Transcript for:
Sources of Christian Authority

hello to you I do hope you're well welcome to this video revising for the first topic on the AQA paper 2 exam we are looking at Christianity and as I say we are looking today at the first topic which is sources of wisdom and Authority so we have got nine topics to cover in terms of our AQA paper 2 revision and this one is so important it really does lay the foundations for everything that we talk about across the paper two topic so whatever questions do come up on the paper to Christianity exam I really do feel confident that you'll be able to bring in some of the key thinkers the key quotes and some of the key points that we've looked at in today's video so yes I'm really looking forward to unpacking and exploring the key topics on sources of wisdom and authority and of course the three topics we are focusing on are the Bible Church and Jesus Christ himself as sources of wisdom and other Authority for Christians so we are working through our consolidation sheet so we've got 35 questions to cover so do make sure that you've collect on the link in the description box below in order to access all nine of the consolidation sheets and make sure you have found the sources of wisdom and Authority one I really think it's up to you in terms of how you work through this for example you might want to actually pause the video now and have a go at completing the consolidation sheet on your own just to see how much you already know and how much you can already remember and then you might like to then actually go through the sheet as we go through the questions in this video and add to your notes if you see what I mean so yes make sure you've got a Penta hand if you highlighters maybe a few Post-it notes for key quotes and let's get started shall we by revising our very first topic for paper two very excited about this guys make sure you've got the snacks make sure you've got the stationery and let's get started shall we we've got 35 questions let's do that so my first question is a very simple one it is what is the Bible of course the Bible is our Christian holy book but we want a bit more detail than that don't we so I've asked you to give me at least two facts and I've got a few for you here that it might be quite nice to drop into an essay in a01 or an ao2 essay if you are talking about the Bible as a source of wisdom and Authority so it is the Christian Holy Scripture made up of 66 books in Protestant Bibles and 73 books in Catholic Bibles and of course a lot of today's video will be looking at this key difference between Protestants and their views on sources of wisdom and authority and Catholics in their view on sources of wisdom and Authority it is therefore a key source of wisdom and Authority for Christians and the Bible is absolutely key as a source of wisdom and Authority for both Protestants and Catholics it is the sole source of Authority for Protestants that key solar scripture a doctorate in and also very important for Catholics remember for Catholics the Bible scripture is equally as important to church tradition and the teachings of the church for example the Pope's encyclicals and the catechism of the Catholic church but more on that to come in terms of the Bible itself it split into the Old Testament and the New Testament and of course uh you know the stories about Jesus the gospels are in the New Testament along with Paul vlades as well in terms of the etymology of the word just in case you were wondering it is from the Latin Biblia which means the books and that is really important to remember that the Bible is a collection of books it's very much a library of literature isn't it we've got all sorts of different genres within the Bible it was written we think by around 40 different writers over the course of 1 500 to 1 600 years so you know an enormous amount of time there actually in between the authoring of the first text which is Genesis and then the final text which is the Book of Revelation now as of 1995 did you know this 5 billion copies have been sold or distributed worldwide and that figure of course continuing to grow it is also fun fact for you the most shoplifted book in the world as well and over 100 million copies are printed every year so yes the Bible is by a long way the best-selling book in history and we're going to be looking at why that might be why it is so important for uh Christians today so my next question to you is what is the difference between the Old and New Testament so very quickly the Old Testament is the original Hebrew Bible the sacred scripture of course of the Jewish people and it is from uh Judaism that Christianity very much emerged remember Christianity is based on Jesus Christ Jesus Christ was actually a Jew it's held the fifth part of the story that's why it's called the Old Testament beginning of course with the creation of the world that very important story in Genesis which opens with that brilliant bold declaration that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth now the Old Testament contains many laws including of course the Ten Commandments in Exodus and it also contains prophetic books um which contain insights of individuals into God's purposes for Israel remember God making that Sinai Covenant through Moses with the Israelites and a lot of significance for Christians is found in the book of Isaiah which prophesied for the Messiah who uh obviously Christians believe Jesus to be the New Testament then was written after the life and death of Jesus and it's very much about the the life death and of course then the resurrection and Ascension of Jesus the four gospels um are Matthew Mark Luke and John and they of course tell the story of his birth his miraculous birth he is the Incarnation remember his life his death on the craft as a sacrifice and for the forgive business of humanity then and then of course his resurrection the foundational event of Christianity and now these of course contain his key moral teaching such as The Sermon on the Mount of course and the parable of the sheep and the goats as well as key moments in his life such as those celebrated at Christmas which is of course about his birth in Bethlehem that key Christian story of the Nativity um and then Easter of course where he is killed on Good Friday and then he rises from the dead on Easter Sunday the book of Acts is also very important because it tells the story of the early church including Saint Paul's conversion to Christianity remember the importance of Paul you know he's 13 letters in the New Testament Canon which is so important for Christians and it also talks about the arrival of the Holy Spirit of course at Pentecost the third person of the Trinity Scentsy wear after the Ascension of Jesus and who is believed to be God's active presence in the world today and we'll talk much more about the Holy Spirit and Trinity in The God video which is the next video in this series they pulled letters that I've mentioned they contain key theological and ethical teachings about Jesus about ethics for example and and another important one that we talk about on this course is the Epistle of James of course which teaches that faith without work seems dead so a great piece of scripture to be referring to when you're talking about justification by work for example and then the final book of the Bible the Book of Revelation which uses graphic imagery to describe the last judgment now very important when you're thinking about the Bible to think about each structure and we call it a comedic structure not because it's a comedy and you're meant to be laughing out loud every flipping verse that you read but because of its structure in terms of everything starts well there's then a big problem but then there is a restoration there is a Redemption so in terms of the structure and of course things start well with creation God creates the world and it is good but then we have the fall and that is so so important for understanding Christian thinking and understanding the Christian religion because the fall of Adam and Eve Eve you know the starting point of the story isn't it we find this in Genesis and that fall then this Theta takes the Incarnation doesn't it because it's because of the Fall that's sin and death enter the world and that is why Jesus then have to enter the world himself in order to sacrifice his life on the cross in order to bring about that atonement in order to be the sacrificial lamb who is killed on the cross for the sake of humanity for the Forgiveness of humanity things and so it's really important to consider that connection between the Old and New Testaments that it's in the Old Testament that we have the fall where Adam and Eve sin and bring sin and death into the world and then in the New Testament Jesus arrives to save the day to secure salvation through his death on the cross and then his resurrection the really important to be looking at the connections and of course as I said before that connection between Old and New Testaments Isaiah which is readily read in church services it is all about providing a prophecy for Jesus coming you know the things we read in Isaiah Christians believe are fulfilled by Jesus the Christ the Messiah and we're going to talk about Jesus a lot more towards the end of this video okay question three for you then and the question is explain the meaning of Saint Paul's teaching that all scripture is God breathed that's a really great quote you remember to memorize and to use in the exam and therefore useful for teaching rebuking correcting and training in righteousness and this is from his letter to Timothy so this is the idea that scripture and that means everything contained in the Bible is the word of God now remember the Gospel of John describes Jesus as the word doesn't it it describes him as the word who became flesh and made his dwelling among us but Christians believe but the Bible is the word of God or at least it contains the word of God and we'll talk about that more with bath neo-orthodox approach for example in a moment and but what many Christians believe is that it's the words that have been spoken by God for example Exodus contains the Commandments that he gave therefore and this is important the Bible is seen as the infallible and inerrant word of God because it is from God it cannot be wrong and that then emphasizes the importance of scripture for example for Luther that leads to his solar scripture a doctrine that it is scripture alone that should be our source of wisdom and Authority because it is the word of God it is from the Creator himself and so you know many Christians believe God has spoken through the authors of the text that they've been divinely inspired and so their texts have Divine Authority and so with Paul writes scripture should be used to teach rebuke correct and train people in righteousness in terms of teaching them how to live a good righteous life how to earn salvation and so of course the important point for us is that the Bible is a very important source of wisdom