I live in Utah. So many ex-Mormons love the Truman Show because of how accurate it portrays living in a world built on deception where you are constantly being lied to and gaslight so you never question or leave.
Exmo here. The movie is definitely poignant as an exmormon, but it was also popular in my group of Molly Mormons/Peter Priesthoods growing up. I think we viewed it as an allegory of conversion AWAY from the world of atheism and finding reality WITHIN Christianity. Of course, we were born into the cult and had never had a reason to learn about what "they" believed, unless it was from other fellow cultists, and they told us that atheists were self-deceived gaslighting liars. The movie is so much more shallow with that interpretation because Truman leaves the Creator behind when he leaves the movie set behind, but to us, that just gave it an air of mystery that we loved. Little did we know...
I was raised Catholic for 18 years, a lot of what’s shown here is pretty extreme. Most of the sermons I received were just about being a good person, it’s a lot of the other stuff that lost me. There’s pastors out there talking crazy but there’s also ones with good messages based in everyday life.
A lot of stuff did when I was still... I guess trying to believe? Or I did, but I didn't believe a lot? I dunno, but it's been one of the 'easiest' parts once I actually stepped away. I was able to drop all that 'omg everything is a sin and you have to feel guilty for xyz and abc' 'I don't really like what they're preaching, but... i mean, its god so...?' stuff basically right away. I already had problems with it and it made no freaking sense... at least that's one thing that was simple. Too bad hell isn't just as easy for me. >..< for my christian circles, I think its like, 'oh they're 'good', but they're not doing it 'for god' so therefore it doesn't matter,' morality/whatever type stuff, which I was always just like. What? The fuck? So many people are 'better' than christians yet they'll be doomed to hell and they're not ACTUALLY 'moral' because it's not 'god' that its centered in?????
@@MrRyan-wu4jx Problem is Catholicism and Christianity require insane beliefs to properly observe them. In the context of the religions themselves sermons of *just be good lol* are ineffective and not enough. It's the biggest problem with religion as a whole is you end up basing your world view on a pov from 1000's of years ago that really doesn't fit in modern day Which is why they also preach against "worldliness" because if they knew how the world worked and all the nice things they miss out on or who they hurt by those beliefs they'd begin to question this
@@LainWithSweetTea Christianity is defined as nothing more than following the teachings of Jesus, you don’t even have to believe he was god or whatever to be Christian. There are a number of alternative congregations throughout the world that do exactly that, just focus on the good he preached.
honestly I believe that Christianity (at least in the way it's taught to me and many others) could be considered grooming for abusive relationships, especially for young women. You're inherently flawed, must put your own desires aside at all times, etc...
Spiritual nihilism says you were not born with a divine purpose, but you make your own purpose. I find that a million times more empowering than "Obey first, then love."
All other beliefs say what people want to hear; that you can find purpose, hope, joy, and salvation apart from God. Christianity is the only religion that dares to say that you are hopeless on your own. Christianity is the only religion that dares to say that there is power in weakness. Christianity is the only religion that dares to mention punishment for the wicked. In addition, Christianity has MUCH more evidence compared to New Ageism and spiritual nihilism, with no physical, statistical, or historical evidence whatsoever.
@@estevanvasquez9733 Not to put too fine a point on it, but: how the hell would you know? Are you a theologist? Christianity purposely dissuades asking questions, especially about other religions. You're also mistaking spiritual nihilism for religion, when it's a theological stance, so thanks for proving your own ignorance. The idea that other religions came up with punishments for the wicked, power in weakness, etc. you wouldn't know anyway. There are religions that do all the things you mentioned that predate Christianity, and I doubt that you know the influence of Zoroastrianism or Hellenistic Judaism or Manichaeism on Christianity, let alone what syncretism is. And what evidence? You can't even prove God exists, let alone that the Christian God is that God. Oh, wow, you have a Bronze Age set of patriarchal, monotheistic morals? Congratulations, you're one of three major ones created in that area. Not the one, the only, one of three. Don't mistake your ignorance as as good as my knowledge. You have no idea what you're talking about, and that's the Dunning-Kruger effect.
After I left Christianity, my mom asked me if it was because I just wanted to "sin" all they time without feeling guilty. I wasn't as well-versed as I am now, and really wish I would have asked her to define sin. But, the conversation evolved into the Abraham and Isaac story where god commanded Abraham to kill Isaac. I asked her if she truly believed god commanded her to kill me - her child - if she would do it. I'll never forget the look on her face or the way she tried to rationalize her way out of it by saying, "things were different in Bible times." I basically stood up and said, "I win the morality portion of this conversation." The god of the Bible is not a moral or just being. It's pretty incredible to look back through the Atheist lens and realize the brainwashing it took to read passages from the Bible where countless people are slaughtered at god's command and NOT feel human feelings about that, but rather feel like they deserved it for disobeying god.
God did that as a test (he can resurrect people). He wouldn't let Isaac die. He then let a heifer die in Isaac's place. If Elon Musk said I'm going to teach you how to become a billionaire but first give your house, all your clothes and items away to prove yourself, would you do it? Musk could obviously buy you a new house and clothes or even buy your old ones back. He would just want to see if your committed. Why should he bother teaching you when don't believe that he can help you become rich? Isaac was a miracle baby born to Sarah in her 90's and that's why God chose to use Isaac as a test because he was the most precious thing Abraham owned similar to the house example being the most valuable thing to you. Your mum was right, that was then, now is now- the 10 commandments hadn't even existed. In the end if you want something greater you need to show commitment which sometimes requires sacrifice. In the end you don't have to accept in the first place, God didn't force Abraham but for his faith he was given way more. Musk won't scrutinize you if you reject him teaching you how to become rich but at the end of the day it's your loss. Keep your house. He'll find those who want to join him.
@@malachaiuys711 I grew up going to Christian School, church on Sunday and small groups on Wednesday and Saturday nights. I've heard your argument before. This was a "test of faith" but God NEVER would have actually commanded Abraham to go through with it! But, what about the times God did command his armies to "dash babies heads against the rocks?" Your Elon Musk argument doesn't work for this example in my opinion either. I would willingly give up my home, clothes, you name it, if someone was threatening the life of a family member. Those items can all be bought back. You can't buy a life back. If you asked me to kill my partner so that I may become rich, I'd tell you where you can stick it. Wouldn't it be messed up if I grabbed a kitchen knife and went for it, only to prove to you how much I want to be rich? I appreciate your comment and I hope my response makes sense.
I remember having a discussion with my mother several years ago when I was starting to learn to think for myself, we got into a debate about morality and how I found it weird that so many Christians think that God has to be indicative of a moral compass when there are so many good Atheists out there. Mom tended to argue that it laid the groundwork for the moral compass and that just always felt...wrong to me. Something I remember sticking out to me ever since I was a child was playing with my Pokémon plushies and I wanted both of them to be girls, but also be married, so I mentioned in that world girls could marry girls and boys could marry boys and then my parents sat me aside and had the "big gay bad" talk with me. Just goes to show that hating those things is NOT inherent like religion wants you to believe, but rather it's taught.
take it one step further..i always tell christians that my morals have far surpassed those of the sexist slaveloving homophobic god of the bible...ive never drowned a child for example..as a whole we are far more moral than the god of the bible
@@iampostal Morality definitely has changed and adapted a lot for the better as time has passed. Having grown up in the faith myself, I try to be empathetic to those I talk to because I remember the mindset I used to have. I've been able to talk to my mother more about it and she is able to see my perspective now on the issue. A lot of Christians are genuinely good people who I believe try their best to be loving humans as best as they know how as taught by their religion. They also have grown up in a time where a lot of the morals of the Bible aren't really even commonplace now so they don't think about how the lives they're living actually differ very heavily from what would be considered the proper lifestyle in its texts.
In a computer ethics class I took they explicitly mentioned at least three sources you could use to get ethics: religion, laws, and classic ethical frameworks. But in the class we only ever used the frameworks because laws and religion end up being conversation stoppers and often result in weaker arguments Which honestly makes sense using your same sex marriage example. At one point it was against the law and it is against some religions. But when you view it from a framework perspective there's virtually no downside. Religion and law would stop the conversation and try to dominate it. Frameworks look over multiple view points
@@xenonsan3110 I was a part of a parliamentary debate team in college, even became the president at my community college. A large focus of it was casting aside any preconceived notions or long standing biases and learning to be able to discuss and argue from any sides of an argument as you were only given 15 minutes to read up and prepare on a topic you had to debate about, as well as finding out what side you'll be on right before the topic was announced. It really helped with opening up my mind to listening to different view points and taking various different arguments into account. Framework was a large part of it as well. I think it would heavily benefit people if they took time to learn how to discuss topics from a view outside of their own, even if they continue to disagree with it. Empathy is a powerful tool and opening yourself up to it can do wonders for taking steps towards becoming a better person.
@@eustacemuthii6209 it seems that God is not the problem. But it is us. And our viewpoint in what the church is. Why are we so scared of loosing more Christians when in fact God told us that the end is certain? let us loose our Christians. That is okay
@@eustacemuthii6209 you missed the point immensely. You seemed to have just repeated what this person said. “To not fear” but you said nothing about programming w fear
@@eustacemuthii6209 He was talking about the constant installment of fear that a Christian parent might put into their child. I don't speak from experience on this specific matter though, as my parents were very laid back and forgiving of my many mistakes. But I've seen friends break down slowly because their parents always taught them what they thought was wrong in their minds, basically brainwashing their children into becoming a ball of repressed thoughts and feelings that would eventually just leave religion all together.
@@C.Song07 my mom even said to me that I do not have a choice on whether or not I go to church. I hope that one day she realizes that the more something is pushed on me, the more I’m pushed away
I’ve been a conservative Christian for all my life, and just in the last year, I have truly questioned everything. My bubble popped after I graduated high school and now I am just very confused in my future, relationships, and life in general. Thank you for making this channel, it’s helped me in more ways than one ☺️
I relate very much to this. I grew up in a very conservative Christian environment, and now that I'm in college I have left the faith. It is very confusing, especially now that I have to figure out my own life instead of relying on what was given to me (AKA "God's plan"). I have to figure out my career, my relationships, my relationship with myself, and what I want to strive towards as a person. It's like I'm having to rewrite my life again. So I wish you the best of luck on your journey towards figuring it all out, cuz I know its a struggle :)
You dodged a bullet. My childhood faith continued through college and seminary, and 20 years in ministry. I had to constantly push churches to build houses and food banks. We did millions of dollars of good, with great people. But I wondered why it was such a struggle. I finally went back to community college and studied math and science. Now a happy atheist.
