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Atheist Debates - Can God Communicate Clearly?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 14 ส.ค. 2024
- If god can communicate clearly with the authors of holy texts in the past, why doesn't he do that today...why not communicate clearly with each of us?
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Imagine if I wrote a car's owner's manual or safety procedures for a nuclear reactor using parables, metaphors, and allegories. Most people would rightly point out this is both stupid and incredibly irresponsible. But when people's deities do the same in their various holy books, they strangely see no issues.
imo using parables isn't the issue. Metaphor and story telling can be a great way of conveying a message. Imo it's the contradicting messages and (sometimes) downright obsolete and barbaric version of those messages/morality in the ancient religious texts.
Not even an accurate analogy, unless someone else wrote the manual on your behalf, supposedly. Because apparently a god never wrote anything down themselves. So, anything a god said or did, is always going to be according to someone else, a fallible human being. Gods are literally characters in a narrative, and they are found nowhere outside the narrative. Whats funny to me is that god can supposedly communicate to individuals in order to give them inspiration and revelation, but cannot communicate to more than one at a time. It’s also funny that god can manipulate and interact with some matter, like weather, football games, people undergoing surgery, but he can’t pick up a pen and write something down himself? Where did god learn how to speak human languages? Isn’t that alone sort of weird? Languages, mind you, that developed in a specific time, and specific place in history. Languages with words that contain consonants, which require a tongue to pronounce! Now what would a god need with a tongue? Those are for eating… eating comes with a metabolism and a stomach. Would god have those too? What the hell would a god eat? It just goes on and on without explanation.
I am not really concerned about what any particular person BELIEVES. You may believe that there is an old man with a white beard perched in the clouds, that the Ultimate Reality is a young blackish-blue Indian guy, that the universe is eternal, that Mother Mary was a certifiable virgin, or that gross physical matter is the foundation of existence.
The ONLY thing that really matters is your meta-ethics, not your meta-physics.
Do you consider any form of non-monarchical government (such as democracy or socialism) to be beneficial?
Do you unnecessarily destroy the lives of poor, innocent animals and gorge on their bloody carcasses?
Do you believe homosexuality and transvestism are moral?
Do you consider feminist ideology to be righteous?
If so, then you are objectively immoral, and your so-called "enlightened/awakened" state is immaterial, since it does not benefit society in any way.
@@Bronco541
Parables and metaphores are a great way to hide contradictions. Just add in something like 'if you disagree, you just don't get it', 'you're bad person', or even 'god acts in mysterious ways'. In the end they won't even bat an eye when they are called sheep in their holy book. Then again, perhaps, that _is_ the case, even though there is no shephard.
@@ReverendDr.Thomas What a load of horseshit. There's nothing "objective" in the immorality you're describing. It's just some ass lint that got stuck in your head.
An omnipotent god could explain electric lights to a first-century Palestinian shepherd. An omnipotent god could provide each person on Earth with an indestructible and unalterable copy of his holy book, in that person's own language, And such a god could teach the illiterate to read so they could read his book.
The pyramids contain original writings. You wouldn't even have to be omnipotent or omniscient. Moses should already have known how to preserve the revealed laws of God. The Bible is just a post hoc rationalization for the existing beliefs.
An omnipotent god could just make everyone believe and be perfect.
@@JackgarPrime There is no difference between an omnipotent being's will and reality. Anyone claiming God is unhappy with the state of the world is wrong.
@@goldenalt3166 Which then just brings us back to the Problem of Evil, because there's so much suffering in the world that this proposed omnipotent being is fine with.
@@JackgarPrime That would be a problem except that the apologetics problem renders it an unnecessary assumption.
Everything God wills us to know is already known. Apologists therfore cannot speak for God but only as themselves.
In god's defense, it's really, really difficult to communicate clearly over several millennia when you're imaginary.
God is is omnipotent, so he can communicate even when he doesn't exist.
@@RafalLabuda777 🤣
@@RafalLabuda777It is even greater for a being that can do that without existing.
@@RafalLabuda777 Hhuuuh
Well my imaginary friend always knows how I'm feeling and what I'm thinking. That's omnipotence and omniscience isn't it? 😂
I like it. Until god hands us a universal understanding that is clear to all, honest god beliefs would have to be individually based & remain undefined to be honest people.
This was my last prayer when I became an atheist. I left the door open for this thing to make clear it's existence. Still waiting.
@@josephbelisle5792 I do not believe any actually exist. I leave it open because I don’t know everything & often test different ideas & old ideas to make sure I am not missing anything. I have never felt more honest about the god idea since. I have no reason to believe in one, nothing points only to gods existing.
If God could communicate this message, not only would there not be denominations.. but WHY WOULD WE NEED A PRIEST OR PASTOR??
*update.. I made this comment at 11:00 & Matt literally says all this at 11:30
I feel sheepish 🐑
Religion is and always has been about social and political control. From the first shaman who bamboozled an ignorant hunter-gatherer into providing food in exchange for having his dreams interpreted to Billy Graham telling Americans that Ronald Reagan was God's preferred candidate.
