long to build a temple. He said, but you don't understand.

I am the temple. And when you push all the way in the— Part of the issue for Dennis and what he said is, the Messiah can't have come because these things haven't yet happened. Well, there's a telescopic element to it. It's a bit like hill climbing.

When you get to the top of one hill, you think you're there, and you look, and there's another one. When you read the progressive story through the Bible, you realize that what has already taken place in Christ as the Messiah is not the ultimate fulfillment of that purpose, so that the lion will lie down with the lamb, so that the Messiah will then come, not now in ignominy and in apparent defeat, but in power and in glory. So that when you get to the book of Revelation, there is no temple. There is no temple.

Why? Because the presence of God is now embodied in the person of his only Son. And that, of course, brings us then to the very aspect that Dennis is addressing, which is the Trinitarian aspect of what we believe in terms of the revelation of God.

So that there's a fundamental difference. Jesus challenged the Jewish people of his day when he said to them, If you believed Moses, you would actually believe me. And so for somebody like Dennis to say, you know, I'm the Moses man, and therefore, then Jesus would say to Dennis what he said to the Jews of his day, If you really believe Moses, you would believe me. That's exactly right. I mean, keep in mind, he's sitting right next to Dennis Prager.

Dennis Prager's hearing all of this sitting right next to Alistair Begg. If you believed in Moses, you would believe in me. The law is a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. It condemns all under sin. And so we have no hope. It's the bad news.

There's God's standard, the law. Well, can you keep it? Of course not. No one can keep it. It's impossible to keep. And so, well, now what do I do? I have all this sin. I've offended a holy God.

What do I do? Do an animal sacrifice? That's not going to be a lasting covering for sin. That's why Jesus Christ came. To pay the penalty, we couldn't pay for our sin.

To make the sacrifice, we couldn't make. The perfect man, the perfect God came to die for the sins of mankind so that we could be right with God. He keeps us pointing to Christ over and over and over again. Christ isn't in just the New Testament.

He's all over the old as well. More after this on the Christian worldview. The critical race theory and intersectionality are simply analytical tools. They're meant to be used as tools, not as a worldview. Not a transcended worldview above the authority of scripture. And we stand by the strength of this resolution. Is the Southern Baptist Convention diverging from biblical orthodoxy over issues of women teaching men, homosexuality, and critical race theory?

Is this a bellwether of what's coming to your church? By what standard is a 110-minute DVD documentary about the battle taking place in the SBC? You can receive the DVD for a donation of any amount to The Christian Worldview. To order, go to thechristianworldview.org or call 1-888-646-2233 or write to Box 401, Excelsior, Minnesota, 55331. David Wheaton here to tell you about My Boy Ben, a story of love, loss, and grace.

Ben was a yellow lab and inseparable companion at a stage in my life when I was single and competing on the professional tennis tour. I invite you to enter into the story and its tapestry of relationships with Ben, my aging parents, with a childhood friend I would finally marry, and ultimately with God, who caused all things, even the hard things, to work together for good. Order the book for your friend who needs to hear about God's grace and the gospel or the one who has gone through a difficult trial or loss or just a dog lover in your life. The signed and personalized copies are only available at myboyben.com or by calling 1-888-646-2233.

That's 1-888-646-2233 or myboyben.com. Today's broadcast of The Christian Worldview was previously aired. Think biblically and live accordingly. That is the motto of The Christian Worldview radio program. If you're just joining us, the mission of the show is to sharpen the biblical worldview of Christians and to share the good news that all people can be reconciled to God through faith in Jesus Christ.

That is the purpose of what we try to pick topics and where we try to get to every single week on the program. So if you are right with God, if you come to saving faith in Christ as your Savior and Lord, we hope that your biblical worldview is sharpened by listening to this program week by week. And if you're today listening and you haven't come to that point of faith in Christ as your Savior and Lord, who He is, what He did for you, we're glad you're listening. We're glad you're here.

Welcome. And we want to give the evidence and persuade you and encourage you, exhort you that Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me. And as we talk about the many religious ways out there today, different religions, spiritualities, they really can be divided into two categories. One huge category, the vast majority except for one, is the works-based, where we do things to earn favor with God or favor with man and live a better life.

It's what we do. It's based on self-righteousness. Biblical Christianity, the one way, is based on Christ's righteousness imputed on our behalf. In other words, when we put our faith in what Jesus, His work, not our own work, but what Jesus' work on the cross on our behalf, paying the price for our sin that we deserve to pay, put our faith in Him, not in our own works, God forgives us and He also imputes or credits us with Christ's perfect righteousness. That's the basis on which we can be right with God. And that's being shown very clearly in this debate or discussion between Dennis Prager, Jewish radio host, and Alistair Begg, Christian pastor today, that we're featuring sound bites of on the Christian Real View. And so this next couple sound bites really makes this point clear about the means of salvation, works versus grace or faith.

