Fantastic episode Brandon! Truly. Vlad was just a representation of the Christian Leadership. I see the Christian community divided into 2 groups, Sheeps and Shepherds (Christians won't like that comparison, but it seems pretty spot on and it is used in the Bible, so feel justified in using it). Both groups anchor their boats to the same rock which is the Bible. The Bible is a massive collection of 66 books of extremely confusing writing. The sheep are too busy in their daily lives to read and try to understand the Bible for themselvesm so they farm that task out to the shepherds. The confusing nature of the Bible gives rise to both sheep and shepherds to interpret however they wish with no accountability, unless someone like Brandon points it out. I can sum up the belief mechanism of the Christian faith in one sentence that it seems ever Christian says, "I think that....", and then they fill in the "..." with whatever they want with no Divine justification. Topics like what Heaven is like, how to get to heaven, why evil happens, even what God thinks are all just the fill in for the "...". I do wonder if the leadership of the Christian faith are instructed on how to use vagueness and confusion in their missionary endeavors or if the Bible naturally promotes that part of their preaching. For my real quick bio...12 yrs of christian shooling, read Bible cover to cover, took notes. Read all the prominent christian authors. Currently reading all the books a priest would read to become a priest. And listen to at least 2 to 4 hours of debates daily. I am seeking truth and confusion and vaguness provided by shepherds like Vlad add no value. Thanks so much Brandon!
Honestly, many of what you label shepherd I would label wolves. Many Christian leaders are preying on their sheep, pun intended. They convince poor Americans to send them their last dollar with prosperity gospel. They purposefully instill fear and paranoia into their flock so they won't lose them. The sheep feel as if they are constantly under attack when much of what they are told is absolute lies. They gloat in the supposed eternal torment of those they disagree with. They are horrible, terrible human beings. They are predators, plain and simple, and their flock is their primary prey.
I don't believe you are speaking on everyone's behalf though. The Christian (the disciple, the follower of The Lord Jesus Christ) is to seek The Lord with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. (Mark 12:30) And in doing so, they are to study the scriptures themselves to rightly divide the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15) Sure sounds like you thought you did your research and knew all about Jesus, and the Word of God, yet without really knowing Him. The Apostle Paul in all the wisdom and revelation of the gospel of the kingdom of God given to him, stated..."That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;" (Philippians 3:10) Can you also say that with Paul?
@@christophergibson7155 So you are quoting from a mythical and fairy tale book. Who wrote these 'books', and any historical evidence for these so called authors? Yes they all were written by some *men* as much as all other books in human history.
The heart is deceitful who can know it? Our emotions dictate our thoughts and our thoughts guides are actions. The Bible is saying trust Jesus more and more for His direction. That's all. That way you can avoid deception. Also Vlad does not mention to pray ceaselessly. We should pray more to gather more directions. That's what prayer is for, asking for help from God that lines up with His Will.
@@raybankin8342jesus has never given anyone directions though. Or at the least if he has, he has done so in a way that is indistinguishable from others directions. How does one know if what the feel “led” to do is from Jesus? Or self? Or deception? There is just no way to know for sure Some have said God would never lead you to do something contrary to his word. Well, that’s not always true. For a time God led Abraham to kill Isaac despite saying murder and child sacrifice is sinful. While he did stop Abraham from completing it, for a time, Abraham was Led by God to do something he had condemned.
This dilemma is simple to solve : just rely on your favorite pastor to know if your feelings are " in line" with the scriptures ( and your pastor's interpretation).
A psychologist once did an experiment with a class I was in, where he had us close our eyes, and imagine a great journey to speak with a wise man. Once we reached the wise man, we were to ask a question important to us. Many of us got good answers. From ourselves. That was the whole point of the exercise; to understand it was from within, from ourselves.
@@MindShift-BrandonAnother story, from a philosophy site I used to post on... Two guys, one a theist, challenges the atheist to meditate on the bible for about a month, without feeling something spiritual. I interceded, pointing out a well-known psychology experiment that basically hooks a person to any object or idea, if meditated on for any significant amount of time. It was basically a trap by the theist.
When I was a Christian I thought I was never good enough because the only voice I'd ever heard in my head was my own. No amount of reading the Bible or praying made any change to that.
It’s always interesting when a group of people prays to God for advice and guidance. We all individually come to some conclusion that we assume is from God, but then when we share our “God-given convictions,” we find that our thoughts are all mutually exclusive.
@@michaelyeboah7789 Okay, do something real quick for me, alright? Talk loudly. Did you hear what you just said? If you are the one talking how come you could also listen to your own voice? Simple, you can talk and listen at the same time. Why should it be different for your mind.
Deconverted almost ten years now, and I'm still amazed at the nonsense I once accepted as literal "gospel truth". It all falls apart when you look at it analytically and objectively. Keep up the great work, Brandon!!
I still actively want to be Christian. But it's just not rational. I had to deconstruct because im gay. But having looked at the bible without rose colored glasses, its clearly nonsensical.
@@gayasparagusI don't want to be actively Christian necessarily because I think Hell is an unjustifiable concept, but I do share that desire for some kind of creator, and especially an afterlife. I've never been okay with the idea of annihilation that many other atheists seem to be comfortable with, but that discomfort doesn't change the truth. Sometimes deconstruction is really rough. I think there's a good chance I might be trans, and one of the things that led to my deconstruction was that I spent many nights praying to God to wake up in a different body. It was years, from like age 6 to age 10, until eventually I came to the conclusion that those prayers would never be answered.
@@xaviersandoval1765 I’m glad that there are gay and trans accepting churches out there, you could consider going to one if you really need community support. However, Christianity as a whole Carries a lot of baggage and uses a lot of manipulative messages. You’d probably be better off seeking Secular Humanists
I had someone say that you have to listen to the "holy spirit," to understand the Bible. Problem is there are millions who say they hear this god's voice and they all have different, contridictory outcomes.
Never left a comment like this, but I wanted to share a bit of my story. Last year, I ended up in the Psych Hospital on suicide watch because I thought God was telling me to kill myself. In my view, I was so horrible of a sinner that I only had the capacity to make the world worse. God had paid the price and given me everything necessary for life and godliness, but I was depressed and broken. God’s perfect so it couldn’t be his fault, it had to be mine. If I lost my faith I was going to hell so better kill myself while I believed. If God was real and I lost my faith, I would only hurt and lead others astray so best end it. If God wasn’t real, I was so convinced of total depravity that the world wasn’t worth living in. It felt like suicide shouldn’t be a “Christian option” but it’s what my emotions felt, it’s what came up every time I prayed, and I saw God move his enemies, one’s whom he formerly loved, Judas and Saul, to the same fate, so I had scriptural justification. God showed so much wrath to his enemies throughout the Old Testament, and Jesus showed so much disdain to the religious elite as well as an “us vs them” mentality, I was convinced I was his enemy despite begging to be otherwise. Scripturally, emotionally, and spiritually, everything was aligning the same: Do It. If it weren’t for my roommate and family forcing me into a hospital and my subsequent deconstruction, I don’t think I’d be here. All this to say, I feel your frustration with this video. Your concerns are justified! I’ve lived it.
I appreciate you sharing so vulnerably. So happy you were able to recover from that. I am so sorry to hear how terrible it got first though. This is the evidence of what I am speaking about. Its just so very sad. Thank you for being here!
Well done!! What a difficult time you've had 😢. May your healing continue as you realise how important you are. Good luck and greetings from Australia 🦘🦘
You are not alone! I remember being in this exact same place. It was terrifying. It also saying something about your own inner strength to seek help. Regardless of what religion has done, YOU are still in there, alive and kickin' a$$.
I remember when I used to be Christian, and could not hear Gods voice. I remember people in my church saying things like god told me to do this or that. I remember asking a Christian I really respected how to hear gods voice thru prayer they way everyone else in church seems to. I knew how to read the Bible to get instruction, but wanted that intimate encounter thru prayer. I remember someone i respected saying you have to learn how to hear that still small voice. I tried so hard to hear it, but only ever heard my own thoughts. But I wanted to be super careful to never speak on gods behalf. I thought it would be blasphemous to say god said this or that to me if it was only my own thoughts projecting what I think god would say. I was so frustrated by this. People would tell me they would pray on this or that before doing something. I knew the voice wasn’t audible in your head like schizophrenia. People reported to me that they didn’t hear an audible voice in their head. Rather it was that still small voice. I now understand that they were all full of shit. They were all just following the impression of their own thoughts in prayer and claiming that was god speaking to them. Perhaps it was this fidelity to truth, an unwillingness to just fake it to fit in, that took me on this journey away from Christianity.
I'm with you on that. I so relate to trying to be super careful to never speak on gods behalf. Like in Jeremiah when you read how furious YHWH was because of prophets and dreamtellers telling what's on their own minds instead of communicating YHWH's will. Yeah buddies, I'm NOT risking THAT happening! Go away with your learning to prophecy by basically shooting and missing until you hit it!
@@drewreynolds1649 There isn't evil, there's just people who do greedy selfish violent harmful stuff without consideration for the well-being of those they negatively affect. These self-centered kinds of behavior can be explained through the process of self preservation , evolution, or brain damage. Evil being some free roaming spirit of darkness as some religions describe it boils down to superstitious narratives and supernatural ideologies attempting to explain pain, trauma, & unfortunate circumstances. Yet it explains nothing. People cry out to their God while calamity and misfortune continually occurs. Everyday. To Millions. Think about it and maybe reframe your question.
Seems like you were depending on other's experiences alone. How about actually shutting yourself in with The Lord Jesus and staying there until you actually hear from Him? And if you let doubt be your judge it will always lead you away from the truth and not towards it. Look at Eve, in the Garden of Eden. What happened to her? She let the serpent plant doubt into her mind...."HAS GOD REALLY SAID?" And so many of the de-converted today have listened to that subtle voice to begin their downward spiral journey. First enters DOUBT, then DISBELIEF, next DISOBEDIENCE, and finally DECEPTION. It is when you have arrived at this final step downward that you are in a most dangerous place. You do not want to sear your conscience from the truth of God's Word at this point.
I had to be careful the other week. My dad started our family business, he and Mom were JW. My brother and i went to work for him right out of high school with no expectations that we'd still be doing this 35 years later. Armageddon was supposed to be here at least by Y2K, and now that we're struggling to keep the business alive (were incredibly anachronistic) i said that to my mom and she started getting tears in her eyes (I've only seen her cry a handful of times). So i backed off as I'm sure somewhere in her mind she wonders if her faith is really true. But she still conducts studies and goes to the kingdom hall and I'd never try to talk her out of it, it's just such a shame that god hasn't done dick for her her whole life, now we're all old and breaking down, full of regrets. I hate religion that dictates how you live your life and always dangling a carrot in front of believers and they never get any fulfillment.
Thats very very sad, but par for the course for so many. Then the goal post gets moved, to dont worry, god will compensate in the next life. But he couldnt even show up in this one. ugg its so sad.
But Jehovah Witness's are not born again of the Spirit of God. The Lord Jesus is not God to them. So sad to hear about your family woes. I highly recommend for you all to repent of JW doctrine and turn to The Lord Jesus. He is the only ONE who can save and rescue you from all sin. He is faithful. He will not turn anyone away who has a broken and a contrite heart. I am a living testimony to this. I was a backslider for 20 years. I am now in m 70th. year and can testify to the faithfulness of Jesus in every aspect of life.
@@christophergibson7155 that's utterly foreign to people with JW backgrounds. We don't view Jesus that way. JWs are very happy to declare they aren't born again, or have this ethereal Jesus experience you speak of. Sometimes I see similar views on spirituality but our faith was very much works based, very businesslike and "logical." Very much focused on the earthly organization of God's people going all the way back to Noah. Your born again talk would make us laugh and cringe at how silly it is. Last month my mom told me about a special campaign the JWs were doing to teach about the kingdom of God "because Catholics and Protestants have no idea".. to JWs it means Jesus ruling invisibly from heaven since 1914 and Armageddon coming Real Soon Now to replace this wicked world with a world run by Jehovah's Witnesses because they will comprise the majority of survivors, and then when billions of people are resurrected JWs will teach them all about the kingdom. The prophets Daniel, Micah, Isaiah and John the Baptist will wake up in new bodies and have to learn everything. Not to mention the Hittites, Moabites, Egyptians, Huns, even the founding fathers of America. It's entirely ridiculous but I'm afraid your version of Christianity isn't much better.
@@cygnustsp Of course those heresies you stated can be nothing but lies. Jesus made it crystal clear...."unless you are born again you can not SEE or ENTER the kingdom of God." (John 3:3,5) "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." (John 14:6) If you really desired to know the truth you would search for it with all your Heart, Soul, Mind, and Strength. Anything less than that is futile. Although you have distanced yourself from the JW agenda, YOU are just as lost as the rest of your family. If you don't trust Jesus alone for your salvation you will die in your sins. And there will be Hell to pay. Turn to Christ and live. He is ever so faithful !
Omg, Vlad Savchuk used to be my pastor! His teachings really messed me up as a kid. Thankfully I’m processing that trauma and unlearning the damage. Thanks to channels like yours I’m deconstructing and becoming a healthier person ❤
Oh wow! I cant imagine what that was like. Or lol maybe i can. He’s not too far off from many of my pastors but weird to think you had such a huge figure as your pastor.
You are only deceiving yourself. Your life without the grace and mercy of The Lord Jesus Christ is on a crash course to destruction. (And this is not my opinion). Repent, (forsake your sins) and be reconciled back to The Father through the amazing Savior Jesus. He is ever so faithful !
This 100% hits home. When I was a Christian the holy spirit & gods will for my life were endlessly confusing. I searched and prayed constantly for guidance. Never heard anything back, and always ended up going with my gut.... which I rationalized by thinking "well if it doesnt go against scripture then it must be gods will." Life is so much simpler when I only need to listen to my own intuition (which is what I had been doing all along anyway). Great video.
Yet that is how deception works. You begin to trust in your own goodness and self righteousness and think that is the way to go. Deception is defined as believing something to be true when it is indeed a lie. Turn back to The Lord Jesus Christ and find the way to the truth for your life. It may not be too late for you.
I was raised in this and I really agree with you about how harmful this "it could be the devil" teaching is! It innoculated me against critical thinking, discomfort, doubt, seeing those warning signs as the actual danger to avoid! I remember viewing my own distress at the gaslighting of my parents and church as being "Satan tempting me", in terror forcing myself to endure WORSE trauma, discomfort and other harm of my high control environment!
That inoculation against critical thinking is dangerous, yet at the same time it’s how religions survive over time. Such a powerful negative pattern. In the study of cults, this is called ‘thought stopping behavior’ and has the effect of locking people in.
@@BrettCoryell Nope. Critical thinking is the worst attitude to take regarding the Word of God. It has never once led a person to the cross of Jesus Christ. It has never once convinced anyone of the goodness and righteousness of God. It is negative, judgmental, and pre-determined in it's attempt to discredit and reject the truth of the Holy scriptures. It doesn't matter in the least if school systems adapt critical thinking to a person's education. The whole meaning of "critical thinking" is messed up. The word "critical" always conveys an over the top judgment of any situation or people. "Aunt Suzie was always so critical of anyone she met!" Or in another application..."Tom, it is critical that you arrive at the airport by 1pm." This is the proper use of the word "critical". But by it's misapplication today critical thinking has left a culture that is suspicious, negative, and judgmental in a selfish way. "If I don't see it, then it isn't the truth, and I will reject it." Such a ridiculous way of "thinking".
Notice how, in #8 he says "The Holy Spirit whispers" and very subtlety sneaks in the word "usually". Reminds me of a legal disclaimer at the end of some TV commercial.
@mindshiftskeptic Please justify the contradictions between God is the source of Objective Morality and God has the right to do horrible things to people because He is all powerful and made people.
