The Matt Walsh Show - Ep. 2 - The Bible Needs To Be Taught In Public School

00:00:00.000 So there's a couple of things from this past weekend that I wanted to talk about.

00:00:06.080 And if it's not too late by now, hopefully it's not.

00:00:09.460 NPR published an article about the Pope and about this story last week that the Pope allegedly denied the existence of hell,

00:00:18.240 which, you know, we'll talk about that some other time.

00:00:21.260 That's a story in and of itself.

00:00:23.020 But, you know, it's a big story.

00:00:24.660 I mean, it's a big story in the world of Christianity and religion.

00:00:29.260 So you would think NPR being this respectable news, well, I don't respect them, but some people respect them, apparently.

00:00:35.440 So being this respectable news organization, you would think they would, you know, go and find a reporter who knows, like, something about Christianity.

00:00:46.140 Really, you'd think they'd go and find their expert Christianity reporter, their religion expert.

00:00:52.320 And maybe they did.

00:00:53.500 Maybe they went and they found the person at NPR who knows absolutely the most about Christianity.

00:01:00.040 And that person wrote this article about the Pope.

00:01:02.880 And the last, and remember, this article would have had to been, it was written by someone.

00:01:07.260 And then it would have had to pass through a few levels of, there'd be an editor.

00:01:11.980 And then, I mean, there are probably a couple of levels before it even gets to the website.

00:01:16.140 So, it gets through all these levels, and the article's fine until you get to the end, the last sentence.

00:01:22.560 This is what the last sentence says, okay?

00:01:24.500 The last sentence is,

00:01:26.100 Easter, the day celebrating the idea that Jesus did not die and go to hell or purgatory or anywhere at all,

00:01:33.980 but rather arose into heaven,

00:01:36.100 is on Sunday.

00:01:37.580 Let's just try to unpack this here for a minute.

00:01:52.280 And we'll start with the fact that that's just a horribly written sentence.

00:01:56.620 That sentence in and of itself is an abomination.

00:02:00.500 It is a disgrace to sentences.

00:02:02.600 Because it's, you could have just said Easter's on Sunday.

00:02:05.660 And most people, that's enough.

00:02:07.580 You really didn't have to even say that, because everybody knows when Easter is.

00:02:11.040 So, you probably didn't even need to include that line.

00:02:14.040 But then, if you're going to write in the middle of Easter and is on Sunday,

00:02:17.900 you're going to include this whole definition of Easter.

00:02:21.620 You maybe want to make sure that it's the right definition.

00:02:24.920 Maybe check Wikipedia, or even the Bible is a book that came out recently,

00:02:30.420 and I heard it's a pretty good reference for these things.

00:02:34.180 But more to the point.

00:02:38.460 First of all, most Christians do believe that Jesus Christ descended into hell.

00:02:44.260 It's right there in the creed.

00:02:46.860 Second, Jesus did not rise.

00:02:49.220 I know you know this, but in case there are any NPR reporters watching,

00:02:54.140 Jesus Christ did not rise into heaven.

00:02:57.760 He did not ascend into heaven on Easter.

00:02:59.960 He ascended into heaven 40 days after Easter.

00:03:04.040 And in the meanwhile, he was here on Earth.

00:03:07.300 This is basic Christianity. 0.73

00:03:09.620 I mean, basic, basic.

00:03:11.280 And the reporter of NPR, allegedly a respected news outlet,

00:03:17.060 the reporter tasked with covering a big religious story,

00:03:20.820 did not know why Christians celebrate Easter.

00:03:24.540 I mean, good Lord.

00:03:29.480 And then next, so that was the one thing.

00:03:32.160 And then I think it was on the same day, you had Chuck Todd,

00:03:36.220 another respected journalist, and he tweeted on Good Friday.

00:03:40.540 This was his tweet.

00:03:41.260 He said,

00:03:41.560 See, hokey is not the word I would use, Chuck.