Those two contrasts are made very clear. Let's get first to Dennis Prager, where he says he really doesn't, he's not a fan of theology at all. He's a fan of morality. Right. So therefore, you're right. I never claimed there's no differences. If there were no differences, we would both be either Jewish or Christian. The differences are more significant to Christians than they are to me.

I admit it. I don't really care. I am not a theology fan. I am a morality and God fan. In Micah, God says, O man, and not O Jew, O man, Adam, he uses, Adam, the human being. O human being, have I not told you all I want? Pursue justice, love, mercy, and walk humbly with your God. So if Christians bring people to that, even though your aim is to bring people to Christ, that's fine with me.

I just want to know what do you produce? Do the Christians in America that I know produce, as a rule, fine families, good people, not perfect, there is no such things, perfect people. Yes. Are you the Jews only allies as a group? Yes. Are you Israel's only allies as a group? Yes. Are you the foundation upon which America was founded because it was Christians coming from Europe that founded this country? Yes. So we differ theologically.

Fine. The truth is it bothers you more than me because I realize this was fascinating. It was a revelation to me. My first radio was the moderator of an extremely popular show in L.A., Religion on the Line on ABC Radio.

And it was a priest, minister, rabbi each week, different ones each week. And finally, I did this for 10 years, and it was an immersion in Christian thought for 10 years. And I realized, I said to a pastor one day, I now realize you are in much more pain than I am because you like me, Dennis. You think I'm doing God's work in many ways, and yet you feel I will not be saved, and this truly bothers you. And he said, that's right, it really does bother me. And since then, first of all, the number of Christians who say they pray for my salvation or just pray for me is very large, and I'm very touched. Some Jews are offended when they hear, oh, I pray for you to come to Christ.

I'm not offended in the least. You do it out of love, you're not doing it out of anger or hate. So I accept it as such.

But that pain belongs to you, not to me. I believe God judges people on behavior. And therefore, I know you're going to go to heaven to the extent that I can read good behavior on a good God, but you don't know that I will or fear that I won't. And I feel for you.

But please understand this troubles you much more than me. I judge, as Jesus said, I believe it's Jesus, I judge by fruit. I don't have Mormon theology. I tremendously admire Mormons.

They have produced a beautiful family life. I have asked people over and over, if you had to have a business deal, and you knew nothing about the person, and you knew that they could ruin you if they were dishonest, would you want an X or Y, a Z or a Mormon? And how often people say, I would rather do the business deal with a Mormon. Having no theological consistency with that person.

That is all I care about. That, to me, true religion is religion that makes good people who are God-fearing, keep the Ten Commandments and the like. That's what true religion is to me.

Okay, that is a very sad and tragic commentary by a very smart and helpful man, unfortunately. Basically, he's a universalist, is what he's saying there. It doesn't matter about, he doesn't care about theology.

I'm not a theology fan. Again, the study of God, who is God? What does he want?

How do we approach him? He's a morality and God fan. Well, he's misrepresenting God because God is a theology fan. He demands that we worship him a certain way, that we come to him a certain way through Christ.

You can't get to him other ways. Jesus himself said that. Nor is there salvation in anyone else. There is no other name under heaven by which man must be saved.

It can't be more clear than that. So he's a universalist. It's fine if you're Mormon, you're Jewish, you're Muslim. It's all about the fruit, he said, of your life. If you're moral and you keep the Ten Commandments, that's good enough. But it's impossible.

What do you produce? He said your pain for him, not being saved, being right with God through Christ, troubles you more than me. That's so incredibly sad and tragic. He doesn't realize this is not what God reveals in his Word from the Old Testament to the New Testament. Look at Isaiah 53, the suffering servant.

It's incontrovertible who that is being written about 700 years in advance. I believe God judges non-behavior. Well, that's what He believes, but what He believes doesn't really matter. It has to be based on the Word of God. It doesn't matter what I believe, what my opinions are. It doesn't matter what Alistair Begg's opinions or beliefs are. It matters what an unchangeable source of truth says. We can't base it on what we believe, what we want to believe.

Alistair Begg then responds to this. With all due respect to you, what true religion is to you is not the issue, nor is it what it is to me the issue. We're talking here about, at the very foundational level, the identity of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus makes the most outrageous claims. He's not just a way. He's the way. He's the light of the world. He's the shepherd of the sheep. He's the bread of life.

Anybody who makes claims like that is either going to have to substantiate them or hang his head in shame. When John writes of it in the most famous verse in the New Testament, he says, For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that whoever believes in him would not perish but have everlasting life. God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He who has the Son has life. He who does not have the Son of God does not have life. Now, at the very heart of any discussion like this is the question. How believable, then, are the words of Jesus? And you do it in a wonderful way, because I enjoy you on the radio, and I understand what you do, and it's very disarming and endearing to all of us who are Christian people.

