Hebrews 11 Names of God Bible 3 Faith convinces us that God created the world through his word. This means what can be seen was made by something that could not be seen. Genesis 2 Names of God Bible 2 Heaven and earth and everything in them were finished. 2 By the seventh day ELOHIM had finished the work he had been doing. On the seventh day he stopped the work he had been doing. 3 Then ELOHIM blessed the seventh day and set it apart as holy, because on that day he stopped all his work of creation. The Creation of Man and Woman 4 This is the account of heaven and earth when they were created, at the time when YAHWEH ELOHIM made earth and heaven. Note verse 4 below (this is Isaiah talking about Yahweh) "seen any god except you": Isaiah 64 Names of God Bible 64 If only you would split open the heavens and come down! The mountains would quake at your presence. 2 Be like the fire that kindles brushwood and makes water boil. Come down to make your name known to your enemies. The nations will tremble in your presence. 3 When you did awe-inspiring things that we didn’t expect, you came down and the mountains quaked in your presence. 4 No one has ever heard, no one has paid attention, and no one has seen any god except you. You help those who wait for you. Compare to: John 1 Names of God Bible 18 No one has ever seen God. God’s only Son, the one who is closest to the Father’s heart, has made him known. and: John 6 Names of God Bible 46 I’m saying that no one has seen the Father. Only the one who is from God has seen the Father. and: 1 John 4 Names of God Bible 12 No one has ever seen God. If we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. Note how in verse 3 the Ruach Elohim says there's a true Elohim. Which means there's a false Elohim. Spoiler Alert: Yahweh Elohim from Genesis 2 is the false Elohim. 2 Chronicles 15: 1-7 Names of God Bible 15 The Ruach Elohim came to Azariah, son of Oded. 2 Azariah went to Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa and all you men from Judah and Benjamin. Yahweh is with you when you are with him. If you will dedicate your lives to serving him, he will accept you. But if you abandon him, he will abandon you. 3 For a long time Israel was without the true Elohim, without a priest who taught correctly, and without Moses’ Teachings. 4 But when they were in trouble, they turned to Yahweh Elohim of Israel. When they searched for him, he let them find him. 5 At those times no one could come and go in peace, because everyone living in the land had a lot of turmoil. 6 One nation crushed another nation; one city crushed another. Elohim had tormented them with every kind of trouble. 7 But you must remain strong and not become discouraged. Your actions will be rewarded.”
We get confirmation from God himself of our salvation and relationship with him when we believe (trust) the gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1-4), that confirmation is the seeing, so don't tell me that it is something that we can't see because it is something that we can see.
@@danielblair4413 Where did that name come from? Why is there a V in it? Is there a V or J in ancient Greek and Hebrew languages? You raise some interesting assertions.
The magic trick of Christianity and its apologists is that they'll spend all day making claims of intimate knowledge about Yahweh, but as soon as they are tasked with substantiating anything about him, Yahweh suddenly becomes ineffable and nebulous.
@@MindShift-Brandon Yes, the ineffable "disembodied mind", of whom it is simultaneously true that our puny minds can't possibly begin to comprehend, AND we also know he hates f***s and loves the smell of burning goat flesh. Praise 🙏
I'm so grateful for magicians because they're able to teach people in a compassionate and entertaining way that illusion and deceit are better explanations for unknown phenomena than the explanation of miracles or magic.
I think your argument may not be secure. Stage magic is known to be a skill meant as entertainment. Because this skill does not require the supernatural, it does not follow the supernatural does not exist.
@@MichaelLevine-n6y I think it is secure, because hopefully you are like me and when we see someone convulsing on the ground, we both would first assume a seizure or some similar medical emergency and call for medics. Hopefully you would not first assume demons or some supernatural cause and call first for a priest or other spiritual healer.
@@MichaelLevine-n6y it's valid. Problem with the supernatural is, what do you consider it to be? There's something that seems to be a law in our world. At least in Asia. If you see the supernatural, it becomes natural
Great description of Brandon's channel Mark, I totally agree and really like Brandon's down to earth, succinct, "everyman's" angle. I think the same way but am nowhere near as good at putting it into words. 😁
@TheTruthKiwi thanks. Totally agree with you about Brandon. I'm like you with not being able to convey as well as him by far. 😀. Hope to talk with you on his future work. ✌️👍
God created the heaven, the earth, and all that is in them by his own power (see Genesis 1:1). It is by that same power of God that all things are upheld (i.e. maintained) (see Hebrews 1:3). The demonstration of God's power is likewise known in his miraculous works recorded in scripture (see Acts 2:22 for example). Is any thing too hard for the LORD?--scripture posits in Genesis 18:14a. We benefit every day from God's power at work in keeping us alive and in his maintaining of those things necessary for life (see Acts 17:25), but we take those things for granted. Scripture points us to God, the giver of every good gift, to whom our thanks is due (James 1:17).
@@MLamar0612 Men reasonably put faith in many things, including other men, in this life, with largely good outcomes. We trust that the reputable mechanic has skillfully fixed our vehicles with reliable parts so that we can safely operate them. We trust that the highly recommended surgeon will use his knowledge and skills to perform an operation to restore health and/or function in our bodies. We plants seeds and invest in water and fertilizer with the expectation that we will reap a harvest. All of these have elements unseen; in all of them, men exercise a measure of faith (acting on the unseen). If so, why not trust God as revealed in the holy scriptures with those things unseen which he addresses in his word and alone can accomplish? I doubt an atheist looks at a building and says, “I refuse to believe that someone designed and constructed this building because I did not see them do it for myself”-nor does he so with many other like things. In the same way, creation itself testifies of a creator (see Romans 1:20, Psalm 19:1-6). God points us to creation and reveals himself to be its doer and sustainer (Genesis 1:1, Hebrews 1:3). The same God revealed himself to the prophets in the Old Testament, giving them his word with verses about the coming of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, at a SPECIFIC time in history to bear the sins of all mankind that we might be reconciled to him (see Romans 3:2, Luke 24:25-27). The eyewitnesses to Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection would, in time, testify of them in preaching repentance and the remission of sins in Jesus’ name (see Luke 24:46-48, Acts 2) as foretold in scripture, even to their own hurt (see Acts 5:40). God as revealed in the scriptures created a nation called the Jews to be his witnesses and a blessing to the families of the earth and gave them specific warnings and promises, many of which we can see fulfilled in history past (see Genesis 12:1-3). The unbelieving Jews that have been regathered into the land of their forefathers, Israel, in recent times is itself a fulfillment of promises God gave to the Jews thousands of years ago (see Isaiah 11:11-12). God gave men a conscience which shows that they have broken his law in order to point them to their need for forgiveness as found through faith in Christ (see Romans 3:23). From Genesis to Revelation, the whole story of God’s work in redemption is given. It is coherent, cohesive, and in many and various ways corroborated and can be apprehended by men. In light of these things, it is REASONABLE to place one’s faith in him to do those things which he has promised but remain unseen. It is REASONABLE to trust him with the reality of heaven and hell. It is REASONABLE to trust him to fulfill his promise of eternal life to all who trust in Christ as Savior (see John 3:16). The Bible, God’s word given to men, is able to make men wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 3:15).
A little story of mine: It was back during the pandemic, and the concept of hell really started to get to me. I kept thinking to myself "what if I'm wrong?" and "if I'm a nonbeliever, why should I still care?". Day after day, fear kept welling up in me, eating away at my ability to think clearly, until one day it peaked, and I thought about using the gun in my parent's bedroom to off me, just so I could see if there was an afterlife. Absolutely insane in hindsight, but not in the moment. I began to think nothing except this mattered, and the atrocities of the world are benign in comparison. That same day, I knew I had to reach out for help, and that's when my parents found out I was an atheist. I came out the closet in the worst way possible. Funny thing is, my mom was more afraid of me dying than me being an atheist, but my dad, well, was the opposite, and did some rather strange things. he went and bought me a cross necklace, told me how I was rebellious, and asked me to go to church. So, I did, and it was a southern Baptist sermon that barely made sense to me and questioned me over and over if I had listened. Anyways, the point here is that I kept having mental breakdowns. I was diagnosed with depression, I started losing weight, and (thankfully) got a therapist. Note: my dad didn't want to send me to a worldly therapist for obvious reasons. Now I have a sensitive spot for Christianity, this trauma that makes my heart skip a beat whenever I see a church, a cross, apologetics, and still hold some instincts that my community made me have if that makes any sense. I still feel weird or even slight disgust around queer people, despite me openly supporting them, these feelings also exist to some extent for people of other races, the disabled, and even ideas such as evolution and atheist talking points. All of this only happens in public settings. These traumas and fears make it difficult for me to engage honestly with other viewpoints and can be used against me so easily. I fall prey to the common divine hiddenness argument that there is no such thing as an atheist, that I was suppressing the truth. I still felt comfort from the music of my church. My mom once asked me "what does your heart say?" as if the heart was supernatural or at least something natural that god would use. In hindsight, my heart felt nothing but fear toward religion. I was even psychoanalyzed by my friends on how I depressed and sheltered I was, thinking it was a sign that I needed god in my life. All of this is highly manipulative at its very core, and I'm convinced it takes some level of ignorance of how the world works to be religious.