00:04:04.200 I would, there are many words that I could use to describe that tweet.

00:04:08.780 I wouldn't use most of those words because I'm a Christian.

00:04:11.720 And because I'm a Christian, I know that we call it Good Friday

00:04:14.560 because Jesus died a horrific, horrible, gruesome death that day.

00:04:19.600 And that's only good because he redeemed mankind through his death and resurrection.

00:04:23.660 But not because it was actually good in the sense that you mean it, Chuck.

00:04:28.720 I can just imagine Chuck Todd falling into a wormhole or something

00:04:35.220 and then ending up 2,000 years ago and strolling up to Calvary

00:04:38.580 and just looking around and, you know, like,

00:04:40.900 Say, why all the glum faces, folks?

00:04:42.860 I mean, just remember, just have a positive attitude and everything will be fine.

00:04:47.580 Of course, I say that I know, you know, I say,

00:04:53.080 Well, I know what Good Friday is because I'm a Christian.

00:04:54.920 But really, you shouldn't need to be a Christian at all 0.98

00:04:57.660 to know what Good Friday is or to know what Easter is

00:05:00.520 because this is basic cultural literacy

00:05:03.080 that these people who work for these elite media outlets do not possess.

00:05:11.500 Christianity, I don't care how you feel about Christianity, 1.00

00:05:14.060 it's one of the biggest, it is, I'm sorry,

00:05:16.840 it is the biggest religion in the world,

00:05:20.720 the biggest religion in the history of the world,

00:05:25.320 the biggest in America by a long shot,

00:05:28.540 and it's been the number one driving force in our civilization for centuries,

00:05:33.540 though it is less so now than it used to be, admittedly.

00:05:37.960 All in all, as an educated person, if you want to be an educated person,

00:05:41.740 if you want to be an intelligent person,

00:05:43.100 if you want to understand how the world works,

00:05:46.840 you have to possess a basic knowledge and understanding of Christianity,

00:05:52.260 whether you believe in it or not.

00:05:54.500 I mean, every, you know, if you want to understand anything about

00:05:58.540 art over the last 2,000 years,

00:06:03.940 literature, government, philosophy,

00:06:07.020 yes, even science, okay, if you want to really understand the genesis and the history

00:06:12.500 and the meaning and the substance behind all of those things,

00:06:16.620 you got to know something about Christianity,

00:06:18.720 because Christianity has been the driving force and the substance of all of those things for centuries.

00:06:26.280 And, you know, this is why, in case anyone was wondering,

00:06:31.400 this is why they used to teach the Bible in public school.

00:06:37.400 That doesn't mean that you were required to believe in the Bible in public school,

00:06:40.860 but for a long time in public school, in secular school,

00:06:43.300 you were taught the Bible.

00:06:45.260 You read the Bible in public school.

00:06:48.260 And that makes a lot of sense,

00:06:49.800 because the Bible, I mean,

00:06:51.100 it's only the most influential piece of literature ever written hands down,

00:06:55.240 and nothing else even comes close to it.

00:06:57.120 So if you're going to study influential literature in school,

00:07:00.300 it kind of doesn't make sense to skip over the number one.

00:07:03.900 I mean, that is a huge mountain to just jump over and pretend it's not even there.

00:07:08.960 It's like if you were studying mountains, and you never even acknowledged Everest.

00:07:14.120 That's what it's like.

00:07:14.820 It's like if there were kids entire time in school,

00:07:19.540 and they study different, you know, geological formations,

00:07:22.500 and they study mountains, but they never,

00:07:24.260 it's just Everest, we're going to pretend Everest doesn't exist.

00:07:26.680 The Bible is the Mount Everest of literature, of books.

00:07:31.760 And that's not my subjective determination.

00:07:34.000 That's not just I'm saying it because I believe in it.

00:07:35.840 That's just what it is, historically speaking.

00:07:39.740 But our PC society has decided that it's too, it's too triggering.

