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[3723.20 --> 3723.88] have you been reading
[3723.88 --> 3724.60] myths and legends
[3724.60 --> 3725.64] such that you can tell
[3725.64 --> 3727.14] when one is one
[3727.14 --> 3728.70] by the flavor that it has?
[3729.80 --> 3730.64] And then he goes on,
[3730.68 --> 3730.98] he says,
[3731.06 --> 3732.28] I've spent my whole life
[3732.28 --> 3733.18] in these stories
[3733.18 --> 3734.36] and writing these stories,
[3734.52 --> 3736.88] and this isn't one of them.
[3736.88 --> 3741.30] This account has all the hallmarks
[3741.30 --> 3744.32] of being true history.
[3747.08 --> 3747.82] And again,
[3748.60 --> 3750.46] just so we're clear,
[3751.02 --> 3752.18] there are some who will say,
[3752.28 --> 3753.60] well, it happened so far back
[3753.60 --> 3754.22] in the past,
[3754.30 --> 3755.04] we cannot know
[3755.04 --> 3757.20] that it is true or accurate.
[3757.58 --> 3758.24] And I want to say,
[3758.34 --> 3760.50] well, let's be fair in that.
[3760.94 --> 3761.80] And so here's an example.
[3762.76 --> 3762.98] Maybe,
[3763.38 --> 3764.32] I'm a student of history,
[3764.42 --> 3765.34] and so I like this example,
[3765.34 --> 3766.38] but maybe you've heard
[3766.38 --> 3768.08] of the Gaelic War, right?
[3768.12 --> 3768.78] The Gaelic War
[3768.78 --> 3769.66] is the expansion
[3769.66 --> 3771.38] of the Roman Empire
[3771.38 --> 3772.62] by none other
[3772.62 --> 3773.68] than Julius Caesar
[3773.68 --> 3775.74] into the region of Gaul,
[3775.80 --> 3776.56] which is now sort of
[3776.56 --> 3778.02] central and northern Europe.
[3778.30 --> 3779.46] Happened in 50 BC.
[3780.38 --> 3782.08] The primary source
[3782.08 --> 3783.10] that we have
[3783.10 --> 3784.62] for the Gaelic War
[3784.62 --> 3786.38] is the account
[3786.38 --> 3788.96] written by Julius Caesar himself
[3788.96 --> 3791.46] as a third-person narrative.
[3792.70 --> 3793.60] So let me make this clear.
[3794.06 --> 3795.26] Julius Caesar, right?
[3795.26 --> 3795.96] He writes the events
[3795.96 --> 3796.90] about himself,
[3797.04 --> 3798.00] about his expansion.
[3798.38 --> 3800.22] He does so as a story
[3800.22 --> 3801.72] in the third person,
[3802.18 --> 3803.64] and modern historians
[3803.64 --> 3805.74] for the last countless years
[3805.74 --> 3807.78] have treated it as true
[3807.78 --> 3808.66] and accurate.
[3809.82 --> 3810.66] And yet,
[3811.18 --> 3812.38] here's what we also know.
[3812.96 --> 3813.72] There are fewer
[3813.72 --> 3814.66] what are called
[3814.66 --> 3815.96] manuscript copies
[3815.96 --> 3818.08] of Caesar's account
[3818.08 --> 3819.50] than there are
[3819.50 --> 3820.42] of the New Testament,
[3820.42 --> 3821.54] and it's even further
[3821.54 --> 3822.62] back in history,
[3822.76 --> 3823.94] and yet for so many people,
[3823.94 --> 3824.64] for some of us,
[3824.92 --> 3827.32] it's more trusted.
[3828.06 --> 3828.92] But if we applied
[3828.92 --> 3830.40] the same sorts of rules
[3830.40 --> 3832.02] for authority and acceptance
[3832.02 --> 3833.36] or the same sort of
[3833.36 --> 3836.40] historiographical requirements
[3836.40 --> 3838.76] that we do to Julius Caesar,
[3839.12 --> 3839.74] what we would see
[3839.74 --> 3841.14] is that the Gospels of Jesus'
[3841.40 --> 3842.04] life, death,
[3842.12 --> 3843.12] and resurrection
[3843.12 --> 3845.50] should be just as widely accepted,
[3845.78 --> 3846.98] as accurate and true,
[3846.98 --> 3849.18] as the Gaelic wars are.
[3850.90 --> 3851.66] Like I said,
[3852.56 --> 3853.24] the resurrection
[3853.24 --> 3855.12] has all the hallmarks
[3855.12 --> 3857.38] of being a true story.
[3861.44 --> 3863.24] But here's what I
[3863.24 --> 3865.06] also realize.
[3866.96 --> 3868.28] The real reason
[3868.28 --> 3869.78] that people struggle
[3869.78 --> 3871.12] to believe the resurrection
[3871.12 --> 3874.58] probably isn't
[3874.58 --> 3875.84] actually intellectual.
[3877.08 --> 3878.14] It's probably not
[3878.14 --> 3879.88] an academic problem.
[3880.98 --> 3882.14] It's a heart problem.
[3883.32 --> 3885.30] When it comes right down to it,
[3885.66 --> 3887.08] people don't believe
[3887.08 --> 3887.64] in Jesus,
[3887.76 --> 3888.90] not because they struggle
[3888.90 --> 3889.80] with whether or not
[3889.80 --> 3890.36] he's real