Anyone who claims to speak for god can never be trusted.
@@pRODIGAL_sKEPTIC
It's all good.👍 It's a good point and some people don't watch all the way and they may see this point here instead of in the video. 💁♂️
Why would we need a life, if God communicated in a direct way, everybody would become obedient Zombies.
It would destroy humanity, because everyone knowing that there was a heaven would be so paranoid about the possibility of eternal hell and become dysfunctional.
@@SaintKimbo
I'm not sure I understand your point.
If for one God did communicate perfectly, there wouldn't be chaos over heaven and hell as the communication would contain clear, unambiguous instructions and it would be perfectly understood therefore. Otherwise the premise 'God communicated perfectly" would be false and he did not communicate perfectly but infact failed to do so.
Most everyone would understand and follow through in this hypothetical assuming the message was indeed perfect and in this case only people designed with pathologies towards Lying or being contradictory would ever reject or argue against because they wouldn't have the free choice to do otherwise.
In the real word no communication et all has happened and all people have to guess off of is badly written fanfiction. 🤷♂️
It looks like Matt is morphing into the great Daniel Dennett with that epic beard 👍🏻👍🏻
I was about to comment that its ironic he's morphing into the stereotypical image of god. XD
some time ago someone said James Randi ....
The older Charles Darwin, for my money.
@@fartingduck5316 I miss James.
New job! Santa.
Matt, I say this with the utmost respect for both of you, I was not wearing my glasses and I clicked this thinking it was a video about James Randi.
😂😂😂
Legend has it that matt grew a beard by waiting for evidence of god.
😂
😂
And a damned fine beard it is.
It should be a lot longer than it is
Thor revealed himself to me pretty thoroughly last week, went on for about 2 hours and i got soaked.
You're lucky, he on and on at me for nearly four hours and I both drowned and was struck by lightening. What's the worse bummer is that it turns out that Buddism is true and I've come back as a spider, albeit one that can write.
I live a few kilometers away from Thor.
He is on his Chariot, which is pulled by his Goats Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr.
He is also beating up some Jötnar (Jætter/Giants).
Don't believe me?
Look up: THOR’S BATTLE WITH THE GIANTS in Odense. (Odins Vi).
???
@@Huevo_Refutador_De_ateozOMG love at first sight
@@gabrielwilson8932 los ateoz no existen Ñ
God is infinite in the past and in the future but decided to communicate to his creation at a time when almost nobody could write or read using a language that needs interpretation and different translations, but he's perfect.
And to top it off only a select few of their creations in a very specific part of the massive universe that they created and in a very specific region on one small rock. Yup sounds reliable!
Thanks, Matt that was very clear and concise. Appreciate all you do.
My grandpa's and my name is Robert! We've had colds and have lived in cold places! Incredible!
So, uh, do I get a cut?
Looking really good Matt!
These need to be longer.
No, they need to be as long as they need to be. This point was made.
@@vermidian_ I'm saying that I personally want to be longer.
@@while_coyote I want more. :)
@@while_coyote did you check his older videos? He has a plump catalog. Some videos are decently long.
@@pansepot1490 I've already watched those too.
No. God has never communicated. Because..... ;)
Thankyou Matt! 👍💙💙💙🥰✌
My subconscious is telling me to not listen to theists as they will make me act and speak like a fool.
But how will ever be able to bless a potato?
No sir that’s how we identify and avoid them …that’s why freedom of speech is wonderful….the idiots identify themselves!
Yes, God can communicate clearly. In fact, he was very clear with me. Just yesterday told me you need extra mayo on that sandwich And throw a couple more tomatoes on there. It was as clear as if my wife was speaking to me in the same room.
This is why I follow Kahless the Unforgettable. I want to go to Stovokor and not end up in Gre'thor.
Thanks Matt, your videos are extremely helpful and informative. 👍
"Can God communicate clearly?. Sure doesn't seem so". Perfectly sums it up.
@@MilitantAntiAtheism None?
God's word: "The fool says in his heart, there's no god"
Also god's word: "We (the believers) are made fools for Christ"
Matt ironically channeling James Randi
Seriously, if a book is interpreted in hundreds of ways, then the author has done a very sloppy job.
I'd say author did a wonderful job, if their goal was to confuse readers, so they need to attend their weekly, paid for lessons about the correct interpretation. It's a very clever marketing scheme.
You presume that the author was trying to be clear and accurate....
Or he was just writing bad middle eastern poetry
A great video.
It still blows my mind that Matt actually was once a theist.
I'd love to see Matt and Dave Letterman in conversation. Matt would get all hard-nosed with sound logic and superb delivery, while Dave would say "phenomenally well-structured discourse ... I mean, but it's nuts, just nuts."
And I mean this in the good sense, I really do.
Great video.
I love 🔺theist debates 🗿
There is a reason "perfect communication" is not argued for by theologians as one of the divine attributes.
yet they ignore the argument from evil?
