Indeed. I find it comforting to hear my most private doubts so clearly expressed. My journey from Ordained Elder in my church to atheist took years. It didn't happen overnight. During that decade of doubt, I got a law degree, opened my practice and questioned everything. I too had epiphany after epiphany as my assumptions were challenged by "real life". Real problems that besought me from every direction. I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, became disabled, lost my law practice, my religion, my family and friends who shunned me. I landed on my feet, intellectually atheist. Along the way I've received comfort from The Thinking Atheist. Again, thank you, Seth.
Your story and mine have some overlay. Although I'm living in pain and discomfort and disabled I wouldn't change my state of mind I have now over my earlier self before deconstruction and deconversion.
You sound like amazing people, did all that pain and torment strengthen your resolve or were you tempted to pray for god to alleviate your suffering? Incidentally, how can a person believe that god will heed their prayer for their football team to win but ignore the prayers of millions of people in death camps during WW2? Is it just me or is that sick? Anyway, keep fighting that good fight, you're an inspiration.
As a child, I have many memories of taking a basket of bread, eggs, and sausages to be blessed for Easter brunch the next day. Even then, that always struck me as odd. I remember eating and thinking, "What's different about this food? I don't feel more holy and it tastes the same".
Especially when you knew that the real blessing was in the basket of cavities-and-diabetes-in-the-future that you always looked forward to but not for any actual religious reasons.
@@DavidRichardson153 Hey, if your are going to insult my Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs - we are going to have to have some serious words. I tried to get those blessed but my parent's wouldn't let me.
I love that his book is labeled as #1 best seller on amazon My favorite Christian "door" metaphor that I've seen is: Jesus: Knock Knock, let me in. Person: why? Jesus: so I can save you. Person: from what? Jesus: from what I'm going to do to you if you don't let me in.
There is an Emo Phillips joke that goes: "When I was little, I prayed to God to give me a bicycle, but He never did. When I got older, I realized I could just take a bicycle and pray to God to forgive me for stealing."
Prayer is what happens when the helpless need to feel helpful for their own satisfaction. It's an excuse for being useless, and passing the buck while at the same time you make yourself more important by declaring you'll take this straight to management, who also takes all credit while refusing responsibility for anything... as if y'all tight like that.
Not always. As a very young child I prayed daily for the starving children in Africa. I was raised so as to never pray for myself and took it to heart. One day, I focused on praying very hard for this and when I saw nothing happened, I was very angry. I was under 6 years old and from that day on, never could believe in answered prayer…or in god’s goodness
And instead of a cauldron, they use a chalice, which is just a fancy mini cauldron with its own pedestal, all while dressed in robes and the leader also wearing a giant funny-looking hat.
The beginning of this video reminds me of the words of an interesting book called "the religious case against belief". At an early point in the book the author states how any tribe, story/narrative, or idea will necessarily have an opposing aspect (an enemy of sorts). Humans do it naturally when we have conversations in our minds of the things someone else might bring up in an argumentative Convo. Any belief will end up having or it will develop an "enemy" to fight against. It's one of the easiest ways human beings can make sense of the world. Compare and contrast between us/them situations. When it comes to religions (most notably the Abrahamic faiths) it develops from literal myth and legend in order to tell stories and every hero needs a villain. When there is an invisible god that controls, blesses, and curses our daily lives then it makes sense that an enemy would also have to be invisible. It is also easy for believers of whatever mindset to automatically "demonize" (sometimes literally) the opposing view or just straight up just state that they are idiots. This kind of rhetoric allows the follower or believer to be able to distance themselves from opposing points of view. Also it keeps people from straying away since nobody likes to be called "a fool" in the eyes of their supposed tribe.
We even do this with objects. How many times do grown adults scream at their computers/cars/whatever when they malfunction? My phone messes up when playing music and I often find myself cursing it.
My best friend and I was going to a club, a gay club mind you. In our city's down town area, where parking is a b****! Low & behold as soon as we got there, there was a spot right in front of the door. First thing out of his mouth was "Thank you Lord!" 😂
Religion is make believe - an imaginary reality built on words, holy objects and rituals. It consoles the temporary sense of self which is going to vanish.
Of course they never stop to consider why a loving, just, fair God would care for this constant kiss-assery, or why he never seems able to speak for or defend himself in realtime when challenged these days. Never stopping to consider that a god worthy of worship would not tolerate his followers diminishing and dismissing the hard work, the effort, the acquired knowledge and skill of the people who are the ones that have actually gotten things done. One of my biggest pet peeves is being good at something and someone saying, "You have a gift", even moreso if they outright say "God-given gift". No, these are not "gifts". We work towards our talents and skills ourselves and saying that they were "given" to us is completely disrespectful.
Jesus believed in and worshiped his heavenly Father Yahweh the barbaric mass murderer of little children who drowned in the Flood and the witness to the Nazi Holocaust of his chosen people.
@5:31 --- *The word you're looking for is JIBING, Seth.* (not "jiving") [Submitted with all due respect because WORDS MATTER] Jibe = to agree or line up Jive = lie(s), deception :-)
It is unbelievable just how much content you have and how much you're still producing. I've been with you here for some years now and I hope you never have to stop until you want to.
The speech „Christianity Made Me Talk Like An Idiot“ is the very speech that introduced me to you, and is a favorite of mine which I return to to listen again and again and now I have the audio book. You need to put it on the road again and bring it to Europe to introduce a new audience to it!
