I often hear Christians say that the Bible brings them "comfort". Ummm...are they reading the same Bible that I am? Murder, Rape, Slavery, Wars killing thousands, including infants. One atrocity after another is "comforting" if it's done to glorify God? I read the entire Bible to become Bible literate. The more I read, the more appalled I became.
Never felt any comfort, only fear, low worth…..I became a christian in my livingroom by myself. I am a very sceptical person, i ask the big questions, i dont believe everything i hear from people, i research i dive in…..( long story short) i was reading the bible by myself. I told god if ure real and this is truth you have to show me truth by yourself, cous i trust no man and i will not go to christians. 2 years of reading the bible day and night, reading hebrew, greek, going deep, i was angry and i started to curse god for all his evil and i said: if this is you im out, i will not follow evil., but now 5 years later here i am, because i stillcarry so much anger , i been looking for truth of my existanse sinse i was 4, i had big questions and most my life has been deep depression because of not knowing, fear of death , suffering, evil, i could not understand.. ! I still feel lost at times, really lost, like i dont belong here! This channel helps me alot, i binge watch every day. Thank you for this channel and what you do❤ this christianity manadged to really fu..k me up in a really short time so i cant emagine How much trauma people must carry ,those who grew up in it ❤
No, Christians actually don't read their bible. Atheist read it more than the average sunday church christian. But what they mean when they say that it brings them comfort. It is also what every other religion brings for people. It is a coping mechanism for things they just cannot conceive. For instance, imagine if your 5 year old kid got cancer > metastasis > dead. People cant deal with that. So they need something fake to lean on.
@@rebeccasmith4182 No, it turned me into someone who has the will to try to understand the author of Mark. There are many things which no scholarship would ever tell me. The blind spots are many. And historians would never venture into decoding the subliminal messages.
Honestly, I would like a series on people who didn't grow up in extremely toxic religious situations. I am a preacher's kid, my dad was a Methodist pastor. He let me trick or treat, watch harry potter, and trust science. Outside of the congregation, I didn't grow up in an extremely repressed environment. However, I still suffered issues with the concept of always living in a glass house, and dealing with a really toxic congregation. Also, dealing with the organization of the methodist church, they inflicted poverty on my family because my dad had Heart issues. (found a whole write-up from back then with them telling my dad he couldn't be a pastor because he "Cared to much for people."
your dad was told by his superiors that he cared too much for people. And he was a pastor. Wow, that literally confirmed my new found belief that religious leaders are really in it for themselves and no one else - not even God (if he exists).
Methodist pastors get rotated every couple of years as a holdover from when all Methodist pastors were itinerant travelers. Of course, a congregation can fire their pastor, too. My wife was raised Methodist, we were married as Methodists, and we raised our daughter in the church. Generally the clergy is more liberal than the congregation. Still, a wonderful bunch of people, but the more seriously I tried to understand the theology the less sense it made to me.
What kind of video are you looking for? I was raised similar to you (trick or treating and the like) just not a pastors kid. I still love the Lord and pretty much haven't walked away from my faith at all. Is your question "does that really happen?"???
I want to see you and Kristi Burke have a conversation. Both of you have both helped me so tremendously through my current deconstruction process.. and I appreciate it so much. I have listened to you guys daily for the last month or two when I have the time. It’s nice to feel unashamed of your intellect..
I love your approach to these topics. I cut my teeth on Hitchens, Dawkins, and Harris. They were great for opening the door for younger me but having a more reasonable and measured response coupled with empathy, compassion and thoughtfulness is much more helpful when discussing these topics. I’m looking forward to your future collaborations and discussions.
A couple of weeks ago, you did a video on challenging us on how to read the bible. I've been working through it, very eye opening, triggering yet insightful...to read what I'm seeing and not what I've been brainwashed to see. The god of the bible is very different from the god of the pulpit. What that reading has led me to, is what you said here.... I handed my life and morality over to someone who took free will just to cause suffering. I'm sure there are other people who are here because there was an underlying sense that there was a disconnect somewhere, and we started searching trying to figure out why isn't this working (for me, bc other ppl seemed to be so happy with it) . I think I wanted the problem to be me. I think it would have been a lot easier. I was in no way prepared for how twisted this really is!!
I think you phrased that well, "The god of the bible is very different from the god of the pulpit". I may use that elsewhere. Blaming yourself for the disconnect is what the guy in the pulpit, the one making money from preaching his version of god, wants you to think. It's not you who is at fault.
I was finally taught biblical exegesis when I was 28 years old. I was cringing at every sermon because pastors often do not give proper context, and my family was certainly abusing the very scriptures they were clinging too. I’m so glad you cover the confusion of Christianity. It helps to make sense of all the things I saw as a child that I could never articulate.
What do we call someone who thinks they should be praised and worshiped? Maniac. What do we call someone who thinks that those who don`t should be tortured? Psycho.
Reading the bible in straight up English Gensis 1:1-6 "Wait.... God didn't make water. It was already there..." Reading the bible in straight up Hebrew Genesis 1:1-6 "Wait, is that Tiamat?!"
It's amazing how much you "get" the fallacy of the Christian mindset. I totally relate to your thoughts. So, many believers cherry pick Scriptures to fit their circumstances. And it's sad. I know my parents will say from time to time how the Lord has answered a prayer or had been with them in a struggle. And these days, I'll be thinking ,"Well, that's fine. But, perhaps there was a rational logical reason why something worked out, like maybe you worked very hard to achieve a successful outcome and God had nothing to do with it. But, God gets all the credit. And , how many times I've thought what if my Christian best friend had recovered from cancer. I'd probably be celebrating, believing steadfast prayer works in all situations. (As Jesus said, Ask anything in my name and it will be done.") I'd have a triumphant testimony to tell on Sunday mornings at church. But, what about the others out there that prayed for a cancer healing and it didn't come? I think that every time I hear some Christian tell a successful story about how their God worked in their life. Going thru deconstruction I'm seeing through the hypocrisy and the shortsighted self-centric ways a Christian responds in life. I took the rose tinted glasses off and am realizing life happens, whether you choose to believe in an unverifiable religion or not.
Thank you dearly. And yes its amazing how close we could have been to being victim of these mindsets ourselves for even longer. Makes me wonder how much is just chance that anyone ever escapes this religion
The amazing thing is, if Christians looked at their Bible thru the same lens as they do the Quaran or Greek mythology they'd come to the same conclusion as we have. I think.
Matt has decades on me in this space lol. When it comes to having the right verse for the right rebuttal, i am sure he has me covered. Overall biblical understanding, i might be able to keep up.
"When our side does evil things, it's because we have a good reason or are somehow serving a higher good that YOU, lowly and unworthy peasant that you are, could never possibly understand. But when the other side does evil things, it's because they're just terrible people through and through, who serve a terrible cause. So why is our evil justifiable and theirs not? Because fuck you, we're just better than you. Give us money."
I barley got into watching 4min35 seconds and I'm in aww. I see this with christian friends on my Facebook all the time and it really bugs me. You nailed it again brother. Can't wait for your next post. Love ya bro keep rocking on 👍🏼😁
Good job putting the Bible and Koran in perspective. So true we read into the Bible what we want to get out of it. We are all inherently self-absorbed so I don’t blame anyone for doing this but, it sure clouds the truth of the character of the Biblical God.
I think all religions are like this because their gods/goddesses don't exist so it's up for grabs on how will they interpret their deities. But what makes Christianity (and Islam and Orthodox Jews) apologetics interesting is that they always want to distance themselves from "pagan religions who twist and reinterpret their beliefs if convenient to their needs" (this is totally true, by the way), but they censor their own history on how they adjusted their own religions several times.
This is almost certainly due in large part to the amount of time and effort the more modern (modern as in starting around a few hundred C.E.) abrahamic religions spent slandering pagan religions and their practitioners. "We are the original direct decedents", "We are the chosen people", "We and only we are the ones who were selected to receive exclusive revelation from the true god"... and so on. Then, when through the quirks of history these groups gained political power, they did what most religions do and try to gain even more power, usually through persecution/demonization of their rivals. So because of their successful propaganda campaigns, "pagan" in modern parlance is often used to convey negative attributes such as "primitive" or "barbaric" or even "silly superstitions". So because of their historic marginalization of pagans, I think apologists are loathe to admit their own religion is associated with paganism.
@@dougt7580 These says they only "slander" back in the days they killed and tortured "pagans!"btw pagan is also some kind of modern slander word. Perhaps we should find another one I heard heathen in English means similar?
@@UsoundsGermanyVery true. Heathen is a word more broadly used to insult anyone who doesn't believe in your god(s) or practice your religion and is therefore evil or immoral. Pagan is usually used more specifically to describe polytheists or people that practice religions more focused on nature worship or practicing magic. But they can be somewhat interchangeable.
@@dougt7580 Thanks, and yep I have read that christians in the nets use these words as slander or the same as "satanic" (which is not true).. and also I remembered some lyric (but blackmetal so not everyones taste I guess) and found this lyric line "“The battle against God and white Christ has begun!” Hvitekrist (or Kvitekrist) is an old Norse name for Jesus Christ, directly translated to “white Christ”. In a time where the colour white was linked to purity, it was meant to separate the christian faith from the supposedly evil teachings of Norse mythology." (from Genius)
Unrelated, but it always feels disingenuous when people ask you to "answer for" evolution, as if not being a Christian or Muslim means you also have all the scientific facts on hand. We don't ask everyone to become mechanical engineers before driving a car, just some high-level applicable knowledge that even teenagers can learn is enough. Same with evolution.
@@MindShift-Brandon I have a question if you don't mind ....what are your thoughts on Deists? I hear a lot of atheists talk about religion ....more specifically Christian religion ...and the Christian Bible, but I see very few talk about God in any other sense .
😅😅😅 I'm brand new to the channel but once again..how this guy and how he tears the bible and some other people apart..the sarcasm makes me laugh 😂☠️ Im not really an atheist but I'm not a Christian..this is a feeling that is gonna take a long time to shake off
One of the things i hate about evangelical Christians, is they will quote one piece of Scripture telling them they are "saved, and they cannot loose their salvation. When i tell them they have to do more than that to be saved, they become quite irritable. When i list all the things they have to do according to Christ to achieve salvation they still refuse to believe it. When i tell them there is no "rapture" they quote a piece of Scripture to support it, but they are misinterpreting what they read. Actually you don't have to read the Bible to be a good Christian. When Christ established his Church in 33 AD, it was another 300 years before the Bible was available. I am not saying all this to boast about what i believe, but to highlight what others believe to become a "good" Christian.