One thing that has comforted me as I have moved away from Christianity is the idea that the universe has never changed, and doesn’t depend on my beliefs. God is and will always be, whether God (the ultimate nature/foundation of the universe) is an agent with a will or an agentless set of laws governing a physical universe. I personally suspect there is a spiritual dimension in the universe, but even if there isn’t, I still get to live in a universe that is so much bigger than me, I still get to be in “God’s universe” as I always have been (which gives me some of the ‘Father comfort’ I lived with in Christianity). Reality doesn’t break, reality doesn’t suddenly become empty and meaningless. It is as it always has been, and that comforts me.
@@ElvishShellfish With respect for your beliefs, but could you please check out the idea that the Universe has never changed. The evidence is very clear that even on the tiny speck of matter we call Earth there is constant change, whilst if you look into the skies the evidence from other Galaxies is also of constant change. In that context the word 'God' is simply a convenient construct for 'I Don't Know (yet!)'.
I would prefer a world without the kind of religion that Christianity is. There are several other religion which fit the bill. A mistake we make as Western secular atheists, however, is thinking that all religions emphasize belief and doctrinal thought in the same way that Christianity and Islam do. There are even some religions out there which are barely distinguishable at all from cultural traditions, without emphasizing belief much at all. Shinto, for instance, is primarily a set of cultural rituals which is connected only loosely to some ancient superstitions sometimes, for some people. Anyways ... My point is that it's not necessarily indoctrination we are talking about, so much as culture when we're talking about religions. And it's painful if not impossible for many people to leave their own culture behind.
@Andrew J. Lewis i think is knowledge. World knowledge, history, science, etc. Being very curious helps a lot. Im atheist, but the earth God exist, is called the sun.
@@ems7623 old comment but I wanna share my bit anyways: In my part of the world, this is how Christianity is treated (or has been taught to me): as Folklore. My home village literally has a statue of Satan in the town square because of a village folk tale. I watch channels like these because I'm impressed how seriously people take this stuff. Imagine growing up "Believing" in Santa knowing it's not *really* real just to find out there are cults completely indoctrinated to worshipping him as an adult. That's wild.
@@snaggledog0079 Well yeah thats probably why religions started in the first place, some con artist making up stories then people wanting to believe them
Having hope and validation only come from outside is a very dangerous and toxic, and religion tries to glorify it. It's especily bad when that hope has no foundation in reality.
I was viewing Kay Kerr’s comments sections the other day and there are legitimately people on this planet that think Donald Trump is still president because God made it so or something. I don’t know how these people function as adults in this world with such a demented take on reality but they do.
Having hope and happiness as an outside validation means that anyone can run out the clock on your life while l dangling you in front of it I imagine the shock as some of these people start to realize they aren't really going to heaven. I wonder if that may not be the most horrible thing one human being can do to another: lie to them their entire life about something that will never happen afterwards
I felt exactly like this when I was a secret atheist going to church camp. I found out that like half of the girls were already agnostic. Also, I made friends with this girl who was queer like me but had no way of expressing it. We even had a counselor in his 50s that said "if I could wish for anything, I would wish to be a woman" It was a weird place
This isn't a personal statement but just what I hear from others about Jesus camp, it tends to be a place where all of those that are falling out of the faith find a connection with others and decide that is the time to leave Christianity
@@liammccullough3190 Ah, I see. I can't say I've seen exactly that happen, and I would imagine people who are on the fence would be drawn in at church camp through spiritual experiences and the like.
Contrary to what a lot of Christians seem to say, I think morality is even more powerful outside of faith. The way I see it, as an atheist, my morals and the way I treat people comes from a fundamental respect for humanity. I’m not trying to get in good with a deity so I can have a cool afterlife, I try to live my life in a way that helps people simply because *people are inherently worthy of respect and kindness* Edit: I wanted to bold the last bit
I love your point. It highlights everything that is wrong with most religions. Doing the deeds or reciting the magic words to inherit eternal life. Although I remain religious, having always been an outsider to the majority has given me more prospective. I always thought I had more in common with Christians than atheists, but after learning just how horrifying Calvinist theology really is I've discovered I have more in common with those that leave the faith then have stayed. They worship power, not love.
As someone who was raised in the church, it's not that they believe that you need to be a moral person so that you can achieve heaven. (Keep in mind, I disagree) They simply believe that only god can prove absolute morality. Their viewpoint doesn't leave any room for philosophy to explain the rights of living things. Now obviously non-religious people can fully understand that the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness don't require a god. For some reason though, those that subscribe to a religion can't seem to grasp that the rights of other beings still matter even in an atheist philosophy.
Indeed, when you're following a deity's list of rules of what you should and shouldn't do, you're not acting as a moral free-thinking agent, you are merely being *obedient* in order to escape a punishment/get a reward.
Further, if life on earth is all there i for us, we've got incentive to make that life as good as possible. A lot of Christians don't worry so much about this life. They believe they've got an eternal "get out of hell free" card because they said the magic words, regardless of how awful they've behaved toward others in this life.
yeah the debate of morality is just silly. does it hurt someone to do this? yes? don't do it. no need for stories from thousands of years ago to tell me that.
I've been quite religious and rightist until i turned like 15. Trust me, when you're religious, your mind functions differently. Throughout the years of indoctrination you learn to subconsciously suppress some facts you learn because they go against your religion's teachings. You also learn to be able to have two conflicting ideas simultaneously. Like doublethink in "1984". For example God is love, love is not jealous and god is jealous. God says "do not kill" but then commands Israelites to slaughter entire cities. Evolution is a fact but you also have to believe in the creation myth. You shall "love thy neighbor" but not if they are gay, born from an unmarried couple, disabled, wear mixed fabric or worship another god. Earth is obviously spherical but you also have to believe in Bible's flat earth story.
@@AtheistEve It has something to do with it. I got one life and I'll do what I want to make it as pleasurable for myself as I can, don't really care if others get in the way. Why should I?
the truman show was definitely the perfect analogy of walking out on religion. that was his entire world and experience because of the people around him telling him what reality was. And in the end it had to be the decision of staying with the false life with the phony relationships you had before and living like the truth didn't matter or accepting the truth and finding meaningful, fulfilling, honest relationships.
There's one of those megapastors, William Lane Craig I believe, who I hear about as saying if life isn't eternal because of God, it has no meaning. That strikes me as just about the most insecure thing imaginable.
@Zach Watren red letter media and Marcus rodgers have outright called this movie a new age satanic mind controlling propaganda even though the director is a christian. You can search them both up on youtube. Especially red letter media who comes for alot of media such as anime. It us weird
My wife, kids and 98%, of all the people I know, think I'm arrogant and proud because I took charge of my life, thoughts and actions. It's not arrogance to admit I don't believe everything they claim to know absolutely. Life should be a continuous journey of learning, religion had me believing I already had the answers, but religion is wrong, so wrong! Great video!
The latter part of your comment has just reminded me of a particular Bruce Lee quote: "Life itself is your teacher, and you are in a state of constant learning." Bruce Lee was one of the famous people featured, along with that quote, on a mural made for the college campus at which I studied in my second academic year at that college. It was a class project, and I was one of the contributors.
Yea it was clever but honestly it wasn't necessary in my opinion. People got the idea of what he was trying to say. He made a slip of logic in that brief moment but it did nothing to affect his argument
Same here. It helped me get through depression when I finally said I don’t believe this shit anymore. It allowed me to actually take control instead of praying that I’d get better.
"Without God life has no purpose" And what's wrong with that? Can't you just live your life to your fullest and make a career out of what you like doing the most? If anything I'd rather live in a world where I find my own purpose instead of have it preordained by some obscure higher power.
The thing is humans are pretty much one of the only species on this planet that not only questions how or why we got here, but will go to any length to get the answers they desire. It's why in our early history as truly cognitive beings, religion was integral towards understanding ourselves. Even if it was mostly illogical, religion developed as a way to answer questions about ourselves, such as that of why we're here and what our purpose is. We not only desire to have such meaning, but we crave and demand it. Even today, as arguably more logical and rational societies, 21st century humans still need some answer as to why we're here and what we're supposed to be doing with our time on earth. We just understand on a far greater level that it doesn't have to be for religious, or even moral reasons. The thing is we're so afraid of there being just no reason. The sad byproduct about being able to contemplate our very existences is a great amount of anxiety is brought forth. And whether religion satisfies those anxieties is perhaps a lot less individualistic than we'd like it to be.
I'm not sure I even follow the logic of the initial argument. Why would the absence of God render life meaningless in the first place? Seems like circular reasoning to me or even psychological projection ('Life without a sky-daddy is meaningless to _me_ so it must be meaningless to everyone else too')
Purpose is something we create - nothing more or less: if I declare my purpose in life is play “whack-a-mole” for 17 hours a day, then that’s my purpose.
@@themadhattress5008 Realistically Dolphins and Whales Do, but there's no way of knowing because we can only understand them through their actions we can't speak to them yet
“Gods are fragile things, they may be killed by a whiff of Science or a dose of common sense. They thrive on servility and shrink before independence. They feed upon worship as kings do upon flattery. That is why the cry of gods at all times is “Worship us or perish”.” - Chapman Cohen
When I became interested in existentialism, it occurred to me that religion does not address existential questions; it evades them. Pretending that you have answers without the existential burden of doubt ultimately is a dead end. "The unexamined life is not worth living."--Socrates
I'm honestly so glad that this channel exists, it's been rough trying to unlearn a lot of the false realities taught by the bible. You guys are really helping. Thank you!
Dude you're bringing so much light and understanding to life, helping me process my religious upbringing better than I ever have before. Anytime anything of yours shows up in the feed, it's an instant watch. Keep up the good work! You're gonna explode one of these days.
Have you hear of TheraminTrees? He did some great videos. Judging by his comment, they managed to help a lot of people, so maybe they'll be able to help you or somebody you know.
I've been struggling with guilt and similar feelings since leaving Christianity, I really appreciate your videos. They are very humanizing, I appreciate materials aimed towards those who grew up Christian without talking down to them -- a lot of Christians aren't stupid, they've just been indoctrinated and emotionally abused by the faith they grew up in.
I'm glad that all of these guys who were never atheists have all the explanations of what it means to be and how it feels to be an atheist. Whew, what would we do without them? Edit: Also, do they really not realize that our lives, if there were a creator, would essentially be meaningless as well? It's not like god would need us for some reason.
For that last part, I was always taught that humans were made to worship God (actively, and also as trophies as a testament of God's power), and a Christian's purpose is to serve God (the specifics being undefined other than evangelizing) In the end, it takes away any real agency a person had in defining themselves and their purpose, filling it in with vague comments about what "serving God" means, which leaves a gaping wide hole for all sorts of bullshit to be shoved in, either by the person or the doctrine they subscribe to (usually the doctrine).
