>> JOSH MCDOWELL: Good morning! Hey, do you all do anything normal at Liberty? I can't believe your library. Robots? Once I left that and I thought “if I have
children again, I'm gonna have robots.” No, but how cutting edge you guys are? And probably for most of you, you need to
say “hi” to your parents for me because I probably spoke to them when they were in
junior high. I'm in the green room! And I'm looking at the schedule for today
and it describing me, it says “legendary Christian author.” Leave it to Johnnie, what he meant was an
old man. I guess that's what legendary means. This morning we have a brief time together
and I decided not to give a talk. You've had a lot of classes talks, what I'm
gonna do is tell a story. I want to tell a story about an 11-year-old
boy who woke up one morning and just wanted to die. He didn't want to live anymore. It's my story. I want to ask you several questions, just
answer to yourself. Have you ever been lonely? Have you ever felt all alone? No, have you ever have a fleeting thought,
it wouldn't matter to anyone if I lived or I died. That's how I felt at 11 years old and I chose
to — wanting to die. I was brought up in a little, tiny town in
Michigan, about 1,800 people. Thanks mom, but I would go to school and I
— my dad would be downtown making a fool of himself, drunk in a gutter. And my friends would make jokes about it,
they didn't think it would hurt me. I'm like some of you, you know who you are. Where you can put on the big front, you can
appear to be so happy and inside you're crying. A lot of you can do that, I can do that. And every time they told a joke about my dad,
it hurt, but I never let anyone know. I'd go out to the farm, we lived in a farm,
and I'd see my mother — who I loved very much — laying in manure in a gutter behind
the cows, where my dad being drunk would pull off the milk holes out of the milking pipes
and just beat my mother to a bloody pulp until she was so weak and bloody she couldn't stand
up and she'd just roll out of the manure onto the cement sidewalk behind the cows. And at 9, 10, 11 years old I'd be kicking,
beating my dad, screaming at him, “when I am strong enough, I'll kill you.” We didn't have friends come over. And any of you that have an alcoholic or a
drug-related parent, you know what I'm talking about. If you don't, you don't know what I'm talking
about. The shame that you carry with you every day
of your life when you have an alcoholic parent. Especially when friends come over and your
dad or mom's drunk, that's when you just want to die. And so before friends could come over, I'd
go out to the barn, and I was just a little guy, 9, 10, 11-years-old, and my dad would
either be passed out or halfway there and I'd grab him either by the neck or by the
legs and pull him into a pen where the cows would have their calves and just drop him
on the straw. Then I'd go move the car, because you learn
to drive young on a farm, and I'd back the car out of the garage, park up around behind
the silo so nobody could see it. And then when friends would show up, we'd
say “well he had to go away on something important,” just so we wouldn't be shamed. In case he woke up before the people left,
I'd go back out there — and it took me a while but he was just a little man — and
I would get him up against the boards and then I'd take one arm put it through a board
and tie a rope around it, and then I'd take his other arm, put a rope around — the other
end of the rope around and tie it. And then around behind and I'd get another
rope and make a hangman's noose and put it around his neck. And then as a little kid, I'd put the other
end around his feet, as tight as I could pull that rope I'd pull it until his head would
go all the way over that top board. When I couldn't anymore I wrapped around and
knotted it. First time I did that, I left him there probably
about 6:00 at night, went out about 5:30 the next morning, and I was so discouraged, so
disappointed, he was still alive. All I ever wanted as a kid was for my father
to quit hurting my mother, and I couldn't stop him. And I resented him and I hated him. Two months before I graduated from high school,
I came home from a date about midnight on a Saturday, walked into the farmhouse and
I heard my mother crying. And it scared me. Ran through the house yelling “mom, what's
wrong, what's wrong?” Ran into her bedroom, she sat up in bed just
weeping, she said “your father has broken my heart.” And she reached out, put her arms around me
and pulled me to her — and I'll never forget what she said — she said “son, I've lost
the will to live. All I want to live until you graduate then
I just want to die.” You know what happened? Two months later, 61 days later, I graduated
from high school the next day my mother up and died. Next Friday the 13. Don't tell me you can't die of a broken heart. My mother did, and my father broke it, and
I despised him for it. When I was 11 years old, my oldest brother
— I was one of five kids, I was the baby, he was the oldest — my brother Wilmot took
my parents to a court of law and sued them for everything they had. Now I didn't know what was going on, I was
only 11 years old, but I knew there was a problem. I found out later that in the settlement of
the lawsuit, one of the things my brother got was a new home my folks had built on the
farm for workers. And I learned later, he had gone to my parents