00:07:44.400 It's too upsetting for the little atheist children to be exposed 1.00

00:07:48.540 to this book that shaped the world.

00:07:51.300 So they ignore it, and they read The Hunger Games,

00:07:55.080 or Harry Potter instead.

00:07:59.160 That's what they read instead of acknowledging the Bible.

00:08:02.340 And there's a quote, it's either from Chesterton or Lewis,

00:08:07.980 I can't remember which one, where I think it was Chesterton,

00:08:11.300 who said that an atheist can never be too careful in his reading.

00:08:16.460 Whereas if you're a Christian, you can read whatever you want. 1.00

00:08:18.840 But as an atheist, you have to try really hard to protect

00:08:22.680 that vulnerable worldview that you've created.

00:08:26.760 It's a very fragile thing.

00:08:28.140 And so you have to be very careful not to read things like the Bible.

00:08:32.560 Because if you do that, everything may start falling apart.

00:08:36.580 And I think that's basically how our society operates.

00:08:41.640 And what do you end up with?

00:08:43.500 When we all kind of just ignore,

00:08:46.200 when people who aren't Christian make no effort to understand 0.73

00:08:50.600 what Christianity is,

00:08:52.500 what we end up with as a society with a lot of people

00:08:56.220 who hate Christianity,

00:08:58.300 but do not understand Christianity.

00:09:02.100 They don't know what it is.

00:09:03.940 They don't know what it means.

00:09:06.060 They don't know what it teaches.

00:09:08.360 But they despise it.

00:09:09.620 And they look down on anyone who believes in it,

00:09:11.900 even though they don't understand it.

00:09:13.120 And I don't need Chuck Todd or NPR to prove that point.

00:09:17.560 You know, we see this,

00:09:18.600 any Christian,

00:09:20.480 let's just take two examples that any Christian

00:09:22.660 who, you know, has gotten into debates,

00:09:25.480 especially online,

00:09:26.440 has encountered these two things,

00:09:28.040 which I think kind of encapsulate this issue

00:09:30.820 of the people who hate Christianity the most

00:09:33.320 are the ones who know the least about it.

00:09:35.320 So two pieces of evidence that I'll submit

00:09:38.620 to prove my point.

00:09:41.680 First, you have the secular person

00:09:43.420 who kind of sneers and scoffs.

00:09:45.660 And he says, he says, oh, so you believe,

00:09:49.620 you believe that there's an invisible,

00:09:51.620 magical sky genie up in the clouds?

00:09:56.240 That's what you believe?

00:09:57.780 Yeah, you believe in the invisible sky man, huh?

00:10:01.720 And then they look at each other

00:10:02.860 and they give each other high fives and say,

00:10:04.260 oh, did you hear what I just said

00:10:05.100 about the invisible sky man?

00:10:06.240 Yeah, that was a clever one.

00:10:07.520 Yeah, you never heard that one before, did you?

00:10:09.120 Really got him on that one.

00:10:12.280 No, I don't believe in the invisible sky man.

00:10:15.660 Nobody believes that, okay?

00:10:19.540 That's like if I told you about the sun

00:10:21.660 and you said, oh, so you believe

00:10:24.180 there's a giant candle floating in the sky?

00:10:27.820 You hear this guy, he thinks there's like

00:10:29.320 a giant Yankee candle just hovering in the sky.

00:10:33.920 No, that's not what I said.

00:10:35.400 That's not what I said at all.

00:10:36.540 That's what you're saying.

00:10:37.540 That's your understanding of this. 0.99

00:10:39.080 You're showing your own ignorance. 1.00

00:10:40.500 You should be embarrassed. 1.00

00:10:41.220 No, there isn't any adult Christian

00:10:45.000 who believes that God is literally in the clouds.

00:10:49.380 Okay, you see, that's just an illustration

00:10:51.440 that people use, that artists have used,

00:10:53.780 that poets have used, that writers have used.