I use Nikes logo for my business and all hell breaks loose...but the "one true god" has thousands of imposters and does nothing!
It's impossible for God to take any legal action for copyright infringement, there's no lawyers in heaven.
I enjoyed just seeing you in a casual discussion on The Kentucky Atheist!
All religions have rules and advice that are specific enough for people to believe but vague enough for people to not be able to question speciifics.
Sweet more Matt content.
I agree with Matt 100%.
Most Christians already accept that God doesn't communicate clearly (and tend to accept that he can), and there are various apologetics that try to make excuses for why he doesn't (none of which really hold up under any amount of scrutiny).
That's what apologetics are mostly about: trying to explain how actually God being all-loving, all-powerful and all-knowing makes sense, even though every sign points to such a being not existing, and those traits not being consistent with big parts of Christian theology.
This video could probably have benefited from addressing some of excuses people come up with to explain this away.
Why would the Apologists excuses for the communication shortcomings be of any use?
You either disbelieve or you don't, why the need for extra affirmation of your disbelief?
Got doubts?
@@SaintKimbo Lol, you're funny.
So I'm pointing out how people trying to rationalise away apparent contradictions in their beliefs.
Are you saying that literally the only reason you can conceive of for why someone would do that is to satisfy a "need for extra affirmation" for their own rejection of that set of beliefs?
Come on now, you don't actually think that's the only reason. I'm sure you can come up with a few more, using the brain you presumably think God gave you. If you do come up with more, the question would be why you chose to go with one of the least generous reasons.
Strawmanning people's motives doesn't achieve much more than "scoring some points" for your side and letting you rest easy knowing that you're "right". People certainly aren't going to change their mind if your argument consists of asserting that they have motives that just aren't factually there.
@@blueredingreen
You've got it all wrong.
I am an Organic Atheist, I've never been to a Church service and was brought up in a religious free family environment.
Religion is totally, and instinctively, irrational to me.
You suggest adding more info, Apologist excuses, why are so many Atheists constantly in need of this type of affirmation?
The reason I stated my bio, is that I am thinking that maybe people who were previously Christians and became Atheists are struggling to let go of the residual religious belief, or something, which is something that is foreign to me.
I have been watching Matt, on and off, for over a decade, and now after not watching for 5 or so years, it's still the same old thing, most of the comments boil down to reaffirmations, as if people can't quite 'let go'.
It's baffling to me.
@@SaintKimbo I asked you whether you could think of even one single other possible reason why people would talk about a thing that most of the population believes (in some form), and which influences who people vote for and which laws they support, and which has a direct impact on many lives. Can you conceive of any reason whatsoever, other than personal affirmation?
Rather than answer that question, you just completely ignored it and doubled down on the reason you already gave...
I suspect you already know about other reasons. It's really not that hard to figure out.
If you want to make a case for one reason above every other reason, that's a distinct discussion, but at the moment you've already presupposed your one reason to be true, without bothering to provide any sort of justification for why that is.
Are you going to answer the question, and explain why your reason is more reasonable than every other reason, or are you going to keep trying to worm your way out of responding to what I said?
@@blueredingreen
Well, I guess there maybe other reasons.
People might think they are part of some sort of crusade to convert Believers, or something like that.
Maybe people are reaching out to people that are looking for support when they are confused, or having doubts, about their religious beliefs.
But, having read the comments over the years, I'm pretty confident that most are just looking for affirmation or are just fascinated by the subject and want to add their 2 cents.
I once knew a guy who published a book that God Himself had dictated to him, and then God Himself helped him edit it as well. (As a special public service I will not provide any more details.)
Ever walk into a Bible bookstore? There are thousands upon thousands of explanations of the Bible. At the top are the so-called systematic theologies, which are essentially the Bible re-written in the author’s own words. What you have to ask yourself is, why can’t God write a book that people can understand?
Why do God’s own words spoken for the very purpose of explaining himself to people need to be explained by… people? The whole purpose of the so-called word-of-God was for God to explain himself to us common humans. But thousands of books written by humans have been proffered to explain what the Infinite Being apparently cannot explain on his own.
Exactly.
The existence of apologetics as a field is evidence against an omniscient God who wants to communicate with us.
If an omniscient God wants to communicate something, it would be done.
There would be ZERO room for interpretation.
Their message would be communicated perfectly.
And yet, here we are.
I so wish I could hear you have this sort of conversation with callers... instead of always getting pissed off like an angry drunk, dropping f-bombs everywhere and hanging up in an emotional rage quit. I miss the old Matt from AXP.
Same Matt... but move along
Grate vid. Mostly commenting for the algorithm
I hope you make it to DragonCon this year.
been a while since ive been here
I like the new beard youre rockin
After just retiring from running a technical publications group for an aerospace company, I can say that even degreed engineers have difficulty with communication.
The Catholic church stopped Latin-only services as recently as the 1970s...