and Authority if not the only thought of wisdom and Authority because it is God breathes and that is of course very important so that leads us on nicely doesn't it to question four which is explain the Evangelical Protestant view on the authority of the Bible and I've said to refer to solar scripture in your answer and solar scriptura is so important as a Doctrine to remember and apply in an exam question on the authority of the Bible so for our Evangelical Protestants remember the word Protestant means protest this uh denomination is all about protesting against the Catholic church and we're going to look at Luther and his protest against the church in more detail very soon but for now I want to share with you a key quote from him Martin Luther said this the true rule is there God's word shall establish articles of faith and no one else not even an angel can do so the idea of solar scripture that means scripture alone and here saying that it is God's word so it is the Bible that should establish articles of Faith so it should establish the things people believe in and nothing else should it is scripture alone that has Authority because it is the word of God this is something reaffirmed by Arthur F wood who said this let us not change the word of God we ourselves should be changed through the word he said it is the standard of scripture that the believer is unable to measure all other teachings apologies for the typos there he says if he's by the standard of scripture that the believer is enabled to measure all other teachings what he's saying is that it is scripture which sets the standard it is scripture which tells us what we should do how we should live and so we should measure everything we do against scripture is everything we do consistent with scripture if it is brilliant well done if it's not we're the ones that need to change we shouldn't try to change scripture we need to change to live in accordance with it because again it is scripture alone that has complete Authority um and so this idea of solar scriptura which is key for Evangelical Protestants is that it is and by that I mean scripture the infallible and inerrant word of God and therefore it is the sole source of authority and we call it solar scripture and one of that Luther's five Solas um and so scripture alone is authoritative for the faith practice and ethics of the Christian the Bible is the complete authoritative source of authority and of course remember at the heart of the Protestant Reformation which led to the Protestant denomination was loses criticism of the Catholic church and one of his criticisms was that they were promoting unbiblical teachings for example the practice of selling indulgences and so loser is saying with this solar scripture a Doctrine we must return to scripture we must depend on scripture alone you should not practice or do anything that is unbiblical now of course we're going to look at the strengths and the weaknesses of this approach the problems that it creates for example but just in terms of question for explaining it for an ao110 marker these are the kind of things Yuri family wants to see that you are telling us that solar scripture means scripture alone because you believe that the Bible is the fully completed package that it contains everything and so we should see it as our standard we should not try to change it we should be changed by it in terms then of our evaluation so thinking of your ao2 Aphasia or 15 markers what are the strengths of this Evangelical Protestant view this Stoler and making up words now do excuse me this solar scripture a Doctrine well our strength could be that key quote we mentioned that Saint Paul writes all scripture is God breathed it is from God who with given Christians the Bible as the guide It's divinely inspired by him and so it makes sense you could say for Christians to treat the Bible as the sole source of authority because it comes from God and of course God is omnipotent omniscient omnipene he is the source of all goodness and so if it's come from God that's surely all that we need thank Paul also writes and this is a really important quote get this on a Post-It note do not go beyond what is written that's in his letter to the Corinthians and this is brilliant when you're sorting when you're sorting when you're talking I really can't speak today when you're talking about the value of stone scriptura because it suggests that all morals ethics wisdom and knowledge is contained within scripture you don't need to go beyond it so again as Arthur S would said it should be the standard by which we measure everything we should use it as our sole source of authority we should never go beyond what is written obviously the problem with that is going to be will scripture was last attitude 2000 years ago you know how do we find guidance in Old scripture about modern contemporary problems like artificial intelligence for example which simply wasn't a thing back when scripture was last added to we could say solar scripture ensures human beings do not ever think their Authority or the authority of an organization such as the church who precedes scripture excuse my spelling there by the way that should be a c in the middle this reflects one of Luther's key criticisms of the Catholic church that the church had developed unbiblical teachings and given it felt greater Authority than scripture and this as I say led to practices such as the selling of indulgences basically thanks people pay us some money and we'll Fast Track you to heaven no matter what you've done and so we could say by believing in the authority of scripture alone this stops humans and their institutions using Christianity for their own advantage to exploit others for example it reminds humans that God Alone is Sovereign that his word alone should have the final say on all moral matters so quite a nice thing to matter ethics as well there actually from paper one and talking about God is the sole source of morality that there is an objective source of morality and that is God and he then reveals that through his um scripture it also avoids incorrect teaching from developing because of course you know you have that completed scripture that has to be the standard by which we measure all other things we could say it provides one authoritative source of moral Authority and guidance it prevents morality from becoming a matter of personal preference or opinion and again key link to matter ethics they're a great synoptic link to emotivism and the problems with that because it sets the clear moral standard that can be universally followed you know thinking about Cicero in again ethics when he says there is one law Eternal binding upon all people at all times and you know if we stick to scripture we can have that can't we Martin Luther again said the true rule is this God's word shall establish article for Faith and no one else not even an angel can do so so we've got that idea that we have this very clear thought of belief and teachings and so if we can have that clear Source established there is not going to be ambiguity there's not going to be conflict because actually it's very clear what is expected expected of us and what we need to do in order to achieve salvation however if we think of weaknesses the Bible itself and this is a great weakness never explicitly teaches solar scriptura so if you're you know you're exalting the importance of the Bible and you're saying the Bible tells us everything the Bible doesn't actually tell you to only use the Bible so whilst it does affirm the importance of scripture it never explicitly says that other sources of authority cannot be consulted as well so that's a really clever criticism I think of the solar scripture a doctrine that scripture itself doesn't say it should be the only source of authority we could also say of course scripture was written thousands of years ago it does not retain the Contemporary scientific understandings of you know much of modern life than the universe affected by most Christians today you know most Christians today do accept the big bank and um Evolution as explanations for the origins of the universe and Humanity it does not address contemporary ethical issues such as those raised by new medical advances by artificial contraception modern business practices for example and of course social changes not least those that we've seen in the last few years driven by social media you know there is nothing in the Bible about the morality of tick tock or how you should use Instagram you know the Bible does not speak about these issues so it could be seen as outdated and insufficient if you look at the radical changes we have seen in society and the incredible speed of progress and change we could say the Bible is now outdated you know it belongs to a patriarchal Pastor example as Daphne hampson would say and that's a great link to your uh obviously your religion and gender topic you know so it's stuck in the past it's bound to a patriarchal path it's no longer relevant it can't help us make sense of right and wrong in the 21st century you could say you know actually God has not just decided history ends with the last book of the Bible but actually he continues to interact with the world reveal things to humanity yeah and we see that obviously in the Catholic church because of the idea of Apostolic tradition that the church actually has authority to be Jesus's voice if you like speaking on Modern issues in the modern world tracing that line of authority all the way back to Saint Peter cultural context is another one the Bible was written by human authors in particular contexts they were responding to culturally relative circumstances and issues so for example Paul's letter were written to particular communities based on particular issues he had identified at the time that he was writing to specific people he did not write thinking I don't think two thousand years ago the entire planet two thousand years later sorry the entire planet needs to be doing exactly what I've said and so you know we have to take into account the context in which books were written the audiences they were written for and then the comparison with our context today because we are living in a different context we need to interpret scripture we can't just skip to scripture there needs to be more in terms of our you know our thinking about how a Christian should live in the modern world than just reading letters for example that Saint Paul sent two thousand years ago to particular people for example through the people in Corinth or to Timothy and and finally we could say actually scripture was never supposed to be taken as literally true it's not meant to be a scientific textbook it's not meant to be a historical document and so we can't just see it as our sole source of authority it needs to be seen as one it's you know an important collection of books but it can't be the be all and end-all you know it features talking snake for example in Genesis people live in hundreds of years and two seemingly