I can related to much of this, I prayed to Satan and told him if he appeared with a gun, I'd kill a few of my enemies (pastors who'd excommunicated me) and then kill myself. Needless to say, Satan is as hidden as God. My next crisis was sitting with a couple bottle of sleeping pills and a bottle of vodka, ready to get this horrible (as I saw it at the time) life, but I was talked off the ledge after having the will-power to make a phone call. Eventually I worked it out. _I still feel weird or even slight disgust around queer people, despite me openly supporting them, these feelings also exist to some extent for people of other races, the disabled, and even ideas such as evolution and atheist talking points._ This is natural so don't beat yourself up about it. These are some things I did (I'm not recommending you do the same, just pointing out that there are ways to rewire your brain). I studied evolution a lot, read a bunch of books, watched videos. It was weird being an atheist but not "believing" in evolution, haha, it's pretty incongruent so I told myself, "you'd better understand this thing you don't believe." Evolution (and abiogensis, listen to a Nick Lane interview) is facinating and totally logical and sensible once you understand it. I moved to Mexico. I currently live in a neighborhood that has one white guy, me. I was never racist (having been born in Hawaii I've been the only white kid) but I went to a church that was mostly all white, lived in a neighborhood that was mostly all white, and all my friends were white, not by choice really, but circumstance. What you don't know, you don't know, the way around this is to force yourself to expose yourself to other cultures, peoples, groups, ways of thinking, etc. I had gay sex a few times. Yeah, this was a big step, but I highly recommend it for breaking down the barrier built up by bigots and indoctrination. I have some very close gay friends nowadays, so I can go to a gay club and feel totally comfortable. I'm in a monogamous straight relationship (with a jealous latina) so it's not like I"m out being a player or anything, but I can hug and be affectionate with my gay friends and not feel the slightest weirdness about it. Anyway, as I said, I"m not giving advice, merely giving some ancedotes about ways I helped myself overcome old programming and misunderstandings about life and reality. Oh, if you hit the SHIFT key and RETURN, you'll avoid giant walls of text which are hard to read. Good luck!
A healthy self requires a healthy mind and a healthy body. So if you try to achieve both you should feel better. At least as far as circumstances allow it.
That is truly horrifying…and so deeply unfair to you. It may not help but reading testimony of believers in other religions, and how these provide them with comfort, may be useful. If you ever you start thinking the emotional comfort validates your particular religion, getting in contact with how this phenomenon applies to other religions may serve as a reminder. As for your difficulty with queer and people of color, I suggest books, movies and the like. These days there is a readily available, vast body of queer culture that you can access. There is bound to be something that really resonates with you.
I am binge watching all of these videos. These videos comfort me. I find the abrahamic religions exhausting & insane. Thank you Brother for making these videos, they are basically therapy.
This reminds me of when I finally told my dad (fundamentalist Christian) that I no longer believed in God. He asked how I no longer felt gods presence in my life. I told him people of various faiths and beliefs believe they have a relationship with their god. They believe their god is active in their life like he does. I asked him how he knows his feelings are real and he said he just does. To which I said that's the same excuse someone from another faith would give. He said they're wrong and I said how does he know that? Any reason he could give to justify his belief or criticize another, they could also do to him. The problem is all gods can't exist and do what believers claim. However, they can all not exist. There can't be multiple creator gods, multiple hells, etc, it's not logical. Some believers have to be mistaken or are lying.
In order for the God of Christianity to be real, logical contradictions must be possible, so if you believe in Christianity, what justification to you have to say that mutually contradictory religions can't be true at the same time? You already believe in a self-contradictory being, so why couldn't there simultaneously be only one God and also thousands of Gods? 😉
@@TheMilitantMazdakite that depends on the gods. Gods/religions that have a hell/heaven can't all exist because you can only go to one of those hells/heavens. Gods/religions that claim to have created our existence cannot all exist either, etc. Using logic, we can easily pick apart the vast majority of polytheism.
This is genius. You are a breath of fresh air. I used to think recovery from addictions were the most severe on the planet, now I realize it’s the recovery from false religious inaccurate ineffective dogma.
What i hate is when people give god credit for the hellish things I’ve gotten through! I’m like “no I did that! It’s my own strength that has gotten me through the hard times! That type of stuff really gets to me
I had a client years ago that was telling me that her young daughter asked why she couldn’t see god. Her response was, “Well, he’s kinda like Santa. He’s there but you can’t see him.” She didn’t even hear what she had just said.
Thanks for another thoughtful video. I too have have become comfortable in saying, “I don’t know,” instead of saying, “Only god knows.” I enjoy learning about a wide variety of topics and it constantly amazes me how much scientific knowledge expands every year. A couple of years ago I suffered from a detached retina. I was blind in one eye but in a couple of days I could see everything again thanks to a extremely knowledgeable doctor. Instead of praying to be healed I relied on the most up-to-date surgery procedure. Science came through for me again.
Good point with respect to 'i don't know' vs 'only god knows' especially since the bible shows that, time after time, god does stuff where he purportedly knows it won't work but does it anyway like flooding the earth, letting a snake into the garden of eden, having 'chosen people' and so on.
@@PhrontDoor Living creatures need all of their systems (be they circulatory, skeletal, digestive, reproductive, muscular, nervous, etc.) in place and functioning in order to survive and reproduce. This eliminates the so-called 'trial and error' of macro evolution. We see all creatures reproduce after their own kind, just like God said in the beginning when he created them (see Genesis 1:21, 24).
One thing that got me out of faith healing was learning about cold readings from the magician James Randi. It led to a particularly poignant moment I had while attending a healing service, the healer called and pointed to the crowd for generalized ailments, but ignored an amputee in the front row.
Yeah, so weird how the almighty creator of the universe can only manage to cure diseases we already know can get better on their own, and at a rate essentially indistinguishable from random chance...
Pinecreek once gave a hypothetical about the story of a man who can fly unaided, a story that was only documented 30 years later and not necessarily by any eyewitnesses of the event. This was done as an analogy to the Resurrection story. I remember one response to it that was vehement in objecting that it was analogous and insisting that Jesus did resurrect that wasn't just a story and finally ending off with "no one believes that a man can fly like that anyway". Yeah.
The _"flying man"_ thought experiment. Christians have interesting reactions when they participate. Before I heard of Pine Creek, in late Spring of 2001, I acknowledged to myself that I couldn't prove anything about what I believed was real. I couldn't prove that the Holy Spirit, or Hell, or Heaven, or anything about my religion was real. The next most logical question to myself of course was _"why do I believe it?"_ That's when my faith fell apart.
Brandon, you are absolutely extraordinary! As an atheist myself, I love watching your most engaging, truthful, common-sense approached videos. It's like a breath of fresh air! I can see you as a guest on "The Atheist Experience" and "The Line!" Bravo to you!!!
9:30 - This REALLY hit home for me. While there was no one thing that caused my deconversion, in retrospect, dark matter and non-stamp collectors videos, while they may not be why I stopped believing, both played a MASSIVE roll in getting me to be open to questioning my beliefs. Through humor they got me to drop my guard, and through good analogy, they created that small voice in the back of my head that kept saying "you know... they are making a good point here...". They didn't break the armor my parents had built up in me against questioning the validity of christianity, but they created some of the first cracks in that armor that more indepth bible study videos were able to widen. In this regard I think both kinds of content are really important. I'm so appreciative for MindShift's content, but I likely wouldn't be here if not for the more humor focused that went a long way in convincing me to be open to the possibility some of the things I'd spent my whole life not questioning were actually worth questioning.
Non-Stamp Collector was THE reason I started studying the Bible and started questioning its content. The first video I watched got me thinking "this can't be true", then I went and checked and saw that it was indeed in this book that we were taught was THE word of God, turns out most of it was just Jewish propaganda.
“We just don’t see the bunny in your hand, that you are claiming is the worlds greatest magic trick.” That is an incredible line, Brandon. Exceptionally well written and I applaud everything you’re doing and I appreciate you. Thank you for injecting more reason into this seemingly very unreasonable world. Take care my friend.
Brandon talks so much sense and it's just SO refreshing to see a creator like this. No smoke and mirrors (haha given today's topic) just plain talking, never shying away from realities or trying to obfiscate, always seeking to find answers, no tricks. The world really needs more of this!
@@MindShift-Brandon Thank you for all you do, you really get me thinking and you bring back old questions to mind that I used to ask and had forgotten about, like the difference between magic and miracles!
@@MindShift-Brandon Your videos are definitely going to be helpful for me to share with people who are open to questioning their faith. I'll be sharing them any opportunity I get! As I mentioned, some of them are right at the top of my long playlist of debunking pseudoscience, cults and indoctrination. This one is currently right at the top on purpose - number 1 as you can see! th-cam.com/play/PLAQWFaR-JJrPYK4XLrTDScxpIIvcIuqb8.html&si=SjwIydc7eN9fdtF8
Reading the first 5 books of the OT contributed greatly to my deconstruction and deconversion. Not just because of the violence (Num 31:17 really set me off because I worked with sexual abuse victims) but because of the ritual sacrifice laws. Especially in Leviticus. I couldn't get passed the the fact that it was all just blood magic. Complete with weird (and creepy) procedures, rules on how to do what to achieve what goal and so on. Just like the black magic and witchcraft we preached against. I asked my pastor about it and his response was in line of: "You can fully understand Levite law and the purpose of the OT. It takes guidance to understand it's full context and purpose".
Yeah, so weird how the parts of the Bible they like are obvious and clear to a plain reading, but whenever you point out a verse that is problematic, all of a sudden you need to study the context and history and mythology in order to understand it.
