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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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…
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 👏 👍
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!
"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."
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
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?"???
_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.
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 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.
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.
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!
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.
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 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.
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 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 .
I've been binging as all your content since I found you channel. Thanks for what you do. As a person who spent 2/3 of his life steeped in a myth, I find your content to be very helpful.
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.
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.
I was taught not to read the bible from beginning to end either. It wasn't until this year that I became determined to do it because I was deconstructing and needed to see for myself why I believe what I had believed all my life. Before I finished Exodus, I was completely deconverted from Christianity. I haven't finished Exodus and will not waste another minute of my time or energy on this nonsense. I am fully aware it continues to get worse the farther along you go in the Old Testament so why bother. I have all the reasons I need to trash this destructive belief system. Congrats on growing your channel so fast, Brandon! Can't wait to see these collab vidoes!
@@MindShift-Brandon Yeah - like I realized I was sold an image of a loving, patient, caring God that wanted a personal relationship with me = but I found no evidence of that supported in the book. Instead, I found a sadistic, psychopathological, narcissistic mass-murdering God who did not care one bit for his creation. We've all been lied to and deceived by the leaders of this religion. I appreciate your replies!
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.
Hi! I just wanted to say thank you to people like you and Matt for opening my eyes towards what the truth really is. As a Malaysian who grew up Christian, it’s hard when here, you have so many religions coinciding with each other and how even the constitution states that you have to believe in God. So thank you again! Really looking forward to your call with Matt!
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.
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.
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.
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
I feel so gratified to hear you say these things so clearly. These are thoughts that occur to me regularly (surrounded as I am in the USA by Christianity) and the absolute obviousness of what you are saying, but one so rarely hears, is astounding. I'd like to buy you a cup of tea and just agree with you for a while, for sanity's sake.
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.
Loved the "Found my Car Keys" testimony!! Another great episode. The cherry picking that people (and their pastors) do is mind-boggling, and aggravating
The "Found my Car Keys" really hit home because something similar happened to me. I lost my car keys out in the woods and was really happy to have found them--NOW for the rest of the story/testimony. The reason I was out in the woods was that I was part of a search party who were looking for a lost toddler. He had been playing in a fenced-in yard with other kids while his parents and the other adults were all in the house doing their own thing and not paying attention to what was going on. One of the older children left the gate open when he or she went to use the bathroom, and that was all it took for the little one to get out and disappear. When it was discovered that no one had seen him for quite a while panic set in. the sheriff was called, a call went out for volunteers who searched and searched. Finally a dive team found his body trapped under a ledge in the nearby river. So, I should praise God for finding my lost keys but not the little boy who lost his life?
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.
Yes, as Robert Ingersoll said: "All that is necessary, as it seems to me, to convince any reasonable person that the Bible is simply and purely of human invention, of barbarian invention, is to read it. Read it as you would any other book. Think of it as you would of any other; get the bandage of reverence from your eyes; drive from your heart the phantom of fear; push from the throne of your brain the cowled form of superstition. Then read the Holy Bible, and you will be amazed that you ever, for one moment, supposed a being of infinite wisdom, goodness and purity, to be the author of such ignorance and of such atrocity."
@@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
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.
Saw you on The Line with Matt - good show and you are like a gentle giant so have subscribed and look forward to seeing more of your content. Good luck and keep up the great work. Hugs from beautiful Cape Town, South Africa. x
Brandon!!! You were just magnificent on "The Line" this evening!!! You and Matt Dillahunty have great chemistry, and the broadcast was wonderful! Your keen intelligence, passion for the truth in atheism and genuine sincerity radiated from the screen, and it was impossible not to be impressed by your contribution. I know you will be invited again, and you just gained a ton new supporters because of it. I am so proud of you, and I know you will go far. All my best, Glenn
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.
OMG! This is the second video in a row that I have watched of yours, and I found myself thinking, “I bet Matt Dillahunty would like this guy!” So when you said you would be on his show tomorrow night (that I regularly watch), I totally freaked out! I know you’ll be great, and I will most definitely be watching! Between the various calls-in shows and monthly Zoom chats Jimmy has for patrons of The Line, I’ve talked to him a few times, and what I love about him is that like he says, he’s a very “real” person. I really love the straightforward logical approach you both take when deconstructing religious viewpoints. You’ve got a new subscriber with me, and I’ll be watching tomorrow!
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.
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 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 👍🏼😁
New to the channel, and really appreciating the acknowledgement at around 5:20-ish that the Tanakh ("Old Testament") God actually *isn't* depicted as all-powerful. I hear so many people just saying "If he's so all-powerful, then why ...
I'm new to this channel, and the content is gem to value. You've make an excellent assessment and in depth explanation base on rationality, reason and critical thinking. Thanks for this awesomely excellent video, you're doing a great job, fellow Heathen!