Clarity has never been a priority for church leaders
Epic beard!🧔
Oh shit... the next messiah will be an AI. And it will talk clearly, having absorbed all the worlds' religions' writings. And it will spout evil bullshit. And some will fall for it.
Oh crap. I hadn't thought about this. 🫣
Clear or not people will read into it what they want to .
The Netflix series Kubra is similar to this. The AI is more subtle and pretends to be the voice of Allah giving instructions to a new 'prophet'.
If "he" could....we'd all be believers! Thanks for all you fo Matt
Matt Dillahunty is slowly turning into James Randi. When's the magic show Matt?
If he could, you and me, Matt wouldn't be atheists.
These were unknown people and the details were extremely specific. I even had my own experience with a medium that I know. My brother had died the week prior she was telling me things that he wanted me to know. I tested her. I asked her what color my grandmother’s car was. It was a running joke in my family. She hesitated for a moment, and the. Told me the actual color which is not a common color at all. I was quite impressed.
I mean, if God is maintaining the Bible through divine inspiration, then he absolutely *could* have instructed early followers to give rules that accounted for things they wouldn’t have understood. He could have just said, “look, this passage is for future generations. It’s vitally important that you preserve it as I present it to you. I know you don’t understand it: that’s okay. Just copy it and carry it forward.”
That is exactly what is said in Daniel. Daniel did not understand the meaning of what God showed him because the prophecies were/are for the end time, not Daniels time.
A theist could just say "God knows what mistakes in interpretations his followers will have, that's part of his plan."
There is a lady that can tell you that your dead pet is trying to talk to you. Lots of people believe her too. Why? Because people want to hear from their dead pet.
I've never understood, even as a Christian, why it was, seemingly, easier and clearer to understand God's intentions and direction in the OT and, as a "new creation in Christ with a personal relationship with Jesus, God in the flesh" and a NT Christian, why it wasn't clear at all. Always dangling that carrot of "knowing God".
This was phenomenal, Matt.
What do you make of this: an elderly woman I know well who is absolutely honest and does not make up tales told me this:
Her sister in a nursing home died the day before. She had been crippled with arthritis for 4-5 years, needed assistance to get in and out of her wheelchair and on and off toilet, into bed, etc.
One night She awoke to find her room flooded with light and a man who was the source of that light said to her, "Get up and walk!"
She got out of her bed, no pain, and for the next 3 months before her last two days in a coma and then she died, she required no assistance, was pain-free, walked, and enjoyed being arthritis and free.
Did she hear ftom God?
If God did that, he's a prick! It's a bit like that poisonous mushroom where you get seriously ill and suffer, then, just before you die, you start to feel better. What sort of evil bastard would make you suffer, heal you slightly, then kill you off anyway?
That "God" necessarily would be willing to communicate with us: that would not necessarily be my expectation. Especially if it were evil.
I was raised Catholic and one of my early problems with religion was why would an entity powerful enough to create the universe have so much difficulty making his wishes known resulting is thousands of incompatible belief systems, the faithful of each feeling they had latched onto truth and everyone else got it wrong.?
Keep in mind god is able to create humans anyway he wanted being an omnipotent being so why didn't he?
Giving off big "Amazing Randi" vibes here
God is such a great communicator that the whole world is split into various religions, factions, subgroups. Moreover, these religious groups have different interpretations of the doctrine, which causes these group to fight among each other and in various cases serious violence. Religious books are written in such a way that everyone interprets it their own way, which is a horrible way to approach the law. Imagine if laws were vague and open to interpretation, society would collapse, that's why legal language must be very precise.
As opposed to what? God never intended humans to be obedient Zombies.
@@SaintKimbo How do you know what God intended? Do you speak to him? You seem to know alot about supernatural being, where did you get this information about it's wants, will and properties? Moreover, if he did exist, Where is the evidence that's what he intended, better yet what is the evidence for his existence in the first place?
i read a lot of novels and i especially like the litRPG genre where there is a system that give people a status page and the ability to level up, receive rewards and such. Often with blue panel popping in the air with information that we can read no matter our ability to read or language.
Why can't God do something like this?
If he wants us to improve and there is a big reward like heaven, why can't he establish a system that would help us understand when we do something wrong and when we do something right? Why can't he uses an interface between him and each of us? Or more accurately why would that interface need to be humans, priests and popes, rather than a communication tool to directly and clearly communicate with us.
Don't tell me that God wouldn't use panels to communicate, what are the ten commandments?
The question is rather, if he can do the ten commandment method to communicate, why can't he do this in an even better way?
That's the funny thing with those monotheism. They define their god as all powerful and capable of magic that ignore the laws of physic then entirely fail to look into the 'what is my god not doing that he could and would be smarter to do than what we know him to do?' and only focus on making sense of the scarce few things their god is known to them to be doing. Believer sometimes answer this by saying we can't understand god, he is on a completely different level of intelligence and information gathering than us. But the question is not 'Am i smarter than god?' but 'Why is god using flawed methods when even us, who are not so smart, can imagine better methods?'