Something you mentioned that I like is that it is really is that simple. I was “raised catholic” but have basically always been an atheist; I thought it was all very silly from a super young age. But with that background, and more broadly the religious background that America has today, it almost feels like we’re the ones who have to jump through hoops to rationalize our position, when in reality it’s as simple as not believing something. Something Sam Harris said once, along the lines of “atheism shouldn’t even be a category/word. We don’t wake up every day and say ‘I’m not an astrologer’,” has stuck with me too. I truly do hope more people start to view the world through 21st century eyes and see the absurdity of their beliefs. Mainly because in the US, those beliefs very much affect everyone’s lives through policy. Man I only recently found your channel, but I feel you legitimately have the logic, delivery and presentation to be a powerhouse channel in the community. Keep it up brotha! Hail atheisimo
So very kind. Thank you very much, man! Yes that Harris quote is so great. He was one of the too two for me during my deconversion. Again, really appreciate your encouragement
“You just want to sin” If I just wanted to sin, I’d be a Christian and pray for forgiveness; you know, like every Christian does. edit: just got to 15:50. Wasn’t ready for Marcion to make an appearance
They commit the worst sin of them all, judgement.... They judge us as if they speak for god and can do so... When their cult book SPECIFICALLY says not to..... They go directly against the word of god on a daily basis..... And its bullshit
"Aaron threw his staff down... and it turned into a snake." - believe it!! "Muhammad put his hand in the vessel and water started gushing out between his fingers." - no, no, not that one...
My favorite part of that example is that the priests of the Pharaoh responded by performing _the same magic trick..._ but they WEREN'T followers of the same God. Of course, the usual answer I get from people is the same one portrayed in The Prince of Egypt movie: that they were charlatans doing magician tricks, while Aaron was doing actual magic... excuse me, _miracles._ But then I have to point out that if that were the case, then the Bible probably would have explicitly said that they performed _trickery_ to imitate the miracle.
@@leyrua Yes, in those conversations, they often tell me about Elijah calling down the fire of the Lord against the prophets of Baal. I tell them it was lighter fluid, not water, which filled the four jars. They don't like that. They don't like it even more when I tell them I'll follow them into church if they can repeat the trick in front of me. Then I end with, "O ye of little faith..."
I discovered @MindShiftSkeptic today. My personal story with faith, religion, beliefs and moral has been a sort of up-down never ending spiral to me. Tragically, my mental health has been compromised due to the permanent struggle between the forces of rationalism and logic, on one side, and faith and irrationalism, on the other; all of which ended causing me great suffering and pain. Thanks Brandon for speaking clear and loud about these topics, and for helping me clearing my mind!
I remember one of my early disappointments with God. I was about 10 years old, and our family went to a nice mainstream Presbyterian Church. The sanctuary had a high vaulted ceiling. I noticed one Sunday...these glowing lights dancing around the ceiling, slowing fading away. The next Sunday I saw them again! They were beautiful! "I'm I the only one who can see them?" , I thought, "Are these Angels?" Maybe God has given me a special vision allowing only me to see these Angels! Surely! Why else would no one else be in awe? One Sunday, I finally worked up the courage to tell my Mother of this gift. My mother looked up, then quieting whispered, "Those are the reflections of the collection plates" I must have sunk down into the pew...I was so disappointed! I had not noticed they only appeared at that time of the service! My "Angels" dancing on the ceiling were the shinny silver collection plates reflecting the overhead lighting.
Totally enjoying the Magic story and the story with the invisible car. I also have a car analogy that I use whenever I discuss faith. My car analogy goes like this: Imagine if your car worked about as well as prayer. Sometimes it would start many times it won't. And in the Times when it won't start imagine if you said oh the car will start in its own good time. Or imagine if you said to your wife, the car will start one day because there is a plan for the car to start one day. Just have faith that the car will start one day. Honestly our world is designed for dependability. If our car or anything in our lives like a light switch worked as well as prayer did we would throw it away and get a new one. And that goes for everything we own. Because this world we have created science and science is based on dependability and repeatability.
I think this might be my favorite video of yours yet! You hit on so many points that I love to talk about with believers. Some fantastic work being done here! I love using the analogy of a magician when talking to believers, though my angle is more to point out that "god did it" is not an explanation of how something is done. I too use the rabbit out of a hat trick and explain that if I ask an audience member what happened, they will say "the magician pulled a rabbit out of a hat" but we know behind the scenes this isn't actually what happened. It doesn't explain what the magician actually did, it only explains what the process looks like from the audience point of view. A good way to summarize it is to ask the person something like "based on the information you recieved by watching the magician, could you replicate his trick?" the obvious answer being "no". Watching the magician pull the rabbit out of the hat doesn't tell you in any way how the rabbit was actually made to appear to come out of a hat. I was so happy when you brought up thermodynamics too! I don't personally hve to deal with talking about that one often, but good lord do I see it misunderstood on such a massive scale from apologists. Sometimes I honestly wonder if they are ignoring what it actually means on purpose, or if they are just lazy and never took the time to verify what it actually is. And the source of divine message! I can't tell you how many times I have tried to explain this one to people, but its one of my favorite topics. In fact I'm working on a short visual novel game to demonstrate exactly this point, just a simple story where you make 3 choices and you are being spoken to by either an angel or a demon disguised as an angel, but you don't know which it is. But back to the main point about this, its such a great conversation piece but I don't encounter many people that have thought very hard about it. So many times when I start off by asking something like "how do you know if you're talking to an angel or a demon in disguise?" they respond with something like "oh its easy, if it leads to something good then its obviously an angel!". I then try to explain that all a demon would have to do then is lead to one good thing, then they could lead you to other worse things. The best con would be to make you think they are an angel. Most of the time this goes over their head. (Its also a great time to introduce the scripture from Paul that commands believers to test every spirit. So much for never testing god!)
Ex-Christians talking candidly about their experience with christianity have helped me reexamine my religious beliefs ( Islam) and eventually letting go of it all together. Thank you so much.
So very kind!! Thanks for this. I am getting ever closer to starting the project. Really appreciate your support. Also i am announcing on Tuesdays video 3 other shows ill be over the next month. Ill tell you now the first one is this Wednesday on the hang up with matt d
@@MindShift-Brandon Watched you on "The Line," and you were great! Congrats on your fabulous live call-in debut and hitting 15K subscribers. Hope to see you on more shows soon.
Thank you much! Youll forgive me then if i ever miss a comment, ha. Its getting more and more which is great but i still want to focus on popping out good content. Appreciate you being here
@MindShiftSkeptic do the best you can and don't worry about the comments. There are always critics who can't be satisfied. Your content is absolutely top quality and I appreciate it!
Agnostic here. It is my hope that our existence in the next realm transcends time. Indeed, when one factors time as we understand it into any existence, things go south. Especially when infinities are counted.
Comedy has been a huge influence on my deconversion. George Carlin, Mark Normand, Dave Allen, etc. Even Hitchens' mockery on religion makes a lot more sense.
I really appreciate the way you nail everything. Watching this reminds me of Never Land and the Lost Boys sitting around a table eating imaginary food.
This is one of my favorite topics to go to when discussing or debating religion. How obviously unconvinced by the existence of magic we are yet accept magic only when it applies to your religion.
Magic and Miracles are NOT the same. One has an event that is virtually impossible to explain, a charismatic man in a costume, a long build-up with music and a pre-amble to set the mood. It leaves one surprised, speechless and happy. The other is Magic.
And yet there is zero demonstrable evidence of miracles. And any in the Bible are pretty magical….. Leaving Christianity is what sets you in a great mood, being away from all of that make believe lies.
Another great video (I feel like I keep saying that), but I did feel a little triggered when you said, “Every head bowed and eyes closed.” I automatically had “Just as I Am” cued up and ready to go in my brain 😂 Glad to hear that you’re getting away for awhile and wish you safe travels!
I am so happy there is someone out there who thinks like me! I feel like I am the only one with my rational thoughts, surrounded by a sea of believers. So glad I stumbled upon your channel. It is very refreshing!
I believe that our ancestors even at their most primal set of mind knew that there were forces we simply failed to understand. There were also individuals that were more than willing to capitalize on the more gullible and easily fooled. Mostly, not often but mostly, for self gain.
I truly like your work, Brandon, for two simply reasons : a) you've been there in the messy lies, you've come out and now talk genuinely from your own experiences; b) you call it what it is, (a bunch of b.s.) without being condescendent...
I wish that you or someone like you would explore the phenomena of universal world-wide religion, not just your critique of Christianity, but the fact that all human cultures, without exception (as far as I know), have a metaphysical belief system in place, where divine forces create everything, sustain everything, require worship and ceremony to stay in harmony with them, etc. And, it seems that this aspect of human culture is very ancient, as various cave paintings featuring humans with animal heads attest to. Christianity is only 2,000 years old, whereas these cave paintings go back 10,000 years. And Christianity began in the eastern Mediterranean, whereas other forms of religious belief and practice are found all over the world, from Maya culture's Chac, to India's Brahma. How do we account for this as a common, universal human attribute?
Oh man, Brandon, this is so flipping good! Thank you, this again, is exactly how it is. You couldn’t have done more, you genuinely sought, believed, given time and effort to make the Bible true, to find out it WASN’T and it NEVER made sense even when you wanted it! Excellent job ❤❤❤
Talking about the supernatural, I'm remembering Emerson Greens interview with Dale Allison's "encountering mistery", it really instilled a sense in me that the world is much weirder that we imagine, which makes me open to the posibility of the supernatural to be honest.
i agree the world/universe is an insane mystery and ever more mind boggling, but like my examples in this video, its no reason to jump to things we cannot prove just to fill gaps in my opinion. I am open to the supernatural in general, but no actual reason to believe in it yet.
