And you're? Alex. Alex, nice to meet you. Let me ask you a question we love asking people. Alex, if you were to die today, and I hope you don't. You look right down at your cigarette. But if you were to die today, and stand in God's presence, and God were to say to you, Alex, why should I let you into heaven? What would you say? I don't know. I don't really believe in God, so I don't believe that that would happen, but I don't often think about it. Out of curiosity, why don't you believe there's a God? I don't know. I just don't believe in a sort of conscious entity, really. Perhaps there's some sort of universal force or something. So you do believe there's something out there. There could be. Was there ever a time in your life when you believed that there was a God? Maybe when I was little. And what changed that? I don't know. It was sort of a given as you believe in anything that people tell you about. Okay. Okay. What type of religious background have you had? Have you ever read the scriptures, the Bible? And if so, how much or what books did you read? Not really. Someone asked me once, how do I know there's a God? You know, I've never seen, I've never seen this person who's God. I mean, I've never heard his voice. So that's a legitimate question. When I look at this building over here, I guess they're remodeling part of it and then adding on to it. I used to build houses years ago. But when you look at that building, how do you know there was a builder? Because it's there. Because it's there. You know, when we look around at the earth, this world, the life itself, the trees, the animals, the incredible variety of it all, The scripture says that's one of the evidences of the existence of God. It testifies to me that there has to have been someone who was an incredible master designer. So that kind of helps me, you know, answer the question. But then there's another thing, and that's one of the reasons I asked you if you had read the Bible. I've been reading the scripture seriously probably for over 30 years, and I've read like the Koran, Some of the Vedas of Hinduism, the writings of Buddha, and some of the religious people, the Book of Mormon, and all these religious books out there. But one of the things that so fascinates me about the Bible, and that's why I asked if you'd read it, is it's the only book that I've read that contains fulfilled prophecy. In other words, only God could tell us the end from the beginning. Some of them are even very pertinent today. Some of the things we're seeing happening in the world today are recorded in the scripture. You know, we're over there in Iraq, Afghanistan. We're worrying about Iran. Do they have nuclear weapons? What are they going to do with Israel? Ahmad Magenadjad, the other day, made a comment that he's going to blow Israel off the map and then come after the United States, the great Satan and all his stuff, all his rhetoric. It might fascinate you to know that the 37th chapter of Ezekiel, who was a prophet that lived over 2,000 years ago, writing about the time of the end, names by name the countries that are going to come against Israel. And can you believe that Iran is mentioned by name? Yes. The scripture prophesied 2,500 years ago that the Messiah the Savior would come and it gave us the exact year of his death. That's in Daniel chapter 9. The place the Messiah would be born was given 500 years before he was born in Micah chapter 5 and verse 4. The city he would be born in. You read Psalm 22 and the very way he would die in crucifixion. I mean the Romans hadn't even invented it yet and yet the piercing of his hands and his side and the way he would die and the words he would say is all recorded in Psalm hundreds of years before he came. That he would be betrayed by a very close friend for 30 pieces of silver. The fact that he would be buried in a rich man's tomb was prophesied in Isaiah chapter 53. The fact that he would rise from the dead. It's all there in the Bible. Only God could have given that. So when I look at the Bible it testifies to me to the existence of God. There's one other thing I want you to think about. Maybe you can give me your thoughts on this. Why is it that regardless of where you go in the world, the cultures, the people, that all of us know it's wrong to steal and take things that don't belong to us? Why do we all know that? Well, I think that in everyone there's a sense of morality. Ah! But I feel that's more... Where did that come from? You know, it needs to be there. It's an essential piece of progress. Ah. Talk to me some more. This is good. In order to maintain the structure. Okay. You need that, in a sense. You need the sense of property. Are you familiar with the Ten Commandments? Yeah. Alright, you know some of the other commandments? You know, one of them is, thou shalt not steal. Don't take anything that doesn't belong to you. Can you think of another commandment of the ten? Honor thy mother and thy father. Okay. I remind my kids, I got six kids, I remind my kids of that all the time. Have you always honored your father and mother? No. No, neither have I. So, I'm a thief who's dishonored my father and mother. You're a thief who's dishonored their father and mother too. Yeah. That's just two of those ten words. And there's eight more. Give me another one. Not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain? Yeah, exactly. Don't people just walk around, we use God's name all the time without even giving a thought to it? There's also a sense that we've been raised, everyone's been raised to exist. You know, growing up you're told to exist and then it becomes an inner sense of wrong and good. I think what you shared a little earlier is so true. When you said that there is kind of this, you used the word inherent, sense of morality. You see, not only did the trees and nature testify to the existence of God, not only does the scripture testify to the existence of God, but the fact that he has written his law in our hearts and our minds is an evidence of his existence, the Bible says, in the book of Romans. That he has put his law in our heart. But the only problem is that you and I can't keep it. Has anybody ever shared with you what the Bible calls the gospel? I have not. There's a book in the New Testament called The Gospel of John, The Good News of John. John was a man who walked and talked with Jesus Christ 2,000 years ago and wrote a story of his life. If you've never read that portion of the Bible, I want to encourage you to get a Bible and read that, just for your own. I met a man a number of weeks ago who looked at me and said, Bill, listen, I've been raised in a Christian church. But he said it never stuck. It didn't mean anything to me. He said, I really don't know if there's a God, just like you shared with me. One of the things I encouraged him to do was just read the Bible. See, I can't convince you there's a God, but the Bible says faith comes by hearing the Word of God. But if you read that Bible, you'll discover that the good news is that the God who created us all has made a way to bring us into his presence so that we can worship and enjoy him forever. And the way He did that is to provide for us a Savior. We couldn't save ourselves. We all know we're sinners. We all know we're walking around breaking His laws. No one had to tell us that. We know it ourselves. And so many times the sense of our guilt and our shame is on our hearts. God sent His Son to live the life we couldn't live, and then die the death we deserved, and then rose again. And the good news of the Bible is that God allows Bill Jones, Alex, Steve, anybody who wants it, will allow His Son to represent us with His perfect life and His atoning death. And when I heard that good news, I knew I needed it. And I came to God's Son. And I cried out to Him. I've never seen Jesus Christ. I've never heard His voice. But I've become a follower of Him. And I'm reading the Scripture. And I just want to encourage you to maybe get a Bible. And give some more reading to the Scripture. But I appreciate you giving us your thoughts and just being real open and honest. And I think that you really nailed some ideas there. Inherent morality. How do we know there's a builder? And look at the vine. Thank you, my friend. Take care.