Hi everyone, future-Thomas here. A while after I made this video, I found the recording of the prophecy I received and made a video about it. You can watch that here: ua-cam.com/video/ckaR2Kzreyo/v-deo.html.
@Razor Face what about the parts of science that aren't opinions? Just because you can quote someone saying, doesn't make true. Or even a good philosophy.
The last thing can do is praise the creature that did such a bad job at creation he made 1500 defective genes and forgot to give us knowledge of right from wrong as wanted us to fail shows he needs 0 praise or worship as enough blood on his hands for all the religious murder he condones and encouraged.Human morality always going to be better then gods as we do not need to use fear to be moral like god does in his indoctrination.
@@michaelnee2392 Welp, I questioned and did seeking for over two years, with all my heart and humility, with all power of unbiased reason and critical thought... I deconverted because of it.
I don't know what happened on your journey and it's not my place to try and convert you in any way but don't be afraid to ever look again best of luck to you
@@michaelnee2392 Thanks, best of luck to you too as well. There's so much confusion, lies, and emotional manipulation today. There always has been, but now it's easily spread through media. Not being afraid to critically analyze things is the greatest weapon and light in the darkness we have.
These stories are always very fascinating to me. I’m from Scandinavia where non-believers are a crushing majority. People don’t call them selves Atheists, because it’s not really needed. Videos like this make me realize I shouldn’t take my worldview for granted. I didn’t have to fight for my right to know that dinosaurs existed more than 6000 years ago. Thanks for sharing your story.
" I’m from Scandinavia where non-believers are a crushing majority. " The briefest research shows that you are completely mistaken. Non-believers in Scandinavia are only 20%, with maybe 30% in Sweden. It may seem different in your social circle, but atheists can have as much confirmation bias as believers.
How many Swedes believe in God? The share of Swedes who believed in God declined continuously between 2010 and 2019. While 47 percent of the respondents believed in God in 2010, the share had dropped by more than ten percent in 2019, amounting to 36 percent. Now if you lived in Europe you would find many of the apparent believers were what we call cultural Christians . I'm retired but nobody or may be one Uncle has ever inquired if I believe in any God. Church attendance in the the UK is now just Birth, Marriage and Death for the great majority.
@@jamese9283 I do believe that those stats are skewed though. Every child that is born in Norway, that has a parent that is a member of "statskirka" automatically becomes a member of "statskirka" themselves (directly translated, The States Church), which is where those stats are taken from (i am quite sure.) Like 90% of the people i meet are not religious, but are members of "statskirka", either because they are too lazy to opt out, had no idea they were members, or other dumb reasons. If nobody told you, you could go your entire life having no idea you were a member. If you'd actually walk the streets of Norway and poll people, i am fairly certain you would find most people either atheist or agnostic, and spending practically no time pondering the issue. I would be so brazen to say if you put them in the same category, we would be upwards of 70-80%. Maybe even more. Edit; another thing to note is that alot of people will say they dont believe in god, but that they have christian values, because of the fact that it used to be the majority religion. A lot of people will also say that the country is a "christian" country because of that same fact, even though we in actuality are more likely majority atheist/agnostic. Edit2; I also want to add, i am still a member, which means that my daughter is also a member. My parents are also still members. None of us believe. Basically, my argument is that this is the case for most Norwegian families. And that religious institutions like to take their statistics from there. Which is (in my opinion) obviously inaccurate.
@@jamese9283 "The church is important as a bearer of traditions, even for the non-religious people. However, their interpretation of the tradition is different. They view the church as a secular arena for confirmation and other rites of passage such as baptism, weddings and funerals. To them it is not about religion but tradition. They are fine with the priest having faith, but they are just following tradition," This is also be a big reason why a lot of people are still members of the church, while not believing.
I grew up an extreme Jehovah’s Witness, my whole life was worshipping him. My journey becoming an atheist was the best thing I ever did for myself. Thanks for this!!
From one extreme to the other. Hope you find Christ. I had several encounters with JWs when I was younger and I was not prepared at the time to see through their false teachings. Peace.
@@alinastanescu4430 Both atheism and the JWs are extremes of credulity. A complete absence of faith in one, and a false hope in the other. The original source of the JW heresy was their unwillingness to accept the doctrine of the Trinity. This heresy, know as Arianism, was rejected by the apostolic Church Fathers. Arianism later gave rise belief systems like Islam, and much later, the JWs. Ironically, modernist secular psychology also suggests a triune nature for the human psyche with its terms Id, Ego, & Superego which correspond roughly with the theological notions of body, soul, & spirit. We are created in God's image. Both the Old & New testaments speak repeatedly about God, The Word, & The Spirit or Father, Son, & Holy Spirit. The creation narrative uses the plural for form for the one Creator. The prophets are often visited or have vision of three messengers, and Solomon in his prophetic wisdom tells us "a threefold cord is not quickly broken" (Ecclesiastes 4:12).
@@andrewferg8737 Are you serious? Freud isn't "modern secular psychology". Id, ego, and superego are part of a model that still exists in common speech, but it by no means "verifies the triune nature of the human psyche." Your claim is as ridiculous as saying that Piaget's four stages of cognitive development prove that God is a four-in-one tetrarch. Your cherry picking and lack of logic beggar belief. You call JWs' faith "false hope," but as a Christian do you not also believe in an eternal, paradisiacal afterlife? And by the way, citing a bible verse to prove a claim in the bible is the acme of circular reasoning. Do you never ask yourself how belief in an afterlife can be justified when the slightest chemical or traumatic effect on the brain can result in complete oblivion of consciousness? All it takes is a dose of general anaesthesia to completely arrest our experience of consciousness; why would death result in an expansion of the same?
I was 8 and some Christian youth workers came into school. They did the whole singing, join in, praise the lord show. They told the story of Noah and the flood. They then came into our classroom to sing some more and see if we had any questions. I remember being curious about kangaroos as they made such a fuss of telling us about all the animals on the ark. I asked them if the flood killed everything, what did the kangaroos eat on their way back to Australia? Other kids joined in and asked what the lions ate on their way way back to Africa and the Tigers going to India. I remember the leader of the group struggling for a while to think of something to say and the others in the group looking at each other as if it was the first time they had ever thought about it. I don't remember the answer I did get, but I knew they were selling snake oil and I didn't want any, thank you very much. A year after writing this, I was teaching a class today, RE, the story of Noah and the Ark. It was an interesting hour😀
Stop showing off your no better you detest God because their lack of delivery how rediculous. So your just an expert in all walks of life? Your good at using God's children as examples of clowns just thinking your some cool dude. Same old excuse to hate God! If you met experts 10 mins later you still wouldn't listen.
@@mikemaciel7306 Funny you attack this person's character. You seem to be unable to offer an adequate answer yourself. Btw, what's there to hate? For me, only if I were convinced that a god exists would I hate him. But I'm not convinced anymore.
@@mikemaciel7306 So you seem to know Mike. What DID the kangaroos eat on their way back to Australia from Mt Arrarat? And even better what did the Koala Bears eat, since they live on Eucalyptus, Did god do a mana thing and make Eucalyptus trees appear before them and disappear them after the Koalas had passed by? P.S. I don't hate "god" or "gods", the same way I don't hate dragons, fairies or ogres.
Its impossible to hate an imaginary character. No we hate paedophile cults that have no evidence of anything and still claim they do. LMAO which experts??? You and cult like people like you don't listen to scientists, you know, experts on how the natural world works.
As a catholic child I would read 'Lives of the Saints', full of women we were meant to emulate like St Rose of Lima. She blistered her face and cut off her hair in case her beauty 'tempted men'. Other female saints spent their lives starving themselves and apologizing for being female, or undergoing horrible deaths for the 'double crown of virgin and martyr'. It was only in my teens that I realised how incredibly unhealthy these so-called 'role models' were and how I wanted nothing to do with them. And then I had a row with a Sunday School teacher who was telling us that Galileo had 'found his way back to God.' I knew it wasn't true and that Galileo had been threatened with torture and death unless he recanted his scientific knowledge. The final straw was reading 'The Missionary Position' by Christopher Hitchens, which challenged the saintly view of Mother Theresa. That was it for me. I've kept my own daughter as far away from religion as possible.
You are right about Galileo , shame that verry few mention true martyr who payed the price with his life for founding heliocentric idea, died young je never got chance to become famous.his name is Jordano Bruno. Galileo and Leonardo da Vinci was forced to write books in church favor that are still in vatican library
My "oh my" moments were actually just nagging doubts I've always had that I decided to listen to. 1. I've always hated how in the Bible women were treated like objects, property and their only value was being a womb. Any modern interpretation of the Bible that was favourable to women was usually in contradiction to actual scripture which made me uncomfortable plus A LOT of the Christians I met were sexist and used the Bible as an excuse. 2. I always hated that when my prayers weren't answered it was my fault for not having faith but it was thanks to God when they were answered 2. The story of Noah was always questionable. The only was it made sense was to add several caveats to scripture. 3. I was told evolution and the age of the earth was all lies by misguided scientists but after a little digging it seemed it was Christians who are misguided
Every "good" thing you do is God's work But the moment things gets shitty its the devil. "God" loves us but only when we obey or else we burn for eternity 💀 Ngl I was a strong believer as a kid bc I was afraid of burning I don't think its wise to follow something out of fear
I never understood the evolution thing. For a long time, I had new earth beliefs, but then when someone proposed the idea of old earth creation it made a lot more sense. Just recently, I questioned even more and now quit 3 days ago.
My experience is unusual in that both of my parents were agnostic; religion was just unimportant to them. However, I've had 2 "oh, my" moments in moving from agnostic to atheist. 1. When I was 10, my mom thought I needed to learn what religion was about. She sent me to summer vacation bible school, which was run by a fire-and-brimstone sect. About the 4th or 5th lesson I expressed skepticism that Jonah could survive inside a whale for 3 days. The teacher got furious, loomed over me, and growled that I had to believe all of this without question or I would spend eternity in hell! The other kids, I'm sorry to say, were badly frightened by this tantrum. But I went home and told my mom that these were bad people and I didn't want to go back. That was the end of my religious education. 2. In college I decided to read the bible, because so many people described it as "great literature". I was so appalled and revolted by the petty, vicious deity described therein that I could not finish many of the chapters. My religious grandmother had told me morality tales about the good things that Jesus did. But in the New Testament I discovered many of his reported deeds and edicts that disturbed my sense of morality. And as a science major, the plethora of supernatural events turned me off. As Bill Nye said, show me any evidence that the bible is true. After 72 years on this planet, I'm still waiting for a single datum of proof. Thank you and other UA-camrs for showing that it's possible to escape the clutches of religion. I long thought it was impossible because I saw how dogma cripples the intellect. Keep up your great work!
It took me decades of "oh my"-experiences in different religions, the last 2 years being atheist but not ready to acknowledge it, and at 48 I was out. I'm atheist for 2 years now.
Good story! Btw. if you're an agnostic, you're also an atheist. ;) Depending, of course, how people define the terms. But - for example - I am an agnostic atheist. The two words deal with two different questions, and are not mutually exclusive. Agnosticism/Gnosticism are positions with regard to the question "can it be known?" or "is it known?" - while Atheism/Theism are positions with regard to what you believe. In essence, all colloquially self-described "agnostics" are de-facto atheists, because they are not convinced in the existence of a deity. You can either be an "agnostic atheist", or a "gnostic atheist." I know very few gnostic atheists, since it's simply an untenable and meaningless position to hold.
Tell me is it possible for you to put your former beliefs on the shelf for a little while and accept the possibility that your views on religion are shaped by your experiences in life so far and could in fact be false. If so, I would very much like to show you the proofs of religion in a matter of fact way!
If anyone tells me the Bible is great literature, my reply is along the lines of "Bullshit! Most fan fiction is better-written than that load of crap. I gave up after three chapters of Genesis because I couldn't stand the abysmal quality of the writing." Yeah. I can't really comment on the events in the stories in the thing because the bloody thing is too badly-written for me to put up with long enough to actually get through them.
. "My religious grandmother had told me morality tales about the good things that Jesus did. But in the New Testament I discovered many of his reported deeds and edicts that disturbed my sense of morality." Man, I hear you on that one. Every Christian thinks that the kind, meek, and mild Jesus somehow erases the other Jesus - Christ the judge. Jesus might have taught some good things, but in the end, he was just as judgemental as the pharisees he despised. Telling someone that they will be condemned if they don't believe, is bigotry of the highest order- which is exactly what Jesus believed and to make matters worse, Paul pushes it further.
You sound like children making fun of their parents. Please come right with your creator, why hold so much contempt for the one who mended the relationship between man and the father. Christ is lord. He fulfilled all prophecies as the messiah
@@hamon4228you just didn't watch this video did you? I bet you don't have the stomach to question your religion but atleast watch the entire video before going into comments
@@NuruBensaki-yx2ix as I have made an assumption you have made one as well. Why do you think I am in this video? I like to expand my world view and this simply isn’t it. This video has terrible understanding of Christianity that only focuses on Protestantism and has no sound ethical basis to be making judgements on the morality of God. I encourage you check out “orthodox Kyle’s” video about Holy Koolaid.
My journey began one week after I met the woman that 32 years ago became my wife. After we began dating she told me that she had something to tell me that was very important and might end a promising relationship. She is a victim of incest. Perpetrated by her father. She was baptist and the church leadership told her to keep it quiet because it was her fault and not her fathers. I chose not to dump her. However she also had told me tbat god had a pet name for her. She was his little one. I was unable to square this with incest. Surely a god that said she was his little one could have saved her from this. It was then that I started into you tube religious and atheist research. I walked away not just an atjiest, but an anti theist. There is much more to the story, but it takes too long to recount textually. She is also an atheist. And our lives together have been great.
I never feared death....because God loves all their children, and death is going home to be with God and all my dead family and friends. I still hope it's true, but I'm not as sure as when I was young. Now death is horrifying. Anxiety, fear, and depression. I prefer having faith. Religion has little to do with behavior- I want to be good because humans have genetic make up as social creatures. Religion doesn't change my behavior, but it sure affects how I feel. It's a great powerful and helpful tool to have in life.
@@langreeves6419 People have told me I'm going to hell bc I am transgender and homosexual. If I actually believed in God, death would terrify me. Because people say I'll be tortured forever for shit I can't even control. Now, as an atheist, death isn't so bad. Bc once I die, nothing else happens. I'll go back to the Earth and become food for other creatures.
Thank you for helping me out of my religion. I've been free for 3 years and getting rid of that part of my life made me a better, happier, and more accepting person. Keep it up.
I was once a Christian pastor that try to disprove evolution. So I took many biology, and genetics classes in different fields of scientific understanding. Plus, being part of the laboratory experiments. In the end the result was.... Evolution won over everything. But most of all the biggest problem for Christianity is actually reading the Bible for what it is. The book is just bat shit crazy, with so many contradictions.
The bible is full of that. It took me very long however to conclude God wasn't going to reveal to me personally why these contradictions were there, and I wasn't prepared to wait after I'd died 😂.
The threats are what made me start to question it. I will never believe in any higher power til it is proven. Especially one that has to threaten their supposed creation for their love and worship...or do I think any being that could would even care about "worship".
@@plantsoversomerville5547It's possible to get over the fear of hell. It's a hard way, but you don't have to suffer from that ❤ Wish you all the best!
I grew up atheist (and I still am atheist, don't worry) but only now am I gradually realising (1) how valuable that is and (2) how other people trapped in that stuff can benefit from my perspective.
@@MultiCappie "Uhhh, I said "I grew up atheist", not "I grew up AN atheist."" Interesting. Most here say I am an atheist; which means an atheist is a thing to be. I admire your finer sense of the English language; where atheist is exactly shorthand for "without god" and so "I grew up atheist" means "I grew up without God". For what it is worth, I also grew up with no visible mention of God in my parent's household.
The more research you do and the more science you study, it becomes much more difficult to remain religious than it is to become atheist/agnostic. PS You're very pleasant to listen to.
@@bdf2718 I can attest to this. I'm a former Methodist. Wasn't indoctrinated or anything, but I got bored one day and actually read the Bible and came to the conclusion that it is little more than a fairy tale. Then a year later I got bored again and decided to get God and Lucifer's kill counts. God had around 2.5 million kills not counting the flood. Lucifer had ten or eleven kills because God lost a bet.
@@NobleS1236 Lol, I did something similar, even though Im a lifelong athiest and never got the brainwashing to begin with.. I put it to believers that maybe Lucifer is the good guy and the whole thing is an ad campaign to stop god being jailed.
If you understand Physics and Chemistry and you have some knowledge of History and Psychology, the idea of a god becomes so irrelevant, that you have to truly be a special breed of moron to still believe it. And you don't need a degree in each subject for this understanding to dawn on you (though it doesn't hurt). My degrees were in Chemistry first and then Psychology some years later, with Physics, Biology, Philosophy, History (and computer science) as electives. I believe that 1 year of (full time) study in each subject is enough to de-program any already indoctrinated person. Because while actually reading the bible might cause a person to doubt their (bible based) religion, the more you understand about the real world and how it works, the less likely you are to turn to a different crutch after doubting/ dumping the bible. Understanding the way the world works gives you the intellectual mobility so that you don't need crutches like religion (or homeopathy, etc...).
@Laniakea I understand where you are...been there...done that. But allow me to save you some time on your journey...don't waste your time in Mormonism. I spent 30 years there before I woke up and escaped. If you think the Bible and Christianity is BS...you will really be insulted by Mormonism and the Book of Mormon! OMGosh...talk about a bunch of malarkey! The next 25 years was my Christian journey. Grew out of that too! Many other smaller journeys afterwards, but I am no longer looking for a formal religion. And especially not for a "One true faith and/or church!" Hallelujah!!! Best wishes to you and your journey. Namaste!
When I was an exchange student in the U.S. some years back (this was in the South), there was a guy in the dorm who was known to be an atheist. People talked about him as if he were a demon or something, and it was almost as if they were afraid of him. I think I had seen him around a couple of times, but wasn't really sure who it was they all referred to as that awful atheist. One day, as I was heading out to hit some tennis balls after a class, I saw another guy walking just behind me, also with gear in hand and headed to the tennis courts. We started talking, and decided to play while we waited on whoever it was we were each waiting on. As it turned out, both of our partners were no-shows, so we played for another hour, then headed back to the dorm together. Long story short- this guy turned out to be a very interesting person who had lived all over the world with his parents, as his dad was a diplomat at the time. We became good friends, and it wasn't until a couple of months later that I put 2 and 2 together and realized that HE was in fact the atheist guy everyone had been talking about (and shunning) in the dorm! Today, I understand that he was simply way too cosmopolitan, progressive and well travelled for the vast majority of people at that university, and they kind of just wrote him off as some weird dude that didn't believe in god, when in fact these people were precisely the ones who were weird.
My OH My began with the death of my mother at 7 yrs old. Being told "it was God's plan" and nothing else set me on my path. Very religious family as well. As I've grown up, I'm 46, Its nothing more than brain washing. Nothing can be proved, yet IM THE CRAZY ONE! Thanks for being here. You're helping so many people....Cheers.
I’m very sorry that your mom had passed away when you were so young. I have a friend who had lost his dad about a year ago (my friend was still in junior high). I understand that trusting in God at times like that can be hard. But just because your mom had passed away earlier than expected doesn’t mean you won’t ever see her again. She is in heaven (since I assume she was a Christian) and you will join her if you put your trust in God again. And at that point where you say nothing can be proven, I will say that many historians say that Jesus did walk the Earth and had disciples. And earth itself is prove of God and his goodness. I just want to say Jesus loves you and your mother and he died to save you from your sins. You just need to have faith in him, even when things feel really hard. ❤
Man, you've been through a lot! I wish I could've heard of you when I was still a Christian. Perhaps I would've left religion much sooner haha You're seriously an inspiration. Keep sharing your views and influencing others to think more critically. It's much appreciated and much needed.
Maybe you should be a bit more open to Christianity dear, you might not know the whole story. I would recommend stuff on "the Apostolic fathers" on you tube. You might be suprised by what you find.
I'm an exmormon atheist, and here is my story: (Law & Order cut sound) For me, my journey began when I watched the Nye/Ham debate. I went into that not really interested in why Nye had to say, but by the end I had realized Ham was full of crap and I had learned a lot from Nye I hadn't heard before. After that, I started to watch youtube personalities like Thunderf00t and Godless Engineer because they'd debunk YEC's. I wasn't really looking to lose my faith, but I enjoyed how atheists like them destroyed the YEC arguments with science and history, and I really got my love of science and history because of that. The final series for me was from Aron Ra. I had watched a video or two of his before, but then I started watching his series "Refuting the Irrefutable Proofs of God". One of the reasons that series resonated with me so much was because I actually thought that David C. Pack was a mormon for the first few episodes, because of his bearing and the way he spoke. But watching that series, I don't know how many episodes I had watched, but at the end of it I was like, "I know every other religion can't be true, but I need to look at the LDS church and religion again." I couldn't dismiss it out of hand because I was raised in it. And then I looked into the history and found that a lot of the church history had been white washed, and that was kind of the final straw for me. After that I knew I was an atheist.