It's nearly a truism, that the more you learn in almost any field, the more mysteries are discovered. Some of which being mindboggling and counter intuitive. Our perceptions of the world are narrow. So it doesn't surprise me too much, that when we depart from the familiar things we normally see and think about, we can be surprised and discomfited. I don't hold a position that the supernatural doesn't, or can't exist. However, I'd like to see a definition of supernatural, that doesn't amount to "something we don't currently understand". The very existence of science is the response to learning about the many things we don't understand. If we were in the situation where all mysteries were solved, unlikely as that sounds, the process of science would become pointless. Since it is exceedingly hard, if not impossible, to demonstrate something that we don't understand, it's very questionable to knowingly assert the existence of the supernatural. It doesn't help the case, that every time something claimed to be supernatural can be tested, that test doesn't show anything demonstrably supernatural. Our speaking of the supernatural, may be more a factor of the way we look for patterns and understanding, sometimes finding what looks a bit like patterns, when they may not exist. Trying to make sense of the unknown is eminently human. As is thinking that we know more than we actually do about it.
Great video! I think this is my favorite one yet. I laughed out loud at the Mark Normand bit. Some of your points resonate with a book I've been reading, "How Minds Change," by David McRaney. So much of religion and our belief systems trace back to our social nature and how reluctant we are to risk the acceptance of the group(s) we are in by challenging what is accepted. I highly recommend that book as an additional resource for understanding metacognition. Also, it has a great call out to street epistemology and Anthony Magnabosco as one of the mind changing methods that he explores.
@@MindShift-Brandon Always! If you haven’t listened to Kristie Burke, I definitely recommend her. She’s fairly new to doing deconstructing videos, and she does shows where of course she breaks down Bible verses, mostly biblical stories, she just gives good breakdowns of biblical stories, with a wonderful sense of humor that helps a lot! Viced Rhino did a reaction video, to a reaction video to one of her videos lol he was very impressed! Just some food for thought
Excellent! You covered a topic we were straying into on one of your last video's comment threads. Keep on dragging these things out into the sunlight so we can see them, bro!
New subscriber here, I am so glad I found this channel. Keep up the good work of being rational, logical and also courteous at the same time. Thank you.
The Wizard of Oz... The wizard is scaring Dorothy and her friends. The booming voice, the explosions and fire , its quite a spectacle!!! Then Toto pulls back the curtains and the magic is gone. This is how I feel as an atheist, ive seen the man behind the curtain and the trickery of religion has no power over me anymore
16:54 "'There's just too many things Brandon that have happened in my life. I just know. I know that God exists.' And then you make the leap that it's the God that was in the culture that was popular at the time of your existence that your parents told you about, with some exceptions of conversion, obviously. How convenient. And of course, hey, wake up, that's how the Hindus feel. That's how the Muslims feel. That's how the ancient Greeks felt. That's how the ancient Egyptians felt. That's how the Canaanites felt. Everyone is playing with the same deck of cards: a human consciousness and set of mental psychology that is vast."
Enjoyed the video, the intro clip was spot on. Btw if I understood correctly you are spending time in the outdoors-I am envious, currently dealing with a hiking injury, can’t wait to get back out once I’m healed (without resorting to ‘magic’ ;) ). Enjoy!
I feel fortunate that where I live, there's no risk of being openly disbelieving. I paused with some random guys I happened to be with, looked over at an old church, which was now a club called, Church, and merrily giggled over "I'm going to Church". But then, religion holds relatively little sway here anymore
I have no problem with, I Don't Know. I also love when I'm proven wrong. It means I've removed another fallacy or incorrect way of doing or thinking something! Humans hate to admit when they're wrong because of their ego. Once you get rid of your ego there's more room to grow and learn.
Awesome video. You have a great way of breaking these things down and being relatable. One humble point of advice.... be careful saying there is no evidence. Even weak evidence is labeled as such. There is no compelling or empirical evidence of xyz might be more accurate and leave you less open to countering once you get larger.
One of the early magic tricks was when Moses was trying to prove God to Pharaoh; God told Moses to throw down his staff, which immediately turned into a snake. And when Moses picked it up by its tail, it turned into his staff again. Pharaoh's magicians did the same thing with a staff. So much for that being a "miracle."
Watching Nonstampcollector's bible quiz show in 2010 gave me the courage to discuss my atheism openly. It's the first atheist video I shared. It may have been the first one I watched. Before that, all I had was a meme of the Epicurus quote.
There's this part in the movie Contact when scientist Jodie Foster says she needs proof in order to believe in god, and priest Matthew McHonehay (I have no idea how to spell his name) replies, "Your father loved you?" Jodie goes, "Yes, of course." Matthew finally says, "prove it." like it's some gotcha moment. I wanted to kick my TV screen in because those two things are so not comparable. Plus, Jodie does have proof her father loved her! Because he literally said he loved her,! AAAAAAHHHHHHH
I would be curious to understand the difference between magic and miracles anyway. Just like a consistent definition for what a soul even is has eluded me so far.
"You just gotta believe there is candy in the back of my truck", is what it all sums up to. Nah, I knew better at 6 not to trust that shit and I'm not gonna start just because of a threat.
Gonally some time to go through your episod3s from before my subscription to th Ftis channel! Enjoy your trip! I've got faith that they are just good as this one ;-)
As a side note, we are only considered living because of the definition of living organism, but in actuality we are simply a chain/bundle of mechanical events, which has been grouped and defined as living. Living isn't more or different than non-living, just complex.
Morning all! Welcome to the many new people that came in from the Heaven video. Hope you enjoy this one!
Hebrews 11
Names of God Bible
3 Faith convinces us that God created the world through his word. This means what can be seen was made by something that could not be seen.
Genesis 2
Names of God Bible
2 Heaven and earth and everything in them were finished. 2 By the seventh day ELOHIM had finished the work he had been doing. On the seventh day he stopped the work he had been doing. 3 Then ELOHIM blessed the seventh day and set it apart as holy, because on that day he stopped all his work of creation.
The Creation of Man and Woman
4 This is the account of heaven and earth when they were created, at the time when YAHWEH ELOHIM made earth and heaven.
Note verse 4 below (this is Isaiah talking about Yahweh) "seen any god except you":
Isaiah 64
Names of God Bible
64 If only you would split open the heavens and come down!
The mountains would quake at your presence.
2 Be like the fire that kindles brushwood and makes water boil.
Come down to make your name known to your enemies.
The nations will tremble in your presence.
3 When you did awe-inspiring things that we didn’t expect,
you came down and the mountains quaked in your presence.
4 No one has ever heard,
no one has paid attention,
and no one has seen any god except you.
You help those who wait for you.
Compare to:
John 1
Names of God Bible
18 No one has ever seen God. God’s only Son, the one who is closest to the Father’s heart, has made him known.
and:
John 6
Names of God Bible
46 I’m saying that no one has seen the Father. Only the one who is from God has seen the Father.
and:
1 John 4
Names of God Bible
12 No one has ever seen God. If we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.
Note how in verse 3 the Ruach Elohim says there's a true Elohim.
Which means there's a false Elohim.
Spoiler Alert: Yahweh Elohim from Genesis 2 is the false Elohim.
2 Chronicles 15: 1-7
Names of God Bible
15 The Ruach Elohim came to Azariah, son of Oded. 2 Azariah went to Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa and all you men from Judah and Benjamin. Yahweh is with you when you are with him. If you will dedicate your lives to serving him, he will accept you. But if you abandon him, he will abandon you. 3 For a long time Israel was without the true Elohim, without a priest who taught correctly, and without Moses’ Teachings. 4 But when they were in trouble, they turned to Yahweh Elohim of Israel. When they searched for him, he let them find him. 5 At those times no one could come and go in peace, because everyone living in the land had a lot of turmoil. 6 One nation crushed another nation; one city crushed another. Elohim had tormented them with every kind of trouble. 7 But you must remain strong and not become discouraged. Your actions will be rewarded.”
Thank you for another great video! And thank you for caring enough to help alot of people find the Truth.
Yahweh is NOT God Jehovah is God.
Jesus' name actually means Jehovah saves NOT Yahweh saves.
We get confirmation from God himself of our salvation and relationship with him when we believe (trust) the gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1-4), that confirmation is the seeing, so don't tell me that it is something that we can't see because it is something that we can see.
@@danielblair4413 Where did that name come from? Why is there a V in it? Is there a V or J in ancient Greek and Hebrew languages? You raise some interesting assertions.
The magic trick of Christianity and its apologists is that they'll spend all day making claims of intimate knowledge about Yahweh, but as soon as they are tasked with substantiating anything about him, Yahweh suddenly becomes ineffable and nebulous.
indeed, and then i am always scolded for trying to "comprehend the incomprendable"
@@MindShift-Brandon Yes, the ineffable "disembodied mind", of whom it is simultaneously true that our puny minds can't possibly begin to comprehend, AND we also know he hates f***s and loves the smell of burning goat flesh. Praise 🙏
They describe a god thats like a doctor that slits ppls throats n then offers to stitch it back up if you become his slave
@@ChillAssTurtle Wow that's a chilling analogy... see what I did there lol
@@ChillAssTurtlethat is one scary analogy… but it makes so much sense…
I'm so grateful for magicians because they're able to teach people in a compassionate and entertaining way that illusion and deceit are better explanations for unknown phenomena than the explanation of miracles or magic.
Exactly!!
I know some tricks. Nobody's worshipping me, wanna try? 😅 To do the tricks I mean?
I'm a good deity 🤗😈⛎
I think your argument may not be secure. Stage magic is known to be a skill meant as entertainment. Because this skill does not require the supernatural, it does not follow the supernatural does not exist.
@@MichaelLevine-n6y I think it is secure, because hopefully you are like me and when we see someone convulsing on the ground, we both would first assume a seizure or some similar medical emergency and call for medics. Hopefully you would not first assume demons or some supernatural cause and call first for a priest or other spiritual healer.