Paul-oh-GEE-uh. He usually says, "Welcome to Paulogia, where a former Christian takes a look at the claims of Christians." It helps if you forget how to say it :D
I got a question. Jesus I'd god right? Which would make him "all knowing." Right? How then dies Jesus not know what date he will return? Brandon, do you have a video addressing this and the common apologetics on this topic?
One of the problems I have with most Christians is that Jesus told them to bring Heaven to Earth through their accents, their words, and their deeds and then people will look at them and see that they are one and the same as Jesus; however that basic concept has taken a fall to control, hate, misogyny, and all kinds of chaotic destruction all done in the name of a loving God😢 I would have to suspend the torturous murder of a man and believe that his death somehow cleared me spiritually; I'm not that kind of fearful person... Religions at its core is about controlling their parishioners and making money while doing it😢
You know, just throwing this out into the universe, we need a channel where all the person does is take "motivational" bible quotes and puts them into their proper context. I do this in my own time and its never really motivational or is directed solely at 1 person orba very specific group
No religion has a follower that can live as their book instructs them to. There are too many morons who ignore 75% of their books.....and pick what suits them.....mostly telling non believers and other religions.....they are wrong
One of the niggling questions that pushed me to deconvert was if God is so great, why does he need us to kiss his ass all the time? There are millions praying or singing to him on Earth at any given moment, nevermind the millions (billions? ) already in Heaven doing it 24/7, but he still wants MORE. That and the problem of evil started to make me think he was a real jerk, to put it mildly. 😅
I think its probably fine that people can take ancient media a give it meaning to their day to day lives, we as humans do that to all kinds of content all the time, even for content that is not meant for us. I personally hung up in the conception of virtue ethics presented in the new testament (like the one inspiring philosophy presented on a video) and I cringe when some christians say the OT and NT have no contradictions in their conception of what "God" is.
I agree. And if we said as much about the bible it would be fine. But we dont. We dont say its manmade ancient literature. This lady really believes it is the inspired word of the creator of the universe.
OK now about your video. I have to give you props for your topics. You are nailing the most irksome things about Christianity time and time again. Here you bring attention to the selfishness of thinking scripture applies 'just so' to their cute little situation, or that god is making sure they find their keys, get to the bus on time, etc. I always marvel at athletes or teams praying before a game, or after a game, thanking god for... what exactly? Favoring them over the other athletes/team? As if god thought: Oh you're so special and I pick YOU, superior one, to glorify myself through. How narcissistic! It is really the ultimate in self-absorption, ego, self-importance, etc. And that is just the tip of the ice berg as you pointed out. People are starving, dying, being sold into slavery and worse ALL OVER THE WORLD but sure, god or that cherry-picked bible verse got you through your math exam.
@@utubepunk Ah! Could be! That makes more sense. Brandon said it like that because they say it like that - that was the joke and "Wooosh!" it went right over my head! (Sorry Brandon).
Ugh, totally guilty of this cherry picking thing, but I think you’re right in the fact that this is how we have been conditioned to interpret and apply God’s word to our everyday life. So bogus! Great presentation once again and I’m so excited for the collaborations!
I, like many Christians, was taught the bible through 'helicopter reading', where you jump into a certain part a book and read a few verses, paragraphs, or maybe even a full chapter, and then stop reading. The bible was the only (mostly) narrative book that I was ever taught to read this way. Every other narrative book was "start at the beginning and read straight through to the end." It wasn't until my mid 20s that I finally sat down to read the whole thing straight through and learned that despite having religion class every day at school for 14 years and attending church at least weekly for nearly 20 years, I had been exposed to MAYBE 10-15% of the bible. And the reasons were obvious: 1. To try to create a coherent narrative out of a giant mess of literature written by different people at different times in different cultures with wildly divergent agendas, values, and messages. 2. To hide a lot of the most objectionable, evil, or problematic portions. 3. To skip over that a lot of the bible that is just completely irrelevant to any modern day reader and completely devoid of purpose or meaning. All this to say I wouldn't even call my bibical "education" at school and church cherrypicking, I would call it wholesale revision.
Did you also lose your faith after you read through the Bible? Some of my old Christian friends asked me why I am no longer a believer. They look genuinely confused when I say a read through the bible.
@@brevethI was on my way out already due to several factors but I still believed in some nominal god concept after reading. I was already a non-practicing catholic at this point (and catholicism doesn't teach biblical literalism, especially when it comes to the OT, or biblical excusivity, so I didn't hold the bible as the end-all, be-all of my religiosity). So before reading the whole thing I still believed in a generalized christian god but afterwards I was probably closer to deisim. It certainly didn't improve my faith, but it was probably another 4 or 5 years before I admitted to myself that I'm not convinced of any of the proposed god(s) models that I was exposed to upto that point in my life.
In my younger days when I was a devout christian, I too was exposed to these distorted ways of presenting what the Bible says, and was accordingly brainwashed. In addition to the three methods of distortion that you enumerate, I will add a fourth one. I only caught on to this recently after listening to Bart Ehrman's comments about reading the four gospels in parallel fashion rather than consecutively. Whenever there is a lesson or sermon about the birth of Jesus, the crucifixion/resurrection, etc., it is based on only ONE of the gospels (any one of them, but only ONE). The result is in my previous life when I was a devout christian I never noticed the major inconsistencies and contradictions between the narratives. I am convinced this is deliberate on the part of the preachers, Sunday school teachers, and the writers of Sunday school lesson books--most of them must recognize the inconsistencies and contradictions and don't want to be put in the position of having to acknowledge and explain them. I am sure this applies to all parts of the Bible in which a given set of events are described in more than one place.
@@18471902Good point. I do however think that a lot of the teachers are themselves ignorant of the problems as many are likely victims of the same selective teaching that they are now perpetuating. But you're absolutely right on selective and perhaps even deliberate deception. If you would have asked me at 18 (after 14 years of catholic school as a very good student that was even considering entering the priesthood) to write down the timeline of Jesus, I would've written something that is not found in any of the 4 canonical gospels and would omit a number of important things or contradict what one or more gospels does actually say.
I like the phrase "helicopter reading." I am going to use it. It sounds a bit like a critique that Bart Ehrman makes - that believers rarely actually read the various books straight through. If they read it at all - that is, if they don't allow the clergy to tell them what it means - they just read little parts and fit those parts into a preconceived interpretation; they get their affirmation and move on.
I’m very pleased to see new atheist channels. And yours is a great one. Well lit, well edited and your voice helps a lot to convey the message. I have always been an atheist and although I studied my whole life on Jesuit school and university, they were never able do indoctrinate me since my father and mother were also atheist. I’m lucky, I guess. And since I studied at a catholic school I developed a fascination with religions. Maybe that’s why I studied to make a career on advertising…
Congratulations on getting to be a part of the Pauloverse! I think getting a Paulogia animated character is the pinnacle achievement of all online skeptics. You sir have made it to the big leagues.
I used to be one of those wishy-washy believers, cherry-picking the nice and good parts of the Quran, the parts about helping the poor, treating one's parents righteously, strengthening familial bonds, caring for the orphans and treating all people equally.. as we are all equal before God ect. I created a fantasy world for myself where Allah is more concerned with good deeds and one's character than anything else, willfully ignoring one verse that goes aganist my perspective in surah 25:23 "And We will proceed to their [ good ] deeds [ of non believers], and We will reduce them to scattered dust. " This injustice ( and mind you Allah so proudly claim to have forbidden himself to commit acts of injustice) was so blatant and so egregious that it couldn't benefit from any re-interpretation. ( Just a small recap: Islam started in Mecca and after thirteen years of Mohammed shitting on Qurayish's beliefs and disrupting the order, they asked him to take his folks and leave Mecca. He moved to Madinah where he was able to rile people up so he started to provoke Qurayish by raiding their trade caravans and terrorising their merchants. It is the catalyst for the battle of Badr. )
Islam, even of Sunny variety, comes in many regional flavors. What I notice now in Bosnia and many other places is that wealthy Saudis are bankrolling wahhabism and many are buying it. You are starting to see burkas in places where such tradition didn't exist before.
“With or without religion, good people can behave well and bad people can do evil; ….” I’ve long noticed that good people pick the good parts out of their religious books while bad people ignore them.
Cherry picking the Bible reminds me of those water filters that take the nastiest water possible the other end puts out pure water. Gotta take into account what you filtered out. Keep rockin Brandon. Awesome channel 👏 👍
This unlocked a memory I forgot was there. I was in a youth group worship 10 years ago, (evangelical nondenominational southern church in the Bible Belt) and we were told to raise our arms the entire service and we were absolutely guilted the 30-45min worship to keep our arms raised all the way and not to relax them. It was so much peer pressure and I remember being in so much pain that I couldn’t even hear the music. Opposite effect I guess
I think the thing nonbelievers especially life long atheists don`t seem to get is Christians who read the bible badly like the Women in the video really aren`t stupid or selfish. Thank you for highlighting this Brandon, yet another great video!
And that's one of the MANY problems with Christianity- it perpetuates cognitive dissonance. It's 100% selfish. Someone saying they have a personal relationship with the god who created the entire universe & sacrificed his son-self to himself so they could be spared & live in eternal paradise while billions are tortured is the height of selfishness.
Oh, she is selfish alright. It’a just that she floats in such privilege- and more widely, hails from a society that has normalized this- that she seems “normal”; which she is, in a sense. But that doesn’t mean she’s not selfish. Hell, she’s an American that chose to invoke God’s protection “when bullets are flying”, that pretty much says it all.
@@NocturnaluxSo praying for protection is selfish? If a modern pagan, which there are many on the rise, were to ask Odin for protection does that make them selfish? Why do you feel that the natural want to keep oneself safe is inherently selfish? That’s like saying I’m selfish for practicing martial arts to defend myself when the time comes. I’m selfish for not giving someone the chance to treat me however they want? It seems that’s what you’re saying. Or is it that they’re not praying for other’s safety in addition to their own? The answer for that is that deities don’t concern themselves with unbelievers. I’m a demonolator and dark sorcerer, why would Lord Stolas concern himself with someone who doesn’t believe in him and thinks he, in addition to the other demons, is “evil incarnate” and only wants me to suffer?
@@adandyguyinspace5783 You missed the point, she is selfish in thinking God is protecting her when so many people do not get this “protection” and it apparently does not bother her. It is typical Christian behavior, too. Your house was spared in a storm that wiped out your neighbor’s? Praises be Jesus!
I thank god for all he does for me instead of helping the billions suffering with real problems. I'm sure it's because I read his book and joined a megachurch with a great softball team.
@@danielt.9101 that's true also it might have been a group of gossiping men there was no Hollywood video games and entertainment back then so people had to entertain themselves with fantasies and stories that literally became their reality Because people were super gullible back then
Thanks for your understanding comments. It was not until I stopped cherry picking verses from the Bible that I realized what type of god I was worshipping. I’m an atheist who’s body will return to the cosmos after my death.