My Story. Bought up Methodist. At a youth worship group, when I was about 12-13 I asked the Pastor to explain the reason, logic actually, of why someone had to die to save our sins. I was a bit like a dog with a bone, I wanted an answer. No explanation made any sense, not logical you see. My mother got a phone call from said pastor who suggested I should stay away from Bible Studies for a few weeks, and could return when/if I was less disruptive. The lack of an answer to my, I thought at the time, simple question gave me pause for much thought. All this enlightened pastor could say was that the bible told us so and I needed to have faith and accept it as fact. Not until many years later did I get my first sensible answer to my 40 year old question. The answer came from Christopher Hitchins, in God is Not Great.
my "i'm done" moment was when i got to the religion section of guy p. harrison's "50 popular beliefs that people think are true". i was gonna skip that section, but reasoned that, because my beliefs were unshakable, it would be interesting to hear the other side. by the time i finished that section i was an agnostic. my journey to full atheism took about 6 months, and another full two years to finally shake off the last vestiges of hell. but, like you, i went through a renaissance period, reading every book and watching every video i could get my hands on. that's how i found you, actually! thank you for being part of my path out!
The dead sea scrolls covering the period from Birth of Jesus to 68 AD , does NOT say one word about Jesus or his 12 Apostles Hellenistic philosopher Philo Judaeus of Alexandria (20 BCE-50 AD/CE)-alive at the purported time of Jesus, and one of the wealthiest and best connected citizens of the Empire- makes no mention of Christ, Christians or Christianity in his voluminous writings. Nor do any of the hundreds of other historians and writers who flourished during the first THREE centuries of the common era. The DEAD SEA SCROLLS were all written by Pagan Essenes . None of them have been edited by later Christians, as is the case with some other Jewish literature. All the scrolls (except a treasure map known as the Copper Scroll) can be dated prior to A.D. 68 or 69, when the Qumran settlement was believed to have been destroyed by the Romans in the Jewish revolt. The oldest of the scrolls probably goes back to the middle of the third century B.C. The people of Qumran belonged to a Pagan religious group known as the Essenes. Pliny the Elder, who died during the volcanic destruction of Pompeii in the year 79 A.D., described a community of pagan Essenes living on the western shore of the Dead Sea, close to where Khirbet Qumran is situated. John the Baptist was an ascetic Essene . He was a vegan and was uncircumcised . Various literary sources like Josephus and Philo tell clearly that Essenes were ascetics. We also know, from literary testimony, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the archaeological remains of Qumran, that the Essenes practiced many water baptisms for ritual purification-similar to a dip in the Ganges or the river Pampa or at Thiirunelli. At Qumran, however, all members of the community were baptized with water for ritual purification. Josephus writes, "And as for their piety towards God, it is very extraordinary; for before sunrising they speak not a word about profane matters, but put up certain prayers which they have received from their forefathers, as if they made a supplication for its rising" (Wars, 2.8.5). This testimony accords well with what we know from the Dead Sea Scrolls. Prayer and humility was one thing that the Essenes . When they cooked up stories about Jesus they wrote that Jesus Christ ate the Last Supper in the Essene part of town. Jesus is not historical character, The Dead Sea Scrolls have produced increasing evidence to cement the fact that Jesus Christ never existed and the whole story was cooked up at the First Council of Nicea in 325 AD. The FAKE gospels were written after 325 AD after Jesus was cooked up at the first Council of Nicea.. Twelve apostles of Jesus never existed. Jesus Christ names 12 apostles to spread his gospel, and the early Christian church owes its rapid rise to their missionary zeal. Yet, for most of the Twelve, there's scant evidence of their existence outside of the New Testament. The concept of using statistics to prove that 'God authored the Bible' is bullshit. Why was the library of Alexandria burnt ? The gospel of Thomas was not written by Jesus' disciple Thomas. Englishman Godfrey Higgins studied Greek, Latin and law at Cambridge . His two-volume, 867-page book Anacalypsis: An Enquiry into the Origins of Languages, Nations, and Religions, was published posthumously in 1836. In his treatise, Higgins writes " the mythos of the Jews and the mythos of the Greeks are all at bottom the same lifted from the ancient mythos of Hindus ; and ... are contrivances under the appearance of histories to perpetuate doctrines," and that Christian editors “either from roguery or folly, corrupted them all.” 1900, Scottish MP John Mackinnon Robertson wrote that Jesus never existed but was an FAKE invention by a first-century messianic cult. He wrote about the First Council of Nicea of 325 AD where powerful forces invented a new god to fit the needs of the society of the time .Robertson specifically mentions the Talmudic story of the Yeshu . Thomas says: "Simon Peter said to them, ‘Make Mary leave us, for females don’t deserve life.’ Jesus said, ‘Look, I will guide her to make her male, so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every female who makes herself male will enter the kingdom of heaven’" (Thomas 114). AIYOOOOO -even Christians don’t like this When the master of James baby Jesus Christ never existed -- how can his disciple St James exist ? Even since the dead sea scrolls have been discovered CHRISTIANS and JEWS are jumping up and down like demented orangutans claiming that Essenes belong to them. Dead Sea text or Qumran Scrolls have absolutely nothing ZILCH, to do with the Bible of the Torah - never mind the diabolical lies of the Christians and the Jews. For arguments sake -even if messiah Jesus Christ existed , the gospels were written a even a century after Jesus' estimated year of death, by individuals who never met Jesus, and then were edited or forged over the centuries by unknown scribes with their own agendas. Dead sea scrolls have been written by Essenes of the sect of Apollonius "I call Christianity the one great curse, the one great intrinsic depravity, the one great instinct of revenge, for which no means are venomous enough, or secret, subterranean and small enough - I call it the one immortal blemish upon the human race." Friedrich Nietzsche
The God of the Bible is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully Rapist ,Slave traders ,Anti Peace, Anti Womens ,Anti life and allowing all Immoral actsJesus says that he has come to destroy families by making family members hate each other. He has “come not to send peace, but a sword.” Matthew 10:34 Jesus says, “Don’t imagine that I came to bring peace on earth! No, rather a sword lf you love your father, mother, sister, brother, more than me, you are not worthy of being mine. “The real beauty of this verse is that Jesus demands people truly love him more then they love their own family. I ask you how can we love someone that we can not see or interact with? Love is an emotion pertaining to physical existence not to faithful ideologies, yet God threatens you with death just because your love for your mother maybe stronger than your love for him. (Matthew 10:34) I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children." (Leviticus 26:22) "Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourself every girl who has never slept with a man." (Numbers 31:17-18) "The Lord commands: ".. slay old men outright, young men and maidens, little children and women" (zechial 9:4-6) "When the Lord delivers it into your hand, put to the sword all the males As for the women, the children, the livestock and everything else in the city, you may take these as plunder for yourselves." (Deuteronomy 20:13-14) "You will eat the fruit of the womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters the Lord your God has given you." (Deuteronomy 28:53) "The Lord said to Joshua [..] 'you are to hamstring their horses." " (Exceedingly cruel.) (Joshua 11:6) 'The people of Samaria must bear their guilt, because they have rebelled against their God. They will fall by the sword; their little ones will be dashed to the ground, their women with child ripped open." (Hosea 13:16) Christianity is Religion of Love?
Strangest thing was that even though I was born and raised in a heavily religious Christian country with devoted friends and family, I never really got into the whole "religious" business. Every time I prayed it always felt like BS. I slept in church, and I always felt that something was off. I was a bit scared and reluctant at first, but these types of videos helped me break away from the norm of religious thinking. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
I was proud of Bill Nye in that debate. My brother and I were on his show in the 90s. Now I send my brother’s little boy Tiny Thinkers books for Christmas, he’s only four but he loves science already. We were lucky to have grown up at the actual Nye Lab in Seattle, and now we teach our kids critical thinking and to love Earth and science.
Bill Nye is a freaking legend, and a gentleman! :) I would say him being a respectful gentleman in that debate helped a lot too, not just the facts vs dogma contrast.
Many well educated people agree that kids pure curiosity makes them the best scientists. That's why it is important to fuel that curiosity, feed them with informations to digest, try out and sometimes fail in their little experiments. Learning how to fail gracefully and draw conclusions is the best thing any person can learn, especially if they want to know science. As Feynmann put it: it's a pleasure of finding things out :)
@@ogi22 I try to teach my kids as much as I can. Watching videos on feynman and even how his father was inspired me so much. I'd say a lot of the help I've had as a parent is from scientist and great thinkers alike. Neil Tyson explaining how curiosity fuels science and the stuff about letting the kids jump in puddles and get dirty. It's not dogma and to be honest the majority of it is pretty much common sense. It's always nice to hear what great minds have to say on any subject and it's changed my life and way of thinking for the better.
I am so in awe of you folks that deconstruct at such a young age. I first started in my 20s, but hit such crippling depression from the process of leaving belief and community, that I couldn’t do it. I am only starting afresh now in my 50s with small steps like watching this video.
From a young age I figured out that Santa wasn’t real. I also led a lot of science books. By the time I could understand what it meant to believe in a God, I had gradually yet without awareness or intense thought come to realise that I did not believe it. I wasn’t exposed massively from a young age so didn’t have anything much to blindly fall for. That’s the thing with much of UK Christianity, it’s boring and nobody really cares that much.
My 'Oh My' moments were...rather strange. My family was religious (sort of) and we had a family friend group so close they may as well have been just another part of my family and they were nothing BUT religious. Anyways, I didn't start going to church until after a whole slew of things happened seemingly all at once. My dad left my mom for another woman, my grandmother who I was VERY close with died and then my uncle who had just become a dad died. Also, the woman who my dad had left us for was very abusive to me. Everything in my life sucked pretty hard but I tried to follow in my moms faith that if we continued to pray to God that eventually everything would work out. But nothing seemed to be adding up. How could such a gracious and loving God let stuff like this happen to a 7 year old for 13 years, or take a baby's father away and leave her with a woman who was never fit to be a mother? The verses in the bible never really clicked with me despite all my efforts. It wasn't until I made certain friends at 18 who really showed me a different "religion" (it was Wicca) that things I had tried so hard to believe it fell apart. Everything became so clear. And just two years later, I had built up enough courage to leave the abusive home I was in and start my own life.
The thing that set the dominoes falling for me was when, at a party, one of my friends mentioned that he believes the creation story in Genesis to be literally true. At the moment, it was the most bizarre thing I've ever heard (or so I thought). It had never even occurred to me that an adult educated person might fail recognize Genesis as an allegory. I planned taking to him, and searched for some evolution simulations on youtube, so I can show him in case it came up. There I found out that young earth creationism is a thing... I was shocked... Needless to say, during my conversations with creationists in the comment sections I eventually figured out that their reasons for believing are more-or-less the same as mine and I became an atheist. This whole thing took like 3 months or so...
@Loyal Th30rist To be fair, I was already an agnostic deist and a humanist as far back as I remember and I was already convinced that the church and the bible were heavily corrupted. So atheism wasn't as big of a jump for me.
@Steve @Steve does a rat or a toad (or a dolphin or a wolf) think a human is more special than a rat or a toad? What about the slave traders? Did they think human slaves are special? What about the pitiless slaughter of humans in the old testament? The killings carried out on behalf of Catholics, Protestants etc. Did they all think humans are special? Did the Spanish Inquisition think their torture victims were more special than rats or toads, or were they just heartless cruel and deluded?
Wow...your process was sure a quick one in comparison to mine. Hmm....I was 30 by the time I came out of Mormonism...and about 54 before I came out of Christianity. Embarrassing! ;)
When I was a kid, I knew it was all shit. I went to a friend's church and it was freaky - sitting there, listening to some stranger talk to us after some monotonous singing. Then at the end, all the kids marched around the room "shouting for joy" and I was like, "haha, I want to go home." Even worse? They gave all the kids MORE homework doing boring memorizing and workbooks. I was not okay with it. I had some traumatising experience in a church camp where I was basically cornered in the pew and held down by family members trying to get me to confess during an altar call. I hated altar calls after that. Idk why I got into the Bible and church as a teen. I read the Bible all the way thru and never wanted to after that, it was such a confusing, gross slog. I pretty much stopped a year into it and I realized this year I'm done with religion all together. Thanks for your video!
I went to a Baptist bible retreat when I was 12. The preacher said that "some people in this room would go to hell" I was convinced right there that I would NOT BE ONE OF THEM. That fear kept me in the cult for a long, long time...
I loathed memorizing scripture, along with a few of my friends. Of course, when the time came to say something we memorized, it was the shortest verse "Jesus wept."
My daughter converted to Catholicism in order to marry. This caused me to re-address my own fuzzy not-religious-but-spiritual beliefs and I quickly concluded that the entire thing is hogwash. I must say my Atheism feels wonderful; like dropping a heavy weight I'd been lugging around for decades -- for no good reason, it turns out. There is great satisfaction only believing in what is logically sound and moral. Religion all too often gets both wrong.
Hi Riff. "great satisfaction only believing in what is logically sound and moral"---- Respectfully, it is not at all clear how one reconciles the terms "logic" and "moral" from a purely materialistic perspective, although some have attempted it. Gravity often feels like "a heavy weight I'd been lugging around"----- yet the universe depends on gravity for its physical existence. In free fall one feels unencumbered by the effects of gravity as though it was not real, yet one eventually arrives at a black hole that removes all doubt.
@@andrewferg8737 while I'm not the OP, why would we need just to use the material world to create morals? We aren't all materialists. I'm a naturalist. I see nature, instincts, and emotions as the basis for how to determine my morals. Killing is only justified if you eat it or are protecting yourself by this standard. Needlessly killing other life without consumption is the first basis for my morals then. Wasting that life without consumption would also be incredibly immoral. Next would be pain. Causing harm inflicts clear pain on living things - animals cry, howl, or go into shock; plants and fungi do similar things. There's my second. It doesn't take long to build up an entire sense of how to see what's right and wrong that way. Just use your own reasoning skills. To this end, I've had emotions that have given me physical symptoms. I've been dumped by an ex and felt chest pain after. Anxiety often causes things like nausea, hyperventilation, and chest pains (which could lead to things like high blood pressure, indigestion/acid reflux/heartburn, and feeling like it was hard to simply move around). I've literally gotten so mad once that I'm sure my blood pressure skyrocketed and I saw red spots over my vision. Depression is often talked about by sufferers as a heavy weight that you struggle to drag through your day with - you can take this as only emotional, but many people are literally describing a feeling that their body is so heavy they cannot do the things they want to and even the smallest tasks are totally exhausting. So yeah, feeling like you have a sudden weight lifted from you after years of carrying emotional baggage can literally help someone feel suddenly lighter and more energized.
@@emeraldkat2167 Hi Emerald kat. Regarding "We aren't all materialists. I'm a naturalist."---- What you describe in your comment is the categorical imperative of Immanuel Kant. It is a form of materialism. Kantian ethics inform the judicial philosophy know in law school as natural law and serve as the underpinning of American jurisprudence. Despite its apparent reliance on reason, this ethical system breaks down without an objective standard. In simple terms, natural law is a beautiful thing in a world of sheep, but in a world of wolves it is dog-eat-dog.
@@andrewferg8737 I think you misunderstand. It isn't like Kant, more like Taoism (a little bit of anarchism, a little bit of Utilitarianism). But it doesn't matter, my example was just my own personal theory. How you define morality is what makes it a system hold together - ie if you define morality in terms of god (which we are left with the classic paradox - either god is the ultimate arbiter who can create immoral edicts, or morality comes from some other thing beyond god) or morality is something more and we should look to that thing, not one religion's idea of god/morality. So most of us start by defining morality, and then create our morals based on that definition/goal.
Also remember the millions physically and mentally tortured every day and brainwashed so much terrified to get on with life in the mistaken belief there sky fairy be angry with there knowledge and one less brainwashed person equals one slightly poorer corrupt church leader with his private jet.No loss to anyone if these leeches get put out of business.
I've recently come to be able to say that I am an atheist after 33 years of being a Christian. I am horrendously scared about admitting it to my friends and family. Virtually everyone that my wife and I associate with are devout Christians. My wife knows, but no one else does. These videos are helping me come to terms with it and strengthening my understanding that I am not alone and this is not a crazy and rare experience. For that, I have to say thank you. I highly doubt you'll ever see this, but if you do (or anyone else) know of any books, forums, blogs, etc. of people who are in my situation I would absolutely love to get those resources.
Be careful, you will lose friends and family, I did, to me it. Was still worth it, my freedom and peace of mind to know the truth is more valuable than a judgey relationship, be strong and confident, be respectful but don’t take any crap, they will respect tour decisions
@@rwk808 much appreciated! I’ve been watching GM Skeptic for months now. He’s fantastic. Telltale, Mr. Atheist, Exmo Lex…they are incredible people. They’ve helped me so much. I appreciate your support and willingness to help!
@@joshake2434 congratulations!! I was in it for 50 years... but feel so free now!! Matt Delahunty is good. NonStampCollector is great to watch, along with this channel.
My atheism has also been a process over time. I remember as a kid reading the story of Daniel and being confused why God allowed the wives and children of the wise men to be thrown into the lion's den when they did nothing wrong. Then as I got older I just wasn't interested in going to church, and for a while I had the maybe there is, maybe there isn't a god mentality. Then I found out about agnosticism and went with that. Then in the past year I watched atheist comedians like George Carlin, did research, and really gave the topic a great deal of thought. Finally I read The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, and by the end I was an atheist.
@@jasonsage1417 Umm yeah, thank you for the effort but I can't tell whether you're an atheist or not and what was your "oh my" moment. Let me ask a simple yes or no question. Are you convinced a god or gods exist?