"God is talking to your heart" they say instead of saying "God is talking to our hearts because he has yet to realize that talking to our ears would work better."
This is where faith-based beliefs are showing their inadequacy as a method to establish truth. Faith is to take something for granted then try to make sense of it with the experience we have of the reality we live in.
A belief based on a willingness to understand reality properly do not have a convenient shortcut like faith. Instead if we want to properly understand reality we need to hone that understanding painstakingly without regard if we like the leading conclusion or not. And, with knowledge being flawed to begin with since it is always grounded on arbitrary beliefs, we can never stop inquiring and questioning, we can never be 100% sure.
Faith is a tool to stop ourselves from the need and duty to keep inquiring. It's a tool to justify to start our thinking with the premise that God exists, period. And armed with that faith, it becomes the burden of the unfaithful to justify why they are not listening when God talk to them. Even if the existence of the god in question as not been established properly and that god fails to communicate flawlessly or simply communicate in a way that everyone could acknowledge at once.
Sure we could still imagine that this communication tool, with blue panels and quests and levels, is in fact an advanced alien civilization messing with us, their joke on a crazy scale without achieving anything worth the effort... But as long as god can make the hypothesis of his existence the leading hypothesis by far that would be way better than having faith-based believers tell that their god speak to our hearts or through an unreliable book.
Is it really worthwhile being in the spotlight for such a brief period just to end up in hell forever? Pray for this man.
Yes, pray for me. Beg your imaginary friend to finally show up and prove he exists... so his followers can stop threatening me with he'll because of their ignorance and fear
@@SansDeity Your fiery response kind of gives away the game, doesn't it? If someone told you Santa wasn't delivering presents because you've been naughty, you wouldn't bat an eyelid because, well, everyone knows Santa's a tall tale. But the fact that the mere mention of hell gets you all fired up suggests there's a tiny corner of your mind playing devil's advocate, so to speak. After all, if it's all just fairy tales, why get hot under the collar? Maybe deep down, you're keeping the fire extinguisher handy, just in case. 😉
People who don't believe in Hell don't fear Hell, genius.
@@labamba3011 If you are certain of your religious beliefs, why are you on this channel posting a provocative comment? Perhaps it is YOU who has doubts, doubts about your god and hell. After all, why care what atheists think if you truly believe they'll get what's coming to them in the end?
Maybe, deep down, you know that what Matt says is based on logic and reason, and that your own beliefs are based on non-evidentiary claims.
Language is any form is flawed, subjective and limited. The claim that a god communicates this way shows how human made these claims are and how flawed it is.
Applying logic to omni attributes is like applying water to particle board. It all falls apart🤷🏻
Everything wrong with Abrahamic religions is encapsulated in Genesis 17, and provides the strongest indication of why there is enmity between them to this day.
The other day I said to my husband, who is still a fundamentalist Christian, that all 3 religions, Judaism, Christianity and the Muslims all serve the God of Abraham, which in effect mean a Christian and a Muslim serve the same God. He was very pissed off about that statement, not happy at all. And he obviously disagree 100% with such a statement, and see it as pure blasphemy.
God is Life and Life is communicating with the living, not the dead.
Wow, Matt deffo looks better with the beard...
God does communicate with all of us. Many of you choose to ignore Him.
Romans 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him : for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
1 Corinthians 13:10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
If he communicates with you, asking him what you should have said in order to not look ridiculous.
Thomas Payne said it best: human language is not a reliable way of communicating God's word (paraphrased)
That seems like a failure of the god, not humanity.
Life is not as serious am adventure as we are often led to believe. It certainly isn't the real thing because the rules under which we live here are completely akin to the kind of rules you would have in a game. Essentially, the rules in any game that is invented by us consist of a series of things you can and can't do. Some of these are enforced by nature, others (like morality and ethics), we have devised ourselves. We have this notion that being fair is important. Being good is preferred. Being kind is nice. Cruelty and dishonesty are frowned upon by the majority. However, there are aspects of life that we do not like. We hate disease for example. Generally speaking, we don't like pain. We don't like people taking advantage of or stealing from us. We fear natural disasters, we are petrified of floods, earthquakes, volcanoes, tornados and serious accidents. And we live in hope that these things don't happen to us.
So, if it's a game, then everything is explained. There is no problem with suffering, there is no point being angry with God for allowing evil etc. Why? The only possible explanation is that we entered this global casino, where your only currency is time, having fully accepted the consequences be they good, average or bad. Some people say we come here to learn things. Again, total nonsense. We don't play games to "learn" things. We play them to have fun and maybe even win, whatever that entails. There may even be a prize or a reward for playing, depending on how you do perhaps.
The bottom line is that if you consider this life as nothing more than a cosmic game, everything is explained and nobody has to worry about injustice, unfairness and any suffering. It's all part of the game which will definitely end at some point after which we go back to doing whatever we were doing before.
In my opinion, it doesn't matter if he can. It matters if he does. And from what I've seen, if God is real, he doesn't.