Brandon you will see my comments and how emotionally touched I was by this video. I know there’s a correlation btwn religion and mental illness. Actually what one thinks or taught is lack of spirituality is just logically questioning such mass confusion only to taught invalidate seeing through a crazy fantasy world the Bible. Yet having this taught love and dependency on a non existent invisible god…never learning to really get to root of what is really happening. Oh I am so trying to deprogram myself…it’s so difficult after being indoctrinated since the age of 7 now 57. It is absolutely mind blowing to have you confirm what I always struggled with and could not express. I have two nephews and a niece raised as jw and they battle btwn religion and having to live and survive in a secular world. They have since left and are adults w a sort of child like personality behavior…I can go on how damaging these teachings are to a developing mind…
The Bible is a book of deception. Contradictions and confusion. Created in Rome. For the purpose of psychological manipulation of the masses. Just like all the myths and religions that came before it. It never ceases to amaze me. How people can just blindly believe something that they've been told. With no first-hand experience of it. These so-called experts Bible scholars. They crack me up. Some of the things they say. It makes you wonder if they've even taken the time to actually read the book and comprehend it. I have a voice in my head that speaks to me. It sounds like my voice. I call it my conscience. Not the Holy Spirit. I feel fortunate that I was born with a somewhat sound mind. I know what is right and what is wrong. But everyone is not the same obviously. We don't all think the same. Some people are just born with defective minds. Biology isn't perfect. Psychopaths Have no conscience. Moral integrity But you can blame it on. Some Imaginary Being if you want to. Satan Devil Lucifer Call it what you like.
I recently came across your channel and I would like to say that you have a very respectful and reasonable approach to the problems with Christianity. I would say that your observations and conclusions could be applied to all three of the Abrahimic religions. Thank you for all of the efforts you put into making these videos.
There was a point near the end of my deconversion where I suddenly realized: my thoughts are just thoughts. They're not the voice of god or anyone else. In a sense they could be said to be the voice of my parents and other influential authority figures, because they shaped my thought processes to some extent, but they're just thoughts. Mental formations. Sometimes helpful and sometimes not.
The Lord speaks to us primarily through His Word, The Holy Bible. Many times in prayer I have had life giving powerful scripture come to me. And it is strongly related to what I am praying and petitioning God for. I think the problem with so many on this channel is that they had no access to God in the first place. The throne of God was closed to them for whatever personal reason. It could have been sin, unbelief, doubt, etc...And Jesus told us that when we pray we come believing to receive. And when we pray according to God's will....we will always receive!
Christopher Gibson The Lord speaks to us primarily through his word, the Holy Bible. Yes. That's a big part of the problem. Presumably you need to pray as well and hear the Holy Ghost whispering inside your head. In England in the 1980s there was a notorious serial killer. He murdered 13 prostitutes on west Yorkshire before he was finally caught. Peter Sutcliffe was quite a Bible scholar. He'd spend a lot of time buried in the Holy Bible. Then he'd get in his truck, go out and murder a prostitute. I don't know whether he heard voices inside his head, but he died committed to Broadmoor one of two or three high security psychiatric hospitals for the criminally insane in the UK. So there's a good chance Mr Sutcliffe did hear voices, which he probably perceived as God sent whispering to him to go out and do God's work. But then if you happen to be a psychotic homicidal maniac, how would you recognise God's true voice ?
@@AndriyValdensius-wi8gwThe serial killer you mentioned heard voices, but it was not the Holy Spirit he heard. That man who killed those prostitutes was demonized. Those were the voices of demons speaking to him. And demons know the Word of God too. That psychiatric hospital could not help Mr. Sutcliff. He needed to have those demons cast out of him. Jesus was clear in His purpose as the Son God. "how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him." (Acts 10:38) "And they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick, and healed them." (Mark 6:13) Mr. Sutcliff was a sinner who need the Savior Jesus Christ. And he needed to be free from the many demons that tormented him. The sad part was the no one came to help be free of this in Jesus Name. The Holy Spirit always brings the Word of God to any believer in Christ to glorify Jesus. Anything outside of that is not of God.
The issue you are taking on is literally the toolset for gaslighting. I agree with you, this is one of the most toxic aspects of Christianity. “Parents show up.” - This is single biggest thing that caused me to question the image of god I have been given, because becoming a father myself allowed me to see just how un-father-like god is. “Calling it the devil prevents you from dealing with it.” - nailed it.
That is one of my favorite arguments, actually, do I have no children of my own: Imagine god as a parent. Putting a beautiful apple on the kitchen table, and telling his very small kids, who do not know right from wrong (as very small kids tend to do), that they cannot eat the apple. He then leaves, allowing his child-hating monster of a younger relative to roam around and tease and test the children - and when they invariably fail (as they don't know right from wrong), he kicks them out of the house. If a parent did that, the parent would be thrown into jail, and lose custody of his children. Not be worshipped and get "parent of the year"-awards.
@@ertymexx Your analogy does not work. Why? Because Adam and Eve did know right from wrong. Why? Because they were given God's one and only commandment. And God told them what the consequences would be if they did. What God told them was exactly right..."the day you eat of it, you shall surely die." They chose to disobey (knowing full well what God had said to them) and when they did --spiritual death came immediately and physical death later on. God had set the boundary (just like a loving parent should do) and they stepped outside of that boundary. Sin has dire consequences.
@@christophergibson7155 so you are saying that the bible is wrong then. Because the bible is very clear on this - Adam and Eve did NOT know right from wrong, because only those who had partaken of the fruit of knowledge (not an apple) could know that. It is in fact that they DID know right from wrong that made god realise what they had done. That was the smoking gun. So god demanded something of them that they couldn't possible live up to, because they hadn't eaten of the fruit.
Remember when people used to think epilepsy was being possessed by demons? That wasn't the devil either but we've since learned that getting the right mental and medical help instead of demonizing anything that affects us, yes, EMOTIONALLY to witness, is important. Let's apply that rational critical thinking consistently to our sacred cows as well.
Being religious literally only brought me pain and fear, I felt like I had to be fixed, I felt like I had to sacrifice expressing myself... it was horrible
"Being religious"... this is your revealing phrase in your comment. Having a relationship with The Lord Jesus Christ is not being religious. Perhaps this is where it all went wrong for you.
@@christophergibson7155 Hi, Christopher. Think I understand what you're saying, but surely being religious (i.e. having belief in and reverence for God) is a prerequisite for having a relationship with Jesus? If this is the case, how can it be 'where it all went wrong'?
@@tobinfolly901 Thanks for your questions Tobin. The Word of God, The Holy Bible instructs us in this way... "“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." (Proverbs 9:10) The fear of the Lord is not a spooky and dark feeling of being afraid of God as some ghoul. This fear is a reverent and awe inspiring approach to a Holy, Righteous, and Just God. And the knowledge of "the Holy One" is understanding...is The Lord Jesus Christ Himself. And no one is able to approach God because of of sin (the breaking of His moral law, the 10 commandments). And all of us have sinned before Him. There is no one who is acceptable according to their own righteousness. (Romans 3:10-12) So, to know The Lord Jesus as the Savior, we have to repent (forsake and abhor our sins) and then totally trust alone to save and rescue us from our sin. When this happens, we are marvelously and instantly born again by the Spirit of God; we are made into a new creation in Christ; and given the wonderful promise of eternal life in the kingdom of heaven. We come to Jesus to repent with the attitude of a little child: humble, dependent, and trusting. Come with a broken and a contrite heart over your sins. Jesus has promised He will not turn us away
I will give it the push it needs from the Word of God, The Holy Bible..."For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth..." (2 Timothy 4:3-4a)
Thank you so much for this channel. I was a christian for 30 years I was a worship leader for close to 10years. This is the BEST channel, hands down, for people on their journey out of the cult. Thank you Brandon keep up your work.
Same. Christian for over 20 years, worship leader 10 years (actually currently). Had one final drunken breakdown last Friday night. I deconstructed some of the most vile, misogynistic, genocidal, baby killing, rapy, passages with my still confused husband which ended with me screaming hysterically, ripping my heavily highlighted Bible to shreds and wiping my ass with it before tossing it in the trash. My husband mournfully tried to read some of the torn pieces before helping me discard it. The next day I felt no guilt, fear, arrogance, or marital contention, only relief. My husband and I haven't argued about it once and it seems like we are respectful of one another's personal journey because we love each other deeply. I now want to be a better wife because he's good to me and deserves my best. I'm trying to figure out how I'm gonna approach this worship thing, though. I'm good at what I do and I enjoy it.
@@reesecup3ify it's good you've seen the bible for what it is. You know the anger a lot of us feel is realising we've been deceived whilst thinking we had the 'truth'.... that's a tough realisation! Maybe you should become a singer. Or maybe you're a motivational speaker at heart? The options are endless, really. I used to do some worship leading with guitar years ago, but I don't miss it, yet l love singing, so l just sing at home, lol. I hope things go well within your relationship. My hubby left xtianity after l did, so we are on the same page now. All the best!
I remember going thru this question with my father in law, how do you know you're actually hearing from the Holy Spirit? His answer eventually was, "you just know." Because that IS the answer. Same exact answer for why a Muslim knows the Quran is true. Same answer for why a Hundu knows Krishna is speaking with him.
But than when another person says something like that, but the other person doesn't agree with its, or say its not what god intended, or it's not in the Bible, so its the devil🤦🏽♂️
Agreed. You show so much empathy and compassion, and you seem to genuinely try to give a fair representation of both sides. Thank you for giving voice to a lot of things I’ve felt but hadn’t put into words.
I used to be catholic and I remember all of these talking points that Christianity tried to teach me. One of the biggest parts of my deconstruction journey was learning my own voice and my own thoughts in my head. Now there aren’t hundreds of different voices from different religious figures, books, and Bible verses, and the devil to differentiate from. Now there’s just me. It took a long time, and honestly the best part of leaving Christianity was finally feeling confident, not doubtful in my thoughts and feelings without consulting some ancient book to affirm it. It’s really sad watching my parents and other family members retain this death grip over this mentality. I didn’t realize how much it had hurt me until I had left.
Something else I don't think you mentioned is how Christians will "clearly hear from God", then when they share the revelation in a Bible study, others will jump in with what God has "told them directly." And the two sentiments are absolute opposites of each other. I saw this insanity over and over in bible studies I was in... And it helped open my eyes. Everyone was "hearing from God," while disagreeing with each other.
I don't know why Christians don't see that people - including themselves - just believe what they want to believe. It's like how everyone agrees that advertising uses psychological manipulation to sell products and ideas, but that they themselves are somehow uniquely immune to it.
I am struggling mightily with a deconstructing "faith" that I cycled in and out of for the majority of my 70 years. I look forward to all of your videos for continuing to help me explain what is going on within myself because I feel that you've been where I am. This is hard and painful and confusing for me, and you are such a help.
I decon'ed in my 60s. I had a tough time with the sunk-cost of 4 decades as a Christian, the money that went into the envelope instead of needed rest or a better vehicle that we needed instead of driving a beater, the effort, the time spent away from my children their entire childhoods in "ministering", the Sunday mornings being a witch hurrying everyone in the house to get out the door to church "on time." Better to not waste any MORE time in something so questionable, so unexamined is how I look at it now. Be kind with yourself. It's a process. Even now I catch myself in church-think. But I'm happier now, more content, more passionately loving of others than ever. "Keep thinking."
I similarly am unpacking 3 decades heavily invested in this stuff, so watching analysis like this is helping me greatly. Started questioning during lockdown, so maybe 3yrs ago. A lot of this year I spent almost mourning my former self, looking longingly at former cherished beliefs. The past 2 months that changed to a revulsion of those ideas, I feel inner cringe to hear some of these guys speak. We are super adaptive, our bodies often know what to do - mourn, be angry, laugh, cry, cringe … and ultimately move on. I’m not there yet, still processing, but I feel a recent distance from my former beliefs that is comforting. And I think TH-cam is a friendly guide along the way: look up Mythvision interview with Francesca Stravrakopoulou on who the Bible god actually is, that helped me big time as someone who was so serious about biblical inerrancy.. all manner of stuff is there in the text that I was subconsciously filtering out via my theological training! An episode last week with author of “Why the Bible began” Jacob Wright, was also utterly helpful for me (not started reading book yet). I think a lot of ppl are in our boat, I’m not “out” yet publicly, but I feel many are waking up or questioning. Brandon is doing an amazing job helping us, he walked the same path and I’ll end here before I start quoting Pilgrim’s Progress 😂
I stopped believing 2 years ago, and I am deconstructing. Your videos are helping me so much, Brandon. Thank you. Keep up the good work. Much love from Zimbabwe ❤
That is so sad. You need to come back to your first love. Jesus will forgive and cleanse you from all sin. He is gracious and merciful. What happened to your love for Jesus?
@@christophergibson7155im sorry bro doesn't believe a morally perfect god ordered his people to kill others who preached different religions. Deuteronomy 13:6-9
This is one of the things that really contributed toward my deconversion, not the problem of evil, but the problem of instruction. Even before I started really digging into the Bible and discovering all the inconsistencies and atrocious things, I had some big nagging questions at the back of my mind as a Christian and some of them were, "Why are there so many splits in the church if us Christians can hear God's voice on these issues? How do I know I'm following the right theology when they all rely on faith and God's voice but are yet inconsistent?"
The Word of God, The Holy Bible should have been your guide. And in addition, you need the baptism of the Holy Spirit to discern between truth and falsehood. I am rather surprised that you did not understand this.
Thank you so much for this video! I left Christianity a couple months ago and my mental health has improved drastically and I actually know myself now. This video confirmed so many of my feelings that I had for a long time, in which I legitimately thought I was misunderstanding something, so thank you! :)
My dad who was a deacon in our Southern Baptist church apparently believed it was God's will for him to cheat on my mom-who he's been married to for 29 years-with his high school sweetheart and then left and divorced my mom for her. And they both had the audacity to pray over my mom while she was crying in agony. My dad and the woman he married are still both very deep in the Christian faith and yet hardly express remorse for their actions (they did a lot more and were very deceitful about it-my comment is only a brief summary). And they believe they are in perfect moral standing to be with each other, but yet they say my boyfriend and I are going to hell because homosexuality is a sin. If the God they believe in is real, I would absolutely dread spending eternity worshiping a god with such backwards morality.
That is such a terrible thing to experience. It was so wrong what your Dad did. I too went through divorce. I was a backslider from Christianity, but it was still very wrong for what I did. It affected all 4 of our children. I have since repented of this, but have reaped what I had sown. And through all of this, The Lord Jesus was so very forgiving, merciful, and compassionated to me. Today, I am following Jesus and loving Him more than when I was a young man. Please take the time to reflect and separate your dark family experience from following the Savior who gave His all for YOU. As the late song writer Keith Green said..."there is no sin too big and no problem too small...Jesus is Lord of All.
The wonderful thing about Christianity is that Jesus forgives all sins. Therefore you are allowed to do _anything_ as long as you ask forgiveness from Jesus (but not from the person you've wronged), and everything's fine. One of several reasons why I hold that Christianity has no morals.
@@christophergibson7155 It wasn't this event that led me away from Christianity. That had already happened after a series of questions which couldn't be answered, and after trying to read the Bible more to answer them, the Bible only solidified my belief that none of it was real and that it is morally atrocious.
@@ChickenSaysBakI'm so glad you found freedom from Christianity, that's awesome!! Enjoy your life how you wish to live it! It's your life and you deserve what you need and want. Best of luck to you and yours 🎉🎉
As someone who was once devote Christian and now a strong atheist I`ve noticed curiously the voice of God in my head is the same. Only difference I`ve stopped taking it seriously and now rely on my own decision making faculties. Better off now I thank you for this video Brandon its so very important, people can be free from this confusion!
Did it/does it feel the same as those random, silly thoughts you get that are totally opposite to what you'd want to do? e.g. "I could hang from that light fixture," "Touch those hedges," or the urge people claim to have when they're standing on a high ledge: "Jump." Being acrophobic, I've never felt the latter. I've felt like I'm going to accidentally fall even when I'm nowhere near the edge or there's a handrail in front of me, but it's an irrational fear of such. Likewise, I've never felt like anyone was speaking to/through me despite growing up as Methodist. I'm curious to hear your perspective!
@@LittleBitVic Sometimes the voice I`ve felt (it wasn`t really a literal voice) seemed to tell me things I didn`t want to hear (e.g. I wont get to watch my favorite show today) but often it would align with my desires. I can explain it sometimes contradicting what I wanted to hear by having a deep down subconsciousness knowledge (e.g. deep down subconsciousness I know the impractical nature of me watching my show even if I really wanted to)
@zacharylehocki So, essentially your conscience? Or, at least one that communicates the moral principles you were raised with, e.g. growing up with purity culture teaches one's conscience to fear/avoid "impurity", a subjective social concept not grounded in biology or interference-free psychology.
after 36 years of life and trying sooooo hard to connect to "God" for 20 of them, im done. my sentiments are articulated very well here. thank you for speaking what ive been feeling. Calling myself a nonbeliever is putting my mind at ease for the first time in a LONG time.