contrasting accounts of creation you know Genesis 1 and 2 seem to contradict one another it is a library of different literature by different people God continues we could say to engage with the world and reveal truth to humanity it cannot just be blindly followed It Was Written in a different context it's been translated multiple times since and so it needs to be made sense of and seen as part of a bigger picture and so it's important but it's not as I say the only source of authority you know it was written by particular humans in a particular time period it's not actually 100 infallible we need to be inspired by it perhaps but we can't just rely on it and that could be a really strong disagree argument in terms of you know whether solar scriptura is the correct approach to take okay we're going to take a look now at a bit of a development on that Evangelical Protestant View and it's called of neo-orthodox view because he was a Swiss Protestant Theologian who believed that the Bible is actually not the word of God but he said it contains the word of God because it contains teachings about Jesus now remember Jesus is described by the Gospel of John as the word of God who became flesh and made his dwelling Among Us and of course your key link there is to the doctrine of the Trinity which we talk about in The God video next Now neo-orthodox features to give you some more detail emerged after the first world war and Bob said that scripture is the witness of divine revelation this is really important he did not say that scripture is divine revelation it is writings about the divine revelation because those gospels record the divine revelation because the divine revelation is the Incarnation the life the death and resurrection of Jesus and so scripture records divine revelation and that's why it's important the scripture the books are Vehicles they themselves are not infallible because they were written by human Witnesses and it is only Jesus who is spoken about in scripture who is actually um the word of God and so scripture reports on if you like the word of God it contains the word of God and so as I've put here the Bible is not the word of God but contains the word of God you know it contains his Commandments for example that he's revealed to Moses in Exodus it points humans towards God but he's not inerrant and sinless in the way Jesus was it is a human book of special witness to him and as he says here's the full quote you might want to pick out a sentence or two to commit to memory and then apply in an essay he said the Bible has proved and will prove itself to be a true and fitting instrument to point Mount to God in his work in his words to God who alone is infallible and of course by God as a Christian he means Father Son and Holy Spirit since the Bible if a human instrument and document that's very important he's emphasizing its human Origins it's bound and conditioned by the temporal views of nature of history of ideas of values it to that extent is not sinless the Bible was written by human beings in a particular historical context and so it is not sinless like Jesus Christ himself and it is not infallible like God because it is a witnessed Revelation rather than being Revelation he's basically saying the Bible did not come down in a lift from heaven and there you have the word of God yeah the Bible was composed by human beings recording the Revelation recording for example when God revealed his Commandments according for example when God entered the world as Jesus Christ and so for bath the important thing is to note that the Bible is not itself the word of God but contains the word of God it is this book of witness which records Jesus Christ in his life and his teachings and it records God's teaching some rules but the text itself cannot just be seen as this mystical word of God it must be understood as having been written by those human Witnesses in a particular historical context and that then leads me finally to the Catholic Church's view on the authority of the Bible and we've been asked here to refer to the magisterium and to the encyclical de verbum which is Latin for on the word in your answer think about verb there which is the kind of word isn't it it's the doing word if my many years of English have served me well um in terms of you know a quick recall technique for fighting that encyclical in the exam so the Catholics have a very different view to Luther and his third scripture because Catholics believe that the Bible is just 50 of the story that it's the Bible and the church together who are the sources of wisdom and authority and so for Luther it is scripture alone solar scriptura whereas for Catholics for the Catholic Church it is this double package if you like of the Bible and then the church so Catholics believe the Bible is inspired by God but was written by human beings it contains important truths about salvation but each word is not literally true so you know bath is very much I think a bridge between Evangelical Protestants and then you Catholics don't the church the Catholic Church believes that the Bible and the church itself are equal in Authority now this is because the church believes that gets its Authority from Apostolic succession from the fact that Jesus appointed Peter who is the First bishop of Rome and remember the current pope is the 266th bishop of Rome Jesus appointed Peter as The Rock on which I will build my church Peter was the first Bishop of Rome and the Catholic pope is known as the successor to Saint Peter that's very important because it's the idea that because of apostolic succession the Pope's Authority is traced back to Peter and therefore to Jesus who said to Peter you are the Rock and so the pope is believed to have papal infallibility we'll talk about that more later in terms of what the magisterium is it is the teaching authority of the Catholic church and it's made up of the most senior Bishops and it is the guardian and interpreter of both the Bible and tradition say verbum then with that 1965 papal encyclical and encyclical is the letter written by the pope who as we now know has the infallibility who has that real importance and he wrote in there the Bible is not intended to convey precise historical information or scientific findings the authors were authors of their time and so the church therefore have an important role to play as The Interpreter to make sense of scripture yeah as these very important men and they are all men in the Catholic Church who look at the Bible and think how does this apply and then they will update the catechism of the Catholic Church which contains a summary of the church's doctrines on everything from abortion to artificial contraception um and therefore you know you've got this dual Authority as I say that yes the Bible's very important but you've then also got the church as well so they are equal all in their status as sources of wisdom and Authority for the world's 1.2 billion Catholic okay we're going to now look at a little bit of a different um school of thought it is that the of Faith Network and the question is what do they believe about the authority of the Bible and what are the strengths and criticisms of their position so the Sea of Faith Network say they have no Creed and they welcome people from all religious and humanist Traditions they claim that faith is a human invention and so the Bible has no Authority other than any that an individual might choose to give it so basically what they're saying is the Bible only has Authority if you like what it says and you choose yourself to live your life by it in the same way I could choose to live my life by Harry Potter you know you never know I could choose to live my life by any of the you know the great self-help books that are out there and so this approach is obviously very very different from believing that the Bible has Authority because it's the word of God this approach is saying it only has Authority if you like what it said and you decide you want to put its teachings into practice and so the Sea of Faith networks thanks we do not escape the human responsibility of distinguishing right from wrong if we choose to lock to an ultimate and absolute authority to decide for us but we still have to interpret the word of that ultimate Authority whether it be God the Bible or the church and the interpretation is necessarily unavoidably human culturally conditioned provisional and valuable so basically what they're saying is you can't just say that you did something because it said it's right in the Bible and use that to absolve yourself of responsibility the Sea of Faith Network saying we have to take responsibility for our beliefs for our actions and so the Bible should only have Authority for you if you choose to give it Authority you cannot just blindly believe it has complete Authority and you must therefore do every single thing that it says it should only have authority if you choose to give it Authority and the message here if you have to take accountability you have to take responsibility for you know searching out your sources of moral insight and guidance and then you know making sense of them and being accountable for them so you can't just go well it says it in the Bible it must be right you have to be responsible you have to choose which scripture you know which verses you give authority to in your life okay next question question nine Explain how literalists and liberals understand Genesis differently remember Genesis is the very first book of the Bible it's very much about a story of Origins and and I've said to refer to Christian beliefs of course so literally are our first group they believe the Bible is literally true believe it or not they believe God created the world in six literal days followed by a day of Wrath as this is what it literally said in the Bible so for example on day one life was created on day two sky was create rated on day three the dry land sea plants and trees were created before day four when the sun moon and stars were created on day five creatures that live in the sea and creatures that fly were created dissects animals that live on the land and humans were created in the image of God of course and then on day seven God rested making this the holy day so for our literalists because that's literally what it says in Genesis that is literally true now of course you know that they don't tend to dwell on the fact that Genesis also have as I say talking snakes and people living to over 900 years um but what they do say is science must be wrong evolution is wrong and the Big Bang is wrong because they're not included in this narrative here so for our literalists this is what happened because it's literally true they also have a problem because Genesis 2 then seems to contradict this narrative but nevertheless they are the six days of creation followed by a day of rest that are literalist beliefs explains the origins of the universe whereas our liberals believe that the Genesis account is not supposed to be taken literally instead