In my Dungeons and Dragons world, the creator conveyed their message in a divine language that conveys pure, inviolable intent in every word. All sentient creatures are born with a perfect recollection of his message; and even disabilities, drugs and brain injuries cannot distort the message.
You cannot lie in the divine language. You can't mislead, or misinterpret, or mistranslate. If the creator wanted people to know about electricity or astronomy, you would understand the intent of that part of the message, even before you understood the science ("wash your hands" comes before you understand germ theory). You would know without doubt when you've understood the science well enough for the message. It's a simple rule that transcends all problems.
I'm just a human. I can come up with a better idea than god supposedly did. This means god is either not real, not what they are described to be, or not deserving of the title "god"
It's just so much easier to just believe. I guess I'm a Catholic (not necessarily Roman) simpleton.
If you don't care if your beliefs are true, that may seem easier.
I do care, but I can't know. And just so you know, I am very well educated (graduate degrees in physics and) mathematics) and have a moderately hig IQ (145).
I love these monologues. I could listen to Matt all day. I equally love a great Sam Harris monologue.
No religion can tolerate direct communication from god, because that would obviously result in the one true religion being revealed, which would mean a loss of money, power and authority to every religion on earth except for one. It would also require all those other religions to admit they got it all wrong and convert to the one true religion. The purpose of religion is to maintain power and authority through fear. No religion will easily give such things up. Most likely they'd choose to go to war with god instead, saying, "If you're the one true god, then I'd rather die and go to Hell!" So, god's silence is necessary to maintain power and authority.
I realized in dating that if I am the only one trying to communicate and make an effort, the other person isn't interested and the relationship is failing. Not sure how anyone can have a meaningful relationship whith a god who can't demonstrate their existence, let alone communicate their intentions.
I am heavy into some fandoms and you often find people who really love their favorite characters…but are obviously aware these are fictional creations.
What we see with believers and god is a bit alike, minus the awareness.
That's why it's mostly masochist who date God
It always turns out that gods are on the same intellectual level as those who worship them.
Matt's rockin the James Randi look. RIP
Can god communicate clearly. No god, so NO.
He can be clear, yes. Everything He means in one word. XD Yes, He can speak to you Himself. I do not think He will avoid that with you, but I cannot say what He is thinking absolutely. No one is worthy of God because everything comes from Him. He has decided to open Himself up through reading and study, just as He decided to make pursuance of prayer something as well. You are absolutely right. You don't really need anything but God Himself, however, they are not useless, as it has been given to men to exist in certain capacities. Yes, God can take the place of all things, but He didn't make it all just to replace it with Himself. And yes, there are going to be flaws, bad people, confusion and destruction, and it doesn't seem perfect or logical or fun, but, if God was interested in those things absolutely, would He not have made it a different way? Why not make humans self replicating? It would get rid of a lot of the current problems in replacing ourselves. Basically, though there's a million why's, it all comes down to His own will; whatever He desires gets its day in the sun. Everything exists for Him. Aspects and features and positions and powers are all there because He has created them and made them matter. Pastors were meant to preach, and they will be judged and receive just recompense for how they handled their office.
How did you manage to say so much without saying anything. Impressive, really.
Well if there was an all powerful god couldn't he fix the bible before it went to print so there were no errors, then make us remember that's how it's always been
I'm a scientist. If I became aware of someone incorrectly referencing my publications in their own research, I would correct that person so that the misunderstanding doesn't spread. If the misunderstanding was due to unclear wording or other similar issues on my part, then I would apologize for my poor writing after correcting the misunderstanding. I am a flawed mortal but can still do this. What about a perfect being?
Also notice how in scientific writing, you don't really see metaphors/parables/etc., and sentences are constructed very carefully, with tons of care going into choosing what terms to use. New terms have to be defined. Figures have to be properly labeled. This is because if you confuse the reviewers, your paper isn't getting through.
I mean, if god is all powerful, then teaching prehistoric people about interstellar travel shouldn't have been any harder than, you know, creating all of existence. It's not like we're born with millennia of knowledge, we just have access to more information. Whether it's directly experiencing stuff, or learning about it through indirect means
Free will.
Why would a God give his creations a technical leg up if he wants them to follow their own path and develop on their own?
@@SaintKimbo Then don't use explicitly misleading information with the express purpose of preventing people from understanding, as he states.
This is not a history teacher telling you to dig deeper. This is a history teacher telling you Myths, then turning around to a smaller group of students "here's what actually happened, it will be on the test"
The "free will" argument goes right out of the window unless you think that explaining things tk his disciples somehow violates the free will. I. Am sorry that you feel that having a teacher that actually educates you infringed on your free will.
@@SaintKimboThere is no free will. Any argument with free will as a premise is unsound.
@@Leith_Crowther
Only according to Atheists who worship at the temple of Determinism.
@@Fernando-ek8jp
You're not thinking this through, humanity would self destruct if there was absolute certainty that there WAS a God.
'Free will' is probably not the right term but it's TH-cam comments,......