@@mr.mcbeavy1443 Well... Convinced? God or Not? You figure it out. More fun that way. ... continuing where it left off... Let's Compare the Christian "shamefully" speaking about my fictional "German" (Me) and a "Jew" conversation in the previous post. Trying to show contrast between status quo mainstream bickering, slander, judging and condemnations versus... this "condemned conversation" of others... I am trying to show examples to people that judging others like you know the mind of God isn't allowed, judge yourself for yourself is allowed. Often we hear a "LABEL" or "RELIGION/DENOMINATION" or "OPINION" and we brush it off as "NOT FROM GOD, GOD OBVIOUSLY ISN'T WITH THEM IF THEY [INSERT REASON HERE]" versus consider them they way you expect them to consider you. Often, it's not ALL JUNK. Then if and when the condemnations, and judgements fly... All I can manage to say after they get all puffed up and angry is a gentle "Relax.. Easy... We're At God's Table, no big deal, just disagree or continue, no swords needed, no reason to cause Gabriel to have to come down here because Jesus wants to relay a message... using one of our BIG BROTHERS... They will be annoyed when they show up and ...well.. I like it when they have good news better. Personally... I Slink Away... sometimes when you feel the energy around you, and the hair rises on your neck, there is still time to run for shelter before the Lightning Bolt actually HITS ya! that's my QUE to GET out of the argument, and if I think it necessary, take one step back and just step in to BODY GUARD - First One To Raise a HAND and Strike the Other Get its. Don't mimic me... Listen to God #1, Jesus #2 - after that - everyone is suspect...even the printed page it's written on, is not safe from Satan. Thinking the word of God is "Perfect" as we have it? I don't think so. And I don't blame GOD for that. I Already know how that "STANCE" would hold up in heaven. "You said we could trust the word of God and your words are infallible" Jehovah ANGRY - "I Told You, obey my commands and live, and to guard my law like the apple of your EYE" The Frightened Man - "Which Ones?" Jehovah "JESUS CHRIST - Mediator - King" Jesus answers him solemnly "Yes Father" Jesus looks at you, his mind reeling, flashes of crucifixion memories cross his mind, memory of his words spoken in life, the words this soul has indeed learned, and the stance they are taking now.... Jesus Stands up... Jehovah sits back... Proud of his boy, watches... just watches his boy... Jesus - "You were told that your adversary comes as an angel of light, you were told not to change a jot or tittle of the LAW" The Frightened Man - "but I didn't change a jot or..." Gabriel Barks "SILENCE!" Jesus looks to you... "You lived in the Information Age, Yes? You had access to many bibles and scriptures and writings and teachings and saw conflict every where you looked. Satan was obviously among the scribes... somewhere, at sometime, many times.. all the time... Keep Seeking Truth, does that ring a Bell? Did I Stay STOP when you think you know Everything?" "how I could I know?" Gabriel lifts his sword knowing this is about how the man is with other sheep more than anything, he doesn't quite see yet, off the transparent gold flooring the sword tip is raised, just to be SLAMMED back down LOUDLY, Gabriel turns back into a still pose like a statue, a Solemn Stance of Attention - like the Queens Guard in England.... to give you a hint... "shut your HOLE" Jesus "Who handed you the word of God, it wasn't me?" The Frightened Man looks towards Gabriel... "can...I..speak..." Gabriel Nods Yes with a wink of kindness squeaked in. Micheal the Arch Angel starts to wear a slight smile... looks at another Son of God, he returns Micheal's eye contact, they smirk and fall back into that solemn pose... The Frightened Man - "my pastor" Jesus "A man? A man hands you a teachings and says THIS is the TRUTH. Then you read, and learn wisdom. Did you heed the admonition of even Paul, to not judge at all until ...well.. TODAY, MY GREAT DAY, Given to Me By Father, Who Glorifies me whom you call Your GOD." The Frightened Man - "well.. no Jesus, but I did read it and prayed and I was nice to people in the congregation I think... I mean usually..." Jesus "You trust a man over an angel? I told you not to trust an Angel over my Father or I. Even warned, that should an ANGEL bring you a GOSPEL that is not the Good news of the Kingdom, then come back to me. In any case, had you been kinder to both my goats, sheep and wolves for that matter, we wouldn't be having this particular conversation." The Frightened Man - "I'm sorry Jesus, and God, I Um.. I'm sorry" Jesus "You indeed have already been judged... " The Frightened Man's Heart Drops... he thinks "THIS IS IT! I'm A GONER!" - he can barely stand, about to just fall and die from pure fear.. waiting any second - I'm dead... YIKES.... Jesus continues... "because YOU JUDGED and CONDEMNED, a burden to my people, ignorance breeds unintentional blasphemies, meanspiritedness amongst brothers, discord and strife, this causes many to stumble, it is better to hang a MILLSTONE Around AROUND YOUR NECK then... stumble just one. You INDEED READ, AND KNEW, AND HAVE BEEN WEIGHED AND MEASURED and FOUND WANTING!" Jehovah - utters - "Righteousness guards the person of integrity, but wickedness overthrows the sinner." Jesus says "He who can not be trusted with little, can not be trusted with greater responsibility." [ the dude gulps ] "You have been forgiven... back to Earth with you, sin no more, now Go" [poof] [Dude finds himself on the Earth trembling still... standing.... looks over... Sees that German Guy, and that Jew Still Debating...] "Yeah but you bagel heads worshiped a CALF" "You worshiped Jesus Mother hahah" "I did not" "Admit it you were catholic!" "I was not!" "just a teenie bit Catholic" "No...wait... Hey look, our borther looks Shaken... Brother, come here" "Yeah man, what's the problem" "I just got yelled at by Jesus" "Oh, that's not so bad..." "Not SO BAD???" "Yeah, want a beer?" "YES I - DO... Will he Mind?" "No, he is bring out some Wine Later, just don't get wasted, that gets on his nerves especially when you act like a fool or passout or something... anyways.... here you go" "Look at the bright side... you didn't even get punished" "Yes I Got Punished, it was terrifying, and scary, and I thought I was going to die, and every thought, even random ones seemed like God heard them and I was dead any second..." "He likes you" "Yeah, he likes you" "But God was so Mad he made Jesus Speak" "Yehovah spoke to you?" "Just to yell at me" "But he Spoke to you?" "Yeah?" "Loves those he punishes - High five" [SMACK] "CHEERS - A Toast to the Most High God" - [glasses clink] Confused, but now the less frightened man sips his beer and says to the Jew and the German... "You guys are WHACKO." In Harmony "AGREED - A Toast to the Most High" All Three Clink Their Glasses and Salute Jehovah and Jesus then suddenly... A Pakistani Muslim appears.. trembling... "How did he get here" "Careful, don't start that again, Jesus will not be impressed." "Can We Help You? Are You Ok?" Pakistani - "No. I Just Saw Allah, Jesus is our King. I had no IDEA!" An American Indian appears suddenly... sits, lights up a peace pipe... Says... "mmm... Good" The Frightened Dude - "How come the American indian fella isn't trembling? Is that Pot?" We have a saying here... "Those who do not partaketh of the erb, do not judge those that partake, likewise, those of you who do partake of the erb, do not judge those who do not partake." "No Judging Again?" "yeah" "Why are indians here and no offense, jews, if they didn't know Jesus?" "Jehovah likes happy endings" "can he do that" "He left himself some legal loops holes for our benefit" "So we didn't need to worry about Jesus" "I wouldn't go that far... consider, Jesus knows, those are his Father's children also, and Jesus, has authority to do what ever he dam well pleases, his wishes are granted by ALLAH, for Jesus alone is worthy of such a "position"... Jesus is in the Bosom Position of the Father, the Right Hand Throne... He was Taught By His Father, and he has taught us... How cool. Can't you figure out if this is ANTI-CHRIST or FOR-CHRIST? I'm most Curious. :) haha. PEACE
Oh, my: I was immediately convicted of "original sin" when I emerged from my Mom's womb... GOD FRAMED ME AND SET ME UP TO FAIL BEFORE I WAS EVEN BORN!!
Thank you for your videos. I'm a retired history teacher and I showed James Randi's Secrets of the Psychics to my Psychology class. When I first previewed it alone it literally changed my internal life-I grew up Catholic in a pretty liberal household in Mass, so I'd stopped going to church in Middle School, but it's always there. Watching that video gave me such a sense of relief-I knew I didn't believe ANY of it, and I I finally felt permission to let it go. Both of my parents had recently died so nobody wanted to believe in SOMETHING more than I did. But it was intellectually dishonest. I remember James Randi asking about paranormal events "Don't you think there's a more reasonable explanation?" And I did. I have since re watched every Christopher Hitchin's debates on youtube because he still remains, in my opinion, the "father" of modern atheism-his bravery, tenacity, pure brilliance and eloquent mastery of facts made him one tough warrior. Anyway, sorry this is so long-I ate a couple of gummies! Lol! Rhank you-your videos are gtreat!
Here's a little pearl for you. "We do not organize our lives around what is true, we organize our lives around what we believe, whether it is true or not. And although much of what we believe is also true, some of it isn't. But as far as the living out of our lives is concerned, it really doesn't matter that something isn't true, it only matters that we believe it". Thus, my observation that the most coveted power on earth is the ability to influence what other people believe.
I had a religious upbringing but I wouldn’t call it devout. My parents went to Catholic schools growing up and did not have good memories of it. Additionally both parents worked and didn’t have much time church activities during the week. Sundays, holidays, and holy days were about it. I did CCD (Catholic Sunday school) which looking back was immensely simplified religious education. Confirmation was seen as very big deal, and then I went through it and that was it. Aside from showing up at church and dropping that envelope in the collection plate no one seemed to care what I did (my parents being an exception). After joining the military my serious church going stopped partially because time was so short and off time on Sunday mornings were devoted to sleep, and of course money was short. Early in my military career when I was younger there were a few attempts to “witness” to me by older higher ranking members who attributed their success to their faith. In one instance I was invited to a barbecue that was actually a bible study session that everyone had to participate in before any food was served. I did get married in a Catholic Church mostly because my parents planned my wedding since I was deployed a lot, and my wife, we were legally married for nearly a year before the church wedding for benefits, had to work. My parents didn’t require a church wedding, but we wanted the family to come and not having a church service would have been... problematic. Over the course of my career I did have small short lived “revivals” for lack of a better word, but by my early 30’s I was an atheist although I didn’t call myself one, and wouldn’t accept a supernatural explanation for anything. I haven’t prayed seriously in over 10 years. I retired from the military after 20 years and have settled into the professional work force. Living in Texas which is major league religious, and I’ve become some peoples current target to be saved, apparently they owe it to me for my service. Apparently the constitution is like the Bible to many Christians, they know some of it but definitely haven’t read all of it and have a loose understanding of it.
Hi Coasty. My experience with "cultural Catholicism" was similar, including a short stint in the Army and dabbling in fundamentalism. I eventually found that reason was drawing me back to the Catholic Church. I was fortunate to have benefited from some catholic intellectuals. It's not that "I'm saved", but rather that I am being saved. Hope you keep looking.
Totally unrelated but I caught a nasty respiratory virus that gave me a super high fever and I dreamed/hallucinated a bunch of stuff in the hospital. It was all bird related for WHATEVER reason. The staff laughed and told me having hypoxemia+fever+bronchodilators does that sometimes. I told my friends about it as a "*whoa dude*" story and when I came back to (catholic) highschool my "faith counselor" gave me an hour long speech about the holy spirit and my responsability as a soldier for Christ to accept and honor it's blessing. Of course, the speech was kinda sorta maybe -absolutely- related to the rumours of me and a fellow Christ soldier kissing in an empty classroom. sorry I needed to share that!!!!
I spent over 40 years in the Christian faith. I was born into it. My dad was (and still is) a pastor, so I was in deep. For me, there wasn't one big moment where I knew I was no longer a Christian. Instead, there was a steady unraveling of my faith over several years. Your videos were some of the first ones that I watched and they made so much logical sense. It's comforting to find videos like these from someone who, like me, has been deep in the faith. I'm still in the process, so I still have a lot of questions. Your videos and many others have been a huge part of my journey, and I know I will continue to watch and learn.
I heard the original of that song so much as a young believer that I could probably sing it accapela at this point and I still remember my dad having so many Christian-Rock albums
Thanks for getting the only Christian song that gets stuck in my head, stuck in my head. Our god.... is an awesome God he reigns... from heaven above.... fucking shit damnit, I hate you.
My journey out of Christianity has been long. Tearful. I still struggle to to know who or what I am now. A lot of podcasts and speakers talk about things in such learned language, it's difficult to follow. Have lost all friends now, so it's lonely. Thank you for your time.
Check out Buddhism. I'm an atheist, have been all my life. Buddhism isn't really a religion, not to most followers anyway, it's more a teaching/way of life. It's a way of life you follow to just feel better and be able to deal with life better, it's like, basically really good advice. Whether you believe Buddha did or did not exist isn't important to other Buddhists, being happy and peaceful is pretty much the main goal. If you feel lost still, Buddhism could be something healthy for you to follow but also not have to devote any faith into. Trust me, I am completely anti-religion, but Buddhism is the only one I see as genuinely reasonable. Also, other Buddhists are amazing people, they are incredibly kind and welcoming. It's a really nice community!
ohhh, looove, I'm super sorry. please try to make friends!! there are so many cool people to become close with. I'm sure you're one of them :D please remember that you'll be okay, because that's just how life works! you've always managed to survive and move forward. this time will be no exception!
Stop struggling who or what you are or into which group you fall into. Just belief in and and act in a way that makes you happy. Still belief in god? Embrace him with all your heart and don't worry about any denomination. Don't belief in god? Then ditch the idea and relieve yourself of useless imaginary baggage. There may be things you are unsure about or simply don't know. But 'I don't know' is a perfectly valid answer. And friends can be found in many places, church is just the most toxic one. I found one friend at a sports club and the remainder of my friends by playing board games at a local game store.
For me it started when my mom took me to Sunday school and they made us sing songs and color pictures about how much we loved Jesus and things like that. I felt like they were putting words in our mouths, having us say things that we don't really know. Now that I'm grown I can see that is exactly what it is, just training kids to believe things and repeat it without question.
I had so many A-ha and Oh-my moments, I compiled them into a book, LEAVING WORSHIP. I relate to your story, and also am a former worship-leader. Thanks for posting!
I have read your book and enjoyed it. I was a worship leader also who went through a slow painful deconversion. Although your story is very different from mine, it's nice to know we came out the other side in peace and authenticity.
I'm a pastor's son and always had been skeptical of religion. I remember listening to the sermons and thinking to myself "well, that doesn't make sense". I was presented to this "creation vs evolution" debate very early and was really outspoken about defending creationism. I still have some email debates that I had (and utterly lost) with some evolutionists. On the first year of college I started watching some science videos like minute physic and Vsauce, and that opened to me a huge door. I started believing in Old earth creationism because of those videos, still trying to hold on to religion. But then I started watching some scishow and "it's ok to be smart" on evolution that made too much sense. When I first saw the "talk origins" site it blew my mind. After that it was a matter of time until I began watching "the atheist experience" and other atheists shows. My girlfriend already knew of my skepticism and tried to pull me back to church, but when we had a short break I could finally admit to myself that I didn't believe anymore.
@ MrYondaime1995 What is the "one" single best piece of evidence that really sold you on evolution and that made you want to turn atheist? "Only one please"!?!
@@evolutionisbull5h1t The fossils and comparing dna. Your name describes your persona well. You like to get angry at scientific theories that destroy your religious worldview and discredit your imaginary friend.
Wow your journey is inspirational, thank you for making holy koolaid come true, when I saw the pic of you in the coffee shop/office just smiling away, my heart really felt for you. I’m so happy that you’ve built a life for yourself and am proud there is an Athiest like you speaking up. We need you.
I'm so glad you mentioned 43 Alley's video on getting over the fear of hell. I had already gotten over the fear of hell (and the fear of hell plagued me 10 years after giving up on religion) when I found his video, and it absolutely spoke to me. That video would make the hall of fame of getting over the fear of hell and moving on to a better life
@@lightninja4795 but it's Yahweh who hardens people's hearts so that they get punished. Romans 9:15-18. he's a narcissist. and a myth. Yahweh doesn't exist, love.
I always find these de-conversion stories interesting because they document an experience I never had and have a tough time imagining because I never had the starting point you guys did. I've always been non-religious. Little attempt was ever made to convert me, and the few that were made failed simply because it didn't make sense to me.
I love how he shares links & gives credit to all the sources & videos that helped him on his journey! That's the way to do it! Each one, teach one. Big Respect!
My mother married a man whose father was a reformed alcoholic turned baptist preacher. He led me to Jesus when I was 10, and I considered that a defining moment. I was on and off in the church through my youth, and when I was 19 I ended up in the Ski resorts of CO. I gravitated toward the faith, and began running into apologetics materials in the archives of the 3-4 church buildings I hung out in. Played bass and sang on worship teams for 3 of those 10 years. Two five year chunks, but both with the same crowd, as I had left them, and even the state for a while, resulting in a difficult time that I later blamed on my "leaving Jesus" so I really wanted to press in and "live it out". But I had the "Sin struggles" of porn and booze, so I was unworthy of continuing on with worship teams, or finding a wife in the context of the church, so I eventually left. I went to the Denver area, dropped all my books and music off at random churches anonymously, and tried to just live life without a program. That led to the decay of my faith over time, but there were always the little "Oh my" moments. The way this faith system had you locked up at every turn with no excuses seemed suspicious to me, and my metal music had stories of other guys (Kings X lyrics through the years show a process) who were losing their religion. The lyrics of Rush always kept me partly grounded in the tenants of humanity rather than religion, and the comedy of George Carlin did similar. But mostly, I just felt stifled to simply live a human life, and pursue music and such that I've always felt flowing in my veins. Unless you let go of your dick, you can forget singing and playing for Jesus. We can't have sinful hypocrisy within ministry after all. These days, yes, it is nice to reinforce my faith in no biblical god by listening to the likes of Aron Ra and yourself. My wife of 10 years and my son take more time than I can allow for creating music, but I have a lot of guitars now and play all the time. I build guitars too now. I've found myself outside of that horrible corporate box. And I'm with YOU now regarding world view. And I want to help them all wake up.
Amazing story! I had a lump in my throat watching, and I had no idea what you went thru to create this channel. Much respect and forever grateful to you...you are saving the world. Holy Koolaid is one of my favorite channels
I love your voice cadence and the certainty of what you want to say. Using logic not to be demeaning but to try to show others a free path to thier own conclusions and still having an open mind to be proven wrong.
I can relate. I grew up Roman Catholic. Believed in their teachings until my 40s. Then I got Spiritual....until in 2012 all hell broke lose, literally and figuratively. Now at age 52 I believe in nothing. Because I know better.
Thanks for sharing your story, it actually resonates with mine in a lot of ways! I find comfort in knowing that there are people out there like me that have such similar thoughts, values, and journeys in a way. I was raised Catholic and was for much of my life, though I wasn't quite ingrained in it as you. As I grew older I came to realize how many things just didn't make sense or instead had plausible, scientific reasons for why they were. Ironically, it was actually DURING my Confirmation when much of this questioning came to fruition and I became agnostic! I was for several years before my senior year of high school when I became an atheist, and being so has admittedly lead me to become quite cynical. For years I have almost viewed heavily religious people as lesser than atheists for having been fooled by religion and subscribing to these ignorant or harmful cults when they have such potential as humans to strive for knowledge and realistic greatness. But your videos have inspired me have a less cynical view of the world by reminding me that despite all of the horrible things that are constantly happening because of and around us, we still have and will continue to have great potential as a species to strive for greatness, knowledge, and truth. Thanks for making such cool videos, can't wait to see more!
I just had a thought of speaking with you when you are 80 years old. My mind could not expand enough to take it all in. I have a tough time keeping up with you now let alone after you add a lifetime of wisdom. Then you threw in Thunderfoot. Can you imagine him in twenty years? Dark Matter? He has already been there and came back. My view of the future is saved by people like you and the community of people that are here today to push humanity forward to the next level. Every name you mentioned are already on my favorite channel list. And I can't wait to see what all you folks are going to bring forth for humanity in the future. I am confident that it will end the hurtful lies of Ken Ham. And to close on a light note... I love aviation. (Not possible on a flat Earth) and Dinosaurs (not possible with the flood) You are truly an amazing individual in many ways and my respect for you and of those you spoke of today is in fact very positive......
@@person10 So does christianity! They want them young - because it is hard (near impossible levels of hard - unless you "attack" someone vulnerable, which can still go either way. Some might chase you of for selling snake oil, while others might embrace the lies of religions because they offer comfort!) to indoctrinate/induct adults into religions! Yes, I also support taking kids from religious parents (or at least: Forcing all kids to go to public schools, so no private religious schools or home-schooling!)
@@dreamingflurry2729 I'm totally in agreement with you, except for home-schooling (but imo there'd have to be rules about it). Here's why: I'm an atheist. My daughter was being stalked and abused by a boy in her school for years. By jer freshman year, she was relegated to only being allowed in certain hallways at certain times, and could only be in the lunchroom during her lunch period. She felt victimized first by the kid, then continually by the school itself. So we sat down together and tried to come up with other solutions to make things better. We had battled the local schools and they did nothing, so there was no hope with them. We found a state accredited hs homeschool program, and it seemed like a good choice. So we tried it. It was awesome. She still got to go do ceramics (her fav hs class) at the hs, but during hours that she picked. I helped her with math, science, and even philosophy and history (though my degree is in math, minor in phsyics). She did really well and she would keep track of her work and then turn it into the school once/month. Then they'd give her a test covering what she had learned. If she passed, she went on to the next area, if not, we reviewed for a week or so, then she would retake it. It was awesome. In fact, I wish more places offered programs like that as an alternative when public schools fail kids.
Absolutely agree. Just by being an open pagan in high school the impact that had on some of my peers was really profound (because I was pretty normal otherwise) and shocking. Children that literally didn't know they had any option other than a lifelong fear of hell. Children!!!!! It's horrific. For all the harm my parents did to me, I'm thankful they raised me far from the church.
@@yilvoxe4017 I was a cradle Catholic, so, I didn’t have a say in the matter. The indoctrination is strong, it took me years to finally make the transition to non believer. Those years were, despite my best efforts at finding the truth, very difficult on a personal level.
Bro this video resonated with me. I’ve been obsessed with science since I deconverted. It’s amazing how many people know nothing about the basics of the major sciences
In the immediate aftermath of the Ham-Nye debate, I remember a good number of people in the atheist/skeptic community arguing that it had been a bad idea. They believed that all it did was give Ham free publicity, and that it would never do anything substantial to change anyone's opinions. My own opinion was that it had indeed been worthwhile, because even if Ham profited from it in the short-term, in the long run the damage he did to his own reputation would hurt his cause ever-so-much more. I wish I could go back in time and show all the nay-sayers this video.
I got goosebumps when you said "I'm Done" This story really resonates with me. While i did not spend as much of my youth in the church as you, i had many MANY of the same experiences. Great video!
I was a Christian for most of my life. In my early years it wasn't a very big aspect until middle and high school when I went to church and youth group occasionally with friends. I think the defining point of my decline (2015) was when I said I would lie about being Christian to save my life since I had others to live for, this came from thinking about reasons to live to combat my suicidal thoughts, and also because there had been a shooting at my college and first reports said he asked people if they were Christian before killing them (UCC). My college boyfriend soon became atheist after our relationship began (he had pagan like beliefs), and by watching the same material he did, of Aron Ra, Thunderfoot, and others, I began to disbelieve more and more. I am a biology major and interested in science and similar topics, so that increased my interest. The Bible Reloaded helped me look at it in a humorous light so helped ease me into harsher skeptics. I lost all beliefs and became agnostic January of 2017, which sucked because two of my grandparents died that year. I wish I could believe they went to heaven and all their suffering wasn't in vain. I miss praying and having good feelings of everything being ok and god taking care of me, but without god I've been learning to take care of myself more. Recently my mother married into a family of very religious people and goes to church often. I'm afraid to tell her I've become an atheist because of how she feels about religion and how she would worry about me being saved.
If you do have that conversation, then say that if God is a loving God, then he wouldnt be angry with you for using the brain he gave you to look at the arguments. If he could punish you for honestly looking at the question and finding (to her mind.. ) the 'wrong' answer, then he was a cruel God and not worth worshipping. Best wishes.
I had a pretty similar deconversion, but mine took longer than yours. I grew up in the Church of Christ tradition, which mostly follows the teachings of Biblical infallibility and young-earth creationism. I do remember having doubts as a child. Specifically, I remember being about 7 or 8, and my family had gone to Carlsbad Caverns on vacation. I walked around in absolute awe of the various cave formations, and I was shocked when our guide told us the slow rate of stalagmite/stalactite formations. I was literally looking at formations that took thousands upon thousands of years to form. Then we walked into the Hall of Giants, and I was awestruck standing before these massive formations. The enormity of time hit me full on. I stood there in complete awe and managed to squeak out a whisper...'How long did this take?' My mom immediately answered 'A day'. I'm embarrassed to say that I didn't understand Evolution until I was about 35 (I'm almost 45 now), but when I did, it didn't take long for the entire foundation of my religious upbringing to come toppling down. I tried hard to hold on to my faith, but over the course of about 2 years, I finally came to terms with not believing any of it, and admitted I was an atheist.
