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Thank you for your questions. I have one, two, three, four, five of them. To start with, this question provoked by my mentioning Professor Dawkins. It says, if you have to take Dawkins' theories into account, what happens to concepts like human intelligence, or emotions, or reactions to experience? Of those three possibilities, the one that his theories mostly destroy is the one about human intelligence. Because though he would stoutly deny it, if a human being is nothing but matter, if even our brains are simply pieces of wiring with electrochemical reactions in them, and the synapses, as they are called in the brains, firing now and again, you see, and it's nothing but matter. Then why should I listen to what you say? Excuse me, I'm not being rude, but if that is the state of affairs, why on earth should I listen to what you have to say or treat your argument seriously? It is to be observed that Professor John Polkinghorne, mathematician, physicist, expert in quantum mechanics, and so forth and so on, of that other university called Cambridge, makes that very same point in one of his scientific books. If the materialist who says there's nothing but matter anywhere, not even in you or your brain, nothing except matter, if that were true, why should I even listen to your arguments? Because my brain acting is not a lot of, it's simply a lot of wires, and the things are the synapses are firing off, and that's electrical impulse, and that's matter, and yours are doing the same. Well, so what? As C. S. Lewis used to say, the argument of the materialist cuts at the bow of the tree on which he is sitting. Secondly, Secondly, did God create evil? There is a verse, it is in Isaiah the prophet, where in the old English translation it appears to say, I, the Lord, create good and I create evil. But there we have to be very careful about the translation. Because the Hebrew, uh, word involved can mean, uh, evil in the bad moral sense, or it can mean bad in the, uh, uh, experiential sense. To say, uh, um, uh, the invasion, the doodlebugs, uh, the war was a very bad experience for people. Now, it is true that God will sometimes use bad experience, even with his believing people. Like parents in the old days, they not- it's illegal to do it now, but in the old days, parents used to chastise their children. And the Bible comment said that chastisement was not pleasant, not pleasing, though in the end it had a very good result. God uses difficulties, bad experiences to teach and train even his people. But evil in the moral sense. No, God does not create evil. God is light. In him is no darkness at all. Not all people have free will or choice. Well, this, uh, apparently is not a question, it is a statement. And so who wrote this appears to hold that not all people have free will or choice. Well, in the law of the land, the law recognizes that some people are not morally responsible. So a man might be up for murdering somebody, but the judge will take into consideration whether he was mentally disturbed and deficient, whether he was, in the true sense of the word, responsible for his actions. Juicy. A little baby that takes, uh, some strychnine that happened to be around and puts it in your tea, doesn't know what it's doing. You couldn't say it's exercising its free choice to poison you. No. So yes, the law realizes that some people are not, in that sense, they do not have genuine free choice. To be faithful in answering your que- your statement, there are a lot of philosophers these days that, uh, say, yes, we, you may have free choice in that there is no compulsion on you from the outside. Here's a lady, she's gone down to town, mm-hmm, she's an unexpected, uh, ten thousand dollars, euros or whatever. She's going to find a beautiful dress, you see. And, uh, she goes down, and she's determined that this shall be mainly a, a sort of a reddish color. And the husband doesn't object, and the police don't object, nobody objects. She's perfectly free. No outside external constraint. So her choice is absolutely free, in that sense. But there are psychologists and there are some philosophers who say, but in actual fact, her choice wasn't free. If you could somehow have known all her history from babyhood onwards, and all her memories, and all the emotions in her brain, you could predict she's going to choose a red dress and it won't be green. Well, it's probably well not free in that sense. Experience and habit and so on have made her decision almost certain before it happens. Is there any truth in it? Well, yes, psychologists will tell us we have a lot of hidden emotions and reasons for doing things that we've long since forgotten. We have developed a lot of habits, yes, and likes and dislikes and associations, yes. Is it true that you could normally predict she's liable to choose the red and not the green? Well, if you knew her well, you could say yes, you might