No, after you die, you will not exist. Nothing happens to you after you die, you are just no more. You won't go somewhere or be something else. That's okay because you will not be there to observe it.
I often laugh thinking about the pitcher and the batter praying to their god over the next pitch. Then, after the strike, or the home run, one points up to the sky, prayer answered. Yeah, god's watching the game.
When I was 16, we lived in an isolated Eskimo village. As a family project, my father read the Bible to us verse by verse and gave us his commentary. The one thing I took from this experience is that there are some verses in the Bible that are just not amenable to spin: Balaam's ass, Jephthah's daughter, or Ezekiel's condemnation with similes concerning horses and asses. Just skip quickly through these passages, red faced and with few words.
_50years of church and I had no idea what the bible was about! _ Since the Bible is readily and cheaply available, who's fault was this? You're blaming the Bible or the Church or God for your own faults?
@@craigsmith1443If the Christian god actually existed, I would blame him. If one book is going to be his only evidence to his own existence and it's important to know he exists, he should at least make it more coherent and stand the tests of time.
@@Farmingdaneo _If one book is going to be his only evidence to his own existence and it's important to know he exists, he should at least make it more coherent and stand the tests of time_ Heavens. If you're going to 'blame him,' you might want to be true while doing so: _If one book is going to be his only evidence to his own existence_ It is not. First, the Bible is not 'one book.' It is a library written over about 400 to 500 years by around 40 authors in four of the most enlightened empires the world has ever seen: Judaic, Persian, Ptolemaic, and Roman, and yet which has a single narrative. There are all those who have by its lights learned to listen to and follow God, their lives changing as God's Spirit worked in them. God looks for a relationship (the Trinity is a relationship, and so is what we are called to), and so if you want, if you really want, to 'know' him (you can), then all you have to do is to start praying, reading the Bible, and following it and Him. _he should at least make it more coherent and stand the tests of time_ It's been read for from 2000-3000 years. What other 'test of time' can there be? And it's quite 'coherent.' Why do you think that it is not?
_50years of church and I had no idea what the bible was about!_ That is the fault of neither church nor Bible. You could have known 'what it was about' by merely taking some time and reading it.
Yep, just another story evidencing an evil god. Surely if this christian god was an all loving, moral being, he would be finding a way to get the armies to shake hands and party together!
Honestly, reading random verses from the bible, the quran or other scriptures and asking people to guess where they're from would make for a decent show.
I left the Faith about nine months ago…… I really appreciate how you are respectful to believers. Christians are not idiots,Just need help seeing the truth. You have a atheist pastors heart.😊
I had said I didn't believe in the hateful , vengeful God of the Old Testament but wanted to believe in a loving God of the New Testament . I had been reading the whole Bible , so many parts had disgusted me . Nearly sixty years old , and have questioned so much . My daughter is having a hard time dealing with a mother that raised her to believe , now contradicts what I told her for so many years .
Yahweh is obviously man made. From a Biblical scholar: "So for example, when we read carefully what Yahweh says in the book of Leviticus, namely that the Aaronids (the sons of Aaron only), are high priests contrary to the Levites, that they alone are Yahweh’s mediators and the Levites are reduced to mere ministers of the Aaronids, that only through sacrifice can one atone for sins and not confession as preached by the Levites, or more precisely the Levite’s Yahweh, etc., *it can be no coincidence that in these laws and commandments,* ***which are placed on the mouth of Yahweh,*** *that Yahweh himself is presented advocating and legitimating the very views and beliefs of the specific priestly guild writing the text, and,* ***contrary*** *to the views and beliefs of their rivals, the Levites and the Levite’s Yahweh!* We will examine this more closely when we get to the contradictions in these books. But in short, this was the function of ancient literature, and we are allowing these ancient texts to speak for themselves. *In this particular case, the Levites and Aaronids wrote specific texts that each advocated their religious beliefs, views, and their position as high priests* ***by writing these sentiments directly into the mouth of their god!*** But just studying the Bible alone, scientifically, affords us the occasion *to see that many of these so-called words of Yahweh are* ***actually the very words of the texts’ authors.*** When we see numerous texts employing this ancient literary technique, and moreover, ***presenting Yahweh as the spokesperson for their own views and agenda,*** *and* ***contrary*** *to Yahweh’s other words in other texts written by other authors employing the same technique,* how can one conclude otherwise. In other words, when in the composite text that we now call the Bible we find: Yahweh declaring that only Aaronids can officiate as his priests and Yahweh declaring that all Levites can officiate as high priest; Yahweh declaring that sin is atoned through confession and Yahweh declaring that sin is only expiated through the sacrificial cult, no exceptions; Yahweh declaring that he gave laws and commandments at Sinai and Yahweh declaring that he only gave the Ten Commandments at Sinai; Yahweh commanding to exterminate all the Canaanites without pity and Yahweh declaring to tolerate them and live in their midst; Yahweh declaring that the wilderness generation were disloyal and rebellious and Yahweh declaring that they were a paradigm of loyalty and faith; Yahweh declaring that he may be offered sacrifices at any altar and Yahweh declaring that there is only one altar where sacrifices are to be offered up; Yahweh declaring that the people saw him at Sinai and Yahweh declaring that they only heard his voice; Yahweh declaring that circumcision is an eternal covenant and keeping the land depends on observing this very commandment and Yahweh declaring the Mosaic laws as the covenant and keeping the land is dependent on keeping these laws; Yahweh declaring that he dwells in the midst of the people and Yahweh declaring that he only resides in heaven; Yahweh commanding Passover to be celebrated by all at Jerusalem and Yahweh commanding it to be celebrated at each person’s home; Yahweh commanding that animals for consumption must be ritually sacrificed and Yahweh commanding that they don’t have to be sacrificed ritually, etc. ***one must conclude that Yahweh is being used by these authors, each with their own contrary views and beliefs as a spokesperson for each of these authors’ agendas.*** These are all the personal, and competing, views, theological beliefs, and religious systems of our biblical authors. And this is only the tip of the iceberg." *"Studying the Bible"* - Dr Steven DiMattei *"How do we know that the biblical writers were not writing history?"* - Dr Steven DiMattei *"Contradictions in the Bible | Identified verse by verse and explained using the most up-to-date scholarly information about the Bible, its texts, and the men who wrote them"* -- by Dr. Steven DiMattei
I agree with you, but she actually put those verses in more context than other Christians I have seen. I have seen Christians just look at the verse about God being with Israel when they go to battle, then the Christian goes "See God is with us!" She actually did a better job than those people. Again, I completely agree with you, I just thought this was an important point.
There is no magic in just reading the Bible. Isaac Asimov failed to understand that reading the Bible isn't the potent force that makes a person become an atheist. Reading the Bible doesn't even make a person become a Christian. An unregenerated heart makes a person become an atheist, no matter which God a person denies. Even if the Bible is properly read and understood from a theological viewpoint it means nothing if the reader hasn't genuinely accepted Jesus Christ as their savior. There are a lot of people today who call themselves Christians who haven't genuinely made that choice to accept Jesus and will be rudely surprised after their death. They will be in Hell right along with the atheists.
@@grantrobinson9129 Maybe atheists need to stop implying that Heaven and Hell are not real places, that they are just myths, just imaginary places. Atheists should stop these comparisons for the simple fact that each time atheists invoke such remarks, they are actually reaffirming the truth behind the myth. Here’s why.
Myths are not an end of themselves. They are more than simple lies. In fact, there is a big difference between a myth and a lie. Lies exist for the express purpose of hiding the truth. Myths, on the other hand, are lies or stories that exist to satisfy basic human desires and convey essential truths. However, societal evolution has duped us into believing the word “myth” is the exact equivalent of a lie. Believing that myths are only lies means accepting the first real lie of materialism - that there is no metaphysical order to the universe. The materialists have convinced us that our world exists of nothing but simple matter, nothing but physical facts, divorced and devoid of metaphysical truths. The materialists, the atheists, or whatever they call themselves, have IMPRISONED society with a false myth that the world consists of only three dimensions, five senses, and four walls. The materialists have convinced most of the world that this is true. And they believe it themselves. The four walls of materialism are like the four walls of a PRISON. Materialists don’t want others to see what’s beyond those walls. They don’t want others to discover what exists outside their narrow philosophy - their narrow worldview. Worse than that, they think any attempt to escape from their self-imposed PRISON is an act of stupidity. I mean, would it be an irrational act of stupidity to escape the four walls of materialism? Think for a moment: How can it be irrational for a prisoner to reason other things might exist outside the four walls? The fact that a prisoner can even conceive of things outside the walls suggests things do exist outside the walls. If the four walls are really all there is, how are we able to perceive things existing beyond those walls? This is where myths come in. Myths exist outside the walls. Myths allow us to see beyond the prison and allow others to catch a powerful sight of what exists beyond those walls. But what is this “powerful sight” we are supposed see? Well, myths show us fleeting glimpses of truth. Yes, truth. The truth is this: You are able to believe in the lesser myths because you have accepted the big myth. Once you accept the big myth - the lie about Jesus Christ - that there is no heaven or hell - it’s easy to accept the smaller lies. You carry on with your life believing myths are arbitrary inventions of fiction, as if they were stories pulled out of thin air. Behind every lie there is a singular truth, otherwise there would be nothing to lie about; nothing from which to create a myth. When we look at something traditionally thought to be a myth, such as the real lie that fairies exist, consider the truth behind this mythical creature. Fairies are nothing but a literary distortion, or lie, originating from the fact that angels exist in the Christian Bible. The myth of fairies could never have originated if there wasn’t a singular truth from which to construct the lie about fairies. And then there is the famous myth of Superman who wasn’t necessarily created out of thin air, but perhaps a distortion of the true Jesus Christ. Superman “…Able to leap tall buildings at a single bound! (Jesus ascending) …visitor from another planet (God coming to Earth as the baby Jesus) … with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men (the miracles performed by Jesus) …Superman, who can change the course of mighty rivers (God splitting the Red Sea) …And who, disguised as Clark Kent, mild mannered reporter (God incarnated in the flesh of Jesus Christ) …fights a never-ending battle for truth, justice” (Jesus, battling against evil and sin). Well, you get the picture So, how can I know the story I believe - the Christian story, that there is a Heaven and Hell - is any more real than any other story? Well, what is not understood is that we create things according to the laws in which we are made. We create because we are created. Creativity - imagination - is God’s imagination in us. We create stories because God is the creator of those stories. All of history, everything around us, is all part of the original story. But what if it’s just SOMEONE ELSE’S story and not the Christian story? To say that is to suggest Christianity is one myth among many. It’s not. If it were one myth among many there would be no singular original truth. The Christian story is the story in which ALL the other stories have their source. It’s the story to which all the other stories point back to. The Christian story is the story that makes sense of all other stories. The Christian story has everything! It’s the Archetype. It has a Savior in Jesus. It has catastrophe, it has good fortune, it has redemption, it has the tragedy of the crucifixion, it has resurrection, deliverance, fulfillment of desires, triumph over evil (sin), the joy of a happy ending. God tells his story with history. The facts of history are his words and destiny is God’s storyline. The Christian story has the inner consistency of reality. It is the tale everyone would want to find true; a story in which many skeptics have accepted as true on its own merits. If God never existed in the universe we should never have found out God had no existence. It should have been as if there never was a thought about God in the universe with no capacity for mankind to perceive God. God would be a word without meaning. But we do know what God is about.