As someone who had severe mental health problems ,and thought God was telling me what to do ,I celebrate the stoicism and rationality of your video. One thing that happened to me is that the alleged voice of God, when I was at boarding school at thirteen being badly bullied ,told me I would die very soon. It also said "If you don't believe me close you eyes and put your finger on a page of the bible and you will receive confirmation". At the time I was very mentally deluded and thought that each time God told me to do this the bible reference that my finger was on confirmed my iminent death. There are after all a lot of references to death in the bible so it is easy to stumble on them. I would just like to say to Christian and Non Christian alike that closing your eyes and putting your finger on a page of the bible and seeing what the verse your finger is on says is at best thoroughly misguided and at worst incredibly dangerous. There is no way an all loving God would want us to play "Bible roulette" like this but there was at least one Byzantine Emperor who tried to run his Empire like this - with apalling results. Fortunately I now take psychiatric drugs and have done well under therapy but not before my imagination posing as God tried to sentence me into become a Monk when I was at University. Religion and mental ill health are a powerful and potentially lethal combination.
Man, what a story. I am so sorry for the distress you went through. You lived out exactly what we are talking about here. I am so glad to hear you are doing better now!
So sorry for your hardship, great comment. Btw brandon you steel man arguments more fairly than many, especially those who think that Aquinas did similar, he is minimalist in competition or comparison 😊
Wow! Thank you for sharing your story. I'm so glad that you sought out the right kind of help and see religion for what it is now. How many times have we all heard that saying "God works in mysterious ways"? I think it's more like our minds work in mysterious ways and the sooner we learn this the sooner we can take control of our own thoughts and destiny. Again, thank you so much for sharing your experience. It appears that you've come a long way in your journey. I don't even know you but I feel so proud of you! ❤
Yep, this accurately summarized the entirety of my struggle while I was a believer. "it's like this except when it's not! It's like that except when it's not!" it's no wonder that I had questions about the whole process and trying just ignore that the problem existed. When you care about consistency but never get to hear a dissenting voice, you get stuck in loops like that. The only thing that breaks people out of it is a trusted person asking a thing that makes you stop and wonder. For me, it was "why does Paul get to overwrite or dismiss so much of the old testament when Jesus told us to follow it? Who's the bigger authority, Jesus or Paul?" I enjoyed listening, and got similarly heated/frustrated at Vlad's doublespeak and confusion. Hope this video does well for you.
Dear friend, I employ you to read the Bible for yourself. This man is definitely out of touch with what and who God is. HE gave you life because he LOVES YOU! And a perfect God, cannot sin. He wants to spend eternity with you in heaven, please don’t choose hell.
@@lisasalvatore1643 Dear friend, stop assuming we haven't. I read it several times and was deeply steeped in baptist tradition for the first twenty years of my life while mindshift did so for nearly thirty under another branch. Thanks for preaching stuff we've already heard before. Let us know when you've tried listening and understanding where we come from so you can be more effective in your preaching.
@@lisasalvatore1643and yet there are countless examples of god sinning in the bible. Countless!! There is *no evidence of heaven nor hell* ...it was invented and you've accepted the propoganda. Sin was invented too.
This whole channel is honestly enlightnening... I love how despite talking in a nearly scholarly work, you still talk with a gentleness and passion. No wonder it grew so quickly, glad i was here from the start, i may not have something very solid to say but i just wanted to say that this channel is awesome. Keep up with the good work Brandon!
That's what I think I appreciate the most about Brandon. His compassion is what sets the tone that permits the rationality and logic to really shine. Thank you for your comment.
This explanation answers all mental torment I experienced growing up. I was told that I was a “wise discerner”. I tried to make the right choice every time, do what God wanted, and it was confusing when I experienced “no good deed” going unpunished in many cases. It felt like God was playing games with me.
I became a fundamentalist born-again Christian at about 13 years old, went to bible school for 2 years at ages 16-18, then became an atheist at 19. (I will be turning 60 next year). The main problem that led to my de-conversion was my severe depression which started when I was 11 years and and was the result of childhood trauma. It's just exhausting to even start going down the rabbit hole of contradictory and harmful things I was told regarding my depression, but it boiled down to this: Even though the depression is the devil, it ends up being my fault because I don't have faith in God, because if I had faith God would heal me. (Or is it that God is testing me? Or is it that we can't question God because God is perfect? And God Is Never Wrong. But it definitely isn't God's fault that I'm depressed. It's the devil's fault. Or my fault. Or maybe I'm doing something wrong. But I'm not doing anything wrong. But I must be, at least I are obviously giving in to the devil. But I can't question why God isn't helping me. Of course God could help me, just point me in the right direction, but he doesn't have to explain why I'm feeling so overwhelmed and unable to cope, or maybe he's told me and I'm not listening. But whatever happens, God Is Never Wrong. So somehow I'm wrong, at least in my lack of faith. Or maybe God is just testing me. Maybe I just need a little more faith. And God never gives us more than we can bear. We must never question God, because he knows better than us. And He Is Never Wrong. Maybe I should remember Job. Maybe I am just supposed to suffer. Maybe I'm giving in to the devil. But never question God('s lack of help, lack of helping me understand) because He Is Never Wrong. If I don't have faith, that's down to me. I need to believe in God's goodness. If I believe in God then the depression will be lifted. Unless of course God Is Testing Me. But always remember God Is So Loving. Or I'm giving in to the devil, but He will never give you more than you can bear). I always did have an inquiring mind and got into trouble at bible school because I questioned things, and there were SO MANY things in the bible I could NOT get past, but the issue of my depression was what led my de-conversion sooner rather than later. One particular night, at age 19, I decided I couldn't believe in God anymore. This is a very simplistic distillation of my thinking process, but it boiled down to this, over the depression issue: God Is Never Wrong. But I know I am not wrong. One of us has to be wrong. If God is never wrong, it must be me that is wrong. But I know I'm not wrong. But I must be wrong because God Is Never Wrong. At some point I went 'NO', don't gaslight me, I am NOT WRONG! So .... God is wrong.... which led pretty quickly to God doesn't exist. That very night I decided that I could no longer believe in God. Once I got God out of my life (and all the nonsense that goes along with God and depression), I came to understand and manage my depression. Which is well and truly a thing of the past now!) The weird and convoluted thinking that we have to buy into to believe in God is so detrimental human beings' mental health.
Thanks for sharing this. I struggled with a brain problem for years while being very devout. The answer, for my persistent problem, was always that I didn’t love God enough. Finally, late in life, I came to realize that there’s no supernatural power. I did love the God I believed in but that God was imaginary. If we need help, we need to pursue human remedies
Not to make light of the stress or trauma you may have experienced but your observations about who's fault the depression is definitely borders on great stand-up 😂 Yet it's also an important point.
It sure comes across that the battleground was in your mind. It wasn't who's right and who's wrong in retrospect. It would appear from your story that you never had known the peace that The Lord Jesus Christ has for you. And all the advice your received did not help, or wasn't what you needed. So very sad, that you decided that Jesus was to blame and He wasn't worth it anymore and you just walked away from Him.
Oh my! You just said the very thing that causes so many to despair. I had a friend who suffered from bipolar disorder and was the most fervent believer one can imagine. When he was high, he praised and loved Jesus with all his heart with tears flowing. When the lows came, he despaired and was inconsolable....an invalid. You don't understand that severe depression is a disease of the brain and cannot be cured by depending on Jesus just like no one raises the dead. @@christophergibson7155
I was raised atheist so I didn't have this thought process engrained in me, but I can see it in some of the people around me, mostly my extended family. Super important to talk about!
You are so correct about the harm. The emotional disregulation that is a constant struggle, resulting from childhood trauma (CPTSD), is a nightmare. This mess of "instruction" is terrifying.
As a schizophrenic, I heard many harmful threatening things from god, some religious people actually shamed me and told, it's the result which you get when you're not selected by god but if you think you're. I mean he's f biased asshole. Isn't he? Oh wait wait wait, it's all made up by church and your head.
So very sad. You must have not known the presence of The Holy Spirit in your life. Were you born again by the Spirit of God, or was it just all dead religion?
Brandon, I think if there ever was a “perfect apple pie,” it would be you. You bring such an excellent level of knowledge to the discussion, and you always have interesting things to say. Every time you post, I save your video to a playlist to listen to while I’m driving. Thanks for being such an incredible voice of reason. ALSO don’t feel bad about long videos - I honestly love your longer videos, as they’re thought provoking and really interesting. Thanks for all you’re doing :)
What makes me sad is that no matter how logical and clear these arguments you present here are, I know that if I were to share this with my family they would not see it that clearly at all. It’s frustrating that the Christian lens they view the world through is powerful enough to cause them to overlook such damning evidence. It feels like there is no use in trying to help them, or in even sharing my perspective whether I’m trying to change their minds or not. I fear the day that I have to confess to my family that I am atheist and I’m honestly terrified of having to defend myself to them.
I believed I was following God's will for my life, and had been listening for God's guidance, but was always a little unsure because I was wondering in the back of my mind how I knew for sure if it was God, the devil, or just my brain thinking. When things went bad while following God's plan, I finally decided I needed to know for real how to tell when it was God guiding me. It's now been 20 years and in hindsight all of the searching I had done when I believed as a Christian was in vain, because there was no God speaking to me. I was essentially listening to random white noise on the radio, trying to make out something intelligible.
To find true experience and reality in prayer....YOU must be born again by the Spirit of God. Try starting there. And if you say that you have experienced all that, then what happened to your love for Jesus ?
@@christophergibson7155I would like to understand better what you mean? I had believed I was "born again" as the phrase is used, to the best of my understanding and the best of my faith. Is that what you meant? As I grew increasingly aware of how difficult it was to determine when I was hearing God, the devil, or just my own thoughts, my emotional state was also changed, and I eventually came to realize that it always was just my thoughts, and anything that I had thought was God or the devil was still all just me thinking it that way, but it was always all just me. If that makes sense? Are you asking if I was a Christian when I was having difficulty understanding when it was or wasn't God speaking or guiding me? I believed I was a Christian then, and looking back I view that time as me having the strongest Christian faith I had ever had in my life, yeah. Is there something that I did or didn't do that you are thinking of that would have made this problem easier for me? I am interested in hearing more on what this might be, though I have had many years of hindsight on this now and see things quite a bit differently than I did back then. Also, if you are willing to share, how do you know when it is God, the devil, or just your own thoughts that are neither God nor the devil, in your experience?
There is a reason why your channel is growing, @MindShiftSkeptic. You are thoughtful, reasoned and concise. I hope this journey never makes you cynical, even when dealing with those who aren't authentic.
This was my number one reason for converting. I realized that the voice in my head I called the Holy Spirit was just me. The Christian book “Decision Making and the Will of God” by Gary Friesen helped me see that the Bible doesn’t claim that the holy spirit guides the believer in everyday, nonmoral situations. But so much of my faith was based on listening to God and him helping me choose what to do, and so I lost my faith in the eight or so years since reading it. (The other side of this being my personal distress when god never showed up or had answers for me. In my personal experience, he wouldn’t help me out even when I broke down crying seeking his guidance)
man, i get it! So sorry to hear about the struggle, but glad we are both free now. Its such an interesting moment when you come to the fact that that voice has been you all along.
I relate to this. 5 years into deconstructing, I’m just realizing there are so many ways things can go and I have the ability to choose. I’m not helpless to God’s cryptic will.
@freezerburn421 WOW freezerburn. Me too. As I reflected on what started me on a slow journey out of the cult, it was the same book imo. I wanted to discern God's will for my life, but doing it the "standard way" just totally didn't work. I couldn't tell who was talking to me, God, The devil, or myself, or a mix! Firsen at least led me to feel that many/most decisions were not important to God as long as I glorified him. For example, should I move to take a new job? You get no answer or conflicting answers, right? Well, make a wise decision yourself and God will be fine with it as long as you keep glorifying him. This approach made it easier, but I will still have conflicts. Sigh, you really want to make it work. It doesn't, unless you chug the koolaid.
Every single of his argument got me shouting "how does that help make the difference between holy spirit and your unreliable emotions?". I found not one even approached an answer.
I was spiritually lead to atheism! I was comforted in my decision to be an athiest by a quiet whisper! I sensed a guidance. I guess by God? Thanks Vlad for confirming my decision! 😁
Another excellent video. You're making a huge difference on this platform and really helping people unravel the indoctrination that they were brought up in. Thank you..❤
I have never gotten a feeling that I thought was not from myself. When I was a Christian and briefly decided to monitor my feelings to discern God's will, I ended up doing nothing.
Vlad's introduction alone was so ridiculous. I remember struggling with "thought crimes" when I believed, hating myself whenever something I thought was blasphemous or sinful came into my head. I don't miss that at all. Thank you for another great video Brandon!
I think this is something almost all Christians battle with, and if this is the advice for them, i felt compelled to do what I could to just lift the curtain! thanks for watching.
The whole "Voice of God" Falacey is actually one of the last things that brought me out of Christianity. I kept hearing of this thing, and I realized and it was just the voice in my head. No matter how much I wanted it, I couldn't see myself "walking with God" or "talking with God" any more than I could see myself talking and playing with my imaginary friend from my childhood.
I took the Christian teachings I was raised with very seriously growing up. To this day, even though I haven't been a practicing believer since college or a believer at all from my late 30s (I'm late 40s now), my self talk and inner monologue remain incredibly critical and focused on all the ways I perceive myself to be failing. It is a harsh inner voice that saps joy and contentment from my life. Working on it; it's an uphill battle.
I totally relate with the self talk and never ending inner monologue! And it’s always negative thoughts! But what really helps me is to challenge those thoughts with positive or realistic ones! Also, being diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder helped me understand why this self talk! It is common, among other things, with autistics!
I agree, this is such an important topic. I've seen this mess with myself and every other christian I've known. I've spent hours on the phone trying to help friends "discern" God's voice out of the vastness of white noise. The best analogy I've come up with is just "a dog chasing after its tail, or a cat chasing a laser pointer." Thanks for the work on this video, I hope it gets to most viewed.
You are spot on with the contradictory, futile, emotional rollercoaster of emotions and how Vlad is blaming US for our humanist, but 'god created' minds. I once had a very devout Christian friend who believed that ALL bad thoughts, were of the devil. I could not EVER say things like; I was down, having a rough day, didn't feel well because she would 'rebuke' me in the name of Jesus! It was the most intense, fake, frustrating, friendship ever. Even as I was a believer she was too much. Ironically her mother had lost a leg to cancer and her father blamed her MOTHER for lack of faith in healing. So glad I am not in those guilt ridden, self condemning, never good enough belief system any longer!!
I think this one definitely needs to be seen by as many people as possible. Also, we don't mind your passion one bit. You have every reason to get emotional when witnessing this kind of overt manipulation. Good job breaking it down. You're awesome, Brandon!
I literally moved to another country cause I thought the Holy Spirit wanted me to move there for over 10 years. This journey was bitter sweet and when I realized that was my emotions and not the Holy Spirit after praying for months and months it was very traumatizing and I cried from realizing it. But I am grateful that I know better now and that I didn't die over a mistake I made like previous Christians do with this and I am realigning my journey and am recovering very well! I just want people to have the choice and recognize the harm of being mistaken with the idea that you are talking to the creator of the universe.
So pitiful. Wasting your time thinking you know this wonderful Savior Jesus, and then walking away from it all. It seems rather evident why things went wrong for you.
@@christophergibson7155 Oh I don’t regret it anymore now. I was merely doing the best I could with the knowledge I had at the time. But I’m happy to update my beliefs once sufficient evidence is provided to me. If you can show that your faith can do something more than just your words let me know. But if you just wanna make excuses I’m not convinced God wants us to look like idiots in front of people to get them to know about this specific God. I think this God would do something more than limiting Himself to the ways of man.
@@omnikevlar2338 Sure, I can give you some sufficient evidence. You must be born again by the Spirit of God I have been truly blessed many times in experiencing The Lord Jesus answering my prayers. My wife was a staunch unbeliever, while I had just recently returned after 20 years of backsliding from a life with Jesus. I prayed earnestly that the Lord Jesus would bring salvation to my dear wife. This past Easter Sunday while sitting around the dining room table, she repented of her sins and trusted Jesus to save her. She prayed on her own. (None of this "sinner's prayer' stuff). So, may I ask you, what is sufficient evidence for you to repent and return to loving Jesus with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength?