Great story! Thanks for sharing. Geology and Geological time is indeed mindblowing regardless of our age. I as an adult still sit in awe thinking about the various mountains around me, and the ground underneath my feet moving and changing very very slowly. :D
"Admitted" you were an atheist? You make it sound like a criminal offence! XD To be honest, it's not a laughing matter really, is it? It's borderline child abuse! I'm all for freedom of expression, but part of me would like to outlaw the indoctrination of children by religious zealots. I grew up in the Catholic church and went to a Catholic school. In Catholicism you are christened as a baby (you know, just in case you die young and God sends you to hell for not being baptized! As any loving father would!), then later you get "confirmed". Confirmation is just that, confirming that yes you do believe in God and you accept your christening. They do this at the ripe old age of 13, because we all know about the fantastic decision making skills of teenagers! Can't even agree to have sex at that age but you can devote your life to God! XD I wonder why they don't wait till people hit adulthood, hmmmm... I refused to get confirmed as I never believed in it! (Although when I was very very young I was an alter boy! XD). Glad that more and more people are coming out of their stuper! :)
@@barryretmanski4763 You didn't learn your Catholothism well. Unbaptized babies don't go to hell, they go to limbo. At least that is what I was told. LOL Here is just a very short writing on the topic: www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/cti_documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20070419_un-baptised-infants_en.html
Yes! DarkMatter2525, 43alley, and Nonstampcollector guided me through my deconversion. So many parallels in our deconversion stories. The 43alley video you mentioned changed me the same way. I remember the moment I stood up and said out loud, “I don’t believe it anymore. I’m an atheist.” It was at the end of DarkMatter2525’s video “God’s God” that everything was suddenly vividly clear. I felt like I was walking on clouds as I walked down my street as if it were my first time. It was a new world. Not having an afterlife made this life more precious and valuable than I had ever imagined as a Christian. I adore them, and I adore you. Thank you for doing this amazing work!
Thank you for your thoughts and well made videos. I threw off the strictures of Catholicism years ago, but even now, in my 60s, wonder why I can't just be simple minded and believe what most of my family believes. I question everything. Keep up the good work. Your work makes a huge difference in the world.
Turning 24 and still can't understand why I just can't simple minded not only about religion but politics, economics, history etc. Maybe we are demon possessed 😂😂😂
Thomas, you are the only person I support on Patreon and this video made me feel even more proud and encouraged by your work. You really have put in so much work on your channel and it's really paid off! If I could, I would give even more. Thank you for providing such great content.
Greetings from the Philippines! I really like your videos. I would gladly share your videos to my friends to try make them understand more. It's been a year since I became an athiest and since then I am considered the black sheep among the flock of deeply religious people that surrounds me. Watching this kind of videos makes me feel that I am not alone. Thanks a lot.
This is honestly very inspiring for me. I love learning new things and the more I learn about the world again us the more I'm seeing the flaws in religion. I'm not very well liked in my church because of my "Lack of interest" in what they teach. Not many other kids my age welcome me into their friend groups since I'm "Scary" for questioning the Bible. Knowing that someone can get out of a situation like this one is really helpful! Thank you!
My own start of questioning was when I was eight, at Sunday school, and the volunteer decided it was a good idea to regale us with the tale of Elisha and the Bears. I could not reconcile the 'all-knowing god of love' I had been taught about with the idea of Elisha being sent down a path that God had to know would have him encounter children who would make fun of him, and then punish children for being children(and thus their parents) by mauling the kids to death via bears. I had to ask questions, I asked the preacher, he couldn't answer, told me that they interpret the bible, not channel god, and so on. From that point forward, I started questioning everything I had been told, seeking answers rather than taking things on faith. I am ashamed, to this day, that I kept seeking supernatural answers until I came to the realization that you can only trust what can be proven to work, rather than wishful thinking. It was a long and hard process to leave it behind, even having 'only' been raised to believe until eight, but thanks to that I can see the damage religion and magical thinking can cause children and their developing minds.
Hi Holy Koolaid. I hope your holiday season is going well! I found your channel through other atheist channels. It's hard for me to recollect who exactly, my feed is filled with the stuff now. Anyway, you asked about our stories so I am going to tell you mine. When I was 13, my grandmother died. Her colon ruptured and, due to neglect from the nursing home staff she was allowed to suffer for a number of hours that I still am not aware of.. My mother won't tell me. She was rushed to the hospital when my mom found her, and she died later that day. My grandmother was a god fearing woman. I don't know the extent of her faith, though it's safe to assume she was southern baptist as that is the prevalent denomination in my area. It's worth noting at this time that I was also southern baptist, though accepted many scientific finds as a simple mechanism for God's workings at this time. Before this point, I truly believed that God was an omnibenevolent, omnipotent being. But when my grandmother died, especially in such a painful and demeaning manner, it shook me to the core. I scoured my bible for answers, I spoke with more pastors than I can remember, and searched the internet for a year. The straw that broke my faith in the Christian god was when, at age 14, a pastor gave me the following answer. 'When Adam ate the fruit in the garden of Eden, he cast the world into sin. Every man, woman and child who has ever been born since then was born broken and sinful, and god cannot bear sin. All of us who regect God is worthy of only death and hellfire'. In short, he told me my grandmother deserved her fate. I threw my bible away when I got home, and I haven't stepped foot in a church since then. However, I didn't embrace an atheistic stance just then. I entertained a number of things, from Satanism to alchemy to wicca and various other forms of paganism. After 2 years of searching for answers amidst these faiths, I regected it. I took an agnostic approach. If god or gods exist, I told myself, then they were worthy of only disdain or indiscriminate obliteration for their crimes against this world. And if they didn't, all the better. This way of thinking made me angry, though. I never really made a decision to proclaim myself an Atheist, I moved in to that naturally over time. It was close to my 18th birthday, I think. I've suffered minimal backlash from family. My sister trusts my judgement, and my mother is not aggressive in her faith. The few times we talk about it, she says things like 'you got mad at god when mamaw died, are you just going to go on a murder spree when I'm gone?' and 'I just worry about your afterlife'. But that's the extent of it. I'm not the best storyteller, but that's mine. :)
@@Shigawire Ah, thank you! They're not totally accepting of it, but the ones I lost contact with were those I was already losing contact with anyway. And recent conversations with my mom has shown that she isn't supportive of my stance, though she definitely loves me more than my lack of faith. So the ones that matter are a bit chill. :)
Your videos have given me a sense of direction on how to be a proper atheist. I have been an atheist since i was a child but videos like this really give atheism perspective in light of all the backlash from practically everyone I know. Thank you
@Denise I grew up with some pretty annoying family members who were Christian and I had to go to a super annoying catholic school that really bugged me and that made me think that at least their "ideas" on who God really was were incorrect, but I ended up finding out later that God and Jesus were in fact REAL and that my parents and that schools catholic teachings were in and of themselves with much contradiction and error. You should talk to me, if you really want to understand what is "REALLY" going on with God and why certain Christians seem so antagonizing and judgmental………… I totally feel you in that how God has been presented to you does not feel right and is irritating......
@@evolutionisbull5h1t dude, I was Catholic and after that Christian, I know Jesus pretty well, I had a strong connection with him, but I know now that it was my own desires and my mind showing what I wanted to see. There is nothing you can show me that I don't already know unless you show me evidence that God exists
Oh awesome. Let me know how it goes. I'm thinking about sending this to my family too just so they can see how this isn't "a phase" and there are reasons for me not believing it anymore.
@@dskjhjksl I definitely can show you plenty of evidence for God but let me ask you this first, how do you know that..... "but I know now that it was my own desires and my mind showing what I wanted to see."??? I am very curious what you have to say because I have a very interesting take on what you are talking about, definitely your mind can make mistakes, errors of judgement and can twist the discernment of things and situations to seem one way when it is another, but there are other things your brain does that are extremely reliable and they need to be reliable for you to function properly...….. go on...…..
@@evolutionisbull5h1t I know you are terrified of losing your religion and so have to come up with a whole load of stories to prove that your world view is the 'right' one, but why cant you accept that this poster has a right to make up his own mind? If your view is right, then it can withstand people not believing in it. Dude, let other people be who they want to be!
Well done , very concise . Creationists are very special people , they ''know better'' than 99% of the world`s scientists. AND.....they have a personal relationship with the invisible wizard who designed and manufactured the universe !
@Seek Knowledge Thanks, I see your point but I disagree in this case . When 99% the qualified scientists all over the world , working in 30 different fields,different countries, different cultures, different methods all agree that we are an evolved primate living in an old universe then that is just common sense . Sure there are a majority of believers , but that is changing . Religious belief on no evidence is proof positive that homo sapiens are very gullible and afraid of death . It is also testament to the awesome power of childhood indoctrination . Cheers .
@Seek Knowledge lmao. You think there's an even number of scientists that believe in fairytales as evolution. Hahaha. That is truly one of the dumbest assumptions ever. Maybe in a cult like country like America. But in the rest of the world where cults have no influence. Its almost non existent. But let's say you are right and that's how scientists think. IN NO WAY DOES THAT INCREASE THE LIKELIHOOD A MAGIC PEDOPHILE SKY GENIE EXIST OR ANYTHING ANY CULT IS RIGHT ABOUT ANYTHING. what's the reason for believing nonsense fairy tales?? No scientist uses "faith" and if they do they aren't scientists.
I do not believe that atheism develops in a short period, it takes time to come to the conclusions that take you away from a belief that you have had for a time. Those that believe that they do are simply mad at their god. I had read the bible while in the fourth grade and read it like a fourth grader would. Being raised lutheran, I attended conformation classes when I was in junior high, 15. To prepare, I re-read the bible and remembering much of what I had read previously, I found that I had many questions on what was written, contradictions, evidence of a inconsistent god, bad history etc. I asked these questions of our minister during class and was told very specifically to "shut up". At first I felt that I had committed some great wrong but then grew angry at his action so during a following class, I called him out on this then got up and left the class, never to return. I spent the next year or so going to other denominations only to had similar experiences. One only needs to read the bible critically to be able to refute it.
You are so hard to take your eyes and ears off. And your message is not only heard, but understood and digested. Your gratitude seems authentic, and I for one can’t wait to see more of your work and share your channel with my siblings. I don’t have much money but I’d like to give something, where can I show my support? Stay positive, question philosophy and thank you for being prolific. Your vulnerability and personal experiences and reflection are a gift to the audience, just know I am grateful and privileged to have your handsome face and well-elocuted voice receptively fall on my eyes and ears.
You're awesome! It's remarkable the amount of guilt and fear I carried with me during my journey of discovery. Really reading and researching the bible was painfully overwhelming in so many ways. Oddly enough, I still care about my SDA sisters and brothers, but I've successfully moved on and exist comfortably without any bitterness. It's incredibly sad how little most christians really read the bible or even study general history of christianity (i.e. the councils of nicaea, 1st Schism, Reformation, etc.). All of the contradictions and inconsistencies are in plain sight, but when you've been fashioned according to any of the many denominations, free will is not an option.
I grew up with a catholic background in an european country, but being catholic is rather something as a tradition and I had a full science education in school since I was little up to university. More, I never heard about creationism until I saw the debates on youtube. To me, its almost unbelievable that in modern America, young children are growing up without any scientific knowledge and total ignorence of our modern world! Atheist in Europe are not condemned nor feared, we are just people who dont believe in (a) god and that is totally fine. I learned about evolution and Darwin since I was 8 years old! I grew up with the documentaries of sir david attenborough, he was my hero and still is! Its a great loss for America that not every child has not only the right to a proper education, but even is deplored of it. You're doing a great and neccesery job with your channel! As a humanitarian, I can only admire your courage to swim against the stream and educate the young people that there is such thing as critical thinking and sience to explore the world and everything around us. 👍
my life has so much more meaning without religion. i have the power to give my life meaning. i’m a senior in high school and i’m pursuing physics and cosmology in college. thanks for being such an inspiration to me and countless other girls out there that we can do whatever we want and it’s not predetermined by an invisible man in the sky.
And why does it have to be an invisible MAN? :D In this regard at least, the pantheist religions are a bit more gender-equal. Though, only the Hindu religion has some really powerful female gods. ;)
You have free will over your life. But life has no meaning without God; it’s like trying to build a building without a blueprint. Please turn to God truly to have a relationship with him.
@@raphael018 Oops. You forgot to capitalize "him." It's supposed to read "Him", otherwise He might be a bit peeved with you. What do you consider as a good example of "meaning", I wonder?
@Natasha A Lets say you have a pair of shoes, now you can throw plenty of meaning on those shoes, they are your favorite shoes, they are your best looking shoes, these shoes are perfect for this or that, they give you more confidence when you talk to people, etc...… Now no matter what meaning or amount of meaning you put on these "shoes", that extra meaning will not escape the fact that "Someone other than you designed and built those shoes. This someone has a purpose for those shoes and how they work. Did this someone buy those shoes for you or did you buy them by yourself?"
That's really amazing. I actually feel humbled. I could be smug about not being indoctrinated with religion, but I've never had to actually climb out of it the way you did and from what I heard so far, you were in pretty deep. The closest thing for me was deciding I no longer wanted to go to my Unitarian Universalist church as a child, and that was probably just because the sermons were too dull for my young mind. To be honest, because I've never had to really push back this hard against my own cognitive bias, I've had less faith in my own ability to confirm for certain what is and isn't true. Awareness of my own biases has made me afraid to trust anything that just felt right to me. To be able to dedicate yourself so fully to going out there and finding the truth for yourself must be a very empowering feeling. I actually wonder if ironically, your young life spent traveling the world and working so hard to spread the word of God actually trained you to be so thorough and hard-working in the process of disproving Him. Perhaps you can take heart in knowing that even when you were following this misguided path, you were still building your character. Anyway, you've left me feeling inspired. I'd like to learn to be better at picking apart falsehoods and getting to the truth. Thanks for sharing.
I am 25 now and I was around 21-22 when I began my shift to the bright side. I completely resonated with your video, went through similar things. Thank you for your efforts. I hope one day, I too will be able to save my fellow trapped and traumatized Catholics.
Thomas, I hope this doesn't come off as condescending, but you really are an incredible & inspirational person. It's a fantastic story, and in all honesty I'd buy the book, should you ever decide to write what I imagine could not only be a very successful, but very important book. Christians, indeed anyone of faith who is experiencing doubt, should know your story. As a lifelong Atheist, albeit one who went to Sunday school and church (it was required in the Boys Brigade) I never went through any of this, but your story, (and of course that of Seth Andrews) has to serve as a beacon for those who believe that they could never make the leap. Keep doing what you're doing, and all the best for the future.....and Merry Christmas* and a Happy New Year. *I'm from Scotland, and the 'Happy Holidays' isn't happening over here, in the UK despite the huge number of non-Christians. In fact I've never heard anyone say it at all. The closest you'll get is 'Seasons Greetings' on Christmas cards. It's just not that big of a deal to wish people a Merry Christmas. 🎅🎄
"I felt so far behind in my science education." Exactly. It seems so wrong to me now to keep bright human minds like yours from having solid, testable information so we can work towards solving our human problems. Waiting around for a supernatural being to save us is wasting our precious time!
Hi everyone, future-Thomas here. A while after I made this video, I found the recording of the prophecy I received and made a video about it. You can watch that here: ua-cam.com/video/ckaR2Kzreyo/v-deo.html.
Let's be real... You never actually left religion. You still study it, even harder than before.
... I have the same problem.
@Razor Face what about the parts of science that aren't opinions?
Just because you can quote someone saying, doesn't make true. Or even a good philosophy.
@Razor Face ... And then, we learned more... Fuck your boyfriend's wiki page.
@Razor Face challenged? Coming from a person who is debating on behalf of the supernatural.
Science is awesome.
I got tired of asking forgiveness for being human
Exactly. And you were made by a perfect god, so why should you be flawed?
@@shannaveganamcinnis-hurd405 i don't think that was what was meant troll
The last thing can do is praise the creature that did such a bad job at creation he made 1500 defective genes and forgot to give us knowledge of right from wrong as wanted us to fail shows he needs 0 praise or worship as enough blood on his hands for all the religious murder he condones and encouraged.Human morality always going to be better then gods as we do not need to use fear to be moral like god does in his indoctrination.
Did you also get tired of asking for forgiveness from those you wrong, or is your tiredness reserved for some?
@@str33t3r Have you ever been around kids? Because let me tell you, they’re generally little aholes that exist to get on your nerves.
Blind belief in authority is the greatest enemy of truth
― Albert Einstein
Who said anything about being blind by all means question seek and ye shall find God is real
@@michaelnee2392 Welp, I questioned and did seeking for over two years, with all my heart and humility, with all power of unbiased reason and critical thought...
I deconverted because of it.
I don't know what happened on your journey and it's not my place to try and convert you in any way but don't be afraid to ever look again best of luck to you
@@michaelnee2392 Thanks, best of luck to you too as well. There's so much confusion, lies, and emotional manipulation today. There always has been, but now it's easily spread through media. Not being afraid to critically analyze things is the greatest weapon and light in the darkness we have.
@@michaelnee2392 Really? Because all the actually evidence to those questions goes against your beliefs.
"I've deconverted more people than I saved."
You see, you WERE destined for great things!
Turn to Jesus before it’s to late
@@jadenwatson9992😅 You're funny
@@jadenwatson9992 why turn to Jesus before it's too late? does he need deconverted to?
@@jadenwatson9992, prove Jesus exists first...
@@jadenwatson9992 Give me his address and I'll refer him to my local anti-thesist commissar for summary execution.
These stories are always very fascinating to me. I’m from Scandinavia where non-believers are a crushing majority. People don’t call them selves Atheists, because it’s not really needed. Videos like this make me realize I shouldn’t take my worldview for granted. I didn’t have to fight for my right to know that dinosaurs existed more than 6000 years ago. Thanks for sharing your story.
" I’m from Scandinavia where non-believers are a crushing majority. "
The briefest research shows that you are completely mistaken. Non-believers in Scandinavia are only 20%, with maybe 30% in Sweden. It may seem different in your social circle, but atheists can have as much confirmation bias as believers.
How many Swedes believe in God? The share of Swedes who believed in God declined continuously between 2010 and 2019. While 47 percent of the respondents believed in God in 2010, the share had dropped by more than ten percent in 2019, amounting to 36 percent. Now if you lived in Europe you would find many of the apparent believers were what we call cultural Christians . I'm retired but nobody or may be one Uncle has ever inquired if I believe in any God. Church attendance in the the UK is now just Birth, Marriage and Death for the great majority.
@@historicalbiblicalresearch8440 Belief may be down in Europe, but it is going up in other places like Africa.
@@jamese9283 I do believe that those stats are skewed though.
Every child that is born in Norway, that has a parent that is a member of "statskirka" automatically becomes a member of "statskirka" themselves (directly translated, The States Church), which is where those stats are taken from (i am quite sure.)
Like 90% of the people i meet are not religious, but are members of "statskirka", either because they are too lazy to opt out, had no idea they were members, or other dumb reasons. If nobody told you, you could go your entire life having no idea you were a member.
If you'd actually walk the streets of Norway and poll people, i am fairly certain you would find most people either atheist or agnostic, and spending practically no time pondering the issue.
I would be so brazen to say if you put them in the same category, we would be upwards of 70-80%. Maybe even more.
Edit; another thing to note is that alot of people will say they dont believe in god, but that they have christian values, because of the fact that it used to be the majority religion. A lot of people will also say that the country is a "christian" country because of that same fact, even though we in actuality are more likely majority atheist/agnostic.
Edit2; I also want to add, i am still a member, which means that my daughter is also a member. My parents are also still members. None of us believe. Basically, my argument is that this is the case for most Norwegian families. And that religious institutions like to take their statistics from there. Which is (in my opinion) obviously inaccurate.
@@jamese9283 "The church is important as a bearer of traditions, even for the non-religious people. However, their interpretation of the tradition is different. They view the church as a secular arena for confirmation and other rites of passage such as baptism, weddings and funerals. To them it is not about religion but tradition. They are fine with the priest having faith, but they are just following tradition," This is also be a big reason why a lot of people are still members of the church, while not believing.
I grew up an extreme Jehovah’s Witness, my whole life was worshipping him. My journey becoming an atheist was the best thing I ever did for myself. Thanks for this!!
From one extreme to the other. Hope you find Christ. I had several encounters with JWs when I was younger and I was not prepared at the time to see through their false teachings. Peace.
@@andrewferg8737 I wouldn't call atheism extreme, but Jehovah's Witnesses are extreme
@@alinastanescu4430 Both atheism and the JWs are extremes of credulity. A complete absence of faith in one, and a false hope in the other.
The original source of the JW heresy was their unwillingness to accept the doctrine of the Trinity. This heresy, know as Arianism, was rejected by the apostolic Church Fathers. Arianism later gave rise belief systems like Islam, and much later, the JWs.