@@MichaelLevine-n6y it's valid.
Problem with the supernatural is, what do you consider it to be?
There's something that seems to be a law in our world. At least in Asia.
If you see the supernatural, it becomes natural
Dear Brandon, you definitely are one of the best at using common sense and getting down to "street level " to get people thinking. Thank you.
Appreciate that big time. Thanks for the encouragement!
Great description of Brandon's channel Mark, I totally agree and really like Brandon's down to earth, succinct, "everyman's" angle. I think the same way but am nowhere near as good at putting it into words. 😁
@TheTruthKiwi thanks. Totally agree with you about Brandon. I'm like you with not being able to convey as well as him by far. 😀. Hope to talk with you on his future work. ✌️👍
@@markhaunert5029 For sure man, will definitely be keeping up with Brandon's uploads so will hopefully see you around. Stay safe mate. 👍
@@TheTruthKiwi 💯✌️
I'm so happy you highlighted Mark's clip. It's so simple, rational and clear.
Right?! sometimes thats all it takes.
God created the heaven, the earth, and all that is in them by his own power (see Genesis 1:1). It is by that same power of God that all things are upheld (i.e. maintained) (see Hebrews 1:3). The demonstration of God's power is likewise known in his miraculous works recorded in scripture (see Acts 2:22 for example). Is any thing too hard for the LORD?--scripture posits in Genesis 18:14a.
We benefit every day from God's power at work in keeping us alive and in his maintaining of those things necessary for life (see Acts 17:25), but we take those things for granted. Scripture points us to God, the giver of every good gift, to whom our thanks is due (James 1:17).
@@sdlorah6450so instead of actually understa ding what's being said, you shut off your cognitive faculties to become a robot and just quote scripture
@@sdlorah6450Cool story, bro. Got any evidence?
@@MLamar0612 Men reasonably put faith in many things, including other men, in this life, with largely good outcomes. We trust that the reputable mechanic has skillfully fixed our vehicles with reliable parts so that we can safely operate them. We trust that the highly recommended surgeon will use his knowledge and skills to perform an operation to restore health and/or function in our bodies. We plants seeds and invest in water and fertilizer with the expectation that we will reap a harvest. All of these have elements unseen; in all of them, men exercise a measure of faith (acting on the unseen).
If so, why not trust God as revealed in the holy scriptures with those things unseen which he addresses in his word and alone can accomplish? I doubt an atheist looks at a building and says, “I refuse to believe that someone designed and constructed this building because I did not see them do it for myself”-nor does he so with many other like things. In the same way, creation itself testifies of a creator (see Romans 1:20, Psalm 19:1-6). God points us to creation and reveals himself to be its doer and sustainer (Genesis 1:1, Hebrews 1:3). The same God revealed himself to the prophets in the Old Testament, giving them his word with verses about the coming of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, at a SPECIFIC time in history to bear the sins of all mankind that we might be reconciled to him (see Romans 3:2, Luke 24:25-27).
The eyewitnesses to Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection would, in time, testify of them in preaching repentance and the remission of sins in Jesus’ name (see Luke 24:46-48, Acts 2) as foretold in scripture, even to their own hurt (see Acts 5:40). God as revealed in the scriptures created a nation called the Jews to be his witnesses and a blessing to the families of the earth and gave them specific warnings and promises, many of which we can see fulfilled in history past (see Genesis 12:1-3). The unbelieving Jews that have been regathered into the land of their forefathers, Israel, in recent times is itself a fulfillment of promises God gave to the Jews thousands of years ago (see Isaiah 11:11-12). God gave men a conscience which shows that they have broken his law in order to point them to their need for forgiveness as found through faith in Christ (see Romans 3:23). From Genesis to Revelation, the whole story of God’s work in redemption is given. It is coherent, cohesive, and in many and various ways corroborated and can be apprehended by men.
In light of these things, it is REASONABLE to place one’s faith in him to do those things which he has promised but remain unseen. It is REASONABLE to trust him with the reality of heaven and hell. It is REASONABLE to trust him to fulfill his promise of eternal life to all who trust in Christ as Savior (see John 3:16). The Bible, God’s word given to men, is able to make men wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 3:15).
A little story of mine: It was back during the pandemic, and the concept of hell really started to get to me. I kept thinking to myself "what if I'm wrong?" and "if I'm a nonbeliever, why should I still care?". Day after day, fear kept welling up in me, eating away at my ability to think clearly, until one day it peaked, and I thought about using the gun in my parent's bedroom to off me, just so I could see if there was an afterlife. Absolutely insane in hindsight, but not in the moment. I began to think nothing except this mattered, and the atrocities of the world are benign in comparison. That same day, I knew I had to reach out for help, and that's when my parents found out I was an atheist. I came out the closet in the worst way possible. Funny thing is, my mom was more afraid of me dying than me being an atheist, but my dad, well, was the opposite, and did some rather strange things. he went and bought me a cross necklace, told me how I was rebellious, and asked me to go to church. So, I did, and it was a southern Baptist sermon that barely made sense to me and questioned me over and over if I had listened. Anyways, the point here is that I kept having mental breakdowns. I was diagnosed with depression, I started losing weight, and (thankfully) got a therapist. Note: my dad didn't want to send me to a worldly therapist for obvious reasons. Now I have a sensitive spot for Christianity, this trauma that makes my heart skip a beat whenever I see a church, a cross, apologetics, and still hold some instincts that my community made me have if that makes any sense. I still feel weird or even slight disgust around queer people, despite me openly supporting them, these feelings also exist to some extent for people of other races, the disabled, and even ideas such as evolution and atheist talking points. All of this only happens in public settings. These traumas and fears make it difficult for me to engage honestly with other viewpoints and can be used against me so easily. I fall prey to the common divine hiddenness argument that there is no such thing as an atheist, that I was suppressing the truth. I still felt comfort from the music of my church. My mom once asked me "what does your heart say?" as if the heart was supernatural or at least something natural that god would use. In hindsight, my heart felt nothing but fear toward religion. I was even psychoanalyzed by my friends on how I depressed and sheltered I was, thinking it was a sign that I needed god in my life. All of this is highly manipulative at its very core, and I'm convinced it takes some level of ignorance of how the world works to be religious.
Thank you for taking the time to share this. I am so sorry to hear all the trauma this religion has caused
Fear tactics are commonly used in religions. If you would like, I could break them down for you and explain why they are logically unsound.
I can related to much of this, I prayed to Satan and told him if he appeared with a gun, I'd kill a few of my enemies (pastors who'd excommunicated me) and then kill myself. Needless to say, Satan is as hidden as God.
My next crisis was sitting with a couple bottle of sleeping pills and a bottle of vodka, ready to get this horrible (as I saw it at the time) life, but I was talked off the ledge after having the will-power to make a phone call.
Eventually I worked it out.
_I still feel weird or even slight disgust around queer people, despite me openly supporting them, these feelings also exist to some extent for people of other races, the disabled, and even ideas such as evolution and atheist talking points._
This is natural so don't beat yourself up about it.
These are some things I did (I'm not recommending you do the same, just pointing out that there are ways to rewire your brain).
I studied evolution a lot, read a bunch of books, watched videos. It was weird being an atheist but not "believing" in evolution, haha, it's pretty incongruent so I told myself, "you'd better understand this thing you don't believe." Evolution (and abiogensis, listen to a Nick Lane interview) is facinating and totally logical and sensible once you understand it.
I moved to Mexico. I currently live in a neighborhood that has one white guy, me. I was never racist (having been born in Hawaii I've been the only white kid) but I went to a church that was mostly all white, lived in a neighborhood that was mostly all white, and all my friends were white, not by choice really, but circumstance. What you don't know, you don't know, the way around this is to force yourself to expose yourself to other cultures, peoples, groups, ways of thinking, etc.
I had gay sex a few times. Yeah, this was a big step, but I highly recommend it for breaking down the barrier built up by bigots and indoctrination. I have some very close gay friends nowadays, so I can go to a gay club and feel totally comfortable. I'm in a monogamous straight relationship (with a jealous latina) so it's not like I"m out being a player or anything, but I can hug and be affectionate with my gay friends and not feel the slightest weirdness about it.
Anyway, as I said, I"m not giving advice, merely giving some ancedotes about ways I helped myself overcome old programming and misunderstandings about life and reality.
Oh, if you hit the SHIFT key and RETURN, you'll avoid giant walls of text which are hard to read. Good luck!
A healthy self requires a healthy mind and a healthy body.
So if you try to achieve both you should feel better. At least as far as circumstances allow it.
That is truly horrifying…and so deeply unfair to you.
It may not help but reading testimony of believers in other religions, and how these provide them with comfort, may be useful. If you ever you start thinking the emotional comfort validates your particular religion, getting in contact with how this phenomenon applies to other religions may serve as a reminder.
As for your difficulty with queer and people of color, I suggest books, movies and the like. These days there is a readily available, vast body of queer culture that you can access. There is bound to be something that really resonates with you.
I am binge watching all of these videos. These videos comfort me. I find the abrahamic religions exhausting & insane. Thank you Brother for making these videos, they are basically therapy.
So glad to help, my man!
This reminds me of when I finally told my dad (fundamentalist Christian) that I no longer believed in God. He asked how I no longer felt gods presence in my life. I told him people of various faiths and beliefs believe they have a relationship with their god. They believe their god is active in their life like he does. I asked him how he knows his feelings are real and he said he just does. To which I said that's the same excuse someone from another faith would give. He said they're wrong and I said how does he know that? Any reason he could give to justify his belief or criticize another, they could also do to him.