That is a really great idea as a king! Have your whole army faste and be weak while you’re about to get attacked by 3 different armies. Biggest fail as a king ever!
Whoa, didn't you just hit 10k subscribers, and now you're already at 12k? I think a lot of people are finding your calm, informed and reasoned approach to be very digestible, and you're getting people to re-examine their beliefs. And that's why you're getting noticed by bigger channels like The Line and Paulogia. Congrats, I may not catch them live but I'll certainly catch them.
I have been having some discussions lately with a friend who believes in a fundamentalist faith, and she keeps going back to the excuse that many of the passages I take issue with or point to as impugning the merit of the Abrahamic god are records of events, it's a chronicle and not meant to demonstrate anything about their god. I find this excuse maddening.
Trent is a well meaning dude, Paul is absolutely phenomenal. Hes like more fair than Jesus XD. Matt is...very well educated on all things atheist. Personally, I've moved quite a bit away from Matt, as he and I have stark differences in certain core beliefs. But he is VERY good at not only debating, but breaking down the problems with religious claims. This is going to be awesome, as your content is top tier. Definitely one of the best atheist channels. Looking forward to some great collabs! Hopefully you can collab with Logicked and maybe Prophet of Zod too! :)
I don't care for Matt. Paulogia is awesome! I'm hyped about that. I'll just say Matt has a bad reputation in the atheist community, especially his treatment of women, and his superior attitude. Please stay closer to ppl like Paulogia, Kristi, Viced Rhino is great, Prophet of Zod..... I just suggest distance. Please don't take offense to this, I've just seen others have bad experiences
@@MindShift-Brandon I'm sure you can, you're such a calm and kind presence. Hopefully some of it will rub off. In thinking about it having someone so different from Matt might be a good thing. I just don't want to see him treat you rudely. Please don't take this as rude. I'll admit something Matt did when I was going through my searching phase to someone in my exact spot almost turned me way off. It was a really emotional time for me (losing a fiance and hoping to prove heaven was real) and I watched a video with a caller who was obviously in a similar place, deep down knew but was searching for any way to believe they'd see the loved one again, and he was SO rude. I was looking for a comforting answer but it was mocking them for even wanting to believe. Every time I think about it, I feel those feelings again like right after the death.
Thank you sir for another great video. The thing that gets me is that I don't care what people believe, just keep it to yourself. Keep religion out of our schools and politics, all religions.
Brandon, god is a Boss. And like a Boss, you can flatter, compliment and butter him up so he looks with favor upon you. If only for a while. Then start all over. Very human god. Gets angry, can be bribed, can be flattered, can we swayed to our side. God is anthropomorphic, just like us. Only a spirit some of the time, we see god's hand in this or that, prayer sent to god's ears. Greek gods acted like humans; The Greek gods had sex, cheated on the wives, got angry. Except for no sex, the OT god is like the Greek gods, get him mad and look out. Is that why Christians, are so down on sex to the point of perversion? Catholics have groups of men and women who vow not to have sex, religious orders and priests, bishops, nuns etc.
Going a step further: The advice that she got from the bible is "when u have a problem pray", in other words when you have a problem in ur life do nothing instead of looking for ways to fix it . That is very harmful depending on the problem the person is facing
Your point is correct. The more time I invested to study and getting historical context of the bible and what was happening around the middle east around Isreal/Judeah, the more it became utterly absurd.
I just can’t believe those stories are true anymore, whether it be in the Old or New Testament, yet I still go to church and enjoy being with my friends from there at lunch afterwards.
You will do fine on Matt's show. Actually, I find it much, much easier to listen to you. Matt's anger (and I do understand that!) often overshadows the wonderful brilliance of his thinking. I will subscribe here, and thank you.
I totally agree with you. I left Christianity after I read the whole Bible instead of reading only the nice verses cherry picked for me by other Christians.
They have to cherry pick because they can't even get through the first chapter without running into accuracy problems. "And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also." Genesis 1:16 But the moon is not a light, it merely reflects the sun. Unless they want to argue that looking into a mirror creates an alternate version of themselves, they're left with admitting it's not literal.
And dont forget about god creating male and female "twice" on two different days. The first humans he created were made to "replenish" the earth and enjoy it. While adam and eve were made to literally work as slaves to help god because he grew exhausted and needed help 😵💫
Great content, new to the channel and a sub. Very interested in the rest of your content. I was referred by the algorithm via Rationalizing Redemption.
I guess that was the one thing that kept me reading the anthology back when I was religious - and it might have meant that me eventually becoming an atheist was inevitable. Just so many times I would read a certain passage, go "Holy jumping f^^^ing sh^tballs" or some equivalent, and try to parse out why it was in there, only to fail at parsing it out. Then I would go and learn about the history around it, come back, reread, try again... and fail again. Ah, Catholicism, where sh^t happens because "you're bad." At least I never fell into evangelicalism ("Send more sh^t"), and I am beyond being tired of hearing from Jehovah's Witnesses ("Knock knock, sh^t happens"). Still, I am glad this wonky anthology ended up pointing me towards atheism ("No sh^t"), though I do feel a little sorry for the Jews ("Why does this sh^t always happen to us?"). I mean, I guess you could respect this anthology for being unapologetic, but given what it would be unapologetic about, you kind of see why apologetics is a thing, though it is not as if the apologetics do even a remotely decent job.
In my adventures with 'studying the bible' with the JWs, this is magnified tenfold. It's always something I had an issue with - either ignoring the Old Testament (when I was Nazarene, then Mormon), only focusing on the Psalms when the Old Testament is looked at, or picking and choosing what verses seem nice out of context. It's amazing to see just to what lengths people go to ignore their foundational books and focus on the faith. The more I actually read the Bible, the more I understand why they have to.
JWs are the masters at using one verse or even parts of verse leaving .... where parts that don't work are. They can find a verse for EVERYTHING. Being impatient in the grocery store line, there's a verse for that. Being disappointed your Amazon package didn't come today, yup. Kids watching too much completely innocent non Caleb and Sophia cartoons, there's a verse for that
Thank you for being here!
nah thank you for making this amazing content
paul-oh-GEE-uh ... accent on the GEE part. THIS I'm looking forward to. Congrats on maybe scoring a Paulogia drawn character!
Ha! Thanks
Congratulations! I'm looking forward to all of your collaborations. You are going to do great, you're thoughtful and well-spoken.
@@MindShift-Brandon Does you mom still pray for you?
I often hear Christians say that the Bible brings them "comfort". Ummm...are they reading the same Bible that I am? Murder, Rape, Slavery, Wars killing thousands, including infants. One atrocity after another is "comforting" if it's done to glorify God? I read the entire Bible to become Bible literate. The more I read, the more appalled I became.
Right?!
Never felt any comfort, only fear, low worth…..I became a christian in my livingroom by myself. I am a very sceptical person, i ask the big questions, i dont believe everything i hear from people, i research i dive in…..( long story short) i was reading the bible by myself. I told god if ure real and this is truth you have to show me truth by yourself, cous i trust no man and i will not go to christians. 2 years of reading the bible day and night, reading hebrew, greek, going deep, i was angry and i started to curse god for all his evil and i said: if this is you im out, i will not follow evil., but now 5 years later here i am, because i stillcarry so much anger , i been looking for truth of my existanse sinse i was 4, i had big questions and most my life has been deep depression because of not knowing, fear of death , suffering, evil, i could not understand.. ! I still feel lost at times, really lost, like i dont belong here! This channel helps me alot, i binge watch every day. Thank you for this channel and what you do❤ this christianity manadged to really fu..k me up in a really short time so i cant emagine How much trauma people must carry ,those who grew up in it ❤
The best cure for Christianity is reading the Bible.
Mark Twain
No, Christians actually don't read their bible. Atheist read it more than the average sunday church christian. But what they mean when they say that it brings them comfort. It is also what every other religion brings for people. It is a coping mechanism for things they just cannot conceive. For instance, imagine if your 5 year old kid got cancer > metastasis > dead. People cant deal with that. So they need something fake to lean on.
Don’t worry. Only the parts they like: good parts/out of context
Reading the Bible is one of the reasons I became an atheist.
That will do it for sure!
Actually studying and understanding it will do as well.😊
I needed to become a full blown atheist to find the most interesting literature so far in my life in Mark.
@@iwilldi did it turn you into a believer again?
@@rebeccasmith4182
No, it turned me into someone who has the will to try to understand the author of Mark.
There are many things which no scholarship would ever tell me. The blind spots are many. And historians would never venture into decoding the subliminal messages.
Honestly, I would like a series on people who didn't grow up in extremely toxic religious situations. I am a preacher's kid, my dad was a Methodist pastor. He let me trick or treat, watch harry potter, and trust science. Outside of the congregation, I didn't grow up in an extremely repressed environment. However, I still suffered issues with the concept of always living in a glass house, and dealing with a really toxic congregation. Also, dealing with the organization of the methodist church, they inflicted poverty on my family because my dad had Heart issues. (found a whole write-up from back then with them telling my dad he couldn't be a pastor because he "Cared to much for people."
Oh damn, that's awful. I swear some people are Christian just to divinely justify their sh!tty behavior.
your dad was told by his superiors that he cared too much for people. And he was a pastor. Wow, that literally confirmed my new found belief that religious leaders are really in it for themselves and no one else - not even God (if he exists).
Methodist pastors get rotated every couple of years as a holdover from when all Methodist pastors were itinerant travelers. Of course, a congregation can fire their pastor, too. My wife was raised Methodist, we were married as Methodists, and we raised our daughter in the church. Generally the clergy is more liberal than the congregation. Still, a wonderful bunch of people, but the more seriously I tried to understand the theology the less sense it made to me.
What kind of video are you looking for? I was raised similar to you (trick or treating and the like) just not a pastors kid. I still love the Lord and pretty much haven't walked away from my faith at all. Is your question "does that really happen?"???