Ironically, modernist secular psychology also suggests a triune nature for the human psyche with its terms Id, Ego, & Superego which correspond roughly with the theological notions of body, soul, & spirit. We are created in God's image.
Both the Old & New testaments speak repeatedly about God, The Word, & The Spirit or Father, Son, & Holy Spirit. The creation narrative uses the plural for form for the one Creator. The prophets are often visited or have vision of three messengers, and Solomon in his prophetic wisdom tells us "a threefold cord is not quickly broken" (Ecclesiastes 4:12).
@@andrewferg8737 Are you serious? Freud isn't "modern secular psychology". Id, ego, and superego are part of a model that still exists in common speech, but it by no means "verifies the triune nature of the human psyche." Your claim is as ridiculous as saying that Piaget's four stages of cognitive development prove that God is a four-in-one tetrarch. Your cherry picking and lack of logic beggar belief. You call JWs' faith "false hope," but as a Christian do you not also believe in an eternal, paradisiacal afterlife? And by the way, citing a bible verse to prove a claim in the bible is the acme of circular reasoning. Do you never ask yourself how belief in an afterlife can be justified when the slightest chemical or traumatic effect on the brain can result in complete oblivion of consciousness? All it takes is a dose of general anaesthesia to completely arrest our experience of consciousness; why would death result in an expansion of the same?
@@andrewferg8737 sometimes when you dont know what you're talking about its best to just not talk.
I was 8 and some Christian youth workers came into school. They did the whole singing, join in, praise the lord show. They told the story of Noah and the flood. They then came into our classroom to sing some more and see if we had any questions. I remember being curious about kangaroos as they made such a fuss of telling us about all the animals on the ark. I asked them if the flood killed everything, what did the kangaroos eat on their way back to Australia? Other kids joined in and asked what the lions ate on their way way back to Africa and the Tigers going to India. I remember the leader of the group struggling for a while to think of something to say and the others in the group looking at each other as if it was the first time they had ever thought about it. I don't remember the answer I did get, but I knew they were selling snake oil and I didn't want any, thank you very much.
A year after writing this, I was teaching a class today, RE, the story of Noah and the Ark. It was an interesting hour😀
The answer they gave obviously couldn't have been very memorable, could it? That is an awesome story! :)
Stop showing off your no better you detest God because their lack of delivery how rediculous. So your just an expert in all walks of life? Your good at using God's children as examples of clowns just thinking your some cool dude. Same old excuse to hate God! If you met experts 10 mins later you still wouldn't listen.
@@mikemaciel7306
Funny you attack this person's character. You seem to be unable to offer an adequate answer yourself.
Btw, what's there to hate? For me, only if I were convinced that a god exists would I hate him. But I'm not convinced anymore.
@@mikemaciel7306 So you seem to know Mike. What DID the kangaroos eat on their way back to Australia from Mt Arrarat? And even better what did the Koala Bears eat, since they live on Eucalyptus, Did god do a mana thing and make Eucalyptus trees appear before them and disappear them after the Koalas had passed by? P.S. I don't hate "god" or "gods", the same way I don't hate dragons, fairies or ogres.
Its impossible to hate an imaginary character. No we hate paedophile cults that have no evidence of anything and still claim they do. LMAO which experts??? You and cult like people like you don't listen to scientists, you know, experts on how the natural world works.
As a catholic child I would read 'Lives of the Saints', full of women we were meant to emulate like St Rose of Lima. She blistered her face and cut off her hair in case her beauty 'tempted men'. Other female saints spent their lives starving themselves and apologizing for being female, or undergoing horrible deaths for the 'double crown of virgin and martyr'. It was only in my teens that I realised how incredibly unhealthy these so-called 'role models' were and how I wanted nothing to do with them. And then I had a row with a Sunday School teacher who was telling us that Galileo had 'found his way back to God.' I knew it wasn't true and that Galileo had been threatened with torture and death unless he recanted his scientific knowledge. The final straw was reading 'The Missionary Position' by Christopher Hitchens, which challenged the saintly view of Mother Theresa. That was it for me. I've kept my own daughter as far away from religion as possible.
You are right about Galileo , shame that verry few mention true martyr who payed the price with his life for founding heliocentric idea, died young je never got chance to become famous.his name is Jordano Bruno. Galileo and Leonardo da Vinci was forced to write books in church favor that are still in vatican library
Good for you! You go, woman!
Religion is a man made idea .. however a relationship with God is different ,but many people don´t see the difference
@@torontoash45 I know what you mean. It's the same as my relationship with Harvey, a six foot tall invisible rabbit.
The catholic church has always shit on women, but they have a perpetual hard on for young boys.
My "oh my" moments were actually just nagging doubts I've always had that I decided to listen to.
1. I've always hated how in the Bible women were treated like objects, property and their only value was being a womb. Any modern interpretation of the Bible that was favourable to women was usually in contradiction to actual scripture which made me uncomfortable plus A LOT of the Christians I met were sexist and used the Bible as an excuse.
2. I always hated that when my prayers weren't answered it was my fault for not having faith but it was thanks to God when they were answered
2. The story of Noah was always questionable. The only was it made sense was to add several caveats to scripture.
3. I was told evolution and the age of the earth was all lies by misguided scientists but after a little digging it seemed it was Christians who are misguided
Totally well said Bravo
Every "good" thing you do is God's work
But the moment things gets shitty its the devil.
"God" loves us but only when we obey or else we burn for eternity 💀
Ngl I was a strong believer as a kid bc I was afraid of burning
I don't think its wise to follow something out of fear
What comes after 2?
2 again.
Sound the Battle Cry You Tube Channel
I never understood the evolution thing. For a long time, I had new earth beliefs, but then when someone proposed the idea of old earth creation it made a lot more sense. Just recently, I questioned even more and now quit 3 days ago.
My experience is unusual in that both of my parents were agnostic; religion was just unimportant to them. However, I've had 2 "oh, my" moments in moving from agnostic to atheist.
1. When I was 10, my mom thought I needed to learn what religion was about. She sent me to summer vacation bible school, which was run by a fire-and-brimstone sect. About the 4th or 5th lesson I expressed skepticism that Jonah could survive inside a whale for 3 days. The teacher got furious, loomed over me, and growled that I had to believe all of this without question or I would spend eternity in hell! The other kids, I'm sorry to say, were badly frightened by this tantrum. But I went home and told my mom that these were bad people and I didn't want to go back. That was the end of my religious education.
2. In college I decided to read the bible, because so many people described it as "great literature". I was so appalled and revolted by the petty, vicious deity described therein that I could not finish many of the chapters. My religious grandmother had told me morality tales about the good things that Jesus did. But in the New Testament I discovered many of his reported deeds and edicts that disturbed my sense of morality. And as a science major, the plethora of supernatural events turned me off.
As Bill Nye said, show me any evidence that the bible is true. After 72 years on this planet, I'm still waiting for a single datum of proof. Thank you and other UA-camrs for showing that it's possible to escape the clutches of religion. I long thought it was impossible because I saw how dogma cripples the intellect. Keep up your great work!
It took me decades of "oh my"-experiences in different religions, the last 2 years being atheist but not ready to acknowledge it, and at 48 I was out. I'm atheist for 2 years now.
Good story! Btw. if you're an agnostic, you're also an atheist. ;) Depending, of course, how people define the terms. But - for example - I am an agnostic atheist. The two words deal with two different questions, and are not mutually exclusive. Agnosticism/Gnosticism are positions with regard to the question "can it be known?" or "is it known?" - while Atheism/Theism are positions with regard to what you believe.
In essence, all colloquially self-described "agnostics" are de-facto atheists, because they are not convinced in the existence of a deity. You can either be an "agnostic atheist", or a "gnostic atheist." I know very few gnostic atheists, since it's simply an untenable and meaningless position to hold.
Tell me is it possible for you to put your former beliefs on the shelf for a little while and accept the possibility that your views on religion are shaped by your experiences in life so far and could in fact be false. If so, I would very much like to show you the proofs of religion in a matter of fact way!
If anyone tells me the Bible is great literature, my reply is along the lines of "Bullshit! Most fan fiction is better-written than that load of crap. I gave up after three chapters of Genesis because I couldn't stand the abysmal quality of the writing."
Yeah. I can't really comment on the events in the stories in the thing because the bloody thing is too badly-written for me to put up with long enough to actually get through them.
. "My religious grandmother had told me morality tales about the good things that Jesus did. But in the New Testament I discovered many of his reported deeds and edicts that disturbed my sense of morality."
Man, I hear you on that one. Every Christian thinks that the kind, meek, and mild Jesus somehow erases the other Jesus - Christ the judge. Jesus might have taught some good things, but in the end, he was just as judgemental as the pharisees he despised. Telling someone that they will be condemned if they don't believe, is bigotry of the highest order- which is exactly what Jesus believed and to make matters worse, Paul pushes it further.
Another oh my moment: when i realized that keeping my things orderly was much more effective than praying to find my keys.
Jesus you sit well in my heart.☺😊😃
Hey now. Helping to find people’s keys is about the only miracle that god actually comes through on. Occasionally.
You sound like children making fun of their parents. Please come right with your creator, why hold so much contempt for the one who mended the relationship between man and the father. Christ is lord. He fulfilled all prophecies as the messiah
@@hamon4228you just didn't watch this video did you? I bet you don't have the stomach to question your religion but atleast watch the entire video before going into comments
@@NuruBensaki-yx2ix as I have made an assumption you have made one as well. Why do you think I am in this video? I like to expand my world view and this simply isn’t it. This video has terrible understanding of Christianity that only focuses on Protestantism and has no sound ethical basis to be making judgements on the morality of God. I encourage you check out “orthodox Kyle’s” video about Holy Koolaid.
My journey began one week after I met the woman that 32 years ago became my wife. After we began dating she told me that she had something to tell me that was very important and might end a promising relationship. She is a victim of incest. Perpetrated by her father. She was baptist and the church leadership told her to keep it quiet because it was her fault and not her fathers. I chose not to dump her.
However she also had told me tbat god had a pet name for her. She was his little one. I was unable to square this with incest. Surely a god that said she was his little one could have saved her from this. It was then that I started into you tube religious and atheist research. I walked away not just an atjiest, but an anti theist. There is much more to the story, but it takes too long to recount textually. She is also an atheist. And our lives together have been great.
I'm glad to hear that you have something good and beautiful, given such a heartbreaking tragedy. That's disgusting how the church blamed her though.
Your journey began over 32 years ago when you started doing research on you tube?
Jesus you sit well in my heart.😊😋😋
As a fellow ex-Christian, I really enjoyed this video and the rest of your channel. Thanks!
As an ex-atheist I hope they keep journeying and go further
@@topologyrobYou're not an ex-atheist because that's not a thing.
@@NottherealLucifer It is a thing, and I'm it.
fellow ex- christian ??? ohh my goodness so i guess you never really were a christian to start with
@@torontoash45not this stupid arguement...
I'm an atheist took me 40 years to get here. I no longer fear death and love life.
Best thing ever ...gratz
Good on you to escape the lies.Any belief system that uses fear and false teachings to entice members is not worth the paper written on.
You will be Dead 💀 much longer than 40 years I myself could not bear the thought of a godless universe but I'm glad you love life
I never feared death....because God loves all their children, and death is going home to be with God and all my dead family and friends.
I still hope it's true, but I'm not as sure as when I was young.
Now death is horrifying.
Anxiety, fear, and depression.
I prefer having faith. Religion has little to do with behavior- I want to be good because humans have genetic make up as social creatures.
Religion doesn't change my behavior, but it sure affects how I feel.
It's a great powerful and helpful tool to have in life.
@@langreeves6419 People have told me I'm going to hell bc I am transgender and homosexual. If I actually believed in God, death would terrify me. Because people say I'll be tortured forever for shit I can't even control.
Now, as an atheist, death isn't so bad. Bc once I die, nothing else happens. I'll go back to the Earth and become food for other creatures.
Thank you for helping me out of my religion. I've been free for 3 years and getting rid of that part of my life made me a better, happier, and more accepting person. Keep it up.
Glad I can help. The air is so much cleaner out here. :)
Welcome aboard the None-train. :) Choo choo!
Jesus you sit well in my heart.😊😃😃😃😎
Might I ask why you say you are free because of religion?
I was once a Christian pastor that try to disprove evolution. So I took many biology, and genetics classes in different fields of scientific understanding. Plus, being part of the laboratory experiments. In the end the result was.... Evolution won over everything.
But most of all the biggest problem for Christianity is actually reading the Bible for what it is. The book is just bat shit crazy, with so many contradictions.
The bible is full of that.
It took me very long however to conclude God wasn't going to reveal to me personally why these contradictions were there, and I wasn't prepared to wait after I'd died 😂.
The threats are what made me start to question it. I will never believe in any higher power til it is proven. Especially one that has to threaten their supposed creation for their love and worship...or do I think any being that could would even care about "worship".
Thanks for the belly laugh!!!
U lying trying to get views? Which theist/creationist/flatard etc bible thumpers ever do real research?
😂😂😜
Don't murder people but sleep with your dad and make a new tribe okay?
"wanting to strengthen my position as a Christian..." is usually the process that leads to deconversion LOL
Exactly me. I am a Christian and really doubting my faith and I’m so scared of damnation to hell. 😬
@@plantsoversomerville5547It's possible to get over the fear of hell. It's a hard way, but you don't have to suffer from that ❤ Wish you all the best!
@@plantsoversomerville5547you don't have to be scared of it because Jesus saved us
@@plantsoversomerville5547 Why are you doubting your faith in Jesus?
I grew up atheist (and I still am atheist, don't worry) but only now am I gradually realising (1) how valuable that is and (2) how other people trapped in that stuff can benefit from my perspective.
"I grew up atheist"
Perhaps you can tell me what an atheist IS; rather than what it isn't.
@@thomasmaughan4798 Uhhh, I said "I grew up atheist", not "I grew up *_AN_* atheist."
@@MultiCappie "Uhhh, I said "I grew up atheist", not "I grew up AN atheist.""
Interesting. Most here say I am an atheist; which means an atheist is a thing to be. I admire your finer sense of the English language; where atheist is exactly shorthand for "without god" and so "I grew up atheist" means "I grew up without God".
For what it is worth, I also grew up with no visible mention of God in my parent's household.
Jesus you sit well in my heart.😍😚😊
The more research you do and the more science you study, it becomes much more difficult to remain religious than it is to become atheist/agnostic.
PS You're very pleasant to listen to.
It is the experience of some deconverts that the more of the Bible you study, the more difficult it is to remain Christian.
@@bdf2718 I can attest to this. I'm a former Methodist. Wasn't indoctrinated or anything, but I got bored one day and actually read the Bible and came to the conclusion that it is little more than a fairy tale. Then a year later I got bored again and decided to get God and Lucifer's kill counts. God had around 2.5 million kills not counting the flood. Lucifer had ten or eleven kills because God lost a bet.
@@NobleS1236 Lol, I did something similar, even though Im a lifelong athiest and never got the brainwashing to begin with.. I put it to believers that maybe Lucifer is the good guy and the whole thing is an ad campaign to stop god being jailed.
If you understand Physics and Chemistry and you have some knowledge of History and Psychology, the idea of a god becomes so irrelevant, that you have to truly be a special breed of moron to still believe it. And you don't need a degree in each subject for this understanding to dawn on you (though it doesn't hurt). My degrees were in Chemistry first and then Psychology some years later, with Physics, Biology, Philosophy, History (and computer science) as electives. I believe that 1 year of (full time) study in each subject is enough to de-program any already indoctrinated person. Because while actually reading the bible might cause a person to doubt their (bible based) religion, the more you understand about the real world and how it works, the less likely you are to turn to a different crutch after doubting/ dumping the bible. Understanding the way the world works gives you the intellectual mobility so that you don't need crutches like religion (or homeopathy, etc...).
@Laniakea I understand where you are...been there...done that. But allow me to save you some time on your journey...don't waste your time in Mormonism. I spent 30 years there before I woke up and escaped. If you think the Bible and Christianity is BS...you will really be insulted by Mormonism and the Book of Mormon! OMGosh...talk about a bunch of malarkey! The next 25 years was my Christian journey. Grew out of that too! Many other smaller journeys afterwards, but I am no longer looking for a formal religion. And especially not for a "One true faith and/or church!" Hallelujah!!! Best wishes to you and your journey. Namaste!
When I was an exchange student in the U.S. some years back (this was in the South), there was a guy in the dorm who was known to be an atheist. People talked about him as if he were a demon or something, and it was almost as if they were afraid of him. I think I had seen him around a couple of times, but wasn't really sure who it was they all referred to as that awful atheist. One day, as I was heading out to hit some tennis balls after a class, I saw another guy walking just behind me, also with gear in hand and headed to the tennis courts. We started talking, and decided to play while we waited on whoever it was we were each waiting on. As it turned out, both of our partners were no-shows, so we played for another hour, then headed back to the dorm together. Long story short- this guy turned out to be a very interesting person who had lived all over the world with his parents, as his dad was a diplomat at the time. We became good friends, and it wasn't until a couple of months later that I put 2 and 2 together and realized that HE was in fact the atheist guy everyone had been talking about (and shunning) in the dorm! Today, I understand that he was simply way too cosmopolitan, progressive and well travelled for the vast majority of people at that university, and they kind of just wrote him off as some weird dude that didn't believe in god, when in fact these people were precisely the ones who were weird.
My OH My began with the death of my mother at 7 yrs old. Being told "it was God's plan" and nothing else set me on my path. Very religious family as well. As I've grown up, I'm 46, Its nothing more than brain washing. Nothing can be proved, yet IM THE CRAZY ONE! Thanks for being here. You're helping so many people....Cheers.
I’m very sorry that your mom had passed away when you were so young. I have a friend who had lost his dad about a year ago (my friend was still in junior high). I understand that trusting in God at times like that can be hard. But just because your mom had passed away earlier than expected doesn’t mean you won’t ever see her again. She is in heaven (since I assume she was a Christian) and you will join her if you put your trust in God again. And at that point where you say nothing can be proven, I will say that many historians say that Jesus did walk the Earth and had disciples. And earth itself is prove of God and his goodness. I just want to say Jesus loves you and your mother and he died to save you from your sins. You just need to have faith in him, even when things feel really hard. ❤
Man, you've been through a lot! I wish I could've heard of you when I was still a Christian. Perhaps I would've left religion much sooner haha You're seriously an inspiration. Keep sharing your views and influencing others to think more critically. It's much appreciated and much needed.
That means a lot to me. Thank you for the kind words.
Maybe you should be a bit more open to Christianity dear, you might not know the whole story. I would recommend stuff on "the Apostolic fathers" on you tube. You might be suprised by what you find.
@@eamonnmurphy5385 Or maybe she does, do you know the whole story? How would you know if you didn't?
Jesus you sit well in my heart.😍😊😋
I'm an exmormon atheist, and here is my story: (Law & Order cut sound)
For me, my journey began when I watched the Nye/Ham debate. I went into that not really interested in why Nye had to say, but by the end I had realized Ham was full of crap and I had learned a lot from Nye I hadn't heard before. After that, I started to watch youtube personalities like Thunderf00t and Godless Engineer because they'd debunk YEC's. I wasn't really looking to lose my faith, but I enjoyed how atheists like them destroyed the YEC arguments with science and history, and I really got my love of science and history because of that. The final series for me was from Aron Ra. I had watched a video or two of his before, but then I started watching his series "Refuting the Irrefutable Proofs of God". One of the reasons that series resonated with me so much was because I actually thought that David C. Pack was a mormon for the first few episodes, because of his bearing and the way he spoke. But watching that series, I don't know how many episodes I had watched, but at the end of it I was like, "I know every other religion can't be true, but I need to look at the LDS church and religion again." I couldn't dismiss it out of hand because I was raised in it. And then I looked into the history and found that a lot of the church history had been white washed, and that was kind of the final straw for me. After that I knew I was an atheist.
My Story.
Bought up Methodist. At a youth worship group, when I was about 12-13 I asked the Pastor to explain the reason, logic actually, of why someone had to die to save our sins. I was a bit like a dog with a bone, I wanted an answer. No explanation made any sense, not logical you see.
My mother got a phone call from said pastor who suggested I should stay away from Bible Studies for a few weeks, and could return when/if I was less disruptive. The lack of an answer to my, I thought at the time, simple question gave me pause for much thought.
All this enlightened pastor could say was that the bible told us so and I needed to have faith and accept it as fact.
Not until many years later did I get my first sensible answer to my 40 year old question. The answer came from Christopher Hitchins, in God is Not Great.
@@gondwanaland3238 And that religion poisons everything.
Turn to Jesus before it’s to late
@VideoAudioDisco09 turn to Jesus before its to late
I left the mormon faith 12 years ago. I hate the religion now.
my "i'm done" moment was when i got to the religion section of guy p. harrison's "50 popular beliefs that people think are true". i was gonna skip that section, but reasoned that, because my beliefs were unshakable, it would be interesting to hear the other side. by the time i finished that section i was an agnostic. my journey to full atheism took about 6 months, and another full two years to finally shake off the last vestiges of hell. but, like you, i went through a renaissance period, reading every book and watching every video i could get my hands on. that's how i found you, actually! thank you for being part of my path out!
I left the mormon religion 12 years ago. I totally relate to your journey. Leaving a religion you are raised in then find out it isn't true is HARD.