00:10:56.700 It's an illustration.

00:10:57.720 It's a metaphor.

00:10:58.400 It's just a way of communicating

00:11:00.260 or physically manifesting an idea

00:11:04.840 that transcends the physical realm.

00:11:08.400 So that's what that is.

00:11:10.600 It's the same thing how we talk about,

00:11:12.500 you know, we love somebody with our heart,

00:11:14.240 but we all know that our heart just pumps blood.

00:11:16.260 There's not love actually located in our heart.

00:11:18.560 We know that.

00:11:19.920 Maybe you don't know that, but we do.

00:11:23.880 And Christians don't think that God is magic either.

00:11:27.580 You know, they believe that God is a first mover,

00:11:32.140 the first mover, the first cause

00:11:34.120 who transcends our physical dimension

00:11:36.660 and who created it

00:11:38.840 and who sustains it

00:11:39.840 and who animates it.

00:11:42.860 And this belief bears no relation whatsoever

00:11:46.240 to the one that you pretend that we hold.

00:11:49.500 None.

00:11:50.480 You could disagree with the belief,

00:11:52.760 but you can't disagree with the belief

00:11:55.080 if you don't understand it.

00:11:58.160 And so what I find with, you know,

00:12:00.280 atheism in modern America

00:12:02.080 has become very lazy. 0.72

00:12:03.920 And to be fair, Christianity has become very lazy too. 0.99

00:12:07.900 There are a lot of lazy Christians 1.00

00:12:08.900 who don't understand their own beliefs. 0.98

00:12:12.300 And that's part of the problem here,

00:12:13.640 that there's a lot of biblically illiterate people 0.77

00:12:15.680 in the world, including Christians. 0.94

00:12:18.020 But atheism is also very lazy, 0.92

00:12:20.460 maybe lazier now than it used to be. 0.98

00:12:22.700 And so you just have a lot of really lazy atheists 1.00

00:12:24.960 running around saying, 0.93

00:12:25.780 oh yeah, magical sky genie.

00:12:27.520 Just spending all their energy

00:12:30.640 shouting at people for holding beliefs

00:12:33.980 that nobody actually holds.

00:12:35.960 Here's another example,

00:12:37.120 I think a little bit more common.

00:12:40.420 You have the secular person

00:12:42.120 who skims through Leviticus or Exodus,

00:12:47.500 or rather they skim through a blog

00:12:49.280 written by someone who has skimmed

00:12:50.840 through one of those things.

00:12:51.860 And then they demand to know

00:12:54.080 why Christians eat shellfish 1.00

00:12:56.740 and why we wear mixed fibers

00:12:58.980 and why we cut our beards.

00:13:01.400 And they'll say, 0.95

00:13:02.440 oh, so you think it's wrong for gays to marry? 0.94

00:13:04.720 But what about you? 0.99

00:13:05.260 Look at you, you have tattoos.

00:13:06.840 Look what Leviticus says about that.

00:13:10.580 Again, they try to hold us

00:13:12.420 to the standards of the old law

00:13:14.080 because they don't understand

00:13:15.400 this extremely basic foundational doctrine

00:13:18.220 of Christianity

00:13:19.020 that distinguishes between

00:13:20.880 the old and new law.

00:13:22.740 This is not just like some Christians do. 0.71

00:13:25.120 This is basic fundamental Christianity

00:13:28.060 that if you are a Christian,

00:13:29.540 you must believe.

00:13:32.320 Again, they show how they have disdain

00:13:34.660 for something

00:13:35.260 that they do not even slightly understand. 0.67

00:13:40.380 You see, Christianity is hated in our culture

00:13:43.100 because our culture doesn't understand it.

00:13:46.860 So it's actually not even true to say

00:13:48.640 that Christianity is hated. 0.99

00:13:50.460 People hate what they perceive

00:13:52.460 Christianity to be.