I would say at least 1 million. There is something much bigger going on. This not just about simply believing or not over a few verses. We individually and collectively need to wake up to our beliefs, thoughts, and actions in order to actually “progress” into the future. It is by no means guaranteed. In fact. I would say it paramount for our very survival.
This is based purely on my personal observations and should be considered anecdotal only. As far as I can tell, if a Christian hears a voice saying; "Hate the Gays/Trans/Minorities/Drag Acts.." etc, then this is the lord's voice. On the other hand, if this voice says; "Female bodily autonomy is a good thing", then this is the work of the devil. I find such an attitude to be bizarre. Surely this is the exact opposite of the claim that "god is love".
I have a pastor friend who, along with his wife, was convinced they were being called to become missionaries. Everything was set up and they were ready to leave and suddenly one of their children got terribly sick. They had to stay here to treat it (the kid is healthy now) and never got to leave. They switched gears and took a pastoring job here. When I still believed, I thought that was the clearest "no" from God I had ever heard of. If you ask them, they still believe God truly wanted them to go but changed his mind for some reason.
I remember a woman that had postpartum depression and other mental problems. She married a Narcissistic strictly Christian man that wanted her to get as many children as possible. That poor woman became insane and killed her children. She thought she was hearing the voice of God and wanted to safe her children from hell, so they had to die before they can mature and be corrupted from the devil. Stories like this just show how dangerous this is.
I love your vids , so longer the better! If you made a podcast I'd watch it too!! I'm going through your secular bible study right now, can't wait for what you do next!!
amazing to hear, thank you. At some point, ill convert all the audio of these videos onto podcasts, but its such a time suck, and I just want to create right now.
Basically as far as i can tell,god and Satan are basically the same person at different moments in time because they both communicate in the same way, the way vlad describes. Which honestly explains a lot if that's how it works.
Born and raised in the LDS church and began my deconstruction a couple of years ago. Grateful for videos like these that help shine a light on the manipulative teachings that made me feel less than. Thanks for the work you do man, keep it going.
Same here! I started as a Charismatic in the Apostolic denomination. I used to follow and listen to Vlad and the other “demon slayers”’in his circle, Isiah Saldivar, David Diga Hernandez etc I slowly started getting out of it. I later became a Reformed Calvinist then finally non-believer. It’s amazing how much I believed in this stuff. I was both confused and delusional it hurt me mentally. I hope this video gets the attention it deserves! Thank you for all the work that you do Brandon.
@@shoestringundertakingswow, we have a similar story! I was a charismatic Christian my whole life, and the last 2 years of my “walk” 😂 I was a reformed Calvinist. Now I’m atheist and so thankful to get rid of all of that and listen to videos like this that make a thousand times more sense than any sermon ever did.
@@thestaciesmompodcast Whoa no way?! Right on! 😊 I was a Reformed Calvinist for about a year or so. I studied the Bible, got deeper into scripture I really wanted to know it. Funny that the deeper I got into the Bible it the more I started questioning. I ended finding Brandon’s channel back in August. He did a video of one my favorite theologians the late RC Sproul. From there started on my deconstruction journey and eventually made my way out entirely. It wasn’t easy. It was one of the most difficult things I ever had to go through. I remember one of the last times I prayed to the Christian God, I was crying I didn’t want it to be true. I really and truly was ‘about that life.’ I was all in, willing to die for Jesus and all that. I 💯 agree this channel and others like it has helped me understand the Bible better than any sermon.
Growing up, I was often frustrated with how I never heard that “still small voice,” despite being a “born again” Christian and sincerely seeking. My parents had me listen to sermons/devotionals that explained how, but none solved the issue or were helpful. As someone with OCD, this idea of trying to hear this voice in your head without mixing it up with your own thoughts was just completely confusing and never made any sense to me. I’ve partially deconstructed but certain spiritual experiences my family members have had has prevented me from fully leaving. It’s all just very confusing.
Thank you for unravelling this hairball of confusion that Vlad has coughed and hacked up. What's he saying can be boiled down to: "How do you know that what you're feeling or hearing is from God; your own emotions, feelings, or inner voice; or from Satan? You don't! So trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not unto your own understanding." Wait, what!?
Vlad seems like an earnest fellow, but another reminder about how well the human mind can semi-subconsciously twist and contort itself to argue on behalf of any type of belief.
Re: 7 don’t trust your emotions; trust your emotions. It think that struggle can be foundational to theistic thought processes. It mirrors uncertainty everyone feels and the anxiety it produces. Theism is a great balm for coping with that internal struggle, (second to almost all other forms of coping.) But trying to make sense of that argument is like trying to make sense of a child’s safety blanket. Their thought process surrounding the blanket has nothing to do with reason. They can make a game of rationalizing why it protects them from monsters but it’s just icing on top of a lizard brain. Trying to reason with them is just trying to yank away their blankey.
It is always hard to put my finger on one reason that stands above others as why I wouldn’t recommend someone be a Christian. I think this video does a great job of spelling it out as the harm of inconsistency. The Bible being a hopelessly inconsistent place to turn for advice. The mental strain of trying to make sense out of your life from a book that has no sense to offer is more harmful than the believer realizes IMO. Great video as always. And thank you for the book recommendation God: An Anatomy by Francesca Stavrakopoulou. I’ve been enjoying it and can’t wait to get more recommendations from you in the future.
Holy crap, I love this channel! Definitely stay with the edited for time off the cuff style. It’s real and raw yet accessible. I don’t know if you’re autistic but I am and you’re speaking my language. I’m a former Christian from the spiritual warfare, Wild at Heart crowd and your demeanor and fire is going to play well with them. You respect us enough to kick our ass and I love it. Be you and stay awesome, man.
“There is no arriving.” That hits! With small amount of exceptions to the rule, Feelings are the tail of the thought dog. You don’t get led by emotion, you get led by a thought that produces emotion, and you find it to be the most desirable. If it were undesirable, you might THINK about the emotion and choose to THINK differently to escape the previous thought/emotion combo.
I’m listening to this at work. When you were talking about emotions being “the devil” then you made that twack-a-twack sound with your mouth I thought you cut in a clip of Bob Ross smacking his brush against his pant leg to dry it out. He always called it “beat the devil out of it” and it sounded familiar. Loved it.
Hey, Brandon, I just discovered your show a coupla days ago. After viewing your response to Vlad, I realized the core of your appeal: You're beautiful when you're angry. ❤
I'm very thankful for your videos. From watching I've come to believe we have very similar experiences. I think I'm actually going to post a video about my own "demonic" oppression as a child. It is extreme and I'm halfway through life and I still haven't fully healed from it.
Brandon, I recently deconverted and i have to say, your channel is very good and informational for people like me or people on the fence. This is not the usual atheist channel, but instead your approach is unique in taking down these christian ideas. I'm always open to the truth and to learn more, but these systems just lock people into a box and they cannot do or learn anything else. It's so freeing once you can get out of that cage.
As someone who really enjoys the life philosophies of Zen Buddhism, you raise a great point about mindful meditation and the myriad of thoughts we have. When you sit and look at these thoughts, you realize your brain is just a suggesttive thinking machine. The only thing I have come to find is that it is just me back there. The witness of all of these thoughts. There is no god channeling these thoughts or voices to me. I don't see how Christian's can confidently say that one of these thoughts is suddenty "God". Another banger video Brandon! I hope this gains the traction you are looking for brother!
And what many people don't know (myself included until recently) is that we have two brains...right and left. They have managed to separate them (l don't recall the specific person, but it's on YT) and once they did that, they discovered two separate identities responding differently to different questions and situations. Maybe that's why we can hold a conversation with ourselves at times?
@QuestionThingsUseLogic oh wow that definitely sounds interesting. I'll try and find out more about that but could definitely happen. I know memory can work in incredible ways too after removing half a brain
Love this topic! It’s funny that Vlad (and others like him) have no issue pointing how susceptible emotions are to deception via circumstances, the enemy and the flesh, but stops short at God; who has been known to send lying spirits to people for the purpose to ….wait for it….deceive.
What you said in the middle, about 18:00, is so true. If it feels good, it must not be God? You're right, it becomes sooo anti-self, that people end up doing so many things that violate their own boundaries, giving away so much that they have nothing left for themselves or others. I've been there.
One of my biggest realizations was the voice of god I thought I heard was just my own intuition. I was outsourcing my reasoning ability to understand logic and know right from wrong to this idea of god and his voice. The more I hear people's experiences with the voice of god and the insight he has given them, the more I believe it is just people outsourcing intuition.
@@MindShift-Brandon It is especially coming from a home church environment; the "voice for god" can generate some of the most outlandish mindsets where no one will call them into question.
I recognize this struggle of trying to make sense of vague and contradicting guidelines from other cult-adjacent groups and organizations that my family was a part of while i was growing up. It's cathartic and vindicating to see videos like this explaining in great detail why such flawed reasoning is problematic and dangerous to us. I love how you engage our critical thinking thus bringing us closer to the actual reality. That's what's the most important here
the worst thing I found deconverting after 30 years, was how and where to channel my anger, and mostly was the anger at myself for believing a lie for so long. I've been free now from Christianity for over 4 years and the anger is still there but I have learned to channel that anger into something productive.
Thank you for pointing out the hypocrisy and contradictions in Vlad's video. "God gave you emotions so you can trust them. No! Don't trust your emotions, they're unreliable at best and the devil talking at worst." Keep fighting the good fight for honesty and openness.
Beautiful video. I am waking up right now from a lot of fundamentalistic indoctrination and I will further look into your channel. These people on TH-cam were the main drive into my confused self destruction. I lost a lot of valuable things but I am SO glad I listened to my doubts (which I was certain was the devil, but was actually my voice of reason) on not donating all my money away and quitting university to follow "Gods will". This healing journey will be long and you are a valuable source. Thank you so much for your work, my friend!
Just to add to the utter confusion, I remember at one point an Evangelical church home group leader, told us, "As well as God giving us good words, God can also sometimes give us bad or negative words"! (Like telling us about someone's sin).
It is this very issue that was a significant reason for my deconversion. I could never feel/hear/know that god was listening and speaking to me. There was only shouting into the void.
Yes. Even when feeling / knowing / trusting something intuitively, most people acknowledge that intuition is only the voice of your deeper self. It still isn't God. Even intrusive thoughts aren't God. I really don't understand how Christians think they can discern between God's voice and their own. The only sensations I ever had of "external entities" communicating with me was when I was on psychedelics, and even then I wouldn't call it "God" - maybe the hum of the earth, maybe the collective unconscious, maybe the spirit of the drug, maybe aliens, maybe my "higher self", but never GOD. I don't know how anyone can be so certain of something so open to interpretation. And if you really trust that it was God's voice, then you're still primarily putting trust in yourself - in your perception, your conclusion, in your own ability to discern the truth.... It is you, gazing at your own reflection in a dark room.
Fantastic episode Brandon! Truly. Vlad was just a representation of the Christian Leadership. I see the Christian community divided into 2 groups, Sheeps and Shepherds (Christians won't like that comparison, but it seems pretty spot on and it is used in the Bible, so feel justified in using it). Both groups anchor their boats to the same rock which is the Bible. The Bible is a massive collection of 66 books of extremely confusing writing. The sheep are too busy in their daily lives to read and try to understand the Bible for themselvesm so they farm that task out to the shepherds. The confusing nature of the Bible gives rise to both sheep and shepherds to interpret however they wish with no accountability, unless someone like Brandon points it out. I can sum up the belief mechanism of the Christian faith in one sentence that it seems ever Christian says, "I think that....", and then they fill in the "..." with whatever they want with no Divine justification. Topics like what Heaven is like, how to get to heaven, why evil happens, even what God thinks are all just the fill in for the "...". I do wonder if the leadership of the Christian faith are instructed on how to use vagueness and confusion in their missionary endeavors or if the Bible naturally promotes that part of their preaching. For my real quick bio...12 yrs of christian shooling, read Bible cover to cover, took notes. Read all the prominent christian authors. Currently reading all the books a priest would read to become a priest. And listen to at least 2 to 4 hours of debates daily. I am seeking truth and confusion and vaguness provided by shepherds like Vlad add no value. Thanks so much Brandon!
What a perfect summation and analogy of Christianity! Thanks so much, Jeff!
Honestly, many of what you label shepherd I would label wolves. Many Christian leaders are preying on their sheep, pun intended. They convince poor Americans to send them their last dollar with prosperity gospel. They purposefully instill fear and paranoia into their flock so they won't lose them. The sheep feel as if they are constantly under attack when much of what they are told is absolute lies.
They gloat in the supposed eternal torment of those they disagree with. They are horrible, terrible human beings. They are predators, plain and simple, and their flock is their primary prey.
I don't believe you are speaking on everyone's behalf though. The Christian (the disciple, the follower of The Lord Jesus Christ) is to seek The Lord with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. (Mark 12:30) And in doing so, they are to study the scriptures themselves to rightly divide the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15) Sure sounds like you thought you did your research and knew all about Jesus, and the Word of God, yet without really knowing Him. The Apostle Paul in all the wisdom and revelation of the gospel of the kingdom of God given to him, stated..."That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;"
(Philippians 3:10) Can you also say that with Paul?
@@christophergibson7155 So you are quoting from a mythical and fairy tale book. Who wrote these 'books', and any historical evidence for these so called authors? Yes they all were written by some *men* as much as all other books in human history.
Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!
To summarize Vlad: Don't trust your emotions, it could be the devil leading you away from god. Trust your emotions, it's the only way to know god.
lol, yup!
The heart is deceitful who can know it? Our emotions dictate our thoughts and our thoughts guides are actions. The Bible is saying trust Jesus more and more for His direction. That's all. That way you can avoid deception. Also Vlad does not mention to pray ceaselessly. We should pray more to gather more directions. That's what prayer is for, asking for help from God that lines up with His Will.
@@raybankin8342jesus has never given anyone directions though. Or at the least if he has, he has done so in a way that is indistinguishable from others directions. How does one know if what the feel “led” to do is from Jesus? Or self? Or deception?
There is just no way to know for sure
Some have said God would never lead you to do something contrary to his word. Well, that’s not always true. For a time God led Abraham to kill Isaac despite saying murder and child sacrifice is sinful. While he did stop Abraham from completing it, for a time, Abraham was Led by God to do something he had condemned.
You may allow your emotions to dictate your thoughts, all after is likely error, which may cause further emotions..🦖
This dilemma is simple to solve : just rely on your favorite pastor to know if your feelings are " in line" with the scriptures ( and your pastor's interpretation).
A psychologist once did an experiment with a class I was in, where he had us close our eyes, and imagine a great journey to speak with a wise man. Once we reached the wise man, we were to ask a question important to us. Many of us got good answers. From ourselves. That was the whole point of the exercise; to understand it was from within, from ourselves.
I love that! So much of the “spiritual expereinces” become easily explained by natural human psychological phenomena
@@MindShift-BrandonAnother story, from a philosophy site I used to post on... Two guys, one a theist, challenges the atheist to meditate on the bible for about a month, without feeling something spiritual. I interceded, pointing out a well-known psychology experiment that basically hooks a person to any object or idea, if meditated on for any significant amount of time. It was basically a trap by the theist.
It's not the Devil, it's Schizoeffective Disorder, Major Depressive Disorder, Anxiety, Bipolar Disorder, Chronic Fatigue, Fibromyalgia, and Low Blood Pressure.
RIP Momma...
Im in this comment and I dont like it
It's not the Devil, its Depression gave me "its not delivery it's D'gioirno" vibes on an unhealthy level
All if this is curable through diet
When I was a Christian I thought I was never good enough because the only voice I'd ever heard in my head was my own.
No amount of reading the Bible or praying made any change to that.
Exactly, and worse, it magnifies any of those issues.
Same. Never heard anyone’s voice in my head except my own. That’s at least two strikes against the claims of religion.
I think the self awareness that the only voice in your head was your own, made you plenty good enough!
Yes, only hearing my own thoughts, and assuming I must not be properly born again / not have received the spirit. Fearing the worst...
@@thomash3537 Or, the story is not true. Given that there is no good evidence, this is the most reasonable thing to believe. It's just not true.
It’s always interesting when a group of people prays to God for advice and guidance. We all individually come to some conclusion that we assume is from God, but then when we share our “God-given convictions,” we find that our thoughts are all mutually exclusive.
Exactly. I think this is one of the clearest issues in Christianity.