have a go to predict it. Does it mean that internally she's not free. Well, no, you don't believe that. Nor would any judge in the land. Because if somebody cheated you, some insurance firm treat- cheated you, and you took them to court, and the man argued, but you see, I've been under such influence from my youth, and I like money, and I couldn't help myself. You wouldn't accept it, nor would the judge accept it, nor would anybody accept it. In spite of all our predispositions, we are responsible to exercise choice. And to a great extent, we jolly well can. I once was at a conference. Present was a psychiatrist who practiced in Bristol. He had a very bright reputation in Bristol as a psychiatrist because he got more cases of, of people cured than his, uh, associates, you see. He told us what his secret was. He said, you know, when people are recovering, if they have a, have a tantrum and break the window, I make them pay for it. I start to treat them as responsible. He says it's part of their cure. But when we start regarding people as not responsible for their choices, they're either seriously mentally ill or you're reducing them to the state of a cabbage. Those people who eventually find themselves in actual darkness, is all hope gone? Well, ladies and gentlemen, as far as I'm aware, there is no hope. Perhaps if you would like to, tomorrow or some other time, call my attention to some scripture that seems to you to suggest there is ultimate hope for them, then do by all means. As far as I read Holy Scripture, there is no hope. There comes a point where God himself decides, and the decision is, if I may put it a little crudely, have your own way. Um, then I get a, a question here. When did you get saved? Well, fair enough to ask, I mean to say. Why should I come and lecture you and you not be able to, um, investigate my soul? Yeah. Fair enough. When did I get saved? Well, to be frank with you, I think when I get home to heaven, the good Lord will tell me I was saved long before I thought I was. I remember as a child, saying and searly meaning it as best as a child can. A part of a chorus that I had been taught, a Christian chorus, into my heart, into my heart, come into my heart, Lord Jesus, come in today. Come in to stay. Come into my heart, Lord Jesus. And our blessed Lord has promised, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in. But if you ask me when I came to a, a personal faith and assurance of salvation, it was at the age of ten. And I'm not going to tell you my age, but it was, uh, over seventy years ago. Uh, and I, I was in bed at the time, and my father had come, as he normally did, and prayed with us before we went to sleep. I didn't listen to his prayer, uh, do you see? But, um, there came into my head that verse, famous verse it is, in Paul's epistle to the Romans, chapter ten and verse nine, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. I said, well, I do. I was talking to myself, of course. Well, I do. I- I- I do believe and confess Jesus as Lord. Do believe that God has raised him from the dead. The verse says I'm saved. Turned over and went to sleep. I have lived nearly seventy two more years since then to prove that that was true. In that sense, it's not any complicated thing. It is simple, but real. And when I grew up, I, I, I learned, of course, the context of it. And some people do say, don't they, but it's so difficult getting saved, i- i- i- to, to that word you keep using, so difficult. And Paul says, nonsense, it ain't difficult. The word is near you, it says, even in your mouth. All you have to do is to close on it and say yes. Believe it. Thank God for it. The word is near you, even in thy heart and in thy mouth, the word of faith which we preach, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved, yes. But in my experience, a lot of people find it very difficult to get hold of that bit. I was told, have I two minutes to to keep this? I have, yes. Before I go to bed. A- anyway, I I I was told of a preacher, and he was a little bit unusual, and he'd been preaching, you know, like preachers do, and at last a lady of some substance had invited him to tea, you see. And uh, he went round the afternoon to talk to her, and uh, she was saying that she'd enjoyed his sermons, but uh, she couldn't get this business of eternal life and how you could be sure you have eternal life, you see. And she'd often prayed for it, but couldn't be sure. And the preacher tried to explain it to her uphill, down dale, sideways on, and backwards as well. No good. So he suddenly said, ma'am, I- I- I wonder, uh, uh, if you'd make me a cup of tea. Oh yes, he said, of course you would. So out she went and brought back a tea, good little tray, lovely doily on it, or whatever you call them, and a china of the best, and the milk and the sugar and the tea, and uh, uh, said, there you are. He said, oh, how I wish you'd give me that tea. Yes, she said, yes, yes, well, I've