2 hands helping are always better than 2 hands praying.
I want to see you and Kristi Burke have a conversation. Both of you have both helped me so tremendously through my current deconstruction process.. and I appreciate it so much. I have listened to you guys daily for the last month or two when I have the time. It’s nice to feel unashamed of your intellect..
Thats so kind! Hopefully we will soon!
I love your approach to these topics. I cut my teeth on Hitchens, Dawkins, and Harris. They were great for opening the door for younger me but having a more reasonable and measured response coupled with empathy, compassion and thoughtfulness is much more helpful when discussing these topics. I’m looking forward to your future collaborations and discussions.
Thats so encouraging . Thank you!
A couple of weeks ago, you did a video on challenging us on how to read the bible. I've been working through it, very eye opening, triggering yet insightful...to read what I'm seeing and not what I've been brainwashed to see. The god of the bible is very different from the god of the pulpit. What that reading has led me to, is what you said here.... I handed my life and morality over to someone who took free will just to cause suffering.
I'm sure there are other people who are here because there was an underlying sense that there was a disconnect somewhere, and we started searching trying to figure out why isn't this working (for me, bc other ppl seemed to be so happy with it) . I think I wanted the problem to be me. I think it would have been a lot easier. I was in no way prepared for how twisted this really is!!
Wow. I am so heartened at your action and truth but also am feeling for you because i know what a shock that really is. Thank you so much for sharing!
I think you phrased that well, "The god of the bible is very different from the god of the pulpit".
I may use that elsewhere.
Blaming yourself for the disconnect is what the guy in the pulpit, the one making money from preaching his version of god, wants you to think. It's not you who is at fault.
I was finally taught biblical exegesis when I was 28 years old.
I was cringing at every sermon because pastors often do not give proper context, and my family was certainly abusing the very scriptures they were clinging too.
I’m so glad you cover the confusion of Christianity.
It helps to make sense of all the things I saw as a child that I could never articulate.
Glad to be useful. Thanks for watching!
My bible fits my life. It fits right under my table to keep the table flat.
Lol
🤣🤣
My bible is the perfect doorstop. Why? Because it is great at holding things back.
I'm dead 😂😂😂
It's almost as if the bible is silly putty, being able to be shaped to whatever the believer wants. It's the big book of choose your own salvation.
Ha. Indeed!
🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
Congratulations on getting to meet some of my heroes!!
I’m jealous…
😂😂😂
It really is so cool to get to speak with these people i have watched for years. Thank you!
What do we call someone who thinks they should be praised and worshiped? Maniac.
What do we call someone who thinks that those who don`t should be tortured? Psycho.
Reading the bible in straight up English
Gensis 1:1-6
"Wait.... God didn't make water. It was already there..."
Reading the bible in straight up Hebrew
Genesis 1:1-6
"Wait, is that Tiamat?!"
I love that you pulled from another religious text to compare it to the passages in today’s video. I’d love to learn more with these references.
It's amazing how much you "get" the fallacy of the Christian mindset. I totally relate to your thoughts. So, many believers cherry pick Scriptures to fit their circumstances. And it's sad. I know my parents will say from time to time how the Lord has answered a prayer or had been with them in a struggle. And these days, I'll be thinking ,"Well, that's fine. But, perhaps there was a rational logical reason why something worked out, like maybe you worked very hard to achieve a successful outcome and God had nothing to do with it. But, God gets all the credit. And , how many times I've thought what if my Christian best friend had recovered from cancer. I'd probably be celebrating, believing steadfast prayer works in all situations. (As Jesus said, Ask anything in my name and it will be done.") I'd have a triumphant testimony to tell on Sunday mornings at church. But, what about the others out there that prayed for a cancer healing and it didn't come? I think that every time I hear some Christian tell a successful story about how their God worked in their life. Going thru deconstruction I'm seeing through the hypocrisy and the shortsighted self-centric ways a Christian responds in life. I took the rose tinted glasses off and am realizing life happens, whether you choose to believe in an unverifiable religion or not.
Thank you dearly. And yes its amazing how close we could have been to being victim of these mindsets ourselves for even longer. Makes me wonder how much is just chance that anyone ever escapes this religion
The amazing thing is, if Christians looked at their Bible thru the same lens as they do the Quaran or Greek mythology they'd come to the same conclusion as we have. I think.
This is so on point!
Thank you!
The exposure to a greater audience via collabs will see significant numbers of new subscribers to your channel. Good stuff. Congratulations.
Thank you!
@@MindShift-Brandon I wonder who knows the Bible better, you or Matt?
Matt has decades on me in this space lol. When it comes to having the right verse for the right rebuttal, i am sure he has me covered. Overall biblical understanding, i might be able to keep up.
@@MindShift-Brandon Paulogia is pronounced the same way as apologia. Hope that helps 😃
@kidslovesatan34 no idea why that was so hard for me ha. Its like Deuteronomy
Wow, so cool that you get to meet Matt in person. Good luck : D
Notifications: ON
Well virtually, but yes!
"When our side does evil things, it's because we have a good reason or are somehow serving a higher good that YOU, lowly and unworthy peasant that you are, could never possibly understand. But when the other side does evil things, it's because they're just terrible people through and through, who serve a terrible cause. So why is our evil justifiable and theirs not? Because fuck you, we're just better than you. Give us money."
Enjoy your vacation! Thank YOU for your content.
Thanks!
I barley got into watching 4min35 seconds and I'm in aww. I see this with christian friends on my Facebook all the time and it really bugs me. You nailed it again brother. Can't wait for your next post. Love ya bro keep rocking on 👍🏼😁
Your comments always bring me up, man. Thanks so much!
Thank you XD So many Christians have clearly never read the bible and don't know what god is like. I'm glad more people are pointing this out.
Glad to be doing so. Thanks for watching
Once again, Brannin, great topic and great presentation. Keep up the great work.
Thanks, Jeff!
Good job putting the Bible and Koran in perspective. So true we read into the Bible what we want to get out of it. We are all inherently self-absorbed so I don’t blame anyone for doing this but, it sure clouds the truth of the character of the Biblical God.
Well said. Thanks, Beegee!
I think all religions are like this because their gods/goddesses don't exist so it's up for grabs on how will they interpret their deities.
But what makes Christianity (and Islam and Orthodox Jews) apologetics interesting is that they always want to distance themselves from "pagan religions who twist and reinterpret their beliefs if convenient to their needs" (this is totally true, by the way), but they censor their own history on how they adjusted their own religions several times.
This is almost certainly due in large part to the amount of time and effort the more modern (modern as in starting around a few hundred C.E.) abrahamic religions spent slandering pagan religions and their practitioners. "We are the original direct decedents", "We are the chosen people", "We and only we are the ones who were selected to receive exclusive revelation from the true god"... and so on. Then, when through the quirks of history these groups gained political power, they did what most religions do and try to gain even more power, usually through persecution/demonization of their rivals.
So because of their successful propaganda campaigns, "pagan" in modern parlance is often used to convey negative attributes such as "primitive" or "barbaric" or even "silly superstitions". So because of their historic marginalization of pagans, I think apologists are loathe to admit their own religion is associated with paganism.
@@dougt7580 These says they only "slander" back in the days they killed and tortured "pagans!"btw pagan is also some kind of modern slander word. Perhaps we should find another one I heard heathen in English means similar?
@@UsoundsGermanyVery true. Heathen is a word more broadly used to insult anyone who doesn't believe in your god(s) or practice your religion and is therefore evil or immoral. Pagan is usually used more specifically to describe polytheists or people that practice religions more focused on nature worship or practicing magic. But they can be somewhat interchangeable.
@@dougt7580 Thanks, and yep I have read that christians in the nets use these words as slander or the same as "satanic" (which is not true).. and also I remembered some lyric (but blackmetal so not everyones taste I guess) and found this lyric line "“The battle against God and white Christ has begun!”
Hvitekrist (or Kvitekrist) is an old Norse name for Jesus Christ, directly translated to “white Christ”.
In a time where the colour white was linked to purity, it was meant to separate the christian faith from the supposedly evil teachings of Norse mythology." (from Genius)
@@UsoundsGermanyInteresting
Congrats on your collabs! You're moving up!
Unrelated, but it always feels disingenuous when people ask you to "answer for" evolution, as if not being a Christian or Muslim means you also have all the scientific facts on hand.
We don't ask everyone to become mechanical engineers before driving a car, just some high-level applicable knowledge that even teenagers can learn is enough. Same with evolution.
So well said!
Funny that your video says “…approaching 10K,” but a few hours after this video is out, you’re over 12k already. 🎉👍
Thanks, Charles! Had a fun little blast there for a bit
Great content
Thank you!
@@MindShift-Brandon I have a question if you don't mind ....what are your thoughts on Deists? I hear a lot of atheists talk about religion ....more specifically Christian religion ...and the Christian Bible, but I see very few talk about God in any other sense .
@Artist11_NC i am agnostic. No way to know if a god is out there but if there is it hasnt revealed itself to me so becomes kinda a nothing statement
@@MindShift-Brandon fair enough
😅😅😅 I'm brand new to the channel but once again..how this guy and how he tears the bible and some other people apart..the sarcasm makes me laugh 😂☠️
Im not really an atheist but I'm not a Christian..this is a feeling that is gonna take a long time to shake off
Lol. Well welcome!
Hey! Congrats on 10k! 🎉
Thanks!
Love your vids man! Keep it up
Thanks so much! I’ll sure try
They're are reading the Bible as Ken Ham calls it reading with your "god glasses"
Exactly
very good...thanks a lot 🙂
If there's a god, it's obvious he doesn't want genuine thinking people.
Hey mindshift what about all the angels what’s they doing gods helpers ?”
One of the things i hate about evangelical Christians, is they will quote one piece of Scripture telling them they are "saved, and they cannot loose their salvation. When i tell them they have to do more than that to be saved, they become quite irritable. When i list all the things they have to do according to Christ to achieve salvation they still refuse to believe it.
When i tell them there is no "rapture" they quote a piece of Scripture to support it, but they are misinterpreting what they read.
Actually you don't have to read the Bible to be a good Christian. When Christ established his Church in 33 AD, it was another 300 years before the Bible was available.
I am not saying all this to boast about what i believe, but to highlight what others believe to become a "good" Christian.
Paul-oh-GEE-uh. He usually says, "Welcome to Paulogia, where a former Christian takes a look at the claims of Christians." It helps if you forget how to say it :D
4K subs in 3 days?? Congrats!
Thank you. Had quite the run there!
Nice vid
Thanks!
I got a question. Jesus I'd god right? Which would make him "all knowing." Right? How then dies Jesus not know what date he will return? Brandon, do you have a video addressing this and the common apologetics on this topic?