That last part is something not enough people think about, that "If there's a god, this life is worthless" since the only thing that should matter is the afterlife (and even then, they're pretty meaningless but that's another topic) and this life is only stalling you from getting to it. Yet a lot of Christians won't forgo their house, possessions, money, and such to try and spread the word or feed the homeless and help the less privleged. Yet they seem to hold onto everything physical like this life is the only thing that matters to them. Strange.
the truth is your life has no purpose until you give it some purpose. It is an inside job. but you don't need a magical friend to do it. In fact your magical friend may be the problem.
Mister Auctor, close your wide hanging open mouth. Ronald Logan doesn't have to believe in a disembodied entity in the sky who seeks to control his behavior. If you do, that's your prerogative, your choice. Not his. This is Free Will.
Exactly! It's ok for there to me no inherent meaning or purpose to our lives. We are ultimately totally insignificant, and that's ok too. Life is simply what you make it. THEY cannot handle understand.
I think an ultimately insignificant life in an infinite universe is kind of beautiful and calming to think about. We define our purpose and value for ourselves, we don't have a path or a meaning, so we can make our own.
Absolutely. And all the horrors and awful things of the world, like wars, disease and death ultimately don't matter and aren't eternal. We should worry about them, obviously, but it's calming to think that it will all be left in the past one day
I think one of the most comforting things to me is that life has no purpose. There is nothing I really need to be feeling. No expectations. No grand deadlines.
I love you bringing up the Truman Show during this. It encapsulates the escape from religious indoctrination so well with its themes for me. It's not everyone's experience but for me who was raised religious and got out of it, Truman's voyage, his simultaneous defiance and acceptance of death during the storm, and escaping the manufactured reality around him by literally crashing into the wall of actual reality is a very powerful allegory. We are only free when we seek knowledge and truth of our own accord.
No joke, I watched The Truman Show 3 times last week after rediscovering it, and all I could think about were comparisons to evangelicalism. Then this popped into my feed a week later.
Such a good video as always! Just about everything resonates with me here The main thing I think I’ve GAINED from leaving faith is a sense of control over my life, the ability to be happy and take pride in things for myself without feeling guilty, not feeling like I’m a “bad Christian” because I’m accepting of others religions, sexualities, identities, etc., and over-all not fearing the end of things. Be it life or good things that happen in it. Not feeling like “the lord gives and takes away” but rather “sometimes good things happen, sometimes bad things happen. I just gotta roll with the punches and figure out how I can make the good things happen more and the bad things happen less for myself and those around me. I was terrified to challenge my faith for a long time, but since I finally started last year around this time, it’s honestly the best decision I ever made. For anyone on the fence, please take that first step. After all. Truth is only going to remain true when looking into evidence right. Take care, and to anyone reading this comment. Know that you are loved and worthy of love. ✌🏻🖤
Fun fact: while Jupiter is technically a "gas giant" there is a hypothesis that the heaviest molecules -- carbon-based -- have migrated or fallen to the planet's center or "core" which is subject to incredibly intense pressures, due to Jupiter having significantly greater total mass than that of Earth (local Jupiter gravity is about 6 Gs). In his novel "2010: Odyssey Two" author Arthur C. Clarke theorized that this resulted in the heart of Jupiter being the biggest, heaviest diamond in the Solar System!
Dude I understand. I have GAD and I was told to be careful b/c the medication could cause addiction. I was terrified I would become addicted. Like you, the irony was totally lost on me.
The nihalisim in knowing that life is "meaningless" (Not with a predescribed meaning) actually helps my anxiety and depression alot. We're all making it up, Everyone just assumes they are the main character so really no one is. 🤙
@@ohwow7423 That's why I love the concept. If you think everything is meaningless, bad things don't matter all that much, but it doesn't necesearily stop you from enjoying the good stuff. It's like saying, you're watching a movie, and you know that at the end of the day that movie doesn't matter, but that doesn't mean you don't enjoy it while it lasts. --> Kind of similar to what the video said about things not being important because they last forever, but rather because they're happeining now.
@@Alverant ooooh that’s actually a good comeback, a doughnut with filling in the middle is usually soggy, messy and never has as much filling as you want
One day I went to a youth group at my local church, and they taught about friendship. Not just any friendship; church friendship. They said that the friends you have outside of the church are worse than the ones you have inside, and that you should keep your church friends closer than your other friends. I was told to only ever go to the church, and by extension, my church friends for help. I don’t know why this rubs me wrong exactly, but it almost feels like they want to stop any outside connections that could introduce outside ideas in a subtle “we’re not a cult” way.
This hits home hard. I was told Christian friends are your true forever friends. Well let's just say, I learned a very valuable life lesson on what friendship is according to the church. At least in how they treated me. Friends are people who see you at Youth Group events, talk to you about how your week (but actually care to know how your really feeling), sing with you at worship time, tell you how to fix your problems the "Christian way", and then completely ignore you the rst of the time. Never call, text, remember your birthday, invite you anything that they invited everyone else to, and all around treat you like an after thought when they're not preaching about how you should live your life. At least that's how I was treated. They didn't seem to treat eachother that way. It's just sad I didn't see it til I practically left the church.
4:39 this is so true for me. In the past, whenever I felt sad, I always felt like crap because i was supposed to be in a constant state of happiness since God was always with me or somthing. Coming to terms and better acknowledging my feelings has really made me feel better instead of constantly beating myself up for not being grateful
Life without god has no purpose? Great. I don't need purpose, it's a useless burden. I'd much rather live a life I want to live than live a life someone chose for me.
Don't forget: questioning your faith is not "dangerous". If the pursuit of truth were harmful to faith in God, then that kind of means that faith in God is based on falsehoods. Christians should be urging people to question their faith every day, if they truly believe what they say they do. Instead, they urge people to go back to the Bible and rely on faith. What are they so scared of?
When my husband died, it was my atheist friends who stood by and saw me through, with generosity and patience.. The few "christians" still in my circle either ghosted me right from the get-go, or kept telling me stuff like "Don't grieve - he's with god" or "It's part of the plan" and at the time, those words were so invalidating and hurtful.
Your videos are so well-made and helpful, particularly for those of us dealing with that religious trauma! Thanks for making them! Not sure if you take suggestions, but I'd be really interested to see your take on gender roles within Christianity. Whether it has to do with identity, sexuality, expectations, or whatever, I feel that men and women both get specific and restrictive messaging that's helpful to break down. Just a thought though!
I'm a Wiccan..I have friends who are Atheists...Christians, Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus...I thank the All for my diverse group of friends who challenge my thinking on a daily basis...if you only have ppl around you who agree with you, that's not a friendship...it's an echo chamber.
my husband and i get so excited when you come out with a new video! thanks for all your hard work in these videos, they’re awesome! also, that donut part made me want a donut too.
Thank you so much for sharing your experience of walking away from the church both in this video and others. It's been a sanity check for my own journey.
I love your essay videos. The mental health one got me hooked and now I'm almost entirely through your backlog of podcasts. You really have a knack for the essay format though, keep up the good work.
haven’t started the video yet but i need this. i’m ex SDA and it’s overwhelming how much of my life was church related. covid made leaving the church less difficult but now that things are back, my mom has been going and people from there keep calling me. “why aren’t you in church?” “i better see you next saturday!” “stop sleeping in, you need to be at worship with your mother!” the worst part is, they don’t realize the harm. i feel guilty about everything i do. my parents don’t help but at least they leave me alone for the most part. last week, i was otp w my dad and he was telling me how ‘God won’t help you if you don’t believe in him. You can’t live on your own.” it’s so stressful trying to exist while also not ruining my relationship with everyone i’ve grown up knowing. very isolating, for sure
I love this podcast and I never clicked faster when I saw the notification. I really needed this, so thank you! Looking back at a lot of my experiences growing up in the church and hearing this message often, that life has no purpose without god always trouble me. It seems rather manipulative to me as a way to kept people tied to the faith. If Christianity works for you, that’s great, but just because it doesn’t for others isn’t a terrible thing. The feeling sad part hit home with me as I have struggled with depression and still do. In the past, the few church members I confided in said that if I pray and believe harder then my depression will go away. And that I need to re-evaluate my relationship with god in order to feel better. Regarding non Christian relationships, I was taught growing up that if I associated with people who had different beliefs than me, then I would end up in hell along with everyone who didn’t call themselves a Christian. Looking back on it all, I can see how bizarre and toxic that is to say and reinforce in people, especially children. Though I was always curious about things and rather doubtful in my beliefs growing up (never sure if I really had any), it’s still sad to see other family members carrying on toxic relationships and teachings. I also feel like the talk about god having purpose in your life also goes along with the concept of god’s will -how he’ll lead you in life -and how we shouldn’t fulfill our own goals or dreams that might not align with our church and therefore god. Like what does that even mean? If god is in control of my life and nothing can really change it, unless I break away from the faith and understand I’m going to hell, then what’s the point of trying? What is the point of living, if I can’t live anyway? I know that’s morbid to think, but sometimes I wondered, what was the point of being born if I can’t enjoy the interests I want or fulfill the dreams I had and to live life the way everyone else around me (and in turn god) seemed fit? That idea is rather hopeless to me~ in my case, if you are not someone who is okay being a stay at home mom who is highly active in the church and aligns her faith with extreme conservative values. That’s not what I wanted. Why should I work on finishing my degree if god doesn’t want me to be an accountant? The reason why I guess is because since I’ve started my degree I’ve been surrounded by ungodly people and seem to be going down the wrong path. I think people that bring up god’s will to seek about what you should pursue in life, use it as a way to make someone fit the expectations or values they agree with (whether it aligns with supposed biblical beliefs or not). I should note, it’s only been recently where I’ve decided to break away from my belief system and I’ve never felt better. Also, I’m sorry to write nonsensical essays on here haha , but I love these podcasts and they bring up memories and thoughts that I feel the need to share. I’m grateful for the podcast as well as the likeminded people who also share on here!
I remember being in youth group and hearing about the "God-shaped hole", and about how God gives meaning into our lives. However if you interogate either of these ideas even a little bit, you realise that they make no sense. Like, let's try to define what a "God-shaped hole" is. We were taught that when you weren't a christian, you had a hole that folks tried filling with "worldly things" (whatever that means). But the truth was that only God could fill that hole, and when you live a life with God then your life is meaningful. But let's interogate that for a bit - does this mean that Christians are happier than non-christians? Because I have non-christian friends who don't feel any need to find meaning in their life, because they are happy with the way things are. Where is their God shaped hole? I have christian friends who are depressed, and lonely. Where is their God given meaning? For me, it was absoloutely the opposite - I was depressed, and I believed that only God could give my life fulfillment, but it turned out that he cannot. Like, of course he cannot - if I lived my life as a christian, and from birth to grave my life felt empty, then no one would think "Oh no, something is seriously wrong here. It is a fundamental truth that God must provide meaning to our lives!". Every christian has to acknowledge that God doesn't answer every prayer, or do things that we would expect, which means that we cannot reasonably rely on him for keeping us fulfilled. Sometimes, God might not answer that prayer, and we simply cannot know why. Now I'm not a christian, I have found that my search for meaning was constructed by christianity. Now that I have moved past that, I recognise how I can practically build a reliable foundation of my life (without God), and how Christianity only made me overthink the search for peace.