Not only you - and I am not even an American (I am German) and didn't know who Seth Andrews was when I listened to that the first time...damn was it good! I was already de-converted, but frankly it is still great :D
@@dreamingflurry2729 I am British but live in Germany, I would love to see Seth come to the EU, especially with Aron Ra and Matt Dillahunty with a new version of their Unholy Trinity tour, maybe an „Unholy Trinity: European Crusade“ tour! As an ex biblical literalist Christian the things Seth said in this speech and so much more speak of exactly how I must have sounded, but also his work has helped me come to terms with that and help me realize that I was in a cult, which is very validating.
On a sidenote: returning of lost good is a standard thing demons and devils do, at least according to those funky lists you can find in grimoires. Claiming that "god returned my car keys" does not prove that those "christians" are not really secret servants of some evil entity...
Trying to find patterns is not limited to humans alone. Doves that were trained to do some task and then get a reward, when the automat is changed to giving out rewards randomly, without pattern, without any relation to what the dove does, often develop some ritual that they perform in the "hope" to that this is what makes the automat give out a reward. Senseless, but the dove sticks to it no matter what. A form of confirmation bias. I did something and got a reward. So when I do that again, and again, and again, and then sometime get another reward, then this proves that the action is the cause. So i will keep on doing that. For a dove that flawed logic is forgiveable. For a human - hmm...
This is the same thinking and reward that drives compulsive gamblers. Losing feels like winning in their disordered brain…they get the same dopamine reward for the POSSIBILITY of winning.
Reminds me of Project Orcon in WWII. Pigeons were trained to peck at a picture of a ship on a screen to keep it centered. Then they were to be placed in a missile. Their beaks were tied to contacts that would control the steering to kamikaze themselves into a ship. Christians can steer their lives the same way, often with the same result. "I don't need to wear a mask, I'm washed in the blood of Christ."
Seth you were instrumental in my reconversion! Never felt better and I’m 71. Not nearly as judgmental and much kinder to my fellow human beings. Also no longer a Republican! I am now a committed progressive. You can help teach an older dog new tricks! Thanks my friend! Love to share a sip of bourbon with you someday! Be well!
I see our neighbors to the south are sending their prayers and thoughts to us Canadians and our Hitler premiere(Justin Trudeau) and our tyrannical government. Let me assure our neighbors to the south that our premiere, Justin, is not Hitler and our government has never been tyrannical(well at least not in my lifetime). If you listen to Fox News you'd think we are on the brink of civil war... We're not! While we're on it... Canadians are allowed to own guns too. I know! I have 3 brother-in-laws that are avid hunters. We just don't need to brag to the world that we can own guns... We brag to the world about hockey.
True. Slightly embarrassing that the only thing so many in the US can think to do with "being free" is getting a gun. They might be "free", but it seems like they are being bled dry by every institution.
As a fellow transplanted Tulsan in Missouri, I know of where you speak. Thank you for your work. Loved the video. I will have to get the book. Thank you for your work.
Great job as always....ordered autographed copy last week. Can’t wait to get to dive in further. Have a great day Seth and keep your head up and your thoughts coming our way! Love what you stand for and how you go about portraying that to the world
I cringe when I remember some of the things I used to say to people when I genuinely used to believed that I had a telepathic friendship with an iron-age carpenter from the Middle East.
One thing that always strikes me as curious is why theists pray at all ? If God already has a plan laid out , and his thoughts cant be known and are too complex and far reaching for us to appreciate, why would he alter them for our mere whims ? Also when did prayer become a kind of wishing well anyway ? I may be wrong, but from my limited understanding , in the bible the purpose of prayer seemed only to be to praise god and give offerings ? Is God taking suggestions as to how to run things though prayer ?
Agreed. If god is omniscient and knows what we want before we pray for it and knows the outcome, then prayer is an insult to his omniscience. It seems that prayer serves only to feed his narcissism.
I was raised Catholic But maybe partly because I have aphantasia and autism I was religious (very much so at times) but never spiritual. I spent 25 Years spending free time searching Catholic sources for answers on spirit and prayer... (Many old books.. But also in mind that it would be a sin against faith to seek answers outside the church... As they teach in the catechism) But in2013 I found flat earth debate on UA-cam... Beforelong I found atheist content on cosmic skeptic's channel where I'd watched about flat earth... I found atheist experience and Aron Ra and Seth Andrews among others At times before I feared I was forgotten and not given a soul... But now i understand it is likely none of us have a soul
I call BS on that bicycle guy absolving the bike thief. It would have taken months to get his bike back since it's evidence, so he probably just dropped the charges so he could get on with his day.
Doesn't matter. Its B.S. The dude could have absolved all he liked. At the point of him selling stolen property to a pawn shop it was out of the owners hands and the state would have absolutely picked it up and charged the thief. Thats just the law.
Maybe that's why he bought the bike back, so he could have it sooner. I don't think the Police need the bike since they have other good evidence of the theft. Having said that, I would have thought the Pawn shop owner would, (should), have given the bike back at cost. I assume there is some penalty in the US for a shop owner that receives and sells stolen property?
17:20 Christianity is probably so keen on water because the religion was created on a hot dry desert climate. I'm from Finland, and since our climate is practically the opposite of that of the Middle East, some of the things in the Bible sound just very backwards to us. The praise of water doesn't sound that striking when you have clear drinking water available around the year. Paradise with shadows, cool areas, doesn't sound as attractive as the warmth of a fire most time around the year. You literally miss sun and light and may even get clinically depressed due to the polar night, yet the Bible describes the shining sun as something excruciating. And so on. Yet another proof of how the Bible doesn't sound like the word of an all-knowing being but in fact a very locally limited world view 😁
For the girl who survived the plane crash, there is another explanation that I doubt any Christian would consider. Perhaps everyone on the plane died and when to heaven, but the girl was not worthy of heaven. I may have been God saying "shape up or else".
