0:09

Bill, one of the biggest stories of the past

0:11

few days, especially when it comes to followers of

0:13

your work in ministry, is

0:16

Aynne Hersey-Alley's claim

0:19

that she is now a Christian. Now,

0:21

let's take a look at her essay, and for

0:23

anyone unfamiliar with her, she

0:25

was considered one of the most

0:27

prominent atheists since the early 2000s.

0:30

She's a refugee from Somalia with

0:32

a Muslim background. She's

0:34

a victim of female genital mutilation, a

0:37

former Dutch politician, and

0:40

now an American and mother.

0:42

I'm sure, Bill, that people have been

0:44

sending you information on

0:46

her and this story. Yes, we

0:48

have British friends who sent us

0:51

copies of the large spread in

0:53

the London Times about

0:55

the story of her turning

0:57

to Christianity away from atheism, and

0:59

this is causing quite a ripple

1:01

in the UK. The

1:04

Egyptian intellectual Hussein Ababaqur

1:06

Mansour wrote in reaction

1:08

to the news that,

1:10

quote, Aynne Hersey-Alley's

1:12

announcement of embracing Christianity is

1:15

one of the biggest pivotal

1:17

moments culturally since 9-11,

1:19

and I don't know how many people

1:21

actually realized that. Aynne

1:23

Hersey-Alley was the poster child of

1:25

what the new atheist promised Islam.

1:28

Not just is she saying that she is not

1:31

certain about that promise anymore, she is saying

1:33

that she isn't even certain about the promise

1:35

of the future the new

1:37

atheist could afford themselves,

1:41

end of quote there. And then

1:43

Mansour continued, quote, as

1:45

Western elites ditched Aynne for

1:47

the Islamists, Aynne turned

1:49

to the ancient fort of Christianity for

1:52

a last escape. Aynne's

1:54

decision to convert Prompts a

1:56

series of very big questions that go to

1:58

the heart of the challenges. Facing

2:00

the west at present. Can.

2:03

Religion be justified on

2:05

pragmatic grounds are does

2:07

it require. Sincere. Faith

2:10

is an increasingly secular west

2:12

doomed to lose the civilizational

2:14

war we find ourselves in.

2:17

Can Christianity actually serve as

2:19

a unifying force in that

2:22

fight? And if religion won't

2:24

unitas, what else? night? And

2:27

of good bill. I suppose I should

2:29

ask you brides to start about dub.

2:32

The The. Pragmatism. Of.

2:34

Her conversion. Many are saying that one

2:37

doesn't become a Christian. On.

2:39

Purely pragmatic grounds. Well,

2:41

I think it's faults

2:44

cabin to oppose. Pragmatic.

2:47

Grounds to sincere fade. I

2:49

think that a person can

2:51

come to cries for pragmatic

2:53

reasons, but then have a

2:56

genuine conversion experience of Christ

2:58

to be born again, regenerated

3:00

and have that new spiritual

3:02

life within. And and so

3:05

I see no inconsistency between

3:07

the pragmatic reasons that might

3:09

lead you to fade and

3:12

the sincerity of that phase.

3:14

I think it would be.

3:17

Presumptuous for people to

3:19

pronounce upon the sincerity

3:21

of her newfound faiths.

3:23

Now having said that,

3:26

I notice later in

3:28

the article that there

3:30

is a differentiation between

3:32

the political need for

3:35

christianity in the civilizational

3:37

more, and the existential

3:39

importance of Christian faiths

3:42

for an individual person

3:44

and that second existential.

3:46

Ground for Face is

3:49

especially consistent with a

3:51

sincere and robust a

3:54

Christian faith. And indeed,

3:56

I imagine that most

3:58

people. To Christ

4:01

on those sorts of grounds,

4:03

rather than on disinterested intellectual

4:05

grounds. Let's. Begin

4:07

looking at portions of her

4:10

essay titled why I am

4:12

a Christian subtitled I was

4:14

born a Muslim in Somalia,

4:16

then I became an atheist.

4:18

But secular tools alone can't

4:20

equip us. For. Civilizational

4:22

War. This has a by the

4:24

way is a roller coasters. ah

4:27

and I encourage everyone to area

4:29

she writes court. And.

4:31

Two Thousand Two. I discovered a

4:34

nineteen Twenty seven lecture by Bertrand

4:36

Russell and titled, why I am

4:38

not a Christian It didn't cross

4:40

my mind as a Reddit that

4:42

one day, nearly a century after

4:45

he delivered it to the South

4:47

London branch of the National Secular

4:49

Society, I would be compelled to

4:51

write an essay with precisely. The.

4:54

Opposite. Title: end

4:56

of quote Bill: Any thoughts

4:58

on Russell's famous essay or

5:00

Bertrand Russell was a great

5:02

philosopher, one of the greatest

5:04

minds of the twentieth century.

5:06

but his essay why I'm

5:08

not a Christian really disappoints

5:10

Op's. It is not a

5:12

very good as a. Dozen

5:15

they're very good arguments and at

5:17

and therefore it's not often cited.

5:20

today. It's largely overlooked, I think.