I dont have a video. Its just lazy apologetics on Jesus the son choosing to limit his knowledge. Makes no sense ha.
The books of Chronicles are proof enough this book was not organized by a God
One of the problems I have with most Christians is that Jesus told them to bring Heaven to Earth through their accents, their words, and their deeds and then people will look at them and see that they are one and the same as Jesus; however that basic concept has taken a fall to control, hate, misogyny, and all kinds of chaotic destruction all done in the name of a loving God😢 I would have to suspend the torturous murder of a man and believe that his death somehow cleared me spiritually; I'm not that kind of fearful person... Religions at its core is about controlling their parishioners and making money while doing it😢
Paula--gee-ah. Long G, not long O.
lol We already know when christianites make the magical book of bible spells fit their lives: every time they mention it.
You know, just throwing this out into the universe, we need a channel where all the person does is take "motivational" bible quotes and puts them into their proper context.
I do this in my own time and its never really motivational or is directed solely at 1 person orba very specific group
No religion has a follower that can live as their book instructs them to. There are too many morons who ignore 75% of their books.....and pick what suits them.....mostly telling non believers and other religions.....they are wrong
Trent Horn if honest will make a fine None someday, help him break free. All glory to truth, honesty, atheist preaching.
Ha! Honestly wish it was a different topic, but this gives me an in for a future one
One of the niggling questions that pushed me to deconvert was if God is so great, why does he need us to kiss his ass all the time? There are millions praying or singing to him on Earth at any given moment, nevermind the millions (billions? ) already in Heaven doing it 24/7, but he still wants MORE. That and the problem of evil started to make me think he was a real jerk, to put it mildly. 😅
Can I be an be an agnostic atheist Christian if I only believe the parts of the Bible that support my position?
Define "Christian" in that context.
I think its probably fine that people can take ancient media a give it meaning to their day to day lives, we as humans do that to all kinds of content all the time, even for content that is not meant for us.
I personally hung up in the conception of virtue ethics presented in the new testament (like the one inspiring philosophy presented on a video) and I cringe when some christians say the OT and NT have no contradictions in their conception of what "God" is.
I agree. And if we said as much about the bible it would be fine. But we dont. We dont say its manmade ancient literature. This lady really believes it is the inspired word of the creator of the universe.
@@MindShift-Brandon which is where I think NT virtue ethics comes into play for me, though that its big discussion in and of itself...
I can't wait to watch you with Matt! Maybe you can tone down his harshness just a bit. 😊
OK now about your video. I have to give you props for your topics. You are nailing the most irksome things about Christianity time and time again. Here you bring attention to the selfishness of thinking scripture applies 'just so' to their cute little situation, or that god is making sure they find their keys, get to the bus on time, etc. I always marvel at athletes or teams praying before a game, or after a game, thanking god for... what exactly? Favoring them over the other athletes/team? As if god thought: Oh you're so special and I pick YOU, superior one, to glorify myself through. How narcissistic! It is really the ultimate in self-absorption, ego, self-importance, etc. And that is just the tip of the ice berg as you pointed out. People are starving, dying, being sold into slavery and worse ALL OVER THE WORLD but sure, god or that cherry-picked bible verse got you through your math exam.
Ha! We shall see. Thank you!
Don't mispronounce Paulogia's name - that's a game that apologists like to play. Paul pronouces his name at the start of every episode.
Deuteronomy has entered the chat
I wonder if that was on purpose.
@@utubepunk Ah! Could be! That makes more sense. Brandon said it like that because they say it like that - that was the joke and "Wooosh!" it went right over my head! (Sorry Brandon).
Ugh, totally guilty of this cherry picking thing, but I think you’re right in the fact that this is how we have been conditioned to interpret and apply God’s word to our everyday life. So bogus! Great presentation once again and I’m so excited for the collaborations!
I, like many Christians, was taught the bible through 'helicopter reading', where you jump into a certain part a book and read a few verses, paragraphs, or maybe even a full chapter, and then stop reading. The bible was the only (mostly) narrative book that I was ever taught to read this way. Every other narrative book was "start at the beginning and read straight through to the end."
It wasn't until my mid 20s that I finally sat down to read the whole thing straight through and learned that despite having religion class every day at school for 14 years and attending church at least weekly for nearly 20 years, I had been exposed to MAYBE 10-15% of the bible. And the reasons were obvious:
1. To try to create a coherent narrative out of a giant mess of literature written by different people at different times in different cultures with wildly divergent agendas, values, and messages.
2. To hide a lot of the most objectionable, evil, or problematic portions.
3. To skip over that a lot of the bible that is just completely irrelevant to any modern day reader and completely devoid of purpose or meaning.
All this to say I wouldn't even call my bibical "education" at school and church cherrypicking, I would call it wholesale revision.
Did you also lose your faith after you read through the Bible? Some of my old Christian friends asked me why I am no longer a believer. They look genuinely confused when I say a read through the bible.
@@brevethI was on my way out already due to several factors but I still believed in some nominal god concept after reading. I was already a non-practicing catholic at this point (and catholicism doesn't teach biblical literalism, especially when it comes to the OT, or biblical excusivity, so I didn't hold the bible as the end-all, be-all of my religiosity). So before reading the whole thing I still believed in a generalized christian god but afterwards I was probably closer to deisim. It certainly didn't improve my faith, but it was probably another 4 or 5 years before I admitted to myself that I'm not convinced of any of the proposed god(s) models that I was exposed to upto that point in my life.
In my younger days when I was a devout christian, I too was exposed to these distorted ways of presenting what the Bible says, and was accordingly brainwashed. In addition to the three methods of distortion that you enumerate, I will add a fourth one. I only caught on to this recently after listening to Bart Ehrman's comments about reading the four gospels in parallel fashion rather than consecutively. Whenever there is a lesson or sermon about the birth of Jesus, the crucifixion/resurrection, etc., it is based on only ONE of the gospels (any one of them, but only ONE). The result is in my previous life when I was a devout christian I never noticed the major inconsistencies and contradictions between the narratives. I am convinced this is deliberate on the part of the preachers, Sunday school teachers, and the writers of Sunday school lesson books--most of them must recognize the inconsistencies and contradictions and don't want to be put in the position of having to acknowledge and explain them. I am sure this applies to all parts of the Bible in which a given set of events are described in more than one place.
@@18471902Good point. I do however think that a lot of the teachers are themselves ignorant of the problems as many are likely victims of the same selective teaching that they are now perpetuating. But you're absolutely right on selective and perhaps even deliberate deception. If you would have asked me at 18 (after 14 years of catholic school as a very good student that was even considering entering the priesthood) to write down the timeline of Jesus, I would've written something that is not found in any of the 4 canonical gospels and would omit a number of important things or contradict what one or more gospels does actually say.
I like the phrase "helicopter reading." I am going to use it. It sounds a bit like a critique that Bart Ehrman makes - that believers rarely actually read the various books straight through. If they read it at all - that is, if they don't allow the clergy to tell them what it means - they just read little parts and fit those parts into a preconceived interpretation; they get their affirmation and move on.
I’m very pleased to see new atheist channels. And yours is a great one. Well lit, well edited and your voice helps a lot to convey the message.
I have always been an atheist and although I studied my whole life on Jesuit school and university, they were never able do indoctrinate me since my father and mother were also atheist. I’m lucky, I guess. And since I studied at a catholic school I developed a fascination with religions. Maybe that’s why I studied to make a career on advertising…
I appreciate that. Thank you!
_I’m lucky, I guess_
Or just stubborn or unlistening. There's always plenty of blame to go around.
@craigsmith1443 are you 'restarted'
Congratulations on getting to be a part of the Pauloverse! I think getting a Paulogia animated character is the pinnacle achievement of all online skeptics. You sir have made it to the big leagues.
💯
Ha! Thats awesome. Thank you!
I can't wait to see your cartoon!!!
Guys like Paulogia and Matt are great. They help the TH-cam atheist community grow.
I will say the big league is when apologist start trying to debunk you but failing to do so.
I used to be one of those wishy-washy believers, cherry-picking the nice and good parts of the Quran, the parts about helping the poor, treating one's parents righteously, strengthening familial bonds, caring for the orphans and treating all people equally.. as we are all equal before God ect. I created a fantasy world for myself where Allah is more concerned with good deeds and one's character than anything else, willfully ignoring one verse that goes aganist my perspective in surah 25:23 "And We will proceed to their [ good ] deeds [ of non believers], and We will reduce them to scattered dust. " This injustice ( and mind you Allah so proudly claim to have forbidden himself to commit acts of injustice) was so blatant and so egregious that it couldn't benefit from any re-interpretation.
( Just a small recap: Islam started in Mecca and after thirteen years of Mohammed shitting on Qurayish's beliefs and disrupting the order, they asked him to take his folks and leave Mecca. He moved to Madinah where he was able to rile people up so he started to provoke Qurayish by raiding their trade caravans and terrorising their merchants. It is the catalyst for the battle of Badr. )
Islam, even of Sunny variety, comes in many regional flavors. What I notice now in Bosnia and many other places is that wealthy Saudis are bankrolling wahhabism and many are buying it. You are starting to see burkas in places where such tradition didn't exist before.
“With or without religion, good people can behave well and bad people can do evil; ….” I’ve long noticed that good people pick the good parts out of their religious books while bad people ignore them.
Cherry picking the Bible reminds me of those water filters that take the nastiest water possible the other end puts out pure water. Gotta take into account what you filtered out. Keep rockin Brandon. Awesome channel 👏 👍
Love that comparison! Thank you!
This unlocked a memory I forgot was there. I was in a youth group worship 10 years ago, (evangelical nondenominational southern church in the Bible Belt) and we were told to raise our arms the entire service and we were absolutely guilted the 30-45min worship to keep our arms raised all the way and not to relax them. It was so much peer pressure and I remember being in so much pain that I couldn’t even hear the music. Opposite effect I guess
Wow.. thank you for sharing. This is so so strange
I think the thing nonbelievers especially life long atheists don`t seem to get is Christians who read the bible badly like the Women in the video really aren`t stupid or selfish. Thank you for highlighting this Brandon, yet another great video!
Yes for sure. Thanks!
And that's one of the MANY problems with Christianity- it perpetuates cognitive dissonance. It's 100% selfish.
Someone saying they have a personal relationship with the god who created the entire universe & sacrificed his son-self to himself so they could be spared & live in eternal paradise while billions are tortured is the height of selfishness.
Oh, she is selfish alright. It’a just that she floats in such privilege- and more widely, hails from a society that has normalized this- that she seems “normal”; which she is, in a sense.