they believe it is the metaphorical story that teaches important messages so in the same way that you could say you know a fairy tale or you know one of those great stories like Jack and the Beanstalk is meant to convey a moral truth rather than being literally true they would say that Genesis was written not to provide a historical account but to teach a very important theological message so for example the main message is that God is the creator of everything that God is omnipotent that he created everything out of nothing however they then believe that science provides the best explanation for how this happened Genesis is not literal Genesis was written in a pre-scientific era where you know people thought about writing in a different way it was not meant to be a objective historical account it was written for a very different reason if that makes sense that they believe that that modern fines provides the explanation for how God created the world um and so Genesis tells us why Genesis tells us moral messages about our role to be stewards and about the nature of God as omnipotence but science then can actually fill in the gaps you know the god of the gaps if you like if they're criticism of Christianity um about how that actually happened liberal Christians therefore believe that God created the world via the big bang and that he created life through Evolution uh you could also talk about process theology here the idea that God influences the universe that the subatomic level that he persuades things rather than being the omnipotent creator of things that you know that process of persuasion continues today well beyond the six days of creation we're told about in uh scripture and this not the process theology but this liberal view of um science explaining how the world came into existence is actually supported by Pope Francis so a great link to Catholic sources of wisdom and all Clarity he said that the Big Bang required the intervention of a Divine creator that he actually said that the big bang and evolution do explain um how God created the world and he believed that they actually show why God must exist because he's there really interesting response to uh science and a great synoptic link to religion and science fair he said that um The Big Bang in evolution couldn't have started without God having started them up so you know an interesting response there to the challenge of science from him okay question 10 what does Arthur S would mean when he says and we've used this quote before let us not change the word of God we ourselves should be changed by the word through the word either even sorry it is by the standard of scripture love that phrase standard of scripture that the believer is unable to measure all other teaching and of course this is still a scriptura the supremacy and infallibility of scripture alone and this raises a really important question about religion and culture yeah especially with modern cultural issues such as you know the legalization of same-sex marriage and gender equality so religion should not be changed by Society is what he said instead scripture should be used to critique Society all other teachings that we hold must meet the standards that by scripture they must align with what scripture says is Right human beings should not change scripture in order to benefit themselves they'll suit their own agendas or to adapt to cultural changes and Trends Yeah so basically he's saying and this is a criticism and that we should not have evolved in our thinking since scripture was last edited two thousand years ago he said that is the final Revelation full stop no updates no Evolution no pun intended that is where the story ends instead humans should be changed by scripture which is supposed to challenge us and hold us to particular values teachings and standards now you could say but Society has moved on so much since then you know life expectancy is doubled if not trebled we've had the Industrial Revolution we've had you know all of this amazing progress how can you just cling on to scripture and say it doesn't need an update that's like me wandering around with my iPhone one and saying don't get the iPhone x don't do it don't move on stay here you know is he not tying us to the past is the criticism I would propose to you but at the same time if you do believe instead of scripture you know this is a really important insight into how that actually translates into your life that it is scripture alone that should be the standard by which you assess what is right and what is wrong okay we're going to start to talk now about the church uh so what is Apostolic succession really key term and which church is it important for it is the uninterrupted transmission of Spiritual Authority from the Apostle through successive popes and Bishops taught by the Roman Catholic Church uh but of course denied by most Protestants now this is all about the source of the popes and the church's Authority because it's the idea that that Authority is inherited and passed down from the apostles from the um earliest followers of Jesus who were of course appointed by Jesus himself and then this Authority is held by the Catholic church today which is why Church tradition is equal to scripture because Saint Peter was the first Bishop of Rome and the current pope is the 266th so this idea of that Authority coming from Jesus himself this also linking to religion and gender is why the Catholic Church says women cannot become priests because it was only men appointed by Jesus so that's as I say a great link to a later topic as well question 12 who was the first Bishop of Rome and who holds this position today well as we've mentioned it was Saint Peter he was the first Bishop of Rome because uh Jesus said to him you are Peter petraf which means Rock and on this rock I will build my church um and Jesus also said to his followers come follow me and I will send you out to fish for people and so here's a little link to the modern Bishop of Rome the Pope the pope actually wears the ring called The Ring of the fisherman and this was originally or for a long time it was at least used to feel all papal documents and of course papal infallibility means that those documents are of the absolute most importance for Christians for Catholic but that is no longer custom but it gives you an insight into the importance of the Pope for Catholics and how that importance is based on um Apostolic succession Apostolic tradition which goes all the way back to Saint P data and indeed thank Peter's Basilica is located in the heart of the Vatican and is a place of pilgrimage so emphasizing the importance of Saint Peter and his role as the First bishop of Rome in terms of the Catholic views on wisdom and Authority in terms of how they turn to the pope and the church for their moral guidance and you know theological guidance as well and of course as I put there the 266th bishop of Rome is Pope Francis the leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics and successor to Saint Peter question 13 now I want I've asked you what is the meaning of the catechism's teaching that it is in the church the fullness of the means of Salvation has been deposited so this is a great link to religious pluralism and the idea of exclusivism because in 1863 the then Pope declared in an encyclical that there is no salvation outside the church the idea that it's in the church the fullness of Salvation has been deposited so the idea here of course is a direct criticism of solar scriptura is that salvation is not prescription alone the church is required as well in order to complete your salvation you need the church and for example the church is seven sacraments and so the church is therefore the guardian of scripture and tradition and really importantly the source of Salvation it is only through the church that salvation can be fully achieved because the church continues to teach and guide as well of course this preserving protecting and interpreting the teachings of Jesus Christ they're really important as the quote there from the catechism that in the church the fullness of Salvation has been deposited you cannot be saved outside the Catholic Church really important as I say for thinking on religious pluralism as well as of course our present topic wisdom and Authority okay and then we need to talk about the challenge to the church because question 14 is what was the Reformation refer of course to Martin Luther the main man of the Reformation in your answer so the Protestant Reformation was a religious Reform movement that swept through Europe in the 1500s it resulted in the creation of a branch of Christianity called believe it or not protestantism a name used collectively to refer to The Many religious groups that separated from the Roman Catholic Church due to those differences in Doctrine so for example the Church of England created by Henry VIII in protest against the pope when he wouldn't let Henry get a divorce yeah the response from Henry VIII was okay I'll start my own church where I can't get divorced and of course the current King Charles is the head of the Church of England now Martin Luther was excommunicated by the Catholic church so this is where it all began when he protested against them when he challenged the church's doctrines such as on indulgences the practice of selling people a fast track into heaven of saying to them if you pay us we'll get you in despite your sin now Luther was a really big critic of this he had a lot of criticism he nailed his 95 Theses to the church door and he believed that salvation the being saved is not earned through Good Deeds or indeed earned through pain the church but he's actually the free gift of God's grace through Jesus Christ the idea that you can't earn your own salvation because you're in a state of sin and so you have to rely on God giving you the gift of Salvation even though you're not worthy of it and that's the idea from John chapter 3 verse 16 that for God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only son that you can't earn it you have to receive it as a gift and your response to it is to put your faith in God and the key link here of course is to justification by faith and we'll talk about that in the Good Conduct and key moral principles video now lead the challenge the church's Authority by believing in full scripture because if you just need Scripture then why would you need the church and so the church is power as a source of wisdom and Authority is severely finished by that isn't it and this is further undermined by his belief in the priesthood of all believers and so whilst the Catholic church had a very strict hierarchy of you know people who are closest to God all the way to the pope who's seen as having painful infallibility you know he actually said that everybody belongs to the priesthood everybody can connect with God and have a relationship with God everybody should be able to read scripture and make sense of it for themselves and so that posed a massive challenge to the