The problem is all gods can't exist and do what believers claim. However, they can all not exist. There can't be multiple creator gods, multiple hells, etc, it's not logical. Some believers have to be mistaken or are lying.
Nailed it. Its insane that others cant see that when presented with it
In order for the God of Christianity to be real, logical contradictions must be possible, so if you believe in Christianity, what justification to you have to say that mutually contradictory religions can't be true at the same time?
You already believe in a self-contradictory being, so why couldn't there simultaneously be only one God and also thousands of Gods? 😉
Gods are cool... Thor, Zeus, Odin@@chameleonx9253
You do realize that polytheism is still an option here, right? Polythiests don't deny the existence of other gods.
@@TheMilitantMazdakite that depends on the gods. Gods/religions that have a hell/heaven can't all exist because you can only go to one of those hells/heavens. Gods/religions that claim to have created our existence cannot all exist either, etc. Using logic, we can easily pick apart the vast majority of polytheism.
This is genius. You are a breath of fresh air. I used to think recovery from addictions were the most severe on the planet, now I realize it’s the recovery from false religious inaccurate ineffective dogma.
Thank you so very much!
What i hate is when people give god credit for the hellish things I’ve gotten through! I’m like “no I did that! It’s my own strength that has gotten me through the hard times! That type of stuff really gets to me
this is what i feel like when girls say that we're matching star signs
I had a client years ago that was telling me that her young daughter asked why she couldn’t see god. Her response was, “Well, he’s kinda like Santa. He’s there but you can’t see him.” She didn’t even hear what she had just said.
Right?! Myth is gonna myth
Morgan Freeman narration: “But in fact, the client did not realize how accurate her analogy was.”
"...and when you're a few years older you're gonna realise he's not real." (The quiet part).
@@NA-vz9ko Why?
Yeah, but at least "Santa" shows up from late November through "Christ-Mass."
Thanks for another thoughtful video. I too have have become comfortable in saying, “I don’t know,” instead of saying, “Only god knows.” I enjoy learning about a wide variety of topics and it constantly amazes me how much scientific knowledge expands every year. A couple of years ago I suffered from a detached retina. I was blind in one eye but in a couple of days I could see everything again thanks to a extremely knowledgeable doctor. Instead of praying to be healed I relied on the most up-to-date surgery procedure. Science came through for me again.
Love that. Thanks for sharing!
Good point with respect to 'i don't know' vs 'only god knows' especially since the bible shows that, time after time, god does stuff where he purportedly knows it won't work but does it anyway like flooding the earth, letting a snake into the garden of eden, having 'chosen people' and so on.
To whom is the credit for hearing and sight? The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the LORD hath made even both of them (Proverbs 20:12).
@@smpittsburgh264 Evolution describes and completely accounts for an entirely naturalistic origin for hearing and sight.
You're welcome.
@@PhrontDoor Living creatures need all of their systems (be they circulatory, skeletal, digestive, reproductive, muscular, nervous, etc.) in place and functioning in order to survive and reproduce. This eliminates the so-called 'trial and error' of macro evolution. We see all creatures reproduce after their own kind, just like God said in the beginning when he created them (see Genesis 1:21, 24).
One thing that got me out of faith healing was learning about cold readings from the magician James Randi.
It led to a particularly poignant moment I had while attending a healing service, the healer called and pointed to the crowd for generalized ailments, but ignored an amputee in the front row.
yup! that crap is beyond obvious, especially when you get out of the cult. Its so sad and predatory.
Have you read Randi's book, "Flim Flam"?
Yeah, so weird how the almighty creator of the universe can only manage to cure diseases we already know can get better on their own, and at a rate essentially indistinguishable from random chance...
Pinecreek once gave a hypothetical about the story of a man who can fly unaided, a story that was only documented 30 years later and not necessarily by any eyewitnesses of the event. This was done as an analogy to the Resurrection story.
I remember one response to it that was vehement in objecting that it was analogous and insisting that Jesus did resurrect that wasn't just a story and finally ending off with "no one believes that a man can fly like that anyway".
Yeah.
oh wow, what a great comparison.
The _"flying man"_ thought experiment. Christians have interesting reactions when they participate.
Before I heard of Pine Creek, in late Spring of 2001, I acknowledged to myself that I couldn't prove anything about what I believed was real. I couldn't prove that the Holy Spirit, or Hell, or Heaven, or anything about my religion was real. The next most logical question to myself of course was _"why do I believe it?"_ That's when my faith fell apart.
Brandon, you are absolutely extraordinary! As an atheist myself, I love watching your most engaging, truthful, common-sense approached videos. It's like a breath of fresh air! I can see you as a guest on "The Atheist Experience" and "The Line!" Bravo to you!!!
Very kind, my friend. Thank you for that. And yes i think i’ll be on the line this month yet!
Really, Brandon? I'll definitely be watching for you on "The Line"! Maybe Matt Dillahunty will be the host!
@glennjoselane1690 thats the plan. We are going to do a wednesday hang up session together.
@@MindShift-Brandon Oh wow, that's so exciting! I'll be looking out for that one! Gonna make sure I'm subscribed now so I don't miss that!
9:30 - This REALLY hit home for me. While there was no one thing that caused my deconversion, in retrospect, dark matter and non-stamp collectors videos, while they may not be why I stopped believing, both played a MASSIVE roll in getting me to be open to questioning my beliefs. Through humor they got me to drop my guard, and through good analogy, they created that small voice in the back of my head that kept saying "you know... they are making a good point here...". They didn't break the armor my parents had built up in me against questioning the validity of christianity, but they created some of the first cracks in that armor that more indepth bible study videos were able to widen.
In this regard I think both kinds of content are really important. I'm so appreciative for MindShift's content, but I likely wouldn't be here if not for the more humor focused that went a long way in convincing me to be open to the possibility some of the things I'd spent my whole life not questioning were actually worth questioning.
Man you described that perfect. That is exactly the role they played for me too. Thank you!
Non-Stamp Collector was THE reason I started studying the Bible and started questioning its content. The first video I watched got me thinking "this can't be true", then I went and checked and saw that it was indeed in this book that we were taught was THE word of God, turns out most of it was just Jewish propaganda.
“We just don’t see the bunny in your hand, that you are claiming is the worlds greatest magic trick.” That is an incredible line, Brandon. Exceptionally well written and I applaud everything you’re doing and I appreciate you. Thank you for injecting more reason into this seemingly very unreasonable world. Take care my friend.
Hey thank you so much for such an encouraging comment!
Straightforward, intuitive, what more could you ask for?
thank you much!
Brandon talks so much sense and it's just SO refreshing to see a creator like this. No smoke and mirrors (haha given today's topic) just plain talking, never shying away from realities or trying to obfiscate, always seeking to find answers, no tricks. The world really needs more of this!
Insanely kind. Thank you!
@@MindShift-Brandon Thank you for all you do, you really get me thinking and you bring back old questions to mind that I used to ask and had forgotten about, like the difference between magic and miracles!
@@MindShift-Brandon Your videos are definitely going to be helpful for me to share with people who are open to questioning their faith. I'll be sharing them any opportunity I get! As I mentioned, some of them are right at the top of my long playlist of debunking pseudoscience, cults and indoctrination. This one is currently right at the top on purpose - number 1 as you can see! th-cam.com/play/PLAQWFaR-JJrPYK4XLrTDScxpIIvcIuqb8.html&si=SjwIydc7eN9fdtF8
Thanks! So you want to get kicked to the wood shed. Go for it. Here is enough for a 2x4.
Ha! Love this so much. Thanks for the very kind generosity!
Thanks!
Hey thanks so much for the support!
@@MindShift-Brandon No problem. Have fun in NYC. Sorry that $2 won't even get you a coffee there 🙁
@sbnwnc lol! Ill buy the box of nails for my shed studio with it!
Reading the first 5 books of the OT contributed greatly to my deconstruction and deconversion. Not just because of the violence (Num 31:17 really set me off because I worked with sexual abuse victims) but because of the ritual sacrifice laws. Especially in Leviticus. I couldn't get passed the the fact that it was all just blood magic. Complete with weird (and creepy) procedures, rules on how to do what to achieve what goal and so on. Just like the black magic and witchcraft we preached against.
I asked my pastor about it and his response was in line of: "You can fully understand Levite law and the purpose of the OT. It takes guidance to understand it's full context and purpose".
it is basically a blood cult.
Yeah, so weird how the parts of the Bible they like are obvious and clear to a plain reading, but whenever you point out a verse that is problematic, all of a sudden you need to study the context and history and mythology in order to understand it.
Something you mentioned that I like is that it is really is that simple. I was “raised catholic” but have basically always been an atheist; I thought it was all very silly from a super young age. But with that background, and more broadly the religious background that America has today, it almost feels like we’re the ones who have to jump through hoops to rationalize our position, when in reality it’s as simple as not believing something. Something Sam Harris said once, along the lines of “atheism shouldn’t even be a category/word. We don’t wake up every day and say ‘I’m not an astrologer’,” has stuck with me too. I truly do hope more people start to view the world through 21st century eyes and see the absurdity of their beliefs. Mainly because in the US, those beliefs very much affect everyone’s lives through policy.