The easiest resolutions to this would be to drop omnipotence or omnibenevolence.
Not omnipotent: God can communicate clearly, but not all the time. Maybe it tires him out.
Not omnibenevolent: God can communicate clearly and consistently but isn't invested in making sure everyone knows what he has to say.
I expect a common Christian objection would be "this is somehow the best way for God to do things." Considering salvation is almost definitively the highest good for humans under Christianity's Heaven/Hell system, not taking actions that would result in more salvations should be wildly inconsistent with omnibenevolence, and clear + consistent revelations should result in more (and more peaceful) salvations than what we've had.
Forms of "but God wants us to experience X" should be subject to the previous paragraph's logic because salvation of more people should always outweigh giving Christians a certain experience in life in terms of benevolence.
And finally, the idea that clear and consistent communication by God would undermine free will is ridiculous. It undermines the concept of accepting on faith, but the choice on whether to accept God's offer or follow him, etc., can still be made in either direction even with God directly communicating. Unless you mean the unambiguous and confirmed threat of hell undermines free will through coercion, in which case it should also be true in our reality that the threat of hell undermines free will anyway, making no substantial difference.
Anyway, I do think arguments about God's lack of communication are great evidence against God's existence. Also sorry, I'm not familiar with Islam and can't meaningfully comment on its stances.
No
If he can't talk directly, then let him tweet/X us at least.
To be fair, it was discovered in 2004 that there were actually 20 commandments. There were 10 more written on the back. Moses didn’t notice. Don’t blame God for that.
Source: Weekly World News
If there is a god, it doesn't matter which religion you belong to.
Obviously.
It's disturbing to me that Dillahunty looks increasingly like a Jewish Father Christmas.
Matt, are you still working on your book?
Why are there so many people in this world who have not wondered and asked all these questions that you have asked? It boggles the mind!
They probably have as we all do and got slapped down as kids and it's easier to just go along with the charade.
Matt, now you freaked me out! I have an uncle named Robert, (Bob) and he told me how to avoid getting colds! Oh thee exaulted Prophet!!! Letteth me kneel before thou, and sucketh upon thee!!!😅🤪🤣
You had to go wear a matching shirt with your beard. … I can’t even be mad about it. It works. 😇
thank you
God totally sucks at communication. He's never spoken to me. He's never telephoned me. He's never sent me a letter. He's never asked to "friend me" on facebook. Haven't found his email address anywhere. If God chooses to ignore me, then I'll ignore him.
To ask the question is to answer it. Its clear its NOT clear.
Imagine as a kid telling your father to make everything make sense to you?
Dad “ Clean up your room!”
Son “Why? Why is it necessary? I like it. Explain to me in detail why I should clean my room! If you don’t, I have to question whether you exist.
Because if you’re my dad you have to answer all my little questions. That’s my rule.”
That’s what you guys sound like.
God told Abraham “Pack up everything and head out. I’ll tell you where I want you to go later!”
Abraham did it.
Was God not a good communicator?
By this we know that God doesn’t “explain” everything.
Atheist should stop trying to bend/fold God into their limited comprehension.
And admit that it’s not that God doesn’t make sense, it’s that it doesn’t matter if He does or not.
Atheist don’t like God.
Real or not.
The more real the more you hate Him.
The atheist is like the baby that was nurtured and cared for, then grows up in an environment that was provided for him.
Then says “I don’t need you! I’m my own man.I created me.
(I’m my own God)”
Ungrateful. A little arrogant. Definitely wrong about the facts. Rebellious.
Hating God but using all the stuff he created.
Daily!
Every time they inhale.
Imagine pretending your dad asked you to clean up your room... when no one has ever met or seen your dad.
Matt isn’t convinced God exists. Yet he is convinced his boyfriend is straight. Romans 1:18-22
We get it, you hate trans people.
How Christ-like of you 🤣
You opened up the bible to that particular page and verse because God is sending you a clear message Matt! Repent before it's too late. 😅
I would suggest. Short answer - No. Long answer No, because there's never been any compelling evidence a god even exists. Nuff said.