Jesus you sit well in my heart.😉
The dead sea scrolls covering the period from Birth of Jesus to 68 AD , does NOT say one word about Jesus or his 12 Apostles
Hellenistic philosopher Philo Judaeus of Alexandria (20 BCE-50 AD/CE)-alive at the purported time of Jesus, and one of the wealthiest and best connected citizens of the Empire- makes no mention of Christ, Christians or Christianity in his voluminous writings. Nor do any of the hundreds of other historians and writers who flourished during the first THREE centuries of the common era.
The DEAD SEA SCROLLS were all written by Pagan Essenes . None of them have been edited by later Christians, as is the case with some other Jewish literature.
All the scrolls (except a treasure map known as the Copper Scroll) can be dated prior to A.D. 68 or 69, when the Qumran settlement was believed to have been destroyed by the Romans in the Jewish revolt.
The oldest of the scrolls probably goes back to the middle of the third century B.C. The people of Qumran belonged to a Pagan religious group known as the Essenes.
Pliny the Elder, who died during the volcanic destruction of Pompeii in the year 79 A.D., described a community of pagan Essenes living on the western shore of the Dead Sea, close to where Khirbet Qumran is situated.
John the Baptist was an ascetic Essene . He was a vegan and was uncircumcised . Various literary sources like Josephus and Philo tell clearly that Essenes were ascetics.
We also know, from literary testimony, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the archaeological remains of Qumran, that the Essenes practiced many water baptisms for ritual purification-similar to a dip in the Ganges or the river Pampa or at Thiirunelli. At Qumran, however, all members of the community were baptized with water for ritual purification.
Josephus writes, "And as for their piety towards God, it is very extraordinary; for before sunrising they speak not a word about profane matters, but put up certain prayers which they have received from their forefathers, as if they made a supplication for its rising" (Wars, 2.8.5). This testimony accords well with what we know from the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Prayer and humility was one thing that the Essenes . When they cooked up stories about Jesus they wrote that Jesus Christ ate the Last Supper in the Essene part of town.
Jesus is not historical character, The Dead Sea Scrolls have produced increasing evidence to cement the fact that Jesus Christ never existed and the whole story was cooked up at the First Council of Nicea in 325 AD.
The FAKE gospels were written after 325 AD after Jesus was cooked up at the first Council of Nicea..
Twelve apostles of Jesus never existed.
Jesus Christ names 12 apostles to spread his gospel, and the early Christian church owes its rapid rise to their missionary zeal. Yet, for most of the Twelve, there's scant evidence of their existence outside of the New Testament.
The concept of using statistics to prove that 'God authored the Bible' is bullshit.
Why was the library of Alexandria burnt ?
The gospel of Thomas was not written by Jesus' disciple Thomas.
Englishman Godfrey Higgins studied Greek, Latin and law at Cambridge . His two-volume, 867-page book Anacalypsis: An Enquiry into the Origins of Languages, Nations, and Religions, was published posthumously in 1836.
In his treatise, Higgins writes " the mythos of the Jews and the mythos of the Greeks are all at bottom the same lifted from the ancient mythos of Hindus ; and ... are contrivances under the appearance of histories to perpetuate doctrines," and that Christian editors “either from roguery or folly, corrupted them all.”
1900, Scottish MP John Mackinnon Robertson wrote that Jesus never existed but was an FAKE invention by a first-century messianic cult. He wrote about the First Council of Nicea of 325 AD where powerful forces invented a new god to fit the needs of the society of the time .Robertson specifically mentions the Talmudic story of the Yeshu .
Thomas says: "Simon Peter said to them, ‘Make Mary leave us, for females don’t deserve life.’ Jesus said, ‘Look, I will guide her to make her male, so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every female who makes herself male will enter the kingdom of heaven’" (Thomas 114).
AIYOOOOO -even Christians don’t like this
When the master of James baby Jesus Christ never existed -- how can his disciple St James exist ?
Even since the dead sea scrolls have been discovered CHRISTIANS and JEWS are jumping up and down like demented orangutans claiming that Essenes belong to them.
Dead Sea text or Qumran Scrolls have absolutely nothing ZILCH, to do with the Bible of the Torah - never mind the diabolical lies of the Christians and the Jews.
For arguments sake -even if messiah Jesus Christ existed , the gospels were written a even a century after Jesus' estimated year of death, by individuals who never met Jesus, and then were edited or forged over the centuries by unknown scribes with their own agendas.
Dead sea scrolls have been written by Essenes of the sect of Apollonius
"I call Christianity the one great curse, the one great intrinsic depravity, the one great instinct of revenge, for which no means are venomous enough, or secret, subterranean and small enough - I call it the one immortal blemish upon the human race."
Friedrich Nietzsche
The God of the Bible is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully Rapist ,Slave traders ,Anti Peace, Anti Womens ,Anti life and allowing all Immoral actsJesus says that he has come to destroy families by making family members hate each other. He has “come not to send peace, but a sword.” Matthew 10:34
Jesus says, “Don’t imagine that I came to bring peace on earth! No, rather a sword lf you love your father, mother, sister, brother, more than me, you are not worthy of being mine.
“The real beauty of this verse is that Jesus demands people truly love him more then they love their own family. I ask you how can we love someone that we can not see or interact with? Love is an emotion pertaining to physical existence not to faithful ideologies, yet God threatens you with death just because your love for your mother maybe stronger than your love for him. (Matthew 10:34)
I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children." (Leviticus 26:22)
"Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourself every girl
who has never slept with a man." (Numbers 31:17-18)
"The Lord commands: ".. slay old men outright, young men and maidens, little children and
women" (zechial 9:4-6)
"When the Lord delivers it into your hand, put to the sword all the males As for the women, the
children, the livestock and everything else in the city, you may take these as plunder for
yourselves." (Deuteronomy 20:13-14)
"You will eat the fruit of the womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters the Lord your God has given
you." (Deuteronomy 28:53)
"The Lord said to Joshua [..] 'you are to hamstring their horses." " (Exceedingly cruel.) (Joshua 11:6)
'The people of Samaria must bear their guilt, because they have rebelled against their God. They will
fall by the sword; their little ones will be dashed to the ground, their women with child ripped
open." (Hosea 13:16)
Christianity is
Religion of Love?
@AmitKumar-qz2us wow! So much to think about.
Strangest thing was that even though I was born and raised in a heavily religious Christian country with devoted friends and family, I never really got into the whole "religious" business. Every time I prayed it always felt like BS. I slept in church, and I always felt that something was off. I was a bit scared and reluctant at first, but these types of videos helped me break away from the norm of religious thinking. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
42 is always the answer.
Sorry Christians! Get in line with the followers of Zarquon!
If only we could get the question right.
Are we currently on the first earth, or the backup earth? Anyways, we are still calculating the question...
@@HolyKoolaid WE APOLOGISE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE
That's infinitely improbable;D
I was proud of Bill Nye in that debate. My brother and I were on his show in the 90s. Now I send my brother’s little boy Tiny Thinkers books for Christmas, he’s only four but he loves science already. We were lucky to have grown up at the actual Nye Lab in Seattle, and now we teach our kids critical thinking and to love Earth and science.
That's so freakin' cool!
Bill Nye is a freaking legend, and a gentleman! :) I would say him being a respectful gentleman in that debate helped a lot too, not just the facts vs dogma contrast.
Many well educated people agree that kids pure curiosity makes them the best scientists. That's why it is important to fuel that curiosity, feed them with informations to digest, try out and sometimes fail in their little experiments. Learning how to fail gracefully and draw conclusions is the best thing any person can learn, especially if they want to know science.
As Feynmann put it: it's a pleasure of finding things out :)
@@ogi22 I try to teach my kids as much as I can. Watching videos on feynman and even how his father was inspired me so much. I'd say a lot of the help I've had as a parent is from scientist and great thinkers alike. Neil Tyson explaining how curiosity fuels science and the stuff about letting the kids jump in puddles and get dirty. It's not dogma and to be honest the majority of it is pretty much common sense. It's always nice to hear what great minds have to say on any subject and it's changed my life and way of thinking for the better.
Good for you, and your family.
I am so in awe of you folks that deconstruct at such a young age. I first started in my 20s, but hit such crippling depression from the process of leaving belief and community, that I couldn’t do it. I am only starting afresh now in my 50s with small steps like watching this video.
What were your "Oh, My" moments?
When I learned what evolution was
One of mine was when I realized that, when I prayed, the voice that spoke back to me sounded exactly like mine and it said exactly what I would say.
When i read the bible and got to know God a little better 😊
From a young age I figured out that Santa wasn’t real. I also led a lot of science books. By the time I could understand what it meant to believe in a God, I had gradually yet without awareness or intense thought come to realise that I did not believe it. I wasn’t exposed massively from a young age so didn’t have anything much to blindly fall for. That’s the thing with much of UK Christianity, it’s boring and nobody really cares that much.
My 'Oh My' moments were...rather strange. My family was religious (sort of) and we had a family friend group so close they may as well have been just another part of my family and they were nothing BUT religious.
Anyways, I didn't start going to church until after a whole slew of things happened seemingly all at once. My dad left my mom for another woman, my grandmother who I was VERY close with died and then my uncle who had just become a dad died. Also, the woman who my dad had left us for was very abusive to me.
Everything in my life sucked pretty hard but I tried to follow in my moms faith that if we continued to pray to God that eventually everything would work out.
But nothing seemed to be adding up. How could such a gracious and loving God let stuff like this happen to a 7 year old for 13 years, or take a baby's father away and leave her with a woman who was never fit to be a mother?
The verses in the bible never really clicked with me despite all my efforts.
It wasn't until I made certain friends at 18 who really showed me a different "religion" (it was Wicca) that things I had tried so hard to believe it fell apart. Everything became so clear. And just two years later, I had built up enough courage to leave the abusive home I was in and start my own life.
Thank you for this video and thank you for this channel. I am a fairly new "closeted" atheist and I truly appreciate videos like this.
Jesus you sit well in my heart.☺😊😃
The thing that set the dominoes falling for me was when, at a party, one of my friends mentioned that he believes the creation story in Genesis to be literally true. At the moment, it was the most bizarre thing I've ever heard (or so I thought). It had never even occurred to me that an adult educated person might fail recognize Genesis as an allegory.
I planned taking to him, and searched for some evolution simulations on youtube, so I can show him in case it came up. There I found out that young earth creationism is a thing... I was shocked... Needless to say, during my conversations with creationists in the comment sections I eventually figured out that their reasons for believing are more-or-less the same as mine and I became an atheist. This whole thing took like 3 months or so...
Only three months? Yeesh, and i thought my one year(ish) thing was short.
@Loyal Th30rist To be fair, I was already an agnostic deist and a humanist as far back as I remember and I was already convinced that the church and the bible were heavily corrupted. So atheism wasn't as big of a jump for me.
@Steve @Steve does a rat or a toad (or a dolphin or a wolf) think a human is more special than a rat or a toad? What about the slave traders? Did they think human slaves are special? What about the pitiless slaughter of humans in the old testament? The killings carried out on behalf of Catholics, Protestants etc. Did they all think humans are special? Did the Spanish Inquisition think their torture victims were more special than rats or toads, or were they just heartless cruel and deluded?
@Steve sorry. I should have backtracked. I didn't get the rat or toad reference and went off on a tangent.
Wow...your process was sure a quick one in comparison to mine. Hmm....I was 30 by the time I came out of Mormonism...and about 54 before I came out of Christianity. Embarrassing! ;)
When I was a kid, I knew it was all shit. I went to a friend's church and it was freaky - sitting there, listening to some stranger talk to us after some monotonous singing. Then at the end, all the kids marched around the room "shouting for joy" and I was like, "haha, I want to go home." Even worse? They gave all the kids MORE homework doing boring memorizing and workbooks. I was not okay with it. I had some traumatising experience in a church camp where I was basically cornered in the pew and held down by family members trying to get me to confess during an altar call. I hated altar calls after that.
Idk why I got into the Bible and church as a teen. I read the Bible all the way thru and never wanted to after that, it was such a confusing, gross slog. I pretty much stopped a year into it and I realized this year I'm done with religion all together. Thanks for your video!
I went to a Baptist bible retreat when I was 12. The preacher said that "some people in this room would go to hell" I was convinced right there that I would NOT BE ONE OF THEM. That fear kept me in the cult for a long, long time...
Jesus you sit well in my heart.🙂😗😗
I loathed memorizing scripture, along with a few of my friends. Of course, when the time came to say something we memorized, it was the shortest verse "Jesus wept."
@@johntiggleman4686that’s a genius play right there
Don’t ever stop dude...seriously...don’t EVER stop. I can’t begin to thank you for what you do for this community.
My daughter converted to Catholicism in order to marry. This caused me to re-address my own fuzzy not-religious-but-spiritual beliefs and I quickly concluded that the entire thing is hogwash. I must say my Atheism feels wonderful; like dropping a heavy weight I'd been lugging around for decades -- for no good reason, it turns out. There is great satisfaction only believing in what is logically sound and moral. Religion all too often gets both wrong.
I feel the same
Hi Riff.
"great satisfaction only believing in what is logically sound and moral"---- Respectfully, it is not at all clear how one reconciles the terms "logic" and "moral" from a purely materialistic perspective, although some have attempted it.
Gravity often feels like "a heavy weight I'd been lugging around"----- yet the universe depends on gravity for its physical existence. In free fall one feels unencumbered by the effects of gravity as though it was not real, yet one eventually arrives at a black hole that removes all doubt.
@@andrewferg8737 while I'm not the OP, why would we need just to use the material world to create morals? We aren't all materialists. I'm a naturalist. I see nature, instincts, and emotions as the basis for how to determine my morals. Killing is only justified if you eat it or are protecting yourself by this standard. Needlessly killing other life without consumption is the first basis for my morals then. Wasting that life without consumption would also be incredibly immoral. Next would be pain. Causing harm inflicts clear pain on living things - animals cry, howl, or go into shock; plants and fungi do similar things. There's my second. It doesn't take long to build up an entire sense of how to see what's right and wrong that way. Just use your own reasoning skills.
To this end, I've had emotions that have given me physical symptoms. I've been dumped by an ex and felt chest pain after. Anxiety often causes things like nausea, hyperventilation, and chest pains (which could lead to things like high blood pressure, indigestion/acid reflux/heartburn, and feeling like it was hard to simply move around). I've literally gotten so mad once that I'm sure my blood pressure skyrocketed and I saw red spots over my vision. Depression is often talked about by sufferers as a heavy weight that you struggle to drag through your day with - you can take this as only emotional, but many people are literally describing a feeling that their body is so heavy they cannot do the things they want to and even the smallest tasks are totally exhausting. So yeah, feeling like you have a sudden weight lifted from you after years of carrying emotional baggage can literally help someone feel suddenly lighter and more energized.
@@emeraldkat2167 Hi Emerald kat.
Regarding "We aren't all materialists. I'm a naturalist."----
What you describe in your comment is the categorical imperative of Immanuel Kant. It is a form of materialism. Kantian ethics inform the judicial philosophy know in law school as natural law and serve as the underpinning of American jurisprudence. Despite its apparent reliance on reason, this ethical system breaks down without an objective standard. In simple terms, natural law is a beautiful thing in a world of sheep, but in a world of wolves it is dog-eat-dog.
@@andrewferg8737 I think you misunderstand. It isn't like Kant, more like Taoism (a little bit of anarchism, a little bit of Utilitarianism). But it doesn't matter, my example was just my own personal theory. How you define morality is what makes it a system hold together - ie if you define morality in terms of god (which we are left with the classic paradox - either god is the ultimate arbiter who can create immoral edicts, or morality comes from some other thing beyond god) or morality is something more and we should look to that thing, not one religion's idea of god/morality.
So most of us start by defining morality, and then create our morals based on that definition/goal.
When I was twelve and found out 40,000 children die of starvation every day I realized there was no god. Before that, I was Roman Catholic.
Also remember the millions physically and mentally tortured every day and brainwashed so much terrified to get on with life in the mistaken belief there sky fairy be angry with there knowledge and one less brainwashed person equals one slightly poorer corrupt church leader with his private jet.No loss to anyone if these leeches get put out of business.
If more people fed those children they would not starve do not blame God for what is our fault
@@michaelnee2392 koolaid drinker here
@@michaelnee2392 God has the power to feed them, yet he literally just stands by and does nothing.
@@waspoppin4784 free will sorry can't interfere
I've recently come to be able to say that I am an atheist after 33 years of being a Christian. I am horrendously scared about admitting it to my friends and family. Virtually everyone that my wife and I associate with are devout Christians. My wife knows, but no one else does. These videos are helping me come to terms with it and strengthening my understanding that I am not alone and this is not a crazy and rare experience. For that, I have to say thank you. I highly doubt you'll ever see this, but if you do (or anyone else) know of any books, forums, blogs, etc. of people who are in my situation I would absolutely love to get those resources.
Be careful, you will lose friends and family, I did, to me it. Was still worth it, my freedom and peace of mind to know the truth is more valuable than a judgey relationship, be strong and confident, be respectful but don’t take any crap, they will respect tour decisions
Genetically modified skeptic
Cosmicskeptic
I love this 2..I hope u find them intriguing...all the best
Are youtube channels
@@rwk808 much appreciated! I’ve been watching GM Skeptic for months now. He’s fantastic. Telltale, Mr. Atheist, Exmo Lex…they are incredible people. They’ve helped me so much. I appreciate your support and willingness to help!
@@joshake2434 congratulations!! I was in it for 50 years... but feel so free now!! Matt Delahunty is good. NonStampCollector is great to watch, along with this channel.
"baby out with the bath water... I just thought there was delicious baby" !! Hilarious. Did everyone miss this sharp little satire?
Don't drink the koolaid....or eat the baby.
that stings
Kyle From The Wood “Baby, the other other white meat” -Fat. Bastard
I noticed it too. He's picking up on the meme Christian groups have been spreading since before there were memes, that atheists eat babies.
mmMMMmmm delicious baby... !!!
My atheism has also been a process over time. I remember as a kid reading the story of Daniel and being confused why God allowed the wives and children of the wise men to be thrown into the lion's den when they did nothing wrong. Then as I got older I just wasn't interested in going to church, and for a while I had the maybe there is, maybe there isn't a god mentality. Then I found out about agnosticism and went with that. Then in the past year I watched atheist comedians like George Carlin, did research, and really gave the topic a great deal of thought. Finally I read The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, and by the end I was an atheist.
@@jasonsage1417 what??
@@WhiteWolf-lm7gj your right - it came out convoluted , I deleted it.
@@jasonsage1417
So try again. ?
@@jasonsage1417
Umm yeah, thank you for the effort but I can't tell whether you're an atheist or not and what was your "oh my" moment.
Let me ask a simple yes or no question.
Are you convinced a god or gods exist?
@@mr.mcbeavy1443 Well... Convinced? God or Not? You figure it out. More fun that way.
... continuing where it left off... Let's Compare the Christian "shamefully" speaking about my fictional "German" (Me) and a "Jew" conversation in the previous post.
Trying to show contrast between status quo mainstream bickering, slander, judging and condemnations versus... this "condemned conversation" of others... I am trying to show examples to people that judging others like you know the mind of God isn't allowed, judge yourself for yourself is allowed. Often we hear a "LABEL" or "RELIGION/DENOMINATION" or "OPINION" and we brush it off as "NOT FROM GOD, GOD OBVIOUSLY ISN'T WITH THEM IF THEY [INSERT REASON HERE]" versus consider them they way you expect them to consider you. Often, it's not ALL JUNK.
Then if and when the condemnations, and judgements fly... All I can manage to say after they get all puffed up and angry is a gentle "Relax.. Easy... We're At God's Table, no big deal, just disagree or continue, no swords needed, no reason to cause Gabriel to have to come down here because Jesus wants to relay a message... using one of our BIG BROTHERS... They will be annoyed when they show up and ...well.. I like it when they have good news better.
Personally... I Slink Away... sometimes when you feel the energy around you, and the hair rises on your neck, there is still time to run for shelter before the Lightning Bolt actually HITS ya! that's my QUE to GET out of the argument, and if I think it necessary, take one step back and just step in to BODY GUARD - First One To Raise a HAND and Strike the Other Get its. Don't mimic me... Listen to God #1, Jesus #2 - after that - everyone is suspect...even the printed page it's written on, is not safe from Satan. Thinking the word of God is "Perfect" as we have it? I don't think so. And I don't blame GOD for that. I Already know how that "STANCE" would hold up in heaven.
"You said we could trust the word of God and your words are infallible"
Jehovah ANGRY - "I Told You, obey my commands and live, and to guard my law like the apple of your EYE"
The Frightened Man - "Which Ones?"
Jehovah "JESUS CHRIST - Mediator - King"
Jesus answers him solemnly "Yes Father"
Jesus looks at you, his mind reeling, flashes of crucifixion memories cross his mind, memory of his words spoken in life, the words this soul has indeed learned, and the stance they are taking now.... Jesus Stands up... Jehovah sits back... Proud of his boy, watches... just watches his boy...
Jesus - "You were told that your adversary comes as an angel of light, you were told not to change a jot or tittle of the LAW"
The Frightened Man - "but I didn't change a jot or..."
Gabriel Barks "SILENCE!"