00:13:58.640 It's certainly possible for a person

00:14:00.620 to study Christianity,

00:14:02.180 understand it basically,

00:14:03.880 and then reject it.

00:14:04.720 You can do that.

00:14:05.900 But it's not possible

00:14:07.320 for an intelligent, rational person

00:14:09.860 to study it, understand it,

00:14:12.740 and then treat it as something 0.97

00:14:14.940 just ridiculous 0.98

00:14:16.100 and childish 1.00

00:14:18.100 and inane 1.00

00:14:19.220 and stupid. 1.00

00:14:21.400 That you can't do 1.00

00:14:22.440 if you're a smart person.

00:14:23.860 Because anyone with that attitude,

00:14:26.020 which is the majority

00:14:27.580 of American atheists

00:14:28.840 and even some Christians,

00:14:31.740 anyone with that attitude

00:14:33.220 reveals themselves

00:14:34.320 to be uninformed

00:14:35.480 and unintelligent. 0.77

00:14:36.440 this is a belief system

00:14:40.260 that has been believed

00:14:44.040 and accepted

00:14:44.700 and embraced

00:14:45.460 by not only

00:14:48.240 billions of people

00:14:51.860 across the world,

00:14:53.260 but also

00:14:54.400 some of the most,

00:14:56.880 some of the greatest geniuses

00:14:59.560 in the history

00:15:00.960 of mankind.

00:15:03.120 Whether we're talking

00:15:04.140 about Aquinas

00:15:04.820 or Augustine

00:15:05.800 or Da Vinci

00:15:08.120 or Michelangelo,

00:15:11.040 Shakespeare,

00:15:12.200 I mean,

00:15:12.500 going down the list,

00:15:14.500 some of the greatest geniuses

00:15:17.120 ever to exist

00:15:18.040 on planet Earth

00:15:18.840 have not only been Christians

00:15:19.860 but devout Christians.

00:15:21.760 No, that doesn't prove

00:15:23.200 that Christianity is correct

00:15:24.360 all by itself,

00:15:25.340 but it does prove

00:15:26.820 that if you're a serious person,

00:15:28.300 this is something

00:15:29.500 you take seriously.

00:15:31.660 You don't just say,

00:15:32.880 pfft, pfft,

00:15:33.600 yeah, whatever.

00:15:35.880 No, see,

00:15:36.220 you're not allowed

00:15:36.700 to do that

00:15:37.340 with a belief system

00:15:38.680 held by Thomas Aquinas

00:15:39.740 if you're a smart person.

00:15:41.640 If you're a smart person,

00:15:42.840 you say,

00:15:43.180 wow, this is a towering genius.

00:15:46.000 I mean,

00:15:46.240 I should look into

00:15:47.120 what he's saying, right?

00:15:48.520 I mean,

00:15:48.740 I should at least listen. 1.00

00:15:52.480 But if you're ignorant, 1.00

00:15:53.660 if you're foolish, 1.00

00:15:54.580 if you're childish, 1.00

00:15:55.420 if you're unintelligent, 0.54

00:15:59.580 or more so 1.00

00:16:01.280 if you're an intellectual coward, 1.00

00:16:03.020 that's when you take, 1.00

00:16:04.060 when you look at this belief,

00:16:05.540 again,

00:16:05.760 billions of people

00:16:06.540 hold it throughout the year.

00:16:07.740 Millions of people

00:16:08.320 have died for this belief.

00:16:10.160 Some of the smartest people

00:16:11.240 in the history of the world.

00:16:12.440 I mean,

00:16:12.680 our civilization

00:16:13.580 was founded on this belief

00:16:15.280 and you have to be 1.00

00:16:16.120 very, very frankly stupid 1.00

00:16:18.100 to look at that 1.00

00:16:19.160 and just say,

00:16:19.920 pfft,

00:16:20.280 whatever.