5:23

Next, she writes regarding the Nine

5:25

Eleven Attacks quotes. I was a

5:27

Muslim then, although not a practicing

5:29

one. If I truly condemned their

5:32

actions, than where does that leave

5:34

me? The underlying principle the justify

5:36

the attacks was religious. After all,

5:38

the idea of jihad or holy

5:41

war against the infidels. was it

5:43

possible for me. As were

5:45

many members of the Muslim community.

5:48

simply to distance myself from the

5:50

action and it's horrific results. At

5:52

the time, there were many eminent

5:55

leaders in the west, politicians, scholars,

5:57

journalist, and other experts who and.

6:00

There's still. That. The terrorists

6:02

were motivated by reasons other than

6:04

the ones they and their leader

6:06

Osama Bin Laden had articulated so

6:08

clearly. So. Islam had

6:11

an alibi. This. excuse making

6:13

was not only condescending

6:15

toward muslims. It. Also gave

6:17

many westerners a chance to retreat

6:20

into denial. Blaming. The

6:22

errors of us foreign policy

6:24

was easier than contemplating the

6:27

possibility that we were confronted

6:29

with. A religious. War.

6:32

And of court Bill I suppose

6:34

he's talking about dub political correctness

6:36

and on what do you think

6:38

she means by leaders excusing the

6:40

terrorists because they. Had. An alibi.

6:43

People. In the West cabin

6:45

find it impossible to think

6:47

that a major World religions

6:50

would actually sanctions violence to

6:52

war non believers as a

6:54

means of propagating that religion.

6:56

People in the West think

6:58

surely all of these great

7:01

religions believe basically the same

7:03

thing and they all hold

7:05

the same values that we

7:07

do. And so you have

7:09

all this nonsense by our

7:12

political leaders about. How Islam

7:14

means peace I and

7:16

how Islam is a

7:18

peaceful religion. And then

7:20

they blame the terrorism

7:23

and the violence on

7:25

other factors like for

7:27

example, colonialism and We

7:29

see this perfectly the

7:31

day with the invasion

7:33

of Israel by Hamas

7:35

and the hideous atrocities

7:38

that were committed against

7:40

innocent civilian men, women,

7:42

and children. Rather than

7:44

attribute this to G.

7:47

hottest. Principles. Of

7:49

Islam, Israel is to blame.

7:51

It's Israel's fault that some

7:54

ask a man and murdered

7:56

these people and what westerners

7:58

need to wonders. The end

8:01

is that the mentality

8:03

of Islam is completely

8:05

different from I'm. That.

8:08

Of Christianity, Islam sees the

8:10

world as divided into two

8:12

houses: The Dark Out Harm

8:15

and the Dar al Islam.

8:17

The Dark All the harbor

8:20

means the House of War.

8:22

Those are the nations that

8:24

have not yet been brought

8:27

into submission to is long

8:29

and religious war is to

8:31

be perpetrated against these nations

8:34

until they are forced to

8:36

submit. The Dark. Out Islam

8:38

is the House of Submission

8:41

and those are the countries

8:43

of the world that are

8:45

now in submission to Islam

8:47

and have Muslim leadership's and

8:49

the goal of Islam is

8:51

nothing less than world conquest

8:53

of to wage religious wars

8:55

until all of the world

8:58

is brought into the House

9:00

of Submission And so Westerners

9:02

need to wake up and

9:04

and realize that the whole

9:06

religions are all alike. Islam

9:08

is is an incredibly

9:11

evil belief system that

9:13

sanctions violence and in

9:15

drawings violence upon it's

9:18

adherents in the propagation

9:20

of the face. Yeah

9:23

I. Am seeking to use do

9:25

this he said just for to said. Are

9:28

quote. We have seen a similar tennessee

9:30

in the past five weeks. As

9:32

millions of people sympathetic to the

9:35

plight of Gaza and seek to

9:37

rationalize the October Seven terrorist Attacks.

9:40

As a justified response to the

9:42

policies. Of the Israeli

9:45

government Cel. Opens.

9:47

Up a real can of worms our

9:49

bill on that current conflict you wanna

9:51

open. It's a more suggest Ah. Our.

9:54

Experience has been The

9:56

Palestinians are taught since

9:59

childhood. To hate

10:01

Jews there is an

10:03

intense and irrational anti

10:06

semitism that is in

10:08

kill catered into these

10:10

Palestinian children from the

10:13

youth up. But Western

10:15

elites rationalize this anti

10:18

semitism as a response

10:20

to the West's imposition

10:22

of a Jewish state

10:25

in what was earlier

10:27

British territory following World.

10:30

War Two, The British

10:32

Colonial Empire seated this

10:34

land to establish a

10:37

Zionist state, a Jewish

10:39

State of Israel and

10:41

so the or Western

10:43

elites will rationalize this

10:46

anti semitism as basically

10:48

being anti colonialism and

10:50

are anti Western isn't

10:53

winning. Practice is a

10:55

deep seated hatred of

10:57

Jews as Jews. Next.