This reminds me of the "Chicken Biscuit" god... friend of mine said god sent him a Hardee's restaraunt (his favortie breakfast spot for a chicken biscuit) billboard while he was hungry and stuck in traffic one day, conveniently right near the noted exit!! PROOF!!!
OMG, these buzz phrases are giving me PTSD, lol. (“Hedge of protection”) Looking forward to reading the book, Seth. Thanks for sharing this episode with us.
It’s so frustrating to hear the faithful talk this way. The confirmation bias and grasping at any straw, to justify the irrational behaviour . EI I escaped the catholic lies and nonsense at age 15, and learned to think critically. Although it changed my life for the better, it continues to be challenging when these issues come up in conversation with friends/ family who have not yet woken up. Really enjoy your channel Seth
Seth, you just blurted out a good idea for a future show; do a show just reading your hate mail. It would be a laugh fest. After all, Richard Dawkins did it years ago. I think you can still find it on UA-cam.
Great idea. Actually... could we send in some hate mail we've received? The more deranged the better. And Seth can select some and read them out? Maybe... a monthly event?
Seth, I applaud you for writing your book. In fact, I'm deeply satisfied your efforts are making the religious community upset because in many ways that needs to happen. I want to buy your book but I'm not subscribed to Audible so I can't buy it. I buy my audiobooks from Google Play.
The Hebrew god of the Bible Yahweh has three personalities who don't know what is going on most of the time and become psychotic when they find out. Hilarious!
22:27 Don't worry about your levels of snark, Seth. My own levels are so high that I believe that the "faithful" get divine messages in their Alpha-Bits, until someone like me points out that they were eating Cheerios.
Oh, I hope they really do burn your book, and that they make a big a$$ deal out of it. Sales will skyrocket. Perhaps even enough for another animal rescue van!
Yeah, the skunk sniffers have been duly triggered. They've received their notification of a "dead skunk in the road " and now need to go get a nose full. It's so funny when the offended party has to rally up a crowd so they can all be equally offended together. SMH & LMFAO.
As an artist I find pareidolia fascinating. I usually take photos of the pareidolia that I see and sketch out what I see. I have drawn up some really interesting and funny characters since I started doing it.
Thank you Seth! All my thoughts that I have a hard time expressing, articulated beautifully by you. I am constantly frustrated by those who seem to think god cares about their every minor need when the world is full of incredible suffering. I’m so grateful there are people like you who speak out about the nonsense of it all. Can’t wait to read your book!
I do it too. Very interesting and surprising at times. Tree roots are a good source. Also astronomical/cosmological photos. Sometimes I arbitrarily draw "lines" with a pencil or pen in my left and right hand simultaneously and fashion whimsical characters and "scenes".
I recall being in grade school and my mom telling me that I should pray before taking a test. I thought about this for a bit... what could I possibly pray for, and what would God do in response to such a prayer? Should I be so presumptuous as to ask God to give me any answers that I have forgotten? That would defeat the purpose of studying, so God would be right not to honor such a prayer. Am I to ask for clarity of mind, or superhuman memory for the duration of the test? What good would that do me in the long run, if I don't have that all the time, when I'm presumably supposed to be using this knowledge? Even more fundamentally, the purpose of the test is to determine my retention of the material. Why would I ask God to intervene in any way that would misrepresent said retention? So I asked my mom what I should pray for, and expressed my confusion about what God could possibly do about it. I don't recall her answer, but it obviously didn't satisfy me because I didn't bother praying about tests for the rest of my childhood. It just didn't make any sense to pray about. Up until college, that is. I think some of my engineering classes had me trying my luck with God! XD
We all try prayer at least once in the hopes that it might help us pass the test. We all have had one version or another of this prayer that we kept in waiting just to maybe hedge our bets: "Dear Lord, I'm just looking for a 72 today, Lord, just a 72. If You give me the guidance to fill in the answers for a passing grade, I would greatly appreciate it.:
I had a teacher in Catholic school assure me God tailored her tests so that they only covered the half of the curriculum she had actually studied. When I asked her how this would pan out if someone had studied the other half and prayed as well- or how fair this was to those who studied the whole thing- she just gave me the blank stare.
"The god of diminishing returns" Seems to me that "god" has a strict no returns policy. I get exactly the same "blessings" from god as an atheist that I did as a theist, in other words, none at all.
It's extremely annoying when Xtians ignore the input of hundreds of years of scientific advances in the fields of engineering and medicine to give god all the credit for the recovery of a severely injured person, or someone who survived a hight speed head on crash. I find it equally annoying to describe someone who survived and accident as "brave" or think they are worthy of admiration. To paraphrase Lisa Simpson, "How is he brave, he fell down a well!?!"
That’s Facebook up and down. “Please pray for momma. She’s been diagnosed with cancer. Plead the blood for her healing in Jesus name amen.” A few months later…. “Thank y’all for your prayers. Momma went home to be with the lord last night. Please pray for her and our family, amen.”
I have friends and family who see Jesus in every event in their lives. This is a sort of psychological fatalism: “all things work together for good”. It takes a load of worry off. On the other hand, while it can allay stress, it also justifies denying reality and doing nothing productive in the face of difficulty. Better would be “God helps those who help themselves” (and each other), as did Bob’s wife, even if it’s not in the Bible.
So as an occasional watcher of televangelists the regularity of these clowns talking to God and God's talking back is amazing even more the regularity of God answering these crooks prayers. The prayers of the millions of parents for their sick starving missing children took a back seat to the important prayers concerning the need for a private Jet or help writing of the next book to go on sale during the next break,.