said he was gonna move it and my parents said “don't, we need the home, we will buy a
land, we'll buy a home, we'll give you the money.” But my father had so wounded my brother than
my brother out of spite said “no I'm gonna move it.” Well when they announced they were gonna move
it, in two weeks I was so excited! Come on, most of you have never seen a big
house picked up and moved, I didn't know they were gonna come down with huge helicopters
or what. And for two weeks I couldn't sleep hardly. I got up that Saturday morning, did my chores,
put on my best work clothes, ran out, and I looked up and it was up a slope, probably
about from here to the back of the arena here, and it was up a slope away from the main farmhouse,
and I looked up there, there were 30, 40 people up there. It was critical who they were, many of them,
they were farmers and merchants from around Union City, Michigan. But many of them were parents of my friends,
you know people's houses you went to, stayed overnight, played, and I thought “wow, this
is gonna be quite a party!” They couldn't believe you could move a house
like this. And so I ran up that hill, and I mean I was
so excited, my adrenaline was pumping, I don't even think sometimes my feet hit the ground. And I got to the top where everybody was,
and my world came crashing down. I mean these farmers, these merchants, parents
of my friends yelling the dirtiest, filthiest names at my parents. And 11 years old I couldn't handle that and
I snapped. And I lost part of my life — to this day,
three times I've gone back there. Two summers ago I took my entire family, I
stood at the bottom of that hill and said “God, give me back my memory.” I don't know if I lost two minutes, four minutes,
six minutes, or what. The only conscious thought I had, and boy
can I remember, I was running down the other side of the hill in front of everyone, and
11 years old crying and screaming and I ran to the end of the barn where there was a room
about this size right here. There were three stalls in it for wheat, oats,
and shelled corn to grind up for cattle feed. I ran up the six steps, reaching around, closed
that huge door, put the iron latch down, knocked the two boards out holding the blinders up
too — it was pitch black — and 11 years I turned around I climbed up into that shelled
corn bin and I buried myself up to my neck. That's when I wanted to die. I didn't want to live anymore, I felt such
shame. And you know, the one emotion I can still
sense is, I remember never, ever, ever wanting to go to a friend's house again. Think how that feels at 11 years old. I was there for three hours and my parents
never came looking for me. Ever felt lonely? Ever felt abandoned? Ever felt, you know, it wouldn't matter to
anyone if you lived or died? Well, that's how I felt. I just wanted to die. Around 1:00 that afternoon — come on, I
was thirsty and hungry and — I dug myself out of that corn, jumped out of the bin, took
the latch, and opened that door the sunlight hit me in the face and in that moment I slammed
the door on God. I damned God and I cursed Him for abandoning
me. And I slammed the door on my father and I
damned him and I cursed him. And for about seven years, eight years I slammed
that door. Enrolled in college. Kellogg College in Battle Creek, Michigan. In the first couple weeks there, I saw a small
group of people — there weren't very many — there were eight students and two professors,
but their lives were different! Have you ever seen a group that just kinda
stand out? Well, some do because they're weird. But, just this group stood out because they
were different in a good way. One of the things that caught me was, they
seemed to be two professors and eight students who had a sincere, authentic love and care
for each other. Now you'll find that everywhere. You know what the difference was? They seemed to have that same authentic love
and care for people outside their group. The way I was raised, I wanted it so I made
friends with them. We're sitting around the table in the student
union, six of the students there, two of the professors, and the conversation started to
get to God. If you're an insecure student or a professor
and a conversation gets to God, you have to put on the big front. And the bigger front somebody puts on, the
bigger the emptiness they have on the inside. And I was putting on that front but they were
irritating me so I looked over at this young lady — oh, she was cute. I used to think all Christians were ugly. No, I did, really, I'm serious! I thought if you couldn't make it anywhere
else in life, you became a Christian. But she was really cute, and that threw me
for a loop! Now I had a problem. I wanted what they had, but I didn't want
them to know that I wanted what they had. But all the time, they knew that I wanted
what they had and didn't want them to know that I wanted what they had. So I leaned back in my chair and probably
with a very arrogant attitude I just said “tell me, what changed your lives, why are
you so different?” The other student, leaders on campus — I
can't believe it. She looked back at me with a little smile,
and that can be irritating. She said two words I never thought I'd ever
hear in a university — I’m part of the solution. She looked at me and said “Jesus Christ,”
and I said “oh for God's sakes don't give me that garbage! I'm fed up with religion, church, the Bible,