It's no surprise to me, and I like it very, very much. But it's not very different from the average sort of well-heeled person in suburban Cleveland, whose view goes something like this. A good God, if he exists, will reward nice people for doing their best.

And they'll say, That is my view, that God is grading on the curve, and although I'm not a horrible person, there are a lot of people who are really horrible people, and so I might get at least a B, if not a B+. Well, so what? We're still back at the claims of Jesus of Nazareth. We're at, not simply at Palm Sunday, which is today, but we're at the question of the resurrection. I drove up here with a gentleman in the early hours of this morning who picked me up from LAX, and we weren't in the car very long before he announced to me that he was a Muslim. And he said, I want you to tell me about Jesus.

So I did my best, and eventually we had to come to the same point of departure. We have to come to terms with the identity of Jesus of Nazareth. If he is the person he claimed to be, the Son of God, then we've got a discussion. If he's not, then sure, externalism, morality, good deeds, trying to make the place as good as we can for as long as we can—all of that works. But all of that can happen without religion as well as with religion. That was Alistair Begg talking about the issue of who Christ is, and is really religion just all about being moral?

And is that, you know, like Meg Prager said, I believe God judges on behavior alone. One thing nice about doing this program today is that I can make a little commentary, and then you can play the sound by Alistair Begg and have someone articulate the truth far better than I could. Hope you're enjoying the program today. We have more sound bites coming up right after this final break of the day in the Christian worldview.

Stay tuned. There's an abundance of resources available in Christian bookstores and online, but the sad reality is that many of them, even some of the most popular, do not lead to a sound and strong faith. A key aim of the Christian worldview is to identify and offer resources that are biblically faithful and deepen your walk with God. In our online store, we have a wide range of resources for all ages—adult and children's books and DVDs, Bibles and devotionals, unique gifts, and more. So browse our store at thechristianworldview.org and find enriching resources for yourself, family, friends, small group, or church. You can also order by calling our office toll-free at 1-888-646-2233.

That's 1-888-646-2233. Or visit thechristianworldview.org. It is a pain to know that there are people who do not know Jesus. It is a greater pain to know that oftentimes Jesus and Christianity is being distorted. Your destiny is calling out.

It's time to start living large. I don't think God killed Jesus. That's a sick God and a sick story. This is the doctrine of Christianity. This is the doctrine that separates Christianity from every other religion in the world. The American Gospel films contrast the false teachings so prevalent today to true biblical Christianity. For a limited time, we are offering both films for a donation of $30 or more to The Christian Worldview.

Regular retail is $17.99 each. To order, go to thechristianworldview.org or call 1-888-646-2233 or write to Box 401, Excelsior, Minnesota 55331. Today's broadcast of The Christian Worldview was previously aired. Okay, final segment of the day here on The Christian Worldview radio program.

I'm David Wheaton, the host. Our website is thechristianworldview.org and you can go there to look at some of our current offers to support the program. We are a listener supported ministry. You can sign up for a free weekly email and of course our speaker series event is coming up on Friday, May 10th. Love to have you come to that 7 p.m. University of Northwestern St. Paul streaming live on Facebook. It's at 7 p.m. Central Time for listeners outside our time zone and Curtis Bowers will be speaking on socialism followed by a Q&A session that will probably turn into a radio program as well to record some of the follow-up content with Curtis right after he speaks. I hope to see you there.

No registration, no cost by the way. Okay, we only have one segment left so I have a lot of sound bites left but we're going to maybe have to get to some more next week. This is very interesting. Again, you can learn a lot from someone like Alistair Begg who's really articulating a clear understanding of a biblical worldview Old Testament, New Testament, who Christ is and also Dennis Prager can learn a lot as well too because he's saying things. He's articulating the works-based religious worldview very well as well. Okay, let's get next as they talk about Prager starts to get into what is faith. Is that you've been proselytized so much like a battleship that we're throwing pebbles at. We can't possibly get through because you've like batted away a thousand bad arguments.

What do you think? They're not bad arguments. They're arguments of faith. I believe, for example, I believe that God split the sea to let the Israelites through and then close the sea again and drown the Egyptian army. I don't try to persuade anybody that that happened because I know it's a statement of faith.

I try to persuade people that there is a God, that therefore there's meaning and morality in life. Otherwise, it's all random and there's no difference between murder and Mother Teresa. But I know what I believe that is a statement of faith and I acknowledge that. There is a room for faith that isn't provable. If faith were provable, then it wouldn't be called faith.

It would be called proof. And we religious people don't look good if we offer something of faith well. Dennis, if you just think clearly, you undoubtedly would understand that God has a son.