Questions about prayer, Seth. How does it work? Indeed, how can it work if the Christian deity is omnipotent and omniscient? Their scriptures claim this deity has predetermined every person’s fate, birth to death. That’s consistent with omnipotence and omniscience. But how could prayers change an unchangeable entity? Wouldn’t that mean it was changeable? If it were omniscient, wouldn’t it know every prayer before it’s uttered? So why pray? If that deity crafts them to pray in every instance needing prayer, doesn’t that mean they don’t exercise their free will but simply obey that deity’s immutable design?
Well it could be argued god knew they would pray and knew if he would decline their prayer or not. Basically the message would be whatever you do god has already predicted it, in which case you probably shouldn't over think things and just do whatever, and god already knew you would fail/succeed.
I don't know about that boat getting free in the canal being done by god but getting stuck there may have been an act of god, the captain said it was the wind that pushed it there.
Maybe a more pious person wanted the building to be free of obstructions, and that was gods way of doing it...by commanding another person the steal the bike!
If a god existed everyone would know it. God debates would never happen. If prayer worked everyone would pray and get what they wanted, every time. If a Divine Perfect Plan existed no Intervention by a god would be needed.
If Satan gives wisdom (and he does in the Bible! He is after all the snake in paradise! God wants to hoard it all for himself, but Satan? Satan tells Eve to eat from the tree of knowlede!), I'd rather follow him! Then again: I don't follow any sky-daddy believes! I take responsibility for myself and my actions, I don't need some invisible friend to do that for me!
It’s easy enough to prove that God exists. The folly is to assume that you must have a perfect understanding of Him and how He/She/ it works. And you will never have any type of understanding if you base your understanding on the understanding of others. Understand? ….
Christianity makes people I know that don't even identify as Christian talk like idiots sometimes. Heck the holdovers from my Christian upbringing still make me talk like an idiot sometimes lol
I have terminal cancer. I am so fucking tired of people telling me they'll pray for me. I want to tell them to shove their prayers. How can I do so in a polite way?
![Would We Be Better Off Without Religion? - Christopher Hitchens [2007] ✝️ | Intelligence Squared](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/DIR7_X-ahy4/mqdefault.jpg)
Indeed.
I find it comforting to hear my most private doubts so clearly expressed.
My journey from Ordained Elder in my church to atheist took years. It didn't happen overnight.
During that decade of doubt, I got a law degree, opened my practice and questioned everything.
I too had epiphany after epiphany as my assumptions were challenged by "real life". Real problems that besought me from every direction.
I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, became disabled, lost my law practice, my religion, my family and friends who shunned me.
I landed on my feet, intellectually atheist.
Along the way I've received comfort from The Thinking Atheist.
Again, thank you, Seth.
Your story and mine have some overlay. Although I'm living in pain and discomfort and disabled I wouldn't change my state of mind I have now over my earlier self before deconstruction and deconversion.
I feel so much emphany and sympathy for you. Just hang in there and keep trying to better yourself. Like me.
You sound like amazing people, did all that pain and torment strengthen your resolve or were you tempted to pray for god to alleviate your suffering? Incidentally, how can a person believe that god will heed their prayer for their football team to win but ignore the prayers of millions of people in death camps during WW2? Is it just me or is that sick? Anyway, keep fighting that good fight, you're an inspiration.
@@leegoodwin2746 30,000 ppl DIE of hunger and hunger-related disease EVERY DAY!
God?
I'll pass
As a child, I have many memories of taking a basket of bread, eggs, and sausages to be blessed for Easter brunch the next day. Even then, that always struck me as odd. I remember eating and thinking, "What's different about this food? I don't feel more holy and it tastes the same".
Yeah not to mention when you tried praying and realized right away that you were just talking to yourself 😄
Especially when you knew that the real blessing was in the basket of cavities-and-diabetes-in-the-future that you always looked forward to but not for any actual religious reasons.
@@donnyh3497 Yeah prayer didn't help most of the people on the Titanic.
@@rockpadstudios Indeed. Talking to oneself rarely does 😀
@@DavidRichardson153 Hey, if your are going to insult my Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs - we are going to have to have some serious words. I tried to get those blessed but my parent's wouldn't let me.
I love that his book is labeled as #1 best seller on amazon
My favorite Christian "door" metaphor that I've seen is:
Jesus: Knock Knock, let me in.
Person: why?
Jesus: so I can save you.
Person: from what?
Jesus: from what I'm going to do to you if you don't let me in.
Seth Don't ever stop doing what you're doing!! ✌⚛⚛⚛⚛☮
*you're
Seth...you make being a non-believer so much fun 😀
It is fun
There is an Emo Phillips joke that goes:
"When I was little, I prayed to God to give me a bicycle, but He never did. When I got older, I realized I could just take a bicycle and pray to God to forgive me for stealing."
Prayer is what happens when the helpless need to feel helpful for their own satisfaction. It's an excuse for being useless, and passing the buck while at the same time you make yourself more important by declaring you'll take this straight to management, who also takes all credit while refusing responsibility for anything... as if y'all tight like that.
Excellent summary
I create god and god empowers me with authority and immortality.
I wonder how many of the thoughts and prayers crowd actually do any thinking or praying after they make the remark.
Not always. As a very young child I prayed daily for the starving children in Africa. I was raised so as to never pray for myself and took it to heart.
One day, I focused on praying very hard for this and when I saw nothing happened, I was very angry. I was under 6 years old and from that day on, never could believe in answered prayer…or in god’s goodness
Casting spells over your food and summoning spirits to help find your lost keys, sounds like witchcraft.
And instead of a cauldron, they use a chalice, which is just a fancy mini cauldron with its own pedestal, all while dressed in robes and the leader also wearing a giant funny-looking hat.