church and their Authority in terms of that Authority then question 15 is what is papal infallibility and what are its implications for Catholic so this is based on the promise of Jesus to Peter who as we've said was the first Bishop of Rome it is the doctrine in the Catholic church that the pope who acts as Supreme teacher and therefore under certain conditions cannot be wrong when he teaches in matters of Faith or morals as I say based on his authority from Saint Peter the First bishop of Rome so perfects will therefore take seriously of course the Pope's teachings for example on contemporary ethical issues or questions of church doctrine so for example in encyclicals for example ladato C on climate change or in addresses that he may give for example about who can receive communion any doctrines though must be consistent with sacred scripture and Apostolic tradition though the pope can't just rock up and come out with something really random you know it has to be based in or consistent with the tradition of the past 2000 years um and as Pope Benedict XII said actually in 2005 the pope is not an oracle so you know a completely wise and fallible person he is only infallible in very rare situations so still empathizing that the important of the Pope being consistent with sacred scripture and Apostolic tradition you know he can't just come and completely shake it up and turn the whole belief of the church on their head and but people infallibility reflect as a source of wisdom and Authority the importance of the church itself for Catholics that it's not about scripture alone it's not about solar scripture it's about the importance of the church itself alongside the Bible and then in contrast to that and we've touched upon this we have the priesthood of all believers so instead of having that paper infallibility you know that really strict pyramid of hierarchy or hierarchy pyramid or whatever we could call it uh we have the priesthood of all believers which very much bulldozes through that hierarchy it's the Protestant doctrine of the priesthood of all believers stating that all believers in Christ share his Priestly stated and that would eliminate any special classes or other say any hierarchy of that kind all can access doesn't have a relationship with him they can read scripture for themselves and so there's no need for a priest to mediate for you or indeed there's no need to pay the church to get you into heaven and it is a key Lutheran belief that everybody is able to have a relationship with God and make sense of scripture for themselves you know for many years the Catholic Church would not translate the Bible from Latin so that you couldn't read it for yourself that you had to rely on what the priest told you was the teaching whereas now of course everybody can read the Bible for themselves and the idea from Luther was that that's the right thing to do because everyone should be able to be a priest essentially they should have a relationship with God and they should read his scripture for themselves so really important and we see this particularly I would say today in quakerism you know when Quakers worship there is no worship leader everyone just sits around and anybody who is compelled to speak will stand up and speak so there is no leader reflecting the equality of all people reflecting this idea that everybody belongs to the priesthood not just the powerful because of course at least they're protested against the powerful can abuse that power and we do of course see that continue in today for example with you know sex abuse cases so that's an interesting link to abuse of power isn't it 17 actually leads me on to that so name two reasons people may question the Catholic Church's Authority today consider current affairs and or social change so you could say the church's scandals through that blatant hypocrisy the pedophilia all of those problems they obviously lead to questions don't they about you know why this organization is able to be so powerful and influential we can also say the rise of science has led to Alternative sources of Authority for example you know with them reading from Charles Darwin about Evolution we're then reading about the scientific explanations I would also add to that the rise of literacy people being able to read for themselves means that they can be more autonomous in terms of their thinking we can then also say of course Luther and the Protestant Reformation you know the events of the 1500s again all of these questions lead us to where we are today uh we do have a decline in church attendance in the western world but interestingly the churches are still very influential um in the developing uh countries around the world today um you know 2.4 billion people are still Christian uh half of them are Catholic but of course we see and this is a great link to later topics on paper too a lot of challenges to that a lot of questioning and you know a lot of um an erosion we could say in the authority the church has because of those alternative sources of authority and the empowerment of the individual especially as the result of the Enlightenment which again is spoken about on paper too when we talk about secularization where the individual is told have the courage to use your own understanding don't just listen to what those who are powerful are telling you to do or believe okay oh there's a lot of text here what does the Catholic Church believe about its role in the world today very good question uh and I've said to you referred to in cyclicals and Apostolic succession in your answer so as we've said the church sees itself as the guardian of church tradition and scripture the church exercises The Authority it was given by um Jesus that Saint Peter was given by Jesus leading the faithful and acting as his representative in the modern world the pope continues today to release the biblicals those letters to the worldwide Catholic church and indeed to all people of Goodwill and Beyond and there are important issues aren't they such as ladati on climate change now in his and physical redemptorius missio missio I really got that pronunciation wrong there Redemptorist missio a nice Latin phrase so um the Pope John Paul II wrote about the permanent validity of the church's missionary mandate and so that is the idea that the church hasn't on ongoing role today so this is the church's role they have permanent validity to uh work for the evangelization of people so the church has an ongoing role in making disciples of all Nations and of course that was the Great Commission that Jesus gave to his disciples to his followers before his Ascension and of course because of Apostolic tradition and succession the church believed it must continue that work today that permanent validity of the church's missionary mandate to go out and make disciples of all Nations baptizing people in the name of the father Son and Holy Spirit as we read in Matthew 28 and the church also believes that have the duty to help those in need of course fulfilling Jesus's teachings in the parable of the sheep and the goats Matthew 25 for example this is seen in the work of Catholic organizations such as tapod so you know that important role the church believes that have but those who belong to the church already in terms of providing that guidance that moral guidance on moral issues but then also to The Wider world to be evangelizing to even more people to be growing the church and then also to be helping people as well so I would be pulling out there maybe two or three different you know key ideas about the role of the church today question 19 then what does Jesus's statement that the father and I are one teach Christians and what does it suggest about his authority so we're moving on to a conversation about Jesus himself now and this question of who he was and we talk about this a lot more in the next video when we talk about God on the side of the Trinity and who was Jesus but we could say here that Jesus is a third thing that he is equal to God the father now that is very much open to interpretation isn't it you know some people believe that he is a 13 a Unity of purpose that he's just saying that you know he has um the same purpose as God rather than that he is actually equal to God and but certainly the nice Ian Creed would suggest that he is equal to him that he have God's Authority because the Nicene Creed says that Jesus is consubstantial with the father that they share the same substance they are Divine and that reflects of course the Trinity that God is Father Son and Holy Spirit all three of them being equal now Jesus the son and God the Father are according to this quote in the closest possible relationship of unity and as I put there this synoptic link is to the unity of essence versus Unity of purpose I should say so it's the idea they're in this close relationship of Father and Son um and you know that's really important for understanding Jesus's Authority that when you hear him speak you are hearing God speak because he is the Incarnation of God he is the word who became flesh and made his dwelling among us and this suggests that Jesus's Authority is God's Authority this is a great quote to show that because it empathizes their Unity of essence and purpose and so Jesus has complete Authority and his teaching should be taken seriously and you know Christians believe for example he is 100 of nine and 100 human and so the fact that he is one with the father emphasizes his divinity the fact that he is the Incarnation that he is the Fulfillment of scripture and so when he speaks you should listen that you should take what he said seriously because he is speaking with Divine Authority because he is God as part of the Trinity but as I say more on that in the next video in The God video what about question 20 then what is the significance of John chapter 1 verse 14 that the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us all Christian belief about Jesus and so it confirms Jesus is divine doesn't it that he is the Incarnation of God remember Incarnation means made flesh it also shows us that Jesus is not an ordinary man he is the Earthly incarnation of God no left and he has existed eternally as the word of God he didn't just enter the world two thousand years ago and that was the beginning of the story that was the Incarnation he has existed eternally you know long before that point and you know so at Christmas the word enters the world and of course that's the Incarnation through the Virgin birth in Bethlehem and this was of course in order to save Humanity it was as we said about the structure of the Bible in response to the fall in Genesis of Adam and Eve and he then saved Humanity through his crucifixion and Resurrection with the crucifixion being that bold show of agape love where God so loved the world that he's prepared to sacrifice his one and only son that Jesus becomes the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world so modeling that unconditional Selfless Love that is so important for Christians as we