Man I only recently found your channel, but I feel you legitimately have the logic, delivery and presentation to be a powerhouse channel in the community. Keep it up brotha! Hail atheisimo
So very kind. Thank you very much, man! Yes that Harris quote is so great. He was one of the too two for me during my deconversion. Again, really appreciate your encouragement
“You just want to sin”
If I just wanted to sin, I’d be a Christian and pray for forgiveness; you know, like every Christian does.
edit: just got to 15:50. Wasn’t ready for Marcion to make an appearance
Exactly! And ha. And yes, not that any of it is true, but if it were, Marcion had it right lol
Yet these same people are doing things behind closed doors themselves
They commit the worst sin of them all, judgement.... They judge us as if they speak for god and can do so... When their cult book SPECIFICALLY says not to..... They go directly against the word of god on a daily basis..... And its bullshit
"Aaron threw his staff down... and it turned into a snake." - believe it!!
"Muhammad put his hand in the vessel and water started gushing out between his fingers." - no, no, not that one...
exactly my point! thank you.
My favorite part of that example is that the priests of the Pharaoh responded by performing _the same magic trick..._ but they WEREN'T followers of the same God.
Of course, the usual answer I get from people is the same one portrayed in The Prince of Egypt movie: that they were charlatans doing magician tricks, while Aaron was doing actual magic... excuse me, _miracles._ But then I have to point out that if that were the case, then the Bible probably would have explicitly said that they performed _trickery_ to imitate the miracle.
@@leyrua Yes, in those conversations, they often tell me about Elijah calling down the fire of the Lord against the prophets of Baal. I tell them it was lighter fluid, not water, which filled the four jars. They don't like that. They don't like it even more when I tell them I'll follow them into church if they can repeat the trick in front of me. Then I end with, "O ye of little faith..."
I discovered @MindShiftSkeptic today. My personal story with faith, religion, beliefs and moral has been a sort of up-down never ending spiral to me. Tragically, my mental health has been compromised due to the permanent struggle between the forces of rationalism and logic, on one side, and faith and irrationalism, on the other; all of which ended causing me great suffering and pain.
Thanks Brandon for speaking clear and loud about these topics, and for helping me clearing my mind!
No, faith is not irrational, that is not what faith is.
I remember one of my early disappointments with God. I was about 10 years old, and our family went to a nice mainstream Presbyterian Church. The sanctuary had a high vaulted ceiling. I noticed one Sunday...these glowing lights dancing around the ceiling, slowing fading away. The next Sunday I saw them again! They were beautiful! "I'm I the only one who can see them?" , I thought, "Are these Angels?" Maybe God has given me a special vision allowing only me to see these Angels! Surely! Why else would no one else be in awe? One Sunday, I finally worked up the courage to tell my Mother of this gift. My mother looked up, then quieting whispered, "Those are the reflections of the collection plates" I must have sunk down into the pew...I was so disappointed! I had not noticed they only appeared at that time of the service! My "Angels" dancing on the ceiling were the shinny silver collection plates reflecting the overhead lighting.
Love that this channel is popping off, Brandon! Congrats -- I hope you only continue to grow!
Sean! whats up man. Hope you are doign well, thanks for the kindness!
Good decision to react positively to atheist videos once in awhile. Hope that it becomes a trend
Oh thanks. I guess i hadn’t really thought of it that way. Still kinda turned out the same ha
Totally enjoying the Magic story and the story with the invisible car. I also have a car analogy that I use whenever I discuss faith.
My car analogy goes like this:
Imagine if your car worked about as well as prayer.
Sometimes it would start many times it won't.
And in the Times when it won't start imagine if you said oh the car will start in its own good time.
Or imagine if you said to your wife, the car will start one day because there is a plan for the car to start one day.
Just have faith that the car will start one day.
Honestly our world is designed for dependability.
If our car or anything in our lives like a light switch worked as well as prayer did we would throw it away and get a new one. And that goes for everything we own. Because this world we have created science and science is based on dependability and repeatability.
Exactly! At least we can enjoy our lives!
I think this might be my favorite video of yours yet! You hit on so many points that I love to talk about with believers. Some fantastic work being done here!
I love using the analogy of a magician when talking to believers, though my angle is more to point out that "god did it" is not an explanation of how something is done. I too use the rabbit out of a hat trick and explain that if I ask an audience member what happened, they will say "the magician pulled a rabbit out of a hat" but we know behind the scenes this isn't actually what happened. It doesn't explain what the magician actually did, it only explains what the process looks like from the audience point of view. A good way to summarize it is to ask the person something like "based on the information you recieved by watching the magician, could you replicate his trick?" the obvious answer being "no". Watching the magician pull the rabbit out of the hat doesn't tell you in any way how the rabbit was actually made to appear to come out of a hat.
I was so happy when you brought up thermodynamics too! I don't personally hve to deal with talking about that one often, but good lord do I see it misunderstood on such a massive scale from apologists. Sometimes I honestly wonder if they are ignoring what it actually means on purpose, or if they are just lazy and never took the time to verify what it actually is.
And the source of divine message! I can't tell you how many times I have tried to explain this one to people, but its one of my favorite topics. In fact I'm working on a short visual novel game to demonstrate exactly this point, just a simple story where you make 3 choices and you are being spoken to by either an angel or a demon disguised as an angel, but you don't know which it is. But back to the main point about this, its such a great conversation piece but I don't encounter many people that have thought very hard about it. So many times when I start off by asking something like "how do you know if you're talking to an angel or a demon in disguise?" they respond with something like "oh its easy, if it leads to something good then its obviously an angel!". I then try to explain that all a demon would have to do then is lead to one good thing, then they could lead you to other worse things. The best con would be to make you think they are an angel. Most of the time this goes over their head.
(Its also a great time to introduce the scripture from Paul that commands believers to test every spirit. So much for never testing god!)
Wow. What a comment. Thank you so much for all this and that game sounds awesome!
@MindShiftSkeptic glad you liked it! And would love to share the game with you, as soon as I can find the time to finish it 😆
Ex-Christians talking candidly about their experience with christianity have helped me reexamine my religious beliefs ( Islam) and eventually letting go of it all together. Thank you so much.
My pleasure!
Wow, that opening clip is pretty brilliant. The only thing I could add would be, "My friend's friend saw it last year, you gotta believe me!"
Ha. For sure!
Congrats on 10K subscribers!! Here's a shed contribution. Would love to see you on other shows!
So very kind!! Thanks for this. I am getting ever closer to starting the project. Really appreciate your support. Also i am announcing on Tuesdays video 3 other shows ill be over the next month. Ill tell you now the first one is this Wednesday on the hang up with matt d
@@MindShift-Brandon Fantastic! I'll be watching 🙂
@@MindShift-Brandon Watched you on "The Line," and you were great! Congrats on your fabulous live call-in debut and hitting 15K subscribers. Hope to see you on more shows soon.
The paucity of comments from apologists is revealing; you really nailed it with this one.
Appreciate that!
Shed Studio! Let's goooooooo!
I sure hope!
I'm already impressed with how much you film ...
Thank you much! Youll forgive me then if i ever miss a comment, ha. Its getting more and more which is great but i still want to focus on popping out good content. Appreciate you being here
@MindShiftSkeptic do the best you can and don't worry about the comments. There are always critics who can't be satisfied. Your content is absolutely top quality and I appreciate it!
Agnostic here. It is my hope that our existence in the next realm transcends time. Indeed, when one factors time as we understand it into any existence, things go south. Especially when infinities are counted.
Keep up the good work. You have a unique and the original way of explaining things.
Thanks, will do! Really appreciate your kind support here.
Comedy has been a huge influence on my deconversion. George Carlin, Mark Normand, Dave Allen, etc. Even Hitchens' mockery on religion makes a lot more sense.
For sure!
As a research scientist, I live in the world of I don't know and am very comfortable there.
I live in the perfect irrelevance of my life to the universe!
You are on a whole different level. The best of the best!!!!
Thanks so much, Paul!
8.8K? Man, your subscription numbers are really accelerating. I'm fully expecting 10K + by next week.
The heaven video really popped off! We are getting there. Thanks for being part of it
Refreshing. A voice of reason. [with proof of tangible logic]
Thank you much!
Brandon, you blow me away with your insight, and your ability to communicate it.
Thank you for doing this show…all your shows 🫶🏻
Thanks, Bella. Very kind!
I really appreciate the way you nail everything. Watching this reminds me of Never Land and the Lost Boys sitting around a table eating imaginary food.
Ha yes! And thanks so much
This is one of my favorite topics to go to when discussing or debating religion. How obviously unconvinced by the existence of magic we are yet accept magic only when it applies to your religion.
Well said!
Golden! 🌟
That comedian was hilarious! 😂
I like Mark a lot
Magic and Miracles are NOT the same. One has an event that is virtually impossible to explain, a charismatic man in a costume, a long build-up with music and a pre-amble to set the mood. It leaves one surprised, speechless and happy. The other is Magic.
And yet there is zero demonstrable evidence of miracles. And any in the Bible are pretty magical…..
Leaving Christianity is what sets you in a great mood, being away from all of that make believe lies.
Noice
Ha! Well done!
Another great video (I feel like I keep saying that), but I did feel a little triggered when you said, “Every head bowed and eyes closed.” I automatically had “Just as I Am” cued up and ready to go in my brain 😂 Glad to hear that you’re getting away for awhile and wish you safe travels!
Ha. I triggered myself with that one. Its insane whats still deep down in the psyche. Thanks so much!
I am so happy there is someone out there who thinks like me! I feel like I am the only one with my rational thoughts, surrounded by a sea of believers. So glad I stumbled upon your channel. It is very refreshing!
Glad to hear it. Thanks for being here!
I believe that our ancestors even at their most primal set of mind knew that there were forces we simply failed to understand. There were also individuals that were more than willing to capitalize on the more gullible and easily fooled. Mostly, not often but mostly, for self gain.