You can't say that. You can say, you personally have every reason to believe that Jesus of Nazareth is God's Son, God's only begotten Son and died for our sins, and I admire that belief. But you can't say that sheer logic, just a read of the Bible leads to that because that leads to the Jews really are blind. And it can only ultimately lead to the medieval Christian hatred of Jews. You really do have the devil for a father. That is what was said to Jews. You gave us, he's a Jew, came to you, and you didn't even see him.

You are sick. That's really, if push comes to shove, that is really what might be implied here. As opposed to, this is my faith and I, Dennis, will judge your faith solely, solely by what you produce. That's it.

There was no other criterion. I do it with my fellow Jews and I do it with Christians. What is the fruit of your faith? In medieval Europe, it was pretty awful.

In America, it is spectacular. Okay, again, universalism. What is the fruit of your faith, whether it's in Allah or whether it's in a false god or whether it's in Buddha?

What's the fruit of it? Are you moral? Do you keep the Ten Commandments?

Are you good to your fellow human being? That's all I care about. That is not what the Bible cares about. The Bible, there is an object, there has to be an object of faith. And the object of faith is what Jesus did on our behalf. So he says faith is improvable. You know, everyone is a person of faith, by the way, even the most rank secular person in the world who is an atheist and hates God and so forth. They're a person of faith. They have no, they're putting faith in what they cannot prove about that God doesn't exist and how the world came to be and what's going to happen afterwards.

Nothing's going to happen. It's all faith. They have no evidence for any of that. Matter of fact, they have greater faith. It takes less faith to believe what God has revealed in scripture based on the natural world around us, based on our conscience, based on, based on the resurrection of Christ, the works of Christ, the eyewitnesses to that takes far less faith. Yes, there is an element of faith. Of course, God's test for man is always faith in what he revealed to us.

So how is Alistair Begg going to be answering that position by Dennis Prager? I hope that you're not arguing that your faith creates the exodus, that the exodus is a validity because it is for you an expression of faith. I believe there was an actual exodus, that the Red Sea was parted, as it is described for us in the Bible, so that faith in faith is nothing other than faith in faith. The question is, is there a basis for this faith?

Are we dealing with real history in real time with real people? If we are, then we have a foundation upon which to make our statements of faith. That's why one of the finest Jewish fellows of the first century, Saul of Tarsus, finally says, If Christ is not risen, then your faith is futile.

Now, what he was actually saying was, all that really matters is your faith. Whether there's a basis for it or not is neither here nor there. The claim of Christianity is that it is historical, that it is rational, and that it is empirical—that it can be put to the test, that the evidence of the New Testament for the resurrection of Jesus has to be interacted with. When the great arch-atheist wrote his book Dawkins, he never interacted for more than a page with the question of the resurrection of Jesus. He dismissed him out of hand, which was intellectually impoverished, and it was logically wrong. And so we can't get away with simply saying, It's just a matter of faith, and you can determine whether the person was a nice guy or not, because we're not left with that as an option.

We aren't. The claims of Christ, the works of Christ, the evidence for God, the evidence for Christ does not leave us with any other option but to say, Am I going to put my faith in this based on all the evidence? It's not faith in faith or faith in the unlikely blind faith that, Oh, this is just nice stories.

No, no. As Begg said, it's real history, real time, real people. Is there a basis for my faith?

What is the foundation? It's not faith for the sake of faith. Prager said, Faith is improvable. Well, you can't prove in a scientific experiment, observe and reproduce it how God created the world. But the evidence all leads to that particular conclusion. It's the same thing for Christ as well. All the evidence of who he is, what he said, what he did, the miracles rising from the dead, the witnesses, all lead to the foundation of saying, That man, the God man, is worthy of me putting my faith in for salvation to be right with God. That is what God has revealed. Thank you for listening to the Christian worldview today.

Maybe we'll get into more of this next week. Just think it's a fastening way to sharpen our biblical worldview and understand what the gospel is and what it's not. It's not based on our works. It's based on grace. But through faith, lest any man should boast. Until next weekend, everyone, think biblically and live accordingly. We hope today's broadcast turned your heart toward God, his word and his son. To order a CD copy of today's program or sign up for our free weekly email or to find out how you can be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ, go to our website, the Christian worldview.org or call us toll free at 1-888-646-2233. The Christian worldview is a weekly one hour radio program that is furnished by the Overcomer Foundation and is supported by listeners and sponsors. Request one of our current resources with your donation of any amount. Go to the Christian worldview.org or call us toll free at 1-888-646-2233 or write to us at Box 401 Excelsior, Minnesota 55331. That's Box 401 Excelsior, Minnesota 55331. Thanks for listening to the Christian worldview. Until next time, think biblically and live accordingly.