Jesus looks to you... "You lived in the Information Age, Yes? You had access to many bibles and scriptures and writings and teachings and saw conflict every where you looked. Satan was obviously among the scribes... somewhere, at sometime, many times.. all the time... Keep Seeking Truth, does that ring a Bell? Did I Stay STOP when you think you know Everything?"
"how I could I know?"
Gabriel lifts his sword knowing this is about how the man is with other sheep more than anything, he doesn't quite see yet, off the transparent gold flooring the sword tip is raised, just to be SLAMMED back down LOUDLY, Gabriel turns back into a still pose like a statue, a Solemn Stance of Attention - like the Queens Guard in England.... to give you a hint... "shut your HOLE"
Jesus "Who handed you the word of God, it wasn't me?"
The Frightened Man looks towards Gabriel... "can...I..speak..."
Gabriel Nods Yes with a wink of kindness squeaked in. Micheal the Arch Angel starts to wear a slight smile... looks at another Son of God, he returns Micheal's eye contact, they smirk and fall back into that solemn pose...
The Frightened Man - "my pastor"
Jesus "A man? A man hands you a teachings and says THIS is the TRUTH. Then you read, and learn wisdom. Did you heed the admonition of even Paul, to not judge at all until ...well.. TODAY, MY GREAT DAY, Given to Me By Father, Who Glorifies me whom you call Your GOD."
The Frightened Man - "well.. no Jesus, but I did read it and prayed and I was nice to people in the congregation I think... I mean usually..."
Jesus "You trust a man over an angel? I told you not to trust an Angel over my Father or I. Even warned, that should an ANGEL bring you a GOSPEL that is not the Good news of the Kingdom, then come back to me. In any case, had you been kinder to both my goats, sheep and wolves for that matter, we wouldn't be having this particular conversation."
The Frightened Man - "I'm sorry Jesus, and God, I Um.. I'm sorry"
Jesus "You indeed have already been judged... "
The Frightened Man's Heart Drops... he thinks "THIS IS IT! I'm A GONER!" - he can barely stand, about to just fall and die from pure fear.. waiting any second - I'm dead... YIKES....
Jesus continues... "because YOU JUDGED and CONDEMNED, a burden to my people, ignorance breeds unintentional blasphemies, meanspiritedness amongst brothers, discord and strife, this causes many to stumble, it is better to hang a MILLSTONE Around AROUND YOUR NECK then... stumble just one. You INDEED READ, AND KNEW, AND HAVE BEEN WEIGHED AND MEASURED and FOUND WANTING!"
Jehovah - utters - "Righteousness guards the person of integrity, but wickedness overthrows the sinner."
Jesus says "He who can not be trusted with little, can not be trusted with greater responsibility."
[ the dude gulps ]
"You have been forgiven... back to Earth with you, sin no more, now Go" [poof]
[Dude finds himself on the Earth trembling still... standing.... looks over... Sees that German Guy, and that Jew Still Debating...]
"Yeah but you bagel heads worshiped a CALF"
"You worshiped Jesus Mother hahah"
"I did not"
"Admit it you were catholic!"
"I was not!"
"just a teenie bit Catholic"
"No...wait... Hey look, our borther looks Shaken... Brother, come here"
"Yeah man, what's the problem"
"I just got yelled at by Jesus"
"Oh, that's not so bad..."
"Not SO BAD???"
"Yeah, want a beer?"
"YES I - DO... Will he Mind?"
"No, he is bring out some Wine Later, just don't get wasted, that gets on his nerves especially when you act like a fool or passout or something... anyways.... here you go"
"Look at the bright side... you didn't even get punished"
"Yes I Got Punished, it was terrifying, and scary, and I thought I was going to die, and every thought, even random ones seemed like God heard them and I was dead any second..."
"He likes you"
"Yeah, he likes you"
"But God was so Mad he made Jesus Speak"
"Yehovah spoke to you?"
"Just to yell at me"
"But he Spoke to you?"
"Yeah?"
"Loves those he punishes - High five" [SMACK]
"CHEERS - A Toast to the Most High God" - [glasses clink]
Confused, but now the less frightened man sips his beer and says to the Jew and the German...
"You guys are WHACKO."
In Harmony "AGREED - A Toast to the Most High" All Three Clink Their Glasses and Salute Jehovah and Jesus then suddenly...
A Pakistani Muslim appears.. trembling...
"How did he get here"
"Careful, don't start that again, Jesus will not be impressed."
"Can We Help You? Are You Ok?"
Pakistani - "No. I Just Saw Allah, Jesus is our King. I had no IDEA!"
An American Indian appears suddenly... sits, lights up a peace pipe... Says... "mmm... Good"
The Frightened Dude - "How come the American indian fella isn't trembling? Is that Pot?"
We have a saying here... "Those who do not partaketh of the erb, do not judge those that partake, likewise, those of you who do partake of the erb, do not judge those who do not partake."
"No Judging Again?"
"yeah"
"Why are indians here and no offense, jews, if they didn't know Jesus?"
"Jehovah likes happy endings"
"can he do that"
"He left himself some legal loops holes for our benefit"
"So we didn't need to worry about Jesus"
"I wouldn't go that far... consider, Jesus knows, those are his Father's children also, and Jesus, has authority to do what ever he dam well pleases, his wishes are granted by ALLAH, for Jesus alone is worthy of such a "position"... Jesus is in the Bosom Position of the Father, the Right Hand Throne... He was Taught By His Father, and he has taught us... How cool.
Can't you figure out if this is ANTI-CHRIST or FOR-CHRIST? I'm most Curious. :) haha. PEACE
Oh, my: I was immediately convicted of "original sin" when I emerged from my Mom's womb... GOD FRAMED ME AND SET ME UP TO FAIL BEFORE I WAS EVEN BORN!!
Being born and original sin are not the same thing
@@michaelnee2392 - Which makes absolutely NO difference in this case.
Pearls before swine but God bless you young man
@@michaelnee2392 - A little confirmation bias with your coffee? I'll take you under advisement. . .
Yeah I guess I am a little bias have a good one
Thank you for your videos. I'm a retired history teacher and I showed James Randi's Secrets of the Psychics to my Psychology class. When I first previewed it alone it literally changed my internal life-I grew up Catholic in a pretty liberal household in Mass, so I'd stopped going to church in Middle School, but it's always there. Watching that video gave me such a sense of relief-I knew I didn't believe ANY of it, and I I finally felt permission to let it go. Both of my parents had recently died so nobody wanted to believe in SOMETHING more than I did. But it was intellectually dishonest. I remember James Randi asking about paranormal events "Don't you think there's a more reasonable explanation?" And I did. I have since re watched every Christopher Hitchin's debates on youtube because he still remains, in my opinion, the "father" of modern atheism-his bravery, tenacity, pure brilliance and eloquent mastery of facts made him one tough warrior. Anyway, sorry this is so long-I ate a couple of gummies! Lol! Rhank you-your videos are gtreat!
Here's a little pearl for you. "We do not organize our lives around what is true, we organize our lives around what we believe, whether it is true or not. And although much of what we believe is also true, some of it isn't. But as far as the living out of our lives is concerned, it really doesn't matter that something isn't true, it only matters that we believe it". Thus, my observation that the most coveted power on earth is the ability to influence what other people believe.
I had a religious upbringing but I wouldn’t call it devout. My parents went to Catholic schools growing up and did not have good memories of it. Additionally both parents worked and didn’t have much time church activities during the week. Sundays, holidays, and holy days were about it. I did CCD (Catholic Sunday school) which looking back was immensely simplified religious education. Confirmation was seen as very big deal, and then I went through it and that was it. Aside from showing up at church and dropping that envelope in the collection plate no one seemed to care what I did (my parents being an exception). After joining the military my serious church going stopped partially because time was so short and off time on Sunday mornings were devoted to sleep, and of course money was short. Early in my military career when I was younger there were a few attempts to “witness” to me by older higher ranking members who attributed their success to their faith. In one instance I was invited to a barbecue that was actually a bible study session that everyone had to participate in before any food was served. I did get married in a Catholic Church mostly because my parents planned my wedding since I was deployed a lot, and my wife, we were legally married for nearly a year before the church wedding for benefits, had to work. My parents didn’t require a church wedding, but we wanted the family to come and not having a church service would have been... problematic. Over the course of my career I did have small short lived “revivals” for lack of a better word, but by my early 30’s I was an atheist although I didn’t call myself one, and wouldn’t accept a supernatural explanation for anything. I haven’t prayed seriously in over 10 years. I retired from the military after 20 years and have settled into the professional work force. Living in Texas which is major league religious, and I’ve become some peoples current target to be saved, apparently they owe it to me for my service. Apparently the constitution is like the Bible to many Christians, they know some of it but definitely haven’t read all of it and have a loose understanding of it.
That's some story. I hope the efforts to save you won't bother you too much. You deserve your peace and quiet.
Hi Coasty.
My experience with "cultural Catholicism" was similar, including a short stint in the Army and dabbling in fundamentalism. I eventually found that reason was drawing me back to the Catholic Church. I was fortunate to have benefited from some catholic intellectuals. It's not that "I'm saved", but rather that I am being saved. Hope you keep looking.
Jesus you sit well in my heart.😊😊😊😊😉😆
I do wanna see the vision thing
I totally agree!
Noted. I'll start working on it.
Totally unrelated but I caught a nasty respiratory virus that gave me a super high fever and I dreamed/hallucinated a bunch of stuff in the hospital. It was all bird related for WHATEVER reason. The staff laughed and told me having hypoxemia+fever+bronchodilators does that sometimes. I told my friends about it as a "*whoa dude*" story and when I came back to (catholic) highschool my "faith counselor" gave me an hour long speech about the holy spirit and my responsability as a soldier for Christ to accept and honor it's blessing. Of course, the speech was kinda sorta maybe -absolutely- related to the rumours of me and a fellow Christ soldier kissing in an empty classroom.
sorry I needed to share that!!!!
@@krrr.4902 I think it is pretty much related to the topic of visions
I hope you didn't have a personal one on one conversation with God, and later wrote it off as some sort of mental breakdown. Such a waste.
I spent over 40 years in the Christian faith. I was born into it. My dad was (and still is) a pastor, so I was in deep. For me, there wasn't one big moment where I knew I was no longer a Christian. Instead, there was a steady unraveling of my faith over several years. Your videos were some of the first ones that I watched and they made so much logical sense. It's comforting to find videos like these from someone who, like me, has been deep in the faith. I'm still in the process, so I still have a lot of questions. Your videos and many others have been a huge part of my journey, and I know I will continue to watch and learn.
Our god is a possum god. Brilliant
I heard the original of that song so much as a young believer that I could probably sing it accapela at this point and I still remember my dad having so many Christian-Rock albums
Thanks for getting the only Christian song that gets stuck in my head, stuck in my head. Our god.... is an awesome God he reigns... from heaven above.... fucking shit damnit, I hate you.
its a good song cx
Sorry Erik. If it helps, the Ring of Fire cover by Dragonforce gets anything out of my head
He reigns from Possum Lodge
With wisdom, duct tape, and love
Our god is a possum god
My journey out of Christianity has been long. Tearful. I still struggle to to know who or what I am now. A lot of podcasts and speakers talk about things in such learned language, it's difficult to follow. Have lost all friends now, so it's lonely. Thank you for your time.
I’ll be your friend 😊. My best friend passed away and I don’t have any friends anymore.
Check out Buddhism. I'm an atheist, have been all my life. Buddhism isn't really a religion, not to most followers anyway, it's more a teaching/way of life. It's a way of life you follow to just feel better and be able to deal with life better, it's like, basically really good advice. Whether you believe Buddha did or did not exist isn't important to other Buddhists, being happy and peaceful is pretty much the main goal. If you feel lost still, Buddhism could be something healthy for you to follow but also not have to devote any faith into. Trust me, I am completely anti-religion, but Buddhism is the only one I see as genuinely reasonable. Also, other Buddhists are amazing people, they are incredibly kind and welcoming. It's a really nice community!
@@maximusstorm1215 you sure it's not toxic? Christians tell to check out their religion...
ohhh, looove, I'm super sorry. please try to make friends!! there are so many cool people to become close with. I'm sure you're one of them :D please remember that you'll be okay, because that's just how life works! you've always managed to survive and move forward. this time will be no exception!
Stop struggling who or what you are or into which group you fall into. Just belief in and and act in a way that makes you happy. Still belief in god? Embrace him with all your heart and don't worry about any denomination. Don't belief in god? Then ditch the idea and relieve yourself of useless imaginary baggage. There may be things you are unsure about or simply don't know. But 'I don't know' is a perfectly valid answer.
And friends can be found in many places, church is just the most toxic one. I found one friend at a sports club and the remainder of my friends by playing board games at a local game store.
For me it started when my mom took me to Sunday school and they made us sing songs and color pictures about how much we loved Jesus and things like that. I felt like they were putting words in our mouths, having us say things that we don't really know. Now that I'm grown I can see that is exactly what it is, just training kids to believe things and repeat it without question.
Thanks
I had so many A-ha and Oh-my moments, I compiled them into a book, LEAVING WORSHIP. I relate to your story, and also am a former worship-leader. Thanks for posting!
@Steve
What exact religion/ denomination were you a leader of?
Christian non-denomination mostly. Started out in the Vineyard
I have read your book and enjoyed it. I was a worship leader also who went through a slow painful deconversion. Although your story is very different from mine, it's nice to know we came out the other side in peace and authenticity.
@@mezzoforte3511
What religion/ denomination were you a worship leader of? What main reason exactly made you want to leave?
Thank you for your kind words. And yes, it's great to be outside of the walls.
I'm a pastor's son and always had been skeptical of religion. I remember listening to the sermons and thinking to myself "well, that doesn't make sense". I was presented to this "creation vs evolution" debate very early and was really outspoken about defending creationism. I still have some email debates that I had (and utterly lost) with some evolutionists. On the first year of college I started watching some science videos like minute physic and Vsauce, and that opened to me a huge door. I started believing in Old earth creationism because of those videos, still trying to hold on to religion. But then I started watching some scishow and "it's ok to be smart" on evolution that made too much sense. When I first saw the "talk origins" site it blew my mind. After that it was a matter of time until I began watching "the atheist experience" and other atheists shows. My girlfriend already knew of my skepticism and tried to pull me back to church, but when we had a short break I could finally admit to myself that I didn't believe anymore.
@ MrYondaime1995
What is the "one" single best piece of evidence that really sold you on evolution and that made you want to turn atheist? "Only one please"!?!
@@evolutionisbull5h1t The fossils and comparing dna. Your name describes your persona well. You like to get angry at scientific theories that destroy your religious worldview and discredit your imaginary friend.
Jesus you sit well in my heart.☺☺☺☺😃
Wow your journey is inspirational, thank you for making holy koolaid come true, when I saw the pic of you in the coffee shop/office just smiling away, my heart really felt for you. I’m so happy that you’ve built a life for yourself and am proud there is an Athiest like you speaking up. We need you.
I'm so glad you mentioned 43 Alley's video on getting over the fear of hell. I had already gotten over the fear of hell (and the fear of hell plagued me 10 years after giving up on religion) when I found his video, and it absolutely spoke to me. That video would make the hall of fame of getting over the fear of hell and moving on to a better life
You will regret it i promise you that. Please dont harden your heart.
@@lightninja4795 but it's Yahweh who hardens people's hearts so that they get punished. Romans 9:15-18. he's a narcissist. and a myth. Yahweh doesn't exist, love.
@@joeshabe jehova witnesses are the worst. They are so anal and close minded.
I always find these de-conversion stories interesting because they document an experience I never had and have a tough time imagining because I never had the starting point you guys did.
I've always been non-religious. Little attempt was ever made to convert me, and the few that were made failed simply because it didn't make sense to me.
I love how he shares links & gives credit to all the sources & videos that helped him on his journey! That's the way to do it! Each one, teach one. Big Respect!
How about you craw Elle back under your racks. World was much better when there were less of Uu.
My mother married a man whose father was a reformed alcoholic turned baptist preacher. He led me to Jesus when I was 10, and I considered that a defining moment. I was on and off in the church through my youth, and when I was 19 I ended up in the Ski resorts of CO. I gravitated toward the faith, and began running into apologetics materials in the archives of the 3-4 church buildings I hung out in. Played bass and sang on worship teams for 3 of those 10 years. Two five year chunks, but both with the same crowd, as I had left them, and even the state for a while, resulting in a difficult time that I later blamed on my "leaving Jesus" so I really wanted to press in and "live it out". But I had the "Sin struggles" of porn and booze, so I was unworthy of continuing on with worship teams, or finding a wife in the context of the church, so I eventually left. I went to the Denver area, dropped all my books and music off at random churches anonymously, and tried to just live life without a program. That led to the decay of my faith over time, but there were always the little "Oh my" moments. The way this faith system had you locked up at every turn with no excuses seemed suspicious to me, and my metal music had stories of other guys (Kings X lyrics through the years show a process) who were losing their religion. The lyrics of Rush always kept me partly grounded in the tenants of humanity rather than religion, and the comedy of George Carlin did similar. But mostly, I just felt stifled to simply live a human life, and pursue music and such that I've always felt flowing in my veins. Unless you let go of your dick, you can forget singing and playing for Jesus. We can't have sinful hypocrisy within ministry after all. These days, yes, it is nice to reinforce my faith in no biblical god by listening to the likes of Aron Ra and yourself. My wife of 10 years and my son take more time than I can allow for creating music, but I have a lot of guitars now and play all the time. I build guitars too now. I've found myself outside of that horrible corporate box. And I'm with YOU now regarding world view. And I want to help them all wake up.
Amazing story! I had a lump in my throat watching, and I had no idea what you went thru to create this channel. Much respect and forever grateful to you...you are saving the world.
Holy Koolaid is one of my favorite channels
I love your voice cadence and the certainty of what you want to say. Using logic not to be demeaning but to try to show others a free path to thier own conclusions and still having an open mind to be proven wrong.
I can relate. I grew up Roman Catholic. Believed in their teachings until my 40s. Then I got Spiritual....until in 2012 all hell broke lose, literally and figuratively. Now at age 52 I believe in nothing. Because I know better.
You can do better than that. Start believing in things that exist and for which there is evidence. Belief in nothing is a bit vacuous.
Just Liz: I'm curious is there such a thing as a non Roman Catholic?
@@enki354 Anglican.
Just Liz Better late than never !....
Thanks I'll look it up.
Thanks for sharing your story, it actually resonates with mine in a lot of ways! I find comfort in knowing that there are people out there like me that have such similar thoughts, values, and journeys in a way. I was raised Catholic and was for much of my life, though I wasn't quite ingrained in it as you. As I grew older I came to realize how many things just didn't make sense or instead had plausible, scientific reasons for why they were. Ironically, it was actually DURING my Confirmation when much of this questioning came to fruition and I became agnostic! I was for several years before my senior year of high school when I became an atheist, and being so has admittedly lead me to become quite cynical. For years I have almost viewed heavily religious people as lesser than atheists for having been fooled by religion and subscribing to these ignorant or harmful cults when they have such potential as humans to strive for knowledge and realistic greatness. But your videos have inspired me have a less cynical view of the world by reminding me that despite all of the horrible things that are constantly happening because of and around us, we still have and will continue to have great potential as a species to strive for greatness, knowledge, and truth. Thanks for making such cool videos, can't wait to see more!
That Ken Hamm and Bill Nye debate had a profound impact on my journey to atheism, as well.
I just had a thought of speaking with you when you are 80 years old. My mind could not expand enough to take it all in. I have a tough time keeping up with you now let alone after you add a lifetime of wisdom. Then you threw in Thunderfoot. Can you imagine him in twenty years? Dark Matter? He has already been there and came back. My view of the future is saved by people like you and the community of people that are here today to push humanity forward to the next level. Every name you mentioned are already on my favorite channel list. And I can't wait to see what all you folks are going to bring forth for humanity in the future. I am confident that it will end the hurtful lies of Ken Ham. And to close on a light note... I love aviation. (Not possible on a flat Earth) and Dinosaurs (not possible with the flood) You are truly an amazing individual in many ways and my respect for you and of those you spoke of today is in fact very positive......
The story of your indoctrination demonstrates just why religion should be rated X-no one under 21 admitted. Period.
@@person10 take children from their religious parents
@@person10 So does christianity! They want them young - because it is hard (near impossible levels of hard - unless you "attack" someone vulnerable, which can still go either way. Some might chase you of for selling snake oil, while others might embrace the lies of religions because they offer comfort!) to indoctrinate/induct adults into religions!
Yes, I also support taking kids from religious parents (or at least: Forcing all kids to go to public schools, so no private religious schools or home-schooling!)
@@dreamingflurry2729 I'm totally in agreement with you, except for home-schooling (but imo there'd have to be rules about it).
Here's why: I'm an atheist. My daughter was being stalked and abused by a boy in her school for years. By jer freshman year, she was relegated to only being allowed in certain hallways at certain times, and could only be in the lunchroom during her lunch period. She felt victimized first by the kid, then continually by the school itself. So we sat down together and tried to come up with other solutions to make things better. We had battled the local schools and they did nothing, so there was no hope with them. We found a state accredited hs homeschool program, and it seemed like a good choice. So we tried it. It was awesome. She still got to go do ceramics (her fav hs class) at the hs, but during hours that she picked. I helped her with math, science, and even philosophy and history (though my degree is in math, minor in phsyics). She did really well and she would keep track of her work and then turn it into the school once/month. Then they'd give her a test covering what she had learned. If she passed, she went on to the next area, if not, we reviewed for a week or so, then she would retake it. It was awesome. In fact, I wish more places offered programs like that as an alternative when public schools fail kids.