When I was a Christian, I almost always focused on what God thought of me when I did things... Yeah, life is a whole lot better when you don't focus on what a 2000 year old sky daddy wants.
I find myself returning to this video in particular on occasion because it just assures me. I, and many others, have lived with the constant fear that someone is watching my every move and the fear of the world ending at any moment. The verse mentioning how 'the end would come when no one expects it' would absolutely terrify me to the point where I would go about everyday thinking about the end times, thinking that alone would be enough to 'prevent' it. Holy shit, i was only around 6 years old at the time. I'm now growing to realise that such thoughts shouldn't be normal for a kid to experience. So really, when you lose faith, you're losing a lot of emotional baggage that's weighing you down. Man, it feels good to be free, yknow
Lots of good points here. One "nitpick", though... I didn't *lose* my faith. I *shed* it when I realized the beliefs were false, and that faith isn't a reliable method to discern what's true. Not to say the deconstruction journey wasn't difficulty; it was.
im very happy knowing my life holds no meaning it truly brings me happiness because it means i can just enjoy being alive and just being here i stare the universe in the face and it blinks
I feel the same way. Ever since I left Christianity I appreciate the world much more. Looking up into the night sky doesn't make me think "there's a god up there who will punish me for every sin" but rather "wow, we really are small and meaningless. All the struggles and problems were facing are so insignificant"
You know I really appreciate this channel because I feel like I’m getting information that not judge mental or persuasive. I feel like your just pointing stuff out that you find weird or wrong and you seek to comfort and inform people. I really like that about you guys.
I was never content as a Christian. As soon as I left, my life improved greatly, and I actually started living happily, and living life fully Edit: Also, using the Truman Show as a metaphor for leaving the faith, that's perfect. I love that movie, and now I love it even more :)
I always think of how I was in deep, deep depression for half my life... I started making lifestyle changes and it wasn't until I was happy with my life (for the first time in years!) that I realized I'd accidentally cut out my faith
As i was driving home the other night i realised that if there was a divine creator it takes away from the beauty of how much of a miracle our lives truly are. The possibility of how we came into existence is astronomical in numbers that any number of minor changes in how our universe was formed, how the earth was created, how humans evolved and then how we became a thriving civilization. Those odds were not in our favour but we exist despite it. Compared to the idea that a creator just designed us that idea makes it seem much more plain and boring.
Thank you for putting out such great content, your videos help me remind myself that telling my parents I don't want to be Christian anymore was the right decision... Even if they keep telling me that I'm wrong
I’ve never been more interested in Christianity than since becoming an atheist. Love your content! It feels like sitting in on a conversation with a friend who lived a similar experience. Keep up the great work!
Mr. Prager is exactly right! Without god, there is no meaning...and some people just aren’t willing to accept the fact that our lives might be just as much of a fluke as a pebble on jupiter. That’s what keeps me going sometimes...knowing that there is not one singular reason that I was put here on this earth, but i’m lucky enough to experience it especially in this day and age of modern medicine and technology, so i just try to enjoy all the small things that we all take for granted every day...because you never know how many days you have left to do them
when i lost my faith i didn't lose my sense of self esteem and self worth. i found a new freeedom guilt free to live a happy and contented life without having to pretend that which wasn't true or pretend to be someone i wasn't. i felt set free from lies and mistruths i'd discovered to be just man's imaginings imposed on others.
I lost my chains when leaving the faith. They really felt heavy and uncomfortable when holding them in my hands, sure it is scary to go into the unknown, but feel I am mature enough to not rely on someone who didn't come to see me.
Awesome awesome program. I have a friend who is coming out. The fact that they are associating with someone outside their church is a major step forward. It's been decades since they left the church but still holds it tightly inside, even though they were expelled from the group and their family. Thank you for this. I've got a list of movies I want to share, and will be adding The Trueman Show to the list.
My favorite part of The Truman Show (SPOILERS I GUESS) is the very end after the feed cuts and the security guards are just like "Alright, let's see what else is on." Wonderful film.
I was raised atheist in a largely atheist country. The concept of having something, ANYTHING that my life would be meaningless without is insane to me. Like, I have people I love, things I love and identities I hold important, but my would still have meaning without them. Raising children to believe they have a void in them that only X can fill, and that without them there is no positive in the world is insanely, horrifyingly abusive. My life has purpose and value because I am an autonomous individual, end of. No god has ever or will ever be a part of it. I think it’s just pure, unadulterated narcissism and egocentrism to think that the universe was made for you, and it’s disgustingly entitled to expect someone else to hand a meaning to you. You might as well not live your life if it’s being written by someone else because you aren’t even an actor in your own story at that point
ive stopped believing a while ago. And while im walking on this new path, my mom is heading the exact opposite direction. Now every night during dinner, we're always doing "sharings" or talking about the bible and stuff (by we i actually mean just her doing the talking though sometimes she'd get my brother and i to do a sharing as well). Honestly, i'd rather not discuss anything with her because I already know it's going to transcend into an argument. I'm already emotionally hurt from past lectures she's given me and arguments we've had so I dont wanna risk it. For now i'd rather just play along or something.
This one is like, the center of my deconstruction. All of those times they told me only real peace and joy comes from god. And when I realized the peace was never coming and the joy was temporary, the scales feel from my eyes.
gotta say, once i left christianity, i was more full of hope and meaning and purpose than ever. because i wasn't a pawn for the church, now i belonged to myself, and i could make the world a better place because i care about it out of my own free will, not just because a god told me to. but according to christians, there's just a big hole in my life now, right?
When that guy was talking about "not move a quarter of an inch because without the power of christ surely I would Fall!" It kinda resonated with me. Because. When i escaped my faith, i did fall. But not because I lost anything No. I realized that without faith my weakest leg was removed. And replaced with something stronger. And that replacement gave me the tools and the skills to analyze the rest of my beliefs. And make sure.each of them stood up to scrutiny as best i could.
Obi-Wan: "When you saw only one set of footprints in the sand, it was because the Sand People ride in single file to hide their numbers." Also Homestar Runner!? Deep cuts :)
that was beautiful. thank you for taking the time for the series. priceless, I no longer feel alone anymore. you are the friend I always needed in my life and now I found you. thanks again,
Always have said any religious person who says without religion nothing will stop your from raping and murdering is saying more about himself than about atheists and agnostics. I don't need fear of eternal damnation to do right by others.
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I live in Utah. So many ex-Mormons love the Truman Show because of how accurate it portrays living in a world built on deception where you are constantly being lied to and gaslight so you never question or leave.
Exmo here. The movie is definitely poignant as an exmormon, but it was also popular in my group of Molly Mormons/Peter Priesthoods growing up. I think we viewed it as an allegory of conversion AWAY from the world of atheism and finding reality WITHIN Christianity. Of course, we were born into the cult and had never had a reason to learn about what "they" believed, unless it was from other fellow cultists, and they told us that atheists were self-deceived gaslighting liars. The movie is so much more shallow with that interpretation because Truman leaves the Creator behind when he leaves the movie set behind, but to us, that just gave it an air of mystery that we loved. Little did we know...
I hear that Christmas with the Kranks is often seen in a similar light by ex-Jehovah's Witnesses
So close to self realization, yet so far away
I never made that correlation but it is an incredibly apt comparison. Very insightful sir
@@AbandonedVoid that's actually an interesting take, someone should make a video about this
I swear dude now that I’m not a Christian these Christian sermons sound insane
I was raised Catholic for 18 years, a lot of what’s shown here is pretty extreme. Most of the sermons I received were just about being a good person, it’s a lot of the other stuff that lost me. There’s pastors out there talking crazy but there’s also ones with good messages based in everyday life.
A lot of stuff did when I was still... I guess trying to believe? Or I did, but I didn't believe a lot? I dunno, but it's been one of the 'easiest' parts once I actually stepped away. I was able to drop all that 'omg everything is a sin and you have to feel guilty for xyz and abc' 'I don't really like what they're preaching, but... i mean, its god so...?' stuff basically right away. I already had problems with it and it made no freaking sense... at least that's one thing that was simple.
Too bad hell isn't just as easy for me. >..<
for my christian circles, I think its like, 'oh they're 'good', but they're not doing it 'for god' so therefore it doesn't matter,' morality/whatever type stuff, which I was always just like. What? The fuck? So many people are 'better' than christians yet they'll be doomed to hell and they're not ACTUALLY 'moral' because it's not 'god' that its centered in?????
My whole family is christian and I'm not but their not gonna care if im not some people cant say that
@@MrRyan-wu4jx Problem is Catholicism and Christianity require insane beliefs to properly observe them. In the context of the religions themselves sermons of *just be good lol* are ineffective and not enough. It's the biggest problem with religion as a whole is you end up basing your world view on a pov from 1000's of years ago that really doesn't fit in modern day
Which is why they also preach against "worldliness" because if they knew how the world worked and all the nice things they miss out on or who they hurt by those beliefs they'd begin to question this
@@LainWithSweetTea Christianity is defined as nothing more than following the teachings of Jesus, you don’t even have to believe he was god or whatever to be Christian. There are a number of alternative congregations throughout the world that do exactly that, just focus on the good he preached.
Some of the shit that's being said is just traumatising people. It's scary how similar it is to abusive relationships
Similar? Where do you think the abusers got their tactics from?
its not even similar its straight up abuse
It is
honestly I believe that Christianity (at least in the way it's taught to me and many others) could be considered grooming for abusive relationships, especially for young women. You're inherently flawed, must put your own desires aside at all times, etc...
@@realjennyrae2863 it should be considered grooming yes
Spiritual nihilism says you were not born with a divine purpose, but you make your own purpose. I find that a million times more empowering than "Obey first, then love."
Im not gonna lie I enjoy that take far more than most other religions.
All other beliefs say what people want to hear; that you can find purpose, hope, joy, and salvation apart from God. Christianity is the only religion that dares to say that you are hopeless on your own. Christianity is the only religion that dares to say that there is power in weakness. Christianity is the only religion that dares to mention punishment for the wicked. In addition, Christianity has MUCH more evidence compared to New Ageism and spiritual nihilism, with no physical, statistical, or historical evidence whatsoever.
@@estevanvasquez9733 Not to put too fine a point on it, but: how the hell would you know? Are you a theologist? Christianity purposely dissuades asking questions, especially about other religions. You're also mistaking spiritual nihilism for religion, when it's a theological stance, so thanks for proving your own ignorance.