God is your own imagination.
If you're not Catholic, then why isn't your belief convincing to other believers?
That is why you need a priest to fill in for the authority of a missing god.
That's because if there is a god, he quite obviously couldn't care less.
The voices in your head is you. It’s the most logical answer
*He's telling us he hears multiple voices in his head.*
My voice doesn't sound female enough in real life compared to my mind voice (I have a deep voice)
@@ambassadorofbadtaste 😂😂
If the voices in your head is you then who is doing the listening?
Your thoughts can be tempered with by higher beings.
@@michaelyeboah7789 Okay, do something real quick for me, alright?
Talk loudly.
Did you hear what you just said?
If you are the one talking how come you could also listen to your own voice?
Simple, you can talk and listen at the same time. Why should it be different for your mind.
Deconverted almost ten years now, and I'm still amazed at the nonsense I once accepted as literal "gospel truth". It all falls apart when you look at it analytically and objectively. Keep up the great work, Brandon!!
Thanks, David! I feel the exact same.
I still actively want to be Christian. But it's just not rational. I had to deconstruct because im gay. But having looked at the bible without rose colored glasses, its clearly nonsensical.
@@gayasparagusI don't want to be actively Christian necessarily because I think Hell is an unjustifiable concept, but I do share that desire for some kind of creator, and especially an afterlife. I've never been okay with the idea of annihilation that many other atheists seem to be comfortable with, but that discomfort doesn't change the truth. Sometimes deconstruction is really rough. I think there's a good chance I might be trans, and one of the things that led to my deconstruction was that I spent many nights praying to God to wake up in a different body. It was years, from like age 6 to age 10, until eventually I came to the conclusion that those prayers would never be answered.
well put
@@xaviersandoval1765 I’m glad that there are gay and trans accepting churches out there, you could consider going to one if you really need community support.
However, Christianity as a whole Carries a lot of baggage and uses a lot of manipulative messages. You’d probably be better off seeking Secular Humanists
I had someone say that you have to listen to the "holy spirit," to understand the Bible. Problem is there are millions who say they hear this god's voice and they all have different, contridictory outcomes.
YUP! this is a major issue.
Don’t you understand? Everyone ELSE has a false spirit and only I and my type of Christianity have the TRUE spirit.
You have to want the bible to make sense really hard, so that you will gaslight yourself into believing it.
But those differences are only in the tiny bit scraps, the bigger picture of the good news and the person of Jesus are still the same! /s
That's weird because apparently you also have to read the Bible to understand the "voice of God" aka "the Holy Spirit" 🤔
"comparing god to a parent isn't really accurate, because PARENTS. SHOW. UP."
wow. If that isn't on point.
Thanks for being here!
yes, but to be a parent, it takes real effort. That’s my problem with the whole ordeal.
My parents are actually like god in that regard
Never left a comment like this, but I wanted to share a bit of my story. Last year, I ended up in the Psych Hospital on suicide watch because I thought God was telling me to kill myself. In my view, I was so horrible of a sinner that I only had the capacity to make the world worse. God had paid the price and given me everything necessary for life and godliness, but I was depressed and broken. God’s perfect so it couldn’t be his fault, it had to be mine. If I lost my faith I was going to hell so better kill myself while I believed. If God was real and I lost my faith, I would only hurt and lead others astray so best end it. If God wasn’t real, I was so convinced of total depravity that the world wasn’t worth living in. It felt like suicide shouldn’t be a “Christian option” but it’s what my emotions felt, it’s what came up every time I prayed, and I saw God move his enemies, one’s whom he formerly loved, Judas and Saul, to the same fate, so I had scriptural justification. God showed so much wrath to his enemies throughout the Old Testament, and Jesus showed so much disdain to the religious elite as well as an “us vs them” mentality, I was convinced I was his enemy despite begging to be otherwise. Scripturally, emotionally, and spiritually, everything was aligning the same: Do It. If it weren’t for my roommate and family forcing me into a hospital and my subsequent deconstruction, I don’t think I’d be here. All this to say, I feel your frustration with this video. Your concerns are justified! I’ve lived it.
I appreciate you sharing so vulnerably. So happy you were able to recover from that. I am so sorry to hear how terrible it got first though. This is the evidence of what I am speaking about. Its just so very sad. Thank you for being here!
I'm glad you made it out of that reality tunnel. Thank you for sharing, and be well.
Well done!! What a difficult time you've had 😢. May your healing continue as you realise how important you are. Good luck and greetings from Australia 🦘🦘
Thank you for sharing. So happy you found your way out
You are not alone! I remember being in this exact same place. It was terrifying.
It also saying something about your own inner strength to seek help. Regardless of what religion has done, YOU are still in there, alive and kickin' a$$.
As an old Englishman and an atheist I find your video’s incredibly instructive, thank you.
Appreciate that so much, Peter. Encouraging to hear!
I heard yesterday that 50% of the UK don't follow any religion, I felt so proud of us 😊
Yes way ahead of America, it is hopeful.@@cenedra2143
HI, Peter. glad you are here. I am Joseph. I'm going to Bath and Devon next September!!!!
@MindShiftSkeptic We've had our dark times, way too many of them 😔
I remember when I used to be Christian, and could not hear Gods voice. I remember people in my church saying things like god told me to do this or that.
I remember asking a Christian I really respected how to hear gods voice thru prayer they way everyone else in church seems to. I knew how to read the Bible to get instruction, but wanted that intimate encounter thru prayer. I remember someone i respected saying you have to learn how to hear that still small voice. I tried so hard to hear it, but only ever heard my own thoughts.
But I wanted to be super careful to never speak on gods behalf. I thought it would be blasphemous to say god said this or that to me if it was only my own thoughts projecting what I think god would say.
I was so frustrated by this. People would tell me they would pray on this or that before doing something.
I knew the voice wasn’t audible in your head like schizophrenia. People reported to me that they didn’t hear an audible voice in their head. Rather it was that still small voice.
I now understand that they were all full of shit. They were all just following the impression of their own thoughts in prayer and claiming that was god speaking to them.
Perhaps it was this fidelity to truth, an unwillingness to just fake it to fit in, that took me on this journey away from Christianity.
I'm with you on that. I so relate to trying to be super careful to never speak on gods behalf. Like in Jeremiah when you read how furious YHWH was because of prophets and dreamtellers telling what's on their own minds instead of communicating YHWH's will. Yeah buddies, I'm NOT risking THAT happening! Go away with your learning to prophecy by basically shooting and missing until you hit it!
The ability to lie to yourself makes for better cult members .
Lemme ask u question if the was no evil how would u know what’s good ??
@@drewreynolds1649
There isn't evil, there's just people
who do greedy selfish violent
harmful stuff without consideration
for the well-being of those they
negatively affect.
These self-centered kinds of behavior can be explained through the process of self preservation , evolution, or brain damage. Evil being some free roaming spirit of darkness as some religions describe it boils down to superstitious narratives and supernatural ideologies attempting to explain pain, trauma, & unfortunate circumstances.
Yet it explains nothing.
People cry out to their God while calamity and misfortune continually occurs. Everyday. To Millions.
Think about it and maybe reframe
your question.
Seems like you were depending on other's experiences alone. How about actually shutting yourself in with The Lord Jesus and staying there until you actually hear from Him? And if you let doubt be your judge it will always lead you away from the truth and not towards it. Look at Eve, in the Garden of Eden. What happened to her? She let the serpent plant doubt into her mind...."HAS GOD REALLY SAID?" And so many of the de-converted today have listened to that subtle voice to begin their downward spiral journey. First enters DOUBT, then DISBELIEF, next DISOBEDIENCE,
and finally DECEPTION. It is when you have arrived at this final step downward that you are in a most dangerous place. You do not want to sear your conscience from the truth of God's Word at this point.
I had to be careful the other week. My dad started our family business, he and Mom were JW. My brother and i went to work for him right out of high school with no expectations that we'd still be doing this 35 years later. Armageddon was supposed to be here at least by Y2K, and now that we're struggling to keep the business alive (were incredibly anachronistic) i said that to my mom and she started getting tears in her eyes (I've only seen her cry a handful of times). So i backed off as I'm sure somewhere in her mind she wonders if her faith is really true. But she still conducts studies and goes to the kingdom hall and I'd never try to talk her out of it, it's just such a shame that god hasn't done dick for her her whole life, now we're all old and breaking down, full of regrets. I hate religion that dictates how you live your life and always dangling a carrot in front of believers and they never get any fulfillment.
Thats very very sad, but par for the course for so many. Then the goal post gets moved, to dont worry, god will compensate in the next life. But he couldnt even show up in this one. ugg its so sad.
But Jehovah Witness's are not born again of the Spirit of God. The Lord Jesus is not God to them. So sad to hear about your family woes. I highly recommend for you all to repent of JW doctrine and turn to The Lord Jesus. He is the only ONE who can save and rescue you from all sin. He is faithful. He will not turn anyone away who has a broken and a contrite heart. I am a living testimony to this. I was a backslider for 20 years. I am now in m 70th. year and can testify to the faithfulness of Jesus in every aspect of life.
@@christophergibson7155 that's utterly foreign to people with JW backgrounds. We don't view Jesus that way. JWs are very happy to declare they aren't born again, or have this ethereal Jesus experience you speak of. Sometimes I see similar views on spirituality but our faith was very much works based, very businesslike and "logical." Very much focused on the earthly organization of God's people going all the way back to Noah. Your born again talk would make us laugh and cringe at how silly it is. Last month my mom told me about a special campaign the JWs were doing to teach about the kingdom of God "because Catholics and Protestants have no idea".. to JWs it means Jesus ruling invisibly from heaven since 1914 and Armageddon coming Real Soon Now to replace this wicked world with a world run by Jehovah's Witnesses because they will comprise the majority of survivors, and then when billions of people are resurrected JWs will teach them all about the kingdom. The prophets Daniel, Micah, Isaiah and John the Baptist will wake up in new bodies and have to learn everything. Not to mention the Hittites, Moabites, Egyptians, Huns, even the founding fathers of America. It's entirely ridiculous but I'm afraid your version of Christianity isn't much better.
:-(
@@cygnustsp Of course those heresies you stated can be nothing but lies. Jesus made it crystal clear...."unless you are born again you can not SEE or ENTER the kingdom of God." (John 3:3,5) "I am the Way,
the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." (John 14:6) If you really desired to know the truth you would search for it with all your Heart, Soul, Mind, and Strength. Anything less than that is futile. Although you have distanced yourself from the JW agenda, YOU are just as lost as the rest of your family. If you don't trust Jesus alone for your salvation you will die in your sins. And there will be Hell to pay.
Turn to Christ and live. He is ever so faithful !
I have to give ol' Vlad credit for being able to extend the fact that humans have emotions into a 22 minute video!
th-cam.com/video/YFGBoSt1dOo/w-d-xo.htmlsi=AlZlwqBZT-cAOfaC
I think he was actually quoting Yoda
I bet that nobody who watched his video was able to remember his 8 points, though
Which is OK because his 8 points didn't make sense anyway.@@repelsteeltje90
Omg, Vlad Savchuk used to be my pastor! His teachings really messed me up as a kid. Thankfully I’m processing that trauma and unlearning the damage. Thanks to channels like yours I’m deconstructing and becoming a healthier person ❤
Oh wow! I cant imagine what that was like. Or lol maybe i can. He’s not too far off from many of my pastors but weird to think you had such a huge figure as your pastor.
Ugh, that must have been dreadful
He’s a false preacher
You are only deceiving yourself. Your life without the grace and mercy of The Lord Jesus Christ is on a crash course to destruction. (And this is not my opinion). Repent, (forsake your sins) and be reconciled back to The Father through the amazing Savior Jesus. He is ever so faithful !
@@christophergibson7155 Sounds very much like your opinion. Presented in a lovely word salad of gobbledegook.
This 100% hits home. When I was a Christian the holy spirit & gods will for my life were endlessly confusing. I searched and prayed constantly for guidance. Never heard anything back, and always ended up going with my gut.... which I rationalized by thinking "well if it doesnt go against scripture then it must be gods will."
Life is so much simpler when I only need to listen to my own intuition (which is what I had been doing all along anyway).
Great video.
Thank you so much!
100% agree! Now that I think logically and don't depend on signs and imaginary voices, I'm able to make much more sensible choices!
Yet that is how deception works. You begin to trust in your own goodness and self righteousness and think that is the way to go. Deception is defined as believing something to be true when it is indeed a lie. Turn back to The Lord Jesus Christ and find the way to the truth for your life. It may not be too late for you.
I was raised in this and I really agree with you about how harmful this "it could be the devil" teaching is! It innoculated me against critical thinking, discomfort, doubt, seeing those warning signs as the actual danger to avoid!
I remember viewing my own distress at the gaslighting of my parents and church as being "Satan tempting me", in terror forcing myself to endure WORSE trauma, discomfort and other harm of my high control environment!
That inoculation against critical thinking is dangerous, yet at the same time it’s how religions survive over time. Such a powerful negative pattern. In the study of cults, this is called ‘thought stopping behavior’ and has the effect of locking people in.
💯
I was too and its freaking awful. So glad I got away from it.
@@BrettCoryell Nope. Critical thinking is the worst attitude to take regarding the Word of God. It has never once led a person to the cross of Jesus Christ. It has never once convinced anyone of the goodness and righteousness of God. It is negative, judgmental, and pre-determined in it's attempt to discredit and reject the truth of the Holy scriptures. It doesn't matter in the least if school systems adapt critical thinking to a person's education. The whole meaning of "critical thinking" is messed up. The word "critical" always conveys an over the top judgment of any situation or people. "Aunt Suzie was always so critical of anyone she met!" Or in another application..."Tom, it is critical that you arrive at the airport by 1pm." This is the proper use of the word "critical". But by it's misapplication today critical thinking has left a culture that is suspicious, negative, and judgmental in a selfish way. "If I don't see it, then it isn't the truth, and I will reject it." Such a ridiculous way of "thinking".
Believing that your own thoughts and feelings are controlled by outside entities opens the door to all kinds of problems.
Indeed!
Notice how, in #8 he says "The Holy Spirit whispers" and very subtlety sneaks in the word "usually". Reminds me of a legal disclaimer at the end of some TV commercial.
✨ gOd WoRkS iN mYsTeRiOuS wAyS! ✨
Ya total bs how Christians play that game that their own inner voice is god.
Hey everyone. This video is long but really builds, and i think the topic is massively important. Thanks so much for being here!
No worries. Always a pleasure to hear someone talk about Christianity with first-hand experience of the less favourable Christian behaviours.
@mindshiftskeptic Please justify the contradictions between God is the source of Objective Morality and God has the right to do horrible things to people because He is all powerful and made people.
Brandon you will see my comments and how emotionally touched I was by this video. I know there’s a correlation btwn religion and mental illness. Actually what one thinks or taught is lack of spirituality is just logically questioning such mass confusion only to taught invalidate seeing through a crazy fantasy world the Bible. Yet having this taught love and dependency on a non existent invisible god…never learning to really get to root of what is really happening. Oh I am so trying to deprogram myself…it’s so difficult after being indoctrinated since the age of 7 now 57. It is absolutely mind blowing to have you confirm what I always struggled with and could not express. I have two nephews and a niece raised as jw and they battle btwn religion and having to live and survive in a secular world. They have since left and are adults w a sort of child like personality behavior…I can go on how damaging these teachings are to a developing mind…
The Bible is a book of deception. Contradictions and confusion. Created in Rome. For the purpose of psychological manipulation of the masses. Just like all the myths and religions that came before it. It never ceases to amaze me. How people can just blindly believe something that they've been told. With no first-hand experience of it. These so-called experts Bible scholars. They crack me up. Some of the things they say. It makes you wonder if they've even taken the time to actually read the book and comprehend it. I have a voice in my head that speaks to me. It sounds like my voice. I call it my conscience. Not the Holy Spirit. I feel fortunate that I was born with a somewhat sound mind. I know what is right and what is wrong. But everyone is not the same obviously. We don't all think the same. Some people are just born with defective minds. Biology isn't perfect. Psychopaths Have no conscience. Moral integrity But you can blame it on. Some
Imaginary Being if you want to. Satan Devil Lucifer Call it what you like.
I recently came across your channel and I would like to say that you have a very respectful and reasonable approach to the problems with Christianity. I would say that your observations and conclusions could be applied to all three of the Abrahimic religions.