The beginning of this video reminds me of the words of an interesting book called "the religious case against belief". At an early point in the book the author states how any tribe, story/narrative, or idea will necessarily have an opposing aspect (an enemy of sorts). Humans do it naturally when we have conversations in our minds of the things someone else might bring up in an argumentative Convo. Any belief will end up having or it will develop an "enemy" to fight against. It's one of the easiest ways human beings can make sense of the world. Compare and contrast between us/them situations. When it comes to religions (most notably the Abrahamic faiths) it develops from literal myth and legend in order to tell stories and every hero needs a villain. When there is an invisible god that controls, blesses, and curses our daily lives then it makes sense that an enemy would also have to be invisible. It is also easy for believers of whatever mindset to automatically "demonize" (sometimes literally) the opposing view or just straight up just state that they are idiots. This kind of rhetoric allows the follower or believer to be able to distance themselves from opposing points of view. Also it keeps people from straying away since nobody likes to be called "a fool" in the eyes of their supposed tribe.
We even do this with objects. How many times do grown adults scream at their computers/cars/whatever when they malfunction?
My phone messes up when playing music and I often find myself cursing it.
the toxic positivity was one of the things that drove me UP A WALL. "if you just don't acknowledge it it doesn't happen!"
My best friend and I was going to a club, a gay club mind you. In our city's down town area, where parking is a b****! Low & behold as soon as we got there, there was a spot right in front of the door. First thing out of his mouth was "Thank you Lord!" 😂
"Lord have mercy!"
Thinking for yourself and thinking in general are discouraged in theist circles in general.
...thank you, seth, for your most excellent shows and insights into the world of 'anti-reality' when it comes to all things 'religiously magic'... 😁
Religion is make believe - an imaginary reality built on words, holy objects and rituals.
It consoles the temporary sense of self which is going to vanish.
@@JamesRichardWiley ...maybe that's why 'the bible' is referred to as: 'the goat herder's guide to the universe'...? 😁
I loved the speech and can't wait to read the book. Oh and please don't stop the snark :)
The last big Moore tornado made me question my beliefs for the first time. That was devastating to the community and my family
But..... The bible was saved!
Seriously, I hope you are doing okay.
Since the tornado didn't kill everyone, God is merciful.
Wow.
@@jeanhartely That's what caused the doubt...only ONE Bible saved?!?
;)
Best of luck, MidwestNerd.
I got the audio version of your book. Excellent. I think that I would still have heard your voice if I had read the paper copy :-)
I always do too!
I gotta get this book on audible. Can listen to thst voice all the time.
Of course they never stop to consider why a loving, just, fair God would care for this constant kiss-assery, or why he never seems able to speak for or defend himself in realtime when challenged these days. Never stopping to consider that a god worthy of worship would not tolerate his followers diminishing and dismissing the hard work, the effort, the acquired knowledge and skill of the people who are the ones that have actually gotten things done.
One of my biggest pet peeves is being good at something and someone saying, "You have a gift", even moreso if they outright say "God-given gift". No, these are not "gifts". We work towards our talents and skills ourselves and saying that they were "given" to us is completely disrespectful.
Jesus believed in and worshiped his heavenly Father Yahweh
the barbaric mass murderer of little children who drowned in the Flood
and the witness to the Nazi Holocaust of his chosen people.
To be fair Yahweh does say he is an angry and jealous god.
Great book so far. I'm looking forward to finishing it.
@5:31 --- *The word you're looking for is JIBING, Seth.* (not "jiving")
[Submitted with all due respect because WORDS MATTER]
Jibe = to agree or line up
Jive = lie(s), deception :-)
It is unbelievable just how much content you have and how much you're still producing. I've been with you here for some years now and I hope you never have to stop until you want to.
The speech „Christianity Made Me Talk Like An Idiot“ is the very speech that introduced me to you, and is a favorite of mine which I return to to listen again and again and now I have the audio book. You need to put it on the road again and bring it to Europe to introduce a new audience to it!
Not only you - and I am not even an American (I am German) and didn't know who Seth Andrews was when I listened to that the first time...damn was it good! I was already de-converted, but frankly it is still great :D
@@dreamingflurry2729 I am British but live in Germany, I would love to see Seth come to the EU, especially with Aron Ra and Matt Dillahunty with a new version of their Unholy Trinity tour, maybe an „Unholy Trinity: European Crusade“ tour!
As an ex biblical literalist Christian the things Seth said in this speech and so much more speak of exactly how I must have sounded, but also his work has helped me come to terms with that and help me realize that I was in a cult, which is very validating.
I have to get the audiobook because you’re so good to listen to. 👍
On a sidenote: returning of lost good is a standard thing demons and devils do, at least according to those funky lists you can find in grimoires. Claiming that "god returned my car keys" does not prove that those "christians" are not really secret servants of some evil entity...
Trying to find patterns is not limited to humans alone.
Doves that were trained to do some task and then get a reward, when the automat is changed to giving out rewards randomly, without pattern, without any relation to what the dove does, often develop some ritual that they perform in the "hope" to that this is what makes the automat give out a reward. Senseless, but the dove sticks to it no matter what.
A form of confirmation bias. I did something and got a reward. So when I do that again, and again, and again, and then sometime get another reward, then this proves that the action is the cause. So i will keep on doing that.
For a dove that flawed logic is forgiveable. For a human - hmm...
This is the same thinking and reward that drives compulsive gamblers. Losing feels like winning in their disordered brain…they get the same dopamine reward for the POSSIBILITY of winning.