The idea that other religions came up with punishments for the wicked, power in weakness, etc. you wouldn't know anyway. There are religions that do all the things you mentioned that predate Christianity, and I doubt that you know the influence of Zoroastrianism or Hellenistic Judaism or Manichaeism on Christianity, let alone what syncretism is.
And what evidence? You can't even prove God exists, let alone that the Christian God is that God. Oh, wow, you have a Bronze Age set of patriarchal, monotheistic morals? Congratulations, you're one of three major ones created in that area. Not the one, the only, one of three.
Don't mistake your ignorance as as good as my knowledge. You have no idea what you're talking about, and that's the Dunning-Kruger effect.
@@Droemar I don’t know what drives masochism, but some people WANT to be punished.
I think that's Absurdism, philosophically. The assertation of purpose in a space without inherent purpose.
After I left Christianity, my mom asked me if it was because I just wanted to "sin" all they time without feeling guilty. I wasn't as well-versed as I am now, and really wish I would have asked her to define sin. But, the conversation evolved into the Abraham and Isaac story where god commanded Abraham to kill Isaac. I asked her if she truly believed god commanded her to kill me - her child - if she would do it. I'll never forget the look on her face or the way she tried to rationalize her way out of it by saying, "things were different in Bible times." I basically stood up and said, "I win the morality portion of this conversation." The god of the Bible is not a moral or just being. It's pretty incredible to look back through the Atheist lens and realize the brainwashing it took to read passages from the Bible where countless people are slaughtered at god's command and NOT feel human feelings about that, but rather feel like they deserved it for disobeying god.
“Things were different in bible times”
*Regina George voice* So you agree, the bible is outdated
God did that as a test (he can resurrect people). He wouldn't let Isaac die. He then let a heifer die in Isaac's place.
If Elon Musk said I'm going to teach you how to become a billionaire but first give your house, all your clothes and items away to prove yourself, would you do it? Musk could obviously buy you a new house and clothes or even buy your old ones back. He would just want to see if your committed. Why should he bother teaching you when don't believe that he can help you become rich?
Isaac was a miracle baby born to Sarah in her 90's and that's why God chose to use Isaac as a test because he was the most precious thing Abraham owned similar to the house example being the most valuable thing to you.
Your mum was right, that was then, now is now- the 10 commandments hadn't even existed. In the end if you want something greater you need to show commitment which sometimes requires sacrifice. In the end you don't have to accept in the first place, God didn't force Abraham but for his faith he was given way more. Musk won't scrutinize you if you reject him teaching you how to become rich but at the end of the day it's your loss. Keep your house. He'll find those who want to join him.
@@malachaiuys711 I grew up going to Christian School, church on Sunday and small groups on Wednesday and Saturday nights. I've heard your argument before. This was a "test of faith" but God NEVER would have actually commanded Abraham to go through with it! But, what about the times God did command his armies to "dash babies heads against the rocks?"
Your Elon Musk argument doesn't work for this example in my opinion either. I would willingly give up my home, clothes, you name it, if someone was threatening the life of a family member. Those items can all be bought back. You can't buy a life back.
If you asked me to kill my partner so that I may become rich, I'd tell you where you can stick it. Wouldn't it be messed up if I grabbed a kitchen knife and went for it, only to prove to you how much I want to be rich?
I appreciate your comment and I hope my response makes sense.
@@catherinehoover3937 I hope you find peace and sort out things with your mum👍
@@malachaiuys711 My mom and I are great 👍 It took a while, and I know me leaving the faith hurt her, but we both love each other very much. Be well!
I remember having a discussion with my mother several years ago when I was starting to learn to think for myself, we got into a debate about morality and how I found it weird that so many Christians think that God has to be indicative of a moral compass when there are so many good Atheists out there. Mom tended to argue that it laid the groundwork for the moral compass and that just always felt...wrong to me.
Something I remember sticking out to me ever since I was a child was playing with my Pokémon plushies and I wanted both of them to be girls, but also be married, so I mentioned in that world girls could marry girls and boys could marry boys and then my parents sat me aside and had the "big gay bad" talk with me. Just goes to show that hating those things is NOT inherent like religion wants you to believe, but rather it's taught.
take it one step further..i always tell christians that my morals have far surpassed those of the sexist slaveloving homophobic god of the bible...ive never drowned a child for example..as a whole we are far more moral than the god of the bible
@@iampostal Morality definitely has changed and adapted a lot for the better as time has passed. Having grown up in the faith myself, I try to be empathetic to those I talk to because I remember the mindset I used to have. I've been able to talk to my mother more about it and she is able to see my perspective now on the issue. A lot of Christians are genuinely good people who I believe try their best to be loving humans as best as they know how as taught by their religion. They also have grown up in a time where a lot of the morals of the Bible aren't really even commonplace now so they don't think about how the lives they're living actually differ very heavily from what would be considered the proper lifestyle in its texts.
In a computer ethics class I took they explicitly mentioned at least three sources you could use to get ethics: religion, laws, and classic ethical frameworks. But in the class we only ever used the frameworks because laws and religion end up being conversation stoppers and often result in weaker arguments
Which honestly makes sense using your same sex marriage example. At one point it was against the law and it is against some religions. But when you view it from a framework perspective there's virtually no downside. Religion and law would stop the conversation and try to dominate it. Frameworks look over multiple view points
@@xenonsan3110 I was a part of a parliamentary debate team in college, even became the president at my community college. A large focus of it was casting aside any preconceived notions or long standing biases and learning to be able to discuss and argue from any sides of an argument as you were only given 15 minutes to read up and prepare on a topic you had to debate about, as well as finding out what side you'll be on right before the topic was announced.
It really helped with opening up my mind to listening to different view points and taking various different arguments into account. Framework was a large part of it as well. I think it would heavily benefit people if they took time to learn how to discuss topics from a view outside of their own, even if they continue to disagree with it. Empathy is a powerful tool and opening yourself up to it can do wonders for taking steps towards becoming a better person.
Exactly. Religion made me a worse person and I was 11 when it started.
They program you with fear and then tell you fear is a sin. 🤔
Deutoronomy 31:6, Be strong and of good courage.
It seems to be the exact opposite of what you say.
@@eustacemuthii6209 it seems that God is not the problem.
But it is us.
And our viewpoint in what the church is. Why are we so scared of loosing more Christians when in fact God told us that the end is certain?
let us loose our Christians. That is okay
@@eustacemuthii6209 you missed the point immensely. You seemed to have just repeated what this person said. “To not fear” but you said nothing about programming w fear
@@eustacemuthii6209 He was talking about the constant installment of fear that a Christian parent might put into their child.
I don't speak from experience on this specific matter though, as my parents were very laid back and forgiving of my many mistakes. But I've seen friends break down slowly because their parents always taught them what they thought was wrong in their minds, basically brainwashing their children into becoming a ball of repressed thoughts and feelings that would eventually just leave religion all together.
@@C.Song07 my mom even said to me that I do not have a choice on whether or not I go to church. I hope that one day she realizes that the more something is pushed on me, the more I’m pushed away
I’ve been a conservative Christian for all my life, and just in the last year, I have truly questioned everything. My bubble popped after I graduated high school and now I am just very confused in my future, relationships, and life in general.
Thank you for making this channel, it’s helped me in more ways than one ☺️
Don't be confused , go live life, get a proper education, see the world.
I relate very much to this. I grew up in a very conservative Christian environment, and now that I'm in college I have left the faith. It is very confusing, especially now that I have to figure out my own life instead of relying on what was given to me (AKA "God's plan"). I have to figure out my career, my relationships, my relationship with myself, and what I want to strive towards as a person. It's like I'm having to rewrite my life again. So I wish you the best of luck on your journey towards figuring it all out, cuz I know its a struggle :)
You dodged a bullet. My childhood faith continued through college and seminary, and 20 years in ministry.
I had to constantly push churches to build houses and food banks. We did millions of dollars of good, with great people. But I wondered why it was such a struggle.
I finally went back to community college and studied math and science. Now a happy atheist.
One thing that has comforted me as I have moved away from Christianity is the idea that the universe has never changed, and doesn’t depend on my beliefs. God is and will always be, whether God (the ultimate nature/foundation of the universe) is an agent with a will or an agentless set of laws governing a physical universe. I personally suspect there is a spiritual dimension in the universe, but even if there isn’t, I still get to live in a universe that is so much bigger than me, I still get to be in “God’s universe” as I always have been (which gives me some of the ‘Father comfort’ I lived with in Christianity). Reality doesn’t break, reality doesn’t suddenly become empty and meaningless. It is as it always has been, and that comforts me.
@@ElvishShellfish With respect for your beliefs, but could you please check out the idea that the Universe has never changed. The evidence is very clear that even on the tiny speck of matter we call Earth there is constant change, whilst if you look into the skies the evidence from other Galaxies is also of constant change. In that context the word 'God' is simply a convenient construct for 'I Don't Know (yet!)'.
I always wonder why it's so hard for people to walk away from religion then I remember all the brainwashing that happens throughout childhood
I would prefer a world without the kind of religion that Christianity is. There are several other religion which fit the bill.
A mistake we make as Western secular atheists, however, is thinking that all religions emphasize belief and doctrinal thought in the same way that Christianity and Islam do. There are even some religions out there which are barely distinguishable at all from cultural traditions, without emphasizing belief much at all. Shinto, for instance, is primarily a set of cultural rituals which is connected only loosely to some ancient superstitions sometimes, for some people.
Anyways ... My point is that it's not necessarily indoctrination we are talking about, so much as culture when we're talking about religions. And it's painful if not impossible for many people to leave their own culture behind.
Even outside of the brainwashing, many people just want god to he real.
@Andrew J. Lewis i think is knowledge. World knowledge, history, science, etc. Being very curious helps a lot.
Im atheist, but the earth God exist, is called the sun.
@@ems7623 old comment but I wanna share my bit anyways: In my part of the world, this is how Christianity is treated (or has been taught to me): as Folklore. My home village literally has a statue of Satan in the town square because of a village folk tale. I watch channels like these because I'm impressed how seriously people take this stuff.
Imagine growing up "Believing" in Santa knowing it's not *really* real just to find out there are cults completely indoctrinated to worshipping him as an adult. That's wild.
@@snaggledog0079 Well yeah thats probably why religions started in the first place, some con artist making up stories then people wanting to believe them
Having hope and validation only come from outside is a very dangerous and toxic, and religion tries to glorify it. It's especily bad when that hope has no foundation in reality.
Niko pfp gang, also yes
I was viewing Kay Kerr’s comments sections the other day and there are legitimately people on this planet that think Donald Trump is still president because God made it so or something. I don’t know how these people function as adults in this world with such a demented take on reality but they do.