Thank you for all of the efforts you put into making these videos.
There was a point near the end of my deconversion where I suddenly realized: my thoughts are just thoughts. They're not the voice of god or anyone else. In a sense they could be said to be the voice of my parents and other influential authority figures, because they shaped my thought processes to some extent, but they're just thoughts. Mental formations. Sometimes helpful and sometimes not.
Its a very strange awakening to realize it was you all along!
The Lord speaks to us primarily through His Word, The Holy Bible. Many times in prayer I have had life giving powerful scripture come to me. And it is strongly related to what I am praying and petitioning God for. I think the problem with so many on this channel is that they had no access to God in the first place. The throne of God was closed to them for whatever personal reason. It could have been sin, unbelief, doubt, etc...And Jesus told us that when we pray we come believing to receive. And when we pray according to God's will....we will always receive!
Christopher Gibson
The Lord speaks to us primarily through his word, the Holy Bible.
Yes. That's a big part of the problem. Presumably you need to pray as well and hear the Holy Ghost whispering inside your head.
In England in the 1980s there was a notorious serial killer. He murdered 13 prostitutes on west Yorkshire before he was finally caught. Peter Sutcliffe was quite a Bible scholar. He'd spend a lot of time buried in the Holy Bible. Then he'd get in his truck, go out and murder a prostitute. I don't know whether he heard voices inside his head, but he died committed to Broadmoor one of two or three high security psychiatric hospitals for the criminally insane in the UK. So there's a good chance Mr Sutcliffe did hear voices, which he probably perceived as God sent whispering to him to go out and do God's work.
But then if you happen to be a psychotic homicidal maniac, how would you recognise God's true voice ?
@@AndriyValdensius-wi8gwThe serial killer you mentioned heard voices, but it was not the Holy Spirit he heard. That man who killed those prostitutes was demonized. Those were the voices of demons speaking to him. And demons know the Word of God too. That psychiatric hospital could not help Mr. Sutcliff. He needed to have those demons cast out of him. Jesus was clear in His purpose as the Son God. "how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him." (Acts 10:38) "And they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick, and healed them." (Mark 6:13) Mr. Sutcliff was a sinner who need the Savior Jesus Christ. And he needed to be free from the many demons that tormented him. The sad part was the no one came to help be free of this in Jesus Name. The Holy Spirit always brings the Word of God to any believer in Christ to glorify Jesus. Anything outside of that is not of God.
The issue you are taking on is literally the toolset for gaslighting. I agree with you, this is one of the most toxic aspects of Christianity.
“Parents show up.” - This is single biggest thing that caused me to question the image of god I have been given, because becoming a father myself allowed me to see just how un-father-like god is.
“Calling it the devil prevents you from dealing with it.” - nailed it.
Thanks for watching and this feedback!
Nothing could farther from the truth. God The Father is the most loving father anyone could ever possibly have.
That is one of my favorite arguments, actually, do I have no children of my own: Imagine god as a parent. Putting a beautiful apple on the kitchen table, and telling his very small kids, who do not know right from wrong (as very small kids tend to do), that they cannot eat the apple. He then leaves, allowing his child-hating monster of a younger relative to roam around and tease and test the children - and when they invariably fail (as they don't know right from wrong), he kicks them out of the house.
If a parent did that, the parent would be thrown into jail, and lose custody of his children. Not be worshipped and get "parent of the year"-awards.
@@ertymexx Your analogy does not work. Why? Because Adam and Eve did know right from wrong. Why?
Because they were given God's one and only commandment. And God told them what the consequences would be if they did. What God told them was exactly right..."the day you eat of it, you shall surely die."
They chose to disobey (knowing full well what God had said to them) and when they did --spiritual death came immediately and physical death later on. God had set the boundary (just like a loving parent should do)
and they stepped outside of that boundary. Sin has dire consequences.
@@christophergibson7155 so you are saying that the bible is wrong then. Because the bible is very clear on this - Adam and Eve did NOT know right from wrong, because only those who had partaken of the fruit of knowledge (not an apple) could know that. It is in fact that they DID know right from wrong that made god realise what they had done. That was the smoking gun. So god demanded something of them that they couldn't possible live up to, because they hadn't eaten of the fruit.
Remember when people used to think epilepsy was being possessed by demons?
That wasn't the devil either but we've since learned that getting the right mental and medical help instead of demonizing anything that affects us, yes, EMOTIONALLY to witness, is important.
Let's apply that rational critical thinking consistently to our sacred cows as well.
Precisely!
Yep, Hippocrates had a few things to say on the sacred disease
Being religious literally only brought me pain and fear, I felt like I had to be fixed, I felt like I had to sacrifice expressing myself... it was horrible
I get it! Sounds like you are out now though!
"Being religious"... this is your revealing phrase in your comment. Having a relationship with The Lord Jesus Christ is not being religious. Perhaps this is where it all went wrong for you.
@@christophergibson7155 Hi, Christopher. Think I understand what you're saying, but surely being religious (i.e. having belief in and reverence for God) is a prerequisite for having a relationship with Jesus? If this is the case, how can it be 'where it all went wrong'?
@@tobinfolly901 Thanks for your questions Tobin. The Word of God, The Holy Bible instructs us in this way...
"“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding."
(Proverbs 9:10) The fear of the Lord is not a spooky and dark feeling of being afraid of God as some ghoul.
This fear is a reverent and awe inspiring approach to a Holy, Righteous, and Just God. And the knowledge of "the Holy One" is understanding...is The Lord Jesus Christ Himself. And no one is able to approach God because of of sin (the breaking of His moral law, the 10 commandments). And all of us have sinned before Him. There is no one who is acceptable according to their own righteousness. (Romans 3:10-12) So, to know The Lord Jesus as the Savior, we have to repent (forsake and abhor our sins) and then totally trust alone to save and rescue us from our sin. When this happens, we are marvelously and instantly born again by the Spirit of God; we are made into a new creation in Christ; and given the wonderful promise of eternal life in the kingdom of heaven. We come to Jesus to repent with the attitude of a little child: humble, dependent, and trusting. Come with a broken and a contrite heart over your sins. Jesus has promised He will not turn us away
@@christophergibson7155having a relationship with Jesus made me hate myself and not trust my own thoughts
Let’s give this the push it needs and deserves. We can make this happen 👍
Best of luck Brandon.
Thanks so much!
Comment for the algorithm. Keep the reality coming.
For the algorithm!
@@TonyLambregtsyep, will do
I will give it the push it needs from the Word of God, The Holy Bible..."For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth..." (2 Timothy 4:3-4a)
Thank you so much for this channel. I was a christian for 30 years I was a worship leader for close to 10years. This is the BEST channel, hands down, for people on their journey out of the cult. Thank you Brandon keep up your work.
man, thats so motivating to hear. Thank you!
I am a former worship leader as well, and I agree wholeheartedly with your statement.
I love hearing that a worship leader is now an atheist, that gives me a feeling of hope.
Same. Christian for over 20 years, worship leader 10 years (actually currently). Had one final drunken breakdown last Friday night. I deconstructed some of the most vile, misogynistic, genocidal, baby killing, rapy, passages with my still confused husband which ended with me screaming hysterically, ripping my heavily highlighted Bible to shreds and wiping my ass with it before tossing it in the trash. My husband mournfully tried to read some of the torn pieces before helping me discard it. The next day I felt no guilt, fear, arrogance, or marital contention, only relief. My husband and I haven't argued about it once and it seems like we are respectful of one another's personal journey because we love each other deeply. I now want to be a better wife because he's good to me and deserves my best.
I'm trying to figure out how I'm gonna approach this worship thing, though. I'm good at what I do and I enjoy it.
@@reesecup3ify it's good you've seen the bible for what it is. You know the anger a lot of us feel is realising we've been deceived whilst thinking we had the 'truth'.... that's a tough realisation! Maybe you should become a singer. Or maybe you're a motivational speaker at heart? The options are endless, really. I used to do some worship leading with guitar years ago, but I don't miss it, yet l love singing, so l just sing at home, lol. I hope things go well within your relationship. My hubby left xtianity after l did, so we are on the same page now. All the best!
Vlad is an Olympic gold medalist. He scored perfect 10s across the board for his mental gymnastics. 🥇 Congrats 👏
Great video Brandon!
Ha. Thank you!
I was thinking more of an academic on meds making a word salad for lunch..🤸
I remember going thru this question with my father in law, how do you know you're actually hearing from the Holy Spirit? His answer eventually was, "you just know."
Because that IS the answer. Same exact answer for why a Muslim knows the Quran is true. Same answer for why a Hundu knows Krishna is speaking with him.
yes somehow they never understand how problamatic that is.
But than when another person says something like that, but the other person doesn't agree with its, or say its not what god intended, or it's not in the Bible, so its the devil🤦🏽♂️
Thank you for pointing out the obvious and for breaking it down. Respectfully. I love your compassion for the believer.
Appreciate that very much!
@@MindShift-Brandon
it really is something that sets you apart from others on youtube Brandon. 👏👏👏
Agreed. You show so much empathy and compassion, and you seem to genuinely try to give a fair representation of both sides. Thank you for giving voice to a lot of things I’ve felt but hadn’t put into words.
I used to be catholic and I remember all of these talking points that Christianity tried to teach me. One of the biggest parts of my deconstruction journey was learning my own voice and my own thoughts in my head. Now there aren’t hundreds of different voices from different religious figures, books, and Bible verses, and the devil to differentiate from. Now there’s just me. It took a long time, and honestly the best part of leaving Christianity was finally feeling confident, not doubtful in my thoughts and feelings without consulting some ancient book to affirm it. It’s really sad watching my parents and other family members retain this death grip over this mentality. I didn’t realize how much it had hurt me until I had left.
Something else I don't think you mentioned is how Christians will "clearly hear from God", then when they share the revelation in a Bible study, others will jump in with what God has "told them directly." And the two sentiments are absolute opposites of each other.
I saw this insanity over and over in bible studies I was in... And it helped open my eyes.
Everyone was "hearing from God," while disagreeing with each other.
yes exactly!
I don't know why Christians don't see that people - including themselves - just believe what they want to believe. It's like how everyone agrees that advertising uses psychological manipulation to sell products and ideas, but that they themselves are somehow uniquely immune to it.
I am struggling mightily with a deconstructing "faith" that I cycled in and out of for the majority of my 70 years. I look forward to all of your videos for continuing to help me explain what is going on within myself because I feel that you've been where I am. This is hard and painful and confusing for me, and you are such a help.
I am so glad to be of any help, and so sorry for the lifetime of confusion and hurt you have had to suffer at the hands of this insanity.
Stay with it and keep asking questions. There are answers out there, solid answers, that have good reasons behind them instead of just stories.
I decon'ed in my 60s. I had a tough time with the sunk-cost of 4 decades as a Christian, the money that went into the envelope instead of needed rest or a better vehicle that we needed instead of driving a beater, the effort, the time spent away from my children their entire childhoods in "ministering", the Sunday mornings being a witch hurrying everyone in the house to get out the door to church "on time." Better to not waste any MORE time in something so questionable, so unexamined is how I look at it now. Be kind with yourself. It's a process. Even now I catch myself in church-think. But I'm happier now, more content, more passionately loving of others than ever. "Keep thinking."
I similarly am unpacking 3 decades heavily invested in this stuff, so watching analysis like this is helping me greatly.
Started questioning during lockdown, so maybe 3yrs ago. A lot of this year I spent almost mourning my former self, looking longingly at former cherished beliefs. The past 2 months that changed to a revulsion of those ideas, I feel inner cringe to hear some of these guys speak.
We are super adaptive, our bodies often know what to do - mourn, be angry, laugh, cry, cringe … and ultimately move on. I’m not there yet, still processing, but I feel a recent distance from my former beliefs that is comforting.
And I think TH-cam is a friendly guide along the way: look up Mythvision interview with Francesca Stravrakopoulou on who the Bible god actually is, that helped me big time as someone who was so serious about biblical inerrancy.. all manner of stuff is there in the text that I was subconsciously filtering out via my theological training!
An episode last week with author of “Why the Bible began” Jacob Wright, was also utterly helpful for me (not started reading book yet).
I think a lot of ppl are in our boat, I’m not “out” yet publicly, but I feel many are waking up or questioning. Brandon is doing an amazing job helping us, he walked the same path and I’ll end here before I start quoting Pilgrim’s Progress 😂
Atheism will be of no help or comfort to you.
I stopped believing 2 years ago, and I am deconstructing. Your videos are helping me so much, Brandon. Thank you. Keep up the good work. Much love from Zimbabwe ❤
Love to hear it. Thank you!
That is so sad. You need to come back to your first love. Jesus will forgive and cleanse you from all sin. He is gracious and merciful. What happened to your love for Jesus?
@@christophergibson7155 you need deprogramming.
@@christophergibson7155im sorry bro doesn't believe a morally perfect god ordered his people to kill others who preached different religions. Deuteronomy 13:6-9
@@christophergibson7155god doesn’t exist and if he does he doesn’t give a damn about u. Jesus did nothing for earth
We are with you Brandon.
Thanks so much!
Let's go Brandon!
This is one of the things that really contributed toward my deconversion, not the problem of evil, but the problem of instruction. Even before I started really digging into the Bible and discovering all the inconsistencies and atrocious things, I had some big nagging questions at the back of my mind as a Christian and some of them were, "Why are there so many splits in the church if us Christians can hear God's voice on these issues? How do I know I'm following the right theology when they all rely on faith and God's voice but are yet inconsistent?"
Why did we ban slavery after being permitted for 1800 years? It’s insane!
Have you heard of the Orthodox Church?
@@showmeanedge Yes
@@showmeanedge Yep
The Word of God, The Holy Bible should have been your guide. And in addition, you need the baptism of the Holy Spirit to discern between truth and falsehood. I am rather surprised that you did not understand this.
Thank you so much for this video! I left Christianity a couple months ago and my mental health has improved drastically and I actually know myself now. This video confirmed so many of my feelings that I had for a long time, in which I legitimately thought I was misunderstanding something, so thank you! :)
So glad to hear!
My dad who was a deacon in our Southern Baptist church apparently believed it was God's will for him to cheat on my mom-who he's been married to for 29 years-with his high school sweetheart and then left and divorced my mom for her. And they both had the audacity to pray over my mom while she was crying in agony.
My dad and the woman he married are still both very deep in the Christian faith and yet hardly express remorse for their actions (they did a lot more and were very deceitful about it-my comment is only a brief summary). And they believe they are in perfect moral standing to be with each other, but yet they say my boyfriend and I are going to hell because homosexuality is a sin. If the God they believe in is real, I would absolutely dread spending eternity worshiping a god with such backwards morality.
That is such a terrible thing to experience. It was so wrong what your Dad did. I too went through divorce. I was a backslider from Christianity, but it was still very wrong for what I did. It affected all 4 of our children. I have since repented of this, but have reaped what I had sown. And through all of this, The Lord Jesus was so very forgiving, merciful, and compassionated to me. Today, I am following Jesus and loving Him more than when I was a young man. Please take the time to reflect and separate your dark family experience from following the Savior who gave His all for YOU. As the late song writer Keith Green said..."there is no sin too big and no problem too small...Jesus is Lord of All.
This is so disgusting. I’m sorry if you were caught in the middle of it, divorces are traumatic enough without this insanity…
The wonderful thing about Christianity is that Jesus forgives all sins. Therefore you are allowed to do _anything_ as long as you ask forgiveness from Jesus (but not from the person you've wronged), and everything's fine.
One of several reasons why I hold that Christianity has no morals.
@@christophergibson7155 It wasn't this event that led me away from Christianity. That had already happened after a series of questions which couldn't be answered, and after trying to read the Bible more to answer them, the Bible only solidified my belief that none of it was real and that it is morally atrocious.
@@ChickenSaysBakI'm so glad you found freedom from Christianity, that's awesome!! Enjoy your life how you wish to live it! It's your life and you deserve what you need and want. Best of luck to you and yours 🎉🎉
As someone who was once devote Christian and now a strong atheist I`ve noticed curiously the voice of God in my head is the same. Only difference I`ve stopped taking it seriously and now rely on my own decision making faculties. Better off now I thank you for this video Brandon its so very important, people can be free from this confusion!
Thanks so much!