Christians, Christianity, I want nothing to do with it.” All I know is, she had a lot of courage or
a lot of convictions — on the farm we called it guts. The lady did not back down! She shot right back at me and said “mister,
we didn't tell you religion, the church, the Bible, God, we told you the person of Jesus
Christ.” Ouch. So I apologized to her, I hadn't been — my
mother didn't raise me to be rude. So what, I apologized, but immediately I added
a disclaimer. I said “look, I want you to understand something,
I want nothing to do with the church, with the Bible, with God, with Christians, or Christianity.” Then I couldn't believe it. Right there in the university, these students
and professors challenged me — get this — to intellectually examine the claims that
Jesus Christ one, is God's Son, and second — now get this — the Bible being true
and the Word of God. I thought you've got to be kidding. I truly believed Christians had two brains,
one was lost and the other was out looking for it. I'm serious, I really believed that if a Christian
— and a brain die in isolation — I had met some and after a ten-minute conversation,
I felt justified — even do that today, feel justified. But they went on and on, challenging me. No, they ticked me off. Now, don't misunderstand this. What those Christian professors and students
were doing was totally appropriate, I was the problem. And usually that's the situation. When someone says “oh these Christians they
tick me off!” That person says that is the problem usually. Why? When I walked out of that corn bin I stuffed
that anger, that hatred, that bitterness down into my life like some of you stuff things
down your life. When you do, you never respond the right way. So finally they made me so mad I said “OK,
I'll accept your challenge.” I didn't do it to prove anything, I said “I'm
gonna do it to refute you.” So I left the university, traveled out the
United States. England, Germany, France, Switzerland, and
the Middle East to gather the evidence to write my first book, Evidence that Demands
a Verdict, The New Evidence Demands a Verdict against Christianity. I figured any fool could do that and I'd qualify. I returned to London, England for a two-night
stay, it was a Thursday night about 6:30. I was in a small museum library looking at
some manuscripts, and I leaned back in my chair, cupped my hands behind my head, and
right in front of everyone — which was probably three people — I said, “it's true, it's
true, it's true.” What I meant by that was a statement about
the New Testament. I had concluded as an angry, agnostic, ornery
university student — intellectually I concluded I could hold the New Testament in my hand
and say what I have is what was written down. Boy, do I have more convictions about that
today. What I have has not been changed. And second, I concluded what was written down
was true. Now, be careful. I had not yet concluded that what Jesus said
was true. I had concluded that it was true that He said
it, you see the difference? Later, I concluded the other. Well I returned to the university and I couldn't
sleep, cause for the first time in my life — I had been before, but this time I knew
— I was being intellectually dishonest. So finally, on December the 19 at 8:30 at
night, I put it to the test. I became a Christian. You say, “how do you know?” I was there. It changed my life! I got alone with a friend of mine, made sure
my other friends weren't watching, I was a coward, and I prayed four things. I said “Lord Jesus, thank You for dying
on the cross for me.” The most humbling thought I've ever had in
my life was that Saturday night in my dorm room, all alone, when I realized as a nonbeliever
that if I were the only one alive, Jesus still would have died. I still get chills thinking about it. Second, I knew the Bible was true, and I knew
that a lot of the things in the Bible I didn't like. Every time in the Bible it would say “for
all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” I didn't like that. I thought I was a fairly nice guy, unless
I was mad at you. I knew the Bible was true, and I knew the
Bible said “if we confess our sins he's faithful and just to forgive us.” So I just said “God, right now, I accept
your forgiveness. Not based on anything I've done but what Jesus
did on the cross.” Third thing I prayed, I knew the Bible was
true and I knew the Bible said “but to as many have received Him” — so I — you
have to understand, I didn't know much — I just said “Lord, whatever it means, I receive
You into my life as my Savior and Lord.” Last thing I prayed was just something like
“thank You.” And nothing happened. But in about six months, my entire life was
turned upside down. Two areas were turned upside down. First, the relationship to my father. I went over, I drove to Battle Creek, Michigan
to a 50s diner — of course it was a 50s diner, it was in the 50s, anyway, that's dumb
— I drove over to Battle Creek to a diner. Brand new Christian, to tell my father I despised
him and never wanted to see him again, cause I believed he had killed my mother and destroyed
my family. And I drove over there and I sat down, he
was with his girlfriend — my mother had died three years before — and she was a
nice woman. My mother and his girlfriend. And I sat down and I looked him right in the