see in situation aspect for example on paper one and it of course um John chapter 1 verse 14 reflects belief in the Trinity doesn't it that God the Father Son and Holy Spirit are the three persons who make up one God um and that is outlined in the nician and Apostle Creed I can't speak today and Apostles Creed and of course your key link there is to guard and belief in the Trinity question 21 then explain the influence that Jesus is teaching that all authority in Heaven and Earth had been given to me Ethan Christians today this is a brilliant quote to remember you know we could get a question on the authority of Jesus in the exam and this is a brilliant quote to use because it's it spells it out so clearly doesn't it that you should take Jesus's teaching seriously and make sure you follow them because Jesus has this is telling us complete Authority and so we must be listened to his teachings must be followed whatever he said is important it needs to be acted upon you need to put into practice what he has said because he is divine he is the Incarnation he is sent by God and indeed he is God he does not just have authority because you like what he says he has Authority because it had been given to him and so when he speaks Faith he is speaking on behalf of God because he is the Incarnation of God so that gives everything else he says for example The Sermon on the Mount and the parable of the sheep and the goats it gives it real significance doesn't it question 22 then is to tell me what does John chapter 5 verse 23 whoever does not honor the son does not honor the father teach Christians about the authority of Jesus and again it's about the Trinity isn't it and it's about the fact they are of the same Athens they are consubstantial because Christians must honor Jesus in the same way that they honor God the Father say for example they must listen to what he says and they must do what he says emphasizing his importance his authority for Christians and remember a Christian is a follower of Christ so that is how important it is you know as Jesus said take up your cross and follow me uh you know when he says to you followers you've got to leave your family and follow me and this is showing you why that is because you have to honor Jesus you have to do what he says no matter how demanding or difficult it may be for example turning the other cheek as well you know because it is by honoring him that you want to God the father so in other words Jesus is equal to the father reflecting the fact that they are consubstantial and so is the Trinity demonstrates they are the same they are equal it is through Jesus that God can be honored it's also through him that God can be glorified by following the example set by Jesus you can glorify God um and Jesus's Authority is God and therefore his teachings must be followed okay what about question 23 then how does belief in the Trinity as outlined in the Nicene Creed of course influence Christian attitudes to his authority now much more on this in the God video but just for now you know the Trinity obviously demonstrates Jesus's Divinity that he is the second person of the Trinity that he is God that he is divine he shares the same substance the same Essence as God the Father and the Holy Spirit he is guarding Khana within the world the um fact that he is called the word of God of course means that his words have particular significance don't they and so what Jesus is teaching for example his Sermon on the Mount his Golden Rule for example must be listened to he is the word of Garden of bath near Orthodox approach that you know scripture is an instrument scripture records the special Revelation that he is and so it's really important to remember that when Jesus speaks you must listen he has absolute Authority because the Trinity shows he is God he is not just some random man who's got a few things to say about why God's Great and why you need to be God good you know he is actually God speaking in the world he is goding Khana and so when he speaks his authority is based on his divinity not on whether you like what he's saying or not he's not a random preacher he's not another teacher he is God incarnate and so his authority comes from this from the fact that he is the second person in the Trinity that he is divine in essence and in substance that Jesus is a hundred percent Divine and a hundred percent human and so what he teaches must of course be taken seriously and it has real significance because he is God speaking within the world and so you must follow his teachings take seriously what he said for example about life after death and you leave as the standard by which you live your life if I can link in that Arthur wrath wooden his points on scripture from earlier so really emphasizing you know the Divinity of Jesus and the authority that gives him he's not a random man he's not a random preacher he is God incarnate and that is very important for understanding the significance of him and why you should be prepared to sacrifice so much for him when he says take up your cross you know that you must leave your family hate your family he says in order to follow me this is showing you why you should do that because he has this Divine Authority because he is divine in terms of Quentin oh gosh I need some drink right give three titles given by Jesus given to Jesus in the New Testament do you excuse me because it's all falling apart I need divine intervention today honestly and as you can see it's going dark now honestly I think it's a sign I don't know what off but I feel like God's speaking to me today um right so let me try that again three titles given to Jesus in the New Testament he is called the Son of God the son of man and we're going to talk about those two terms you know the Son of God emphasizing Divinity the son of man emphasizing his Humanity so where does his authority come from if he's the son of God does his authority come from above if he's son of man does his authority Come From Below another title which I love is that he's the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world so emphasizing his importance in terms of his crucifixion and the importance of Easter and his death on the craft and he's the ultimate sacrifice and he's called the Christ remember his surname wasn't Christ he wasn't Mr Christ um he is given that as a title he is the Christ the Savior the Messiah he's called lord Master light of the world King of the Jews of course reflecting the context in which he lived the fact that he was Jewish um and then he's also called rabonite and Rabbi which mean teacher so if the New Testament a reliable source of information about Jesus and this question of course brings together a few of the topics on sources of wisdom and Authority it brings together Jesus of course and also the Bible so I would say absolutely not yeah the New Testament is not reliable in terms of it's not objective it is not historical so it is unreliable as it's not a neutral or objective historical document it is written with an agenda isn't it and that agenda is to persuade people that Jesus was the son of God it's not saying here are the facts make up your own mind it is written with a real agenda it's written with a clear objective to convince you of that it was written for example by those who had real faith in Jesus it was written by his earliest disciples for example who we know had left everything behind to follow him so they were already fully invested they'd already fully bought into him and who he that he was and also by Saint Paul after his conversion so Saint Paul started writing those letters after his religious experience which totally changed his life and so we could say they're not intending to State historical facts but instead convert people to the faith now a very famous um historian of Jesus is Reza Aslan and he says as with everything else in the gospels the stories of Jesus's arrest trial and execution were written for one reason and one reason only to prove that he was the promised Messiah factual accuracy was irrelevant that's a great little sound bite to use What mattered was christology so that's the study of Christ not history this final most significant significant episode in the story of Jesus of Nazareth is also the one most clouded by theological enhancements and flat out Fabrications so here stay in there that the writers of the gospels enhance their stories embellish the stories in order to make it appear Jesus was divine that you know they really emphasize the Miracles and they made him out to be really mystical but actually those gospels are not historically accurate they've been embellished they've been exaggerated in order to prove a point in order to fulfill their agenda the problem is of course everything we know about Jesus is from the gospels we don't have any other source of information about him and Athen goes on to say the gospels are not nor were they ever meant to be a historical documentation of Jesus's life these are not eyewitness accounts of Jesus's words and deeds recorded by people who knew him they are testimonies of Faith composed by Community for Faith and written many years after the events they describe simply put the gospels tell us about Jesus the Christ not the man so he is saying you know these stories are not eyewitness accounts they were written year than years later and so we can't trust them as having word for word accuracy you know those gospel writers may have embellished details to prove Jesus's Divinity you know we could see them as works of propaganda but the early church and you know those stories as I say exaggerated and embellished as they were passed on through an oral tradition before they were actually written down uh you know so as I've put that they began as an oral tradition they were passed on through Word of Mouth details therefore may have been changed that they were passed on manuscripts when then written may have been changed edited you know by writers with their own agendas and as Aslan writes that the early Christians gradually transformed Jesus from a revolutionary development to a romanized demigod so the actual Jesus of History Athen believes which you know a radical political reformer and that's the great link to the liberation theology topic later on paper too but he says you know as the religion grew people made him into that Divine figure so by the time of the Council of Niger 300 years later they were saying that Jesus was consubstantial with the father and that he was God incarnate but actually avlin is saying could he have just been a radical reformist who wanted to empower the poorest and challenge the authorities in Jerusalem at the time and so you know it's a really interesting take care on Jesus's Authority because actually is he Divine is he actually the Son of God is he actually God incarnate you know can we trust all of the things we're reading in scripture which supposedly proves that he is divine because actually it is a very unreliable source of information it is a very biased historical document