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
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!
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 😵💫
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.
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.
You treat 'the lady' with praise and respect and do not mock her. I love you for this.
Appreciate that. Thanks for watching
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.
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 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.
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'
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!
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!
"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."
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
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?"???
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.
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 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.
This channel is gonna blow up.
That is very kind. Waiting patiently lol
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 👍
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.
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!
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!
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 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
2 hands helping are always better than 2 hands praying.
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 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
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've been binging as all your content since I found you channel. Thanks for what you do. As a person who spent 2/3 of his life steeped in a myth, I find your content to be very helpful.
Glad to hear its useful and thank you so much for the kind words and for being here.
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.
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.
Congrats on the collabs, you deserve it and earned it.
Thank you!
Buddy you are my hero. Kudos!!!
Too kind, thank you!
I was taught not to read the bible from beginning to end either. It wasn't until this year that I became determined to do it because I was deconstructing and needed to see for myself why I believe what I had believed all my life. Before I finished Exodus, I was completely deconverted from Christianity. I haven't finished Exodus and will not waste another minute of my time or energy on this nonsense. I am fully aware it continues to get worse the farther along you go in the Old Testament so why bother. I have all the reasons I need to trash this destructive belief system.
Congrats on growing your channel so fast, Brandon! Can't wait to see these collab vidoes!
Isnt it amazing what just reading that damn book can show! And thank you!
@@MindShift-Brandon Yeah - like I realized I was sold an image of a loving, patient, caring God that wanted a personal relationship with me = but I found no evidence of that supported in the book. Instead, I found a sadistic, psychopathological, narcissistic mass-murdering God who did not care one bit for his creation. We've all been lied to and deceived by the leaders of this religion. I appreciate your replies!
🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
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!
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!
Can’t wait to see you on the hang up! 👍🏿
Thank you!
Hi! I just wanted to say thank you to people like you and Matt for opening my eyes towards what the truth really is. As a Malaysian who grew up Christian, it’s hard when here, you have so many religions coinciding with each other and how even the constitution states that you have to believe in God. So thank you again! Really looking forward to your call with Matt!
Thank you so much for that!
Just curious, not interested in picking a fight, but where in the U.S. Constitution does it state that *_"you have to believe in God."_*
@@stryker1195I wasn’t referring to the US one, I was referring to the Malaysian one.
Good luck with your colabs and your coming appearance on The Line tomorrow; I'll be sure to check it out.
Thanks so much!
Congrats on the upcoming collabs! We're looking forward to them!
Thank you!
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!
Another excellent video! I really appreciate your style, you are informing without attacking.
Thanks so much for that!
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!
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!
Thought about this exact topic on the drive home today. Nice to see others think of it too.
Thanks for watching
12k subs. cheers!
Starting to really pick up! Thanks!
Great video Brandon! Cherry-picking via pre-texting is so convenient for (often) well meaning Christians.
Thanks, Chas!
This is so on point!
Thank you!
I'm excited for the collabs! Awesome stuff!
Thanks!
Excellent, glad you’re getting platformed with Matt and Paulogia🤩
Thank you, me too!
Brandon--you’re an intellectual BADASS.
Ha. Love that. Thanks!
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.
Congrats on the collabs, friend. You will definitely fit right in with the big dogs!
Thank you! Excited
Have a good safe trip. Will miss you, but will continue to watch other videos on your station.
Thanks for that!
Enjoy your vacation! Thank YOU for your content.
Thanks!
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!
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
Love your work, great points, keep pushing your message.
Thank you!
Almost at 10K more than a week ago? Man you really exploded with almost 5K more, and that makes me happy. Great videos Brandon, keep them coming!
Your comments are so kind. Thank you for them all!
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 feel so gratified to hear you say these things so clearly. These are thoughts that occur to me regularly (surrounded as I am in the USA by Christianity) and the absolute obviousness of what you are saying, but one so rarely hears, is astounding. I'd like to buy you a cup of tea and just agree with you for a while, for sanity's sake.
Oh man i hear that! It is at least nice to find people or groups that can help normalize what we think too! Thank you!
Good job, buddy. Glad to have you on the team.
Ha! 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
Loved the "Found my Car Keys" testimony!! Another great episode. The cherry picking that people (and their pastors) do is mind-boggling, and aggravating
Thank you, Francis. It really is wild and its amazing how so many of them really dont see it
The "Found my Car Keys" really hit home because something similar happened to me. I lost my car keys out in the woods and was really happy to have found them--NOW for the rest of the story/testimony. The reason I was out in the woods was that I was part of a search party who were looking for a lost toddler. He had been playing in a fenced-in yard with other kids while his parents and the other adults were all in the house doing their own thing and not paying attention to what was going on. One of the older children left the gate open when he or she went to use the bathroom, and that was all it took for the little one to get out and disappear. When it was discovered that no one had seen him for quite a while panic set in. the sheriff was called, a call went out for volunteers who searched and searched. Finally a dive team found his body trapped under a ledge in the nearby river. So, I should praise God for finding my lost keys but not the little boy who lost his life?