11:00

As he writes, when I read

11:02

Russell's lecture, I found my cognitive

11:04

dissonance easy. It was a relief

11:06

to adopt an attitude of skepticism

11:09

toward religious doctrine, discard my faith

11:11

in God and declare that no

11:13

such and to the existed. Best

11:15

of all, I can reject the

11:17

existence of Hell and the danger

11:20

of everlasting punishment. Russell's assertion that

11:22

religion is based primarily on fear.

11:24

Resonated. With me, I have

11:27

lived for too long and the

11:29

terror of all the gruesome punishments

11:31

that are weighted me. While I

11:34

had abandoned all the rational reasons

11:36

for believing in God, that irrational

11:38

fear of hell fire still lingered.

11:41

Russell's. Conclusion: Thus came as

11:43

something of a relief. When.

11:45

I die. I. Shall

11:48

right. And of Court

11:50

Bill. You've addressed this in your work

11:52

at how should we think about things

11:54

like fear of Hell. As. a

11:57

motivation for following christ well

11:59

jesus said, do not fear

12:01

those who kill the body

12:04

but cannot kill the soul.

12:06

Rather, fear him who

12:08

can destroy both soul and

12:11

body in hell. And

12:13

that is referring to God. So we

12:15

are to have a certain fear or

12:17

reverence of a holy God, but

12:20

there is a great difference,

12:22

Kevin, between Christianity and Islam

12:25

in their respective views of hell.

12:28

In Christianity, hell is an

12:30

expression of God's perfect justice

12:32

and holiness.

12:35

In Islam, by

12:37

contrast, Allah is

12:39

a capricious dictator.

12:41

His omnipotence trumps

12:43

his own moral character. So

12:46

according to Islam, on the

12:48

Judgment Day, God could arbitrarily

12:50

decide that everyone who has

12:52

confessed that there is one

12:54

God and that Allah, that

12:56

there is one God Allah

12:59

and that Muhammad is the

13:01

prophet of Allah, all of those faithful

13:03

Muslims shall go to hell and

13:06

the infidel shall all be saved.

13:08

That's perfectly within God's power and

13:10

prerogative. There are no constraints on

13:13

God's omnipotence posed by his moral

13:15

character. And so the doctrine of

13:17

hell in Islam is indeed a

13:20

terrifying prospect because it's capricious

13:23

and unrelated to God's moral

13:25

character and justice. Continuing,

13:28

she says, quote, to understand why I became

13:30

an atheist 20 years ago, you first need

13:32

to understand the kind of Muslim I had

13:34

been. I was a teenager

13:36

when the Muslim Brotherhood penetrated my community

13:39

in Nairobi, Kenya in 1985, but I

13:43

don't think I had even understood

13:45

religious practice before the coming of

13:47

the Brotherhood. I had endured the

13:50

rituals of ablutions, prayers and fasting

13:52

as tedious and pointless. The

13:54

preachers of the Muslim Brotherhood changed this.

13:57

They articulated a

13:59

direction. In

16:00

response, we were reminded repeatedly

16:02

about the clarity of the Prophet's

16:04

instructions. We were told in

16:07

no uncertain terms that we could not

16:09

be loyal to Allah and

16:11

Muhammad, while also maintaining

16:14

friendships and loyalty toward the

16:16

unbelievers. If they explicitly

16:19

rejected our summons to Islam, we

16:21

were to hate and

16:23

curse them." Bill,

16:26

I can imagine that somewhat accused Christians

16:28

of the same kind of hate

16:30

and isolation, citing

16:32

something like Paul's admonishment

16:34

not to be unequally yoked

16:36

with unbelievers. Can we clarify

16:38

that? Yes, I think

16:40

this is one of the major

16:43

differences between Christianity and Islam. In

16:46

Islam, the adherents of

16:48

Islam are instructed to hate unbelievers

16:51

because Allah hates unbelievers

16:55

and opposes them. Whereas

16:57

in Christianity, God loves

17:00

unbelievers. He loves them so much that He

17:02

gave His only Son to die for them,

17:04

and therefore we're to love them too. Jesus,

17:07

in the Sermon on the Mount, said,

17:09

You've heard that it was said, You

17:11

shall love your neighbor and hate

17:14

your enemy. But I say

17:16

to you, love your enemies

17:18

and pray for those who persecute

17:20

you, so that you may be

17:22

sons of your Father who is

17:25

in heaven. For He makes His

17:27

Son rise on the evil and

17:29

on the just, and sends rain

17:31

on the just and on the

17:33

unjust. For if you love

17:36

those who love you, what reward have

17:38

you? Do not even the tax collectors

17:40

do the same? And if you salute

17:42

only your brethren, what more are you

17:44

doing than others? Do not

17:46

even the Gentiles do the

17:48

same? You therefore must be

17:51

perfect as your heavenly Father

17:53

is perfect. And so

17:55

just as God, our heavenly Father,

17:58

is loving toward us, all

18:00

persons, even those

18:02

who oppose Him, similarly, we

18:05

are to be loving and

18:07

gracious even to those who

18:09

are our enemies. What a

18:12

difference with Islam.