Absolutely agree. Just by being an open pagan in high school the impact that had on some of my peers was really profound (because I was pretty normal otherwise) and shocking. Children that literally didn't know they had any option other than a lifelong fear of hell. Children!!!!! It's horrific. For all the harm my parents did to me, I'm thankful they raised me far from the church.
@@yilvoxe4017 I was a cradle Catholic, so, I didn’t have a say in the matter. The indoctrination is strong, it took me years to finally make the transition to non believer. Those years were, despite my best efforts at finding the truth, very difficult on a personal level.
Bro this video resonated with me. I’ve been obsessed with science since I deconverted. It’s amazing how many people know nothing about the basics of the major sciences
In the immediate aftermath of the Ham-Nye debate, I remember a good number of people in the atheist/skeptic community arguing that it had been a bad idea. They believed that all it did was give Ham free publicity, and that it would never do anything substantial to change anyone's opinions.
My own opinion was that it had indeed been worthwhile, because even if Ham profited from it in the short-term, in the long run the damage he did to his own reputation would hurt his cause ever-so-much more.
I wish I could go back in time and show all the nay-sayers this video.
I got goosebumps when you said "I'm Done" This story really resonates with me. While i did not spend as much of my youth in the church as you, i had many MANY of the same experiences. Great video!
I was a Christian for most of my life. In my early years it wasn't a very big aspect until middle and high school when I went to church and youth group occasionally with friends. I think the defining point of my decline (2015) was when I said I would lie about being Christian to save my life since I had others to live for, this came from thinking about reasons to live to combat my suicidal thoughts, and also because there had been a shooting at my college and first reports said he asked people if they were Christian before killing them (UCC). My college boyfriend soon became atheist after our relationship began (he had pagan like beliefs), and by watching the same material he did, of Aron Ra, Thunderfoot, and others, I began to disbelieve more and more. I am a biology major and interested in science and similar topics, so that increased my interest. The Bible Reloaded helped me look at it in a humorous light so helped ease me into harsher skeptics. I lost all beliefs and became agnostic January of 2017, which sucked because two of my grandparents died that year. I wish I could believe they went to heaven and all their suffering wasn't in vain. I miss praying and having good feelings of everything being ok and god taking care of me, but without god I've been learning to take care of myself more. Recently my mother married into a family of very religious people and goes to church often. I'm afraid to tell her I've become an atheist because of how she feels about religion and how she would worry about me being saved.
If you do have that conversation, then say that if God is a loving God, then he wouldnt be angry with you for using the brain he gave you to look at the arguments. If he could punish you for honestly looking at the question and finding (to her mind.. ) the 'wrong' answer, then he was a cruel God and not worth worshipping. Best wishes.
@@lyndawilliams8434
I couldn't agree more.
“That’s when it started getting breezy.” You, sir, are a riot.
I had a pretty similar deconversion, but mine took longer than yours. I grew up in the Church of Christ tradition, which mostly follows the teachings of Biblical infallibility and young-earth creationism. I do remember having doubts as a child. Specifically, I remember being about 7 or 8, and my family had gone to Carlsbad Caverns on vacation. I walked around in absolute awe of the various cave formations, and I was shocked when our guide told us the slow rate of stalagmite/stalactite formations. I was literally looking at formations that took thousands upon thousands of years to form. Then we walked into the Hall of Giants, and I was awestruck standing before these massive formations. The enormity of time hit me full on. I stood there in complete awe and managed to squeak out a whisper...'How long did this take?' My mom immediately answered 'A day'. I'm embarrassed to say that I didn't understand Evolution until I was about 35 (I'm almost 45 now), but when I did, it didn't take long for the entire foundation of my religious upbringing to come toppling down. I tried hard to hold on to my faith, but over the course of about 2 years, I finally came to terms with not believing any of it, and admitted I was an atheist.
Very relatable story!
Great story! Thanks for sharing. Geology and Geological time is indeed mindblowing regardless of our age. I as an adult still sit in awe thinking about the various mountains around me, and the ground underneath my feet moving and changing very very slowly. :D
"Admitted" you were an atheist? You make it sound like a criminal offence! XD
To be honest, it's not a laughing matter really, is it? It's borderline child abuse! I'm all for freedom of expression, but part of me would like to outlaw the indoctrination of children by religious zealots.
I grew up in the Catholic church and went to a Catholic school. In Catholicism you are christened as a baby (you know, just in case you die young and God sends you to hell for not being baptized! As any loving father would!), then later you get "confirmed". Confirmation is just that, confirming that yes you do believe in God and you accept your christening. They do this at the ripe old age of 13, because we all know about the fantastic decision making skills of teenagers! Can't even agree to have sex at that age but you can devote your life to God! XD
I wonder why they don't wait till people hit adulthood, hmmmm...
I refused to get confirmed as I never believed in it! (Although when I was very very young I was an alter boy! XD). Glad that more and more people are coming out of their stuper! :)
kb coolman, your candidness is refreshing. But some still believe "God" works in much longer spans of time than certain creationists believe.
@@barryretmanski4763 You didn't learn your Catholothism well. Unbaptized babies don't go to hell, they go to limbo. At least that is what I was told. LOL
Here is just a very short writing on the topic:
www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/cti_documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20070419_un-baptised-infants_en.html
Yes!
DarkMatter2525, 43alley, and Nonstampcollector guided me through my deconversion. So many parallels in our deconversion stories. The 43alley video you mentioned changed me the same way. I remember the moment I stood up and said out loud, “I don’t believe it anymore. I’m an atheist.” It was at the end of DarkMatter2525’s video “God’s God” that everything was suddenly vividly clear. I felt like I was walking on clouds as I walked down my street as if it were my first time. It was a new world. Not having an afterlife made this life more precious and valuable than I had ever imagined as a Christian.
I adore them, and I adore you. Thank you for doing this amazing work!
Im a former Southern Baptist, who spent 2 years as a pastor. I came out as an agnostic and gay man in 2022 at 34 years of age.
Thank you for your thoughts and well made videos. I threw off the strictures of Catholicism years ago, but even now, in my 60s, wonder why I can't just be simple minded and believe what most of my family believes. I question everything. Keep up the good work. Your work makes a huge difference in the world.
Turning 24 and still can't understand why I just can't simple minded not only about religion but politics, economics, history etc. Maybe we are demon possessed 😂😂😂
@@comforth3898 that's the burden of curiosity, my friend.
Accurate,my brain has to question almost anything and it’s useful but tedious
When I took my high school bio class last year, we learned that nature is chaotic and that this world was never perfectly made for us.
Thomas, you are the only person I support on Patreon and this video made me feel even more proud and encouraged by your work. You really have put in so much work on your channel and it's really paid off! If I could, I would give even more. Thank you for providing such great content.
Thank you so much for the kind words and for your continued support. Any particular topic/area you'd like to see me cover with my channel?
Oh damn, that "Possum God" song at the end! Loved it.
Greetings from the Philippines! I really like your videos. I would gladly share your videos to my friends to try make them understand more. It's been a year since I became an athiest and since then I am considered the black sheep among the flock of deeply religious people that surrounds me. Watching this kind of videos makes me feel that I am not alone. Thanks a lot.
What a great explanation of your journey. Glad you de-converted more than you originally converted. I have a deeper respect for your work. Thanks
This is honestly very inspiring for me. I love learning new things and the more I learn about the world again us the more I'm seeing the flaws in religion. I'm not very well liked in my church because of my "Lack of interest" in what they teach. Not many other kids my age welcome me into their friend groups since I'm "Scary" for questioning the Bible. Knowing that someone can get out of a situation like this one is really helpful! Thank you!
My own start of questioning was when I was eight, at Sunday school, and the volunteer decided it was a good idea to regale us with the tale of Elisha and the Bears. I could not reconcile the 'all-knowing god of love' I had been taught about with the idea of Elisha being sent down a path that God had to know would have him encounter children who would make fun of him, and then punish children for being children(and thus their parents) by mauling the kids to death via bears.
I had to ask questions, I asked the preacher, he couldn't answer, told me that they interpret the bible, not channel god, and so on.
From that point forward, I started questioning everything I had been told, seeking answers rather than taking things on faith. I am ashamed, to this day, that I kept seeking supernatural answers until I came to the realization that you can only trust what can be proven to work, rather than wishful thinking.
It was a long and hard process to leave it behind, even having 'only' been raised to believe until eight, but thanks to that I can see the damage religion and magical thinking can cause children and their developing minds.
Hi Holy Koolaid. I hope your holiday season is going well!
I found your channel through other atheist channels. It's hard for me to recollect who exactly, my feed is filled with the stuff now.
Anyway, you asked about our stories so I am going to tell you mine. When I was 13, my grandmother died. Her colon ruptured and, due to neglect from the nursing home staff she was allowed to suffer for a number of hours that I still am not aware of.. My mother won't tell me. She was rushed to the hospital when my mom found her, and she died later that day.
My grandmother was a god fearing woman. I don't know the extent of her faith, though it's safe to assume she was southern baptist as that is the prevalent denomination in my area. It's worth noting at this time that I was also southern baptist, though accepted many scientific finds as a simple mechanism for God's workings at this time.
Before this point, I truly believed that God was an omnibenevolent, omnipotent being. But when my grandmother died, especially in such a painful and demeaning manner, it shook me to the core. I scoured my bible for answers, I spoke with more pastors than I can remember, and searched the internet for a year. The straw that broke my faith in the Christian god was when, at age 14, a pastor gave me the following answer.
'When Adam ate the fruit in the garden of Eden, he cast the world into sin. Every man, woman and child who has ever been born since then was born broken and sinful, and god cannot bear sin. All of us who regect God is worthy of only death and hellfire'.
In short, he told me my grandmother deserved her fate. I threw my bible away when I got home, and I haven't stepped foot in a church since then. However, I didn't embrace an atheistic stance just then. I entertained a number of things, from Satanism to alchemy to wicca and various other forms of paganism. After 2 years of searching for answers amidst these faiths, I regected it. I took an agnostic approach. If god or gods exist, I told myself, then they were worthy of only disdain or indiscriminate obliteration for their crimes against this world. And if they didn't, all the better. This way of thinking made me angry, though. I never really made a decision to proclaim myself an Atheist, I moved in to that naturally over time. It was close to my 18th birthday, I think. I've suffered minimal backlash from family. My sister trusts my judgement, and my mother is not aggressive in her faith. The few times we talk about it, she says things like 'you got mad at god when mamaw died, are you just going to go on a murder spree when I'm gone?' and 'I just worry about your afterlife'. But that's the extent of it.
I'm not the best storyteller, but that's mine. :)
You're a decent storyteller. That was a pretty good story. Your family sounds chill. ^_^
@@Shigawire Ah, thank you! They're not totally accepting of it, but the ones I lost contact with were those I was already losing contact with anyway. And recent conversations with my mom has shown that she isn't supportive of my stance, though she definitely loves me more than my lack of faith. So the ones that matter are a bit chill. :)
Thanks!
I love when someone gets over the Jordan Peterson argument in 2 seconds.
Your videos have given me a sense of direction on how to be a proper atheist. I have been an atheist since i was a child but videos like this really give atheism perspective in light of all the backlash from practically everyone I know. Thank you
I love your videos and I'm considering sharing this one with my family, maybe that way they can understand me a little bit more
@Denise
I grew up with some pretty annoying family members who were Christian and I had to go to a super annoying catholic school that really bugged me and that made me think that at least their "ideas" on who God really was were incorrect, but I ended up finding out later that God and Jesus were in fact REAL and that my parents and that schools catholic teachings were in and of themselves with much contradiction and error. You should talk to me, if you really want to understand what is "REALLY" going on with God and why certain Christians seem so antagonizing and judgmental………… I totally feel you in that how God has been presented to you does not feel right and is irritating......
@@evolutionisbull5h1t dude, I was Catholic and after that Christian, I know Jesus pretty well, I had a strong connection with him, but I know now that it was my own desires and my mind showing what I wanted to see. There is nothing you can show me that I don't already know unless you show me evidence that God exists
Oh awesome. Let me know how it goes. I'm thinking about sending this to my family too just so they can see how this isn't "a phase" and there are reasons for me not believing it anymore.
@@dskjhjksl
I definitely can show you plenty of evidence for God but let me ask you this first, how do you know that..... "but I know now that it was my own desires and my mind showing what I wanted to see."???
I am very curious what you have to say because I have a very interesting take on what you are talking about, definitely your mind can make mistakes, errors of judgement and can twist the discernment of things and situations to seem one way when it is another, but there are other things your brain does that are extremely reliable and they need to be reliable for you to function properly...….. go on...…..
@@evolutionisbull5h1t I know you are terrified of losing your religion and so have to come up with a whole load of stories to prove that your world view is the 'right' one, but why cant you accept that this poster has a right to make up his own mind? If your view is right, then it can withstand people not believing in it. Dude, let other people be who they want to be!
I love the shout outs for all these other content creators! I know most already, but it's nice to find new ones.
Wonderful video. Thank you Thomas.
Well done , very concise . Creationists are very special people , they ''know better'' than 99% of the world`s scientists. AND.....they have a personal relationship with the invisible wizard who designed and manufactured the universe !
Yoy made my day.
It's that personal relationship that makes the difference .... to the believer.
@@DutchJoan I've got a personal relationship with Jennifer Lopez, she just doesn't know about it :)
@Seek Knowledge Thanks, I see your point but I disagree in this case .
When 99% the qualified scientists all over the world , working in 30 different fields,different countries, different cultures, different methods all agree that we are an evolved primate living in an old universe then that is just common sense .
Sure there are a majority of believers , but that is changing .
Religious belief on no evidence is proof positive that homo sapiens are very gullible and afraid of death .
It is also testament to the awesome power of childhood indoctrination .
Cheers .
@Seek Knowledge lmao. You think there's an even number of scientists that believe in fairytales as evolution. Hahaha. That is truly one of the dumbest assumptions ever. Maybe in a cult like country like America. But in the rest of the world where cults have no influence. Its almost non existent. But let's say you are right and that's how scientists think. IN NO WAY DOES THAT INCREASE THE LIKELIHOOD A MAGIC PEDOPHILE SKY GENIE EXIST OR ANYTHING ANY CULT IS RIGHT ABOUT ANYTHING.
what's the reason for believing nonsense fairy tales?? No scientist uses "faith" and if they do they aren't scientists.
I do not believe that atheism develops in a short period, it takes time to come to the conclusions that take you away from a belief that you have had for a time. Those that believe that they do are simply mad at their god. I had read the bible while in the fourth grade and read it like a fourth grader would. Being raised lutheran, I attended conformation classes when I was in junior high, 15. To prepare, I re-read the bible and remembering much of what I had read previously, I found that I had many questions on what was written, contradictions, evidence of a inconsistent god, bad history etc. I asked these questions of our minister during class and was told very specifically to "shut up". At first I felt that I had committed some great wrong but then grew angry at his action so during a following class, I called him out on this then got up and left the class, never to return. I spent the next year or so going to other denominations only to had similar experiences. One only needs to read the bible critically to be able to refute it.
You are so hard to take your eyes and ears off. And your message is not only heard, but understood and digested. Your gratitude seems authentic, and I for one can’t wait to see more of your work and share your channel with my siblings. I don’t have much money but I’d like to give something, where can I show my support? Stay positive, question philosophy and thank you for being prolific. Your vulnerability and personal experiences and reflection are a gift to the audience, just know I am grateful and privileged to have your handsome face and well-elocuted voice receptively fall on my eyes and ears.
How to become an atheist... read the bible or watch Ken Ham/Kent Hovind talks with some basic knowledge beforehand.
Turn to Jesus before it’s to late
@@jadenwatson9992 stfu please
@@jadenwatson9992 😂😂😃😄🤨🤔😮😯 You can't be serious?
@@holdencommodorehsv plz Jesus loves you
@@Fuzzamajumula Jesus loves you plz
You're awesome! It's remarkable the amount of guilt and fear I carried with me during my journey of discovery. Really reading and researching the bible was painfully overwhelming in so many ways. Oddly enough, I still care about my SDA sisters and brothers, but I've successfully moved on and exist comfortably without any bitterness. It's incredibly sad how little most christians really read the bible or even study general history of christianity (i.e. the councils of nicaea, 1st Schism, Reformation, etc.). All of the contradictions and inconsistencies are in plain sight, but when you've been fashioned according to any of the many denominations, free will is not an option.
Very true
If we put all the resources that have been used for religious purposes into science, then we might have figured out a way to live forever by now.
I grew up with a catholic background in an european country, but being catholic is rather something as a tradition and I had a full science education in school since I was little up to university. More, I never heard about creationism until I saw the debates on youtube. To me, its almost unbelievable that in modern America, young children are growing up without any scientific knowledge and total ignorence of our modern world! Atheist in Europe are not condemned nor feared, we are just people who dont believe in (a) god and that is totally fine. I learned about evolution and Darwin since I was 8 years old! I grew up with the documentaries of sir david attenborough, he was my hero and still is! Its a great loss for America that not every child has not only the right to a proper education, but even is deplored of it. You're doing a great and neccesery job with your channel! As a humanitarian, I can only admire your courage to swim against the stream and educate the young people that there is such thing as critical thinking and sience to explore the world and everything around us. 👍
my life has so much more meaning without religion. i have the power to give my life meaning. i’m a senior in high school and i’m pursuing physics and cosmology in college. thanks for being such an inspiration to me and countless other girls out there that we can do whatever we want and it’s not predetermined by an invisible man in the sky.
And why does it have to be an invisible MAN? :D In this regard at least, the pantheist religions are a bit more gender-equal. Though, only the Hindu religion has some really powerful female gods. ;)
You have free will over your life. But life has no meaning without God; it’s like trying to build a building without a blueprint. Please turn to God truly to have a relationship with him.
@@raphael018 Oops. You forgot to capitalize "him." It's supposed to read "Him", otherwise He might be a bit peeved with you.
What do you consider as a good example of "meaning", I wonder?
@Natasha A
Lets say you have a pair of shoes, now you can throw plenty of meaning on those shoes, they are your favorite shoes, they are your best looking shoes, these shoes are perfect for this or that, they give you more confidence when you talk to people, etc...… Now no matter what meaning or amount of meaning you put on these "shoes", that extra meaning will not escape the fact that "Someone other than you designed and built those shoes. This someone has a purpose for those shoes and how they work. Did this someone buy those shoes for you or did you buy them by yourself?"
@@evolutionisbull5h1t poor sucker
That's really amazing. I actually feel humbled. I could be smug about not being indoctrinated with religion, but I've never had to actually climb out of it the way you did and from what I heard so far, you were in pretty deep. The closest thing for me was deciding I no longer wanted to go to my Unitarian Universalist church as a child, and that was probably just because the sermons were too dull for my young mind.
To be honest, because I've never had to really push back this hard against my own cognitive bias, I've had less faith in my own ability to confirm for certain what is and isn't true. Awareness of my own biases has made me afraid to trust anything that just felt right to me.
To be able to dedicate yourself so fully to going out there and finding the truth for yourself must be a very empowering feeling.
I actually wonder if ironically, your young life spent traveling the world and working so hard to spread the word of God actually trained you to be so thorough and hard-working in the process of disproving Him. Perhaps you can take heart in knowing that even when you were following this misguided path, you were still building your character.
Anyway, you've left me feeling inspired. I'd like to learn to be better at picking apart falsehoods and getting to the truth.
Thanks for sharing.
I was raised in the Mormon cult myself. Your story is very similar. Thank you for sharing!
I am 25 now and I was around 21-22 when I began my shift to the bright side. I completely resonated with your video, went through similar things. Thank you for your efforts. I hope one day, I too will be able to save my fellow trapped and traumatized Catholics.
Thomas, I hope this doesn't come off as condescending, but you really are an incredible & inspirational person.
It's a fantastic story, and in all honesty I'd buy the book, should you ever decide to write what I imagine could not only be a very successful, but very important book.
Christians, indeed anyone of faith who is experiencing doubt, should know your story.
As a lifelong Atheist, albeit one who went to Sunday school and church (it was required in the Boys Brigade) I never went through any of this, but your story, (and of course that of Seth Andrews) has to serve as a beacon for those who believe that they could never make the leap. Keep doing what you're doing, and all the best for the future.....and Merry Christmas* and a Happy New Year.
*I'm from Scotland, and the 'Happy Holidays' isn't happening over here, in the UK despite the huge number of non-Christians. In fact I've never heard anyone say it at all.
The closest you'll get is 'Seasons Greetings' on Christmas cards.
It's just not that big of a deal to wish people a Merry Christmas. 🎅🎄
Glad to hear you mention Dark Matter 2525. He is one of my favorites.
"I felt so far behind in my science education." Exactly. It seems so wrong to me now to keep bright human minds like yours from having solid, testable information so we can work towards solving our human problems. Waiting around for a supernatural being to save us is wasting our precious time!