so if you are answering an ao2 question a 15 marker on whether Jesus's Authority was God's Authority you could absolutely use this as an argument that no it's not because actually as I think that the sources of information we have are biased yeah and they had a clear agenda to prove that Jesus's Authority was God's Authority but actually we don't have clear evidence for that beyond the gospels which are unreliable as Aslan writes factual accuracy was irrelevant these people were trying to prove something they already believed in a little bit like and sound phonological argument um for the existence of God from paper one the idea that Faith precedes understanding and so we could say they are not reliable and so we cannot know for sure that Jesus's Authority with God's Authority his authority could actually come from people listening to him and saying yeah you've got a great idea you are right we are living in a very unjust Society these rulers have taken it too far you know for example his cleansing of the temple and when he then you know is empowering the poorest and he's criticizing the rich but the argument here is that the real Jesus who lived in history was not necessarily the Son of God he was a great guy but he was not necessarily the Son of God and he did not necessarily think himself that he was the son of God that was something later on that was something that early Christians then incorporated into their beliefs and they as Advent fed turned him from a revolutionary Zealot as this radical protester if you like to a romanized demigod and so that was actually later on interesting isn't it so uh we have a bit more to add to this actually so what does Reza Aston write about Jesus as a historical figure he said and I love this quote this is a great quote to use actually in an essay on this topic he said Scholars tend to be the Jesus they want to see because as I've said very little is actually known about the original Jesus the Jesus of History Scholars and Christians tend to make Jesus in their own image so in the way that we're told in Genesis that God made humans in his own image we are now saying that Christians make Jesus in their own image they project themselves and their values and their appearance their skin color for example onto the Jesus they imagine you know this man with that Middle Eastern Carpenter you know but all the movies depict him of white-skinned blonde hair blue eyes so you know there is a real disconnect between the Jesus people having their heads today and the reality of who he was and again that could show why we can't trust you know the the depiction versions of him that we see in terms of understanding who he was Aslan had said they gradually transformed Jesus from a revolutionary Zealot to a romanized demigods now um Athen quotes a really great Christian Theologian he quotes Rudolf bultman who like to say that the Quest for the historical Jesus is ultimately an internal Quest because Scholars tend to see the Jesus they want to see too often they see themselves their own reflection um in the image of Jesus they have constructed and the argument here is that Scholars tend to see the Jesus they want to see so we cannot know what the real Jesus was really like because the Jesus that we see is someone who looks like her sounds like us and thinks like us you know people Scholars Christians priests theologians project their own identity onto Jesus so that he ends up looking like them and of course as I said in reality he was the Middle Eastern Carpenter and you know most people's mental image of Jesus which they've picked up from depictions seen in childhood Western media their own biases and assumptions as well of course is disconnected from reality and again we can say this very Divine understanding of Jesus that is held today is actually a disconnect from the reality of his day in the first century at the end of the day the people at the time did not believe he was the son of God hence the fact they killed him on a craft for blasphemy and so actually you could argue you know there is no evidence for the resurrection you know we don't have any objective evidence for the 37 miracles he said to have performed we cannot say for sure he have God's Authority you know we can say that he liked God and that he spoke about God and he might have had a Unity of Purpose with God but there is no objective evidence he was got yeah and as I say those stories could have been embellished they were written by unreliable narrative and then you know they were edited and adapted for hundreds of years after Jesus's death and that key example I think is the Council of Niger in 325 a day I want to say when they decided he was consubstantial with the father yeah we have to be thinking well Jesus said the father and I are one but did he mean that literally or was he just aligning himself you know with the Old Testament scripture and saying that he really liked you know those key ideas and the the Commandments God had given for example in Exodus so you know really important to be considering these questions about Jesus's Authority is he the Son of God or is he a son of man who has then been turned into a God by the Christian religion as it developed um I want to move on to some of his teachings now though 27 what does Jesus mean when he teaches if anyone flaps you on the right cheek turn to them and the other cheek also this is of course a radical commitment to pacifism and non-violence if then if someone slaps you on the right cheek you should then turn to them the other and say here you are slap me on this one as well instead of course the key Point here is fighting back you should not fight back you should turn to them the other cheek so even if someone attacks you the messages here there is no excuse for responding with violence so it's a really radical message indeed you should actually practice non-resistance now this has inspired Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr who uh was a Baptist Minister and of course led the civil rights movement in the 20th century in America and he said we must use the weapon of love so he advocated passive resistance and non-violence he was a pacifist based on these key teachings from Jesus which were part of his Sermon on the Mount probably the most famous speech ever given and we have to of course consider reasons for this why did Jesus say this is it about the sanctity of life is about the importance of peace is it about the importance of pacifism he also says blessed are the peacemakers and why is that is it because God will reward you for being a peacemaker you know when everyone's made in God's image whether they've hurt you or not and all that you've got to think you know was he saying this to his followers to try to keep them out of trouble because early Christians were persecuted you know they were being killed by Paul for example before he became a Christian himself you know when he was known as Saul and so you've got to think was Jesus doing this practically because actually Christianity was this tiny Jewish sect at the start it was not the world conquering religion it is today and so was this practical from Jesus because he thought well if my fight is not my Fighters if my followers do fight back they're going to get in trouble they're going to be in prison and then they can't evangelize from prison and my religion is going to die out and so was this a practical step to prevent people getting themselves in trouble or and we can equally say this was this about God saying if you believe Jesus Is God incarnate that we need to end violence and he was saying this in a very radical way it's a radical commitments of path with him and non-violence and that's certainly the line that Martin Luther King Jr took in terms of believing we must use the weapon of Love Alone no matter how we are treated never ever respond with violence another key quote then again from Matthew 5 what does Jesus mean when he teaches love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you again it's about turning on its head this idea of Revenge it's about challenging this idea of seeking revenge and retribution so it's a radical commitment to Agape which is selfless unconditional love which is shown of course through Jesus's death on the cross for the sake of humanity it's of course at the core of situation ethics is an ethical theory on paper one so your love should extend to your enemies your should be unconditional and selfless remember uh it's actually said you know you should love your neighbor whether you like them or not love is not liking it shows that being a Christian is demanding that idea of taking up your craft Christianity demanded demand sacrifices and selflessness from you it's about service to a greater good a higher cause than your selfish and personal interests like the needs it's a radical commitment to Agape Love and a demand to have compassion for all people no matter what they have done to you so remember love cannot be conditional love is not liking again linking it to of course our key uh ethical Theory it's about having Mercy compassion and concern for those who persecute you so of course you know thinking again about the persecution the Christians in the very beginning of the religion faith and it inspires Martin Luther King Jr to say that we must use the weapon of love that you must love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you that you can only bring about change through uh these loving attitudes and through this loving approach Jesus himself said it those who live by the sword Die By The Sword and it's this idea that if you want to work for peace you must use peaceful means that it's this radical agape love which is all about selfless unconditional love which is at the very core of Christianity what are the implications of these teachings for Christians then so of course it's going to lead to that commitment to Agape which is demanding which does require a lot from you which does demand that you put your own interests aside and you commit to love and of course they'll link their situation ethics it's going to lead to a commitment to pacifism and non-violence of course it's going to lead to a commitment to Mercy and compassion you may therefore work for peace Justice forgiveness and Reconciliation and of course that tells us a lot doesn't it about justification by works which is really important um so we'll talk about all these things again when we talk about Good Conduct and key moral principles so important to be linking what Jesus taught uh to then the Good Conduct that Christians try to perform today and why would they do that why would they put his teachings into practice because they believe that he have God's Authority because they believe he is God incarnate who is the word of God who is speaking on behalf of God in the world today okay we are nearly there then and I want us to think critically thinking about our ao2 about Jesus's teaching in Matthew 5 that we've just looked at that radical agave and that radical pacifism and