But that doesn’t mean she’s not selfish. Hell, she’s an American that chose to invoke God’s protection “when bullets are flying”, that pretty much says it all.
@@NocturnaluxSo praying for protection is selfish? If a modern pagan, which there are many on the rise, were to ask Odin for protection does that make them selfish? Why do you feel that the natural want to keep oneself safe is inherently selfish? That’s like saying I’m selfish for practicing martial arts to defend myself when the time comes. I’m selfish for not giving someone the chance to treat me however they want? It seems that’s what you’re saying. Or is it that they’re not praying for other’s safety in addition to their own? The answer for that is that deities don’t concern themselves with unbelievers. I’m a demonolator and dark sorcerer, why would Lord Stolas concern himself with someone who doesn’t believe in him and thinks he, in addition to the other demons, is “evil incarnate” and only wants me to suffer?
@@adandyguyinspace5783 You missed the point, she is selfish in thinking God is protecting her when so many people do not get this “protection” and it apparently does not bother her.
It is typical Christian behavior, too. Your house was spared in a storm that wiped out your neighbor’s? Praises be Jesus!
You treat 'the lady' with praise and respect and do not mock her. I love you for this.
Appreciate that. Thanks for watching
I thank god for all he does for me instead of helping the billions suffering with real problems. I'm sure it's because I read his book and joined a megachurch with a great softball team.
Nailed it
I'm amazed how fast your channel is growing. And it's well deserved because both your content and presentation are top-notch.
Really appreciate that. Thanks for the encouragement
Deconversion, Great channel 👍
The man who invented god was clearly a narcissist
The men*. I'm pretty sure it was a collective effort.
I appreciate your using the lower case ‘g’. Any god that man created clearly is not God. If there is a God, obviously He is not created by man.
And probably a priest and/or tribal leader.
@@danielt.9101 that's true also it might have been a group of gossiping men there was no Hollywood video games and entertainment back then so people had to entertain themselves with fantasies and stories that literally became their reality
Because people were super gullible back then
@@ianalan4367 I hate this voice text always spells out god with a capital g
Like if it was a name or something important LOL
Thanks for your understanding comments. It was not until I stopped cherry picking verses from the Bible that I realized what type of god I was worshipping. I’m an atheist who’s body will return to the cosmos after my death.
No, after you die, you will not exist. Nothing happens to you after you die, you are just no more. You won't go somewhere or be something else. That's okay because you will not be there to observe it.
I often laugh thinking about the pitcher and the batter praying to their god over the next pitch. Then, after the strike, or the home run, one points up to the sky, prayer answered. Yeah, god's watching the game.
When I was 16, we lived in an isolated Eskimo village. As a family project, my father read the Bible to us verse by verse and gave us his commentary. The one thing I took from this experience is that there are some verses in the Bible that are just not amenable to spin: Balaam's ass, Jephthah's daughter, or Ezekiel's condemnation with similes concerning horses and asses. Just skip quickly through these passages, red faced and with few words.
Yes…. 50years of church and I had no idea what the bible was about!
So excited to see your channel growing like crazy! So well deserved Brandon!
Thank you!
_50years of church and I had no idea what the bible was about! _
Since the Bible is readily and cheaply available, who's fault was this?
You're blaming the Bible or the Church or God for your own faults?
@@craigsmith1443If the Christian god actually existed, I would blame him. If one book is going to be his only evidence to his own existence and it's important to know he exists, he should at least make it more coherent and stand the tests of time.
@@Farmingdaneo _If one book is going to be his only evidence to his own existence and it's important to know he exists, he should at least make it more coherent and stand the tests of time_
Heavens. If you're going to 'blame him,' you might want to be true while doing so:
_If one book is going to be his only evidence to his own existence_
It is not. First, the Bible is not 'one book.' It is a library written over about 400 to 500 years by around 40 authors in four of the most enlightened empires the world has ever seen: Judaic, Persian, Ptolemaic, and Roman, and yet which has a single narrative. There are all those who have by its lights learned to listen to and follow God, their lives changing as God's Spirit worked in them.
God looks for a relationship (the Trinity is a relationship, and so is what we are called to), and so if you want, if you really want, to 'know' him (you can), then all you have to do is to start praying, reading the Bible, and following it and Him.
_he should at least make it more coherent and stand the tests of time_
It's been read for from 2000-3000 years. What other 'test of time' can there be?
And it's quite 'coherent.' Why do you think that it is not?
_50years of church and I had no idea what the bible was about!_
That is the fault of neither church nor Bible. You could have known 'what it was about' by merely taking some time and reading it.
Yep, just another story evidencing an evil god. Surely if this christian god was an all loving, moral being, he would be finding a way to get the armies to shake hands and party together!
Right?!
Honestly, reading random verses from the bible, the quran or other scriptures and asking people to guess where they're from would make for a decent show.
Yes it would ha. But its been done quite a bit. I do enjoy it though!
I left the Faith about nine months ago…… I really appreciate how you are respectful to believers. Christians are not idiots,Just need help seeing the truth. You have a atheist pastors heart.😊
Ha. Love that. Thank you!
I had said I didn't believe in the hateful , vengeful God of the Old Testament but wanted to believe in a loving God of the New Testament . I had been reading the whole Bible , so many parts had disgusted me . Nearly sixty years old , and have questioned so much . My daughter is having a hard time dealing with a mother that raised her to believe , now contradicts what I told her for so many years .
Thats a really rough spot but its never too late for truth
This channel is gonna blow up.
That is very kind. Waiting patiently lol
Yahweh is obviously man made.
From a Biblical scholar:
"So for example, when we read carefully what Yahweh says in the book of Leviticus, namely that the Aaronids (the sons of Aaron only), are high priests contrary to the Levites, that they alone are Yahweh’s mediators and the Levites are reduced to mere ministers of the Aaronids, that only through sacrifice can one atone for sins and not confession as preached by the Levites, or more precisely the Levite’s Yahweh, etc., *it can be no coincidence that in these laws and commandments,* ***which are placed on the mouth of Yahweh,*** *that Yahweh himself is presented advocating and legitimating the very views and beliefs of the specific priestly guild writing the text, and,* ***contrary*** *to the views and beliefs of their rivals, the Levites and the Levite’s Yahweh!* We will examine this more closely when we get to the contradictions in these books. But in short, this was the function of ancient literature, and we are allowing these ancient texts to speak for themselves. *In this particular case, the Levites and Aaronids wrote specific texts that each advocated their religious beliefs, views, and their position as high priests* ***by writing these sentiments directly into the mouth of their god!***
But just studying the Bible alone, scientifically, affords us the occasion *to see that many of these so-called words of Yahweh are* ***actually the very words of the texts’ authors.*** When we see numerous texts employing this ancient literary technique, and moreover, ***presenting Yahweh as the spokesperson for their own views and agenda,*** *and* ***contrary*** *to Yahweh’s other words in other texts written by other authors employing the same technique,* how can one conclude otherwise.
In other words, when in the composite text that we now call the Bible we find: Yahweh declaring that only Aaronids can officiate as his priests and Yahweh declaring that all Levites can officiate as high priest; Yahweh declaring that sin is atoned through confession and Yahweh declaring that sin is only expiated through the sacrificial cult, no exceptions; Yahweh declaring that he gave laws and commandments at Sinai and Yahweh declaring that he only gave the Ten Commandments at Sinai; Yahweh commanding to exterminate all the Canaanites without pity and Yahweh declaring to tolerate them and live in their midst; Yahweh declaring that the wilderness generation were disloyal and rebellious and Yahweh declaring that they were a paradigm of loyalty and faith; Yahweh declaring that he may be offered sacrifices at any altar and Yahweh declaring that there is only one altar where sacrifices are to be offered up; Yahweh declaring that the people saw him at Sinai and Yahweh declaring that they only heard his voice; Yahweh declaring that circumcision is an eternal covenant and keeping the land depends on observing this very commandment and Yahweh declaring the Mosaic laws as the covenant and keeping the land is dependent on keeping these laws; Yahweh declaring that he dwells in the midst of the people and Yahweh declaring that he only resides in heaven; Yahweh commanding Passover to be celebrated by all at Jerusalem and Yahweh commanding it to be celebrated at each person’s home; Yahweh commanding that animals for consumption must be ritually sacrificed and Yahweh commanding that they don’t have to be sacrificed ritually, etc. ***one must conclude that Yahweh is being used by these authors, each with their own contrary views and beliefs as a spokesperson for each of these authors’ agendas.*** These are all the personal, and competing, views, theological beliefs, and religious systems of our biblical authors. And this is only the tip of the iceberg."
*"Studying the Bible"* - Dr Steven DiMattei
*"How do we know that the biblical writers were not writing history?"* - Dr Steven DiMattei
*"Contradictions in the Bible | Identified verse by verse and explained using the most up-to-date scholarly information about the Bible, its texts, and the men who wrote them"* -- by Dr. Steven DiMattei
Dude, your rebuttals are legendary and I feel you deserve so much more notoriety. Very glad I found your channel. I hope it grows.
I agree with you, but she actually put those verses in more context than other Christians I have seen. I have seen Christians just look at the verse about God being with Israel when they go to battle, then the Christian goes "See God is with us!" She actually did a better job than those people. Again, I completely agree with you, I just thought this was an important point.
Agreed!
"When properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived." -Isaac Asimov
There is no magic in just reading the Bible. Isaac Asimov failed to understand that reading the Bible isn't the potent force that makes a person become an atheist. Reading the Bible doesn't even make a person become a Christian. An unregenerated heart makes a person become an atheist, no matter which God a person denies. Even if the Bible is properly read and understood from a theological viewpoint it means nothing if the reader hasn't genuinely accepted Jesus Christ as their savior. There are a lot of people today who call themselves Christians who haven't genuinely made that choice to accept Jesus and will be rudely surprised after their death. They will be in Hell right along with the atheists.
@@stryker1195 Heaven and Hell are not real places, but Bible Prison certainly is (a real place).
@@grantrobinson9129 Maybe atheists need to stop implying that Heaven and Hell are not real places, that they are just myths, just imaginary places. Atheists should stop these comparisons for the simple fact that each time atheists invoke such remarks, they are actually reaffirming the truth behind the myth. Here’s why.
Myths are not an end of themselves. They are more than simple lies. In fact, there is a big difference between a myth and a lie. Lies exist for the express purpose of hiding the truth. Myths, on the other hand, are lies or stories that exist to satisfy basic human desires and convey essential truths.
However, societal evolution has duped us into believing the word “myth” is the exact equivalent of a lie. Believing that myths are only lies means accepting the first real lie of materialism - that there is no metaphysical order to the universe. The materialists have convinced us that our world exists of nothing but simple matter, nothing but physical facts, divorced and devoid of metaphysical truths. The materialists, the atheists, or whatever they call themselves, have IMPRISONED society with a false myth that the world consists of only three dimensions, five senses, and four walls.