Reminds me of Project Orcon in WWII. Pigeons were trained to peck at a picture of a ship on a screen to keep it centered. Then they were to be placed in a missile. Their beaks were tied to contacts that would control the steering to kamikaze themselves into a ship. Christians can steer their lives the same way, often with the same result. "I don't need to wear a mask, I'm washed in the blood of Christ."
Seth you were instrumental in my reconversion! Never felt better and I’m 71. Not nearly as judgmental and much kinder to my fellow human beings. Also no longer a Republican! I am now a committed progressive. You can help teach an older dog new tricks! Thanks my friend! Love to share a sip of bourbon with you someday! Be well!
Superb, I've really enjoyed your reading, great job you do, much appreciated. Regards from the UK.
Ah, Evangelism...the originators of toxic positivity.
I see our neighbors to the south are sending their prayers and thoughts to us Canadians and our Hitler premiere(Justin Trudeau) and our tyrannical government.
Let me assure our neighbors to the south that our premiere, Justin, is not Hitler and our government has never been tyrannical(well at least not in my lifetime). If you listen to Fox News you'd think we are on the brink of civil war... We're not!
While we're on it... Canadians are allowed to own guns too. I know! I have 3 brother-in-laws that are avid hunters. We just don't need to brag to the world that we can own guns... We brag to the world about hockey.
True. Slightly embarrassing that the only thing so many in the US can think to do with "being free" is getting a gun.
They might be "free", but it seems like they are being bled dry by every institution.
You got to love Seth and his ability and common sense to make people think for themselves.
As a fellow transplanted Tulsan in Missouri, I know of where you speak. Thank you for your work. Loved the video. I will have to get the book. Thank you for your work.
Great job as always....ordered autographed copy last week. Can’t wait to get to dive in further. Have a great day Seth and keep your head up and your thoughts coming our way! Love what you stand for and how you go about portraying that to the world
I cringe when I remember some of the things I used to say to people when I genuinely used to believed that I had a telepathic friendship with an iron-age carpenter from the Middle East.
Don't forget he was a philosopher child turned miracle healer turned flying revenant.
One thing that always strikes me as curious is why theists pray at all ?
If God already has a plan laid out , and his thoughts cant be known and are too complex and far reaching for us to appreciate, why would he alter them for our mere whims ?
Also when did prayer become a kind of wishing well anyway ?
I may be wrong, but from my limited understanding , in the bible the purpose of prayer seemed only to be to praise god and give offerings ?
Is God taking suggestions as to how to run things though prayer ?
having these kinds of questions makes you a bad believer. True belief means you dont question anything....sheep essentially
"What's the point of being God if every rundown schmuck with a two-dollar prayer book can come along and f^^^ up your plan?" - George Carlin
Agreed. If god is omniscient and knows what we want before we pray for it and knows the outcome, then prayer is an insult to his omniscience. It seems that prayer serves only to feed his narcissism.
I was raised Catholic
But maybe partly because I have aphantasia and autism I was religious (very much so at times) but never spiritual.
I spent 25 Years spending free time searching Catholic sources for answers on spirit and prayer... (Many old books.. But also in mind that it would be a sin against faith to seek answers outside the church... As they teach in the catechism)
But in2013 I found flat earth debate on UA-cam... Beforelong I found atheist content on cosmic skeptic's channel where I'd watched about flat earth...
I found atheist experience and Aron Ra and Seth Andrews among others
At times before I feared I was forgotten and not given a soul... But now i understand it is likely none of us have a soul
I call BS on that bicycle guy absolving the bike thief. It would have taken months to get his bike back since it's evidence, so he probably just dropped the charges so he could get on with his day.
The bicycle guy contributed to a crime ring.
Doesn't matter. Its B.S. The dude could have absolved all he liked. At the point of him selling stolen property to a pawn shop it was out of the owners hands and the state would have absolutely picked it up and charged the thief. Thats just the law.
Besides that, your run of the miull christian luuuuuuuuvs revenge.
I suppose he could have forgiven him, but I didn't hear that.
Maybe that's why he bought the bike back, so he could have it sooner.
I don't think the Police need the bike since they have other good evidence of the theft.
Having said that, I would have thought the Pawn shop owner would, (should), have given the bike back at cost.
I assume there is some penalty in the US for a shop owner that receives and sells stolen property?
17:20 Christianity is probably so keen on water because the religion was created on a hot dry desert climate. I'm from Finland, and since our climate is practically the opposite of that of the Middle East, some of the things in the Bible sound just very backwards to us. The praise of water doesn't sound that striking when you have clear drinking water available around the year. Paradise with shadows, cool areas, doesn't sound as attractive as the warmth of a fire most time around the year. You literally miss sun and light and may even get clinically depressed due to the polar night, yet the Bible describes the shining sun as something excruciating. And so on.
Yet another proof of how the Bible doesn't sound like the word of an all-knowing being but in fact a very locally limited world view 😁
And if little Bobby aced his test solely because of Jesus, can he really claim that accomplishment? I think not!
For the girl who survived the plane crash, there is another explanation that I doubt any Christian would consider. Perhaps everyone on the plane died and when to heaven, but the girl was not worthy of heaven. I may have been God saying "shape up or else".
Could I be the first to say - Thanks for your content!! :)
Best Gray
This reminds me of the "Chicken Biscuit" god... friend of mine said god sent him a Hardee's restaraunt (his favortie breakfast spot for a chicken biscuit) billboard while he was hungry and stuck in traffic one day, conveniently right near the noted exit!! PROOF!!!
God wouldn't have noted the exit on the billboard if your friend wasn't hungry. Checkmate, athiest.
OMG, these buzz phrases are giving me PTSD, lol. (“Hedge of protection”) Looking forward to reading the book, Seth. Thanks for sharing this episode with us.