eye, without any chit-chat, and I said “dad” — and out of my mouth came “dad, I love
you.” I don't who was most surprised, my father
hearing it, or me saying it. That's when I knew it was real. Something had happened in my life. Ended up, I was able to lead my dad to Christ. One of the greatest joys in my life. He, he died 14 months later because for 30
years he'd been a wine — two to three bottles of wine every day for 30 years, totally destroyed
his liver. Three-fourths of his stomach had to be cut
out. But in that 14 months, scores of people in
Union City, Michigan and in the surrounding area committed their lives to Jesus Christ
because of the changed life of the town drunk, my daddy. The other area that became significant in
my life is one for years I never share, until about seven years ago, and I shared it with
my wife, my children, and two of my best friends, and then I went public. From six to 13 years old, for seven years,
I almost sexually raped every week. Seven years, by a man by the name of Wayne
Bailey. When I was six years old, he was working on
the farm as a cook and a housekeeper. And starting at six years old, whenever my
mother would go downtown shopping, my parents go away for the weekend, go out to the field,
whatever, they'd make me stand in front of Wayne Bailey, they would say — my mother
in a stern voice would say — “now Josh, you obey Wayne. You do everything he tells you to do, and
if you're disobedient, you will get a thrashing when I get home.” Trust me, you did not want a thrashing from
my mother. So what do you do at six years old? You do what Wayne Bailey told you. At nine years old, I got up the courage to
tell me mother, and she didn't believe me. She made me go out in the backyard where there's
a large willow tree, break off a willow switch, take my shirt off, and she whipped me in my
back for 30 minutes until I said “I lied.” That was the worst day of my life. The most — I was so afraid. I knew what was being done to me was evil,
I could do nothing about it, and my parents wouldn't. I became scared of men, I became scared of
life. Finally, at 13 years old, I was playing football
and tossing bales of hay on the farm, I had got rather strong. My parents had gone away for the weekend. This man walked up behind me he put his hand
on my right shoulder, I spun around, cupped my hand around his throat, pushed him against
the wall, and said “if you ever touch me again I will kill you.” And I would've. He never touched me again. I thank God those students introduced me to
Jesus Christ. I thank God I came to know Christ. I'll tell you, if I hadn't I wouldn't be here
today, I'd probably be a homeless person. But with my personality I'd have two carts. After I trusted Christ, I had to do something. Now, many of you will identify with this,
why? Probably 30 to 35 percent of all of you here
been sexually abused. I could pick a number of you out right now,
by your eyes and the way you responded when I said I had been almost sexually raped. There's a large number of you. And for many of you, you've been holding it
in. So you will understand this if you've been
abused. After I trusted Christ, I had to tell someone. And I really don't think — I wasn't looking
for answers. I wasn't looking for counseling. All I wanted was someone to believe me. Some of you know what I'm talking about. So I went to the man who led me to Christ,
drove 45 minutes over, sat almost an hour in his office, I couldn't say it. I didn't want to be rejected, it hurts to
be rejected. I remember 11 years old my dad was arguing
with my older brother and I said something and he turned around and said “shut up,
you were an unwanted child!” And I was, my parents were almost 50 when
I came along, they had never heard of condoms. Maybe they didn't have them then, I don't
know. Finally, I just blurted it out, and he believed
me. I gotta tell you, that was like being born
again, again. And you know what young people? This was a key. For six — he not only believed me — for
six months, that man mentored me out of the Scriptures. Once a week would meet with him, and the first
thing he'd always do was just listen to me. And then he took the Scriptures and spoke
them into my life. People say to me, “why do you have such
deep convictions the Bible is true?” Intellectually I know why I believe it, I've
debated it over 250 times in universities around the world. I know I believe it's true! Especially since the last 18 months. Well we've discovered in the last 18 months,
you can't even imagine. Absolutely mind-boggling! The evidence we discovered on the Scriptures. Never dreamed in my lifetime would ever be
discovered. But second, it has changed my life. I saw my life, my attitudes, my feelings,
my emotions, everything changed right before my eyes over six months. At the end of that six months, I knew he was
gonna say it, I did not want to hear. And he said “Josh, you need to forgive him.” I said “absolutely not. I want that man to burn in hell, and I will
escort him there for what he did to me.” But my problem was this, it was a good problem,
I knew the Bible was true. Boy, that has taken me through situations
where most Christians would bomb out. I knew the Bible was true and I knew God commanded
me to forgive. So I did it. Now, I want you to understand something. I didn't do it because I had a goody-goody
feeling or anything else, I did it by faith out of obedience. I drove from Battle Creek, Michigan up to