00:16:20.780 Again,

00:16:23.920 I'm not saying

00:16:24.600 that if you decide

00:16:26.060 you don't believe, 1.00

00:16:26.800 that means that you're stupid. 1.00

00:16:27.900 I'm saying if you have 1.00

00:16:28.700 that attitude of just,

00:16:30.120 I don't even care.

00:16:31.540 I'm not even going to look at it.

00:16:35.400 It's something

00:16:36.000 that you need to take seriously.

00:16:40.080 And then when you look

00:16:40.860 at the history of Christianity,

00:16:41.860 there's even more reason

00:16:42.860 to take it seriously.

00:16:44.740 When you look at the fact

00:16:45.720 that Christianity was born

00:16:47.000 in violent oppression,

00:16:48.000 has endured it relentlessly

00:16:50.520 ever since.

00:16:51.740 Its founder was this

00:16:52.860 obscure carpenter

00:16:54.040 who was brutally executed

00:16:55.660 only three years

00:16:56.440 into his public ministry.

00:16:58.700 And its early apostles

00:16:59.780 and evangelists

00:17:00.580 were these really

00:17:01.280 unimpressive,

00:17:02.540 average men

00:17:04.100 who carried

00:17:05.280 this carpenter's message

00:17:06.600 in defiance

00:17:07.400 of government authorities

00:17:08.480 and religious leaders

00:17:09.440 and an empire

00:17:10.320 and they died for it.

00:17:12.640 And its disciples

00:17:13.480 embraced this new way

00:17:14.680 of life

00:17:15.060 that would only lead

00:17:15.780 to suffering

00:17:16.320 and poverty and death.

00:17:17.320 There was nothing else promised.

00:17:18.500 They weren't promised riches.

00:17:19.840 They weren't promised new land.

00:17:21.320 They weren't promised anything

00:17:22.380 but suffering, poverty, and death.

00:17:23.960 And for 300 years,

00:17:24.960 that's all it gave them

00:17:26.220 was suffering, poverty, and death.

00:17:28.820 And yet it flourished

00:17:29.940 and it conquered

00:17:30.720 and it triumphed.

00:17:31.760 And millions and millions

00:17:32.660 of people

00:17:33.320 saw something

00:17:35.060 in the religion

00:17:35.800 worth dying for

00:17:37.000 and know

00:17:37.780 that does not prove

00:17:38.780 that it's true.

00:17:41.320 But it does prove

00:17:42.540 that you should look at it

00:17:43.640 and take it seriously

00:17:45.640 and say to yourself

00:17:47.660 I want to understand

00:17:49.720 this thing.

00:17:51.400 Maybe all of those people

00:17:53.120 are wrong

00:17:53.900 but there's no way

00:17:56.080 I can arrive

00:17:56.720 at that conclusion

00:17:57.460 until I have taken

00:17:58.800 the time

00:17:59.340 to understand it.

00:18:02.420 A lot of people

00:18:03.320 in our culture

00:18:03.800 just are not willing

00:18:04.780 to do that.

00:18:09.220 And so

00:18:09.940 in lieu of understanding

00:18:11.140 they just say

00:18:12.180 why understand it

00:18:13.780 when I can hate it.

00:18:17.640 And I just think 0.99

00:18:18.400 that's very foolish. 0.98

00:18:20.480 And then if you understand it 0.99

00:18:21.700 you avoid

00:18:23.060 some of the embarrassment

00:18:24.520 that poor Chuck Todd

00:18:25.580 and the poor lady 1.00

00:18:26.980 at NPR

00:18:27.520 have suffered

00:18:28.200 over the last few days.

00:18:30.120 Alright,

00:18:30.420 thanks for watching everybody

00:18:31.220 and hope you have a great day.

00:18:32.380 I'll talk to you next time.

00:18:33.220 I'll talk to you next time.

00:18:34.920 I'll talk to you next time.

00:18:35.820 I'll talk to you next time.

The Matt Walsh Show - April 03, 2018

Ep. 2 - The Bible Needs To Be Taught In Public School

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