It’s so frustrating to hear the faithful talk this way. The confirmation bias and grasping at any straw, to justify the irrational behaviour . EI I escaped the catholic lies and nonsense at age 15, and learned to think critically. Although it changed my life for the better, it continues to be challenging when these issues come up in conversation with friends/ family who have not yet woken up. Really enjoy your channel Seth
We need to have a book burning but make so Seth's book won't catch on fire - its an miracle.
Seth sounds like he is channeling Ned Flanders at times😊
Man.This guy is good!
Seth, you just blurted out a good idea for a future show; do a show just reading your hate mail. It would be a laugh fest. After all, Richard Dawkins did it years ago. I think you can still find it on UA-cam.
Motion is seconded.
THIRD!
Great idea.
Actually... could we send in some hate mail we've received? The more deranged the better. And Seth can select some and read them out?
Maybe... a monthly event?
I did the "See you at the pole" prayer events in high school. Hell, I even had at shirt for that bullshit! 🤣
I have the same merit badge. Even went early to be on time.
I am not familiar with the sentence as for a sec thought you meant pole dancing…
I don't respond well to threats! You go, Seth!
Having lived in Bixby, I feel your pain regarding Catoosa.
Seth, I applaud you for writing your book. In fact, I'm deeply satisfied your efforts are making the religious community upset because in many ways that needs to happen. I want to buy your book but I'm not subscribed to Audible so I can't buy it. I buy my audiobooks from Google Play.
There is a novel entitled, The God of Small Things. I think that perfectly describes the God of the Bible.
Sir Terry. No sorry that was small gods and it still describes that god.
The Hebrew god of the Bible Yahweh has three personalities
who don't know what is going on most of the time
and become psychotic when they find out.
Hilarious!
@@alanhilder1883 They are two different books.
@@Cheepchipsable If you look you will see that I corrected myself.
From what I recall, the novel does not refer to the God of the Bible, at all.
22:27
Don't worry about your levels of snark, Seth. My own levels are so high that I believe that the "faithful" get divine messages in their Alpha-Bits, until someone like me points out that they were eating Cheerios.
Awesome podcast episode!
The Preacher on KARI Christian AM Radio, told his audience (feb 25.2022) that "Fossil Fuels are made from fossils." I changed the channel.
Oh, I hope they really do burn your book, and that they make a big a$$ deal out of it. Sales will skyrocket. Perhaps even enough for another animal rescue van!
I hope the reflexive offended bans it in schools. Nothing made me want to read a book more than banning it.
Yeah, the skunk sniffers have been duly triggered. They've received their notification of a "dead skunk in the road " and now need to go get a nose full. It's so funny when the offended party has to rally up a crowd so they can all be equally offended together. SMH & LMFAO.
As an artist I find pareidolia fascinating. I usually take photos of the pareidolia that I see and sketch out what I see. I have drawn up some really interesting and funny characters since I started doing it.
Sounds really cool, I'd like to see it as a progression or maybe a metamorphosis like Escher..
Thank you Seth!
All my thoughts that I have a hard time expressing, articulated beautifully by you.
I am constantly frustrated by those who seem to think god cares about their every minor need when the world is full of incredible suffering. I’m so grateful there are people like you who speak out about the nonsense of it all.
Can’t wait to read your book!
I do it too. Very interesting and surprising at times. Tree roots are a good source. Also astronomical/cosmological photos. Sometimes I arbitrarily draw "lines" with a pencil or pen in my left and right hand simultaneously and fashion whimsical characters and "scenes".
@Wolf-dog Cat-dog yes， the are called knots. I think a religious person might see it as a demon. But who knows they might see something different.
I have the audiobook. Great so far. My wife gets a WAP at your voice. Maybe Ben Shapiro's wife should listen to you?
🤣
Seth your commentary about theist comments shows why I don't go to theist channels.
They weren't theist channels, just newspaper comments.
I am so bored of the Hitler/Satan argument.
Love the "Satan" voice, sir. Funny !
I recall being in grade school and my mom telling me that I should pray before taking a test. I thought about this for a bit... what could I possibly pray for, and what would God do in response to such a prayer? Should I be so presumptuous as to ask God to give me any answers that I have forgotten? That would defeat the purpose of studying, so God would be right not to honor such a prayer. Am I to ask for clarity of mind, or superhuman memory for the duration of the test? What good would that do me in the long run, if I don't have that all the time, when I'm presumably supposed to be using this knowledge? Even more fundamentally, the purpose of the test is to determine my retention of the material. Why would I ask God to intervene in any way that would misrepresent said retention?
So I asked my mom what I should pray for, and expressed my confusion about what God could possibly do about it. I don't recall her answer, but it obviously didn't satisfy me because I didn't bother praying about tests for the rest of my childhood. It just didn't make any sense to pray about.
Up until college, that is. I think some of my engineering classes had me trying my luck with God! XD
We all try prayer at least once in the hopes that it might help us pass the test. We all have had one version or another of this prayer that we kept in waiting just to maybe hedge our bets:
"Dear Lord, I'm just looking for a 72 today, Lord, just a 72. If You give me the guidance to fill in the answers for a passing grade, I would greatly appreciate it.:
I had a teacher in Catholic school assure me God tailored her tests so that they only covered the half of the curriculum she had actually studied.
When I asked her how this would pan out if someone had studied the other half and prayed as well- or how fair this was to those who studied the whole thing- she just gave me the blank stare.
YEAH NEW BOOK! Buying it from audible when I get money!.
I really like the audiobook! Awesome 👍
"The god of diminishing returns"
Seems to me that "god" has a strict no returns policy. I get exactly the same "blessings" from god as an atheist that I did as a theist, in other words, none at all.