Jackson — I wonder where that thing was — from Battle Creek, Michigan up to Jackson,
knocked on the door, and when Wayne Bailey answered the door I said “Wayne, what you
did was evil, very evil, but I've come to know Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord and
I've come here to tell you” — young people, what I told him I did not want it to be true. Now, I knew intellectually it was true, but
I didn't want it to be true. When I said “Wayne, I've come here to tell
you that Jesus died as much for you as He did for me. I forgive you.” If I — if I had not have done that, I would
have destroyed everything in my life. I would have destroyed my marriage, my children,
everything. I never knew a woman could love a man as much
as my wife loves me. I've never seen it in a Hollywood movie, I've
never read it in a romance novel, not that I read many. I'll take 24 anyway. Yeah, anyways. But I never knew, I never knew a woman could
love a man as much as Dottie loves me. And I married any other type of woman I would
have destroyed my marriage. My wife has changed my life actually more
than Jesus, now I know it was Jesus through my wife, but if I had to put the two here
my wife would be here. Her incredible, unconditional love and wisdom,
capacity to give is just — I still find it hard to believe. And then to have four children — you met
one of my kids, Sean — to have four kids who would literally die for you. I didn't even know you could have a happy
family. I didn't, I never saw one, I sure didn't grow
up in it. But to have a family, kids that love each
other and everything, it was so much fun, we all got together for the Superbowl, 18
of us. And it was just incredible, the day, I didn't
want it to end. Every Sunday night we have a family celebration,
everybody comes together. If I'm on the road I skype, if Sean's on the
road he skypes. And we just have a big meal together, play
with the grandkids, and then for three years we'd put them to bed and watch 24 to have
our family devotions. But I never knew you could have a family like
that. And if I had not forgiven that man, I never
would have. Oh, young people, the power of forgiveness. I learned several things, I'll walk you through
this. Now the first thing I'm gonna say, I'm gonna
be misquoted, I'm gonna get some negative emails, but what I'm saying is true. One of the wisest thing I ever learned was
that I needed more than Jesus. Already some of your heads snapped. I needed more than Jesus. I think one of the greatest heresies by evangelists,
pastors, and preacher, “all you need is Jesus, all you need is Jesus.” That destroys more people's lives than anything. Now, you go out and tell people I said that
you won't say what I'm gonna say now, and that's a problem in the body of Christ. I needed more than Jesus, I needed what the
Bible says, I needed the church. I needed the body of Christ. Do you hear me? I know it was Jesus through the church, but
the Bible says the church! I needed Paul Lewis, Tim Simpson, Henry Cloud,
Steve Artebert, Dick Day, Fay Logan. I needed those six people to come around me
in the church and to love me, to hear me, to accept me, to be there when I needed it. Without the church, I wouldn't have made it. And when people preach “all you need is
Jesus” — now look, when it comes to my salvation, all I need is Jesus, it's not Jesus
plus. But after my salvation, almost everything
is Jesus plus the church. And boy is that biblical, but most Christians
don't get it. And when these people preach “all you need
is Jesus,” they cut people like you and me off from one of the greatest sources of
healing, the body of Christ. This is what I learned, don't go it alone,
you won't make it. There's many of you here that have been abused. How do I know? Because the last two times I spoke at Liberty
I got ten times more cards from students about sexual abuse than I've ever received at any
university, school, college, or anything. You hear me? Don't go it alone. Don't go another day without the joy God intended. I guarantee ya you've never met anyone happier
than I am, I don't know how anyone could be happier in life than I am and enjoy every
moment. All I want to do is go to Heaven and take
as many people with me as I can, and enjoy every moment of it. But my joy and happiness is not because I
haven't had problems, because I've learned one thing. There's nothing too great in my life for God's
power to deal with, nor anything too small or insignificant for His love to be concerned
about. Let me repeat that, this is the most liberating
thought in my life. There's nothing in my life, nothing in your
life, too great for God's power to deal with, nor anything too small or insignificant for
His love to be concerned about. That's when I learn to open up. That's when I learn to go to others. Please, I beg you, if you've been abused,
raped, hooked into pornography which so many of you are, it'll destroy you, I guarantee
it. It will destroy you, pornography. Find help. If you're a young lady, find an older woman,
especially in your church, even a professor, someone here — now be careful, don't find
a woman that can't keep her big, fat mouth shut. Never, ever, ever, ever, ever trust a woman
that can't keep her big mouth shut! These people go to prayer meetings, “oh
we got to pray for so and so, do you know this happened?” You have no right to say that without their