God is amazing
Did it/does it feel the same as those random, silly thoughts you get that are totally opposite to what you'd want to do? e.g. "I could hang from that light fixture," "Touch those hedges," or the urge people claim to have when they're standing on a high ledge: "Jump." Being acrophobic, I've never felt the latter. I've felt like I'm going to accidentally fall even when I'm nowhere near the edge or there's a handrail in front of me, but it's an irrational fear of such. Likewise, I've never felt like anyone was speaking to/through me despite growing up as Methodist. I'm curious to hear your perspective!
@@LittleBitVic Sometimes the voice I`ve felt (it wasn`t really a literal voice) seemed to tell me things I didn`t want to hear (e.g. I wont get to watch my favorite show today) but often it would align with my desires.
I can explain it sometimes contradicting what I wanted to hear by having a deep down subconsciousness knowledge (e.g. deep down subconsciousness I know the impractical nature of me watching my show even if I really wanted to)
@zacharylehocki So, essentially your conscience? Or, at least one that communicates the moral principles you were raised with, e.g. growing up with purity culture teaches one's conscience to fear/avoid "impurity", a subjective social concept not grounded in biology or interference-free psychology.
after 36 years of life and trying sooooo hard to connect to "God" for 20 of them, im done. my sentiments are articulated very well here. thank you for speaking what ive been feeling. Calling myself a nonbeliever is putting my mind at ease for the first time in a LONG time.
So glad to hear! Thank you
As someone who had severe mental health problems ,and thought God was telling me what to do ,I celebrate the stoicism and rationality of your video. One thing that happened to me is that the alleged voice of God, when I was at boarding school at thirteen being badly bullied ,told me I would die very soon. It also said "If you don't believe me close you eyes and put your finger on a page of the bible and you will receive confirmation". At the time I was very mentally deluded and thought that each time God told me to do this the bible reference that my finger was on confirmed my iminent death. There are after all a lot of references to death in the bible so it is easy to stumble on them. I would just like to say to Christian and Non Christian alike that closing your eyes and putting your finger on a page of the bible and seeing what the verse your finger is on says is at best thoroughly misguided and at worst incredibly dangerous. There is no way an all loving God would want us to play "Bible roulette" like this but there was at least one Byzantine Emperor who tried to run his Empire like this - with apalling results. Fortunately I now take psychiatric drugs and have done well under therapy but not before my imagination posing as God tried to sentence me into become a Monk when I was at University. Religion and mental ill health are a powerful and potentially lethal combination.
Man, what a story. I am so sorry for the distress you went through. You lived out exactly what we are talking about here. I am so glad to hear you are doing better now!
Christianity has done far more harm than good
So sorry for your hardship, great comment. Btw brandon you steel man arguments more fairly than many, especially those who think that Aquinas did similar, he is minimalist in competition or comparison 😊
Yeah, sounds like playing Bible Tarot. Almost as good a time as bible numerology
Wow! Thank you for sharing your story. I'm so glad that you sought out the right kind of help and see religion for what it is now. How many times have we all heard that saying "God works in mysterious ways"? I think it's more like our minds work in mysterious ways and the sooner we learn this the sooner we can take control of our own thoughts and destiny. Again, thank you so much for sharing your experience. It appears that you've come a long way in your journey. I don't even know you but I feel so proud of you! ❤
Yep, this accurately summarized the entirety of my struggle while I was a believer. "it's like this except when it's not! It's like that except when it's not!" it's no wonder that I had questions about the whole process and trying just ignore that the problem existed. When you care about consistency but never get to hear a dissenting voice, you get stuck in loops like that. The only thing that breaks people out of it is a trusted person asking a thing that makes you stop and wonder. For me, it was "why does Paul get to overwrite or dismiss so much of the old testament when Jesus told us to follow it? Who's the bigger authority, Jesus or Paul?"
I enjoyed listening, and got similarly heated/frustrated at Vlad's doublespeak and confusion. Hope this video does well for you.
Yes, you got it! It's exhausting and so harmful. Thank you!
Dear friend, I employ you to read the Bible for yourself. This man is definitely out of touch with what and who God is. HE gave you life because he LOVES YOU! And a perfect God, cannot sin. He wants to spend eternity with you in heaven, please don’t choose hell.
@@lisasalvatore1643 Dear friend, stop assuming we haven't. I read it several times and was deeply steeped in baptist tradition for the first twenty years of my life while mindshift did so for nearly thirty under another branch. Thanks for preaching stuff we've already heard before. Let us know when you've tried listening and understanding where we come from so you can be more effective in your preaching.
@@Dawnseeker_ChYes.😔
@@lisasalvatore1643and yet there are countless examples of god sinning in the bible. Countless!! There is *no evidence of heaven nor hell* ...it was invented and you've accepted the propoganda. Sin was invented too.
To all of us who suffered/ are still suffering all of this, I wish us all love, compassion and peace.🙏❤️
This whole channel is honestly enlightnening... I love how despite talking in a nearly scholarly work, you still talk with a gentleness and passion.
No wonder it grew so quickly, glad i was here from the start, i may not have something very solid to say but i just wanted to say that this channel is awesome. Keep up with the good work Brandon!
Thats so very encouraging, friend. Thank you for your kind support and motivating words. Really appreciate having you here!
That's what I think I appreciate the most about Brandon. His compassion is what sets the tone that permits the rationality and logic to really shine. Thank you for your comment.
Agreed.
"you still talk with a gentleness and passion." Yes, doesn't he? That's what's so effective, it comes from a place of caring, not anger or bitterness.
This explanation answers all mental torment I experienced growing up. I was told that I was a “wise discerner”. I tried to make the right choice every time, do what God wanted, and it was confusing when I experienced “no good deed” going unpunished in many cases. It felt like God was playing games with me.
same here. what a waste of so many years.
I became a fundamentalist born-again Christian at about 13 years old, went to bible school for 2 years at ages 16-18, then became an atheist at 19. (I will be turning 60 next year). The main problem that led to my de-conversion was my severe depression which started when I was 11 years and and was the result of childhood trauma.
It's just exhausting to even start going down the rabbit hole of contradictory and harmful things I was told regarding my depression, but it boiled down to this: Even though the depression is the devil, it ends up being my fault because I don't have faith in God, because if I had faith God would heal me. (Or is it that God is testing me? Or is it that we can't question God because God is perfect? And God Is Never Wrong. But it definitely isn't God's fault that I'm depressed. It's the devil's fault. Or my fault. Or maybe I'm doing something wrong. But I'm not doing anything wrong. But I must be, at least I are obviously giving in to the devil. But I can't question why God isn't helping me. Of course God could help me, just point me in the right direction, but he doesn't have to explain why I'm feeling so overwhelmed and unable to cope, or maybe he's told me and I'm not listening. But whatever happens, God Is Never Wrong. So somehow I'm wrong, at least in my lack of faith. Or maybe God is just testing me. Maybe I just need a little more faith. And God never gives us more than we can bear. We must never question God, because he knows better than us. And He Is Never Wrong. Maybe I should remember Job. Maybe I am just supposed to suffer. Maybe I'm giving in to the devil. But never question God('s lack of help, lack of helping me understand) because He Is Never Wrong. If I don't have faith, that's down to me. I need to believe in God's goodness. If I believe in God then the depression will be lifted. Unless of course God Is Testing Me. But always remember God Is So Loving. Or I'm giving in to the devil, but He will never give you more than you can bear).
I always did have an inquiring mind and got into trouble at bible school because I questioned things, and there were SO MANY things in the bible I could NOT get past, but the issue of my depression was what led my de-conversion sooner rather than later.
One particular night, at age 19, I decided I couldn't believe in God anymore. This is a very simplistic distillation of my thinking process, but it boiled down to this, over the depression issue: God Is Never Wrong. But I know I am not wrong. One of us has to be wrong. If God is never wrong, it must be me that is wrong. But I know I'm not wrong. But I must be wrong because God Is Never Wrong. At some point I went 'NO', don't gaslight me, I am NOT WRONG! So .... God is wrong.... which led pretty quickly to God doesn't exist. That very night I decided that I could no longer believe in God.
Once I got God out of my life (and all the nonsense that goes along with God and depression), I came to understand and manage my depression. Which is well and truly a thing of the past now!) The weird and convoluted thinking that we have to buy into to believe in God is so detrimental human beings' mental health.
😞🙏🙏❤️❤️ Wish you love and peace.
Thanks for sharing this. I struggled with a brain problem for years while being very devout. The answer, for my persistent problem, was always that I didn’t love God enough. Finally, late in life, I came to realize that there’s no supernatural power. I did love the God I believed in but that God was imaginary. If we need help, we need to pursue human remedies
Not to make light of the stress or trauma you may have experienced but your observations about who's fault the depression is definitely borders on great stand-up 😂
Yet it's also an important point.
It sure comes across that the battleground was in your mind. It wasn't who's right and who's wrong in retrospect.
It would appear from your story that you never had known the peace that The Lord Jesus Christ has for you. And all the advice your received did not help, or wasn't what you needed. So very sad, that you decided that Jesus was to blame and He wasn't worth it anymore and you just walked away from Him.
Oh my! You just said the very thing that causes so many to despair. I had a friend who suffered from bipolar disorder and was the most fervent believer one can imagine. When he was high, he praised and loved Jesus with all his heart with tears flowing. When the lows came, he despaired and was inconsolable....an invalid. You don't understand that severe depression is a disease of the brain and cannot be cured by depending on Jesus just like no one raises the dead. @@christophergibson7155
I was raised atheist so I didn't have this thought process engrained in me, but I can see it in some of the people around me, mostly my extended family. Super important to talk about!
Appreciate that. I cant imagine what it would be like to not grow up with all this junk in our brians.
You are so correct about the harm. The emotional disregulation that is a constant struggle, resulting from childhood trauma (CPTSD), is a nightmare. This mess of "instruction" is terrifying.
Thanks Deb, yes its all so sickening.
As a schizophrenic, I heard many harmful threatening things from god, some religious people actually shamed me and told, it's the result which you get when you're not selected by god but if you think you're. I mean he's f biased asshole. Isn't he?
Oh wait wait wait, it's all made up by church and your head.
So very sad. You must have not known the presence of The Holy Spirit in your life. Were you born again by the Spirit of God, or was it just all dead religion?
Brandon, I think if there ever was a “perfect apple pie,” it would be you. You bring such an excellent level of knowledge to the discussion, and you always have interesting things to say. Every time you post, I save your video to a playlist to listen to while I’m driving. Thanks for being such an incredible voice of reason. ALSO don’t feel bad about long videos - I honestly love your longer videos, as they’re thought provoking and really interesting. Thanks for all you’re doing :)
What makes me sad is that no matter how logical and clear these arguments you present here are, I know that if I were to share this with my family they would not see it that clearly at all. It’s frustrating that the Christian lens they view the world through is powerful enough to cause them to overlook such damning evidence. It feels like there is no use in trying to help them, or in even sharing my perspective whether I’m trying to change their minds or not. I fear the day that I have to confess to my family that I am atheist and I’m honestly terrified of having to defend myself to them.
I dont blame you! its a real shit show if we are being honest. But for me, it was worth it.
I wish you love and peace.😔🙏❤️
Hey just straight up tell them they need to listen to your account.
Be gentle and respectful. You will be surprised just how effective that will be
You can do this; we're ALL pulling for you! ❤❤❤
I believed I was following God's will for my life, and had been listening for God's guidance, but was always a little unsure because I was wondering in the back of my mind how I knew for sure if it was God, the devil, or just my brain thinking.
When things went bad while following God's plan, I finally decided I needed to know for real how to tell when it was God guiding me. It's now been 20 years and in hindsight all of the searching I had done when I believed as a Christian was in vain, because there was no God speaking to me. I was essentially listening to random white noise on the radio, trying to make out something intelligible.
I can relate. It feels like such a waste of time and energy and emotion looking back. But we made it out!
Great analogy. It’s like trying to hear words while listening to white noise or songs played backwards.
The most succinct description of ALL religions I have ever read. Well done, thanks and I shall be stealing it henceforth.
To find true experience and reality in prayer....YOU must be born again by the Spirit of God. Try starting there.
And if you say that you have experienced all that, then what happened to your love for Jesus ?
@@christophergibson7155I would like to understand better what you mean? I had believed I was "born again" as the phrase is used, to the best of my understanding and the best of my faith. Is that what you meant? As I grew increasingly aware of how difficult it was to determine when I was hearing God, the devil, or just my own thoughts, my emotional state was also changed, and I eventually came to realize that it always was just my thoughts, and anything that I had thought was God or the devil was still all just me thinking it that way, but it was always all just me. If that makes sense?
Are you asking if I was a Christian when I was having difficulty understanding when it was or wasn't God speaking or guiding me? I believed I was a Christian then, and looking back I view that time as me having the strongest Christian faith I had ever had in my life, yeah.
Is there something that I did or didn't do that you are thinking of that would have made this problem easier for me? I am interested in hearing more on what this might be, though I have had many years of hindsight on this now and see things quite a bit differently than I did back then.
Also, if you are willing to share, how do you know when it is God, the devil, or just your own thoughts that are neither God nor the devil, in your experience?
There is a reason why your channel is growing, @MindShiftSkeptic. You are thoughtful, reasoned and concise. I hope this journey never makes you cynical, even when dealing with those who aren't authentic.
Thats a very kind piece if encouragement. Thank you!
This was my number one reason for converting. I realized that the voice in my head I called the Holy Spirit was just me. The Christian book “Decision Making and the Will of God” by Gary Friesen helped me see that the Bible doesn’t claim that the holy spirit guides the believer in everyday, nonmoral situations. But so much of my faith was based on listening to God and him helping me choose what to do, and so I lost my faith in the eight or so years since reading it. (The other side of this being my personal distress when god never showed up or had answers for me. In my personal experience, he wouldn’t help me out even when I broke down crying seeking his guidance)
man, i get it! So sorry to hear about the struggle, but glad we are both free now. Its such an interesting moment when you come to the fact that that voice has been you all along.
I relate to this. 5 years into deconstructing, I’m just realizing there are so many ways things can go and I have the ability to choose. I’m not helpless to God’s cryptic will.
@@MindShift-Brandonyes, we are smarter than christians want us to think we are, lol.
@freezerburn421 WOW freezerburn. Me too. As I reflected on what started me on a slow journey out of the cult, it was the same book imo. I wanted to discern God's will for my life, but doing it the "standard way" just totally didn't work. I couldn't tell who was talking to me, God, The devil, or myself, or a mix! Firsen at least led me to feel that many/most decisions were not important to God as long as I glorified him. For example, should I move to take a new job? You get no answer or conflicting answers, right? Well, make a wise decision yourself and God will be fine with it as long as you keep glorifying him. This approach made it easier, but I will still have conflicts. Sigh, you really want to make it work. It doesn't, unless you chug the koolaid.
Every single of his argument got me shouting "how does that help make the difference between holy spirit and your unreliable emotions?". I found not one even approached an answer.
same!
I was spiritually lead to atheism! I was comforted in my decision to be an athiest by a quiet whisper! I sensed a guidance. I guess by God? Thanks Vlad for confirming my decision! 😁
Wonderful!
Another excellent video. You're making a huge difference on this platform and really helping people unravel the indoctrination that they were brought up in. Thank you..❤
Wow, thank you so very much!
I have never gotten a feeling that I thought was not from myself. When I was a Christian and briefly decided to monitor my feelings to discern God's will, I ended up doing nothing.
Same here!
Vlad's introduction alone was so ridiculous. I remember struggling with "thought crimes" when I believed, hating myself whenever something I thought was blasphemous or sinful came into my head. I don't miss that at all. Thank you for another great video Brandon!
"But it never gets better, does it? It's ALWAYS corrupt." Aye, so true. That was definitely my experience.
I had struggled with this so much before i started deconverting, this is such a interesting topic
I think this is something almost all Christians battle with, and if this is the advice for them, i felt compelled to do what I could to just lift the curtain! thanks for watching.
The whole "Voice of God" Falacey is actually one of the last things that brought me out of Christianity. I kept hearing of this thing, and I realized and it was just the voice in my head. No matter how much I wanted it, I couldn't see myself "walking with God" or "talking with God" any more than I could see myself talking and playing with my imaginary friend from my childhood.
So sad that you fell for that. What happened to your love for your Jesus though? Maybe, it all began there.
I took the Christian teachings I was raised with very seriously growing up. To this day, even though I haven't been a practicing believer since college or a believer at all from my late 30s (I'm late 40s now), my self talk and inner monologue remain incredibly critical and focused on all the ways I perceive myself to be failing. It is a harsh inner voice that saps joy and contentment from my life. Working on it; it's an uphill battle.
its such a process to untangle!