@@theresemalmberg955oh my god… that is just horrible.y heart goes out to that toddler’s family.
REALLY looking forward to listening to you and Matt tomorrow night!
Thank you!
You did an awesome job on The Hang Up. You’ve got another subscriber sir!
Keep up the good work.
Oh that’s excellent to hear. Thank you and welcome
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.
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.
Great show, keep up the good work!
Thank you!
Yay! I love paulogia, I’m glad you’re collaborating with him!
Me too! Really excited for the part im covering too
Yes, as Robert Ingersoll said: "All that is necessary, as it seems to me, to convince any reasonable person that the Bible is simply and purely of human invention, of barbarian invention, is to read it. Read it as you would any other book. Think of it as you would of any other; get the bandage of reverence from your eyes; drive from your heart the phantom of fear; push from the throne of your brain the cowled form of superstition. Then read the Holy Bible, and you will be amazed that you ever, for one moment, supposed a being of infinite wisdom, goodness and purity, to be the author of such ignorance and of such atrocity."
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 😂😂😂
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
I could see your channel getting up there with Alex O'Connor and the Genetically Modified Skeptic. You've got the potential.
Thank you for that! I love them both
That’s awesome dude. You in the big league now. Proud of you
Thank you!
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!
O-M-G!! Matt and Paul. Two of my favorites!!!!!!!!!!!
Pretty geeked myself!
Saw you on The Line with Matt - good show and you are like a gentle giant so have subscribed and look forward to seeing more of your content. Good luck and keep up the great work. Hugs from beautiful Cape Town, South Africa. x
Thats lovely. Thank you so much
Brandon!!! You were just magnificent on "The Line" this evening!!! You and Matt Dillahunty have great chemistry, and the broadcast was wonderful! Your keen intelligence, passion for the truth in atheism and genuine sincerity radiated from the screen, and it was impossible not to be impressed by your contribution. I know you will be invited again, and you just gained a ton new supporters because of it. I am so proud of you, and I know you will go far. All my best, Glenn
Oh man. That means so much. I was very nervous, ha. Thank you for this generous feedback!
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!
Wow, so cool that you get to meet Matt in person. Good luck : D
Notifications: ON
Well virtually, but yes!
OMG! This is the second video in a row that I have watched of yours, and I found myself thinking, “I bet Matt Dillahunty would like this guy!”
So when you said you would be on his show tomorrow night (that I regularly watch), I totally freaked out!
I know you’ll be great, and I will most definitely be watching!
Between the various calls-in shows and monthly Zoom chats Jimmy has for patrons of The Line, I’ve talked to him a few times, and what I love about him is that like he says, he’s a very “real” person.
I really love the straightforward logical approach you both take when deconstructing religious viewpoints.
You’ve got a new subscriber with me, and I’ll be watching tomorrow!
That is all so very kind. Thank you and welcome!
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.
Once again, Brannin, great topic and great presentation. Keep up the great work.
Thanks, Jeff!
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 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!
New to the channel, and really appreciating the acknowledgement at around 5:20-ish that the Tanakh ("Old Testament") God actually *isn't* depicted as all-powerful. I hear so many people just saying "If he's so all-powerful, then why ...
never thought you'd have a collab with Trent Horn, good for you👍
Looking forward to it!
@@MindShift-BrandonJust as a joke, try to use the Jedi Mind Trick on him!😅
Congrats on the collabs mayne!
Thanks so much!
I'm new to this channel, and the content is gem to value. You've make an excellent assessment and in depth explanation base on rationality, reason and critical thinking. Thanks for this awesomely excellent video, you're doing a great job, fellow Heathen!
love this, thanks so much for your kindness and for being here!
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
Congrats on your collabs! You're moving up!
Love this channel, hope it really takes off!
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
Loved the 'Paulogia' mispronunciation bit 😂 a love letter to skeptics.
oh! my! glob! i've been thinking about you, Matt, Jimmy getting on the line together! will definitely be watching! 😂
Thanks, April!
You deserve it congrats!!!🎉🎉
Really appreciate that. Thanks!
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?!
Nice of Trent for the reply in your vid. It would be great if it resulted in some good conversation. I hope it goes well for you.
Thanks. Id love to cover other topics than this with him but yes hopefully a launching off point.
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 😵💫