The materialists have convinced most of the world that this is true. And they believe it themselves. The four walls of materialism are like the four walls of a PRISON.
Materialists don’t want others to see what’s beyond those walls. They don’t want others to discover what exists outside their narrow philosophy - their narrow worldview. Worse than that, they think any attempt to escape from their self-imposed PRISON is an act of stupidity. I mean, would it be an irrational act of stupidity to escape the four walls of materialism? Think for a moment: How can it be irrational for a prisoner to reason other things might exist outside the four walls? The fact that a prisoner can even conceive of things outside the walls suggests things do exist outside the walls. If the four walls are really all there is, how are we able to perceive things existing beyond those walls?
This is where myths come in. Myths exist outside the walls. Myths allow us to see beyond the prison and allow others to catch a powerful sight of what exists beyond those walls. But what is this “powerful sight” we are supposed see? Well, myths show us fleeting glimpses of truth. Yes, truth.
The truth is this: You are able to believe in the lesser myths because you have accepted the big myth. Once you accept the big myth - the lie about Jesus Christ - that there is no heaven or hell - it’s easy to accept the smaller lies. You carry on with your life believing myths are arbitrary inventions of fiction, as if they were stories pulled out of thin air.
Behind every lie there is a singular truth, otherwise there would be nothing to lie about; nothing from which to create a myth. When we look at something traditionally thought to be a myth, such as the real lie that fairies exist, consider the truth behind this mythical creature. Fairies are nothing but a literary distortion, or lie, originating from the fact that angels exist in the Christian Bible. The myth of fairies could never have originated if there wasn’t a singular truth from which to construct the lie about fairies.
And then there is the famous myth of Superman who wasn’t necessarily created out of thin air, but perhaps a distortion of the true Jesus Christ. Superman “…Able to leap tall buildings at a single bound! (Jesus ascending) …visitor from another planet (God coming to Earth as the baby Jesus) … with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men (the miracles performed by Jesus) …Superman, who can change the course of mighty rivers (God splitting the Red Sea) …And who, disguised as Clark Kent, mild mannered reporter (God incarnated in the flesh of Jesus Christ) …fights a never-ending battle for truth, justice” (Jesus, battling against evil and sin). Well, you get the picture
So, how can I know the story I believe - the Christian story, that there is a Heaven and Hell - is any more real than any other story? Well, what is not understood is that we create things according to the laws in which we are made. We create because we are created. Creativity - imagination - is God’s imagination in us. We create stories because God is the creator of those stories. All of history, everything around us, is all part of the original story.
But what if it’s just SOMEONE ELSE’S story and not the Christian story? To say that is to suggest Christianity is one myth among many. It’s not. If it were one myth among many there would be no singular original truth. The Christian story is the story in which ALL the other stories have their source. It’s the story to which all the other stories point back to.
The Christian story is the story that makes sense of all other stories. The Christian story has everything! It’s the Archetype. It has a Savior in Jesus. It has catastrophe, it has good fortune, it has redemption, it has the tragedy of the crucifixion, it has resurrection, deliverance, fulfillment of desires, triumph over evil (sin), the joy of a happy ending. God tells his story with history. The facts of history are his words and destiny is God’s storyline. The Christian story has the inner consistency of reality. It is the tale everyone would want to find true; a story in which many skeptics have accepted as true on its own merits.
If God never existed in the universe we should never have found out God had no existence. It should have been as if there never was a thought about God in the universe with no capacity for mankind to perceive God. God would be a word without meaning. But we do know what God is about.
That is a really great idea as a king! Have your whole army faste and be weak while you’re about to get attacked by 3 different armies. Biggest fail as a king ever!
Whoa, didn't you just hit 10k subscribers, and now you're already at 12k?
I think a lot of people are finding your calm, informed and reasoned approach to be very digestible, and you're getting people to re-examine their beliefs.
And that's why you're getting noticed by bigger channels like The Line and Paulogia. Congrats, I may not catch them live but I'll certainly catch them.
So supportive and kind. Thank you!
I have been having some discussions lately with a friend who believes in a fundamentalist faith, and she keeps going back to the excuse that many of the passages I take issue with or point to as impugning the merit of the Abrahamic god are records of events, it's a chronicle and not meant to demonstrate anything about their god. I find this excuse maddening.
Maddening indeed! Its just a clear rejection of truth snd reality
Trent is a well meaning dude, Paul is absolutely phenomenal. Hes like more fair than Jesus XD. Matt is...very well educated on all things atheist. Personally, I've moved quite a bit away from Matt, as he and I have stark differences in certain core beliefs. But he is VERY good at not only debating, but breaking down the problems with religious claims. This is going to be awesome, as your content is top tier. Definitely one of the best atheist channels. Looking forward to some great collabs! Hopefully you can collab with Logicked and maybe Prophet of Zod too! :)
Agree on all fronts. Thanks so much!
I don't care for Matt. Paulogia is awesome! I'm hyped about that.
I'll just say Matt has a bad reputation in the atheist community, especially his treatment of women, and his superior attitude. Please stay closer to ppl like Paulogia, Kristi, Viced Rhino is great, Prophet of Zod.....
I just suggest distance. Please don't take offense to this, I've just seen others have bad experiences
@zuglymonster i head the warning. Im very aware of our different approaches m, but an confident i can maintain mine
@@MindShift-Brandon I'm sure you can, you're such a calm and kind presence. Hopefully some of it will rub off. In thinking about it having someone so different from Matt might be a good thing. I just don't want to see him treat you rudely.
Please don't take this as rude. I'll admit something Matt did when I was going through my searching phase to someone in my exact spot almost turned me way off. It was a really emotional time for me (losing a fiance and hoping to prove heaven was real) and I watched a video with a caller who was obviously in a similar place, deep down knew but was searching for any way to believe they'd see the loved one again, and he was SO rude. I was looking for a comforting answer but it was mocking them for even wanting to believe. Every time I think about it, I feel those feelings again like right after the death.
@zuglymonster i am so sorry to hear that. Yes that is simply not beneficial for anyone.
Thank you sir for another great video. The thing that gets me is that I don't care what people believe, just keep it to yourself. Keep religion out of our schools and politics, all religions.
Brandon, god is a Boss. And like a Boss, you can flatter, compliment and butter him up so he looks with favor upon you. If only for a while. Then start all over. Very human god. Gets angry, can be bribed, can be flattered, can we swayed to our side. God is anthropomorphic, just like us. Only a spirit some of the time, we see god's hand in this or that, prayer sent to god's ears. Greek gods acted like humans; The Greek gods had sex, cheated on the wives, got angry. Except for no sex, the OT god is like the Greek gods, get him mad and look out. Is that why Christians, are so down on sex to the point of perversion? Catholics have groups of men and women who vow not to have sex, religious orders and priests, bishops, nuns etc.
Going a step further: The advice that she got from the bible is "when u have a problem pray", in other words when you have a problem in ur life do nothing instead of looking for ways to fix it .
That is very harmful depending on the problem the person is facing
Your point is correct. The more time I invested to study and getting historical context of the bible and what was happening around the middle east around Isreal/Judeah, the more it became utterly absurd.
Indeed!
FYI Brandon, some Christian apologists deliberately mispronounce "Paulogia" as a way of disparaging Paul's work.
I did not know that! Lets pretend i did and was clever enough to mock them back by doing so
I just can’t believe those stories are true anymore, whether it be in the Old or New Testament, yet I still go to church and enjoy being with my friends from there at lunch afterwards.
You will do fine on Matt's show. Actually, I find it much, much easier to listen to you. Matt's anger (and I do understand that!) often overshadows the wonderful brilliance of his thinking. I will subscribe here, and thank you.
Thanks so much! Appreciate you being here. I think the show went pretty well
12k subs. cheers!
Starting to really pick up! Thanks!
I totally agree with you. I left Christianity after I read the whole Bible instead of reading only the nice verses cherry picked for me by other Christians.
These videos are a good thing and well made. Please keep it up! We need more rational thinkers in the world.
Thats so kind. Thank you!
If God has chosen people. Where the hell did the other people come from?
Made them just to hate them apparently!
They have to cherry pick because they can't even get through the first chapter without running into accuracy problems.
"And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also." Genesis 1:16
But the moon is not a light, it merely reflects the sun. Unless they want to argue that looking into a mirror creates an alternate version of themselves, they're left with admitting it's not literal.
And dont forget about god creating male and female "twice" on two different days. The first humans he created were made to "replenish" the earth and enjoy it. While adam and eve were made to literally work as slaves to help god because he grew exhausted and needed help 😵💫
Great content, new to the channel and a sub. Very interested in the rest of your content. I was referred by the algorithm via Rationalizing Redemption.
Hey! Welcome and so glad to have you here. Hope you enjoy!
Two hours later: oh! The Paulogia (name pronunciation) thing was a joke!!
Lol!
I guess that was the one thing that kept me reading the anthology back when I was religious - and it might have meant that me eventually becoming an atheist was inevitable. Just so many times I would read a certain passage, go "Holy jumping f^^^ing sh^tballs" or some equivalent, and try to parse out why it was in there, only to fail at parsing it out. Then I would go and learn about the history around it, come back, reread, try again... and fail again.
Ah, Catholicism, where sh^t happens because "you're bad." At least I never fell into evangelicalism ("Send more sh^t"), and I am beyond being tired of hearing from Jehovah's Witnesses ("Knock knock, sh^t happens"). Still, I am glad this wonky anthology ended up pointing me towards atheism ("No sh^t"), though I do feel a little sorry for the Jews ("Why does this sh^t always happen to us?").
I mean, I guess you could respect this anthology for being unapologetic, but given what it would be unapologetic about, you kind of see why apologetics is a thing, though it is not as if the apologetics do even a remotely decent job.
Brandon--you’re an intellectual BADASS.
Ha. Love that. Thanks!
In my adventures with 'studying the bible' with the JWs, this is magnified tenfold. It's always something I had an issue with - either ignoring the Old Testament (when I was Nazarene, then Mormon), only focusing on the Psalms when the Old Testament is looked at, or picking and choosing what verses seem nice out of context.
It's amazing to see just to what lengths people go to ignore their foundational books and focus on the faith. The more I actually read the Bible, the more I understand why they have to.
JWs are the masters at using one verse or even parts of verse leaving .... where parts that don't work are.
They can find a verse for EVERYTHING. Being impatient in the grocery store line, there's a verse for that. Being disappointed your Amazon package didn't come today, yup. Kids watching too much completely innocent non Caleb and Sophia cartoons, there's a verse for that