Having hope and happiness as an outside validation means that anyone can run out the clock on your life while l dangling you in front of it
I imagine the shock as some of these people start to realize they aren't really going to heaven. I wonder if that may not be the most horrible thing one human being can do to another: lie to them their entire life about something that will never happen afterwards
I felt exactly like this when I was a secret atheist going to church camp. I found out that like half of the girls were already agnostic. Also, I made friends with this girl who was queer like me but had no way of expressing it. We even had a counselor in his 50s that said "if I could wish for anything, I would wish to be a woman" It was a weird place
Church Camp: Where faith goes to die
@@liammccullough3190 Why, what happened?
This isn't a personal statement but just what I hear from others about Jesus camp, it tends to be a place where all of those that are falling out of the faith find a connection with others and decide that is the time to leave Christianity
@@liammccullough3190 Ah, I see. I can't say I've seen exactly that happen, and I would imagine people who are on the fence would be drawn in at church camp through spiritual experiences and the like.
Contrary to what a lot of Christians seem to say, I think morality is even more powerful outside of faith. The way I see it, as an atheist, my morals and the way I treat people comes from a fundamental respect for humanity. I’m not trying to get in good with a deity so I can have a cool afterlife, I try to live my life in a way that helps people simply because *people are inherently worthy of respect and kindness*
Edit: I wanted to bold the last bit
I love your point. It highlights everything that is wrong with most religions. Doing the deeds or reciting the magic words to inherit eternal life. Although I remain religious, having always been an outsider to the majority has given me more prospective. I always thought I had more in common with Christians than atheists, but after learning just how horrifying Calvinist theology really is I've discovered I have more in common with those that leave the faith then have stayed. They worship power, not love.
As someone who was raised in the church, it's not that they believe that you need to be a moral person so that you can achieve heaven. (Keep in mind, I disagree) They simply believe that only god can prove absolute morality. Their viewpoint doesn't leave any room for philosophy to explain the rights of living things.
Now obviously non-religious people can fully understand that the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness don't require a god. For some reason though, those that subscribe to a religion can't seem to grasp that the rights of other beings still matter even in an atheist philosophy.
I fully agree with your statement.
Indeed, when you're following a deity's list of rules of what you should and shouldn't do, you're not acting as a moral free-thinking agent, you are merely being *obedient* in order to escape a punishment/get a reward.
Further, if life on earth is all there i for us, we've got incentive to make that life as good as possible. A lot of Christians don't worry so much about this life. They believe they've got an eternal "get out of hell free" card because they said the magic words, regardless of how awful they've behaved toward others in this life.
I think it’s interesting that, as someone who has never been religious, everything is just common sense in this video.
Shhhh, you need an old book and a magical sky daddy to explain to you why you shouldn't murder everyone around you... apparently.
yeah the debate of morality is just silly. does it hurt someone to do this? yes? don't do it. no need for stories from thousands of years ago to tell me that.
I've been quite religious and rightist until i turned like 15. Trust me, when you're religious, your mind functions differently. Throughout the years of indoctrination you learn to subconsciously suppress some facts you learn because they go against your religion's teachings. You also learn to be able to have two conflicting ideas simultaneously. Like doublethink in "1984". For example God is love, love is not jealous and god is jealous. God says "do not kill" but then commands Israelites to slaughter entire cities. Evolution is a fact but you also have to believe in the creation myth. You shall "love thy neighbor" but not if they are gay, born from an unmarried couple, disabled, wear mixed fabric or worship another god.
Earth is obviously spherical but you also have to believe in Bible's flat earth story.
oh shit I guess I don't have morals time to go do a murder
Time to go commit genocide i guess, because no religious person had ever promoted genocide
Thanks for the reminder. I’ve just finished a 6-day workweek, and forgot to kill anyone.
That would be funny anywhere but America.
As an atheist, I see no reason not to murder somone for my own gain if I'm reasonably certain I'll get away with it.
@@spriles It’s not because you’re an atheist that you think that way.
@@AtheistEve It has something to do with it. I got one life and I'll do what I want to make it as pleasurable for myself as I can, don't really care if others get in the way. Why should I?
the truman show was definitely the perfect analogy of walking out on religion. that was his entire world and experience because of the people around him telling him what reality was. And in the end it had to be the decision of staying with the false life with the phony relationships you had before and living like the truth didn't matter or accepting the truth and finding meaningful, fulfilling, honest relationships.
"If it's not eternal, it's worthless"
I don't think anything can be more demanding.
There's one of those megapastors, William Lane Craig I believe, who I hear about as saying if life isn't eternal because of God, it has no meaning. That strikes me as just about the most insecure thing imaginable.
How can eternity be anything but worthless?
@@starofjustice1 Gosh honestly just seeing his name pisses me off haha
Doom is Eternal ;)
@@damienmcneff7715 I see what you did there
I think the movie Soul nailed this. Sometimes, just living is enough.
That movie fucking destroyed me dude
I'll have to check it out!
@Zach Watren Well now I have to check it out even more!
@Zach Watren red letter media and Marcus rodgers have outright called this movie a new age satanic mind controlling propaganda even though the director is a christian. You can search them both up on youtube. Especially red letter media who comes for alot of media such as anime. It us weird
@Zach Watren yeah man. I really do as those were the only two that I really sae
My wife, kids and 98%, of all the people I know, think I'm arrogant and proud because I took charge of my life, thoughts and actions. It's not arrogance to admit I don't believe everything they claim to know absolutely. Life should be a continuous journey of learning, religion had me believing I already had the answers, but religion is wrong, so wrong! Great video!
The latter part of your comment has just reminded me of a particular Bruce Lee quote: "Life itself is your teacher, and you are in a state of constant learning."
Bruce Lee was one of the famous people featured, along with that quote, on a mural made for the college campus at which I studied in my second academic year at that college. It was a class project, and I was one of the contributors.
I'm sorry but...
"Like a pebble on Jupiter."
"Jupiter has no solid surface"
Nice.
This one had me laughing so hard
Yea it was clever but honestly it wasn't necessary in my opinion. People got the idea of what he was trying to say. He made a slip of logic in that brief moment but it did nothing to affect his argument
@@prestonnicholls61 But a mistake like that is a hint at the dump trucks of nonsense PragerU spouts.
Even in Dennis Prager's most nihilistic comparisons does he prove himself to be worth less than nothing.
@@Ohflipsnap to paraphrase: my belief is my belief, regardless of pretty much anything.
“Atheists live inconsistently”, i was far more inconsistent as a Christian trying to reconcile the Bible to reality than now as an athiest.
100% same. Though I'd more say I'm agnostic.
When i came out as athiest it was the most liberating experience of my life
Same here. It helped me get through depression when I finally said I don’t believe this shit anymore. It allowed me to actually take control instead of praying that I’d get better.
Same for me. At first it was kind of crushing but soon i realized how much happier i became
"Without God life has no purpose"
And what's wrong with that? Can't you just live your life to your fullest and make a career out of what you like doing the most?
If anything I'd rather live in a world where I find my own purpose instead of have it preordained by some obscure higher power.
People who believe life has to have a purpose are just weak minded
The thing is humans are pretty much one of the only species on this planet that not only questions how or why we got here, but will go to any length to get the answers they desire. It's why in our early history as truly cognitive beings, religion was integral towards understanding ourselves. Even if it was mostly illogical, religion developed as a way to answer questions about ourselves, such as that of why we're here and what our purpose is. We not only desire to have such meaning, but we crave and demand it. Even today, as arguably more logical and rational societies, 21st century humans still need some answer as to why we're here and what we're supposed to be doing with our time on earth. We just understand on a far greater level that it doesn't have to be for religious, or even moral reasons. The thing is we're so afraid of there being just no reason. The sad byproduct about being able to contemplate our very existences is a great amount of anxiety is brought forth. And whether religion satisfies those anxieties is perhaps a lot less individualistic than we'd like it to be.
I'm not sure I even follow the logic of the initial argument. Why would the absence of God render life meaningless in the first place? Seems like circular reasoning to me or even psychological projection ('Life without a sky-daddy is meaningless to _me_ so it must be meaningless to everyone else too')
Purpose is something we create - nothing more or less: if I declare my purpose in life is play “whack-a-mole” for 17 hours a day, then that’s my purpose.
@@themadhattress5008 Realistically Dolphins and Whales Do, but there's no way of knowing because we can only understand them through their actions we can't speak to them yet
“Gods are fragile things, they may be killed by a whiff of Science or a dose of common sense. They thrive on servility and shrink before independence. They feed upon worship as kings do upon flattery. That is why the cry of gods at all times is “Worship us or perish”.” - Chapman Cohen
When I became interested in existentialism, it occurred to me that religion does not address existential questions; it evades them. Pretending that you have answers without the existential burden of doubt ultimately is a dead end. "The unexamined life is not worth living."--Socrates
Read Kierkegaard
I'm honestly so glad that this channel exists, it's been rough trying to unlearn a lot of the false realities taught by the bible. You guys are really helping. Thank you!
@Naukumaija Mau-mau I do
@Naukumaija Mau-mau I'd be willing to yeah, as long as the link isn't spam.
@Naukumaija Mau-mau Mhm! Thanks for the help btw!
I’m in the same boat as you man
@Naukumaija Mau-mau Fundie Fridays!!! Such a great and fun channel where she pokes at famous fundies and fundie families.
I am genuinely impressed at how many sermons you watch yet still maintain most of your sanity
We'll see how long that lasts lol
Dude you're bringing so much light and understanding to life, helping me process my religious upbringing better than I ever have before. Anytime anything of yours shows up in the feed, it's an instant watch. Keep up the good work! You're gonna explode one of these days.
Have you hear of TheraminTrees? He did some great videos. Judging by his comment, they managed to help a lot of people, so maybe they'll be able to help you or somebody you know.
"Your life is like a puzzle, and there's a piece missing. And guess who holds the missing piece: God.
He's holding it to keep you hostage."
I've been struggling with guilt and similar feelings since leaving Christianity, I really appreciate your videos. They are very humanizing, I appreciate materials aimed towards those who grew up Christian without talking down to them -- a lot of Christians aren't stupid, they've just been indoctrinated and emotionally abused by the faith they grew up in.
I'm glad that all of these guys who were never atheists have all the explanations of what it means to be and how it feels to be an atheist. Whew, what would we do without them?
Edit: Also, do they really not realize that our lives, if there were a creator, would essentially be meaningless as well? It's not like god would need us for some reason.
It's like that one person who thinks their ex hasn't gotten over them except their ex hasn't thought of them in years.
For that last part, I was always taught that humans were made to worship God (actively, and also as trophies as a testament of God's power), and a Christian's purpose is to serve God (the specifics being undefined other than evangelizing)
In the end, it takes away any real agency a person had in defining themselves and their purpose, filling it in with vague comments about what "serving God" means, which leaves a gaping wide hole for all sorts of bullshit to be shoved in, either by the person or the doctrine they subscribe to (usually the doctrine).