permission! I get up and walk out of a prayer meeting
like that! Which means half of prayer meetings I walk
out of! Find a woman who has a — seems like an authentic
walk with Christ that knows the Scriptures and is not very narrow, legalistic like this. That knows the Scriptures and just wants to
live them out, and ask that woman, “could I share something with you?” And then say, “would you mentor me?” Don't say “for six months,” say “for
two, three months would you” — almost everyone would say “yes,” and that'll
be your key. If you're a young man, find an older man,
who can keep his mouth shut. And just ask if you can share something with
him. Don't walk it through alone, young people,
you won't make it. Look, I'm personality A, I don't go around,
under — I go through anything and anyone. I love conflict, I love a battle, I run to
conflict. I wouldn't have made it without the body of
Christ. I just say because I care about people like
you, don't go it alone. And then, what I realized, there will always
be consequences in my life. God never promised He would remove all the
consequences. But I can tell you this, we sang earlier — one
of the first songs we sang up here in worship time, remember? How'd it go? He can cause all things to work for the good
in my life. I'm a walking example of that. I'm a better person today, I trust Christ
more, because I went through that seven years of rape. I didn't want my kids to go through it, I
wouldn't wish it on anyone else. But it wasn't til I came to a point — God
didn't cause it, but He permitted it, but He didn't cause it — when I said “thank
You,” I started to be liberated. I still have consequences. For example, all the time, this last week,
twice — one pastor said “I'm gonna let the deacons, elders come, place their hands
on Josh, and let's pray for him.” I just finished a big series, whatever. And I'll always say, “please do not touch
me.” I don't let anyone touch me when they pray. It doesn't matter if other people touch me
but somehow when it's the intimacy of prayer, every guy does it. Doesn't matter if it's just the pastor alone
or a group of men, as soon as they start praying, they start to rub you. I don't think men know they do it. That's exactly what that man did to me that
worked down my body. And every time I let somebody put their arm
on me and pray with me, all those memories flood back. I have the right to say to anyone, “do not
touch me.” I have that right. And that's one way God has shown me the control
that memories flooding back. Another consequence, if I'm in a room alone
— like if I were in the green room alone, and I was heavily focused like I'm writing
or something — this is crazy, years later — and if a man walked into that room, just
instantly — just for several seconds, an incredible fear grips me. I can't explain it. And sometimes, just several — and it leaves
me exhausted. If a woman walks in, it doesn't do that. So I've learned what touch my buttons, and
I've prayed about them, and I've learned how to control them through the Holy Spirit. But every day, I've had to trust Jesus. And I’m thankful for that. Every day I realize how weak I am, and how
strong He is. But often to see His strength, I need the
church. Please, do you understand that? The reason I needed more than Jesus is cause
I want to be a follower of Jesus, and if you're gonna be a true follower of Jesus, you need
more than Jesus, you need the church. There's some books out there, one is 77 FAQs
About God, now I wrote it with Sean. In 1,280 universities I took the, the 300
most difficult questions, narrowed it down to the 77 most Christians want to totally
ignore, and we wrote out the answers, on an eighth grade level totally documented — for
Liberty, tenth grade level. That's a compliment. And then The Bible Handbook of Difficult Verses,
took 200 and some verses that are really hard to understand and Sean and I tackled them. And we documented, now I'll guarantee you,
there are a lot of verses in the Bible that do not say what you think they say, and it'll
be liberating. And then the little book that just came out,
Understanding Islam and Christianity. I wrote this for believers to understand the
ten major accusations Muslims make about Christianity. And do to it in a positive, loving way, but
to document it so you walk away with that book with convictions not beliefs. I look forward to tonight. I'm gonna do a subject tonight that could
well affect you the rest of your life. I'm gonna define the most used word in the
world, that most 99 percent of you here cannot define: love. I almost never, ever, ever could find a student,
a professor, a pastor, anyone in 42 years who could define love. And yet we say it's the greatest motivation
of my life. Tonight, it's gonna be brief, I'm not gonna
take an hour or anything, it's gonna be — I am gonna define love in a way with three words. Usually with difficult situations you need
nine words to be accurate, I'm gonna be accurate with three words you'll never forget the rest
of your life and I'm not gonna compromise one single thing of what love is. I want to give you, as I gave my daughters,
a guide to evaluate when some guy says I love you. See, most of you don't have a background to
evaluate that, I want to give that tonight. I look forward to it. Thank you for the privilege allowing me to
share my story. God bless.