made it for you. Ah, he said, ma'am, but if only you knew how much I wanted that tea, you would give it to me. He said, yes, but yes, you asked for it, didn't you? But yes, I made it for you. Then he got down on his knees. Oh, ma'am, he said, give me this tea. She thought he'd gone bonkers. When she wanted to know why he's behaving like that, he said, why do you treat God like it, ma'am? God says, this is the testimony, this is what God is saying to us, you see. God is saying, not I will give, I have given eternal life. That life is in my son. He who has the son has the life. Eh? How would you know? Well, simply because God says so. God says so. Listen again. I have given eternal life, and that life is in my Son. He who has the Son has the life. Now, should there be some extraordinary reason why you would like this bit of paper? Can't think why there should be. Suppose you wanted it. Antique or something, you said. And I said, righto, as far as I'm concerned, I've given you that. And, uh, if you want that paper, I've given it to you. There it is, and the the paper is in the book. He that has the book has the paper. I should be watching you if you said you wanted it. See what you do next. Would you come and take it? And then I should watch you very closely. Somebody, uh, saw you going out of the door with that and said, what have you got that for? He said, because I wanted a bit of paper, and he said it was in the book. Do you think you've got the paper? I should be listening to what you said next. Well, he said it was, but you know. I said, madam, is that what you think of my truthfulness? And God is listening to us, isn't he? He says, I've given eternal life, it's in my son. You have the son. You have the life. How do I know? Because God says so. And God says, if you don't believe me when I speak, says God, you are making me a liar. I don't have that option, ladies and gentlemen, making Almighty God a liar. What he says I believe and must believe, and I want to believe it anyway. As best I know how. I'm not boasting of anything, for I, like all, I am a sinner. Cannot lay any claim to salvation. But I need to be saved, and I want to be in God's heaven. And he says to me, I've given you eternal life, and that life is in my son. He that has the son have life. I have to make up, do I accept Christ? Have I got Christ as my savior? As best I know how, ladies and gentlemen, I have Christ. I have no other hope. And I have taken Christ, and I have Christ. And he, of course, has taken me, and I have eternal life, because God himself has said so. Yeah? Oh, we have another question. Ah, yes. It seems to me, says the questioner, that the idea of life after death is key in your understanding the experience of life here and now. What makes you think that there is life after death? Pardon? God says so, ma'am. Excellent, excellent answer, because God says so. And as a Christian, I have another big reason for believing it. Anybody can guess what that is? Or perhaps you're not Christians, because if you're Christians, you'd know. The gospel is, the Christian gospel is how that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures, and he was buried, and the third day he was raised again, according to the scriptures. Jesus is alive. That is the absolute center of our Christian message. That he was buried as literally as you may be, or I one of these days. He died for our sins that we might be forgiven, was buried, and the third day rose again. The tremendous evidence that the New Testament supplies and history supplies, that the grave in which he lay was found to be empty on the third day. The resurrection of Christ it was, that pushed the early apostles out onto the streets. Because Christ had raised, and they want to tell the people. And what they preached was, Christ is risen. So, yes, because God says so, and because of the resurrection of Christ, I believe there is life after death, and a whole lot of host of other reasons as well. But thank you for your patience. I- it amazes me how long you can sit, uh, Josie. Uh, but thank you for- for your questions and your friendship. I hope I shall see you again, uh, before the weekend is out. May God's blessing be on you all. Thank you very much, Dr. Gooding. Thank you all for being here. And would encourage you that most of the sessions that we've been doing have been looking at life questions, hard questions that people are asking, but for the next five sessions, it's going to be Bible teaching. And I don't know if you've ever heard the Bible being taught before, but Dr. Gooding's going to, in five sessions, take us through a short New- New Testament letter, one of the most important letters in the New Testament, the book of Ephesians, and it'll be quite unlike anything you've heard, I would suggest. So I think you'll really enjoy that, you hear the Bible being taught, um, over the next five sessions. So I encourage you to come back again. Thank you very much.