@@JohannesLi Amen to that!
That last part is something not enough people think about, that "If there's a god, this life is worthless" since the only thing that should matter is the afterlife (and even then, they're pretty meaningless but that's another topic) and this life is only stalling you from getting to it. Yet a lot of Christians won't forgo their house, possessions, money, and such to try and spread the word or feed the homeless and help the less privleged. Yet they seem to hold onto everything physical like this life is the only thing that matters to them. Strange.
the truth is your life has no purpose until you give it some purpose. It is an inside job. but you don't need a magical friend to do it. In fact your magical friend may be the problem.
"In... problem."
Magical friend?
Mister Auctor, close your wide hanging open mouth. Ronald Logan doesn't have to believe in a disembodied entity in the sky who seeks to control his behavior. If you do, that's your prerogative, your choice. Not his.
This is Free Will.
Exactly! It's ok for there to me no inherent meaning or purpose to our lives. We are ultimately totally insignificant, and that's ok too. Life is simply what you make it.
THEY cannot handle understand.
I think an ultimately insignificant life in an infinite universe is kind of beautiful and calming to think about. We define our purpose and value for ourselves, we don't have a path or a meaning, so we can make our own.
Absolutely. And all the horrors and awful things of the world, like wars, disease and death ultimately don't matter and aren't eternal. We should worry about them, obviously, but it's calming to think that it will all be left in the past one day
@@michac.8283 yeah.
I think one of the most comforting things to me is that life has no purpose. There is nothing I really need to be feeling. No expectations. No grand deadlines.
I love you bringing up the Truman Show during this. It encapsulates the escape from religious indoctrination so well with its themes for me. It's not everyone's experience but for me who was raised religious and got out of it, Truman's voyage, his simultaneous defiance and acceptance of death during the storm, and escaping the manufactured reality around him by literally crashing into the wall of actual reality is a very powerful allegory. We are only free when we seek knowledge and truth of our own accord.
No joke, I watched The Truman Show 3 times last week after rediscovering it, and all I could think about were comparisons to evangelicalism. Then this popped into my feed a week later.
Who says Google's algorithm always has to be evil lol
I've been binging your videos lately. Love your content and your perspective on faith and religion. Keep up the great work!
same for me ;)
Same!
Such a good video as always!
Just about everything resonates with me here
The main thing I think I’ve GAINED from leaving faith is a sense of control over my life, the ability to be happy and take pride in things for myself without feeling guilty, not feeling like I’m a “bad Christian” because I’m accepting of others religions, sexualities, identities, etc., and over-all not fearing the end of things. Be it life or good things that happen in it. Not feeling like “the lord gives and takes away” but rather “sometimes good things happen, sometimes bad things happen. I just gotta roll with the punches and figure out how I can make the good things happen more and the bad things happen less for myself and those around me.
I was terrified to challenge my faith for a long time, but since I finally started last year around this time, it’s honestly the best decision I ever made. For anyone on the fence, please take that first step. After all. Truth is only going to remain true when looking into evidence right.
Take care, and to anyone reading this comment. Know that you are loved and worthy of love.
✌🏻🖤
this is the best comment I've read this year
"Jupiter has no solid surface" killed me 😂
More like a pebble on the Jersey Shore, and not the nice part of Jersey either.
I think I forgot that 😅
@@f0xygem there's a nice part of Jersey?
Fun fact: while Jupiter is technically a "gas giant" there is a hypothesis that the heaviest molecules -- carbon-based -- have migrated or fallen to the planet's center or "core" which is subject to incredibly intense pressures, due to Jupiter having significantly greater total mass than that of Earth (local Jupiter gravity is about 6 Gs).
In his novel "2010: Odyssey Two" author Arthur C. Clarke theorized that this resulted in the heart of Jupiter being the biggest, heaviest diamond in the Solar System!
You are criminally under watched in my opinion i share your videos keep up the good work
Dude I understand. I have GAD and I was told to be careful b/c the medication could cause addiction. I was terrified I would become addicted. Like you, the irony was totally lost on me.
A skeptic who hasn't turned on the LGBTQ+ community and women? Sign me up!
Does that happen that often?
The nihalisim in knowing that life is "meaningless" (Not with a predescribed meaning) actually helps my anxiety and depression alot.
We're all making it up, Everyone just assumes they are the main character so really no one is. 🤙
I love this logic. It's like did u do some embarrassing shit? That's ok we're specks on a rock no biggie
@@ohwow7423 This is the best explanation of this concept I've ever seen
@@ohwow7423 kurzgesagt made a video about optimistic nihilism, it's really good
@@ohwow7423 That's why I love the concept. If you think everything is meaningless, bad things don't matter all that much, but it doesn't necesearily stop you from enjoying the good stuff. It's like saying, you're watching a movie, and you know that at the end of the day that movie doesn't matter, but that doesn't mean you don't enjoy it while it lasts. --> Kind of similar to what the video said about things not being important because they last forever, but rather because they're happeining now.
@@thebelen2359 I agree.
"He will cover you with his feathers." So, God's a chicken. Good to know.
Behold! A man.
@@kennethheim4202 I get the reference!
No obviously god was a feathered dinosaur.... Wait chickens still are dinosaurs.
Carry on then.
Life without Jesus is like a donut: good and sweet.
Fried and sometimes covered in frosting?
A donut without a whole is mushy in the center.
@@Alverant ooooh that’s actually a good comeback, a doughnut with filling in the middle is usually soggy, messy and never has as much filling as you want
@@Alverant I like Jam doughnuts , Nothing to do with a god , just with jam. (I am English , hence the spellings)
And nutty, because I love almond slices on donuts 😋
One day I went to a youth group at my local church, and they taught about friendship. Not just any friendship; church friendship. They said that the friends you have outside of the church are worse than the ones you have inside, and that you should keep your church friends closer than your other friends. I was told to only ever go to the church, and by extension, my church friends for help. I don’t know why this rubs me wrong exactly, but it almost feels like they want to stop any outside connections that could introduce outside ideas in a subtle “we’re not a cult” way.
This hits home hard. I was told Christian friends are your true forever friends. Well let's just say, I learned a very valuable life lesson on what friendship is according to the church. At least in how they treated me. Friends are people who see you at Youth Group events, talk to you about how your week (but actually care to know how your really feeling), sing with you at worship time, tell you how to fix your problems the "Christian way", and then completely ignore you the rst of the time. Never call, text, remember your birthday, invite you anything that they invited everyone else to, and all around treat you like an after thought when they're not preaching about how you should live your life. At least that's how I was treated. They didn't seem to treat eachother that way. It's just sad I didn't see it til I practically left the church.
When I left my religion my mental health improved significantly.
Do you have studies though?
@@ColoredMud Studies to support your claims?
I had the opposite experience
As someone who just left the faith myself, I found all of this very true
8:28 That’s literally what cults tell victims what to do
The only difference between cults and religion is the number of followers
4:39 this is so true for me. In the past, whenever I felt sad, I always felt like crap because i was supposed to be in a constant state of happiness since God was always with me or somthing. Coming to terms and better acknowledging my feelings has really made me feel better instead of constantly beating myself up for not being grateful
Life without god has no purpose? Great. I don't need purpose, it's a useless burden. I'd much rather live a life I want to live than live a life someone chose for me.
That Jupiter joke is hilarious 😂
Thank you so much for these videos I'm questioning my faith and you're helping me answer those questions 😌
Don't forget: questioning your faith is not "dangerous". If the pursuit of truth were harmful to faith in God, then that kind of means that faith in God is based on falsehoods.
Christians should be urging people to question their faith every day, if they truly believe what they say they do. Instead, they urge people to go back to the Bible and rely on faith. What are they so scared of?
I can't think of a more depressing way to live than constantly fearing eternal damnation for having even the slighest "impure" thought.
Yes, this. I still can't fathom how thoughtcrime can be an actual thing in major religions...
Yep. I remember being pretty much focused on that 3 - 4 years ago.
Now imagine having OCD as well
I can’t believe I fell for it!…. And how freeing is t feels now that I don’t believe anymore!
This. ^
When my husband died, it was my atheist friends who stood by and saw me through, with generosity and patience..
The few "christians" still in my circle either ghosted me right from the get-go, or kept telling me stuff like "Don't grieve - he's with god" or "It's part of the plan" and at the time, those words were so invalidating and hurtful.
I'm so sorry.
Your videos are so well-made and helpful, particularly for those of us dealing with that religious trauma! Thanks for making them!
Not sure if you take suggestions, but I'd be really interested to see your take on gender roles within Christianity. Whether it has to do with identity, sexuality, expectations, or whatever, I feel that men and women both get specific and restrictive messaging that's helpful to break down. Just a thought though!
I'm a Wiccan..I have friends who are Atheists...Christians, Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus...I thank the All for my diverse group of friends who challenge my thinking on a daily basis...if you only have ppl around you who agree with you, that's not a friendship...it's an echo chamber.
my husband and i get so excited when you come out with a new video! thanks for all your hard work in these videos, they’re awesome! also, that donut part made me want a donut too.
Thank you so much for sharing your experience of walking away from the church both in this video and others. It's been a sanity check for my own journey.
I love your essay videos. The mental health one got me hooked and now I'm almost entirely through your backlog of podcasts.
You really have a knack for the essay format though, keep up the good work.
"Jupiter has no solid surface"
I'm sorry that SLAUGHTERED me
Another fantastic video! I love the Truman show. It is such a perfect analogy and even those tiny clips bring tears to my eyes.
haven’t started the video yet but i need this. i’m ex SDA and it’s overwhelming how much of my life was church related. covid made leaving the church less difficult but now that things are back, my mom has been going and people from there keep calling me. “why aren’t you in church?” “i better see you next saturday!” “stop sleeping in, you need to be at worship with your mother!” the worst part is, they don’t realize the harm. i feel guilty about everything i do. my parents don’t help but at least they leave me alone for the most part. last week, i was otp w my dad and he was telling me how ‘God won’t help you if you don’t believe in him. You can’t live on your own.” it’s so stressful trying to exist while also not ruining my relationship with everyone i’ve grown up knowing. very isolating, for sure
❤❤❤
One set of footprints?
"It's because I was riding yooooooou"
"Now giddyup!"
I love this podcast and I never clicked faster when I saw the notification. I really needed this, so thank you!
Looking back at a lot of my experiences growing up in the church and hearing this message often, that life has no purpose without god always trouble me. It seems rather manipulative to me as a way to kept people tied to the faith. If Christianity works for you, that’s great, but just because it doesn’t for others isn’t a terrible thing.
The feeling sad part hit home with me as I have struggled with depression and still do. In the past, the few church members I confided in said that if I pray and believe harder then my depression will go away. And that I need to re-evaluate my relationship with god in order to feel better.