It's extremely annoying when Xtians ignore the input of hundreds of years of scientific advances in the fields of engineering and medicine to give god all the credit for the recovery of a severely injured person, or someone who survived a hight speed head on crash.
I find it equally annoying to describe someone who survived and accident as "brave" or think they are worthy of admiration.
To paraphrase Lisa Simpson, "How is he brave, he fell down a well!?!"
I’m trying to sleep but can’t stop laughing at your voice acting 😂
It is a great audio book
That’s Facebook up and down. “Please pray for momma. She’s been diagnosed with cancer. Plead the blood for her healing in Jesus name amen.”
A few months later….
“Thank y’all for your prayers. Momma went home to be with the lord last night. Please pray for her and our family, amen.”
Seth... You are on 1.4M views on that speach... But just know I am 459,000 of them... lol Anyway I just got my copy of the book! Thank you again!
If you type christianity in the Amazon search bar, the first suggestion is your book! Take that xians!
god doesn't find stuff.
he outsources it to st anthony.
the patron saint of missing items.
Keep up the good work, Seth. Just got my copy...cant wait to start on it!!!
I have friends and family who see Jesus in every event in their lives. This is a sort of psychological fatalism: “all things work together for good”. It takes a load of worry off. On the other hand, while it can allay stress, it also justifies denying reality and doing nothing productive in the face of difficulty. Better would be “God helps those who help themselves” (and each other), as did Bob’s wife, even if it’s not in the Bible.
How does one become an agent of Beelzebub ? I need another hobby
This is fantastic!
So as an occasional watcher of televangelists the regularity of these clowns talking to God and God's talking back is amazing even more the regularity of God answering these crooks prayers. The prayers of the millions of parents for their sick starving missing children took a back seat to the important prayers concerning the need for a private Jet or help writing of the next book to go on sale during the next break,.
Questions about prayer, Seth. How does it work? Indeed, how can it work if the Christian deity is omnipotent and omniscient? Their scriptures claim this deity has predetermined every person’s fate, birth to death. That’s consistent with omnipotence and omniscience. But how could prayers change an unchangeable entity? Wouldn’t that mean it was changeable? If it were omniscient, wouldn’t it know every prayer before it’s uttered? So why pray? If that deity crafts them to pray in every instance needing prayer, doesn’t that mean they don’t exercise their free will but simply obey that deity’s immutable design?
Well it could be argued god knew they would pray and knew if he would decline their prayer or not.
Basically the message would be whatever you do god has already predicted it, in which case you probably shouldn't over think things and just do whatever, and god already knew you would fail/succeed.
I don't know about that boat getting free in the canal being done by god but getting stuck there may have been an act of god, the captain said it was the wind that pushed it there.
...the God of Diminishing Returns...this I must hear :D
I know why the bicycle was stolen. Because God was making available a parking space to someone who had prayed for one.
Maybe a more pious person wanted the building to be free of obstructions, and that was gods way of doing it...by commanding another person the steal the bike!
If a god existed
everyone would know it. God debates would never happen.
If prayer worked
everyone would pray and get what they wanted, every time.
If a Divine Perfect Plan existed
no Intervention by a god would be needed.
Tim Tebow thanked god for his touchdowns, but said he (TT) was unworthy if he didn't.
"Hobby Horse" 😅🤣😂💯🐎🚲
There's also the situation in Ukraine that God could be addressing right now.
Sorry but looks like he is too busy finding bikes.
@@adamc1966 ...and blowing flags.
Fountains of joy, waves of delusion, blah blah blah.
Great now I have to pee.
Can you please release your kindle books on kindle unlimited
Oh Mary, you think we never heard that one?
No hate as christian love.
When is god going to step up and save us from overpricing. 2k for a bike is just sickening.
Not for a high tech racing bike - though you think at that cost he might have invested in a lock.
Church is Kindergarten!
The Bible is a book of fables and fairy tales!
The songs in the Hymnbooks are nursery rhymes!
If Satan gives wisdom (and he does in the Bible! He is after all the snake in paradise! God wants to hoard it all for himself, but Satan? Satan tells Eve to eat from the tree of knowlede!), I'd rather follow him! Then again: I don't follow any sky-daddy believes! I take responsibility for myself and my actions, I don't need some invisible friend to do that for me!
Well one third of angels can't be wrong!
I ran fakespot on on the versions on amazon so they show as an "A" fwiw.
My mom's name Mary. I'm not saying that its her, but Im not saying its not her either. It does sound like crap she would say.
It’s easy enough to prove that God exists. The folly is to assume that you must have a perfect understanding of Him and how He/She/ it works. And you will never have any type of understanding if you base your understanding on the understanding of others. Understand? ….
'It's easy enough to prove that God exists,..' is that so? Then why has no one done it yet? Go on please do it. I am waiting..
Seth you Blasphemous heathen!Your gonna be judged and then your gonna 🔥 Just kidding keep up the good work!
Christianity makes people I know that don't even identify as Christian talk like idiots sometimes. Heck the holdovers from my Christian upbringing still make me talk like an idiot sometimes lol
Yespraters to saint Anthony and saint dysmus common in my family von losing something in the house...
I want so of that ‘ satanic wisdom ‘ sounds like good stuff.
These Christian platitudes nauseate me. So arrogant
4:30 She made you go full Paul Lynde.
You never go full Paul Lynde, sweetheart 😉
I have terminal cancer. I am so fucking tired of people telling me they'll pray for me. I want to tell them to shove their prayers. How can I do so in a polite way?
Just say "Thanks"- they mean well.