Especially when all I heard when I was dealing with religion, was that God wanted a relationship with me. And if this god really truly cared and loved me, wanted a relationship? Then that's not at all a problem for a god with the power this deity supposedly has. And when theist tell me that I wasn't a real Christian, that I truly didn't open my heart, to let christ or God lead me to the right choices. It really is a slap to my face, and makes me extremely angry. Because I spent hours and hours on my knees, begging, pleading, wanting some kind of relief from the stress and anxiety that me and my family were dealing with. If this deity was real and this is how this devine creator of everything chooses to do things? Then this deity can go f*** itself. That would be no better than a person treating their partner in love and life the same way. Now imagine if your loved ones said they loved and cared about you, said they wanted a relationship and wanted it to be with all your heart. And then when you beg and plead, wanting to know why they can't show their face? Why they can't speak clearly to you? And why would they leave you to fend off the stress and anxiety of this life? A life that they're supposed to be here, to help you whenever you needed it. I mean I see all these tik tok videos of people rapping about what Jesus did for them, and someone on a screen below them, nodding up and down like "Yeah, yeah! Jesus did that? Jesus man! Jesus." And I'm like wtf, really?!?! Or like these ball players when they give glory to God or Jesus. I love sports, and I love that these players have these talents to play or do the things they can do. And when they thank this imaginary baller in the sky, it really tells me that college was a waste of time in case they get injured. Unless management, or coaching is what they do after sports life. It's just arrogance imo. Thank the people who pushed you, or thank the people who made sports popular, that made someone want to be a great ball player. People give their deity credit when it's not deserved, and they cannot see why that is messed up. And the biggest slap in the face? Having to read a book that was written and changed over and over the past 2000 yrs, and having to find out "What does it mean?!" Instead of this deity simply speaking to us. It's ridiculous, and it's insane imo. But at least they haven't ended the earth yet with Armageddon.....Yet!
Well put . And those who question are made to feel guilty or are accused of being arrogant . It’s all so much nonsense .
I appreciate the way you describe your experience with "god." Because I've been through a lot of the same things with trying to know "god." Thanks
@@jameschapman6559 I literally balled my eyes out whenever I'd be in a position that wasn't entirely a fault of mine, praying for hours on end. I've got 3 kids that I haven't seen in over 7 years. When their mother left with em, and left me in an endless loop of money being taken from me at every turn, money for stuff that I should have never been paying. I'm not going to go into details because it's entirely too long, and it's extremely emotional for me. I try and pay my support when I'm able. I'm 45, been injured, and having a rough time trying to get some kind of help. But our leaders that are voted in, can't seem to get their act together, and do something that is so obvious, but with the wealthy putting money in their pockets, the poor will continue to struggle. I love my kids, I did everything I could do to help them, to spend time with em, and everyone that knows me, and been around me long enough, understood that I did. During the first few months after she left, I was so destroyed emotionally, mentally, and physically. I took another chance on this deity. My family kept telling me "Just give your heart to God, let him take control." And I'm like - "Ok, I've done this before and it didn't happen for me. But I will again." I've literally been saved at least 5 times. Spent 6 months in a rehabilitation clinic, that is a 12 step program. And those are spiritual, higher power based. I went to church and was saved twice simply to get as much as I could. When I was 12 - 13 yrs old, I had already had in my mind that there was something that just wasn't right about all of it. Nothing made sense to me. Now why would a loving god let a kid, at an age that is at the most vital point in learning, understanding, and comprehension, why let a child stray away from this deity's love? Because I didn't let the fear of a god, the fear of a hell sink in. Plus I seen and read about way too much bad stuff happening to innocent people, and so called miracles being pointed out, that there was a good and pretty straight forward reason why the "miracle" happened. Instead of a baby living through a tornado being the reason for the miracle. What about the school on the other side of town that was destroyed, killing nearly all the kids inside. A miracle to me in that situation, would be NO ONE dies! Everyone lived, with no scratches, no deep cuts, no bleeding, no bruises, NOTHING was wrong with em. That's a miracle! How about every kid in all the hospitals around the world with cancer, gets up, walks out cancer free! Not because you think this deity helped you raise money to get the child the service they needed. That's because there were people that want to help. They think it's a god that is making them give money, but it's just what human beings do. They help one another because that's how human beings have evolved. Its what human beings do to help our species to continue. Now humans have this idea that the poor, the sick, or people with a bit darker skin than most, are not worthy of life, not worthy of the American dream. And they're almost 90% bible driven, or some kind of religious driven. I'm sorry such a long reply, and I hope it helps you a bit more. And I'm not for taking the right to believe in whatever religion people want to believe in. I want it away from policy decisions that affect the rights of every human being. I'm not a homosexual, nor am I bisexual, nor am I transgender, nor am I black, or brown. I'm from a 45 yr old white dude from bible belt, USA, raised in a religious family, been around more churches in my life than houses I've worked in. And I've worked in ALOT! And I understand why people have issues with everyone but who they are. I've lost alot of friends and family because they know I don't believe a god exists. That is the biggest problem for me about being religious. How are you going to shun someone because they don't believe? Your own book tells you how to live, and what Jesus was said to have said to his people was that you love the poor, the weak, etc. Once you get past the fear of death and the fear of God and Hell, and if you have ANY understanding about the scientific method, critical thinking, and not being affraid to question and learn about everything around you. If you have some of that? It will help you understand alot more. That's one reason I think we need to stop people from teaching their kids religion from the time they're 2 and 3 years old, pushing them through religious schools, and never allowing them to see and hear how reality really is, and all they've been taught is that God is real, Jesus is the way, Atheist are evil no matter what the world shows you, people are deceived if they're not Christian or whatever. When that's all you know, and your family is let's say political also? Now we have religious, science denying idiots making laws and deciding how to treat people in this country. That's why we have to continue to push the scientific method and critical thinking. We have to!