Regarding non Christian relationships, I was taught growing up that if I associated with people who had different beliefs than me, then I would end up in hell along with everyone who didn’t call themselves a Christian. Looking back on it all, I can see how bizarre and toxic that is to say and reinforce in people, especially children. Though I was always curious about things and rather doubtful in my beliefs growing up (never sure if I really had any), it’s still sad to see other family members carrying on toxic relationships and teachings.
I also feel like the talk about god having purpose in your life also goes along with the concept of god’s will -how he’ll lead you in life -and how we shouldn’t fulfill our own goals or dreams that might not align with our church and therefore god. Like what does that even mean? If god is in control of my life and nothing can really change it, unless I break away from the faith and understand I’m going to hell, then what’s the point of trying? What is the point of living, if I can’t live anyway? I know that’s morbid to think, but sometimes I wondered, what was the point of being born if I can’t enjoy the interests I want or fulfill the dreams I had and to live life the way everyone else around me (and in turn god) seemed fit? That idea is rather hopeless to me~ in my case, if you are not someone who is okay being a stay at home mom who is highly active in the church and aligns her faith with extreme conservative values. That’s not what I wanted. Why should I work on finishing my degree if god doesn’t want me to be an accountant? The reason why I guess is because since I’ve started my degree I’ve been surrounded by ungodly people and seem to be going down the wrong path.
I think people that bring up god’s will to seek about what you should pursue in life, use it as a way to make someone fit the expectations or values they agree with (whether it aligns with supposed biblical beliefs or not).
I should note, it’s only been recently where I’ve decided to break away from my belief system and I’ve never felt better. Also, I’m sorry to write nonsensical essays on here haha , but I love these podcasts and they bring up memories and thoughts that I feel the need to share. I’m grateful for the podcast as well as the likeminded people who also share on here!
I remember being in youth group and hearing about the "God-shaped hole", and about how God gives meaning into our lives. However if you interogate either of these ideas even a little bit, you realise that they make no sense.
Like, let's try to define what a "God-shaped hole" is. We were taught that when you weren't a christian, you had a hole that folks tried filling with "worldly things" (whatever that means). But the truth was that only God could fill that hole, and when you live a life with God then your life is meaningful. But let's interogate that for a bit - does this mean that Christians are happier than non-christians? Because I have non-christian friends who don't feel any need to find meaning in their life, because they are happy with the way things are. Where is their God shaped hole? I have christian friends who are depressed, and lonely. Where is their God given meaning?
For me, it was absoloutely the opposite - I was depressed, and I believed that only God could give my life fulfillment, but it turned out that he cannot. Like, of course he cannot - if I lived my life as a christian, and from birth to grave my life felt empty, then no one would think "Oh no, something is seriously wrong here. It is a fundamental truth that God must provide meaning to our lives!". Every christian has to acknowledge that God doesn't answer every prayer, or do things that we would expect, which means that we cannot reasonably rely on him for keeping us fulfilled. Sometimes, God might not answer that prayer, and we simply cannot know why.
Now I'm not a christian, I have found that my search for meaning was constructed by christianity. Now that I have moved past that, I recognise how I can practically build a reliable foundation of my life (without God), and how Christianity only made me overthink the search for peace.
When I was a Christian, I almost always focused on what God thought of me when I did things...
Yeah, life is a whole lot better when you don't focus on what a 2000 year old sky daddy wants.
I find myself returning to this video in particular on occasion because it just assures me. I, and many others, have lived with the constant fear that someone is watching my every move and the fear of the world ending at any moment. The verse mentioning how 'the end would come when no one expects it' would absolutely terrify me to the point where I would go about everyday thinking about the end times, thinking that alone would be enough to 'prevent' it.
Holy shit, i was only around 6 years old at the time. I'm now growing to realise that such thoughts shouldn't be normal for a kid to experience.
So really, when you lose faith, you're losing a lot of emotional baggage that's weighing you down. Man, it feels good to be free, yknow
I don't need a purpose. I'll make or choose my own if I need one but I'm perfectly contempt just living and enjoying every moment of it.
Lots of good points here. One "nitpick", though...
I didn't *lose* my faith. I *shed* it when I realized the beliefs were false, and that faith isn't a reliable method to discern what's true.
Not to say the deconstruction journey wasn't difficulty; it was.
im very happy knowing my life holds no meaning it truly brings me happiness because it means i can just enjoy being alive and just being here i stare the universe in the face and it blinks
I feel the same way. Ever since I left Christianity I appreciate the world much more. Looking up into the night sky doesn't make me think "there's a god up there who will punish me for every sin" but rather "wow, we really are small and meaningless. All the struggles and problems were facing are so insignificant"
You know I really appreciate this channel because I feel like I’m getting information that not judge mental or persuasive. I feel like your just pointing stuff out that you find weird or wrong and you seek to comfort and inform people. I really like that about you guys.
I was never content as a Christian. As soon as I left, my life improved greatly, and I actually started living happily, and living life fully
Edit: Also, using the Truman Show as a metaphor for leaving the faith, that's perfect. I love that movie, and now I love it even more :)
I always think of how I was in deep, deep depression for half my life... I started making lifestyle changes and it wasn't until I was happy with my life (for the first time in years!) that I realized I'd accidentally cut out my faith
I was not prepared to see the Donut Man today. Talk about a flashback
As i was driving home the other night i realised that if there was a divine creator it takes away from the beauty of how much of a miracle our lives truly are.
The possibility of how we came into existence is astronomical in numbers that any number of minor changes in how our universe was formed, how the earth was created, how humans evolved and then how we became a thriving civilization.
Those odds were not in our favour but we exist despite it.
Compared to the idea that a creator just designed us that idea makes it seem much more plain and boring.
As an atheist(since I was little, cause I could never get around religion-), I hate it when people say you can't be happy without God in your life lol
It's just a recruiting tactic. To make you think you can only get the good stuff if you hang out with them.
I agree.
Thank you for putting out such great content, your videos help me remind myself that telling my parents I don't want to be Christian anymore was the right decision... Even if they keep telling me that I'm wrong
Your videos have helped me a lot, all I need to do is find a way to tell my parents and get the courage
I’ve never been more interested in Christianity than since becoming an atheist. Love your content! It feels like sitting in on a conversation with a friend who lived a similar experience. Keep up the great work!
It's ironic how they say no compass without God and yet their God was the biggest murderer in documented human history
Mr. Prager is exactly right! Without god, there is no meaning...and some people just aren’t willing to accept the fact that our lives might be just as much of a fluke as a pebble on jupiter. That’s what keeps me going sometimes...knowing that there is not one singular reason that I was put here on this earth, but i’m lucky enough to experience it especially in this day and age of modern medicine and technology, so i just try to enjoy all the small things that we all take for granted every day...because you never know how many days you have left to do them
1:36
To quote the McElroys
"I have run out of everything I know about Jesus"
when i lost my faith i didn't lose my sense of self esteem and self worth. i found a new freeedom guilt free to live a happy and contented life without having to pretend that which wasn't true or pretend to be someone i wasn't.
i felt set free from lies and mistruths i'd discovered to be just man's imaginings imposed on others.
The “Jupiter has no solid surface” quick bit made me laugh
Your taste in entertainment, your past, and just the way you talk tells me you and I would get along marvelously. Cheers mate
I lost my chains when leaving the faith. They really felt heavy and uncomfortable when holding them in my hands, sure it is scary to go into the unknown, but feel I am mature enough to not rely on someone who didn't come to see me.
Awesome awesome program. I have a friend who is coming out. The fact that they are associating with someone outside their church is a major step forward. It's been decades since they left the church but still holds it tightly inside, even though they were expelled from the group and their family. Thank you for this. I've got a list of movies I want to share, and will be adding The Trueman Show to the list.
I was so happy for Truman at the end of that movie. Jim Carey was perfect in that role.
My favorite part of The Truman Show (SPOILERS I GUESS) is the very end after the feed cuts and the security guards are just like "Alright, let's see what else is on." Wonderful film.
I was raised atheist in a largely atheist country. The concept of having something, ANYTHING that my life would be meaningless without is insane to me. Like, I have people I love, things I love and identities I hold important, but my would still have meaning without them. Raising children to believe they have a void in them that only X can fill, and that without them there is no positive in the world is insanely, horrifyingly abusive. My life has purpose and value because I am an autonomous individual, end of. No god has ever or will ever be a part of it. I think it’s just pure, unadulterated narcissism and egocentrism to think that the universe was made for you, and it’s disgustingly entitled to expect someone else to hand a meaning to you. You might as well not live your life if it’s being written by someone else because you aren’t even an actor in your own story at that point
Gotta love a sermon that educates you on the meaning of life using a Jenga metaphor.
Those preachers make me laugh so hard. They think they're so clever. They act like what they're saying is so profound when it's simple common sense.
Nothing's perfect, the world's not perfect, but it's there for us, trying the best it can. That's what makes it so damn beautiful.
ive stopped believing a while ago. And while im walking on this new path, my mom is heading the exact opposite direction. Now every night during dinner, we're always doing "sharings" or talking about the bible and stuff (by we i actually mean just her doing the talking though sometimes she'd get my brother and i to do a sharing as well). Honestly, i'd rather not discuss anything with her because I already know it's going to transcend into an argument. I'm already emotionally hurt from past lectures she's given me and arguments we've had so I dont wanna risk it. For now i'd rather just play along or something.
here’s to closet non-believers! one day you won’t have to lie and it will be wonderful
@@vesselofdevils368 I agree and I am looking very forward to that day
This one is like, the center of my deconstruction. All of those times they told me only real peace and joy comes from god. And when I realized the peace was never coming and the joy was temporary, the scales feel from my eyes.
gotta say, once i left christianity, i was more full of hope and meaning and purpose than ever. because i wasn't a pawn for the church, now i belonged to myself, and i could make the world a better place because i care about it out of my own free will, not just because a god told me to. but according to christians, there's just a big hole in my life now, right?
When that guy was talking about "not move a quarter of an inch because without the power of christ surely I would Fall!" It kinda resonated with me. Because. When i escaped my faith, i did fall. But not because I lost anything No. I realized that without faith my weakest leg was removed. And replaced with something stronger. And that replacement gave me the tools and the skills to analyze the rest of my beliefs. And make sure.each of them stood up to scrutiny as best i could.
Obi-Wan: "When you saw only one set of footprints in the sand, it was because the Sand People ride in single file to hide their numbers."
Also Homestar Runner!? Deep cuts :)
that was beautiful. thank you for taking the time for the series. priceless, I no longer feel alone anymore. you are the friend I always needed in my life and now I found you. thanks again,
Always have said any religious person who says without religion nothing will stop your from raping and murdering is saying more about himself than about atheists and agnostics. I don't need fear of eternal damnation to do right by others.
I had faith that you'd play that last bit of the Truman show at the end of your video. And you rewarded me.