I wish you love and peace.❤🙏
I totally relate with the self talk and never ending inner monologue! And it’s always negative thoughts! But what really helps me is to challenge those thoughts with positive or realistic ones! Also, being diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder helped me understand why this self talk! It is common, among other things, with autistics!
Well then, ask Jesus. We have the voice of the flesh to tell us what we want to hear and it is a bad inner voice to listen to.
I agree, this is such an important topic. I've seen this mess with myself and every other christian I've known. I've spent hours on the phone trying to help friends "discern" God's voice out of the vastness of white noise. The best analogy I've come up with is just "a dog chasing after its tail, or a cat chasing a laser pointer." Thanks for the work on this video, I hope it gets to most viewed.
Thank you for this support and generosity!
Don't read this or u will be scared ❤ Jesus power
You are spot on with the contradictory, futile, emotional rollercoaster of emotions and how Vlad is blaming US for our humanist, but 'god created' minds. I once had a very devout Christian friend who believed that ALL bad thoughts, were of the devil. I could not EVER say things like; I was down, having a rough day, didn't feel well because she would 'rebuke' me in the name of Jesus! It was the most intense, fake, frustrating, friendship ever. Even as I was a believer she was too much. Ironically her mother had lost a leg to cancer and her father blamed her MOTHER for lack of faith in healing. So glad I am not in those guilt ridden, self condemning, never good enough belief system any longer!!
I think this one definitely needs to be seen by as many people as possible. Also, we don't mind your passion one bit. You have every reason to get emotional when witnessing this kind of overt manipulation. Good job breaking it down. You're awesome, Brandon!
Too kind, thank you very much!
I literally moved to another country cause I thought the Holy Spirit wanted me to move there for over 10 years. This journey was bitter sweet and when I realized that was my emotions and not the Holy Spirit after praying for months and months it was very traumatizing and I cried from realizing it. But I am grateful that I know better now and that I didn't die over a mistake I made like previous Christians do with this and I am realigning my journey and am recovering very well!
I just want people to have the choice and recognize the harm of being mistaken with the idea that you are talking to the creator of the universe.
Me too, my friend!
So pitiful. Wasting your time thinking you know this wonderful Savior Jesus, and then walking away from it all.
It seems rather evident why things went wrong for you.
@@christophergibson7155 Oh I don’t regret it anymore now. I was merely doing the best I could with the knowledge I had at the time. But I’m happy to update my beliefs once sufficient evidence is provided to me. If you can show that your faith can do something more than just your words let me know. But if you just wanna make excuses I’m not convinced God wants us to look like idiots in front of people to get them to know about this specific God. I think this God would do something more than limiting Himself to the ways of man.
@@omnikevlar2338 Sure, I can give you some sufficient evidence. You must be born again by the Spirit of God
I have been truly blessed many times in experiencing The Lord Jesus answering my prayers. My wife was a staunch unbeliever, while I had just recently returned after 20 years of backsliding from a life with Jesus.
I prayed earnestly that the Lord Jesus would bring salvation to my dear wife. This past Easter Sunday while sitting around the dining room table, she repented of her sins and trusted Jesus to save her. She prayed on her own. (None of this "sinner's prayer' stuff). So, may I ask you, what is sufficient evidence for you to repent and return to loving Jesus with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength?
If it was Tahiti, what's your problem?
This guy needs 500 000 subscribers
Too kind! I was already blown away at 5k. The fact that 50k is possible is insane to me.
I would say at least 1 million. There is something much bigger going on. This not just about simply believing or not over a few verses. We individually and collectively need to wake up to our beliefs, thoughts, and actions in order to actually “progress” into the future. It is by no means guaranteed. In fact. I would say it paramount for our very survival.
This is based purely on my personal observations and should be considered anecdotal only. As far as I can tell, if a Christian hears a voice saying; "Hate the Gays/Trans/Minorities/Drag Acts.." etc, then this is the lord's voice. On the other hand, if this voice says; "Female bodily autonomy is a good thing", then this is the work of the devil. I find such an attitude to be bizarre. Surely this is the exact opposite of the claim that "god is love".
The examples like this could be endless. Thanks for watching.
I have a pastor friend who, along with his wife, was convinced they were being called to become missionaries. Everything was set up and they were ready to leave and suddenly one of their children got terribly sick. They had to stay here to treat it (the kid is healthy now) and never got to leave. They switched gears and took a pastoring job here. When I still believed, I thought that was the clearest "no" from God I had ever heard of. If you ask them, they still believe God truly wanted them to go but changed his mind for some reason.
Changed His mind???
As if god would care about 1 sick kid from getting in the way of his will. The bible tells us better than that.
God = Omni-Prankster
@@KGH3000yeah, god was always changing his mind in the bible 😂😂
I remember a woman that had postpartum depression and other mental problems. She married a Narcissistic strictly Christian man that wanted her to get as many children as possible. That poor woman became insane and killed her children. She thought she was hearing the voice of God and wanted to safe her children from hell, so they had to die before they can mature and be corrupted from the devil.
Stories like this just show how dangerous this is.
I love your vids , so longer the better! If you made a podcast I'd watch it too!! I'm going through your secular bible study right now, can't wait for what you do next!!
amazing to hear, thank you. At some point, ill convert all the audio of these videos onto podcasts, but its such a time suck, and I just want to create right now.
@@MindShift-BrandonThanks for replying! I love watching podcasts on youtube, so this is peak content, just wished it was longer!!
Basically as far as i can tell,god and Satan are basically the same person at different moments in time because they both communicate in the same way, the way vlad describes.
Which honestly explains a lot if that's how it works.
Born and raised in the LDS church and began my deconstruction a couple of years ago. Grateful for videos like these that help shine a light on the manipulative teachings that made me feel less than. Thanks for the work you do man, keep it going.
Very helpful video; this is something I really struggled with when I was a Christian😅 glad I got out of that
Glad for both of us, thanks for watching!
Same here! I started as a Charismatic in the Apostolic denomination. I used to follow and listen to Vlad and the other “demon slayers”’in his circle, Isiah Saldivar, David Diga Hernandez etc I slowly started getting out of it. I later became a Reformed Calvinist then finally non-believer. It’s amazing how much I believed in this stuff. I was both confused and delusional it hurt me mentally. I hope this video gets the attention it deserves! Thank you for all the work that you do Brandon.
@@shoestringundertakingswow, we have a similar story! I was a charismatic Christian my whole life, and the last 2 years of my “walk” 😂 I was a reformed Calvinist. Now I’m atheist and so thankful to get rid of all of that and listen to videos like this that make a thousand times more sense than any sermon ever did.
@@shoestringundertakingsFrom a Charismatic to a Reformed Calvinist - you went from the frying pan into the fire!
@@thestaciesmompodcast Whoa no way?! Right on! 😊 I was a Reformed Calvinist for about a year or so. I studied the Bible, got deeper into scripture I really wanted to know it.
Funny that the deeper I got into the Bible it the more I started questioning. I ended finding Brandon’s channel back in August. He did a video of one my favorite theologians the late RC Sproul. From there started on my deconstruction journey and eventually made my way out entirely. It wasn’t easy. It was one of the most difficult things I ever had to go through. I remember one of the last times I prayed to the Christian God, I was crying I didn’t want it to be true. I really and truly was ‘about that life.’ I was all in, willing to die for Jesus and all that. I 💯 agree this channel and others like it has helped me understand the Bible better than any sermon.
Pure brilliance… this has become my favorite de-conversion channel! You are helping so many people.
Thank you! How very encouraging
It's true, Brandon. You're very good at this; I'm glad you made your way back to reality.
Growing up, I was often frustrated with how I never heard that “still small voice,” despite being a “born again” Christian and sincerely seeking. My parents had me listen to sermons/devotionals that explained how, but none solved the issue or were helpful. As someone with OCD, this idea of trying to hear this voice in your head without mixing it up with your own thoughts was just completely confusing and never made any sense to me. I’ve partially deconstructed but certain spiritual experiences my family members have had has prevented me from fully leaving. It’s all just very confusing.
Thank you for unravelling this hairball of confusion that Vlad has coughed and hacked up. What's he saying can be boiled down to: "How do you know that what you're feeling or hearing is from God; your own emotions, feelings, or inner voice; or from Satan? You don't! So trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not unto your own understanding." Wait, what!?
Wait what was my entire resposne ha! thank you!
@@MindShift-Brandon You're welcome 🤗👍
Vlad seems like an earnest fellow, but another reminder about how well the human mind can semi-subconsciously twist and contort itself to argue on behalf of any type of belief.
Re: 7 don’t trust your emotions; trust your emotions.
It think that struggle can be foundational to theistic thought processes. It mirrors uncertainty everyone feels and the anxiety it produces. Theism is a great balm for coping with that internal struggle, (second to almost all other forms of coping.)
But trying to make sense of that argument is like trying to make sense of a child’s safety blanket. Their thought process surrounding the blanket has nothing to do with reason. They can make a game of rationalizing why it protects them from monsters but it’s just icing on top of a lizard brain. Trying to reason with them is just trying to yank away their blankey.
It is always hard to put my finger on one reason that stands above others as why I wouldn’t recommend someone be a Christian. I think this video does a great job of spelling it out as the harm of inconsistency. The Bible being a hopelessly inconsistent place to turn for advice. The mental strain of trying to make sense out of your life from a book that has no sense to offer is more harmful than the believer realizes IMO.
Great video as always. And thank you for the book recommendation God: An Anatomy by Francesca Stavrakopoulou. I’ve been enjoying it and can’t wait to get more recommendations from you in the future.
thank you so much. Love hearing that you are enjoying the book; more to come!
I'd lost track of time, so I'm a bit late to the party, but I'll do what I can to help! Looking forward to hearing the whole thing.
Thanks so much, Charles! You are always an amazing supporter!
Holy crap, I love this channel! Definitely stay with the edited for time off the cuff style. It’s real and raw yet accessible. I don’t know if you’re autistic but I am and you’re speaking my language. I’m a former Christian from the spiritual warfare, Wild at Heart crowd and your demeanor and fire is going to play well with them. You respect us enough to kick our ass and I love it. Be you and stay awesome, man.
Ha what a comment. Thank you very much!
“There is no arriving.” That hits!
With small amount of exceptions to the rule, Feelings are the tail of the thought dog. You don’t get led by emotion, you get led by a thought that produces emotion, and you find it to be the most desirable. If it were undesirable, you might THINK about the emotion and choose to THINK differently to escape the previous thought/emotion combo.
yes!!
I’m listening to this at work. When you were talking about emotions being “the devil” then you made that twack-a-twack sound with your mouth I thought you cut in a clip of Bob Ross smacking his brush against his pant leg to dry it out. He always called it “beat the devil out of it” and it sounded familiar. Loved it.
lol wonderful coincidence. Thanks so much for being here.
Hey, Brandon, I just discovered your show a coupla days ago. After viewing your response to Vlad, I realized the core of your appeal: You're beautiful when you're angry. ❤
Most unique compliment yet. Appreciate you being here!
I'm very thankful for your videos. From watching I've come to believe we have very similar experiences. I think I'm actually going to post a video about my own "demonic" oppression as a child. It is extreme and I'm halfway through life and I still haven't fully healed from it.
What a gem your channel is!!! Thank you
Thats so sweet, thank you!
Brandon, I recently deconverted and i have to say, your channel is very good and informational for people like me or people on the fence. This is not the usual atheist channel, but instead your approach is unique in taking down these christian ideas. I'm always open to the truth and to learn more, but these systems just lock people into a box and they cannot do or learn anything else. It's so freeing once you can get out of that cage.
So kind to hear and so encouraging. Thank you! Congrats on the deconversion and reach out if you need anything!
Yes, congrats on your deconversion 🎉🎉🎉
@@QuestionThingsUseLogic Thanks! ✨
This is why there is so much denomination of christians. That interpretation of that bible. Mental gymnastics. Great content by the way.
Appreciate that!
The dissonance is deafening. Thank you for these videos. Please keep going. They help!
Thank you!
As someone who really enjoys the life philosophies of Zen Buddhism, you raise a great point about mindful meditation and the myriad of thoughts we have. When you sit and look at these thoughts, you realize your brain is just a suggesttive thinking machine. The only thing I have come to find is that it is just me back there. The witness of all of these thoughts. There is no god channeling these thoughts or voices to me. I don't see how Christian's can confidently say that one of these thoughts is suddenty "God". Another banger video Brandon! I hope this gains the traction you are looking for brother!
Thank you and yes well said. We are just the witness to the machine!
@MindShiftSkeptic You're absolutely right and you are very welcome!
And what many people don't know (myself included until recently) is that we have two brains...right and left. They have managed to separate them (l don't recall the specific person, but it's on YT) and once they did that, they discovered two separate identities responding differently to different questions and situations. Maybe that's why we can hold a conversation with ourselves at times?
@QuestionThingsUseLogic oh wow that definitely sounds interesting. I'll try and find out more about that but could definitely happen. I know memory can work in incredible ways too after removing half a brain
@@Djax111 yeah, that's interesting too! We never stop learning.
Love this topic!
It’s funny that Vlad (and others like him) have no issue pointing how susceptible emotions are to deception via circumstances, the enemy and the flesh, but stops short at God; who has been known to send lying spirits to people for the purpose to ….wait for it….deceive.
What you said in the middle, about 18:00, is so true. If it feels good, it must not be God? You're right, it becomes sooo anti-self, that people end up doing so many things that violate their own boundaries, giving away so much that they have nothing left for themselves or others. I've been there.
One of my biggest realizations was the voice of god I thought I heard was just my own intuition. I was outsourcing my reasoning ability to understand logic and know right from wrong to this idea of god and his voice. The more I hear people's experiences with the voice of god and the insight he has given them, the more I believe it is just people outsourcing intuition.
It is truly wild to wake up from that isnt it?
@@MindShift-Brandon It is especially coming from a home church environment; the "voice for god" can generate some of the most outlandish mindsets where no one will call them into question.
I recognize this struggle of trying to make sense of vague and contradicting guidelines from other cult-adjacent groups and organizations that my family was a part of while i was growing up. It's cathartic and vindicating to see videos like this explaining in great detail why such flawed reasoning is problematic and dangerous to us. I love how you engage our critical thinking thus bringing us closer to the actual reality. That's what's the most important here
Thank you for that!
the worst thing I found deconverting after 30 years, was how and where to channel my anger, and mostly was the anger at myself for believing a lie for so long. I've been free now from Christianity for over 4 years and the anger is still there but I have learned to channel that anger into something productive.
Thank you for pointing out the hypocrisy and contradictions in Vlad's video. "God gave you emotions so you can trust them. No! Don't trust your emotions, they're unreliable at best and the devil talking at worst."
Keep fighting the good fight for honesty and openness.
Thank you, Susan!
Beautiful video. I am waking up right now from a lot of fundamentalistic indoctrination and I will further look into your channel. These people on TH-cam were the main drive into my confused self destruction. I lost a lot of valuable things but I am SO glad I listened to my doubts (which I was certain was the devil, but was actually my voice of reason) on not donating all my money away and quitting university to follow "Gods will".
This healing journey will be long and you are a valuable source. Thank you so much for your work, my friend!
So glad to be of use, just keep learning!
Just to add to the utter confusion, I remember at one point an Evangelical church home group leader, told us, "As well as God giving us good words, God can also sometimes give us bad or negative words"! (Like telling us about someone's sin).
It is this very issue that was a significant reason for my deconversion. I could never feel/hear/know that god was listening and speaking to me. There was only shouting into the void.
a great way of putting it.
Yes. Even when feeling / knowing / trusting something intuitively, most people acknowledge that intuition is only the voice of your deeper self. It still isn't God. Even intrusive thoughts aren't God. I really don't understand how Christians think they can discern between God's voice and their own. The only sensations I ever had of "external entities" communicating with me was when I was on psychedelics, and even then I wouldn't call it "God" - maybe the hum of the earth, maybe the collective unconscious, maybe the spirit of the drug, maybe aliens, maybe my "higher self", but never GOD. I don't know how anyone can be so certain of something so open to interpretation. And if you really trust that it was God's voice, then you're still primarily putting trust in yourself - in your perception, your conclusion, in your own ability to discern the truth.... It is you, gazing at your own reflection in a dark room.