The beginning segment was hilarious!
lol nice mark normand clip. I photographed him a few years ago when I was doing a series on comedians in nyc
I truly like your work, Brandon, for two simply reasons : a) you've been there in the messy lies, you've come out and now talk genuinely from your own experiences; b) you call it what it is, (a bunch of b.s.) without being condescendent...
Oh man, thanks so much! That is so encouraging to hear
I wish that you or someone like you would explore the phenomena of universal world-wide religion, not just your critique of Christianity, but the fact that all human cultures, without exception (as far as I know), have a metaphysical belief system in place, where divine forces create everything, sustain everything, require worship and ceremony to stay in harmony with them, etc. And, it seems that this aspect of human culture is very ancient, as various cave paintings featuring humans with animal heads attest to. Christianity is only 2,000 years old, whereas these cave paintings go back 10,000 years. And Christianity began in the eastern Mediterranean, whereas other forms of religious belief and practice are found all over the world, from Maya culture's Chac, to India's Brahma. How do we account for this as a common, universal human attribute?
Oh man, Brandon, this is so flipping good!
Thank you, this again, is exactly how it is.
You couldn’t have done more, you genuinely sought, believed, given time and effort to make the Bible true, to find out it WASN’T and it NEVER made sense even when you wanted it!
Excellent job ❤❤❤
Always the best comments from you. Thanks so much!
Your channel is amazing. Your communication is top notch.
Thats so very kind. Thank you!
Talking about the supernatural, I'm remembering Emerson Greens interview with Dale Allison's "encountering mistery", it really instilled a sense in me that the world is much weirder that we imagine, which makes me open to the posibility of the supernatural to be honest.
i agree the world/universe is an insane mystery and ever more mind boggling, but like my examples in this video, its no reason to jump to things we cannot prove just to fill gaps in my opinion. I am open to the supernatural in general, but no actual reason to believe in it yet.
It's nearly a truism, that the more you learn in almost any field, the more mysteries are discovered. Some of which being mindboggling and counter intuitive. Our perceptions of the world are narrow. So it doesn't surprise me too much, that when we depart from the familiar things we normally see and think about, we can be surprised and discomfited.
I don't hold a position that the supernatural doesn't, or can't exist. However, I'd like to see a definition of supernatural, that doesn't amount to "something we don't currently understand".
The very existence of science is the response to learning about the many things we don't understand. If we were in the situation where all mysteries were solved, unlikely as that sounds, the process of science would become pointless.
Since it is exceedingly hard, if not impossible, to demonstrate something that we don't understand, it's very questionable to knowingly assert the existence of the supernatural.
It doesn't help the case, that every time something claimed to be supernatural can be tested, that test doesn't show anything demonstrably supernatural.
Our speaking of the supernatural, may be more a factor of the way we look for patterns and understanding, sometimes finding what looks a bit like patterns, when they may not exist.
Trying to make sense of the unknown is eminently human. As is thinking that we know more than we actually do about it.
Great video! I think this is my favorite one yet. I laughed out loud at the Mark Normand bit. Some of your points resonate with a book I've been reading, "How Minds Change," by David McRaney. So much of religion and our belief systems trace back to our social nature and how reluctant we are to risk the acceptance of the group(s) we are in by challenging what is accepted. I highly recommend that book as an additional resource for understanding metacognition. Also, it has a great call out to street epistemology and Anthony Magnabosco as one of the mind changing methods that he explores.
Getting that book asap! Thanks so much for the kind words and the rec
I’m definitely going to binge watch I’m sure
Just became a patron 💪 I wanted to contribute to the shed fund
Thank you so much for that! Ha. Shed fund. Love that. Cant wait for it. Thanks again. Means a lot
Thank you for the video! It was wonderful as usual
Thanks for all your lovely and thoughtful comments!
@@MindShift-Brandon Always! If you haven’t listened to Kristie Burke, I definitely recommend her. She’s fairly new to doing deconstructing videos, and she does shows where of course she breaks down Bible verses, mostly biblical stories, she just gives good breakdowns of biblical stories, with a wonderful sense of humor that helps a lot! Viced Rhino did a reaction video, to a reaction video to one of her videos lol he was very impressed! Just some food for thought
Excellent! You covered a topic we were straying into on one of your last video's comment threads. Keep on dragging these things out into the sunlight so we can see them, bro!
Thank you, sir! Will do
New subscriber here, I am so glad I found this channel. Keep up the good work of being rational, logical and also courteous at the same time. Thank you.
Thank you so much for this!
Brilliant
Thanks!
Mark Normand is amazing great opening.
We are all miracle workers here in Canada, every winter we walk on water, but just remember... black ice matters!🤕
Thanks for introducing me to Mark Normand! I'm going to look into his work.
Most of it is pretty darn good
Bro!! Another classic truth teaching. Exposing and explaining the religion poop show. I can't wait to watch your TH-cam channel. You freaking rock 👍🏼😁
You’re too kind my friend. Thanks so much for all your support!
The Wizard of Oz...
The wizard is scaring Dorothy and her friends. The booming voice, the explosions and fire , its quite a spectacle!!!
Then Toto pulls back the curtains and the magic is gone.
This is how I feel as an atheist, ive seen the man behind the curtain and the trickery of religion has no power over me anymore
Great comparison!
Religion is not trickery, you cretin.
16:54 "'There's just too many things Brandon that have happened in my life. I just know. I know that God exists.'
And then you make the leap that it's the God that was in the culture that was popular at the time of your existence that your parents told you about, with some exceptions of conversion, obviously. How convenient.
And of course, hey, wake up, that's how the Hindus feel. That's how the Muslims feel. That's how the ancient Greeks felt. That's how the ancient Egyptians felt. That's how the Canaanites felt.
Everyone is playing with the same deck of cards: a human consciousness and set of mental psychology that is vast."
Your explanation of 1st time experiences leading to religious beliefs are brilliant
Great video
Thank you!
Again wow just wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Enjoyed the video, the intro clip was spot on. Btw if I understood correctly you are spending time in the outdoors-I am envious, currently dealing with a hiking injury, can’t wait to get back out once I’m healed (without resorting to ‘magic’ ;) ). Enjoy!
ha! wish you well soon. Yes i'll be up in the Uintas very soon. Cant wait.
Another great video and real life logic Brandon. 🔥
Thank you kindly!
I feel fortunate that where I live, there's no risk of being openly disbelieving. I paused with some random guys I happened to be with, looked over at an old church, which was now a club called, Church, and merrily giggled over "I'm going to Church". But then, religion holds relatively little sway here anymore
My Guy. Make this channel a podcast.
Planning to soon actually. Thank you
I have no problem with, I Don't Know.
I also love when I'm proven wrong. It means I've removed another fallacy or incorrect way of doing or thinking something! Humans hate to admit when they're wrong because of their ego. Once you get rid of your ego there's more room to grow and learn.
Awesome video. You have a great way of breaking these things down and being relatable. One humble point of advice.... be careful saying there is no evidence. Even weak evidence is labeled as such. There is no compelling or empirical evidence of xyz might be more accurate and leave you less open to countering once you get larger.
Thank you much and love that feedback!
I like using the term 'incontrovertible' over "empirical" since it allows for less wiggle room.
One of the early magic tricks was when Moses was trying to prove God to Pharaoh; God told Moses to throw down his staff, which immediately turned into a snake. And when Moses picked it up by its tail, it turned into his staff again. Pharaoh's magicians did the same thing with a staff. So much for that being a "miracle."
Watching Nonstampcollector's bible quiz show in 2010 gave me the courage to discuss my atheism openly. It's the first atheist video I shared. It may have been the first one I watched. Before that, all I had was a meme of the Epicurus quote.
oh man, i remember that video so well. hit me like a ton of bricks!
According to Occam’s razor, “magic” is a more likely explanation for any unknown than “God magic.”
19:18 the piano cords gave me PTSD...
Trying to walk on water exception: when you're a kid and want to see if you can run fast enough! 👏👏👏😂
Ah yes indeed! 🤣🤣
Ha, i think we have all been there!
very appropriate intro, parsing of the subject and further analysis with juicy example ;-)
Thank you kindly!
Great video Brandon! Very few are willing to admit the similarities between faith in god and faith in magic. Thanks for doing this.
Thanks man!
There's this part in the movie Contact when scientist Jodie Foster says she needs proof in order to believe in god, and priest Matthew McHonehay (I have no idea how to spell his name) replies, "Your father loved you?" Jodie goes, "Yes, of course." Matthew finally says, "prove it." like it's some gotcha moment. I wanted to kick my TV screen in because those two things are so not comparable. Plus, Jodie does have proof her father loved her! Because he literally said he loved her,! AAAAAAHHHHHHH
Yes what a very dumb excuse for god
I would be curious to understand the difference between magic and miracles anyway. Just like a consistent definition for what a soul even is has eluded me so far.
Great video!
Thanks so much!
"You just gotta believe there is candy in the back of my truck", is what it all sums up to. Nah, I knew better at 6 not to trust that shit and I'm not gonna start just because of a threat.
Ha! This shoulda been my analogy
I walked on water as well! Ok it was really cold, but the bible doesn't give much detail either.
Lol!
Yesss non stamp collector's channel is so underrated. Still my favourite atheist content creator and i really wish he was still making videos. 😢
You and me both!
Gonally some time to go through your episod3s from before my subscription to th Ftis channel! Enjoy your trip! I've got faith that they are just good as this one ;-)
thank you, thats very kind. Hope you enjoy!
To me, it’s more mind boggling that an invisible man in the sky has always been there.
As a side note, we are only considered living because of the definition of living organism, but in actuality we are simply a chain/bundle of mechanical events, which has been grouped and defined as living. Living isn't more or different than non-living, just complex.