non-violent resistance is it practical today well first thing I'd say is yeah because Martin Luther King Jr has shown that yeah if we look at what he achieved in the 20th century okay he was assassinated but if you look at the Legacy he left behind and the difference he made I think that's great evidence in the exam of the fact that this is practical and it does have a positive impact so Matthew 5 just to refresh your memory contains The Sermon on the Mount key features include blessed art peacemakers and turn to him the other cheek also as I say Gandhi and Martin is the king both believed it remained relevant and important supports it into action they were both committed to non-violent resistance and protest and they're both seen as very inspiring figures yeah the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to uh Dr Martin Luther King Jr for example so it shows it is practical and it does have an impact in it you know continuing to inspire people 2000 years after Jesus gave these teachings it demands Christians that committed to non-violence praying for those who persecute them showing mercy and working for peace and we could say they are Universal human values as well so that shows they're practical because they are universally valued yeah and they are thought of as very highly even in today's society 2000 years later in the earliest days of Christianity Christians were heavily persecuted for example the religion was placed on the Imperial list of illicit sex and sex sorry I should pronounce it I've made illegal in 64 A.D so that shows you as I say why it would have been dangerous for them to respond to persecution because they would have been thrown into jail and then they couldn't continue evangelizing for the religion and as I said many early Christians were martyred that belief in life after death that's at the core of Christianity based of course around the crucifixion and Resurrection was often a reassurance to those facing punishment for their beliefs uh so you could say it made sense for Christians to act in this way back then in order to you know prevent further punishment and discrimination but today Christianity is now the world's largest religion with over 2.4 billion followers and so again you could say this is a practical belief because Christians can actually lead the way now Christianity can be a real Force for good and imagine if Christianity could influence the 8 billion people in the world to be more peaceful you could say Christianity is in a very influential position today nevertheless over 200 million people who were Christian are thought to face persecution for this to this day um so you know you could say you know for those people is it practical because you know they're fighting for their lives should they not be able to defend themselves if they are persecuted for their religion you know if they need to defend themselves and their families should they not be able to do that um and of course you know we could say you know it's not people being slapped today it's nuclear weapons and things being used today although of course as we will talk about later you know nuclear weapons could they ever uh be used justifiably because they lead to mutually assured destruction so actually could we not learn from this teaching about the importance of non-violence and pacifism because now in today's world violence and War can be even more catastrophic there actually is this not more important today than ever before because of the the weapons of war that are now held because of the weapons of mass destruction and so we now need more than ever a commitment to pacifism and non-violence you could maybe argue however some argue that it is too demanding and it's outdated in the modern world that in the modern world people do believe you should be able to fight back and defend yourself yeah so you've got to be thinking you know the modern justice system for example is it about retribution you know should people be able to defend their own property for example the gun debate in America you know people saying they need a gun in order to defend themselves you've got to be thinking about all these questions about how would this teaching apply in the world today as I say we've certainly seen it applied by uh Martin Luther King Jr for example um and we've got to think what is the role of this very radical teaching in the world today when Christianity is in such an influential and Powerful position 31 then what is the difference between the title Son of God and Son of Man and we have spoken about these a few times today so Son of God emphasizes Jesus's Divinity of course and that's certainly something that comes through in the gospels and we've spoken about the fact that Jesus's Authority was God's Authority and they have that Unity of essence and that they're consubstantial as the night the increase says and we see that there in that title Son of God emphasizing his Divine Authority um and then son of man on the other hand emphasizes his humanity and again the idea that his authority has earned through people liking what he says and choosing to follow him so in terms of different uh reasons the titles are used in Luke the angel Gabriel tells Mary that she will give birth to the Son of God and of course the Youth of angels there really confirms the Divinity of Jesus doesn't it you know the angel Gabriel appearing to tell the Virgin Mary that this is going to be God's son it's not Joseph's actual biological son if we went on the Jeremy cow show the DNA test would be saying no he's not yours he's 100 Divine um actually this is baptism a voice from Heaven declares this is my son although some Christians in the early days of the religion actually believe this showed adoptionism that actually that he was the son of Mary and Joseph but then God adopted him at Birth not at Birth sorry that's a complete lie baptism when he was baptized by John the Baptist in the river which is interesting but Christians today based on Nicene creden the Apostles Creed believed that Jesus as the second person of the Trinity is fully human but also fully Divine that he is God incarnate and as they say that's based on their understanding of the Trinity which we talk about in the next video in terms of a Bible verse that represents Jesus as human my absolute favorite is this one he was hungry because of course we don't imagine God's getting hungry do you either up there on the clouds going what should I have on ubereats tonight are Domino's doing two for Tuesday this week yeah but it's a very human thing isn't it I certainly know to be hungry yeah so that's a brilliant brilliant point to make that Luke said he was hungry emphasizing his humanity and the fact that he was a man uh we get into the clear I kind of speak that's how you know we're getting to the end guys I can't even think I've been talking too much I do apologize uh give free teaching oh my goodness myth that show Jesus as the good role model so he healed people through helping people he cared for those in need he taught people to work for peace be merciful forgive others you know he's inspired Martin Luther King Jr for example he sacrificed himself his life for others so for situation ethics for example he's a great example of agapeic Love isn't he he challenged hypocrisy and Injustice he remained faithful to his moral principles and religious convictions throughout his life you know all the way to his death didn't he even when he was being sentenced to death he didn't say oh all right then I'll drop it he stayed true to his beliefs until the very end and of course he cared for and helped the helpless he reached out to the marginalized to the poor and that of course inspired followers of Liberation theology today Keith knocked it linked but also it inspires religious Charities as well Christian Aid for example who raised money to help those in need believing that God has the preferential options for the poor as modeled by Jesus this and his teaching that you know the first will be the last and the last will be the first in terms of question 34 what is the Golden Rule and why is it important for Christians today the golden rule is to do unto others as you would have them do unto you so treat others as you would like to be treated and of course Jesus teaches to love your neighbor as yourself this of course inspired Joseph Fletcher's situation ethics based on the agape love the agape love that Jesus taught and modeled in the New Testament so the idea that love should be the predominant Christian impulse and of course that is from William Temple former Archbishop of Canterbury at the core of Jesus Christ message then and of course the example that he sets is the importance of love and love always outweighs following the law for example Jesus healed on the Sabbath for the importance of love and treating others treating everybody as you would like to be treated yourself and so that is really important if you're talking about the influence Jesus has had and the authority he have so many Christians today do try to live by that Golden Rule you know and also of course he said the two most important Commandments are to love God and to love your neighbor through the supremacy of love and that's all about treating others as you would like to be treated but remember Agape as we know from our studies of situation ethics it's all about that selfless unconditional love and finally I want to leave you with this question and which brings together so much of what we've discussed today should Christians give more authority to the Bible or the church and of course for 15 marks if it's the 15 marker for ao2 you need to give both sides of the argument so you know you could be saying the Bible has Authority is the word of God but the church hath Authority via Apostolic succession so you know which side of the argument are you going to conclude with with these 15 markets I always recommend you do a thesis statement to start you then write a paragraph that agrees with your thesis if you then do the counter argument and then you do critical analysis so you say why that counter argument is wrong and a final second argument to support your thesis before reaching a Justified conclusion and make sure in there that you have got Point evidence explanation and your links back to the question alongside of course that critical analysis so you're not just saying you know what someone believes but you're thinking critically you're telling me why they're right to believe that why Arthur F Woody's right or actually you're telling me why he's wrong yeah so you're critiquing the scholars you're critiquing their approaches and you're really thinking you know you're really evaluating but yeah I wanted to leave you with that just just something to think about until you watch the next video in the series which is as I've said on the topic of God so yes it's gone very dark here now uh I do hope you can still see me and I do hope that's been helpful thank you so much for watching have a very good day and I'll see you again soon bye